"What's taking her so long? She was supposed to meet us twenty minutes ago." Abby lets out an impatient sigh as she keeps pacing the room. She's been at it for a good fifteen minutes now and Kane has long given up trying to calm her down.
"She'll be here soon." The door cracks open behind them right as Kane says the words. "See? What did I tell you?" He mocks her while they both turn to the door, expecting to see Lexa coming in. They're both surprised to see Clarke's figure making her way in instead.
"Clarke?" Abby whispers, not believing her daughter is actually standing in front of her after three months spent apart. As soon as she's recovered from the initial shock, she throws herself at Clarke, enveloping her daughter in a tight hug. "I've missed you." She cries out in the girl's hair.
"Me too." She doesn't really know what to say to her mother so she just returns the hug, reveling in her mom's presence after so long.
"Mom?" She breaks the silence after a while.
"Mmh?" Abby hums in response.
"I can't breathe." Clarke chuckles in Abby's shoulder.
"Right. Sorry." She chuckles back letting go of her daughter.
"We were supposed to meet with Lexa-" Kane interjects from behind Abby but he's soon interrupted by Clarke.
"Yeah, about that... The summit was kind of an excuse to have you coming to Polis." Oh God! Here we go. The puzzled and expectant looks in her mom's and Kane's eyes are not helping at all.
Clarke clears her throat looking for the right words to tell them they're supposed to bow to the same girl that had left them to die at Mount Weather only a few months before.
"Lexa... The Commander... She's changing the terms of the treaty."
"Is this because of Mount Weather?" Marcus tries while he still looks incredulous.
"This is because of the Ice Nation. They want Lexa dead." The only idea sends shivers down Clarke's spine. She needs her people to understand. She's not letting the Ice Queen kill the woman she loves. They just found each other again, she's not losing her one more time; so she looks at Marcus, knowing he's the one who can understand what's at stake. "They wanna take over the coalition."
"That's Lexa's concern not ours." Like she thought, her mother doesn't get it.
"No Abby, if Lexa falls, the coalition shatters. And there's no way we can afford that war." Thankfully Kane does. "You said there were new terms?"
It's now or never, Clarke. She takes a deep breath and avoids her mother's gaze as she says the next words. "Yeah. We become the 13th clan."
"13th clan... What does that mean? That we follow Lexa?" Something in the way her mom says Lexa's name, with so much hatred and disgust, makes Clarke want to yell at her that she has no idea how a great and selfless person Lexa truly is. But she knows Abby wouldn't understand. She never does. So, instead, she just ops for a simple: "Yes."
"This is not the treaty we came here to negotiate."
"This is our Unity Day, mom. We can be the 13th station or we can be the 13th clan." She hopes this will make it because she's run out of reasons to convince them.
"Marcus?" Of course she wants to know his opinion. She sent her down to Earth to die, trusting her instincts would tell her how to protect her people, yet, ever since the Ark landed on the ground, her mother's never once believed in her leadership choices. She's not a kid anymore and Lexa is not a kid either. She's the best Commander the grounders, and Sky People too, could ever wish for.
"Clarke's right. I've seen the Ice Nation army and we don't stand a chance against them. We need to do this." Kane is what once again keeps her from screaming at her mother.
"So we become the 13th clan... Then what? What's gonna stop the Ice Nation?"
"We are. Lexa and I..."
"You and Lexa?! What, you two are a team now?"
"Mom..."
"No. Clarke, she betrayed us and left us to die! How can you work with her?! How can you even trust her?! She's the reason you left Arkadia and hid in the woods, because you couldn't live with what you had to do!"
Hell! If it's her screaming that she wants, then her screaming she'll get. "I left because I couldn't live with what I did! I didn't have to do anything! Lexa never forced me to pull that switch, it was my choice and I paid the price for it! Yes, she saved her people and left, but that's what being a leader means! Tell me, mom, had you been in the same position, wouldn't you have saved your people even if it meant leaving the grounders behind?! Wouldn't you have sacrificed their lives for the ones of your people trapped inside and fighting outside?!"
"I... Maybe I would've, yes! But it still isn't a good reason to go and trust her again, Clarke! What makes you so sure she won't betray us again?!"
"If you can't trust her then trust me. Lexa's not gonna betray me again." She curses herself for that slip the moment she sees her mother's questioning look.
"You? She's not gonna betray you?"
"Us. I meant us."
"But that's not what you said. You said me." To say Clarke is panicking by now is an understatement.
"You're making this a bigger of a deal than it actually is."
"And you're trying to avoid the answer. What do you mean she's not gonna betray you again?" At this point Clarke just gives up trying to convince her mother she's only misspoken. What's the point anyway? She's gonna have to tell her the truth at some point. Better now than later.
"I mean... She's not going to leave me again. She won't betray me, us, because that would mean losing me again." Her mother clearly isn't following, but she cannot say more. It's pointless. She wouldn't understand. She knows she wouldn't.
Seeing as her daughter doesn't show any intention of giving her further explanations, Abby tries to push her some more. "Clarke. What are you saying? Why can't Lexa lose you again?"
"I..." Clarke shakes her head sadly. She wouldn't get it.
"Clarke, honey, I'm your mother. You know you can talk to me." Abby says putting a reassuring hand on her daughter's shoulder.
Clarke only shakes her head once more. "You wouldn't understand..."
"Try me. You'll never know if you don't try." She gives Clarke a smile of encouragement.
With a deep intake of air Clarke gives up her fight. "She can't lose me because..." She closes her eyes not bearing to see her mother's expression as she confesses her feelings for the woman she's supposed to hate. "She loves me. And... I trust her because I feel the same way about her. I love her, mom. I'm in love with her and she's in love with me." She says it one more time looking at her mother this time. "We're in love."
Abby stares back at her daughter for what feels like an eternity, her expression showing no kind of emotion. Clarke feels like she might get sick if her mother doesn't say something, anything, soon. When the silence becomes too much to bear and it feels to Clarke like it's getting deafening, she speaks again hoping to get a reaction of any kind from her mother.
"I don't need you to understand. I don't understand it either. I know I'm supposed to hate her. This shouldn't have happened, but it was beyond my control. I didn't choose to love her but I do choose to stay. Please, don't make me choose between my people and the woman I love."
"Because you would choose her?" Abby seems to have finally regained her voice, though her question comes out harsh and it feels like daggers to Clarke's heart.
"Because I would choose you. As leader of my people I have to put them first, at the expense of my heart, even though it will kill me." Now Clarke is all but begging on the verge of tears. "Please. I can't lose yet another person I love."
With a small nod her mother finally agrees to the deal. "Okay. We'll follow Lexa as the 13th clan. But don't expect me to be ok with this."
That's more than Clarke was hoping for. "Thank you." And she can finally let out a sigh of relief. She did it. They'll join Lexa's coalition and she won't have to lose anybody. For now, at least.
Note: so, how did you like this 2nd chapter? Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as enjoyed writing it. This is my very first story, so I'm really happy you guys are giving it a try.
Thank you all so much for stopping by! Until next chapter comes out!
P.S. Like I said before, I apologize for any grammar mistake.
