Strangers On A Bench

Song :Winter On The Run – Willy Poldd

Saturday morning. Raven got out of bed, and swore when her bad leg hit the edge of the bed. It was only 7am, and it was already hurting as hell. Great day is coming, Raven thought.

She dressed herself quickly and grabbed an apple on her way out of her flat. She had a very important appointment today; she had a job interview for a big company, Trikru, one of Coalition’s Corp. companies. Raven was excited, because she was almost sure she was getting the job; after all, they had come to her in the first place.

A month ago, Raven had been contacted to apply for a job at Trikru, because they had heard about her from Sinclair, her former teacher who she had worked with for a NASA program. In fact, Raven had been the one to create it, and had made Sinclair really impressed. So Raven had received a call, asking her to present herself on this day to apply for a specific job a few people would know about. Raven didn’t know what the job was going to be, but she was still really excited about, and from what she had understood... She would be making a lot of money. And she could only welcome this perspective. Maybe with this money I could help Clarke and Ayden better, Raven had thought.

Raven was at the foot of Trikru’s building, and she was half an hour early. She spotted a little café not far, TonDC coffee, and went inside to grab something to drink to wait for the meeting. She lined up, looking at the drinks on the menu. She had never been in this area of Polis, but she knew that Lincoln was from here. From what Raven could see, this place seemed to be the best place in Trikru’s area; why Lincoln never had taken them here?

When it was her turn, she ordered a black coffee –yeah, Raven was a black strong coffee girl- and waiting for it to be ready. She smiled to the boy behind the counter, and turned around to go sit, but at the moment she pivoted on her feet, she bumped into someone –actually someone bumped into her- and her coffee spilled on her new top she had bought for the occasion.

“Watch your steps you fuckin’ moron!” Raven swore, totally upset about her shirt completely soaked with coffee. How could she go attend the meeting like this now?

“I’m sorry” the woman who had bumped into her said, “I didn’t see you”.

Raven looked up, and her jaw almost dropped. This girl was beautiful. Raven had never thought she was into girls, but now she was really into that bumping person. As Raven didn’t say a thing, the stranger took a few napkins and handed them over to Raven.

“Fuck” Raven swore again, taking the napkins and trying to clean herself up, “that was so not the good time for bumping into me, stranger girl”.

The other chuckled a little, and Raven could stop but find the laugh quite adorable.

“I’m sorry again, I didn’t mean it” she said.

“Yeah I hope you are”, Raven answered, “I had a job appointment”, trying not to sound too angry, because damn she didn’t want to be angry at such a beauty.

“Hm I think I have a spare top in my car, maybe you could borrow it for your meeting?”

Raven looked again, her brows raised. “Ok”, she shrugged. She couldn’t go to the meeting like this, and she wouldn’t have enough time to go back to her apartment to change anyways.

The stranger led her to her car, and gave the top to Raven, telling her she could change herself into the car while she was getting two new coffees to apologizemyself, she had said.

Raven got into the car, and didn’t fail to notice the brand new fire-fighter truck toy on the passenger seat in its package, making Raven frown; did that girl had a child? Raven hadn’t pictured the girl to be a mom. She finished changing herself, thinking this whole situation was weird; she was borrowing a top from a complete stranger after all. She got out of the car to notice the girl had already come back with two big cups, and she handed one over to Raven.

“Black coffee, like the one I made your drop”, the girl said.

Raven raised her brows again, surprised the girl had noticed the kind of coffee Raven was taking, but didn’t say anything and took the cup.

“Thank you for the top. And the coffee”, Raven said.

“You’re welcome”.

Raven searched her mind for something to say, to make conversation; she still had a little bit of time before her appointment, and the girl didn’t seem to want to move.

“So hum, you’ve got a kid?” Raven asked.

The girl frowned. “No I don’t, why do you...”

“The truck in your car” Raven explained.

The strangers’ eyes flashed with understanding.

“Oh no, I don’t have a kid, it’s for my cousin’s hum... It’s complicated” she said.

Raven nodded. She had finished her coffee, and so did the girl next to her. The other girl searched something in her bag, and handed a little card to Raven.

“There is my number on it. So you can call me for the bill for cleaning your top”, the stranger explained.

Raven looked down at the card. Anya Woods, followed by a phone number.

“Thanks, I guess” Raven mumbled, analysing Anya’s face. She didn’t actually believe what she had seen on that card; was Anya Woods related to Lexa Woods, THE Lexa Woods?

“So hum, give me a call” Anya said again.

Raven thought about asking Anya about her family name, but as always she decided to stay true to herself and throw a joke at Anya, raising a brow.

“Trying to make me call you, huh?” Raven said, smirking.

Anya nearly choked on the coffee.

“No, I’m not, I just...” Anya rambled, and then sighed “just call me so I can pay for the bill”.

She turned herself to her car, and got into it.

“Bye, hum...?” Anya said, silently asking for Raven’s name.

“Raven. I’m Raven”.

“Bye Raven” Anya smiled, and drove away, leaving Raven on the pavement. What the fuck had happened? They both thought.

 In Lexa’s loft, Ayden was getting bored. Clarke hadn’t said a word since the accident with Finn, and Lexa was worried about what she should do. When they all had woken up in Lexa’s bed, Clarke had tried to pretend she was ok; of course she wasn’t, and Lexa could see her wincing every time she had to move, even for a few inches. Lexa had pretended not to see it either, leaving Clarke with her feelings for a while. But now, Lexa was getting worried as Clarke hadn’t come out of the bedroom yet. She checked her watch. 9am.

“Ayden stay here for five minutes please, I’m going to check on your mother ok?” Lexa said, heading towards her bedroom.

Ayden nodded, but Lexa failed to notice the pout on the boy’s lips.

Lexa silently entered the bedroom, to find Clarke sitting on the bed, leaning on the wall behind her, eyes closed and massaging her body.

“Clarke” Lexa said as gently as she could not to stalk the girl.

But Clarke’s eyes snapped open, focusing on Lexa and quickly removing her hands from her ribs.

“I’m fine” Clarke snapped, although Lexa hadn’t said a word.

The brunette nodded, and excited the room. She couldn’t leave Clarke in pain like this. She sighed, and took her phone out of her pocket. Clarke would not like this, but she was leaving her no other choice. She typed a number, and waiting for the person to answer.

“Hello?” said the voice on the phone.

“Yeah Nyko hello it’s Lexa, how are you?”

“Heda, hello. I’m fine, thanks for asking. What are you in need for?” The man asked.

“I have a favour to ask, actually” Lexa started, “I need you to come over to check on a friend of mine, she... has a couple of bad bruises”.

Nyko had been Lexa’s personal doctor for a while now; actually, he had been here since Anya’s fathers had died, to watch over the two girls, and Lexa had hired him for the company. He was a good doctor, with a very good reputation and was very busy; but for Lexa and whatever she needed, he always had time.

“Of course Heda, when should I be there?” the man said again.

“Hum, sooner as you can?” Lexa asked. She knew she shouldn’t hurry Nyko, but she really needed to know if Clarke was physically ok.

“I’ll be here in half an hour”, Nyko said.

“Thanks a lot Nyko”.

She hung up, and took a look at Ayden. Suddenly, she noticed how the boy was only sitting on the couch, doing nothing, his knees brought up to his chest. Lexa sat next to him, passing her hand on his hair.

“You ok Buddy?” She gently asked.

Ayden only nodded, which made Lexa frown.

“Ayden, you can talk to me”.

Ayden sighed, and turn himself towards Lexa.

“I’m angry at Mommy. I don’t want to be though” he said with a sad voice.

Lexa frowned more, because she had failed to notice the boy hadn’t talk to Clarke since they had been back from Finn’s place.

“Why are you upset?”

“She knew Finn was mean. And she still chose to go back there... It’s like she wanted him to be mean with us, I don’t understand”, Ayden said, whispering the last words, a tear rolling down his cheeks.

Lexa threw her arms around the boy, who immediately buried his head into Lexa’s neck, and Lexa almost cried with him.

“She is doing the best she can...” Lexa whispered in his ear, trying to calm him down and reassure him, “she’s not perfect, because nobody is, but she doesn’t want to purposely harm you Ayden, she loves you”.

“I know” the boy sniffed, “but we could just have stayed here with you...”

Lexa sighed, because she knew what the boy was meaning. Lexa herself was having remorse with allowing Clarke to run away from the loft and not being able to keep her from running to jerk Finn.

“This is not that simple, buddy, and I think you know it... Your Mommy doesn’t know me. Why should she trust me? I could be anyone, wanting to hurt you” Lexa tried to explain.

“But you didn’t, and you even came to protect me”, the boy protested.

“I know. But your Mom couldn’t be sure of that; you understand?”

Ayden nodded, and stayed on Lexa’s chest, slowly being cradled by Lexa’s breathing.

“Ayden, someone is coming to make sure Clarke is ok, are you fine with staying alone in the living-room?” Lexa carefully asked, knowing the kid was scared to stay alone, even if Lexa was still in the loft.

And to confirm her thoughts, Ayden whined, looking at Lexa.

“I don’t want to be alone... can’t Anya be there, at least?” he said, his eyes watering again.

Lexa almost reached for her phone. “I’ll call her immediately! And what do you say about her bringing you some toys to play with?”

Ayden’s eyes widened as he nodded. “Yeah please”.

Lexa smiled, and called Anya, asking her to come over, and buy something for kids on her way, like some kind of truck or car. Boys always loved cars, right?

 Anya was there half an hour later and Lexa didn’t ask why she had taken so long to arrive.

“Hi Ayden” Anya said, hiding something behind her back.

Ayden got up, and quickly passed his arms around Anya’s neck to greet her, much to Lexa and Anya’s surprise.

The door bell rang again, and Lexa went to open the door to Nyko as Anya was showing the fire-fighter truck she had bought for Ayden. The boy’s eyes widened as he took the present in his arms.

“This is soooooo cool, thank you Anya!” he shouted very excitedly.

Anya, Lexa and Nyko smiled at him and Anya took him to the living-room so they could play together. Lexa remembered she hadn’t told Clarke about the doctor coming to see her, and she mentally face-palmed herself. She apologetically turned herself to Nyko, ready to explain she needed five minutes with the girl first, but he seemed to understand without words, and told Lexa to call him when she’d be ready, and went to play with Ayden.

Lexa thanked him and wasted no time going in her bedroom, and what she saw broke her heart; Clarke was rolled in fetal position, her knees brought up to her chest, face buried in them and her arms circling herself. Lexa silently made her way to her, sitting a few inches from her. Carefully, the brunette put her hand on Clarke’s shoulder, making the blonde shiver at her touch.

“Clarke” Lexa whispered in beginning to draw circles on the skin, “Clarke, it’s Lexa. Look at me” Lexa said again.

Slowly, the blonde removed her arms from her knees, and turned herself to look at Lexa. Clarke felt pathetic; pathetic to be in such a bad shape, pathetic for not being able to take care of her own child, pathetic to have to accept a stranger’s help, pathetic to have let Finn have such an impact on her.
But curiously, she didn’t see disgust in Lexa’s eyes. Curiously, all she was seeing right now what care, good intentions and maybe a little bit of worry too. How could Lexa tell her all this just with her wild green eyes? Maybe Clarke was just imagining it, maybe it wasn’t real and it was just an illusion, and Lexa was going to send them back in the streets in a matter of minutes; but Clarke couldn’t manage to fool herself anymore.

The blonde stayed looking at Lexa, completely still, waiting for Lexa to speak again. Clarke loved Lexa’s voice, she had found out. It was soothing, the way Lexa was often whispering to her. Calming.

“Clarke” Lexa began again, “I called someone to look at you, just to be sure you are physically ok”.

Clarke shook her head. She had said she didn’t want a doctor, why Lexa had called one? Lexa saw the blonde beginning to panic, and was quick to reassure her.

“This is someone you don’t know. He is my personal doctor. He won’t tell anything to anyone. I promise.”

Clarke shook her head no again, and Lexa sighed.

“You have to let him check on you. I see you wincing in pain every time you blink, Clarke” Lexa murmured, sadness in her voice.

She knew she couldn’t force Clarke to do anything, but she couldn’t let Clarke stay in such pain either.

Clarke looked away. She wasn’t ready. She couldn’t let anyone touch her. The only one who could touch her was Lexa.

“I won’t leave” Lexa insisted with a gentle voice, “my cousin is taking care of Ayden right now, I’ll stay with you the whole time”.

Finally, Clarke gave up and nodded to Lexa. She really was in pain, and if Lexa was going to stay with her... She guessed she could let that doctor examine her. Lexa nodded back, and left the bedroom to go find Nyko.

The man was playing on the floor alongside Anya and Ayden, and Lexa’s heart melted at the sight of the three of them with big smiles on their faces.

“Nyko”, she called him, “she’s ready”.

The man nodded and got up.

“Hum... She was assaulted by her... Boyfriend” Lexa warned him, not really knowing how to define Finn, “and she is freaking out”.

Nyko smiled to Lexa, let her know he had understood. They both made it back to the bedroom, where Clarke was leaning on the wall to elevate her head on the bed a little. Lexa sat next to her, and she didn’t fail to notice Clarke’s hand grabbing the bottom of her shirt.

Nyko checked Clarke’s face first, making sure every cut wasn’t infected or too deep and that the bruises on her face and nose wasn’t because some bone was broken.

Lexa had had her heart beating really fast when Nyko had told Clarke to remove her shirt so he could check her torso. Clarke had been shaking, but had let Lexa help her remove her clothes, and had kept her blue eyes locked into Lexa’s during the whole time Nyko had his hands on her.

Finally, Nyko had seen what he wanted to see, and told Clarke she could dress up. He had left the room telling Lexa he would wait for her with Ayden and Anya.

 On the bed, Lexa carefully helped Clarke to put her shirt back on. None of them said a word and Lexa forced herself not to look at Clarke –beautiful and majestic- chest. She didn’t want to make Clarke feel like she was laying her eyes on her body; the girl was probably already disgusted about herself enough. As Clarke was fully dressed up, Lexa asked her if she wanted to go out of the bedroom, and Clarke refused, pretending she needed some sleep. Lexa nodded, and left the room.

In the living-room, Nyko was waiting for her.

“So?” The brunette asked.

“So nothing serious” Nyko answered giving Lexa a little box, “but she has to put this ointment at least two times a day on all of her bruises until they don’t hurt anymore”.

Lexa nodded, and thanked him. The man said goodbye to Ayden and Anya, and was gone ten minutes later.

Lexa sighed, put the ointment on the kitchen table and joined the two playing.

“Thanks Anya, I’m freeing you” Lexa gently smiled to her cousin. She knew Anya had to go back to work, and she was herself surprised that Titus hadn’t called her yet.

Anya got up and quickly hugged Lexa.

“I like the kid. Call me anytime”.

Lexa nodded. Anya said goodbye, and left the loft. Lexa and Ayden resumed playing with the toys, Ayden very happy about Anya’s gift, and Lexa simply content to see the kid smile and talk excitedly  about what the fire-fighters and policemen.

 Anya had spent two hours at Lexa’s place, playing with Ayden, and now she was inside the Trikru building, heading towards her office.
Anya was her own boss, Lexa being the only one above her. She was like the ambassador for Trikru inside Coalition Corp. In theory, it was her and Indra, but since Indra was on a secret team which didn’t officially exist, Indra couldn’t be the public face of Trikru. Anya was, and was very good at her job, keeping the company working and everyone in line.

An assistant handed her a coffee, and at the moment she turned around to open her office’s door, someone bumped into her, spilling her coffee on her clothes.

“Son of a bi***, can’t you pay attention to where you...” Anya began to shout, but stopped immediately when she recognised the person who had bumped into her.

“Raven?”

The girl looked up in recognition too.

“Anya! I didn’t see you, I just...” Raven said, trying to apologise herself. Yeah, Raven wasn’t good with apologises.

“It’s ok” Anya waved her off, “I guess we are equals now”.

It made Raven smile, and Anya decided it was the prettiest thing she had seen in a while. Anya then noticed how Raven’s arms were full of papers, and handed her hands over to help the girl.

“Let me help you carry all this. Where are you going?”

Raven hesitated a little before giving Anya things to  carry for her, but her appointment –which had turned out very very well- had tired her off and her leg was hurting her like hell.

“I’m heading out, a friend is waiting for me”.

Anya nodded, grabbed some stuff and followed Raven to the outside of the building. Anya was observant, and she didn’t fail to notice Raven’s leg wrapped in some complicated brace. If she wanted to know what had happened to the girl, Anya didn’t ask.

Finally outside the building, Raven waved at Lincoln, who was waiting leaning on his car.

“Hey Raven, so are you hired?” Lincoln asked, immediately reaching for the things Raven was carrying.

“Hell yes I am!” Raven said, jumping excitedly.

Lincoln smiled, and then Anya recognised the guy who was talking to Raven.

“You’re Lincoln”, she said.

The man seemed to notice her presence, and his eyes widened when he recognised the girl.

“Anya. Long time no see, Woods!” Lincoln said, handing his arm to her, like they had used to greet each other when they were kids many years ago.

Anya and Lincoln had been living in the same neighbourhood as children, before Lexa came to live with Anya and her fathers. They had been pretty close, with a lot of respect for each other, but then life had happened and they had lost contact.

“Wait, you two know each other?” Raven asked.

“How do you know Anya?” Lincoln asked back.

“Lincoln and I grew up in the same neighbourhood as kids” Anya explained for Raven, “and Raven and I jumped into each other twice today”, she added for Lincoln.

She watched Lincoln and Raven laugh, and couldn’t help to ask.

“Are you two a thing...?”  

Lincoln and Raven immediately chocked on air.

“Oh no, not a chance!” Raven was quick to clarify, “he is my best friend’s boyfriend, and so not my type.”

“Yeah, not my type either” Lincoln confirmed.

Anya smiled at the two of them, and noticed time was running.

“So hum, I have to go or I’ll be really late, I guess I’ll see you around... Some time? Lincoln, call me one of those days, I gave Raven my number” Anya said, waving goodbye at them and entering inside the building.

Lincoln raised a brow. “How the hell did she give you her number?”

“Story related to her spilling coffee on me” Raven shrugged.

“Weird. She hates to give her number to people” Lincoln said. 

Raven shrugged again. “Are we going, or what?”

Lincoln nodded, finishing putting all Raven’s things in the car, and sat down behind the wheel.

“What is all that mess you’re bringing home anyways?” the man asked.

“Papers they gave me, to update me about their company”, Raven shrugged. 

“Like you need papers to help you figure how things work” Lincoln smiled.

“Damn right I don’t”, Raven said, and the both of them laughed in the cab.