"Clarke. I need to tell you something." Lexa started. "And you won't be happy with it."

Lexa felt Clarke's body stiffen next to her. She wrapped her arms tighter around her girlfriend. Clarke swallowed. "What is it?" Lexa could hear the fear in the blonde's voice and moved her hand to Clarke's cheek, running a gentle thumb over it.

"You remember that promotion at work I told you about?" Clarke nodded and waited for Lexa to continue. "Well, I guess I got promoted today." Lexa said with a small voice.

Clarke shoved Lexa with a little too much force and she stumbled backwards. "Lex! Why do you think that won't make me happy? Congratulations, I'm so happy for you. I can't think of anyone who deserves this more." Clarke laced her arms around Lexa's neck and slowly leaned in to kiss the brunette on the lips. "I'm so proud of you. And I know our little one is proud of you too." Clarke said, moving one of her arms so she could take Lexa's. Once she had her hand wrapped around her girlfriend's hand, she brought their hands to her stomach. "We're so proud." Clarke said again, peppering kisses all over Lexa's face.

"Clarke, wait." Lexa said hesitantly, moving away from her girlfriend. "There's something else I need to tell you."

Clarke released Lexa's hand and sat up straighter "I'm all ears."

Lexa looked at Clarke. How was she going to tell her this when she looked so happy? Clarke had not stopped smiling like a child since she'd told her about the promotion.

"For this specific job, I have to go away, for 3 weeks." Lexa said lowly, avoiding eye contact.

The silence in the room was deafening and all Lexa could hear was her pulse punding in her ears until Clarke released a shaky breath. "Oh." And that somehow managed to say everything but nothing at all.

"I'm really sorry but I need this promotion. I need the money. We need the money." She said gesturing to Clarke's stomach.

"When do you leave?" Clarke tried to look into Lexa's eyes. "Lex, look at me." She said as the brunette had yet to meet her gaze.

Lexa looked up. Clarke's smile was still on her face but the sadness was evident in her eyes . "I'm not mad. It's just going to be hard to be without you that long."

Lexa chuckled. "3 weeks isn't that long, Clarke. I'll be back before you know it. And I leave in two weeks," Lexa brought Clarke's hand to her lips and kissed it softly "and that's an eternity away."

Clarke smiled and nodded. "Alright, I'll just ask Octavia and Raven if they want to come crash here for 3 weeks. I'd rather not be alone in case something goes wrong."

Lexa frowned and put her hands on Clarke's cheeks. "Sh, don't say things like that."

"Lex, the first 12 weeks are the most dangerous ones, we don't even know exactly how many weeks I am so we need to keep this in the back of our mind." Clarke moved closer to Lexa, hiding her face in the brunette's neck. "Will you still love me when I'm fat?" Clarke asked with a shy grin on her face. "I mean, I'll probably look like a whale."

"You probably will." Lexa burst into a fit of giggles while her girlfriend looked at her pointedly.

"Hey!" Clarke shouted and slapped Lexa's arm. "Don't be so rude!"

"Clarke, You look beautiful now, you will look beautiful 4 months in, at 6 months and at 9 months when you look like you're going to explode." Clarke smiled and pressed kisses to Lexa's neck. "And after our baby is born, you'll look even more beautiful." Lexa said quietly. "If that's even possible."

Lexa felt wetness on her neck. "Clarke? Are you okay? Why are you crying?" Lexa's voiced was filled with worry. "Are you in pain?" The brunette moved her hands over Clarke's face, brushing the blonde hair away from her face.

Lexa couldn't help but laugh when Clarke mumbled, "Damn pregnancy hormones."

The next morning, Clarke woke up relatively early. Lexa was still fast asleep wrapped around her, cuddling her from behind. Lexa's hands were carefully placed on Clarke's stomach, right where their baby is growing. Clarke smiled and put her hands over Lexa's.

She looked up and saw that it was barely 6:30am and wondered why she was up so early. She usually never woke up before at least 9am. That's when she realised why she woke up.

She clamped one of her hands over her mouth and tried to get out of the bed as soon as she could. She nearly tripped over a piece of clothing, left on the floor by either her or Lexa the night before during their heated make out session.

She made it to the toilet just in time, lifting the toilet seat and emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl. She grabbed the sides of the seat and she felt like she was going to throw up all of her organs. "Fuck this", she muttered while trying to catch her breath.

Feet thudded over the floor, making their way to the bathroom. Clarke heaved again.

She let out a little whimper when she felt her hair being tied into a loose bun and Lexa's soft hands rubbing her back.

"It's alright, Clarke. Let it all out." Lexa said.

"Ah fuck, I forgot about this part." Clarke whimpered. "I hate throwing up."

Lexa felt Clarke's muscles tense up again. She was a bit relieved when Clarke only dry heaved this time.

Clarke groaned and leaned backwards, leaning into Lexa. Lexa picked up on what she tried to do and moved them a bit so Lexa could lean against the wall and the blonde could sit between the brunette's legs, leaning on her chest.

"Is it over?" Lexa asked while rubbing her hands over Clarke's arms.

"Yeah. I hope so anyway." Clarke said with a hoarse voice, "I feel so weak."

Lexa placed a small kiss on the side of Clarke's head. "It's only morning sickness. It'll pass once you've eaten."

At the mention of food, Lexa felt Clarke tense up again. She gave Clarke a slight push, moving her closer to the toilet. "I probably shouldn't have said that." The brunette sighed and moved closer to her girlfriend again, placing her hands on Clarke's lower back. "You feel cold, Clarke. Let's get you cleaned up a bit so you can put on some comfortable clothes."

Clarke heaved again but nothing came out. The blonde nodded and tried to stand. Lexa noticed how weak she was and put her hands under Clarke's underarms. "It's okay, Clarke. I've got you. Just get up slowly, no sudden movements."

After leaving her girlfriend under the shower with her toothbrush and toothpaste, Lexa put on her own clothes and went downstairs to make some breakfast for her and Clarke.

Something light. Something Clarke's stomach could handle this morning.

Lexa slowly walked up the stairs, tray in hand, trying not to spill the tea she had prepared for them. Just as Lexa was stepping foot into their room, Clarke came out of the bathroom.

"How do you feel? Better?" Lexa asked as she put down the tray.

The blonde nodded her head. "Yes, actually. Thanks, Lex. I know it's hard for you to be around sick people."

Lexa smiled at her girlfriend. "Well, you're worth it."

Clarke grinned. "I'm starving. Let's eat."

When they were eating, Lexa suggested they'd go see their doctor to get a blood test done to confirm she's actually pregnant and how many weeks.

"Okay, so me throwing up this morning wasn't enough evidence for you? Jeez, Lex." Clarke chuckled. "But yes, we'll go soon. I love you."

"I love you, too."

A few days later everything was settled.

According to the blood test, Clarke was 7 weeks pregnant. Which means she'll be 9 weeks when Lexa has to leave her. And she'll be 12 weeks when she comes back. She never wished for anything more than for the next 5 weeks to go by really fast.

It's not that she doesn't love Raven and Octavia. Because she really does. But they can get annoying and Clarke isn't sure if she'll be able to handle them 3 weeks in a row without Lexa.

Clarke's morning sickness hasn't gotten any better. In fact, she feels like it's gotten worse.

Each morning she woke up, spent about 30 minutes with her head above the toilet and then another 30 minutes sitting next to it in case her stomach decided to be an annoying bitch.

Even though throwing up almost every morning could take its toll, Lexa never worried. Morning sickness happens to nearly everyone in the first trimester of the pregnancy. She did, however, start to worry when a few days before she had to leave, Clarke started throwing up during the day.

Lexa spent the entire morning taking care of Clarke and left her girlfriend to sleep in their bed. She didn't like leaving her alone, but she had work soon and she still hadn't packed.

She made Raven and Octavia swear that they would look after Clarke and their baby. Clarke has been miserable and suffered from terrible mood swings, snapping at Lexa one moment and then bursting into tears the next. The blonde would always say the same. 'I'm sorry Lex, it's the hormones that make me act like this.'

Lexa sighed and tried to be as quiet as possible so she wouldn't wake Clarke. She really didn't want to go, but if she refused this, then she'd lose the promotion and someone else would get it. And of course Clarke wouldn't let her stay home.

"Raven and Octavia can take care of me, Lex. They've known me since forever, I'll be fine. We'll be fine." She'd say while taking Lexa's hand.

Lexa closed her eyes as she heard movement in their bedroom. She sighed when she heard Clarke throwing up again. Lexa walked over to the bathroom and kneeled behind Clarke, stroking her back

"Okay, that's it. I'm not going. I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm going to call Raven and Octavia and tell them they don't have to come." Lexa said while looking at her girlfriend.

Clarke was pale.

Her voice cracked. "N-no Lexa, it's fine. It's probably just the flu. I'll be fine. You need to go. You said it yourself."

"Clarke. You're obviously not well. I'd be such a bad girlfriend if I leave you now."

Clarke shook her head. "No, Lex. You're not. You're the best girlfriend ever." The blonde got up again and brushed her teeth, rinsing away the foul taste.

"I'm going to call Raven and Octavia and invite them over. We'll go over everything they need to do to take care of me and we'll be fine, Lex. Trust me. You go and prove your boss that it was the right decision to promote you." Clarke said, kissing Lexa's cheek. "I'm going to order pizza. Do you want some?"

Lexa sighed and nodded. "You know I can't say no to pizza."

A few hours later the four of them sat on the floor, empty pizza boxes littering the floor.

"I will never eat pizza ever again." Octavia said, holding her hands over her stomach. "I'm so full, I feel like I might throw up."

Clarke chuckled when she heard Octavia. "Yeah, please don't. I've done enough of that for all of us combined."

"Alright, Lexa. What do we do when Clarke throws up again? Assuming she still does that when you're gone." Raven asked, "Also, I won't be near you when you throw up, Clarke. It's disgusting and I'm pretty sure I'll be throwing up next to you 'cause y'know I'm a sympathetic vomiter."

Lexa glared at Raven who was smiling at her cheekily. "I thought you were going to stay here to look after her?"

Clarke saw the way her girlfriend looked to her best friend. "Lex, it's okay. She's just joking." Clarke smiled at Lexa and pressed a soft kiss against her lips. "Besides, Raven's too scared of you to get in your way." Clarke said as she winked at Lexa.

"Yeah, Commander broody. Clarkey here will be just fine with us." Raven moved closer to Clarke and put her arm around the blonde's neck and pressed a messy kiss to her cheek before going over to Lexa and repeating the action.

"Ew, Raven. That's disgusting." Lexa wiped her cheek with the sleeve of her sweater. "Please don't do that ever again." Lexa regretted her words when she saw Raven move closer again but - luckily for Lexa - before she could press her lips against Lexa's cheek again, a pillow smacked against her head.

"Leave my girlfriend alone, Rae." Clarke laughed while wrapping herself all around Lexa, placing soft kisses all over her face. "She's all mine and only I am allowed to kiss her." The blonde said before pressing her lips against Lexa's and only breaking apart when she felt that same pillow she had thrown at Raven against her back.

Clarke's forehead knocked against Lexa's and they broke apart, each rubbing the sore spot.

Clarke pouted. "It's very rude to attack a pregnant woman!" She exclaimed as she threw the pillow back, this time aimed at Octavia.

Before Octavia could say anything, Lexa threw another pillow at Raven.

The two brunette girls started laughing after seeing the couple next to each other, both with red marks gracing their foreheads.

Lexa sighed loudly. "Clarke. I only hope I'll get you back in one piece after leaving you with those two idiots for 3 weeks."

Octavia and Raven were still laughing, tears streaming over their cheeks. It wasn't even that funny, but the empty beer bottles were an indication that the two brunette girls might have had a little too much to drink. Only a little, though.

"Come on, Lexa. Clarke's not going to break just because she's pregnant, you know." Raven said, drying her cheeks with her hands.

"Just make sure you keep her hydrated if she keeps throwing up. And I expect phone calls every evening, both from you two and from Clarke."

Lexa felt soft lips against her temple. "I can take care of myself, Lex. Don't worry. Let's go to bed now, I'm tired."

Lexa nodded her head and made a move to stand up, taking the pizza boxes and beer bottles with her.

Raven and Octavia were going to stay over and they each got comfortable on one of the couches, stretching their bodies to the fullest and groaning. "Goodnight, idiots. We'll see you tomorrow morning." Clarke said while kissing both of them on the cheek.

"Goodnight." They both mumbled, clearly exhausted now that they were lying down.

Both girls scrunched up their noses at each other when later in the night they heard Clarke throwing up again.

Clarke has been dreading this day since Lexa had told her about it. Raven and Octavia had been frequenting their stays at their house over the past few weeks, so she knows she'll be fine with them close to her. Regardless, she hates being away from Lexa when she's at work. She has no idea how she'll survive three weeks.

"Clarke." The blonde turned her head, quickly wiping away the few tears that had managed to escape. Lexa stood before her, moving her hands and placing them over Clarke's wet cheeks.

"If you want me to stay, I'll stay." Lexa whispered softly. "I don't want to leave you."

Clarke sighed and put her hands on Lexa's hips. "It would be really selfish of me to keep you here. You need to do this, Lex. Better now than later." Lexa smiled sympathetically and kissed Clarke softly.

They were at the airport. Raven and Octavia were with them, but decided to give them some privacy to say goodbye. They were seated not too far away, keeping an eye on them. Lexa moved closer and wrapped her arms around Clarke, holding her against her. On instinct, Clarke wrapped her arms around Lexa.

Clarke let out a sob as she heard Lexa's boarding announcement. "Clarke. Look at me." Lexa said softly. "I'll be back before you know it." Clarke nodded and pressed her lips against Lexa's, savouring the feeling and taste of her lips.

Lexa deepened the kiss. She moved her fingers through Clarke's blonde hair, lightly massaging her scalp. Lexa felt Clarke's body shudder at the feeling. She smiled into the kiss.

"I love you so much, Clarke." Lexa said when they broke apart, moving one of her hands to Clarke's still flat stomach.

"Don't give mommy too much trouble, okay?" Lexa rubbed the blonde's stomach. "Be a good baby." She said before kissing Clarke again.

Clarke sighed when she heard the final boarding announcement. "I love you too, Lex. Counting down the days until you come back." Clarke pressed one final kiss to Lexa's lips just as Raven and Octavia made their way over to them.

"Come on, Princess. Lexa needs to go now." Octavia said sincerely.

Raven and Octavia had said their goodbyes earlier, knowing Clarke and Lexa needed this moment.

Lexa looked over at Octavia, her eyes full of gratitude. Clarke nodded and gave Lexa one more hug and kiss. "I love you." She said again, releasing a shaky breath.

Lexa hugged Raven and Octavia and made them promise once again they would take care of Clarke. "I will kill you both if anything happens to her." Were Lexa's final words as she turned around and made her way over to her gate.

Everything was going well.

Lexa had arrived safely but she was very busy, working hard to prove she earned the promotion.

Clarke missed her. A lot. Raven and Octavia made it a lot easier for Clarke to handle though.

She was happy they were with her. It felt like their college times again. Binge watching a new show on Netflix while eating junk food, sprawled out on the couch with blankets wrapped around them. That's pretty much all they did.

And Clarke was happy. She really was.

Until she wasn't.

A week went by. Raven and Octavia were starting to worry about Clarke. She was still throwing up several times a day, each day seemed to get worse. They hadn't mentioned it to Lexa yet, as they didn't want to worry her.

Clarke was hunched over the toilet once again. Octavia seemed to keep a track of how many times. "This is the 11th time. And it's not even noon yet." Octavia said, her tone laced with worry.

"Maybe we need to take her to a doctor." Raven suggested, rubbing Clarke's lower back.

"I can hear you, you know." Clarke snapped at them. "And I'm not going to a doctor. Throwing up is normal."

"Throwing up this much is not normal, Clarke." Raven snapped back. "I'm telling Lexa tonight and if you're not better in two days, we're taking you to the doctor."

When Clarke felt like she was done with throwing up, she got up and brushed her teeth.

"Don't you dare tell Lexa. She needs to focus on her work, not on me." The blonde said and turned around, stomping her way to their bedroom, slamming the door shut.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen." Raven said pulling out her phone. "I'm going to call Lexa."

Raven left the bathroom, leaving Octavia by herself. Octavia walked over to Clarke and Lexa's bedroom, softly knocking on the door.

"Go away!" Clarke snapped again.

Octavia scoffed and opened the door. Clarke was curled up in their sheets, her head on Lexa's pillow.

"I miss her so much." Clarke said when she felt the weight on the other side of the bed shift.

"She'll be home soon, Clarke. You can call her later. It will do you good to hear her voice." Octavia wrapped her arms around Clarke.

"My head hurts so much. And I'm so tired." Clarke whispered.

"Go to sleep, Clarke. Raven and I will watch over you."

"Thank you." Clarke mumbled and Octavia softly pressed her lips against the blonde's cheek.

Lexa was not happy with Raven's call. She demanded updates every two hours. Unsurprisingly, her and Raven were on the same page about going to a doctor. "You have to force her to go, Raven." Lexa had said.

Raven agreed and promised she would take Clarke to a doctor.

Octavia joined Raven on the couch, curling up next to her. "We need to keep an eye on her. She's exhausted and she's starting to have headaches."

Raven nodded. "Yeah, we'll see how this goes. Lexa said we have to force her to go to the doctor."

Octavia chuckled. "Good luck with that, you know how stubborn she is."

Raven and Octavia both laughed, recalling a thousand memories where Clarke got herself and others in some kind of trouble because of her stubbornness.

They took turns sleeping and granted Lexa's command, giving her updates every two hours, but Clarke was still fast asleep.

They haven't heard movement from Clarke's bedroom all night long. They went to check up on her every time before they had to call Lexa, but nothing changed.

They didn't know if this was a good sign or not.

It was not a good sign. Clarke slept a lot.

The only times she was awake was to either throw up, get a little bit of food inside of her ("why do I need to eat, O? It'll just come back up again."), or to complain she had a headache that wouldn't seem to leave. She also noticed that her muscles started hurting.

Later that night, Clarke was awake again. She picked up her phone and went to her favourite contacts, clicking Lexa's name.

"Hello, Clarke." Lexa replied with a soothing voice as soon as she picked up the phone.

"Lex. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting you at the moment. I just needed to hear your voice."

Lexa smiled, and even though Clarke couldn't see it, she could feel it in her voice. "You're never interrupting anything. How are you doing love? Feeling better?" Clarke could hear the worry in Lexa's voice.

"Honestly?" Clarke said, "I feel like shit. This headache doesn't seem to go away and my whole body aches." She whispered. "I miss you, Lex. I need you with me."

"I'll be there soon, Clarke. Raven and Octavia are taking care of you, you're not alone." Lexa sighed. "I can't even put to words how much I miss you."

"I'm so tired, Lex. Stay on the phone with me until I fall asleep?" Clarke asked with a small voice.

"Of course, Clarke. Sleep now. I'm here. I love you."

"I love you, too." She mumbled before closing her eyes. It didn't take her long to fall asleep.

A little after that, Clarke woke up again and the cycle continued.

Clarke had good days too. Today was one of them. They lured Clarke out of the bed and into the shower by telling her they were going to her favourite art museum.

Clarke would hate them for lying. But it was for her own good.

An hour later, they were on their way. However, it didn't take Clarke a long time to notice they weren't going to the art museum. "Where are we going?" Clarke asked.

"We told you, Clarke. We're going to the museum." Octavia said, while glancing over to Raven every few seconds.

"Stop lying to me." Clarke snapped. "I know we're not going there because it's at the other side of town."

"Okay, Clarke. We're taking you to a doctor."

Clarke was not happy. But at this point she was more upset at the fact that her best friends lied to her. She huffed and crossed her arms, and opted for not saying anything more the rest of the trip.

Before they went in, Clarke's phone went off. She got her phone out of her pocket and smiled a little when she saw it was Lexa.

"Hey, Lex. I miss you." Clarke said when she answered the phone.

"Clarke. I miss you too. How are you feeling?" Lexa asked and Clarke's breath hitched at hearing her girlfriend's soft voice. Oh, how much she misses Lexa.

Clarke told her everything. Lexa knew Clarke didn't feel all too well and so she wasn't surprised when the blonde finished the story.

"It was my idea, Clarke. Don't be mad at them. If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at me." Lexa said. But Clarke couldn't bring herself to be mad at the brunette who was so so far away from her.

"No, Lex. I'm actually okay with it now that we're here. I'll call you when we get out, okay?"

Clarke heard shuffling on the other end of the line. "Lex?" Clarke asked when Lexa didn't answer.

"Yes, Clarke. I'll be waiting for your call. Go now. I love you."

"I love you too." Clarke said before she hung up the phone.

"Alright, let's do this then." She said with a small voice. Raven and Octavia each took a hand of Clarke in their own, showing her that they're by her side.

Clarke's good day didn't last very long. The doctor had just let them in when Clarke clamped her hand over her mouth and rushed out of the chair to the bathroom.

While they heard Clarke throwing up, Raven and Octavia told him everything – from the throwing up to the headaches, to the barely eating or drinking and to the cramped muscles.

"I'm going to weigh her. If she's lost weight, she needs to go to the hospital. All of her symptoms comes down to 1 diagnosis: hyperemesis gravidarum. It means she has severe morning sickness and she needs to go to the hospital as soon as possible before things get bad for her and her baby."

Raven and Octavia turned around when they heard Clarke coming back. "Can you please make this stop?" She asked, her face turned toward the doctor, "my whole body aches and I'm tired of throwing up."

The doctor motioned for Clarke to make her way to the scale. "I'm fairly certain you need to go to the hospital, Ms. Griffin. They will help you there." The doctor hummed and looked at the part of the scale where Clarke's weight appeared.

She had lost weight.

"What, why?" Clarke panicked. The doctor explained it, making sure she understood everything he said. "They need to take you to the hospital now, Ms. Griffin. There can be a lot of complications for you and the baby if this doesn't get treated immediately."

Clarke never thought it would be this bad. She cursed herself for not going to the doctor sooner.

The three girls thanked him and left, ready to take Clarke to the hospital immediately.

Clarke felt tears forming in her eyes. "This baby hasn't even been born yet and I'm already a terrible mother." She said, her voice cracking.

Octavia climbed into the backseat with Clarke, holding her close to her. "No, Clarke. You're not a bad mother. You will be fine. The baby will be fine."

Clarke was crying. She sobbed into Octavia's neck. "I want Lexa." Clarke choked out between sobs. "I want Lexa with me."

Octavia sighed. "Raven, can you please call Lexa?" Raven nodded and got her phone out while keeping her eyes on the road. Now was not the time to get into a car accident. Octavia wrapped her arms around Clarke tighter, trying to calm the crying girl in her arms.

Clarke didn't miss the panicked tone in Raven's voice when Lexa finally picked up the phone after two attempts at calling her.

"Hi Raven, is Clarke ok-" Lexa got cut off by Raven's urgent voice.

"No, Lexa. Clarke's not okay, you need to come back now. We're on our way to the hospital and she needs you."