"What do you mean you can't swim?" Lexa asks, her eyes wide.
"I mean that I can't swim," Clarke replies, shrugging her shoulders. "I just never learned."
"You grew up in Florida, Clarke. It's hot. How did you survive without knowing how to swim?"
"Never been in a pool, either. Well, not since I was little. I fell in once when I was maybe four and nearly drowned. I refused to go in one after that, and my parents stopped trying to make me after a few years."
"I could teach you," she offers.
"You probably don't want to do that. I can be difficult."
Lexa snorts. "We've been dating for two years. Do you honestly think I don't know just how 'difficult' you can be?"
Clarke laughs. "Fair enough."
"So I can teach you?" She asks.
"I guess," she replies. Clarke is hesitant to agree to something like this but knows that her girlfriend isn't going to let it go until she does. Lexa is every bit as stubborn as she herself is, and trying to get out of it will do her no good.
"Great!" Lexa says.
Not once in the two years they have been dating has Lexa ever seen Clarke as frightened as she is now. She looks like a child scared for their first day of Kindergarten, and she worries that the girl may actually cry.
"Babe? You sure you want to do this?" Lexa asks. "You really don't have to."
"Yes," Clarke replies through gritted teeth, "I do."
"O-kay," she says quietly.
After a moment of Lexa watching Clarke, who is staring at the clear water below her as if it is going to come up and attack her, she jumps into the pool. She comes up immediately, not wanting Clarke to worry about her.
"See? It's fine, Clarke. It isn't even cold."
"Right. Fine."
This is not going to be easy, Lexa thinks. She sighs before swimming over to the stairs, motioning for Clarke to get into the pool. When she doesn't move, she gets out of the pool and takes her hand.
"It's okay," she says in a very quiet voice. "I'm not going to let you go, okay? Not unless you want me to."
Clarke nods, but doesn't move. Slowly, Lexa starts to pull her down the steps and into the water. "This isn't so bad," Clarke murmurs, but the death grip she has on Lexa's hand says that she's still terrified.
"No," Lexa agrees, "it's not. It feels pretty good, actually. Don't you think?"
After a moment she nods. "Yeah, it does. So... How do I do the whole swimming thing?" Clarke asks. Though she isn't moving her body and the grip on she has on Lexa is still tight, she looks at the water as if it's a little scarier.
Lexa shakes her head and they just stand there for a few minutes, letting Clarke get more comfortable in the water before finally, she lets go of her hand. They stand there for at least ten more minutes before Clarke is really comfortable, and only then does Lexa teach her girlfriend how to swim.
She is so patient that it surprises even Clarke, and before the end of the day the woman can manage to do a weak doggy paddle.
"I knew you could do it," Lexa says, applauding her girlfriend with a proud smile.
"You're ridiculous," is Clarke's reply, but the smile on her face gives away the joy that she so clearly is feeling.