AN: I honestly think I have started every single one of these author's notes with an apology for taking so long to update; you think by now I'd have learned my lesson and actually put out a quick update… SORRY! I started writing this almost a week ago, but school work kept me from finishing! Each and every one of you are absolutely amazing for putting up with my unpredictable updating schedule; the fact that I still have people reading and reviewing amazes me. As a token of my thanks, I tried to make this chapter extra-long (well compared to my other chapters) and I hope that you all enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them.
In retrospect, it probably would have been a good idea to give herself more than 10 minutes before she had to meet up with Finn; but how was she to know that Bellamy would mysteriously vanish when she needed to find him most? She had expected him to still be by the fire, entertaining his mass of devoted followers or, at the very least, wooing one of his girls. The fact that he wasn't doing either of these things worried her slightly; which in turn bothered her. Since when had she started worry about him? Not knowing how to answer that particular question, Clarke chose to do what she had been doing with all of her confused feeling: shove them down and hope they went away.
Suddenly hyper aware of her self-given time limit, Clarke picked up her pace as she made her way to Bellamy's tent. It was the last place she could think to look for him; if he wasn't there then she would have to meet Finn and the grounders by herself. Scowling at the thought, she stepped into his tent without announcing her presence; yet another blunder to add to her wonderful night.
She stood in shock; the scene in front of her shouldn't have surprised her, but it still did. Even though she had heard about Bellamy's escapades, seeing it unfold before her was a completely different matter. Bellamy stood in the center of his tent, shirtless; he had been looking down at the naked brunette sprawled on his bed, but now his eyes were trained solely on her. His expression was unreadable.
"Don't you knock?" The brunette snarled at her, making no move to cover up. Clarke wasn't sure what was making her angrier: the way the girl was talking to her or the fact that Bellamy had still not said anything. When she didn't answer right away, the girl smiled smugly. "Bellamy's busy right now sweetheart. Maybe you should come back later."
"Get out." The words took all three of them by surprise; Clarke hadn't even made to conscious decision to speak.
"Excuse me?" The girl sat up angrily.
"Get up, get dressed and Get. Out." The darkness that had worked its way into her voice was foreign to her; it was oddly empowering.
"Who the fuck do you think you are? You can't just walk in here and order me to leave." She turned to Bellamy, obviously seeking his support in the matter. Clarke's gaze swung to him as well, daring him to contradict the order she had just given. His eyes, which were trained solely on her, seemed to darken. "Are you going to just sit there and let her talk to me like that?"
"You have exactly five seconds to get your shit and get out." Clarke took a twisted satisfaction to the way the girl finally seemed to realize she meant business. She stood quickly, slipping on her shirt and underwear before making a beeline for the entrance.
"You just messed with the wrong person, you bitch!"
"Try threatening me when you aren't doing a walk of shame, sweetheart." She smiled sweetly at the enraged brunette. "You're on latrine duty for the rest of the week. Don't let me catch you in this tent again." The girl pushed past her angrily; the tent flap fell back into place, leaving a tense silence to linger within the tent.
"What the hell was that?" Bellamy was the first one to break the silence; his voice was deep and gravelly, causing Clarke to shiver slightly.
"What the hell was what?" She shot back evenly, anger still simmering below the surface.
"You. The way you ordered Jayden to leave." He stepped closer, his body looming over her. "The way you feel you can just barge in here whenever you want."
"I need to talk to you." She tilted her head up in order to maintain eye contact with him. "I'm sorry if my assumption that you could keep it in your pants for one night made things awkward for you."
"If I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous, Princess." The way he used her nickname sent a wave of- she wasn't sure what, through her body.
"Jealous?" The laugh that followed was anything but amused; her eyes glinted dangerously. "I can think of several reasons not to be jealous of what just happened." She took a deep breath, trying to stabilize her rapidly increasing emotions. "Look this isn't accomplishing anything. What I need to talk about is more important."
"Then talk." He didn't back off though; if anything he came closer, invading her personal space until she found it hard to breathe.
Her heart beating faster in her chest, as panic set it; she couldn't deal with these feelings right now not when- "Finn set up a meeting with the grounders." The last part of her thought was said out loud and she winced at the lack of tact; she hadn't meant to just blurt it out.
"He set up a meeting with the grounders?" The absolute disbelief on his face quickly gave way to anger. "What the fuck was he thinking? I'm going to kill him!" Bellamy backed away from her, forgetting that moments ago he had been trying to make her as uncomfortable as possible.
"I'm supposed to meet him at the gate in," She checked her watch and frowned. "Right now, actually."
"You're going to meet with them? Have you lost your damn mind?" His anger swung widely before coming to a rest on her. "Do you think that they will listen to anything you have to say? They have been killing us since we got down here. I wasn't aware that a spear to the neck was the universal sign for let's be friends."
"Do I look like I'm stupid?" She shook her head when he opened his mouth. "On second thought don't answer that. I know that meeting the grounders is incredibly dangerous. I know that it probably is going to be a trap. But it's the only chance we are going to get. Winter is coming, Bellamy."
"You sound like you've already decided to go. Why did you need to talk to me?"
"They want to talk to our leader. The last time I checked you just as much in charge as I am." She crossed her arms protectively in front of her chest, dropping her eyes to the ground. "Besides, I don't trust Finn to have my back." The fact that she trusted Bellamy to have her back was left unsaid.
"You know, you're a real pain in the ass." He sighed, grabbing his discarded shirt from the floor and shrugging it on before heading to the make shift table where he kept his belongings.
"Hey! This one isn't my fault."
Bellamy turned to her and had Clarke not just watched him stash three particularly sharp looking knives within jacket, he would have appeared unarmed. "Surprisingly." He eyed her carefully, appraisingly and then handed her a knife of her own. "Just in case."
She took it gingerly, sliding it into her belt. "We need to go."
"You're the one holding us up." He pointed out, making her aware that she was still standing in front of the tent exit.
"Right." She stepped aside and let him leave first; they walked in uneasy silence towards the gate.
"How pissed is your boyfriend going to be when he finds out you ran to get me?" Clarke narrowed her eyes at the smirk on his face.
"One: he is not my boyfriend. Two: I don't care if he's pissed." She sped up slightly, ignoring the fact that his long legs easily kept pace with her. "And for the record, I didn't run to get you. It was more of a brisk walk."
"Funny." A touch of a real smile showed through and Clarke couldn't stop the small smile she gave him in return.
"Clarke, thank God. I thought you weren't going to show. We have to move fast if we want to make it before sun-up." Finn's relieved expression changed the moment her saw Bellamy was with her.
"I don't have all night, Spacewalker."
"I told you I'd be here." She answered at the same time Bellamy chose to speak. Finn looked confusedly between the two of them, not sure who he should address.
"I thought you were going to get your stuff?" Finn finally spoke; accusation was clearly woven into every word he spoke.
"I did." She felt, rather than saw, both men look at her in surprise; she felt her own eyes widen in shock as well. She hadn't meant to basically lay claim to Bellamy, hell she didn't even want to claim him, but as of right now she was done caring what Finn thought. "We need to move now. Hurry up." She hefted her pack over her shoulder and marched away; she completely missed the smug look on Bellamy's face.
"I swear to God, if you two don't stop right now I'm going to let the Grounders have you!" Clarke all but snarled at the quarreling boys behind her. They had been walking for roughly half an hour, and what an ordeal that had been. Their trek had started off awkward, silence had swelled between them until the sounds of twigs snapping underfoot had become too much for them to handle. It had been at this point in time that insults had begun to be traded; Clarke had unintentionally found herself caught in the middle of some stupid male dominance dispute. To say her patience was wearing thin would be an understatement.
"You don't mean that." Finn barely spared her a look before turning to glare at Bellamy.
"You don't know what I mean." She was determined not to join in the argument, but her ever present anger made an appearance yet again. Finn almost looked hurt, which prompted Bellamy to the grin even wider.
"Come on Clarke. You know you wouldn't give me up to the grounders." A wicked glint flashed into his dark eyes. "Not when you've seem to come to the conclusion that I am one of your possessions."
"You are not my anything, Bellamy. I don't possess you."
"Hey, I have nothing against you being possessive. We aren't in the stone-age; women are allowed to claim things as their possessions." He tilted his head, appraising her with his eyes. "In most cases it's actually pretty hot."
"Are you kidding me?" Finn shot him a disgusted look. "Do you ever think of anything that doesn't involve sex?"
"I was under the impression you had the same problem Spacewalker. How many girlfriends do you have these days?"
"You guys-" Clarke stopped suddenly, noting the obvious shape moving towards them.
"I don't know what you think you know about my situation, but you don't have a God damn idea what you're talking about."
"Guys-" The shape was definitely getting closer. They needed to figure out a plan, fast. She pulled her knife free; her grip tightened until her knuckles turned white.
"Some situation you've gotten yourself in. Tell me, how does one find themselves- Clarke what the fuck are you doing?" Bellamy's shout of surprise came too late; Clarke had already moved towards the shape, swinging her knife in front of her in a wide arc. An eerie shriek split the air and a panther, much like the one that attacked them on their first day on earth, fell to the ground dead.
"Saving your asses." She was slightly out of breath, her hands shaking with adrenalin. Both boys were staring at her with something akin to wonder. "Now I don't have time to mediate your little argument; in case you both forgot we have bigger problems than who's sleeping with who." She shot them a withering look and was surprised to see both of them deflate, Finn more so than Bellamy. "We are literally minutes away from meeting the grounders. Get your shit together or stay here. It's your choice." She gestured for them to follow her, only moving from her spot once they had walked past her. Given any other situation, the way they were listening to her would have been amusing.
The next five minutes passed with little incident, much to Clarke's relief; the boys seemed to finally be grasping the situation at hand. "Here we go." Finn stopped, gesturing to the clearing before them. "Lincoln said he'd meet us here."
"You're on a first name basis?" Bellamy's sneer was cut off by a grounder swinging gracefully out of the tree in front of them. Clarke took a step back before getting control of herself; she could not afford to show weakness in front of these people.
"I told you to only bring your blonde healer." The grounder spoke in surprisingly fluent English, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Bellamy.
"I was just going to bring her but-"
"I was told that this would be a meeting for leaders." Clarke interjected, squaring her shoulders towards the man in front of her. "I am not the only leader of our people." She kept her voice level and even, not wanting to spark an angry reaction.
"You share leadership?"
"Yes." She gestured from herself to Bellamy. "We are a team. Any negotiations that happen will need to have both of us present in order for them to hold any weight."
The grounder, Lincoln, inclined his head in what she could only assume was acceptance. He gripped his spear tighter, head snapping to stare across the clearing. "They are here." Not even seconds after he spoke, two sleek black horses carrying riders burst through the trees at the other side of the clearing. Clarke felt her eyes widen in surprise; she had thought all of the horses would have died out years ago.
"Horses." Bellamy sounded just as awestruck as she felt; she sent a small smile his way, showing him that she had picked up on his accidental outburst. He carefully schooled his expression back into his trademark scowl. "You ready for this, Princess?"
"Are you?" She shot back at him, her own smile fading; a blonde woman got off one of the horses, making her way towards the center of the clearing. "That's our cue." And together they stepped out of the covering of trees, into open space.
Abby Griffin sat on the cold hard floor, her back against the metal frame of the bed. The previous days' events ran through her mind on a continuous loop. Clarke hating her. The Arc dying. Only one drop ship. Thousands of people being left for dead. Seeing Clarke again. She was driving herself mad, solitary confinement not helping her scattered thoughts. It also didn't help that she had been placed in Clarke's old cell; one of the guards had a seriously twisted sense of humor.
The drawings on the walls around her were like strategically placed blows to her mind. If she hadn't known any better, she almost would have thought that her daughter had made sure to leave her mark on the Arc. She was trying not to look at them, anything to keep herself from collapsing in absolute grief; she needed to stay focused, needed to try and figure out how to save everyone. It's impossible! Abby closed her eyes, taking deep measured breathes. Unintentionally her tired mind dragged a memory to the surface of her mind, a memory that she had suppressed.
"I can't do it. I don't know what I was thinking, Jake. I'm eight months pregnant and I can't even put together a crib!" Abby cried hysterically from her spot on the floor among the crib pieces. Jake Griffin stood in the door way; he obviously hadn't expected to return home to this.
"You don't have to put the crib together." He knelt down in front of her, prying the screw driver from her white knuckled grip. "I'm sure I can manage by myself. I am a mechanic after all." His soft smile did nothing to calm her.
"How am I supposed to look after our child? I'm not ready to be a mother! I have no idea what I'm doing!" She sobbed, curling into his warm embrace. "I'm starting to think that we are trying to do the impossible."
"What the Arc needs," He started carefully, brushing the tears from her eyes. "Is more people who specialize in the impossible."
"You don't mean that." But her early fears began to dissipate all the same.
"Abby Griffin, you are the most stubborn, headstrong woman I have ever met." Jake smiled lovingly at her. "Our daughter will be lucky to have you for a mother."
"You can't leave me." She warned him softly. "I need you too much."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"What the Arc needs is more people who specialize in the impossible." She repeated to herself, gripping a small piece of charcoal in her hand; a piece that Clarke had most likely used. Finding an open piece of floor Abby sucked in sharp breath before she began to draw.
Clarke could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she made her way with Bellamy towards the Grounder leader. The other woman was tall and willowy, her blonde hair an intricate, braided mess. She wore the black face paint that they had come to associate with all of the grounders. She looked deadly. They stopped mere feet away from each other, tension building in the space between them.
"You are Clarke." She spoke in a husky voice, the words more of a statement than a question.
"Yes." Clarke answered, feeling significantly inferior to the obviously confident leader in front of her.
"I am Anya. You were told to come alone." Her eyes slid to Bellamy with interest.
"I was told that this was a meeting of leaders." She explained to the other woman, using the same reason she had given Lincoln. "We are both responsible for the safety of our people."
"Your name, Sky Person." The demand didn't sit well for Clarke; they were here to negotiate, not be ordered around.
"Play your cards right, and maybe I'll let you have it." His voice had dropped an octave, turning it into one she had heard numerous times before; Bellamy was flirting with the grounder.
She expected Anya to stab him for his disrespect, at the very least she expected her to punch him, but to her surprise the other leader just smiled in amusement. "You are very bold." Clarke bit her tongue before she could make a scathing remark; she should have guessed that no woman would be immune to Bellamy's charm, even if said woman was a grounder.
"You have no idea." Alright now she was going to put a stop to it.
"I thought we were here to discuss peace between our people?" Clarke raised an eyebrow at the dark expression Anya threw her way. Deal with it Bitch.
"You only want peace because you have started a war that you don't know how to finish." Anya declared, turning her attention back to the task at hand.
"You are the ones who have been killing our people! We didn't start this."
"You invaded our territory."
"We didn't know that there were survivors on Earth. We didn't mean to invade."
"You also burn a village to the ground with your missiles." Anya looked pissed. "Hundreds were wounded and killed. If this is not an act of war, I don't know what is."
"Missiles?" A dark wave of horror washed through her; she shot a frantic look at Bellamy who seemed to have come to the same realization as her. "No those were signals. We were trying to let our people know that we are still alive down here. That it is safe for them to come down."
"That makes no difference. You killed my people."
"And you have killed ours." Both women stared each other down, neither one was willing to back down first. In a surprising turn of events, it was Bellamy who spoke first.
"There has been too much killing." Clarke looked at him like he had grown a second head. Who the fuck was this and what had he done with Bellamy? Where was the guy who had single-handedly lead a party out with the intention of capturing the grounder who had stabbed Finn? Sure they had come back empty handed, but his intent was clear: an eye for an eye.
"Yes there has been." Just because she didn't know what the hell Bellamy was doing didn't mean that she didn't agree with him.
"You wish to call a truce?"
"Yes. We will be of more use to each other if we end the bloodshed."
"Will your people, the ones who have yet to fall from the Sky, honor any agreements we make today?"
"We will do everything within our power to make sure that they do." She ignored the look Bellamy shot her; the look that clearly said: how the hell do you plan on doing that?
"I will only promise peace through the winter. We will renegotiate in the spring." Anya stepped forward, extending her left hand to Clarke. Clarke hesitantly reached out with her own left hand, not entirely sure where this was going. The grounder leader grasped her hand firmly, her grip more forceful than was probably necessary. "It is a custom for treaties to be solidified with a marriage between important figures within the agreement."
"Oh, ummm-" The realization as to what was happening hit Clarke hard. "I'm sorry but I don't involve myself with girls."
"Not you and I!" Anya's laughter only served to embarrass Clarke more. "I was talking about him." Him meaning Bellamy.
"He is already spoken for within our community." She didn't even give Bellamy a chance at replying; he was not going to run off with the Grounder Queen.
"It is such a shame," Anya let her eyes run blatantly down his body with dark hunger. "But I can understand how a man like him would already be spoken for. We will forgo the marriage ceremony, for now."
"We will renegotiate in spring. There will be no surprise attacks before that time." Anya nodded in agreement before pulling Clarke roughly towards her; Clarke didn't struggle but her hand went to her hidden knife, prepared to pull it out and defend herself.
"You are stronger with him around. Make sure he stays by your side." The grounders voice was low enough that only Clarke could hear her. Without responding, Clarke jerked her arm out of the other woman's grasp and stepped back. Bellamy's warm hand found her shoulder, settling her in a way that only he could.
They watched as Anya turned and left, quickly remounting her horse and riding off; her entourage fallowed quickly behind, leaving the two of them in the clearing alone. "I'm already spoken for back at the camp, huh?" His eyes twinkled in amusement down at her.
"If you hadn't been flirting with her, she wouldn't have wanted to marry you." Clarke shot back, rolling her eyes at his amusement. "And I'm sure one of the many girls that have entered your tent think they have some kind of claim over you."
"I was trying to get her to let her guard down, is that a bad thing?" They turned to head back to where Finn was waiting anxiously. "And if I'm not mistaken, you were in my tent earlier tonight."
"You are an idiot!" She spat at him, her usual venom not coming through; she blamed the fact that the peace with the grounders had made her too giddy to muster up any anger. "I meant your bed buddies."
"Bed buddies? How old are you?" She stuck her tongue out at him in response, causing them both to laugh. "Just so you know, what you walked in on back at camp, it wasn't what it looked like. She was waiting for me; I didn't even know she was there until a couple of seconds before you showed up."
"You don't have to give me any explanations, Bellamy. What you do in your own tent is your business." She tried to act casual about the whole ordeal, but in reality she was strangely pleased that he felt the need to explain; she was also feeling a bit ashamed for her earlier actions, but she was sure she would get over it. For the time being she figured it would be best if she changed the subject. "We should hurry back to where we left that panther; I have bragging rights for making that kill."
"Whatever you want Princess." He seemed to understand what she was doing, but didn't put a stop to it. And if there was a double meaning to his words, well she wasn't going to think about it just yet.
AN: Alright, I hope you all liked this chapter. I took some creative license with Anya (Sorry if anyone didn't like the way I changed her) and I thought it worked out well for where I want my story to go. I had some difficulty writing Lincoln; he's such a bad ass character that I can't do him justice! I also didn't read over this chapter as well as I should have (I just wanted to get it out to you so bad.) Hopefully the grammar and spelling is up to par. As always comments and criticism are greatly appreciated!