Chapter 25
After hours of working on the rover with the help of Monty, it was finally done. Their plan was almost ready to be put into motion.
"Does it work." Clarke asked. They parked the rover in front of the polis building while her Luna, Raven, Echo and Monty sat inside.
"Let's find out." Raven took a deep breath before turning on the transmitter. There was a brief moment where there was just static before they started hearing voices. "It works." Raven smiled.
"Did you ever doubt it would?" Monty asked.
"With us, never." Raven smirked.
"Guess it's time to spread some rumors." Luna smiled.
The plan was to say Clarke would be leaving for Arkadia via the rover at sunrise with just a few Skaikru guards. To spread this lie they enlisted a few of Luna's people to mention it while shopping at the trading post. While that's happening, they will also have some spies of their own people watching to see if anyone takes the bait. They also had Echo listening with them to translate in case they speak grounder.
"It's now or never, the posts are usually busy this time a day." Clarke said.
"I'll give the order." Luna said, closing the rover door after getting out.
Clarke wasn't sure if this plan would work but they had to try something besides questioning people all day. She needed this spy captured, in her mind that was one step closer to Lexa coming home. It had been a few hours since they talked on the radio and that worried Clarke even more. What if something went wrong? What is she gets hurt? What if they kill her? No! She couldn't let herself think like this, positives only.
"Clarke?" Raven said, staring at the girl confusingly.
"Yes?" 'Snap out of it' She thought to herself.
"Did you hear me? Luna's people arrived at the posts a couple of minutes ago."
"Good, anything so far?"
"It'll probably take a while; you should go rest."
"I'm fine, I want to be here if something happens."
"My guess is we'll be playing the waiting game."
It had been a couple of hours since Luna's people went to the trading post. They hadn't heard anything yet and nightfall was quickly approaching.
"Maybe they weren't at the trading posts." Clarke sighed.
"Even if they weren't the news would get to them, just give it time." Echo flashed a reassuring smile.
Before Clarke could reply a muffled voice came from the transmitter, it was hard to understand but you could hear bits of grounder.
"Can you make it clearer?" Clarke turned to Raven.
"It should be clear if I limit the frequencies." Clarke had no idea what any of this meant but she watched the girl work her magic." There you go."
As soon as the signal was clear they heard a man's voice speaking grounder. The voice was deep and he was talking quickly.
"What's he saying?" They all turned to Echo.
"He's asking if anyone's on the other end of the radio." Echo said, continuing to listen. "He's waiting for a reply, he doesn't have much time."
"Monty Radio Luna see if they noticed anyone."
After a few minutes of waiting the man finally started talking again.
"He checking to see if anyone is there before he gets off of the radio." Echo continued to listen until finally a woman's voice replied.
Clarke could tell by Echo's look that she knew the voice, and Clarke had heard it to.
"Is that her?" Clarke asked referring to Ontari.
"I'd recognize her voice anywhere." Echo sighed.
"What did she say?"
"She's asking for his progress, and he's informing her of your travel to Arkadia."
"At least we know for sure it's her behind this." Raven said.
"She wants him to attack." Echo said.
"Alone?"
"As far as I can tell they have a few people here."
"Clarke, Luna said there's someone in the woods a few yards down the river." Monty said, peeking into the rover.
"Tell her to leave it, don't approach them just watch." Clarke said.
"What? Why?" Raven looked at the blonde.
"If we confront him, we'll still have to catch his accomplices."
"So we let him go?"
"For now, we know they plan on attacking the rover to get to me so why not let them."
"We can get them all." Raven smiled.
"Exactly, what else did she say Echo?"
"Nothing more than for them to attack- wait." Echo listened as the girl continued to talk. "Roan, he's sent guards to look for them, she said they had to flee. She didn't say if they were still in Azgeda."
"So Roan isn't involved." Clarke said. "I have to radio Lexa. Let me know if she says anything else." Clarke climbed out of the rover and went inside to find Indra, finally she had useful information. "Indra."
"Yes Wanheda?"
"I need to radio the commander; do you still have the radio?"
"Yes, I've kept it with me as you requested." The women handed the radio over. "Should I leave you?"
"Yes, I'll make sure to get the radio back to you." After waiting for the women to walk away Clarke pressed the button on the side of the radio." Lexa, are you there?"
It was getting late and she had no idea where Lexa was, or if she ran into any trouble since they last talked. She needed to talk to her.
"Lexa? If you can hear me it's important."
"Clarke?" A voice replied on the other end.
"O?"
"Yeah it's me, Lexa had me hold onto the radio while she went to meet with Shadow Valleys leader."
"Is everything okay?" Clarke asked.
"So far, we haven't run into trouble, the villages we passed through were untouched. Besides Polis and a few villages outside of the Capital no one's been attacked."
"That's good news, I have some new information. It's a longer story but we found out Ontari is behind the attacks, apparently Roan is hunting her so I don't think he is involved. Maybe Lexa and him can work together to stop Ontari."
"She should be back soon I'll let her know, so I'm guessing you found the spy since you know this." Octavia said.
"Sort of, it's a long story as I said but hopefully by tomorrow, we'll have them captured fully."
"That's good, you're getting things done."
"I'm trying, how are you and Lincoln?"
"We're good, just happy to be together. I know I would be going crazy if I was still in Polis while he was here." Octavia sighed realizing what she said. "Shit, I'm sorry I just meant-."
"It's fine O I know what you meant." Clarke sighed.
"How's Bellemy? Is everything at my house ok?" Octavia asked.
"He's fine, besides being a pain in the ass." Clarke mumbled.
"What did he do?"
Before Clarke could answer she noticed Luna walking towards her with a serious look on her face.
"Nothing, listen I have to go just tell Lexa what I said."
"Clarke-."
"Just tell her ok, I'll talk to you soon." Before the girl could answer she turned her radio off. "What's wrong?" Clarke turned to Luna.
"Listen I went with your plan and I'm helping you but you're absolutely crazy if you think I'm going to let you get in that Rover tomorrow morning as bait." Luna said.
"That was always the plan Luna."
"No Clarke, the plan was for them to think you were leaving so they would use the radio and they did and we found them that's enough for today."
"It's not enough if there are other spies out there." Clarke sighed, arguing was the last thing she wanted to do. "Plus I don't actually have to be in the rover."
"They're not going to attack unless they know you're inside, most likely they'll have someone confirm it."
"So then I get in the rover, once they try to attack, we catch them. I'll have guards along the pathway waiting. No one gets hurt, don't worry I'll be fine I know your only here because Lexa asked you to be but I don't need a babysitter."
"I'm not just here because Lexa asked me to be Clarke, I'm here because I want to help you. I love Lexa, she's my family and now so are you. I don't think this plan is the greatest but you'll do it either way and I'd rather you do it with my help."
"Thank you, did a guard follow the spy?"
"Yes, they'll keep an eye out just in case something changes and Monty volunteered to stay up to monitor the transmitter. He's going to have Tamsin translate for him."
"All night?" Clarke asked.
"Bellemy and Echo will take their places in a couple of hours."
"Okay good, so what do we do now?" Clarke asks.
"Now we go eat dinner with our family." Luna smiled.
When Clarke and Luna entered the dining area everyone was waiting for them. The table consisted of Abby, Kane, Max, Ali, Alix, Theo, Elena, Raven and of course Luna and Clarke. As the blonde looked around the table for the first time, she realized she actually had a proper family. She had people she loved and who loved her and that's because she met Lexa. Without Lexa she wouldn't be at this table and the thought of that was horrifying. Even if things aren't the greatest right now, she still had all these amazing people by her side, and that was enough.
"Clarke what are you going to name your baby?" Elena asks as the food is being brought out for them.
"Me and Lexa aren't sure yet."
"There's still time." Alix smiled. "So Abby are you excited to be a grandmother?"
"I am, I will say it's all very soon but we need some good in our world right now." Abby smiled.
"Alright enough about baby stuff, how is everyone else?" Clarke asked.
The rest of the dinner was great, everyone laughed and joked and got to know each other. They talked for hours until finally deciding to get the kids off to bed, Clarke retreated her room as well. This felt like the longest day of her life and she was sure that was because Lexa usually was the one to fill her day.
She kicked Raven out of her room giving her the room next door, tonight she just wanted to lay her bed without the brunette. There was no doubt that she had her bitchy moments today and everyone noticed. She wanted to be fine, and act like she was perfectly ok but it proved to be harder than she thought. All she wanted was for this to be over, for Ontari to be caught and everything to go back to normal. Did they even have a normal?
As Clarke was getting under her covers someone knocked gently on her door.
"Enter." She yelled, was she turning into a mini Lexa?"
"Sorry to disturb you Wanheda, the commander has radioed for you." Indra handed the blond the radio.
"Thank you, Indra and please can you just call me Clarke?" Clarke smiled; she didn't mind being called Wanheda but it was definitely getting old already.
The women just nodded before exiting the room.
"Miss me already?" Clarke smiled, pressing the button to the radio.
"More than anything, how are you?" Lexa asked.
"I'm okay, how are you?"
"I'll be better when I get to sleep next to you again."
"I can't wait for that, did Octavia tell you I radioed earlier?"
"Yes, the information was useful, I told you, you would be fine." Lexa smiled.
"How's everything on your end?"
"Fine so far, tomorrow morning we meet with Roan and if everything goes to plan, we'll be heading back to Polis by tomorrow afternoon."
"You're coming back already?" Clarke asked shocked.
"Hopefully, now that I know Roan is looking for Ontari I'm hoping we can work together. If he agrees we'll have a better chance of finding her, I came to Azgeda for answers but it seems you've figured them all out for me in Polis."
"I'm just doing what you asked."
"How did you find out this information, Octavia said you haven't caught the spy yet. And don't tell me it's a long story." Lexa said.
"Long story short I questioned ex Azgeda members which led me to the plan that we executed to get this information."
"And what plan is that?"
"Basically we learned that they might have radios so I had Raven build a transmitter in the Rover so we could hear the conversation if the spy were using a radio. That's when I heard Ontari's voice so I know she's involved and it's also is how I know Roan is hunting her."
"And you didn't catch the spy but for some reason you plan to catch them by tomorrow afternoon." Lexa said. "I'm just saying what Octavia told me."
"I have another plan for that." Clarke said.
"I would like to know your plan Wanheda." Lexa said, Clarke could tell she was tired of her beating around the bush.
"Well Long story short—"
"There's a lot of long stories today aren't there?" Lexa said interrupting her.
"It's been a long day, are you done interrupting me Heda."
"Continue." Lexa said.
"Basically tomorrow morning the spies think I'm traveling to Arkadia in the Rover which is the information we spread to get them to use the radio. After telling Ontari this information she ordered them to attack, so they think they're capturing me." Clarke said all in one breath.
"So they think you'll be in the Rover, and did you say spies?" Lexa asked.
"Yes we think there is a group here in Polis so instead of capturing the one today we plan to catch them all tomorrow."
"Well it sounds like a thought out plan, as long as you're in a secure place during preferably in the tower."
"Actually I'll be in the Rover."
"No." Lexa said plainly.
"This is my plan and it'll be done the way I say."
"No, you're not getting anywhere near that rover Clarke. Are you crazy?"
"You left me here, I'm in charge so things will be done the way I say. When you get back you can start making demands."
"Clarke you could get hurt; our baby could get hurt." Lexa could feel her anger building up, but from here she was powerless.
"They will be detained before anything happens, they need to see me get into the rover or they won't attack."
"Anything can happen Clarke, why can't you ever just do what I say? You fight me on everything when all I want to do is keep you safe."
"I'm not a pet who you can bark orders to, I have my own thoughts and feelings and I didn't ask for this Lexa. I wanted you to stay, I practically begged you not to leave but you did and I know why you did. I understood, I disagreed but I understood and I let you make your own decisions because in the end no matter how hard I fight you do what you want. It's my turn to do what I want; this is my plan and I'm doing it you don't have to like it but there's nothing you can do."
"Fine, but whatever happens it's on you." Lexa said, her blood was boiling not because Clarke wouldn't listen to her but because she knew what Azgeda is capable of. And she didn't want to even entertain giving them another chance to take someone from her.
"It always is isn't it?" Clarke mumbled.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing." Clarke sighed. "It's been a long day Lexa I'm tired and I'm stressed out enough I just want to go to sleep."
"Ok, fine I love you."
"I love you too." Clarke said.
"I'll try to—" Lexa started to say before realizing Clarke turned the radio off.
Lexa's POV
'Great' Lexa mumbled to herself, the last thing she wanted to do was argue with Clarke but here they were. Both strong leaders trying to make choices even when they contradict each other and both stubborn. They needed to learn to make choices together without causing a fight but they couldn't do it hours apart.
But Clarke was right there was nothing she could do from here, she left her in charge so the best thing to do was to trust her plan. Even if this wasn't about trust, of course she trusted Clarke she just wanted her on the sidelines. She wanted her at home pregnant without a care in the world but most of all she just wanted her safe. War always has casualties and as much as her people were the priority, Clarke being a casualty wasn't an option.
These thoughts weren't helping, she needed to clear her head so she decided to take a walk. The shadow valley people had an extra building for them to stay in for the night so everyone was getting some rest. Lexa of course had no plan to get any rest anytime soon, even if she wanted to her brain wouldn't let her.
As she walked further by the river that ran though the hills, she noticed someone sitting not far from her.
"Octavia?" Lexa said.
"Hey, what are you doing up?" Octavia smiled. "Couldn't sleep either?"
"No, me and sleep usually don't coexist very well." Lexa sighed.
"If it's about Clarke I'm sure she's fine."
"I know, I just talked to her."
"Why do I feel like the conversation wasn't that great." Octavia turned to the girl.
"It could've gone better." Lexa sighed. "Your friend is very stubborn."
"Something tells me you are as well." Octavia laughed. "In the past me and Clarke haven't always seen eye to eye, but in the end, I know she's doing what she thinks is right. She's a great leader and so are you together you guys can do amazing things, you just have to get used to not being the only one in charge. Both of you."
Lexa knew she was right, her and Clarke had a lot to work on when it came to leading together. She thought they would have more time to figure it out but here they are.
"We definitely have some things to work on." Lexa said.
"When this over we'll have all the time in the world." Octavia smiled.
"You should get some rest."
"You should too." Octavia sat up from the edge of the river. "Just so you know Clarke's not just my friend she's my family and now so are you." Octavia smiled before walking back to their home for the night.
Family wasn't something Lexa grew up having, for a while she had Max then she only had Alix and her kids. Now she has a family bigger than she ever thought and she knew she had in a way she had Clarke to thank for that.
Without even realizing they both gave each other everything they ever wanted, happiness, peacefulness, love, and family. Things neither of them thought possible.
The closer Lexa got to the building the worse she felt for arguing with Clarke especially when they weren't in the same place. She wanted to radio her back but she knew she had turned hers off. The only thing she could do was go to sleep and pray he would see Clarke in person tomorrow.