When his shift ends, the sun is far above their heads and the day is gaining heat rapidly. Bellamy wipes his brow and hands his rifle over to the next guard. They nod at each other and Bellamy heads into the camp.
He finds Clarke sitting at a table casting quick glances in Raven's direction. He slides easily into the seat next to her and looks towards Raven.
"Anything?"
"No… I tried talking to her, but she just... walked away." Clarke redirects her gaze back down to the bowl of mush that is today's lunch.
"She'll come around. She can't hate you forever, right?" It's the wrong thing to say, and he knows it as soon as the words leave his mouth. Without a sound, Clarke stands while simultaneously pushing her bowl away. He reaches out and grabs her wrist. "What are you doing later today?" She eyes him suspiciously.
"I have to take inventory in the med bay. Then my mom wants to have dinner with me."
"Well, why don't you forget dinner with Chancellor Griffin and we go take a walk? Outside the walls." She is still regarding him cautiously; sure he has an ulterior motive.
"Okay, I'll meet you around dinner time then." And she walks away, leaving Bellamy to his own devices for the rest of the day. His own devices, including sleeping for the majority of the day, of course.
…
"You ready, princess?" Bellamy is leaning against a pile of supplies near the gates when Clarke finally appears before him, her eyes troubled and her brow furrowed.
"As ready as I'll ever be." She follows him out of the gates and they head west, watching the sun dip below the tree line before them. "Why are we out here?" She finally asks after they've been walking for about thirty minutes.
"I just thought you'd like some company. And some space, you know, away from that place. With the threat of the Grounders gone, we can walk out here freely again. Well, kind of anyways." He offers up a small smile but she only stares.
"Thank you," she says after a moment of heavy silence. "I can't breathe in there." He nods, unsure of what to say. Instead, he simply lends her his presence. They sit down beside a stream and stare out over the water that moves over the stones. It hasn't rained in about a week so the stream is a little on the low side, the water lapping at the banks noisily. The sound is soothing and Clarke exhales deeply, throwing her head back to stare at the stars quickly making their appearance in the dark sky.
"How's work in the med bay?" He asks, trying to bring up anything other than Finn.
"It's fine. I guess, I don't do much except for count bandages and medicine vials. Mom won't even let me do stitches." She smiles at him for the first time since what he has started referring to as 'the incident'.
"Well, she probably got a good look at the stitches you gave me." He pushes his shoulder playfully into hers warranting another smile on her end.
"If you hadn't been moving so much, they would've been fine."
"Yeah, and if you hadn't been so pissed at me you would've been more gentle when repeatedly stabbing me with a needle." She laughs, actually laughs. The sound is music to Bellamy's ears.
"You're such a baby." Silence presses around them, Clarke shifts slightly and turns to face Bellamy. "What are we going to do now?"
"Now?" He lifts his eyebrows at her. "We win a war," he says it like it's the simplest thing to achieve.
"Of course." She turns back to the river and doesn't say another word as she leans her head against Bellamy's shoulder.
Eventually, she dozes off and Bellamy doesn't attempt to wake her, her soft snores almost a soothing sound. When the sun starts to rise he shakes her softly.
"Time to get back to camp, princess. I'm sure you're mom is worried about you."
…
Bellamy wasn't wrong. As soon as they walk back into Camp Jaha, Abby Griffin is on them, a tiny human shaped ball of rage and worry.
"Where have you been!?" She demands, checking Clarke over for any wounds and shooting a glare at Bellamy.
"We were just out in the woods, mom. It's no big deal." Clarke is irritated. Even though she was, and still is, extremely grateful that Abby is alive, she still drives Clarke up the wall. She pulls her chin out of her mom's grasp and steps back.
"No big deal? No big deal!? Clarke, do you understand what is happening right now?"
"Yes, mom! Probably better than you do. Now back off." Her voice is stern, very much so her leader voice, Bellamy can't help but smirk as surprise takes hold of Abby's features.
"I was just worried about you."
"I know," Clarke's voice softens. "I'm fine, Bellamy was with me. He'd never let anything happen to me." Her words are filled with confidence and Bellamy feels a surge of emotion move through him, though he's unable to put his finger on exactly what he was feeling. Clarke is right, he'd never let her get hurt. She's the only person on this earth that trusts him completely, other than Octavia. He'd do anything in his power to protect Clarke, even lay down his own life if it came down to it because truth be told, there's no one he trusts more on this earth. Not even Octavia. The truth of that seems so foreign to him whenever he puts too much thought into it. He's spent his whole life trusting only Octavia and himself. He'd never trusted anyone else, not even his mom, not really anyways. Then comes along this fiery blonde with an attitude to counter his and suddenly his tiny group of confidantes has one more member.
"Yeah," Abby eyes Bellamy again, not really comforted by the fact that Clarke trusts him so much. Sure, Abby had sent Bellamy and the others out with guns to find Clarke when they first arrived, but he is still a delinquent that shot the previous Chancellor. She had been desperate to find Clarke at the time and would've sent anyone with a basic knowledge of the area to find her. "Well, I think it's time for us to go to bed." Abby grabs her daughter lightly at her elbow and moves to pull her towards her quarters.
"Actually, mom, I think I'm going to spend tonight with the other kids." Clarke extracts her arm from her mom's grasp and looks to Bellamy with a look that tells him to follow her before walking off. He follows, leaving Abby to gape after them.
"Where exactly are we going? Your mother does not seem happy about you spending time with me. Is this just to piss her off?" He can't see her roll her eyes, he doesn't need to. He can hear it in her voice.
"So full of yourself, Bellamy. No, Wick said that he has some alcohol and invited you and me to join him in his quarters."
"And we're doing it? Clarke…" he groans. "Your mom seriously hates me already. If I get her daughter drunk she's going to put my head on a stake. Besides," he grabs her arm, not unlike the way her mother had held onto her. "Is alcohol really the way to deal with your problems?"
She yanks away from him. "I can deal with things however I want to. Besides, Octavia is in there, so is Lincoln. And I want to join what little friends I have left for a little bit of fun. You do remember what that is right?" Clarke turns and enters into Wick's room. When Bellamy follows her, reluctantly, he almost slams into her.
"Clarke, what the hell?" He steps around her and sees what made her stop short in the doorway.
Raven sits next to Wick and Octavia. This is Wick's way of pushing the two together and forcing them to talk things out.
Standing off to the side of Bellamy is Lincoln, in his hand is a cup filled with a foul smelling liquid. Bellamy grabs it from Lincoln's hand and takes a swig, knowing full well that this night is going to require lots and lots of alcohol.