Grey awoke to the feeling of a chill tracing down her spine. Overnight the heaters must have given out, causing Grey's breaths to be illuminated in the air. Murphy was still asleep, facing her with a pleasant look on his face. For a moment Grey wanted to push to the dark hair off his cheek but thought better of it.

Their feet had become entangled as they slept and Grey could still feel the warm imprint of his skin as she picked a shirt up off the ground, put on her socks, put on her boots.

The hallway in front of the Small Council room was crowded with people, and it was nearly impossible for Grey to make out her thoughts through the din.

"We need to know what to do! How to protect our children!"

"Were all gonna freeze to death!"

"Everyone calm down and head to your respected work stations!" Shouted the familiarly gruff voice of Bellamy Blake, "Clear this hallway immediately or we will have to use force!"

"Bellamy, what's going on?" Grey whispered as the crowd dispersed.

"Heating systems are down and there's a storm on the way, everyone's panicking."

"I need to speak to Kane right now," Grey insisted.

"I'm afraid that's not possible," Bellamy said in the classic monotonous guard voice, blocking Grey with his arm.

"I'm afraid it has to be," she sneered, pushing his arm down aggressively and slamming the door to the Small Council Room.

Seat by seat, their faces turned toward the intruder. Kane, Abby, Sinclair, and surprisingly Raven and Wick, were all wearing a look of confusion.

"Grey," Kane stood, "We're in the middle of a meeting right now, I'm sure whatever this is can-"

"It can't wait," Grey interrupted confidently, looking over the room before continuing, "I was relying on hunters to catch us more food, but, with this storm, and…" her voice trailed, but the worry in her words floated heavily in the room.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Abby asked.

"We only have enough food in storage to last for a week maximum, and that's if we downsize to one or two meals a day. We've been using the backup this week since the influx of fresh food was so low."

"The storm's not supposed to hit for a day or two, we'll send out a hunting crew as soon as we can," Kane nodded to the room, but no one seemed reassured. The last time they caught anything was weeks ago.

"What about after the storm?" Sighed Raven, "The heating system's screwed, we might freeze to death before we starve."

"That's not true, we might be able to-"

"Oh stop being so hopeful Wick," Raven rolled her eyes at him, "We've been trying for weeks to keep it going, we don't even have the proper equipment to try and fix it."

"We have no heat, and eventually no food," Sinclair said, laying out the facts, "What are we supposed to do?"

All eyes in the room turned to Abby and Kane, and the two standing side by side turned to each other. They looked grim.

"There's nowhere safer for our people than right here," explained Abby after a pause.

"The Ark is our home," continued Kane, "We've made it through so much already we can make it through this."

"How!" exclaimed Raven, who was clearly fed up with the empty speeches, "There has to be some place we can go? Maybe the Grounders know a place where-"

"Mount Weather," Grey said softly, and everyone looked at her as if they forgot she was there, "Protection, heat, food, sustainable farms! Everything we need is right there!"

"It's also where we committed genocide," Raven added, bringing down the elation of Grey's discovery.

"Why didn't we think of that sooner?" Sinclair mumbled to himself.

"I don't know how the Survivor's will be able to take that, Mt. Weather harbors a lot of bad memories," Abby reflected, she knew what that place did to her people, it's the reason her only daughter ran away.

"This isn't about being comfortable," Grey explained, walking over towards the table, "This is survival."

"She's right," Sinclair said, looking across the table to Kane.

"Well then, Grey," said Kane, gesturing to the chair beside him, "Welcome to the Small Council."

X

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The imprint of Grey's body on the bed was still warm when Murphy awoke, which he only noticed because it was the only warm thing in the completely frozen room. He scoured the floor for his black thermal, desperately wanting to cover his skin from the cold, but the only thing there was Grey's tee shirt.

"Damn, it!" he groaned, running aggravated fingers through his hair. At least he had his comfy sweatpants. Murphy pressed his forehead into the metal doorframe as if it could give him some relief from the cold.

But what he saw relieved Murphy of something that bothered him much more than the cold.

It was the poem that led him out of the woods all those months ago, written in Grey's cursive handwriting-

What is love? Tis not hereafter…

The very same poem was written on his door as well, except in a much less attractive font.

He never tried to understand who led him out of the woods that day. Part of him wanted to believe that it was his father, coming back to him as some sort of guardian angel. It was complete bullshit, Murphy knew, but he let himself hope anyway.

How come it took him so long to realize it? Who else would know Shakespeare? Let alone try to help him? Grey was the only person Murphy found solace in, she was his only friend. Even if she hadn't been the one to lead him out of the woods that day, Grey was his savior just for showing him kindness, just for showing him the long forgotten beauty of being alive.

Murphy threw on her t-shirt and found himself running down the hallway, through throngs of aggravated and shouting people. He didn't care why they were there or what they were talking about; she was the only thing on his mind.

X

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"So who did you sleepover with last night?" Wick raised an eyebrow at Grey as they walked down the hall from the Small Council Room, where they had successfully devised a plan for the Sky People's survival.

"Wh-what?" Grey sputtered, barely able to keep her footing.

"Don't play dumb, Grey," Raven rolled her eyes from her distraught friend to Wick, "That's definitely a guy's shirt.

Grey looked down, astonished to see that the black thermal she was wearing was quite baggy and went down to her thighs.

"Goddamn it," she grumbled to herself, glaring at the illuminated faces of Raven and Wick. How did she not notice that the shirt was too big? Or that it was Murphy's?

"Who's the lucky guy," Raven said while bumping Grey's shoulder.

"Come on Raven," Wick said condescendingly, "Isn't it obvious?"

"Shut up Wick," Raven laughed. Grey gave Wick a pointed look, which only urged him to keep talking.

"Who is Grey always talking too? And hanging out with… alone," he enunciated with a raised brow.

Raven flashed her shocked glare from Wick to Grey, "No way," she shook her head, "I swear to god Grey, if you're fucking the guy who crippled me-!"

"I'm not!" Grey shouted, raising her arms in defense, "He's just my friend!"

"Your friend who sleeps in your bed?" Wick grinned, "Shirtless."

"Ugh!" Grey groaned before punching Wick in the shoulder.

"Speak of the devil," Raven muttered with annoyance, "Literally."

Grey glanced down the hall to see the messy haired boy staring at her awkwardly, wearing her extra large tee shirt quite nicely.

"Well it's time for us to go do some, uh, mechanic things," Raven said with false enthusiasm.

"Yeah…" Wick added awkwardly, "Heating system."

The two disappeared down the freezing hallway before Grey could say goodbye.

"Nice shirt," Murphy said, rubbing anxious fingers through his hair.

"Yeah I think this is a fair trade," Grey shrugged. Murphy stared at her, a look of wonderment in his eye.

"What's up Murph?"

"It was you," Murphy said towards the floor, "I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out." He looked up at her now, the oceans in his eyes full of sincerity. Grey smiled softly.

"You saved me," he added, his voice reluctant, but his words still true.

"Of course I did," Grey smiled towards the floor.

"But why?" Murphy stepped closer, so the conversation was between them rather than the people passing by, many of them were giving the couple odd looks.

"Why not just wake me up? Lead me back to camp yourself?"

"Because I've been there too," Grey explained, "The choice to keep going is something you have to make for yourself."

Murphy looked down and laughed, "Why do you always have to be so goddamn philosophical?"

"Oh shut up," Grey rolled her eyes, grabbing Murphy's hand and pulling him down the hall, "At least I'm not as bad as Bellamy!" She commented, giving his hand a squeeze before letting it drop.

Murphy hated that felling, it's something he didn't know until Grey became his friend. It was the absence of contact, that cold feeling after someone who was just holding you let you go. He knew he didn't deserve it, but he wanted to hold Grey's hand forever.

"No one's as bad a s Bellamy," he replied, shoving his hand deep into his pocket as if trying to preserve some of the warmth left there.

"You're so dumb," she said instead of goodbye as she turned towards the kitchens, "Who else can recite Shakespeare off the top of their head?"

Me. Murphy thought, but Grey was already gone.

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i'm going away for a week (no laptop allowed) so this will be the last update for awhile! thanks for reading, and sorry if this fic breaks ur heart! (jk thats the point hehe)

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