Chapter Text
She pulled up outside the large house, staring at the flaking paint and boarded windows. It had been a while since she’s been here, and she hadn’t been looking forward to cleaning it up or sorting through her foster parents things.
Indra and Gustus had taken both Lexa and her sister into their home, giving them a loving family and a place to live. Lexa smiled to herself as she remembered the first time she set foot in that house, holding her sister's hand and nervously glancing back at her new parents as they brought in their stuff.
She sighed as she got out the car, pushing her sunglasses up onto her head and made a move towards the front door, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the old key that she struggled to turn properly in the lock.
Once inside she dropped her backpack and had a look around, tracing all the cracks down the walls and the layers of dust that had settled on every available surface, her eyes spotting familiar pictures and furniture that were a large part of her childhood.
A sad smile found its way to her lips as she remembered all the stupid stuff that she and Anya got up to, like plugging the sink and letting the water run down the stairs, shouting about how they had made a waterfall and how pretty it was. She laughed when she remembered Indra’s face as she came racing around the corner to see what was making water drip from the kitchen ceiling.
She should probably call Anya, let her know that she was back at the house and that everything was ok, knowing full well just how furious she’ll be at the news. She had told her that she would be moving to Arktown in May, telling her that she was going to fix up the old house and make it her own.
Anya had told her it was a bad idea, but Lexa isn’t one to back down from a challenge, so she left her small New York apartment and made the ten hour long trip all the way to this old house. She never told Anya what date she would be moving, thinking that she would try and stop her if she could, even physically if she had felt the need to.
Taking out her phone she dialled the number and waited, holding the phone with one hand as she lifted her bag onto her shoulder and made her way to the living room.
“Hey this is Anya, I’m busy right now but feel free to leave a message, and Lexa, if this is you, please call me at 9:00 pm tonight, not a minute late.”
What the hell?
She looked down at her phone, double checking for any new messages she might have missed.
Nothing. Sighing, she put the phone back into her pocket and dropped down in the middle of the floor, crossing her legs and leaning back on her hands. She couldn’t remember the last time she sat down, just took in her surroundings.
Maybe this year will be different. No more college, no more funds, no more loud nights in the city. She sighed again. A new start.
Once she had unpacked and had gotten her old room reasonably tidy, she decided to go downstairs and find some food. The kitchen was as she remembered it, unbearably clean, apart from all the dust that had settled over the years. Indra had always made sure there wasn’t a spot of dirt or a crumb left on the worktop, meaning that cooking was never something that Lexa had enjoyed doing, especially in this house.
She chuckled lightly to herself.
How Indra would flip her shit if she saw the kitchen now.
Lexa opened the fridge only to be met with disappointment as she saw the empty shelves staring back at her.
Idiot, of course it will be empty. Moron.
She sighed in resignation before picking up her car keys and wrapping her hoodie around her waist before heading on down to the shop she remembered from years ago.
Sky mall, I think. Something stupid like that.
The sky outside started to turn a dark grey as she drove down the long road, the occasional rain drop hitting her windshield and the wind howling in through the window was starting to mess her hair up.
The mall was halfway to town, caught in the middle of open landscape in the middle of nowhere.
Whoever thought to place a damn mall here was fucking a genius. They must get, what, five customers a day?
She thought dryly to herself as she made a turn into the car park. The place wasn’t that big, considering how many shops it held, but it was big enough for the town’s needs and had all the essentials.
The heating was much appreciated as Lexa stepped in through the door, wiping the small raindrops off her arms before taking a look around. She turned left past some stairs and walked into what remained of the old store she used to visit with her foster mother.
It had just been the shop to begin with, but as the town grew, so did Skymall, adding in cafes and clothing shops, even a gaming shop for the few teenagers in town.
Lexa wandered into The Ark, laughing at the lame name.
You’d have thought that they could get slightly more creative than that, she thought.
As she walked in she noticed that hardly anything had changed over the years... There were about six aisles, with enough food and toiletries that would satisfy Lexa’s needs for the time being.
“Griffin! Boss said you have to re-stock the soup shelf, and that you really should have done it an hour ago!” A voice called from somewhere in the building.
“Oh crap! I forgot, ok, I’ll go do it now!” Came a voice in reply.
Lexa saw a blonde haired girl run past her, slowing just enough to give Lexa a polite nod before she raced off through big double doors.
Lexa smiled despite herself.
I forgot how friendly people were here.
She set off towards the farthest end of the shop, looking for food that would be easy to cook. She picked up some mince and vegetables, thinking that she should make the effort to cook some nights at least.
She went back to the entrance and dumped her things in a basket, grumbling under her breath for forgetting to get a basket in the first place before she went back the meat selection and started looking for something easier.
She was about to reach out and grab some chicken nuggets when she felt something bump into her back, nearly causing her to fall forward.
“Ow! What the-“
“I’m so sorry! Oh my gosh I didn’t even see you there I’m so sorry!”
Lexa glared up at the blonde haired girl from earlier, glancing down at the name badge before meeting the blue eyes again.
Clarke. That’s a stupid name. The angry part of her brain whispered.
“It’s okay.” She said tightly, her brow stuck in a glare.
“No, honestly, that was stupid of me, I-“
“It’s fine. I promise.”
“Oh thank god, I’ve never done that before, I’m usually so careful.”
“Accidents happen Clarke, it’s fine.”
“How did…” She glanced down at her badge. “I’m a fucking moron today.” She muttered under her breath.
Lexa smirked. “Just today?”
Clarke shot her a look before pulling on a cage full of tinned soup, the same cage that had nearly caused Lexa to fall onto one of the shelves.
“Ha ha. Yes ‘just today’, I’m not normally this clumsy.”
Lexa shrugged, “If you say so…”
And then Clarke was around the corner, a playful frown left on her face. Lexa tried her best to keep her smile contained, she wasn’t one to show her emotions so easily to a stranger.
Deciding she was done with the meat area, Lexa followed the blonde girl around the corner, thinking that maybe she’d like some soup herself.
“I said sorry, you don’t have to come beat me up for it.” Clarke teased when she saw her. Lexa couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at her lips as she carried on scanning the shelves.
“I’m not here to beat you up, calm down.”
“Whatever you say.” Clarke replied as she hefted up a pack of tins.
Lexa watched as she managed to carry it to the shelves and heft it up onto her shoulders. One more push and they would have been sat happily in their place, but Lexa saw the small tear in the packaging as Clarke was about to finish the job.
“Watch out!” She dropped the basket and ran forward as the packaging split, raining tins down onto the girl below.
Clarke glanced at Lexa before looking up at the chaos above, earning her a few tins to the forehead as they fell to the ground. Lexa was fast enough to stick her arm out and deflect a few before they managed to hit Clarke, possibly saving her from being knocked unconscious.
The noise from all the tins was almost deafening as they clattered against the floor, bouncing off in all directions and rolling under shelves.
“Fuck!” was the only sound that came from the girl.
She was holding a hand to her head as blood was starting to trickle between her fingers. “Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.” She began saying into the silence.
Lexa crouched down beside Clarke and began pushing away all the tins. Thankfully none of them had split, meaning that she was able to kneel down without fear of soaking her jeans in tomato soup.
“Hey, Clarke, you okay?”
A girl came limping around the corner, favouring her left leg as she made her way towards the two on the floor.
“What the hell happened here Griffin?!”
“Fucking tins. Pieces of fuck.”
The girl glanced at Lexa, “You can tell she’s pissed. She uses the word ‘fuck’ a lot when she’s pissed off. What happened?”
“A load of tins fell on your friend here.”
“And is she okay?” The girl asked, worry starting to appear on her features.
“Fuck you, I’m not fucking okay.”
“She’s bleeding.” Lexa translated.
The girl tucked some hair behind her ear as she used Lexa’s shoulder to lower herself down beside Clarke.
“We need to put something cold to her head to stop the bleeding, do you have any towels in the staff room?” Lexa asked the dark haired girl.
“Don’t you dare try to put those rags to my head, you can forget about it.” Clarke glared at the girl.
“Jesus Christ Griffin, let me go run and get the towels made out of fucking gold, I think I left them just around the corner.”
Clarke closed her eyes and groaned. “Please don’t try to be a smart ass right now, my head hurts and I’m kind of dizzy.”
“Sorry Clarke.” The girl mumbled, “but those ‘rags’ are all we have right now.”
Lexa had an idea. She jumped up and looked down at the girl, who was now eyeing her suspiciously. “Where is your bathroom?”
On the other side of the shop, far right corner. Why?”
“I’ll be right back.”
Lexa started jogging towards the bathroom, grabbing a bag of peas from the freezer along the way. Once she was there she whipped off her top and replaced it with her hoodie, then wrapped the top around the bag of peas before jogging back to the two girls.
She chucked the makeshift ice pack to the dark haired and knelt down beside Clarke. “The top is clean, I washed it yesterday and I’ve only been wearing it for a couple of hours, I assume that this is better than what you’ve got out back.”
Clarke stared at her, her blue eyes wide as she took in what Lexa said.
“But I’ll get it bloody.”
“It can be washed.”
“Blood isn’t easy to get out of clothing.”
“I have my ways.”
The dark haired girl interrupted by placing a hand on Clarke’s shoulder whilst pressing the icepack to her head with the other.
“Thanks, Raven.”
“Don’t mention it. I’m going to call your mom.”
“No! Don’t! I’m fine, don’t worry.”
“Griffin, your mom can help. Call her.”
“She’ll panic…”
“And for a good reason! You’re bleeding everywhere!”
“Head wounds bleed a lot more than normal wounds, just give it a second.”
“Clarke.”
Clarke sighed as she took the pack from Raven and sat up to lean against the shelf, closing her eyes. “Fine.”
Raven jumped up and ran off out back, disappearing through the big double doors with an, “I’ll be right back.” thrown over her shoulder.
Lexa glanced down at Clarke “You should really lie down again.”
“Not you too. It’s only a scratch.”
“You might need stitches.”
“No! I won’t!
“Are there any doctors in Arktown?”
Clarke opened an eye to peer at her. “You must be new if you’re still calling it that.”
Lexa frowned. “Calling it what?”
“Arktown. We all just call it Arkton. Or just Ark, whatever you feel like saying.”
Lexa smiled. “That’s just being lazy.”
Clarke closed her eyes again.
“Crazy is my middle name.”
“Wow. I think you might have a concussion, you’re not even hearing me properly.”
“No. I’m fine. I don’t have a concussion, my mom’s a doctor, I would know.”
“Clarke I really-” She was interrupted by the sound of Raven running back through the doors, well, more like limping at a fast pace.
“She didn’t pick up, so I had to shoot her a text instead.” She looked around all the tins. “I’m not cleaning this up.”
“Raven, I’m bleeding and she’s a customer…” Clarke said, pointing in Lexa’s direction, “…so I’m afraid it’s going to have to be you.”
“I can just about walk, let alone stand, there’s no way I’m going to be able to bend over and pick these up! Bellamy can do it.”
“As if he would.”
“Oh he will Griffin, don’t you worry.”
Lexa glanced down at Raven’s leg. “You okay there? You didn’t hurt yourself as well did you?”
Clarke groaned. “You just had to ask her, didn’t you.”
Raven shrugged.
“Sharking accident. It was just me, alone in a boat, just me and the sea. And then WHOOSH! It was like a scene out of Jaws, you wouldn’t believe it. I barely made it back alive, I was just lucky enough to find an old abandoned surfboard floating about and I rode the waves back to the beach. I’m just lucky to be here, you know?”
“No one believes it, stop lying. Last week you said a big ass gorilla escaped the zoo, and the week before that you said you were ambushed by a two headed deer. And besides, you can’t even surf, you kept falling off when Bellamy tried to teach you.”
“Well this one’s the truth. And survival instincts are crazy when they kick in Clarke, you never know what you’ll be able to do when your life’s in danger. Did you know how strong a mother can be when her children are in danger? You wouldn’t believe it Clarke, you just wouldn’t.”
“I don’t.” Came the dry reply
Lexa’s attention was diverted by the buzzing in her pockets. She pulled out the phone and was surprised to see an old, yet familiar, number appear on the screen.
“Excuse me a moment.” She said to the arguing girls.
She took a few steps away before answering the phone with: “Lincoln?”
“Lexa! Wow, you actually picked up?”
“Of course I picked up, why wouldn’t I?”
“Anya told me you probably wouldn’t.”
Ah. So that’s why he’s calling.
“If she’s asking you to check up on me, tell her I’m fine.”
“Well actually, she sent me a message saying you were moving back to Arkton-“
Lazy.
“so I thought I’d give you a call and arrange to meet up when you got here? She never gave me a date and she won’t pick up her phone now.”
“Yeah I know, I have to call her tonight and find out what’s going on. I’ve actually just arrived here though, I still need to unpack and everything…”
“What?! When were you going to tell me?”
“Soon, you big baby, calm down.”
“Nice to hear how much you’ve changed. Anyway,do you want to come with me on a night out? I could introduce you to a few of my friends and show you around the place again if you wanted?”
Lexa let slip a small smile despite herself.
“Thank you, Lincoln. That sounds good.”
“Cool! So what are you doing tonight?”
Reading probably, unpacking, cleaning…
“Nothing too important, just setting up my old room, why?”
“Feel like coming out tonight? Might as well get started as soon as we can!”
“I don’t know, I really have a lot to do…”
“Look, if you come out tonight, then I’ll help you unpack tomorrow, sounds good?”
Lexa smiled again.
“Sure.”
She quickly said her goodbye to Lincoln, and hung up, glancing at Clarke as she did so.
She quickly walked over to the bleeding blonde and crossed her arms. “I’m really sorry to leave you like this, but I have to go now. You don’t need any help or anything, do you?”
Clarke smiled up at her.
“No it’s fine! You’ve done more than enough already, thank you.”
“I’m pretty sure I was heroic too.” Raven grumbled from her spot beside Clarke. She winced when she received an elbow to her ribs.
“See you later, Clarke. Try not to get yourself killed next time, okay?”
“Har. Har.” Came the mocking response. Before Lexa could go, Clarke shifted and tried standing up, frowning down at Raven as she sat motionless and watched the struggle.
“Before you leave, do you want your top back?” She asked, glancing down at the bloodied top.
“Uuh, no, it’s alright. You can keep it.” Lexa smiled, “Keep it as a souvenir from the day you could have been killed by soup.”
This time Clarke did laugh, the sound ringing out through the shop, “Sure, that sounds like a good idea! Although, I’d like to return it some day, if you don’t mind. Washed and cleaned of course.”
Lexa smiled. “Of course. Someday.” She said, before turning round and leaving the small store.
Clarke. Maybe it isn’t such a bad name after all.