Bellamy had assisted the crew with putting up most of the new fence after leaving Monty with Clarke and Jasper. While they were off on their surprise rescue mission, the pirates had worked tirelessly to fortify the camp, impressing even Bellamy with their determination and success. They had a tent full of supplies and food, and piles of lumber all around the clearing. Together, the pirates had started digging the holes for the fence posts around their target perimeter for the camp, and then started putting up the wall until darkness impeded their work when the sun had finally dipped under the horizon. Bellamy had left Octavia and Raven at the celebratory bonfire, after drinking a toast or two to their continued survival on this infernal island. Distant laughter echoed through the clearing as Bellamy moseyed over to the medical tent. He had sent people to check on Monty and the injured while he was working and was satisfied with the reports. Monty had told his "scouts" that Jasper was sleeping soundly, and not groaning as much and that Clarke's wound had finally stopped bleeding, and that she was sleeping-but not as soundly as Jasper.
"Hey, Monty. You should go rest," Bellamy said as he entered the medical tent. Monty was barely keeping his eyes open when the captain walked in, and looked exhausted. Blinking back sleep, the pirate shook his head.
"I have to make sure they're okay," He said before a giant yawn overtook him. Bellamy just raised a brow, and jerked his head toward the fire in the distance.
"We actually accomplished a lot today. Go get your rations and then go to sleep. You've earned it." Bellamy said, patting his friend on the shoulder. Monty sighed, and shot a worried glance to the two unconscious teenagers lying before him, his gaze lingering on his best friend, before nodding and slowly standing up.
"I guess you're right. As always," Monty sighed. Bellamy chuckled, and playfully pushed Monty out of the tent.
"But hey, take your own advice. Sleep man, you need it too." Monty called out before retreating toward the campfire, whistling a tune as he went. Bellamy shook his head, and lowered himself onto the ground in between the two injured pirates. He stoked the small fire in the center of the tent and added a few spare logs to feed the flames. His gaze fell on Clarke's blonde hair, and then to the worry lines marring her features. Monty was right. She was definitely not having a good dream. He smoothed the hair off of her sweaty forehead and wiped her face with a cool rag. Then, he checked on Jasper-making sure not to mess with the bandages. The fire flickered, casting shadows on the faces of the pirates and the inside of the tent. Bellamy moved closer to the warmth of the flames as the chill of the night air seeped in.
"I'll tell you what, princess, you sure messed up this time," Bellamy said with a dark chuckle. He glanced down at her, and rolled his eyes in frustration.
"I still can't believe you went into the forest after ripping out your stitches and bleeding out. Let alone helping us rescue Jasper and jumping across a river. You'd think that since you're basically the last hope for the monarchy in Arcadia that you'd have a better sense of self preservation." He said with a rueful shake of his head. Bellamy sat in the tent in silence, save for the crackling of the fire, for a few moments.
"I guess that's what makes you the best possible queen we could ever have," He said softly. The captain smiled down at Clarke with a new tenderness he never expected to have for the runaway princess. With a disbelieving scoff, Bellamy forced his eyes from the sleeping princess.
"Not gonna happen, Bell. Just let her go," He mumbled to himself. The captain grabbed his coat from the floor and rolled it into a makeshift pillow. He'd left it in the tent after helping Monty when they had returned earlier that day.
"Alright you two, don't die during the night, you hear me? That's an order." He grumbled before settling down on the hard ground to try and catch some sleep.
Clarke awoke to humming. She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to come back to the harsh reality she was currently living. The humming continued for a few more minutes, and she could hear the sounds of tea being made and something being cooked. The smell of smoking meat reached her nose and she could feel the saliva start to build in her mouth. She slowly opened her eyes, seeing the bare ceiling of the teepee above her. She turned her head toward the source of the humming and the smell of the meat, and smiled at what she saw.
Bellamy, the fierce Pirate Captain, was humming while roasting a stick of meat over the fire in the tent. He had only an undershirt and trousers on, from what she could see, and there was a pot sitting next to the fire. He was so domestic. The pirate captain was humming a tune while cooking breakfast…Clarke could hardly believe her eyes. She sat up slowly, wincing when her torso throbbed in pain. Sadly, she was almost used to constantly being in immense pain. The blonde crept up behind the pirate and startled him by jabbing him in the sides. Bellamy let out a curse and tumbled onto his side in an attempt to run from Clarke's "attack."
"…the fuck! Clarke! What are you doing?" He exclaimed, sucking on his fingers since he had accidentally singed his fingertips in his attempted escape.
"Just teasing, lighten up," She said teasingly, grabbing one of the sticks of meat from the fire and ripping a piece off into her mouth. She hummed in pleasure as she chewed the juicy meat, the flavor exploding on her tongue. It had been too long since she last ate anything of real substance, and she missed it. Bellamy gazed over at the princess with a soft smile at her reaction to the meat.
"Been a while since we've had any real food, huh," He commented. Clarke nodded earnestly, still chewing on the meat.
"I miss steaks. Big, juicy, meaty steaks." Bellamy said with a sigh.
"Don't remind me," Clarke replied, "I miss sweets."
"Hmmm. I would kill for some cake right now. Or even a good loaf of bread. I miss bread." Bellamy stated. Soon both of the pirates were lost in a food fantasy, drool slowly making its way down their chins at the thought of real food.
"You're making me so hungry," Clarke groaned. Bellamy chuckled, but agreed with her. How much longer would they have to survive off of nuts and berries and the occasional deer? It wasn't sustainable.
"What are we going to do?" Clarke asked, her thoughts heavy.
"About which issue? The grounders? The food shortage? The defenses? Or the fact that we have no way off of this godforsaken island?" Bellamy snarled. The healer looked over at him with sympathy, and leaned her shoulder against his for comfort.
"It sucks, but we'll survive. We have to." She said. Bellamy just nodded, knowing she was right, but still not happy about their current situation. He could tell Clarke wasn't either, based on the frustration dwelling in her eyes, but they would have to deal with it for now.
"One problem at a time," He sighed. Clarke hummed in agreement and finished eating her meat ration. Bellamy grabbed the pot of tea that had been sitting next to the flames and poured some out in one of the spare cups left from the wreckage and handed it to Clarke.
"Monty said this'll help with the pain and healing," He explained. She grimaced, but gulped the distasteful tea down anyway. That was when she noticed Jasper still lying unconscious on a makeshift cot a few feet away.
"Shit." She muttered. The blonde crawled over to her friend and unwrapped his bandage to check out how the wound was faring. Her gaze narrowed as she saw the primitive but effective healing techniques the Grounders had administered. His wound did not appear to be infected, and Monty had stitched it closed nicely.
"How's he doin', doc?" Bellamy asked from his perch above Clarke's shoulder.
"Doesn't appear to be infected, and Monty did a good job stitching him up. With enough rest he should recover nicely. Plus, he'll have a badass scar." She answered. Bellamy chuckled at her words, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I can't believe he survived," He said in astonishment.
"You and me both," Clarke replied. They both looked down at their wounded and unconscious companion with softness in their gazes.
"He is totally going to milk this story. We'll never hear the end of it." Bellamy commented with a chuckle. Clarke laughed, and agreed with him. During the short time she had known Jasper, she had learned of his melodramatic tendencies.
"I should go find Monty. Jasper should wake up soon, I think, and Monty should be here for that," Clarke said nervously. Truthfully, she just wanted to get out of that teepee and go off into the woods to be alone for a few minutes. Seeing Jasper alive due to the fact that she abandoned him to the Grounders had disturbed her. If she had rescued him right after he was stabbed, he most likely would have died and that was not okay with the healer.
"Sounds like a plan. Let's go. You should see all the improvements we've made anyway," Bellamy said. Clarke was about to ask to go alone, but Bellamy gave her a look that said: you're not going anywhere alone just yet, and she silently relented.
Bellamy was not going to let Clarke wander off on her own again, since last time she almost bled out and died- not to mention all the other times she had gotten herself in danger when she went off on her own.
The duo left the tent, and Clarke was astounded at the sight around her. The camp was almost unrecognizable. There was a large wooden fence around about two thirds of the campsite so far, and she could see farther out into the forest due to the amount of lumber the pirates had collected from the immediate forest, and there were more and more tent structures popping up in the meadow-some were already finished and others were in varying stages of construction.
"How long was I out?" She asked breathlessly. Bellamy let out a laugh.
"We pirates tend to get shit done. You were only out for about half a day. You passed out yesterday in the afternoon, and it's still late morning right now." He said. Clarke whistled in shock. She couldn't believe that in the past few days since their crash that the crew had gotten so much done. When she thought about it, however, she realized it wasn't as if they had better things to be doing.
"This is amazing," She exclaimed with a smile. She could see Bellamy laughing at her enthusiasm, but she didn't care. They had come so far since that hellish day when the ship had crashed into the reef and sank, dragging down beloved souls with it. As Clarke made her way through the camp towards what Bellamy said was Monty's tent, most of the pirates came up to greet her and give her a hug. Everyone was smiling despite the situation, which she assumed was due to how productive they had been in the past few days. Clarke was holding her side after she had walked across about half of the compound, which Bellamy most definitely noticed. He kept glancing over at her periodically and each side eyed look made Clarke even more frustrated. Bellamy quickly stepped in front of the princess to push aside the palm fronds that had been used as a door to let her in.
"Hey Monty!" She called out, easily spotting him dozing in the corner of the small space. He jerked awake at her voice, and wiped the sleep from his eyes. "Wha- Oh! You're awake!" He exclaimed as he jumped up to his feet and pulled her into a warm embrace.
"Thanks to you," She said, returning his hug after a brief pause. He merely smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "All in a day's work." He replied.
"Oh, and if you're okay with sleeping in the medical tent, Jasper should be waking up soon. I figured you would want to be there for him." She said, smiling at the excitement that lit Monty's face.
"You bet your ass I'm going to be there! Someone has to chew him out for being so reckless." Monty said as he quickly grabbed his supper rations and rushed out of his tent, leaving the two leaders alone to contemplate their island situation. The moment Monty cleared the tent flaps, Clarke eased her way to a sitting position on his bed of palm fronds and furs with a groan. Bellamy rolled his eyes, and helped her get comfortable.
"Just imagine, if you had let that wound heal right the first time and rested, you wouldn't be in this predicament." He muttered snidely. The princess shot him a glare, and he just glared back at her. He was right, but she would never admit it.
"I just have to rest for a minute, then we can get back to exploring the camp." She grumbled, massaging her sore side. Bellamy rolled his eyes, again, and grabbed a twig from the ground, then moved so he sat across from her. He cleared a patch of dirt, and started to draw. He started with a large circular shape, and then started marking out smaller sections within the circle and a few landmarks outside of its barrier.
"What is that?" She asked, pointing to a random squiggly line near her knee.
"It's the river. Not all of us have your art skills." He quipped. She laughed, but held back her other critiques.
"Okay, so I assume you've gathered that the big circle is us. This square is your infirmary, and there in the middle is the bonfire. We're planning on making a few guard posts along the perimeter, and over here is our supply tent. Right next to it is the meat hut. And scattered out around the campsite are various huts that the crew have built for themselves." Bellamy explained, using his twig to point to the various sections of the map. Clarke stopped listening to his explanation about halfway through to focus on Bellamy's tanned face, appreciating every last one of his freckles. His dark hair curled loosely around his face, and was in desperate need of a trim. She liked how it was long and curled around his ears, but after a few weeks without a cut, it was starting to look a little scraggly. His dark eyes shone with pride as he talked about the crew's success over the past few days. Clarke felt her heart flutter as he glanced up and locked eyes with her, shooting her an amused smirk. Her mind went blank for a few seconds.
"U-um…" She sputtered, "where should I sleep tonight?" The captain pretended to ignore her embarrassment and just shrugged, "Why not the infirmary?"
"Monty is there, and I don't want to intrude. Besides, I think I should have my own tent separate from the infirmary." She retorted.
"Fine, but you can't do anything but rest for the next few days, so you'll have to stay with me in the meantime." Bellamy replied. She gaped at the bold declaration.
"Stay with you?" She exclaimed.
"Of course. You're a princess, and I'm a captain. I can protect you," He said with a devilish smirk, "besides, I'm not letting you out of my sight anytime soon."
Clarke touched her injury and pursed her lips. From the look on his face, Bellamy wouldn't be budging any time soon on this new rule of his. Fine. She could play along. Now it would be a game of who could annoy who the best, and Clarke was not used to losing.
I'm back! I'm sorry for the wait...but I hope you enjoyed this short and sweet filler chapter! (it's the shortest and the shittiest so far, but hey, at least I'm writing again...)
ANYWAY, please REVIEW and help encourage me to write!
And, check out my tumblr an-upset-librarian for previews and some original stories I'm working on!