Bonus upload! Yay!

Clarke

They ate over a campfire outside the dropship that night. Murphy and Echo had carried Emori from the caves. She was still unconscious, but Murphy swore that she began to stir as the fresh air swept over her face.

Clarke had her own thoughts about that, but chose not to share them. Instead, she directed Murphy to lay Emori out just beyond the dropship door. The curtain they'd set up all those years ago had long been torn down by scavengers – or burnt to a crisp, but Clarke was leaning more towards human theft. For one thing, even the hooks that had once held it in place had disappeared too.

The others set up camp where, seven years earlier, the delinquents had set up their main camp. Logs were found, and stacked in the optimal position for a long-burning fire. Echo generated enough heat to ignite the dry strands of grass Clarke and Madi stored just for that purpose. Harper helped carry over some of the preserved meat – just because there wasn't much didn't mean they couldn't feast for the very first night back on Earth that most of them were aware of.

Once the flames were going, and the food was sitting on a grill hobbled together out of wood and a grill form the dropship, the seven of them took their seats around the fire. Murphy sat closest to the dropship door, one ear always listening out for Emori. Harper and Monty sat together on his right, and Raven sat on his left. Echo sat a little ways behind them, still grateful to be back on the ground.

Bellamy took his seat beside Clarke, who had Madi knelt in front of her, leaning against her knee.

For a moment, as Clarke looked around at her friends, it felt almost like she was that naïve seventeen year old who had escaped almost guaranteed death twice over, to be one of the first hundred people to set foot on the Earth in ninety seven long years.

Almost.

There were new faces, and faces she longed to see again but never would. And then there were those who she prayed would one day be able to return, if only they could dig them out of the rubble.

Raven's voice brought her out of her silent reverie. 'Anyway, Clarke. You haven't told us the full story about how you're here. Nightblood, right? But the better question … what happened after you went off to the satellite?'

Clarke sighed, stroking her fingers through Madi's dark hair. She felt Bellamy tense up beside her. He was remembering, just as she was, their last parting. Knowing Monty was in trouble, but also knowing that if she didn't get to the satellite, all of them would be.

'The satellite wasn't in the right position.' She closed her eyes, and the memories flooded back. 'The signal wouldn't send until the satellite was aligned, but there was no way to do that from the ground. I had to manually realign it.'

'You had to climb?' Monty guessed softly, and Clarke nodded in his general direction.

'I didn't quite get it into position before you guys blasted off. I watched the rocket launch and I saw Praimfaya rage in the distance.' She bit her lip, trying to push that particular thought away. 'When I did get the satellite into position, the tablet you gave me cut out. I never even knew if the signal sent.'

Bellamy's warm hand clasped hers in a silent show of support. 'But I had to believe. And believing meant I had to live to meet you all again.' She turned her hand to her palm was resting against his, and her fingers tightened. Her other hand continued stroking Madi's hair.

Her eyes hadn't opened yet – she didn't want to see pity in any faces. Didn't want to watch them blame themselves for not waiting.

'I climbed down, and made my way back to the lab. It's not radiation proof, but it kept enough of it out. Kept me alive for long enough to weather the worst of the storms.' She shrugged, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

One hundred and ninety-nine days she'd been stuck in that lab, too afraid to go outside.

Ten days between the storms finally dying down and her having the confidence to pull open the laboratory doors.

But she didn't tell them that. She had chosen to keep that to herself; that, and the fact a fortnight before the storms finally calmed, she had been so very close to ending it. That she had held the gun so many times, thinking about it before she remembered why she absolutely had to live.

Bellamy seemed to understand, as his hold on her fingers became borderline painful.

'After a few months, I crossed the ocean back here. Hid out in those caves, thinking they were the best sort of protection I could get if anything happened again. They kept out the acid fog, after all.' She opened her eyes at last, turning to Bellamy with a wry grin. She remembered him telling her that he and Charlotte had sheltered there the very first time they had come across Mount Weather's defence system.

'A year in, I found Madi in one of the old, family-owned bunkers. She was in a similar state – starving, scarred and still affected by the radiation, but alive. And from there, we just kept surviving. Found the rover. Found a portable satellite to link with the radio to try to get in touch with you guys. Went to Arkadia, and to Polis. Survived as best we could.'

She could see the pity she'd been trying to avoid in all the faces except Murphy's. Not that that was much of a surprise. 'Anyway, enough with the past. We need to start thinking about moving forward. Freeing those trapped in the Bunker.'

Her words spurred the others into action. Bellamy released her hand, and she was sorry to lose the heat. He nodded stiffly.

Food was shared between them, with Raven again loudly proclaiming her love for real food, and Harper laughing at Monty as he dug in with such ferocity the juices from the meat trickled down his chin.

Murphy barely touched his, too busy staring back into the illuminated dropship at Emori's prone form.

It was Echo who answered Clarke's unspoken question. 'Four months.'

Clarke started – she hadn't noticed the grounder move closer, never mind behind her. 'They'd only known for three weeks.' She lowered her head almost respectfully. 'Wanheda.'

'Please, Echo, it's just Clarke.' She waved away the woman's use of the title she'd rather forget. 'I haven't commanded death in a very long time, and I'd like to keep it that way.'

'You survived Praimfaya. That in itself would have earned you the title Wanheda, if you did not already carry it.' Her eyes were wide. 'You and the little Natblida. You are now, and forevermore, Wanhedas.'

Clarke scowled, but didn't reply. What could she say? No, she was not Commander of Death – but she had managed to hold off her own throughout radiation that had killed nearly every other living thing? And Madi too?

She chose instead to lean down to Madi's ear and whisper, 'It's time for you to sleep, little one.'

As expected, the girl started to protest, but then stopped when Clarke gave her what Madi referred to as The Smirk. The one she used when she told Madi that she would do something, Madi protested but then did it anyway – usually without realising.

This time it was Clarke's usual insistence that Madi always argued back about when to go to bed.

Echo noticed, and her own grin appeared. 'Go,' she whispered to the little girl. 'We will still be here tomorrow. Reshop, Madi kom Trishanakru.'

The girl lowered her head carefully. 'Reshop, Echo kom Azgeda.' She pushed herself to her feet, and with weary steps – Clarke knew she was more tired than she'd been letting on – made her way inside the dropship.

'Her parents?' Echo asked softly, and Clarke shook her head.

'Killed by Praimfaya. She was five.' Clarke busied herself gathering up what little Madi had left from her dinner. 'Care for some more?'

The Grounder took it with a smile of gratitude.

I have written bunker scenes. I have written scenes that have made me cry and made me squee at the same time.

I have written one of what I consider my best ever scenes. And in celebration of that, surprise bonus upload.

Also I just rewatched 4x13 and yeah, big mistake. So I needed to share happy times.