𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒎𝒇𝒂𝒚𝒂; ❛ 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝒀 𝑯𝑰𝑮𝑯 ❜
↷ 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒅
❝ 𝒘𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 ❞

Clarke and Wells were doing it again.

And in all honesty? The whole third-wheeling thing Gabriella had to do once a week when she and her childhood best 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 actually hung out was starting to get on her last nerve.

Her eyes twitched when she saw the puppy-dog eyes Wells was sending to an oblivious Clarke, who was too busy to notice it because she was doodling in her third drawing book that month.

"Hey, Clarke." Gabriella spoke up, making Wells snap out of his love-doves daze and made Clarke's wide eyes look up from her drawing notebook. They were both met with the fourteen year old who was giving them a small innocent smile that only Wells realised was fake, "What are you drawing?"

Clarke's eyes widened further at her question and heat crawled up to her pale cheeks, "Um..." She stuttered and looked down at the notebook, hesitantly lifting it up and turning it in Gabriella's direction, "You."

The Kane girl felt her entire face soften at the sight of the sketch of her unfinished face on the thin white paper, "Oh..." she looked back up at the blushing Clarke and gave her a big grin, "that looks amazing, Clarke. You should really try and do something with it instead of continuing to go to medical classes you don't like."

"My mom would kill me." the youngest Griffin scoffed bitterly, her lips curling in distaste at the memory of her strict mother and expectant father as she absent-mindedly glared at the radiation filled planet Earth through the glass window.

"Your mom isn't your keeper." Gabriella reminded her softly but firmly, "You're allowed to make your own decisions. We're not our parents." She gave Wells a short but bitter look and then looked back at Clarke, "Well, you and I don't have to be. Charming is already halfway there."

-

The entire hour it took them to officially arrive back on The Ark was a complete blur for Gabriella.

She guessed it was probably because of the already obvious lack of oxygen that both her body and mind were going to have to get used to again. Or it was just the fact that she would have died if it wasn't for Bellamy giving her his oxygen tank a minute before someone ( Gabriella isn't sure if it was Raven or Wells...or maybe even Murphy or Emori ) managed to turn on the oxygen in this stupid metal box they used to call home.

Gabriella also was not sure what she was even feeling.

Well that was a lie. She felt guilty.

More guilty than she ever did ever since the Mount Weather massacre.

Clarke was dead because she was doing the job that the two of them were supposed to do together. And for once in her life Gabriella allowed somebody else to take the responsibility for something that big.

It should have been me. Gabriella thought with a tight frown on her face as she stared off into space. The sight of planet Earth being on literal fire made an uneasy feeling settle in her chest but the knowledge that Clarke's probably dead body was burning with it made her have to fight back tears.

She refused to cry.

At least when Wells' head was probably filled with the exact same thoughts in the spot next to her.

Clarke used to be Gabriella's best friend and if they found the way to rekindle their relationship before Praimfaya Gabriella would have definitely followed her to the tower.

But above all; Clarke was Wells' first love. When Wells Jaha cared he cared hard. He cared too much. And in these past two days he has lost the two girls he loved more than himself. Alina has died while trying to save her people by winning the bunker for Azgeda and Clarke died trying to do the same thing just under different circumstances.

Neither Gabriella or Bellamy could place what kind of thoughts Wells was having as he glared down at the bottle of alcohol that they found next to the window. He was gripping the bottle tightly and Gabriella wasn't sure if he was about to have an anger attack and smash the bottle on the floor or if he was about to drink every last drop from it. When his hold on it relaxed and his shoulders dropped in defeat, she figured the latter was most likely.

"She saved us again." his voice was quiet and if the room wasn't filled with nothing but the humming of The Ark, they would probably not hear him at all, "And I left her behind."

"We left her behind." Gabriella told him firmly, swallowing as she barely allowed herself to meet his gaze, "You're not bearing this burden on your shoulders alone." she placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "We're going to have to find a way to go through all of this without her."

"If we don't," Bellamy let out a heavy sigh, his lips set into a deep frown, "she died in vain. And we can't let that happen." he lifted his gaze away from the flaming planet Earth to raise his eyebrows and look between Wells and Gabriella, "Are you two with me?"

Gabriella looked away from Wells, her eyes softening further at the sight of the sad look Bellamy was wearing and the grief in his eyes.

"Always." she and Wells answered simultaneously, the latter's response coming out more quiet but just as firm as hers.

Bellamy gave them a ghost of a small sad smile, which Wells returned even if it didn't quite reach his eyes. Gabriella wasn't sure if she was ever going to get used to looking at him and not seeing that hopeful but coregious look in his eyes that was there since the day she met him all those years ago.

"She loved coming out here to look at Earth." Wells recalled the memory in an almost fond manner, "She would have been here with us."

Gabriella swallowed down her sadness at the memory of all three of them coming there years ago, each of them doing something they liked but still doing it together; she would read whichever book she recently found, Clarke would be drawing and Wells would be solemnly looking at her. She ignored her grief because of not wanting to break down in front of her grieving friend and gave his shoulder another comforting squeeze, choosing to rest her forehead on the back of his shoulder instead of hugging him, "She's still here. In a way she always will be."

She moved away from Wells when she didn't hear a response, only for him to pull her into a hug by wrapping his hands around her waist and placing his face in the crook of her neck.

"Thank you." he muttered quietly, only for her to hear. She sighed sadly and wrapped her arms around his head at the sound of his voice breaking.

"No problem, Wells."

The hug was cut short when he decided to pull away a second later, rushing to wipe the tears off his face as fast as he could. He cleared his throat and took a step away from the couple, visibly swallowing and giving them a curt nod, "I'm gonna go help the others unpack. I'll see you two later."

Gabriella watched him leave with a tight frown on her lips. Once he was out of the room and the doors closed, she shook her head and kept her gaze there, "He's not fine."

She heard Bellamy sigh behind her and felt him step closed before he placed his hands on her shoulders, squeezed them and placed a lingering kiss to the back of her head, "He's never going to be fine, Gabi. You can't blame him for it either. I would probably act the same if I lost you. Well, that's a lie. I would not have even made it back to The Ark."

Her shoulders dropped, "I just ── I have no idea if he will ever be the same Wells again."

"You can't save everyone, Gabi." Bellamy told her softly, "We all changed. Take me as an example. You used to think I was just an arrogant man-whore who couldn't keep his dick in his pants."

"I still do."

She heard him chuckle into her hair and turned to look at him to see him staring down at her with a small smirk on his face, "And I used to think you were just a selfish and stubborn brat who would kill me in my sleep."

"I still would."

Bellamy breathed out a laugh and shook his head, his curls falling onto his forehead, "You are so missing the point of this conversation."

"Can we have it later?" she asked him after letting out a soft sigh, "My head is kind of killing me right now and I need my eight hours of sleep which I have not had in days."

"Whenever the hell you you want." Bellamy smiled softly and leaned down to capture her lips into a soft but firm kiss. Gabriella closed her eyes and hummed, smiling softly into the kiss and watching him with loving eyes as they pulled away.

"I love you." she whispered quietly, almost afraid that if she actually said it to his face that he would just magically vanish into thin air.

But that was not going to happen any time soon and they both knew it.

"I love you too , Artemis."

a/n: if you noticed the 1.04 wells and gabi parallel I love you

book 3 should be out sometime after the new year so reply here for dedications!