A/N: Hi my favorite readers! Clarke & Bellamy have been separated (again!) leaving things in an "it's complicated" situation. Thanks and enjoy!

CHAPTER 12

::14 MONTHS LATER::

CLARKE

Clarke sat in the middle of a cold, dark room, tied to an old wooden chair. She stared into the darkness waiting in complete terror. She tried to scream for help but nothing came out no matter how hard she tried. From out of the darkness a figure appeared and as it lifted it's head Clarke's eyes bulged with fear.

"Deals off." Roan said coldly as he pointed a gun at her head and pulled the trigger.

Clarke woke with a start.

"What's wrong?" Wells came running into her room fully alert.

"Nothing, I'm sorry, bad dream." Clarke said shaking.

Wells pulled her into a hug, rubbing her arms to try to calm her down, but she was lost in her thoughts.

It had been a year and two months since she'd seen Bellamy in Chicago and she hadn't heard a word from him since. The plan was five months. He was going to get in touch with her in five months and they'd get the bank job done. She waited for him for four more months until she realized she was waiting for something that wasn't going to happen. At first, she was worried - what if something had happened to him? But after awhile she was hurt and that hurt turned into anger.

She'd managed to move on from the their tragic relationship, or fling, or whatever the hell it was, but her dreams wouldn't let her forget him.

Sometimes her dreams were everything her unconscious mind could hope for, she and Bellamy would be reunited and there would be no more danger or obstacles, only laughter and love and lightness.

But most of the time her dreams were terrifying or humiliating and they had become more frequent as her work trip to Chicago was approaching. Now it was the day she would be flying to Chicago and staying at the same Hilton that she'd stayed at with Bellamy 14 months earlier. It was going to be a difficult trip.

Wells had been helpful and patient with her. He was a good guy, who was caring and dependable. He wouldn't disappear on her and she appreciated that about their friendship the most. He had been one of her best friends since as far back as she could remember and she was so happy that he was in town staying with her for a month before his new job started. She knew that he could tell she'd been down for awhile now and loved that he made it seem like SHE was doing HIM the favor by hosting him. Unfortunately, as helpful as her best friend was he couldn't keep the dreams away.

Wells looked down at her with pity and concern, a look that she was growing used to.

"Clarke, have you thought more about seeing someone?" He had been on her for weeks now to go see a therapist about whatever was haunting her.

"Maybe. I'll think about it, OK?" She tried to be as convincing as possible. She knew better than anyone that a therapist would really help her out, but it was too dangerous. She worried she'd drop her guard and give up some kind of information that would hurt Bellamy, or Octavia, or get her Mom in trouble. She had to keep the secret to herself.

Wells didn't know about the kidnapping or her tragic love lost, he only knew the surface information she'd given him about herself. When he asked her what she was holding on to that was weighing her down she would simply say, "The past." and then made it clear she didn't want to talk about it.

Clarke gave Wells a quick peck on the cheek.

"I gotta pack." She said as she slipped out of bed and slid into her slippers.

Wells gave her a worried smile as she plopped her suitcase on the bed. "Ok, I'll be in the living room if you need me. Want some breakfast?"

She gave him a smile, "You really are the BEST of friends."

As she packed, she thought about the first time she dreamed about Bellamy. It was about 6 months after she'd last seen him, a month since she was supposed to hear from him.

In the dream, she was in New York on a crowded city street and while everyone buzzed around her in their mindless commutes, she saw him, maybe fifty yards away. He was trying to get to her but there were too many people between them. The two of them kept trying to get closer only to be pulled further apart by the crowd. Bellamy, looking desperate in his pursuit mouthed to her, "I never stopped." And then she woke up.

There had been no puzzle to decipher, she knew that in her dream Bellamy was telling her that he'd never stopped loving her and the immense sadness that overtook her led her to moping the rest of the week. Not just because of how deeply upsetting the dream was, but because that was all it was, a dream. Bellamy had cut her out of his life.

Her girlfriends had been amazing again during that time, keeping her busy, getting her drunk, and making her go out whenever possible. What they didn't realize was that every time they went out those first few months after their 5-month meeting date had lapsed, Clarke held out hope that he would somehow just appear, but he never did. She would scan crowds, check her phone, do double-takes anytime a man walked by that looked even remotely like Bellamy.

. . .

When Clarke arrived at the O'Hare airport she stopped for a moment and considered making a quick stop in the lights tunnel. She thought better about it and continued on. She couldn't, however, stop herself from glancing over at the spot that Bellamy had stood the last time she had exited the terminal. She remembered him there, with his big grin and felt a tight pang in her chest.

Arriving at the hotel was the hardest part for her, this was where she had spent her happiest weekend. Bellamy and she had spent that Saturday morning in bed together and then spent the afternoon and evening exploring the city. Saturday night had been filled with more passion and then their Sunday morning had been an intense morning of goodbye sex and what she thought was genuine adoration for one another.

She longed to be back in that place and time.

. . .

After the first day of the conference Clarke, exhausted, went up to her hotel room to get ready for a sponsored party for attendees. Determined to not spend one extra moment alone with her thoughts during this trip, she pulled out the fitted black dress and heels that she'd packed, put on some bright red lipstick, and headed downstairs to the ballroom.

She was surprised by the size of the party, there were probably 500 people dressed up and scattered throughout the ballroom, it had been decorated with thousands of twinkling white lights. A DJ had managed to get a large number of attendees on the dance floor (with help from the open bars that were dispersed around the room).

"Can I buy you a drink?" A tall blonde asked from behind her, a smug smile on his face.

Clarke held back an eye roll. "That depends, what brings you to this conference?"

"ALIE, the party sponsor. Names Riley, I'm on their sales team." Hi smiled wide again.

Clarke couldn't help but think that this guy was the worst.

"These two are on my team," Riley pulled another guy and a girl over to them. "This is Atom and Emori."

"Clarke." She introduced herself.

"Let's get some drinks, I'm too sober." Emori suggested.

The four of them went to the bar and took a shot and then grabbed two more drinks each, taking them to a spot near the dance floor.

Thirty minutes later Emori was dragging Clarke onto the dance floor. For a moment, she felt free. No sadness, no drama, no secrets - just music, dancing, and strangers.

The two of them were singing and dancing to her favorite song when she spun around and saw him.

All of the air was sucked out of the room.

Bellamy was standing amongst the crowd, across the dance floor. His eyes were locked on her.

A/N: There is a LOT MORE COMING, I have so much written but need to go through and edit before posting. REMINDER: Please review, follow, and favorite to let me know if you are enjoying it and get updates as soon as they come out! THANKS!