This chapter is loosely based on "May We Meet Again" by Tinynerdsbrain. And yes, the first part is supposed to be a little confusing until we get to the big revelation.

I slip out of Elyza's arms and run off to my designated position. My heart wrenches. Why didn't I say it back? It's too late though. I bang on the pots and pans side by side, leading the horde to the intersection where everyone converges. My heart crawls into my throat. Elyza is late, she should be here by now with her portion of the walkers. Even the others are starting to get worried.

To my relief, her strikingly blond waves peep into my peripheral vision. It douses my panic.

-0-

I barely get a glimpse of Alicia as she backs up behind me. We all slowly edge onto the pier, moaning walkers shuffling after them. Behind the walkers, Madison and Elena lock the gate. Out of my peripheral vision I see Alicia, Strand, and Hector slipping out the side gate. They lock it and sprint off, but she hesitates and holds onto the wiring of the fence, peering through as if she's considering jumping in with me. The wind of the ocean blows around me, ghosting over my exposed arms. My leather jacket is back in the hotel room Alicia and I slept in last night.

I trust her, just like I trusted Lexa. I smile a little and start humming as I lead the giant mass of undead. I know she sees and hears it because she turns and sprints off down the beach towards the motorboat.

-0-

I desperately try to get the boat started and into position as Elyza starts getting further onto the pier. Her blond hair whips in a beautiful fashion. She stood up like a beacon within the eye of a storm. Her smile is ingrained in my mind. The damned engine isn't starting, the waves aren't cooperating, and none of us are used to working together. I try to stave off the fear that we will be too late, that I have just left Elyza to her death. I can't accept that. I can't accept that I have failed because that would be even worse than my greatest regret.

-0-

I watch as they struggle to get the boat into place. Oddly it is calmness that permeates my limbs. For once I am not crying or struggling to hold on to life. I know that my job is done no matter what and that Alicia will be safe in this hotel. I no longer owe anything to my people. The weight on my shoulders are gone, the wind that whips past me is refreshing instead of cutting. My hair flows free with the wind.

I will have fulfilled my vow, by giving myself to secure the hotel for Alicia. For Alicia's loved ones. Her needs as my own, her friends and family as my own. They will all be safe. I close my eyes, letting the calmness wash over me.

Live the rest of your life well, Alicia. The one that Clarke Griffin could not give Lexa.

-0-

Finally, we get the boat started and we zoom off through the tide to approximately where Elyza will jump off. I glance up to see Elyza at the opening and she is just standing there. Why? Why isn't she jumping off? "C'MON ELYZA." It rips from my throat in fear. She looks content. Is she giving up? She never gives up. After all she is...

-0-

"KLARK KOM SKAIKRU!" It rings out in the air over the crashing of the waves. My heart seizes and my eyes pop open. Whipping around, I see her on the boat. She looks beautiful with her hair whipping around her, green eyes looking at me with desperation, hope, love, and all those unspoken things. She knows. I cannot resist the attraction and I find myself turning on my heel and sprinting off the pier with a leap. The air rushes past my face, and blows my hair back. She is my magnet. She is home. She is...

-0-

"Lexa", Clarke gasps as I pull her onto the boat, only loud enough for me to hear. I pull her to me, both of us collapsing on the floor of the boat ungracefully. It doesn't matter because I have spent so long pushing this off because I was scared of the lifetime of memories and attachments it came with. I hold her in my embrace and whisper in her ear, "Ai hod yu in, Klark." Now that I have given in though, it feels so right.

It doesn't matter how wet we get as I hold her. The boat coasts back to land and I step off first, holding out a hand to her. She takes it and doesn't let go. The entire way back up to our room is silent, our hands clasped together. It feels like there's suddenly a new meaning to it. Every step drags on for an eternity. There's so much to explain, to talk about.

When the door finally closes I watch as Clarke-, no Elyza turns around slowly. "How?"

-0-

I am in a trance as we enter our room. There was no possible way Lexa had time traveled like me. In my time she was dead. I had confirmed it myself. "How?" I ask her. My voice shakes like a rickety shack in the middle of a storm. I couldn't believe it. Lexa was right here within Alicia.

"It all came to me in flashbacks", she explains. Her green eyes are like wells, of pure emotion. A thousand feelings flit through them, written in her eyes. Within those emotions is restraint. In other words, the signature Lexa.

I take another step towards her so that we're oh so close. "When?"

She barely whispers it. In fact it's more like a breath let out, as if it's something sacred that shouldn't be said too loudly. "A long time." Her green eyes hold mine unwaveringly, and her chin juts upward proudly. She quirks her eyebrow as if daring me to step forward again, daring me to do something; hold her or kiss her, maybe.

Challenge accepted. I step forward and pull her into my arms, and she hugs me back, resting her chin on my shoulder as I stroke her hair. It is as if there is no hurry in the world with her and I in this room. Together we are the eye of a storm. After a while I murmur, "When?"

"Starting from my thirteenth birthday." Of course. That was the year Lexa won the conclave and ascended. How awful was it for Alicia to be alone as a girl, with a troubled father and a mother who never gave enough attention, while she dealt with memories of another lifetime?

I press a light kiss to the top of her head. She's so warm and alive. I had just learned to accept that Alicia and Lexa were separate, and now I was finding out that they were both within this precious vessel.

Alicia is the one to pull away first. She looks up at me with sincerity, her eyes wide like a doe's. "I'm sorry it took me so long. I just wanted to be a normal teenager for a little longer. You have to understand, eighteen years changes a person a lot. I'm more Alicia than I am Lexa."

She is pulled taut like a string. Alicia waits for judgement, for rejection. Except I love both of them and the absolute absurdity of me ever rejecting either of them makes me chuckle, "Sweetheart, I don't think I heard what you said on the boat. Mind repeating it?" It's a good change of topic, but more than that I want to be greedy and hear it again. I never got to hear it in our other life together.

A blush spreads on Alicia's cheeks. "You asshole. You know exactly what I said!"

My cheeks hurt with how hard I grin in response, "I might, but I think I deserve to hear it again even if I did. If only to make up for the amount of times you told me 'I'll always be with you'"

Even Alicia can't help smiling back, her eyes twinkling. I've always gotten lost in her eyes. "I was right though. I've always found my way back to you."

"Yeah, after you leave me all by myself," I scoff playfully. I could never blame Alicia nor Lexa for what happened.

"Okay, but did you die?" Alicia shoots back with a raised brow. The way it arches on her face makes her all the more beautiful.

I nuzzle Alicia's neck (how does she smell so good even in a zombie apocalypse?), wrapping my arms around Alicia and sneaking my hands to her bottom. "Luckily not, so I can now do this." Then with a playful tug, I pull Alicia closer by the ass.

Alicia yelps in surprise and half-heartedly tries to push me away. "Hey! You pervert." The way I can get to her is so priceless I don't want to stop.

A knock sounds on the door and Madison's voice sounds through it, "You okay, honey?"

Alicia grins and whispers, "Watch this." The way her breath washes over my ear makes me shiver. She cranes her neck so that her voice projects towards the door, rolling her eyes and letting annoyance slip into her tone. "Yeeessss Mom. Jeez, I'm not a helpless kid anymore."

Alicia's display lightens my heart. She gets to be the teenager and child that Lexa never got a chance to be.

Madison answers with a sigh and an, "Okay." Footsteps thump back down the hallway.

Alicia turns back to me and ghosts her fingertips over her jaw, gaze dropping to Elyza's lips. The breath is sucked out of my lungs. The way her gaze can change from exasperation to sultriness gives me whiplash. "Now… how about we talk about something else?"

I smile slyly at her attempt to flirt. "We don't have to talk at all, sweethe-" I don't get to finish before Alicia shuts me up with her lips. Not that I'm complaining. She makes sure I have no room to complain the rest of the entire night.

End Note:

I really hope you all know what I'm referencing with the

"You left me there all by myself!" -Eliza Taylor

"Okay but did you die?" - Alycia Debnam-Carey