Those Who Wander

Without a warning, she stopped in her tracks, hands placed firmly on her hips.

"Just face it, Jas: we're lost."

The first flicker of a smile played across his lips as he glanced back at her. "We're not lost!" he protested, but it was difficult for him to mask the lilt of laughter in his tone. "Trust me, I know exactly where we're going."

Sam's lips pursed before she reluctantly decided to follow him. "Really? And you're sure about that? Because I'm pretty sure we just passed that same tree over an hour ago."

At least if they truly were lost, they'd be lost together. Whether that proved to be a good thing or a bad thing had yet to be determined.

"Don't worry about it so much, Sammie," he tried to reassure her, whipping out the very same nickname he'd used when they were kids. He was one of the very few people she still allowed to call her (and the only one here on the ground) because it didn't sound demeaning or condescending when it fell from his lips. If anything, it was genuine, sweet, endearing in a way she didn't quite know how to process. "We've got a gun and enough supplies to last us through the night. We'll be fine."

"Says the kid who took a spear to the chest his first day on the ground."

Though she teased him about it now, the image was still vivid in her mind: parted lips, pallid complexion, how his once-lively brown eyes fluttered as he drifted in and out of consciousness. Just the memory alone made her throat grow parched, her eyes moist. The plain and simple truth was that she couldn't imagine her life without him in it.

She had feelings for Jasper - this she was heart-wrenchingly certain of - but she wasn't quite sure how to process them yet. Things on the ground were so damn complicated.

He led her across a bridge built from fallen tree trunks and branches, and though the handiwork was breath-taking and intricate, the familiar carvings still made her breath catch in the back of her throat. They were venturing into Grounder territory now, and though they had a tenuous alliance with the woodlands tribe, just being there made her feel on edge.

Jasper must have sensed the hesitation bundled in her frame because he turned back to her, reached for her hand and casually took it in his own as he held her gaze. "Believe me, it'll be worth it."

So with a slow nod and the faintest of smiles, she tried to maintain her faith in him.

Subtle shades of cotton candy pink, creamsicle orange, and indigo like ink splotches streaked across the sky when they finally reached their destination: an intimate clearing along the riverbank, tucked away beneath an old poplar tree.

Jasper waggled his eyebrows as he motioned for her to go on ahead of him. "Pretty nice, yeah?"

As far as things went on the ground, this was perfect.

On tired and achy feet, she slowly stepped around the space, this tiny planet rotating on its axis as her dark eyes struggled to soak in her surroundings. "How did you even find out about this place?"

"I have my ways," he replied in the most suggestive tone he could muster, which was essentially more laughable than sexy. "It's kinda nice though. I thought you could probably use a break from all of the insanity back at camp anyway."

"You're definitely right about that," Sam agreed, watching with curious eyes as he laid out their sleeping bags across the embankment. It didn't take much time for her to catch the hint, taking a seat beside him and getting to work on a makeshift campfire.

It wasn't very long before the two of them were settled into their home-away-from-home for the night, a meal roasting on the spit as they huddled together along their sleeping bags.

"You know, Sammie," he began in a whisper, taking off his goggles before he wove his arm so casually around her shoulder. She felt his lips press in her hair, and she became hopeless with the way her heart fluttered in her chest. "A wise man once wrote that not all those who wander are lost. Maybe that's something you should take to heart."

Sam turned to meet his gaze, a smirk tugging at her lips. "You're so full of shit!"

"Okay, okay, you caught me. Maybe I didn't read it myself, but we did have a unit on it in Classics, and I'm pretty sure Monty used that line in his book report. Regardless, I think it applies here."

"Oh okay," Sam teased him back, completely unconvinced.

Then there was that pause in conversation, an anticipation heavy in the air between them, and though Sam could feel his eyes trained on her, she was hesitant to look his way.

If he looked at her that way, she knew she'd be unable to resist, and she wasn't sure if she was ready for that yet. Maybe if they were back on the Ark, maybe if they were somewhere where life was much simpler, she wouldn't be clouded by this haze of uncertainty. If they were back on the Ark, it would've been so easy to love him, but here, on the ground, where everything you loved could be so easily ripped away in an instant, she wasn't sure if she was ready to take that risk.

But that didn't stop Jasper from leaning in, from pressing his lips against hers with an unexpected fervor and taking her face in his hands. It was the sort of desperate and reckless passion that she would've expected from anyone other than Jasper, but at the same time, it was definitely a pleasant surprise.

And just as she'd expected, Sam was useless at resisting him, kissing back in the same frenzied way he'd kissed her, threading her fingers through his coffee-colored locks.

No, she wasn't sure where things were going between them, and she was even less sure of where she wanted this to go, but being with Jasper made her ridiculously happy, and she was content to cling tightly to this little sliver of happiness.