AN: Hello again everyone! The response to last chapter was absolutely amazing. I had this chapter finished before the season finale, (And what a finale that was. I'm still not emotionally stable.) but some of the events (mainly Jaha being all self-sacrificing) made me rethink some of the aspects I had already written. So I scrapped what I had written and started over. I hope that you guys like this chapter as much as you seemed to like the last one!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them.

Five days. It didn't seem like a lot of time, in all reality it wasn't a lot of time; but on Earth, where each hour of survival was an accomplishment, it was a life time. A life time spent within the confines of the drop ship, covered in seaweed paste and dried blood, working tirelessly to patch up the steady stream of patients. Where time passed slowly in the solitary confines of the ship; only the sparse tidbits of information about the camp gleaned from the few conscious visitors made the time pass a bit faster. Progress of great proportions had been made towards the buildings, and Bellamy was confident that they would both be finished soon.

A small smile worked its way onto her face as she methodically sterilized the drop ship with some of Monty's moonshine. When they had come back from the grounder meeting, dead panther in tow, everyone had been excited about the prospect of fresh meat. To her surprise, Bellamy hadn't taken the glory for the kill; he had told anyone who would listen about how she had taken the panther out with only a small knife. Had she not known any better, she almost would have thought he was proud of her. It was because of his praise that she could now walk through the camp, and feel many eyes watching her with a new-found respect; if she was being honest, it was a nice change from the hostile looks she used to get.

She wasn't exactly sure what was happening with her infuriatingly egocentric co-leader, however; the changes that had occurred in him the past few days had been, interesting to say the least. After the whole tent debacle, Bellamy seemed to be going out of his way to make a show out of the fact that he no longer was entertaining guests. On more than one occasion, Clarke had witnessed a disgruntled girl storming angrily out of his tent, clothing in hand; not that she was watching his tent or anything (because she wasn't not matter what Octavia thought.) The whole camp had witnessed these rejections. She had figured that this little dry spell, five days had to be a record for him, would have had negative effects on his already sunny personality but she was proven wrong. Bellamy Blake was fucking smiling; he wasn't supposed to smile. It was the thought of his smile that made her grin grow a little bigger; she was probably just imagining it, but she could have sworn that his smile had the ability to brighten even her darkest moods.

And that was another one of the changes taking place in her life: Bellamy had become a permanent fixture in her daily routine, something to look forward to after her day of solitude. Every day, when the sun's rays dipped below the tree line and the builders trickled back to the center of camp, she could expect him to stop off at the drop ship before doing anything else. At first, they simply talked about injuries and the progress of the structures before heading their separate ways, but it quickly became more. Bellamy started to bring their rations with him, and they would eat in the drop ship away from the judging eyes of their people, talking about anything and everything; it was these moments that she craved throughout the day. It was these moments that made her feel like everything was going to be alright.

"Clarke." His deep timber broke her from her musings; she turned to look at the man behind her, blushing slightly due to the fact that her stomach flipped at the sight of him. She mentally slapped herself in response: she was being stupid.

"Why aren't you out with your group, Bellamy?" She tossed the alcohol soaked rag she had been using on the table and stretched out her arms.

"Accusing me of slacking?" He crossed his arms in an attempt at intimidation, but the mischievous twinkle in his eye marred the effect.

"Accusing is such an ugly word. I'd say that I'm simply stating the facts."

"My mistake, I figured you'd want to see what's going on outside." He stepped forward, nodding his head towards the bed she had just been scrubbing. "But if you're too busy cleaning I can just leave and put a stop to my slacking."

"What's going on outside?" She asked, instantly regretting it when she saw the satisfied expression on his face; she had played right into his hands.

"Are you going to play nice?"

"Just tell me, Blake." She rolled her eyes, tossing one of the wet rags in his direction. He dodged it easily, his grin so carefree that it took her breath away.

"No need to get violent, Princess. Follow me." He left the drop ship as silently as he had entered it, Clarke following quickly behind him. She was surprised to at how warm it had gotten since her day in the drop ship had started.

"I don't know what you are so excited abo-"She stopped mid-sentence, her words dying in her throat. Her eyes roamed the structure before her, so much bigger than what she had imagined on paper. "It's finished?"

"Completely." He nudged her shoulder playfully with his elbow. "I told you we'd finish it today. The other one is almost finished as well, we just need to put on the roof." He barely got the words out of his mouth before Clarke had thrown her arms around him with an excited squeal.

"We did it!" She felt his deep laugh resonate through her smaller frame and was instantly embarrassed by her sudden loss of composure; she quickly let go of him, her face flaming. "Sorry."

"I didn't mind." The smug grin on his face wasn't as unpleasant as it used to be. "You need to learn how to let go more often." How did he manage to make everything sound sexual? "Octavia said she was saving you a spot next to her, you might want to go find her." He pushed her slightly towards the door, not giving her anytime to wrap her head around the sudden change in topic, before turning to leave. She watched him for a bit before pushing aside the heavy grass mat hanging in the doorway and stepping into the building. There was nothing fancy about the interior, just one large room to be shared by all of the girls, but Clarke couldn't help feeling a flash of pride at what stood before her. They were going to survive because of this simple building.

"Clarke! Over here!" Octavia's excited voice drew her attention to the far corner of the room where the brunette was already sitting with her stuff. Clarke quickly made her way to the other girl, pausing briefly to admire the stone pit that would allow them to start a fire to keep warm. "This is going to be great. Raven is going to sleep here, and you are going to sleep over here. We get to have a sleepover every night!" She smiled fondly at the younger girl, her enthusiasm was contagious.

"You sure you can handle it?" She teased.

"Please, I spent most of my life with only Bellamy as company. Talk about a never ending sleepover from hell." They both laughed. "You should go grab your stuff before my brother decides to re-assign your tent."

"He wouldn't dare."

"You sure about that?" Instead of answering her question, Clarke stood and turned to leave. "Hurry back!" The Blake siblings attitudes were going to drive her insane.

"Just listen to what I am trying to say! We can save everyone if we just take the entire Arc down to Earth." Abby Griffin struggled angrily against the guards who were holding her in place.

"Dr. Griffin, with all due respect, what you are proposing is completely insane. The chances of anyone surviving reentry would be slim at best." Sinclair shook his head sadly, scrolling through his calculations. "I'm sorry."

"I refuse to sit by and let thousands of people die. Thelonious, please." She turned her head towards her old friend, trying to get him to understand; he had been eager to hear her idea when she had first been brought into the council room but now his enthusiasm seemed to have waned.

"I'm sorry Abby. The risk is too great." He sounded defeated. "Our original plan still stands. The exodus ship will be launching in fifteen hours."

"You can't-"

"I don't have a choice. Leave us for a moment." The two guards holding her left obediently, with Sinclair following slightly behind them.

"I thought you cared more about your people. I can't believe that you are going to go to Earth and wash your hands of the ones left behind." Her words were intended to hurt him, something she hadn't tried to do in a very long time.

"You are mistaken. I'm not the one going to Earth, you are." It took a while for the meaning of his words to work their way through her anger. "You're not coming with us?"

"No." He passed a hand wearily across his face.

"But you'll die."

"I should have died with any of the 720 others who have already sacrificed themselves. The least I can do is stay behind with the rest of our doomed people."

"We need you, Thelonious. You can't just send us to Earth without our leader."

"You need to be with your daughter and I need to be with my son." Her heart cracked at his words, at the show of pain he'd been keeping in check all of this time. Temporarily forgetting her anger, Abby pulled her friend into a hug. "Diana Sydney will be on the drop ship with you. She knows how to lead a large group of people. You will be fine."

"She was voted out of power because of the people on the Arc. They chose you over her, and for good reason." Her voice softened as she continued. "Do you really think that Wells would have wanted you to sacrifice yourself?"

"He would have hated me, if he could see what I'm planning to do the majority of my people." She knew he was crying, and her heart cracked even more. Her oldest friend was struggling with an impossible situation, and all she had done was fight and spit hateful words at him. She might be the best doctor on the Arc, but she had no idea to fix the mess surrounding them.

"Then live and prove that you care about your people and what happens to them on Earth. Live so that you can make sure that the survivors are taken care of." She could feel his hesitation so she continued with more force. "What would you do if I decided to repent my sins by sacrificing myself with the thousands who will remain? I know you Thelonious. There is no way in hell that you would allow me to do that."

"You are the best doctor we have-"

"There are lots of capable doctors who would suffice. We only have one Chancellor. Please. Come with us." They didn't say anything else, they didn't have to; she knew he would be on the exodus ship with her. Clinging tighter to the man in front of her, she tried not to think about just how selfish of a person she truly was. His life would always mean more to her than the thousands they were leaving behind, and she was strangely alright with that.

The first thing that Clarke noticed when she stepped into her tent was that someone other than herself had been there recently. The stack of drawings she had knocked over earlier that morning, when she had rushed from her tent to treat a patient, was once again piled neatly on the crude table. She turned to check if anything else had been moved and froze; sitting on her make shift bed was a large black shape. Her hand shot to the knife she kept on herself at all times and she drew it with steady hands. She inched forward slowly, careful not to startle whatever was in her tent, and immediately felt stupid when she realized that the intruder was in fact an inanimate object and had no way of attacking her. Stowing her knife back in her belt, Clarke reached her hand out grabbed onto the surprisingly soft material. Upon further inspection, she saw that it was a blanket made from the pelt of the panther she had killed. She slid her hand along the length of if, reveling in the softness under her touch; cold winter nights suddenly didn't seem so daunting. Someone had made this for her, making it easily the nicest gift she had ever received on Earth. Who would have had time to do this?

She packed up her few belongings, trying not to dwell on the fact that she hardly owned anything, and stepped out of the tent bringing the panther blanket with her. Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention to the other unfinished building; Bellamy was perched on top of one of the walls, adding planks to the unfinished roof. The sight of his shirtless back, his muscles covered in a light sheen of sweat from the effort of lifting, made her mouth go dry. He really wasn't making it easy for her to keep her feelings purely platonic.

As if sensing her eyes on him, Bellamy turned to look at her; even from this distance she could see the way his dark eyes shone with amusement. Clarke quickly dropped her eyes, clutching the blanket tighter. Wait a minute. Previous embarrassment forgotten, she strode quickly to where he was working.

"Something I can help you with, Princess?" He called down to her, hardly stopping his progress on the roof.

"Would you happen to know anything about this?" She held the blanket up so that he could see it, ignoring the curious glances she was getting from the other boys working on the roof.

"Why would I know anything about your blanket?" The indifference in his voice made her pause slightly before continuing.

"It's not mine. Somebody skinned the panther I killed when we went out to meet with the Grounders. I found it in my tent a couple of minutes ago." She pushed on, trying to get his attention.

"I'm still not seeing why this involves me. Someone gave you a blanket; go put it on your bed."

"I can't accept it." Bellamy snapped his head up to look at her, his expression unreadable. Well that got his attention.

"Why the hell not? You killed the damn thing." He stretched his arms over his head while shooting her an exasperated look. He really needed to put his shirt back on before she did something stupid.

"I can't accept it because I didn't make it myself. The person who made it might need it more than I do."

"If the person could make a blanket for you, I'm sure he can make more for himself. He probably already has."

"He?" Clarke asked innocently, smiling at the fact that he had just given her more leverage in her little game.

"With all of your new found admirers, I just assumed it was a he." He looked down at her, raising an eyebrow at her grin. "What?" She shook her head in amusement, trying to figure out the best way to answer his question.

"You say 'admirers' like it's a bad thing. If I'm not mistaken it's your fault that they are even noticing me at all." She lifted her chin defiantly, taking pleasure in the way the muscle in his jaw twitched.

"I'm just saying that anyone could have done this."

"Maybe I should try to track them down."

"And do what?"

"Thank them." She emphasized the word 'thank' enough that she hoped it came off as being an innuendo of sorts; if the way that his shoulders stiffened, and his body tensed were any indication, it did. She held his dark gaze for a second longer, instantly becoming aware of the leers she was receiving from some of the other guys on the roof. It was probably time to make an exit. "Well I'd better go, try not to fall off the roof. I don't want to have to doctor you up again."

"Clarke." His voice held warning to it, clearly she had pushed him too far; but she could feel his eyes burning into her back as she walked away. Feeling bold she added a bit of swing to her step, the heat of his gaze spreading through her body.

"Oh and Bellamy." She turned to look at him over her shoulder and flashed him a smirk when she saw the stunned look on his face. "Thanks for the blanket."

AN: And that my friends, is what happens when I try to write when I am overly emotional: fluff galore. I hope you guys don't mind the little time skip; I needed to move things along a bit faster, otherwise I feel like this story would become extremely boring and repetitive. I edited this story after getting only 3 hours of sleep, so any grammar or spelling errors can be blamed on that. Let me know if anything is too bad. As always, comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.

AN 2: Seeing that I have finals over the next two weeks, I might not be able to update until after they are all done. I'll try to get something out before then, but my marks come first!