Double Trouble
“Daniel Price.”
The name rolled bitterly off of Clarke’s tongue as she sat in Lexa’s chair staring at the Grounders security footage on the computer screen.
After finishing her call with Lexa, Clarke had dropped what she was doing and made her way over to the precinct in record time. Lexa had met her outside and lead her inside the brick building towards her desk to go over the footage. Clarke pointed out, same as Lexa, that the blonde haired man was the one from the grocery store in Carlsbad, and, not even a minute after seeing the dark haired male, Clarke was able to identify him.
“That’s definitely Daniel. I did some stitches on his arm a couple of weeks ago and since then I’ve been randomly running into him all over town,” Clarke explained.
Lexa watched with worried eyes as Anya wrote down the name Clarke had given before walking over to her desk to begin her search on the male. Lexa’s eyes shifted back to Clarke as she swiveled around in her chair to face her before looking over to Indra.
“Thank you, Clarke. I’m sorry we had to meet on these terms,” Indra said thankfully.
Clarke graced Indra with a small smile,“It’s no big deal. It was nice meeting you.”
Lexa continued to stare at Clarke as Indra walked away towards her office, officially leaving them alone. Clarke sighed deeply as she faced the computer once more to allow her eyes to roam over the screen.
“You think he’s the one behind everything?”
“I’m more than positive he has something to do with it. The question is if he is the one running the show,” Lexa said cautiously.
Clarke nodded lightly as she glanced over her shoulder at Lexa. The detective gave her a warm smile before squatting down and grabbing ahold of the chair’s arm rests and turning it, along with Clarke, to face her. Lexa ran her hands up the sides of Clarke’s upper thighs and stopping them midway up and letting her smile flatter.
“Clarke, until Daniel and the other man is caught I need to know that you have at least some form of protection when I’m not with you,” Lexa said seriously as she reached over to pull open the top drawer of her desk and grab something,“Keep this on you at all times, please. It’s not a gun but it will offer you some protection.”
Clarke looked down as Lexa pressed a small black cylinder tube labeled ‘pepper spray’ into her hand before smiling softly at the worried woman,“Nothing is going to happen to me, Lexa. If he had wanted to hurt me then he would have done it already, right?”
“We don’t know what he’s capable of. He wants revenge and I’m not sure how far he’s willing to go to get it, and frankly I don’t care to find out. Especially if it involves you getting hurt. Just promise me you’ll keep that with you until we catch him, okay?” Lexa pleaded.
Clarke stared into Lexa’s hypnotic emerald eyes before leaning in and pressing a chaste kiss to her lips and nodding,“I promise, but nothing will happen to me. Not with you, my big bad detective girlfriend, to protect me.”
“No matter how much I wish I could, I won’t be able to be with you 24/7, Clarke. I need to have a peace of mind that if Daniel does try something on you, you at least have a chance of getting away from him or whoever else with enough time to find help,” Lexa said seriously.
“Okay, I have the perfect place for it then!”
Clarke grabbed her purse from where she had set it on the floor next to Lexa’s desk and proceeded to clip the little ring hanging from the pepper spray onto the handle of the bag. After snapping it into place Clarke held the bag up to show Lexa with a goofy smile. Lexa laughed lightly and shook her head at the blonde’s antics. Lowering the purse onto her lap, Clarke and Lexa looked up as Anya came strutting up with a hopeless expression.
“The name was a bust. There’s no records for a ‘Daniel Price’ anywhere in our system. I have no doubt in my mind that it’s a fake name.”
“Then that basically puts us back to square one, but at least this time we have two faces to go by,” Lexa turned back to look at Clarke,“Do you remember Daniel saying any names whenever he talked to you?”
Clarke pondered for a moment as she ran over the memories from the times she had spoken to Daniel,“Not that I can recall, no. I’m sorry.”
Lexa and Anya sighed defeatedly at the thought of being so close yet so far at the same time. Clarke watched the sisters, hopeless, as she continued to try and remember anything Daniel had said that was worth mentioning. An officer with stringy blonde hair passed by in Clarke peripheral vision causing the doctor to whip her head around with a loud gasp as she watched the woman walk away.
Clarke jumped up from the seat and grabbed ahold to Lexa’s arm with a wild gleam in her eyes,“The day I went to Polish before work, Daniel was there. He had a blonde woman with him, Niylah. He said she was a friend. She was still with him when he came by the hospital a little later to get his stitches removed.”
Lexa and Anya turned towards each other before Anya whipped around and jogged back over to her computer, followed closely by Clarke and Lexa, and began typing away.
“Niylah. You didn’t happen to get a last name by chance, huh?”
“No,” Clarke said bluntly as she watched the older sister type away.
“Didn’t think so.”
After Anya finally hit ‘enter’ to start the search, it only took the system all of ten seconds to pull up a mugshot of a dirty blonde woman holding a black placard with her name, date of birth, and booking ID in white lettering.
Lexa leaned over Anya’s shoulder as she began to read over the woman’s information,“Niylah Harmon. Arrested multiple times for drug possession, possession with intent to sell, and a misdemeanor for evading. She spent sixteen months in the Century Regional Detention Facility for the intent to sell. Well, she’s got quite the criminal background that matches perfectly with our suspects line of work. Is there a last known address for her?”
“Let's see here,” Anya moved the computer’s cursor around and began to click through Niylah’s file before nodding positively,“287 West Borne St.”
“That’s only a few blocks away from Aaron’s house. Let’s fill Indra in and see if we can’t get over there and bring her in for questioning,” Lexa told Anya before letting the older woman walk off to find Indra.
Clarke closed the few steps between her and Lexa and interlocked the brunettes fingers with hers,“I’m guessing you won’t be home for dinner then.”
“I’m sorry, Clarke, but if we can get information out of Niylah on who these guys really are then we’re one step closer to putting them away,” Lexa sighed.
“I understand. I’ll just order some pizza and wait up for you. Maybe when you get home we can take a nice relaxing bath together and cuddle up on with couch with some Netflix if you’re not to tired.”
Clarke smile as Lexa ghosted the fingertips of her free hand along her jawline,”I’ll never be too tired for cuddling with you.”
Lexa’s hand dropped slowly from Clarke’s face as Indra and Anya walked up to them with determined expressions.
“Anya filled me in on everything you found. I called Bellamy and updated him so he’s on his way over there now with Lincoln. If we leave now we’ll get there right after they do,” Indra said.
Clarke watched as Lexa nodded in understanding before shifting back to look at her,“Clarke, just go home and order some pizza and relax. I’ll be home after we’re done with Niylah, okay?”
“Okay,” Clarke said simply.
Lexa signaled to Indra and Anya with a sharp nod of her head and began to follow them towards the door only for Clarke to reach out and grab her arm, stopping the detective in her tracks.
Clarke searched Lexa’s eyes for a moment before pulling her into a fierce hug and burying her face in the curve of Lexa’s neck,“I love you, Lexa.”
Lexa placed her hands on Clarke's arms and pushed her back slightly before leaning in and stealing a sweet kiss,”I love you, too.”
Clarke’s heart skipped a beat as Lexa gave her one last smile before making her towards the doors and pushing her way out. Walking back over to Lexa’s desk, Clarke grabbed her purse and pulled out her car keys, her eyes once again catching ‘Daniel’s’ face still on Lexa’s computer screen. Tearing her eyes away, Clarke began to make her way out of the precinct with a slight sense of fear creeping up her spine.
After arriving back at her apartment Clarke took a few moments to call her favorite pizza place and place an order for two pepperoni pizzas before walking to her bedroom to change into some comfortable clothes. After changing into a pair of black leggings and a maroon v-neck t-shirt Clarke made her way back into her living room so she could scroll through the many Netflix categories while she waited for the pizza.
A little over thirty minutes had passed when Clarke heard the sound of someone, most likely the pizza guy, knocking at her front door. Grabbing her wallet from her purse Clarke made her way over to the door and opened it. The pizza man gave her a polite smile before telling her the total and handing over the two pizza boxes. Clarke gave the man the money, telling him to keep the change, and gently closed the door.
As Clarke sat the pizza boxes on the kitchen counter she heard the familiar ringing of her phone coming from her purse that sat on the kitchen island. Rushing over, Clarke quickly dug out her phone and smiled at seeing Lexa’s name on the screen.
Hitting the ‘accept’ button Clarke placed the phone against her ear,“Hey, you guys done already?”
“Clarke, listen to me—,” Clarke pulled the phone away from her ear slightly when she heard someone knocking on her door once again.
As she walked over to the door she pressed the phone back to her ear,“Hold on, Lexa. I guess the pizza guy forgot something.”
“NO! Don’t open the door!” Lexa practically yelled.
But Lexa’s words rang through Clarke’s ears too late as she swung the apartment door open. Clarke’s breath caught in her throat as she stared at the person leaning against the frame of her door. She could vaguely hear Lexa screaming through the phone to answer her as the device slipped through her fingers and onto the floor.
“Hey, Clarke. Remember me?”
Niylah gave Clarke a sinister smirk before pushing Clarke roughly back into the apartment and following her inside, not bothering to close the door. After catching her footing from being shoved Clarke slowly began to back up until the back of her knees came into contact with arm of her couch. Niylah slowly stalked towards her until she came to stand a hair’s width in front of Clarke.
“By now I’m pretty sure you already know that I’m not really ‘Daniel’s’ friend. I’m just here to help him do his dirty work.”
“What do you want from me, Niylah?” Clarke seethed out.
“It’s not what I want from you, it’s what my boss wants from Lexa. He’s determined to have the one thing that Lexa cherishes most in this world, and that’s you. If it was what I wanted I could guarantee you that I’d be making you scream my name in ecstasy over and over again, but sadly you’ve already been claimed by my boss.”
“I haven’t, and never will be, claimed by anyone but Lexa.”
“Hmm, that’s what you think. Now, it’s time for you to come with me.”
Niylah quickly latched a strong hand around Clarke’s forearm before beginning to try and pull her towards the door. Clarke swiftly placed a punch to the side of Niylah’s head, causing the woman to loosen her grasp with a pained yell. Yanking her arm away from Niylah, Clarke ran over to her purse and fumbled to remove the small can of pepper spray from her purse.
“You bitch,” Niylah screamed as she came rushing over towards Clarke.
Right before Niylah could reach her Clarke successfully removed the pepper spray from her purse and turned around just in time to spray the other blonde directly in her eyes. Niylah fell to the floor with a screech while scratching at her burning eyes and Clarke quickly took the opportunity to run back over to where she had dropped her phone and bent down to pick it up before running out of her apartment.
“Clarke! Please answer me,” Lexa still yelled through the phone.
“I’m here,”Clarke said breathlessly,“It was Niylah, Lexa. She said her boss was determined to have the one thing you cherish most in this world. She tried to take me to him!”
“Clarke, don’t stop. Just keep running until you get somewhere safe. I’m on my way.”
“Okay, but what if—.”
Clarke’s words were quickly cut off as she ran into a sturdy chest and looked up into the steely grey eyes of a blonde haired man. Blue eyes widened as she recognized the male’s face from the security footage that Lexa had shown her.
“Hello. It’s funny how we keep bumping into each other like this. Last time though it was with a grocery cart,” the man said as if he was having a casual conversation.
“Who the hell are you?” Clarke questioned as she cautiously backed away.
“My name is Caleb, but my name shouldn’t be what you’re worried about. Now, I do believe my associate was trying bring you to meet our boss. He’s not a very patient man.”
As Caleb walked toward her Clarke quickly spun around only to come face to face with a red and teary eyed Niylah.
“I don’t think so, Clarke.”
Niylah grabbed the phone that Clarke held tightly in her hand before a pair of strong arms wrapped around her body. Clarke tried to scream out for help as a cloth covered her nose and mouth. The pungent smell of chloroform burned Clarke’s nose and black spots began to swim around her eyes. Before completely blacking out Clarke could hear Niylah’s voice float through her ears.
“Hope you won’t miss you’re little girlfriend too much, detective.”
The black void of unconsciousness pulled Clarke in deeper as she felt herself being lifted and hauled away to God knows where.