A/N: Did you all think I forgot? LOL I was going to update early this morning but I went to see our lovely Alycia Debnam-Carey on the big screen. Our local theater is playing Friend Request so I went to see it.

Also last week, sorry for missing it. It was a weird week and I'm suffering some minor writer's block. I know where I want this story to end up but having a hard time figuring out how to get from point A to B.

Chapter 7

"Lexa and Avery are on their way," Clarke told her mother as she locked her phone and sat it down on the small portable table between the two women. "I told her she could use your car this morning since she doesn't know how to drive a stick shift."

"That's fine," Abby reassured. It wasn't like she would be driving it any time soon, or maybe ever again. "I take it you picked up dad's truck then?"

"Yeah, we drove over there yesterday after we left here."

Abby wasn't sure how to respond to that. It was still hard to swallow that all of this was really happening. She wasn't sure there really wasn't anything to say. The man she had spent most of her life with was gone and she wasn't sure if she'd ever walk out of this hospital again.

"How are you doing with everything Monty told you?" Clarke asked, effectively changing the subject to the one Abby was now also pondering.

The young doctor had come in a little over an hour ago and ran a few physical tests one her mother's legs. He'd also consulted with a few other doctors. The results weren't great but they weren't as bad as they could have been either, so they were grateful. They were more than a little joyful that she wasn't paralyzed.

"It's going to take a while to get used to it, but I think I'll be fine in time." It was the most diplomatic answer she could muster. Abby wanted to curse and scream but that wouldn't help either one of them. She didn't want Clarke to see her like that, there was enough on her mind. "Hopefully I'll get out of here soon though. We need to start planning your dad's funeral."

Clarke sadly nodded her head. She didn't even want to think about having to go through that but she knew it was coming. She really wished they could put it off. "We have time. They haven't released his body yet. When I talked to Officer Miller earlier this morning it sounded like it would be at least a couple more days."

The young officer had called to update her earlier that morning while she was still waiting for Monty to make his rounds. He had informed her that they were still collecting evidence but that they would release him just as quickly as they possibly could.

"Have you talked to your grandparents?"

Clarke groaned when she remembered the conversation she'd had the day before. One she was happy to not have to repeat. "Office Miller called and informed them about what happened after he talked to me. I talked to grandma for a few minutes yesterday afternoon. They are trying to arrange their flights and a hotel."

"Heaven forbid you grandmother ever stay at our house," Abby muttered, not bothering to hide her feelings. It was no secret that the two women did not get along. Karlene Griffin had been a stay-at-home mom and didn't like the fact that her only son's wife worked, even more so that she had a job that took up so much of her time. She had even gone so far as to blame Abby for Clarke's pregnancy because she hadn't been home with her daughter all day, every day.

Clarke had never forgiven her grandmother for that accusation, or for the fact that she'd said so with Clarke in the room. Her grandmother was also very vocal about her dislike for Clarke following in her mother's footsteps.

Clarke almost couldn't wait to introduce her grandmother to Lexa. She couldn't imagine the other woman's reaction to her dating another woman. She would even go so far as to bet that her mother would again be blamed.

With a fierceness in her eyes Clarke looked at her mother. "We don't want her there anyway. I want as little interaction between her and Avery as possible." Luckily because Jake's parents lived half-way across the country, there hadn't been many visits and they'd been able to keep Karlene's judgmental attitude away from the youngest member of their family.

Clarke never wanted Avery to ever feel like she wasn't wanted or loved. Or worse yet that she was some mistake. She feared that was exactly what would happen if her grandmother was around her for any extended period of time.

"Same here," Abby agreed. She knew she should be feeling some form of sympathy for her mother-in-law who had just lost her son, but she couldn't. The woman caused drama whenever she came to town. She just hoped that Karlene would behave herself.

Clarke had never met her mother's parents because they had both died before she was born. Her grandfather had died of cancer when Abby was only a teenager and her grandmother had, had an aneurism while Abby was away at college. Both of these added to Abby's determination to become a doctor.

"Uncle Derek will be here tomorrow for sure." Derek was Abby's brother but he had also been Jake's best friend when they were growing up. The three of them had been inseparable for most of their grade school years.

Derek had been around a lot when Clarke was younger. He'd never married himself or had any kids so he'd spoiled his only niece, right up until he'd left to take a job in Montana. She couldn't wait to see him. Between her schedule and his she hadn't seen him since Christmas before last. He treated Avery like a little princess whenever he saw her, it was adorable.

"He'll be staying at the house then. That's good."

"He wouldn't stay anywhere else. Even if we filled every room in the house he'd make a bed down in the basement next to the washer," Clarke only half joked. It was actually something Derek would do. Or he'd pitch a tent in the backyard. Even when he lived in town he'd spent so much time at their house the main guest room had basically been dubbed Derek's room.

"Either way, it'll be nice to have him around. Even though it'll also be painful," Clarke admitted. She was used to seeing Derek with her father, cracking stupid jokes and being so annoying at times you couldn't help but love them anyway.

They were both saved from having to say anything else when they heard impatient footsteps coming down the hall that they both knew could only belong to one person. Neither was surprised when Avery came bouncing into the room.

Clarke wished she could have her daughter's innocence right then. Of course, Avery knew the basics of what was going on, but she was still young enough to not fully grasp what it all meant. It was much easier for her to just live in the moment and enjoy the people she could be around.

"Grandma, you're awake!" Avery squealed. The young girl quickly moved to her bedside and tried to climb on so she could give the woman a hug.

"Careful, Avery. Your grandma just had surgery, remember?" Clarke cautioned.

Avery gave her mother a look and continued to climb onto the bed, but much more cautiously than she had started out. Abby sat up as much as she could physically manage to meet her granddaughter in a fierce hug.

"I'm so glad you're here, sweetheart. I sure missed you."

"I missed you, too. I thought you were never going to wake up. Mom said you would so I'm glad she was right."

Abby cupped her granddaughter's face and pushed the girl's blonde locks back. Her hands took residence finally on the girl's small shoulder's. "Your mom is a very smart girl."

"She's super smart," Avery agreed. "Dr. Monty fixed you all up?"

"He did his very best work."

"I was here all day yesterday, but then Lexa stayed home with me this morning so that mom could be here before the sun was even awake."

Hearing the young woman's name caused Clarke and Abby both to look towards the door where Lexa had taken a place just inside, not wanting to interfere. "That was very nice of her," Abby smiled at the beautiful woman who had captured her daughter's heart. "Maybe she'd like to come join us so I can meet her."

Taking the hint, Clarke jumped out of her chair and over to Lexa. She took her girlfriend's hand into her own and pulled her into the room. With Avery already on Abby's right side, she took Lexa around to the left. "Sorry, mom this is Lexa Woods, and Lexa this is my mom, Dr. Abigail Griffin."

Lexa gave a nervous smile, but tried to hold her hand out confidently. "It's nice to meet you, Dr. Griffin."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Lexa. Clarke talks about you non-stop. Please call me Abby. We're practically family," Abby grinned as she watched the two girls squirm.

"Mom," Clarke quietly chastised.

"Seriously though, thank you for being here for my girls. It means a lot to me," Abby told her sincerely. She already thought Lexa had to be something special to drop everything and fly across the country for someone she had known for little more than half a year.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," Lexa answered, honestly. She looked over at Clarke who in turn was looking at her with such love. She knew a part of her was upset with Clarke keeping suck a secret and she knew they needed to talk some more, but right now, all that mattered was being there for these women. Right now, all that mattered was their grief and helping them the best she could.

"Lexa's awesome," Avery told her grandmother. "She likes Wonder Woman." Abby gave Clarke a look that clearly asked if she'd coached Lexa on that, but Clarke just shook her head that she hadn't. "Also, she thinks my story is awesome and can't wait until I finish it."

This caught both Clarke and Abby by surprise. Avery hadn't shown her story to anyone but Clarke. Jake had tried and begged to see it, but Avery would never let him. Abby hadn't tried as hard as her husband, but she was still curious. "You showed her your story?"

"Yeah, she thought it was really cool."

"The story you've never shown to anyone but your mother?" Abby tried again. Clearly her daughter wasn't the only one smitten by this girl.

"Well, she's mom's girlfriend," she told them like that just made perfect sense. And maybe to Avery, it did.

Clarke made a noise like she was trying to clear her throat. She was giving herself some time to figure out how to react. She knew how much of their real-life romance was in those pages she had helped her daughter write. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know Lexa's reaction.

"I felt very honored to see it. Avery is very talented," Lexa broke the small bit of silence. "I especially enjoyed the bit about the superhero finding the love of her life."

Clarke blushed. She'd helped her daughter put that very declaration in the main character's thoughts right after she realized she loved Lexa. "Yes, well. It seemed like a good direction to go in."

Lexa wasn't buying what Clarke was trying to sell, but she let her have it anyway. Watching her girlfriend turn red had been more than enough enjoyment. Instead she turned to Abby. "Clarke said they'd done some tests this morning, but she didn't tell me the outcome. You don't have to tell me if you don't want too," she finished. She wasn't sure if she was overstepping any boundaries.

"No, it's fine. You should know. Basically, my right leg, I can move it and I'm starting to get more feeling in it the longer I'm awake, but it still feels kind of numb." That was the good news.

"That's good," Lexa smiled. She had a feeling though that, that wasn't all of it. The way Clarke had mentioned it, she knew something was definitely not good.

"My left leg on the other hand I can't seem to feel at all. It's not paralyzed so that's a plus, but without feeling, I don't have much control of it either. It severely limits my mobility."

"It's possible with rehab she'll be able to walk again," Clarke continued. "The problem is she may never walk unassisted ever again."

"Can they figure out what's causing the loss of feeling?" Lexa asked. She knew the two women sitting in front of her had all the knowledge they needed to see where they would go from here, but she was totally clueless. It seemed so crazy that something so drastic had happened that had changed Abby's whole life so completely.

"They will keep running tests. We'll explore multiple options, but for now she'll have to use a wheelchair and maybe eventually a walker," Clarke answered.

Lexa felt so much sympathy for the other woman. She knew the implications of what Clarke was saying. Abby was mostly likely done with her career. She would no longer be able to stand on her feet to perform surgeries. She might still find work in the medical field eventually, but her days as a surgeon were over.

"I'm so sorry."

"It'll be fine. I'm alive, and I've got my girls," Abby smiled and pulled Avery into her again for a long embrace.

"Can I push you in your wheelchair?" Avery asked with a hint of excitement.

Maybe they shouldn't have had this conversation with her in the room, but again her innocence kept her from the full implications of what was happening. Clarke would forever be grateful of that.

"We'll see," was the only answer Abby gave her.

"Clarke, why don't you take Avery and go find some lunch for you all," Abby suggested.

"I can do that," Lexa offered. She wanted to be of some assistance and getting food seemed like the easiest job she'd found so far.

Abby shook her head no. "Clarke needs to get out of this room. Give herself a break from watching me like a hawk. If you haven't noticed she looks at my monitors every five minutes."

"I do not."

"You do, too. I'm guessing the first thing you probably did when you walked in this morning was check my chart."

Clarke tried to deny it, but she knew she was busted. Her mom did have a point. She could probably use a break and a little time alone with Avery wasn't a bad idea. What she couldn't figure out is what her mother's goal was in getting some alone time with Lexa. She just hoped she wouldn't regret it.

"Come on, Avery. We don't want to make grandma mad at us." She held out her hand which Avery took as soon as she was on her feet again. The two young blondes were already teasing each other as they headed out the door.

"Go ahead and sit down. I'm not going to interrogate you."

Lexa sighed in relief. She had almost followed the other two out of the room, but she had caught on quickly that Abby wanted a few minutes alone with her. She was nervous, but the other woman seemed calm, so she tried to be as well.

"Clarke told me you got quite the surprise when you got out here."

Lexa wasn't sure if she was supposed to respond so she just held her lips closed tight, but she did give a small nod in the affirmative.

"She said she did try to tell you though, before all this happened."

"She did, she was just about to say something and then the phone rang. I didn't know what she was going to say, but I wasn't expecting it to be that she had a daughter," Lexa admitted. Maybe talking to Clarke's mom about this wasn't a good thing, but maybe she had a perspective that Lexa didn't.

"Avery is the most precious thing in the world to Clarke. She loves that girl fiercely. I know it doesn't seem like it, under the circumstances, but she does. When they are together, they are two peas in a pod." Moments flashed before Abby's eyes as she thought back through the years. "The reason I wanted to talk to you alone is because I'm pretty sure you haven't really gotten to react. I'm happy that Clarke has you, especially someone who is willing to put their own feelings aside because she knows there's a bigger picture."

"I won't lie and say I understand this whole thing. There is a lot about it that I don't understand. But you're right. Right now, Clarke needs me to be there for her while she grieves. There will be time later to figure this all out. I love her, so we have all the time in the world."

Abby grinned when she heard that Lexa loved her daughter. She knew that Clarke had felt that way, but she was glad to know it wasn't one-sided. "When she does finally talk to you, don't be too hard on her. She became super protective of Avery after the whole ordeal with Lacy. I know there are things she hasn't told me about their relationship and I have a feeling it got a lot worse there in the end. I'm hoping though in time she'll at least be open to telling you."

"I kind of got the feeling there was a lot more to that story, too." Lexa was glad she wasn't the only one that Clarke had been holding things back from. Now, she worried though about what her girlfriend had endured to hold herself back like this. Clarke was so open about everything else, but it was like this one thing was under lock and key.

She could only hope that one day soon Clarke would be ready to tell her, and when that happened she told herself she would listen openly and try not to react badly.