Chapter 12: Of Ports and Pleasures

Author's Note: I'm not pulling this out of my ass, but I don't have it all planned out either. If there are plot holes ya'll are just gonna have to deal. BTW THANK YOU SO MUCH for leaving awesome reviews within the hour that I put up Chapter 11!3

Oh also, remind me not to read non-con fics, because I really don't enjoy them but I forgot because I've only read one. Well, two now So prepare for fluffy feel-better Clexa!:D

Clarke's POV

Clarke blinked sleepily as a sharp sound cut through her dreams. Raven's muffled voice came with the sound.

"Captain!" The harsh knock resounded again. "Night has fallen. The crew awaits your orders." Clarke listened as the woman's footsteps trailed away.

It was only then that her eyes focused on the tan skin in front of her, the soft contours of a throat trailing down to meet a collarbone partially hidden by thick brown hair. As the last dregs of sleep finally left her, she stifled a minor panic attack, realizing where she was.

Subconsciously or not, Lexa and she had moved closer during the few hours they were asleep. Closer was a gross understatement, however. Clarke's face was nestled in the crook of Lexa's neck, her arms curled between their bodies and her hands resting under her chin. Clarke could feel strong arms encircling her waist, and legs twined around her own. She felt the soft whoosh of Lexa's breath through her hair.

She felt Lexa's arms tighten around her waist as she shifted the tiniest bit. Clarke tilted her head to look up at the pirate captain. Those same green eyes she had captured every day since she set foot on the deck on the Seikru twinkled down at her.

"Good morning…" she murmured, blushing at their proximity, at her traitorous sleeping body, at how Lexa was so close

"I think you mean good evening." Lexa chuckled, flicking her eyes to the moonlight glinting off of the waves outside the cabin windows. Clarke hummed and squirmed impossibly closer to the captain, inhaling her spicy, exotic scent. She was so warm, so comfortable, she could drop back off to sleep at any second. She sighed.

"Lexa…we should go." Clarke drew herself from the captain's arms, sitting up in the bed. She ran a hand through her disheveled hair, trying to untangle it.

Lexa's POV

When she had woken, Lexa had thought there was an angel in her arms. Even after she realized it was Clarke, she still saw an angel. They disentangled and sat up. She watched as the blonde ran a hand through her wavy golden locks. Lexa looked sideways at her, eyes widening as she noticed Clarke's shirt. The top had come undone in the night, and the billowy white material was opened to expose Clarke's entire torso. Lexa's eyes trailed down hungrily, tracing over the hollow of her throat where the sapphire necklace wrapped around it, skipping across her collarbone, past the wrappings that hid her chest and down her toned stomach to the low waistband of her pants. Lexa desperately wanted to run her hands down the blonde's body and press her lips to that silky skin, tanned from weeks in the sun. She flicked her eyes back up to Clarke's face.

The artist was staring at her, blushing a light pink as the pirate drank her in. "Um…" Clarke bit her lip, but made no move to fix her shirt.

Lexa refused to look away, capturing the blonde's eyes with her own and pinning her there. The energy from when she had placed that necklace on Clarke in the Skaikru's hold so many weeks ago began charging the air once more. It practically hummed, coiling around them like a snake, intoxicating. The pirate captain ran her tongue over her bottom lip and leaned forward, reaching for Clarke. She slid her hands around her waist, under her shirt, savoring the feel of satin skin under her fingertips. The blonde did not move, her pupils blown wide, her lips slightly parted and her breath coming in short little pants. Lexa pulled the blonde flush against her, smirking when she felt Clarke's heartbeat pounding away in her chest.

She gently brushed her lips up and down Clarke's jaw, reminding her of that one night on the deck, while the energy swarmed around them like electricity. Clarke shivered and brought her hands up to thread through Lexa's thick hair. She gasped as the pirate's tongue slowly swiped a line of fire just under her jaw. Lexa smiled against her hot skin, relishing the reactions she was getting from the flustered artist.

The faintest whisper from the blonde reached her ears.

"Tease…"

Lexa dug her fingernails into Clarke's lower back. Clarke hissed and arched into the pirate; Lexa took the opportunity to finally plant her lips on the ones she had craved since the beginning. Clarke immediately returned the kiss. Lexa's tongue darted past the blonde's lips and she took control immediately, stifling a moan when she tasted the sweet caramel and sea-salt flavor of her. Clarke knotted her hands in the brunette's hair and whimpered, pulling herself impossibly closer.

"Well well."

The two girls lurched back from each other in a panic, Clarke almost toppling off the bed.

"I wondered what was taking you so long, captain." Raven leaned against the door frame, grinning hugely, eyes brimming with barely controlled laughter. Lexa directed her iciest glare at the master gunner, while Clarke fumbled to re-tie her shirt, red as a tomato. "By all means, don't let me stop you, I just wanted to let you know that Indra is getting impatient." Raven held up her hands in surrender to her captain, smirking, and backed out of the cabin.

"Damnit." Lexa gritted her teeth; the moment was broken, and the heated energy had dissipated. She dejectedly slid herself off the bed and began pulling on her boots and jacket. Clarke scrambled from the bed and did the same. Both girls were quiet, the unresolved tension like a stifling blanket over the cabin. Lexa finally finished donning her accessories, tucking her cutlass into her belt. She strutted over to Clarke, who was standing next to the wall awkwardly, waiting for her. They stood there for a moment, the silence permeating the air. Lexa bit her lip, then reached out and gently pushed the flustered girl against the wall.

"You're really distracting, ya know." The captain whispered against Clarke's neck, brushing her lips against her pounding pulse. "Wherever I go, there you are. Sitting on the yardarms staring at me, hovering near me, sleeping in my bed. I can't get you out of my head. I haven't had a decent night's rest since the first time you slept in my quarters…until last night." Lexa slid her hands up Clarke's arms, across her shoulders and up her neck, and finally tangled her long fingers in the silky blonde hair.

"Stop distracting me." She whispered harshly against her neck. Clarke shivered, trapped between the captain's slender figure and the solid wood of the hull. She yelped as the captain bit down on her neck just enough to leave a sizable mark. Lexa swiped her tongue over the mark to soothe it, then pressed a quick, chaste kiss to Clarke's lips before releasing her. She let out an amused chuckle at the disheveled appearance of her sailor, and laced their fingers together.

"Accompany me to the helm?" She was ready to burst with happiness as the blonde smiled her assent and squeezed her hand, a blush still coloring her cheeks.

Clarke's POV

She's distracted by me. This fearsome yet soft pirate captain is DISTRACTED by ME! Clarke stifled a squeal of delight at the prospect of Lexa always thinking of her. When they emerged on the deck still holding hands, a few of the crewmen gave them questioning stares. Clarke self-consciously pulled up the collar of her jacket to hide the hickey on her neck. Lexa didn't seem to notice, or didn't care about, the curious glances directed their way. She merely tightened her grip on the blonde's hand as she led them up to the wheel.

"Captain. We're ready to make sail at your command." Anya silently appeared next to them, her trademark glare directed at no one in particular.

"How close are Pike and Cage?"" Lexa turned to her.

"Minutes away, Captain." Clarke blanched how near her friend's murderer was getting.

"Is Indra ready to make way?"

"She signaled not two minutes ago."

"Then give the order."

Anya's voice boomed out over the deck like a foghorn. "Weigh anchor and haul the lines! Draw up full sail and head for Nassau! We'll outrun these milk-livered maggots, or it'll be your heads!" Clarke released Lexa's hand and scrambled to join the sailors in the rigging.

She did her best to not be distracting.

Clarke could see Pike's ship looming close in the starlight; far too close for comfort. They must be working their sailors to the bone to have come so far in a couple of hours. She didn't look for too long; she was terrified of spotting that familiar dark hair and his soulless, enraged eyes. So unlike Lexa's eyes, which were fierce and just and carried a hidden warmth.

The Trikru followed close behind them, a mere plank's length separating the hulls. The two ships moved as one, seemingly gaining speed from each other and slicing through the water with astonishing swiftness.

The night wore on. The moon occasionally broke through the cloud cover, and each time Clarke looked back to see the privateer ship inching closer and closer. Each time it spurred her even faster; relentless, restless sailors toiled alongside her in the night. It seemed endless. She worked and worked, hauling rope, scurrying about in the rigging, hoisting the sails ever higher. Her body grew exhausted from running on the constant adrenaline. Her vision grew hazy after awhile, and she wasn't sure what was real and what was not. She thought she saw Raven in a corner of the deck, making strange…things out of shells and string and gunpowder. And once when she grew dizzy from fatigue and almost toppled over, Lexa's warm arms held her up and she whispered sweetly to her.

"Just a little longer, Clarke, ai niron, ai gona." That was the second time Lexa had said those foreign words to her. She had to remember to ask the captain what they meant.

Finally, the lookout crowed in triumph from his nest at the top of the mast. "I see it! I see Nassau on the horizon!"

BOOOM. It took them all a moment to comprehend the sound of the canon before it crashed through the port side, pulverizing the railing and jerking the sailors from their reverie.

"All hands on deck!" Lexa's voice echoed across the ship. "Hoist the main topsail and run out the oars! It's time to get to rowing lads!" The ace up their sleeve; the long oars that could be run through the gunports. They were on the home stretch, and it was time to sprint for the finish.

"Cap'n! What about the Trikru?" As if in response to the sailor, the Trikru raced up alongside them and began pulling ahead, her oars swiftly gliding through the waves like dolphins.

"Last crew to Nassau buys the first drinks!" Indra's challenge echoed across the water from the deck of the ship. The crew shouted in a mixture of excitement and panic as another boom of a canon followed her words. The sister ships dashed through the water like twin sea serpents, and soon the threat of the canons disappeared as Pike's ship lagged. The port lights of Nassau beckoned.

Finally, Clarke watched through bleary eyes as the privateer ship turned away. Lexa had been right; they wouldn't dare attack a pirate port. No doubt they would lie in wait for their quarry to emerge from their hole. But with limited supplies on board, they couldn't wait forever. Lexa stood at the helm, firmly gripping the wheel and smiling down at her cheering crew. Clarke grinned at the brilliance of her captain.

Her captain.

Author's Note: I'm sorry it's so short, and late, but Word wouldn't let me do anything because I hadn't bought it yet, and then I had to rewrite half the chapter because I wrote serious angst and I hated it. Also Skyrim. I promise the next chapter will be longer and better; I hope ya'll enjoyed my not-quite-smut though:3