Bold= Swedish.

T H I R T Y   O N E | ENDING UNITY DAY IRONICALLY

"I used to hate the stars, they were just so boring, like all we knew them as they were; massive balls of burning gas that probably exploded thousands of years ago,"  Carter bubbled aimlessly as she lay on her back, staring up at the clusters of light that scattered themselves across the sky. "But on the ground they're just so beautiful, it's like each star pattern tells a story and you've got to really take in the beauty of it all to understand it." She lifted her head to see if Bellamy was still listening to her and caught him just in time to see the small smile on his face as he shook his head.

"You really are something else." Bellamy chuckled airily from where he sat.

"I know, I'm a babe." She grinned stupidly, fully sitting up. In order to help her sober up efficiently, Bellamy guided her to the more secluded part of camp. There was a few drunks who staggered by every now and then, but apart from that it was quiet and the atmosphere was clearer, allowing Carter to recover from her intoxicated state. She cocked her head to the side as she stared at him and a slow smile crept onto her face. "I like your smile." She blurted, unphased by her bold statement, courtesy of the alcohol that clouded her mind. Bellamy's expression faltered out of shock and Carter laughed and feigned a gasp in shock, "What's this, Bellamy has a shy side of him, too?"

"Shut up," He denied, all too quickly for Carter. "Don't flatter yourself."

"Oh, he has a bitchy side to him as well!" Carter snickered to herself. Bellamy tried so hard not to smile at her behavior, he really did, but the smile broke out on his face before he could stop it,  and Carter stopped chuckling almost instantly after seeing this and smiled fondly instead. "See? That smile right there, that's the smile I like. Not those stupid half smiles you're always pulling. I like that smile. It's almost as pretty as the stars..." She trailed off, looking up at the dark sky, still smiling. Bellamy was rendered into his own silence, unable to come up with any words to say. Even if those words were just from the alcohol, he couldn't even muster a sentence to say back. He shifted slightly on the log he was sitting on, not liking the new feeling that washed over him. For the most part, Bellamy almost always knew what to say. But no words formed. Carter had literally stunned him into silence with her blatant honesty and he didn't like it. She looked back down at the confusion on his face and her smile grew as she cocked her head to the side.

"What?" He asked, frowning at the inquisitive look on her face.

"You know, when I first met you, I thought I had you pinned. Just another general asshole who needs to be knocked down a few pegs," She began, her words not as slurred as before, but still a little fuzzy. "I dealt with those kind of people all the time at work-- Hell, most of my team were assholes, so I knew how to deal with you..." She then frowned, "But then you confused me because you're not an asshole-- well, you are sometimes, but not like I thought you would be-- and you have all these hidden parts to your personality that you've got to really concentrate on just to see them and- and I can't pin you down, Bellamy, you're a mystery to me." Her face suddenly lit up. "You're like a pattern of stars, that's it! You, Bellamy Blake, are like a cluster of stars, just waiting for someone to look closer at you to see you're more than just a cluster of stars, you have a story and hidden secrets and all it takes is one person to just really take you in and admire you to see that your not just that asshole star." She paused for a moment before high-fiving herself, ultimately breaking whatever atmosphere her words had created. "Man, I'm good." She chuckled, hoping to lighten the air around the two of them as she slowly became conscious of what she was saying. Did she really just compare Bellamy to a freaking constellation? Way to go, Carter!

"Yeah, well, I'm not the only mystery." Bellamy muttered, looking down at Carter with that same intense look he had back at the bunker. At first she thought that maybe it could have been lust, but there was nothing lustful about anything she just said. No, that look was something else though she had no idea what. He suddenly snapped out of whatever he was in and the intensity disappeared just as quick as it came. Bellamy cleared his throat and sat up straighter and quickly asked, "How are you feeling now?"

"Like I'm floating, I think I need some water..." Carter muttered, a small frown etched on her face as her logical part slowly began to wake up from its alcohol-induced sleep. As we made a move to stand up, which required a lot more effort and concentration than she anticipated, Bellamy quickly stood up to steady her and then directed her to sit on the log he was previously sat on. "But I need to get some water?"

"I'll get it, just don't move from that spot." Bellamy ordered as he went to stand up, but Carter grabbed his wrist before he could leave her. He looked down at the blonde with a frown, who in turn smiled with her genuine, toothy smile.

"Thanks, Bellamy."

"I'm only getting you water?" His frown deepened.

"No, not just for the water-- well, yeah thanks for that but I meant thanks for everything. Thanks for not leaving us-- me.I never got to tell you that before." She let go of his wrist, but her smile didn't waver. Instead of replying verbally, Bellamy returned her smile and nodded his head. "Bellamy, how old are you?" Carter suddenly blurted, unsure of how that question even managed to slip past her without so much as a seconds thought. "It's just I know everyone in camp is either eighteen or younger, but I don't know yours."

"Twenty-three." Bellamy answered, a small grin on his face. Her spontaneousness was something that forever amused him.

"Nice, an older guy-" Her eyes suddenly widened as she realized what she just said. "-I have no idea why I said that. Maybe you should go get this water before I embarrass myself any more than I already have." She heard Bellamy chuckle lightly as he walked away, obligating to Carter's orders and as soon as she only herself for company, Carter sighed loudly, "What is wrong with me?"

Her question was only answered by the faint sound of drums and laughter from the Hundred as their party continued. The way she felt was something she didn't like. She looks  Carter doesn't go red in the cheeks, unless she's around Bellamy. Carter doesn't outright compliment people, unless she's around Bellamy. Carter doesn't get weird light feelings in her chest or unknown heat under her skin, unless she's with freaking Bellamy. At first, she just thought it was, well nothing. It was easy to bypass, but then with every unexplained reaction Bellamy leaves her with, she found it harder and harder to push them to the side. Instead of focusing on the things she couldn't answer, she began to think about the stuff she knew. She liked the company of the leader, he wasn't overbearing nor was he a complete bore. She liked the sides to him, even the ones that made him an ass. She liked how he concerned himself with her, for some reason. She liked how he challenged her when it came to sassiness. She even liked how it felt to be close to him. She liked him.

Holy shit.

She liked Bellamy Blake.

Her breath hitched in her throat at her sudden revelation and all at once, every single one of her unanswered questions had an answer. She liked Bellamy. How did that happen? Her frown deepened. How did she not see it sooner? The clearer it all became the more idiotic she felt. Every single feeling Bellamy had left her blatantly pointed to that same answer, she liked him.

Even the mental confession was enough to completely sober Carter up from her previous state. All the fuzziness and lightness she had felt had dispersed the second she realized how much of an idiot she was. The answer was right there the whole time and she never even noticed. She wondered if it was even possible to begin to 'feel' for someone in their circumstances?  They were in constant danger, how the hell did she find the time to like, like Bellamy...?

"Hey," A voice startled Carter from her thoughts. She snapped her attention towards the figure that loomed over her and resisted the urge to furrow her eyebrows. "Do you feel any better?"

"I, uh, yeah. I think the drink has had it's fun, I'm all good now." She nodded her head hesitantly as she stared up at Bellamy. She forced her previous revelation to the back of her mind and stood up, stretching her arms. "Where's the water? You were gone for ages."

"Change of plans." Bellamy's voice had turned hard and Carter had only just noticed the serious on his face. "Your idiot of a friend has decided to arrange a meeting with the Grounders."

"Please don't tell me by 'friend' you mean Finn?" Carter grimaced. It would explain the lack of appearance he had made at the Unity Day party.

Bellamy nodded his head. "He and Princess are on their way now."

"Dammit, Finn," She cursed under her breath through a clenched jaw. "He always has to be the righteous one.Do they have guns?"

"No."

"Let me guess, this is where you come into it?" Carter sighed, running a hand aggressively through her hair. The one night they could actually temporarily forget about all their threats now consisted of worrying about the damn Grounders because Finn had to play peace-maker. "These are Grounders, do they even know the meaning of peace?"

"Which is why Jasper and I are going. Cover their backs if all hell breaks loose." Bellamy explained. "You should get yourself to bed and sleep off whatever alcohol you've still got in you, we should be back by midday tomorrow."

"You really think I'm going to be able to sleep knowing my friends are gonna be meeting with Grounders? " Carter flicked up an eyebrow as she put a hand on her hip in a lame attempt to look intimidating. "No freaking way. I'm coming, and you don't get to tell me otherwise. And face it, you either take me with you, or I'll walk through the woods in a pathetic attempt you find you lot. Your choice." She smirked.

Bellamy pursed his lips as he narrowed his eyes at her. She was just so... impossible. He knew her threat was a promise and the idea of her walking around a massive forest in the dark didn't settle too well with him. "Fine. But if you even stray off the path once, I'll have your damn head."

"That's barbaric."

"That's a promise." Bellamy corrected. "Meet us by the gate in ten, gives you time to go get your stuff."

Carter smirked before pulling a mock salute. "Sir, yes sir."

***

It turned out, Carter wasn't the only one who was able to convince Bellamy she was coming. As she approached the gate, she saw the welcoming sight of her other best friend clutching onto a gun, her face full of determination.

"You're coming, too?" Carter asked when she finally reached Raven, Jasper and Bellamy.

"There's no way I'd stay here knowing what Finn's about to do." Raven nodded with  sigh. There was a hint of sadness behind her dark eyes and Carter suddenly remembered who Finn had gone with. Clarke.

"Quit your worrying, Raven. Finn's a naive son of a bitch if he thinks this is going to work, but he's not stupid." Carter tried to convince Raven, though she was barely able to convince herself.

"Here," Bellamy held out a gun for Carter, who in turn accepted it with a nod and smile in thanks. "Clarke's left a trail for us to follow them. When we get there we need to keep our distance but still be able get a good spot if it does go crazy. Try and save your bullets, only shoot when you can be damn sure it will hit a Grounder."

For the most part, they walked pretty much together with Bellamy leading a trail of nuts Clarke had left behind. Though as soon as dawn began to break through the trees, Carter's head began to ache slightly and she slowed her pace,  hoping it would help ease it.

"Hungover?" Raven quirked an eyebrow with a smirk as she walked alongside her friend.

"Drinking was a mistake and I'm paying for it now."  Carter shuddered as she shrugged off her pack and got out a bottle of water,  chugging it down. She needed to keep herself hydrated if she didn't want this headache to get the better of her.

"You... you don't think Finn likes Clarke, do you?" Raven suddenly asked, her brows weaved upwards.

She didn't know  how to answer that question without hurting Raven's feelings. Carter thought they had managed to work passed the night Finn and Clarke shared, but apparently not. "I don't think he would do anything to hurt you, not again. He just... You know how Finn is, he's always looking after people. I mean, he's just looking out for a member of the group, that's all." Her confidence wavered as she spoke, but both parties decided to ignore it.

"I hope you're right, Carter." Raven murmured, her eyes focused on the ground. Carter hoped she was right too, though didn't want to voice her doubt, not when Raven already had enough of that. A thoughtful silence lapsed around the two of them and Carter decided to drink more water, focusing on that rather than the thought of Finn liking two girls at once. We're not five anymore, Finn. Two-timing is not allowed.

As Raven and Carter talked aimlessly, both refusing to bring up the previous sore topic, the treeline began to get thinner and the sound of rushing water could be heard.

"I think we're close." Jasper whispered as they slowed their pace. Just beyond the last few trees there was a large river of flowing water and Carter frowned.

"Didn't you say this meeting is on a bridge?" She asked no one in particular.

"Yeah," Bellamy nodded, coming to a halt behind one of the thin trees on the river bank. It was stripped bare of any greenery but  the various twigs and branches provided them with enough cover so they wouldn't be seen. Bellamy gestured his head up towards a run-down bridge, it's rails were rusted and blanketed with thick moss and various types of plants had grown on the base of the bridge, giving away how long the rusty structure has been up for. But despite all this, it looked sturdy. "That bridge."

Carter glanced down her scope, looking for her best friend. It took her a while to spot the familiar brown hair, but when she did she inwardly grimaced at how close he stood to Clarke. Carter only hoped Raven didn't notice.

"What's Octavia doing here?" Jasper thought aloud and Carter looked back down her scope, only just catching the younger Blake. Though that wasn't the only person she saw.

"Kara's there, too." She observed, bringing her gun back down. They watched as Octavia ran forward, another figure running towards her. Carter squinted.  "Is that...?"

"The Grounder from camp," Raven nodded, turning her head to look at the blonde. "I guess we know how he got away."

Wasn't that Kara...? Carter frowned,  gnawing her on her lip. She made a mental reminder to ask Kara about it when they were back at camp and instead refocused back on the ever-lasting hug between Octavia and the Grounder, Lincoln?

Seemingly, upon the Grounder's appearance, Clarke began to back away from building nerves. Before she get too far back, Finn grabbed her her hand tightly and brought her frowards again. Carter glanced at Raven sidelong and it didn't go unnoticed at how the girl's face fell. Dammit, Finn.

Bellamy suddenly cocked his gun up and aimed it at the Grounder's head, who was still pretty close to his sister. His whole body was rigid. It was bad enough when someone from camp looked at his sister the way Lincoln was looking at her, much less a Grounder.

"Hey wait," Raven lowered her voice, glancing over to the other end of the bridge. "Look."

Carter looked closely as three horses suddenly came into view and as if off instinct, she grabbed hold of the person closest to her which happened to be Jasper. He looked down at her death grip on his arm and then back at her face which has visibly paled.

"I don't like horses." She shuddered an answer to his silent question. Even in pictures and diagrams, Carter refused to look at the animals, and now as she saw that they existed still it freaked her out. "I really, really don't like horses."

Raven knew all about Carter's fear of the animals so she only chuckled lightly. The more of the creature she saw, the tighter her grip became on Carter's arm. Bellamy pulled down his gun and quirked an eyebrow at her, not before looking at how tight the Swedish girl held onto Jasper.

"Are you serious? You're more scared of the horses than the Grounder's riding them?" His voice held an element of amusement and Carter narrowed her eyes.

"Grounder's are-- they have two legs." Carter swallowed nervously. "Horses have four hoofed sticks they call legs, an unnaturally long nose... and they're huge. Horses are... wrong."

"Then don't look at them." Bellamy offered, the amusement still evident in his voice. Carter nodded meekly and slowly let go of Jasper's arm.

"Damn, Sparky, you have a grip on you." Jasper groaned lowly in pain as he looked down at the red marks that curled around his forearm, in the shape of a palm and fingerprints. Carter smirked in reply and turned her attention back to the bridge, refusing to even look at the horses.

She watched as the two masked figures stayed on their animals and middle one got off and made her way to the middle of the bridge, where Clarke already was. It was a female, Carter could tell that much. She wore a dark trench coat and had wavy hair that couldn't exactly make up its mind on what color it was; brown on top, dark blonde on bottom. Her face, specifically her eyes, harboured dark makeup giving her an ominous look.

"Is she even human?" Carter breathed, her eyes wide. They continued to watch as the two leaders met. Tension forming around them already. The Grounder spoke first, though none of them could make out what was being said. Clarke stuck out her hand, presumably in greeting to which the Grounder ignored, causing Clarke to retract her hand. They both continued to exchange words, the tension growing thicker and finally Carter sighed in frustration. She didn't want to see a conversation take place if she couldn't understand what was being conveyed. "Does anyone lip-read here?"

"No, but I'm starting to wish I did, Grounder Princess looks pissed." Raven mused.

"Yeah, our Princess has that effect." Bellamy murmured, looking down his scope. Carter scoped the area instead of watching the indistinguishable conversation between Clarke and the Grounder. She never focused on anything in particular, she just looked down at the rushing water or the the trees, or--

The trees.

She snapped her scope back to where she saw the abrupt movement along the treeline. She could have sworn she saw something or someone move amongst the branches...

"Oh no," Jasper broke the silence. "This is bad."

The other three members of their little group turned to him with a frown. "What the hell are you talking about?" Bellamy asked, trying to follow Jasper's eye line.

Jasper gulped and lowered his gun. "There's Grounder's in the trees."

"What?" Raven frowned, scoping in on the treeline on the other side of the river. Carter clenched her jaw. So she did see movement in the trees... a thought that definitely did not comfort her.

"This was a damn set up." Carter growled. "They need to get out of there before it turns messy."

"I don't see anything." Bellamy stated with mild frustration.

"They're gonna shoot," Jasper quavered and before anyone could even consider stopping him, Jasper ran forwards out into the open. "Clarke, run! Run!" And without a seconds thought, the boy began to shoot wildly up in trees.

"Shit!" Carter hissed, following him out of cover. She was hesitant at first, not wanting to take another's life, but the second she saw one of the figures in the tree aiming for Finn with a bow and arrow, the hesitation left and she pressed down on the trigger without another thought. The bullet pierced through the Grounders shoulder, not enough to kill him, but enough for him to lose his balance and fall. She took another shot and missed the Grounder by mere inches, catching his attention. She cursed under her breath as he aimed his spear directly at her.

Carter was suddenly pushed down onto the stony bank beside the river, just as the spear embedded itself into a tree where Carter was previously standing.

"We need to get the hell out of here!" Bellamy hollered, getting to his feet and pulling Carter up with him. She nodded breathlessly, the adrenaline of almost dying (again) hitting her at full force and she quickly found her feet, darting away from the scene before she managed to get injured. Bellamy ran just behind her to make sure she didn't get left behind as they weaved in and out of trees.

***

By the time they had all managed to hit the camp wall, night had fallen upon them. Carter leaned up against a tree, holding onto her knees as she gulped violently at the air. They were all out of breath, none of them stopped for a moment when they were running,  fearful that Grounders would be behind them.

She watched tiredly as Finn scowled at Bellamy, his fists clenched with anger. Bellamy seemed to notice and straightened himself up, keeping control of his baited breath. "You got something to say?'

"Yeah, I told you no guns!"

"And I told you we couldn't trust the Grounders," Clarke interrupted, her voice was slightly uneven. "I was right."

"Why didn't you tell me what you were up to?" Raven asked with a frown, her tone bitter.

"I tried, but you were too busy making your guns!" Finn snapped.

"Hey!" Carter shouted from her slouched position against the tree. "Do you have any idea on what would have happened if we didn't have the guns? That was a goddamn set up Finn, so you better back off because we just saved your ass!"

"Saved my ass? You don't even know that it was a set up!" Finn retorted. "Jasper fired the first shot!"

"You ruined everything." Octavia hissed, pushing passed Jasper as she stormed into camp.

"I saved you!" Jasper yelled after her. When she didn't slow down or even acknowledge him, he scoffed, walking after her. "You're welcome."

"I've got work to do." Carter sighed, leaving too. She didn't want to hear anymore. She always thought she was the one who was naive. But she was nothing compared to Finn. He was willing to meet up completely freaking weaponless with their enemies.

Naive no longer covers Finn.

She trudged her way into the weapon tent and threw her gun onto the pile, running her hands through her hair in a mixture of frustration and exasperation.

Best Unity Day ever.

I did it . I did this chapter and decorated my new home within a week. There should be an award for what I just accomplished.

So it took Carter 31 chapters to actually realize she has 'feelings' for a certain Bellamy Blake :) I tried to make her approach to it relatively normal-- or at least, what I think is normal.

Also, I did some googling and the closest actress I can find that looks like Carter is Teresa Palmer, I'll put in what  picture of her  that looks more like Carter in the next chapter for thou.

Anyway, roll on next chapter , eh? Carter's 'best friend' is about to make a reappearance (dun dun duuun...)