Chapter Twenty Three

Clarke arranged the flowers, moved her suitcase into the main bedroom and admired the huge ensuite, she decided to run a bath, poured some bubble syrup in, then some more, stripped off and hopped in. Thirty minutes later a buzzer sounded throughout the apartment, Lexa was home. "Clarke? Flowers? Hey, Clarke?"

Clarke called out when she thought she could be reasonably well heard without screaming like a lunatic, "In here."

"Oh hey, I missed you," Lexa popped down and gave Clarke a passionate kiss. It just seemed so natural, their first time in a bathroom together, one in the bath and it felt really nice.

"Come in," asked Clarke, "I will close my eyes."

"You've already seen me anyway," Lexa began with her buttons, buckles and laces.

"Not really, I was performing life saving surgery, looking for bullets not boobs," she kept her eyes shut and continued, "Besides, that was before Indra and I were friends! You wouldn't believe the looks she gave me. I wasn't nervous doing surgery on the Commander, I was nervous she was going to yell at me!"

Lexa stepped into the bath, "Where do you want me?"

"Right here," said Clarke, squeezing her eyes shut as the temptation to peek became greater.

Clarke tugged Lexa down between her legs, and Lexa leaned her back into Clarke who held her with her arms and legs, "I missed you, too." She began kissing Lexa's neck and squeezing warm water through the flannel onto her skin.

"We won't be in her long, if you do that," said Lexa, her voice already husky.

"Which part?"

"Touching me." They both laughed softly and Clarke continued, tugging gently at Lexa's braids, not pulling them out just straightening them out a little, arranging them.

"That's so nice," said Lexa.

"Been a while?" asked Clarke, knowing that it had been, but she was referring more to the physical touch, the intimacy, the human connection than to Costia or sex.

"Yeah,"

"Just breathe babe, we are going to be in this bath for a while, so relax." Clarke began massaging Lexa's shoulders a little, just soft, easy touches, nothing overtly sexual. It was a bit of an emotional ride for both of them and Clarke didn't want Lexa to put any pressure on herself. She traced the muscles on Lexa's upper arms.

"Can I see your bullet wound?"

Lexa raised her stomach so the scar was visible over the water level, she took Clarke's hand and let her fingers trace the raised skin there.

"Not painful,"

"No, not really."

Clarke put her hands over the top of Lexa's hands and slipped her fingers through and slipped them out and ran her underneath and let Lexa slip her fingers through.

"Better?" she asked Lexa.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Because I feel it too."

"You do?"

"I do."

Clarke kissed her temple, she wrapped both arms around Lexa's chest and pulled her in tight and began kissing down the side of her face, Lexa turned her face and their lips met, and they kissed very slowly, very gently. After a few minutes, Clarke kissed her way back up the side of Lexa's, ending with her temple and went back to massaging her shoulders for a while.

"Tell me a story," she asked.

"What kind?'

"Anything, one you know, or make one up, something from childhood, anything."

As Lexa began telling a story her grandmother used to tell, Clarke began kissing her again, and used the face washer to pour warm water over Lexa's chest, washing her with the soft cloth, and then moved on to her breasts, keeping her movements just the same. Lexa tried hard to keep going with the story and Clarke pushed her hands down Lexa's sides and brought them up firmly along each side of her back.

"Screw this," said Lexa, who stood straight up, naked or not, put a hand out to Clarke who stood up likewise. Lexa passed a towel to Clarke, took one for herself, neither could say they were all that dry by the time they fell onto the bed. They did try to take it slow but then they decided to take the next time slow and that's how it was for the first three days.

They did not leave the apartment, they ordered food, they ordered in groceries and cooked together, they took baths, made out on the couch, tried to watch a film, thought about playing scrable and in general could not keep their hands off one another. They were very happy together. Costia was never very far from the conversation, and in time Mount Weather was also able to be referred to without great upset.