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Clarke was locked up, again, for the fourth time in two months. This time is was the second time by her own people. She was in a dark room, repurposed from the Ark, into a makeshift jail cell. She could tell that at least two others had been locked up here before her. There were handcuffs and ropes on opposite sides of the room, directly on both sides of her. Something must have happened to them, they were gone, now. She started to think that the Ark may have introduced a new system of laws for criminals on Earth, since their old ones were now null, hoping no one has been killed. Her right arm throbbed with pain. She couldn’t tell if there was a bullet in her arm or if it were even still bleeding. She was in too much pain to tell anything at all.
Clarke couldn’t tell how long she had been in the cell. She did remember that the sun had just gone down when she and Anya came upon camp, then Anya was shot. Anya, their last hope for a Grounder treaty, was dead. She was still fuming and upset about her death. Don’t get her wrong, she didn’t like Anya, but she knew they had to work together to save their people. Streaks of orange light comes through the window of the room and Clarke realizes that its dawn. A new day. She sighs.
About an hour after the sun had risen in the sky the door to the makeshift cell opens and three guards and a woman walks in. For a minute Clarke just acts like she is asleep. Then she hears a voice that she recognizes automatically, her mothers. “Why did you shoot them? You killed one of them!” Another female voice responds, “They were too close and they are dangerous.” Abby’s voice come back, more angry than before, “Kane has gone out there to broker a peace between their people and ours. Do you think that when they realize we have killed another one of their people that they will want any peace with us?” She doesn’t open her eyes. She hears a bag drop at her feet and zip open. Then she feels her mother’s hands on her face. He head is pulled to the side and she opens her eyes. Abby is looking into Clarke's eyes, her face still covered with mud and blood. “Mom,” Clarke sputters out. Abby's eyes widen immediately. “Clarke! Honey.” Abby whips around and yells to all the guards in the room. “Get her to the med bay, NOW! That’s an order! This is my daughter! You stupid, damn people!”
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Thankfully, the bullet only grazed her arm. Her mother had cleaned her up quite well and given her clean, dry clothes. By the time she had finished getting dressed and ready, to explain the whole situation, the sun hung higher in the sky. Clarke began to walk out of the Ark. As she walked through the halls she heard shouts from outside. She stopped walking and broke out into a run. Running through the halls, past other civilians, past guards, through the doors, outside. “The kids are back!” she heard a guard yell. What kids? The only kids she knew of was the 47 left back in Mount Weather. She looked around Camp Jaha. She hated that name. Why couldn’t they have named it anything else? She searched the grounds quickly with her eyes, trying not to overlook anything or anyone.
The first person she recognized was Octavia. She had Monroe’s arm over one of her shoulders and another girl, Clarke didn’t recognize, had the other arm draped over hers. They had just ascended over the little hill of camp. She didn’t even wait, she knew Monroe was hurt, she ran toward them. When she got just a couple feet closer to them, still a good meter away, she saw another person rise up on the hill. Her heart sank deep into her chest. Bellamy. She stopped dead in her tracks looking at him. No, not just looking, staring, and hoping with all her heart she wasn’t hallucinating. Octavia had spotted her and she started to smile, a huge smile. Bellamy looked to Octavia, looking for the reason she stopped and why she wore a dopey smile. He had noticed the smile and now looked in the direction in which she was eyeing. Clarke knows the exact moment he grasps her presence. He drops the gun from around his shoulder, only holding it by the strap, takes the jacket off his back, and shifts his weight to one side, never taking his eyes off of Clarke once. He then breaks the hold he has one her and looks to Octavia, again. Clarke could tell that he wasn’t saying anything, neither was she. She just smiled even wider and nodded to him. This time, when he looked back at her, he completely drops the gun and jacket and breaks into a run. Clarke begins to run too. They run straight into one another’s arms.
The first thing she notices is how hard he clutches her. He holds her like he expects her to fade away, to disappear. He buries his face in her shoulder. He smells of dirt and sweat. It doesn’t smell bad, it smells of- well, Bellamy. It was good. She didn’t mind the tightness of the hug, at all, not even in the slightest. She was probably hugging him the same way, she couldn’t really tell but neither did she care. The hug was warm and reassuring. She never thought a hug from him would feel so safe, so right. Actually it’s the safest she had felt since landing on Earth. She hated to admit, but she embraced the hug and everything it meant.
He was the first to pull away, after what felt like an hour. Immediately she missed the arms that were around her, the heat from his body, the pounding beat of his chest, and the feel of his breath through her hair. He didn't move from being so close to her.He was just looking at her. Staring into her eyes. His eyes glowing with relief and something else Clarke couldn't quite discern. She finds herself blushing under his gaze. "Princess," Bellamy rasps. She tries to sustain a calm demeanor but her voice gives her away.”You’re alive.” Until now, she thought he was dead. She had been filled with guilt and hated herself for killing him. Not once, when she was in Mount Weather, did she stop thinking of him. He was constantly on her mind. Him. Only him. Now that she thinks of it, she was only worried about him before the dropship doors closed. Nothing else matters, right now, but him.
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The only thing he thought of when she was in his arms was the feeling that washed over him. He was more worried about her than he has previously let himself believe. He thought being reunited with Octavia just a few hours before was the happiest he had been in the longest time but now he knew. He knew now he was the happiest when Clarke was in his embrace. He let the knowledge sink in while still standing within the hugs range. He remembered all the times she had surprised him. When she had forgiven him for all that he had done. How she killed Atom when he couldn't. He remembered how she supported him after he had killed Dax. It dawns on him that he had cared about her for a long time now. There was a connection between them, that he couldn’t quite understand. When he calls her nickname out, he saw her reaction instantly, she tried to hide it but she didn't succeed. “You’re alive.” He heard the same way he felt in her voice, just like he had felt it in her chest under his own beating heart. He just keeps his eyes on hers, glancing down to her lips. He then realizes how badly he wants to kiss her recently bloodied lips, wondering what in hells name has happened to his princess. He puts the thought to the back of his mind. Nothing else matters, right now, but her.