Author's note:
My very first published fan fiction, so please bear with me! This is a short story post season 3 in which Lexa survives being shot by Titus, Pike is dead and the City of Light-arc never happened. Basically, the ending to the season we all wished to have happened.

Summary: Clarke convinces Lexa to take a day off from her duties to go on a 'date'. Fluff and cuteness aplenty for you all! Enough rambling, please enjoy the story! Leave me a review and constructive feedback if you wish!

Chapter 1 – A bright morning

Three months, a single season, an immeasurable amount of weeks and days, some might call it a lifetime when living on the Ground. Where the land had been dyed pale with frost and snow during Winter's Breath, the ice had begun to melt come the season of spring and left new life in its wake. Moss began to steadily cover the forest a deep shade of jade while the tiny flowers that sprouted up provided a stark and beautiful contrast. Nature worked in dualities – dangerous and beautiful, hard and soft. Unforgiving and emphatic. Even before the bombs fell all those decades ago it had been so, and Nature would continue to be so long after bones turned to dust and names forgotten to the sands of time, as if they never were.

The Mountain Men had fallen, Pike had been deposed by the Sky People and the threat of war with the Ice Nation was averted with Queen Nia's death. One might almost say that an era of peace and prosperity had begun, yet there would forever be that duality much akin to nature. Without a common enemy to bind the thirteen clans together, tensions were high amongst them. Except, today, none of that mattered. It was a day for peace.

Lexa had indulged Clarke when the blonde had asked, nay, demanded a day on which they simply were without the mantle of leadership and titles to weigh down their shoulders. A day, as she had put it, that would be about them getting the chance to properly regain the foundation of their budding relationship after all that had transpired.

The Heda had nodded and allowed the curves of her dusky lips to raise in an adoring smile at her lover's request. Of course Titus had objected to his Commander's order for him to oversee her duties for a day, preaching that to be Heda was to be alone. That Clarke was a distraction. Only when Lexa had raised her hand to silence him, jade green eyes hard and cold, did the man relent. She had made up her mind and would not be dissuaded from a single day that was to be hers and Clarke's.

A week later came the morning upon which, as Clarke had put it, their 'date day' would begin. The brunette had raised a questioning eyebrow at the foreign words, Sky People lingo continuing to confound her the more she conversed with them. There was an odd word for everything – from 'Chill out', which meant that one needed to calm down, all the way to 'date day', which supposedly meant a day that two lovers enjoyed together. Such an odd language, Lexa had mused silently as she listened to the blonde explain the differences between the literal meaning of their words and the context in which to take them.

The sun had begun to cast its golden rays through the tattered remains of what had once been regal and burgundy coloured drapes in front of the large glass windows that separated the Heda's bedroom from the balcony of the Polis tower, showering the thick furs upon the bed in filtered light. While it was the beginning of the spring season, the nights still held a hint of frost and cold, which the luxurious furs served to stave off. Underneath the softness of them, a single of the two occupants of the bed began to stir.

A mass of thick, golden locks peeked out from under a dark pelt as aquamarine eyes blinked in an attempt to pull away from the throes of sleep. Clarke could not help her lips from curving into a soft smile at the feeling of the warm body nestled flush against her back, an arm draped possessively and comfortably about her waist in an attempt to preserve their warmth throughout the night. She inhaled the deep scent of smoke and charcoal from the braziers and candles scattered about the room as well as the fresh scent of pine that wafted in through the cracks in the glass, hinting at the great forest lands outside. It all blended together in a miasma that spoke of home, for indeed she had found that coveted place within her lover's arms.

Warm breath puffed against the delicate curve of her neck, even and rhythmic even though the blonde knew her lover had been awake since the moment she had stirred awake. Lexa simply was that way – awoken by every sound and falling asleep again moments after discerning its origin. It was endearing but sometimes she wondered if, between their long days and short nights the brunette was getting enough sleep. Ever since the incident with Titus having shot the Heda and her narrow escape from the clutches of death, Clarke's lover had been even more watchful. More protective. Understandable, given the situation, but surely they deserved some measure of peace now that all the threats had been averted and the thirteen clans united under the Coalition's banner?

"Shusha, Klarke. You worry too much. Enjoy this moment with me a bit longer." The lips of the other woman murmured against the shell of Clarke's pale ear, the arm about the blonde's waist squeezing affectionately and tugging her closer. Clarke only gave an amused sigh and leaned back into their embrace, marvelling at the electricity that sparkled between intertwined legs and bare flesh pressed together.

"How do you know I worry, hmm?" She asked in return, tilting her head over her shoulder to gaze back at the wide pools of jade green that peeked out from underneath a halo of thick ash brown curls. Lexa's eyes took her breath away with their depth, threatened to envelop Clarke within a sea of emotion, security, comfort and love. Where Lexa was the sun in how bright she burned, the blonde was the moon. Comforting and soothing, Ying and Yang. Two ends of the scale upon which their relationship balanced perfectly.

Lexa simply offered a pointed glance as if to say that she gazed past Clarke's eyes and into her very soul. A sensation often experienced by its recipient. Only when a single golden eyebrow raised did the Heda elaborate further. "Your shoulders tense, you suck your bottom lip against your teeth and your fingers clasp tight together." The words were soft and whispered against a bare shoulder, followed by an open-mouthed kiss that simply melted away the previous worries in Clarke's mind.

Underneath the furs, the arm that had cradled her close now interlaced their fingers and squeezed reassuringly, anchoring the two women together.

"You are an open book to me, ai Hodness. One I wish to read from again, and again, and again." Clarke smiled and turned to face her lover, bringing their clasped fingers to her lips and adorning Lexa's callused knuckles with a light kiss of her plush lips. Lexa returned the smile, pleased to having drawn away the blonde's worries and brought her back to the present. "Hai." Clarke whispered, the tips of their noses brushing together affectionately in a gesture that spoke more volumes of intimacy than one could ever hope to discern.

"Hai." Lexa replied in kind, their lips meeting in a slow, lingering kiss that sparkled with electricity and the rhythmic staccato of their heartbeats even as butterflies threatened to burst forth from both their bellies. They kissed for long moments, utterly content to enjoy their bare limbs entangle and fingers to squeeze together even when their counterparts coiled into ash brown curls and brushed the back of a pale neck. Eventually, and only when they had drank their fill of one another, Clarke parted from Lexa's lips with a final gasp, smiling down at her lover as she carefully moved off of the brunette. "We should get dressed for our date day."

The Heda nodded and carefully slid out from beneath the furs, warming her tanned legs on the rays of filtered sunlight playing on her skin before padding over the stone floor towards the dresser. Clarke watched every step with interest, aquamarine orbs taking in the strong legs of her lover as well as the tattoo running the length of a dusky spine. Lexa was beautiful, even if she had admitted to not always feeling quite feminine. The blonde pictured it then, of a small girl in too large armour and a sword that she could barely lift transforming into the strong woman before her. The brunette had her own beauty, was dazzling and gorgeous, even if she not always recognized it herself.

Eventually Clarke managed to get out of bed, undoubtedly aided by a smirking Lexa bringing the blonde a wash cloth and a basin as well as fresh clothes so that she did not have to travel the cold expanse of the stone tiles. While it might have been such a simple gesture for others, the blonde knew just how much such a thing meant, what it implied. It was far beneath Heda to perform such menial tasks and yet Lexa did. For Clarke. The brunette showing her lover that she was not always the Commander. That, thanks to Clarke, she could also be Lexa.

When the two women were both dressed and sat together on the couch enjoying a light breakfast of fruits, bread and cheeses, Lexa could no longer supress her curiosity at Clarke's plans for their 'date day'. The Sky People concept of such a strange day was certainly not unpleasant, but to be kept in the dark as a form of surprise was far too difficult for the brunette. "I would like to hear of our plans for the day, Klarke."

If the blonde was surprised that the Heda had managed to abstain from commenting for that long, she did not show it, merely allowing the corners of her lips to curve up in a teasing smile. "I thought we could explore the market together, then share a meal in the forest? It will be nice not having anyone around that either interrupts us or needs something of us." Clarke placed her steaming mug of tea back on the table before reaching down to retie the lacings of her boots. Truth be told, they were a few sizes too large. A hand-me-down from her time on the Ark. Since no new shoes could be made, you wore what was available and only traded them in for a new pair after they got too small. It was uncomfortable, but since she had managed alright since coming to the ground, she did not complain.

Lexa's jade green gaze was drawn to the now familiar gesture, having already discerned the reason for it many weeks prior, yet she refrained from commenting. Simply content to nod her approval and finish her own tea. "That sounds lovely, Klarke."


Translation:

"Shusha" – "Hush"

"ai Hodness" – "My love"