Someone Smirking Is Never A Good Thing
Song: Back Into The Corner by Amy Stroup
Monday morning and Lexa was back to work. At the second she had her feet in the building, Titus had jumped on her with papers, contracts and things she had to take care of. Lexa had internally huffed, even though she knew she had a lot of work to catch up. Before Clarke and Ayden, she used to work from 7am to 8pm non-stop just to get her work done, and now that she had taken many days-off, she was delayed in her work. Obviously Titus didn’t miss to tell her she had responsibilities; Lexa knew that all too well.
Lexa fixed her shirt; she had another meeting, and not a pleasant one. Nia White was going to be here and the last time they had seen each other, Lexa had wanted to rip Nia’s head out of her shoulders. Lexa just hoped Nia wasn’t focused on the two strangers that Lexa had published pictures of; she didn’t want Clarke and Ayden to be thrown in her “celebrity life”. She wanted to keep them hidden, just for herself.
The ambassadors stand up when Lexa entered the room, followed by Titus. “You may sit” Lexa told them with a firm voice. Lexa saw Anya, who gave her a little smile; Anya knew very well that her cousin hated these meetings. Then, Lexa noticed Nia wasn’t here, and that was weird, because Lexa had been sure Nia would have made her next move against her.
“I would like this meeting to go fast” Lexa said, “so please be brief and precise”. Every ambassador nodded, opening their files.
“So, first matter of the day” Titus announced, gesturing at one of the ambassador to speak.
“We have a problem with transportations, Heda” the man began, “our trucks can’t reach the North, and snow is currently falling and is too thick to drive on”.
Lexa nodded, she had learned this from her Northern companies as they were still waiting for their products to arrive. “What do you suggest?” Lexa asked.
She was CEO, that was true, but Lexa had made a point to encourage the ambassadors to find solutions to their own problems. That was making them think, and it was sparing Lexa a lot of time and troubles. Of course, she was still the one making the final call.
“We could transport the merchandise by plane” the man suggested.
Lexa shook her head; this was not a great idea. Planes flying into the snow had troubles moving too. “Too complicated” Lexa said, “And too expensive. What else?”
The ambassador thought for a moment before finding an idea. “What about installing snow tires on our trucks?” And Lexa waved at him, encouraging him to continue, “It would still be quite expansive to buy snow tires for all the trucks, but we wouldn’t have any more troubles with snow, for several years.”
Lexa nodded. “Good job, ambassador”, she congratulated him, and then, turning to Titus, “find me someone from Mecha Station, and tell them we’ll buy their entire stock of snow tires for trucks, maybe even more.”
Titus nodded, and wrote stuff down on his notebook. Mecha Station was a big firm with a lot of little companies too; cars, computers, electronics.
“Ok, what’s next?” Lexa asked, but no one had time to answer, as Nia White was entering the room with a bang on the door.
“Nia” Lexa said with clenched teeth, not happy at all with the behaviour of her ambassador, “You’re late to the meeting. That’s unacceptable.”
Nia White smirked, and it was making Lexa’s whole body shiver. That woman was the devil incarnated. “Forgive me, Heda” Nia said with a false sweet voice, “Something was keeping me up in my company, and I couldn’t catch my flight on time”.
Lexa didn’t say anything, watching Nia as she was walking towards her seat.
“So, can I go next?” Nia said, still not sitting down on her chair and looking at the other ambassadors. Obviously, even if they did have something to say, they wouldn’t say no to Nia. The lady was scaring everyone with her vicious face.
Lexa clenched her teeth again, because whatever Nia had to say, it wouldn’t be good. “You may” Lexa said.
“Thank you, Heda” Nia smirked, “So, it was brought to my intention that my company, Azgeda, doesn’t have enough locals to work.”
Titus raised his brow; he was not expecting that. The only thing Nia wanted was... Space to work?
“And we don’t have any building in Polis” Nia continued, “So my proposition is simple. Coalition Corp has to build us a building to put our desks into”.
Lexa’s mind was racing. It couldn’t be all. Nia was supposed to ask something impossible. Why was this request too easy to give her?
“Very well” Lexa said, “but you know there’s no space in Polis for a new building”.
“Yes, I am aware” Nia answered, still smirking, “but there’s some abandoned, that we could use.”
“I’m listening” Lexa said, raising her chin to show Nia she was still in control.
“There’s this one building, in Skaikru neighbourhood” Nia began, “which isn’t habited. Well, it is, but the people there aren’t legally authorized to live there. I thought we could use this building.”
Lexa raised a brow. “Who are those people living there?”
“Drug dealers” Nia said, “Junkies, homeless people”.
Lexa sighed. She knew Azgeda lacked of real offices in Polis. “Very well”, Lexa said, “I’ll do whatever is necessary for the building to be given to Azgeda company”.
Nia nodded, thanking Lexa, but something was wrong though; Nia couldn’t help herself from smirking, and this was beginning to make Lexa worry.
“How is this building called?” Lexa asked.
“Arcadia, Heda” Nia answered, still smirking.
“I’ll contact you when everything is ready” Lexa said, not recognizing the name of the building. Anya has, and her eyes were widening. She tried to make a sign to Lexa, to tell her it was where Raven and Octavia and Clarke’s friends were living, everything that would make her understand something was wrong about giving this building to Nia, but Lexa didn’t saw her, and ended the meeting.
Nothing turns out
The way you want it
Nothing plays out
Like you saw in your mind
You keep finding out
Everything's changing
It's hard to find a place
Just to calm down
In Lexa’s flat, Clarke and Ayden were just cleaning after their breakfast. Raven and Octavia had brought Ayden and Clarke’s clothes the last time they came, so they no longer had to wear Lexa’s clothes.
“Mommy?” Ayden asked.
“Yes?” Clarke said, storing the bowls into the cupboard.
“Why don’t we live with Beyamy, Otavia and Rae?”
Clarke frowned, because she thought her son liked to live at Lexa’s better. “You rather live in Arcadia than here?”
“No” Ayden suddenly said, afraid his mother would take them back over there, “but family is supposed to live together. Right?”
Clarke sighed, because sometimes her son was too smart for his own good. She kneeled next to him.
“If we want to live with our family, we have to go back live in Arcadia. Here, there’s not enough space for everyone” Clarke gently explained.
“But... if we go live in Arcadia, will Yexa come with us?” the boy asked again, his eyes full of hope.
“No, honey” Clarke sighed, “Lexa has her own house. She helps us while we are here, but she wouldn’t come live with us”.
“Why not? She’s family, right?” Ayden asked, his bottom lip beginning to shake.
“Ayden, not everyone we know is family” Clarke was feeling overwhelmed by the boy’s questions. They didn’t have a normal life; how would she explain how family was supposed to work?“Octavia, Bellamy and the others are like family to us, they are not blood related, but we can call them family because we lived with them for a very long time, you understand that?”
“Yes” Ayden nodded, “but you kiss Lexa on the mouth. Doesn’t mean she’s family too, now?”
Clarke’s eyes widened, because she didn’t know her son knew about this. When had he seen them? How did he know about this?
“That’s more complicated than that, honey” Clarke said, looking him right in his eyes, “Lexa and I... We are taking things slow. That means you can’t say that we are a couple yet. You understand?”
“Yes” he nodded again, “but Yexa is still family. I want her to come and live with us, and with the others”
Clarke hadn’t time to answer him, or make him change his mind, because he was already gone, a convinced look on his face. Clarke stayed sat on the floor a little longer. She needed time to process, and having a five years old son was complicating everything. She knew she should clear things up with Lexa, asking her what they were doing, where would that lead them. She needed to have a real conversation with her about it, and with Ayden too. She didn’t have another choice, now.
You're backed into the corner
Your hands are tied down
You're backed into the corner
You're by yourself now
But from where you're standing
You can see it all now
You see it all now
You see it all now
Anya was running after Lexa, who was heading to her office.
“Lexa, I need to...” Anya started, but Lexa cut her off.
“Anya I don’t have time” Lexa said, thinking her cousin wanted to talk to her about something else than work, as she was often doing.
“Lexa it’s important, you should...” Anya tried again, but was cut off again.
“Anya, I have to make the papers for the new building right now, so I’ll call you later, ok?” Lexa said, already heading out of her office.
“But... Anya trailed off. Lexa was gone. And what a mistake she was about to do. Anya found it weird Lexa hadn’t recognised the name of the building; it used to be Clarke’s and Ayden’s place too for God’s sake! Or maybe she didn’t know. Maybe Clarke hadn’t told her. Anya knew; Raven had told her about it. Anya’s eyes widened when she realized it was just not about Clarke and Ayden. Lexa was going to expel the whole group, without even knowing it. She had to do something to stop it.
You're standing on the edge of the ocean
Yelling at the waves to stop
But they keep crashing down
Your hoping seems helpless
You got no choices
In a world without answers
Everything fades to black
Since Ayden seemed kind of melancholic, Clarke had decided it was time for them to go outside of Lexa’s flat, and pay a visit to their friends living in Arcadia. Lexa had given them a key, after all, and there were people on the group Clarke hadn’t seen for a long time. She called Lincoln, to ask him if he was free to pick them up. Any of them had a car except Lincoln; Raven still couldn’t drive one, Octavia had a motorcycle for her work, Bellamy had a function car, and the others had gotten used to walk and public transportations. They had all helped to buy Lincoln’s car, though.
“Ok, Ayden we are going out!” Clarke enthusiastically said, trying to make her son smile. But instead, his eyes widened, taking a few steps away from Clarke.
“We are leaving again?” He asked, his voice tinted with fear.
“No honey” Clarke reassured him, “we are just going to go see Monty, Harper, Jasper and everyone in Arcadia. Do you remember them?”
“Yes” Ayden nodded, “but then we are going back her, right?” he asked, still scared his mother was going to make them leave Lexa’s place.
“Yes, of course, Lexa will be sad if we are not back here when she comes home tonight” Clarke said, smiling at her son. “Look, we are going to leave her a note, ok, just in case she comes home earlier than us”.
Ayden nodded, more convinced this time, and quickly went into the living-room to pick a pen up for his mother. “Tell Yexa she has to wait for us for dinner!” Ayden said, handing the pen to Clarke.
Clarke chuckled; Ayden was a funny child when he was not scared or in pain or sad. Which was happening quite a lot lately.
She quickly wrote a note, telling Lexa they were out for a few hours to visit their friends, and that they would be back for dinner’s time. She even added the words Ayden had said, signed Clarke at the end and made Ayden write his name; he was making progress with reading, and he could read a lot of things, but writing, that was more complicated. And since he hadn’t been to school for a while now... Crap, the school, Clarke suddenly thought. Now that they weren’t in danger anymore, Ayden should be going back to school. She would have to talk to Lexa about it later, Clarke decided. But it was weird, wasn’t it? Why did she felt like she had to talk to Lexa about Ayden going back to school? Clarke shook her head when Lincoln honked in front of the building, stopping her thoughts. She put his coat on Ayden and got out of the loft, locking the door behind them with the key Lexa had given her.
You're backed into the corner
Your hands are tied down
You're backed into the corner
You're by yourself now
But from where you're standing
You can see it all now
You see it all now
You see it all now
You see it all now
You see it all now
Anya was in her car, driving, while she was trying to call Raven to warn her. Of course, Raven wasn’t picking the phone. What the fuck is she doing? Anya thought, I called her like twenty times in ten minutes. Anya sighed, accelerating a little. If Raven was unreachable, she had to find Lexa before it was too late. But who knows where she brunette was right now? Anya considered calling at Lexa’s place to reach Clarke, but then thought otherwise; Clarke couldn’t do anything against it, and Anya didn’t want to be the one bringing tension between the blonde and her little cousin.
Think Anya, she told herself. If Lexa wanted to have the Arcadia building, she had to get in touch with the owner, or the firm owning it, and Lexa must already have done that by now and Anya knew Lexa wouldn’t have any trouble buying the building in the name of Coalition Corp. The next step was kicking out the people living in it. Anya had been surprised when Nia had said the people living into Arcadia were illegally staying there, mentioning drugs dealers, junkies and stuff. Either Raven and everyone were indeed living there without any real authorization for a few years now, or Nia had been lying to gain what she was asking for.
But it was weird though; why would Nia ask for such a building? From what Anya had heard from Raven, it was in ruins in some part, barely habitable. Unless... Unless Nia knew about Clarke and Ayden. Anya’s eyes widened when she remembered the front-page article from Grounders Of Polis, a few weeks ago, with pictures of Lexa, Ayden and Clarke. Of course, Nia must know about them, and being the bitch she always has been, she found the place where the used to lived and where all their friends lived. Anya clenched her teeth; there was no way Nia White was going to cause trouble to Raven. To the all group, Anya mentally corrected herself.
You're backed into the corner (See it all now)
Your hands are tied down
You're backed into the corner (See it all now)
You're by yourself now
But from where you're standing (See it all now)
You can see it all now
You see it all now
You see it all now
You see it all now