"You've been here all of what, an hour, and you're suddenly an expert on Santa Barbara and how to get around?"

"Obviously," Lexa replied from the driver's seat, where she seemed to be having no issue driving through the streets of the city. Then again, she wouldn't tell Clarke where they were going, so it was possible that they were just driving aimlessly until Lexa made up her mind. But Clarke wasn't going to call her out that much. "Have you eaten?"

"Nope, are you going to change that?"

"Obviously."

Clarke glanced out the windows at the city she was pretty used to, even though she didn't drive into it much. It was pretty dark out by now, but the city was relatively well lit up, even if they weren't really downtown. After a few moments, Lexa had driven into the parking lot in front of a store, and Clarke lifted her eyebrow. "This is a grocery store."

"Yes, and?"

"I'm confused."

"Come on," Lexa insisted, shutting off her car and climbing out. Smiling involuntarily, Clarke got out the other side and followed Lexa toward the store.

"What are we shopping for?"

"Food?"

"Helpful, Lexa."

"What sounds good?" Lexa asked. "It has to be something that like, doesn't need to be cooked, though."

"I feel like that seriously limits our options," Clarke said, finally catching up with her girlfriend, who grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers in a second.

"Well, we can get creative."

"Like a sandwich?"

"A sandwich isn't creative, but if that's what you want then we can buy bread and stuff." Lexa flashed Clarke an amused look.

"I'm just confused why we're at the grocery store. I feel like fast food would be cheaper."

"This is more fun, Clarke," Lexa insisted with a chuckle, grabbing a small basket and hooking her arm through the handle.. "Come on, let's just buy a bunch of random shit."

"And where will we be eating this?"

"You'll see, don't think about it. C'mon."

Lexa started dragging Clarke through the aisles, but the first two were pretty much things that had to be cooked to actually be eaten. Then they got to the snack aisle, and Lexa got excited.

"Ooh, like everything here is prepackaged. Pick something."

"Like what? Why can't you pick something?"

"Because I'm trying to be a gentlewoman," Lexa insisted, glancing at the filled shelves along the aisle. "Come on, just pick anything."

Clarke looked at all of the snack foods around her, and finally stepped up to one of the shelves, grabbing a box of little cream filled snack cakes.

"That is not dinner food," Lexa said with amusement, but she took the box and put it in her basket. "Alright, let's keep going."

Clarke rolled her eyes, but she couldn't even pretend to actually be mad.

"I think this is too much food?" Clarke looked at her girlfriend skeptically as the brunette piled the bags into the back of her car. Lexa just shrugged and nodded back to the front of the car. "You're crazy. What are we even doing?"

"You'll see, babe."

Clarke chuckled, ducking into the passenger seat of the car. As Lexa started it up, the blonde took out her phone to see that during their shopping adventure, she'd missed a number of text messages.

Mom – You're being unfair to me. I have always been supportive of you, this is just… too far, Clarke.

Octavia – I'm guessing Lexa swooped in and stole you from my house already? And did my parents go out or did aliens come and abduct them or something? My house is never this quiet lol.

Raven – Did Lexa ever make it to your house because if not, someone needs to call the cops o.O And I TOLD her to text me when she got there but apparently she decided that she didn't have to do that after all.

Clarke quickly replied to Raven and then to Octavia, answering their questions, and then she stared into the words sent by her mother. "I can't believe my mom," she said aloud. "How is she this bad?"

"She'll come around," Lexa said, but she didn't sound particularly convinced.

"You talked to her, Lexa, you know that she's a lost cause."

"Maybe not forever."

"Well in a year, I'll be gone from this place, and if she's not on board by then, she'll never be."

"It doesn't hurt to hope…"

"Hope doesn't help that much though."

"Alright, let's not think about your mom right now. We're almost to where we're going."

"How far away does almost mean?"

"I don't actually know," Lexa admitted with an embarrassed laugh. "Come on, just enjoy the scenery?"

"The scenery of nighttime Santa Barbara?"

"Yeah, duh."

Clarke chuckled, but she looked back down at her phone despite Lexa's insistence.

Clarke – How is it being unfair to you if I ask you to support who I am as a person?

Clarke – And for your information…

Clarke – Lexa, the girl who came to talk to you, she's my girlfriend.

Clarke – And unlike you, she just wants me to be happy. And I'm happy to have someone who would go talk to such a closed minded person like you in the efforts to try to make me happier.

Clarke – I don't need you, mom, I'll move on if you never come around.

Clarke – Will you?

"What's with the serious face?"

"Nothing," Clarke said quickly, locking her phone and pocketing it.

"Is everything okay?"

Clarke forced a smile and nodded. "Yes, everything's good." Lexa looked doubtful, but she stopped questioning the blonde and the car went silent. Clarke looked out the window and watched pieces of Santa Barbara pass by them, until she finally realized that there was only one place they could be driving to. "We're going to the beach," she said suddenly.

"How'd you guess?" Lexa asked in amusement as they approached one of the beaches in Santa Barbara. It wasn't particularly empty, since it was a Friday night, but since it was getting late by now, it also wasn't as packed as it could be.

"Please tell me that you brought something to sit on instead of the sand."

"I actually did, but it wasn't really intentional. I was just throwing some stuff I might need in the back seat of my car, and towels were one of those things. So we can each grab one of those."

"You mean this entire date wasn't planned?" Clarke asked mockingly, and Lexa rolled her eyes.

"Cut me some slack, I did at least buy you food."

Clarke hummed. "Yes, you did do that." The blonde went quiet as Lexa parked her car. Once it was stationary, the two of them undid their seatbelts and began to gather their nighttime picnic materials. Lexa grabbed the towels she was talking about and Clarke grabbed the food, and they started trekking down to an empty part of the beach. The two of them were both fairly quiet as they walked, and it wasn't until Lexa was laying out the towels that Clarke sighed and said, "I still can't believe you drove all the way up here."

"I can't see how it's so hard to believe, since I'm standing right next to you."

Clarke fought off a smile and rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, but still," Lexa insisted. "Don't worry about it. I wanted to be here for you, and it's not that far. And it was completely worth it, okay?" The brunette sat herself down on the towels and patted the spot next to her, where Clarke lowered herself as well. She told herself not to think about the why Lexa was here, but to focus on the fact that her girlfriend was sitting right next to her. "Alright, let's see what we can do about this food."

Somehow, out of the random foods they'd bought at the grocery store, they managed to eat a full meal, plus the snack cakes for dessert, and then they balled up and stuffed the garbage into one of the grocery bags so that it wouldn't all blow away. After that, Clarke stretched out so that she was laying on her stomach, propped up on her elbows so that she could still look at her girlfriend.

She meant to say something, but got caught up in staring at the beautiful girl next to her, who laughed and tilted her head. "Why are you staring at me?"

"Sorry," Clarke apologized without much sincerity. Instead, she just smiled and said, "Thanks for food. And for just… being here and cheering me up."

"Anytime, babe."

"I still wish you lived closer, though."

"Yeah, me too."

Clarke rolled over suddenly, resting her head on Lexa's lap and looking up at the dark sky. Lexa's hands moved to tangle her fingers into blonde hair softly, tugging through the strands and scratching gently across Clarke's scalp. Blue eyes flickered closed.

They sat like that for a while, unspeaking. It was peaceful and just… nice to be so close to each other again.

But after a while, Lexa said softly, "Clarke…"

"Hmm?" Clarke opened her eyes and met Lexa's gaze above her.

"You know like when we first started talking, I was like super skeptical about online friendships and all that."

"Yeah, I remember."

"And like I was pretty sure that meeting and dating someone online before in person was like, dumb or not the same… but obviously that's been blown out of the water, because you are probably the best thing that's ever happened to me, and even though we do live two hours apart, I wouldn't want to be with anyone else. So I just wanted to make sure you knew that and also that I… I love you."

Clarke's heart skipped a beat, although it felt more like it stopped all together, and she was instantly lost for words. She wanted to say something, somehow, but no words could come to her mind as she stared up at glistening green eyes. It was, thankfully, only a few seconds later that she managed to uncover four words that described her feelings the best. "I love you, too."

Lexa's face lit up, and Clarke smiled happily up at the brunette. "I'm glad we're on the same page," Lexa said softly.

"Truthfully, Lexa," Clarke murmured, "I don't know what I would do without you. I don't know if I ever would've been able to even say out loud that I'm bi or anything like that. And you've been like… I don't know, like a lifeline for me. And I just… well… I guess just thank you, and I obviously love you too."

"Obviously." Lexa sounded amused, and Clarke chuckled, covering her face with her hands.

"I wanted to tell you that last week," the blonde admitted, "but I didn't know how, and I was kind of scared… I've never really loved anyone like I love you before, and I'm not… really used to feeling this connected to someone."

"Well that's okay, because now we both know how much we love each other and when our phone calls end, they can actually end with something other than 'bye,' because that's honestly the lamest way to end a phone call with your girlfriend," Lexa teased.

"You're not wrong."

"I love you, Clarke."

"I love you, too, Lexa."

"Well hey there, Lexa," Octavia said with amusement as she opened the door for the couple. "I see you brought Clarke back in one piece."

"How else would I have brought her back?" Lexa asked with a raised eyebrow.

Octavia hummed thoughtfully. "I was going to make some sort of joke, but I think none of them are actually funny, so…"

"Are you going to let us in, O?" Clarke asked, rolling her eyes at her friend.

"Ah yeah, by all means come on in. My parents are still out," Octavia told them. "And I scraped some food together for me already, so I hope that you two fed yourselves – or each other…"

"We ate," Lexa confirmed with a chuckle. "Um, but I probably need to, ah, figure out where I'm going to stay tonight."

Octavia scoffed. "Oh please, Lexa, you're staying here tonight. You're crazy if you think I'm going to make you stay in some hotel in Santa Barbara while you're here. I mean, you can't share a bed with Clarke, though, because uh… yeah, obvious reasons. But you can have the couch."

Lexa looked relieved, and Clarke could tell that her girlfriend was hoping that Octavia would say that. Of course, though, being the chivalrous girl she was, Lexa never would've asked Octavia directly to stay here. "Thank you so much."

"Of course. I'll get you some sheets and a blanket."

Octavia headed toward the laundry room, so Clarke led Lexa into the living room where the couch was. "You and Octavia both have really big houses," Lexa commented, glancing around the house.

"Yeah, probably bigger than necessary. Well, at least Octavia's parents used to have two kids in this house, so they have an excuse. My parents have no excuse. We literally have an extra room in our house that's set up like a study, but no one ever uses it. It's pretty useless," Clarke admitted, sitting down on the couch. Lexa followed suit, relaxing into the cushions happily.

"It's kind of cool, though," Lexa reasoned with a shrug.

Clarke's phone started ringing suddenly, and with furrowed eyebrows she grabbed it out of her pocket. "It's my mom," she said in surprise, staring at it for a few long seconds before relenting and answering the call. "Mom?"

"Oh good," Abby said, sounding strangely quiet. "I was afraid you wouldn't pick up. Where are you?"

Clarke pressed her lips together for a moment, making eye contact with her concerned girlfriend. "I'm at Octavia's house," she gave in.

Suddenly, the front door of the house opened and Octavia's parents entered into the house, talking and laughing about something. They walked into the living room after closing the door and setting their keys in the bowl by the door, and Lexa looked over at them as Clarke continued to speak to her mom.

"Oh, hello," Octavia's mother said, looking at Lexa with curiosity. "Who are you?"

"My name is Lexa," the brunette said quickly, "ah, I'm a friend of Clarke's and Octavia's, visiting from… San Diego." At first, Lexa considered coming up with a lie, but these were Octavia's parents – good people – and she didn't want to lie to them. "Octavia said I could stay here tonight, but I can leave if that's a problem."

"Not at all," Octavia's dad insisted. "I assume Octavia's already getting you bedding."

Lexa nodded, and Octavia's mom looked to where Clarke was still talking on the phone. "Is everything okay?"

"She's talking to her mom," Lexa said quietly, glancing at her girlfriend.

"Tomorrow, okay?" Clarke was saying impatiently. "It's late. Whatever. Okay. Bye." The blonde hung up the phone and sighed, before looking up at Octavia's parents. "Sorry… my mom wants me to come to the house tomorrow to talk to her."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Octavia's mom asked, and Clarke shrugged. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, I'll be okay," Clarke insisted. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick, I'll be back."

Clarke quickly left the room, and Lexa had the urge to follow her and make sure she was alright, but Octavia's dad was exiting the room, leaving just her and Octavia's mom in the room. The woman looked at her tentatively, and then smiled. "A friend from San Diego, huh?"

Lexa blushed, unsure of what exactly Octavia's mom knew. "Ah…"

"You're the girl that Clarke is dating right? The one she met online."

"Yeah, that's me."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you, you can call me Aurora. You drove all the way up here from San Diego, huh?"

"Clarke's had a rough week…"

Aurora nodded. "That she has. It's probably good for her to have a real pick me up, though. And I can tell that you really care about her. I'm glad, too. That girl is such a beautiful soul, and so few look closely enough to see it."

"I know," Lexa said with a smile.

Octavia walked into the room suddenly with some sheets, blankets and a pillow overflowing in her arms. "Oh, hey mom. Here you go, Lexa."

"Oh, thank you." Lexa hopped up, allowing Octavia to set the things down on the couch. "I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, yeah," Octavia said with a wave of her hand, "you're dating my best friend, what am I supposed to do? Make you go sleep on the front porch?"

Aurora chuckled. "Have a good night, girls, we're going to head to bed."

"Goodnight, mom, and tell dad I said so too," Octavia said with a bright smile. Aurora left the room, and Octavia looked at Lexa happily. "I'm glad you're here. Clarke's been missing you a lot. It's… kind of unfortunate that you have to live so far away. Would be way easier if you were close by."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Lexa said with a quick exhale.

Clarke came back into the room, smiling at the two brunettes. "I texted my dad," she said, "and he said that my mom is being legit."

"Wait, what?" Octavia furrowed her eyebrows.

"My mom wants to talk to me tomorrow. I'm going to go home and talk to her at noon."

Octavia frowned. "Are you comfortable with that?"

"I'll be fine," Clarke insisted. "Um… I don't know if you'd mind, Lexa, but if you want to come with me… I'd really appreciate it."

"Of course, parents don't scare me." The brunette smiled sweetly and Clarke let out a relieved sigh.

"Thank you. But yeah, according to my dad, my mom was pretty shaken after Lexa talked to her. When my dad got home, and when she got home from her short shift at work, she started freaking out about it, and that was I think also after I texted her, and they got into some sort of fight about it."

Octavia raised her eyebrows. "Do you think they've been doing that all week?"

"I don't know," Clarke answered with a shrug, "but I do know that my dad wouldn't have said nothing all week. That's not like him. I think he used the fact that Lexa and I threw her off today to finally try to knock some sense into her. I guess we'll never know what he said to her unless I ask, but… I don't know if I want to know what he had to say to make her see some sort of reason after five days. Unless she just plans to start a screaming match with me tomorrow, too."

Lexa reached out, grabbing Clarke's hand and squeezing it carefully. "You're strong, you're gonna get through this no matter what." Clarke met Lexa's gaze and smiled softly.

"Thank you."

"I think I'm going to sleep pretty soon," Lexa said to Octavia and Clarke after about an hour of chilling and talking in the living room - Octavia had begun to talk about her soccer practice and the conversation had flourished from there. Lexa fit well into Octavia and Clarke's dynamic, and visa versa with Octavia in Lexa and Clarke's conversational dynamic.

"You probably need a long night of sleep after school and all that driving today."

Clarke smiled at her girlfriend. "I'll show you where the bathroom is so you can get ready."

Lexa hopped up, grabbing her small bag that she'd brought in from her car, and then she followed Clarke upstairs to the spare bathroom up there. "You can just use this one, so that Octavia can use hers right now if she needs to. And the one downstairs doesn't have a shower."

"Mm, I can think of some fun we could have in the shower together…"

Clarke flushed. "Lexa, we can't do something like that in Octavia's house."

"I know," the brunette sighed. "But it would be so fun."

Blue eyes scanned over Lexa's expression, which was one of barely genuine disappointment. It made Clarke laugh quietly at her girlfriend's antics, and the blonde gently closed the bathroom door behind her, turning a little to lock it. When she looked back into green eyes, they were full of curiosity and a little confusion.

Clarke took a step forward and dropped her hands onto Lexa's hips, pulling the taller girl toward her for a kiss. Lexa's lips immediately reacted to hers, moving softly against Clarke's. After a moment, Clarke reclaimed control of their kiss and slid her tongue through the barrier of Lexa's lips. The kiss got faster then, more urgent and intense, and Clarke almost let herself get carried away.

At some point, though, she remembered where they were, and she pulled away from her girlfriend gently. "If we were anywhere else, we could keep going, but we're at O's house."

Lexa frowned for a second, and then she smirked a little. "So if we were at your house…?"

"You think you're so funny."

"How was your date?" Octavia asked the blonde as they both flopped down onto her bed.

"It was good," Clarke said with a shy smile. "She told me that she loves me."

"Well it's about damn time," Octavia teased. Clarke playfully pushed her friend, who laughed and shook her head. "I'm happy for you, C."

"Thanks."

"Well, since you're feeling happier right about now, can I tell you something that might make you happy for me?" Octavia asked.

Clarke blinked. "Of course. Is there something you haven't been telling me because I've been upset?"

"I mean, not really. Like, it's not a big thing, it's just a little thing. I just figured I'd wait until you were in a bit better of a mental state before I said anything about it."

"About what? Spit it out, O."

"You know that guy from LA? Lincoln?" Clarke nodded. "He and I have been talking a lot lately, mostly via text but we added each other on snapchat, too. We may or may not be online dating… kind of. I mean, nothing like, official, but it's definitely past the point of friendship."

"Considering that you slept with him like eight days ago, I can't say that it's surprising that you're past the point of being just friends." Clarke smirked. "That's awesome, though. He seemed really nice, and no offense, but you need to date nicer guys."

"You're not wrong there," Octavia agreed. "I figured I'd tell you now that you're happier, and that way you can know that there hasn't been a complete shift in our friendship relationship balance."

"I don't even know what that means."

Octavia laughed. "Yeah, me neither. I think I'm getting kind of tired. Practice was long."

"We should both probably sleep. I might as well get some form of relief between now and seeing my mom tomorrow."

"What if she wants to talk to tell me that she's officially decided to kick me out once and for all? What if she tells me that she's pulling my payment for school and I have to go to public school all the sudden without Octavia and everyone there hates me?" Clarke whined to her girlfriend, who was continuously shaking her head at this point.

"Clarke Griffin, you need to chill out," Lexa insisted. "Your mom isn't going to do either of those things."

"What if she does, though?"

"Then we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"Ugh."

"Seriously, babe, calm down. We're almost there, and you're going to be fine,"

The car became silent as they pulled into Clarke's neighborhood, and then finally up to her house. Two cars sat in the driveway, which told them that both Abby and Jake were home. That was at least a good sign.

They parked on the street, silently clambered out of the vehicle, and started up to the front door. Clarke was in the middle of debating with herself whether or not to dig her key out of her bag or just to knock, but then the door swung open. Her mom had been waiting. "Clarke – oh, and Lexa." Abby looked surprised. "Err, come on in, both of you."

Clarke glanced at her girlfriend and then stepped into her own house.

"We're in the dining room, I figured we could sit and talk. And I made tea… your favorite kind, Clarke. Would you like some too, Lexa?"

"Please," Lexa said quietly, and she followed Clarke further into the house and to the dining room, which was connected to the kitchen. Jake was sitting at the table, and Clarke gave him a weak smile.

He stood though, upon their entering into the room. "You must be Lexa," Jake said formally, extending his hand to the brunette. "Jake Griffin, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Lexa looked really caught off guard, but she threw on her naturally brilliant smile and shook his hand. "You too, sir."

"Please, call me Jake," Clarke's dad insisted. "Please, sit down, both of you."

Clarke and Lexa took the seats across from the two that already had mugs of tea at them, and then Abby brought them each some tea as well. Finally, Abby sat down next to her husband and took in a deep breath.

"Clarke… I want to start with an apology for a few things… some of them being using offensive terms to describe your sexuality, as well as making it seem like I only cared about the way your… identity affected me. I didn't take into account the struggle that you were going through."

Clarke didn't even know what to say in response to her mother's apology, since she couldn't tell whether it was genuine or just well-rehearsed, but she figured that a nod and a quiet, "Thank you," would suffice, because there was clearly more to this talk.

"And… I want you to know that… I'm going to try with this, Clarke. I'm not… the most used to this situation, obviously, but… well, I was at work last night when you texted me in the evening. And I didn't get a chance to respond, but a few minutes after I read the messages, one of the other doctors made a rude comment to me about you and I… well… I reacted the same way I've been reacting - I was embarrassed. But then I got home and I discussed everything with your father… I thought about everything - I did my best to anyway, including what you said and what, ah, Lexa said. I came to the conclusion, albeit with a lot of help, that I'm your mother, and I should be protecting you from those people. That's my job as your mom… it's to raise you and protect you, and I've done a pretty messed up job of that lately. And I'm sorry. Again… this is hard for me to understand and to accept… but I'm going to try. And I would like it if you could come back home. I'm not ready to be an empty nester."

Clarke looked at her mom carefully, and then at her dad, who was smiling at her encouragingly. She knew for sure by now that her dad had been talking her mom up about this all week as well, and that he'd had a big part in the fact that this meeting was even happening right now. That was the only way that Clarke's mother ever came around to anything. In fact, Clarke kind of wondered if that was the only real factor - that her words and Lexa's just happened to shake her enough for her to even listen to Jake. But despite all of that, Clarke knew that she needed to take this chance to prove to her mom that she hadn't actually changed. "Thank you," Clarke said again, followed by, "I'd love to come back home."

Abby let out a relieved breath. "Thank goodness. It's been… so weird without you home. I don't know… how people can actually kick their children out of their home. I want you to know, Clarke, that no matter how hard it is for me to adjust to this, I won't ever do something like that. You're my daughter. And… well, I'm a doctor, so I'm not completely clueless when it comes to genetics and things… and of course I don't mean to say that I completely understand why you are bisexual… but I am saying that I understand that it may not be a choice, and I'm… again, trying. And…" Abby looked to Lexa suddenly. "Lexa came to talk to me yesterday, and when you texted me and told me that she's your girlfriend… well, frankly, I was pretty happy to know that someone cares about you as much as she does. If she was a boy… well, yes that would be more conventional and… less confusing, but… I mean, she could be a lot worse is what I'm saying. And... really… all I should want for you is to be okay and happy."

Lexa looked at Clarke curiously all of the sudden. "You told her?"

"Yeah, last night I texted her," Clarke admitted with a slight blush. She'd forgotten that she hadn't told Lexa that.

Lexa blushed. "Oh."

Abby smiled carefully at the brunette. "I should apologize to you, as well," Abby said to the brunette. "I wasn't particularly kind to you, but you did crack into my shell a bit, and well… thank you for being there for my daughter, especially when I was too dumb to be."

"Of course. Clarke is amazing, and I'm glad that you're not going to let the gender of the person she loves get in the way of you being able to see that."

Jake grinned. "I like this girl, Clarke, where'd you find her?"

Clarke swallowed thickly and then let out a nervous laugh. "Twitter?"

Abby's jaw dropped suddenly. "Wait, you mean that you met this girl online? And you met up with her? Clarke! That's incredibly dangerous and irresponsible!"

"Mom," Clarke groaned, "it was fine. I like, facetimed her and everything before I actually met her, so it wasn't like I didn't know for sure that she wasn't some creepy old guy, okay? And I only met her in person during spring break because she happened to be in the same place. She lives in San Diego."

Abby crossed her arms in frustration, but Clarke was honestly not particularly upset about her mom being mad. At least the older woman wasn't mad about Lexa being a girl as much anymore.

Jake seemed fairly unfazed about the whole online situation, but he was surprised to hear that Lexa was from San Diego. "San Diego, huh?" he asked, and Abby gave him an incredulous look. "And you drove all the way up here?"

"Clarke's had a rough week," Lexa stated unnecessarily, "I wanted to come cheer her up… and well, uh, to talk to Mrs. Griffin as well."

Jake nodded with approval. "She's a keeper, Clarke."

"I know," Clarke said quietly, blushing as she looked to her girlfriend.

"Alright, I'll let this slide for now, but you and I are going to have a serious discussion about meeting strangers online later, Clarke."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, mom."