A/N: I kinda realised that I shouldn't leave this where I did, setting up for a longer story with not everything tied up at the end, so here we go again. Thanks again for the reviews and everything, I know that I say it a lot but it really does help the creative process. Read, review and enjoy!

Chapter Nine.

Night after night as Clarke slept Lexa went over every battle strategy she could think of. The Ice Nation would be coming for her, it had been a week since she had killed their queen and Lexa had received one report from an outlying village about an attack. It had only been a small attack, 10 warriors, but that had been the warning sign to Lexa that what she feared would happen was coming. By thinking about what she would do in their position, the paths she would take if she was on the attacking side instead of the defending one, she could take an educated guess about how they would start their attack. If Lexa hadn't joined together the 12 clans the attack would have been easier, but because of the size of the people who were now under her protection, they had to attack from the outside in, if they went directly to the capital they would be dead before they got past the walls. No matter what strategy she played through in her head the outcome was the same, they would lose if they remained at the Sky people's camp.

When Clarke woke up she saw Lexa sitting on the edge of the bed, her eyes focused on a point on the floor, she was deep in thought. The blonde knew that something was bothering the Grounder Commander, but every time she asked her about it, Lexa would tell her that it was nothing. It had been going on for a week, it was obviously not nothing.

"Hey…" Clarke said as she sat up.

Lexa turned to look at her, a small smile on her lips.

"Good morning." Lexa replied.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Clarke asked.

"Nothing is going on." Lexa replied turning her eyes away from Clarke.

"Liar." Clarke said, climbing out of bed.

"Excuse me?" The Grounder Commander said, her brow furrowing at the accusation.

"I'm not stupid, Lexa," the blonde said as she got changed, "I may not be in command of the biggest army this planet has seen in a very long time, but I'm not stupid."

"Then what do you think is going on?" Lexa challenged.

"I don't know," Clarke replied with a shrug, "if I knew I wouldn't ask. All I know is that you're a liar. Something is going on Lexa, you've barely slept in a week, you're constantly going over battle strategy… is there some war going on that I don't about?"

Lexa didn't reply, she stood up and walked towards the door.

"And now you're going to walk away without giving me an answer…" Clarke said, gradually starting to get more and more frustrated, "I'm not one of your warriors, I'm not one of your generals, according to you I'm your equal. This is not going to work if you're constantly closing me out Lexa."

"The war is coming, Clarke," Lexa replied without turning around, "and when it does, when it gets here, everyone is going to have choices to make."

"What war?" Clarke asked, "The Mountain Men are dead, the Grounder Clans are united…"

"The Ice Nation," Lexa replied, "I killed their queen, that isn't something that will go unavenged. Blood needs blood."

"When you killed her you destroyed the truce…" Clarke said quietly.

"She destroyed the truce when she took you." Lexa corrected, "Now her people will be coming to kill me, the report I received a few days ago was a report about an attack on an outlying village."

"You knew this was going to happen…" Clarke said, "You knew that rescuing me would start a war…"

Lexa lowered her head a little.

"You knew you would be risking the lives of all your people," Clarke said, "why would you do that?"

"She needed to learn that she couldn't take people I care about whenever she wanted to," Lexa replied quietly, "her hatred was against me, she should have directly dealt with it. She was weak."

"You started a war." Clarke said.

"No," Lexa said shaking her head a little, "she did."

"You should have left me to die." The blonde replied.

"As should you have…" Lexa said, looking briefly at Clarke before she left the room.

x-x-x

When Clarke left the building she couldn't see Lexa but she knew that the Grounder Commander would be in her tent with Indra and the others, going over and over what Lexa had already gone over countless times. She walked up to the tent, standing in the doorway, she listened as Lexa started to go through another of her theories.

"What options do we have?" Indra asked.

"Not very many," Lexa replied with a sigh, "we can move our people here, move the Sky people to Polis, or return to the capital and split our army between the two locations… if we stay as we are, everyone will die."

"They won't be welcomed to Polis," Indra said, "You know that."

"Yes, I know…" Lexa said, rubbing her eyes.

"You're leaving?" Clarke asked, stepping inside the tent.

"Clarke…" Lexa started to say.

"Don't say this is Grounder business and it doesn't involve me, because the second that you start making decisions for my people, it becomes my business." The blonde replied.

"That is the first time in almost two weeks that you have referred to them as your people." Lexa said with a little smile.

"They are my people Lexa," Clarke said, "I may not yet feel comfortable living here, but they are my people, and any choices made about their safety shouldn't be made by a Grounder…"

Indra was just about to stand up for her people when Clarke looked at her.

"You say we wouldn't be welcomed to Polis," Clarke said, "well large numbers of your people wouldn't exactly be welcomed here. You left them to die. That is the first thought that passes through most of their minds when they see a Grounder. You can't exactly expect them to welcome you with open arms when they associate you with deceit and betrayal."

With that Clarke turned and left the tent again, leaving Lexa staring at the door with her jaw clenched.

"She is going to be trouble Hedda." Indra said quietly.

"I know…" Lexa replied.

x-x-x

After spending almost two hours in her room drawing, Clarke walked into her mother's office and dropped herself down on one of the chairs.

"By all means take a seat." Abby said.

"They're leaving." Clarke said, ignoring what her mother.

"I know…" Abby said, looking down at some paperwork she had on her desk.

"You know?" Clarke asked.

"Lexa came to see me earlier and she said that in her opinion it would be safer for everyone here if they leave." Abby replied, "If I'm being honest I assumed that you would be going with them."

"They're never going to see us as equal," Clarke said with a sigh, "she'll never see me as an equal. To them we're people who fell from the sky, have no idea how to survive down here and need to be protected like children. She has started a war that she doesn't know how to win, that's why they are leaving."

"And who did she do that for?" Raven asked as she walked into the room and put down some papers on Abby's desk, "the specs you requested for the camera's."

"I didn't ask her to…" Clarke said, "She should've just left me to die."

"When we were talking through our options of how to get you back, Lexa was angry," Raven said, walking over to where Clarke was sitting, stopping in front of her, "I mean like really angry, not saving you wasn't an option. Indra offered to get a unit together to find you, so Lexa could stay here and stay out of danger…"

"She cares about you Clarke," Abby said softly, "and I think that terrifies her."

There was a knock on the door and everyone looked over to see Lexa standing there.

"We're ready to leave." She said.

It was obvious that she had heard at least part of the conversation. She looked at Clarke.

"Will you be travelling with us?" she asked.

Raven and Abby both looked at Clarke.

"No…" The blonde replied.

Lexa clenched her jaw, took a deep breath and nodded slightly. As she turned and walked away from the room Clarke let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"What the hell are you doing?" Raven asked, "That girl was willing to die for you, and you're just going to let her leave?"

"I'm doing what's right," Clarke said, standing up and walking towards the door, "for my people."

"You're being an idiot." Raven said as Clarke left the room.

x-x-x

She watched as the Grounders packed the last of their things into the cart. A small crowd had gathered near the gates, some happy that their visitors were leaving, some worried about what was to come. Her eyes locked with the Grounder Commander before Lexa climbed onto her horse. Lexa stood there, one hand on either end of the saddle on the horse, her right foot in the stirrup as she readied to climb up. Clarke noticed as she let out a deep breath and moved her foot back to the floor. The Grounder Commander walked over to where the blonde was standing, she softly cupped Clarke's face.

"I'm coming back…" Lexa said quietly.

Clarke nodded a little, not trusting herself to say anything. The kiss that they shared was brief, all too brief as far as Clarke was concerned.

x-x-x

Long after the Grounders left, as the sun was starting to set in the sky, Clarke was still standing looking in the direction that Lexa had gone. Part of her felt as though she may have just made one of the biggest mistakes of her life, the other part was waiting for Lexa to return.