Lexa surveyed the damage to the village as she and some of the men returned to assess the area for rebuilding. She gave some suggestions on how to fortify the area that the men appreciated while some started to clear some of the debris.

"Commander," Clarke called out to her when she arrived with some of the women with food.

Lexa had her back to them but recognized the caller immediately. She was glad Clarke came but was surprised when she turned and saw her. "What did you do to your hair?"

"Do you like it?" Clarke asked showing it off. "They did it while we waited for the food to cook." She motioned towards the women who came with her.

Lexa recognized a few from the night before. She wondered if they had ulterior motives for braiding Clarke's hair. She studied the intricate pattern they wove and saw that it was harmless. "It suits you."

Clarke was glad that it pleased Lexa. "Now that I'm here, what can I do to help?" She looked around and could tell Lexa had been busy.

"You've done enough by bringing food," Lexa said. "You didn't actually cook it right?" She smiled when Clarke gave her a look.

"Will you please stop that?" Clarke requested with slight annoyance. She was about to give an idle threat to avoid further ribbing around the subject when one of the women handed them their share of the food.

"I'm sorry; I'll try not to bring it up again," Lexa said with amusement. She watched intently as the same woman returned and gave them their drinks that Clarke accepted for both of them. "You should be careful with her." Lexa decided she should warn her.

"What do you mean?" Clarke asked taking a bite. "Isn't she one of those who kept you up all night?" She clearly knew that it was late when Lexa returned to their tent.

"She shows interest in you," Lexa noted without further explanation.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," Clarke countered. "Look, I'm not jealous anymore; I trust you."

"She kept asking about you," Lexa revealed. "She wanted to know what you liked and if you might possibly be interested in her."

Clarke was dumbfounded. She didn't know whether to be flattered or scared of what Lexa might do.

"Are you interested in her?" Lexa asked after a while.

"Of course not!" Clarke finally found her voice. "You know I wouldn't be. Why didn't you tell her that?"

Lexa was still relieved to hear that even though she already knew. "I already declined her graciously, I'm not about to decline again for you."

Clarke saw from the corner of her eye that the woman was approaching again and decided to quickly put an end to her advances. She pulled Lexa in for a quick kiss. "There, I hope that settles the matter for both of you."

Lexa looked over Clarke's shoulder and saw the woman turn away. "That works."

"Will they be asking for you again tonight? You stayed out quite late."

"No, I think I've fully satisfied their curiosity about Polis," Lexa replied. "Besides, we have to start heading back."

Clarke agreed. She knew people in Polis and even in Arkadia would have a lot of questions about what had just happened.

.

Lexa bade the village elders goodbye while Clarke bade the village women the same. They both mounted their horses and were on their way back.

"It would be nice to be back home," Clarke noted already thinking about the end of their journey.

"You're heading to Arkadia?" Lexa asked with sadness.

Clarke smiled realizing that she hadn't told Lexa how she felt about Polis yet. "I meant my new home, Polis." She saw Lexa perk up with that revelation.

"Since when?" Lexa asked trying to get a sense of when the shift occurred.

"Does it matter?" Clarke asked seeing Lexa agree that it didn't. Suddenly in a playful mood, she challenged Lexa to a horse race. "You'll have to give me a head start." She knew she didn't stand a chance without it.

"You'll wear out your horse," Lexa gently warned. "It won't get us back any sooner."

"You afraid I'll beat you?" Clarke challenged and kicked her horse into a full gallop.

Lexa waited to give Clarke her head start but then saw riders coming towards them and knew she had to catch up to her quickly. She was quickly beside Clarke who obviously hadn't noticed so she reached out to stop her horse.

"No fair," Clarke complained but quickly noticed that Lexa was no longer in a playful mood. She looked around and saw what had alarmed her. She saw that they were out in the open and quite vulnerable.

Lexa studied the riders carefully and saw one of them ride ahead of the rest. She noticed he bore her guard's crest but placed her hand on her sword to be ready. When he was closer, she recognized him as one of her guards and relaxed.

"Commander!" the rider shouted when he was within hearing distance. "We've come to escort you safely to Polis."

.

Clarke wasn't too pleased that Titus had sent the guards out to escort them back to Polis but realized that he was concerned for their safety after the missile blast. She could only imagine what it looked like to him not knowing what they had done.

"Wanheda, you mustn't hold too tightly on the reins," one of the guards suggested.

Clarke recognized him as one of her bodyguards, the one she had Lexa release from the dungeon. "I hadn't realized I was doing that."

"It is easy to forget," he said quite conciliatory. "You ride quite well and naturally."

"For a Skaikru you mean?" she asked seeing him smile his confirmation. "What do they call you?"

"Quark," he replied looking quickly around for any signs of danger. He had become protective of her since her act of clemency.

"Where are you from?" she asked genuinely curious about him. "I mean what village are you from before Polis." She could tell he found the question odd so she elaborated.

"I come from the same village as Quint," he revealed.

"I need to talk to the Commander," she said quickly and urged her horse to catch up to her.

"What's the matter?" Lexa asked seeing Clarke's concerned look.

"Did you know that Quark is from Quint's village?" She wasn't sure and worried for her safety.

"Yes, I did," Lexa said. "But his loyalty is to me now and not his village. By joining the Commander's Guards, they shed any affiliation to their clans."

"Are you sure?" Clarke asked seemingly unconvinced.

"Your fight is with Quint, not him," Lexa assured her. "If he bore any grudge against you, he would have acted on it long ago."

"That's a pretty risky move," Clarke said realizing the danger she could've been in.

"You were in no danger," Lexa said firmly. "I would never place you in harm's way. If anything, it was a test of his loyalty to me to see how far he would protect you. Do you want me to find someone else for you?"

Clarke trusted Lexa so she agreed to let him stay on as her bodyguard.

"Your mother is in Polis waiting for us," Lexa relayed what one of the guards just informed her about.

"What is she doing there?"

"The same reason Titus wants me back in Polis immediately."

.

Clarke went to her room as soon as they got to Polis to see her mom. She had preferred to be with Lexa but they both agreed that they had to calm both her mom and Titus first.

"Are you alright?" Abby asked hugging her as soon as she came in.

"Mom, I'm fine," Clarke said. "You really didn't have to worry."

"Let me be the judge of that," Abby said giving her a quick once over to be sure there were no signs of injury. "What have you and Lexa been up to? We saw the explosion." She couldn't even begin to tell Clarke the fear she felt and having the hunch she was involved somehow.

"That was Pike's fault," Clarke said knowing that she would've done something different if he hadn't shown up.

"Pike? Isn't he in the dungeon?"

"That's what we all thought," Clarke said. "But he's dead now and won't cause any more trouble for anyone." She began to retell what had transpired leading up to the missile launch.

"Hey, you're back," Octavia said joining them. "I suppose you had something to do with that missile? What is it with you and missiles?"

"Pike launched it," Clarke repeated. "I had no other choice. Besides, it's over now and Pike won't be bothering us anymore."

"He's dead?" Octavia asked with alarm. "Where's Lexa?" She didn't wait for an answer and pulled Clarke behind her out of the room.

"What's going on?" Clarke asked quite concerned by Octavia's reaction.

"I just saw Bellamy outside your room," Octavia said heading towards Lexa's room. "If he heard that Pike is dead, he'll want to kill Lexa."

Clarke realized Lexa was in danger and ran towards Lexa's room leaving Octavia in the dust.

Octavia knew Clarke was fast but this was the fastest she had seen her run. She picked up her pace to catch up.

.

Lexa had an easier job of assuring Titus that all was well because he had to believe that she was doing what was good for them. She quickly dismissed him and had time to get changed and ready for Clarke to join her in her room. She had just finished and returned to her room when she came face to face with Bellamy who aimed a gun straight at her. "What's the meaning of this?"

"You killed Pike," he said angrily. "Blood must have blood."

"If you kill me, how do you plan to get out of here?" she asked calmly realizing that he had overpowered his guards and somehow blamed her for Pike's death.

"I'll find a way," he said. "Clarke was wrong to trust you. You waited for us to leave then killed him anyway."

"Do you even know why he is dead?" she asked still calm as ever. "Do you even want to know?"

"It doesn't matter, I swore to him that if he died, you would, too," he insisted.

"No she won't," Clarke said aiming her gun at his head. "Pike's dead because of what he did and not because of her."

"You would take her side on this?" he asked disappointed that she would still defend Lexa.

"I'm not taking her side," Clarke said walking towards Lexa to shield her. "You didn't hear the whole story so you don't know what really happened. Pike wanted to launch a nuclear missile that would have wiped out Polis. The fallout would have reached Arkadia and beyond."

"I don't believe he would do that," he asserted.

"He did," Clarke confirmed. "It would've killed Octavia for sure and harmed anyone out in the open in Arkadia." She had to remind him of that as she saw Octavia and her mother enter the room.

"Bellamy, stop being an idiot," Octavia said hoping her brother would lower the gun. She knew if Lexa wanted to, he would be dead by now.

"Pike didn't have to die," he said hanging to the belief that Pike was summarily killed for no cause.

"If you want to kill the person who killed him, then kill me," Clarke said. "I threw the knife at his heart as I said I would if he escaped."

Bellamy was shocked by that revelation along with Abby and Octavia.

"We have to end this vengeful way," Clarke continued. "If you killed me, wouldn't my mom kill you for it? Wouldn't Octavia kill my mom in return? My friends kill yours and vice versa until we are all wiped out? This has to end before that happens."

Octavia took that moment to disarm Bellamy and defuse the situation. She nodded to Clarke who lowered her gun as well.

"I just can't believe he would do that," he insisted.

"We have proof," Lexa spoke finally. "Clarke brought the books from the missile base."

"Are there any more of them?" Abby asked remembering that there were several from the nuclear apocalypse nearly a century ago.

"We don't know yet," Clarke admitted. "We brought the manuals to study them. So far only one has come online I think."

"Do you know who turned it on?" Octavia asked the obvious.

Clarke looked annoyed by the question so Lexa answered for her. "We are also trying to find that out."

"Do you think there will be more attacks?" Abby asked directing the question to Lexa.

"I will send riders to find out if any of the villages have noticed changes in their environments," Lexa replied. "We won't know until they return. For now, we can only hope that the failed attempt would dissuade whoever did this from trying again."

"Well, I guess we wait until you discover more from those," Octavia said pointing to the books and eager to get Bellamy out of the room. "We'll leave you to it."

"Bellamy, your actions here today won't go unpunished," Lexa noted. She looked at Clarke momentarily before continuing. "You are banned from coming back to Polis. A kill order will be in place after you leave and if you're seen within its perimeter, you will die." She waited for Clarke to object and defend him but when none came, she only watched as Octavia pushed her brother out of the room followed by Abby.

Clarke turned and gave Lexa a hug. She was relieved that Lexa hadn't been more severe in punishing him.

"Clarke, I do not need comforting," Lexa said.

"But I do," Clarke whispered in her ear. "I just almost lost you again." She felt Lexa relax a bit.

"But you didn't," Lexa said drawing Clarke into her arms for comfort. "You've saved me yet again."

They heard shuffling feet outside the door and the guards who have been stunned by Bellamy earlier had come in to check on Lexa.

"Leave us," Lexa commanded as Clarke moved slightly away from her. She watched as her guards exchanged confused looks. "We will discuss your failure later." She saw their identical worried looks knowing the consequences of not being able to stop an intruder from entering her room.

"What if I'm not around to save you?" Clarke asked leaning against Lexa when they were alone again and seated next to each other.

"Many have tried to kill me before," Lexa said. "None have yet succeeded."

"Don't you ever get tired of it?" Clarke asked wearily.

"I won't stop fighting as long as you won't," Lexa said encouragingly. She saw Clarke smile weakly before she buried her head on her shoulder.