A/N: That last chapter was mostly inspired by the fact that I had pneumonia when I was younger and tried to take a hot shower and did what Lexa did, and when I got out of the shower I nearly passed out lol. Lexa and I are both fine.

Chapter 10 – A Secret

That morning had been much better after Lexa had laid down again. Clarke had stayed with her the whole day, and as Lexa's fever had greatly reduced itself by that night, Clarke left to go back to her own apartment. It was with great effort that Lexa had to push her out the door, as her friend was fiercely protective of her and kept doing her best to make sure Lexa was really fine. Lexa knew Clarke needed to get her own work done and sleep in her own bed, though, so she insisted Clarke go with the promise of texting her the rest of the night and calling if anything came up.

Clarke visited her frequently as Lexa got back to normal health. She was glad that Clarke's mother had come over and given her medicine, as she certainly seemed to get back to normal a lot faster than Anya. Lexa knew Anya had Raven to take care of her if anything, but figured, now that she was up and feeling much better, that she might pay her suffering sister a visit.

If she remembered anything from when they were kids, it was that her sister was extremely miserable when she didn't feel good, even more so than Lexa, so she got up that morning and brought with her one of Anya's favorite candies to her apartment. When they were kids, Anya rarely got sick, but the few times she did, she would be pleased by very few things. One of these things was chocolate, and the more chocolate put in Anya's mouth, the less angry words left it. The sugar would put her in a haze and relax her, only to lead to a nap. Lexa reminded herself to tell Raven of the candy's mysterious powers later.

She walked up the steps of a three-story brick apartment building and used her key to get through the front door. Thankfully, Anya lived on the first floor of the place, so Lexa didn't have to exert the extra energy to climb any more stairs. That cold or flu or whatever it was that attacked her system left her feeling wiped out, but she was glad for the fresh air from the walk. Well, outside had felt fresh. Anya's building was alright but the hallway consistently held a faint stale smell of cigarettes and a certain greener kind of smoke, despite the no-smoking signs posted on the billboard. She knocked softly on a white door listed as apartment #103, decorated with a few black bike tire marks from the previous tenant.

Sounds of shuffling were heard on the other side of the door, and a tired-looking Raven greeted her and held the door open for her. She was scowling when the door cleared, but a look of relied seemed to pass over her features and she held her arm out for Lexa to pass. They shared a look of understanding and a glance to the left. Lexa saw Anya on the couch under a small pile of tissues as Lexa had been the other night, nose red and deep scowl over a bowl of soup.

"Got your hands full, don't you?" Lexa whispered to Raven.

"Nothing I can't handle," Raven sighed. "I have to leave in a bit to get some stuff from my apartment but I'll be back tonight." The dark circles under her eyes were pitiable, but Lexa admired the fact that Raven was still standing. Clarke had led her to believe Raven was an impatient person, yet she had been in Anya's apartment for at least several days with someone she knew to be a huge pain in the ass and hadn't stormed out yet.

"You deserve a break. Take as long as you need," Lexa nodded sympathetically.

"Bless you." Raven sighed gratefully and dramatically clasped her hands together before moving to take one of Anya's cups to the sink.

"What are you two talking about over there," Anya said in a gravelly voice, none too thrilled that she wasn't being included in the conversation. She had set down her soup and was scowling at Lexa now instead.

"Heads up," Lexa ignored her and took the candy bar out of her purse to throw towards Anya.

Anya caught the bar with better reflexes than Lexa would've expected given her current state, and her whole demeanor seemed to brighten just a little. She eagerly ripped open the wrapper and glanced back at Lexa. She could tell her sister was grateful, but she wasn't the kind of person who was going to verbally acknowledge those feelings. Anya did show it in her own way when a few tissues were brushed off the couch in the seat adjacent to her blanket nest. "You may sit."

"Wow, so kind," Lexa feigned awe. She knocked off another tissue and sat down to put Anya's feet on her lap. The heat radiating off her sister was noticeably warm. "How you holding up? Did you get meds?"

"Sure did," Anya nodded with eyes closing with a bite of her chocolate. They didn't reopen.

"Please tell her that drinking a bottle of cough syrup does not count as taking care of herself," Raven shouted from the next room, trying to be heard over the water running and clanking of dishes.

Lexa looked comically into the distance for a moment, not about to let her know that she herself had thought that was a method that seemed to work well enough. Clearly, Anya hadn't drank enough. Looking back at her sister, Lexa realized her eyes had opened again and caught her worried look. Anya rolled her eyes. "Oh, it's fine. I went to the doctor's last night and got real antibiotics."

"That's what I like to hear," Lexa sighed and patted the appendage nearest her. She settled into the couch, leaning back a little to watch the television and got lost in her thoughts. Clarke and Lexa had also been watching the same Netflix show the other day when she'd been bedridden. It kept striking Lexa funny how similar she and her sister actually were when she thought they were so different at the same time.

The sisters chatted for a bit, comparing the extremes of their flu symptoms while Raven was gathering her things and finishing putting away clean dishes. Anya had soon closed her eyes again and was slowly answering back, and pretty soon Lexa turned her head to find that the replies stopped completely due to Anya's lack of consciousness. Rarely did she see her sister so relaxed. Well - while the red nose, swollen eyes, and beginnings of drool didn't exactly exude a peaceful aura, Anya certainly looked a lot less pissed off when she was asleep. It was a well-deserved nap indeed.

Some 20 minutes later, Lexa opened her eyes to the sound of a door closing and realized she'd fallen asleep as well, succumbing to the heat of the blanket Anya and her now both shared. Raven must've covered her – there was a note on the table and some meds within reach.

How sweet, Lexa thought. It warmed her heart that Anya had someone who was thoughtful and cared enough to want to make her feel better even through the grumpiness Lexa had witnessed firsthand whenever her sister felt ill. It usually made everyone steer clear of Anya's bedside for at least a week after any cold. Consequently, Anya was used to taking care of herself during these times, but Lexa couldn't stop thinking that it was surprisingly sweet that she'd allowed Raven to help. She respected Raven for being strong enough to handle her sister, no small feat in and of itself.

She smiled to herself. Clarke had taken care of Lexa when she felt ill like that. Clarke was sweet.

Lexa stretched and reached forward to read the note. She rubbed her eyes, still a little foggy from sleep, brain a little groggy from the end of the cold.

"Feel better, you two! Texted you," it read. Short and sweet. A little winky face was drawn at the bottom. Lexa smirked. Cute.

Not realizing that the message was meant for Anya and not herself, Lexa patted around half-heartedly to find her phone that must've sunken into the couch. She reached under the blanket amongst crumbs and bits of forgotten things, until her fingers stretched out and met cool metal. Dragging her fingertips along it, the phone slowly gave way and released itself from the cushions into her hands, still clammy from her nap.

Her thumb pad brought the screen to life and she squinted at the sudden brightness. She blinked at the screen and the unfamiliar contact name (with certain accompanying (inappropriate) emojis) and briefly glanced at the message before realizing with a sinking feeling she'd accidentally picked up Anya's phone. She hadn't even noticed the wrong screensaver underneath the minutes-old notifications.

Oh, she shouldn't even be holding this phone. Anya was sure to wake up any second and catch Lexa appearing to go through it, and the feeling made Lexa as jumpy as a younger sister could feel. However, she was still holding the phone, frozen in place. Lexa merely blinked again because her eyes had caught Clarke's name in one of the messages. They were from Raven, to Anya.

Lexa was decidedly not the nosy type, but this particular text sent one hell of a shiver down her spine. Rereading it, her eyes widened and she swore her heart skipped two or three, or maybe five beats because it started palpating to catch up. She felt heat on her cheeks and reread the messages on the lock screen a third and fourth time, making sure her eyes weren't betraying her.

Sufficiently satisfied that the texts would be burned into her mind forever, her hand dropped the phone unceremoniously right back where it was, hastily covering it with the blanket again to let Anya find her phone. She was awash with guilt, an uncomfortable feeling creeping into her limbs and down to her toes for having accidentally (or, not so accidentally) read a message that wasn't intended for her. Something her eyes weren't meant to see. An invasion of privacy.

And then, guiltily, graciously, a second feeling poured into her. One of sinful hope.

Oh, this was bad.

And yet… Lexa couldn't stop replaying the words over and over in her head like a record.

In order, the texts had read:

"Falling asleep in the middle of our convo? Nice one, sleepy. Wake up and eat!" 2hr 30m ago

"Oh! To answer ur q, I don't really have a set label I ID as yet. But it's totally okay that you asked." 47 min ago

"But I know I like girls, and I know I like you," 46m ago

Now, accidentally reading these texts had Lexa feeling a bit guilty. It was a private conversation between the two of them that Lexa honestly didn't have any part in. But what had caught her eye was the last text in particular. This last text had her feeling a million different feelings at once, and Lexa wasn't sure she could settle on just one. Was the feeling one of wanting to crawl under a hole for finding out a secret not meant for her to know? Yes. Was it one where she felt as shocked as if the information grew a sentient hand and smacked in the face? Yes. Was it one that made her want to lift the blanket over her head and wait until face felt like it wasn't on fire anymore? Yes. Was it one where she felt like she could run twenty miles and not stop smiling the whole time? Also yes. Every feeling at once was all extremely confusing.

The last text before Raven had admonished Anya for falling asleep again before saying goodbye had read:

"I don't think I'm bisexual tho, not like Clarke. Anyway, let's talk when you're fully conscious." 42m ago

Bisexual. Like Clarke.

Lexa decided she was going to go with the whole hiding-her-head-under-the-blanket thing. Seemed like a good way to stop her face from catching fire.

A/N: Hi… Back from the grave because I only seem to be able to write after breakups. Funny, right? I was just in like the best relationship and now I am a poor heartbroken lesbian who needs to get her entire life together and is going to be going through an entire turnover of her life. I've been depressed about it but hey… I'm trying to look on the bright side. Please be gentle w me and reviews and such, I need so much kindness rn.

ALSO y'all gave me an absolute outpouring of love the last few chapters and I can't tell ya enough how much it meant to me. Life kinda gets in the way of me writing, but I hope you still enjoy this story, loves. xo