Clarke sighed as she eyed Camp Jaha from her tent. Returning to Camp Jaha hadseemed like the best decision, but she found that it no longer felt like home. While Clarke was greeted joyfully, she still felt reserved about her return, and about her decisions in Mount Weather. However, Clarke could no longer leave her people alone. She was responsible for saving their lives, and Clarke knew she had to be responsible, at least partially, for their future.
The one person Clarke wanted to return to the most was Bellamy. Not a day had gone by that she did not think of their conversation before her departure. As she had walked away from camp, the feeling of Bellamy's cheek burning her lips, she had felt a hand on her arm.
Clarke had whipped around to find Bellamy's pleading eyes only inches from hers. "I need you to know, Clarke," he said, "Before you go, I need you to know to how much I need you to…" he paused before continuing, "How much we all need you to stay."
Clarke could feel the electricity between them. She'd be a fool to say that she had never felt it before. "You must know," he told her, "You must know how I-
"I know," Clarke said, knowing that if she let him finish, it would be nearly impossible to leave. She pulled him into a hug, and for one precious moment, imagined what it would be like to stay. Clarke breathed him in, pushed her head into his neck, and held onto that image as tightly as she could. That time, when she pulled back and walked away, she did not look back.
Clarke had held on to that look in Bellamy's eyes during her months alone. She hadn't breathed, hadn't eaten, and hadn't slept without him on her mind. Now, back at camp, after the reunion during which he'd held her for so long she'd been certain he was about to ask her about that conversation, Clarke found that once again she couldn't escape him.
Constantly surrounded by others, and with the curious looks and questions still following wherever she went, Clarke and Bellamy danced around the topic. One humid night a week after returning to camp, Clarke felt restless. She paced her tent, her mind unable to focus on anything for long. Whether it was her return to camp, feelings of confinement, or the heat that was getting to her, Clarke knew she had to move.
Unzipping her door, Clarke strode briskly from her tent, around the building that had once been the Ark, and walked until the tents dissipated and she felt calmer. Walking still, she slipped out of the gate at the far end of camp, telling the man on guard that she needed to clear her head. Guards had long since stopped expecting her to obey curfew. As Clarke walked further, the lights of camp faded and the sounds of night enveloped her, and her pace slowed. Walking through a very familiar clearing, she could finally breathe as she saw the creek just ahead.
It was not the closest source of water, but it was the most secluded one. When Clarke saw him sitting by the water, her heart stopped. Bellamy must have heard her footsteps, and turned around as she approached. His face, confused at someone having found his hiding spot, relaxed as he recognized her.
"Clarke," he said softly. Her stomach flipped.
She reached out her hands as she approached, and Bellamy's fingers laced through hers. She could feel the electricity coursing through her, and the desire she felt consumed her. Clarke looked up at him through half-lidded eyes, heart pounding and palms sweaty. Bellamy looked down at her with a smile playing on his lips. He leaned down, and time stopped. Clarke could see in explicit detail the colours in his eyes, the wave in his hair, could see the hope she knew was mirrored on her face. What seemed like an eternity later, his lips landed on hers.