Chapter 14
“This is going to be the last time I do this. Just so you know.“
Abby dressed the wound, avoiding to look at Lexa.
“And if you’re planning on being my daughter’s girlfriend I need you to be more careful. I cannot watch her lose someone again.”
She carefully wiped away the blood on Lexa’s face. Her hands were shaking a little and Lexa was pretty sure the good doctor was in shock.
She smiled at her, but stayed silent. Her ribs ached and she had a few more bruises than before, but all in all everything had worked out well. Nobody had died.
Suddenly Abby stopped what she was doing and planted a kiss on Lexa’s cheek. Lexa didn’t even think it was weird at this point.
The door opened and Clarke entered the room.
“Are you guys okay?”
Abby nodded and wiped away a tear that had fallen without permission.
“I am sorry. All of this was a bit much.”
She looked at Lexa.
“You’re all clear, but please, for the love of all that’s good and holy, rest now. Don’t go running around saving the day. You need time to heal.”
Lexa looked at her.
“I think I’m done with the saving for today.”
She got up and quickly realized just how tired she was. Her knees went wobbly. Clarke had seen it, too. She reached for her hand to steady her.
“Ready to go home?”
“If that means my place and especially my bed, then yes.”
Clarke smiled.
“What about the others?”
“Bellamy is asleep. Raven is, too. I couldn’t talk her out of staying. She is asleep in a chair next to his bed. O and Lincoln have gone home and I think, Anya is talking to the police.”
“The police.”
Lexa sighed.
“I have to give them a statement, I guess.”
“Yes, you do, but not today. Anya told me to get you home and as your doctor I told them that you have to rest. You can give your statement tomorrow.”
She looked at her mother.
“You will go home, too. I know that your shift isn’t over, but your hands are shaking. You’re no use to anyone like that. Nyko will drive you home and I want you to stay there until you feel better.”
Abby was about to argue, but Clarke wouldn’t let her.
“You will stay away from the hospital, Mum! I will call you tomorrow and if you’re anyway near this place I will personally come and drag you out. Am I making myself clear?”
Both Abby and Lexa looked at her in bewilderment and Clarke laughed at them.
“What? You’ve been taking care of me for the last days. Now it’s my turn.”
--
Lexa slept for ten hours straight. She couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. She also couldn’t remember the last time she had slept without nightmares. When she woke she found the space next to her empty. She sighed and rubbed her eyes.
When she opened the bedroom door she smelled coffee and it made her smile. Clarke was still here. In fact she heard her voice … and another. The voice of a man she didn’t know. Lexa looked at what she was wearing and went back to change. Two minutes later she arrived in the living room wearing jeans and a hoodie.
“Hey!”
Clarke smiled at her and Lexa gave her a small kiss before she looked at the man on her couch.
“And you are?”
“Detective Miller.”
He got up and shook her hand.
“I am sorry to barge in like this, but we really need Ms. Griffin’s statement. And yours of course.”
Lexa nodded.
“Is it okay if I grab some coffee? I feel like I should be awake for this.”
“Of course.”
She went to the kitchen and watched the man closely while he was talking to Clarke. He seemed nice enough, but she knew that the police probably weren’t too happy about how they had handled the situation.
She went back and sat down next to Clarke.
“So, Detective Miller, how can I help you?”
“Well, first I would like your account of the last few days leading to … the incident at the hospital.”
Lexa nodded and told her story. She was careful in her choice of words to make sure that there was nothing the man could misinterpret.
“So you and Ms. Griffin are … a couple?”
“Yes.”
He nodded and wrote something down in a small black notebook.
“And you and your sister own Trikru security?”
“Yes.”
Another entry.
“Don’t you think you should have called the police at some point?”
Lexa took a sip of coffee.
“No.”
He looked up.
“Just ‘no’?”
She nodded.
“Let’s face it, Detective. Up until Bellamy Blake was shot there was nothing the police could have done and after that everything happened too fast for the police to respond.”
“You don’t think you should have called us when Mr. Collins took a whole hospital hostage?”
She looked at him.
“It was a judgment call. Finn Collins was dangerous and no one could have anticipated how he would have reacted to the police. He had a bomb somewhere in the building and he had hostages he held at gunpoint, one of them being our client. Time was a factor.”
She looked at Clarke and back at the man.
“We employ people who are trained to deal with situations like this. Do you? Or would you have called special forces? We both know that would have taken time and we also know that it would have made things even more complicated.”
The man looked at her.
“You know that there will be an investigation, right?”
She nodded.
“Yes, I know. And I politely ask you to talk to our company’s lawyers.”
She looked at him.
“It is our company you’re interested in, right?”
He smiled and got up.
“It is.”
He looked at Clarke who had stayed silent the whole time.
“I am glad that you are well, Ms. Griffin. I promise you, that we will take care of Mr. Collins. He is likely not going to bother you anymore.”
He turned and walked to the door.
“It was nice meeting you.”
Lexa looked at him.
“Likewise.”
She closed the door behind him.
“Lexa …”
Clarke’s face was pale, but Lexa just smiled and kissed her again.
“Don’t worry, Clarke. I knew this was coming. The police don’t like it when we do their job … and better than they would.”
She laughed.
“Is there a chance I could get some breakfast?”
“How can you be so calm? They are investigating you.”
Clarke stared at her I disbelief.
“There’s nothing I can do about that right now, but my empty stomach is.”
“Lexa …”
“Clarke, don’t worry. In this business you are likely to butt heads with the police at some point. It comes with the territory. I will call Anya and we will deal with it.”
She smiled at her.
“You don’t have to worry. I promise everything’s going to be fine.”
Clarke frowned. She hated this. She hated to be the cause of trouble. But if breakfast was the one thing to make this better for Lexa right now, she would make some. She got up.
“Call Anya, I will make you something to eat.”
Lexa sighed.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
--
“Hey kid, how are you?”
Anya put the phone on speaker and continued to look through the files in front of her.
“I’m fine. A little tired, hungry and I just had a visit from a Detective Miller …”
Anya sighed.
“That man is impossible. I specifically told him to leave you alone.”
“He wanted my statement.”
“I bet he did.”
“Are we in trouble?”
“Well, Nyko is for knocking out the security guards and Monty probably would be if they knew what he hacked his way into, but I made him delete everything.”
Lexa grinned.
“You sound like a crime lord.”
Anya sighed again.
“At this point I kind of am.”
Lexa grinned some more.
“I guess you called Gustus?”
“Yes, he is on it. He doesn’t think that we will have too much of a problem. We were protecting our client and it was a judgment call. He thinks he can argue our way out of this.”
“Do you need me to do anything?”
“Yes. I need you to relax. I need you to eat some ice cream, watch TV, take a walk. Anything that will help you to heal.”
Lexa basically heard her grin.
“Maybe Clarke can help you relax, too.”
“Shut up, Anya!”
“Make me.”
“You’re an asshole!”
Lexa laughed.
“Take the week off, Lex, and after that we will talk shop, okay?”
“Sounds good. Have you heard anything from Bell?”
“He’s out of the woods and expected to make a full recovery. I sent flowers.”
“You did what?”
“Well, it was his first week on the job and he already got shot, so I thought it would be nice.”
“A bonus and a bottle of that expensive whiskey in your top drawer would have been nice, but flowers?”
“Well, I might have sent that, too.”
Lexa enjoyed the banter between them. It had been too long since they last talked like that.
“Listen, Anya, why don’t you come over on Friday? I could make dinner and we could catch up. You could get to know Clarke …”
Anya didn’t have to think about it for too long.
“That sounds nice. I’ll be there.”
--
“So, Clarke?”
“Yes?”
“My sister’s coming to dinner on Friday. Is that alright with you?”
Clarke put a plate with sandwiches in front of her.
“I guess?”
“You guess?”
Clarke frowned a little.
“Well, your sister is a little intimidating and I haven’t really met her officially …”
Lexa grinned and put her arms around her.
“I promise she won’t bite. I might though if I don’t get those sandwiches now.”
“So, what did Anya say? How bad is it?”
Lexa took a bite and took her time with the answer.
“It’s fine. Nyko is in trouble for punching two guards and we should try not to mention Monty’s special skills, but everything else is under control. Anya put our lawyer on the case and he’s very good at what he does.”
She took another bite.
“These taste great.”
“They’re just sandwiches, Lexa.”
Clarke smiled.
“Yeah, but you made them.”
“Oh no!”
“What?”
“You’re sappy.”
Clarke laughed at her.
Lexa only shrugged.
They sat down. Clarke wasn’t hungry so she watched Lexa eat three sandwiches and a whole grapefruit.
“Wow, you really were hungry, hu?”
Lexa nodded.
Clarke looked at her. Something was on her mind. It had been since the moment she woke up, but she didn’t know how to address it. She decided to just go for it.
“Listen, Lex, I … if you want me to go … if you need some time for yourself …”
Lexa looked up.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about me … about us … Everything’s been so crazy. I just barged in on you with all of my problems and you were great about that, but I … I never gave you a chance to say no to all of this. Not really.”
Lexa smiled and reached for Clarke’s hand.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I could have said no at any time. I just didn’t want to.”
She got up and pulled Clarke into a tight embrace.
“Just to make this clear … after everything that has happened and with a calm mind I choose to be with you. I want you here. Hell, I don’t even know how to be in this place when you’re not here.”
She kissed her.
“I want you here. I want to be your girlfriend, Clarke Griffin. What about you? Do you have second thoughts about this?”
Clarke looked at her and shook her head.
“I want to be your girlfriend, too, Lexa. I really, really do.”
She leaned in and kissed her. The feeling of Lexa’s lips on hers was still knew and tingly. She closed her eyes and felt Lexa’s tongue tracing her bottom lip. She moaned and she knew that if she gave in now it would lead to sex … and probably to Lexa’s wound opening up for what seemed to be the millionth time. She stepped back a little.
“Clarke?”
Lexa looked at her with concern.
“Lexa, I really want to … I really want … you. But I need you to heal first.”
She laughed.
“Or do you want to explain to my mum why she has to patch you up again?”