6 Days Earlier

Lexa doesn't quite know how she ended up stranded with the job of chopping firewood for Winter with one Bellamy Blake.

It may have been the fact that she had been avoiding Indra because she hadn't wanted to kill her general but every time she saw her her hand itched to reach for her blade, so instead she had joined the firewood group.

That explained why she was chopping firewood but it didn't offer an explanation of why she was chopping it with Bellamy Blake.

"So..." Bellamy spoke up first after the forty-five minutes of silence, "...nice weather we are having right?"

Lexa glanced up at the boy before turning her gaze to the sky where the rain fell harshly upon them. Glancing back down at the boy she shot him a pointed look.

"Uh..."

Lexa shook her head and returned to chopping firewood, "If there is something you wish to speak about, Bellamy of the Sky People, ask, do not stutter around it."

Bellamy cleared his throat. "Right..."

Lexa waited abated for Bellamy's question and when none came for a while, the nagging sensation in the back of Lexa's mind caught up to her. "Bellamy-"

"Can I-"

The two paused neither wanting to continue, Bellamy in fear of making a mistake by interrupting the Commander of the Grounders, who knew whether that would result in decapitation or not and Lexa because she wanted to know what Bellamy had wanted from her.

Finally Lexa spoke up, "Continue Bellamy of the Sky People."

"Bellamy's fine." He said before returning to chopping wood, "I was wondering about you know..."

"Speak clearly Bellamy." Lexa told him, refusing to chop anymore wood until she had gotten what he wanted from her from him.

Bellamy struck the wood once more, wedging his axe within the log before he turned to face Lexa, taking a deep breath to solidify his courage. "You Grounders are different from us and I was just curious about your guys courting methods."

"Courting?"

"Yeah, like how to get someone to be with you...romantically," he added as an afterthought.

"Uh..." Lexa nodded her understanding, "We are talking about Echo, are we not?"

Bellamy returned to the axe indented into the log and heaved to pull it out. "I just don't want offend h-"

"Present her with a gift."

"Such as?"

Lexa thought about that for a moment. Grounder tradition for getting together with someone usually revolved around fighting and defeating the father or mother depending on who the strongest was of the two were, of the woman. Then the wife was to craft a weapon from scratch and present it to the man and he would then take it and kill a beast with it and present the fur of such beast to the woman. That of course worked in all ways, if two women wished to join than both were required to fight either the father or mother of the two and if two men wished to join then it was expected that the strongest of the two fight the others father.

She didn't think it was a good idea to voice such a thought though.

"Something with meaning to yourself should work." Lexa answered instead as she returned to her work.

Bellamy thought for a moment before questioning, "That's it? No killing of anything or anyone?"

Lexa considered telling him but quickly snapped her mouth shut, offered a tight smile and shake of her head.

Bellamy nodded, "Thanks."

The silence dragged on for a little while as the sounds of chopping wood filled the forest. Lexa reluctantly glanced up at the boy before turning back to the axe in her hand, wondering whether or not she should ask. Deciding that she had in fact helped the boy in some way she gathered up her courage and asked impassively.

"May I ask something of you as well?"

Bellamy glanced up in a little bit of shock, expecting that they would remain silent for the rest of the day after such a conversation. "Um...sure."

"I have found out a strange custom of your people's and was wondering if you could assist me with it."

Bellamy squinted in curiosity, "Exactly what custom?"

"I believe your people refer to it as pick-up lines."

Bellamy choked back a laugh, a few seconds later and it escaped in a deep flurry of laughter.

"What is so funny?"

Bellamy's laughter ground to halt almost immediately. He looked dead straight at the girl in front of him. "Wait, you're serious?"

"I am always serious."

Bellamy blinked once, twice, three times before he opened his mouth in an attempt to speak. He closed it shortly thereafter finding nothing to reply to that with.

Lexa dropped her axe beside the log. "Forget it, I will find someone else to be off assistance."

Bellamy snapped himself out of his stupor and reached for Lexa's arm pulling the Commander to a stop. "Wait."

Lexa glanced between the hand gripping her bicep and the boys face.

Bellamy released the Commander and held his hands up in apology. "Sorry, I didn't say I wouldn't help."

Lexa squinted her eyes slightly, "I do not wish to be the center of your amusement Bellamy."

"No...you won't be. I promise."

Lexa kept her gaze steady on him trying to gauge his sincerity. Satisfied he was telling the truth, she nodded and turned her full attention to him.

Bellamy nodded with a smile, glad he could help the Commander which in turn would help Clarke. "Well, how has it gone so far?"

Lexa's eyes shifted slightly, without looking at him she answered hesitantly not wanting to tell him the truth. "Fine."

Bellamy gave her a look of disbelief. "Right...well I'm positive this'll work."

Lexa didn't look entirely sure but still she nodded albeit doubtfully.

"It's been used on me before okay."

"And it worked?"

Bellamy nodded, "For the most part...anyway so you walk up to her, be confident..."

"I am always confident."

"..." Bellamy looked uncertainly at her but slowly gave her a nod, "Right...anyway walk up to her and be your confident self and go..." he cleared his throat, lent against the tree and said, "Do you have a quarter?"

"No." Lexa shook her head, "I do not even know what a quarter is."

Bellamy pushed himself up off the tree, "No I wasn't really asking, that was part of the line."

"...oh," Lexa glanced around for a few seconds letting the awkward silence hang there before turning back to the boy, "Continue."

Bellamy nodded and started again. "Do you have a quarter? I told my ex-boyfriend that I would call him when I found someone better."

Lexa blinked at him a few times before opening her mouth to speak. "That will not work."

"How come?"

"I have never been with a man in any romantic capacity and I believe an ex-boyfriend requires you to have had a male counterpart in the past."

Bellamy blinked as the woods went silent. Birds went silent, the trees stilled and axes stopped chopping. A few seconds passed, "...oh." Bellamy thought for a moment before supplying, "Then just change ex-boyfriend to ex-girlfriend," he nodded satisfied, "problem solved."

Lexa nodded before looking up at the boy with slight confusion. "What is a phone call?"

Bellamy scratched his head lightly, thinking off a way to explain it. "It's when you...make a call over a distance."

Lexa nodded in understanding. "Very well," she debated her next move before she extended her hand much like she had seen many Sky People do. "I thank you for your assistance Bellamy."

Bellamy smiled and took her hand, shaking it. "No problem. You helped me, so it was only right to help you back, plus we're all friends here, right?"

Lexa nodded, pulled her hand back, spun and started out of the forest.

Bellamy nodded happy for his friend Clarke and surprisingly the Commander as well. Smile on his face he turned back to the logs before realization hit him and he spun back around, "Wait, what about the woo-" he trailed off with a sigh, noting the Commander just continued walking away without so much as acknowledgement of him.

-X-X-X-X-

Lexa found Clarke later that day, she was luckily by herself sitting at one of the tables in what the Sky People referred to as the mess hall. She didn't understand, it was neither a hall nor messy. Shaking her head at the confusing Sky People, she focused on the blonde who sat sketchbook in hand, drawing contently within it. Lexa smiled a little at the sight.

Clarke twirled the pencil between her fingers until the eraser at the other end was pressed against the page. Scribbling lightly, she erased the rough edge on the grounder shoulder guard. She barely heard the sound of boots hitting dirt but the closer the intruder got, the louder the footsteps were.

"Clarke."

Clarke jumped at Lexa's voice and with lightening reflexes, dropped her pencil to the table and snapped her sketchbook shut. Spinning to face Lexa she gave the girl an embarrassed smile. "Hey, need something?"

Lexa nodded and remembering Bellamy's original posture, she lent against the table. "Do you have a quarter?"

"Um...we don't use quarters anymore."

Keeping her confident posture and tone, she pressed on. "I told my ex-girlfriend I would call her when I found someone better."

Clarke's face blanked. "Really?" Clarke sighed, this was honestly starting to get ridiculous. "Lexa, you don't even have a phone. Do you even know what a phone call is?"

Lexa pushed herself away from the table and nodded happily. "Of course I do. I do it all the time," at Clarke's look of disbelief, "Nyko!" Lexa called, "See?"

Clarke shook her head, picked her pencil and sketchbook up, stood up and walked away.

Lexa's brow furrowed. What had she said wrong?

"Heda?"

Lexa turned to face the voice and sighed, she already had enough on her plate as it was. "Was there something you required Nyko?"

"You called heda."

"What? No I di-" Lexa snapped her mouth shut before glancing up at the healer. "It is of unimportance, you can return to your duties."

"Are you sure heda?" Nyko asked hesitantly, not wanting to question his Commander.

"Mhmm," Lexa nodded and quickly made for Camp Jaha's exit.

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