Rescue Me || Bellarke AU

7. Choices.

Clarke spent the next few days avoiding the Blake siblings. She had absolutely no desire to be around Bellamy at all and she knew Octavia would be able to tell something was wrong. She had decided to keep her run in with Bellamy from Octavia. She didn't want to cause a riff between the brother and sister.

She had however, confided in Monty at work the next day. Clarke had ended up spilling her secrets to her friend. And while she kept the details to bare minimum, Monty now knew some of Clarke's haunted past and just how much Bellamy's actions had scared her.

That was how she ended up knocking on Octavia's door, offering her last months rent.

"You're leaving?" Octavia asked in shock. "Why?"

"I don't think I belong here. I think it's time for me to move on and find my own place." Clarke shrugged.

"Is this because of Bellamy?" Octavia asked.

"It's obvious he doesn't want me here, but no. This is about me." Clarke smiled softly.

"Can't you just give it a few more weeks? You might change your mind?" Octavia said.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Clarke shook her head.

"Well, at least stay here until you find a new place?" Octavia said eagerly.

Clarke nodded her head in agreement. She didn't exactly have anywhere else to go. She had thought about asking Lexa if she could crash at hers until she got on her feet again, but decided against it. Lexa had her own life.

"Sure." Clarke nodded. "Anyway, I gotta get to work, Monty needs me to open up today."

"Alright. I'll see you tonight?" Octavia asked.

"Sure." Clarke nodded again.

With that, she left for work.

~~~~

The cafe was peacefully quiet for Clarke. A few regulars had come in for their usual orders when she first opened up, but then Clarke seemed to be the only soul in the cafe for almost an hour. Clarke even considered closing the cafe for a few hours to take a break. That was until the bell above the door rang, signalling the entrance of a customer.

"I'll be right out." Clarke called from the back room. She retied her apron and forced a smile on her face as she approached the counter.

Her smile dropped again when she saw who her next customer was.

"Bellamy?" Clarke was surprised to see him, that was for sure.

"Hi. We need to talk." Bellamy said.

"About?" Clarke asked.

"Octavia told me you were planning on moving out." Bellamy said, getting straight to the point.

"Did she now?" Clarke folded her arms across her chest.

"Are you?" Bellamy asked, leaning on the counter.

"Why do you care? I thought you'd be pleased to see me go." Clarke spat.

"Is it because of me?" Bellamy asked, ignoring her question.

"What makes you think it's because of you?" Clarke questioned.

"I haven't exactly been welcoming since I got home." Bellamy shrugged.

"Can't argue with that." Clarke smirked.

"Look. I know I'm not the easiest person to live with but if you're leaving because of what happened the other night, you need to tell me." Bellamy said.

"What do you mean?" Clarke asked, her voice dropping.

"I can tell you're scared of men Clarke. It's not hard to see." Bellamy said.

"How?" Clarke asked, turning defensive.

"When I pointed at you, you flinched. I could tell you were expecting me to hit you or something. So I grabbed your arm to see how you would react. The fear in your eyes confirmed everything." Bellamy said. His tone wasn't friendly, but he wasn't being his usual arrogant and broody self. Clarke couldn't tell what it was, but something was different about Bellamy.

"You raised your fist to my face, threatened me and then bruised my arm. How did you expect me to react?" Clarke argued.

"Deny it all you want. I know what I saw." Bellamy shrugged.

"You don't know anything about me Bellamy." Clarke shook her head.

"Look. I'm not expecting you to sit here and tell me all about your past, quite frankly I don't care. But I just wanted to tell you that I'd never hit you. I may not like you all that much and you annoy the hell out of me, but I'm not the kind of guy to beat on a woman." Bellamy said seriously.

Clarke remained quiet.

"So if you're leaving because you think I'm gonna beat you, you've got the wrong idea. If you wanna leave, I'm not gonna stop you. But you don't have to leave because of me." Bellamy said sincerely.

"Thanks. I still think it's time I moved on." Clarke shrugged slowly. "But I appreciate you coming down here to tell me that."

"Your choice." Bellamy nodded. "I'm sorry by the way, for scaring you like that."

"Thank you." Clarke nodded her head once.

Bellamy nodded his head once in return before turning to leave. As he reached the door, he turned back to face Clarke.

"For what it's worth. Whoever caused those demons your running from, they're not worth it. If you wanna slay your demons, don't give them a reason to control you." Bellamy said seriously.

Before Clarke could say anything else, Bellamy left the cafe, leaving Clarke speechless.

Bellamy had never spoken to her like that. He usually spoke down to her and acted as though she was nothing more than a burden. But today she had seen a whole other side to Bellamy Blake.

~~~~

Bellamy couldn't say for sure why he'd said those things to Clarke. It wasn't like he wanted to suddenly be best friends with her. Her moving out would be a good thing for him. They didn't need Clarke's rent money to keep the house. Sure Octavia enjoyed her company, but Bellamy couldn't think of a single time he was pleased Clarke was there. If anything he hated the fact some stranger was living in his family home.

But he refused to be known as a woman beater. He'd never abused a woman in his life and he wasn't about to start now, no matter how much he disliked Clarke. When she had flinched from him, Bellamy realised that Clarke had a history. A history he had no intention of finding out about, but a history none the less. Instead of walking away, or letting her walk away rather, he decided to test his theory and take it one step further with physical contact. This only confirmed his theory that Clarke was afraid of men in general, not just him.

He didn't mind the fact Clarke was nervous around him. In fact he rather enjoyed it. It meant she wouldn't bother him. However Bellamy didn't want Clarke thinking he was the type of man who purposely struck fear through women. He actually respected women. His mother had raised them alone and was a strong woman. Then there was Octavia, one of the strongest females he knew. Her past had not affected her view on life.

But for some reason, Bellamy couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for the way he acted towards Clarke. Only slightly. Perhaps that was why he'd spoken to her the way he had. She wasn't just some pampered princess who had an easy life. She was broken and damaged.

Just like Bellamy himself was.