Bellamy had been right.
'Grounder princess looks pissed.' Remarked Raven mildly.
'Our princess has that effect.' Replied Bellamy, watching the scene on the bridge unfold through the scope of his rifle from their position on the ground. Octavia had gone with them and he understood why, struggling to suppress his anger, when Lincoln jogged out of the woods and across the bridge to join her. It didn't help that at the sight of the grounders following him, Finn entwined his and Clarke's hands, taking a step forward.
The female grounder sent to represent their people not only brought weapons with her, violating the terms Finn had sent, but she had positioned more armed grounders in the trees. Monty saw them first and panicked, firing before the grounders could attack. He took out a few before the spears and arrows started launching towards Clarke, Finn, Octavia and Lincoln. Looking through the scope of his rifle Bellamy saw the woman unsheathe a knife concealed in the forearm of her furs and raise it to attack Clarke. Bellamy fired a shot quickly, hitting the grounder's arm before she could bring the knife down. Clarke's head whipped round and she caught sight of Bellamy. He had saved her life, again.
A few days later cries and shouts alerted the two leaders that something was wrong. Bellamy burst into the drop ship to find Clarke kneeling in front of Murphy.
'Bellamy stay back.' Clarke cried, raising her arm, palm outstretched, and stopping him in his tracks.
'Did he do something to you?' Bellamy asked before he stop himself, eyes wide with worry.
Clarke shook her head as Bellamy surveyed the drop ship. The first thing he noticed was the two who had found Murphy just outside the gate were lying down, the second thing was the blood.
'What the hell is this?' He turned to Clarke. And her answer sent a chill down his spine.
'Biological warfare.'
The camp was thrown into panic and as the day dragged on more and more people were taken to the drop ship. Clarke was with Raven in what had quickly become her work tent, working on their plan to halt the attack Lincoln had warned them was following the virus Murphy had brought in to camp. They were going to build a bomb and blow the bridge the grounders had to cross to get to the camp.
'I'm sorry about your mom.' The mechanic said softly. Clarke felt her eyes prick and two tears fall down her cheeks, but Raven's horrified expression told her something was wrong. Brushing her tears away Clarke's stomach dropped when her hands came away covered in blood.
Later Finn came rushing in to the drop ship, heading to where Clarke was stood in the drop ship, still trying to help everyone else, 'I heard you were sick'.
Bellamy, who was stood as close as Clarke would allow him, clenched his jaw so hard he thought he'd crack a tooth. He was relieved when he saw Clarke quickly turn away from Finn's worried stare back to Murphy, but didn't allow himself to dwell on why.
By mid-afternoon half the camp was in quarantine and hysteria started to break out. Bellamy and Finn struggled to subdue the crowds of people trying to escape from the rapidly growing number of people coughing up blood when two shots rang out, silencing the camp.
Clarke stood, gun in hand, reminding the 100 that they were doing what the grounders wanted. She looked exhausted and Bellamy continued to eye the group, the palpable tension setting him on edge.
One boy stepped forward, Bellamy saw he was armed and broke out of the crowd, moving towards him.
'They won't have to kill us if we all catch the virus, get back in the damn drop ship.' He yelled lifting his gun to point at her. Suddenly Bellamy was there, knocking the guy back and pulling the gun from his hands. He'd never moved so fast, he just saw the gun pointed at Clarke and reacted. Clarke glanced at him gratefully before she felt the ground shift beneath her feet and she was falling, before she hit the ground strong arms caught her and lifted her, bridal style. She opened her eyes to see Bellamy carrying her back into the drop ship.
The only other person he protected this way was Octavia.
When Clarke came round she knew the virus had left her body, she felt exhausted, but the fever was gone. Swinging her legs from the hammock her eyes were immediately drawn to Bellamy, sat on one of the makeshift beds, eyeing Murphy and the water he held mistrustfully.
Bellamy saw Clarke appear next to Murphy. 'Hey I got this one' she said, taking the water from Murphy's hands she lowered herself next to Bellamy. She took in his tired eyes, the sheen of sweat on his forehead and the blood around his mouth with concern, she had hoped he was immune. She knew she couldn't look much better but she was terrified by how bad Bellamy looked, terrified at the idea of losing him.
'Here,' she placed her hand on his back and handed him the water. As he took it from her, their fingers brushed against each other and he looked at her. Clarke realised how close together they were sat, she could feel the heat radiating from him and see every freckle standing out against his skin, which was much paler than usual.
'You feeling better?' He asked softly, and she felt the vibration of his low voice through his back.
'Yeah' she breathed a sigh.
'That's good.' he said with a small, almost shy smile, which she returned. 'Have you seen Octavia?'
'She was up all night helping people, Murphy gave her a break.' At the mention of Murphy Bellamy's face clouded over again, mistrust settling in the hard lines of his jaw and his cheekbones.
'Don't tell me you trust him now.' He said in a low voice, smiling humourlessly.
'Trust? No. I do believe in second chances though' replied Clarke, looking him in the eye, and Bellamy thought of their first few encounters, how much had changed since then, and realised she had given him a second chance too, changing her opinions, just as he had done with her.
All too soon they had to start preparing the camp in case of the grounder attack Lincoln had said was coming at first light. Sliding back into being co-leaders, they waited anxiously to see if their plan - blow up the bridge, delay the attack - would work.
At the sound of the explosion everyone they were herding into the drop ship stopped and stared at the rapidly growing dark cloud in the sky. Jasper had made the shot. Their plan had worked - the bridge was gone.
'They did it' Clarke breathed, she felt the relief rolling off Bellamy and couldn't help but smile when she felt his hand fall on her shoulder and squeeze lightly.
'I am become death, destroyer of words.' Clarke muttered. She tilted her head when she felt Bellamy looking at her, 'It's Oppenheimer, the man who built the first-'
'I know who Oppenheimer is' Bellamy interrupted and she could hear the small smile in his voice. She had forgotten about his interest in history.
She placed her own hand over his and they stood for a while, together.