Author's Note: Thank you for being patient with me as I had a bit of writer's block after the last update. I used the time to write another chapter for my 2nd series so I could go back and rethink this chapter. It was one my shortest chapters ever for this story but not all chapters can be long ones, right? Hopefully you find it satisfactory enough.

(CLARKE)

She woke up the next day, feeling infinitely better than yesterday and felt a sense of relief. Clarke was able to take a deep breath without coughing and her body felt stronger.

The sickness was truly passing.

Clarke took a look over her shoulder and saw Bellamy stretched out his side of the bed, an arm thrown over his eyes to block out the light. His hair was sticking up in different ways and she had to resist the urge to smooth it out.

Bellamy needed his rest to continue recovering from his bout of sickness. Though he did look awfully cute with the messy hair and sleep lines on his cheek.

As soon as she exited the tent, she was nearly blinded by the bright sun. Being stuck in the drop ship for over a day and bleeding from her eyes seemed to make her sensitive to the light this morning.

Seeing the wash tent, Clarke headed off to that direction for a rinse. There was still some blood caked to her body from her own illness as well as from helping the Hundred recover.

The water was freezing cold but it did its job in removing the dirt and blood from her face and arms. The camp had set up using rain water they collected that funneled down into a nozzle that could be turned on and off. It had a sheet up to allow for privacy so that a one could undress in relative safety.

"Hey Clarke."

Monty had come into the tent and started washing his hands. Whatever he was working on had caused dirt to get all over his arms and face.

"Hey Monty. Any word on the Ark?"

A frown appeared on his face and Clarke had her answer.

"No, still no word. Whatever happened up there, it must have been serious enough for them to go this long without contacting us."

"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about."

They didn't speak again for a minute, both deep in thought. Clarke glanced at the shower again in envy and an idea came to her.

"Monty, do we still have some empty food bins?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so. Like 3 or 4." he gave her a puzzled look, "Why?"

"I'm thinking that it's time for a bath and clean clothes."

(BELLAMY)

When he woke up, he was alone in the tent. Bellamy much preferred to wake up with Clarke still in bed so that he could wake her up in the most delightful ways.

Probably just as well that she wasn't since he was still feeling off-balance from the virus. He had been one of the last to get sick so he was one of the last to recover.

He went in search of Clarke and found her by the fire talking excitedly with Monty. She was gesturing towards the fire pit while she spoke and Bellamy found himself wondering what those two had thought up now.

Bellamy walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, leaning over to press a kiss to her cheek. Now that he didn't have to hide their relationship anymore, he was taking full advantage of the situation.

"-all we need to do then is mix the lye, water and animal fat to make soap."

"That's a lot of work Clarke." Monty seemed impressed with the idea though.

"Well yeah, but it'll keep us clean and help avoid more common illness besides just using the alcohol. It's just as complicated as your moonshine is."

Clarke was fighting for the soap and Bellamy thought it was a good idea. This last virus had killed 14 people by last count and while it may have not been avoided, certainly other types would be with more precaution.

"I agree with Clarke. Monty, get whatever you need."

Monty left and went off to work on this new project, leaving Clarke and Bellamy alone at the fire. The rest of the camp was still recovering or guarding the wall, so they had a few minutes to themselves.

Clarke turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck, looking up at him with concern.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better. Not great but better."

She nodded in understanding. They had lived where others had not. It was nothing more than pure luck that they had.

"Listen Bellamy-" she paused as if to consider her next words, "we need to get people clean. The best way to do that is to go to the pond to wash up. Plus it would be good for morale."

He sighed, knowing he should have seen this coming when he heard her talking about soap. Clarke was the heart of the group while he was the muscle.

"We can't take the risk. The Grounders will be looking for payback for the bridge and we'll be vulnerable."

"Bells, we all need a bath...some more than others." Ahh, apparently his sister had overheard their conversation.

Bellamy saw Octavia standing nearby and groaned. Looking back and forth between the two women in his life, he knew he was fighting a losing battle.

"Clarke, don't ask me to be okay with this."

"I'm not asking for your permission Bellamy. I am just advising you of my course of action." she would have seemed very diplomatic if not for the mischievous look in her eyes.

"No one goes by themselves. You go in large groups, someone to guard for every girl. Then when they finished washing, you switch. Keep it quick and don't linger. If you're gone too long, I'm sending the boys to come looking."

As he rattled of instructions, Bellamy knew that threat would do it for most of the girls. Some of them might not mind being caught by the boys usually but not with the current dangers facing them.

The girls grinned at him in delight and they ran off to tell everyone else.

(CLARKE)

It was easy to gather all the girls once word got out that they were going to go bath in the pond. They didn't have the time to wash their clothing and allow them to dry but at least their bodies and hair would be clean.

Once they made the soap though, then they could wash their clothes back at camp using a small amount of rain water. Things were looking up for once.

Clarke found Raven on the beach after her bath and went to check on her, worried because Raven had such a heartbreaking expression on her face.

They weren't friends but it looked like Raven could use one.

"Um, so, is everything alright? You look upset."

Raven looked at her and Clarke it was then that she noticed her necklace missing. The girl never took it off so Clarke wondered if she had lost it. It would explain the look.

"We broke up."

"Huh?"

"Finn and I broke up. He doesn't love me, not like I want to be loved. Not like he loves you."

"Oh."

Clarke was at a loss to what to say to her. She had no interest in Finn. It was clear that she had made her choice and it was Bellamy.

"I'm sorry Raven. It was never my intention to come between you."

Raven nodded but didn't say anything else.

On the way back, Clarke noticed that a new grave had been dug since last night. Everyone had been on the mend when she had left them last night so the extra grave confused her.

Clarke left the group to track down one of the guards to ask who had died during the night. She found Jackson, a younger guard that she had helped patch up a few times, on patrol at the gate.

"It was Connor. Choked on his own blood in the night. No one heard him I guess."

"Connor? Are you sure?"

"Yep. Helped dig the grave myself."

Connor was infected when she was by Murphy and last she had checked, had been on the mend. In fact, she had been sure that he was going to live. So that didn't explain how he suddenly took a turn for the worse. It bothered her that he was dead for some reason, more than the others.

If she knew more about the virus then she'd have answers or theories but with nothing to go on, all she could do was ponder.

Yes, in my story Connor died at Murphy's hand and while Clarke notices that something seems off, she doesn't know what it is yet.