AUGUST 1863

It grew hotter as summer wore into its later months. Lexa, a squad of scouts accompanying her, passed through Clarke's land, warning her of grassfires to the south.

She had ridden in on horse, the scouts, many of which were like Lexa, half-bloods, the lot of them intimidating in their mixture of soldier's and Pawnee garb. Tattoos adorned the arms of some, paint decorated the faces of others. Lexa was the only one not wearing paint and her clothing was more of the soldiers than of her people. They waited as Lexa slid off the back of her horse, speaking to Clarke.

She showed Clarke what to do, should a fire occur, and then pointed southward, in the distance, men could be seen working, building something.

"It is a bell. Should you see smoke, ring it." Lexa told her. "The nearest patrol will come if they are close."

Clarke, having only seen Lexa twice since her illness struck, pulled her into the shadows of her home.

She wrapped arms around Lexa's neck.

"Thanks for looking out for me." She told the taller woman, before pulling her down for a deep kiss.

Lexa marveled at the feel of this woman. She wished she could stay, however, her duties meant that she must continue to move onward, warning other farms of the possible dangers.

Lexa pulled back, touching her head to Clarke's.

"I must go." She whispered regretfully.

Clarke nodded, solemn. She kissed the skin just below Lexa's jaw before releasing her.

She hated to let her go.

Lexa mounted her horse and with a signal of her hand, the other scouts accompanying her moved forward.

She waited until they passed, giving Clarke one last, lingering look, her eyes longing. Clarke watched her follow her scouts. The imagery of them, riding bareback into the horizon clinging to her mind.

A thought came to her then, a desire she had not held for some time and she hurried toward the Blake farm to fetch Raven.

Two days after Lexa had left with her scouting group, Clarke enjoyed a moment of laziness, sitting outside of her home. A bound, paper book, laid open in her lap.

Clarke fingered the charcoal in her hand. She had not sketched in a long time. Not since...

Clarke sighed. She concentrated on the paper before her, knowing the image she wished to place on its pages. The image of the woman she was falling for and the scouts as they rode away from her.

She pressed charcoal to the page and began the first lines of her sketch.

It did not take long for her to become frustrated, as she could not quite get the image right.

She stared out onto her farm and eyed the land before her, losing herself to her thoughts.

She had not drawn in so long because it had been something she had enjoyed in the days when she had a father. The days before her mother betrayed him so that she could continue her comfortable lifestyle. Clarke had not held charcoal and paper in so long, because the only piece of her father she had carried with her when she left home, had been his shotgun.

She had held a shotgun, and been intent on survival for so long, on finding her own way that she had not taken time to truly enjoy herself.

She brushed fingers over the charcoal in her hand, black flaking away over her fingertips. She only needed to recapture that feeling. That moment when she had watched Lexa, riding away.

The image formed on the paper as she began to sketch again. It was the longing in Lexa's eyes, the longing Clarke had felt, watching her ride away that brought the image back to her.

She felt breathless at realizing, she finally loved someone enough to miss them when they left her like Lexa did.

The image completed, Clarke leaned back, satisfied.

Shouts broke her out of her enjoyment.

"Clarke!" Raven ran from the fields, waving the hat she wore when working under the hot sun.

Clarke looked up.

"Raven?" She closed and hurriedly packed the sketchbook and charcoal into the small pack she had bought with it when she had gone into town to purchase them.

Raven's expression was one of widened fear.

"Hurry, Clarke!" She called, she ran towards the Blake farm.

Clarke followed after her, her mind curious and wondering why her friend ran as if being chased by wild animals.

Then she saw it.

Smoke, not far to the north.

Clarke quickened her pace, heading straight for the tool shed where they kept the shovel and hoes.

She grabbed what she would need and ran to the northern edge of her farm and began to dig. Raven and Bellamy soon joined her.

"Octavia?" Clarke asked, slightly out of breath from the effort of preparing their land against the oncoming smoke.

"Sent. Her. To. Ring. Bell." Bellamy huffed as he dug a hoe into the earth, pulling up earth and turning it, building a strip of bare earth against the oncoming fire.

They made their way along the northern edges of both the Blake farm, and Clarke and Raven's farm. A strip of bare earth, a shallow ditch, bordered by the dug up dirt to aid against the oncoming danger.

It was not long before Clarke saw a group of scouts, Lexa's scouts riding past her land.

"Lexa!" Clarke called she ran to catch the woman.

Why would they be riding toward the fire?

Smoke reached her nostrils, her throat and made her eyes stream. Clarke coughed.

"Clarke!" Lexa paused momentarily, her horse whinnied and snorted below her its nose and mouth covered with a cloth. Lexa too, wore a cloth over the lower half of her face.

"You must not stay." She warned Clarke. "Go, toward the bell, there are others there, they are building a camp to help those whose farms are affected by the fire."

Clarke hesitated.

"But… What about you?" Clarke ached. The danger was north and Lexa was riding right into it.

Lexa shook her head, sadly.

"I must ensure the safety of some of the settlers to the north." Lexa answered.

"Go. Now." She ordered, her voice stronger.

Clarke gave Lexa one more, lingering gaze.

"Come back to me." She called to Lexa as the woman turned away.

Lexa's only reply was to nod.

Clarke found Bellamy and Raven, Octavia having returned to the farm. They gathered the two horses they had and Fish.

"What about the sheep?" Octavia was the one to broach the subject.

Bellamy coughed. Smoke was growing thicker. The fire was getting closer.

"We don't have a choice." He stated. "We leave them."

It was Clarke that suggested they leave the southern gate open so that if the fires reached their farms, the sheep could at least escape.

They could always recapture them later.

Northward, Lexa regretted leaving Clarke. She regretted it every time she had to do it. She commanded her scouts to move in a line, the smoke obscuring their view in some places. The poured water over the cloth tied over the lower part of her face. They would need to be careful about the smoke and heat.

A farm on fire, the settlers clearly already having abandoned their home. Cows, chickens, pigs ran amok, the fields were afire. The screams of animals met their ears as they were eaten up by the blaze. Lexa signaled to her scouts.

They rode along the edge of the fire until they found a group of settlers needing their help.

The foolish ones were attempting to save their cattle, rather than their own lives.

Lexa yelled at them to abandon the animals. The fire was approaching quickly, as evidenced by the thickening smoke.

"Lexa!" Lincoln, he indicated the blaze.

Lexa shouted. She signaled her people.

"Leave now, or die!" She told the settlers.

Seeing now, the approaching blaze their eyes widened. They abandoned their animals and began to run.

It became apparent soon as she and her scouts made the choice to escort the settlers toward the bell that they would not be fast enough. She signaled them and each of the scouts scooped up a settler across the back of their horse. Some of them struggled, not at all ready for the surprise of being grabbed up as they had been. Others downright fought, until they realized the intent of the riders.

It was Lexa's misfortune that she had gotten the worst of the settlers. A teen that was clearly mistrusting of even a half-blood. He knocked her off her horse as he struggled against her. The boy was strong, just beyond being a man.

Her horse, frightened of the flames moving closer with each passing breath galloped away.

She coughed, attempting to stand. Her eyes streamed as she got her bearings.

The boy had hit his head in the fall. Lexa staggered to him. It had been a long time since she had been knocked from a horse.

With great effort, she lifted the boy and threw his arm over her shoulders. He grunted, his head lolled.

She huffed as she pressed forward. He was heavy and she was not sure if they were going to make it if he did not wake soon.

His feet eventually began to make an effort of their own. Lexa realized he was awake and they made greater progress. He was weakened by his fall and still held on to her side, but she pushed forward.

Hands gripped her and pulled her away from the boy. She struggled until she recognized Anya.

She relaxed. She allowed herself to be pulled onto the woman's horse and carried away.

Lexa, dizzy, hot and barely conscious only remembered reaching the camp around the bell in flashes.

Hands seized her, caught her as she fell from the horse. She was carried and laid onto a temporary cot in a tent.

Blonde curls met her vision.

Arguing. Then blue eyes. Someone poured a thick gooey liquid down her throat which she promptly hacked, coughed and threw up.

Soothing words. Calloused hands caressing her face and she gave in to sleep.

Lexa woke up not long later.

The tickling at her arm brought her attention to the blonde beside her. Lexa felt warmth spread across her chest.

"Cl-ke." She croaked. She coughed. Her throat was raw, probably from all of the smoke she had breathed in.

Hands, Clarke's hands held a cup to her mouth. Lexa drank gratefully.

"Don't try to talk." Clarke told her softly. Her eyes flickered over Lexa's, before she turned away, setting the cup down. She reached out and brushed a hair behind Lexa's ear.

"Looks like we are always taking care of one another." The smile Clarke gave Lexa trembled.

Lexa frowned. She reached to brush the tear that fell from Clarke's eye. Lexa waited.

"I was so afraid, Lexa." Clarke confessed. She ran hurried eyes around the darkness of the tent. All others seemed to be sleeping. Cautiously, Clarke leaned forward and pressed her lips to Lexa's.

"I know I can't ask you to stop." Clarke said as she pulled away.

"Can I at least ask you to do all you can to come home?" She pleaded.

Lexa nodded, weakly. She pulled Clarke to her and held her. She would do anything for this woman.

The next day Clarke took Lexa home with her. Lexa stayed in bed while Clarke worked with Bellamy to herd sheep. A number of them had escaped in the chaos, while others ran freely across their lands. Raven had volunteered to work with some of the other settlers as they cleaned up after the fire. Octavia tended to the crops with Lincoln. Though Clarke had a suspicion they were sneaking off in the middle of their work.

Clarke, Octavia and Lincoln each took turns checking in on Lexa. They would chat for a time, bring her water, and thin soup.

Later that evening when Clarke returned, rather than pull on the gown she usually wore to bed, she stripped entirely bare and slipped in beside Lexa, causing the woman to stir awake.

Lexa very aware of Clarke's state of undress quickly found her mouth glued to Clarke's.

Clarke wasted no time in stripping Lexa of the gown she had given her to wear while she stayed in bed that day.

The two women gasped as their bodies met. Clarke bucked against Lexa when her thigh brushed her sex, biting back the moan that the sensation involuntarily forced from her body.

Lexa's hands traced over Clarke's sides as she moved to hover over the woman. She pressed her thigh into Clarke's center, causing the moan the woman bit back to fall from her lips. Lexa captured the sound, sliding her tongue through open lips to meet Clarke's.

Clarke's moans only rumbled more as Lexa brushed against her. She cupped strong hands below her breasts, running thumbs over Clarke's pink nipples.

Clarke's bucking against Lexa's thigh only increased as she gasped into her mouth. Lexa molded and massaged the flesh beneath her hands until she had Clarke whining.

"Lexaaah." Clarke breathed, hand cupping the back of Lexa's neck, she gripped her ass, squeezing.

Clarke pressed lips across Lexa's jaw until she reached her ear.

Lexa shuddered when the woman bit into the lobe and groaned when she growled, "Touch me. Now."

Lexa slid a hand down Clarke's body. She basked at the feel of the woman's body below her. She stopped for a moment, to splay her fingers over Clarke's abdomen. Green eyes searched for blue.

"Clarke." Lexa spoke, her hand hovering just above Clarke's mound.

Clarke, lost in the sensations provided by Lexa, opened her eyes. Blue eyes seized green.

Lexa's fingers ghosted over Clarke's clit. Clarke bucked as Lexa slid fingers through her wetness.

Lexa seized Clarke's mouth as her fingers found Clarke's opening. She slid digits through easy slickness. Clarke cried out into her mouth and gripped and ran nails down Lexa's back. Lexa bowed into the sensation and began to slide her fingers back and forth, her thumb, running over Clarke's clit.

Clarke's hips thrust against her hand. Lexa used her thigh to put more force behind her wrist as Clarke's thrusts increased. She pressed kisses, licks, nips along Clarke's face. They breathed into one another's ears as they began to sweat, thrusting and bucking against the other. Clarke lifted a knee until it pressed against Lexa's own wetness and both women groaned at the feeling.

They writhed in earnest until with a long crying moan, Clarke clutched at Lexa and bowed into her. Lexa continued to rub against Clarke's thigh as she continued to thrust into Clarke, milking as much of her orgasm as she could out of her.

They collapsed against each other.

Clarke shivered, hearing Lexa's breathing in her ear. She bucked. She was slick again.

Lexa chuckled into her ear.

"Someone is eager to go again?" Lexa croaked.

Clarke moaned.

"Then we will go until you are satisfied." Lexa leaned back, promising as she gazed at Clarke.

Clarke seized her in a passionate kiss.

It would be hours before the two of them fell sated into a well-worn slumber.