Chapter 17
A/N: This is that time of the year when I enjoy writing. Hope you had a good Christmas and I wish you a happy new year in advance my dear readers. Oh and there is some violence described in this chapter. Nothing major but just a warning!
"Wait!… Lexa.." Clarke was too late as Lexa had already disconnected the call. Lexa sighed heavily as she closed her eyes. It was just the sound of river again. The air was rich with fragrance of leaves and damp. Lexa felt the breeze had a pleasant coolness and it was helping calm her mind. She whispered, "I love you Clarke.."
As soon as the call ended, Clarke dialed Lexa's number. Her heart was hammering inside her chest as she waited for Lexa to pick up. "pick it up.. pick it up..", Clarke whispered. After a few rings the call went to voice mail. Clarke's face fell as she ran her conversation with Lexa in her mind. Taking a deep breath she tried to calm herself and dialed officer Bellamy's number. After two rings he picked up.
"Hi.. officer Bellamy? This.. this is Clarke."
"Yes Ms. Griffin, how can I help you?" Bellamy answered in his professional voice.
"Lex.. Lexa.." Clarke's voice broke as she tried to speak. "she called just now.. She sounded.. she sounded scared.. and I don't know but there is something wrong. I could feel it.."
"Calm down Ms. Griffin, Clarke.. take a deep breath and tell me what happened exactly." Bellamy tried to calm down Clarke enough to answer him. Clarke followed his advice , took a second and reiterated everything that happened in last 5 minutes. Once Bellamy made sure that no one was in immediate danger, he spoke clearly.
"Can you come down to the precinct Clarke?"
Clarke nodded and then cursed herself for not answering like a sane person would.
"Yes.. yess I will be down there as soon as I can."
"Good. Drive carefully and responsibly Clarke, no need to hurry."
Clarke thanked the officer and said her goodbyes. In an instant she was off the bed and into the bathroom. She got ready in record time and rushed for her phone. She was out of her room by the time she had her phone to her ear. As soon as Raven picked up her phone, Clarke conveyed to her what had happened and that she was on her way to the precinct.
"I might need some time but I will catch up with you at the station. Okay?". Raven replied earnestly.
"Thanks" Clarke replied. After 15 minutes she was at the door of the precinct. Her chest heaving a little as she tried to calm down her breathing. She rushed to officer Bellamy's desk. He was on the phone and he gestured Clarke to sit down. He offered her a glass of water while holding the phone to his ear. Clarke forced a smile and mouthed her thanks to Bellamy. Just as she sipped the drink, Bellamy ended his conversation.
"That was my contact at the mobile company. As soon as my call with you ended, I had them give details for the last call on your number. They are forwarding the details now. Once I have those, we will have the approximate location of Lexa from the nearest cell phone tower that was connected during her call. The phone call was short but just long enough according to my guy."
Clarke nodded. "What does this mean? Do you.. do you know where she is?" Clarke's voice was harsh, raspy after crying endlessly all these days.
Bellamy checked his phone before looking Clarke in the eye. "Listen to me very carefully Clarke, we have an estimate of her location and not her exact location. So don't get your hopes up." He paused at the crestfallen look in Clarke's eyes. "Let me finish.. Don't lose your hope either." He smiled reassuringly and got up. After picking up his gun from the drawer, checking it and finally holstering it, he looked at Clarke. Before he could tell her, Clarke whispered determinedly, "I am coming with you".
Bellamy started to tell her how bad that idea was. Clarke just shrugged, "If I can't come with you, I will follow you. And the state I am in officer, it's better if you just let me come with you."
Bellamy sighed. "Come on. And you will do exactly what I tell you to. Do you understand?"
Clarke nodded and just hurried after Bellamy. Soon they were on a road leading them out of the city. Traffic started thinning out. Clarke looked outside as her mind kept replaying the phone call.
"She sounded.. I don't know like she couldn't leave wherever she was. She was just saying that she was alright. What does that mean?" Her question was more to herself but Bellamy responded nonetheless, "We will find out soon enough."
Bellamy kept glancing ahead and in the rear-view mirror. But even his trained eyes couldn't make out the silver town car that followed them keeping quite a distance. After a long drive, they were close to the location given by his contact. He pulled over his police vehicle off the muddy road. He turned off the car and looked at the surroundings through the window. He then proceeded to double check the road they had traveled.
"Something is wrong Clarke. According to the location we are here but look outside."
Clarke glanced once at the map and then out of the window. All she saw was a landscape and some trees.
"There is nothing here. Nearest stop or inn is miles away." Bellamy continued as he looked into his phone.
Clarke let out a breath, grasped the door handle and opened the door. "Let's check anyways." Clarke said as she got out of the car.
Bellamy hurried to get out from his side of the car. "Clarke wait. The first condition is you always have to remain inside of the car… Clarke..Clarke.."
But to no avail Clarke was already walking ahead on the road, looking around. Seeing if anything could give her a clue. Bellamy caught up to her and pulled her back.
"Just stay behind me alright?" he kept a hand on his holster and walked ahead. As they turned on the road going up the small hill, Bellamy noticed car tracks. As soon as Clarke saw where Bellamy was looking, she noticed the tracks too. Before she could do anything, Bellamy raised his hands, warning and seriousness clear in his eyes. Clarke just nodded and agreed to follow him and not rush into anything. Once Bellamy was confident that Clarke knew who was in charge, he motioned her and they started following the marks left by a four wheeler. Most probably a sedan judging by the width of the tires. Clarke was out of breath by the time they reached the top. The bright sun in the sky over their head didn't help either. She stopped to take a breather but as her eyes caught the small cabin, she turned to Bellamy and with flailing arms pointed towards the cabin. Bellamy, having already seen the cabin just shot an incredulous look towards Clarke. They both moved towards the cabin without making any sound. Bellamy pointed towards a tree and pushed Clarke behind it. Motioning her to stay there, he moved towards the door. Despite having no intention of staying behind, Clarke did exactly that. She was eager to just blast the door and enter the cabin if it meant she could see Lexa. But thankfully sense and logic kicked in and she decided to stay just where she was.
Bellamy was aware of his surroundings. He put his ear to the door and tried listening to any sounds that would confirm if anyone was inside. After a few moments, he pushed on the door. He had his right hand on the gun and was ready for any situation. Clarke was holding onto the tree, trying to listen to any sounds. For now all she could hear was her heart thudding in her chest. She took a couple of breaths and just then she saw Bellamy's head. He was walking towards her. Her eyes were bulging, asking him silently.
He shook his head but motioned her towards him. Once she was next to him, he bent down a little, "I am going to check around, the cabin is empty. I want you to stay inside."
Clarke nodded and moved towards the door. Bellamy was walking beside her. "Listen stay safe. I will be back in exactly ten minutes."
Clarke nodded and locked the door as soon as Bellamy went to check nearby. As he looked in all directions, his eyes caught a glimpse of a barn like structure in the distance. He started making his way towards it. Meanwhile Clarke turned around and took a good look at the cabin. It wasn't too big but looked comfortable. Her eyes were roaming around all the possessions and furniture inside the small room. And the first thing she noticed was a top laying on the bedside. Her eye bulged as she recognized the top instantly, rushing towards it, she grabbed the thin material and felt it in her fingers. It was Lexa's. She was here… somewhere..
Lexa has had a crappy day so far. Just listening to Clarke's voice wasn't enough. She felt miserable and spent her entire morning just wandering around. With heavy legs she walked to her cabin. Her eyes barely focusing on anything as they were leaking water due to constant reminder of a certain blond. As she reached the door she pushed it but it didn't budge. She wiped her eyes and tried again. Again, the door wouldn't move.
"What the hell?" She spoke to herself.
On the other side of the door, Clarke had heard the voice. She made a beeline to the door and unlocked it. Just as Lexa was going to push for the third time, Clarke opened the door to stare directly into a broken image of Lexa. Disheveled hair, red eyes.. Lexa was so shocked that she didn't move for a second. Clarke had no such patience obviously and she lunged at Lexa. As Lexa could feel the warm body hugging her tightly, her senses slowly started registering and she let out a gasp.
"Clarke?.. Wh.. what.. how?"
Clarke then let go of everything she had bottled up inside. Lexa supported her and moved them inside the cabin. Once inside she tried to untangle herself from Clarke's death grip. After a miraculous amount of efforts, she was able to pull away from Clarke. As soon as she did, she looked in Clarke's eyes and confirmed it was Clarke .. her Clarke.. physically present in the cabin, and then she returned the hug. It was now Clarke's turn to gasp for air as Lexa hugged her. They both cried.. bawled their eyes out holding onto each other.
After a few moments Clarke started blurting out how Bellamy had driven them here. At the exact moment they heard footsteps at the door. Clarke turned towards the door, "Bellamy.. she is.."
Clarke stopped abruptly as she saw a large man at the door. It wasn't Bellamy. Lexa was looking at the door too. Pike grinned as he looked at the girls over the barrel of his gun pointed towards Lexa. Everything stopped.. their world halted. Every second felt like an eternity. That's when they heard the cold and harsh voice of Pike.
"Mr. Jaha doesn't like unfinished business."
Lexa was holding her breath and before she could do anything, there were loud noises outside and then there were some more deafening noises inside the cabin. She couldn't move. She just breathed.. her body felt like it was on fire.. Adrenalin rushing in every vein.. Next second she saw Pike's eyes getting bigger. His body moved a little before falling down on the ground with a loud thud. Several feet behind where Pike stood, there was Bellamy pointing his gun. Lexa finally let go of her breath and turned towards Clarke. Who looked back at her. Lexa smiled at Clarke and Clarke did the same but her smile faded quickly as she slowly started to descend to the ground. A large spot of dark red color started forming just below Clarke's right shoulder.
Lexa screamed!
A/N 2: That was much longer than my usual chapters. I just kept writing haha.. Tell me how did it turn out?
- FringedOrchid