Missing You Every Step Of The Way (Bellarke)

S2 - Something Unexpected - pt.2

As Clarke strode up the hill towards Medical, Bellamy jogged to catch up with her; the energy and adrenaline now flowing through his veins. Though, from Clarke's earlier tone, her news wasn't good. He also wanted to know what had happened to her, for her to look like she did; covered in stitches and bruises and slightly limping. Noticing this, he turned to her as they strode up the embankment.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Clarke glanced at him, surprised at his concern. His eyes roamed over her face but she immediately understood the worry lines appearing around his brown eyes.

"Yeah, could be better but at least I'm alive," she replied quietly before turning her head to hide her stitches beneath a curtain of hair.

Bellamy repeatedly glanced at her as they neared the towering metal structure, almost like he was confirming the fact that she was real. Clarke then turned right and made her way towards the Med tent with Bellamy following behind. Their silence held an air of discomfort and awkwardness that stemmed from the hug that had just left them breathless. Nevertheless, the void left by each other's absence was now filled.

Clarke strode forward despite the ache in her leg muscles and the dull pain of the bullet wound in her arm and pushed aside the tent flap. Abby's voice could be heard from afar but Clarke turned into a small side room in the tent before turning to Bellamy's steady gaze.

"The others were taken by the Mountain Men," she spoke, watching Bellamy's reaction. His face turned from confusion to horror as he made to sit down on the small sofa which took up half the room. He clasped his hands in thought.
"Why? How? When we came back to the dropship site we only found Raven and Murphy. How could all 48 of you disappear into thin air?" Bellamy looked at Clarke with wide eyes as he waited in anticipation.

Clarke sighed as the haunted look returned to her face. "I think it was some kind of red knockout gas because the minute we stepped out of the dropship, they threw down these canisters and I fell unconscious before I could get a good look at them. Our people are in Mount Weather."

Bellamy stilled at the mention of the familiar name. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"So the Mountain Men are real and they took you. Why?"

Clarke suddenly stilled at Bellamy's question while her mind thought back, with horror, to the chambers filled with caged Grounders and the limp bodies of those strung up by their feet to be drained. Her face was placid but was slowly becoming pale at the thought of the bodies that had been dumped on Anya and herself on their escape through the mines.

Bellamy noticed the change in her, so he stood a walked over to Clarke, whose hands were unconsciously shaking. Her hard gaze was directed at the floor so he softly took her shaking hand in his; noticing the scratches and bruising on the top where a cannula had hastily been removed. He watched Clarke's head turn but kept his mouth shut and gently led her over to the sofa where they both sat down, Bellamy all the while keeping Clarke's hand in both of his - his thumb rubbing comforting circles across her knuckles.

With a sigh, he looked into her eyes before speaking. "Clarke, what happened exactly?"

Clarke slowly but reluctantly met his eyes before summoning the courage to face the images of death and struggle that would replay at the mention of how she got to camp.

"After discovering we were in Mount Weather, in a treatment facility, I met with the leader of the Mountain Men; an older man called Dante, who explained to me the reason why they had taken us. He said it was to keep us safe from the threats on the outside, from the Grounders. The Mountain Men are just like you and I. They are normal human beings whose only difference to us is that they cannot survive the levels of radiation outside since their race grew up in a bunker - that's what Mount Weather is," Clarke began. Bellamy's hand squeezed hers in reassurance to go on.