Chapter 1
Lexa is concentrating hard on the documentary. It’s on ancient Greece, her absolute favorite time period. She only catches the tail end of Bellamy’s sentence.
“...so, don’t kill me, okay?”
“Why would I kill you? I can’t afford this place on my own.” Lexa doesn’t take her attention from the TV, but she feels Bellamy shifting on the couch to face her. “We don’t talk during History Channel. It is an unspoken rule. Pun intended.”
He waves his hand dismissively, “Yeah, yeah. Look, I need to ask you something.”
Lexa pauses the show and sets the controller down on the coffee table. She turns to her friend and is immediately concerned when she sees how serious he is. They are inherently serious people, but they tend to stay away from actual serious talk.
“What’s wrong, Bell? It has got to be bad if you could not even wait until we find out what happens to Leonidas.”
“Everyone knows what happened to Leonidas.” Bellamy says.
“Only because of that dreadful 300 movie, and it was rife with inaccuracies.”
“We’re getting off track.”
“Oh, right. What did you need to ask me?”
“Remember how I don’t really talk to my family, or visit at all?”
“Yes, because you are a coward.” Lexa smiles so that he knows she isn’t serious.
“Exactly,” Bellamy smiles back, “anyway, my sisters are graduating in a couple months, and my mom wants me to come home. It’s right after finals, and you don’t start your internship until July.”
“Is there a question in there Bell?”
He runs his hands through his hair, and blows out a breath, “They want you to come with me.”
“You told them about me? I’m touched.” Lexa deadpans.
“I told them we were engaged.”
Lexa tries, she really does, but she can’t hold it in. She laughs in her best friend’s face. Bellamy is not amused. “Oh, you’re serious. Why the hell would you tell them that?”
“I panicked, okay? My mom asked me about my love life, and I just told her I was seeing someone. Now she wants to meet you.”
Lexa pretends to deliberate for a few moments before nodding. “I'll do it, but only because I love you.”
“Thank you so much, this really means a lot.”
Lexa and Bellamy have been there for each other since they met in their freshman year. They were both in a new place and something inside Bellamy drew Lexa to him. They were both strong and possessed an inner calm. They could also both be prone to dramatics, as evidenced by the many heated arguments they tended to have in their shared history courses. These were often followed by a day of silence until one of them broke and bought the other a six pack of their preferred beer.
“Do not think I am doing this for free.”
“Anything you want.”
“As soon as we get back you are coming to yoga with me.”
“Deal.”
“The whole thing, meditation and all, and you can't say shit about it.” Lexa extends her hand to seal the deal.
Bellamy groans, but raises his hand to shake hers.
~
The day after their finals are over they are packed and ready to make the four hour journey to Bellamy’s hometown. Bellamy fills in the occasional silence by telling Lexa more about his family life and what to expect when they got there. All he had told her before was that he came from a big household.
“So, Octavia’s the youngest?”
“Technically, Charlotte is the youngest, but I think she’s only there until her mom is out of rehab. Murphy’s a year younger than Raven and Octavia, but he’s the newest addition. From what I hear, he’s kind of a little shit. He wouldn’t be the first to cause problems.”
“How many siblings do you have?” As an only child Lexa grew up mostly alone, with only a few friends and no one close. Not until Bellamy.
“Too many to count. Some of them only stayed for a few months, but we treated them all like family. The house is actually pretty empty right now. It’s just going to be you, me, and about six other people. Wells is coming home for a couple weeks too.” The way he almost stutters on Wells’ name reminds Lexa that the two don’t really get along.
Lexa tries not to feel overwhelmed. She can deal with groups of people as long as she can keep them at a distance. That will probably be a little harder to do in a house with eight, or more, people, but she did agree to help Bellamy.
“You seem to be really close with your siblings. What made you stay away?”
He tells her how he realized that he was in love with another boy and that he was sure his religious father wouldn’t approve, so when he left for college he just never looked back. He still talks to his siblings, as it was practically impossible to escape them and he loves them too much to cut them out completely. He just isn’t comfortable coming out from fear that he will lose his family.
~
The duo finally pull into the driveway of an immaculate two story house around six o’clock. Before Lexa even opens her door all the way the front door opens and a girl that definitely shares Bellamy’s bone structure is running outside. The girl jumps into Bellamy’s arms for a hug and he pretends to struggle under her weight.
“Jeez, O, what have you been eating? You’re heavier than I remember.” Bellamy says and Octavia settles back down onto her feet.
Octavia is about to punch him in the arm, but Lexa’s laugh distracts her. She comes around the front of the car carrying her bag and stops as Octavia looks her up and down. Lexa thinks it's supposed to be intimidating, but Octavia is actually kind of adorable.
“She’s pretty, I’ll give you that.”
“Thank you.” Lexa says. She knows she’s attractive, and she’s confident, but it’s nice to get approval from her fake fiance’s sister.
Octavia helps them carry in their bags and tells them that everyone else is out getting groceries at the moment. She also informs Lexa that she will have to sleep in one of the guest rooms upstairs. Since they aren’t married yet they aren’t allowed to share a room. Lexa realizes that maybe she seems a little too okay with that so she quickly fakes a pout which makes Bellamy laugh.
“You two are weird.”
They don’t deny it, and Lexa is lead up the stairs while Bellamy heads to his room in the basement.
Octavia gives her the grand tour of the second floor. There are four rooms and she’s told that this is where the girls live. The boys get the basement rooms, and their parents are in a room on the ground floor.
“This is Raven’s and my room.” Octavia hooks a finger at a closed door with a sign that clearly proclaims ‘NO BOYS ALLOWED.’
“Why do you share a room if there’s an empty one?”
Octavia just shrugs her answer and points out Charlotte’s room and then the two that she can choose from. Lexa takes the least lived in looking one of the two. The other one still had personal items, and she wasn’t sure who would be visiting this week and she didn’t want to step on toes.
Octavia just watches her as she unpacks her things. Occasionally she picks up a random knick knack and turns it over in her hands. Lexa carefully refolds everything and puts them in their proper places. Just as she’s finishing up they hear a car door slam outside and Octavia grabs her hand.
“Let’s go meet the family. Don’t be afraid, we don’t bite. Hard.”
~
Bellamy meets them in the living room just as the rest of his family files in the door laden with bags from the supermarket. It looks to Lexa like enough food to feed an army. She supposes that it kind of is, and she’ll have to get used to it sooner rather than later.
A woman, presumably his mother, sets down her bags as soon as she sees Bellamy and rushes to hug him. “Oh, my baby. You’ve gotten so big.”
Bellamy hugs his mother, but can’t stop himself from turning bright red. “Momma, I’m a grown man. I stopped growing before I even left for college.”
He shoots a glare at Octavia and Raven whose heads are bowed together in laughter. Aurora lets him go and immediately gives Lexa the same treatment. First hugging her and then holding her at arm's length to get a good look at her.
“Oh my, you are so beautiful. Thelonious, isn’t Lexa beautiful?”
Bellamy’s father answers from the kitchen, “Yes, she is very beautiful.” He makes his way back from the kitchen and claps a hand on Bellamy’s shoulder. “Nice work, son.”
Bellamy shuffles his feet and when he notices that his family are looking between him and Lexa he quickly, and a little awkwardly puts his arm around Lexa’s shoulders.
“Lexa, this is my mother, Aurora; my father, Thelonious; sisters, Raven, Octavia, and Charlotte; and half brother Wells. Guys, this is Lexa Woods. My fiance.” If anyone notices how he slips over the words fiance no one says anything.
“Murphy is out at a friend’s place, but he’ll be back in time for the party.” Aurora tells them.
“Party?” Bellamy asks.
“Of course. You didn’t really think we wouldn’t be celebrating our oldest brother’s engagement did you?” Raven asks.
~
The house quickly fills up with people. A lot of them are around her and Bellamy’s age, but also a few that were older and obviously friends of the family. She knew that Bellamy getting engaged would be a big deal, but she hadn’t prepared herself for such a huge event.
Bellamy tries his best to introduce her to everyone, but there is no way she can remember every single person’s name. Whenever anyone approaches he quickly whispers the name in her ear. He keeps his hand on the small of her back, for appearances and because he knows she needs some kind of anchor in the sea of people.
He notices out of the corner of his eye that his mother is beaming at him, especially when he leans into his friend to tell her about some guest or another and so he decides to take it up a notch.
Bellamy nods in the direction of a surly looking teen. His clothes are clean, but baggy, and his shaggy dark brown hair keeps getting in his eyes. “That’s Murphy, he sleeps in Spongebob pajamas and with a Patrick doll.”
Lexa keeps a straight face and looks over to Wells, "That's the brother that got caught fucking a cantaloupe he had microwaved, isn't it?"
Bellamy spits beer back into the bottle which earns him a pat on the back from Lexa.
“You okay?” Octavia asks, eyebrows raised.
“Yeah, wrong pipe.” He turns back to Lexa and whispers again, “Octavia still wets the bed.”
Lexa scans the room for another victim. She sees a darker skinned man about their age talking with Wells. He’s built and has a lot of tattoos, just Bellamy’s type. “Who is that?”
“Who?”
“That hunk of well molded beef over there?”
“The guy?”
“I’m gay, Bell, not blind.”
Bellamy stiffens slightly, but he doesn’t react in any other noticeable way, “His name is Lincoln.”
She can tell there is a lot more that he isn’t saying, but now is not the time for that discussion.
Bellamy takes another sip of his beer and moves on, “Don’t stare, but Raven totally has a prosthetic leg.”
Of course, Lexa knows they’re playing a game, but she can’t help but notice that the girl is walking with a limp. Now it’s all she can do to not look at the other girl as she moves from group to group.
Suddenly Octavia moves to block her line of sight, “Do you having a fucking staring problem?”
She was wrong earlier when she thought that Octavia’s intimidating glare was adorable. If looks could kill there would be a pile of ash where she now stood. Not much rattles her, but the thought of a pissed off Octavia actually makes her a bit speechless.
“No, I wasn’t…”
“Chill, Octavia. She didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Don’t tell me to chill, Bellamy.” Her voice is low, but harsh. “Raven is my best friend and if your fiancee can’t be respectful then I am not going to ‘chill.’”
“We were just playing a game, I took it too far. Don’t blame Lexa for me fucking up.”
Octavia narrows her eyes, “What kind of game?”
“We were making stuff up about people. Just trying to get a rise out of each other.”
“What did you say about me?”
Bellamy actually looks a little sheepish, “Nothing.”
“He said you have, um, soggy sheets?”
“That was one time!” She yells, drawing the attention of a few people nearby, “You guys suck.”
It’s awkward for a moment, as Bellamy is rubbing his arm where she punched him and Lexa is trying to remain stoic.
“Can I play?” Octavia asks finally.
~
Lexa has already met and/or been told (horrific lies) about almost everyone. Raven gravitated towards them when she noticed that Octavia had been hanging out around them. Raven and Octavia keep her in stitches with their antics and by the time they finally go mingle she wonders if the two realize just how into each other they both are.
She thinks Bellamy’s family was great, if a little intense. She feels like she’s been hugged more in one night than she has in her entire life.
Lexa’s attention shifts when the door opens yet again a gorgeous blonde lets herself inside. She makes her way to Aurora first and Lexa can’t look away. She seems to know her way around and makes sure to say hi to everyone she meets.
“Please tell me that isn’t another sister.” Lexa asks under her breath as she looks back to the blonde making her way over from the other side of the room. She knows she’s in trouble when she hasn’t even met the girl yet, and she already feels a pull to be close to her.
Bellamy tracks where she is looking and chuckles softly. “Not by blood or anything like that, but she does complete the trio that is Cloctaven.”
“Cloctaven?”
“Clarke, Octavia, and Raven. They’ve all been friends since grade school.”
“And pains in your ass, huh, Bell?”
Lexa wasn’t quite sure how Clarke managed to sneak up on them and it was a little unsettling having her so close now. Blue eyes appraising her as a potential partner for someone that she cared for.
“The biggest.” But he smiles and picks her up into a bear hug.
“Let me down you brute. I will not be man handled.”
“Yeah, that was never really your thing was it?”
“Nope, that was all you.” Clarke finally looks back to Lexa. “So, this is the unlucky woman that has caught your attention?”
“Ha. Clarke this is Lexa Woods, Lexa this is Clarke Griffin.”
Lexa reaches out to take Clarke’s hand and will swear to anyone that cares that she felt a spark. Clarke will attribute this to static buildup.