An hour later Raven had gathered Monroe, Murphy and Finn into our tent to fill in the guys and come up with a rotation to stake out the mountain. Raven and I sat on my pallet facing the others while they spread out on the remaining pallets and floor.
"So we're going to stalk a mountain until we figure out where the cannibalistic Reaper dudes are coming out. Then walk through the tunnels where the cannibals live and go into a monitored human testing center? Did I get it all?" The sarcasm in Murphy's tones wasn't lost on me, but I chose to ignore it.
"Yeah, that's about right." Monroe snorted
"Well, she didn't go into the part where we're going to attack some reapers and wear their clothes and some fake piercings to blend in. Then we're going into the cannibal infested tunnels and up to the place where they're bleeding grounders dry." I couldn't stop the grin from spreading across my face.
"Ok. I'm in. We need to get everyone out of that place, it's a miracle you did Clarke. I don't know how you survived." He stared at me longer than necessary and it honestly made me a little uncomfortable. I smiled at him briefly and then deliberately shifted my attention to Murphy beside him.
"What about you Murphy, are you in?" He looked hard at me for a few seconds and then shifted to Raven. I knew all about their interaction after we had all been taken. Raven had stuck up for him when the Ark leaders had found them.
"Yeah. I guess I'm in. Just tell me what to do." I smiled at him. He cracked a smile back and it changed his whole face. I'd seen him smirk before but never give a genuine smile.
"Great! Well we just need to figure out a rotation schedule. We were thinking going out in twos, and rotating so no one gets too suspicious. The others will have to figure out ways to cover for each other. Bellamy and Octavia are out now so two new need to go tomorrow. I can go." I finished by looking around at my friends surrounding me.
"Don't you think you should give it a couple more days Clarke? You collapsed yesterday. You need to heal. You two can take it right?" Raven looked at Finn and Murphy for confirmation. They nodded back at her.
"What happened to Clarke? Are you okay?" Finn looked at me and Raven both.
"My body is just healing from the beating Anya gave me. I'm fine. I don't mind going."
She shook her head at me and I rolled my eyes. As she and Monroe explained our plan to grab weapons and how to get through the electric fence, I started to droop. As much as I complained about being fine I was really exhausted to be honest.
"Ok so O and Bellamy today, Finn and Murphy tomorrow and then Clarke and Bellamy the day after then O and Finn and by then Monroe thinks she should be up and running so she'll take the next day with Murphy. We can just rotate from there." Monroe must have noticed my exhaustion since she stood up with a little bit of difficulty because of her leg and said, "Perfect. Let's get out of here so Clarke can get some rest." The others stood up and began to walk out. Finn looked like he wanted to stay but it was Murphy who nudged him toward the door and winked at me. Smiling sleepily in return I sank into my bed watching Monroe go and Raven stand up. Leaning down she said softly,
"You can thank me for your rotation partner later, Princess." Laughing at herself, presumably due to her hilarious reference to my nickname she started to walk to the door as well.
"Thanks Raven." I then rolled over and promptly shut my eyes, hoping that some of my strength would come back soon. I felt as weak as a kitten and I was pretty over it.
Something swept across my face and I turned my face into the touch. Opening my eyes I saw Bellamy sitting on the edge of my pallet. I smiled at him as I stretched my arms above me. "You're home."
"Yep and O and I are in one piece as per your orders. We didn't have any luck today though. Didn't see a single Reaper or Mountain Man. Raven said you weren't feeling well. Can I get you anything?" The concern in his eyes went straight to my heart.
"Thanks but I'm fine. I just got a little tired. I hope I feel better tomorrow, I'm already sick of being in bed." He smiled wickedly down at me.
"There are lots of things to do in bed to entertain Clarke. Do you need a demonstration?" Leaning down he gently touched his lips to mine and the world exploded. I sat up and roped my arms around his neck as his hands ran over my back and pulled me closer. It could have been hours, it could have bee seconds but I couldn't have told you which. Slowly, we parted and Bellamy touched his forehead to mine, smiling into my eyes. The smile on his face was on the goofy side but I couldn't talk because I was pretty sure my face matched his. I started to laugh and after a second he joined me running his hands down my arms to link with my hands.
"Sorry to interrupt the adorableness of this but we wanted to see if you guys wanted to grab dinner in the mess." Flushing scarlet I closed my eyes and buried my face in Bellamy's neck. He laughed again and said, "Yeah, we'll be right out." As the tent flap swished closed he leaned down and placed a kiss on my neck. "Come on Princess, if we don't go now, we'll never hear the end of it. We can definitely pick this up again later." We stood up and walked to the tent entrance our hands still entwined. We joined Octavia and Raven outside and they shockingly didn't say anything to make my embarrassment any worse. We just talked and laughed at a story Octavia told us about her and Bellamy's watch.
"So we're belly up on these branches in trees opposite each other and I look over to see Bellamy in a legitimate battle with a bird. He's flapping around and trying to slap it away and I thought for sure he was going to fall out of the damn tree but he managed to hold on and by that point I was crying it was so funny." Bellamy looked down and I swear I saw a light flush on his cheeks. "Well I'd like to see any of you stay seated while a bird tried to peck your brain out." After a second he broke into laughter too. This was wonderful. He had really loosened up and relaxed and I knew why. He was no longer the one who had to carry the weight of 100 lives on his shoulders. There were people here now with training and while he would never be a passive citizen I could see the relief if I looked close enough. This must have been how Bellamy was before Octavia was found and jailed and their mom floated. Now he was just Bellamy, handsome, smart, arrogant and unwaveringly brave. Happy I looked over and smiled at him. He smiled back before it dropped straight off of his face. Wondering what had caused the drastic change I looked behind me and saw Finn and Murphy coming to join us. Finn chose the seat next to me while Murphy sat across from him next to Monroe.
"Hey guys, what's so funny?" Finns voice seemed unnaturally chipper and we all stared at one another for a second before Octavia answered in a kind voice.
"I was just telling everyone how Bellamy got into a fight with a bird today and barely won." We all cracked another smile to help ease the tension. Well, all of us besides Bellamy and Finn. They stared at each other for a few testosterone filled seconds before I asked Raven how her leg was. She grasped at the chance to change the subject.
"It's actually doing okay. The brace Wick made for me makes it tons easier to get around. Your mom thinks if I keep it strong there is a slight chance I'll regain the use of it." I didn't have to feign happiness. "That's great Raven!" Monroe and Murphy also gave their congratulations while O patted her on the back and Finn and Bellamy finally broke their hostile gazes. Finally finished with dinner I pushed away the remnants of food and Octavia pounced like she was starved.
"Well I'm off, night guys." I walked over to the bitchy blonde guard sat and asked if she knew where my mother was. After saying "Med bay" in a clipped tone I took off to check in and say goodnight. I needed to stay close so she wouldn't seek me out while our operation was happening. Walking in I saw her sorting supplies, she looked up as I walked in.
"Clarke, honey is everything ok. Are you sick?" She walked over and looked into my eyes and felt my forehead.
"I'm fine mom, I just wanted to let you know I'm okay and say goodnight."
Her eyes absolutely lit up and I bit my lip, feeling awkward and a little guilty.
"I'm glad you feel okay Clarke. Goodnight and let me know if you feel any worse."
"Thanks. See you in the morning." I walked out and made it two steps before a hand wrapped around mine. Looking to my left I saw the chiseled outline of Bellamy's profile.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just wanted to say night to my mom." He pulled me over to the edge of camp and faced me.
"So it wasn't cause of how I acted at dinner? Because I'm not sorry Clarke. Finn's acting like he has some claim on you and it pisses me off." At my raised eyebrow he said, "Not that I think I have a claim on you. We haven't talked about anything and it's really early but I just wanted to say that." I stared at him. "So you wanted to come over and tell me that you weren't sorry for how you acted and you'd do it again?"
"Yes." I snorted and wrapped my arms around his waist.
"Bell, there isn't a weird love triangle thing here. I liked Finn for a minute and he lied about a lot of stuff. It hurt and I'm over it. I have feelings for you in case that wasn't clear. And while I don't like the word claim, I have no problem with you letting people know that we're something." He looked down at me.
"Really? Something? Jesus Clarke." He grinned at me and I laughed with him until he reached out to tickle my sides. Gasping with laughter I wrapped myself around him and begged for mercy before shoving him to the ground and dancing away. I don't do mercy begging. Laughing up at me he got up.
"Well Princess, that was a dirty trick. I can't wait to find other dirty tricks you know." Grinning at my open mouthed shock he bent down and pressed a light kiss to my lips.
"Come on, I'll walk you to your tent." We took off, talking about the rotation schedule and soon we were at the tent. Deciding to be brave, I rose to my toes and kissed Bellamy gently before settling back down.
"Night, Bellamy."
"Night Princess." Watching him walk towards his single tent I smiled and ducked into my own tent. Three grinning faces greeted me.
" I love you Clarke but if you hurt my brother I'll kill you. Just thought we'd get that out of the way."