Clarke was busy taking stock of her medical supplies when she heard someone walk in.
"Hey princess, you up for a little adventure?" Clarke turned around and eyed Bellamy suspiciously, sure he was up to no good.
"What do you have in mind?"
"Well, we need maps. We need to know where the grounder territory lines lie and we need to know what the area around us looks like so we can navigate around it, and it has come to my attention that you are quite the artist, so… what do you say?"
Clarke thought about it. It would be useful to know what the area around them looked like. They were given some old maps on the drop ship, but the world has changed so much since those maps were made, they had no way of being sure they were still accurate. It was a good idea, she admitted, but she didn't want to relent to Bellamy so quickly so she sat there a moment, pretending to think it over.
Bellamy shifted his weight, growing impatient with the princess wasting time. "Okay" she finally responded, "when do we leave?"
"Now" Bellamy practically growled, grabbing Clarke's bag before she could protest and walked out the door, not checking to see if she followed.
"Hey" she scrambled after him, "wait, I need to grab some supplies." She yanked her bag away with a huff and ducked into her tent. She emerged with a few pencils and a sketch book, along with some of the old maps she was stuffing into her bag.
"Ready" Clarke declared, and after grabbing a few ration packs, they were off.
After hours of walking through the woods, taking note of where they were and climbing a few trees, Clarke was thoroughly scraped up and exhausted. Not that she would ever dare to complain, or show any weakness, in front of Bellamy. But he must have known how she felt, if he did not feel the same way himself, because he slowed down to a stop and turned back to face her.
"We should probably rest for a bit, we don't want to burn out too quickly, and we still have the walk back to camp."
Clark sat down, leaning her back against a thick tree trunk and to her surprise, Bellamy sat down right next to her, their shoulders touching.
"Where are we now?" He asked looking at the map she'd been working on.
"Right here" she said pointing somewhere on the top left, "and here's camp" her finger moved to the other end. "I'd estimate a two hour journey away?"
"We made pretty good progress today." Bellamy decided, leaning in to get a better look at the map. He was close enough for her to feel his breath on her cheek.
Clarke cleared her throat and added a few more notes on the map, trying not to be distracted by Bellamy Blake. All of her attempts failed in that regard as he smoothly peeled off his shirt, revealing just how muscular his chest and abs were.
Bellamy took a swig from his canteen and leaned back against the tree. He couldn't help but notice a slight blush on Clarke's cheeks which only made him smirk. "Like what you see princess?" he leaned in to ask, deepening her blush. She shot him a glare, but then focused on something behind him and her glare melted into a look of concerned confusion. Bellamy turned to see a swarm of birds all flying the same direction and Bellamy realized just how quiet the forest had become. Just then the sound of a horn pierced through the silence and Bellamy's eyes flew to Clarke. They just stared at each other for a heartbeat before Clarke whispered "Acid fog."
Those two words were all it took for Bellamy to jump up, grab their bags, grab Clarke's hand and drag her along behind him, in the same direction the birds had gone.
"Wait, we need to go the other way."
"Are you crazy princess? Did you forget what happened to Atom!?" he asked in disbelief.
"No, there's supposed to be a cave over there..." Clarke trailed off. If the maps were still accurate, and that was a big if. But she had a point. They had no chance of out running this, finding shelter was their only chance. Hopefully the cave was still there.
They both ran with their lives depending on it to the spot where the cave was supposed to be. Bellamy released Clarke's hand.
"Look around, and quick!"
They split up to frantically look around the rocks and bushes for an entrance to the cave. Bellamy whooped in relief when he found and opening. He called to Clarke but she didn't respond. He turned around to see her frozen in fear staring at the immense yellow cloud growing nearer. Bellamy didn't even think when he threw their bags deep in the cave and ran up to Clarke. He grabbed her by the waist and threw her over his shoulder before booking it back to safety. Once he deemed they were deep enough into the cave, he gently set Clarke down and slid down the wall beside her. Once Bellamy got his breathing under control, he spared a glance at the girl sitting beside him. She had both of her hands burying her face so he couldn't get a read on her expression, but she was trembling and he didn't think that was because of the cold. But it was cold, and they needed to conserve their heat. At least, that's what he told himself as he put his arm around Clarke and drew her closer to him. He held her long after she stopped shaking, and wasn't quite sure who was comforting who at this point. Bellamy just leaned back and enjoyed the feel of Clarke in his arms. They both drew whatever comfort and strength they could from the other. For now that was the best they could do.
Bellamy knew when Clarke finally drifted off, when her muscles finally relaxed. If was strange seeing her so at ease, with nothing to stress or worry over. He couldn't help but to notice how beautiful her face looked at peace like this, and he was glad she had sleep to keep her problems at bay, for however fleeting that moment was. Bellamy's thoughts continued to wonder off, and he didn't even realize he had been absentmindedly stroking the hair of the beautiful creature before him until he too was able to find sleep.
Clarke awoke with her head resting on Bellamy's lap and it took her a moment to remember how she got there. Oh right. The acid fog. Feeling her stirring, Bellamy woke just seconds later. He tilted her chin up so she could meet his gaze, and he looked at her with somber eyes, "Clarke." He murmured, brushing his thumb against her cheek. "That was a close call. Too close." She could barely manage more than a nod in response. "I'm going to go outside and see if the coast is clear. We should probably head back soon before people start to miss us, and the camp goes to hell."
Clarke watched his figure disappear too quickly through the mouth of the cave, and couldn't help but to miss his warmth and his strength by her side. Boy, she really needed to get a hold of herself. After mentally shaking herself, she followed after Bellamy.