Part 4
One Month Later
"Raven, I need your help." Lexa suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Raven spun around, startled. "You are a jerk. You scared the shit out of me. You don't need to sneak up on people."
"Sorry, old habit," Lexa grinned.
Raven was finding Lexa perplexing. She had always regarded Lexa as 'The Commander.' Sure, she knew that Lexa had had a soft spot for Clarke all those years ago, but Raven had only ever dealt with Lexa as Commander; the tough-as-nails, no-nonsense leader of the Grounders. Suddenly, Lexa was letting others lead, particularly Raven. She was doing what Raven told her to do without comment. They had been back for a month now and Raven always assumed that at some point in the near future Lexa and Clarke would take over. Some days she desperately wished they would. Raven was worried she would mess up.
"Can I get your help with something?" Lexa asked again, pulling Raven out of her thoughts.
"Sorry! Sure. What do you need?" Raven asked.
"I want to ask Clarke to… 'marry' me? We don't call it that. Our traditions are different from yours. I need you to tell me how to do this using your traditions; Clarke's traditions."
A grin broke out on Raven's face, "Of course I will help you! It really isn't all that hard. You need a ring that fits her third finger. You will need an idea for a great proposal. And then just get down on one knee."
Lexa's face showed her confusion.
"We should get Miller or Jackson or both to help," Raven mused. "Be back here tomorrow. Same time. We will help you come up with a great proposal."
"Wouldn't it be better to have less people know about it?" Lexa asked, pursing her lips.
"I mean, I wouldn't tell Echo, incurable romantic that she is, but Miller and Jackson can keep a secret."
Lexa's eyebrows furrowed, "Echo?"
"I'm kidding. It was a joke," Raven said flatly.
"I will see you tomorrow," Lexa said, shaking her head. She hoped she wasn't wrong asking Raven for help.
The next morning Lexa showed up with trepidation. Miller, Jackson and Raven were all there. Miller and Jackson had ridiculous smiles plastered on their faces. Lexa looked at them, somewhat harshly. Both men's smiles faltered. Good, Lexa thought, because she didn't want either one too overconfident.
"First, you will need a ring. A long time ago, the ring would have a diamond or some other precious stone. Now, a band is fine. I can help there. We can even make sure to add some intricate design, if you want."
Lexa nodded, "How do we make sure it fits?"
"I can help with that. I will have her help me with… something. She will never know," Jackson said.
"Then you have to come up with some elaborate way to propose on one knee. Miller, show her what I mean."
Miller smiled, turned towards Jackson and went down on one knee. He held up a small box with nothing inside, "Clarke, you are the love of my life. Will you marry me?" He asked.
Jackson, as Clarke, replied, "Yes!"
Miller stood and the two men kissed.
"Prior to that you have to do the elaborate thing," Raven explained. "Do you have any ideas of what you might do?"
"I am sure I can think of something," Lexa responded with certainty.
"It will take a little while to get the ring made. Then it is up to you, unless you want to do some really elaborate proposal that involves more of us?" Raven smiled hopefully.
"No," Lexa smiled. "Where is this bunker in relation to where Trikru's land was?"
"It is about two weeks on foot I think. But we don't really know what is out there. It has been over 250 years since everything was wiped out, but we don't know what has and hasn't come back. We don't know what predators exist. I wouldn't suggest traveling that far yet, at least not on foot," Raven said shaking her head.
"Do we have anything to get us there faster not on foot?"
"You mean horses? No, no one has seen horses here yet. It is too bad we don't have the motorbikes from Sanctum," Raven mused.
"Could we get the… motorbikes?"
"No." Raven answered quickly. Then her face changed, thinking. "You know, we probably could get the motorbikes. We will have to figure out a power source that is sustainable, but I think that is possible. Lexa, you're a genius!"
With that, Lexa could see she had lost Raven's attention. Raven had a problem to figure out and she would focus on that fully. Lexa left her to it because she knew it would help her need as well.
Lexa collected food for herself, Clark and Madi on her way back from Raven's. She had used that as her excuse for leaving that morning. Returning without food would definitely make Clarke and Madi suspicious.
While everyone in the group was getting more and more self-sufficient, they still cooked as a group above bunker. It made more sense for the group. She, Clarke and Madi even took turns preparing meals, albeit simple ones, for the group. Cooking was not a strength for any of them.
Madi had finally decided to take possession of the room Clarke had gotten ready for her about two weeks after the group had returned from transcendence. Clarke had worked hard to get the room just right. She had found a much better mattress to replace the bad one. She had also found a chair and a storage shelf. They had also found blankets, kitchen items, clothes for all three of them and other things needed to make it feel like a home.
Madi and Lexa had found a tentative connection. While there was no longer a need for learning to fight to go to war, the two liked to spar to keep in shape. They also enjoyed hunting together. Things were still awkward though, because Lexa had been in Madi's head.
Lexa made her way into the rooms carrying a pot of food, enough for the three of them. Clarke and Madi were sitting at the table, looking at books. They were studying plants. Clarke insisted they continue Madi's schooling since they could finally do so in peace. Madi put up with it because she knew it made Clarke happy to be able to just be a family. They no longer had the worries that had always hung so heavily over their heads.
The peace settling in Clarke's heart warmed Lexa's. The constant tension in Clarke's face and shoulders had eased tremendously in the month they had been together. She no longer looked constantly haunted. She had a future to look forward to that was safe. Lexa had a second chance to have Clarke. That was all she had ever wanted.
"I brought stew!" Lexa said with false delight. They had had stew far too often in the last month.
"Yippie," Madi said sarcastically.
How did teenagers learn that sarcastic tone without anyone teaching them, Lexa wondered?
"We do have rolls this time," Lexa said with actual delight. "I am not sure who made them."
"Sounds delicious," Clarke laughed. "The rolls anyway."
Lexa dished out food into three bowls and gave a bowl of stew and roll to Clarke and Madi, "Dig in!"
After breakfast, Clarke and Lexa were headed to work on helping collect and prepare lumber for the homes they were planning above ground. Everyone had to help with this. After two hours of chopping, both women always had blisters. It was not a fun job. It was, at times like these, that everyone wished there were a few more people to help and a few more tools to make it easier.
After Clarke finished her food, she rose, set her bowl in the sink and went to the bathroom. She returned with cloth wraps.
"What are those for?" Lexa asked.
"Our hands. I am hoping to lessen the number of blisters we get. Finish up so I can wrap your hands. Then you can wrap mine."
Several hours later, Lexa was struggling to focus on the job at hand. She kept glancing at Clarke. Clarke was down to a tank top; sweat glistening on her neck and shoulders. Lexa did not want to continue chopping trees. She could think of much better undertakings. She was focused on Clarke when she heard yelling from the encampment. It startled both of them, but was obviously excited yelling, not scared or worried yelling.
"What could be going on?" Clarke asked, confused.
"I don't know. Should we continue working or go check it out?" Lexa asked, hoping Clarke would choose the second option.
Clarke pondered only for a moment before nodding. "Let's check it out."
Clarke and Lexa trotted back to the encampment where they most of the group standing in a tight mass. When it opened enough to see, Lexa and Clarke saw what had stirred everyone up.
A young man, that looked familiar, stood there. Indra was pounding his back. She obviously knew him.
"Penn. What are you doing here?" She asked him.
"I decided Transcendence wasn't for me. When I was given the choice, I decided not to. So, I was given a choice or where to go and decided to come back to Earth.
"Didn't you have to make the choice right away?" Jackson asked, confused.
"I did. I was only there moments before choosing to return," Penn answered, perplexed.
"But we have been here for weeks and you just got here." Indra explained.
Raven cut it, "Time must work differently. Seconds there are weeks or possibly months here."
"So that means more and more people could appear over the next several months… or even years," Jackson pointed out.
"It does," Raven agreed.
All around, faces showed the wonder of that thought. Many of the people wondered just how many people might choose not to transcend.
"Well, Penn, welcome home. I will show you around. Teach you about what we are doing and how things work here. Let's go," Indra directed him. The others dispersed in small groups of two and three. Very little else was accomplished that day as everyone was focused on thinking about which others might show up after all.
Clarke, Lexa and Madi collected some lunch, since it was ready, and made their way to the riverbank to eat. They ate in silence. Each was contemplating what it meant for the small group to know that others, an unknown number of others, may show up and live in the community that was being built. No one was worried it would disrupt the peace. All the people had Transcended, except Clarke. After knowing that feeling, war and killing was not necessary.