I don't own any of these characters. Thanks to anyone who reviewed the last chapter.


Clarke was thankful that Bellamy was standing behind her, giving her a chance to let her surroundings sink in. It was beautiful. She didn't know if it was because it was dusk, or because the place just seemed to be so magical but she swore that it glowed.

They were under a canopy of trees in a clearing that was a perfect circle. It wasn't large but it had everything she could want. If she squinted in the pale light she could just about make out a brook to her left, and in front of her an indentation in a cliff side revealed a snug but cosy cave with a curtain of vines covering the entrance.

She turned to look at Bellamy, to thank him for bringing her to this enchanting patch of the forest, but started when she found he was much closer than expected. It must have been the magnificence of her surroundings but when she saw him standing so close to her, she took the time to study the man who had come to mean home. He looked almost ethereal, the light making his skin appear paler and his hair darker, as though all the colour had been sucked from him. She supposed she must look the same.

"Is this were you come?" she whispered, loath to break the silence in such an amazing place.

Bellamy just nodded at her, giving her a closed lipped smile, one that she had come to know, and always treasured when she was gifted with one. Genuine joy was hard to find on the ground, and Clarke remembered every smile of all of her friends at the camp. She just liked Bellamy's more, it was so rare to see him with a happy expression. The weight of 100 unruly children had settled upon his shoulders and not budged since the day they had arrived.

"Is this were you came after Charlotte?" the words escaped her mouth with no direction from her head. She waited to see Bellamy's reaction, not knowing if she should feel regretful for reminding him of the horrific incident. When they were unable to find Charlotte's body the small party had made their way back towards the drop ship, until Bellamy veered off before they were home. He refused company, telling them that he would see them in the morning. He took no supplies and it was three days before Clarke saw him back at the camp, striding around talking of the threat that the grounders posed. Acting like nothing had happened. Clarke remembered being thrilled and relieved to see his face, haunted though it was, but also shattered that he hadn't approached her.

Bellamy ignored Clarke's question. He'd already answered it the first time.

"It's dark Clarke. We should get some rest, tomorrow we can practice shooting. It's too dangerous tonight." He walked straight towards the cave, hunching just slightly as he went through the entrance. She was able to walk through it standing tall, though she could feel the rough ceiling teasing her hair occasionally.

As she approached the dim fire that Bellamy was feeding a sudden roar of the wind scared her, making her jump and smash her head against the roof. The impact shook her knees and she fell onto all fours, groaning.

She felt Bellamy drop to his knees beside her and glanced up at him, smiling ruefully, expecting an answering smirk and some smart Alec comment about it only being the weather, but they never came. It was just a bump on the head, she had had much worse and knew that it probably wasn't serious but the lack of composure on Bellamy's face, the concern in his eyes made her own start to water. She hadn't realised how much it hurt until she saw how worried her partner looked.

"Oh Clarke," he muttered, "It's okay." He used the tips of his fingers to locate the spot that she had whacked, and put a little pressure on it, causing her to hiss with pain. "Sorry," he said "I just needed to see if you were bleeding. You're fine. You're going to be okay."

The slight smile that he gave her, along with the crackles of electricity running down her spine from the top of her head where his fingers still rested had her pulling away from him, putting her guard back up, keeping her distance.

"Sure thing, Doctor Blake," she deadpanned. "It was more the shock of it than anything else. I've had worse." She lifted one of her shoulders in a half shrug motion, but dropped it and winced when she found that moving did her very little in the way of pain relief.

"Here. Sit down. All we have to do tonight is eat and sleep." He turned to her, unease in his eyes, "So long as you aren't concussed."

"It really was just a bump," Clarke smiled through the pain. She didn't want to be babied. None of them could afford an injured leader.


At some point during the night Clarke awoke, freezing. The fire had died out and with the wind had come the rain, chilling her bones. She made a move to get up and restart the fire, but realised that she would need more kindling. The rain however made that impossible, everything was too damp to be able to get a fire going. She supposed she could venture out to look for some dry fire-wood, but that would just result in her getting soaked.

Sitting back down she scooted closer to the embers of the fire, hoping that they would still be giving off some heat. She glanced over at Bellamy and smiled. He was lucky. He'd told her that when he slept he was dead to the world, no dreams, no worries. God, she was envious of that. Looking down at him again she could see that that was true. He slept like a child, arms and legs akimbo, hair over his eyes with his mouth just slightly open. And he was shivering. Clarke frowned.

"Bellamy," she whispered, standing once more and nudging him with her foot. "Bellamy, wake up."

No luck. Bellamy just grunted and rolled over, capturing her foot in his arms as he did so. Clarke, normally as dexterous as the next person, must still have been feeling dozy from her head injury because as she felt her right foot slide forward with Bellamy her left stayed planted firmly on the floor. This caused her to do a somewhat inelegant flip directly onto Bellamy's head and torso.

A muffled "GA-AH-ACK!" came from beneath Clarke as she groaned. Somehow she had managed to smack her temple against his elbow. Any more of this and her brain would become detached and fall out of her ears.

"Bellamy!" Clarke hissed. "I'm so sorry!"

"What the hell Clarke?!" Bellamy rolled her off his body and sat up, clutching his midsection, "Was there not an easier way to wake me up?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Clarke lamented. She decided it would be better to just shut up.

"What were you trying to do Clarke?" Bellamy's voice still hadn't quite evened out and she winced.

"I'm sorry Bellamy, it was an accident. I got up because it was cold, and then I saw you shivering and I tried to wake you up and…" she remembered the way that he had cradled her foot before bringing her crashing to the ground. "And…" She couldn't help but grin. Big bad Bellamy needed something to cuddle at night.

"And?" Bellamy demanded, losing his patience. He was not good at waking up.

"…and I tripped on something and fell on you." Clarke decided that she would keep to herself the real truth. Guys got so uncomfortable when you called them cute.

"You feeling okay?" Bellamy asked, his annoyance fading. Clarke had a funny look on her face and was hugging herself.

Bellamy narrowed his eyes.

"You were right," he said, interrupting her thoughts.

"Huh?"

"It IS cold," his teeth were chattering. "C'mere." He motioned for her to sit next to him on the patch of tarpaulin that he had produced from his backpack that night.

She sat, and felt his arm curl around her shoulders. The two stayed like that, sharing body heat and watching the light gradually brighten outside until the grey dawn broke to reveal the weak, watery sunshine peaking through.


Please review if you have the time x