Author's Note: Thank you everyone for sticking with me thus far. I WAS half-tempted to leave the story where it was at after last chapter but as always, I got such great feedback that I decided that I wasn't going to after all.

(BELLAMY)

He felt pretty happy and satisfied with himself. It was a rare feeling for him so he was admittedly basking in it for the time being. He had just had sex with Clarke and it was the best he'd ever had. Bellamy had a feeling it was because of who he was with that made the difference.

After it was over, they got dressed quickly and took off back to camp. Neither one talked but every once awhile they would glance over at the other and smile.

He smirked when he saw his mark on her just at the edge of her shirt. When she moved, he could see part of it but it was hidden the rest of the time.

The day went on and he found that he was stuck on the hidden nature of it. There but not there. Soon it was all he could think about. He frowned as he realized why.

"Wait, Clarke." He stopped and started shifting on his feet back and forth.

She stopped and looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. They were almost back so she must be wondering why he was delaying them even more.

"We need to talk….about…what happened. You know. With us."

"Are you fucking kidding me Bellamy? Barely a day and you're already having regrets?" she looked pissed. She stomped off before he got out another word.

He ran after her and pulled her to a stop. He used his strength to hold her in place when she tried to break his hold.

"Did I say that I regretted it? Because I don't. Not one minute of it."

"Then what's there to talk about?"

"We can't tell anyone at camp about us."

The look that appeared on her face was a cross of hurt and anger. He hated that he was the one to put that look on her. This conversation wasn't going as planned. It was like train wreck that he didn't know how to stop.

Clarke crossed her arms across her chest and he recognized that she was going into defensive mode. He had hurt her by wanting to hide what happened between them. Like he was ashamed of it or her. But that wasn't the case at all.

They needed to present a united and strong leadership to the Hundred. They couldn't appear to look weakened by affection, especially towards each other. He could think of several individuals whom would love to take control from them, possibly including the boy that he punched the day before.

Right now, he was feared and Clarke was respected by almost everyone in camp. But if they acted differently than they had been, that could all change in an instant. He couldn't let that happen.

"I'm not saying that we can't…."he trailed off, unsure of what they were but he didn't know how to continue either.

"Can't what? Fuck around? But only so long as no one knows about it?" she gave him a disgusted look at that implication.

"God, Clarke? Is that really what you think? That's NOT what I meant!"

"Fine. Then what did you mean?"

"I meant that we could still be together and just the sex part. I like you Princess." He trailed a finger down her cheek down her neck to his bite. The bite that set the ball rolling for this discussion.

"Then why all the secrecy?"

"We need to keep it quiet because there are plenty of people that would love to use this against us. We can't afford for someone else, someone like Murphy for example, to be in control."

(CLARKE)

She hated that he made sense. She hated it even more that they had to hide their feelings for each other. Clarke didn't think it would be as easy as he made it sound though but she would make the effort.

She jerkily nodded her assent and tugged out of his arms. He seemed reluctant to let her go but he did.

"Clarke, you have to know that I don't want to do this either. I would love to tell everyone, especially Spacewalker, about us." His face clouded over when he mentioned Finn and she saw him clenching his fists. "I don't want him thinking he has a chance with you."

"It's fine Bellamy. I get it. I just don't like it."

Clarke reached up on the balls of her feet and lightly pressed a kiss to his lips. He let out a breath like he'd been holding it in since they started this talk. He pulled her close and hugged her to him for several minutes. She wrapped her arms around him and just enjoyed the moment.

Who knew when they would get a chance to do even this much?

Finally, reluctantly, they let go of each other and finished the walk back to camp.

When they arrived, there was chaos everyone and Clarke knew in that moment, that Bellamy had been right. There were gone for 2 days and everything had fallen apart.

The entire camp had eaten some type of hallucinogenic nuts and the Grounder had gotten free. She had a feeling that he had some help in that area from Octavia and that Bellamy suspected as much from the look on his face. She knew that he had asked but that he didn't expect an honest answer.

They then set about showing the guns to everyone, with strong disapproval practically radiating from Finn, whom was ignored by most. Deciding to get it over with, Bellamy and Clarke sat down with Chancellor Jaha and forced him into giving Bellamy a pardon.

Clarke knew what she had to do next but she had been putting it off for as long as she could. She felt Bellamy's eyes watching her as she went to Finn's tent but refused to look at him. She peeked in to make sure he was alone as things with Raven were so uncomfortable that it was hard for her to do her work when she was around.

"I need to check this." She knelt down beside Finn's makeshift bed to examine his wound. She pulled back the bandage and did a visual check for infection.

"Guns? Really?" he had an incredulous expression.

"With the Grounder escaping we have to expect retaliation. We have to be prepared." They needed to protect themselves. They'd already lost so many in such a short time.

"Yeah, our ancestors wanted to be prepared too. so they built bombs."

"Rifles are not the same as nukes." she rolled her eyes at his exaggeration.

In Bellamy's hands they are. Clarke, come on." he gave her a pleading look as expecting her to agree with him. "You can't predict what he's gonna do."

"There's no perfect answer Finn." She was quickly getting frustrated with Finn and his prejudice against Bellamy.

"The Grounder saved Octavia's life and Bellamy brought him back here and tortured him."

"Yeah but if he hadn't brought him back, you'd be dead." She didn't understand why Finn was so against Bellamy. He was part of the reason Finn was still alive.

Finn sat up almost as if to reach for her, "I know!"

"I trust him!" It had slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

Finn sat shocked silence and didn't speak for a minute. "You can't be serious."

So many emotions seem to pass across his face in that mere fraction of a second.

"I am."

She saw him swallow and look away briefly from her.

"Clarke...You and Bellamy are leading us down a dangerous road. I wish you had talked to me about it first."

"I wished you had talked to me about a lot of things...but you didn't."

As much as she was wanted to be with Bellamy, a part of her still cared for Finn and had been deeply hurt by what he had done.

He looked about to respond when Raven came into the tent. She stopped short at the sight of Clarke, then looked back and forth between the two. Finn looked upset at the interruption but just laid back down with a sigh. Feeling the awkward tension, Clarke escaped the tent without another word.

So I have some plans for where I want to go with this story but it's gonna take awhile to get there. Hopefully at the pace that I put out chapters you'll stick around for all of it!