Chapter 3
Lexa timed her arrival to the office precisely. She exited the elevator, returning from court and saw Clarke looking puzzled and slightly bent over a bouquet of flowers as she searched for a tag.
“Another one?” Lexa asked only mildly amused.
The blonde huffed, and bent down lower, causing locks of blonde hair to fall into her face. “There’s no tag. Please don’t tell me it was some kind of stranger kink this time.”
There it was - what she had been missing. It was far too long in the week for the first joke to pass between them.
The first day back since their almost kiss lacked the usual fluidity that was normally present between them. Clarke’s eyes would still reflexively flicker at her looking for unspoken cues and signs as to what was needed, to then be followed up by a decisive and accurate response; and yet the words that were tossed her way were short and lacking the genuine warmth that usually accompanied them. The second day they didn’t see each other at all since Lexa was required in court.
Lexa leaned over the counter, taking in the sight of the flower arrangement - and maybe the blonde’s reaction to her next statement that flew out of her mouth easily as if it weren’t something unexpected. “I can’t say I can take credit for this, I got up to no mischief this weekend.”
Clarke’s frown deepened.
The pink, yellow and occasional purple flowers had a single petal wrapped around a yellow spike. Lexa didn’t think the bouquet itself looked all that pretty, but she could see how an individual flower in its simplicity held an underrated elegance.
“This bouquet is different from your normal ones, Lex. I thought I knew all the flowers by now.”
Watching the blonde step back from the arrangement, Lexa suggested casually. “Seems strange that an anonymous person would send me flowers for no reason. Maybe they’re for you?”
Blue eyes flickered up to her for half a beat. “I doubt it. Do you want these out like the others?”
For someone so smart, Clarke could sure be stupid sometimes.
“Calla lilies. Usually the black and white ones are used for weddings and funerals.” Lexa clicked her tongue, and ignored the question.
Clarke’s brows furrowed in confusion as she shook her head and placed the bouquet to the centre of the counter as a decoration. “How did court go? Was it as eventful as you thought it’d be?”
She refused the sigh of dejection that wanted to escape and kept the smile on her face. “Why don’t I tell you about it over lunch? You must be starving, I overheard a birdie saying you haven’t taken your break yet.”
“Great. That same little birdie can cover for me then.”
It’s not often that Lexa gets the chance to see Clarke eat (and what she likes to eat) as their lunch breaks weren’t often aligned with one another. She left her burger sitting on her plate, intrigued by the way the other woman literally drowned her garden salad in caesar dressing.
Clarke noticed her staring and as if to say ‘so what?’, cocked a brow and added another squirt.
Lexa gave a small shrug, and pointed to the beef patty in her burger, then back to the salad. “My food eats your food.”
“Shuddup,” The blonde mumbled, “Lunch is the only time I manage to eat anything close to healthy. Not all of us can consume anything we want and still look good.”
She let her eyes wander over what portions of Clarke’s figure she could see and smiled.
The unconscious comparison (and compliment) was rather absurd considering that she fully believed that Clarke held the more alluring physique with all of her firm curves paired with the dazzling expressiveness of her general demeanour.
When standing besides Clarke, Lexa considered herself to be a lanky stick figure despite the obvious interest she received from other people.
Smoothly, she leaned forward a little to slide the plate that held her burger towards the blonde with one hand, while pulling the bowl of the now drowning salad to herself with the other and didn’t wait for words of sass or protest to be thrown at her. “You look as captivating as you always do; so live a little and eat the damn burger.”
“Smooth, Woods. Smooth.” Clarke replied, picking it up and inspecting it. “But not smooth enough to think you’re getting out of telling me about what happened. I really want to know how Nia reacted to Roan.”
“If looks could kill, Mr Queen would have keeled over from where he stood.” She replied with a grin and stabbed at a dripping tomato with her fork. “Nia tried to have the case dismissed, on the grounds that Roan wasn’t contracted to represent our clients.”
The blonde’s smirked. “So naturally the judge denied the motion, right?”
To answer the question, Lexa popped the tomato in her mouth and smiled smugly around her chewing. “It’s not against the law or proceedings to make alterations to your legal team. Roan slaughtered Loft’s CEO, Wallace on the stand.”
“He was on the main floor? When do you enter?”
“Cross-examination.” She said, already feeling the anticipation of the event.
“Angle?” Clarke asked, following up on the answer.
“Ethics. Wallace is a smooth talker. But the metadata from the recall file shows that it took him three weeks to approve issuing the recall notice after our second client was hospitalised.” She continued to devour the salad and let her answer sink in a little.
“Huh, self-sabotaging. Wonder why Nia’s taking the case then.”
“Nia owns shares in Loft, according to both Roan and Costia.” Lexa explained disinterestedly.
At the look Clarke levelled at her, she rushed to say. “As long as Loft isn’t paying Nia’s firm with those shares, it’s perfectly legal for her to represent them.”
Clarke nodded, swallowing her own bite, the woman’s blues observed her fondly. “It’s a shame that you don’t take bigger cases more often.”
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” Lexa asked, with a crooked smile and fishing for the compliment that was obviously on the tip of the blonde’s tongue.
She would settle for the more than likely tongue in cheek comment instead though.
“Your ego hardly needs any further inflation.”
“With that kind of encouragement, it’s a wonder I have any confidence at all.”
The blonde leaned in a little, resting on her forearms. “You’re great at what you do. But you don’t often seem excited by it. It’s good to see you like this.”
“Only good?” Lexa egged on with an exaggerated pout.
Clarke’s eyes shone in amusement, “If you think -”
She looked apologetically at the woman, and answered her ringing phone. “Woods, speaking.”
It was Raven. “Sorry to bother you on your lunch break, Lex. But a sciency type dude from Loft is looking to speak with you, do you want me to ask him to wait? Or book him in for another time?”
Lexa frowned, not being accustomed to having her time taken up by such questions. If it were Clarke back at the desk, Clarke would have given Lexa half an hour to finish lunch and have the person wait for her - no question of approval or feedback asked for.
But Raven wasn’t Clarke, and Raven wasn’t used to working for her.
“No problem. Ask him to wait and I’ll be there in ten.” She answered, hanging up.
The blonde was already rising out of the chair, “Time to get back?”
“Yep. Might have another lead on Loft - potentially a last minute witness.”
“Go get ‘em, tiger.” Clarke encouraged, rummaging through her bag and pulling out her purse.
Lexa shook her head to herself, and placed her hand on the small of Clarke’s back, barely nudging her forward. “Go, I got the bill. I’ll see you in the office.”
The woman looked like she was about to protest, and Lexa gave a cocky smirk. “If it bothers you that much we can have lunch again tomorrow and then you can pay.”
*
“Settle the case, Lex.” Anya advised tiredly, finishing her last sip of whiskey from her glass.
Lexa placed her own empty one back on her desk. “I don’t want to just settle and neither do the clients. If Loft can do this now with such a cavalier attitude, then there’s nothing stopping something like this from happening again.”
“Did you forget our job is to convince the judge and jury to hold the ‘bad guys’ accountable for the things they’ve already done, Murdock?” Her sister chastised. “We can’t condemn them for things they haven’t done yet.”
“There’s a hundred known victims -”
“ - seventy-five of which were more than happy to settle outside of court, thirteen who want nothing to do with this, and only twelve that we actually represent!”
Lexa let out a breath to try and rid herself of the growing frustration she had at hearing this again. “It’s a matter of principle, Ahn -”
“- Have you made up with Clarke yet? Raven said you had lunch together. It’s about time you -” Anya began to ask with a wariness that signalled that she was tired of hearing about the case.
Whatever frustration Lexa had been feeling, vanished and was immediately replaced by something close to panic. She practically dove to reach the intercom switch, knocking off several items off her desk; and with a flick of her thumb, the device was turned off.
Her sister blinked, trying to process what the hell happened. “That was an overreaction if I ever saw one, Lex.”
Lexa stole a glance through the glass pane at the blonde who seemed to have a sudden interest in relocating the bouquet of calla lilies to somewhere else in the building.
She let out a low hiss as if Clarke could actually hear them still. “She heard you.”
Anya gave her a pained look. “You’re as bad as she is. I’m going away from this madness.”
“Say goodnight to Raven for me.” She replied, and after a moment of hesitation, added on. “She said ‘no’ by the way. I almost kissed her and she said ‘no’ because she likes her job and likes me. Seemed to think it’s a bad idea.”
Her sister stopped in her tracks and seemed to mull over the words and gazed back towards Clarke’s unattended counter. “Well, that’s just stupid.”
“I sent her flowers anonymously and she asked if I had a stranger kink.”
Anya blinked and shook her head incredulously. “You need to learn there’s a whole world outside of work and she needs to learn that there’s a world outside of you, or work, or whatever. I really am leaving before I lose any more brain cells for the day. As you pointed out, I have someone waiting for me at home.”
“What-?”
“Goodnight!”
She stared at the notes she’d written during court earlier that day and picked up her pen to get back to work. Just because Anya didn’t care about doing more than what was required of the firm didn’t mean she felt the same.
And what the hell did she mean about Clarke?
Lexa was feeling good about her direction and line of questioning when her door opened, and Clarke stepped in to take a few pieces of paper off of the desk to skim over them quickly. “Nothing to fax off or upload?”
“Nope. Was just making adjustments for what I was planning on doing for cross.” She replied, getting up from her chair going to the minibar fridge. “Want a drink? I have beer.”
“Since when do you have beer here?” The blonde asked.
“Since I found out that’s what you drink. So, do you want one?”
“Trying to get me drunk, Woods?”
Lexa grinned, feeling her earlier tension slowly dissolve away. “Clarke Griffin, drunk? I’d pay to see that.”
“It’s been known to happen from time to time.” The blonde grinned slyly, “Sure, why not? I’ll have a beer as long as you promise me not to listen to Anya.”
She sighed, retrieving the beer, and pouring herself a whiskey when she returned. “She’s my sister and she means well.”
“And so do you, Lex. So where do you want to start?”
Lexa flicked through a couple of pieces of paper she used as reference, and held them out. “I’m just reviewing. I want to make sure I haven’t missed anything.”
Clarke took the papers and sat down, stifling a yawn. “I’m not the lawyer here, but I’ll be up for playing Devil’s Advocate and you can spend the rest of the night telling me why my points are non-arguments.”
She let out a small laugh. “Don’t sell yourself short. You’re a fast learner.”
A couple of hours later, Lexa told the blonde to go home. As she was gathering her own things to leave, she noticed a $20 note underneath her untouched coffee Clarke had made for her at some point. With fondness, Lexa smiled as she pocketed the money and headed towards the elevator.
*
“Don’t even think about running off.” Clarke said, with humour colouring her voice.
Lexa gave a smooth and confident smile. “I don’t see why I’d have a reason to. I have a plus one with me.”
Blues roamed over her, critically before the blonde leaned over, wrapping her arms around her neck. Lexa could feel fingers brush against her nape, fiddling with the clasp of the necklace she had chosen to wear.
“What’s wrong with my accessory?” She asked.
The chain slid off her neck and Clarke stood back and gave her another once over. “Lex, I swear… Look, you’re supposed to be here to try and find sponsors for your charity thing.”
“I know. That doesn’t explain how that has anything to do with a necklace.”
The blonde rolled her eyes. “This is the first time anyone’s seen you wear a dress - not to mention a low cut dress in like a year. People will have a hard time listening to your pitches if their attention is drawn… elsewhere.”
Lexa blinked, “My boobs?”
“Yes, your boobs. What else would I be talking about?” Clarke replied, as a pink tinge started to slowly make its way up her neck.
“Are you saying that because I wore a necklace you were staring at them?” She grinned slyly.
“Y-No. We are not talking about your boobs. Lexa, go inside.” The blonde said, grabbing her arm and leading them through the doors. “You have people to meet.”
“Clarke, no! I was having too much fun with this conversation.” The lawyer pouted, as she followed without really putting up too much of a fight.
“Tough shit. Now I’ll be over there, while you go and do your thing.” Clarke said, gesturing in a general direction and now a brilliant shade of red.
Lexa slowly took the blonde’s hand before she could get too far and gave a kind of awkward smile, feeling a little self conscious. “Clarke, you’re here with me. You don’t have to stand on the sidelines. I know these types of fancy events aren’t really your thing, why don’t I get us each a glass of champagne and we can ease into this together.”
“I still don’t understand why you didn’t take Anya.”
“Would you want to be the third wheel again with her and Raven?” She asked, “Besides I’m not allowed to talk shop outside of the office. Hell, Ahn’s getting impatient with me talking shop even in the office lately.”
The blonde withdrew her hand and made no move to retreat. “That’s ridiculous, she's your senior partner. How are you able to not talk -” She stopped as saw someone. “Don’t look now, but it’s time to throw your sales pitch. I’ll be back in a moment with those champagne glasses.”
The brunette barely had time to process those words when a jovial voice called her name. She turned to face the speaker with a charming smile. “Mr Jaha, how are you?”
“I must say, you look fabulous in that dress. It’s such a nice change from your suits.” He replied.
“Well, I’m not representing anyone tonight. I hope insurance didn’t give you too much of a hard time after the last time we saw each other.”
“There’s no hard feelings. Although, I wouldn’t like a repeat with you.”
“You might just be in luck. I’m here to offer my services for personal representation. All fees will be donated and split between The Children’s Hospital and The Starlight Foundation.”
“You keep yourself a busy woman, Miss Woods.”
“We’ve recently acquired a new attorney that’s lightened my workload a little.” Lexa replied, spotting Clarke returning with three glasses in her hands. “It also helps that I have a good assistant. So what do you say Jaha? Care to donate a small lump sum in exchange for legal advice or representation from me personally?”
Lexa grew more bored as the night went on. For every new person she threw her pitch to, meant repeating the same boring conversations. However, the evening was surprisingly more productive than she expected. Clarke was, as always, helpful. She took notes on her phone and searched for cues or signs that either Lexa or whomever she was speaking to, needed anything. The blonde always kept a little distance, and kept out of most conversations unless spoken to directly. All in all, they managed to raise almost six grand in exchange for the promise of seven legal consultations.
She glanced at the blonde, who occasionally shifted her weight from one high-heeled foot to another. There hadn’t been a lot of opportunity to try and get a few moments alone with her.
Lexa leaned in close to her in order to keep her voice low. “Do you want to take a break and get some air before someone else manages to snag us?”
“Please,” Clarke replied, gratefully.
She placed a hand on the small of the woman’s back and slowly guided her outside. In her dress and all, Lexa set the example and sat on the steps looking up to see if the blonde would join her.
“You’re going to ruin your dress.”
“I don’t see any seats out here,” She replied.
Clarke nodded then bent her knees, and placed a hand on her shoulder, using the other to take each heel off. “My feet are killing me.”
“Then spend tomorrow kicking them up. You deserve a break after working all day.” Lexa said, holding her hands out to take the shoes. “I appreciate that you came tonight.”
“Of course I’m coming in tomorrow, and don’t give me too much credit, I only came just to see how many people you’d piss off.” Clarke said, yawning and sitting down. “I might just take the time to sketch Jaha’s face from when he realised you were asking him for money since the last time you saw him, you wiped the floor with him in the courtroom.”
“You draw?”
“Some people read before bed, I sketch. Raven likes to tease me about being boring. But who needs excitement when they work with you and are her friend?”
Lexa let out a laugh. “We’re not that bad. Would you mind if you brought one of your sketches in one day and showed it to me?”
Clarke groaned. “That requires getting up first. Now that we’ve sat down, I don’t want to move.”
“You have to get up to get in my car. Come on, I’ll drive you home,”
After coaxing the blonde to her feet, and driving her home they sat on the couch together. Clarke went to get her sketchbook, and sat next to her as she flipped through page after page. Some of the sketches were captioned with added quips that made each one funnier. Lexa didn’t notice the lack of commentary until she asked about one specific illustration of a caricature of both Anya and Raven.
Clarke was out like a light, having fallen asleep. Lexa tried to gently get off the couch to avoid jostling her awake. She awkwardly made her way into Clarke’s bedroom and tried not to look around in the blonde’s private space too much as she retrieved a blanket and pillow from the bed.
There were a few things she couldn’t help but notice. Like the pile of clothes on her bed that she obviously tried on and decided against for tonight, or the photos on display. What caused the brunette to smile though, was a vase - and in that vase was as a bouquet of now mostly wilted calla lilies.
She tried to tuck Clarke in the best she could without waking her, and set an alarm on her own phone before leaving.
Tomorrow morning she needed to talk to Clarke, outside of the office.
A stranger kink, indeed.