A/N: The idea for this story came from watching Disney Channel's Andi Mack. I love the relationship between Bex and Andi. So I hope you all enjoy it because I'm really loving writing this one. I will try to update once a week unless life gets in the way. So enjoy chapter 2.

Chapter 2

"Lexa? This is Lexa?" Avery screams before Lexa can even form a coherent thought. She ran up to the other woman and wrapped her arms around her. Lexa could do nothing but hesitantly return the gesture.

Avery looked up at Lexa but didn't let go. "Mom told me all about you. She said you were so pretty," the kid rambled on. Clarke tried to stop her, but it did no good. "I think she lied though."

Clarke looked embarrassed and turned to her daughter, "Avery!"

"No, she's beautiful," Avery finished with a smile. The kid knew she'd just embarrassed her mother, but it was so much fun to see the looks on both their faces.

Lexa for her part tried to hide her blush, but it didn't work. This kid was charmer just like her mother. Still she had so many questions. Like why didn't she know that Clarke even had a kid.

"Avery, why don't you get yourself a plate and eat some breakfast, I need to talk to Lexa for a minute," Clarke told the girl.

Once Avery was seated at the kitchen table, Clarke took Lexa's hand and lead her out of the room. Clarke took a seat on the couch and Lexa followed suit. Although she sat forward, on the edge of the seat as if she was ready to bolt at any minute. This was not how Clarke wanted Lexa to find out, but this was where they were.

"You have a daughter," Lexa spoke quietly, not sure how well sound travelled through the house. "Is this what you were trying to tell me? Before, I mean?" she didn't need to add what she was referring to.

"It was," Clarke admitted. At least she could honestly say she had been trying to tell Lexa, fate just had different ideas it seemed.

Lexa took a sigh a sat back a little more. She trusted Clarke, so if she said she was going to tell her, she believed her. It made her feel a little bit better that she didn't just find out because of the circumstances. "Why have you never told me?"

"I could never find the right time to bring it up. I'll tell you the whole story though I promise. We don't have time for it right now, unfortunately."

"Yeah, I know," Lexa agreed. She knew Clarke wanted to get to the hospital as quickly as she could. She also knew that her girlfriend needed to have a very serious conversation with the little girl in the other room, so she understood that she would have to wait.

"Short version is that I made a stupid decision and ended up pregnant in high school. My parents and I decided to keep the baby and that they'd help with raising her since I would be so busy with college and med school. I do help out though, when I can. I fed her, changed diapers and all of that before I left for college. She's always known I was her mother, although we probably have more of a sibling relationship because of the circumstances."

Lexa nodded in understanding. Clarke had told her on one of their first dates that she had wanted to be a doctor for as long as she could remember. She got good grades in school and studied hard through college and later med school. Lexa knew she was probably one of the most dedicated students because that was just who Clarke was.

"Are we okay?" Clarke asked hesitantly.

Lexa smiled and wrapped Clarke into a tight hug. "We are okay," she promised. And she meant it. Clarke having a child didn't really change anything, not really. Or at least it had no bearing on their past, since Avery lived with her grandparents. She wasn't sure what it meant for their future though. "I still want to hear the full story when there's time."

"You will, I promise," Clarke told her. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to break some even worse news to a very sweet little girl," she spoke softly and tried not to let the tears pour again.

"Do you want to be alone when you tell her?"

"No, I need you with me. Besides, she already knows who you are and how important you are to me," Clarke admitted. Even though she didn't mention Avery to Lexa, the same couldn't be said the other way around. Lexa had been a topic of conversation for many phone calls with Avery. She hadn't lied when she told Lexa they had more of a sibling relationship. She talked to Avery like she would a little sister, confided in her at times. "Just stay here a minute and I'll go check on her."

When Clarke entered the kitchen, she saw Avery was just getting up to take care of her dishes. "Come into the living room when you're done," she told her daughter.

Back in the other room, Clarke sat beside Lexa again and took her hand for comfort. Avery paused in the doorway when saw the look on her mother and Lexa's face. She knew whatever was going on, she wasn't going to like it. "Come sit with us," Clarke waved her over.

Avery sat hesitantly on the couch and then fidgeted around in an attempt to get comfortable. Clarke knew what Avery was trying to do and decided to pull the girl into her lap. She wrapped her arms around her and gave her a tight squeeze. They'd done this often when Avery was still a toddler, but had stopped by the time Clarke entered med school and Avery started kindergarten.

"What's going on, Mom?" the girl finally asked.

Clarke took a deep breath as she prepared herself for what she had to say. "You know how Grandma and Grandpa like to go to their favorite restaurant on date night?" Avery nodded her head. "Well last night something bad happened there."

"What happened?"

"I don't think you need to hear that part. Besides, I don't know all the details anyway, just what the cop told me on the phone. What you need to know is that Grandma is really hurt. She's in the hospital right now." There was no reason to scare her daughter with the truth of what had happened. That both elder Griffins had been shot. And what she said was true, she didn't know all the details, just that some guy had entered the restaurant with a gun.

"What about Grandpa?"

For a moment they all just sat there in silence. Clarke wished with everything in her that she didn't have to tell her daughter that the man that had raised her was dead. It wasn't fair that her little girl even had to know that death existed. "Grandpa was hurt really badly, the doctors did everything they could."

Avery knew what that meant. Her grandma was a doctor and so was her mother. That was what they told you when someone was dead. Avery sniveled and turned her head into Clarke's shirt and cried. Clarke knew she didn't have to say the words, her daughter understood.

Lexa was surprised when Avery reached out to her too. The three of them sat there in an awkward hug while Avery cried herself out. The older girl didn't have a lot of experience with children, but this was one time she was going to have to learn. She didn't think it would be that hard to fall in love with Avery though, she was a mini Clarke.

When the girl's tears had subsided, Clarke coaxed her to go get her shoes on so they could head to the hospital. While Avery was upstairs, Clarke guided Lexa back to into the kitchen and over to the garage door. She was grateful to find her mother's keys hanging where they always were. Eventually they'd need to go pick her dad's truck up from the restaurant, but for now taking her mom's would be the best option.

"Are you going to be okay to drive?"

Clarke only nodded. She knew she had to keep it together for Avery more than anything else and so it was easy to pull herself together. She may not have raised her child, but it didn't mean she didn't feel responsible for her.

The drive was mostly quiet, except for the radio playing softly so that it wasn't completely silent. Clarke navigated through the familiar streets, more than a little grateful that they'd taken her mother to the hospital that the elder Griffin worked at. The staff had known her since she was a small child so it probably wouldn't be hard to get answers out of people.

She decided to take advantage of having her mother's car and pull into her assigned parking space. She probably wasn't in any shape to remember where they'd parked if it was anywhere else. They all got out of the car and Clarke took Lexa's with one hand and Avery with the other as they made their way towards the nearest entrance. "We need to go pick up my dad's truck when we leave," Clarke told Lexa quietly.

Just inside the door was a small information desk and it didn't surprise Clarke one bit to see a familiar face. She couldn't remember a day where Jane wasn't there greeting people as they came in.

As soon as the older woman recognized Clarke, she was on her feet and pulling the girl into a tight hug. "It's so good to see you Clarke, it's been too long. I'm sorry it's under such terrible circumstances."

Clarke tried to offer a smile. It wasn't a surprise that Jane knew why she was there, the whole hospital probably knew what had happened. "What room is my mom in?"

Jane went back behind the desk and typed in Abby's name. "She's up on the 3rd floor, room 3201. It looks like they've taken her for some tests though so she's not due to be back in her room just yet. I know they need to see you downstairs as well," she told the younger girl as understandingly as she could.

Clarke nodded, because she knew what that meant. She had known she was going to have to identify her father just for legal purposes. She had been hoping to put it off a little longer, but maybe it would be better just to get it done. As much as she wanted Lexa there with her when she did, she didn't want Avery to have to see that, so she didn't know what to do.

Jane saw the way that Clarke held tightly to the hand of the girl that had accompanied her and she could see the indecision on her face. It only took her a moment to read the situation. "Why don't you leave Avery up here with me for a bit," she offered.

Clarke soured with gratitude at the offer. "Is that okay with you, Avery? I've got to take care of a couple things but then we can go see grandma when she's done with her tests."

Avery knew what was downstairs as well. Her mom wasn't the only one that spent time in this hospital. She knew they were trying to protect her from something, but she wasn't in a frame of mind to argue so she just walked behind the desk and took a seat in the extra chair. It wasn't like it was the first time she'd hung out with Jane.

Clarke leaned over the desk and gave her daughter a kiss on the head, promising she wouldn't be gone too long. Then she took Lexa's hand and guided her towards the elevator. Once they were inside, Lexa pulled Clarke into her arms and held her, knowing how much the other girl needed her right then.

Every step towards the morgue was slow and hesitate but unfortunately did not take as long as Clarke would have liked. Through the window that looked into the front office of the morgue she could see two officers, one man and one woman who were both chatting with the morgue attendant. As soon as she opened the door and heard the male officer speak, she knew he had been the one to call her.

"I'm um, Clarke Griffin," she introduced herself to the officers and the morgue attendant.

Both officers stood and the young man held out his hand to her. "I'm Officer Miller, and this is my partner Officer Monroe. We're sorry about your loss." He'd already told her that on the phone, but he knew she probably hadn't heard it then.

"I would say it's a pleasure to meet you, but…" Clarke was pretty sure she didn't need to finish her sentence. "Let's just get this over with please."

They led her into a large, cold room. She could feel how sterile it was in every part of her body, how utterly lifeless and she couldn't wait to leave. The attendant pulled the sheet down just enough to see her father's face. She didn't hold back the tears this time as she looked down at the man who had raised her.

"That's him," she cried. "That's Jake Griffin," she repeated because she knew they needed a full identification for their case. Both officers nodded and then left, giving her a moment with her father.

Lexa kept a hand on Clarke's arm as the other girl grieved for dad. The other woman reached out and touched his cold cheek. "I love you, Dad," she whispered. "Get me out of here," she told Lexa as she turned away.

Once they were back in the office, Clarke was glad to see the officers hadn't left yet. "I need to know what happened. The whole story."

"We can't tell you everything, but I'll tell you what I can," officer Miller started. "We're unclear on some of the details, but what we know is a young man entered the restaurant where your parents were eating. His ex-girlfriend was also there on a date with someone and he decided to show up with a gun. He fired off several shots and we believe that one of them hit your mother as well as a few other patrons. Your father, trying to protect your mother, and everyone else there, attempted to take the guy down himself. They fought for several minutes but your father took a bullet to the chest in the scuffle."

As the tears poured down Clarke's face, Lexa pulled her to her chest holding her as she cried. She couldn't even imagine what was going on in Clarke's mind right then.

"Your father was a hero," officer Monroe offered. "The suspect had several rounds of ammunition and we're pretty sure a lot more people would have become his victims. Your dad held him off long enough for us to get there and arrest him. He made it to the hospital, but there was just too much damage."

A part of Clarke felt better knowing her dad had gone down protecting others. That was who her father was by nature. His death hadn't been in vain. And her mother might just survive thanks to him.

As soon as she'd pulled herself back together, Clarke and Lexa made their way back up to the first floor to grab Avery. The girl didn't bother to ask any questions and Clarke was grateful for that. She wasn't sure she could talk without losing it again.

Again, piling into the elevator, they made their way up to the third floor. Clarke led them easily through the hallways, not bothering to read any signs. This was her mother's floor, she knew it by heart.

One of her mother's favorite nurses was at the nurses' station and Clarke was grateful to see a friendly face. "Maya, is my mother back in her room yet?"

"Clarke, you made it," Maya smiled. "Yes, they've just brought her back up and gotten her settled. She's still asleep but I'll let her doctor know you're here."

"Thanks."

Clarke held her girls in each of her hands as they made their way towards room 3201. She hesitated for a moment before walking through the door. She saw patients like this all the time, but knowing this was her mother wasn't easy to swallow.

Although she just looked like she was sleeping, the tubs and wires suggested otherwise. Dropping both hands, Clarke went up to her mother's bed and placed a kiss on her mother's forehead. "I'm here, mom," she whispered. "Do you want to come see grandma?" Clarke asked Avery when she noticed the girl glued to the door.

Avery shook her head no, but she did walk into the room. She went and sat in a chair by the window trying to look anywhere but at her grandmother. Clarke let her be because she knew how hard this probably was to the girl.

She pulled up a chair to her mother's bed and once she was seated she took her mom's hand in her own. Lexa did the same, wanting to be near if Clarke needed her.

The only sounds in the room for the next fifteen minutes was the machines that were currently connected to her mother. No one bothered to speak, so it was startling to hear a knock on the door.

Clarke smiled huge when she recognized her mother's doctor. "Monty, you're my mom's doctor?"

"Of course, I wouldn't let anyone else touch her," he smiled.

"Lexa, this is Monty Green, Dr. Green," she corrected with a hint of disbelief. "We went to the same med school, although he was a few years ahead of me. He was my mom's fellow not too long ago, she trained him. This is my girlfriend, Lexa," she introduced.

"Someone finally nabbed your attention?" Monty teased.

"Oh, shut up and tell me how my mom is."

"Well the bullet went straight through and didn't hit any organs so for that we are lucky. However, it did graze the bottom part of her spinal cord. It didn't seem to do any serious physical damage that we could see, but we can't know how the nerves were affected. So, until she wakes up and we run some tests we won't know the extent of the damage."

"Worse case, she's paralyzed," Clarke finished. She knew as well as Monty did that injuries to the spinal cord could be bad.

"Let's just hope for the best scenario. We'll just cross our fingers that no permanent damage was done and we'll get her back on her feet in no time."

Clarke knew what Monty was trying to do, he was trying to be her friend and not just her mom's doctor right then. But as she looked at her mother lying there on that bed, she could help but fear the worst. And she had no idea what she could do about it.