Chapter Text
Saturday, August 22
“Did you know you have a ninety-three percent accuracy rate with your forecasts?”
Clarke had just woken up and dragged herself out of bed on a Saturday morning at ten o’clock to find Lexa sitting on the couch, legs crossed, staring at her phone and addressing her.
“Huh?”
Clarke wasn’t particularly articulate on weekend mornings.
“You’re correct ninety-three percent of the time with your forecasts,” Lexa repeated, holding her screen up as if Clarke could see from across the room. “You’re on a list of the top ten most accurate meteorologists on television in the country.”
Clarke shuffled her way to the couch and sat down to look at the screen. There was an article about weather forecasting Lexa had found on one of the obscure sites she browsed.
“What is this?” Clarke asked, taking the phone from Lexa and scrolling quickly. “This isn’t an industry association-”
Lexa took her phone back possessively.
“No, it’s this advocacy group I follow who share stats on all sorts of media-related topics. They did a study over the previous year and just released their findings. You’re number three.”
She scrolled down to the list of people and pointed to Clarke’s name. Clarke stared at it for a few seconds, then looked up at Lexa.
“I’m sorry that I let you down by not being number one.”
Lexa laughed, and Clarke smiled in a silly way she only did for Lexa.
“Number three is pretty fantastic,” she said, putting an arm around Clarke and squeezing.
“I guess,” Clarke mumbled. “If you’re into losers.”
Lexa kissed her on the cheek.
“As long as you’re my loser.”
Clarke rolled her eyes nudge Lexa in the ribs with her elbow. They sat on the couch silently for a minute, Clarke closed her eyes and leaned her head against Lexa’s shoulder as Lexa resumed her browsing. After the minute was up, Clarke didn’t move, but she opened her eyes.
“Hey,” she said.
“Mhm?” Lexa asked, not looking away from her screen.
Clarke smiled secretly at the sight of her news junkie girlfriend of three years being unable to look away from her Saturday morning browsing ritual.
“Wanna take a trip to Vermont with me later this year?”
Lexa finally disengaged from her phone and looked over at Clarke in surprise.
“Sure,” she said impulsively. “What’s the occasion?”
Clarke shrugged.
“Just want to show you where I used to live. It’s a boring town, but it’s pretty. I’ve got a few friends there who’d be nice to see.”
Lexa leaned her head into Clarke’s and smiled.
“It sounds perfect.”
******
Life was good for Lexa and Clarke. Ever since they had met three years ago and become accidentally fake-engaged, they had grown closer and closer. They had gone through some rough times, helped exonerate Clarke’s stepfather, Marcus Kane, of a murder he had been sent to prison for, and started a real, not-fake relationship with each other once Clarke had finally knocked down the walls she had kept around her heart for years. Lexa had never insisted, never nagged, never guilt tripped Clarke. She had simply stood by her side patiently, showing her she could be trusted. Now, they had been living together for over a year, and they were happy.
But not engaged.
The world had fallen in love with their story, but the problem with a secretly fake engagement was that fans expected a wedding at some point. In all fairness, there had been some drama in their lives after the fake proposal, and so the general sentiment amongst their fans was that they had held off on their engagement while they sorted out Marcus’ retrial and brought the real killer to justice. Another bump in the road had been Marcus’ love life. He had stolen the headlines for a while after his relationship with Indra became public. It had caused a stir, since she was the ex-wife of his late wife’s killer. But it had been well over a year since all of that had been settled, and still not a word about a wedding for Lexa and Clarke.
Lexa and Clarke didn’t feel particularly stressed about it. Some people were engaged for years. Some for days. They had claimed on social media that they wanted to treat their engagement with some privacy, and fans were respectful about it. They no longer bombarded the two with questions about it. Of course, they bombarded them with questions about every single other aspect of their lives.
But Lexa couldn’t help but think about it sometimes. Deep down, she knew she wasn’t interested in looking anywhere else for love. She had found it. Her true, forever love. She felt it deep in her bones.
It was therefore not a big surprise when Lexa woke up one Wednesday morning and looked to her left to see Clarke still sleeping and was filled with giddy glee. She was so absolutely in love, and it always pleased her to wake up beside Clarke. But today, she felt it more acutely than ever. Maybe it was because last night they had stayed up late talking deeply, philosophizing about their childhoods and their lives, speculating on what awaited them in the near and far future. Maybe it was the way they had fallen asleep so naturally, eventually quieting down and looking at each other as their eyes slowly closed, the only point of contact between their bodies being Clarke’s hand splayed out on top of Lexa’s in the centre of the bed. Maybe it was because they had known each other for three years and Lexa still felt like jello when she looked at Clarke because she was so sweet and kind and smart and interesting and pretty. The first time she had ever seen Clarke, she had almost drowned in overwhelming feelings of adoration. That had never changed from day one.
Lexa watched Clarke sleep for a few more minutes. When the alarm went off and Clarke’s eyes shot open, Lexa smiled guiltily. She had been caught staring. Clarke didn’t say anything as she rolled up, reaching her hand behind her to grab Lexa’s and pull her up with her. It was time to get to work.
They barely spoke as they got ready. Lexa went out to make the coffee while Clarke took a shower first. Lexa packed their bags and handed Clarke a cup of coffee as they switched roles, and Lexa went to go shower while Clarke got breakfast ready. They then met in the kitchen, eating toast and scrambled eggs together. Or at least Lexa tried. Her stomach was feeling too squirmy today. She couldn’t stop her heart from beating quickly, and she briefly wondered if she was developing some kind of heart issue.
“What’s up?” Clarke asked as she noticed Lexa not eating.
Lexa smiled and shrugged.
“Nothing.”
Clarke smiled back and drained her coffee, not saying anything.
Lexa loved quiet mornings like this where they were so in synch they didn’t need to talk much. They were calm and in tune from last night, and they worked together like a well-oiled machine.
It didn’t take them long to get dressed and ready. They got into Lexa’s car, and they drove to work. When they got in, they parted ways to finish getting ready, and they met half an hour later in the studio where they filmed their show. There were a few crew members already present in the studio when they walked in. Lincoln was there ensuring his cameras were positioned exactly how he liked them, and he gave the girls a nod. Within minutes, Indra walked in, her headset hanging around her neck, her phone in her hand, a clipboard with notes in the other. She gave Lexa a nod and went over to speak with Clarke about something. Thirty seconds later, Roan appeared, and he came over to sit beside Lexa at the desk they shared.
They chatted briefly while Lexa reviewed her notes. There was nothing particularly interesting going on today. Their show was going to be a bit of a fluffy one, with a few local festivals being highlighted, as well as some other feel-good stories about a petting zoo that had reopened after a fire and a story about a man who had eaten the most slices of apple pie in one sitting at some small town country fair.
That last one made Lexa smirk, because she had taken part in a blueberry pie eating contest once upon a time when she was fourteen. It had been a stupid thing to do because she obviously couldn’t have won against some of the boys she competed against. She had come in dead last, plus had earned herself a stomach ache. She wondered if Clarke had ever done something stupid like that. She had grown up around ball parks, so maybe she had taken part in a hotdog eating competition. Or maybe-
“Lexa,” came Lincoln’s voice.
“Hm?”
She shook her head. She had gotten lost in thought and not kept up with what was going on.
“I said two minutes till air. Anything you need?”
He was peering at her with curious eyes, his brow not quite furrowed in concern, but close to it. Lexa gave him a bright smile.
“Nope,” she said, putting her phone away and looking over at Roan, who was frowning at her.
“You look weird today,” he observed.
She scowled at him.
“You look weird every day,” she bit back.
He harumphed and looked away, facing the camera. She smirked. She and Roan got along well. He was like a second brother to her – an older brother, unlike her actual younger brother who tried to act like he was an older brother.
And then it was suddenly the ten second countdown. Lexa looked to her left quickly and saw Clarke sitting on her stool by her green screen. She was looking at something behind her so she didn’t see Lexa looking at her, and Lexa smiled. She got lost in Clarke’s beauty until Lincoln said the number “three” particularly loudly, as if he had caught Lexa unfocused and was trying to corral her back on board. She blinked quickly and looked at camera three, the wide shot of her and Roan at the desk.
“Good morning San Diego,” she said cheerfully with a bright smile. “Welcome to the Morning News Rundown show. I’m Lexa Grimaldi.”
“And I’m Roan Bernhardt.”
“And here are the top stories to get you started this morning.”
Roan jumped into the first story, and Lexa listened, giving feedback and smiling, all the while her heart beating faster and faster as she thought about Clarke sitting just off on the other side of the studio, probably watching her, probably thinking about her at least a little bit.
Focus, Lexa, she told herself as she began to tune out of Roan’s story.
He wrapped it up and Lexa took on the pie-eating contest story. She rushed through it, not paying attention to Indra’s frantic hand signals for her to slow down. When she was done, she finally took a deep breath, gave a bright smile, and spoke into the camera.
“And now with the weather, Clarke Griffin.”
She saw the blinking light on her camera stop to indicate it had cut away, and she looked over at Clarke to watch her present the weather on this beautiful August day.
“It’s hot, San Diego,” Clarke declared into the camera after pointing out the soaring temperatures.
You’re hot, Lexa thought idly.
She couldn’t sit still as Clarke reported on the weather. She picked at a corner of the vinyl that had started curling up from the table, smoothing it down once she realized what she was doing. She inspected her nails and looked at a small paper cut she had gotten on her right thumb the other day before looking up to watch Clarke. Clarke’s report was almost finished, and Lexa and Roan were supposed to get ready for a wide shot that would encompass them plus Clarke, since the next story would involve all three of them, but Lexa was distracted.
“Hey,” Roan hissed, waving his hand in front of Lexa’s face as Lincoln gave the final three second countdown.
Roan cleared his throat and began talking as camera five caught all three of them in the picture.
“A disaster was averted last weekend when an off-duty librarian was visiting a private petting zoo just outside of the city with her dog.”
“I’m sorry,” Lexa blurted out suddenly, looking at Roan and then the far away camera. “I have to say something important.”
She could vaguely see Indra’s head shooting up from her notes, but Lexa was far too gone. Her head was filled with intrusive thoughts telling her it was vital that she stand up and walk over to Clarke and talk to her about how she felt, and it had to happen right now.
“Clarke,” Lexa said, standing up from her chair, Roan watching on in confusion. “We’ve known each other for a long time now. We started working together a few years ago, and it’s made work the most fun I’ve ever had. We’ve gotten to talk and gotten to know each other.”
Clarke, who had been reviewing her notes on her next segment for her long-term forecast, looked up at Lexa in surprise. The tablet was gripped in her hand tightly as she watched her girlfriend walk up to her.
“Then we started hanging out outside of work, and it was like a rollercoaster from there. You changed my life, made me happy, and I never want to be with anybody else ever again.”
Clarke started blinking at an unusual rate, tears threatening to fall down her face as she suspected what was coming. Lexa didn’t get down on one knee, but she walked right up to Clarke and reached her hand out, her back to the camera and the crew.
“Clarke, will you actually marry me and make our fake engagement a reality?”
Clarke reached out a hand to grab Lexa’s to steady herself, but she but completely missed because of how stunned she was. Her hand fell limply onto her own leg, and she simply stared.
Meanwhile, Indra stood at the side, watching in horror beside Lincoln, where he stood beside camera five.
“Oh my god,” Indra whispered, putting her face in her hands. “The entire region is watching this.”
Lincoln smirked as her kept his eye on the scene.
“Nah,” he said. “I cut the feed a minute ago when she started to go off script. I’m airing the interview with the president from a few years ago a little earlier than planned.”
Indra looked up, her eyes wide, incredulous, and Lincoln flashed her a winning grin.
“I could see this coming a mile away. The studio’s the only one that’s gotta witness this mess.”
They refocused on the scene in front of them, where Lexa was still standing in front of Clarke, and Clarke was stuttering, blown away by the sudden question that had come out of Lexa’s lips. She had somehow managed to stand up.
“Lexa, uh…” she trailed off quietly.
Lexa stared at her stupidly, not able to say anything else, and Clarke clammed up. Crew members started giggling and whispering.
“Do they all know we’re not on air?” Indra asked, pointing at the crew.
Lincoln shook his head.
“Just you and me.”
Indra glowered at her staff, who should have been better behaved.
“Children,” she muttered to herself.
Lincoln just smiled and shrugged.
They both looked over, and saw Lexa and Clarke had stepped apart, and Lexa was now looking terrified, like she couldn’t believe what she had just done. At the lack of any response from a dumbfounded Clarke, Roan got up from his chair and walked over to take Lexa’s arm and lead her back to the desk as she trembled. Clarke sat back down stiffly in her chair, still looking flabbergasted. Roan expertly straightened out his spine, looked over at Lincoln for a sign, and took a breath.
“That was President Cage making his now-famous speech about fire safety, which has shaped wildfire policy in this state ever since. And now I want to talk about llamas, goats, and chickens, the petting zoo that caught on fire, and the heroic dog who saved everyone.”
******
Lexa bolted out of the studio the minute the cameras cut and the show was over. She ignored Indra, ignored Roan, and even ignored Clarke. She ran to her dressing room, closed the door, and sat on the couch, putting her head in her hands in shame.
She had done it again. She had blown it completely. She had accidentally proposed to Clarke for a second time on the show they worked on. Their audience was going to be so confused, then angry when they realized the first time around had been an accident. Indra was going to be furious. Lexa was definitely going to lose her job this time. She groaned in exasperation at her inability to retain any kind of composure when it came to Clarke.
Five minutes later, she heard a knock at her door.
“Lexa?” came a muffled voice.
It was Clarke, and her tone said it all: let me in, you silly goof.
Lexa sighed.
“Yeah?” she called out, her face still buried in her hands.
She heard the door open and close and then soft footsteps coming up to her. She refused to look up.
“Lexa,” Clarke said in a playfully low tone.
Lexa shook her head, but she felt Clarke’s hand on her wrist, pulling away one of her hands so one of Lexa’s eyes was visible. They stared at each other for ten seconds.
“Yes,” Clarke finally said with a smile. “Of course yes.”
Lexa peeled the rest of her fingers away from her face and breathed a sigh of relief. It was all she needed to hear.
******
Clarke insisted Lexa come with her to go speak with Indra so she could be convinced that they were in the clear. She explained to Lexa as they walked to Indra’s office that Lincoln had predicted her outburst and had cut the video feed so her second accidental proposal wasn’t aired live on television.
“The city would have rioted if they’d heard a second proposal,” Indra admonished Lexa once the girls were in her office. “If you ever do this again…”
Indra’s face was playful with a hint of seriousness underneath.
“I know,” Lexa said with a wince. “And I promise. This is it for me. Clarke is the first and last person I’ll ever propose to on air.”
Clarke cleared her throat and looked at her questioningly.
“Or off air!” Lexa added quickly.
Clarke smiled sweetly. Indra shook her head and huffed.
“Just keep it together, Grimaldi,” she muttered, and she turned around to go sit at her desk, signalling the meeting was over.
Lexa and Clarke smiled at each other, and they left the room. Halfway down the hall to Clarke’s dressing room, Lexa stopped walking abruptly.
“It just occurred to me…” she mumbled.
Clarke stopped and turned around, her face in a questioning frown.
“What?”
Lexa blinked her wide eyes.
“This will kind of make Indra my step-mother-in-law.”
Clarke could do nothing but laugh.
******
Lexa threw herself into planning the wedding. She made lists, spreadsheets, and added a whole slew of people to her contacts devoted to different areas of wedding planning. She was quick to recruit Roan to help after he had accidentally had an opinion on some flowers she had casually pointed out to him and thus revealed his eye for interior decoration. Lexa marvelled at the new layer she had uncovered in him, and she took advantage right away.
Clarke took a laissez fair stance towards the whole thing. She always responded when Lexa engaged her in wedding talk, but she let Lexa make the decisions, diplomatically saying “I just want whatever you want. I’m sure it’ll be beautiful.” It never seemed to worry Lexa, though, that Clarke didn’t want to make any decisions. She would just smile brightly and kiss Clarke.
Three weeks after the proposal, Lexa was still gathering preliminary ideas, of which she had many. She was off with Roan visiting some bakeries about cake, and Clarke was having lunch with Marcus. Halfway through their sushi, Clarke casually brought up that Lexa and Roan were out wedding cake shopping. Marcus paused, his tuna roll halfway to his mouth.
“Excuse me?” he asked.
Clarke, who was chewing on some shredded cabbage, didn’t think twice about his tone.
“I said Lexa and Roan are wedding cake shopping right now.”
She didn’t notice Marcus put the tuna down on his plate and fix her with a glare.
“And why aren’t you there with them?” he asked.
Clarke finally looked up at him, and her stomach sank. She felt like she was in trouble and she didn’t know why.
“Uh… what? They said it was fine if I didn’t go.”
Marcus, a calm and composed man who had bravely spent a number of years in jail for a murder he had not committed, looked back at Clarke with a dangerous expression on his face.
“You sent your girlfriend off with someone else to go wedding cake shopping for your own wedding and you think that’s ok?”
She nodded, feeling small. Marcus closed his eyes and shook his head.
“Clarke,” he said, softening his voice, then opening his eyes again. “You do not send your girlfriend off to go cake shopping with her friend. You do it yourself. Trust me.”
Clarke shrugged.
“But Lexa said she’s fine.”
“I don’t care if she says she’s the pope,” Marcus retorted. “And I don’t care if you hate cake, which I know is not the case here. This is something you should do together as a couple.”
Clarke considered it for a moment, thinking about all the planning Lexa was doing.
“But she loves that kind of thing, and she knows I’m ok with anything, so I’m just letting her make all the decisions.”
Marcus looked like he was going to choke, and he bowed his head down.
“Clarke, honey, sweetie. Jake raised you better than this. I raised you better than this.”
Clarke frowned. Marcus was invoking dad #1, and that meant he was really serious.
“It’s your own wedding. You should be more involved.”
Clarke sighed. She was involved. She just had no opinions on centre pieces and cake flavours and colour swatches. All she had an opinion on was Lexa, which was why she was going through with the whole thing in the first place.
“But Roan’s really good at that sort of thing.”
“Oh, is Lexa marrying Roan?” Marcus asked innocently.
Clarke snorted.
“No.”
“Ok, then you need to step up and help. Even if you just pick one flower or sign off on one decoration or give her an opinion on frosting. She’ll appreciate it.”
Clarke thought of Lexa reporting excitedly every night what she had done in terms of wedding planning, and she had heard no signs of disappointment that Clarke wasn’t also rabidly gathering ideas. She hadn’t ever tried to force Clarke to join her on any kind of shopping excursion.
“Ok,” she mumbled. “But I’ll probably mess it up for her.”
Marcus took a few thoughtful breaths.
“I’ve gotten to know Lexa pretty well,” he said. “And there are two things I know. One is that she’s crazy about you.”
Clarke blushed to hear that coming from her dad.
“And two is that she just wants to have a fun experience with you. A fun party that celebrates both of you. So help her do it. Even if she doesn’t need it from you, even if she’s perfectly content to plan the whole thing, it’ll be extra special if you participate just a little.”
Clarke thought about it. He raised a good point. She knew for a fact Lexa didn’t need her to lift a finger to help planning. So how amazing would it feel for Lexa if she saw Clarke trying even ten percent?
“Thanks, dad,” she said with a sweet smile.
Marcus reach out and put a hand on Clarke’s, patting it gently.
“You’re going to make a beautiful bride,” he said. “I just wish Jake and Abby were here to see you.”
They shared a smile – a little sad but mostly happy at the invoked memory of Clarke’s parents. Marcus then picked up his chopsticks again and continued eating his tuna.
“So when are you proposing to Indra?” Clarke asked abruptly with a cheeky smile.
Marcus gave her a warning glare, his cheeks turning red.
“Don’t start.”
******
Lexa continued to shop around and grow her ideas. She had set up a scrapbook that she added things to whenever she discovered some new vendor or decorative style she could use. She had a few venue options picked out, and Clarke promised to look at them and share her honest opinions.
The only time Lexa ever felt unsure was one Saturday when she got home from a day out with Roan and Anya, who was visiting from Seattle. They had gone for lunch and then went to look for flowers. Anya had asked where Clarke was, and Lexa had told her honestly that Clarke was at the beach with some friends. Anya had then grilled Lexa about how involved Clarke was with the planning, and Lexa had admitted that Clarke had left all the planning to her. Anya had seemed personally offended by this, and while Lexa tried to brush it off, the rest of the day she had wondered if she was reading something completely wrong. Was she supposed to be upset Clarke didn’t want to plan their wedding together? Because it really didn’t bother her since she believed Clarke when she said she didn’t mind whatever Lexa decided. But then the question became: was Clarke lying when she said she was perfectly happy to let Lexa make every decision?
As they went to bed that night, Lexa cuddled up to Clarke and then pulled back slightly.
“Hey Clarke,” she whispered.
“Mhm?” Clarke asked, turning around curiously.
Lexa looked down for a second, then back up, steeling herself.
“Are you sure you’re ok? If I’m being too pushy and not listening to your ideas, can you let me know?”
Clarke smiled big and leaned over to kiss Lexa’s wrist, which was the closest thing she could stretch over to without straining herself.
“Yes, I’m ok,” she said in as convincing a tone as she could muster. “I like how into it you are. I’m just as into it as you. I just… I honestly couldn’t care less about what colour flowers we have. As long as you’re there, that’s all that matters.”
Despite the almost ten hours Lexa had focused exclusively on floral arrangements with Roan and Anya, looking at countless colours and types with them at various shops around the area, she wasn’t offended that Clarke didn’t care about any of it. All she focused on was that Clarke said she wanted her there. Just her.
“I love you,” Lexa beamed down at her. “And honestly, I’d burn all the flowers in the world if it meant we could just stand up right now and say our vows and have it be official tomorrow.”
Clarke closed her eyes and lay out on her back with a big smile on her face.
“Come on, cuddle in. I’m sleepy.”
Lexa threw an arm over Clarke and squashed her face into her neck, smiling idiotically and happily. Clarke fell asleep to Lexa’s little excited heart beating rapidly, and Lexa spent an hour trying to tell herself to calm down before she could finally fall asleep.
******
A month later, a venue for the wedding was set. It would happen on a spring day in early May, a whole seven months away. Lexa felt impatient about it, but she was also satisfied that they had managed to snag a spot at this highly-sought-after ocean view venue with a completely refundable deposit if cancelled within three months. The last part made her laugh. There was no way they were cancelling.
It was a Wednesday morning when she walked into the studio feeling a little sluggish. She had stayed up late the previous night working on a story, and it had taken her a few extra minutes and sips of coffee to get going. She was surprised to see Clarke sitting at her co-anchor chair, chatting with Roan. As Lexa approached, Clarke noticed and waved.
“Morning Roan,” Lexa said.
Roan gave her a serious nod. Lexa frowned. What was going on? What had him so serious?
“What’s up?” Lexa asked Clarke.
“Not much. Roan was just telling me about the suit he’s wearing to our wedding.”
Lexa’s mind flipped through her mental wedding planning scrapbook and remembered the suit Roan had chosen after they had collectively agreed on a colour scheme. They had gone out together a few weeks ago to get him fitted.
“It makes him look halfway respectable,” Lexa teased, grinning at Clarke, who laughed under her breath at Roan’s annoyed face.
“You’ll be happy to know my respectable suit is almost ready for pickup,” he grumbled. “They called yesterday and said it should be good by next week.”
“Great,” Lexa said with a warm smile at her co-host.
She had known Roan for many years now, and she was truly thrilled he appeared to be enjoying helping her plan her wedding.
Clarke chose that moment to stand up, gesturing for Lexa to take her proper seat.
“Looks like everything is coming together nicely,” Lexa said as she settled in.
Clarke leaned down and kissed the top of Lexa’s hair.
“It is,” she replied before walking off to warm up in front of her green screen.
Lexa shot a look at Roan.
“Clarke’s gotten a bit more into it lately,” she commented.
Roan let out an acknowledging breath of air and said nothing more about it. They both proceeded to warm up and chat about other things as the rest of the crew filtered in.
******
After the show, Lexa looked over immediately at Clarke, but Clarke had already gotten up and was chatting with Indra. Lexa watched for a moment as they discussed something, and then Indra looked up and found Lexa’s eyes but then looked past her.
“Roan,” she called out to him.
Roan looked sideways at Lexa, then scrambled up, much to Lexa’s amusement. He was acting weird. She shrugged it off and went to her dressing room.
******
On Thursday of the following week, the show went on without a hitch. There had been an explosion at a factory in northern California. Nobody had died, but several people had been injured, and now there was a question about whether it was accidental or not. That, coupled with reports of civil unrest in Vietnam, had gotten the mood a little more serious. They always found a way to lighten it up, though, and Clarke brought out some fun climate facts about the desert that were always crowd pleasers.
After the show, Lexa and Clarke went to their usual diner to have lunch. They still ordered the same thing every time – pastrami sandwiches, coleslaw, and coffee. After a couple of kids had walked over to them and asked to take a photo, which they gladly obliged, the owner, Mr. Pike, came out to speak with them briefly.
“Look,” he said, pointing to a menu he had in his hand.
The girls looked and saw the item he was pointing to.
“The Kane Slugger,” Clarke read.
“Ham, swiss cheese, mustard, shredded carrots, onion, on toasted sesame bread.”
“You named a sandwich after Marcus Kane?” Lexa asked.
Mr. Pike smiled proudly.
“I have to market this trend while you’re both still popular.”
Clarke laughed loudly at that, and Lexa smiled. They chatted for a few more minutes, when suddenly Lexa received a phone call. She looked to see it was a flower shop she had asked for a quote. She apologized and stood up, going to the corner to take the call. When she got back, Clarke and the owner were chatting quietly. They stopped talking immediately when Lexa sat down again.
“Sorry. Flower business,” she said about the call she had taken.
Clarke and Mr. Pike smiled, quickly pivoting to talking about the upcoming weekend weather. After a few more minutes of small talk, Lexa and Clarke bade farewell to Mr. Pike and drove home.
Lexa spent the rest of the afternoon working on some research for work, and Clarke puttered around outside, tending to the small backyard garden.
“Don’t kill my cactus,” Lexa called out.
Clarke waved a dismissive hand behind her as she walked out the backyard door.
The temperature dropped a little lower than seasonal at night, and so they snuggled up under the covers for warmth. Seizing on the opportunity, Lexa leaned forward and kissed Clarke. Clarke languidly responded, but then eventually pushed her away, turning around so Lexa could cuddle in behind her. Lexa lay behind her for a minute.
“You tired?” she asked.
Clarke nodded.
“Yup.”
Lexa contemplated this for a moment. She didn’t feel like sleeping yet. She could think of better things to do right now. But Clarke was tired, and this thing she was thinking of required two people. She smiled and pushed her thoughts out of her head, clinging on tightly. They had the rest of their lives together. She would enjoy the quiet tonight.