*Shout out to my Spanish readers! I visited Madrid and Barcelona in June last year and fell in love! Thanks so much for reading, and please favourite/follow/review!*
When Clarke woke up her back was pressed against Bellamy's warm chest, their legs tangled together. His right arm was under the pillow, her head resting on it, and his other arm was wrapped around her waist. A blanket was wrapped around their otherwise naked bodies, helping to ward off the chill of the early morning. She sighed in contentment and Bellamy shifted at the sound, his arm tightening around her, pulling her closer to him as he buried his head deeper into the crook of her neck, breathing in the undeniable Clarke-ness. As he held her, his mind couldn't help but drift, settling darkly on the days ahead.
She lay there, drifting in and out of a peaceful sleep, her mind flicking through what happened last night, for another ten minutes or so, until Bellamy sighed deeply, his hot breath racing across her back, and rolled onto his back, his arm dropping away, leaving her waist suddenly cold.
'Morning.' Clarke smiled, recognising the way his voice sounds in the morning, gorgeous and gravelly.
She rolled over as well to face him, hooking her leg over his and resting her head on his chest, her fingers tracing shapes onto his bare chest.
'How did you sleep?' She asked softly.
'Very well.' He grinned a comically wicked grin, and Clarke couldn't help but laugh as a faint blush stained her cheeks. Then his tone turned serious, 'So Lincoln and I leave for the tunnels today.'
Clarke's heart chilled and she struggled not to sigh sadly. Sensing her thoughts Bellamy linked his fingers with Clarke's where her hand danced over his chest and kissed her forehead.
'Last night,' he said slowly, thinking carefully about the best well to phrase how he was feeling, 'it wasn't just about me leaving, Clarke, I-' She tilted her face up to look at him solemnly. 'It was a promise.' He said finally, 'A promise of more to come.'
A small smile played around Clarke's mouth as she felt tears prick at her eyes, but she resolved to hold it together. Last night she had let her walls down, in more ways than one, now it was time to focus on what was to come, on keep Bellamy alive.
'You keep your promise, and I promise to get you, and the rest of our friends, out of the mountain.'
'I know you will.' Bellamy smiled down at the impossibly brave woman curled up against his side.
Leaning up she pulled him into a passionate kiss, pouring everything she had into it - her fear, her pain, her love. He responded in kind and they moulded together, opening up to each other in a way that had started with them sleeping together last night. They both knew, in their hearts, that this would be their last opportunity to do this before they had to let the other go. So they allowed themselves this selfish moment, wrapped up in the other, for once not thinking about everyone they had to protect, and just thinking about the person they held in their hands, the person they trusted more than anyone else. In more ways that just romantic, they were two halves of a whole, and nothing proved that to them more than their time spent together now.
Too soon, they knew they had to leave the sanctuary that they had made, and rejoin the rest of their people and the grounders. Although eyebrows were raised, and Bellamy distinctly noticed a look of resentment flash across Lexa's face, nothing was said, and Lincoln and Bellamy were free to begin preparing to leave the camp. Too soon everything was ready, and Clarke and Bellamy found themselves with the sky people, at the gate in to Tondc. Knowing that there was no time for an emotional goodbye, Bellamy stepped forward, pulling Clarke to him and pressing his lips to hers urgently. She reached her arms up, wrapping them around his neck.
'I love you. Find that radio as soon as you get inside, I'll be waiting.' She said fiercely against his lips.
'I love you too, I will, I'll see you soon.' He vowed, just as fiercely, and then he was gone.
Clarke turned away, unable to watch him walk away from her for much longer. Every logical part of her brain told her that he would be fine, that he was strong, fast, smart and capable, he had proven it dozens of times.
For now, she had to become the leader she knew she could be, the leader she had been many times before, and focus on the alliance and the attack on Mount Weather. So, doing what she did best, Clarke dealt with her emotions, pushing them aside and locking them away, before squaring her shoulders and walking to Lexa's tent to continue their talks. This time, she had a small council of Abby and Kane with her, and by midday they had agreed that a group of grounders, including Indra, would return to Camp Jaha with the sky people, in order to firmly establish the alliance and improve communication between their people. Kane offered to organise training, allowing the two groups to learn from each other, and Lexa agreed.
It took Bellamy and Lincoln two full days to reach the mountain, the same amount of time it took Clarke, Octavia, Lincoln, Abby and Kane to return to Camp Jaha with the grounders, and begin to prepare. Their time spent in the woods was difficult for both Bellamy and Lincoln, they both missed the women they had left behind, but both were fighting deeper battles. Bellamy found his mind constantly drawn to the impossible task before him, and to his friends whose lives were in danger. Lincoln found himself battling with his conscience about his time as a reaper and the memories that constantly assaulted him, that were only getting worse the closer to the mountain they got. Guilt plagued him, but still he was afraid that he wasn't strong enough to return to the place it had all started.
It took a while, but Lincoln eventually told Bellamy what had happened to him, and what he would have to expect, which did nothing to reassure Bellamy of the task that lay ahead. Pushing down the rising panic he fought to reason with himself, Clarke and Raven were two of the smartest, most cunning women he'd ever known, working together they would find a way to get him out of Mount Weather, he trusted that much. Now he had to learn to trust Lincoln to keep him alive long enough to get inside. Although he was still a little reluctant to admit it, Lincoln was good for Octavia, he had brought out her inner strength, had encouraged her to take control of her new freedom, and more importantly, he could look after her when Bellamy couldn't.
In Camp Jaha, tensions were running high. The integration of grounders and sky people was proving to be as difficult as had been expected, but as the days passed, a routine of sorts was created. Whilst Clarke and Abby planned the attack with Lexa and her council of grounders, Kane worked with the grounders to train the two forces, preparing them to work together. The grounders on Lexa's council showed open disregard for Bellamy, doubting his ability to make it inside the mountain, and Clarke frequently had to clamp down on her emotions because of this.
'They say they have a plan? I say waiting for one man to get inside is not a very good one.' Spat a grounder, turning his shaved, tattooed head to look down at Clarke.
'I agree.' Another grounder spoke now. The longer they discussed, the more agitated the grounders became, but just when it looked like the alliance might begin to crumble, Lexa suggested the destruction of the huge damn that provided Mount Weather with power.
The way her mind worked, Clarke pointed out that the damn had survived a nuclear war, looking for a way to destroy it, but the grounder with the shaved her slammed a fist on the table that the council stood around.
'All she offers is no.' He roared. 'We have an army, let's use it.'
'We will,' said Clarke firmly, her eyes defiantly staring down the grounder, 'after Bellamy lowers their defences, turns off the acid fog. If you can't get to your enemy, you can't win.' Clarke's voice was final.
'You are the enemy.' The grounder's voice was dangerous as he took a step towards Clarke menacingly, but she refused to step back, refused to show any fear. She did not send Bellamy inside that mountain, for her plan to be ruined by a big man with a little problem.
'You burned my brother alive in a ring of fire.' The grounder's voice was threatening.
Clarke stepped forward, until he was only a foot away from her, 'he shouldn't have attack my ship.' She said fiercely.
'Waiting for Bellamy is not plan' interrupted Lexa, and Clarke felt irritation spike through her again, 'it's a prayer. We will focus on the damn.'
With a sigh the grounder stepped back and Clarke retook her place at the table.
As the days passed, a plan was finalised, and Raven was drafted in to begin work on shutting down the damns. Fortunately, Wick, a playful but disconcertingly intelligent engineer, was more than happy to help the brunette.
When Bellamy woke, memories came flashing back to him, so abruptly that the emotions hit harder than they should have. First, the memory of a sign - red letters 'QUARANTEEN INTAKE' against a background that had once been white, before a hundred years of neglect had gotten the better of it. He had been in the tunnels with Lincoln, suddenly reapers were there, but then there was a noise, a high pitched screeching, and Lincoln was…not Lincoln any more. He remembered being stripped down and chained around his neck like an animal. Then, his whole body being washed, scoured, scrubbed. His skin throbbed as he recalled the boiling water and burning disinfectant he had been covered in. Dozens of needles. More boiling water, washing away the blood. And the whole time, he had been thinking of Clarke, of her light blue eyes and the way the golden waves of her hair sat across her shoulders, the way she smiled at him.
Slowly, he stirred, opening his eyes slowly the first thing he saw was a cold, green/blue light. Next, the bars of a cage. He tried to sit up but found that his confinement barely allowed him to move. Shuffling round, he finally finished with his back against the back wall of the cage. Looking around wildly he fought against the rising sense of claustrophobia. He was in the middle of a row of cages, and he could see another row beneath him. Looking further into the room he saw row upon row upon row, each holding a barely clothed, emaciated figure, dark tattoos standing out starkly against the while undergarments they were wearing, and the deathly pale pallor of their skin. Grounders. On one side of the room two more grounders were hanging upside down by their ankles, tubes connecting them to various large machines. As Bellamy looked closer he was horrified, but not surprised, to find that the tubes were draining the grounders of blood, carrying it off somewhere he couldn't see.
Looking down he saw that he had been stripped of his clothes, left only in scratchy underwear, but he appeared unharmed. Taking a moment to compose himself, Bellamy began to look for an escape. He reached for the heavy lock on his cage, stretching his hand through the small gaps to pull at it, but it held fast. He yanked stubbornly at it for another few seconds, even though he knew it was futile, until a rough voice interrupted him. He turned to his right as a female grounder next to him said something in Trigedasleng.
'I can't…' his voice was croaky, 'I don't understand you.' He said softly, almost wanting to laugh as he thought about how Clarke had been right every time she nagged him to learn Trigedasleng.
The grounder's eyes narrowed and she lunged towards him, 'Sky person?' She hissed?
Bellamy nodded slowly, flinching as she spat at him. He sighed deeply, wiping the saliva from the side of his face before he spoke again. 'I take it no one had told you we're not enemies anymore.' He said, irritated.
He turned back to lock, listening to the weak yells of the rest of those held captive. 'I need to get out of this cage.' He muttered.
'And then what?' He heard the grounder mutter, and found himself relieved that she did speak English. She must have been a warrior before she was captured.
'And then I rescue my friends.' His voice was firm. 'And kill everyone in this mountain if I have to' he thought to himself.
In Camp Jaha, Clarke and Raven sat together in the mechanical and engineering station, waiting impatiently to hear from Bellamy. Clarke's mind drifted, imagining everything that could have happened to Bellamy as nausea rose in her stomach.
'Stop, you'll make yourself sick, or drive yourself insane.' Raven's voice was gentle but firm. 'Bellamy is a fighter, as well as a leader, he's going to be fine.'
'I hope you're right.' Whispered Clarke, staring blindly at the radio on the counter as it continued to play Jasper's message quietly.
Raven watched the girl, cogs turning in her brain. 'You guys had sex, didn't you?' It wasn't really a question though.
Clarke's expression was wary, but her silence was the only answer Raven needed.
'How was it?'
Clarke's expression became slightly distant and Raven knew she was remembering the way Bellamy's hands had touched her, the way they had fit together to perfectly.
'That good huh? Yeah he knows what he's doing.'
A hot, ugly jealousy shot through Clarke as her eyes snapped back into focus, narrowing at Raven.
'Relax, Clarke, it was ages ago.' Seeing that that did little to relax the girl Raven continued, 'I sort of used him, to get over Finn being in love with you. He wasn't into it anyway, that's when I first realised that Bellamy had feelings for you. Well it confirmed my theory anyway.'
Clarke fought with her emotions for a moment before she stood. 'Well I guess that makes us even then.' She said calmly, and Raven was reminded again why Clarke was leading them. She smiled at the girl wryly and grinned even wider when Clarke smiled back.
'I guess it does.'
In a weird way, Clarke was glad for Raven's revelation, at least it distracted her from worrying about Bellamy. For a while.
Bellamy wrenched at the walls of his cage again, feeling the metal cut into his hands without caring. Distantly he heard an electronic beep, but he didn't stop until her heard the grounder's voice again.
'They come.' She said urgently. 'Quiet.' He stilled, turning his attention to the doors that had slid open at one end of the room. Two guards, dressed in tan coloured uniform walked into the draining room, walking unhurriedly through down the rows of grounders, coming to a stop in front of the grounder next to Bellamy.
'This one will do.' Said one of the guards with chilling indifference, as though he didn't see a human caged in front of him, merely a tool.
Bellamy watched as terror filled the grounder's eyes and he quickly took in the dozens of puncture marks, and recent bandages covering her body before he began to yell, kicking the door to his cage. The guard stopped unlocking the lock to the grounders cage, turning his attention to Bellamy instead.
'We got us a live one.' He exclaimed, a hint of amusement creeping into his voice. The wordless guard next to him pushed a taser into the cage and shocked Bellamy in his stomach, causing his body to convulse involuntarily. As he struggled for breath, the guards unlocked his cage and he felt the sharp bite of a needle in his arm before they dragged him out roughly.