A/N: The previous chapter was supposed to be a one-shot, but the story just kept writing itself in my head. Also, I'd be lying if I said the comments asking for me to continue it didn't spur me a little. Plus, we've got like 27 years until the new season starts. So...behold, a multi-chapter fic.

Clarke's hand froze on the door knob, her head whipping around to look at him. "What?"

Bellamy wasn't grinning, his face was serious and fairly intense.

They paused for a few seconds, just watching each other uncertainly.

Finally, he spoke. "I take it that's one of the things you don't remember?" His gaze seemed to narrow.

Clarke could feel the heat coming up her neck and into her cheeks. "I…You mean that actually happened? I said that?"

He nodded, watching her intently.

Her mind raced, trying to combat her embarrassment, come up with an excuse, and ignore the way he way he was looking at her, which kind of made her want to take her pants back off. "…I thought that part was a dream."

He shook his head.

She glanced at her hands, at the wall, out the window over his shoulder, anywhere but at him. "You must have misunderstood what I said…"

He narrowed his gaze as if he knew she was lying. He took a step toward her, some sort of determination in his gaze. "Clarke…"

Oh, God. She couldn't do this. She had to… "I must have thought you were someone else," she blurted out.

He stopped in his tracks.

Her heart clenched as she watched as the determination on his face turned to pain, only to quickly be replaced by a mask of indifference.

"Sure," he said evenly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be…inappropriate."

"It's fine. You weren't yourself." His jaw clenched. "Obviously."

She had to remind herself to breathe as he walked around her, unlocking and opening the door himself.

Without looking back, he called over his shoulder, "I need to check on Miller and the guys. Let me know when you're going to tell them…if you want me to be there."

She frowned. "Bellamy…of course I want…"

But he was already gone.

She jogged out the door, trying to catch up with his long strides.

By the time she turned the corner into the other hallway, she spotted him, but she also saw dozens of people in the corridor, some sitting and chatting quietly, others still sleeping. Her people seemed to be mixed in with the Grounders, and she got waylaid by a few of them who wanted to inquire about her health or to thank her for saving them.

She hurried past them as quickly as she could, promising to come back to talk to them later. By the time she reached the large meeting room, Bellamy had already strode up to his sister, who was sitting beside Indra, eating an apple.

Bellamy stood with his hands on his hips, looking down at his sister, his face hard. "Should I bother eating breakfast, or are you going to run me through with a blade too?"

Octavia stood up slowly, her face stony. "You were wrong."

Clarke could see Bellamy's jaw tighten.

"I know."

"You were partially responsible for Lincoln's death. The man I loved. The man who only ever tried to protect me…protect all of us."

Bellamy's hands fell to his sides, his expression tormented. "I know. I'm sorry, O."

Clarke had to strain to hear his quiet words, but she could feel the sincerity in them.

Octavia's eyes suddenly met hers, noticing her eavesdropping before returning to Bellamy. "How would you feel if I had a hand in murdering the woman you love?"

Bellamy's eyes flicked up to Octavia's and his breath caught, audibly. He was silent for a minute before he replied, "I don't deserve your forgiveness."

It wasn't a question; it was a statement. And, this time, his voice sounded tortured.

Clarke's eyes narrowed at their exchange. Octavia had said 'woman you love' like such a person actually existed…and Bellamy had answered the same way.

For some reason, her heartbeat increased.

Octavia's lips pursed. "No, you don't." She studied him for a moment before she reached down and pulled another apple out of her bag, handing it to him. "Not yet."

Bellamy took the apple tentatively, as if he was afraid she would snatch it away from him at the last minute, but she didn't.

She sat back down, turning to resume her conversation with Indra as if nothing had happened.

Bellamy nodded once, twice, staring at the apple in his hand, then he turned around. His gaze caught hers, and with a frown, he headed in the opposite direction.

Clarke let out a sigh, her gaze scanning the room for her mother. Seeing her over in the corner with Marcus, she headed in that direction.

Abby stood up immediately when she saw her, meeting her halfway.

Clarke stood still while her mother inspected her closely and checked her vitals, fussing over her non-stop.

"Mom, I'm fine."

Abby glanced at the wounds on her daughter's chest. "They're starting to scab over. Did you clean them last night?"

Clarke nodded, her gaze dropping to the floor for a second. "Bellamy did."

Her mother's gaze seemed to harden. "Right."

Clarke frowned at her mother's change in attitude, but decided now wasn't the time to question it. "I…" She glanced across the room to where Bellamy was talking to Miller and Bryan. "We need to talk to you."

Abby looked at her warily. "About what?"

Clarke kept staring at Bellamy until she felt his gaze grudgingly meet hers. She motioned for him to join them.

She could see him square his shoulders as he tossed his apple core and then walked over to meet them.

Clarke nodded toward the back corner, where Kane was still sitting, leading everyone over there.

Abby glanced warily between Clarke and Bellamy as Kane greeted them both, apologizing profusely for his behavior.

They both shrugged him off.

Clark glanced around, making sure they were somewhat alone. "We need to gather the leaders…everyone we think we can trust. We need to tell them what I saw in the city of light."

Abby grabbed her daughter's arm. "What did you see?"

Clarke glanced at Bellamy before looking back at her mother. "Really, we need to tell everyone. And I'd really rather only do this once, if I can help it."

Kane quickly stepped forward. "Let me know who you want here. I'll gather them."

Clark named Indra and a few of the commanders and seconds she had gotten along decently with. "Oh! What happened to Roan?! Is he alive?"

Abby and Kane looked confused, while Bellamy glared at her.

She focused on her mother and Kane. "Roan. The guy that came in with me yesterday. The leader of the Ice Nation. He was shot…"

Kane's eyes lit in recognition. "I think they put him down in the dungeon. He was alive when they took him down, but I'm not sure if he survived or not. I doubt anyone has treated him."

Clarke frowned. "This would be a lot easier with his help. I need to go check on him." She headed for the door.

Bellamy grabbed her arm before she could get more than a few steps from him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To go see if Roan's alive. Patch him up if I need to. Weren't you listening?"

He scowled at her. "We don't need him, and you definitely aren't going down there alone."

"He's the King of the Ice Nation, Bellamy, and he's one of the best warriors they have. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have him on our side." She jerked her arm from his grasp. "Now, I need to go see if he's alive."

Grabbing her mother's medical bag, she hurried out the door and got in the elevator, which was usable again.

Before she could close the doors, Bellamy was beside her, gun strapped around his chest.

She looked at him, eyebrows raised questioningly.

"He'd slit your throat as easily as look at you."

"I don't think so. He helped us before. And he's had multiple opportunities to kill both of us, and he hasn't."

He glared at her out of the corner of his eye.

She shrugged as the elevator made its slow decent.

Getting off on the ground level, they went down a flight of stairs to what used to be an underground parking garage, but was now sectioned off into cells.

Clarke started jogging past empty cells until she found one with a large lump in it. Pausing, she looked at Bellamy, who reluctantly grabbed a key off the wall and unlocked the door.

When Clarke tried to go in before him, he put his arm out, holding up a finger to tell her to wait a minute.

He carefully skirted the unmoving lump, going around to the other side to see his face.

He nodded at Clarke, who immediately sat on the floor in front of Roan, stretching her fingers out to his neck to check for a pulse.

Her fingers had barely touched his neck when his hand came up to grip her wrist in a vice.

She gasped and Bellamy took an immediate step forward, his gun raised, but Roan only stared up at Clark, his fingers still brutal on her wrist.

"Wanheda." He said, by way of greeting.

Clarke waved Bellamy back. "Clarke, if you don't mind. And if you want me to dig that bullet out of your shoulder, I suggest you don't break my hand."

Roan let out a grunt, dropping her wrist.

She peered at the bullet wound. "How are you still conscious right now? I thought you were dead."

"It takes more than this to kill an Azgeda warrior."

Bellamy snorted in the background.

Clarke paused to glare at him over her shoulder before turning back to Roan, probing at his shoulder some more with her fingers. "I need to get this out. And then you need to come upstairs with me. We need your help."

Roan's mouth twitched in some semblance of a grin. "When don't you need my help?" He sighed, laying back flat on the dirt. "Do it."

Just a few minutes later, the three of them were making their way back up in the elevator.

Roan had endured Clarke's doctoring, managing to stay conscious through the bullet extraction, when she sterilized it with moonshine, and when she stitched it up.

Clarke was glancing at him worriedly every few minutes, afraid he might fall over, and Bellamy was glancing at him with something that looked like grudging respect, although he'd never admit it.

When they got to the top floor, they walked through the hallway and into the great room, shutting the doors behind them.

Inside were Abby, Kane, Indra, Octavia, Miller, Murphey, Jaha, and a half a dozen leaders from the other clans.

Clarke nodded in greeting when they all turned to watch the trio enter.

Kane spoke from the other side of the room. "Clarke, I told them you had something you needed to discuss with them."

Clarke took a breath, squaring her shoulders as she stepped forward. Suddenly, anxiety gripped her. It wasn't just that she had some of the fiercest Grounders known to man staring at her, it was also that she knew she was about to give them news that would terrify them.

Her mouth opened, then closed again. She was unsure of where to even start.

Before she could try again, she felt a presence by her side. Looking up, she saw that Bellamy had stepped forward, giving her a curt nod before he again faced the people in front of them.

She took another deep breath before she started. "I talked to ALIE in the City of Light."

There were murmurs around the room.

"She tried to convince me that I couldn't destroy her because we needed her."

Kane was frowning. "That's what she does, Clarke. It's how she got so many people to take the chip. She convinced them they needed her."

"No, I know. But this wasn't about that. She told me that soon, the City of Light would be the only safe place for us."

Abby narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean? Why?"

Clarke paused, glancing around the room. "According to her, all the nuclear power plants around the world are failing, and within a short time, Earth will be uninhabitable…again."

Everyone started talking all at once.

Roan silenced them with a sharp whistle. His gaze was intense on Clarke. "How do you know this…thing…wasn't lying to you?"

"…I don't. I mean, I can't be sure. But I think there's a good chance she was telling the truth. And I don't think it's something we can just ignore. We need to come up with a plan…some way to see if it IS true…and then see if there's a way to fix it or…survive it."

Kane was the first to speak. "How would we even go about this?"

"I'm not sure. We need to talk to Raven…Monty…We need to get everyone who was an engineer or a scientist or anything like that on the Ark together and see if they can come up with something." Her eyes widened with an idea. She turned to her mother. "Is Wick here? Did he make it?"

Abby nodded. "Yeah, I saw him last night."

Clarke breathed a small sigh of relief. "Good, he's the best we've got. Between him, Raven, and Monty, they should be able to figure something out…at least be able to tell us what we're dealing with here." She looked at the rest of the group, specifically the Grounders. "This affects all of us. None of us will be able to survive if what ALIE predicted comes true."

One of the older leaders stepped forward. "My people have survived this…radiation…before. We will survive it again."

Clarke shook her head. "Before, your people were able to survive smaller bursts of radiation, partially because you built up a tolerance to it along the way. This won't be like that. This will be a massive amount, all at once. It will destroy everything around us: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the plants and animals we eat…nothing will be able to survive it."

Roan spoke from behind Clarke. "So what is it you want from us?"

She turned to the side so she was able to see him more clearly. "We need to work together."

"My people are not engineers or scientists. We can't help you."

"No, but your people are warriors, and you know the land and the tribes, especially those North of us. We may need your help."

Roan studied her for a moment, his gaze piercing. Finally, his head bowed slightly. "The Ice Nation is in your debt, Wanheda. If you need our help, we will give it."

Clarke nodded her thanks before turning back to the others.

One at a time, they also agreed, some more reluctantly than others. Within just a few minutes, they were all relatively on the same page.

Clarke glanced across the room toward her mother and Kane. "My people need to get back to camp. We need to see what we can figure out."

Indra stepped forward. "What about our people? We do not have a commander."

Clarke looked uncertain. "Luna is the only nightblood left, and she's made it clear she doesn't want the job. Plus, the chip is gone and so is ALIE." She scanned the faces of those around her. "You may have to change the way you select a leader."

Indra looked partially angry, partially at a loss. "This is all my people have ever known."

Murphy chose that minute to speak up sarcastically from the corner. "Ever heard of democracy?"

Kane's expression hardened. "I can't say it doesn't have its drawbacks too."

Bellamy's jaw locked and his eyes fell as he, too, remembered that Pike had been elected fairly.

Clarke didn't try to hide her impatience. "You need to work that out for yourselves. But if we don't stop these power plants…there won't be anyone left to rule anyway."

With that, the rest of the Sky Crew began gathering their things and heading out the door.

Before Clarke could make her way out, Roan had stepped in front of her.

Clarke looked up, and up some more, finally meeting his gaze questioningly.

"We will go with you?"

Clarke looked a little taken aback. She glanced around at the other leaders, who were currently hurrying out to talk to their people. "No, we need to come up with a plan first. You stay here…take care of your people and do what you need to do. We'll send someone for you if we need you."

He gave a short nod and went to step aside.

This time, Clarke went after him. "Make sure you have your healer take care of your shoulder."

Roan responded with a look that said 'yeah, right.'

Clarke narrowed her eyes. "You're of no help to anyone if you die from an infection. Get someone to take care of it."

His mouth twitched. "Yes, Wanheda." His tone was slightly mocking.

"Clarke!" She reminded him before walking out the doors.

She stood in front of the elevator doors, waiting for it to come back up. Feeling a presence to her right, she looked up to find Bellamy at her side, gun in hand, as always. A smirk played on his face as he shook his head.

Clarke frowned. "What?"

"You just have everyone falling all over themselves to do your bidding, don't you?"

She sputtered.

He grinned, finally looking at her. "Relax, Princess. I guess some things never change."

"You say that as if you were at my beck and call when we first landed." She reminded him.

His grin widened, eyes twinkling at her from under his mop of shaggy hair. "Yeah, but look at me now."

Clarke looked away, feeling a blush starting to rise to her cheeks. She wasn't sure whether to laugh or hide her face in her hands.

Luckily, the rest of their group came up to join them as they filed into the elevator and she was saved from having to decide.

On the long ride down, she glanced across the elevator more than once. Each time, she found Bellamy grinning back at her.