arabella heard an explosion and rushed outside, bellamy and clarke behind her. it was from the direction of the bridge, and a large cloud of smoke filled the sky. 

"they did it." bellamy spoke from behind arabella.

"i am become death, destroyer of worlds." clarke quoted.

arabella and bellamy looked at the girl. 

"it's oppenheimer, the man who built the first..."

"i know who oppenheimer is." bellamy smiled, giving arabella a quick glance.

...

monty and jasper arrived back at the camp, people cheered for the two of them. but arabella could see finn and raven, the girl had caught the illness and looked like she was really struggling.

raven was brought into the dropship and was being watched over by clarke and finn.

arabella wandered around the camp, just checking in on how people who caught the illness were doing.

"bella." she heard bellamy's voice behind her, he soon caught up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"oh, hi." arabella smiled.

"you feeling better?" he asked her.

arabella nodded. "i'm getting there."

"we need to talk about murphy, bella." 

"i know." she sighed. "but he was right about the bridge."

"we'll see. octavia says the mountain men are pissed, whatever that means."

"i'd say it means we need as many soldiers as we can get." clarke said and she walked up to the two.

"so, what, we have pardon power now?" bellamy asked clarke.

"it's hard running things." clarke told him, shrugging as she walked away.

...

it had been two days since the bomb explosion on the bridge. they hadn't seen any grounders since. 

arabella kept herself tucked away inside her tent, only leaving it to go to the toilet and drink. two much was happening at once and she just felt overwhelmed.

bellamy entered her tent. "hey, sweetheart." he softly said to her.

arabella stared ahead, the covers up to her chin.

"you wanna come for a walk? we still haven't heard anything from the grounders." he sat next to her, softly stroking her hair.

the girl's eyes were blank, she wanted to look at him but she just couldn't.

bellamy nodded to himself. "i'll come to check on you soon... i-" he stopped himself quickly and softly kissed her head before leaving her tent.

not long after bellamy left she heard shouting outside.

"fire!" someone yelled.

but arabella still didn't move. she hoped the camp burned down with just her in it. her head was fuzzy and her vision was blurred from unshed tears.

bellamy entered her tent once again, he sat next to her. "the smokehouse burned down. we're going hunting. come with me please." he saw the streaks of tears, and he softly wiped them away.

"please, leave me alone." arabella's voice cracked from not speaking.

"i can't do that, sweetheart. you have to come with me." he gently took the covers off of her and turned her so he could sit her up. "please." bellamy looked at her like he was in pain seeing her like this. 

arabella finally looked at him, bellamy's hand held her cheek. "i'm tired, bell." she sighed.

"i know, sweetheart. i know. but i'm not leaving you alone." he pressed his forehead to hers. "please."

arabella stared at him for a few moments. "leave me alone, bell. please."

bellamy softly nodded, leaving her tent.

"is she coming?" arabella heard clarke ask.

bellamy looked defeated. "i don't know what happened she was fine three days ago before she got sick and now it's like she isn't even arabella anymore."

clarke stayed silent until she entered arabella's tent. "get up." she ordered.

"screw you, clarke." arabella muttered.

"you can't stay here all day. you're meant to be a leader arabella, but right now you just look pathetic." clarke said. it hurt to act like this towards her friend but it was the only thing she could think of.

bellamy walked into the tent. "clarke? what the hell? you really think that is gonna help?"

"it's better than treating her like she's a fragile doll and can't do anything for herself." clarke snapped at him. "arabella. get the hell up."

arabella didn't say a word.

"you think your mother and father would be proud of you if you were like this?"

arabella shot out of the bed, quickly grabbing her knife that was under her pillow. she grabbed clarke by the back of her neck and held the knife to her neck "you think your mom would be proud of you for being such a bitch?" arabella stared at her, the girls head slightly tilted.

bellamy stepped in, moving arabella away from clarke. "she's up. you're welcome." clarke told bellamy as she left the tent.

"let's go." bellamy told her.

arabella stared up at him. "fine." 

...

arabella and bellamy left to go hunt. there wasn't much conversation the whole day, it was awkward. the two were walking through the woods quietly until bellamy spoke.

"are you okay?" he asked her, his voice rough.

"i'm fine." arabella replied, she wasn't and she knew that. but the girl wasn't sure what was actually wrong with her, all she wanted to do was shut everyone out and be alone, but you can't do that when you're in a camp full of people.

"don't lie to me, bella. you hadn't left your tent for two days. that doesn't seem okay to me." he replied as they continued to walk.

"stop caring about me so much, bellamy." the girl snapped. "i probably won't make it another week."

bellamy stopped. "how could i not care about you?" he asked her. "aside from octavia, you are the only person i have ever cared for this much. i thought-" the man sighed. "i thought we had something good going on."

"okay, so you were just waiting to get in my pants then?"

"arabella you know that's not what i mean, so don't give me that bullshit." bellamy clenched his jaw. "bella... i want you. i need you."

arabella stared at him in surprise. 

"i need all of you, all the time. since we got onto the ground all i saw was you."

"so to put it simply... you like me?" arabella asked him. 

"i didn't think i could make it any more obvious, sweetheart." he replied, stepping closer to arabella.

"a few more signs would've been nice." arabella joked, smiling at him.

"there's my girl. smiling and joking with me." 

arabella stepped closer to him and placed one of her hands on his chest. "slow down there, bell. how do you know i even like you back?"

"because i'm the only person you've made physical contact with in the whole camp." he snaked his hands around her waist pulling her closer.

"and how do you know that?" arabella said quietly.

"i have people everywhere, sweetheart. if i found out anyone touched you, they'd be dead."

arabella smiled, loving the protective side of bellamy. "cute."

...

arabella and bellamy found a few small animals and made it back into the camp. arabella dropped the dead animals onto a table for someone to sort out for the rest of the camp.

as she made her way back to her tent bellamy stopped her.

"stay with me tonight, please." he softly told her.

"aww you want me to move in with you already? that truly is adorable, bellamy blake. who knew you were such a romantic?" arabella sarcastically gushed, her hands over her heart. 

bellamy playfully rolled his eyes at the girl, who had a smile on her face. "do i have to beg you?" he joked.

arabella hummed. "bellamy blake begging for a woman, this should be put in the history books."

"you aren't just a woman, bella. you are extraordinary, i've never met someone like you."

"i'm sold. i'll grab some of my things." she grinned up at the man, reaching up to plant a kiss on his cheek. 

arabella walked to her tent to grab some of her things and made her way back over to bellamy's tent but she heard talking from inside the tent.

"i've never been with anyone but finn." raven's voice spoke.

arabella felt her heart drop.

"i don't care, raven. i'm with arabella. i'm not interested." bellamy told her.

raven didn't say a word after that but arabella heard her moving around, and then raven walked out of the tent. arabella wasn't sure what to say.

"i- i'm sorry. i didn't know." raven said, her embarrassment showing through.

"well, now you do." arabella awkwardly smiled. she then walked into bellamy's tent to see him with his back to her.

"raven i already said-" he stopped his sentence as he turned around to see arabella.

"you're with me now huh?" she smiled. "next thing you know we'll be married in two days." arabella let out a small laugh.

"i didn't do anything, bella. i promise-"

"i know, i was eavesdropping." arabella interrupted him, placing some of her things on the ground.

"okay, good." he walked towards her and pulled her into a hug, the type of hug that can make you feel like nothing will ever be able to hurt you. the type of hug that can make you feel protected but only by one person, and in arabella's case, it was bellamy. and she wouldn't have it any other way.