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Bellamy stares at Clarke’s back for the last ten minutes. She is walking some steps before him, with the map opened up in front of, concentrate to it and not even checking if he is following her or not.
“Clarke.” he calls not too loud and his breath turns into smoke in front of his eyes. The magic of cold weather, he thinks every time he witnesses it.
Clarke stops walking, hearing the pled in Bellamy’s voice and turns to look at him. With a small smile, he lets his hands fall from being folded against his chest to keep them as warm as possible to his side and walks to Clarke. He stops next to her, shoulder touching shoulder and looks down at the map too.
They stay in a comfortable silence, both trying to figure out where they are and how they will get to Niylah’s trading post. They have been walking in this damn snowed forest for at least one hour and they are both tired and cold. Of course it’s going to get worst if they don’t find a shelter before nightfall, they know it and that’s why they can’t give up yet.
“I still believe the Rover got stacked in that hole somewhere around here.” Bellamy breaks the silence and points at the map. Clarke glances at his from the corner of her eyes, searching his eyes for anything comforting.
“But you said you’re not sure.” she points out, sniffing her nose from the cold. “If-”
“Yeah, but what other choice do we have?” he questions, “It’s getting dark soon, Clarke. In less than two hours we will need to get a cover, it looks like it will snow again tonight and we both know we won’t survive the night if not start a fire to warm up.” he pauses for a moment, looking around them and then turns back to Clarke, “I say we keep walking north, cover as much ground as we can and tomorrow morning we find the river and follow it back to Niylah’s post.”
Clarke just stares at the ground between them, trying to brainstorm a better plan, a saver one. But she is so tired, both physically and mentally and all she can think about is how much she regrets suggesting to her mother and Kane for her and Bellamy to make this trip to Niylah. If she hadn’t done that, right know they would have been in their cabins, covered with several blankets and a hot drink, talking about different things.
Clarke shakes her thoughts, Bellamy’s hand talking the map from hers brings her back to reality. They stare at each other for a moment before she nods at him, agreeing with his plan with a sad smile. “You’re right.” she sighs and Bellamy can hear the tiredness in her voice.
Bellamy nods, folding their map back in his backpack and start walking side by side with Clarke, heading north through the white and cold forest.
The first thing his instinct tells him to do when he hears the bushes moving in front of them is to push Clarke behind him and pull his gun out.
“Bella-” Clarke says startled but Bellamy cuts her off.
“Someone is here.” he whispers, pointing his gun in front of them, searching for movement.
Clarke stays behind him, looking worried and scared around them, searching for that someone who hides from them. She doesn’t even notice her hands fisting the back of Bellamy’s fur coat tight.
“Who is there?!” Bellamy calls, “Show yourself!”
But no one comes out.
Clarke let go of Bellamy and steps to the side, “Maybe it was just the wind, Bellamy.” she offers, feeling her heartbeat getting back to normal again.
“I know what I heard, Clarke.” Bellamy argues and refuses to low his gun from the bushes.
“We should-” Clarke never finished her sentence because out of nowhere, a huge animal that looks like a wolf jumps out of its hide and directly on top of Clarke.
The animal catches Clarke in sleep, throughing her off balance and on the ground. She can feel its hot breath blowing on her face, being inches from it. She prepares herself to welcome the pain that will come from his teeth in her neck but before she knows it, she hears a gun go off and the animal’s cry of pain. And the next thing she knows, the animal jumps off her, charging for someone else.
Bellamy, her mind is screaming.
She flips her body around, now lying on the hard forest floor face down and lifts her panicked eyes up, searching for the wolf. Clarke finds it quickly, the blood it leaves behind on the white snowed floor makes it easy to track.
And it is charging for Bellamy, she watches in horror as it does so in front of her eyes.
First, she stays still, waiting to hear the next gun shot from Bellamy’s gun but the animal jumps on him and she catches him eyeing his gun shocked and dropping it down just before the wolf is on top of him. Bellamy's whole body is thrusting below the wolf and the animal does its best to stay on top of him and have the upper hand on the fight.
She only snaps out of shock when she hears Bellamy’s first cry. She stares at the fight they both pull in front of her, Bellamy trying to kick the animal away and the wolf trying to tear Bellamy apart.
Whispering Bellamy’s name, Clarke pushes herself up and quickly grabs her own gun from her waistband, aiming directly to the grey animal on top of Bellamy.
She has a clear shot since the animal is practically on top of him but that doesn’t stop her from worrying of accidently shooting Bellamy instead. Her hand is shaking like crazy and her heart is beating like a drum in her chest.
Clarke starts counting to three but before she reaches the end, Bellamy kicks the animal to the side and Clarke automatically turns her gun towards the animal and shot without thinking about anything else.
The animal lets out another pained cry and it breaks Clarke’s heart but the animal doesn’t give up and she doesn't plan on giving up either. Even after rolling away from the second shot, it launches forward towards Bellamy, forward enough to catch his leg and tear the clothes and skin apart with its teeth.
Bellamy reaches for his leg, trying his best to kick the wolf away again and before he even find the strength to do so, he hears two more gun sounds and the animal falls limp next to him, his mouth loses its tightness around his leg and Bellamy takes the opportunity to crawl away a bit.
Then his eyes snaps to Clarke who is standing some feet away from him, gun still pointing at the wolf’s body with shaky hands and uneven breathing, eyes wide open staring at the dead body.
“Clarke…” Bellamy whispers her name and the spell breaks. Her hands fall to her side, gun sliding out of her fingers and land next to her feel, eyes blinking the shock away and now staring at him.
Bellamy tries to push himself up but both his shoulder and leg fails him. He ends up falling back on the ground and breathing heavily.
“Bellamy…” Clarke breaths his name out and runs to his side. She falls on her knees next to him, shaking hand again hovering over his body. “Are- are- you okay. Don’t worry- everything will be okay.” she tries to comfort him and herself at the same time.
She needs to take a deep breath and calm herself down before she can start treating any of his wounds, she knows panic won't help anyone. “Where- where are hurting?”
Bellamy clinches his teeth, “My leg-” he manages to say without cracking and the rest gets drown with his pain. Clarke nods, turning her attention to his leg.
It’s bad. It’s really bad, she thinks to herself after the first quick look on the wound. The wolf managed to tear his calf apart. Clothes and skin is covered with blood and the huge marks of its teeth on his skin, making a circle on his leg are clear.
Clarke curses under her teeth and quickly gets to work.
“How bad?” she hears Bellamy ask while she searches for her backpack around them and ignores him.
When she finds it some feet away from them, she jumps up, runs to it and opens it. She buries her hand inside it, searching for her med kit. Once she grabs the plastic box with the red cross on it, she runs back to Bellamy and falls next to his wounded leg.
“How bad?” she hears Bellamy asking again and ignores him again. She opens the box, shaking hands reaching for the closed package of bandages and the alcohol.
Suddenly, Bellamy’s strong hand grabs her wrist, something that makes her look at him. Her eyes meet his and she feels herself relax a bit. His voice helps too.
“Clarke.” her name falls from his lips like a melody, from the same lips she caught herself so many times not able to take her eyes from. “Calm down.” he asks and starts stroking the inside of her wrist with his thumb.
Clarke let out a deep breath and closes her eyes. “You okay?” she hears Bellamy ask her and she can only nod. She either is actually okay or she can’t feel any pain from the adrenaline.
When she opens her eyes again, she meets his brown ones and finds some strength in them. She also notes the long cuts on the side of his forehead and the scratches on the side of his jaw line.
Bellamy closes his eyes, trying to hold back the tears from the pain and fall back on his back again, his wounded shoulder not able to hold his up any more.
When he let go of her wrist, Clarke gets back to work without saying anything else. She takes her gloves off and slowly rips off his pants around his wound to examine it better.
She let go of the bandages, realizing she doesn’t need them yet and grabs a small piece of cloth from the kit. She wets it with a fair amount of alcohol before turning her gaze on Bellamy. He is already looking at her, jaw tight and lips pressed together.
“It’s going to hurt really bad.” she warns him but without really thinking about it he approves her to go one with a small nod.
Clarke takes a deep breath, slowly lowering the cloth on Bellamy’s leg to clean the wound. As soon as the alcohol touches the open wound, Bellamy brings his arm around his mouth and yells in the inside of his elbow, silencing his cries into his clothes and hiding his pained face from Clarke.
It breaks her heart to hear Bellamy make these weird noises and she tries her best to block them and finish her job. To her surprise, Bellamy doesn’t snap away from her. Instead, his other hand reaches towards her and fists her coat tight.
With another deep breath, Clarke starts wiping away the dirty snow and blood from his wound with small and quick moves. Some moments later, Bellamy hands go limp and Clarke glances up to him.
He passed out from pain, she realizes.
She forces herself not to panic since his chest is still rising and falling and maybe it's for the best anyway. He doesn’t feel the unbearable pain and she can work on his steadier and quicker.
When she is finally okay with how clean the wound is, she opens the packed bandages and quickly rolls it around his wound, covering almost his whole calf with it. That’s how big the bite was.
Then she gives herself a moment to take a break and relax from the stress. She can barely feel her fingers from the cold but she doesn’t really care. They are also covered in blood so she quickly cleans them with the cloth and some alcohol.
Then she forces herself back to work. She crawls farther up next to him and puts to fingers on his neck, trying to find a pulse. It’s there but it’s not too strong. She blocks every bad scenario from her head.
Clarke sees the blood on his shoulder next, the parallel cuts on his clothes and skin under them. She swallows her worry and concentrate to her work. Like before, she wets a new piece of cloth with alcohol and holds it as she rips off his clothes around the wounds.
Once she has a clean view of the damage, she lowers the cloth and starts cleaning up the wound. Suddenly Bellamy’s other hand snaps and grabs hers tight, forcing her away from him, completely startle her.
“Bellamy, it's me.” she says calmly, staring at his closed eyes, “It’s Clarke. I need to clean your wound. Please, let my hand go.”
Clarke sees his Adam's apple pop up and down and then his eyes open, his hold on her loosen up. He groans next, letting his hand fall from her to his chest and his eyes to close again.
“It’s okay.” she tries to comfort him, “You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
“Cl...a...ke?” he breaths out, his voice is weak and he can taste the blood in his mouth.
“I’m here.” she smiles, cupping his not hurt cheek with one hand, “Don’t worry. I’m right here.” she strokes his face with her cold fingers.
“You… cold…” he whispers, eyes opening and searching for hers.
“I’m okay.” she ensures him with a bitter smile again. He is suffering so much pain and he still looks out for her. He always does that and it breaks her heart all over again. “I need- I need to finish with your shoulder and- and I need you to stay awake okay?” she asks, stroking his cheek again, “Can you do that for me, Bellamy?”
His Adam's apple moves again and he closes his eyes, “‘m gon… try…” he blinks his tired eyes. Clarke nods, leaning forward and leaves a kiss on his forehead before getting back to work.
Bellamy doesn’t move or make any noises while Clarke cleans his second wound. Once it’s cleaned enough, Clarke let go of the cloth and quickly reaches for another white bandage.
Then she grabs his wrist and slowly places it on top of his chest and pushes his upper arm to stick by his side. “Hold that there for me?” she asks and Bellamy nods, keeping his arm in place when she let go of it. After she makes sure he can keep his hand steady by himself, she sits down crossed legs and slowly pulls his up to sit on her lap. “Stay there.” she asks again and quickly starts placing the bandage around his shoulder and under his other armpit again and again till she is out of it. Once his arm is secured tight to his side, she takes yet another bandage and ties it together, making a sling. She brings it over his head and around his neck and then gently folds his arm in it, taking the weight of holding it up from Bellamy.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Clarke asks next, searching his body up and down for any sign of new blood.
Bellamy shook his head, “Co-old.” he only whispers with a cracked voice.
“I know. I know.” she agrees, “We need to find a shelter or something or we’re gonna freeze to death together right here.”
Bellamy nods, “Let’s… go.” he says, suddenly feeling himself getting a little bit stronger, “Your hands… getting colder.” he continues and Clarke chokes her laugh that warms her heart. He is still thinking about her getting cold over him.
“You feeling better already?” she asks him a moment later.
“Better.” he agrees, “Let’s- go.”
Clarke doesn’t want to push him but it’s already getting night and he wasn’t kidding when he said they wouldn’t survive out here like that.
“Okay.” she agrees, letting go of his for a moment and walks to his other side. Her hand slides under his arm and around his back while his hand comes around her neck and locks there.
“On three I want you to help me as much as you can to pull you up on one leg, okay?” she explains and prepares herself to hold him up herself, "Don't push yourself too much."
He glances at her, “Ready.” he clinches his teeth and takes a deep breath.
Clarke starts counting, “One… Two… Three.” and with one move, Bellamy stands up, leaning most of his weight on Clarke who struggles to balance the two of them.
“Okay, okay, we got this, right? We got this.” she says more for herself than Bellamy to hear and believe it. “Okay, try and hop on one leg, don’t push yourself too much.” she repeats.
Bellamy nods, his arm tightness around her neck as he prepares himself to take a step on one leg.
To Clarke’s surprise, they don’t fall back down. They can balance themselves on three legs pretty well and even though Clarke knows Bellamy is pushing himself too much to fast, she doesn’t argue, not trusting her own body strength for too long.
“Shit.” Clarke whispers some moments later, looking over her shoulder, “Our backpacks.” she explains and look up at Bellamy from the corner of her eyes.
He only nods, feeling even stronger, he unfolds his arm from around Clarke and reaches for the tree just to the side, leaning his weight on it. “Go, take only the necessary.”
“Are you-”
“Clarke, go. I’m right here.” he promises.
Clarke debates on leaving him or not for a moment but she ends up running the small space to their things and grab her backpack. She quickly gathers her med kit and search in Bellamy’s backpack for anything useful. She finds some food, the map, a flashlight and the most important thing of all; his danger alarm signaler, the only thing that Raven’s technology can send a signal boost back to Arkadia and track it down.
She turns it on and a red light starts flashing from the top of it. Clarke throws it in her backpack too with the rest of the things from Bellamy’s backpack and closes it, throwing it over her shoulder and makes her way back to Bellamy.
“Okay. We are ready to go.” she says, bringing his arm around her neck again and take his weight from the tree, “Now we only need to find a shelter and get warmed up.”
“Piece of cake.” Bellamy comments and earns a glaring look from Clarke.
She can’t tell for now long they have been walking through the white forest. Bellamy, even though for the first five minutes was strong, he slowly started getting weak again. Clarke supported most of his weight and he was unable to hold his injured leg up so her let it down, dragging it behind them and leaving a red line on the snow.
They stay in silence, afraid that if the cold doesn’t kill them, the animals they will attract will sure do.
It starts getting dark now and they can barely see around them. Bellamy’s breathing is uneven and his arm, the one in the sling, is shaking against his chest. Clarke can’t feel anything from the cold. And it will get worst, she embraces herself.
“Cl...a...ark?” Bellamy manages and Clarke glances up to him.
“Yeah?”
Bellamy swallows, forcing himself to take another step, “You-” another small jump, “need-” another one, “to leave-”
“No.” Clarke stops him immediately, “I’m not- I’m not leaving you, Bellamy.” she doesn’t even want to hear about it. “Together, remember?” throwing his own words back to him while supporting him for another small jump.
“I… can’t-”
“Yes you can.” Clarke argues, “I know you can.” her hold on his tightens.
They fall in silence again. Clarke is sure that Bellamy can’t even feel his injured leg or he would have passed out again. The thought of giving up on him doesn’t even cross her mind. She never did and she never will. So, she keeps helping him, supporting him and walks through the dark forest by his side.
“Clarke.” this time his voice is steadier, something that gives Clarke hope but she knows what he is going to say and her hope vanishes quickly.
“Bellamy, just shut up and keep walking.” she warns him, looking at his good leg making another small jump forward into the snow.
“No, Clarke-”
“Stop it, okay?!” Clarke yells, lifting her eyes up to his. He is looking back to her too and the light in his eyes is something new.
“Look!” Bellamy says, with his eyes pointing to their right.
Clarke follows where his eyes are looking and then she sees it. The small opening on the side of the mountain.
A cave, she realizes and her eyes light up with happiness.
She snaps back to Bellamy, a smile forming already, “Let’s go.” she agrees and slowly turns both of them towards the cave.
It looked close but it actually took them five minutes to get to the entrance. Once there, Bellamy let go of Clarke and leans against the wall instead, slowly sliding down and breathing heavily.
Clarke knees next to him, taking a quick look at the now red bandages on Bellamy’s leg and shoulder. It doesn’t look very good. Bellamy closes his eyes, his head falling to the side.
“Bellamy?” Clarke whispers, noting his closed eyes and limp head. She cups his cheek, “Bellamy, can you hear me?”
The man in front of her slightly nods, trying to open his eyes but fails. His whole body is shaking from cold and his lips along with his face are pale. Too pale for Clarke’s likings. “Okay, good.” she let her backpack fall from her shoulders and quickly searches for Bellamy’s flashlight. Once in her hand, she lights up the inside of the cave soon she finds out it’s a long cave.
“Great.” she smiles and turns back to Bellamy, “Hey, Bell.” she whispers cupping the cold skin of his neck inside his hood, “We need to get father inside.” she pauses, “I need you to walk a little bit more. Can you do that for me?”
When Bellamy doesn’t respond to her, not even with a nod, Clarke freezes, “No no no.” she whispers to herself, slapping his neck slightly to wake him up, “Bellamy? Open your eyes. Can you hear me?” she says but never gets an answer for him. Immediately her fingers trace his veins on his neck, searching for a pulse. She lets out a long sigh when she finds one. It’s very weak but it’s still there and that’s all she cares for now.
“Okay, you want to do this the hard way.” she murmurs to herself and let go of him. But before she can go away, Bellamy’s good hand reaches for her coat and grabs it, making her stop and turn back to him.
“There you are.” she whispers and kneels back down next to him.
“Co- o- o- ld.” he only manages to say between chartering teeth, eyes still closed.
Clarke strokes with her bare hand up and down his arm, earning some warmth for herself and for Bellamy too, “I know, Bell. I’m gonna make a fire now, okay?” she smiles as if Bellamy would open his eyes and see it, “You stay with me, okay? Talk to me for as long as you can.”
Bellamy doesn’t respond to her but Clarke can’t waste any more time. She let go of him, immediately missing the small amount of warmth she was getting for just being next to him, and got to work.
With the flashlight on hand, she starts searching the ground near the cave for any sticks she could use to start the fire.
“Yo- you- u- ka- kay?” she hears Bellamy from behind her.
“I will be okay as long as you are okay. So, if you want me to be okay, make sure you stay alive.” she says, eyes scanning the snowed forest floor.
“R- rav- ven- is gon- onna ki- ll us for th- the ro- rover.”
Clarke smiles to herself again. She actually can’t wait to be back at Arkadia and have Raven yelling at her for leave her rover like they did.
“Cl- cla-ark? I-” something in his cracked voice makes Clarke snap around and look at him.
Her heart stops when she finds him lying down on his good side, eyes closed and she can barely make out his chest rising and falling. She calls his name as she runs back to him, kneeling to his side and picking him up again, supporting him upper body on her shoulder and cupping his face.
“Be- Bellamy?” she says, panic finally getting the best of her. “Bellamy Blake open you eyes right now!” she orders him, “Stupid jackass!” he yells, “Come- come on. Don’t leave me now.” she slightly slap his cheek, “Don’t you dare leave me now, you hear me?” she can feel a single tear escaping her eyes, “I can’t do this without you, Bellamy.” she continues to try wake him up with small slaps, his face feels colder than her fingers, “Okay then. You want to give up?” she asks him like he is going to answer, “Guess what. I’m not giving up.” she continues and grabs his good arm, throwing it over her shoulder and around her neck. One of her hands come around his back and the other fist his coat tight.
She takes a few breaths and counting to three, she pushes herself up, bringing Bellamy’s limp body up with her. She doesn’t know where she finds the strength, her muscles and bones feel like they gonna break under his dead weight but they don’t.
Clarke is practically dragging Bellamy’s body farther inside the cave all by herself. Her body is screaming and her vision is blurred with tears. A good ten minutes later, they reach the very end of the cave, cold walls protecting them from the even colder night wind of the forest.
Clarke collapses on the hard stony floor, Bellamy’s body falling with her with a loud bang. She let go of him and rolls a bit to the side, facing the ceiling of the cave and trying to catch her breath.
Some moments later, once she normalized her breathing, she lifts herself on her elbows, glancing at Bellamy to her side.
He is still breathing, that’s all she needs to know. She also knows she can’t waste any more time. Everything second that passing without getting Bellamy warm is very critical for his heal.
She is aware that Bellamy is suffering from hypothermia for the last half an hour at least, maybe more. She didn’t tell him because she didn’t want to worry him more and because she didn’t even want to believe how messed up they are.
Pushing herself up with a groan, she jogs back to the entrance and picks their things up. Her backpack and his flashlight and goes back to Bellamy. She throws the backpack on the corner of the cave and turns to Bellamy. The first thing her eyes search for is if he is breathing and she is relieved that he is still alive.
Clarke kneels to his side and rolls him to his back, making sure that the bandages stay put. Then she placing his head to lay on the backpack and jumps above him, making her way back to the forest.
It’s harder than she thought, to find any kind of wood for a fire when everything is white. She finds a few anyway but they are not enough so she ends up tearing apart some low branches from the trees, making several scratches on her palm.
Once she has enough sticks and branches, she walks back inside the cave and again the first thing she does is to see if Bellamy is breathing. He is.
Clarke let the woods down and quickly gets to work to start the fire. It takes her some moments but in the end, she doesn’t fail them. She started the fire as closer to Bellamy as she could and the flames soon light up most of the cave around them.
Her first instinct is to hold her shaky hands above the fire, warming them after so many hours exposed to the cold air of winter.
She is lost in her thought, staring at the orange and yellow flames when Bellamy stirs. Clarke’s land on him as he opens his fist, reaching to hold someone or something.
“Cl…” he tries but never finishes her name.
Clarke jumps up and walks to him, “I’m here, Bell.” she whispers, taking his open hand in hers. She takes off his gloves and intertwines her almost warm fingers with his cold ones, bringing them up and kissing his knuckles. “Everything will be okay.”
“I- I- m s- so c- co- ld.” he murmured through cracked lips, the uncontrollable shaking starts again.
“I know Bell.” she whispers, “You lost a lot of blood and it’s getting really cold at nights but everything will be okay, I promise.” she strokes his hands in hers, trying to warm him up a bit. “I’ve already started the alarm. They are on their way here. You just stay awake, okay?”
Bellamy slowly swallows, his throat being dry for so long, “My le- leg.” he pauses, “Ca- can- n’t fe- eel.”
Clarke closes her eyes, pressing her lips together and trying to hold her tears back. She doesn’t say anything to Bellamy, while still holding his hand in hers, she reaches for the bandage around his wounded leg and takes a peaks at the bite mark under it.
It doesn’t look good.
She glances back to Bellamy, studying his pale face. With her free hand she takes some hair from his forehead and tacks them behind his ear, searching for a way to keep him to life till Raven and the others find them.
Clarke doesn’t even want to think about losing him. They have been through so much together, it’s not fair to die like that. If he was about to die, he should be with his friends and family, with his sister and on a comfortable bed with people that care about him and will always remember him. Not in a cold cave, lying on the ground and with only Clarke by his side.
But again, the thought of dead Bellamy sends shirves down her spine. She can’t let that happen. She won’t survive this one. Without him in her life, it will feel so strange, so unfamiliar and so wrong. He was always there for her and even though she left him several times, she knows he knows she would always be there for him too.
Clarke shakes her thoughts away, not understanding why she thinks of Bellamy as dead when he is still breathing in front of her. Her eyes fall down at his chest rising and falling again, their tangled hands lying on top of it. Only then she realizes he is holding her hand with his other hand too and smiles at the small but comforting action.
“I’m not going to let you die, Bell.” she whispers low, “I promise.” and leans down, leaving a long kiss on his forehead.
And in that moment it hits her life a lightning. “Body heat.” she murmurs, eye fly open and a hope warming her heart. “Body heat is the best way to keep someone warm.” she says louder as if anyone is there to hear it.
Her eyes land back on Bellamy’s shaking form. She gives him a cracked smiles, she knows he won’t see it and smile back as he always do, but he is going to be okay and that smile says it all.
Clarke position herself next to his wounded shoulder now, carefully untying it because it’s above the clothes and they need clothes off. Then she cups Bellamy’s cheek, stroking it to wake him up.
“Bell?” she whispers, not wanting to startle him, “I need- I need you to open your eyes.” she continues a bit louder.
To her surprise Bellamy opens his eyes, slowly meeting her blue eyes. He opens his mouth but nothing comes out, he just stare at her with tired brown eyes.
“Bell, I need you, when- when I take your hand off the sling, I need you to hold it on your chest, okay? Can you do that for me.” she asks him, the less he moves his shoulder, in less pain he will be on.
Bellamy must have nodded at her but his uncontrollable shaking makes it hard to see it. Clarke feels herself getting too tired too, the fire next to them doesn’t help at all anymore.
She gives Bellamy some moments to understand she asked him to do and then she slowly lifts his arm off his chest a bit and quickly pushes the sling off around it, letting fall back to his chest again.
Then she walks back to her backpack, searching inside for her knife. She grabs it and quickly kneels next to Bellamy again. Without warning Bellamy, she fists his coat and starts cutting it off, completely destroying it. When they are back to Arkadia, she knows he is going to give her a hard time about it because it’s his favorite one but she doesn’t really care about it at the moment. She actually can’t wait for that moment to come.
Once she is finished by cutting and ripping off his coat from his body, she starts doing the same with his shirt and undershirt, destroying layer after layer till there is nothing covering his chest.
“Yo- ou kn- n- now if- if y-ou-”
“If you want- want to make that stu- stupid joke about- me- if I wanted you to- to take your clothes off I- I should have asked, you- you are wasting your en- energy in stup- pid things Be- Bellamy.” she stops him, realizing that she starts not be able to talk fluently too. A bad sign for both of them.
Bellamy tries to smirk at her but he only manages a messed up smile. Clarke on the other hand starts taking off her own clothes, with every layer that does away, feeling closer on freezing to death.
The shaking start as soon as her upper body is completely naked, wearing only her bra. She ignores Bellamy’s eyes on her, slightly lighting up at seeing her naked for the first time. She also ignores the view of Bellamy’s naked body too, the nasty wound on his shoulder, all the old scars and the perfectly built body with his abs stiff from the cold.
“Okay now.” she whispers and puts a hand under Bellamy, slowly lifting him on a sitting position and holding his hand on his chest with her other hand. “Hold you arm there, okay?” she asks him and without waiting for a answer, she crawls her way behind him and then letting his body fall back and lay on her while she leans back on the wall.
“There you go.” she whispers to him, guiding his body to slightly turn to the side and his good side to lay on her, her arm still around his back, holding him close to her. Bellamy’s head fall on her shoulder and he snuggles his face in her neck, cold nose against slightly warm neck.
His wounded leg is stretched out while his other is folded on his chest. Clarke’s legs are open, one behind Bellamy’s back and the other bend over his wounded and close to his folded one.
She doesn’t lie when she actually feels getting a but of warm from him. She can’t point out what makes her feel warmed up. Maybe it’s Bellamy breathing against her neck, maybe it’s Bellamy’s bare body against her that makes her feel butterflies in her stomach or maybe is just the hope that soon their people will find them and take them home.
She is already home.
“Cla- cla- rke.” Bellamy murmurs so low that Clarke almost misses it.
“Shhh…” she moves her hand up and down his back, feeling her eyes getting heavier and heavier with every second that passes.
“I… ju- ust wa- wan- nted t- to s- say-”
“Sh- hh.” she says again, “Yo- you wi- ill te- tel- tell me whe- when we- we are ba- back to Ark- ark- kadia.” she manages, not able to hold her eyes open anymore.
The last thing she feels before her mind blanks out is Bellamy’s sigh again her neck and his fingers reaching for hers between them.
Clarke still doesn’t remember how they got back to Arkadia or who found them. She was just grateful that when she woke up and looked around, Bellamy was sleeping on the next bed, his natural color had returned and his face was turned towards her, face clean and in peace after so long.