The next morning Clarke woke up just as dawn was beginning to lighten up the sky. She had actually slept fairly well and wasn't plagued by the nightmares that usually took over. During the night she thought she remembered Lexa coming into the tent for a few hours to sleep, but honestly she wasn't quite sure.

When she opened her eyes and looked around the tent she found that she was alone, and she felt a slight pang in her heart at the thought. Rubbing the sleep away from her eyes she sat up with a yawn. After taking a few moments to collect herself, Clarke pulled her shoes back on and try to smooth out her mused hair that had managed to get knotted up during the night.

Clarke smacked her lips a few times, her mouth was incredibly dry but when she reached for her canteen it was nowhere to be found. Crinkling her brow Clarke searched around the small tent before exiting it see if she had left it outside last night.

When she walked out she was instantly hit with the cool morning air and pulled her jacket tighter around her. It was quiet this morning, with the only sounds being the soft snores that could be heard from the two other tents. As she looked around she noticed that no one was on guard and that Lexa wasn't there and her confusion grew to form a bit of worry.

Clarke glanced around but still couldn't find her canteen; she had almost given up her search when she heard the cracking of twigs just outside their camp perimeter. Immediately, Clarke unsheathed her blade and her eyes darted around to see the grip of a gun pointing out of a pack outside of Raven and Monty's tent.

The bushes rustled again, louder this time and Clarke quietly rushed over and pulled the gun out. Quickly checking the chamber, Clarke cocked the gun and aimed it towards the approaching sound.

Just then the bushes parted and Lexa walked through, immediately noticing the gun pointed at her and the blonde that was holding it but she didn't flinch; instead she raised an eyebrow before she continued walking.

When Clarke saw her she let out a long breath she hadn't realized she was holding and lowered the gun as Lexa moved towards the large log they had moved over for a seat, "What did I tell you last night?!" Clarke exclaimed as she clicked the safety back on the gun and put it back into the pack.

"Good morning to you too, Clarke," Lexa said unfazed.

Clarke gave her an indignant look before noticing that Lexa had six canteens in her arms that she was setting down. Seemingly knowing what Clarke was looking at she held out the blonde's canteen and met her gaze, "I figured I'd fill these up for everyone so we could make an early start."

Clarke took a long swig of the water that was still fairly cold from the freshwater stream Lexa had gathered it from, "Thank you," she said sitting down next, but not too close, to the Commander, "Did you sleep at all last night?"

Lexa actually laughed a little bit at that and Clarke instantly felt the corners of her lips move into a smile that she always got when she heard that sound. The previous night's conversations with both Lincoln and Raven came back to her then and she forcibly faded the smile. She knew they were right, but it didn't change the fact that she didn't know what to do. She was angry and she was hurt, but when the two of them were alone like this all of things seemed to evaporate with each second that passed.

"I do actually sleep, Clarke, I am human." Lexa said, a hint of her laugh still in her voice, "I woke up before the sun came up and told Bellamy and Lincoln to go back to sleep. Everything seemed fine and the stream isn't too far from here."

Clarke gave her a small smile of gratitude, then her eyes moved over to the girl's shoulder; the bandages were red from the healing wound and she knew her own probably looked similar, "We probably should redress that." the blonde said motioning to injury. She got up and walked over to medical supplies and retrieved some more of herbal cream, but found that they were completely out of bandages, so instead she found a homemade stitching kit her mother had made that consisted of strong nylon fabric and needles they had found among the remaining items onboard the Ark.

Walking back over to Lexa she swatted the Commanders hands away as she tried to undo the bandages herself which got her shocked look but Lexa didn't challenge her.

"How's your movement and pain?" Clarke said as she carefully unwrapped the bandages.

"Not too bad. I'm still able to rotate my shoulder; the pain only gets sharp if I try to extend it further." Lexa said as she watched the young doctor work, "It's actually not as bad as the last time I got bit by one of them."

Clarke abruptly paused and looked up, "You've been bitten by one of those things before?"

Lexa shrugged as much as she could in her current position, "It was when I was still Anya's second. We were checking some deer traps we had set the night before and were pulling one out when we got cornered by a few of them. It wasn't the whole pack just a few that had probably gone scouting for anything small they could bring back." Clarke continued listening as she pulled the last of the bandage away, "One of them had gotten ahold of my foot but before it could do any permanent damage I was able to swing around with my knife. That injury seemed like it would never heal and hurt much more than this does."

Lexa's eyes followed Clarke's hands as she worked, "We were able to get the deer though."

Clarke snorted and shook her head, "Of course you would make sure you got it."

Inspecting the wound it seemed to be doing much better, "It's not infected, but I'm still going to put a small amount of cream on it just to keep it that way." Lexa closed her eyes for a split second and tried to fight a shudder when Clarke's cool fingers touched her skin. "We're all out of bandages, but I'm going to try and MacGyver your shirt to cover it back up."

Clarke looked up and she instantly felt her cheeks blush when she saw the adorably and utter confused look upon the Commanders face, "It-it's a term from an old television series I watched on the Ark." Lexa nodded slowly but the confusion remained, "It pretty much means to make something out of objects you wouldn't think use that way, but I'm not that creative so I'm just going to stitch your shirt back together."

"Alright." Was all Lexa said as processed the term.

They sat in silence as Clarke took the needle and thread and tried her best to stitch up the torn fabric. It wasn't the best by any means but it would work for the time being. After she had finished with tending to Lexa's wound she propped her own leg up on the log and began to undo her own bandages.

When cool, calloused hands stopped her she looked up to see Lexa looking at her with an eyebrow arched, "Let me, I could at least return the favor." Was all she said and Clarke gave her a small glare for the reversal of roles. Lexa worked swiftly and Clarke was impressed. The Commander had watched every move Clarke had made with the needle and was stitching her pants better than the blonde hand managed.

"Are you sure you haven't done anything like that before?" Clarke asked quizzically as Lexa tied off the end of the thread.

"Not ever with this." Lexa said holding up the thin needle, "but my mother did show me how to patch up clothing."

Lexa smiled then, full and bright; the grey morning light illuminated her face and seemed to make the smile even brighter. Clarke knew she was staring; she was awestruck but at that moment the jumble of warring feelings she had for the woman in front of her seemed to part and calm into something that took Clarke's breath away and caused her heart of speed up in her chest.

Just as the moment appeared, both women heard a zipper start to come undone and looked over to see Bellamy and Lincoln emerge from their tent. Clarke was able to steal a glance at Lexa and saw that the smile was gone, but when the other girl met her with her own sideways glance the blonde immediately looked away. Seriously, Griffin, you're not a teenager that just got caught making out by your parents! Get it together and quit being embarrassed. She sighed and realized that she had been internally chastising herself a lot since this trip began.

Raven and Monty joined the rest of them a few minutes later and they sat and ate the berries Lexa had retrieved before tearing down camp and preparing for another long day's walk. "Did you need any help redressing your wound?" Lincoln asked Clarke as he finished gathering all of the medical supplies.

"Uh no, um Lexa helped with it." Clarke said avoiding looking at him. Lincoln nodded and gave her another knowing look before turning away, but Clarke could still see the small smile that formed on his face.

"So how much further do we have?" Bellamy asked as he tightened his pack.

"We are still about two days walk from the caverns," Lexa said, she paused for a moment and looked around, getting her bearings before pointing directly southwest, "That's assuming we go around the hills, but if we go through the valleys between them it's a straighter route and it should cut some time."

Bellamy looked around the group to see if there were any objections, but no one spoke up, "Alright then, through the valley we go."

The walk was fairly similar to the one they had the day before. Lexa and Lincoln stayed up front and were in the midst of a conversation about things that were happening in Polis while Clarke fell into step behind the Grounders with the others.

She experienced something that morning that she hadn't felt since before the invasion, but it still seemed like every time that feeling came along it was soon joined by the anger and hurt that Clarke still felt towards the Commander. No matter how the other woman made her feel she couldn't just forget about it, but now the question inside Clarke's mind wasn't if she should avoid or try to ignore her because she knew that was impossible; it became whether or not she should confront her or move past it another way.

The sun started climbing high in the sky as the group approached a clearing and decided to take a break from walking. Bellamy and Monty had helped Raven sit down on large rock and she began to adjust her brace; ever since the jump into the river it hadn't quite been staying how it should. Clarke had joined Lincoln and Lexa in sharpening the daggers they had with them.

Clarke was fully focused on making the edge of her blade even, when a chill ran up her spine. It wasn't cold, however, and the shudder was instantly joined by a feeling that they weren't alone. Pausing, Clarke set the rock that she had been using a sharpener down and looked around trying to see if anything was in the trees.

Lexa noticed when Clarke paused and grew wary with the troubled look on the blonde's face, "Clarke, what is it?" she asked, gaining the attention of the rest of the group.

"I don't know I just got this strange feeling like we're being watched."

Everyone went on high alert and began looking into the forest around them, "Lincoln, Lexa. Let's take a walk around the perimeter." Bellamy said and others nodded in agreement. Clarke walked over to Monty and Raven just in case something was out there.

Seconds seemed like hours after the three of them disappeared into the greenery. Clarke was on edge the entire time; she couldn't shake the feeling and it was turning more dreadful. After a few minutes the others returned and all shook their heads.

"There's nothing out there, or if there was they are long gone by now." Bellamy said holstering his handgun.

"We should probably continue moving though." Lexa said as she looked up towards the cloudy sky, "It looks like there's a storm coming, if we get further into the hills there are several caves that we can take shelter in for the night."

"Raven are you okay to walk?" Clarke asked the mechanic.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She said as she finished tightening a screw, "When we get back, though, I'm going to hit Wick over the head with this thing. Maybe his thick skull can fix it. Genius invention my ass." Clarke gave a small laugh and knew the mechanic would fulfill that statement tenfold.

A few more hours past and the sky steadily got darker; they had gotten almost all the way through the valley when they decided to stop and make camp in a cave that had formed in the side of one of the hills. They had all divided up the tasks to set everything up and Clarke was convinced that it wasn't by chance that she was paired with Lexa to hunting.

Lexa didn't seem to be fazed by the decision and was already walking back into the forest, while Clarke seemed to be a bit reluctant but followed soon after.

"We probably should hurry, the storm will be here soon." The Commander said as Clarke caught up to her, "Down here our best luck for meat would rabbit. I hope you remember some of those hunting skills I taught you." Lexa gave Clarke a sly look and the blonde rolled her eyes and marched forward.

It had been over an hour and the two had stayed fairly silent the entire time. They had seen a few rabbits, but every time Clarke would get close the animal would get spooked and bolt out of the way.

Clarke's frustrations were kicking in, but Lexa had remained calm and silent; lurking around the trees and shrubs like a natural predator. Lexa paused and held her hand up to signal Clarke when she spotted a group of large rabbits nibbling away on some greens. The Commander looked at Clarke and motioned for her to go around to the opposite side to try and trap the group. Clarke did as told, moving farther back and around as to not allude to her presence.

When she came to the other side of their prey she looked directly at Lexa who was crouched behind a tree, dagger in hand and eyes darting around the group to find the perfect shot. Lexa's eyes swept up to meet Clarke's and she pointed to the largest rabbit of the bunch then pointed to herself then back to another one of the large furry creatures and pointed to Clarke who nodded and aimed up her shot.

She was waiting for Lexa to give the signal to strike and as she waited some memories of déjà vu came to her when they had gone on a similar hunting trip where they had both managed to get covered in mud. The distraction of the memories caused her to lose focus on her target and she unconsciously moved on foot forward, snapping a twig underneath her boot and alerting the rabbits who immediately fled into the underbrush of the forest.

Clarke let out an exaggerated sigh of defeat as she walked out from her hiding space. This was getting them nowhere, she had been foiled and outsmarted by rabbits of all things and it wasn't helping that her mind was going elsewhere.

She turned to Lexa who was sheathing her blade and walking towards her. "What happened?" the Commander asked.

"You didn't give the signal, that's what happened." Clarke snapped defensively.

"Clarke, I understand you're frustrated, but we aren't going to catch anything with clouded minds." Lexa wasn't trying to bait her and she knew but Clarke's mouth started speaking anyway.

"Clouded minds? Are you serious?" Clarke barked with mock surprise, "The only reason my mind is clouded is because of you and how pissed off I am at you!"

Clarke pinched the bridge of her nose when the words left her lips, she hadn't meant to have this conversation now; she wasn't even sure yet if she actually wanted too, but she had already started it and she couldn't control her anger anymore.

"Ah," Lexa said drawing out the word, "so, then are you actually going to talk to me about it instead of avoiding it."

Clarke rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest, "I don't you see you going out of your way to talk about it."

"I'm not the one who needs to talk about it." Lexa said pointedly and raised an eyebrow to challenge the blonde when she got a glare.

"No, you don't need to talk about it because you don't talk about things you just walk away." Clarke turned away and didn't see the flash of pain that shot across Lexa's face at the jab.

"I did what was right for my people. I-" Clarke spun around and took the few steps to between them so she was right in front of Lexa, her fists clenching at her sides.

"Stop! I get why you did it Lexa! I don't need this lecture of excuses about how it was best for your people and that you made the decision with your head and not your heart! I get it; you made those things pretty clear that night." Clarke was seething, everything she had pinned down since that night was erupting all at once and was manifesting itself in anger directed at the Commander who was standing her ground.

"You don't have to defend yourself Lexa, but you still made the decision! You still took your army and left me standing there to get my people back on my own. We had a plan! It would have worked and you knew it would." Clarke let out a jagged breath, "But you can't tell me your heart wasn't involved somewhat in taking that deal Emerson gave you. I saw the look in your eye when I said I wasn't ready, so what was it-."

"That decision had nothing to do with what happened in my tent beforehand, Clarke." Lexa's voice was unwavering and her eyes bore holes into Clarke's as she spoke. She took a step forward, causing Clarke to step back, "Do not ever think that. I did not make that decision to hurt you Clarke, how could I? Especially after what happened? Do you honestly think me to be that cruel that I would send you to your death because you told me you weren't ready?

"Clarke, I didn't even know if I was ready when I kissed you! I made the decision because I knew you would survive and I knew you could save your people."

"At what cost? Do you even know what happened that night?" Clarke's voice was tight, but she still heard it break.

"Of course I do," Lexa said her voice was less angry, almost comforting but still strong and solid, "and I also know by the look in your eyes that a part of you blames me."

"They were children. Innocent men and women that had nothing to do with the atrocities their leadership was doing." Clarke had lowered her eyes and her voice was barely above a whisper, but it rose as she continued, "I killed in cold blood. Everything else had a reason, was a part of self-defense or some other bullshit justification, but this could have been avoided. Hundreds of people died so I could save my people. Were their lives not worth as much?"

Lexa's eyes had softened when Clarke finally met her gaze, "It's the laws of survival, Clarke. It's not a matter of what a life is worth; it's a matter of what will happen in the long run. If you would have let them live either they would have still come after you and killed your people to save themselves or they would have died on their own down in that bunker. I know how hard that decision is, Clarke, I've sent hundreds of warriors to their death because of decisions I had to make.

"I know you try to do what's right, you have a kind heart; a strong heart that transcends more than anything I could ever imagine, but at the end of the day it's not about right or wrong or good or bad because in this world none of those things exist. We don't have the luxury of those things and we do what we do to survive. You may think that makes us barbarians, ruthless killers but I don't enjoy it. I don't enjoy telling my warriors to go die for me or taking the lives of others but I know that every other leader is looking for that same survival and would kill me and my people if I don't act first."

Clarke looked down, Lexa was right and she knew it. It's a game of survival of the fittest and there wasn't much she could do to change that.

"I don't regret taking the deal," Lexa continued, "I can't regret saving the lives of my people. But, Clarke," now it was Lexa's turn to cast her gaze to the ground, "the one thing I do regret is the look on your face when you realized what I'd done. I haven't been able to get that betrayed look out of my head. I know it's not my place to ask for your forgiveness because I know I've hurt you and angered you."

Lexa looked up and Clarke felt as if the breath was taken right out of her at the enormous amount of sincerity and caring that was filling usually passive and unemotional Commander, "I do hope with time, however that those wounds may heal."

Clarke didn't say anything, she didn't know what to and her mouth seemed to be sown shut by the levity of Lexa's words. The Commander searched Clarke's eyes and must have assumed her hesitation because the she immediately cleared her throat and replaced the walls that had been broken down during the conversation.

"We probably should find some berries or something. The storm is about to roll in and all of the game is probably hiding in their shelters by now." Lexa said in her best, yet clearly fake Commander's tone and turned her back on the blonde to walk away.

The familiar image of Lexa walking away seemed to jolt Clarke back to reality. Without thinking Clarke took a step forward and reached out to grab the other woman's elbow. With one fluid move Clarke pulled and turned the Commander around.

Lexa didn't have a chance to register what was happening because as soon as her face had turned towards the blonde she felt fingers cup her jaw and the soft yet firm press of lips against her own.

Clarke all but melted into the kiss when she felt Lexa kiss her back and move to deepen it. Lexa threaded her fingers through wavy blonde hair and pulled Clarke flush against her as the darkened, clouds opened up and poured down rain while lightning and thunder lit up the sky.