A/N: And here we are again with another chapter! I was going to make this super angsty but then fluff won out so here's this.
Disclaimer: As always, I own none of the characters or their stories, only the things I do when I borrow them!
Clarke caught up with Murphy just as he reached the slowly opening gates, her breath coming faster than usual due to her having to run to catch up with the taller boys much longer strides. Taking a deep breath, she slowed so she was walking alongside him as they exited the camp, not asking where they were going and instead allowing him the quiet he obviously needed at the moment. They walker for quite some times before she realized where he was taking them. Smiling slightly to herself, she reached over and gently took his hand in her own as they walker, still not saying a word as they continued to walk. Her smiled brightening slightly when she felt his fingers tighten around her own and squeeze gently.
Soon they reached the nearby river, hands still clasped as they walked along the edge until they found a suitable spot to sit. Having been too busy in the commotion of everything back at camp, they both still carried their bags and weapons. Gently untangling her hands from Murphy's she shrugged bother her bags off and set them on the ground beside them before taking a seat. Her silent companion following her example and doing the same. The two sat in silence for some time before her companions quiet voice broke the spell.
"Do you know when I started doing this, Princess? When I started protecting you, that is." he didn't look over at her as he spoke, his eyes trained on rivers current instead. Clarke shook her head, mumbling a quiet no in response. She really didn't remember when he'd become so protective, only that he had and it had just become routine for them.
"I thought not," he snorted, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. "I'll tell you then." Murphy twisted into a more comfortable position before speaking again.
"It was just a bit after you killed Finn, when you were snapping at me and cursing me for not stopping him. I'd never seen you like that, so angry and...cold. You were always so full of hope and light. Everyone had been worried then, but I think I worried more than most. I knew what grief looked like, I knew you'd gone through it before but I'd still never seen you so angry." he took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair. "I didn't like seeing you like that and when you guys came back from Tondc after the ceremony it was even worse. You'd gone from this angry, grieving person to nothing. You didn't show anything and that's when I started to worry. Despite everything that I've done and said to you, you were the first person to actually care about my well being in a long ass time, Princess." Another snort escaped him at this and Clarke was about to speak when he shook his head.
"Not a word until I'm done, Clarke, or else I may not be able to say all this." she nodded her agreement and sat back to listen. "Again, you were the first person in a very long time to care about my well being. Maybe the only one since my parents were floated. But that's a different story. It was when you sent Bellamy to Mount Weather that I really started. You were too focused on revenge and hatred to really notice all that was going on around you and I took it upon myself to be there to do it for you. I sat back and watched as you slowly became this...ruthless leader. You weren't the Clarke I'd known before and I was hoping that maybe having someone there to protect you would help somehow, show you that you weren't alone in all of this...that you didn't have to become the Commander to survive here. But that didn't happen until Tondc was burned. I'd sat back, watching as you and Lexa escaped and I had known then and there that you wouldn't be able to shrug this one off. This decision was going to make or break you, Princess, and I knew that someone was going to have to be there to give you that push in the right direction, though I'm glad it was Octavia and not me. I still think you would've killed me if I'd done it."
"I wouldn't have killed you..." she whispered, staring at Murphy as several emotions seemed to flicker across his face before he settled for indifference.
"Maybe not. But I continued on protecting you the best I could as the fight drew closer. I don't think you noticed until I buried my knife in that grounders hand during one of the meetings." he smiled slightly when she snorted, shaking her head. "It's true, Princess. You'd been so absorbed with the plans for Mount Weather you didn't notice as several grounders started to shy away as you walked by with me trailing behind."
"I'd known you'd started following me around the time Bellamy left. I just didn't know why until you'd done that.." Clarke shifted, running a fingers along the surface of the water as she spoke. "I...didn't really want to knowledge that there was someone that didn't judge me for everything I'd done. I knew Lexa didn't, but she was different." She saw Murphy nod in the corner of her eye and smiled slightly.
"I know that. It started to get better as the battle approached, you started to act more like yourself, checking in on the guard and even asking me how I was doing when I caught up with you in the mornings. Everything was really getting better as you realized that we would have our people back soon. That you'd have all your friends back and safe in just a matter of hours. Bellamy had succeeded in taking down the acid fog, the 47 were safe with the people that didn't agree with Cage and you had an entire army at your back as well as one in the Mountain itself. The day of the battle was...chaos but we made it. We marched back to Camp Jaha with you and Bellamy leading us. Just like it had been before and I'd realized that maybe you didn't need protection anymore, but I was still going to. Because somehow in those couple weeks you'd become my very own Princess and I wasn't about to let anything bad happen to you ever again, even if it meant risking myself to stop it. And I know I don't deserve any of this, that I'm nothing but a criminal, but I won't let you go." his voice shook a bit near the end and Clarke frowned, taking his hand between her own once more.
"I never want you to risk yourself for me, Murphy. Never." she twisted so she was kneeling beside him, hands gripping one of his own tightly. "I may be your Princess, but you are my knight, my guard and I refuse to let you die to protect me. If you die, I'm personally going o bring you back to life just so I can kill you myself. You aren't just a criminal either, my mom doesn't know shit. You're also kind and funny and the only person I would trust my life with." A smile twisted at the corner of her lips as she stared at the boy, eyes shining as blue as the sky above as she did so. Murphy thinks that's when he realized he was in love with the Princess, when she smiled that beautiful smile and told him she didn't want him to die, that he wasn't just a criminal, but if he was being honest with himself, he'd known he was in love with Clarke for a lot longer than today. But it was that day that he felt the slightest hope that maybe, just maybe, someday his Princess could love him back.
"I know, Princess." he returned her smile with a much smaller one of his own, bringing their clasped hands close to his mouth and kissing her knuckles gently. "I can't promise I won't, but I'll try not to." Clarke's smile brightened in response, cheeks flushed a light pink.
"Good, I'd hate to have to kill you. Now! Enough with the sad. I told my mom that if she wouldn't accept us in the camp that I'm sure our people wouldn't mind making our way back to our original home. Because, being honest, Camp Jaha never felt like home to me and I'd actually love to go back." she let their joined hands fall to rest in her lap. "Now, we can either go back now, or we can stay for a bit and go for a swim to relax."
Murphy actually smiled this time, squeezing her hands before tugging his away and standing up. "We can talk about that later, with the rest of them."
"Race ya, Princess." He smirked and unlaced his boots enough to kick them off. Clarke laughed loudly, doing the same and quickly stripping herself out of everything but her underwear and taking a full sprint before diving into the river, Murphy only a few seconds behind.
"I'm sorry, did you say something about a race? Because it seems I was in first." Clarke teased, legs kicking to keep herself afloat as she grinned over at Murphy. She would never cease to thank Lincoln for teaching Octavia and them how to swim. It was an amazing experience, the feeling of floating and not having to worry about holding yourself up, just letting the water hold you up.
"You cheated somehow, I know it." he rolled his eyes, splashing Clarke with a smirk. "I would've been in before you if my shoes hadn't taken forever to get off."
"Excuses, excuses, Murphy. Just admit that I won."
"Never, Princess." Clarke rolled her eyes, splashing Murphy back and swimming closer to the rocks along the edge of the river.
"Sore loser, huh?" she cocked an eyebrow as she rested her arms on the rocks behind her, eyes slowly closing as she enjoyed both the heat of the sun on her face and the refreshing coolness of the water surrounding her.
"Maybe..." she didn't open her eyes as the voice got closer, only opening them when she felt a hand around her ankle, tugging her under water before swimming off again. Swimming to the surface, she glared at the laughing teen only a few feet away.
"Oh, you're dead, Murphy." her words and glare were ruined by the grin on her face as she pushed off the wall and swam towards the still laughing boy.
"I'm shaking, Princess!" Murphy smiled, the first real smile she'd witnessed from the other since they'd met and she stopped in her tracks, watching with wide eyes. She'd never realized how beautiful he was before she'd seen that smile ans she silently vowed to herself to see it more often. Shaking away her thoughts, she swam forward and Murphy took chase, swimming away towards the river bank with a laugh. Clarke finally caught up to him near the edge, dunking him under water before hurriedly climbing out of the water and standing on the rocks above him, a grin on her face and hands raised above her head.
"I win!" she chidlishly stuck her tongue out at Murphy as he surfaced, hands splayed out across the rocks as she heaved himself out of the water.
"Yeah, yeah, Princess." Murphy flipped her off as he shook his head, sending droplets of water flying everywhere, including herself. Shaking her head slightly at his behavior, she reached into her bag and picked up her now dry over shirt and used it to dry herself off the best she could as she watched Murphy do the same with his own shirt, simply pulling his jeans on and leaving the shirt out in the sun to dry.
"Let's stay out here for awhile...We can go back once we're dry." Clarke nodded in agreement, leaving her own jeans off and laying down on the rocks with her eyes closed, the last thought to cross her mind before she drifted was that maybe she didn't always need to be leader, maybe it was nice to let someone take care of her for once sometimes.
Wow, I didn't realize how fluffy this would be until it was all finished! But here we are, a new chapter! And only a day after the newest one. I'm on a roll. {And probably going to disappoint people because the next chapter may take awhile}
As per the most popular request, I'm going to be making this a Clarke/Murphy story. But I want to let it build, so nothing may happen for awhile. But I've got a plan for how everything is going to be revealed. So no worries.
Don't forget to Read & Review, it means a lot!