Octavia and Lincoln get engaged on the exact same day as Clarke’s biggest break up because of course they do. Clarke came home early to their shared apartment with tear stained cheeks, ready to get drunk and rant her heart out to find Lincoln and Octavia making out in their candle-lit, rose petal covered living room immediately after he popped the question. She apologized profusely for ruining the moment and found herself crashing on Bellamy’s couch, crying into his lap while he fumbled his way through trying to make her feel better.

“You know my mom called me yesterday to ask if I’m getting laid?” Bellamy smiled and ran his hand over Clarke’s hair.

She looked up at him and laughed for the first time all night. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. She and Lincoln had lunch so he could tell her he’s proposing and she called to tell me she was worried about me dying single and childless.”

“I wouldn’t be shocked if I got that call from my mom too. Though at least I’m not dating a girl anymore, she’ll be thrilled about that.”

Bellamy gave her a sympathetic smile and leaned back against his sofa. “You’re not going to die alone. You’ll find someone, Clarke.”

Bellamy’s mom took a turn for the worst a year later, a few months before the wedding. She had to be hospitalized and kept under constant watch. Clarke didn’t technically work on her floor but she spent most of her breaks and time off checking in on Aurora to make sure everything was going well. She looked bad. Thin, grey, ill. Clarke was used to that kind of thing because of work but Bellamy’s heart shattered every time he looked at his mom. They spent more and more time together, Clarke holding him when he’d cry and trying to distract him with any awful movie she could find.

It was about a week before the wedding when Bellamy dropped the bomb. They were in his apartment with her flipping through channels on his TV and him with his back facing her at the stove.

“So my mom thinks we’re dating.”

Clarke raised an eyebrow. “And you set her straight?”

Bellamy shrugged. “In so many words.”

Shutting off the TV and coming into the kitchen, Clarke hopped on the counter and stared at his back, waiting for him to elaborate.

He didn’t.

“What exactly did you tell her?”

Again, he shrugged, in the sort of uninterested way he always did when he was trying to ease the blow of bad news. “I told her we were going to the wedding together. Which we are.”

“We’re the maid of honor and the best man, we’re not going together, we’re walking down the aisle together.”

“Yeah, she mentioned something about an aisle.”

“Jesus Christ,” Clarke sighed, putting her forehead in her hand. Bellamy finally turned around and leaned against the counter next to her.

“She’s dying, Clarke. She’s always been worried about me not finding anyone; I couldn’t let her down again. Ever since I broke up with Gina in college, she’s been waiting to hear that I met a girl and you know how much she loves you. I just didn’t want to tell her she was wrong.”

Clarke got that. Honestly, she did. She knew how easy it is to let people on the last leg of their cancer just believe the little things.

“I figured,” he finished, “we could just dance at the wedding a little, I’d buy you a few drinks, and it’d be over. That was the plan anyway, right?”

Aurora was released for the day of the wedding, under Harper’s watch. She cried the entire ceremony, from walking Octavia down the aisle to watching seeing Octavia and Lincoln’s kiss. Clarke caught Bellamy sniffling a bit near the end too but she knew he wouldn’t admit it. When the ceremony was over and the reception began, Clarke found it shockingly easy to pretend she was there as Bellamy’s date.  The first time she and Aurora spoke was when Bellamy took Octavia to the dance floor for their version of a father-daughter dance.

“He didn’t used to be this good at dancing.”

Clarke looked over to see Aurora taking Bellamy’s vacant spot. “He’s been practicing in his living room. I think he found a YouTube video.”

Aurora laughed. “That sounds like him. He’s always trying to make his little sister happy.”

“Not just her.” Clarke smiled at Bellamy as he twirled Octavia like she was a little girl again.

“You two seem happy,” Aurora said.

A small seed of guilt twisted in Clarke’s stomach about the lie, but she knew it was best.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen my boy look at someone like he looks at you. He watches you every time you move, even when it’s something small.”

Clarke tore her eyes from the dance floor to look at Aurora. “He does?”

“He’s careful about it. I’m sure he doesn’t want you to think he’s overprotective, he’s been known to be called that, and justifiably so. But he means well.” Aurora put her hand over Clarke’s. “He’s been so in love with you for so long. I’m glad I got to see you two work it out.”

When the music ended, Aurora had disappeared and Bellamy came back to his seat. “You were talking to my mom.”

“She’s impressed by your dancing. I had to let her down easy and tell her it’s from YouTube.”

Bellamy laughed once and pushed his chair back. “You want a drink?”

“I thought I was promised a dance, even if I did have to watch you practice in pajamas for three weeks.”

She offered her hand to him and let him lead her out to the dance floor, where they promptly fell into the slow sway they’d been practicing.

“Fake dating you is a lot easier than I thought it would be,” Clarke said, fixing the fold on his lapel with her free hand.

“I might need that in writing as a review for future events. ‘Shockingly not as bad as he seems.’”

Clarke rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?” Bellamy’s hand felt warm on her lower back. She was acutely aware of every inch of him touching her and how good he looked in his suit.

“Just… I don’t know, I thought it would be weird, pretending to date you. But it doesn’t feel weird. It feels kind of right.”

Bellamy’s eyebrows furrowed but he said nothing, he just looked down at her with those dark eyes and she couldn’t help herself. She cupped the side of his neck with the hand that had been on his shoulder and pulled him into a soft kiss. It was small and barely there and took a few moments for him to respond, but when he did, all of her nervousness fell away. It felt right. She’d never felt something that felt that right.

When he pulled back, he pressed his forehead to hers and smiled. “Please tell me that wasn’t just for my mom’s benefit.”