Chapter 36

"Hey, you guys aren't doing it in there are you?"

Clarke pulled her top on before rolling her eyes at Lexa who was trying to stifle her laughter at the impatient nature of Clarke's people. "Shut up Octavia. No we're not... Yet"

Lexa failed at hiding her smile this time as Octavia's mock gagging sounds filled the air from outside their tent. "You may enter Octavia."

Octavia cautiously sidestepped into the tent with squinted eyes and Raven at her side looking very pale. "Oh thank God. They're clothed Raven." She took note of the fact Clarke was yet to put on her pants. "Ish."

Raven shook her head at her friend. "I realize, I have eyes remember?"

Octavia gasped in awe as she looked around the tent. "Holy shit, Heda got you guys a sex pad?"

Throwing her old top at Octavia, Clarke walked to where she stood by the bed to get her pants. "No, it's OUR TENT. Don't call it that, God forbid my mom hear you say that."

The girl began to laugh uncontrollably but soon stopped when her eyes set upon a small sun like design in black ink at the base of Clarke's spine. "Woah is that the mark The Commander gave you?" She traced the design lightly with her finger tips before shooting Lexa a nod of approval; the warrior simply responding with a smug look on her face; proud of the design she had printed onto her girlfriend's back.

"Yeah, I thought you guys had seen it?"

Raven now walked to join Octavia, the pair of them grinning at the artwork. "Can I get one of these?"

Lexa walked towards Clarke and put an arm around her waist, she didn't mind other people looking at Clarke- she understood more than anyone that she deserved to be admired- but Raven was touching her girlfriends back a little more than she felt comfortable with, so she used her arm to carefully move them away; making it clear Clarke was her partner.

"The marks are usually to symbolize occasions or achievements."

Intrigued, Raven reverted her gaze to the tattoo, trying to figure out its connection to the girl who bore it. "So what does that symbolize?"

"The sun, like my band tattoo," Lexa rolled her sleeve up to reveal the design her girlfriend has skilfully marked on her arm. "symbolizes mine and Clarke's partnership. The sun is permanent, unchanging and constantly burning; much like my love and desire for Clarke. Where as my tattoo acts like a band, or a ring as such, showing that I am Clarke's."

Clarke's face flushed as Lexa spoke of what her tattoo meant. Her skin burned at both the embarrassment that someone loved her so much and was declaring this in front of her friends, but also out of desire; that now heated her cheeks and brought forth that all too familiar sensation between her her thighs together in attempt to dull the feeling, Clarke quickly yanked her trousers up then moved to sit with tightly crossed legs on her bed, hoping the feeling would go immediately and return at a more appropriate time.

Her girlfriend seemed to sense this and returned her gaze to Clarke's friends. "Are you ready to attend the meal now?"

The color drained from Raven's cheeks as she pondered the thought of meeting Echo. "I, uh-"

"She's been this way for the past few hours. She tried on like a gazillion outfit choices, which I'm pretty sure were the same items of clothing worn SLIGHTLY different each time, and then at one point she threw up and it was SO AMAZINGLY GROSS, like there's no way I can unsee tha-"

"You were sick?" Clarke strides to her side and raises the back of her hand to her forehead; feeling for her temperature.

Raven pushed the hand away and huffed, moving her gaze nervously to the floor. "I'm fine... I just feel really anxious."

"Raven Reyes... Anxious?" Clarke narrowed her eyes in disbelief.

"Its just, I've never met Echo. What if she doesn't even like me? I never get nervous about dating because I'm normally confident the other person likes me before I turn the charm on. But with Echo... I haven't laid eyes on the girl and I'm already scared she's gonna hate me or my outfit or-"

"Hey! Calm down." Octavia wrapped her arms around her nervous wreck of a friend. "If she doesn't like you then I'll just have her."

Clarke lent forward to hit the brunette. "Octavia you asshole!"

"What?! Can't a clearly heterosexual girl make a joke? Echo is all for Raven, I'm more than content with my lovely boyfriend." Octavia grinned and slumped down on the bed.

"But what if we don't have anything in common? I mean a grounder is hardly gonna be into science and it's not like I've ever been hunting or have any remotely interesting skills."

Lexa sat down beside Octavia. "I do not know, she was pretty impressed when I told her of the design for the pleasure gift you made for me and Clarke."

All three girls jaws dropped as there narrowed gazes sat upon the warrior. "You told her what?" Raven was now even paler than before as she was nervously drummed her fingers together.

"Well, it came up in conversation when she was on my guard one evening. I told her of how you made the straps adjustable and she was extremely intrigued as she's worked on pieces for her people before and never considered the idea. Also, she worked on weapon designs for her people, so you will have things to discuss."

"Wait, Echo is a strap on creator extraordinaire?" Octavia raised a brow.

"Oh my God Octavia, shut up!" Raven buried her head into her hands before raising them slightly and parting her fingers to get a peak of Lexa's face. "Is she though? I mean not that that is a quality I look for in my women but y'know it wouldn't hurt I suppose." Raven's words were muffled slightly by her palms resting over her mouth.

Clarke laughed and playfully bashed her friend. "That's the Raven I know and love!"

Groaning, Raven finally removed her hands from her face. "We should head over, I'm sure Echo is probably being subjected to Jasper and Monty's awful jokes and moonshine."

"Ooh I could do with a drink." Octavia beamed as she pushed Raven out of the tent, Lexa and Clarke following close behind.

"So that's her I'm guessing." Raven stood looking at the girl who sat laughing at Bellamy and quite frankly with that smile; took her breath away.

"Yes that is Echo." Lexa nodded and took Clarke's hand in her own before walking over to join the others around the fire.

Octavia pushed against Raven's back in attempt to get her to follow but was stopped when the girl grabbed her wrist with an extremely tight grasp. "Nu uh, I can't do this. Look at her. She's not gonna want to go for this." Raven gestured from her head to her toes and screwed her face up.

"Of course she is idiot." Octavia smacked Ravens bum and pushed her forward whispering. "I would if ladies were my thing and I'm pretty damn sexy."

Raven scoffed, completely distracted from the fact Octavia had sat them down opposite to Bellamy, Jasper, Monty and of course, Echo. "Hello everyone. Raven this is Echo, Echo Raven. You already know Octavia and this is Clarke." Lexa motioned to those who sat beside her.

Clarke grinned at the girl who Bellamy was busy whispering into the ear of; causing her to turn a deep shade of pink. "Nice to meet you Echo." She waited a good twenty seconds before coughing and digging her elbow into the side of the brunette sat next to her.

Raven let her mind finally digest the conversation that had taken place, stopping her eyes from dragging up and down Echo for a moment before replying. "Hey."

Echo grinned at Raven then pushed Bellamy with all her force when he whispered. "Keep it in your pants, your gay is showing."

"You are a child." Was all she muttered as she felt the blush creeping up her neck.

"Just make sure you put a sock on our tent if you plan on tapping that."

Echo scowled at the boy and folded her arms. "I'm sure we would go to her accommodation. I would not want you getting to excited if you were to walk in."

Shaking his head, Bellamy hit the girls shoulder. "That was one time Echo, christ. Let a man move past those moments."

"Only when you move past your immaturity." She retorted, her voice a forceful whisper as she hit her friend back.

"So do you like what you see?" Clarke lent into Raven and laughed as Octavia wiggled her brows at the question.

"She's attractive." Raven blushed as she met Echo's eyes from across the fire; feeling like even though they were whispering, she would have somehow heard.

"Yeahhh but, do you yearn for her lady loving?" Octavia beamed as her eyebrows continued to jump.

"Eww Octavia, gross!" Clarke hit her friend and Lexa laughed silently at the exchange.

"What all I'm saying is does she make you want to commit a variety of sins whilst y'know... screaming her name?"

Raven gasped as she nudged the girl with her elbow. "Stop, she's gonna hear you dork. And technically we haven't been on a date yet, I mean were not even talking so for all I know she may hate me already."

"I do believe I could resolve this factor for you." Lexa smirks at her girlfriend when she receives their questioning glances mixed with fear.

"Wait, what are you-"

"Echo, could you join us over here for a bit? Your presence is required."

The color drained from Echo's cheeks and she gulped; suddenly thankful for the darkness of the night that concealed the actions. "Certainly Heda."

Echo made her way over to the log bench on the other side but halted before her commander, waiting for her to talk. Lexa- instead of simply offering the seat to her left- moved up then directed Clarke to do the same. "Please, take a seat."

Echo bit her lip as she stared at the now vacant space left between Clarke and Raven; whose mouth was slightly ajar and her eyes set firmly on Lexa in a slight glare. She slowly sat; she was in no place to deny the commanders offer, however much she wished to. Raven seemed perfectly nice... and wildly attractive, but that was the problem. She is too attractive. Echo cleared her throat as she tried to ignore the goosebumps that were raising on her right arm as it brushed against the bare skin of the beautiful girl's next to her. She was a sky girl. She had been one with the stars, and now she was on earth with her. Surely she would be bored of Echo. I have no wild stories of being born above the earth, she thought before remembering to return her gaze to the commander.

"So Raven works on the Sky Peoples weapons among other things, I believe you could show her a little bit of your Ice Clan skill, it would not hurt to add a little extra refinement to the designs."

Raven scoffed. "My designs are plenty refined I'll have you know."

"Maybe for distance combat but in a close proximity your fighters would be pitiful and led to a certain death if they fought ground dwellers hand to hand or close up." Echo retorted, feeling slightly challenged by Raven's words.

"But our people are aware of this, thus why we maintain our distance. We are not skilled hand to hand, so why make weapons for use in such a manner?"

Echo sighed. "That much is obvious, though it wouldn't bring about any harm to make some light weight modifications to the weapons, adding something to the design that they can resort to should a situation arise. Even our archers carry daggers and most of their bows are speared on the top. Arrows- like the projectiles in your weapons- eventually run out."

The bickering went on for a couple hours, with the others giving up on joining in after multiple attempts proved useless. Clarke and the other two eventually maneuvered over to sit with the guys and chuckled as Raven's hand gestures became more erratic. "They're definitely made for each other." Octavia muttered; shaking her head as she continued to watch the heated exchange.

"That's for sure." Bellamy laughed; he was enjoying the thought of two of his closest friends becoming an item. He enjoyed the thought of teasing them both about it even more.

"So whose great master plan was it to get them to talk about weapons? You guys know how Raven is... Especially with her explosives."

The two girls shifted their gaze to Lexa who was sat, as stoic and innocent as ever, picking at her food with her dagger. Without needing to look up to know their gaze had shifted, Lexa twirled her dagger in her hand. "They are both fond of their weapon designs, and no one else seemed to have an idea to get them to acknowledge one another. The tension between the two was obvious, they just needed... prompting."

Clarke lent in and kissed the warrior on the cheek muttering a low 'thank you'. Lexa finally moved her gaze up and felt the warmth course through her stomach as she saw how happy Clarke was; staring at her friend across the fire with such fondness and content for her joy. Lexa was never really one for group gatherings, let alone with sky people. However, for Clarke, it was worth it merely to see a slight grin on her girlfriends face. Clarke was happy, so she was too.

"So what are we gonna call them?" Octavia beamed as she looked at the pair who were now playfully bashing one another at points; clearly eager for the slightest contact of one anothers touch.

"What do you mean what are we going to call them?" Clarke frowned seeing the wheels turning behind her friend's eyes.

"Well, like couple names. Me and Raven call you and Lexa, Clexa... Y'know, its cute and it saves time."

Clarke groaned at the name. "Why do you need to save time, how much time is that ACTUALLY saving though?" Lexa's face remained hard but the name had made her turn her nose up slightly, why was Clarke's name first?

"Because we do. And its cute. So what are we thinking? I mean I've been pondering for an hour now and I'm liking Recho and I thought maybe ERaven, because Raven's kind of techy but I dunno, I kind of want to save that for Monty."

Monty scowled. "What about Echoven?" He added, trying to make Octavia forget about the couple name she had considered altering for his future love.

"Ooooooohhh!" Octavia's eyes lit up at the sound. "That's a good one." She nodded in approval of the suggestion.

"Maybe we should save pair names for until after they become one?" Lexa stood and held her hand out for Clarke to take.

"Ahh no fun. We're just hashing out ideas at this point anyhow. Never to early to start y'know."

Clarke stood and Lexa tried to suppress a slight grin as she spoke. "We shall be heading back now as Clarke needs to sleep." Clarke groaned loudly at the sound. "You are still healing." Lexa added when Clarke pouted at her. "Make sure the girls are fine and you can update us tomorrow on operation Ravecho."

Lexa pretended not to notice how Octavia's mouth parted in astonishment and joy as she heard the couple name leave the commanders mouth. Before she could call her out on it they were already walking away. Octavia laughed when the two stopped to say goodbye to Raven and Echo, Lexa quickly turning to raise her brows at Octavia before returning her gaze to the pair.

"We're heading off now. Doctors orders y'know." Clarke gestured to Lexa who pursed her lips to hide the grin she felt tugging at her mouth.

"Oh okay, well it's getting kind of cold out anyway." Raven stood and held out a hand to help Echo up; their hands remaining entangled once they stood. "Do you want to see what I've been working on? I've got some designs in my tent and I could do with a second opinion."

Echo dropped her gaze to the floor as her cheeks burned; luckily it was now so dark out Raven would not note this, nor would she see how Echo's pupils blew up at the offer. "I would be glad to help." She mumbled, tracing her thumb across the back of Raven's hand.

"Okay cool, I should say goodbye first though or I'll hear Octavia moaning about how I've abandoned her."

"Perhaps I should do the same," Echo followed behind Raven. "her brother is similar in this way."

Lexa smiled as she watched the two walk away; chuckling lightly when she saw Clarke's mouth hung open. "Is all well Clarke?"

Clarke shut her mouth but left her brows raised. "Yeah it's just," She nodded in approval. "the girl works quick."

Lexa laughed again and drew her girlfriend into her side. "Clarke Griffin, you had my heart from the first time I set eyes on you. If anyone works quick, it would most definitely be you."

Clarke bit her lip in attempt to suppress her smile, eventually giving up and letting it spread across her face. "I love you Lexa." Was all she added before drawing the warriors lips to her own.

"We're heading off." Raven let her hand part from Echo's as she spoke, not wanting to elicit anymore of a response then she knew she'd inevitability get (no doubt mostly courtesy of the Blake's).

Echo frowned slightly at the loss of contact but knew had she not of let go she would have had to, to avoid the glares from Bellamy. "Okay, I'll be heading back soon anyway so you won't have to wait up too long for me." Bellamy nudged Echo as he spoke; he knew if he stayed up the girl would await his return even if he told her he was being accompanied back by the entire grounder army. They cared for one another greatly; Echo was basically his second sister and he'd do the same if she was out.

"Actually..." Echo kicked the dirt as she spoke, unable to make eye contact with her friend. "I am heading back to Raven's," She lifted her head when she heard the wolf whistles coming simultaneously from the Blake's. "we are going to discuss weapon designs for a bit, so do not wait up." She added matter of factly, narrowing her gaze at Bellamy as she felt the blush creeping up her neck once more.

"Mmmhmmm." Octavia's grin was quickly wiped off her face when Raven swatted her on the arm with as much power as she could muster in her flustered state. "I'll stay with Bell tonight then... Don't want you guys... keeping me up with all that 'weapon talk'."

Raven rolled her eyes but mouthed a 'thank you' to Octavia, ignoring the wide eyed gaze she shot the pair when Raven nonchalantly intertwined her fingers to walk them back to the tent.

"So," Echo pulled Raven in a little closer so their arms brushed against one another. "have I convinced you that guns are the weapons of fools yet?" She raised a brow and giggled when Raven gasped- feigning shock- before lightly bashing her shoulder.

"Nope. Never have, never will." She grinned at the girl.

"We'll see." Echo bit her lip as Raven's hand tightened around her own, picking up on the sultry tone to her words.

Note from author: Thanks to anyone who has left comments or likes, you guys make my day :) Big thanks to Jayenator565 and Jude81, these guys were the masterminds behind the couple names for Echo and Raven used in this chapter and the reasoning behind them (especially Jayenator's reasoning for ERaven). Still yet to decide on the actual name I'll use in this story so if there's any other ideas let me know, I'm liking Recho best at the moment though. Hoped to get this chapter out early but it ended up being longer than I planned, so I hope this makes up for the wait.