Disclaimer: I do not own The 100 AN: We're jumping 4 years ahead now...
Chapter 9
4 years later…
"Madi, come here"
5 year old Madi who'd run towards the window to see if her school bus was here yet, came back towards where her mom was standing near the kitchen counter.
Lexa leaned down, and kissed her forehead.
"Promise me you're going to be at your best behavior this year at camp"
"I will, mom. Trust me."
"I do." Lexa kissed her forehead and Madi gave her a tight hug.
"Well well, why wasn't I invited for this massive love fest" came Anya's voice.
Madi laughed. "Of course you're invited too, Aunt Anya" she said
"Come here you little munchkin!" Anya carried her in her arms spinning her around a few times. "God! You're getting heavier each time."
Madi chuckled.
Just then they heard the bus honking from outside. "I have to go now. Put me down." Madi said excitedly.
"But I don't want to let you go!" Anya played around. Lexa laughed.
"But I have to go. There's a new bunch of 4-year-olds from the nearing town joining us this year and I've been elected a volunteer to make them feel at home." Madi said proudly.
"Okay okay" Anya let her down and she ran to kiss Lexa's cheek "Bye mommy, I'll see you in 2 days."
Madi put on her bag and ran out towards the bus. But Lexa noticed her stop all of a sudden about 3 steps away from the bus, she looked thoughtful. She ran back towards Lexa standing at the door, and then ran past her into the house.
"What's wrong sweetie?" Lexa worried.
She hardly made it to the staircase when she heard Madi's footsteps running down the staircase, seemingly have retrieved what she returned to get.
"I forgot this" she said as she held out the pendant her mother had gifted her when she was 4.
Lexa's heart felt funny. This pendant had so many memories locked inside it. Madi had no clue. All she was allowed to know was that it was a very important piece of jewellery for Lexa, and Madi was entrusted to always keep it safe. Lexa never opened the locket and Madi was oblivious to the fact that it even was a locket in the first place.
Lexa smiled and took it from her, made her turn around, and effortlessly hooked the chain behind her neck.
"Go. You're perfect" she said to her little one.
Madi grinned from ear to ear and ran out.
As the bus left, Anya came and stood by Lexa's side and spoke "One day she's going to open that locket and bombard you with questions."
Lexa's smile faded. She thought to herself for a moment. "Well, then let's hope I figure out the answers before that day comes." Lexa walked back into their home.
"You should call her. Or at least reach out to that friend of yours, what's her name, Raven?"
Lexa thought for a moment.
Anya saw this as progress. It had been around 4 years now since Lexa had left her life in Washington DC behind. She was practicing law here now, in New York. In the first two years, bringing up the subject of Clarke was like asking for hell to reign down on you. These days however, Lexa seems to be listening at least.
"Weren't you and Raven pretty good friends?"
"We were" she said, then corrected herself "are…" She continued … "I think" Lexa said.
"It's not going to kill you to make one phone call, sweetie."
"I'm not ready to hear about Clarke." Lexa admitted out loud. But Anya knew, deep down, she wondered what her ex-partner's life's been like after she left.
Had she moved on? Had she found another? Was it Bellamy? Did she love him? All of these questions haunted her at night. Anya had been woken by her nightmares sometimes. Lexa has always talked in her sleep. There have been nights where she seems to be having arguments with Clarke. Some nights she's weeping before her. But this last year it had gotten better. There were no more nightmares.
"You don't need to hear about her. Simply pick up the phone and ask Raven how she is."
"I'll think about it, okay?" said Lexa and then walked on to the kitchen to get lunch prepared.
"Hi there, my name is Madi"
The little blonde boy from the new group of 4-year-olds seemed oblivious to the hand held out in front of him. His attention was on the sketch pad he carried along with him for this trip. His momma told him that if he ever felt nervous or out of place, to take it out of his bag and start drawing. And so he was doing exactly that.
"Hey…" the girl's voice sounded again. He hesitantly looked up at her.
"My name is Madi" she said once again, with her hand held out in offer for him to maybe shake.
"Hi" came his small, meek voice. And then he looked back down into his book and started drawing.
Madi took her hand back and thought for a moment. "You're going to miss out on a whole lot of fun, if you keep hiding in your sketchpad" she said.
The boy looked up at her.
"Come on, let's go join the others. We can play lots of games and have lots of fun."
"I don't want to play games" he said.
"Then what do you want to do buddy" Madi asked him.
"I want to go back home to my momma." he said.
Madi thought for a moment, and then, heaven knows what made her do what she did next, but she knelt before the little boy and said "You know, when I was your age, my mommy gave me something and told me, that if I ever miss her, all I had to do was close my eyes and hold on tight to it, and immediately by some magic force, I wouldn't feel so bad anymore. Do you want to try it too? It might just work?"
The boy nodded. Madi reached around her neck and took off her locket. She put it around his neck and he stared at it in awe.
"It's pretty" he whispered as his tiny little finger traced over the word 'Always' engraved on it.
"It's special. Now try it." She said excitedly. And so he did what he was told. Closed his eyes and all he could see in his head now was his mommy's blues eyes before he left for the trip. "Promise me you'll have fun okay? Don't be shy to make new friends and don't be shy to look up from your book once in a while."
He opened his eyes to see Madi smiling brightly back at him "Did it work?" she asked expectantly.
He nodded excitedly in the affirmative, chuckling with her. "Awesome. I'll let you hold on to that for me for today, as long as you come with us now to play" she said.
"Alright, let's go" he said as he rose from his seat and ran outdoors with Madi to where the other camp kids were playing.
"Aden. My name's Aden." he said as he ran alongside Madi.
Breathlessly, she laughed. "Well it was about time you told me your name."
Anya came home from work that day to find Lexa typing away on her laptop, lost in studying one of her own cases. She had big news to give Lexa and she wasn't quite sure if Lexa was ready to hear it yet. Regardless, tonight was the night to tell her, and she didn't want to waste any more time.
She kicked her shoes off and walked on over to the other side of the couch and sat there.
"Lex, do you have a minute?"
Lexa almost didn't catch the nervous tone in her voice. Almost. She looked up at Anya and saw in her eyes, something was up. She closed her laptop screen and said
"Yea, tell me, what's up?"
"Okay, you're not going to be happy with what I have to say."
"Okayyyy… go on."
"But it's important that you listen to me, and consider what I have to say anyway. You don't need to answer me now. You can think about it and tell me by the end of this week too. But it's really all for the better"
"All of this is just sounding too vague to me Anya, just spill"
"I've got an offer for a new job"
"What?! Wow! That's great news! Congratulations!" Lexa said
"In New York…" Anya continued. And it took all but 2 seconds for Lexa's demeanour to change.
"That's... wow… that's brilliant news! When do you start?"
"Okay now hear me out carefully. This place here in Washington we've made our home? It's lent to me by my current employers." She continued as realization dawned on Lexa on what that means. "That means, when I'm done with my notice period, we will have to move out, and clear out this house for the next person who will fill my spot in this organisation."
"I get it… that's okay… we can look for another place…" Lexa said
"No, please hear me out completely. I've already got a plan." Anya insisted. "My new employer has arranged a place for me in New York, however, it's enough for just one person to live. So I thought to myself, what about you and Madi, where will you guys stay?"
"Anya, you don't need to worry about us, I'll just look out for a new place here in Washington."
"And have my sister and niece so far away from me?. No way, I want you in New York too."
Lexa sighed. "Anya, you know I'm not ready to be back there."
"But why not? It's been 4 whole years Lexa. That place is your home. Clarke and you, you bought that place together. Both of you turned it into a home."
Anya didn't miss the way Lexa flinched at the sound of her ex-lover's name. It was all still so raw for her.
"Just, come with me to New York, meet Raven, meet Clarke, and if there's anything to be salvaged of your relationship, I'd say pick up where you'll left off. You'll had something so special Lex, what's the harm in checking if there's still something there."
"She cheated on me, Anya!"
"I KNOW! But don't you think 4 years of you going incognito would have been ample amount of punishment for her. Hell, I can see it's enough for you."
"There's no guarantee that she felt punished. For all we know maybe she moved on. Maybe she and Bellamy built a life together."
"I highly doubt it baby, and even if she did, Clarke knows better than to use a home you two loved and built yourselves to live a life with someone else. Either way, co-habituating with her will at least let me have you and Madi near me. You could pay her rent. You'll don't need to be lovers to be living together. Fact is, it's a huge home that's still partly on your name. You have the right to live there."
"This is all too much Anya"
"I know." she said as she scooted closer and gave Lexa a hug. She kissed in her hair and said "I'm sorry for springing this up on you so suddenly, but I do believe it's time you faced your fears. And I don't want to be far away from you or that little munchkin of yours. You guys are everything to me. Just promise me you'll give it some thought"
"Okay… I will"
Anya smiled.
AN: That was your quota of chapters for the day. what did you think? Leave me a review.
