~ Part II ~
The first days of winter season were usually chaotic and Lexa didn't expect anything less, but reality left her empty and exhausted. Just the first day alone she had been called up the mountain three times in the morning, because guests had overestimated their abilities and hurt themselves to a degree that she had to transport them down the mountain and bring them to the local surgery. After the initial starting day, they quickly had to create additional slopes as the number of tourists demanded more and more. She had assigned teams to tackle the amount of work, but ended up checking every single additional slope for its safety as the area was prone to avalanches. She hated endangering herself but the thought of putting innocent people in danger kept her going beyond exhaustion. Finally, to top it all off, she had thrown her frustration over the additional work once more into Clarke's face. The blonde had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She silently scolded herself for that, but hadn't had any breathing space to right her wrong-doing yet.
It was Saturday evening and Lexa sighed when she finally stepped into the pub and spotted Anya at the bar waving at her pointing to a beer.
"Damn, I hate sharing this place with tourists." She complained when she reached her friend. She inhaled half of her beer before she even sat down.
"Well, I would have thought you'd prefer them drinking in the village than up the mountain." Anya pointed out.
"Not what I meant, but true."
"So? What was it this time?"
"What?" She faked oblivion thinking hard how to get out of the coming reprimand, knowing by the expression on her friend's face what was likely coming her way.
"The blow up, Lex. Raven told me."
The brunette casted a quick glance at her friend before dropping her eyes down onto the bar top, lifting her beer to her lips. "I... Icalledherasimplemindedfloosy." Lexa mumbled into the bottleneck before taking a sip.
"You called her a what?"
"A simple-minded floosy." She repeated and winced at her own choice of words. "I was already pissed off because people kept ignoring me and I needed them to move out of the way. Instead of helping me getting my point across, I then witnessed a dude pushing money into Clarke's cleavage after she had suggestively winked at him when handing out the drink and in return she had blown him a kiss." Lexa rambled on and on.
"Classic." Anya laughed. "And so, so jealous." She added with a smirk.
Lexa's eyes flickered from her beer back to her friend with an outraged expression on her face. "I'm not jealous. It just drives me crazy to watch her." The moment the words left her mouth she regretted saying them. Anya was like a dog with a bone and she just threw her one.
"Because you liked what you see?" The other laughed out loudly.
"No…" Lexa blushed, scolding herself for her choice of words. She'd never admit to anyone, least of all herself that she did enjoy the display until greedy man hands came in close contact to Clarke's skin. "It just would have been amazing if, for once, she could have used her position as the centre of attention to help do something responsible, instead of using her female wiles to get them to drink more without shame in taking their money." She evaded from the real reason of her frustration.
"It's her job." Anya sighed. It's pointless to discuss this issue. They've been over the fact uncountable times and they both knew, it's not solely about that anymore.
"Well, apparently she's good at painting." Lexa suddenly remembered the conversation with Mrs Moore. "She could do something along those lines instead of bartending naked on top of a fucking mountain. I mean look at her." Lexa paused to suck in a breath. It had irritated her to learn that there was more to Clarke Griffin and she still decided to do that for a living. It angered Lexa to witness such a beautiful woman selling herself short. "I mean…" She quickly licked her lips and sat up straighter, the corners of her mouth lifting for a small fraction. "She could literally do anything." Lexa's small smile turned sour. "Anything Anya, but no she has to come here and flaunt her tits and whatnot into guys' faces, sell vast quantities of alcohol and doesn't give a shit about safety. Not even her own. She rather gives fucks than give a fuck and I'm so tired of that." Lexa ranted on and on getting more and more upset. When she didn't get a response from Anya she looked up at her friend, who was staring wide-eyed somewhere out of Lexa's view. She already started cursing under her breath before following Anya's line of sight and spotted Clarke, Octavia and Raven behind her, clearly having heard every single word she had just said by their similar angered expressions.
Clarke pursed her lips, before she audibly exhaled and addressed Lexa with cold eyes. "Well, that was enlightening. Thanks for sharing your opinion. Although, I did hear a compliment in there somewhere, however my simple-mindedness might elude me, because I do nothing else but flaunt my tits and give out fucks." Clarke swallowed hard, trying unsuccessfully to keep the tears at bay. "Thanks Lexa, really." She wiped over her face and stalked off to the back of the pub, whilst Octavia and Raven stood rooted to the spot.
"Are you for real?" The former exploded. "Wow. I have no words. You're a first-class asshole Lexa." She turned and followed her friend.
"I have to agree although I've got one question." Raven's stare bored into Lexa and she simply nodded for the woman to continue unable to use her voice. "All three of us are doing the same job; however you only complain and insult Clarke for it. Why's that Lexa?" She waited watching Lexa bite down hard on her lip. "Yeah, I thought you wouldn't have an answer for me." She got close to Lexa's face and whispered darkly. "You know nothing about her or us and I'm done listening to the shit that comes out of your mouth." She paused watching the woman in front of her clench her jaw violently. "If I wasn't dating your friend, I'd say fuck off and never come back, but I'm sure we'll see each other so let me give you a well meant advice. Do not, and I mean not as in never, talk about Clarke ever again like that or I'll literally push you over a mountain cliff. Am I making myself clear?"
If not for the usual backdrop of bar sounds it would have been possible to hear the harsh grinding of both women's jaws regarding each other with dislike and hatred in their features.
"Yes." Lexa grumbled, fishing for her beer done with the conversation.
"Fine. Anya?" Raven's eyes wandered to the addressed and her glare softened. "You hang with us or do you prefer asshole's company?"
"Shit." Anya groaned loudly and looked at Lexa. They have been friends for so long, they've been through a lot of trouble together and she knew Lexa's real issues. Knew might be too certain, but she at least was confident about the state of her friend's heart. She couldn't fathom why Lexa kept quiet though. Why she always managed to dig herself in the deepest holes possible when it came to Clarke.
Her silence prompted Lexa to look up at her. "Go, hang with them or whatever, I'm leaving anyway." She stood up and grabbed her jacket, risking a glance to the back of the bar, but Clarke was nowhere to be seen.
"Smartest thing I've heard you say in a long time." The growl close to her ear pulled her eyes back to her immediate surrounding.
"Raven…" Anya soothed and placed a lingering hand on the fierce brunette's shoulder.
"What?" Her eyes never leaving Lexa's.
"Lexa, I'm sorry." Anya ignored Raven, watching Lexa. "This is so fucked up." What she meant to say was 'you are so fucked up' and 'let me help you'.
Lexa understood. "Don't be," was all they heard from her. She had started walking towards the exit.
"Are you sorry?" Raven called after her when Lexa was almost through the door. She looked back and locked eyes with her, but remained silent, before turning and finally disappearing into the darkness which had settled over Polis. "She's not even sorry. Fucking hell. What a motherfucking cunt ass bitch." Raven turned around sporting a mask of incredibility.
"I totally agree she was way out of line, but she's still my best friend, so can you please not refer to her like that?"
"Anya, how can you still defend her?"
"My friendship with Lexa isn't based on her issues with Clarke, Ray." She tried to reason.
"Yeah, I don't get why you guys are friends anyway."
"We go way back and you know that. I won't tell you more, but she's worth it. I love her." Raven looked at her sceptically, but before she could voice any thoughts, Anya went on. "Besides, she is the one who has to clean up after you guys, if we're being honest." Anya winced at the daggers shooting out of Raven's eyes.
"It's not our job to keep anyone away from spending their money. We'd be stupid if we did that. We'd lose our jobs if we did that. You know we depend on the money." Raven was so, so tired of defending her and her friend's decision to accept the job year after year.
"I only know, because you and I talked about it." Anya tried explaining.
"Why haven't you told Lexa, so this whole ordeal could have been avoided and Clarke would have never heard any of the bullshit?"
"It wasn't my place to tell her." She stated simply. "Besides, how could I have foreseen this happening?"
Raven looked at her, placing her hands on her hips. "Ok so whose place do you think it was?"
Anya didn't lower her gaze when she answered. "Clarke's."
"No babe, you're in the wrong. This one could as well be on you for not talking to 'Ms Know-it-all'." Raven huffed out and shook her head before leaving her sat at the bar to join her friends back at their table. "You ok?" She asked Clarke as soon as she was in earshot, Anya following her hot on her heals.
"Not really." She sniffed and lifted her head to look at her friend. "Um, Anya… behind you..." She trailed off. "Please don't fight with her. It's not her fault." She added after a moment.
Raven threw a glance over her shoulder and upon seeing Anya's face she turned back. "I can't deal with this shit at the moment. I'm too sober and too angry. Let's change that." She said and flopped down on the other side of the booth.
They signalled for the barkeeper to send a round of shots, when Anya sat down next to Raven. "Listen…" She started looking from Clarke to the two brunettes and back. "I know what Lexa said was utterly awful and disrespectful and blatantly outrageous and I'm not trying to excuse her behavio-"
"But?" Raven interrupted and turned to look at her. "What could you possibly say to make amends?"
"I'm not trying to apologize for her; I just want to point out, that all the shit she assumed about Clarke is based on what she sees. And -" she went on quickly raising her voice over Raven's and Octavia's protest, "she doesn't know you at all. If she did, there'd be absolutely no way she'd have said what she did." To everybody's surprise, Clarke nodded.
"I know." She agreed. "Do you guys really think it doesn't bother us what might happen to our guests? Luckily, there's never been any bad news. Or at least, we don't hear about it." She shrugged. "I just… Lexa's assumptions about me and us are plucked out of thin air. I simply don't get, why she would think of the nastiest things instead of talking to me or any of you. I mean, who does that?" She huffed in annoyance and went on with an angry pout. "And about the 'tits and whatnot' comment. She has no right to judge me. It's my body and I can do whatever the hell I want with it, and it brings in the money I need to make my dreams come true. Don't I deserve a shot at that, just because the approach I take might be a little unconventional?"
"Of course. Everybody does, but don't you think you could tell Lexa some of your dreams?" Anya asked gently.
Raven snorted unattractively at her lover's suggestion. "And don't you think Clarke would have done so, if 'Ms I fucking even hate the air that surrounds her' hadn't clearly shown her disinterest in such a conversation?"
"I'm done entertaining the idea of her being anything but hostile and hateful." Clarke exclaimed before looking at Anya, who looked surprised at her outburst. "And to make that very clear, there's no need to tell her any of that. She has her set opinion about me." Her blue eyes sparkle with a dangerous expression. "It's not my job to change her beliefs."
"But…" Anya looked at her confused. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you used to say you liked her. A lot. Has that changed since we talked last?" Clarke bit her lip, a blush forming on her pale skin. The older blonde took that as a yes and asked in astonishment. "Then why don't you want to correct her ideas about you?"
Clarke sighed and covered her face with her hands for a split second before rubbing her temples. "I wanted her to like me because of me. And clearly she can't stand me."
"She has the wrong picture of who you are. Show her the real you."
"Why should I? To make it even more hurtful? No thanks." Clarke shook her head and eagerly grabbed two of the numerous shots which were sat down on their table the same instant. She slammed the first glass back down on the top and lifted the second one to her mouth, when Anya spoke once again in a matter of fact voice.
"She likes you."
Clarke snorted into her glass. "Wow, she has to work on her game if that's her way of showing affection." The anger turned into the well-known frustration after the warmth of the alcohol spread through her body.
"Trust me." Anya tried once more. "Trust me that I know my best friend. Don't you see the pattern? She's into you, which is the reason why she's so strongly reacting to everything you do. She hates that you flirt with everyone, she hates that you use your body to get money. She hates all that because she thinks you deserve better than that."
It was silent for a moment. All three women looked in surprise at Anya. "Has she told you that?" Raven found her voice first. "Has she actually said that or is this one of your interpretations?"
"I know her." Anya settled on and stopped Raven's protest with her hand over the other's mouth. "I've lived with her for over five years. She's out of her mind jealous and has no idea how to deal with her emotions. She's genuinely upset about the situation on top of the mountain, but she's even more troubled about what she feels for you. You guys caught her ogling." Her eyes flitted between Octavia and Raven. "You saw her staring." She looked at Clarke. "She couldn't give an answer to Ray's question, because she's in denial."
"What question?" Clarke asked worriedly. "What did you ask?"
"Just why she's constantly in your face when we all do the same job and the same thing. She's never yelled at me for serving alcohol. She's never growled at Octavia for using her body."
"Yeah Clarke." Octavia added. "Always only you."
"Is that the reason you guys keep teasing me about her? Because you too think she's actually interested in me?"
They nodded, but remained quiet for a moment, sipping at their shots when Raven looked up. "As much as I'd love to see her get lost that won't happen. So we need to make her understand that she has to figure out how to accept what we do and step up to her feelings or leave it be and be civil towards us and Clarke. At the moment, she's bullying her and that's unacceptable." Three out of four heads nod in confirmation.
"I'm not doing anything." Clarke denied. "She doesn't want to talk to me, didn't want to get to know me. She doesn't accept what I do and she looks down on me for it." She chanced a glance around, eyes unfocused jumping from interior to people. "This was the last straw." She took a sip of her drink to cool down, but her voice betrayed her, clearly showing how hurt she felt. "She's beautiful and strong-willed and determined and all I admire in a woman, but she's also opinionated and belittling and I can't stand it anymore. She's judging people left and right instead of taking a fucking minute to learn about them." Clarke licked her dry lips, inhaled deeply and with finality in her voice she added, "I'm done with her and you better not do anything about it."
A week had passed since the last altercation and Lexa had asked Anya every day of the past seven what had happened after she had left the pub and whether Clarke was ok, but her friend remained tight-lipped. Anya only shook her head sadly whenever she was asked about the other woman. She had promised not to interfere, even though the instructor was convinced it would change her friend's view and get her to accept the fact that she overreacted because she had feelings for the blonde. She had promised she would not say a word and Lexa gave up asking and focused back on her job.
She was on her routine tour, checking the depth and consistency of the snow on top of Mount Weather, when she stumbled upon the blonde setting up for another day. They halted in their tasks and glared at each other for a moment without saying a word. Lexa had been waiting for a chance to apologise for the things she had said, but the scowl on Clarke's face made her question her manners. She scratched her foot over the icy cover of the mountain, thinking hard how to proceed, when the blonde took the decision off of her and asked loudly to cover the distance. "What do you want Lexa?" She slowly walked closer to avoid having to yell her next words. "Another lecture about my 'sluttiness' or another attempt to close down the igloo bar?" She stopped a few feet away from the brunette voicing her questions with a hint of defeat.
Lexa looked at her with big eyes, before she could get her tongue to work again. "No nnoo…" She stammered clearly not used to being confronted so bluntly. "I stopped to… ah… to you know… um… apologise." She managed with an embarrassed shrug.
"For what? The list is long. You need to be more specific for what you're sorry for." The blonde snarled.
The mountaineer stared at smaller woman for another moment. She didn't want to take back any of her words, but after thinking about them she wished she could rephrase some of them. "I shouldn't have worded my opinion the way I did." She finally said. "It was hurtful and I'm sorry for that."
Clarke kept glaring at her, eyes merely two narrow slits, the blue blitzing through was icy and cold. "So, let me clarify, because I'm so simple-minded. You're sorry for the way you insulted me, but not the content of it?" Lexa remained silent, which was taken by Clarke exactly the way it was meant. "Right, thanks but no thank you. You can shove that apology up your ass."
Lexa bit down on her lip trying to keep her cool, but the fury in Clarke's eyes made her angry all over. "How can you be so self-righteous?" She blurted out.
"Me?" The blonde snarled outraged. "What about you? Walking around as if this place and all the people belong to you. For your information, you're not the commander of us and we don't have to do what you think we should. You don't like that, well… pack your bags."
"Of course I'm no one's leader." Lexa huffed out in annoyance. "But at least I consider the welfare and safety of others over my own pleasure."
"Pleasure?" Clarke's voice broke painfully and Lexa winced at the hurtful expression on her face. "You think this is pleasure? Believe me…" The bartender pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly trying to calm down and get her racing thoughts under control. She was on the verge of losing it so she didn't think it through when she opened her mouth. "I'd love to do anything but this, but it helps me doing what I really want to do." She rushed out and stopped breathing for an unmeasured amount of time, watching Lexa's face morph from anger into confusion. "Forget it!" she growled and quickly turned around and walked back to her icy pavilion.
Lexa stared after her for a long while. She felt triumphant to know that she was right. She'd always hoped this wasn't what Clarke wanted out of life and now she finally had her confirmation. However, her good mood vanished the second she remembered the pain and hurt in the blonde's voice. She sighed deeply at her inability to make the other feel anything but bad.
Lexa had tried to pry more information about Clarke out of Anya, but her friend remained schtum, nothing would make her budge on the matter. Except for one drunken statement.
"You're a stupid asshole." Anya had drunkenly mumbled on their way back to their apartment.
"I know." Lexa slurred back. "What exactly you're referring to?"
"She could have been it for you."
"Huh?" Lexa came to a sobering halt and pulled Anya to a stop too. "What?"
"What?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"What did I say?"
"Who could have been it for me? What is 'it' anyway?" Lexa asked heatedly.
Anya grinned at her drunkenly and giggled. "Muppet."
"Who are you talking about?"
"Really?"
They engaged in a stare-off neither blinking for a while until Anya wobbled drunkenly, effectively breaking their locked eyes. "Let's go home. I'm tired and cold." She said and left Lexa standing alone contemplating the information. She wasn't that stupid to not know Anya was talking about Clarke. At least Lexa hoped there wasn't someone else out there holding grudges against her. Though, what did she mean with 'she could have been it'. In what way? Had Clarke talked to Anya about Lexa? Did Anya know if Clarke had had an interest in her at one point in the past? Did she really fuck up much more than she thought? Lexa shuttered at that possibility. The situation was bad enough as it is, she doesn't need to add fuel to the traitorous thoughts haunting her at night.
Needless to say, Lexa did not sleep well, but the next morning, Anya complained so much about her headache that she ran from their shared space to get away from her without getting any answers. She stormed into the office of the rescue basecamp, slammed the door and effectively pushed everyone who felt like talking to her a million miles away from tackling that activity.
Up on the mountain, Clarke suffered silently, as she was still working on convincing herself to do the right thing by icing Lexa out instead of cosying her in by telling her what she needed to know to probably change her mind. She knew, she was being stupid and denied herself any possibility with the woman who still kept her mind occupied. She simply couldn't bring herself to accept Lexa's words as the truth from her point of view. All Lexa had was her wild imagination of what was going on in the igloo. She'd never bothered to stay long in the bar and had therefore never witnessed anything else than them selling drinks. Clarke wasn't only beautiful to look at she had a lot of artistic talents. Alas, Clarke kept mulling over the one fact she was certain about. Even if someone didn't know that she saved every penny for the possibility to open her own gallery, which was insanely expensive, and therefore pushed her to take up any job with decent or more than decent salary, that someone shouldn't walk around like a pompous ass and declare her a slut. She could have had any kind of opinion about Clarke, but she assumed the worst possible. That alone hurt Clarke to no end. What was it about her that Lexa saw the nastiest instead of giving her the benefit of a doubt?
They hadn't spoken at all after their last confrontation. Whenever their paths had crossed they'd looked at each other before quickly looking away and had never exchanged another word. Lexa simply didn't know what to say. She realised that she missed the smiles and awkward waves Clarke had always regarded her with in the past years until the fatal fallout. Now, the blonde eyed her warily, angrily and dismissed her existence as soon as she could. It didn't sit well with Lexa, but she didn't dare to approach the other without knowing how to make amends.
The season had taken off brilliantly and Lexa had been pleasantly busy, but only a few weeks in and it slowed down a little. It was a lazy day in the middle of December when she found herself strolling around on the top of the mountain with literally nothing to do. It was late afternoon and the slopes would close in an hour.
"Why don't you cash in your promise and check out the bar?" Anya prompted after Lexa had sighed loudly for the fifth time in a matter of minutes. Lexa eyed her sceptically. "Don't look at me like that. I know you haven't been and I know you still think they're going the full monty." Anya paused and watched her friend blush. "I'm actually surprised you haven't been if you really think Clarke is stripping." She grinned naughtily. "I would have thought you'd get front row seats." She teased her even more.
Lexa coughed embarrassed and shrugged uncomfortably. "I'm not into stuff like that."
"You're not into nudity?" Anya smirked. "Since when?"
"Not what I meant and you know that." She stuck out her tongue. "I'm not into watching women undress for men. Full stop." Lexa clarified.
"Well they wouldn't if you were there." She poked her friend in the leg.
Lexa pushed her off and replied nonchalantly. "I'm not your stereo-typical lesbian, thank you."
Anya sighed. "Listen, there's no stripping anyway."
"Ok." Lexa shrugged. She hadn't really thought they would. It was just a throw away comment she had let out a year ago.
"Just go over there, have a drink or two, you're off hours anyway and try to be civil. I'm sure she'd try if you tried."
"Whatever…" Lexa mumbled dismissively, but stood up nevertheless. "I'll be back in a bit so we can close the slopes together."
"You're off." Anya exhaled loudly. "Stay off. I don't need your help, we've got people scheduled to do this. I might join you in a bit."
"Alright," Lexa waved, "later then." She stepped out of the rescue building into the coldness of the early evening. She inhaled deeply and glanced over to the bar where an uncountable amount of men and women enjoyed themselves. Music was wafting over and she slowly made her way towards the entertainment, lulled in by a strangely familiar voice she had never heard singing before. She was so focused on the woman on top of the bar singing her heart out, that, before she realised, she stood in front of her. She never needed a drink more. She had no idea what she was doing, when Clarke and Raven spotted her. The brunette strutted over after the blonde stared her down whilst walking to the other end of the long ice block, furthest away from Lexa, finishing her song. 'So much about civility,' the paramedic thought, but couldn't stop herself checking out the woman in the tight uniform she was wearing. Now that she saw the full outfit, she had to admit, it was less revealing than she had thought it would be. Though, it left little to the imagination due to the tightness of the whole ensemble. However, the voice combined with those visuals will keep her up for a long time, Lexa knew that for sure.
Raven watched her ogling for another moment before she slapped down hard on the icy top and snarled, "Whatcha want asshole?"
Lexa jumped in surprise and cringed at the harsh words, but didn't correct her. "Water?"
"Are you asking me or ordering it?"
She glared at the bartender and cleared her throat. "I want water." She repeated more convincingly.
"Get yourself some snow and melt it in your foul mouth." Raven sneered and left her standing like a moron.
"What the…" Lexa was speechless for a few seconds. "I hope you're only refusing to serve water to me." She called after the retreating form of the brunette. All three women looked over at her.
"Yes Lexa." Raven turned back to her after shooting a look to Octavia and Clarke. "It's only you. Anyone else who wants water gets water." She said pointedly and Lexa huffed and pushed away from the bar. She walked all the way back to the entrance and let herself fall into a fur covered sun chair. She didn't mind the rudeness, she had expected being shown the cold shoulder, but if Raven thought for a minute this would scare her away she didn't know Lexa. Now that she was here, she might as well stay and see what the fuss was about.
She settled in her chair and let her eyes wander around, but soon she focused back on Clarke whilst Octavia and Raven sung a duet, and even though they held the key they had nothing on the blonde's voice. Next she watched them dance and a few patrons joined into the routine. They all laughed and enjoyed their time, but then she witnessed Clarke flirt and felt her insides churn uncomfortably. This was why she didn't come here. She hated being constantly on edge, but instead of huffing and puffing and feeling her opinions about the trio confirmed, she repeated Anya's words over and over in her head and tried to remain open-minded. It took over an hour of silent steaming for her to surprisingly realise that all the flirting and smiling seem only to be for show. Any advances were dismissed in a friendly way; Clarke didn't accept any telephone numbers or invitations for a drink and she certainly didn't seem to hand out private information either. In fact, Lexa learned, that neither of them did. It looked like all three stayed sober and focused. If they weren't clad in those tight clothes and danced suggestively on top of the ice block, it would have been rather tame for bar entertainment. They were just good at what they were doing and that seemed to be enough to pull people in.
'Are they getting paid or do they actually depend on the tips?' Lexa thought the moment she witnessed Clarke stepping back and swatting off over-eager hands trying to cop a feel. The bartender was still smiling, but looked more and more uncomfortable. Octavia and Raven gravitated towards her, but Clarke didn't let them come closer. Lexa was out of the chair in a second and pushed through the crowd like a bulldozer; pushing patrons out of her way to reach a very unsettled looking blonde.
"I believe you've been told to stop what you're doing?" She growled at the tall man crowding Clarke.
"What the hell?" He turned around and was met by a fierce glare. Instead of taking his leave he sneered at Lexa and looked her up and down. "Oh, well maybe you and I should get it on then, if she's too prude." He pointed absentmindedly over his shoulder to Clarke whilst leering at Lexa.
"Fucking hell." The brunette mumbled under her breath but didn't break eye contact. "No one in here is remotely interested in you. Why don't you take a walk to the cable car and get down to Polis?" She tried as politely as possible.
"Yeah, I'm rather going down on you…" He replied instead.
"Ok, last warning." Lexa's nostrils flared angrily and her hands curled into fists. "Leave now or I make you."
"You?" He laughed out loud. "You couldn't hurt me if you tried little ranger."
"Nah, she's good at that." Raven growled scooting closer to Clarke now that the blonde's attention wasn't focused on keeping her out of harm's reach. "You ok?" She asked, watching her watching Lexa.
"Yeah, I'm good." Clarke replied absentminded too focused on the potential disaster unfolding in front of her.
Raven nodded and turned to Lexa. "Need help?" she pointing to the man who had been watching them with glee in his eyes. Lexa looked over in surprise. She didn't expect the offer. She looked over at Clarke, who had wrapped her arms around herself chewing on her bottom lip, but quickly looked back at Raven.
"Maybe call Anya? Could use her if this gets uglier." She faced the man once more who just stood there enjoying having the attention of three women on him. "Your warning has expired." Lexa snarled and within the blink of an eye the drink he had just held in his hand was on the bar top and she started pushing him towards the exit securely restraining his arm behind his back.
"What the fuck bitch let me go." He hollered and tried to get out of her iron grip with futile success. She had him well restrained. They exited the igloo and she kept pushing him further towards the cable car station.
"Due to the harassment of the bar stuff you're not welcome in the Igloo any longer." She cited to him. "Seeing you're not sober anymore I further confiscate your skis or board." She finished letting go of his arm in front of the entrance doors to the station.
"What the fuck you think you're doing?" He yelled at her whilst caressing his shoulder.
"Funny you ask…" She fake-laughed and pointed to her jacket. "I'm not a ranger, Yogi Bear, but I'm giving you two options. Take the ski-lift down or I'll handcuff you to the back of the snow mobile and you'll be going to spend the night within concrete walls. Your choice."
She didn't see the blow coming.
"Lexa!"
Clarke and Anya came running from opposite directions towards the woman bleeding profusely out of her nose and a cut on her lip, sitting on the man whose face was pushed into the snow struggling against the restriction.
"Are you ok?"
"Do you need help?"
The concern in Clarke's voice touched her deeply and she slowly shook her throbbing head and pointed to Anya and back at the guy. "Do you mind?" She asked, tasting the blood.
Anya didn't hesitate and took him into a tight hold as soon as Lexa pushed up from him. "Come on douchebag. We've got an appointment in town." She held him still whilst Lexa restrained his wrists with some plastic nylon strips she had always on her for fixing fences.
When Anya pulled him towards their office, Lexa turned and spit out some blood. "Motherfucker…" She breathed through her pain.
"Let me see." Clarke didn't wait for any acknowledgement or permission, just stepped close to Lexa, and softly turned her face towards her. She wiped the blood off her face with the dishtowel in her hand and focused on the nose and the cut. "I don't think your nose is broken, but go to the GP to be sure. The cut could be stitched up for better healing."
"How do you -" Lexa asked, swaying into and away from the gentle touch, unsure off what to do.
Clarke looked up into questioning green eyes, before sighing deeply. "I've got some medical knowledge."
"How come?"
"Mother is a doctor." She replied offhandedly. "Do you want me to fix your lip?"
"You know how to stitch a wound?" Lexa's jaw would hit the ground if it wasn't so painful to let it go slack.
"Yeah." She waited and watched the other expressing something akin to awe. "Who would have thought it needs an asshole for me to see you care and for you to understand I'm more than a naked bimbo." She laughed sadly. "Stitches or not?"
"Yes please." Lexa nodded gratefully, wincing at the pain behind her eyes, mulling over the words in her head.
To Lexa's astonishment, Clarke knew indeed what she was doing. The well-equipped station offered everything she had needed and after a few minutes, she had left again to go back to her job. Lexa remained lying flat on her back thinking about what had just happened.
She had gotten her face smashed in. Painfully so. She touched her nose for the millionth time wincing at the sensation coursing through her body. It might have been worth it though; she remembered the softest of touches on her skin and the clear as day worry on Clarke's face. 'If she hated me, she wouldn't have been so worried about me,' Lexa thought the moment the door opened.
"Hi punching bag. What did the doctor say?" Anya strolled over and plopped down on the end of the rolling bed.
Lexa pointed to her nose. "Do you think it's broken?"
"Did Clarke say it was?"
"No, but she told me to go and have it checked by one."
"Let me clean the rest of you." Anya nodded, stood up and fetched some more paper towels, wetting them with sterile water, before looking at Lexa's face. "She did a pretty good job closing that cut." The injured woman hummed in agreement, but let her friend finish cleaning the blood off in silence.
"Anya?" She finally asked sitting up slowly. "Where is the guy now?"
"At the police station." Her friend answered distractedly whilst standing up. She dropped the paper in the bin, before slouching down at the desk opening a file. "We need to fill out the report."
Lexa huffed in annoyance and slowly made her way over to her friend before collapsing in the chair and sighing loudly. "Please tell me you didn't know of Clarke's healing skills."
"I didn't." Anya laughed. "Now, tell me what happened."
Lexa narrowed her eyes at her friend deciding if she believed her words. "Fine." She sighed once more and leaned back against the seat, recalling the events for the report.
"Thanks for the tip and come back tomorrow." Clarke smiled at the group of men and women getting dressed for the cold weather.
"Sure thing sweet cheeks." One of the men slurred with a goofy smile on his face, when she turned to leave.
"Hey…" She stopped and looked at the man. "You don't plan to ski down, do you?"
"Well…"
"You're not allowed. No skiing under the influence. You have to take the lift." She blurted out.
"Oh ok. We didn't know."
"New law." She lied, fiddling with the cash in her hands. "Spread the word." She added before turning back to the bar, ignoring her friends' grinning faces.
"Not a word." She hissed and started cleaning the rest of the tables.