The most annoying sound, Bellamy had decided, was the alarm set to wake him each morning. It is not as though G.I.L.E.S understood. It was just an automated voice attached to a machine.

Everyone woke up at this time, it was just how things were done. Life started in Londinium at 7:30am.

Waving his hand in the air to silence the alarm, Bellamy decided to keep his eyes closed for just a little bit longer.

The wonderful sugar sickness he had been feeling a few moments before had disappeared completely. In fact, he was hungry.

A small bell chimed through his room, telling him that even first thing in a morning he could not escape his mother.

Rolling out of bed, he waved his hand over the lit up area of the screen that hung on his wall, telling him he had received a message.

He scanned his mother's message quickly, the familiar plummeting feeling that came from interacting with her settling in his stomach.

She had sent him a link to an available living unit. It had an open plan living and dining area, two bedrooms and bathroom. It was six times the size of the unit he was in now.

Perhaps if he bought the unit it would get his mother off of his back about marriage, he wondered hopefully.

"G.I.L.E.S, bring up my credits."

The number 1,000,000 appeared on the screen.

The amount of money he had saved was another reason why he refused to marry. He knew that there was a high chance they would only have married him for his money and status.

The unit he was living in currently cost him 10,000 credits. The unit his mother had send him cost 150,000.

He'd had enough of looking, and could at least tell his mother that he was considering the unit. Waving his hand, the screen went blank.

Turning around to the food shoot, he typed in his order of breakfast.

"G.I.L.E.S, tell me my work schedule." Bellamy asked, as his toast and jam along with a cup of coffee appeared in front of him.

"Monday to Friday, nine to five."

He sighed in relief. Work was the only thing that kept his mind occupied, especially as now he also had Pippa and the old world constantly on his mind.

"G.I.L.E.S, what time should I leave for dinner tonight?" He asked.

"You should leave at 4:30 PM." G.I.L.E.S replied as Bellamy pressed the buttons necessary for changing the single room from a bedroom to a day room.

"Eight hours." Bellamy smiled, sitting down on the arm chair that rose from the floor.

He settled down, laying his head back and shutting his eyes. His mind taking him back to laying on the picnic rug beside Pippa.

Much to his dismay, eight hours passed by far too quickly. With his day dreaming about Pippa and reading the latest news and articles on technology, it had flown by.

"G.I.L.E.S, my suit please." He said, his new suit appearing from behind the wall.

Moving begrudgingly, he washed and shaved, styled his hair and changed into his suit. Though he would never admit it out loud, he knew that Carlos, tailor extraordinaire, had made a wonderful suit- and that he looked good.

Leaving his unit, he kept his head down. The weekend always meant more people in the corridors. He slipped past a group of men, their casual clothes still showing their rank and work area from the colour. He knew his black suit would cause people to stare and talk.

Scanning his iris, he climbed into a private car, ordering it to his parents unit.

The city flashed by as his car sped through the city. The light of the dome covering the city began to darken as the evening wore on. The only light came from the passing trains, full of people traveling to and from the community rooms, and the odd unit in the sky scrapers from the people who preferred, like Bellamy, to stay at home. Preferably alone.

The car came to a stop below the tallest sky scraper, a red light appearing at the top of the car, scanning down to make sure that he was who he said he was.

The security measures were in place because this was the sky scraper that housed all of the main parliament officials- including the president.

The car started again, moving up the building, stopping midway. Looking out to the city, Bellamy was already the same height as much of the other buildings.

The car door clicked open. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out, straightening his jacket and adjusting his hair.

Laughter coming from behind the door in front of him meant that guests had already arrived. Checking the time, he was thankful to see that he was right on time. His mother would not be able to tell him off for arriving after the guests.

He knocked three times on the door, stepping back to wait for it to open.

The door swung open, Bellamy's father standing on the other side. The smile Bellamy grew up with was plastered on his lips. It was fake.

"My Son!" His father cried out. Reaching forward, setting one hand tightly on his shoulder, steering him inside their unit.

It had changed in style since he had last been inside over six months ago. It was now stark white, the large living room and dining room overshadowed by a large glass window.

Art hung on the walls, the furniture made from twisted steel and the small gathering of people- not so small.

"Bellamy, my darling!" His mother sauntered across the room, kissing his on both cheeks before giving him a glass of wine.

"Small dinner, mother?" He asked, taking a sip of his drink.

In reply, his mother sent him a quick glare, before taking him by the hand and leading him around the room.

"Did you look at the unit information I sent you?" She asked, smiling as guests nodded in hello towards him.

"I did mother, and I am considering it." He replied, nodding back and occasionally raising his glass in hello to those he knew.

"Good, that's good. I hate to think of you still in that awful little unit across the city."

He chose not to reply to his mother, simply taking another gulp of his wine. He knew that he would need a lot more to get through the evening.

"Darling!" His mother said, reaching out to embrace a young girl who was stood awkwardly to the side of two men by the window.

"Hello, Mrs. Jezebel." She said, smiling up at Bellamy.

"Bellamy, this is Melody. She is the daughter of a college of mine."

"Pleasure to meet you." He said, wary of his mother looking between the two of them.

He had to wonder what she was thinking. Did she expect him to drop down onto one knee straight away? No doubt that was in fact what she was hoping.

"This is a wonderful dinner party, Mrs. Jezebel." Melody said, breaking the silence that had threatened to settle.

"Thank you my darling. Where is your father?"

"He is just behind me, talking to Mr. Barnes." Melody replied, pointing to the two men behind her.

Bellamy cringed inside, Mr. John Barnes, Head of the technology sector and his boss.

"So he is! Excuse me." His mother said, leaving the two of them alone.

The smile Melody had, fell from her lips, before she realised that he was watching her, and it appeared again.

Chuckling, he indicated that they should walk around the room.

"You don't have to put on any false pretences around me, if you will allow me to do the same." He said quietly, knowing that there would be eyes and ears on the both of them.

"Thank goodness. I think I was getting cheek ache." Melody replied with a laugh.

Bellamy laughed with her, feeling as though the evening may not have been a waste after all.

"Are you really enjoying the evening?" He asked.

"Truthfully, yes. I always leave these events with the most brilliant gossip." She replied.

Bellamy nodded. Perhaps he had judged her too quickly. He couldn't stand people who gossiped.

"What do you use this gossip for?" He asked, replacing their now empty glasses with full ones.

"I store them up in case I need to blackmail someone." She replied, a rueful smile blossoming onto her lips.

He almost choked on his wine as he processed what she said. Staring at her with wide eyes, he tried to figure out whether or not she was in fact telling the truth.

She shrugged in return, continuing their walk around the room, slowly sipping on her glass of wine.

"Any useful tid-bits this evening?" He asked, deciding to go along with her.

"One or two perhaps. Though I doubt that they will ever actually be useful." She replied, laughing when she saw his shocked expression.

"You're joking. Aren't you?" He said, realising she was teasing him.

"Perhaps."

Before he could reply, asking her why they had never been introduced before, his mother came towards them, Melody's father and Mr. Barnes in tow.

"Father."

"Mother."

He and Melody said at the same time. Their relaxed demeanours shifting as their backs straightened and any hint of the laughter they had just shared disappearing.

"Bellamy darling, this is Frazor Banks, Melody's father. Frazor, this is my son."

"Mr. Barnes said you're doing well in your new position." Frazor said, his boss nodding in agreement.

"Yes, I am enjoying the new position very much. I am grateful to have been considered for it." He replied.

"Of course you were considered." His mother chastised him.

"You were exceptional in the interviews and you were top of your class, you were our obvious choice. I can see you going a long way young man." Mr. Barnes said, reaching for another drink from his father who was walking around passing them out.

"Thank you Sir." He replied, knowing the actual reason he was promoted.

"Dinner, is served!" His father called out, gesturing extravagantly to a now laden table.

"Shall we?" His mother said, steering his boss and Melody's father to the table, leaving Bellamy to escort Melody alone.

He knew his mother had planned it to be this way from the wink she sent over her shoulder towards him. Her lips twisting into a smile towards Melody.

"Can I escort you, Miss Banks?" He asked, refreshing his glass again before offering his hand to the young lady.

She smiled, brushing her brown hair out of her eyes before accepting his hand.

They walked over to the table, to see that they had been seated next to one another at the end of the table near his mother, Melody's father, Mr. Barnes and three other men he was not familiar with.

He followed the polite customs that he had been taught for dinner parties since a young age, holding out her chair for her and not sitting down until all of the other women at the table had been seated.

"Wonderful spread, darling." His father said, raising his glass to his mother who was sat at the opposite end of the long table.

"Please, eat!" Bellamy's mother said, before turning to the man by her side.

"Another reason I like these dinners, the food is always amazing." Melody said, leaning towards him so they wouldn't be over heard.

"True." He replied, helping himself to some pasta.

"John, how is your husband doing? I'm sorry to hear that he is feeling unwell." Frazor asked.

Melody leaned away from him and began to listen in to her father's conversation.

"Yes, it's very unfortunate. He was so excited for this evening as well." Bellamy's boss replied.

"I didn't know he was married?" Bellamy asked Melody, who leaned back over to him, still paying attention to the conversation.

"Yes, he married Carlos's apprentice Justin a few months ago. You would like Justin, and when John is around his husband he isn't nearly this uptight." She giggled.

Bellamy smiled, seeing his boss in a new light. He knew that he had a bad habit of judging people before he truly got to know them, but it was the way he had always been. Mistrusting of the masks that people wore. Because the people that surrounded him always had an agenda.

It was why he enjoyed his dreams so much, especially now that Pippa had come into them. Her laugh, smile. Her freedom. She was genuine.

Looking around the table, he watched as his father, the man most likely to be voted in as the next president, laughed with the man who was the head of the medical sector and the woman who controlled the credits.

The immaculately dressed men and women around the table, laughing and talking would have seemed normal to those who hadn't grown up surrounded by it all.

His gaze fell to Melody. Her dress, custom made by Carlos no doubt. The fake smile back in place that to an untrained eye would seem genuine. The way she laughed along with her father's bad jokes and fawned over his mother's new necklace.

Everyone had an agenda for something, including Melody. Her comments about collecting gossip for blackmail no longer sounded like a joke.