Chapter 7
It was late when Jake and Clarke left the precinct with Lexa and Bellamy. It had been a long day and they were all tired and weary. Nia Queen and her daughter had been officially charged with kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder, but both of them kept silent. Finn’s and Echo’s lawyers tried to strike a deal with the prosecutor.
Bellamy had offered to drive Jake home and Lexa had decided to do the same for Clarke. When they stepped outside it was chilly. Lexa put the collar of her coat up and saw Clarke do the same. She smiled at her. Bellamy was caught up in some small talk with Jake and Clarke joined in. Lexa didn’t. She felt jumpy. Maybe it was because she was tired or maybe because of what Nia Queen had said. She had a bad feeling.
When she saw the hooded man walking down the street she stopped. Something was wrong with him, something that she couldn’t quite place at first. Maybe it was the speed with which he was walking or the way his right hand was in his pocket. He was close now. She wanted to alert Bellamy, but it was already too late.
When Lexa saw the gun she instantly knew who the man would be aiming it at. Nia Queen didn’t want Jake dead, she wanted him to suffer. Without any further thought, Lexa jumped and pushed Clark out of the way. The bullet hit her in mid-air and spun her body around. Everything seemed to be in slow motion after that, even her impact on the ground that left her breathless. She gasped for air, but it just wouldn’t fill her lungs. She heard screaming. To her left Bellamy took down the shooter. Jake was running towards her, but the only thing Lexa noticed were Clarke’s eyes that were trained on her in an expression of disbelief and pure panic. Lexa tried to say something, but she felt liquid coming from her mouth and that was when it hit her. She would die, right here and right now. And she hadn’t told Clarke. She hadn’t told her all the things she needed to hear. She hadn’t told her how much she loved her. Too late now.
“Lexa!”
She took one last look at Clarke, then everything went dark.
Clarke felt like she was frozen in time. She saw the man approaching with a gun in his hand. She heard the shot and somehow Lexa pushed her out of the way. When she fell to the floor, Clarke didn’t understand what was happening at first. She saw Bellamy gunning down the shooter. She saw her dad run towards Lexa who was lying on the ground just a few feet from her choking on what appeared to be her own blood. Lexa’s eyes were locked on hers like she was her only anchor, the only thing that kept her in this world. Then reality started to kick back in.
She got up and ran over to Lexa. Her eyes were closed now and Clarke could see the entry wound of the bullet. She carefully turned the woman onto her side. There was no exit wound. She put her back onto her back to keep the blood loss at a minimum. Clarke checked Lexa’s pulse and it felt like her own heart stopped when there was none.
“No! No, Lexa! Don’t do this to me!” She started CPR.
She heard her father call 911 and suddenly there were two paramedics who pushed her out of the way. Later she learned that they had been there to take care of Finn’s broken nose.
Everything went so fast now. They checked Lexa’s pulse again and now there seemed to be one. They put her on a stretcher and inside the ambulance. One look at Clarke and they took her, too.
When they arrived at the hospital Abby and her team were already waiting at the doors.
“What’s her status?”
“Bullet wound to the abdomen, no exit wound. Your daughter was doing CPR when we arrived. Pulse is weak and she’s lost a lot of blood.”
Abby nodded.
“We’ll take it from here. Jackson, prep her for surgery and get me enough blood. Clarke, do you know Lexa’s blood type?” Clarke’s face was blank. She shook her head.
Abby looked at her. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Clarke shook her head again. Abby put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “She’ll be fine, Clarke. Lexa is a fighter. I have to go in now. Will you be okay?”
Clarke lifted her head just a little and nodded. Abby knew Clarke was anything but fine, but she had to make Lexa her priority, so she left.
Clarke stood in the hallway for a long time. She felt nothing. She felt like life had been drained out of her.
“Clarke?” The sound of Well’s voice made her jump. She looked up at him.
“You should go home, Clarke. There is nothing you can do right now.”
“No way am I going to leave her alone!” She realized that her hands had turned into fists. She tried to relax them, but she couldn’t. Well’s was still watching her.
“At least come with me and take a shower. You can’t stay here looking like this.”
Clark looked at her bloody clothes. Her hands were bloody, too. Lexa’s blood. She felt like she had to vomit. It took her a few moments to recover from that feeling, then she looked at Wells and nodded.
“Do you want some music?” Jackson looked at Abby and she shook her head. She looked at her hands and saw them shake just a little bit. Jackson had seen it, too.
“Are you sure, you want to do this? We can find somebody else, Abby.”
“Somebody else is not as good as I am.” Abby’s voice sounded as tense as her body was. She wouldn’t let Lexa die.
“Maybe this is too personal …”
“You’re damn right, this is too personal, but I am her best chance and I am not going to argue about this any longer. Let’s open her up.” She took the scalpel and made the incision. There was blood everywhere. “Suction!”
Abby took a look at the monitor. The heart rate was frantic. She needed to work fast.
Clarke took a shower and saw the blood flow down her body. It seemed to be everywhere, on her hands, her face, in her hair. She felt her tears mix with the hot water and suddenly her knees seemed to be too weak for her to stand. She slid down the tiles and sat on the floor, the hot water caressing her body. She felt so tired.
“There it is! I can see it!”
“Good! That is good!”
“Damn it!”
“What is it, Abby?”
“It struck the spine. There are bone fragments. I’ll have to remove them as well.” Abby cursed under her breath. She had been operating for almost two hours now and wasn’t nearly finished. The bullet had hid Lexa at an angle, first smashing one of her rips that had pierced her lung. Luckily the bullet had lost a lot of its force in the process and therefore the damage on her spine was minimal. Abby pulled it out and looked at it. “Got you, little devil!”
That’s when the alarm started to sound and Lexa’s heart stopped for the second time that day.
Clarke didn’t know for how long she had been in the shower, but when she arrived in the waiting area, wearing the back-up clothes she always kept in her locker, Bellamy and her dad were already there. Clarke fell into her father’s arms.
“Dad!”
“It’s going to be okay, Clarke. She will get through this.”
Clarke felt Bellamy’s hand on her shoulder and turned to look at him.
“I just wanted to let you know that I shot the guy. He is dead and all of this is over.”
“Who was he?”
“Seems like Wallace had a partner. His name was Emerson. Monty is on it.” He awkwardly patted her back and sat down on one of the chairs, his head in his hands. “I should have been more careful. I should have seen the guy. If I had only been a bit more careful.”
Clarke sat down next to him. “It wasn’t your fault, Bellamy. No one could have known just how crazy Nia Queen is.”
He looked up. “Lexa did.”
They sat in silence for a long time. Jake went to get coffee.
“Clarke!”
Clarke looked up and saw Raven and Octavia running towards her. She got up to meet them. Raven gave her a hug. “How is she?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“But it’s been hours!”
“I know.”
Clarke gave Octavia half a smile and sat back down again. The women joined her.
Four hours and counting. Clarke didn’t know what to think. She was a doctor, she knew how complicated these operations were, but she was tired and afraid and sitting here made her feel like an animal that was locked in a cage. She got up and started walking around. She’d just finished her second round through the waiting room when the door opened and her mother appeared.
Clarke stopped to look at her. She could tell that Abby was even more tired than she was. The way she looked and her hands shook … Clarke felt the panic rise. She didn’t want to hear what her mother was about to say, but Abby just took her into her arms and whispered into her ear.
“She’s alive, Clarke. She’s alive.”