A/N: So there was a teeny cliffhanger at the end of the previous chapter… Whoops. #sorrynotsorry

Diving more into the characters this time round. (Sorry, you guys know I like my angst.)

Disclaimer: I do not own The 100 :(

CHAPTER 2

For the first time in a long time, Clarke went to work in a bad mood. After Raven's stunt the previous night at the club, she was more than willing to go an entire day giving her the much-deserved silent treatment. Clarke had been fuming the entire way back to her apartment after storming out of the club, not even bothering to engage in a five-minute conversation with Raven's surprise guest.

She had only fallen asleep after drinking a bottle of wine. Her heavy partying days in college still held her in good stead so instead of a raging hangover, she had a lingering headache that was easily dealt with by two painkillers and some coffee.

The sun had barely crested the horizon when she walked in through the staff entrance to the gym. Clarke closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath before walking into the locker room and methodically went about getting herself ready for her morning shift.

Familiar footsteps behind her caused her to momentarily freeze as she applied a thin layer of eyeliner.

"Clarke," Raven began in a quiet tone.

The glare she received in return prompted her to wisely shut her mouth and Raven looked down, silently going about her own business.

Still fuming, Clarke perfected her simple make up and slammed her locker door closed, stalking out of the room without a word. She accidentally knocked shoulders with Anya, but was too pissed to even bother with an apology.

"Whoa!" Lexa heard Anya snap. "Watch it, Griffin!"

She clenched her jaw and simply stared at the back of her locker. As her best friend rounded the corner and entered their row of lockers, Anya faltered somewhat. Lexa had spent the rest of her ruined evening thinking of how she was going to make her best friend pay. Where she came from, no bad deed went unpunished and what Anya had pulled the previous night warranted a harsh reply.

Lexa was going to make her pay.

"Good morning, Anya," she said in her slow, calculated way. "I trust you slept well. We have a session scheduled at eleven am. Don't be late."

As Lexa stood up and walked past her best friend, she smirked to herself as she heard an audible gulp. Anya should be scared. Her nickname was an apt one and it was time that Anya remembered that her best friend status didn't warrant unfiltered control with Lexa's personal life.

Lexa furrowed her brow in frustration as she headed for Studio 4 and her first class of the morning. What had given Anya the impression that she had even wanted to see her? Lexa was fine. She was fine with just forgetting everything that had happened. She didn't need anyone reminding her of what opening herself up to the possibility of love and romance meant.

It just meant hurt. Inevitable hurt.

And Lexa was never going to let herself fall for that again.

Clarke was quietly eating her granola bar on her break in the small garden when Octavia found her.

"Griffin, would you be up for working a double today? Atom called in sick. Again."

Clarke shrugged. She sure as hell didn't have anything better to do. She wasn't anywhere close to the right frame of mind to be creative so being at home would have probably just festered her anger.

"Sure, no worries," she replied.

"Excellent." Octavia turned to go, but paused. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy."

Octavia sighed. "Whatever is going on between you and Reyes, just make sure it doesn't boil over at work."

Clarke rolled her eyes. "Sir, yes, sir."

"You and I have never had any problems so let's not start now, Griffin."

As much as she wanted to roll her eyes again and spit out a sarcastic comment, Clarke just nodded, keeping her eyes on the artificial grass underneath her feet.

"Take another break between two and three before you start your next shift."

"Gotcha," Clarke mumbled, throwing the other half of her breakfast into the trash as Octavia walked away.

She hated being at odds with Raven, but she was still really upset at her best friend's subterfuge. She'd simmered from being pissed to being really hurt. She didn't need to revisit history that had gone bad. It wasn't like Raven would even have arranged for Finn to show up so why the hell would she do that with Niylah?

Clarke knew that her brief relationship with Niylah wasn't a good idea as soon as they'd entered into it. She'd just come out of a two-year relationship with Finn and wasn't in the right frame of mind to dedicate her heart to someone else. She was still trying to repair it.

Still, the sex had been great and Niylah was a distraction from her fucked up love life. The break-up had been difficult, purely because Niylah had started to develop real feelings for Clarke, which were never going to be reciprocated.

Only their break-up didn't really signify the end of their relationship. Stupidly, Clarke had still hooked up with Niylah after that. Once every few weeks, when wither of them were feeling lonely, they would text one another and spend the night together. And every morning she woke up with Niylah next to her, Clarke swore that it would be the last time.

The last time had, in fact, been about five months ago, on the anniversary of her dad's death. She'd been woken up by a phone call from her mother and Clarke had rushed to be with her, feeling wracked with guilt that she'd been too wrapped up in her own problems to even call or text her mom on a day that they both struggled with. She'd spent that weekend with her mom and had returned home with a renewed purpose of the kind of person she wanted to be.

Niylah had understood, or so she'd thought. Clarke's mind wandered back to the previous night where she could clearly see the emotions swirling in Niylah's eyes. She still wanted Clarke and while Clarke certainly found Niylah attractive, she wanted more than someone to warm her bed. Niylah wasn't the one that Clarke was going to build a lasting relationship with. She knew herself well enough to know that.

She'd also thought that Raven had known her better than that too.

Evidently not.

Anya hit the mat with a loud, extended groan. Lexa smirked and flexed her fists, the tap stretching tightly across her knuckles.

"Jesus, Lex." Anya stood up slowly. "I know you're pissed, but-"

Lexa didn't give her a chance to finish before she attacked again. Anya defended as best as she could, but Lexa got her into a choke hold and waited until Anya tapped out, which was disappointingly quick.

She allowed her sparring partner a small reprieve after that, knowing that she was being much harder than she normally would. In her mind, however, the punishment fit the crime.

Lexa walked to the side of the mat where she had her water and towel. She dabbed the sweat on her neck. As much as she enjoyed sparring with Anya, she could feel that she was going much harder at it than normal. She drank some water before controlling her breathing and turning back to her opponent. To Anya's credit, she was already waiting, a determined gleam in her eyes.

Lexa cocked her head slightly before advancing. They parried punches and kicks, blocking and deflecting, ducking and rolling all over the mat. Anya made the mistake of, once again, leaving her left side open to attack and Lexa didn't hesitate in taking it. Her friend wheezed as she hit the mat. Lexa just watched her.

"Lex, I'm sorry," Anya groaned. "I thought-"

"You thought wrong," Lexa cut in icily, her eyes narrowing. "Get up."

Anya stared at her from the floor, breathing heavily. They shared a few moments of steely silence before Anya managed to surprise Lexa by kicking out at her from the floor. She recovered quickly and had no problems holding her own once Anya was upright again. A few people had paused at their room to watch the sparring. It didn't even phase Lexa and Anya, who acted like they were the only two people in the gym at that moment. Their eyes never left each other as they each calculated their next move. Their daily sparring sessions were a scheduled fixture in the gym and the owners let them use one of the glass studios so that the members could watch them if they so desired. They had found that Lexa's classes were as full as they were partly because of the sparring sessions.

Lexa was her own walking advertisement. And she was damn good at it.

In all the training that Lexa ever had, she remembered one clear rule: Don't allow your emotions to fuel your fight. The opposite proved true for her. The majority of the time, Lexa kept her emotions hidden away. When she fought, they became her drive, her passion and they made her the best. Her MMA trainer back in college had always said that she could go professional, but Lexa didn't want the world to see her expressing her emotions. That was way out of her comfort zone. In her gym, in an environment that she controlled, she could fight and know that anyone who saw her wouldn't be able to figure anything out.

She did an impressive back flip to avoid Anya's slice kick and when she landed, a pair of blue eyes unwillingly captured her attention for the briefest of moments. Lexa took two deep breaths, unable to look away until she felt gravity doing what it did best.

She frowned as her view suddenly became the ceiling of their sparring room and she cursed herself internally. Anya was quick to take advantage and manoeuvred herself to grip Lexa is an unbreakable hold.

A hold that Lexa herself had taught her.

The embarrassment was overwhelming.

Yet, even as Lexa reluctantly tapped out, her eyes found those of the magnificent Clarke Griffin, who had a strange look of indifference on her face. It made Lexa frown somewhat. In all the months that she'd known Clarke, there had always been the adorable fluster, the stammering of words and the biting of the lip that made Lexa want to-

She blinked, halting her train of thought. Thoroughly embarrassed at where her mind was going, she stood up quickly and gripped Anya's forearm as a professional courtesy of a good fight. She could tell that Anya was scrutinising her, but Lexa simply grabbed her stuff and walked out of the room, eager for a quick escape from things that were no longer in her control.

A few minutes later, as hot water cascaded down her back and over her face, Lexa's eyes scrunched up and she released a few tears of frustration. She needed to keep hold of the control, but she was still just a girl and she wasn't as perfect as she pretended to be.

Half an hour later, she walked back out onto the gym floor, the perfect picture of poise and control.

Two o'clock came and Clarke didn't waste any time heading to the locker room to change into her own gym clothes. She didn't want to work out in her uniform – not that the employees were allowed to do so. It seemed as though only the Commander and her sidekick were extended the privilege of working out while on the clock.

As Clarke tied her hair into a messy plait, she thought of the brief moment where the Commander had looked at her during the sparring session earlier. The way that her brow had crinkled slightly, as though she couldn't understand why she was there. Clarke had been walking back from her short break and the small crowd outside one of the studios had caught her attention. She'd seen Lexa and Anya sparring before, sure. They did it every day. But there was something different about the way they were dancing around each other. For the first time since Clarke had watched them in absolute amazement (there seemed to be no end to Lexa's level of perfection in Clarke's eyes), it had seemed as though there was actual intent behind the punches and kicks.

Clarke certainly felt intent on punching something. She took a breath and closed her locker, immediately heading for the rings.

"Heya, Clarke," Lincoln greeted with a smile. "I saw that you'd signed up for a session today. How are you?"

She knew that he was being genuinely friendly and she felt bad about taking her bad mood out on him. "Hey, Linc. I'm okay. Just need some venting."

Lincoln nodded knowingly. "Bag five is all yours."

Clarke smiled a tight smile and made a beeline for it. She grabbed strapping and quickly got herself ready. She didn't want to waste time prepping her hands when she could get some of her frustration out.

Punch.

The first one reverberated up her left arm. She grinned.

Punch.

Methodically, she went through the routine of warming her arms up. Once ready, she danced on her toes for a bit, and then let rip. She almost felt sorry for the bag, because she was really getting weight behind her punches. Clarke tuned everything else out and focused on releasing her anger into every punch.

Finn.

Punch.

Niylah.

Punch.

Raven.

Punch.

Raven again.

Punch. Punch.

Her dad.

Clarke's breath caught momentarily before she started pummelling the bag. She missed him terribly and when her emotions got the better of her, she really felt his absence. He was there one day and gone the next. She was robbed of the chance to say goodbye. She was robbed of the chance to tell him that she loved him. She was robbed of seeing his smile one last time. She was robbed of hearing him call her kiddo as he grinned and ruffled her hair. She was robbed and it made her even more mad.

She could feel the sweat pouring down her back, but her focus was deadly. Her arms continuously moved, never resting between punches. She moved her feet so that she would always be able to hit something.

"Clarke."

Reacting, Clarke spun around and swung. For a moment, she was horrified as she saw her fist connect Raven's jaw. The moment passed and she stood over her fallen friend, breathing heavily while Raven groaned and cradled her jaw.

"Griffin! Reyes!"

Clarke rolled her eyes as Octavia came stomping over. "I warned you not to let this boil over on the floor," she hissed.

"It was an accident, Octavia. She caught me by surprise," Clarke muttered, not really caring that she was being rude.

"Get her sorted out, Griffin. Since you are our resident First Aider, that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Sir, no, sir." Clarke mock saluted and walked off to the locker room. She could hear Raven following her. Once they got to the first aid room, she pointed to the bed, not bothering to say anything. Raven obediently sat down. She pulled gloves on and turned around.

Clarke had the decency to wince when she saw the extent of her damage. The skin had already started to bloom purple just along Raven's jawline. Her mother's training kicked in and although Clarke was mad, her hands became soft as she prodded along the bone, making sure that there were no fractures or breaks.

Raven, to her credit, held still for the most part. That was one thing that Clarke had always admired about Raven. She never showed feeling any pain. Whether it was from hiding it as a kid, Clarke wasn't sure. They'd been friends since college, but Raven hadn't opened up about what had happened to her when she was younger. Clarke understood that people felt the need to keep pain close to the chest. When she did that, she simply became angry and exploded.

She sighed in frustration and grabbed an ice pack from the freezer. Case in point. Raven knew how to press her buttons which was why she had felt so angry the night before.

"Clarke, I-"

"Don't speak," she interrupted, a quiet anger to her tone. "There are no breaks, but it will bruise and probably be quite tender for a while. As difficult as it is for you, moving your jaw will probably make the pain worse."

"Okay, but I just need-"

"You're not going to be a fucking martyr about this, Raven. Just do what I damn well say. I don't care what you have to say right now, I really don't. Whatever pig-headed plan you concocted last night was a total disaster. And if you didn't know that when you thought of it, then you really must not know me very well."

Raven grabbed her hand, even when Clarke made to pull it away. She held on tight, imploring Clarke with her eyes.

Clarke glared at her best friend, but stayed put. Raven squeezed her hand before letting it go and launched into rapid sign language. They had gotten really close with a deaf kid in college. He'd been in a few of their classes and between Clarke and Raven, they'd always made sure that he got the right notes from the class. They'd also both become pretty fluent at sign language.

I'm so sorry. Please let me explain why I did what I did, Raven signed.

Clarke raised an eyebrow expectantly. Fine, she signed back.

You've been happy the last few months and I thought that maybe it would be a good time for you to meet up with Niylah again. I know you liked her and you would never make the first move to take things more seriously with her so I thought that if I gave you a push, that you might feel that spark again.

Clarke wanted to punch Raven again. She shook her head in frustration. Even though she knew Raven's hearing was absolutely fine, she responded in sign out of habit. That is such bullshit. I told you that I wasn't serious about her, that our relationship was a mess from start to finish.

That was then. You've dealt with Finn and his crap. Yes, she was a rebound, but you did like her, right?

"It was purely physical, Raven!" Clarke shouted, feeling like her voice needed to convey her annoyance. "I never liked her enough to contemplate a long-term relationship. After everything that I told you last night about what I do want, that should have been clue enough. But no, when Raven Reyes wants to meddle, fuck the consequences."

Raven dropped her head. I messed up and I am so sorry. She enunciated the movement of every word to show that she truly meant it and Clarke's anger melted a little. But only a little. I want to see you happy. You are my best friend in the whole world, and you know that you are the only person that I have ever had to turn to when I need something. I want to be that person for you. I thought I was helping, but clearly not, and I apologise for that.

Clarke pulled her gloves off so that she could rub her forehead, feeling the start of a headache. Or it could be the return of her mild hangover.

"I'm sorry, Clarke," Raven said quietly.

Even the sharp look that Clarke sent her didn't stop her from continuing.

"You deserve happiness and I would love to be the one to point you in that direction. You've done so much for me, more than you even know, and I want to pay you back."

"Raven, Jesus. Friendship is not about repaying favours or some shit. Whatever I have done for you is because you're my friend, not because I want you to do something for me in return."

"Okay, my bad. I guess…" She sighed. "When I was younger, you got nothing without having to give something back. Nothing in life is free, right? I haven't met many genuinely nice and good people, but you…" She choked a bit and Clarke's eyes widened. Similar to not showing pain. Raven hardly ever cried or got sad.

"Clarke, you are the best person I know. You're gorgeous, inside and out. One day, you're going to find your soulmate and that's gonna be so amazing because I'll get to witness you shine even brighter than you already do. And I don't wanna sound self-deprecating or anything, but I never thought that I would ever get to be a part of something that wonderful and awesome. Since I met you, that's all my life has been and I could never thank you enough. So if I do something stupid like arrange a meeting between you and your ex in the hopes of you rekindling something, it's only because I want you to be as happy as you've made me."

Clarke bit her lip and swallowed the lump in her throat. Goddamn Raven, bringing out the emotional big guns that just break through any barrier she has.

"Fuck you, Raven," she whispered with a small glare. "You playing on my emotional heart strings was a low blow."

"Not intentional, I promise." Raven held her hands up in surrender. "I'm really sorry, Clarke."

The blonde sighed. "I know you are." She stepped forward and put her arms around Raven's shoulders. "You're forgiven because I know your heart was in the right place, but I'm still a little mad."

Raven nodded, her arms wrapping around Clarke's waist. "Understood. I'll keep my distance until you say otherwise."

"And please try not to talk. When that starts to swell, you're gonna sound ridiculous." Clarke kissed Raven's hair before stepping away. "I'll go and smooth things over with Octavia. It's almost time for the end of your shift. I'll cover for you. Go home, Reyes. Take some painkillers and keep that jaw iced."

Raven saluted and kissed Clarke's hand in parting. She hopped off the bed and headed straight for the locker room.

"Fuck me," Clarke breathed into the small room, tossing the scrunched up gloves into the bin.

A familiar voice answered unexpectedly from the door, "Well, normally I go for brunettes, but since you asked so nicely…"

A/N: Yes, I like cliffhangers. You're welcome.