Chapter 70: Clarke

Asher, Sabrina, and I have a sleepover while Lexa is gone to get Ash. We order room service, then go out for ice cream and watch movies until they fall asleep in the bed with me. I enjoyed it, but I'm tired. The next thing I know, I'm awakened by Lexa holding my hands and the two kids tickling me. I want to be mad, but I can't. Lexa looks so happy.

After Callie and Ash take the kids and leave. I grab her by the back of the neck, pulling her into bed with me. I can't believe how much I missed her even though she was only gone a few hours. I kiss her deeply until I need to pull away to breathe. "I missed you."

"I missed you too. I have an idea on how to tell everyone if it's okay with you. I just…I just want everyone to know. I'm just so excited, and Anny said the procedure would work and that she would help perform it, so I just want to tell everyone."

"Babe, I know you are excited, and so am I, but I just know that everyone will want to know how it happened, and I'm not sure I want everyone to know that. But, hold on, did you say that it will work? We can rewrite the DNA?"

She smiles, "Yep! Anny said it would work and is as safe as any medical procedure. The only thing is that she isn't sure that we can target just Finn's DNA. So it might be that the baby ends up with three different sets of DNAs instead of two, but the baby would be fine, and the DNA wouldn't match Finn's."

"Cielo, this is amazing!"

"I know that's why I want to tell everyone. Anny also said that a geneticist may be able to figure out how to target just Finn's DNA. She also said the procedure is usually done between weeks 10-14, so whenever they can figure everything out, it can be done. I'm going to text your mom and Dr. Al-Mubarak and see if they can get together with Anny this afternoon after she has some time to rest. That way, we can get things moving. I would like to go out and celebrate this evening if you feel up to it, even if you won't let me tell everyone yet."

"What did you have in mind for your big reveal? I know you well enough to know that you have something big planned."

She laughs, kissing the tip of my nose. "You do seem to know me pretty well. There is a bar down the street that is having karaoke tonight. I thought that I could get everyone to meet there, then you and I would sing the song by Paul Anika, Having My Baby. Then if you don't want them to know about the…incident, we could just say that you had a procedure because we wanted to have a baby. Although, it is nothing to be ashamed of."

"Babe, I don't know that song, and I don't like to sing."

"Here, look at the lyrics. The song really fits, and you wouldn't have to sing very much. It would be so cool, please." She pulls up the song lyrics for me to read.

When I finish, she looks at me with her best puppy dog eyes. "You don't play fair looking at me like that. Fine, we can do it on one condition."

"Anything!"

"You let me decide how to answer ALL the questions concerning the conception of the baby."

"Yes, ma'am. I'm going to text everyone, and then I have to meet Jose and Lucas for a training session. When I get back, I'm taking my baby momma to the beach. If you want to go, I mean."

"Yes, I will go to the beach with you, but right now, I'm going back to sleep."

Lexa

I'm so wired up that I can't even think about sleeping even though I was up all night. I text Jose and Lucas and tell them to meet me in the conference room set up with mats for a training session. Then I text Abby and Dr. Al-Mubarak to see if they can meet with Anny later this afternoon. They both agree, and Dr. Al-Mubarak is going to bring her partner along. I also invite them to celebrate with us tonight. Then I text everyone else to meet at the bar at eight.

Once everything is set up, I head to the gym and spend the next three hours training. Jose and I work on some capoeira moves while Lucas continues to help me with my wrestling. When I get back up to the room, Clarke has a massive spread of food waiting on me. I smile, "Man does my baby momma know what I need or what."

Clarke laughs, "Whatever, just eat so we can go to the beach. I'm going to change while you eat."

"Babe, you need to eat too. I mean, you're eating for two now."

"Haha, very funny. I already ate."

About ten minutes later, Clarke comes out in a bikini. "Hey, sexy," I say when I look up from my food. "You look amazing. Let me get changed, and we can head out."

"Do you think this shows too much?" Clarke asks. "Maybe I should put on my one piece."

I look at her, confused. I think the suit looks amazing on her, it shows a little cleavage, but that was it. "I've seen way skimpier bikinis. Are you worried that someone will be able to tell you're pregnant? I promise you can't. You look beautiful, and you're in great shape."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Clarke says softly. "I'm worried that I look too good."

"Huh? Too good? How can you look too good?"

"If-if I go out there like this, men will look at me and think…they'll think…."

"Whoa," I say, walking to her. "I'm sure men will look at you and think you're sexy, and some women too, but that's never bothered you before."

"It never seemed like a threat before," Clarke says, tears glistening in her eyes. "When Finn…" Her breath started coming faster. "He wasn't sure if he could get aroused with an unwilling partner, but when he ripped off my clothes and looked at me, he did. He did get aroused. I was hoping he wouldn't be able to, but…."

"Oh, Clarke." I pull her close and hold her as the tears fell.

"I didn't want him to," Clarke sobbed.

"I know you didn't, baby, I know," I say as I stroke her hair. "But sweetie, you need to understand, there was nothing about you that made him do that. He wasn't able to do it because you were so good-looking. He was able to do it because he was a monster, a horrible person."

"He said I was too attractive to be a dyke…and that he was going to make it so that no one would want me…."

"Clarke, listen. I happen to think you're the sexiest human being alive. I'm crazy in love with you. I mean, I probably appreciate your good looks more than anyone else does. But I could never get aroused by you in a situation where you were scared or upset. I mean, I've always thought you were sexy, and I've been attracted to you since day one, but I still managed to control my arousal. That's what decent people do. I know society says horrible things about women's bodies making men lose control, but you know as well as I do that's not true. What happened to you happened because Finn is a horrible person and wanted to hurt us both."

Clarke nodded her understanding, trying to blink her tears away. "It's just…when I go out there like this, people will look at me…."

"People have always looked at you. Don't let that ruin your fun. None of them are going to touch you because I would hurt them if they even thought about it." I kiss her. "You are the most beautiful woman in the world. Please don't start seeing that as a bad thing. You didn't deserve what happened to you, and it's not fair. But I promise you that you're going to be okay and that this will make you even stronger."

"Thank you," Clarke says quietly. "Although I think you're the sexist."

"Well, we can have that argument later. Put your one-piece on if it makes you more comfortable, but if you want to wear the bikini, then I think you should."

"I will," Clarke says. "But you'll stay close to me, right?"

"Of course. I'll make sure everyone knows you are not an eligible woman and if anyone makes you feel uncomfortable, you let me know, and I will take care of them, okay?"

Clarke smiled and dried her eyes, then gathered their beach things while I changed into a pair of board shorts, a matching sports bra with a tank top that shows off my shoulders because Clarke loves my muscular shoulders. I'm glad Clarke was going to wear what she wanted to, but I am infuriated that she even considered changing out of fear that it was no longer safe to look so amazing. Clarke has always turned heads for long as I've known her. It had never seemed to bother her before. I can't stand the thought of her feeling differently about herself because of what that bastard did to her.

We gathered up all our stuff and went to the beach. Once there, I grabbed a couple of beach chairs for us and spread out our towels before taking off my shirt. "Wow!" Clarke gasped. "I never get tired of looking at you."

I grin. I knew that shedding my shirt would get Clarke's attention and hopefully make her forget her insecurities.

"I must admit, I am very aroused right now," says Clarke. "But I can control myself."

I laugh, "Maybe, but you don't have to. Will you take off your cover-up and get in with me?"

Clarke nods and takes hers off. Damn, she is beautiful with the sun reflecting off of her golden hair. I gasp and stare. "Clarke, you are beautiful." I lean over to get the sunscreen out of the bag because she has fair skin, and I don't want her to burn. When I stand up, I see a couple of guys looking our way, so I walk over to Clarke, take her in my arms, and kiss her deeply.

When she pulls away, she says, "What was that for, to torture me because I said I was aroused?"

"Nope, just letting people know that you are taken. I want everyone to know that the most beautiful woman on the beach is with me. Now let me put some sunscreen on you." She sits down on the lounge chair, and I sit behind her and slowly massage the sunscreen on every piece of exposed skin.

"Lexa, you're killing me."

"Am I?" I lean in and kiss her neck, then nibbled her earlobe.

"Lexa, stop. Everyone is going to see us."

"So, I don't care. I love you, and I want everyone to know that you are mine."

She pushes me away playfully, and I scoop her up and run for the water. She is laughing as I run into the water until it is about waist high, and then I start to throw her in, but…I think better of it and just squat down so that we are both in the water. When she finishes laughing and splashing me, I wrap her in my arms and kiss her, taking her hand pulling her out until we are chest-deep.

When we are deep enough, I hug her from behind, kissing her neck, and whisper, "So, are you still aroused?" I run my hands slowly down her sides and back up and kiss the other side of her neck.

Clarke says, "Yes, but what are you doing? There are so many people."

"Do you trust me?"

"What? Of course, I trust you."

"Then just relax. I've got you." I start kissing her neck, then her shoulder as I run my hands down her sides and around to the front of her stomach. I take her earlobe into my mouth and nibble on it as I lightly run my fingers up her stomach until I reach her breasts. "Squat down so that the water covers your boobs."

She does as she is told, and I palm her left boob in my left hand, gently tweaking her nipple between my thumb and finger through her bathing suit. My right hand lightly traces down her stomach until it is between her legs over the bathing suit bottom. She gasps, starting to breathe faster as I run my hand between her legs, and she opens them, giving me better access.

"Are you okay?" I ask as I continue to rub over the top of the suit between her legs and kiss her neck again.

"Yes, you feel so good."

I move my hand up her stomach and slip it under the waistband of her bottoms, where I begin stroking her clit with two fingers, one on each side. Clarke moans, and I give her nipple a tiny pinch as I increase the pace of my fingers. I use my thumb to circle her nipple as she begins breathing faster. "You're so beautiful," I say softly, pressing my body closer against her back. I continue caressing and stroking her soft folds until my fingers find her center and slide inside. Clarke gasps as I begin working her slowly, moving in and out in measured strokes, until Clarke begins moving her hips in a desperate attempt to take me in deeper. I speed up, moving faster and faster until she was almost in a frenzy, then I feel her close up around my fingers. She muffles her scream so that it comes out more like a snort or laugh.

"Damn, you're good at that," Clarke says hoarsely, turning to face me. "I can't believe you just did that here with all these people around."

"They could care less what we are doing. You bring the best out in me, and I couldn't wait until we got back to the room," I say, grinning brightly.

Clarke takes my head in her hands, tilts it back, kissing me fiercely. When she pulls away, she says, "Thank you for always knowing how to make me feel better."

"You don't have to thank me; I love making you feel good. But can we get out of the water now before I get eaten by sharks?"

"What?"

"I don't like being in the water for too long. I've been to the aquarium. I've seen what lives in here, and I don't want to be eaten alive by a shark. So, can we please get out?"

She starts laughing at me, "Are you telling me that you are scared of the ocean?"

"No, I'm telling you that I am not happy about what lives in the ocean and what they can do to me."

Clarke takes my hand, leading me toward the beach, "I can't believe the big bad Stryker is afraid of fish."

"I'm not scared of fish; I just don't like sharks!"

When we get out of the water and head toward our chairs, we run into Ash, Callie, Asher, and Sabrina. Ash looks at us and says, "Clarke, how did you manage to get Lexa to go that far out into the water? You know she is scared of fish, right?"

Asher and Sabrina have wandered off toward the water, and Clarke says, "It was actually pretty easy, I enticed her with sex. I guess she forgot about the fish for a while."

Everyone just laughs, "For the last time, I'm not afraid of fish! I just don't like sharks. So, Asher, want to build a sandcastle?"

"Yes," he says.

Clarke

Even after our conversation in the room, I'm still feeling a little uncomfortable in my bikini. That is until Lexa claims me in front of everyone by kissing me passionately before she rubs sunscreen seductively all over me. Then she takes me into the deep water and makes love to me, which was amazing. I can't believe we did that with all the people on the beach, but it was unbelievably sexy.

Once we get to the beach, we run into Ash, Callie, and the kids. Ash starts kidding Lexa about being afraid of fish, so she goes to play with Asher while pouting. Her pouting is kinda cute and sexy.

I sit and talk with Ash and Callie while Lexa plays with the kids in the sand, building sandcastles. Callie looks from where the kids are playing to me and says, "She really is good with kids. How far along are you?"

"Twelve weeks and four days. Lexa really is good with them, and she's so excited about the baby that she can't wait to tell everyone. I'm just worried that she isn't concentrating enough on the fight now that she knows about the baby."

Ash says, "You don't have to worry about her when it comes to fighting, she can hold her own."

"I know, but I don't want her to be so distracted that she gets hurt. I don't know what I would do if something happened to her." I look over to find Lexa buried up to her neck in the sand with Asher and Sabrina standing over her, laughing. I just shake my head. "I may be getting myself into trouble. She can be as much of a kid as they can."

Ash and Callie laugh. Ash says, "We may need to go rescue her. She's going to have sand in places that sand should never be."

We all walk over there, and I look down at my wonderful girlfriend and say, "Babe, you know that you are going to have to get into the water and wash off all that sand, right."

She looks up, "What? No, I can just take a shower."

Everybody laughs at her. "No, ma'am. You have to rinse off before we go inside."

"But what about the sharks? They will eat me!"

Ash speaks up, "I made a huge mistake taking you to the aquarium and letting you see what lives in the ocean."

I take her hand and lead her towards the water, "I will protect you against the fish, babe."

She looks at me and sticks her lip out at me. I look at Ash, "I'm going to have two kids in six months, aren't I?"

Her reply is, "Yep, most definitely."