A/N: Part 1 of the camping storyline! There will be at least a part 2.

Because a few reviews have brought this up I thought I'd address it. I try to write stories that are a true to life as possible. So yes it is a Clexa story, but it's about them as people as well as a couple. So yes Tom will be mentioned, he is Avery's father. And because she found out she was pregnant, Clarke never really dealt with his death the way she should have, so that's being brought back up now that she's lost her father too. Real life is messy and things don't always happen when we want them too.

So for all of you still reading this wild ride... I thank you. And I do appreciate all your comments even if I don't respond, I try to, but life gets in the way sometimes. So again I say THANK YOU.

Chapter 35

Startled awake by a shake to the shoulder, Clarke was surprised to find her daughter standing next to her bed. It was a rare sight indeed that she wasn't the first one awake. "Hey sweetheart," she whispered. "How are you awake so early?"

"It's camping day," Avery squealed not nearly as quietly as her mother.

Before Clarke could scold Avery, Lexa rolled over and cuddled into Clarke, wrapping an arm around her stomach. She'd woken up to the creak of the door. "Morning kiddo," Lexa greeted. She looked over Clarke's shoulder to see the time on the alarm clock. It was almost an hour before they needed to be up. "Come lay down with us," she invited.

"But we need to get ready," Avery insisted.

Clarke tugged on one of Avery's arms and pulled her onto the bed with them, the young girl easily being guided. "We still have a little while before we need to be up. Your aunt and uncle won't be here for another couple of hours."

Begrudgingly, Avery rolled over and curled into her mother's front. Clarke couldn't resist a kiss to her daughter's forehead. "Get some more sleep if you can. It's going to be a long day." She felt a nod on her chest. She was not even surprised that Avery fell back asleep. It was way to early for her baby girl.

She felt Lexa also fall back asleep on her shoulder, but now she was awake and was unlikely to fall back asleep herself. She closed her eyes anyway and tried to just enjoy the moment of having both of her girls there with her. A feeling she wondered if she'd ever get to have.

She couldn't help the doubt that would creep in at times, telling her that someday Lexa would leave. It was a lot to ask of anyone, take on the responsibilities of a parent, especially when you had been kept in the dark for so long.

She tried to even her breathing and slowly felt herself calm down. Maybe she'd be able to at least rest her eyes for a little longer, even if she never fell back to sleep.

The alarm going off and hour later managed to startle all three of them. "Go take a quick shower," Clarke nudged Avery. When her daughter looked like she might argue, she followed it up with, "just because you're going to get dirty doesn't mean you need to leave the house that way. Your hair needs to be washed."

Avery grumbled but she left the room to do as she was told. Clarke and Lexa took their shower together, no real time to enjoy it though since they didn't have time, but it was nice to have even a little bit of alone time.

Lexa was the pretty much ready to go, she just wanted to braid her hair to help keep it nice during their trip. She had just finished up when Avery made her way into their room. Her hair was still pretty wet from her shower, so Lexa signaled her to take a seat where she'd just been sitting.

Years of braiding her own hair helped her make quick work of Avery's. She split it up into several small ones. "This way you won't really have to worry about your hair while we're gone."

"Where did you learn that?" Avery asked curiously.

"When I was a couple years older than you, I got to spend a few weeks at a summer camp for foster kids."

"Mom said you'd never been camping, just slept outside sometimes as a kid."

Lexa bent down and not so quietly whispered in Avery's ear. "I haven't actually told your mom that story."

"What story?" Clarke asked as she made her way back into the bedroom. She was mostly ready to go now. They all just needed to get their stuff down to her car.

With a smirk, Lexa bent down to Avery's ear again. "Our secret."

"What's your secret?" Clarke all but demanded.

It was cute in Lexa's opinion, but she'd tease Clarke for a little while longer at least. It wasn't a huge story anyway. It was just a little fun since she'd led Clarke to believe she'd never been camping either. Although she had mentioned sleeping in the woods a couple times, so she'd hinted.

"You guys are so mean," Clarke pouted when she realized they weren't going to give it up.

Lexa grabbed her bags and plopped a kiss on Clarke's lips as she headed for the door. "Don't worry babe, I'll tell you eventually." She laughed as she left the room.

With a huff, Clarke grabbed her own bags. "Go grab your stuff, little one. Let's get the car loaded. Trish and Luke should be here soon."

They managed to get everything loaded up just as the Bennett's truck pulled up. Lexa helped guide Luke as he backed up to the trailer and made quick work of getting it all hooked up to the hitch and then they were on their way.

It would take them several hours to get to their destination, so Clarke turned on the radio and pumped up the volume as they sung along to everyone's favorite tunes. She'd made a playlist of all of their go to songs and included a few old classics that no one could stop themselves from belting at the top of their lungs. No road trip would be complete without a little Spice Girls, and throw in Barbie Girl for good measure.

About half way there, Trish called from the other car to inform them Tommy was getting super bored of the driving. Luckily for them all Lexa had a surprise for them all. When they found a place to stop, she pulled out the purchase she'd made at the sporting goods store the week previous. Four brand new walkie talkies. They had good range so if they group split up at any point that week they would be able to easily contact the other. But she had a hunch it might come in handy on the drive to which is why she didn't bury it.

It took several minutes to teach Tommy how to use it, but he spent the remainder of the drive talking back and forth with Avery. Lexa had even purchased a some books, two of each, because she knew how much Tommy loved reading with his big cousin.

They made a short stop for lunch but other than that the rest of the drive went without a hitch and they made it to the campground just a little later than their original plan. Still there was enough hours in the day left to get everything set up.

They started with the trailer first and got it all popped up and the electricity going. Tommy tried to 'help' his dad, but he only marginally succeeded. Trish and Clarke started unpacking the food they'd purchased into the small fridge and cupboards in the trailer. They left the drink cooler just outside the door however, figuring that's probably where it will mostly be used.

Once they were done, they set out all the chairs and then kicked back to watch the rest of the group try to put up the actual tent. The tent itself had 2 rooms and was made to hold up to eight people. Clarke asked Trish why they'd purchased such a large tent up she only shrugged her shoulders.

"Look at them," Trish pointed and laughed as Luke and Lexa both tried to decipher the instructions. Tommy stood behind them begging for a job.

"Got a really important job for you, buddy," Luke told him. He held out the handful of stakes. "Hold on to these until we need these. They keep the tent from flying away." The look on Tommy's face was priceless and Clarke managed to capture it with her phone.

Clarke couldn't help but smirk into her soda as she watched Lexa bend over to begin sliding the pole through the tent's little sleeve. She would never deny that Lexa's behind was very nice to look at.

"Stop drooling," Trish smacked the back of her head. "There are children present."

"Oh like you aren't doing the same," Clarke shot back and they both turned to watch what Luke was doing. "We are two very lucky women."

"We are indeed," Trish agreed. "Actually, since everyone else is occupied at the moment, there's something I wanted to ask you."

"I am not telling you about…"

"No, not that," Trish laughed. She really should stop teasing Clarke about her sex life, but it was so much fun. She really saw the other woman as her little sister, so it was easy to get her riled up. She turned back and watched her husband and son again with a wistful look on her face. "We always wanted more kids," she started but then left it hanging.

"I know," Clarke prodded, not sure where this was going. Trish had met Luke shortly after Tom's death, but she'd been in such grief that she hadn't let him get close for a couple years, but they'd always talked about having at least a couple kids.

"We've tried to have more, but it just hasn't happened. But if you remember it took us awhile just to get Tommy."

Clarke did remember that. They'd started trying almost as soon as they'd gotten married but it had still taken another couple of years before she'd finally gotten pregnant.

"So, since it hasn't happened and medically for me it probably wouldn't be the best idea anyway, we've been talking about adoption."

Clarke's face snapped to Trish with a giant smile. "Really? That's awesome."

"So, in favor of the idea I see."

"Definitely. I think it's a great idea." Trish was no stranger to the system. She'd adopted Tom not long after gaining custody of him just to make sure no one could take him away from her. "And I'd love another niece or nephew to spoil."

The smile on Trish's face let Clarke knew she'd said the right thing. And it was true, she couldn't wait to for their family to grow.

"What about you," Trish nodded in Lexa's direction. "Any plans there yet?"

"We've talked about it, but no real plans. I just needed her here permanently first."

"Yeah, that would probably help."

The tent was pretty much up at that point, so they didn't get any further in their conversation because Lexa made her way over and took a seat on Clarke's lap. "Not sure these chairs are made for that babe."

"Are you saying I'm fat?" Lexa pretended to be offended.

Clarke smiled and placed a kiss on her lips. "Of course not. Just that these things are made of fabric, and fabric tends to rip at times."

"Sure," Lexa smiled. She took Clarke's drink from the cup holder and took a long gulp. "Ah much better. I was getting hot out there."

"You're always hot."

"Get a room," Trish swatted at them. Deciding it would be better to leave them to it, she got up and headed for the tent to see what her son thought of it.

"So, what were you talking about? Looked serious."

"Kids," was Clarke's only response. She wanted Lexa to stew over that for a moment, see if she got anything out of her. She also wondered if the conversation was supposed to stay between the two of them, but Trish never said, and she knew Clarke told Lexa everything. "They are talking about adopting."

"Oh, that's so cool. Any kid would be lucky to have them." Clarke smiled. Lexa didn't know the Bennett family that well, but she'd already been able to see how awesome they were.

"We've never really talked about your opinion on adoption," Clarke brought up. With Lexa having spent so many years as a foster child, she wondered what she thought of the idea.

"I was never one of those kids dreaming of being adopted. Maybe because I'd had my mom for so many years and thought that was what family was, so why bother going through it again. But as an adult, yeah I wondered what it would have been like to be raised with a good family," Lexa answered honestly.

"What would you think about doing that for other kids?" It's not something that had passed her mind often, but she wasn't opposed to adopting kids someday. She wanted to be pregnant at least once more when she wasn't a scared teenager. And she really wanted to experience it all with Lexa. But after that, she'd be willing.

Lexa mulled it over. Kids were something she'd only just started thinking about more recently. She hadn't really had time to decide how they would come to be though. "I guess I could see myself doing that."

Clarke wrapped an arm across Lexa to pull her closer. Lexa wasn't heavy, but she did have a lot of muscle. Thankfully the flexibility of the chair was making the position a lot more comfortable. "Maybe…," she started with a kiss, "a baby or two between us, then some adopted, or fostered. I'm not picky."

Lexa jerked back and looked down into the blue eyes she loved so much. "Just how many kids are we talking about here?"

"A dozen?" Clarke answered with a smirk. She was mostly kidding, but if they fostered she could see having at least that many cause they didn't always stay, or they aged out of the system quickly if they took in teens.

"Ambitious. Let's maybe start with one though and work our way up from there," Lexa answered. Clarke was making her think about the future more and more and each time it made her happy. She couldn't wait to see what they accomplished together.

"Your daughter wants me to sleep in the tent with her tonight. She claims it just for tonight because Tommy will be in the other room with Luke just to see if he'll stay. But I think she's a little worried too."

"So, she asked you?" Clarke wasn't upset, she was simply curious.

"I believe she knows where you stand on the subject," Lexa teased. "It's fine with me if you're okay with it."

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll miss you though. Maybe I'll just sleep with Trish," Clarke smirked when Lexa lightly punched her shoulder. "Not like that you dirty mind." She had to goad her girlfriend for ditching her. "Now get off me!" she lightly pushed the other woman off her. "Need to get things ready for dinner."

"Are we just doing hot dogs?"

"Yeah but need to get everything out and need to figure out where we but the camp forks. Will you go tell Luke to get the fire started?"

"Yep," Lexa gave her a quick kiss. "Love you, you know?"

"Love you too. Now help me out before we have two grouchy munchkins."

"Yes, ma'am," Lexa saluted.

Clarke just laughed as she watched her girlfriend crawl into the tent to find Luke. It was going to be a fun week.