4. Longing For Affiliation

When Lincoln came back to the cave after informing his tribe about the recent events, Clarke didn't expect him to have an unconscious girl in his arms, especially when the girl was one of the Sky People and was part of that camp he warded her against having direct contact with. However she didn't question his motives and instead helped him healing the girl's injury on her ankle. They put some healing remedy against the skin and wrapped it nice and tightly before they left her inside the cave to rest and went out to gather some that they needed to start a campfire. Lincoln was reluctant to leave the girl by herself, but he didn't want Clarke to be out in the forest by herself, especially when they were not located far from the newcomers camp and he didn't want her to approach them more than necessary since he was still not sure if they were trustworthy or not.

After they gathered enough wood they returned to the cave. It was already dark outside, even darker in the cave, so they went inside the cave to find the girl awake and pretty shook up. Clarke was worried if she was injured somewhere else other than her ankle. There was a possibility that the girl may have received a concussion, but the girl continued shaking and murmuring to herself over and over, like she was trying to calm herself down about something. Clarke's eyebrow rose slightly in concern before she figured that the dark might be a reason why the girl was so spooked, she couldn't see anything and could for obvious reasons assume the worst was going to happen to her. That is why Clarke asked Lincoln to start the fire, so they could shed light on the situation. Without any argument from Lincoln, the fire lit up the cave and painted the rock-walls in soft orange color. The girl who she recognized as the girl who got injured by the sea serpent a couple of days ago, calmed herself down, but wasn't truly relaxed in their company so she took a defensive stance. Clarke sighed and figured that the most proper way of doing this was to calm her down and talk to her.

"How's you ankle?" Clarke asked. She squatted in front of the girl, taking a closer look to see if there was any visible damage, but fortunately it didn't appear to be so. "If you start feeling pain, please tell me and I will try and help."

"Who are you? Why haven't you killed me yet?" the girl asked with caution. Her green eyes shifted between her and Lincoln, though her eyes stayed longer on him. Clarke almost grinned seeing how her friend had been so infatuated with the girl's wellbeing earlier, but now she couldn't help grinning over the fact that this girl was just as infatuated by him as he was of her.

"I'm Clarke," Clarke introduced herself. She turned her head slightly in the direction of Lincoln, nodded her head and continued the introduction. "And that's my friend Lincoln. He found you unconscious in the forest and brought you here to heal your ankle as well as give you shelter since by the time he found you the sun was about to set."

"Oh, okay, well thank you," the girl said awkwardly. "But that doesn't explain why you saved me. You are grounders, aren't you supposed to kill me like you tried to do with my friend Jasper?"

Clarke blinked her eyes a couple of times, trying to comprehend how exactly she was going to answer that question, since either way Lincoln was going to be pissed once he found out the truth that she went against his order by approaching the newcomers, saved the life of one of them and going into the Mount Weather territory alone and with the risk of getting caught and killed by the Mountain Men. However she could at least try to keep that part to herself for now and explain everything to him later. Hopefully he wouldn't get too upset that she hid that from him.

"I didn't kill you because I honestly don't want to harm anyone unless I absolutely have to," Clarke explained. "His reasons on the other hand, you'll have to ask him."

The girl turned to look at Lincoln, looking like she expected him to answer yet didn't really want the real answer in fear that she was wrong.

"You are wrong about grounders," Lincoln said stoically. Clarke turned to look at him and gave him comforting expression. She knew how much it hurt Lincoln that everybody judged grounders and accused them of being the bad guys, though she didn't exactly have a close relationship with them either, but she knew that despite the grounders ways and reasons they were still good people in their own way. "We are people trying to survive just like you. And besides Clarke isn't a grounder."

The girl's interest turned immediately to her and Clarke felt all of a sudden uncomfortable the looks she was receiving.

"You are not a grounder? But if you used to live in the Ark then why are you here? I would have remembered if you came along on the drop ship with the rest of the delinquents."

Clarke didn't want to go into it and explain how and why she was here, so she changed the subject and asked politely, "Yeah, I'm from the Ark, but I'm not going into that right now. I can only hope that you will understand and respect my secrecy. But will you please tell us your name?"

The girl played nervously with her hair for moment. Her eyes shifted between her and Lincoln, probably thinking if she should truly trust them or not, but luckily she decided to do so when she said with soft smile on her face, "My name is Octavia."

The three of them spent most of the night talking, without giving too much personal information about each other. They were comfortable in each others company after the whole trust issue was resolved and it was clear as the day that Lincoln and Octavia was interested in each other romantically. Clarke liked Octavia and became quickly friends with the brunette, but the sexual tension between her and Lincoln was far too annoying for Clarke to be around for. So she went to sleep first and allowed the two lovebirds to get to know each other even further. And the next morning she was the first one to wake up and did started her day the same way she always did, pulling out her journal from her bag and began drawing. This time however she was drawing Octavia and the boy she had met yesterday, who was oddly enough very alike in appearance and fortunately not in personality. Anyways after meeting them she had grown to want to meet more people who used to live on the Ark and felt this connection with them that she had not felt in a long time. Lincoln was a nice guy and terrific friend, so don't get her wrong, but she had never realized how much she missed her own people after being away from them for so long. She longed for the same affiliation he had with his tribe, because no matter how much anyone tried to sugarcoat it there was just one truth. She was an outcast and she would always be considered an outcast by the grounders.

"Wow, your drawings are amazing," Octavia said astonished, surprising Clarke and making her almost drop the journal on the ground. "Almost looking at a mirror reflection."

"God, you scared me," Clarke exhaled. Octavia smirked and sat down next to her. "I guess you and Lincoln got along well after I went to sleep."

Octavia blushed and turned slightly away in embarrassment. Clarke laughed in a teasing manner, nudging her arm as a way to show that she wasn't being mean about it.

"Shut up," Octavia nudged back and the two of them laughed by their own silliness. It didn't take long before their laugher woke Lincoln up and he approached them with a small smile on his face, happy to see the two girls talking and smiling despite the fact that their focus should be about trying to survive the harsh conditions on Earth. However he probably figured that both of them deserved to have some freedom to be happy.

"We need to go," Lincoln said dejected. His gaze was facing the ground, unable to see the happy expressions on their faces turn downwards. "Your people is probably looking for you and won't be happy to find you with us. So you need to return."

"But…" Octavia wanted to argue, but based on her expression it was obvious that he was right. "You're right. I'll go, but promise me that I will see you again. Both of you, okay?"

Lincoln didn't answer, but Clarke gave her a reassuring smile to confirm the promise. Octavia smiled and hugged Clarke.

"How about Lincoln escort you back?" Clarke suggested with a sneaky grin. She knew that those two wanted to spend some time alone together, especially since they were going to separated for unknown amount of time. So why not give them a little time before they truly had to say goodbye. "He can make sure you get there safely and assured that you won't drag me back to your camp. And I promise Lincoln I will stay here and wait until you have returned."

Even though Lincoln liked Octavia he didn't fully trust her people and didn't want Clarke around them until he was completely sure they wouldn't pose as a threat to her. That was why she suggested staying behind, but also because she was afraid what exactly would happen if she ever entered the camp. Anyways Lincoln looked at her suspiciously, trying to figure out what exactly she was planning, but didn't say anything. Instead he held out his hand towards Octavia, who smiled and grabbed it gracefully as he pulled her up and the two of them walked away from the cave.

Octavia was walking behind Lincoln as they were moving uphill and towards the camp, however the tension between them was excruciating to endure. From the moment she laid eyes on him a spark was lit and certain feelings were coming out the more she got to know him. She didn't want to leave him nor Clarke for that matter, because they both seemed lonely in their world. She knew more than anyone how it felt to be lonely when the only people she had sixteen years of her life was her mother and Bellamy, but ever since she got down on earth she made friends with some of the kids at the camp she was much happier than what she has ever been. However that didn't change the fact that her brother wouldn't be receptive to the idea of bringing a grounder and an unknown sky person with her into the camp, especially since he didn't trust any outsiders that wasn't part of the camp.

"Your camp should be up ahead," Lincoln said lowly, interrupting her train of thought. She looked at him surprised before she became once again dejected over having to leave him. Her hand reached out to touch his and electricity pierced through her skin and stunned her with these feelings she was having for him. His hand had moved an inched since they touched, but she knew that he felt the same electricity like she did. She wanted to talk about it before she had to leave, she had to know exactly what was going on between them, but just as she was about to open her mouth and ask when out of nowhere her brother and a few delinquents showed and put Lincoln to the ground while some of them pulled her away and made sure to keep her away from Lincoln. She screamed and begged Bellamy to leave him alone, telling him that the grounder hadn't done anything to hurt her, but her brother ignored her and ordered everyone back to the camp. Octavia knew that things was about turn ugly and she wasn't sure if knew a way to stop it from happening.

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Thank you once again for the amazing response, I truly appreciate it. And I want to mention once again I'm changing the original to fit this story. I know Lincoln doesn't appear as forward as he do in this story, but I needed it to fit in with the story and again I'm not trying to write original over and over again, because in the long run it is kind of boring. So I hope you like my rearrangement.

Anyways keep giving me reviews (I mean it I truly appreciate reviews from my readers), favorite and/or followings. I hope to be able to update soon, but until then...

xXrebelgirl07Xx