Bellarke One Shots Book 2

100) Wont let no one break your heart

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By:iamsnowwhite
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Clarke's school is close enough that she often comes home on the weekends even though she has her own apartment. She likes their food better apparently. So it's not unusual for Marcus to come home after work on a Saturday to see her hanging out in the living room. What is unusual, however, is to see her buried under several blankets, clutching a bowl of popcorn life it's her lifeline, and crying as she watches Chopped.

He slowly and carefully crosses into the living room. He's learned after four years of having a step daughter to tread lightly in these situations. "Everything okay?" he asks, sitting beside her on the couch.

She looks down to the popcorn bowl, "No, not really."

"What is it?"

"Mom's gonna kill me."

"I'd really hate to arrest my own wife, so I'll try to talk her out of it," he says, getting a small laugh out of her. "Clarke, what's wrong?"

She finally looks up at him and he sees reluctance in her expression. She looks scared and he hates seeing her that way. If there is one thing Marcus knows about Clarke, it's that she is fire wrapped in skin and bones. She is as strong as steel. From the day he walked into her life, he saw that fire. She yelled and hated him and was never one to favor tact in his presence. And her sitting before him now, timid and small, is unnerving to him.

"You can't tell her," Clarke says quietly.

"I won't, I promise."

She sniffles and wipes tears from her cheeks, "I'm pregnant."

Well, he was certainly not expecting that.

"I can't tell mom because she'd get mad and demand I get rid of it," she continues. "And I can't tell Bellamy because he has enough to worry about with school and work and Octavia. He'd do whatever I ask him to because that's who he is, but I can't let him take a year off school so he can work more to help me support the baby and he's too proud to let me take care of the costs and-" she takes a deep breath. "And I don't know what to do..."

Clarke starts to cry again and Marcus wraps his arms around her, pulling her close and cradling her head with one hand while the other runs up and down her back.

He can't help but feel good about the fact that she's decided to open up to him. They've never had the best relationship and he understands why. It means a lot that she trusts him with this.

"We'll figure this out," he tells her.

She looks up at him, vulnerable, "Yeah?"

"Yeah. First things first, how far along are you?"

"Five or six weeks, I think," she answers.

"So that means the baby will be due in September. Bellamy will be finished with school by then, right? This is his last semester?" She nods. "Alright, so that takes care of one problem." He hopes he's doing what's right here. He knows that Clarke is rational, likes to break things down and have a plan. "Maybe we can work something out with him about the money, splitting the cost of everything. Because you don't want to get married, right?"

"No, I don't."

"I think that's a smart choice. And I can always stand behind you while you talk to him. I'll be his boss soon and I'm fairly intimidating."

She smiles at that and it feels like a victory to him. Albeit a small one.

"Octavia's almost 18. I know he won't like it but she could always stay in a dorm when she starts school. I could move in with him, help pay rent. That would help take some stress off him," Clarke suggests.