only choice

three

     Bellamy steps off. Wreckage steams behind him. Clarke's vision blurs. Every moment, 6 years of thinking, of feeling, of being, and it all lead up to this. He didn't look the same. His face was hairier, his arms were bigger, face paler. His eyes lock with hers and she remembers, she's not the same either. Clarke wills her feet to move but she's frozen. She caves, knees meeting the ground. Her ears are ringing. And all she can think - all she can think is that she's home. She's home. Boots charge at her, and Bellamy wraps her up. There is warmth, there is tears, there is a gasp for air that's been building in her lungs ever since that door opened.

           "Bellamy," she finally manages between sobs.
           "Clarke," he mumbles into the crook of her neck. They are both on their knees now, nuzzling deeper and deeper into the embrace. Energy swells in Clarke's base and she does what she never thought, in 6 whole years, she would do. She takes his face in her hands and kisses him. We see Bellamy tense, before easing into the most comforting thing he has ever experienced. His eyes flutter shut. His back hits the dirt. Tears rub between his face and hers and she finally pushes off to wipe her cheeks dry.
         "How did you-" she begins, and they both sit up. She is interupted mid-thought by a familiar voice.
         "Princess!" Murphy shouts, he is holding Emori in his arms like a ragdoll, smiling wide. "Long time, no see!"
         Bellamy stands, straightening himself out. Raven and Echo emerge from the ship, gasping for air and screaming for joy. Echo charges them, and for a minute Clarke thinks that she's actually happy to see her. But before she can welcome them home, Echo is in Bellamy's arms, kissing him with the same passion and sweetness that Clarke had only moments ago. And when the kiss breaks, Bellamy meets Clarke's stunned gaze. 6 years of waiting for him. Of course, it was only her. She was alone. He wasn't. Of course. Her shoulders fall.

        "Clarke, can we please discuss what happened when I got off that ship?" Bellamy is grabbing for her forearm.
        "We have bigger problems now, Bellamy," she snaps, yanking away. He follows her to the rover and she pulls out a detailed map of the habitable zone. "We need to figure out how to get the others from the bunker if we stand any chance of-"
         "Clarke!" He shouts. The blonde is stunned into silence. She looks up to him, holding back tears that she can't afford to cry.
         "Bellamy, you don't need to-"
         "Yes, I do," he starts, "We talked once about only choices. I thought I had one. I didn't know-"
         Her face turns from his, hiding her emotion. He grabs her chin.
       "-Look at me. I didn't know that there would be - that you would be - another choice. I thought you were dead," he is pleading with her.
       "I might as well be," she nods the tears away, "Your heart found someone it could love. Mine did too, in another way. I found Madi. We all need someone, Bellamy. Don't apologise for trying to be whole again. And neither will I," she finishes, shoving the map against his chest.
        Its clear that she is done being interupted. Bellamy leans down to her lips, thinking about the choices he's made.
        An explosion sounds not too far away and the tension is broken.