Yay for a super quick update and my longest chapter yet! I was inspired by those lovely lovely reviews to continue and update more quickly, so here you are! Again thank you so so much to the reviewers, you guys are the best (-: I hope you enjoy! Xx Also yes I do enjoy slowly building the relationship rather than quickly, and I love love when they banter!

Clarke POV

"God, what the hell did you guys do, stab me again?"

"Stop being so ungrateful Bell, you're lucky to be alive."

"You wouldn't feel grateful if you were me O, I feel like I've been chopped up like a deer, ready to roast on the fire."

"Oh shut up, you know, if it wasn't for Clarke, there is no way in hell you'd be breathing right now, she practically dragged your on-the-brink-of-death ass all the way back to camp and did everything she could to save your pathetic skin."

"I'm sure it wasn't that hard to—"

"I'm serious Bellamy, you were a goner. Jasper said he thought you would definitely die on the journey back, but Clarke refused to let that happen."

"Of course, heroic little princess."

"Bellamy…"

"Alright, I'm grateful, no don't give me that look, I am. I know I'd be a fly infested corpse without her right now okay, you don't need to rub it in, I know I failed, I'm the one meant to be protecting them, now what the hell can I do, I may as well be a corpse."

"Stop being melodramatic Bell, you did protect them, if you hadn't held that grounder off, Clarke and Jasper might be dead right now."

"Doubt it, our princess is too smart to die."

The bickering of the two siblings broke through my sleepy haze and I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, digging my nails into my skin; ungrateful bastard. I didn't want to wake up for fear that Bellamy would retaliate knowing that I had heard things that he probably didn't want me to hear. Plus, I wasn't even sure I'd heard right, sleep was still heavy in my brain. Eventually I drifted off again, the murmuring voices slowly lulling me back into slumber.

I woke later, more refreshed, although the ache in my back hadn't subsided. I lifted myself slowly out of the chair, stretching my arms above my head and yawned widely.

"Ah the princess awakes." Bellamy lay propped up on the table, still shirtless, a healthy glow colouring his cheeks, a smirk turning up the corners of his mouth.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, my voice husky from sleep, making my way over to the table and tugging up the edge of the bandage to inspect the wound.

"Better," He replied watching me, "I uh, hear I have you to thank for that."

I shrugged, refusing to meet his eyes, the wound looked clean and I was relieved to find no sign of infection, "Just doing my job."

He reached out and grabbed a handful of the back of my shirt, the only part of me he could reach as I turned away, "Wait-"

His fingers accidentally pinched skin and I winced, jumping away from his touch.

"Woah, sorry, are you alright?" Concern and confusion filtered through his expression, his hand still hovering in the air between us.

"Yeah, sorry I just I must have a bruise or something," I muttered, confused.

He frowned, reaching toward me and tugging up the bottom of my shirt. His sharp gasp told me that my injuries from the previous day were a little more serious than I'd first thought.

"How the hell could you not realize these existed?" He glared at my back, inspecting the marks, his cool fingers running gently along my skin, probing, "Seriously, you can't just ignore your own pain, this could get infected and you could be seriously ill you idiot."

"Sorry I was a little bit preoccupied saving the life of an imbecile who almost got himself killed," I snapped, slapping his hand away from my skin and sending him an icy glare.

He clenched his jaw, letting his hand drop into his lap, "Well it wasn't my fault that someone started yelling in excitement over a fucking lettuce, giving away our position to everyone in the vicinity."

"It wasn't a lettuce, and they obviously already knew we were there, which should have been impossible since you should have been keeping watch!" I snapped, heat colouring my cheeks, had I really been that loud?

"I'm not the only ones with eyes and ears princess," He retorted, "And-"

"Will you two shut the hell up?" Octavia's groaned, entering the ship, "Seriously, you help save each other's lives and begin arguing about it? It was the grounder who attacked you, the grounder is at fault. Clear? Clarke, come here and let me look at your back."

We fell silent, I could feel Bellamy fuming beside me.

Not game enough to argue with Octavia, I let her tug my shirt up and over my head, wincing when pain jolted through my shoulders. She held a reflective piece of metal behind me, allowing me to access the damage. Purpling blue discolouration covered most of my back, with small cuts spotting the darker areas, obviously the rocks on the hillside had been sharper than I'd realized at the time.

"Ouch," I murmured, sighing, I wasn't used to being the one with the injuries.

"Do you want me to dress the cuts?" Octavia inquired, sending me a sympathetic look, "I'm guessing there's not much we can do about the bruising."

"Yeah please, that'd be great." I replied, sitting on the edge of the table, Bellamy's boot just resting against my lower back.

Bellamy's POV

I watched Octavia gently dress the wounds on Clarke's back, clenching my fists at my side, a strange feeling coming over me, "If you had gotten to them earlier you could've prevented the severity of the bruising, how did that happen anyway?"

How could she be so reckless with her own health? Her pain gave me the same feeling as the other night when I'd offered her a place to sleep; it seemed necessary to do something, to fix whatever hurt she was feeling. The purple and black splotches like inky marks across her smooth pale skin, made me feel ill.

"Clambering down that bloody hill," she winced, "You were lucky, I mean you missed the hill completely." She sent me a small grin.

The corners of my lips and eyes couldn't help but turn up in reply to hers, "Yeah, I can't believe my luck really, I even got to break the fall of that brutish grounder."

She shook my head, "So envious of you, how's your head by the way?"

I shrugged, feeling guilty that the attention was back on me, when she was the one who was hurt as well, "It's fine, a little painful when I touch it," I ran my fingers gently over the small bump on my scull, "But otherwise its' okay, I think my pack sort of broke the fall."

She nodded, gently dropping her shirt back down once Octavia had finished, "That's good, the last thing you need is a serious head wound."

I nodded.

"So, what's the verdict doc?" She playfully, punched Octavia in the shoulder, "Will I survive?"

Octavia feigned sorrow, "I don't know, the outlook is looking pretty grim, I would start informing your family members of your imminent death."

There was a moment of tense silence as we all realized that all our family members were dead, well it was assumed that Clarke's mum had perished, and the realization seemed to settle in.

Clarke hurried to break it, "Well, O, I'm naming you as my official honorary earth sister, and I am hereby informing you that I am likely going to pass away within the next 70 years from the bruising on my back."

Octavia laughed and suddenly I felt like maybe we were all family, my blood sister, my leading partner, Jasper who I'd gradually grown to respect and like, Miller my loyal comrade from the start, and of course all the others who'd gone through this hell with us, we all depended on each other to survive and that felt like something similar to family. Even if it was dysfunctional and even if I was close to breaking some of their noses every single day.

But even as I considered this, I realized that this family was not something I deserved nor particularly wanted. I was a bad person, that much I knew and the idea of letting people become close to me, filled me with horror. I couldn't let my evil seep through my skin into those who trusted me. Clarke's eyes flickered to mine, laughter filling them, she was a good person. I knew that she thought I was someone who could be fixed. I wasn't about to become someone's project.

I didn't return her smile and glared, dropping my legs off the edge of the table and rising to my feet, "I'm going to go and check the watch and make sure that everything is in order."

"Wait—" Clarke frowned, confused by the sudden return of my coldness, "You shouldn't be moving around too much and I'll need to keep an eye on you tonight so you'll have to come back."

"No way," I shook my head, "There's no way in hell I'm sleeping on that damn table again, I'll be in my tent."

She sighed, "Being stubborn won't help to heal your wound, but if you insist I'll come and check on you later."

I shrugged, exiting the drop ship, "Do what you gotta."

Clarke's POV

"Why does he do that?" I huffed, frustrated.

"Because he's Bellamy," Octavia sighed, washing her hands in a small tub, "And he's afraid that you're going to figure out that he isn't cold and evil."

"Why is he so afraid to be human?" I ground my teeth in frustration, "Because he's really beginning to irritate me even more."

She smiled sadly, "Then he's succeeding. Look Clarke, to my brother, vulnerability is like a chunk missing out of his armour, he's made the decision to make me his only weakness and the idea that someone else could make him feel something is terrifying."

"What do you mean, make him feel something?" I frowned, twisting my hands in confusion.

"I've said this before Clarke, but he's different with you, he struggles to keep the armour in place, and it makes him angry that he cares for you." She shrugged, tucking her hair behind her ears, "He's not as good at dealing with things as he thinks he is."

I felt even more confused but I didn't want to pry for more information, I liked the idea that that he potentially cared for me. To know that beneath those dark eyes was someone who maybe did shove me that little bit harder out the way of the grounder than he would someone else was scary and nice. I knew that he was invested in the safety of the entire camp and felt responsible for their safety, but part of my hoped that perhaps he felt a little differently toward me.

I didn't know what I felt toward him, all I knew was that it was different to what I had felt with Finn. Finn was sudden, quick, sharp feelings that pierced through my lungs and satiated my need to not be alone, for just a moment. What I felt for Bellamy, was slow and mingled with intense frustration and the need to punch him in the stitches, it was warm and the feeling of my skin tingling when his fingers slid across my skin, it was unfamiliar and it was scary.

Pls review my longest chapter yet!