1 + 2 | EMBERS TO FIRESTORM | THE 100 | JOHN MURPHY

FORTY FIVE

F O R T Y  F I V E

Murphy could feel her cold fingers sliding down his arm, her face washed with contemplation. He searched it for regret and, to his relief, found none. Her green eyes were far from dark, even in the dim light of their tent. It complimented every curve and edge of her face. The shadows drawn out and the features cradled.

He squeezes his fingers on her hip and she murmured something unintelligible as she leant her forehead against his.

Althea pressed her lips against his for a brief moment. Not a tease, a reassurance. She was observant like that. The doubt must have been crystal clear in his eyes to her.

"Murphy?" She muttered, he liked the way his name sounded on her tongue.

"Yeah?" He replied.

Her eyes swarmed across his face for a moment. Her fingers stilled on his arm. "Do you trust me enough to tell me why you're really down here now?" Althea asked. It had been a question she'd wanted to ask for a long time, but she knew what he was like and she knew that he wouldn't trust her for a long time. But, maybe he trusted her after she'd let him beyond her walls and into her arms.

Murphy looked right at her, his eyes not dipping from hers. His small nod was enough to make a gentle smile spread across her lips, those lips he adored.

A large part of him wanted to kiss them until he'd memorised every crease and curl of them, until he would never forget the way they fit against his and the way her fingers wound into his hair as he showed her exactly how he felt.

"I was locked up for arson," Murphy admit. Althea did not reply, but her hand moved from his arm to his jaw, holding it just as she held his gaze. "They floated my dad so I set their office on fire and got locked up for it. I didn't kill anyone."

"Why did you lie?" She asked, but she knew. Making him say it made it true and gave it meaning. It wasn't to be cruel. He didn't think Althea had a cruel bone in her body, but the ways of the Earth in the state it currently resided in was more than capable of testing that.

"Because it's easier to lie." She could feel his breath on her lips, dancing across them as they lay intertwined.

"I would've done the same thing," Althea told him, her thumb smoothing across his cheekbone, through the layer of dirt.

He chuckled. The sound vibrated through her hand. "Done what? lied?"

"No, set the office on fire."

He laughed louder this time. "Thea, don't lie to make me feel better. We both know you wouldn't do that."

"I'm convicted for an assisted murder attempt," Althea replied, her hand dropping to his chest as a genuine smile laced her lips.

"Which you didn't actually attempt. Just caught up in another one of Abby Griffin's lies," He said lowly, his eyes flickering down to her grinning mouth.

He loved it when she smiled like that. The days of scowls and tears almost seemed long gone in moments like these. Murphy kissed her softly and slowly as he pulled her onto his lap, to which she made no objections, and more than enjoyed himself as she kissed him right back.

Only when the tent was flung open did they stop. "Get dressed and get out here. There's work to do," Bellamy commanded. He lingered in the entrance long enough to meet her eyes. "You too, Althea."

She declined her opportunity to respond as she slipped off Murphy.

As soon as he was gone, Murphy scoffed. "You know we don't have to do what he says? It's whatever the hell we want down here, right?"

"Not when there's an army of grounders waiting to rip us to shreds," She replied as she pulled her jacket over the top of her vest top. "As much as I'd love to roll around in bed with you all day and night, I'd rather make a bid to survive. So, get your shirt on and come and help me with whatever Bellamy wants us to do."

"Alright, Thea." He sighed, frustrated.

-

Althea dragged her hair into a pony tail as she left the tent, leaving Murphy behind to get himself together. She sighed as she walked right into earshot of the tail end of another one of Bellamy's speeches. She couldn't deny the passion and fear in his eyes as he spoke.

"Clarke, Finn, and Monty are gone, probably dead, and if you want to be next, I can't stop you, but no guns are leaving this camp! The camp is the only thing keeping us alive!" He glanced around the crowd, meeting the eyes of his fellow campmates. "Get back to work!" He commanded, and so they did.

Althea felt Murphy's hand slip across her waist, his presence behind her where she stood on the edge of Bellamy's crowd. She would have smiled for the support they gave him if she weren't so caught up on the news of Clarke, Finn, and Monty.

"They're gonna be ok," He murmured, his lips beside her ear. She inhaled sharply as his hot fingers dipped beneath her shirt, slipping across the skin of her back, probably not as comforting as he intended it to be. It only reminded her of the cold, harsh reality. While she was rolling around the sheets with Murphy, people were out there dying.

"I know," She said shortly, pulling herself from his grip. "I know," She repeated. "We should get some work done. We've spent enough time off."

"We're gonna die, Thea, and you want to spend your last days sucking up to Bellamy? Doing jobs that are pointless?" He snapped, clearly frustrated.

"Murphy," She began, turning back to him and taking his hands in hers. She looked at them as she spoke. "If we're going to die, I want to make my last days count by doing something that matters. If I can save even one life with what I do, then it's worth it." She dropped his hands, his face fell slightly, but not noticeably.

He didn't understand where this was coming from. It was uncommon for her to be so straight with him. Normally, she spoke in riddles and metaphors, but today she was telling him how it really is, how her mind was viewing him and he didn't understand why this was happening now when it was already too late.

He looked right at her with his swimming eyes and said nothing.

So she continued.

"But if you want to lounge around and spend your time left brooding and skulking around, then knock yourself out. As much as I care about you, it's time to start valuing human lives, or people are going to stop valuing yours."

-

1154 words
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