He Has To Pay
Song : Waiting For Nothing by Evolution Of Stars
Lexa, Lincoln and Raven were in the living-room, looking at each other with worry clearly written on their faces.
“So, that didn’t go as planned...” Raven said looking pale, and Lexa huffed because that was so fucking damn true.
“I should go check on her” the brunette then suggested.
“No, let me go to her” Raven asked, and reading Lexa’s face, “please”, she added.
Lexa raised a brow at Lincoln, who nodded. Lexa then nodded to Raven. The girl went to the bedroom, leaving Lexa and Lincoln in the living-room.
“Clarke?” Raven gently asked, knocking a little on the door.
The blonde gave no answer, so Raven pushed the door open so she could come in. Raven stepped into the room, and her heart broke. Raven wasn’t a crying kind of girl, but she didn’t even try to hold back her tears this time.
Clarke was lying on the bed, broken by angry sobs shaking her all body like hell.
“Clarke...” Raven murmured, fully crying now.
This was all their faults, if Clarke was like this. They had done this to her, by putting too much responsibilities on her, giving her too much things to handle. They had been so angry at her sometimes, for things she had decided on her own, or things she hadn’t do in the way they wanted, and Raven knew how awful she had been to her for a time, with Finn and everything.
But now Raven was seeing it; Clarke had been human this whole time, and they had broken her with their reproaches. They had seen her as unbreakable, but Clarke was no God. They should have backed her. They should have listened to her, they should have paid attention to her, they should have seen the Clarke behind the leader walls. They should have seen her, help her and support her.
Raven couldn’t take it anymore, and rushed to the bed, circling the sobbing girl with both her arms.
“Clarke I’m so sorry, we didn’t know, I’m sorry Clarke...” Raven was saying again and again, crying into blonde hair.
Clarke had been surprised it was Raven, because she was guessing Lexa would be the one to come check on her, but when she had felt Raven’s arms all around her, holding her for dear life, her last wall had broken, and she had melted into the brunette’s embrace.
“We’ll listen to you now Clarke, I promise, I will do anything to make you feel better, I promise I’ll look after you and Ayden, Clarke I’m so sorry please stop crying...” Raven was rambling with tears streaming down her face.
But Raven’s words only made Clarke cry harder because she could see how sincere her friend was, and Clarke understood; she was not alone in this. She knew this already, but it was something else when the person was telling it to you. She was not alone. Lexa was here. Raven and Lincoln were here. Clarke could get up and start to live again, because she had friends to help her all the way.
And Finn. Clarke’s tears were decreasing, and anger was slowly rising inside her. That douche bag was going to pay for everything he had done. Clarke could take the hits, she could bare everything he had done to her, but for hurting her son, Finn would pay, oh how bad he would. Clarke’s eyes were open now, and she was feeling freaking stupid for not telling anyone about her home situation.
“I’ve got you” Raven whispered to her friend when she felt Clarke shivering. But Clarke was only shivering with anger.
“Finn has to pay, Rae” Clarke murmured.
“And this asshole will, I can assure you that, even if I have to kill him with a piece of my brace” Raven said, very determined, and Clarke could easily believe the girl.
“You can’t threaten everyone to kill them with your brace Raven” Clarke chuckled, wiping her tears.
Raven lightly laughed too while sniffing, “Like Hell I can’t!”
The two girls stayed quiet for a while, Clarke half-lying on Raven’s chest, who had not removed her arms from around Clarke. To Clarke’s surprise, she didn’t mind being held by Raven; in fact, she was glad the brunette was here to hold her.
A quiet knock on the door made itself heard, and they saw a tiny head peeking from behind the door.
“Mommy? You there?” Ayden asked, and Clarke had to fight hard to keep water in her eyes.
“Yes, come in baby”, Clarke said, tapping the bed for him to get in. Ayden got up, and snuggled against her, lying on Raven too.
Clarke put her hand underneath Ayden’s scar, letting her fingers trace it.
“I’m sorry Ayden” Clarke murmured, “I’m sorry he did this to you. I’m sorry I didn’t figure it out sooner, I’m sorry you had to keep this from me”, Clarke paused so she could steady her voice, “but he will never touch you again. He will never even lay his eyes on you. If you don’t want to see him ever again, you won’t”.
Ayden nodded, burying himself more against his mother’s chest.
“I just don’t want him to hurt you again” the kid whispered.
Clarke brought her kid even closer to her. “He won’t. I promise. From now on, life is going to change for the two of us. We will do what we want, and we will live where we want. We are going to make ourselves be safe. What do you say, Ayden?” The blonde asked.
Ayden nodded. “I want to live with people who love me”, the boy said, and Raven couldn’t stop a tear from falling down.
“Don’t cry Rae, I love you!” Ayden then said, smiling to his adoptive aunt.
The women chuckled, because this kid was a gift. “Mommy?”
“Yes honey?”
“I want Finn to not be my father anymore, can you do that?” Ayden asked, pleading his mother with his brown and green eyes.
“He never was your father” Clarke murmured, “and he won’t ever be”. Her heart was broken by what she had forced her son to go through. Ayden had apparently been scared to death to be near Finn, and Clarke had been oblivious to it.
The trio laid in bed for a few more minutes before Clarke sat herself, wiping away the last tears. “Come on guys, there are people waiting for us over there!”
Raven smiled too, and the three of them went into the living-room. When Clarke had gotten up, Ayden had put his hand in hers, and Clarke had held it for dear life. Her son and herself were fine. Finn was going to pay, and the both of them will be ok.
Clarke saw Lexa smile lightly to her; maybe because she was glad Clarke was ok. The blonde seemed fine, and Ayden holding his mother’s hand and smiling at her was warming Lexa’s heart.
“Okay people” Anya said, “Who’s hungry?”
“Me me me!” Ayden shouted, making everyone burst into laughter.
Octavia was working hard, these days. They didn’t have received any special mission yet, and they were confined into their secret base of operation, doing nothing but training, and that was getting to Octavia’s head. She had never complained about anything before, and certainly not about training, but right now she was fuming inside; Clarke needed her, and she was fucking stuck here hitting pushing-balls.
So she was training very hard, tiring herself off so her mind would stop thinking this much. She didn’t have any news from the others, but she knew it was probably because they were deep below the city and texts mustn’t pass through.
Indra had noticed Octavia’s state, of course. This woman had eyes and ears everywhere. The Blake girl wasn’t hard to read anyway. Indra knew Octavia had her mind elsewhere; she knew her second couldn’t stop caring about her friends, even if at work she was supposed to act like she had no one waiting for her at home. Indra knew well what choice Octavia would make if she was forced to choose between her family and the team: and the older woman couldn’t blame her for that. Octavia was loyal; a very loyal agent, and even more loyal to her friends. Even to Clarke, even if Octavia and her had had difficult times and disagreements on how to do things. Indra didn’t know that Blonde Clarke very well, but she could recognise a true leader when she was seeing one; Indra knew every each of Octavia’s friends including Octavia herself would turn to Clarke when troubles would appear.
“Octavia”, Indra called the black haired-girl in the training room, “come here for a second”.
Octavia stopped hitting the poor pushing ball threatening to break anytime, picked up a towel to dry her face and made her way to Indra. Octavia didn’t ask why Indra had called her; she had to wait for Indra to talk first.
“Octavia, you’re not focused” Indra stated, and Octavia said nothing, because she knew it was true.
“You’re useless here” Indra continued, “and I don’t want you or anyone of the team to die because your mind is distracted”.
Octavia’s heart ached, because it seemed like Indra is firing her, and Octavia started to break from inside. But she stayed still, waiting for what Indra had to say.
“Go home, Octavia kom Skaikru. Be with your family. Find Clarke. And be back when you find your concentration again”.
Then, Indra walked away, leaving a stunned Octavia frozen on spot. Was Indra really letting Octavia go, just like this?
Octavia didn’t think about it for long though, and almost ran to the locker-room to take her stuffs. She then ran to the tunnel’s entrance after saying a quick goodbye to her partners who obviously wonder why Octavia is leaving alone, but the Blake girl ran, started her motorcycle, and didn’t lose time to drive back home.
Octavia got up the stairs to her apartment two by two and busted into it, expecting Lincoln to be there. She checked the clock before leaving, and Lincoln should be home from work; but he was nowhere to be seen when Octavia opened the door, and the girl frowned, because it was weird.
“Lincoln?” Octavia called into the apartment.
Someone came out of the kitchen, but it was not Lincoln.
“O?” Bellamy said while frowning; what was his sister doing here?
Octavia nearly ran to her brother, hugging him. If Bellamy is surprised by the affection, he doesn’t say a word about it and reciprocates the hug quickly.
“Indra let me go because she said I wasn’t focused” Octavia explained looking around, “where is Lincoln? Shouldn’t Raven be there too?”
Bellamy frowned, because he didn’t know why his sister was asking those questions. Didn’t she have read the conversation on the app?
“O, they are with Clarke right now” Bellamy said, testing her reaction.
And Octavia’s eyes are widening, because she FUCKING DIDN’T KNOW they had found Blondie Princess Clarke and why the fucking fuck nobody HAD TOLD HER about it?
“Finn is in a cell” Bellamy explained, gesturing for them to sit on the couch, “some neighbor of Clarke’s had brought him to the police station”.
Octavia frowned, because she could guess why Finn was in a cell. “What has he done?” she asked.
“Clarke... Clarke was beaten up by him” Bellamy confessed, and didn’t miss his sister’s eyes watering when he spoke, “someone rescued her, and now she’s staying with that person”.
Octavia frowned once more, because she knew Clarke; Clarke would have never accepted to stay with a stranger, even if that stranger has just rescued her.
“Don’t they know each other?” The Blake girl asked her brother.
“I don’t really know” Bellamy shrugged, “we didn’t have the occasion to ask. Clarke is emotionally exhausted and Woods is taking care of her for now. She doesn’t even want me to come to see her”.
Octavia only needed a few seconds to process her brother’s words. “Wait, did you say Woods? As in Lexa fuckin’ freakin’ amazing Woods?”
“Yes”, Bellamy raised a brow because he knew already his sister was a fan of Lexa, but still.
“How did Clarke manage to meet her?” Octavia asked again.
“I don’t know” shrugged again Bellamy because the only thing he knew was that Clarke didn’t want to see him yet, and maybe it was because of the influence Lexa Woods could already have on her.
“Could we go see her?” Octavia said like a child asking to go to the zoo.
“I wish”, her brother answered, “but she said only two by two, and Lincoln and Raven are already with her. Maybe we could go and bring her back here tomorrow” Bellamy sighed, because if it was entirely his choice he would have already drove to Lexa’s place to pick Ayden and Clarke up and bring them back here to live with all of them again.
Octavia exaggeratedly sighed to show her disagreement with the fact of not being able to go see if Clarke is okay, but she didn’t try to do anything and lied down on the couch, switching her phone back on to check the news on the secret app. She texted Lincoln too, to let him know she was home and –impatiently- waiting for him.
In Lexa’s loft, Lincoln was smiling at Octavia’s text notifying him she was back home. He approached Raven discreetly, telling her he was going to go meet her, and telling her she just had to call him so he could come and pick her up to bring her back to Arcadia. But Anya had heard the conversation, and had kindly offered Raven a ride home when she would leave herself. Raven had of course agreed, and Lincoln had left the loft after saying goodbye to Clarke and Ayden and made Clarke promise to not shut them out.
Raven and Anya were now busy playing with Ayden, and Clarke tugged at Lexa’s sleeve.
“Lexa, you said my neighbour Marcus Kane dropped Finn at the police station?” Clarke asked, and Lexa nodded without taking her eyes off the child in front of them.
“Did he give them a deposition or something? Did you?” Lexa nodded again at Clarke’s question.
“So”, Clarke began to pace into the living-room, “I have to give them my deposition too, right?”
“Yes” Lexa confirmed; she knew that for a few days already, but she had been afraid to talk to Clarke about it.
Clarke knew what that meant; she probably had to take pictures of her whole body, to show the policemen all the bruises she had so they could have proof of what Finn had done. Clarke knew she would probably have to take a photo of Ayden’s scar too.
“Lexa, could we take some pictures, of, you know...” Clarke trailed off, but Lexa understood what the blonde was trying to say.
Lexa took Clarke by the hand, picked up the blonde’s phone and brought them into the bedroom for a bit of intimacy. By seeing the two girls leaving, Anya and Raven understood what they were going to do, and did their best to keep Ayden busy.
In the room, Lexa waited for Clarke to remove her shirt. First, Clarke was ashamed of showing her body, but when she looked into Lexa’s green eyes, she saw compassion, understanding and support, and Clarke wasn’t ashamed anymore. For almost an hour, they took pictures from all the bruises, making sure they didn’t miss one. Every time Lexa would brush Clarke's skin, the blonde would shiver.
When they were done, Clarke was going to put her shirt back, but Lexa stopped her, showing her the ointment Clarke still had to put on the bruises, and the blonde let her apply it.
“I’m scared, Lexa” Clarke whispered after a while. Clarke had never been the talkative kind of person, but with Lexa, she was feeling like it was right to talk to her. It was easy, opening herself to the brunette. Lexa wasn’t judging her.
“Why are you scared?” Lexa asked back.
“I don’t know”, Clarke murmured, “everything”.
Lexa helped Clarke put her shirt back on, and put her both hands on Clarke’s knees.
“Clarke, look at me” Lexa said, and Clarke did, drowning on green, “I know you are scared, and it’s ok to be scared. But you’re not alone in this, you know that. Finn will not get away with what he has done, I can promise you that”.
Clarke nodded, glad Lexa agreed with her.
Then, Clarke had leaned on Lexa’s shoulder, and Lexa had held her close. Lexa had felt a few tears soaking her shirt, and had quickly brushed off Clarke’s cheeks. Then, Lexa had leaned towards Clarke. Their noses had brushed each other, and Lexa had put a kiss on Clarke’s cheek, close to her mouth.
Lexa had then left the room, leaving Clarke alone in her bedroom with thousands of images of Lexa kissing her in her mind.