Chapter 82: Clarke

I actually wake up before Lexa for a change. As much as I would love to just lay in bed with her, I want to surprise her by getting dressed up for her fan event tonight. After all she's done for me the past few days. I want to look good for her while sitting with her. I want everyone to know that she's mine and that I have the most gorgeous, caring girlfriend in the world.

I slip out of bed without waking her. I'm sure that she is tired from the excitement of this last week. I just hope that it doesn't affect her fight. After a long hot shower, I put on a black dress with an asymmetrical hem. It has a thigh-high front slit that lets me be simultaneously elegant and sassy! The back is ankle length, and it has thin spaghetti straps. As I look at myself in the mirror, Lexa walks up behind me, hugging me while kissing my neck right below my ear.

"You look amazing, baby. Where are you going that you need to look this good?"

"I'm going with you to the fan event. I want everyone to know you are mine, and I wanted to look good for you. You have been so amazing these last few days with everything, and I just wanted to look nice for you. But I think this dress makes me look…um, a little fat." I place my hand on my belly, where I think I see a little pooch starting to show.

She chuckles, "Babe, you look gorgeous!" She places her hands over mine and says, "I don't see it yet, but honestly, I can't wait until I can. I think you will look amazing with a little baby bump."

"You are such a charmer and flirt. You always know what to say to put me at ease." I turn in her arms and kiss her. When I pull away, I ask, "Shouldn't you be getting ready?"

"Probably, but I would much rather stay here and get you out of that amazing dress and back into bed with me, instead."

I shake my head and laugh, "Is that so? As awesome as that sounds, I think you are under contract to attend, and you need to rest up for tomorrow's fight."

"Fine, but after the fight, we are celebrating all night. I-I mean if you feel up to it."

"I guess you will have to wait and see."

Lexa

We pull up in front of the conference center hosting this meet and greet and find that there are already people lining up out the doors, and it is still about a half-hour before it's set to begin. I get out and open Clarke's door and hold out my hand to help her step out of the van. She takes my breath away; she always has but now…I can't help but stare. She looks fantastic in that dress and those heels. Her skin is glowing now more than ever. How did I get so lucky? Plus, just thinking about what we were doing a few hours ago makes me wet. How am I going to concentrate on the fans when she is sitting by me looking like that?

I feel the electricity on my cheeks and realize that Clarke has just kissed me. When I look at her, she says, "Where did you go just now?"

"Um, I was just thinking how beautiful you are and how lucky I am to have you by my side. And that I am going to have a tough time concentrating on the fans tonight when you're looking so good. I love you, my babies mamma. Shall we?" I hold out my arm for her to take, and we walk by the line of people into the building. Once inside, we walk down the line of tables until we find the one labeled 'Stryker.'

I ask Clarke to have a seat while I go and grab a couple of water bottles and some juice and pretzels just in case she starts to feel nauseous. By the time I get back to the table, Jewel is seated beside us, and she and Clarke are talking.

Jewel looks at me and says, "I hear congratulations are in order, Stryker."

I smile looking at Clarke, surprised that she told her about the babies. When I raise my eyebrow in question, Clarke says, "What? She asked why I missed the last event, so I told her that I had a meeting with some doctors about our baby that turned out to be two babies."

"Nothing, I'm just surprised you are telling everyone. Seeing how you didn't want to tell our friends at first."

Clarke shrugs, "That was different! Now I want everyone to know. Especially since you are so happy and excited about it."

Jewel smiles, "So, Stryker, how do you feel about having twins?"

"I'm so fucking excited I can hardly stand it. Honestly, though, I was blindsided with the twin thing, but it just means twice the fun. I can't wait! I just wish that poor Clarke weren't having morning sickness. I feel horrible not being able to help."

Clarke leans in, kissing my cheek, "You mean twice the work. But, Babe, you are helping as much as you can by being there for me and holding my hair back while I puke my guts up."

Jewel laughs, "You two are so cute. I'm happy for you."

It isn't long until Cyborg walks up and plops down at the table on the other side of Jewel. She looks over at Clarke and me with a smirk and says, "Stryker, who is the new girl? She's not the one you were kissing the other night."

I start to speak, but Clarke cuts me off. She gets up and walks over to Cyborg and says, "We haven't met. I'm Clarke, Lexa's girlfriend and babies momma. It's nice to meet you."

Cyborg snorts, "Babies momma, huh? Not the one she was kissing before, and what happened to your eye? Does Stryker strike her girlfriends so that they require stitches?"

That's it! I've had it with this bitch. Before Clarke can say anything else, I am up in Cyborg's face, "What the hell is your problem?"

Cyborg looks at me laughing, "You-You're the problem. You don't deserve to be fighting in the UFC. You didn't earn your spot. It was given to you by chance to keep Jewel happy. On top of that, you apparently like to hit on your women."

I clench my fists, ready to fight, but Clarke steps between us and looks Cyborg in the eyes, "Not that it's any of your business, but Lexa doesn't hit me or anyone she doesn't need to. My ex-boyfriend did this to me right before she kil -kicked the shit out of him. And if you continue to insult me, I'm sure she will do the same to you. So why don't you sit your ass down at your table and leave us the fuck alone."

I smile, and Jewel starts to laugh. Cyborg's face turns red and says, "Whatever, she's not worth my time, and there is no way she could beat me anyway."

Clarke raises her hand to slap her, but I grab it first and whisper, "It's okay, just ignore her. She's an ass. I should have warned you about her." I lead Clarke back over to our table, and we sit down. "Ya Amar, are you alright? I've never seen you that mad, and I have to tell you it was a huge turn-on to see you ready to defend me."

Her face turns pink in a blush, "Really? I'm fine. I guess my hormones are really messing with me because I have never wanted to hit someone so much in my life. Well, except for maybe Allie. Great! Speaking of Allie, there she is. She has perfect timing."

I look up and see a smiling Allie walking our way. She has on a tight, form-fitting red dress with matching heels. She looks good but nothing compared to Clarke. I hear Cyborg start to laugh, saying this should be fun. When Allie makes it to the table, I smile and say, "Hey."

She comes around the table and gives me a hug and kiss on the cheek. All I can think is, I hope Clarke doesn't get up and punch her. I pull back and say, "Allie, do you remember Clarke? Like I told you the other night, we're together now."

Clarke gets up and holds out her hand, "Hi, Allie. I remember you from Mickey's fights and club. What brings you to Dubai?"

Allie smiles, taking her hand, "Well…um…I'm here for a golf tournament and thought I would come out and support my…I mean Stryker. I hope that isn't a problem."

I put my arm around Clarke's waist before answering, "It's no problem at all. Do you have tickets to the fight?" I feel Clarke tense up and think maybe I shouldn't have asked.

Allie says, "No, they were sold out, but I can watch it at the hotel bar. I just thought it would be nice to see you since I was already here. I-I didn't know that you and Clarke were together. Look, I'm sorry I guess I should've called or texted you instead of just showing up after the way we left things."

I start to speak, but Clarke answers first. "Allie, it's okay. I don't know how the two of you left things or what you thought would happen by showing up here to surprise Lexa, but it was sweet. I'm sure that Lexa can get you a ticket. If not, you can have mine, and I will work in her corner to free up a seat."

I can't help but smile at Clarke and pull her closer, "I actually have an extra ticket, but that was nice of you to offer, Ya Amar. I can have it sent over to your hotel in the morning."

Allie says, "Thanks."

Cyborg walks up, saying, "How cute, the baby momma and the side piece actually get along. Man, I have to give you props on that Stryker. You must be better in bed than you are in the ring."

I snap, "What the fuck, Chris?" Allie's head snaps to Clarke, glancing down to where she has placed her hands on her stomach. "Why is my personal life so interesting to you?"

Before she can answer, Clarke adds, "Because no one can put up with her, so she doesn't have one."

Jewel and a few people standing near us chuckle at Clarke's comment as Chris's face turns red. Allie says, "I think she is just jealous because Stryker has a beautiful girlfriend and a group of gorgeous friends that support her, and she has no one with her."

Chris says, "Oh, I get it now. So you three are involved in a thruple. Now it makes perfect sense why everyone gets along. I do have one question, though if you are all females, who's the baby daddy?"

That's it! I jumped the table, landing right in front of Chris, drawing back my fist, but before I could throw a punch, Dana appeared and stepped in between us. He says, "That is enough! There will not be any fighting outside of the cage between my fighters."

I look at him, "I don't belong to you, but if you don't get her away from Clarke and me, there will be a fight right here tonight."

He looks at Chris Cyborg and says, "I think it is time for you to head back to your hotel. You are done here tonight!"

Cyborg is pissed, "What do you mean? I'm done. She should be the one to leave. I've been in the UFC longer, and more people want to see me than her."

Dana says, "That doesn't matter. She is the one fighting tomorrow night, not you. So just leave, and I will talk to you later about your next fight."

She storms out of the room before Dana looks at me and says, "What did you do to piss her off?"

"What? I didn't do anything. She's pissed because you let me fight in the UFC. She says I didn't earn my spot. So now she is hell-bent on getting in my personal business."

He says, "I'll talk to her."

The rest of the night was uneventful. I spent the time signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans while Clarke sat there and supported me. I know she had to be bored out of her mind, but she didn't complain. Clarke sat there and smiled even when men and women would ask me out. She would say nicely, 'I'm sorry, but Stryker is already taken. I'm Clarke Griffin, her girlfriend.' Every time she would say it, it made me smile. What I wish I could say is, 'this is Clarke Griffin, my fiancé, and babies momma. I guess technically I could say the latter, but I really want to be able to call her my fiancé. I need to talk to O tonight about holding on to the ring during the fight so that after I win, I can propose during the after-fight interview.

Once we get back to the hotel, we order room service and invite Abby and Anny to join us. Over dinner, Abby informs us that Dalia and Ariel have sold their house and furniture. She also says that they have managed to ship the rest of their belongings so that they can accompany us back to California after the fight on Sunday. Anny says that she and Ariel think they have figured out how to overwrite Finn's DNA with mine, and the serum should be ready by Saturday.

"Wow, that's all great news. What will you need from me to get my DNA?"

Abby says, "We will need to do a bone marrow extraction from you, which will require us to put you to sleep and stick a needle into your hip bones to extract the marrow. Afterward, it will take about a week to feel like normal, but it may take up to a month or two to fully recover."

"Guess it is a good thing that I heal quickly. But, um, Abby…it won't hurt Clarke or the babies, right? Will my unique DNA cause a problem?"

Anny speaks, "What do you mean, your unique DNA? The procedure is as safe as any other procedure, but they all carry risks. This one carries the same risk as to the genetic testing, which is a small risk of miscarrying."

"What? If there is any chance of that, we aren't doing it! Either of them."

Clarke takes my hand, kissing my knuckles, "Cielo, it will be fine. The risks are minimal. We've got this, remember?"

Abby reassures me by saying, "Clarke's right. Everything will be fine. Anny, Lexa's DNA has mutations similar to those you saw in the test facility where you were working. Her DNA breakdown is 3% wolf, 5% Amazonian, 75.8% European, and 19.2% Middle eastern."

Anny says, "I see…how are you here? How did you get away?"

I say, "I don't have any idea. I was in an orphanage in Afghanistan for as long as I can remember. I just always knew that I was different, but I don't know how I became this way or where I came from."

Anny looks deep in thought before saying, "Okay. I want to take a blood sample for Ariel and me to begin analyzing. Your DNA shouldn't have any negative effects on the procedure. On the contrary, it may actually be helpful since we know that it will be more likely to fuse with other DNA because it has done it before."

Clarke squeezes my hand, "Hey, everything is going to be okay. All you need to worry about right now is winning the fight tomorrow night. After that, we will get this sorted out. I'm exhausted, so I think I'm going to head upstairs and get ready for bed."

"Alright. I will be up in a few minutes. I need to talk to Octavia about something really quick after Anny takes my blood sample. I'm going to give her a call, and then I will be up." I stand up and kiss her before she heads upstairs. After I'm sure she is upstairs and out of earshot, I look at Abby and say, "I'm going to ask her to marry me after the fight tomorrow night. I just wanted you to know. Are you still okay with it?"

"Of course! Lexa, I'm not sure why you think I wouldn't be okay with it."

"I don't know either, Abby. I guess I just…sometimes I just feel like I'm not good enough for her. We grew up very differently, and I have caused her nothing but problems since she met me. She wouldn't be…she wouldn't have been…she wouldn't have been raped or pregnant if it weren't for me. So I don't care what you say about it being all Finn's fault. It wasn't. Some of the blame is mine. If I hadn't been introduced to her, none of it would have happened."

"Lexa, it wasn't your fault. Finn was a monster that had everyone fooled into thinking he was a nice guy. He is the one that raped Clarke, not you. Who's to say that it wouldn't have happened even if you two never knew each other. What I do know is that if it weren't for you, Clarke wouldn't be as happy as she is right now, and she wouldn't have survived what she went through without you. You two are great together, and I'm glad you have each other."

"Thank you for everything, Abby," I say and wrap her in a hug. "I will see you tomorrow."

After everyone leaves, I call Octavia. It takes a couple of rings before she answers. "Hey, O. Do you have a second?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"I need your help with something tomorrow after I win the fight."

"Alright, what do you need?"

"I'm going to give you a ring before the fight, and I need you to keep it safe until after the fight and hand it to me discretely before the final announcement so that I can ask Clarke to marry me in the post-fight interview. Can you handle that?"

"Are you fucking kidding me? Of course, I can, but why are you in such a hurry to be tied down? You are young, hot, and rich why not live a little before tying the knot?"

"Seriously, O! Do you not remember that we are having twins together? So why wouldn't I ask her to marry me?"

"Look, if you're happy, I'm happy for you. We just have different outlooks on life, that's all. But yes, I will hold the ring for you. Now go get some rest."

"Thanks, see you tomorrow."