"Welcome back. Can you take a deep breath?"

Bellamy opened his eyes and Abigail Griffin's face swam into view.

"How are you feeling?"

"What happened? Where's Clarke?"

"You tried to escape Camp. Got in a fight with a guard who decided to re-crack your ribs for you. Can you take a deep breath?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Because you came very close to a punctured lung. Don't argue with me Bellamy. Just breathe in deeply." He did so, as deeply as he could before his chest tightened.

"Not bad."

"Where's Clark?"

"Try to breathe deeply as often as you can. It will lower your risk of developing complications."

Bellamy sat up stiffly, eyes narrowing as Abby ignored his question. "Where is your daughter?"

"She'll be back soon. You should get some rest." Bellamy's face went ashen.

"You let her go back there... didn't you?"

"I tried to stop her, but she's... she's stubborn."

Fear was suddenly replaced by anger on Bellamy's features. "You've seen what they do to people and you sent her back in there?"

"Have you met my daughter?" Abby retorted, "I didn't send her anywhere. She garnered a grounder army and organized a coup."

He smiled a half smile in spite of himself; of course she did. "When did they leave?" He struggled to sit up but Abby held him down by one shoulder, embarrassingly easily.

"They left three days ago."

"Three days? he cried, leaving no doubts as to his lung capacity now. "Have you sent anyone after her?"

"I'm sure they'll be back any time now."

"Do you know what they'll do to her if they catch her? You saw my wounds, the chemical burns. They lock us in cages, metal so they conduct electricity. Why do you think they do that, Abby? Damn it, she should have waited."

"You take another blow like that and you'll puncture a lung. You needed to heal; she knew that. Why do you think you just woke up now? She pumped you full of so much sedative we thought you'd be out a week." His eyebrows shot up but Abby continued. "I'm sorry, Bellamy. This is for your own good."

"You're sorry? You allowed your own daughter to go off to be tortured and killed and you're sorry?" He felt a pinch and glanced down to see a needle in his thigh. "What did you do?"

"I promised her I would keep you from going after her. This will... help you sleep."

"I don't need to sleep! I need to get out of here." He could already feel the sedatives effects like a weight on his shoulders. "Abby... Abby please, stop this."

"She'll be back, Bellamy. She'll be back when you wake."

His eyelids were drooping in spite of the panic seizing his mind, and ever so slowly the darkness took over again.

He knew he was awake because it hurt too much to be a dream. He could hear voices, jumbled together, frantic tones but most of the words were unfamiliar. Grounders? He clenched one hand, just to see if he could, and he felt his fingers respond.

Clarke?

He forced his eyes open but everything was too bright. The world pitched and swayed together as his eyes acclimated to the light.

She left. She went back without him. Abby said she'd be back when he woke. Was it a hope or a promise? If he could just open his eyes he would see her. She'd be asleep in the bed next to him, hair too short with a new scar or two, perhaps. His eyes gradually got used to the light and he turned his head to the bed next to him.

It was occupied, but not by Clarke. (At least this time she didn't spit in his face...) Bellamy sat up slowly; the med bay was full to bursting. Harper was two beds down, Monty three past her. His eyes flicked bed to bed. She isn't here. Wasn't in a bed, wasn't in the med bay at all. His unbroken hand was tied to the bed. Abby's doing, most likely. But when he tugged, the knot came loose easily. His ribs throbbed as he stretched out but the pain no longer came in nauseating bursts. How long has it been?

He stumbled out into the hallway, several people called at him to stop but he ignored them, rushing down the hall in a semi-delirious haze. Where would she be? The command center. She'd be in the command center (If she wasn't in the ground...) He finally reached what passed for a command center in Camp Jaha and several surprised faces looked up as he burst through the door. She wasn't here. She wasn't in the med bay... He focused in on one surprised face.

Abby.

Charging forward he slammed her back into a wall.

"I could have helped. We did this together, we kept these kids alive together and you... you kept me from helping her." Guards were trying to pull him away but he shook them off. Perhaps Kane would order them to shoot him. He didn't care. All he cared about was making Abigail Griffin understand this was entirely her fault.

"BELLAMY STOP!"

He froze, turning slowly. The guards backed away and Clarke let the door close behind her. She held her hands up, unsure if he was himself. Releasing Abby, Bellamy raced across the room, knocking Clarke back a step or two as he wrapped her in a bone-crushing hug.

"You're back..." he murmured into her neck, "You're alive."

"I'm fine." Her voice lowered slightly as she gave him a light squeeze. "Come on, before they decide to arrest you again, ok?" Abby was giving Clarke her favorite 'we'll-talk-later' look as she hurried Bellamy out into the hallway.

"You drugged me," he said accusingly as she shut the door quickly behind them.

"I did," Clarke said, her chin raised defiantly. Bellamy looked her over carefully. Her hair was still short; there were old mostly-healed scars across her left eyebrow, down one side of her nose and across one cheek. There was a newer, deep gash across her other cheek, blood in her hair and dark circles under her eyes... And God... he wanted nothing more than to press her against the door to the command center and kiss her senseless.

He raised his fingers to her cheek tracing the new wound lightly, "how many?"

"Thirty-one," she said with a smile, "plus several dozen grounders, Maya and an ex-president we have to figure out what to do with. He's been in the air lock… I suppose given that he helped get us out of there, perhaps we could arrange a series of voluntary transfusions, he may be use-" Bellamy laughed suddenly and Clarke stopped short. "What's so funny?"

"Thirty-one. You got all thirty-one, half a grounder army and their president. While I napped."

"I had help."

"You should have had my help." He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, "God, Clarke, you are the most stubborn, infuriating, beautiful, frustrating woman ... I swear, if you overthrow this camp and storm Mt. Weather without me again you and I are gunna have a problem. Got that?"

Clarke grinned, "And you really should make sure I'm really dead before you try to murder my mother again."

"Deal. Tell me something, Princess?" he asked, reaching out to grab her arm as she moved to walk back toward medical.

"What?"

"The drugs, the sedatives...whatever else you and your mother injected into me over the last few days... they all gone now?"

"Yes, Why? Are you in pain, do you need-"

He leaned forward and cut her off with a kiss. Her arms dropped to her sides for a moment in surprise before he pulled her closer with one arm and her mind seemed to catch up with what was happening. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck raising herself onto her toes as he deepened the kiss. When he finally pulled away he was grinning like an idiot and she felt herself responding with a chuckle of her own. "Why did you ask me about the medicine first?" she asked, a little breathlessly.

"I wanted to be absolutely sure I'd remember that," he replied, tightening his arms around her waist.

"This... this could complicate things, Bellamy," Clarke murmured worriedly, "Getting attached... it's ... dangerous. We can't risk being weak."

"I am weak."

"What?" Clarke asked, surprised by his declaration.

"If that's weakness than I'll own it. Because I would have done anything to follow you back to that camp, broken ribs be damned."

"You'll get yourself killed, Bellamy."

"Says the one who tranquilized her co-leader and marched into the dragons den with just the grounders for backup."

"It had to be done."

"Why?"

"You would have followed me."

"So what? You know I could have helped. Taken a few of them down with me if it came to a fight."

"Bellamy-"

"What?" His tone was harder than normal but he didn't loosen his arms from around her and she didn't pull away.

"Don't make me say it again," she said softly.

"Fine," Bellamy acquiesced "but you're wrong. It isn't weakness. It's how we survive down here and why."

Clarke opened her mouth to speak but she was interrupted by a commotion of cries echoing through the hallway from the direction of the gate.

"What now?" she muttered in irritation. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, mentally preparing herself for the worst.

Bellamy placed a light kiss on her forehead before letting her go. "Right behind you, Princess," he commented, a smile tugging up the corners of his lips. To his surprise Clarke did not release him, instead leaning in for one more kiss.

"I will hold you to that, Bellamy"

I'm not sure if I'll be doing more the 100 stories. If so they'll probably be shorts like this one. Perhaps I'll turn this into a compilation of short stories like I did with 'Spinning Yarns'...We'll see!

Either way, Thanks for reading this one. Hope you enjoyed it, (looks like we're in it for the slooooooow burn with Bellarke, but I have every faith it will pay off in the end.) Don't forget to review and let me know how I did on my first shot at Bellarke :)

Counting down to Wednesday... See you at the Aftermath!