Chapter 3
When Lexa woke up she stared directly into a pair of blue eyes that seemed to hold everything. Everything from a blue sky to a thunderstorm. She had no idea why that was the first thing that crossed her mind. She was probably delirious.
She blinked and saw the woman smiling at her. It was a very nice smile.
“Hey, Lexa. It’s good to have you back.”
Bellamy and Lincoln were to her right and also smiled at her.
“Hey, Lex! Good to see you awake.”
She wanted to answer, but her throat was as dry as the desert she had spent the last few months in. Before she could try again she felt a cup at her lips and a strong hand helping her to keep her head up a little. She looked up and saw blue again. The water was delicious.
“Careful, not too much, okay?”
She nodded and the woman helped her to lie down again.
Lexa concentrated on Bellamy.
“Pike?”
“Didn’t make it.”
She nodded in silent acceptance. She had been pretty sure his wounds were fatal. But she had thought the same of hers. She had assumed … She didn’t know what to make of this. Should she be happy or sad?
She looked at the woman who was still standing next to her.
“And you are?”
The woman blushed which amused her. Why would she blush?
“Clarke. I am Clarke. I mean … my name is Clarke Griffin and I am your doctor.”
Lexa smiled a little.
“Okay.”
For a moment both women looked at each other without blinking. Lexa felt like everything around them had just stopped. Everything was quiet and calm. She was quiet and calm. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt like this. Probably not since … Costia. That thought set everything back into motion.
Clarke felt like something extraordinary had just happened. Something she couldn’t quite place, but had a lasting impact on her. Something that made the hair on her neck stand on end. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It wasn’t. Not here, not now.
Bellamy watched the whole scene silently and with a smile. Maybe he was imagining things, but these two seemed to have something going on. Something he would definitely not meddle with. At least not yet.
“Lexa, Clarke is a friend of my sister’s. We had no idea that she was here, but you were lucky that she was, because Clarke is simply the best doctor there is.”
Lexa saw the blonde blush even more and couldn’t help but smile.
“If you say so.”
She looked at Clarke. “So, Doctor, how am I?”
Clarke cleared her throat. “Well, I had to get a bullet out of you and you lost a lot of blood, but you seem to have the constitution of an ox …"
“Excuse me?”
Clarke laughed.
“I gave you a dosage of the anesthetics that should have knocked you out for good for at least six hours. You woke up after four and a half, keeping me from my well-deserved sleep I might add.”
“I’m sorry.” Lexa looked like she really was and Clarke had to smile.
“Oh, well, it’s fine. At least I had some time to catch up with the boys.”
She looked at her patient.
“You really should try to sleep some more though. You need to rest to get better.”
Lexa looked at her.
“Doctor’s orders?”
Clarke laughed.
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
Lexa felt tired anyway. She took one long last look at Clarke before she closed her eyes. She was asleep within minutes.
Bellamy couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. He looked at Lincoln who seemed just as shocked as he was and shook his head in amazement. What the hell had just happened to Lexa Woods?
--
“Clarke, how did you do that?”
Clarke stopped walking.
“How did I do what?”
Bellamy leaned his back on the wall of the hallway and looked at her.
“Not only did you make Lexa smile, but you told her she needed to rest to get better and she actually followed your suggestion.”
“So?”
He took a deep breath.
“Lexa is ... Lexa is an excellent soldier. She is brave and cunning and smart, but she is also a little … self-destructive.”
Clarke looked at him.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Can we sit down somewhere?”
“Sure, follow me.”
Clarke took him to her room and made him sit down on the bed. She took the only chair in the room.
Bellamy continued.
“Lexa was engaged. Back in New York. Her fiancé’s name was Costia. She was beautiful. I’ve seen the pictures.” He stopped for a moment. “Costia died about a year ago. It was a car accident. She was in the hospital for a few weeks before they finally switched off the machines.”
He looked at Clarke who just nodded for him to go on.
“Lexa was there the whole time. She wouldn’t leave and after Costia’s death she simply gave up. She drank herself into a stupor every night and even got into a few bar fights.”
Clarke tried to imagine Lexa Woods in a drunken bar fight.
She looked at Bellamy.
“Ho do you know all of this?”
“I know her sister.”
“Her sister?”
“Anya, she has a private security business. Well, actually she owns half of it. The other half belongs to Lexa. Anyway, I met Anya a few years ago and she offered me a job should I ever decide to quit the army.”
Clarke looked at him.
“And are you going to?”
“Yes. I’ll be working for Anya as soon as I get home.”
“That’s great, Bell!”
He smiled. “Yes, it is. It’s a good job. Less land mines.”
Clarke laughed.
“But what about Lexa? Why is she here?”
He sighed. “One day she just signed up and left New York in the middle of the night. Anya found a letter.”
“What kind of letter?”
“The kind that you leave if you don’t expect to come back. It was addressed to Anya, so she opened it. After that she called me. She knew she couldn’t convince Lexa to stay, but she knew I might be able to make sure she was with me. To look after her a little.”
Clarke looked at him. “She was afraid her sister was suicidal and she asked you to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid? That’s a lot to ask.”
Bell smiled at her.
“It’s not like Lexa ever talks about ending her life. In fact I think she would never do that. It’s more subtle than this. It is more like she was waiting for death to find her, you know.”
Clarke got up. “Well, yesterday it almost did.”
Bellamy got up too.
“That is what I am talking about. She was almost killed and quite frankly I would have expected her to be pissed at us for saving her. But instead …”
“What?”
He grinned. “Instead she opens her eyes and looks at you like you are some sort of … mystery to be solved.”
“Bell, I am no mystery.”
He laughed. “Oh, come on, Griffin. You know what I mean. And by the way, you stared at her too.”
“I did not!”
“Yes, you did.”
“I just looked at her, because she is my patient.”
“Whatever you want to tell yourself.”
Bell grinned and sat back on the bed.
“And now sit down and tell me something else.”
Clarke sat back down.
“What?”
Suddenly Bellamy was serious and Clarke knew what was coming. She wasn’t prepared for it.
“What the hell are you doing out here, Clarke? You have a perfectly good job. You help people at home every day. You don’t need to be an army doctor to serve some hero complex. So why are you here?”
She hesitated for a moment. She didn’t know how to say. The whole idea still made her head spin.
“I needed to get away. … I needed to get away from Finn.”
“Your ex?”
“He’s … he’s been stalking me and one day …” She didn’t know how to go on.
“What Clarke?”
“He tried to … I mean, he didn’t … but he … he still had his key and he …”
Bellamy pushed himself off the bed and kneeled down before her. His face had turned to stone.
“Did he try to rape you, Clarke?”
Clarke felt the tears roll down her cheeks and couldn’t do anything about it. She hadn’t talked about it with anyone. She hadn’t known how. She felt so stupid and ridiculous, but of course she knew that she was not. She should have gone to the police. She should have done something, but she hadn’t. Instead she had left and now she was here, ten days before she had to go back, and she still had no idea what to do. Instead of an answer she leaned forward and hid her face in the crook of Bellamy’s neck and when she felt his arms around her she couldn’t stop it anymore. All the tears she had been keeping back came flooding out and she didn’t care anymore.
Bellamy held her until fell asleep in his arms. He lifted her up and laid her down on the bed. After that he looked at her for a long while and when he finally went to the door and closed it behind him there was one thing that was absolutely clear to him: He would rip the little bastard’s head off.