AN: Hi there, this is a repost of my story from archive of our own. Some folks prefer this platform over the other. Hope you enjoy reading!

Chapter 1:

"Alright guys, 'The Commander' is coming today so we need to make sure we have statuses on every project. No matter what phase or how successful." Clarke said letting her voice carry over the crowd while waking into the lab. "You know how anal she is. The one project we don't have a status on she'll zero in like the self-guided bullet Raven's team is working on".

Clarke sat at her desk bringing her computer to life. Her desk was located in the middle of all the chaos as she liked to call it and she wouldn't like it any other way. When she first got the job as the specialized sciences team leader for the DC Trikru team, upper management tried to give her a big swanky corner office but she instantly said no. Clarke liked to be with her people who had become lifelong friends at this point. Her whole job was to oversee the research, design, construction/implementation, and customer service groups of the small DC based group. How could she do that if she wasn't actually with her team?

Trikru was a global manufacturing corporation that had their hands in just about everything from medical to military to oil and gas. Whatever the industry or application, some facet of the company was often involved. It made for an interesting career.

Moments before walking into the office, Octavia the office assistant had informed Clarke that the 'The Commander', as her area affectionately called her, was coming for a surprise visit.

'The Commander' was the Head of Operations for Trikru. The woman was so no nonsense there was likely a picture of her face next to "Type A" in the psychology handbook. 'What a beautiful face that would be', Clarke mused.

It was no secret that 'The Commander' was attractive but she was so off limits and closed off that she came off as a bit uptight. 'She has that angry hot thing down, though'.

She shook her head from the thought and turned her attention to her most trusted scientist, "Alright, Raven what do we got?"

Raven was interesting. She'd known her since birth and had hired directly into Trikru straight out of high school skipping out on the engineering degree due to quote, 'What's a piece of paper going to teach me that my hands can't?' Of course, being a child genius had given her the ability to be that brazen.

"Everything is going well. The only hiccup is the self-guided bullet. Right now if soldiers were to try to use the mockup it would be more like a self-guided rocket. Not really hand gun ready." She finished lifting the prototype from its stand and started to waive it around haphazardly.

Clarke's eyes went big as she saw the weapon being tossed from Raven's one hand to the next. Grabbing it as casually as she could from the scientist, she continued the conversation, "Any extra resources we can throw on it. Maybe Wick from our research engineering department?"

"No! Not yet. I don't want that nutter getting credit for my hard work. I'm this close!" Bringing her forefinger and thumb together indicating about an inch of space.

"Alright you get one more week then I'm bringing Wick in". Clarke handed the weapon back and looked toward Wick who was smirking at Raven and mouthing 'Bring it!'

Turning her attention away from the two geniuses, "Bellamy, how are we doing with the miniaturized desalinization unit?"

"Good, good. We are in final testing stages. Jasper and Monty are working on commissioning the programming but we are on schedule to deliver to the state of California in the next couple of weeks."

"Awesome! Anything else before 'the Commander' gets here?"

After a few moments of silence, Clarke spoke again, "That is a Trikru no. Carry on guys. Really appreciate your hard work this year!" Clarke looked back toward her computer and opened up her email. As expected, it was overflowing and would take another late night to go through them all. 'Oh boy…' she grimaced to herself as she started to open the first one.

Octavia came running in from the office entrance where she sat answering and directing phone calls. "She's here!"

"Showtime folks!" Clarke called over her shoulder as she went and greeted 'The Commander' at the front office.

"Ms. Woods! Lovely to see you again. What brings you to DC?" Clarke welcomed, flashing 'The Commander' her most charming smile.

The taller woman's green eyes flicked down to the blonde. "Routine checks. Is there a place we can speak?"

'The Commander' was impeccably dressed in a form fitting black slacks, red top, and a black jacket. The slacks made her legs look impossibly long and Clarke wondered more than once what they looked like without all of the fabric and wrapped around her body.

Clearing her thoughts, Clarke said, "Of course, Ms. Woods. This way. Can we get you anything?"

"No." Keeping her expression stoic as she followed the blonde. She was flanked by her most trusted advisor, Indra.

Leaving Indra in the hallway, they both sat in the small office.

"I'm sorry we don't have anything larger. We like the open office concept here and tend to shy away from closed room meetings. I really only use this room for end of year evaluations and any HR discussions that I have to have." Clarke sat at one of the three chairs that surrounded a small round table. The room was no bigger than a 10 by 10 foot space and held a white board and a small computer monitor for projecting.

After a moment of awkward silence, Clarke began to give an update on the area's progress. "Right, progress report – we've made great strides with the self-guided bullet and expect to have a prototype in the next few months. The desalinization unit…" Clarke stopped when she saw that 'The Commander' held up her hand.

"I'm aware of your team's progress, Clarke. I'm not here to discuss them. I'm here to discuss you."

Clarke turned white and let her mouth hang open slightly. Her mind started to race, was she about to be fired?

After a long pause, 'The Commander' continued, "The Manager of North American operations position is open. I'd like you to take the job."

"Huh?" Taking a moment to breathe, Clarke couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What?"

The stoic woman continued, "As a manager you'd help guide the corporation globally and locally toward its future. I have a representatives in all of the major areas we operate, Europe, South America, Australia, Asia Pacific, and I want you to be the representative for North America." Pausing to let the words sink in, she continued, "Your record is exemplary. You've taken a relatively unknown area and have made it into one of highest producing, most profitable areas."

Clarke's cheeks warmed at the compliments, "Thank you" she said lamely. Biting her lip and furrowing her brow, she allowed the stream of questions to come out, "What would I do? Where would I be located? What would happen to this team? Who would lead it? When would I start?"

"For now, you'd still lead this team and be based out of DC, but there would be more of a time burden as you will be called away routinely for committee meetings or other functions. It would be best to backfill your position as soon as possible to eliminate inefficiencies." Pausing to look into Clarke's eyes, "You'd start immediately. We've got a summit meeting in Paris in two days."

"Wow, thank you Ms. Woods," Clarke said, letting the information sink in.

"It's Lexa. If we are to work closely together, call me Lexa." Her expression unchanging.

A glint forming in Clarke's eye, she leaned back in the chair and smirked, "What about pay?"

Lexa allowed a small smile to play on her normally stoic face, "Your pay would obviously increase as well as other benefits."

"Other benefits?" Clarke smirked and lifted an eyebrow.

A small blush played on Lexa's face before she quickly regained composure and straightened her jacket. "Yes, benefits. First class fare, five star accommodations, a fully paid travel budget. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Clarke's smirk grew, she'd never seen 'The Commander' uncomfortable, let alone blushing. This was amazing! Maybe highly inappropriate, but she didn't care. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. 'Well maybe not', she thought, 'if I took the job.'

"Alright, I'm in."

"Good." Lexa stood quickly and held out her hand to shake. "Indra will work up the new employment contract and will send it over tonight. Along with an itinerary for the flight for Paris tomorrow. If you have any questions, just direct them to Indra." With a quick firm handshake, Lexa walked toward the lobby of the building.

Turning just prior to opening the doors, "Welcome to the team, Clarke". With that, she was gone.

"What the hell just happened?" Clarke asked to no one in particular.