Say something

After their perfect first date Clarke couldn't wait for their second so she decided it would be the following weekend. Since Lexa had been in charge of their first date it was Clarke's turn to organize their second one and she came up with the perfect plan after speaking to Lexa's cousins to see if they could offer any clues as to what Lexa would like to do. On the drive there Clarke kept speaking to Lexa to stop her from focusing on their surroundings so she wouldn't figure it out before they reached their destination. Once they had stopped Lexa finally took notice of their surroundings. They were in a makeshift car park at the bottom of Mount Weather. She hopped out of the car and looked up at the large mountain in front of them, her excitement growing at the prospect of getting to go hiking again.

"Anya and Lincoln said you used to love hiking but you haven't done it in a while so I thought we could go for a hike together." Clarke explained as she moved around the car towards the trunk.

"You hate exercising."

"Yes but I like the girl who likes to exercise so I'm willing to push myself sometimes."

"I'm touched that you are willing to put aside your hatred just to make me happy."

"You should be, you're the only one I'd do this for." Clarke explained as she reached into the trunk of the car to take out the backpack she had in there.

Lexa smiled adoringly at her. "Thank you." She quickly moved towards Clarke and captured her lips in a quick sweet kiss.

Clarke grinned when the kiss ended. "It's already worth it."

"How can you do this so often?" Clarke asked panting hard.

"The more you do it the easier it gets."

"My legs are on fire."

"Let's take a break for a few minutes."

"Oh thank god." Clarke quickly perched on a large rock before chugging half her bottle of water.

Lexa watched Clarke closely, it was obvious she was exhausted and Lexa didn't want her only remembering the pain from the strain on her muscles when she looked back on this date in the future. "We can finish here if you want and head back down?"

Clarke shook her head. "I want to get to the top."

"Are you sure?" Lexa asked warily.

"I can do this Lex." Clarke stated with absolute conviction.

"Okay but at least let me carry the backpack the rest of the way, please?"

"Yeah I guess that would be okay." Clarke conceded, knowing it would make the rest of the hike a lot easier.

"Still having a hard time figuring out why I enjoy hiking?" Lexa asked as they gazed out at the incredible view.

"I didn't get it before but I do now, this is so beautiful." Clarke replied completely in awe of their surroundings.

"Careful Clarke I'm starting to think you're actually enjoying hiking."

"I really am, of course that's mostly because I'm with you."

Lexa shook her head at the cheesy line but she smiled softly at her. "Want some good news?"

Clarke hummed her acknowledgement around a bite of her sandwich.

"From now on we only have to go downhill."

Clarke beamed. "Okay now I'm really loving it."

"I'm gonna take a few photos so I can paint this later." Clarke explained, after they had finished eating the sandwiches she had brought for them.

"If anyone could capture the beauty of this place it would definitely be you."

Clarke rolled her eyes trying to distract from the light blush starting to make an appearance. "I wonder if you'll ever run out of those smooth lines."

Lexa watched Clarke move around for a few minutes enjoying the look of concentration on Clarke's face as she tried to get perfect photos of the scenery. She took out her own phone and opened her camera app to snap a few photos of Clarke. After putting her phone away she still kept her eyes on Clarke, she was amazed that she had organised such a perfect date and more sure than ever that she was falling in love with her, she knew that thought should terrify her given her history but the thought of falling for Clarke felt so right that all her fears just disappeared.

It took Clarke two days to fully recover, her body clearly not used to that level of physical activity but she had no regrets, Lexa had loved every second of their date as did Clarke and as an added bonus she had gotten plenty of massages from Lexa to help her with the pain since then so it really had been worth every step.

Having spent so much time focusing on their relationships lately it was decided they should spend some time alone with their families to catch up, for Lexa this meant going on another hike but with Lincoln and Anya this time, for Clarke it meant a picnic with Octavia and Raven in the park deciding that they didn't want to waste the time together just sitting at home watching TV.

"So...." Octavia dragged out the word.

"I'm not a mind-reader." Clarke pointed out distractedly as she doodled on Raven's arm.

"Why haven't you and Lexa slept together yet?" Octavia asked bluntly.

"What makes you think we haven't?"

"The sexual tension between you two speaks volumes." Raven commented with a smirk.

"And you would've told us if you had." Octavia added.

"So what's stopping you?" Raven queried.

Clarke shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know if Lexa is ready for that yet."

Both her friends shared a look that said neither of them entirely believed that was the reason.

"Is there a slight possibility you're scared?" Octavia queried.

Clarke stopped doodling to give them her full attention. "Why would I be scared?"

"Well you haven't been with anyone since Finn." Raven pointed out.

"And you two have been attracted to each other since you first met, that's months of built up expectations." Octavia added.

Clarke took a minute to think about it but Octavia and Raven could tell they were good thoughts when Clarke's frown of concentration was replaced by a small smile. "I guess I probably should be but I trust Lexa entirely so I'm not scared at all. What me and Lexa have is so different than anything I've ever experienced, every moment feels important so I don't want us to just jump into bed to get it over with, I want it to happen when we both want it to."

"So you're just gonna wait it out?"

Clarke shrugged. "It takes as long as it takes, we'll get there eventually but right now I'm happy with how things are."

"You are gonna tell us when it does happen though, right?"

Clarke rolled her eyes at how inquisitive her friends were. "It's creepy how much you want to know about our relationship."

"We tell you everything about our relationships." Octavia stated defensively.

"Sometimes too much." Clarke muttered loudly enough for them to hear.

"That's not entirely true." Raven said quietly but not quietly enough for her two friends not to hear her.

They waited a moment for Raven to explain but when she didn't add anything more Clarke finally asked "what do you mean?"

Raven took in a deep breath before speaking again. "There's something I haven't told either of you."

Clarke and Octavia shared a worried look, unsure whether this was going to be good or bad news.

"Is....is everything okay with you and Anya?" Clarke asked hesitantly.

"Yeah we're great, better than great actually...." A small smile crept up on Raven's face as she spoke. "I kind of told her I love her."

"Wow...."

"It wasn't really planned she just surprised me by hugging me when she came by after work about a week ago, she was complaining about how worn out she was then she said being with me made it better and I just sort of blurted it out."

"I'm so happy for you Rae." Clarke wrapped her arms around Raven's neck in loose hug.

"She said it back, right?" Octavia questioned.

"Yeah, yeah she did." Raven said as her smile grew.

"I've never really seen you in love before, it's so cute." Clarke lightly pinched Ravens cheek.

Raven playfully pushed Clarke away. "Shut up."

Octavia swiftly delivered a slap to Ravens arm.

Raven looked at her in shock. "What the hell was that for?"

"For keeping it a secret from us for so long."

Raven rubbed at her arm as though It hurt but it didn't really. "It was only a week."

"And that's a week too long."

Lexa, Lincoln and Anya were nearing the top of the mountain, the hike went a lot quicker this time but mostly because the three had turned it into a competition each increasing the pace once one of them passed them until they were nearly jogging up it. Once they reached the top it was clear that Anya had reached it first but the only indication she gave that she knew she had won was a small smirk.

"It's been too long since we did this together." Lincoln pointed out while they took in the view.

"I guess we spend so much time hanging out as a group we've kind of forgotten about spending some time alone together." Lexa offered as an explanation.

"We were actually talking about that yesterday." Anya stated but Lexa wasn't sure what she was saying.

"What?"

"We were thinking about asking Octavia and Raven if we should move in with them given that we spend pretty much all our time at their place anyway." Lincoln clarified.

"Yeah we only really go to our apartment when we need a change of clothes so it just makes sense to move in with them." Anya explained.

Lexa thought about how true that was, it really did make sense, they'd save a lot of money if they gave up their apartment and just started splitting the rent with Octavia and Raven, plus she liked the idea of having her cousins right across the hall and Raven and Octavia would have their own chefs day and night so they wouldn't need her and Clarke to cook for them as often. "I think it's a great idea and I'd love to have you guys as my neighbours but you might want to emphasize that you actually want to move in with them, don't make it sound like it's purely for convenience."

"We do want to live with them." Lincoln stated defensively.

"Good."

"We love them Lex."

Both Lincoln and Lexa halted their movements and stared at Anya.

It only took Anya a moment to realize they had stopped. "What? Why do you look so surprised?"

Lincoln and Lexa looked at each other trying to decide who would try to explain why they were so surprised, ultimately it was Lexa who spoke up. "Linc and O constantly say they love each other, it's hardly a secret but this is the first time I've heard you say you love Raven....or anyone really."

Anya looked off in the distance avoiding having to look at either of them. "I'm not used to it yet, we only started saying it recently but it feels right."

Lexa moved towards her cousin and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm really happy for you."

"Don't make it into a big thing." Anya huffed but Lexa knew it was just for show since she wasn't trying to escape the hug.

Lincoln suddenly appeared beside them wrapping his arms around them both not wanting to be left out of the family hug.

A few days later.

"Hey Mom."

"Hi Sweetie how are you?"

"I'm good I was actually calling to find out if you're working today?"

Abby frowned. "I am, why? Is something wrong? Is anyone hurt?"

"No, no we're all fine it's just that you heard about the storm right?"

"I did."

"Well I don't think it's a good idea for you to try driving home in the middle of a storm."

"I know honey I wasn't planning on it."

"Oh?"

"I was going to work through it but I've already reached the limit of hours I can work a shift for so legally I can't work but I can still stay here and sleep in one of the on call rooms."

"Don't." Clarke ordered. "I have an alternative."

"Okay....?" Abby asked curiously.

"Me and Lex were talking and she pointed out that you could stay here with us instead since my old room's empty, Lincoln works close to the hospital so he said he could pick you up from the hospital when he's finished work and you can wait out the storm with us."

"Clarke that's really not necessary I'll be fine here."

"I know mom but it would be nice having you stay with us and I'd sleep better knowing you're safe."

"And Lexa's definitely okay with me staying?"

"It was her idea." Clarke answered without hesitation so it was obvious to Abby that she was being honest.

"Alright then, I'd be happy to stay with you."

Lincoln picked up Abby from the hospital as soon as he finished helping his coworkers board up windows at the gym and set out sandbags to minimize any potential damage the storm could cause. Clarke and Lexa had gone shopping to stock up on anything they might need, Lincoln let Abby into their apartment with the spare key so she could rest for a while, exhaustion from having worked for so long finally taking it's toll.

A few hours later she awoke hearing hushed voices which she followed to the kitchen where Lexa and Clarke had been preparing dinner but were now locked in a heated kiss completely oblivious to their surroundings.

"Hey girls." Abby said in a teasing tone.

The two jumped apart startled. "Mom….hey you're awake."

"Did you sleep alright?" Lexa asked hurriedly, trying to distract from the embarrassment of being caught.

"I did thanks, I really needed a little rest." Abby took a second to decide whether or not to tease them for getting caught but ultimately decided not to. "Whatever you're making smells delicious, anything I can do to help?"

"Nah we've got this, you just relax." Lexa said, clearly more relaxed now that they had avoided it becoming more awkward.

"Coffee mom?"

"Yes please."

Abby watched as the two girls traded smiles while Clarke got Abby's coffee and Lexa continued making dinner. She couldn't help but smile at how cute they were together. "So girls how's life as a couple?"

Clarke smiled again at Lexa before turning her attention to her mother. "It's been pretty great so far."

"We just had our first triple date with O, Linc, Anya and Rae." Lexa informed her.

"How did that go?"

"Great, we went bowling."

"Who won?"

Clarke rolled her eyes thinking about the answer. "Raven, as always."

"She has an unfair advantage, she's able to analyze the perfect shot in seconds." Lexa stated, clearly annoyed by the loss.

"We still kicked her ass in Pictionary babe." Clarke soothed.

Lexa beamed with pride. "That's true."

"I didn't know you had a competitive streak Lexa."

Clarke nodded. "She's almost as competitive as me."

"I'd argue I'm a little more competitive actually."

"Nah I've definitely got you beat babe."

"I really don't think you do though."

"Wow okay." Abby was a little worried that the two were competing over this. "Let's call it even, shall we? This back and forth could go on forever."

"Yeah that seems like the best solution." Lexa agreed.

"How are things with Marcus, Mom?" Clarke asked as she brought over the cup of coffee to her mother.

"Great, I can't wait for him to get back from his conference."

"Me too, Pike is a useless substitute." Lexa commented with her distaste for the man clear in her voice.

"I only ever met him once but I instantly disliked him." Abby agreed.

"I have no idea how he ended up teaching and it's even more mind-boggling that he's working in Arkadia University of all places."

"Not so surprising when you consider his father was the former head of the university." Abby clarified.

"That makes sense, I knew he couldn't have gotten that job on merit alone."

Clarke handed Lexa a cup of coffee.

"Thanks. I can manage the rest on my own if you want to sit down with your mom."

Clarke pressed a quick kiss to Lexa's cheek before she moved over to the table taking a seat opposite her mother.

"You're well looked after." Abby pointed out.

Clarke hummed her agreement. "She likes to spoil me."

"That I do." Lexa agreed cheerily.

"I hope that works both ways, you've got a good woman Clarke don't take her for granted."

"I know, don't worry I plan on keeping her around for as long as I can."

Lexa quickly turned her head to smile at Clarke, happy to hear she was thinking long term.

They were lucky enough that the power stayed on throughout the storm, although it was bad it was nowhere near being as volatile as the weather reporters had said it would be. Abby informed them that thankfully there must not have been too many injuries from it as she would have been called into the hospital if they were overrun regardless of how many hours she had already worked over the last few days.

They had all settled in Lexa and Clarke's apartment. Clarke, Lexa and Abby sat on the couch while Lincoln sat on one armchair with Octavia on his lap, Raven sat on the other armchair with Anya sitting on the floor in front of her, Raven soothingly ran her fingers through Anya's hair, occasionally Anya would tilt her head back onto Ravens legs looking completely at ease.

Abby was glad she had accepted the invitation to stay with them, getting to see her family so happy filled her with an sense of real calm. They had a good life here, they were safe, happy and loved, as a parent that's all she could ever hope for.

Just after eleven Lincoln, Octavia, Raven and Anya had all decided to call it a night and after they said their goodnight's Abby had excused herself to use the bathroom. At some point Clarke had fallen asleep cuddled up against Lexa and as Abby returned from the bathroom she stopped to watch as Lexa gently tried to wake Clarke.

"Hey pretty girl." Lexa called softly, brushing a strand of hair off of Clarke's face.

"Babe?" Clarke questioned, her voice slightly hoarse from tiredness.

"I think it's time for bed love." Lexa spoke softly.

"You too?" Clarke disentangled herself from Lexa to stretch out her arms and legs.

"I'm just gonna clean up a little and lock up, then I'll join you, okay?"

"Okay." Clarke leaned in to give Lexa a chaste kiss. "Don't take too long."

"I'll be in soon."

Clarke got up and headed towards their room, stopping to hug her mother when she reached her. "Night mom."

"Goodnight sweetie." Abby happily returned the hug.

Lexa had just locked the door when Abby approached her and enveloped her in a hug, surprised by the gesture she asked "what's this for?".

"For taking such good care of my daughter, I'm so glad she found you." Abby responded as she pulled back.

Lexa blushed slightly but let a small smile show. "I'm lucky to have her."

"I know you two haven't been officially together for very long but I can already imagine the beautiful future you're going to have together."

Lexa grinned hearing that. "Me too."

It was a Saturday afternoon and they had gone to the park after their classes ended for the day. Octavia and Raven had gone to meet up with Lincoln and Anya giving Clarke and Lexa some alone time.

It had been weeks since their first date and there had been just a few more since then, each of them better than the last. The only problem they had was that neither of them were willing to make the first move to turn their relationship psychical. Luckily for Lexa as her love guru Raven had taken it upon herself to inform Lexa why Clarke wouldn't make the first move and Lexa then realized that they were both just waiting for the other to make the move. She knew that it was up to her to move things forward and had been waiting for the opportunity to make her move but found it impossible given that their friends were always around and when they weren't they were either in classes or doing work for their classes. As they strolled around the park together Lexa realised this might be the perfect opportunity. With her arm loosely wrapped around Clarke she moved her hand slightly and allowed it to slide down Clarke's back until she boldly slipped her hand into the back pocket of Clarke's jeans.

Clarke looked surprised for a moment before she smirked at Lexa. Encouraged by her reaction she squeezed causing Clarke to let out a small moan, her eyes closing of their own volition as she whispered Lexa's name.

Lexa moved her lips to Clarke's ear and softly whispered "I think we should go home."

Clarke could only nod, her mouth slightly agape completely stunned by Lexa's sudden bravado.

The drive home felt unbearably long to them both, knowing what they were going to do when they got there and not being able to do anything until then was torturous to them both. Once back at their apartment building they speed walked into the building and up to their apartment, Lexa had their apartment key firmly held in her grip ready to unlock the door the instant they reached it. As soon as they got inside and the door was locked Lexa pulled Clarke to her, connecting their lips in a kiss filled with urgency as she blindly directed them through the apartment towards their room.

Clarke eagerly unzipped Lexa's jacket and tugged it off her as they moved. Lexa started quickly unbuttoning the loose flannel shirt Clarke was wearing, becoming frustrated the few times her fingers slipped over buttons taking even longer for her to get rid of the garment. They crashed through their bedroom door with Clarke guiding Lexa backwards towards the bed. When Lexa felt the back of her knees make contact with the bed she moved to sit down on the edge without breaking contact.

Reaching for the button of Clarke's jeans she hesitated, pulling back from the kiss she gripped Clarke's hips to get her to look at her.

Clarke smiled softly down at her, gently brushing her fingers along Lexa's cheek. "Are you sure you're ready for this Lex?"

"I've never been more sure of anything, are you?"

"I want you." She whispered.

"I'm yours." Lexa responded just as quietly.

Clarke leaned down to kiss Lexa once again, she gently pushed Lexa back down onto the bed, straddling her as she did.

A long while later they both lay naked and sated in their bed. They had taken their time exploring each others bodies, both determined to commit every tiny detail to memory as though this was the only time they would get the chance to do so even though they knew there would be plenty of other opportunities to do so in the future.

"From now on I think you should just always be naked." Clarke requested.

"Why's that?"

"Umm 'cause you have an incredibly hot body and I just want to stare at you all the time."

"Well then you have to do the same because I feel the same way about you." Lexa pulled Clarke closer to give her a quick kiss.

"So we're nudists now?" Clarke asked as the kiss broke.

"I guess so." Lexa chuckled. "Think it'll stop O and Raven from breaking in here?"

"Unfortunately no and as much as I love them I would have to kill them if I caught them looking at you when you're naked."

Lexa grinned. "I love it when you get jealous but I'm fond of those two so maybe we should just have designated nudist hours where they're not allowed to come over."

Clarke settled down against Lexa's side resting her head on her shoulder and throwing her arm across Lexa's waist. She was quiet for a while, when she finally did speak there was a nervousness in her tone that confused Lexa. "You know I don't really have any right to be jealous yet."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just we haven't really talked about being exclusive yet...." Clarke drew patterns on Lexa's hip with her finger trying to feign nonchalance even though her heart was racing, fear of rejection flooding her.

"I hope we are but do you want to be?"

"Of course I do, the only person I want to be with is you." Clarke hurriedly explained.

"So you'll be my girlfriend?" Lexa asked almost shyly.

"Yes." Clarke grinned against the skin of Lexa's shoulder before she began kissing her way from there along her neck and jaw until she finally reached her lips where she placed one last kiss before pulling back to look into the green eyes she adored. "I would love to be your girlfriend."

They finally had to take a break when they heard voices coming from somewhere in their apartment, they quickly realized that their friends had broken into their apartment again, probably not realizing that there was a reason the door had been locked. Clarke decided she would deal with them since she was closer to the door, she got out of bed threw on a paint spattered shirt she had thrown by the door and a pair of sweatpants.

Clarke was relieved when she saw that her friends were still stood by the door rather than settled on the couch as it would make it a little easier to convince them to leave. "Okay here's the deal, me and Lex will be spending the remainder of the day alone, none of you are going to come into this apartment again, if you do I can't promise you won't be scarred for life, understood?"

"But what about our food?" Raven whined.

Clarke rolled her eyes. "You're dating a professional chef who's brother is also an incredible cook."

"Oh right." Raven said, realizing she had missed the obvious.

Lexa emerged from the bedroom wearing a loose shirt over a pair of shorts. "Guys can I have my girlfriend back now?"

"Wait, girlfriend?" Octavia practically squealed.

"Yes my girlfriend, we made it official and now we're celebrating or we would be if you could give us some privacy." Lexa explained.

"Finally!" Anya stated exasperatedly.

Lincoln beamed at them both. "I'm so happy for you."

"Who asked who?" Octavia asked giddily.

"When?" Raven questioned equally as excited.

"How?" Octavia left no time for the previous questions to be answered before asking another.

"Everybody out now." Lexa ordered sternly realising the soft approach wasn't going to work.

Raven huffed. "Fine but we're celebrating this as a group soon."

"And you will be giving us all the details then." Octavia added.

"Not all the details, some of us don't need to know what they get up to behind closed doors." Lincoln added.

"Agreed." Anya added.

"Out now, please." Lexa pleaded, ushering them all out the door.

"Geez the commander is insatiable." Octavia stated loudly as she slipped out through the door.

"I heard that." Lexa yelled back.

"You were meant to." Octavia responded in a sing-song tone.

As soon as the door closed Lexa pulled Clarke closer and captured her lips.

Clarke giggled as Lexa moved to nip lightly at her neck. "She's right, you know? You are insatiable."

"Is it so bad that I just can't get enough of my gorgeous girlfriend?"

Clarke hummed happily. "Say that again."

"My...." Lexa leaned forward capturing Clarke's lips in a short sweet kiss. "Gorgeous...." She pressed another kiss to Clarke's cheek. "Girlfriend." She husked out the word with her lips right next to Clarke's ear causing a shiver to run down Clarke's spine.

Clarke crashed their lips together, making quick work of removing Lexa's shirt again so they could make up for the brief time they had lost out on.

Lexa lay with her front flat against the bed leaving her back exposed to Clarke who was propped up on her elbow next to her tracing her fingers along Lexa's back tattoo.

"Eight circles."

"Hmm?"

"Why eight circles?"

"One for every person who's had an impact on my life. My dad, mom, Indra, Gustus, Lincoln, Anya, Thelonious and Alie."

"Thelonious and Alie? So you must have got this just before you moved here, right?

Lexa shook her head slightly. "I've had it for a few years I just got two more added after Thelonious and Alie became such a big part of my life. I've been thinking about adding more, I'm just trying to figure out how to go about it."

"What do you mean?"

"There's so many important people in my life now, that's a lot of circles I may run out of space."

"You've made it pretty clear to all of us how much you care about us, I don't think anyone will be upset if you don't get a circle for them."

"I know but it's more for me than anyone else, it feels like people are more permanent that way, it's my way of straightening those connections."

"You know none of us are going to leave you, right?"

"I never thought my mom would leave me but she did." Lexa sighed, she didn't mean to make things tense or awkward. She flipped over to lay on her back so she could look at Clarke. "I know it's just an irrational insecurity and I really am trying to get over it but it'll just take some time."

Clarke hated that Lexa's mother had so badly hurt Lexa, she wasn't expecting her to just suddenly get over her abandonment issues because she had so many people who cared about her, she wished it could be that simple for Lexa's sake but she knew those wounds would take a long time to fully heal and she knew she would be there every step of the way for whatever Lexa needed she just wanted Lexa to know that too. "I can't make any promises for anyone else but I can promise you that I'm not going anywhere any time soon. I'll be with you for as long as you're willing to keep me around, whatever you have to do to believe that you should do because it's true."

They locked eyes and just stared at each other for a moment, each preoccupied by their own thoughts.

Clarke finally broke the stare as her focus moved to Lexa's tattoo on her arm and she brushed her fingers along it. "You know I think I'd like a tattoo like this one, maybe you could design one similar to yours for me."

"Really? You know a tattoo is a big commitment, right? They're pretty permanent, I mean I know you can get them covered or lasered off but that's expensive and painful so it would probably be permanent."

"Lexa, I want to make that commitment." Clarke stated leaving no room for doubt that she actually meant it.

Lexa couldn't formulate any response, for the first time in months she was completely speechless, there was just no way to express what that meant to her. She pushed herself up to capture Clarke's lips, since she couldn't tell her how important that was to her she was determined to show her.

A little later on.

"Hey lovebirds, hate to interrupt but Mama Griff told us to make sure you two eat a good meal while you're using up so much energy so Anya made you guys food, I've left it on the kitchen counter."

While Raven was speaking Clarke and Lexa jumped out of bed and quickly pulled on the same clothes they had worn earlier when their friends had come over. As soon as they were both dressed Clarke opened the bedroom door finding Raven stood on the other side. "Please tell me you didn't discuss our sex life with my mother."

"Of course I did, I told everyone, this is a monumental moment in your relationship."

Clarke groaned at her friends lack of boundaries.

"When you say everyone what do you mean?" Lexa asked, coming up behind her girlfriend to wrap her arms around her waist as both a comforting gesture and a way to hold Clarke back if Raven pushed her a little too far.

"I sent out a group message." Raven said plainly.

"Raven for your own safety you need to leave right now." Clarke stated surprisingly calmly.

"Wow I was expecting at least a little yelling." Raven looked behind Clarke at Lexa. "You must have really worn her out, good job Woods"

Lexa couldn't help the look of pride that appeared on her face then.

"Lexa." Clarke scolded when she twisted slightly in the embrace and saw the look on her girlfriends face.

"Sorry." Lexa said to Clarke before looking back to Raven. "Reyes you need to go now."

"I really don't see the problem, everyone's super happy for you guys."

Lexa moved from behind Clarke to stand in front of her instead creating a boundary between her and Raven. "Seriously leave before she gets her energy back."

"Stop enjoying this." Clarke whined at Lexa.

"I'm sorry." Lexa turned around, pulled Clarke to her and dropped a sweet kiss on the tip of her nose to appease her.

Clarke blushed slightly at the cheesy gesture, she never expected it when Lexa did things like that and it was always the smallest gestures that made her feel like a shy young girl with her first crush.

"Ugh okay this just got grossly cutesy, I'm outta here." Raven finally conceded.

Lexa chuckled as Raven quickly exited the apartment. "Guess we've found the magic way to get some privacy."

"Yeah you just have to be your cute self." Clarke smirked but her attention was soon drawn to the smell coming from the kitchen. "Should we eat now?"

"It'll help you get some of your energy back." Lexa said while trying to keep an innocent expression on her face.

Clarke shook her head at her but couldn't hide her amused smile.

It was late in the night when they finally decided they needed to rest, completely exhausted but in the best possible way. Clarke knew for a long time after this her artwork would consist mainly of paintings of Lexa's body and her tattoos which she had memorized every detail of over the last few hours, even now while she was struggling to keep her eyes open she was itching to draw her.

Dinner the next day at Abby's had been one of the most uncomfortable experiences of both Clarke and Lexa's entire lives right from the very beginning when Abby had awkwardly congratulated them on taking the next step in their relationship to the way Anya and Raven repeatedly tried to start a group conversation about Clarke and Lexa's activities the previous day which only ended when Abby took pity on the two blushing girls and told Anya and Raven that they would be denied dessert if they continued to tease them.

Not long had passed since then, they finally felt settled as a couple, Lincoln and Anya had officially moved in with Raven and Octavia having given up their apartment instead of one of the couples taking it so none of them would have to live even just a short walk away from the others. Things were great for everyone. Then it all went to hell.

It was just another Thursday, Lexa sat diligently listening to Marcus give his lecture. Everything was perfectly normal until there was a sound so out of the ordinary Lexa couldn't place it at all, that was until the screaming and yelling started and she quickly realized exactly what those couple of pop sounds had been. All eyes were drawn to the door, through the small glass pane they could see a few students running past, trying to flee the building.

"Everybody get under your desks and keep your heads down." Marcus ordered, a slight tremble in his voice giving away the fear he was feeling.

Everyone did as they were told, the room was quiet apart from the occasional whimper from one of the frightened students. They could hear Marcus speaking on the phone to the 911 operator solidifying what they already suspected, that there was a shooter in the building. Marcus moved from the side of the desk where he had been crouched to stay hidden from anyone that might look through the small glass panel on the door, he slowly moved towards the door before gently pulling it open enough to stick his head out to see if he could see the shooter. He pulled back after a moment, closing the door quietly again before he raised his phone back up to his ear and told the operator that the corridor was empty.

Another shot rang out this one sounded just a little more distant than the last one.

Marcus continued to speak to the 911 operator for a few moments longer before addressing his students again. "Everybody just stay down and try not to make any noise that will draw attention to you." Marcus stood up and put his hand on the door handle, he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before slipping out the door deciding to try to stop the shooter himself.

The students sat in a stunned silence for a few moments not having expected Marcus to do that and not entirely sure what exactly he was doing, only Lexa knew for sure that he was putting himself in danger to protect all of them. Soon nerves started to get the better of the students and they began arguing through whispers about what they should do.

"We're on the ground floor, we should just climb out the windows." One of the boys near the back of the room suggested.

"What if the shooter sees us?" Another boy closer to the middle asked.

"If we stay here the shooter could get us anyways, at least if we go out the windows we have a better chance of getting away."

They finally all agreed it was best to get out of there rather than risk being confined in the room with a shooter. One of the boys volunteered to go first, after taking a minute to work up the courage to go he quietly slid open the window and climbed out, once outside he ducked down taking in his surroundings and looking for any sign of the shooter, when he felt sure enough that he was safe he made his escape, he dashed across the empty courtyard as quick as he could and disappeared around the corner towards the parking lot area. The remaining students waited a few moments after he disappeared from view listening for any indication of danger, when there was nothing but silence they all moved closer to the window and formed a queue, climbing out one after another and making their dash to safety.

As Harper was waiting for her turn to go she took a quick look behind her to see how many of them were left "Lexa?" Harper called noticing that Lexa was heading towards the door instead of towards the windows with the others.

Lexa turned around to look at her friend, seeing the clear confusion on Harper's face she explained "I've got to find Clarke.".

"She wouldn't want you putting yourself in danger." Harper tried to reason.

"I need to know she's safe."

A moment of silence passed between them as Harper tried to figure out how to stop Lexa from endangering herself while Lexa just hoped her friend would understand that she needed to do this.

"There's no way to stop you from going out there, is there?" Harper asked, already knowing the answer and clearly not happy about it.

Lexa just shook her head.

Harper sighed dejectedly. "Just be careful."

"You too."

The two shared a quick hug before Lexa made her way out to the corridor disappearing from view.

The corridor was empty apart from bags and books scattered around the floor having been abandoned in the chaos, the absolute silence was unnerving. Lexa was all too aware of how loud her own footsteps were in the empty corridor. She knew Clarke's schedule just as well as she knew her own so she knew she needed to get down one more corridor and up a flight of stairs before the classroom Clarke should be in would be in her line of sight. She hoped that when she did get there she would find the room empty and know that Clarke was safe. She knew going out the window wouldn't be an option from Clarke's classroom as it was too high up but maybe they had been quick enough to react that they had escaped the building before it became too much of a risk.

As soon as one of the waiters came into the kitchen and told everyone about the shooting Anya grabbed her car keys and quickly left the restaurant, she didn't waste any time explaining to anyone where she was going but she knew Titus would understand why she had to go so abruptly.

As she was driving she tried to call her girlfriend, her cousin and friends, after a few failed attempts she finally got through to Raven who told her she was safe and out in the crowd looking for their friends but hadn't found anyone yet. Anya breathed a sigh of relief knowing her girlfriend was safe but couldn't completely relax since Lexa, Clarke and Octavia were still unaccounted for.

Raven warned her not to drive like a maniac trying to get there, the last thing she wanted was for Anya to get in a car accident, she promised to keep Anya updated as she continued to search for their friends but word had spread quickly around Arkadia about the shooting and a crowd of worried family and friends gathered just beyond the police cordons set up surrounding the college so she knew it could take quite a while to find them all. They mutually decided that they should end the call so that their friends would be able to contact them if they could.

Octavia struggled to get through the crowd, her height really didn't help in this situation, she could barely see where she was going. She pushed through until she reached the edge of the crowd, relishing the freedom when she finally broke through.

She took a moment to figure out what she should do, just blindly roaming through the crowd was getting her nowhere, there was a strong possibility she had already been in close proximity to at least one of her friends already but hadn't seen them. She spotted a pickup truck parked close by to the middle of the crowd, when she moved closer she could see there wasn't anyone in the truck but she figured if the owner did spot her near their car they would be understanding given the situation so she climbed up on the back of the truck using it as a platform to look over the crowd.

After a few minutes of looking around she sighed dejectedly, it was just as difficult trying to find her friends by looking at the tops of peoples heads and she was starting to lose hope of finding them any time soon. She was having one last look around when she felt a tug on the leg of her pants, she looked down to see Anya looking up at her.

"Better vantage point?" Anya asked.

Octavia climbed down from the truck. "You'd think so but no."

Anya pulled Octavia into a hug which was a first for them but felt warranted given the situation. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Everyone else will be too." Octavia stated reassuringly as they broke apart. "Let's keep looking for them."

As students escaped the building they were quickly searched and questioned before being allowed to go join the crowds gathered in the parking lot. Harper let her eyes roam around the crowd as she waited to be released by the police, she was relieved when she saw Monty, Jasper and Maya not too far away but she kept surveying the crowd as she knew she needed to find Raven, Clarke or Octavia so she could tell them what Lexa had done. She soon caught sight of Octavia making her way through the crowd with Anya and as soon as the police cleared her she headed straight to them.

"Octavia!" She called to get the girls attention before she could lose them in the crowd again. "Anya!"

Both Anya and Octavia stopped walking and turned around to find the source of the voice calling them, Octavia was the first to spot her. "Harper hey it's good to see you're okay."

"Yeah you too, listen I thought you should know that Lexa went looking for Clarke, I tried to talk her out of it but she wouldn't leave without knowing Clarke's safe."

"That idiot." Anya hissed.

"Thanks for letting us know Harper."

"No problem, I need to go to Monty I spotted him just over there with Maya and Jasper, let me know when you find everyone, okay?"

"Sure, let me know if you see them first too."

"Okay."

As soon as Harper walked away Octavia turned her attention to Anya. "You're going to try go in after her, aren't you?" Octavia asked, already knowing the answer.

"I have to, I can't let her get hurt."

"I'm coming with you." Octavia stated with determination.

Anya immediately shook her head. "No I need you to stay out here and call me if you see Clarke or Lexa."

"That's a bullshit excuse to keep me out here." She argued.

"Yes but it really would help to have you watching out for them here and I won't be able to concentrate if I have to worry about protecting you too."

Octavia huffed, she knew it was a good argument but she hated the idea of letting her friend go in there alone. "Fine just don't get shot."

"Wasn't planning to." Anya responded, not showing any signs of fear.

As soon as Lexa reached the top of the stairs she spotted her girlfriend at the end of the corridor.

The fear on Clarke's face was clear to Lexa and she instinctively ran towards her girlfriend only to come to a halt a few feet away from her when a glimpse of movement to her left caught her attention. She turned to find a disheveled looking Finn stood not far from them holding a handgun.

Chancing a quick glance to her right she saw that there was a boy on his knees holding his hands up in front of his face in surrender, she could clearly see he was shaking. Another student, Lexa couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl as she could only see their knees, was crouching behind a trash can using it as a makeshift shield.

"You." Finn spat the word, pulling her attention back to him.

"He's drunk." Clarke said quietly so he wouldn't hear her.

Lexa gave Clarke a nearly imperceptible nod so she would know she had heard her before she turned fully towards him.

"You did this to me, you took away everything from me." There was a distinct slur in his words but the venom in them was clear.

"I didn't take anything from you." Lexa responded calmly.

"Oh really? They kicked me out of college because of you, my parents cut me off because of you, I have nothing because of you."

"You're the one that attacked her Finn, she wasn't looking for any trouble, you dragged her into your issues with me."

"Oh please stop playing the innocent victims." Finn said bitterly, swaying slightly as he turned the gun towards Clarke.

"Okay Finn what exactly do you think I did that caused any of this? The way I see it you attacked me, you made that choice and everything that happened after that was because of that choice." Lexa knew she was antagonizing him but it was the only way she could think of to get him to stop pointing the gun at Clarke and aim it at her instead.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Marcus approaching slowly and quietly trying to remain undetected by Finn. She cursed herself when her gaze momentarily traveled over to him because when it locked back on Finn she realized he had noticed it and was just about to look to see what she had seen. In a moment of pure panic she did the first thing she could think of to distract him. "You're a real idiot Finn, you know all this will do is ruin your life even more."

His attention immediately snapped back to Lexa, directing a glare at her he spat "shut up!"

"You can't just walk away from this." She pushed to keep his focus on her.

"I said shut up." He screamed.

It took a minute for it to click in her mind, the sound of the gun firing was the first thing that registered, then she felt it. At first it felt like the jolt that runs through your body as you fall but almost immediately it became a pain unlike anything she had ever experienced. She heard Clarke call her name as she touched the spot on her abdomen where the bullet had pierced her skin, she saw the look of shock on Finn's face as he realized what he had done and then she saw Marcus tackle him to the ground before her legs finally gave out, Clarke just managing to catch her before she fully hit the ground.

Lexa struggled to catch her breath, the shock and pain making it nearly impossible.

Clarke lowered Lexa to the ground, needing her to lay flat. "You'll be okay. Just lie still, okay? Lie still." Clarke ripped Lexa's shirt enough to get to the wound, she visibly paled at the amount of blood Lexa had already lost.

Seeing the fear on Clarke's face made Lexa tune out the pain only focusing on trying to calm her girlfriend. "Don't be afraid."

"You're gonna be fine. Just stay still." Clarke pulled off the shirt she had on over her tank top and used it to press against the wound.Clarke

Lexa howled from the pain caused by Clarke pressing the garment against the wound but she needed to keep pressure on it to try to slow the blood flow.

"Go tell the police the shooter's restrained and a student is injured." Marcus said to the boy who was still on his knees, when he didn't immediately move Marcus practically screamed "go now!", the boy got up and took off running towards the stairs soon followed by the other student who had been hiding behind the bin.

Lexa was fighting to stay awake, she felt absolutely exhausted, her eyelids felt heavier than they ever had.

"Lex....Lexa come on you gotta stay with me, okay?" Clarke pleaded, tears streaming down her cheeks as she lightly pressed down a little harder on the shirt she held to Lexas wound. "Please Lexa, stay with me."

"It's....it's okay Clarke." Lexa struggled to get the words out but she needed to comfort Clarke.

"Help's gonna get here any second now, you need to stay awake until they do, okay?" Clarke tried speaking as softly as she could to try to ease Lexa's worries. She instantly regretted it when she saw Lexa's eyes close slowly showing no signs of reopening. "Lex? Lexa....Lexa no, wake up please."

Barely a moment passed before a paramedic was dropping to his knees beside Lexa. "What have we got?" He asked more to himself than anyone else.

"Gunshot wound to the abdomen, she's only just lost consciousness." Clarke informed him.

"Med student?" The paramedic asked while opening his kit, clearly surprised by her response.

"No, my mom's a doctor at Arkadia general."

The paramedic nodded in response as he checked Lexa's wound before the other paramedic appeared with a spinal board.

Clarke moved out of the way allowing them the space they needed to work.

"We need to move her now." The first paramedic informed her.

Once they had Lexa on the spinal board ready to move Clarke informed them that Lexa was her girlfriend and she would be going with them, thankfully they agreed to let her go with them, she didn't know if it was because of the situation they were in or because she was the daughter of a doctor but she didn't waste much time thinking about it.

Clarke rang Abby to tell her what was happening on the way to the hospital, after putting the call on loudspeaker the paramedic relayed all the essential information to Abby and her colleagues who would be waiting at the entrance of the ER for their arrival. After Lexa was unloaded from the ambulance she was rushed into the hospital surrounded by doctors with Clarke and Abby following close behind.

Abby stopped Clarke before they reached the restricted area that led to the operating rooms, knowing she couldn't allow Clarke to pass that point. "Are you okay honey?" She asked with concern looking over every inch of Clarke for any obvious sign of injury which was difficult with Lexa's blood all over her.

"Yeah I'm fine, just please help Lexa." Clarke desperately pleaded.

Abby sighed, knowing Clarke wouldn't like what she had to say. "They can't let me operate because they know how close I am to her after the last time she was here but they're letting me in to monitor."

Clarke looked shocked by what her mother had said. "But she should have the best doctor and that's you mom."

"Honey I'm way too close to her, I wouldn't be able to concentrate properly and she really needs doctors who can focus." Abby grasped Clarke's shoulders in a bid to get her daughter to focus on her. "She is in good hands, they'll do everything they can to save her, okay? She will make it through this." Abby knew she wasn't supposed to say things like that about patients because you never know what can go wrong during an operation but there was no way she would ever acknowledge the possibility of Lexa not making it through this. She pulled her daughter into her arms giving her a much needed comforting hug before she left to go join the other doctors in the operation room.

When her mother was gone Clarke stood frozen to the spot only now allowing herself to fully process what had happened. Tears streamed down her face as she slid to the floor, shaking as she looked down at her hands covered in Lexa's blood.

After a few minutes she got up and ran to the nearest bathroom dousing her hands in soap and washing away the blood in the hope that it would somehow change what had happened. After frantically scrubbing at her hands until all traces of blood were gone she leaned against the sink, closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, she needed to be strong for Lexa, she knew Lexa wouldn't want her to fall apart.

She realized not long after that no one but her, Abby and Marcus knew what had happened to Lexa. She took a moment to compose herself as much as she could knowing she needed to be able to speak clearly when making calls to Lexa's family and their friends to give them the devastating news.

Anya was held up after the shooting when the police came across her while searching around the building, she had been trying to figure out a way to get in without police stopping her but never having been in the college before prevented her from being able to figure out which entrances would be clear. For security purposes they had to search her and question her about why she was there so they could make sure she wasn't a threat. When she finally got back out to the parking lot she found her girlfriend being comforted by Harper as she sobbed. She ran the few steps to reach her and cupped Raven's face in her hands. "Babe? What's wrong?"

"It's Lexa....she's...." Raven shook her head unable to repeat what she had been told. "We have to get to the hospital."

Harper rubbed Raven's back in a calming manner.

Anya visibly paled. "What....what happened?"

"Lexa was shot." Harper explained.

"No...." Anya desperately hoped this was just some really twisted joke.

Raven reached for Anya, pulling her to her and wrapping her arms around her. "It's true."

"No." Anya repeated, even quieter this time as the tears started to stream.

"Let's get to her." Raven managed to calm herself a little wanting to provide much needed support to her girlfriend.

"I'll drive you guys there." Harper offered knowing neither of them were in a fit state to drive.

Raven pulled back from her girlfriend to look at her friend. "Thanks Harper."

"We have to tell Linc, Octavia's somewhere here too I asked her to watch out for you, Clarke....oh god we have to tell Clarke." Anya said, clearly still in a daze from the shock.

"That's taken care of, Monty's looking for them here, Jasper and Maya are checking the gym and your apartment too for Lincoln, they'll get them to the hospital when they find them and Clarke went with Lexa in the ambulance."

Anya nodded her head repeatedly, Raven placed her hands on Anya's cheeks keeping her head still and getting her to look at her. "Lexa needs us to be strong for her now, we can fall apart once we know she's okay."

It took a moment for Anya to register what she had said but when she did she gave a tiny nod.

Raven looked to Harper knowing that was all the confirmation she would get. "Let's go."

The police arrived at the hospital about an hour after they had all gotten there, they initially came to get an update about how Lexa was and collect her clothes for evidence but when they learned that Clarke was there they went to speak with her to get a statement. While they were talking a nurse approached them with a pair of scrubs for Clarke to change into since hers were stained in Lexa's blood. It became clear to Clarke that the nurses were watching out for her, most of them knew she was Abby's daughter so it wasn't such a surprise that they would keep an eye on her for Abby.

While they were waiting for her to return Lincoln approached the two police officers to find out what he could about what had happened, no one had asked Clarke knowing she probably didn't want to speak about it yet and not wanting to stress her out anymore the she already was. He was doing his best to remain calm while speaking to them so he could get all the information he needed but that went to hell when his sister came bolting over towards them demanding answers about what had happened to her cousin and why more hadn't been done to prevent this from happening. Instead of getting the information he needed Lincoln ended up having to get his sister away from the officers before she started to take her anger out on them which he knew could easily happen if they said anything she didn't like.

After another hour of waiting Abby entered the waiting area to tell them that the surgery was going well so far but it would last for at least another few hours. Soon after Indra and Gustus had arrived and were caught up on what was happening Harper, Monty, Jasper and Maya decided they should go not wanting to take up too much space in the waiting room. Octavia and Raven offered to go get supplies to keep them going for the next few hours and a change of clothes for Clarke so she wouldn't have to keep wearing the uncomfortable scrubs.

"Come on you two lets go for a walk." Anya told Lincoln and Clarke when she noticed Clarke shifting uncomfortably in her chair and Lincoln subtly trying to stretch out his legs.

"I think I should stick around here." Clarke said, clearly nervous about the idea of leaving.

"If there's any news mom or dad will call one of us, right?"

Gustus nodded. "Yes, of course we will."

"You should go with them Clarke, you've been sitting here for hours, a walk and some fresh air will do you good." Indra reasoned.

"You'll call if you hear anything?"

"Of course."

"Okay." Clarke conceded.

Anya pulled Clarke up out of the chair before she could change her mind.

Indra sighed sadly watching the three walk away, Lincoln on one side of Clarke with his arm slung over her shoulder, Anya on the other side linking arms with her, both trying their best to distract her even if it was only for a few minutes. "They're too young to be going through this."

"I know. They're strong though, all of them, they have us and they have each other to get through this." Gustus took his wife's hand and interlocked their fingers. "Lexa will pull through."

"Lexa will pull through." Indra repeated just as confidently as her husband had.

Raven and Octavia split the jobs, Raven went to Clarke and Lexa's apartment to get clothes for Clarke while Octavia went to their local shop to pick up food and drinks to keep everyone going for a while.

"You okay?" Octavia asked Raven noticing her eyes were rimmed red when she returned.

She nodded. "You?" Raven asked her seeing the clear tear tracks left behind on her cheeks.

They had both taken the little time alone that they had to let out the feelings they had tried to keep bottled up not wanting to further upset the other.

"I packed a bag of stuff Lexa might need for the next few days."

"That's good Rae."

They both stood beside the couch taking in their surroundings, the possibility that Lexa might not ever return to that apartment finally hitting them.

"I'm scared." Raven admitted quietly.

Octavia wrapped her arms around Raven in a tight hug, providing some much needed comfort to both of them. "I know, I am too."

"What if she doesn't pull through?"

"She will, she has to." Octavia stated confidently leaving no room for any doubt.

"She's gonna be okay Clarke." Anya stated.

"How can you sound so sure?"

"Lexa would do anything for you, including surviving a gunshot wound." Lincoln gave Clarke a one armed hug as they were walking. "She's probably in there now having some weird anesthesia induced dream about fighting her way through a hoard of zombies to get to you."

Anya chuckled. "Knowing her that's entirely likely."

"I can't lose her."

"You won't, she's going to be fine Clarke."

"She's strong, look at everything she's already overcome, this won't be the end of her." Lincoln said with absolute confidence.

"Why aren't you guys mad at me? Your cousin got shot protecting me from my ex, you have every right to hate me."

Anya sighed, she brought them all to a standstill so she could be sure Clarke was listening as she explained. "Clarke if I thought this was in any way your fault I would've been screaming at you from the moment I got here until Lexa gets out of surgery but I haven't because I know you had no control over this."

"I feel the same way she does. The only person to blame here is Finn, he is pure evil."

"You need to stop blaming yourself, Lexa would hate it if she knew that's what was happening."

Clarke knew she was right, it was hard to just stop blaming herself but she was willing to try for Lexa so she nodded her agreement.

Satisfied that Clarke wouldn't blame herself at least for the moment Anya started to move them all along around the hospital grounds again.

Thelonious and Alie practically ran into the waiting room, skipping the usual greetings to ask "what's going on?" and "how is she?" simultaneously.

"She's still in surgery, Abby's in there making sure everything's going okay, she's not allowed to operate but I'm sure she'll fight that if she thinks she needs to step in." Indra commented.

They both took a seat after the explanation, ready for a long wait until the next update on Lexa. "What happened?" Thelonious asked.

"That boy that beat her up, he got drunk and brought a gun into the school." Gustus explained.

"I guess that explains why there are a few news vans outside." Alie stated.

"They're probably waiting for a statement from the hospital about it." Indra explained.

"Vultures." Thelonious stated angrily. "They're just looking for a big story."

Alie rubbed circles over his back trying to calm him although she felt the same degree of anger towards those reporters she knew there was nothing they could do to stop them from doing their jobs and Lexa was more important than they were anyway so it wasn't worth wasting their energy on being mad at them.

Marcus was the next to arrive, he had stayed at the college to provide additional information to the police and see for himself that FInn was in custody. He told them he had provided the police with all the information about Finn's previous attack on Lexa which would help to show that this wasn't a one time offence, that Finn had sought out Lexa orchestrated a planned attack on her with the intention of causing her physical harm and that's exactly what he wanted to do this time too. The police told him that the information would be a big help when it comes time for Finn to stand trial and should put a stop to his legal team trying to use the alcohol as a defense for his actions.

It wasn't long before Octavia and Raven returned with plenty of sandwiches, snacks and drinks to keep them all going for far more than just a few hours. It took a bit of prodding to get Clarke to eat but once Anya mentioned that Lexa wouldn't be happy to hear she had been starving herself she was quick to take one of the sandwiches and a bottle of water. Octavia and Raven both mouthed a silent thank you to her, she nodded in acknowledgement but didn't need any gratitude for helping Clarke, she may not have made it obvious but she did care about Clarke so she was happy to look after her knowing it's what Lexa would want most.

"She's alive." Abby breathed out, her relief evident in her voice. "The next few hours are critical but if she can make it through the night without any problems she should be fine."

Everyone finally allowed themselves to breathe normally again.

Clarke moved straight across the room. "Mom...."

"Oh sweetie come here." Her mother held her arms out to her and she gladly embraced her. "She's going to be fine Clarke, I know she will."

"I know it must've been hard for you in there, thank you for doing that."

"She's family." Abby pulled back giving Clarke a comforting smile that made her feel like everything really would be okay.

"Thank you for being there with her." Indra said, coming up to hug Abby next.

"They couldn't have kept me out of that operating room even if they tried but I'm glad they didn't."

"Is there any long term serious damage that we should be worried about?" Alie asked.

"No, no, she was unbelievably lucky, no internal injuries, although the bullet was incredibly close to hitting her pancreas, it was only about three centimeters away." Abby stated in a worried tone but she shook it off knowing the bullet hadn't caused any major damage. "They were very thorough, there's absolutely no chance they've missed anything. They'll check throughout the night to make sure everything's okay but we're really not expecting any problems, she'll have a surgical scar but that's nothing in comparison to what could have happened."

"Is it a big scar?" Lincoln asked out of curiosity.

"Somewhat but it will get smaller with time."

"Why did it take so long if there was no major damage done?" Anya questioned, feeling like it didn't quite add up.

"With gunshot wounds we have to do exploratory surgery to make sure there's no hidden damage and they made sure they checked absolutely everything."

"Will she be in much pain from it?" Thelonious asked.

"Yes, it will be pretty painful for the first few days and then the pain should start to ease off over time but we'll be giving her painkillers to make it a little easier for her."

"Guys there's plenty of time for questions later, let Abby take a break for a bit, okay?" Gustus pleaded, knowing she must have been worn out.

Abby thanked him before she took a seat exhausted from the last few hours, she wasn't used to being an observer in the operating room and it had taken a lot of energy to stop herself from trying to help but she knew that her colleagues were doing their absolute best to save Lexa.

Marcus moved to the empty seat beside her and wrapped his arm around her allowing her to rest her head against his shoulder, as soon as she did the tears started flowing having kept it all bottled up since she first got the call from Clarke. Marcus pressed a kiss to the top of her head and ran his hand up and down her arm trying to soothe her.

Everyone sat back down too settling in for another few hours of waiting for Lexa to wake up, the feeling in the room was a lot less tense now that they knew Lexa's surgery had gone well.

Bellamy, Echo, Roan and Luna arrived in the waiting room just over a half hour later all looking exhausted from the long drive to get there. After they caught up on everything that happened Abby gave Bellamy the keys to her house and suggested they go get some rest there since Lexa likely wouldn't be awake until the next morning and they looked like they would soon pass out from exhaustion after the long drive.

Everyone else decided to stay until Lexa woke up, with the provisions that Octavia and Raven had brought they all felt confident that they could manage a few more hours.

A few hours later.

The pain hit her before she could even open her eyes, she couldn't stop the pained noise that escaped her as she struggled to adjust to the discomfort in her abdomen.

"Hey, hey Lexa it's okay, I'm going to give you something for the pain."

She vaguely recognized the voice but she couldn't be sure if it really was Abby without looking to see, the pain was all she could focus on. She tried to think back to a few hours ago, trying to piece together what had happened to her but her mind was a blur. She still had her eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to manage the pain when she sensed movement to her right side, It didn't take long after that before the pain started to dull and she could feel herself slipping back to sleep. She welcomed the relief she felt, thankful to whoever it was that had eased her pain.

The next time she woke up she wasn't sure if her body had adjusted to the pain or if she had been given painkillers to help numb the pain to more of a dull throb. She stared up at the fluorescent lights on the ceiling, if it wasn't for the pain she felt they would've been the biggest giveaway that she was in hospital along with the steady beat from the monitor beside her bed.

"Welcome back." Lexa looked down towards the end of the bed where Abby was stood, looking at her with a soft smile. She placed the chart on the end of the bed and moved to stand beside Lexa. "How are you feeling?"

"Better now." She croaked, her voice hoarse from disuse. "Clarke?"

"She's fine, she's just worried about you, we all are." Abby tucked back Lexa's hair in a motherly manner. "Do you want me to elevate the bed?"

Lexa gave the tiniest of nods.

Abby pressed the button on the bed remote to raise it up, being mindful of Lexa's wound. Once Lexa was comfortable Abby got the jug of water she had brought in after Lexa woke the first time and filled a glass for Lexa which she happily took.

"How long have I been knocked out?"

"A little over eight hours now, you woke up earlier but we gave you a sedative to give you a little more time to recuperate." Abby took Lexa's chart again, looking between it and the heart monitor she quickly jotted something down and put it away again giving Lexa her full attention. "Do you remember what happened to you?"

Lexa thought for a moment recalling the events of the previous day now that her mind wasn't as blurry before she hummed. "Up until I guess I blacked out?"

Abby sat on the edge of the bed. "You lost a lot of blood but the bullet didn't hit any vital organs. You were incredibly lucky Lexa, you could've died."

"I thought I had." Lexa swallowed harshly and shaking off the negative thought. "Was anyone else hurt?"

Abby shook her head. "After Finn shot you Marcus tackled him and knocked him out and while he did fire a few shots before he shot you they seemed to be aimed at the roof so the police think he was aimlessly firing into the air."

"Finn's locked up now though, right?"

"Yes, you're safe now Lexa, don't worry, he can't ever hurt you again."

Lexa breathed a sigh of relief, she could finally relax knowing he wouldn't be lurking around waiting for the opportunity to attack her again.

Gustus and Indra were the first to go in to see her, since she was still in the intensive care unit not too many people could go in at one time so they decided on groups of two. After Gustus and Indra had seen her Lincoln and Anya were next in.

Lexa couldn't help but feel like something was off, not with Lincoln he was his usual caring self doting on her but Anya seemed to be unusually quiet, Lexa had been expecting her to be angry at her for endangering her own life or even just lecture her in a raised voice about it but for her to just stand there silently as though nothing had happened was just bizarre.

"Hey, hey it's okay I'm fine." Lexa said trying to calm Alie as she had immediately burst into tears as soon as she entered the room and saw Lexa.

"She knows she just can't help it." Thelonious responded for his wife as he rubbed her back in a soothing manner and directed her towards one of the chairs beside Lexa's bed. "The last few hours have been absolutely terrifying."

"I'm really sorry for scaring you."

"We're just happy you're safe now." Thelonious took Lexa's hand giving it a soft squeeze.

"God you're such a good kid." Alie blurted out through her sobs.

Lexa was taken aback by her tone, unsure of why that sounded like it was a bad thing. "I'm….sorry? I can try to be worse if you want?"

"No I mean this shit just keeps happening and you're still so good after it all, how do you do it?"

Lexa smiled finally understanding what Alie meant. "I've got too much good in my life for the negative experiences to get me down."

"I think we should wake her." Gustus said to his wife as they looked at Clarke sleeping in an awkward curled up position on one of the waiting room chairs. "Lexa really wants to see her and Clarke would probably want us to wake her up anyway."

"Okay but it was your idea so you're responsible for waking her up." Indra ordered not knowing whether Clarke was an easy or difficult person to wake.

"Clarke...." Gustus shook her arm gently. "Clarke....you need to wake up."

Clarke opened her eyes slightly, blinking rapidly in an attempt to adjust her eyes to the light, as soon as she realized it was Gustus that had woken her she immediately sat up properly hoping it wouldn't be bad news. "What's going on? Is Lexa okay?"

"She's okay Clarke, she's awake and she's asking to see you."

"She's awake?"

"Yes."

"And she's okay?" Clarke repeated back to Gustus again.

"Sore but otherwise she's her usual wonderful self." Gustus stated with a broad smile.

Clarke looked to Indra for confirmation that it was true, when Indra gave a quick nod a sob erupted from Clarke's throat. "I'm sorry...." Clarke wiped at the rapidly falling tears. "I was just so scared she wouldn't wake up."

"It's okay Clarke you don't have to apologize or try to hide how relieved you are, we all feel the same way." Indra handed Clarke a tissue to wipe away her tears.

"We better get you to her before she decides to climb out of bed to find you herself." Gustus stood and offered his hand to Clarke to help her up which she happily took.

Lexa beamed seeing her girlfriend. "Hey beautiful."

"Hey baby." Clarke croaked, her voice hoarse from the near constant sobs of relief since finding out that Lexa was okay.

Lexa smiled sadly knowing how upsetting the last few hours must have been for her. "Come here." She held her arms out open to Clarke.

Clarke quickly moved to the bed, she gingerly sat on the empty space and leaned down to embrace Lexa.

Lexa wrapped her arms around Clarke's neck and pulled her closer, knowing Clarke needed her guidance to know how gentle she had to be but Lexa was willing to endure a little more pain to have Clarke in her arms again.

"I thought I'd never see you again." Clarke choked out the words, barely audibly.

Lexa soothingly rubbed Clarke's back. "It's okay Clarke, I'm okay."

After a few minutes Clarke managed to calm down and started leaving a trail of kisses leading from the crook of Lexa's neck, along her jaw, against her cheek and finally ending up on her lips.

When they eventually pulled apart Lexa kept her eyes closed basking in the blissful feeling induced by Clarke's kiss. She kept her eyes shut until she felt Clarke's hand cup her cheek, when she opened them she saw that Clarke looked unusually nervous.

"I love you." Clarke let out a deep breath, she hadn't realised how nervous she had been to say that. "I'm sorry I didn't say it sooner but you need to know I am so in love with you."

"You love me?" Lexa was awestruck, she really hadn't expected Clarke to say that.

Clarke bit her lip and nodded. "I love you so much."

Lexa beamed at her girlfriend. "I love you too Clarke." She pulled her girlfriend closer sealing the sentiment with a kiss.

This time when they pulled apart Clarke looked just as blissful as Lexa did. "Please don't ever get shot again."

"I'll try not to."

"Try super hard." Clarke ordered. "How are you feeling?"

"Right now? Pretty great actually."

Clarke furrowed her brow in confusion. "Really?"

"Well the woman I love just told me she loves me too so it's hard not to feel fantastic." Lexa grinned at her.

"You're sweet but seriously are you okay?"

"I am, I'm a little sore but it's not as bad as I imagined it would be."

"That's good."

"Pretty sure your mom got me the really good painkillers."

"That does sound like something she would do." Clarke smiled but it soon faded as she looked at Lexa's hand resting in her own with tubes attached and the reality of what had happened hit her once again. "I'm sorry you ended up getting hurt because of me again."

"Hey no, don't do that."

"Don't do what?"

"Don't try to blame yourself for this, you couldn't have seen this coming, no one could."

"Anya and Lincoln said the same."

"Well they were right, you should listen to them." Lexa frowned recalling earlier events. "Hey how has Anya been about all of this?"

"She was scared which was to be expected, why?"

"It's nothing she just seems a little off, like she's hasn't really accepted what happened. I'm probably just reading too much into it, she could just be worn out from being here all night."

"I'll tell Rae to keep an eye on her and the rest of us will too." Clarke reassured her. "Right now all you need to focus on is getting better so you can come back home to me."

"You know people usually don't look this happy after getting shot." Octavia pointed out as she entered the room.

Lexa's smile only grew larger. "Clarke told me she loved me."

"'Bout time." Raven stated, sitting down on the bottom of the bed.

"Did you say it back?"

"Of course, I've wanted to say it for a long time but I was worried it was too soon."

"Too soon? You two are the perfect example of love at first sight." Raven pointed out matter of factly.

"You two only admitted to having feelings for each other after you got beat up and ended up in hospital, then you both said the L word for the first time after you got shot and again ended up in hospital, it's like the universe is forcing you two to advance your relationship." Octavia summarized. "When you guys reach the next milestone maybe you shouldn't wait for the perfect moment."

"That's actually a very good point, I'll bear that in mind."

"Plus side to all this I already know what I'm getting you next Christmas." Raven stated excitedly.

"I'm almost afraid to ask but what will it be?"

Raven smirked. "A bulletproof vest."

Lexa couldn't stop the laugh that escaped. "Well at least you have enough faith in me to trust that I won't get shot again for a few months."

"Oh I don't, it'll be a very early Christmas present."

Lexa shook her head. "You know Clarke would kill you for saying that."

"Your cousin would too, that's why I'm saying it now while they're not in the room."

"I would smack her for them but I actually think it's a good idea." Octavia explained as she continued rooting through the rucksack she had brought in with her.

"What are you up to over there?"

"Hospital food sucks so we got some snacks for you."

"i'm donating my cheetohs to you and O's donating some stuff from her stash too."

"All the chocolatey goodness you could ever want."

"Just don't eat it all at once, I'm putting some of your clothes over it so none of the doctors see it, you don't want them confiscating it."

"If you want other food like pizza or anything you can count on us to get it for you." Raven added.

"Day or night we'll smuggle it in no problem."

"What would I do without you two?" Lexa could sense a change in her two friends as soon as she said this, the two usually bubbly and quirky girls became tense and serious.

Octavia finally gave Lexa her full attention. "You know you really scared us."

"I'm really sorry guys."

"We know and we're not mad or anything we just really don't want to lose you." Raven explained.

"Yeah we're proud of you for protecting Clarke but you're going to have to deal with us being overprotective of you for a really long time after this."

Lexa let a small smile show. "I think I'll be okay with that."

After Octavia and Raven left Abby returned to the room with two nurses and another doctor, after accessing Lexa's condition and cleaning her wound Abby explained that they were going to move her out of the ICU now that she was clear of any danger. Lexa was glad to hear that, she knew seeing her in the ICU was making everyone more anxious than they needed to be so she figured seeing her in a regular recovery room would help ease their minds.

"Hey guys, you didn't have to come all this way." Lexa said as she watched Bellamy, Echo, Roan and Luna all file into the hospital room.

"Lexa you got shot, of course we came." Roan stated as an obvious fact.

"How are you feeling?" Luna asked taking a seat beside the bed.

"Not too bad actually but they did just give me more painkillers so that could be why."

"I'd imagine that would have something to do with it." Bellamy said coming to stand beside the bed.

Echo came to stand beside him wrapping her arm around his waist. "The things you do for love Lex."

"There was no way I was going to let Clarke get hurt."

"I stand by what I said, you two are so damn adorable." Luna stated with a big grin.

"I wouldn't exactly call taking a bullet for someone adorable, it's more badass." Echo argued.

"More importantly very dangerous and foolish." Bellamy scolded, sounding far older than he was.

"I know that's the beginning of a lecture so let me ask you this first, if it was you and Echo wouldn't you have done the same?" Lexa questioned.

"Yes but...." Bellamy huffed when he couldn't think of a good argument. "I see the blood loss hasn't hindered your debating skills at all."

"The blood loss was only temporary, I've got it back now." Lexa indicated towards the IV stand where an empty blood bag was hanging.

"You've just lost your best chance of winning a debate against her." Roan smirked at Bellamy but he just huffed in response knowing he was right causing everyone to chuckle at his annoyance.

After everyone had seen Lexa she was pretty wiped out so she needed to rest, knowing it would likely be a long sleep rather than a short nap she asked Abby to tell everyone to go get some rest instead of camping out in the waiting room until she woke up again. It took some convincing but they all did eventually agree.

Abby told Lexa she was planning to sleep in the on call room so she would be close by if Lexa needed her but Lexa managed to talk her out of it by pointing out that there were plenty of other doctors to keep an eye on her and she wasn't in any danger anymore so she should go home and sleep in her own bed rather than the uncomfortable on call room. Once Clarke had heard her mother was going home instead of staying at the hospital she decided to go stay with her for the night rather than going back to her and Lexa's apartment instead giving her keys to Indra so that her, Gustus, Alie and Thelonious could stay there rather than going to a hotel.

Lexa was glad they were all going to leave the hospital, she would sleep much easier knowing they would finally get some much needed rest.

The next morning.

Clarke darted straight to the bed as soon as she entered the room climbing up on it and cuddling up to her girlfriend.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Lexa asked, worried by Clarke's speedy entrance.

"Just missed you." Clarke mumbled against the skin of her neck.

"I missed you too my love." Lexa kissed the top of her head.

Clarke sighed happily. "I like that."

"What?"

"You said my love instead of just love."

"You are my love." Lexa stated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I know and it's nice to hear you say it." Clarke stated with a pleased smile.

"Hopefully I'll be saying it for the rest of my life." Lexa ducked her head down to capture Clarke's lips.

"You're so damn cute." Clarke mumbled into the kiss.

"Did you get a good nights sleep?" Lexa asked when they pulled apart.

"I think I'm supposed to be the one to ask you that." Clarke stated in an attempt to avoid having to answer that.

"I'm on strong painkillers, getting a good nights sleep is very easy for me so back to you, how did you sleep?"

"Okay, please don't judge me for this...." Clarke looked away shyly, dreading having to admit the truth. "I slept in my moms bed."

"Why would I judge you for that?"

"Because I'm a grown woman who needed to crawl into her moms bed in the middle of the night to get some sleep."

"Clarke if you had just told me that you did get a good nights sleep then I would've been worried. You went through a horrible situation and then you spent over twenty-four hours in this hospital worrying about me, after all that you needed to feel safe and your mom makes you feel safe, there's nothing wrong with that."

Clarke smiled softly. "I should have known you'd understand."

"So you'll be staying here for a few more days just to be extra careful and then you can come stay with me again to recover fully."

"You don't have to do that Abby."

"I want to." Abby explained. "Besides I owe you a debt I can never repay."

Lexa frowned. "How so?"

"I can't say I approve of you putting yourself in danger but you did it to save my little girl, I will always be grateful for you protecting Clarke."

"I love her, I'd never let her get hurt."

Abby smiled softly, Clarke had told her about how they had finally declared their love earlier and she was happy to hear Lexa say it so freely. "I know and the same is true for her, I just wish you both wouldn't have to be in these situations where you have to protect each other."

"Now that Finn's locked up hopefully we won't have any more major problems."

"Speaking of him the police want to interview you about what happened, I've been putting them off as much as I can but I don't know how much longer they'll wait." Abby informed her.

Lexa nodded. "I'll speak to them the next time they come around, I want to get it over with so I can move on."

Between visits throughout the day from her friends and family the police came by again and this time she spoke to them. She was surprised by how thorough they were given that they seemed to know just about everything already but she figured the more information they had the better so she gave them every detail she could think of.

A few days later.

Lexa had finally been released from the hospital into Abby's care. She had told everyone the previous day that they should go back to their homes and get back to normality, of course they all had arguments about why they should stay but thanks to Abby reminding them of the remarkable progress she had already made in her recovery and that she would be taking care of Lexa they reluctantly agreed to leave although they stayed right up until the visiting hours had ended.

The following day it was late in the evening when Lexa was released, Abby stopped to pick up some takeaway food for them both on the way back to her house knowing Lexa would definitely want something other than hospital food or the not so secret stash of junk food Octavia and Raven had brought to the hospital for her but thinking it was a little late in the day to go cooking a meal for them both.

The evening was pretty relaxed, Abby had asked Clarke, Raven, Octavia, Anya and Lincoln not to go to the house that day as she needed to get Lexa settled in and that would be easier without all of them there to distract her. After they had eaten Abby brought Lexa to Clarke's old room and helped her get settled in for the night, even though she was healing well she still slept quite often, the cause was simply a combination of the painkillers she was on and her body trying to heal so Abby knew it wasn't anything to worry about.

The next morning.

Lexa was sitting on the bed responding to a text from Octavia when there was a knock on the bedroom door, she looked up just as Abby came into the room.

"I think we should—" Abby stopped speaking abruptly when Lexa's phone started ringing.

Lexa looked at the number on the screen, she frowned not recognizing it but decided to answer just in case it was important. "Hello?"

Abby watched as Lexa's expression turned from bewildered to frustrated.

"How did you get this number?" Lexa let out a deep sigh. "No, I do not want to do an interview." She rubbed at her temple out of frustration.

Abby approached Lexa and took the phone from her bringing it up to her own ear. "Who is this?" There was a pause from Abby but when she spoke again her tone had changed to an aggressive one. "I'm making it my business because she is my family and if I hear you've been bothering her again I won't hesitate to file a complaint with the police against you and your employer for harassment." Abby hit the end call button not giving the reporter a chance to say anything else.

Lexa took back the phone with a grateful smile when Abby held it out for her. "Thank you."

"No problem, if it happens again let me know and I'll take care of it."

"I wish I knew how they're getting my number."

"Those people are sneaky, they would do anything to get their headlines."

"You're right." Lexa shook off the thought of them, deciding not to give them any more of her time. "What were you going to ask me before that call?"

"Oh right I was just going to ask if you wanted to go for a walk?" Abby readied herself for an argument, usually it took a lot of prodding to get a patient to agree to move knowing it would be painful. "I know it won't feel great but if we can just get you through three short walks a day it will really help your recovery and you need to move around to prevent any blood clots."

"I have no problem doing that."

Abby struggled to respond having been taken by surprise. "I was expecting more of a battle."

"I miss moving, It's hard being confined to one spot all the time." Lexa shuffled towards the edge of the bed.

Abby quickly moved towards the bed to help her up. "You are a doctor's dream patient Lexa."

Abby and Lexa had gone for a ten minute walk, not wanting to push Lexa too much Abby decided to keep it short but she wasn't surprised to see that it had exhausted Lexa, she knew recovery took a lot out of people especially recovering from something as serious as a gunshot wound so as soon as they were back at the house she had sent Lexa straight to bed. Lexa fell asleep almost instantaneously, it was only a short nap but she felt fantastic when she woke up although her good mood was entirely due to the girl lying next to her pressing sloppy kisses to her cheek.

"Good morning babe." Clarke said in a sing-song tone when she realized her girlfriend was waking up.

Lexa hummed. "Hmmm what a great way to wake up." She turned her head to capture her girlfriends lips.

Clarke grinned as they pulled apart. "Hi."

"Hey." Lexa mirrored her smile. "What are you doing here?"

"They've cancelled classes for the week so we decided to come hang out here with you."

"We?"

"Umhmm me, Rae, O and Lincoln. Anya's coming later after work too."

Lexa shook her head slightly. "You guys are constantly uprooting your lives for me."

"There was no way I could stand being away from you when I didn't have to and neither could they."

"And why is that?"

"Because I love you."

Lexa grinned at her response. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear, I love you too." She pulled Clarke in for another kiss.

"God I am so addicted to you." Clarke muttered between kisses.

Lexa pulled back a little to ask "Is that a bad thing?"

"No, the opposite." Clarke rushed to explain. "You are intoxicating, I don't ever want to stop kissing you."

Lexa smirked. "Then don't." Without giving Clarke a chance to respond she reconnected their lips, carefully pushed Clarke over onto her back and straddled her being mindful of her wound, planning to make good use of whatever alone time they had.

"You're not my girlfriend." Lexa had rolled over feeling the presence of another person lying next to her when she awoke for the third time that day and assuming it would be Clarke.

"Nope, she's helping out in the kitchen." Raven explained without taking her eyes off the phone in her hand.

Lexa frowned realizing it was her phone Raven had. "What are you doing?"

"Mama Griff said the press have been calling you annoyingly often so I went through your call logs and blocked all the numbers that aren't saved as contacts."

Lexa heaved out a relieved sigh. "Thank you."

Soon Raven finished her task, after giving back the phone she rolled onto her side to face Lexa. "You really enjoy calling Clarke your girlfriend, don't you?" She had meant it to be teasing hoping it would make Lexa blush.

"It's the greatest feeling in the world."

Raven couldn't be disappointed when her teasing hadn't worked, she just felt overjoyed seeing her friend so happy after everything she had gone through. "Just wait until you can call her your wife."

Lexa beamed in response and Raven couldn't help but grin too at the look of pure joy on her friends face.

"What's got you two all smiley?" Clarke asked from the doorway.

"Just talking about the future." Raven stated, getting up off the bed so Clarke could take the space if she wanted it. "Is the food ready?"

"Umhmm."

"Good I'm starving." Raven quickly disappeared from the room.

Clarke moved over to Lexa who was getting up off the bed. "Hi."

"Hey."

"That smile looks really good on you." Clarke said, tracing the corner of Lexa's mouth with her finger.

Lexa took hold of Clarke's hand and kissed the palm of it. "It's there because of you, as always."

Clarke blushed lightly at the sweet gesture. "Charmer."

Lexa opened the bathroom door to find Octavia leaning against the opposite wall looking at her phone. "What's up O?"

"Just waiting to help you get to the table." Octavia clarified as she slipped her phone back into her pocket.

Lexa cocked an eyebrow questioningly. "You know I wasn't shot in the leg, right? I am able to walk on my own."

"Yes, you know I was serious when I said me and Rae would be overprotective for a while, right?"

"I guess I do now." Lexa's surprise was clear in her voice.

"So....come on then, link with me." Octavia held out her arm to her.

"O seriously you don't have to—"

"No arguments or I will carry you."

Lexa shook her head, a small smile showing. "I have no doubt you would." She hooked her arm around Octavia's and allowed her friend to guide her to the table.

During dinner Abby had briefly stopped everyone from tucking into their meals so that she could thank Lexa, no one knew why until Abby explained that unbeknownst to any of them Lexa had ordered a large gift hamper online to be delivered to the hospital to thank the doctors and nurses for saving her and another hamper had been delivered to Abby that afternoon to thank her for everything she had done for Lexa too.

Abby had been stunned when her hamper arrived but she was absolutely astonished when she received messages from her colleagues asking her to send their gratitude to Lexa for the gift. Abby had decided not to say anything until they were all gathered around the dinner table because she wanted everyone to know how thoughtful her hopefully someday daughter-in-law was.

"Lexa what are you doing?" Anya asked in a panicked tone.

Lexa stopped trying to reach the glass in the cupboard to look at her cousin. "Relax, I'm just getting a glass of water."

Anya maneuvered around Lexa to get the glass for her, giving her a clear look of disapproval as she handed it over. "You shouldn't be trying to reach that high, you should've just asked one of us to get it for you."

Anya had been more overbearing than usual in the last few days, at first Lexa didn't mind it, she just figured that's how Anya was dealing with what had happened but it was starting to be a little much now. "Ahn I think we need to talk."

"It's past two a.m. can't it wait until daylight hours?"

"No, I don't think it can." Lexa sat down at the table and gestured for Anya to join her which she reluctantly did. "I know you Ahn, I know you as well as I know myself which is how I know that you're scared." Lexa held up her hand to stop Anya when it looked like she was just about to argue. "You're scared of what happened, you're scared of me getting hurt again, you're scared of not knowing what could hurt me in the future or how to prevent anything like this happening again."

"It's possible there's some truth in that." Anya reluctantly admitted.

"You can't spend your life constantly worrying that something might happen to me." Lexa placed her hands over Anya's on the table. "I can't tell you that nothing like this will ever happen to me again but I'm not going to let that stop me from living my life and you shouldn't either."

Anya sighed, Lexa could visibly see some of the tension leaving Anya in the way her posture relaxed. "I guess I have been trying a little too hard to protect you."

Lexa nodded. "It's been intense but it's sweet, shows you really love me."

"I know I'd usually just brush that off but this time I'm just going to tell you I do love you Lex."

"I love you too Ahn and even though you've been a little over the top with the coddling I really do appreciate you looking out for me." Lexa chuckled, when Anya looked at her with clear confusion she explained what she had been thinking. "You know you've become a bit of a softy since you started dating Raven."

Anya groaned. "Ugh I know, I don't know how she's done this to me."

Lexa chuckled again at her cousins clear confusion. "It's good though, this is the happiest I've ever seen you."

"Yeah she's pretty great." Anya let a small smile show before slipping back to a stoic expression. "Don't tell her I said that though, she'll just get cocky about it."

Lexa smiled knowing just how true that was. "Secrets safe with me."

Lexa woke to an empty bed Friday morning, she frowned feeling the sheets were cold meaning her girlfriend hadn't been there for quite some time. Checking the clock she saw that it was just past nine in the morning, she was doubly worried now because Clarke wouldn't willingly get out of bed that early when she didn't have to. It took a minute for her to get herself up and out of the bed, by the time she did and got closer to the door Clarke was entering the room again.

Clarke looked startled to see her girlfriend out of bed. "Hey, where were you going?"

"I was just coming to find you, I got worried when you weren't here."

"That's sweet but I need you to get back into bed."

"I'm kind of hungry though." Lexa started to move towards the door again.

Clarke met her halfway to stop her the best way she knew how, by pulling her into a searing kiss. "Bed, now please."

Lexa groaned, completely unable to resist when Clarke spoke in that husky demanding tone, her desire for food completely forgotten.

Clarke locked their lips again and moved them towards the bed trying not to break contact as she did which was easy enough with how eager Lexa was.

They only broke the kiss once so Lexa could get on the bed and scoot back against the pillows, as soon as she was comfortably settled Clarke straddled her reconnecting their lips again after she did.

Clarke soon pulled back to put a little distance between them. "As tempted as I am to keep this going we really need to stop."

"But why?" Lexa whined as Clarke moved away from her to settle back against the pillows beside her.

"Because we're about to be interrupted."

"Wha—"

The door burst open revealing Octavia and Raven holding two trays. "Surprise." They announced in unison.

Lexa was momentarily startled but she quickly recovered. "What's this?"

"We thought you might like breakfast in bed today, birthday girl." Octavia explained cheerfully.

"Happy birthday baby." Clarke pressed a kiss to her cheek and pulled back revealing a soft smile.

"Don't worry we didn't cook it, Mama Griff did but we helped with plating it up and we made the coffee so technically we were part of making it." Raven explained as they handed over the trays to Clarke and Lexa.

Lexa couldn't understand why that was so important but she didn't question it. "This looks great, thanks guys."

"We had a lot of time in the waiting room to figure out what we were going to do for your birthday." Octavia explained.

"We've got a pretty full day planned for you so I hope you got plenty of sleep." Raven added.

"What exactly will we be doing?" Lexa questioned.

"That is a surprise and everyone has been sworn to secrecy about it so you'll just have to wait and see." Clarke ordered with a smile.

After breakfast Clarke and Lexa drove the short distance to the woods near Abby's house.

"Why didn't O and Rae come with us?" Lexa questioned curiously.

"They just had some stuff to do, we'll meet up with them again later and we're kind of always surrounded by people these days so I thought it'd be nice to have some real alone time with my girlfriend."

Lexa smiled softly. "It's always good getting to have you all to myself."

Keeping one hand on the steering wheel Clarke reached across to take Lexa's hand in her own giving it a soft squeeze.

"Well that was a new experience."

"I swear I didn't plan for that to happen." Clarke explained while she readjusted her clothing.

"I know I was the one that initiated it, remember? It would be pretty hard to plan that unless you were using mind-control." Lexa chuckled. "Was it okay?"

"It was a new but very exhilarating experience." Clarke pulled Lexa in for a quick kiss to squash any doubts she had. "Glad O and Rae didn't come with us now?"

Lexa laughed heartily. "Definitely."

"An added benefit is that it distracted you from trying to climb any trees."

"If I have to choose between climbing trees or having sex in the woods with my gorgeous girlfriend I will always choose the latter."

Clarke groaned. "I'm never going to be able to come here again without getting turned on."

"Another benefit." Lexa replied with a sly smirk.

It was quite a long drive from the woods to the mystery location they were going to but Lexa didn't mind, she was thoroughly enjoying watching her girlfriend distractedly singing along to the songs on the radio as she drove.

"Okay we're really close now so I'm going to need you to put this on as a blindfold." Clarke explained as she produced a scarf and handed it over.

"Should I be worried?"

"I just want to make it a real surprise for you and certain things will make it easy for you to figure out what's going on before we get there."

"I would only ever do this for you." Lexa commented as she tied the scarf around her head.

"Thank you." Clarke pulled Lexa's hand up to her lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it.

Only a few minutes after Lexa had blindfolded herself the car came to a stop. Clarke jumped out and moved around the car to help Lexa out.

"Careful we're coming off the pavement now so the grounds not as solid." Clarke commented after a few steps.

"Oh whoa okay yeah that's a big difference." Lexa commented feeling the difference in the ground beneath her feet. "Are we on sand?"

"Hold on." They took a few more steps forward before Clarke stopped them and then reached up to remove Lexa's blindfold.

As soon as Clarke removed her blindfold everyone started to sing happy birthday. Stunned, Lexa took the opportunity to take it all in, they were at the beach, there were multiple picnic blankets and baskets laid out on the sand, there in front of Lexa were all their closest friends and family who seemed to have monopolized a large portion of the relatively empty public beach. Lexa took in a shuddering breath, overwhelmed by it all, never could she ever have expected or envisioned anyone organizing something like this just for her.

Lexa watched on as Harper and Maya very easily beat their boyfriends in a game of volleyball, the boys took it well though, mostly because they had won the sandcastle building competition they had earlier on after they had all eaten the delicious sandwiches Lincoln and Anya had made earlier that day for them.

"Figured it out yet?" Clarke asked as she came up beside Lexa now that her girlfriend finally seemed to have a minute alone having spent much of her time there catching up with everyone.

"It's my perfect day." Lexa was astonished by it all. "You did all this for me?"

Clarke nodded, nervously biting her lip. "With a lot of help from everyone."

Lexa turned fully towards her girlfriend. "This is beyond amazing Clarke." Lexa reached up brushing her fingers along Clarke's cheek and then trailed them along her jaw. "I love you so much."

"Ugh it's like watching care bears." Anya commented.

Lexa rolled her eyes at her cousins intrusion. "No one said you had to watch us."

"I was waiting to give you this, I didn't want to interrupt but you two are just too sickeningly sweet to be around." Anya handed over a small backpack containing a beach towel, a two piece bathing suit, loose t-shirt and shorts belonging to Lexa that she had gotten from the apartment that morning.

"You managed to get everything?" Clarke asked.

"It's just clothes and a towel Clarke, it wasn't exactly mission impossible."

"Alright well thanks for getting them."

"Sure no problem." She turned her attention to Lexa. "Now go get changed you look weird being in regular clothes when we're all dressed for the beach."

"I'm guessing I can't go in the water?" Lexa asked Abby when she returned from changing into her bathing suit.

"Actually you can. I went to the hospital this morning to get you these waterproof bandages but you can't stay in there for too long and you can't go too deep in case you get into any difficulty, okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine with that, thank you Abby." She couldn't help but grin at the excitement of being able to go in the ocean.

Abby took a moment to carefully press the bandage over Lexa's wound and then examining it to make sure there was loose parts around the edges where water could get in. When she was satisfied that it was secure she turned her attention to Lexa's cousins and friends who were waiting for her So they could all go swimming together. "The rest of you look out for her."

"Shouldn't be too hard for Clarkey she hasn't stopped staring at Lexa since she put on that bikini."

Clarke just shrugged nonchalantly. "My girlfriend's hot, I'm not going to be embarrassed about checking her out."

Lexa blushed hearing Clarke say that causing everyone to chuckle at how easily rattled she was by a simple compliment from her girlfriend.

"Hey." Lexa greeted coming to sit beside Alie on one of the blankets laid out in the sand.

"Hi, are you having a good time?"

"I am, this has been an amazing day."

Alie was delighted to see Lexa looking so relaxed and carefree. "How have you been?"

"I'm good, healing nicely according to Abby."

"That's good and mentally? Any nightmares, panic attacks or anything like that?"

"No not really I've been a little jumpy but it's no big deal really."

"It's perfectly normal after a traumatic event like that to be nervous of some sounds or in certain surroundings, I would be worried if you didn't experience some sort of after effects." Alie wrapped her arm around Lexa giving her a sideways hug. "You know I'm only a call away if you ever need to talk or if you need to see me in person I can come here any time."

"Thanks and you know that works both ways." Lexa offered. "Have you been coping all right with all this?"

It momentarily surprised Alie that Lexa would ask her how she felt about it all but she quickly remembered Lexa's always been thoughtful like that, she decided to be open and honest with her about it. "It's been hard. It scares me knowing we can't protect you from all the dangers in the world. I know you're an adult and you can take care of yourself but to me you're like my kid and I just don't want to see you get hurt again."

"I can't say I won't get hurt again, it's less likely now that Finn's locked up so you really shouldn't worry about it but you know when you're feeling worried or scared you could call me, I wouldn't mind even if you call every fifteen minutes."

Alie chuckled at that. "You might regret saying that."

"I see you and Thelonious as parents to me too, you know?"

"You do?"

"Yeah, I mean I'll always love my dad and despite everything I still love my mom and I'm not forgetting them or anything like that I just see it as having gained another set of parents. Having you and Thelonious in my life always supporting me and helping me get my life back on track, I can't even describe how much that means to me. I love you both so much and I'll never be able to thank you for all you've done."

Alie couldn't stop the tears from flowing but this time they were tears of joy so she didn't mind. She wrapped her arm around Lexa pulling her into another sideways hug. "We'll always, always, always be here for you whenever you need us."

"You've got a real gift for tugging at her heartstrings." Thelonious pointed out as he approached them, he knew from the smiles on their faces that whatever they were talking about was good despite the tears flowing down his wife's cheeks.

Alie wiped her cheeks dry carefully trying not to get any sand in them. "He's right, I so rarely cry."

"Well I promise to only use my superpower for good."

They had made arrangements for Indra, Gustus, Thelonious and Alie to stay in Octavia and Raven's apartment while Roan, Luna, Bellamy and Echo stayed at Clarke and Lexa's saving them all from having to spend any money on hotels.

After the beach they all went back to Abby's house where they ordered takeout for dinner, the original plan was to go out to dinner but Abby had told everyone it would be better to have dinner at the house because she was worried Lexa may need to rest after all the excitement of the day and they all agreed. They had told Lexa they would be watching a movie while they had dinner but to her surprise they actually watched home movies of a young Lexa, Anya and Lincoln that Gustus had brought along much to their embarrassment.

Afterwards they headed off for the apartments with the promise of coming back first thing in the morning before they all headed back to their own homes. After seeing them off Clarke took Lexa out the back of Abby's place.

"Do you know what's next?" Clarke asked as they stepped outside.

Lexa quickly thought about it, running through the list of things she had told Clarke she would like to do on her perfect day. "Are we going to speak to your dad?"

Clarke nodded her acknowledgement. "It's not the roof but I figured any place we can see the stars will do."

"We have quite a lot to tell him about."

"Yeah...." Clarke trailed off nervously.

Lexa didn't know why Clarke was nervous until she realised something. "You haven't spoken to him since before the shooting, have you?"

"I couldn't it was too hard to think about."

"I'll be with you and if you need me to takeover I will but I think it'll be okay there's more good than there is bad, like how we're officially a couple now and how we love each other." Lexa finished with an adoring smile directed at Clarke.

"I love that you focus so much on the good." Clarke wrapped her arm around Lexa's waist as they approached the outdoor seating area giving her a slight squeeze.

After a while everyone else had joined them out on the patio and they had spent a while taking turns talking about their best and worst birthdays, after that the conversation somehow led to Anya and Lincoln sharing stories of a young Lexa to her dismay, she thought the home videos were enough embarrassment for one day.

As the conversation started to slow down Clarke leaned over to Lexa and quietly asked. "So are you worn out or do you still have a little energy left to spare?"

Lexa cocked an eyebrow, intrigued by why she was asking. "I could muster up some energy."

"Good because I have more private plans for you." Clarke whispered to her.

"I'm definitely up for that....again" Lexa smirked, reminding Clarke of their activities earlier in the woods.

"Gross." Anya stated loudly.

"Stop eavesdropping." Lexa ordered.

"Wouldn't make a difference if we did you're still eye fucking." Raven chimed in.

"Whatever you two do just make sure it's not too strenuous and make sure you do get some rest eventually."

"Mom." Clarke blushed furiously.

"If you had waited until I had left then maybe I wouldn't have to say it, consider this a teachable moment, learn from it Clarke."

Everyone chuckled at Clarke's clear embarrassment.

"Before you two disappear we have one last gift but this one's for both of you." Raven produced a box with a bow wrapped around it and placed it on the patio table in front of them.

"Raven if this is something inappropriate to open in front of my mother please tell us now."

"It's not, I would've warned you earlier if it was." Lincoln assured her.

"You should open this one." Lexa offered since she had opened multiple presents that day.

"You sure?"

"Umhmm."

Clarke carefully unwrapped the bow and lifted the lid of the box to reveal a scrapbook with a simple heart drawn on the center of the cover, written on the heart was the words 'Clexa: A love story'.

"What is this?"

"Just open it and you'll see." Octavia urged.

They were both stunned when Clarke opened it to the first page and they saw photos of them both from months ago.

"This was the day after we met." Lexa pointed to the photo of them both in Octavia and Raven's apartment.

"How did you get these pictures without us noticing?" Clarke asked, trying to remember ever seeing them taking their photos.

"Sometimes you did but we came up with excuses." Octavia explained.

"Most of the time you were just too busy drooling over each other to notice." Raven added.

"You've got our whole relationship in here." Lexa stated in amazement as Clarke flipped through the pages.

"That was the point." Raven pointed out.

"We knew right away you two were going to end up together, Rae came up with the idea then I joined her and pretty soon everyone got involved." Octavia clarified.

"Everyone?" Lexa wondered just how many of them could've been involved.

"Absolutely everyone, we couldn't always be around whenever something cute happened with you two so everyone was on alert to have their cameras ready." Raven explained.

"This is incredible, a little creepy especially the ones of us sleeping but it's very sweet." Clarke stated, thankful that they had done this for them.

Raven beamed, happy that they both clearly liked it. "It's the first of many scrapbooks."

After a quick round of hugs Clarke and Lexa said goodnight and excused themselves, the rest of them decided to spend a little longer outside just to be sure they didn't hear anything that would make breakfast the following morning more than a little awkward.

Eventually the girls had to return to school leaving Abby to look after Lexa. Anya and Lincoln planned to stick around for a few extra days but Lexa told them it was okay for them to go back home too, she knew it was a longer drive for them to get to Abby's everyday after work and she knew they would probably miss their girlfriends just as much as she was missing hers if they stayed too.

They all kept in constant contact with Lexa, she had never used her phone as much as she did in those few days. In the days before that she was already taking calls from her aunt and uncle, Alie and Thelonious, messages from Monty, Jasper, Harper and Maya, thankfully Bellamy, Echo, Luna and Nyko had opted to video call her and talk to her as a group rather than individual calls. Now with Octavia, Raven, Anya, Lincoln and Clarke varying between texting and calling her she spent the majority of her days on her phone.

As she was healing she wasn't sleeping too much anymore so she welcomed their calls and texts to fill her time, not wanting Abby to feel pressured to entertain her all day. As it was they were still going for three walks a day and the more Lexa healed the longer those walks became but she didn't want to push it to the point where they ended up running out of things to talk about.

Lexa was sitting with Marcus going through some of her college work when the doorbell rang, Abby entered the room quickly informing them she would check who it was as she passed by. They didn't pay any attention to the muffled conversation taking place not too far from them until they heard footsteps approaching. Marcus was the first to look to see who it was but when he saw them he quickly stood his posture now looking defensive Lexa's curiosity was piqued by his reaction so she turned to see who was coming. Abby was accompanied by a man who was medium-build wearing an expensive looking tailored suit, his slicked back black hair showing a few grey strands but likely styled that way to hide more of them, there was something oddly familiar about him to Lexa but she couldn't work out what it was. Once he came to a stop next to the couch he cleared his throat a giveaway for how awkward he felt being there. "Hello Miss Woods my name is Thomas Collins, I'm Finn's father."

"Lexa if you don't want to speak to him you don't have to." Abby told her without looking away from him. Abby knew he wasn't a bad man but she couldn't help but feel some anger towards the man purely for who his son was.

"It's okay Abby." Lexa gestured for Thomas to take a seat which he did, she sat down too but Abby and Marcus both stayed standing ready to step in if there was a need to.

Thomas shifted uncomfortably in his seat, feeling the tension in the room. "I thought it was best to wait until you were further along in your recovery before I came here, I didn't want to cause you any more stress that might hinder your progress."

"I appreciate that."

"I wanted to apologize in person to you for all the horrible things my son has done to you, there are no excuses for his appalling behaviour. I am so sorry not only for him shooting you but for him beating you before that too."

"Clarke told me that you and your wife cut him off after he beat me up." Lexa revealed.

"We did and we are continuing to do so, as I see it he is no longer my son. We have tried on numerous occasions to put a stop to his despicable conduct but after what he has done to you it is clear that there is no good left in him whatsoever."

Lexa thought about the similarities in her own family life, it was hard to imagine her mother ever being able to turn her life around and be the person she used to be but she knew that if she saw her mother again she couldn't just turn her back on her, she would do her best to try to help her. "I can understand that but if someday he turns over a new leaf I think you should try to repair your relationship with him."

"You want us to have a relationship with him?" Thomas asked, unsure that was what she really meant.

Lexa took a deep breath to keep herself calm. "He's your family, that's important. As long as he stays away from me and Clarke when he has finished serving his time in prison I don't see it being a problem so if you want to work on repairing your relationship with him I don't have any issue with that."

"Wow I really don't know what to say, you are an extraordinary person Miss Woods." Thomas looked completely bewildered by what had just happened. "Thank you for allowing me to speak to you and again I am so sorry for the trouble and pain Finn has caused you, i hope your recovery goes well and is speedy."

Thomas stood up and offered her his hand to shake which she did. He said goodbye to them all and Abby escorted him to the door.

Lexa felt a hand grip her shoulder, and looked to see Marcus holding onto her, looking at her with pure astonishment. "Your strength continues to amaze me Lexa. I really don't know if I would've been able to do that if I were in your position."

Abby soon returned to the room and immediately pulled Lexa into a hug, rubbing circles over her back in a soothing manner. "I'm so proud of you for the way you handled that."

Lexa relaxed into the hug immediately, no longer surprised by Abby showing her affection. "I don't want to spend my life holding grudges, that was Finn's specialty and I won't be like him."

"You couldn't be like him even if you tried, you're too good for that." Abby reassured her.

It was strange when she was finally able to return to college. She hadn't missed much in terms of her workload since Marcus had managed to set up a system that allowed her to watch videos of the lectures she was missing and brought her the work that was essential for her to do. The most difficult thing to deal with were the stares, it seemed like everywhere she went people were constantly looking at her, some even came up to her wishing her well which was nice but she felt awkward with all this attention on her, she would have preferred it if everyone would just forget about what had happened. Her saving grace was her friends who were almost always by her side as she moved through the college which distracted her from the attention, she supposed they had come up with a plan to ensure one of them would always be there for her.

The first day she had been late to her first class as had Clarke because they had both decided it would be best to go to the hallway where everything had happened while everyone was in class giving them the privacy they needed to process their feelings about that place, given that it was a place they would have to walk through quite often they knew it was something they would have to deal with sooner rather than later.

"What are you thinking?*

Lexa moved around in a circle for a moment taking it all in. "It's just another corridor to me."

"Lex...." Alie had warned Clarke that Lexa might try to repress how she really felt and she really didn't want her bottling it up.

"I know something horrible happened here but we got through it, we're safe." Lexa explained. "What about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I was passed out in the end and I got here after you so this place really didn't impact me all that much but you were here for it all Clarke." Lexa gently took Clarke's hands in hers. "I'm not the only one this affected and I don't think you've allowed yourself the time to really process how this felt for you because you've been so focused on me."

Clarke took a step back from Lexa and observed their surroundings.

Lexa watched her as she moved around, she could see all the emotions that played out on Clarke's face, the fear, the rage, some fear again soon followed by what looked to be relief.

Clarke turned to look at Lexa, she felt a small smile growing as she approached her girlfriend and hooked her arms around her neck. "We've been through hell but we're stronger than ever, the universe can throw whatever it wants at us, together you and I are unbreakable." Clarke spoke with such confidence that Lexa truly believed she was right. "I love you Lexa Woods."

"I love you too Clarke Princess Griffin." Lexa grinned cheekily.

"Ugh why did I tell you about that?" Clarke unhooked her arms and took a step back deciding not to reward her girlfriend for her use of that name.

"Even if you didn't I would've found out eventually."

"No you wouldn't, everyone who knows is sworn to secrecy, they can call me princess but they can never tell anyone why or all their secrets will come out too."

"There's one flaw in your plan Clarke."

"What flaw?"

"When people are getting married the officiant usually says their full names."

Clarke looked completely stunned. "What are you saying?" She asked, excitement and hope clear in her voice.

Lexa inwardly celebrated that Clarke was excited about the prospect of them getting married someday. "We are so late for class, we really should get going."

"Lexa." Clarke pleaded.

"Come on Clarke, our education is important." Lexa wrapped her arm around Clarke and started walking them down the corridor.

Clarke shook her head. "Oh you are so mean."

"You still love me."

"Yeah." A smirk appeared on Clarke's face before she added "I do."

Lexa laughed heartily at Clarke's choice of words and used the arm she had draped around her girlfriend to pull her closer so she could press a quick kiss to her cheek as they walked down what would from now on just be another ordinary corridor to them.