Saturday morning by noon Clarke had been up for hours scraping wallpaper off the living room walls. She couldn't sleep the night before, worrying about everything. She was partway through the kitchen when a knock sounded on her front door. Blowing the hair out of her eyes, she pulled off her gloves and opened the door to find Bellamy on the other side.

"Hey," Despite the worry that had kept her up she was still glad to see him. She narrowed her eyes at him. "How'd you know where I live?"

"Sheriff remember?" Bellamy smiled at her, letting his eyes run over her shorts and t-shirt clad body. "What are you up to?"

"Peeling off wallpaper," She replied.

"Sounds like tons of fun," Bellamy sarcastically remarked. "Want some help?"

"Seriously? You're actually offering to help me?" Clarke stepped back to allow him entry into the disaster zone.

"Ouch Princess," Bellamy shut the door and followed her into the kitchen. He took in the rooster wallpaper and chuckled. "Farm animals aren't your thing?"

"Definitely not," Clarke grabbed another pair of rubber gloves for herself and one for Bellamy. "Seriously though, thanks for helping. I was starting to talk to myself."

"Secretly crazy doc?" Bellamy pulled on the gloves and got to work on the wall she hadn't touched yet.

"No just not used to being by myself so much," Clarke grabbed the corner of the piece in front of her and slowly pulled on it. "Between my mom and my friend Wells I always had someone to talk to."

"Your mom ok with you moving out here?"

"I wouldn't say ok, but she didn't have a choice. Besides she just got remarried last year so she probably wouldn't notice I was gone," Clarke knew that wasn't entirely true, but it was easier to believe than the fact that she'd broken her mother's heart.

"I doubt that's true," Bellamy glanced her way with a frown. Her shoulders were slumped and she wasn't paying him any attention. Whatever she'd left behind was obviously still bothering her. "Where is home?"

"New York City," Clarke sent a tentative smile his way. This was easy to talk about. A safe topic. "My mom was the head of surgery at the hospital we worked at and my new stepfather is running for mayor actually. He'll probably win too. He's good at rallying people to his cause."

"Sounds like a great life," Bellamy replied. "Why leave?"

"Lots of reasons," Clarke stated in an evasive voice.

Clarke tried to steer Bellamy to other topics after that trying to purposely avoid talking about herself and her life back home. That was getting too dangerously close to what had happened and she would never place the burden of that on someone else. It was hers to bear. They worked steadily for another two hours before hunger forced them to stop.

"You guys have a decent pizza place?" Clarke pulled off her rubber gloves and tossed them in the trash.

"Absolutely," Bellamy pulled his cell out of his pocket and punched in a phone number.

Thirty minutes later they were sitting at her kitchen table with a pizza box between them. Clarke took a bite of her second piece and moaned. Bellamy was stuck between amusement and arousal at the noise. He decided to go with amusement since he didn't want to freak her out.

"What'd I tell you," Bellamy chuckled.

"Oh my god," She smiled at him and nodded in agreement. "This might be the best pizza I've ever had."

"Told you," He reached for his third piece and took a swig of his beer. "Don't get too full though. We have to introduce you to all the sweets this town has to offer at the festival later."

Clarke's smile dropped. The festival. She'd been having such a good time with Bellamy she'd forgotten her decision not to get any closer to them. "I'm not sure I'll make the festival."

Bellamy narrowed his eyes at her in confusion. He could sense something was off with this woman. He was a cop after all. The lie that poured off her tongue sent his instincts flaring up. Although most people would assume she was running from something she'd done, he got the sense she was a victim and she was running from the pain of it.

"Look," Bellamy scooted as close to her as he thought safe and grabbed her hand in his. "I don't know what happened to make you come here. And I'm not asking you to tell me. We're just trying to get to know you better. O and Raven won't stop talking about you and Jasper keeps begging me to introduce him so he can explain himself."

Clarke chuckled and squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to seem rude. I just..."

Clarke trailed off, not sure what to say to explain herself without giving away her secret. She wasn't ready for that. She might not ever be. Thankfully Bellamy seemed to understand and nodded.

"I get it," He replied and rubbed a comforting hand across her forearm. "We all have our demons. Don't let it control you though. We won't bite. I swear."

Clarke laughed and nodded. "Thanks. I'll just go take a shower. Then we can go to the festival."

Bellamy nodded and smiled back at her. She started for the hallway leading to her bedroom and bath, but at the last second changed her mind. Turning back towards him she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He stood surprised for a second then wrapped his arms tightly around her waist.

"Thank you for what you said," Clarke pulled back and placed a kiss on his cheek. Then fled down the hallway towards her master bedroom and bath before she broke down and said even more than she already had.