"So tell me about your family." Clarke played with Lexa's fingers, manipulating them gently with her own.
As much as she would never openly admit it, being in the company of the blonde made Lexa feel like a teenager again, and she made her heart flutter unlike any other person she had ever met before. The two had spent most of their break together, with Clarke later making her acquaintance with Lexa's apartment. It was only fair after all, since Lexa had woken up in Clarke's after their first night together. They had fallen into a routine, a pattern together. As much as she liked it however, Lexa was unwilling to put a label on it, and from Clarke's lack of complaint, the blonde was likely of the same opinion.
Currently, they were sitting side-by-side at a busy diner in downtown San Francisco in the afternoon, catching a late brunch after an officers' briefing at Starfleet.
"My parents were both Starfleet officers in their day." Lexa started. She had one arm flung over the booth, Clarke leaning into her side. "Two sisters, older than me, not in Starfleet; Gina and Mary. Mary's my favorite."
"Was she the one you were planning to visit after our first hook up?" Clarke asked, resting her head on Lexa's shoulder comfortably as she sipped her coffee.
Lexa nodded, smiling as she thought of her sister. "Her kids really like me. Which I don't understand." Clarke raised a blonde eyebrow, and Lexa grinned. "I'm pretty awkward around them, not quite sure how to talk to them."
"How old are they?"
"Five and two, niece and nephew." Lexa said in a feigned resigned voice, and Clarke smiled sweetly.
"That sounds nice, having a niece and nephew to spoil." Lexa blew air from her lips noisily, and Clarke pinched her waist.
"Be nice." Clarke scolded her, and Lexa rolled her eyes.
"They're really loud." The brunette complained, and Clarke just shook her head, a grin wide on her features.
"And your father?" Clarke ventured, to which a sour expression immediately took form over Lexa's face.
"Admiral Alexander Woods IV." She snorted. Just the name of her father annoyed her. Clarke caught the tension at the edge of her words, placing a gentle hand to rub her thigh.
"I've heard of him." Clarke commented. "My mom was happy when he retired."
"Well she wasn't the only one." Lexa let out a soft chortle. "He was an overbearing asshole." Clarke batted her softly on the waist.
"He's still your father."
"Griffin."
"Lexa." Clarke fixed the brunette with a firm stare, and Lexa backed down, conceding to this fiery woman.
"Fine." She grunted, reaching one hand out to take a sip of her coffee. The blonde chuckled and rested her chin against Lexa's shoulder.
"My mom is like that." She said quietly, and Lexa listened. "She's a trauma surgeon. She wanted me to follow in her footsteps."
"What happened?" Lexa asked to hear the sound of Clarke's melodious voice, the sound that she had grown addicted to within the span of a few days.
"My dad died." Lexa was silent, choosing instead to rub Clarke's knuckles soothingly. "He was a chief engineer on the USS Kelvin, got sucked out into space."
They sat together, letting the information sink in. Then, "I'm quarter Vulcan." Clarke lifted her chin to sit up properly, to better scrutinize Lexa's straight face. She examined her features for a few heartbeats, then cracked a giant grin.
"Yup, I can totally see it." Lexa shoved Clarke's shoulder playfully, but that did not stop the blonde from continuing her thread of thought. "And the whole blunt attitude, the logical thing you have going on, it all makes sense." Clarke gestured to the entirety of the brunette with her hands, and Lexa laughed.
Clarke sat on Lexa's bed, watching the other woman collect some clothes and toiletries, throwing them in Clarke's direction. The blonde caught each item deftly and assembled them nicely into Lexa's duffle bag. The brunette ruffled inside the drawers in her closet, trying to search for her clean gold shirt. Meanwhile, Clarke entertained herself with the clear view of Lexa's backside.
"See, I already packed yesterday." Clarke commented loftily. Lexa muttered something unintelligible, and Clarke grinned. "What was that?"
"I said, that's because we stayed at your place, and I was the one who packed for you." Lexa called over her shoulder.
"Well, it was your fault you chose to spend the night." Clarke countered teasingly. With a low curse, Lexa finally fished her uniform out from other various articles of clothing. Not a wrinkle in sight, Lexa hummed in satisfaction and walked over to where Clarke waited with the bag on her lap.
"I wasn't the one who decided it was a good idea to cuddle post-coital." Lexa argued as she folded her shirt and, after carefully placing it in the bag, zipped it up.
"Ew stop, I told you not to use that word." Clarke cringed as Lexa took the bag from her and set it on the ground, before pulling Clarke to her feet. Lexa grinned and kissed Clarke on the forehead.
"Coit– " Lexa was cut off when Clarke planted her lips firmly against the brunette, pressing her body against Lexa. Her arms were around Lexa's waist, her hold tight. When they withdrew, Lexa let out a breathy laugh. "Now I know just what to say if I want to get laid."
"One more time, I swear I'll kill you." Clarke threatened her, and she took Lexa's bottom lip between her teeth, applying miniscule pressure before her tongue darted out to soothe it.
Lexa kissed Clarke heatedly, and then they were falling back onto the bed for the third time within the hour. Clarke pulled at Lexa's shirt, and it was thrown carelessly across the room, followed by everything else that was in the way. Hazily, Lexa recalled that they were both needed at the shuttles in an hour, but then Clarke's hands went to the waistband of her pants, and all her thoughts were only of the blonde and the pleasure that her fingers were producing.
She made her way over to the shuttle, climbing the stairs nimbly. The interior of the shuttle was already filling up very quickly, and she nodded to the members of her crew as she took her seat, tablet in hand. She just started reading a memo sent by one of the Rear Admirals when she heard her name.
"Captain Griffin!" First officer Octavia Blake made her way over to Clarke, rudely elbowing a few crew members aside as she rushed to claim the seat next to her captain. Clarke offered her an easy smile as the younger woman sat next to her.
"Lieutenant Blake, how was your break?" She asked, tablet abandoned on the unoccupied seat to her left. Clarke, in a sudden moment of remembrance, pulled the collar of her grey uniform to cover up the mark that Lexa had left mere hours ago. She almost blushed just thinking about it, but kept herself in check, especially with Octavia at her side.
"Lincoln got promoted!" Octavia announced, and there was a mixture of annoyance and pride in her green eyes. "First officer, just like me!"
"So you guys are tied now." Clarke concluded, and grinned. "Guess you're both at a stalemate." Octavia clenched her fists in frustration.
"Yup, which means you should promote me again during this mission." Clarke rolled her eyes, and instantly retrieved her tablet, crossing her legs.
"Octavia, you're a first officer already. Any higher and you'd have to bump me off or jump ship." She argued offhandedly as she continued reading the memo.
"Or you take a stable position on Earth." Octavia suggested. "Command from the command center."
"Wow what an idea." Clarke muttered noncommittally. Then a message notification popped up on the side of her screen, and she couldn't stifle the grin that split her face in an instant once she saw who had sent it.
"Who's Lexa?" Octavia read the name out over her shoulder, and Clarke jerked the tablet away from her subordinate's sight.
"No one." She said, locking the screen with her passcode. Octavia's eyebrows rose significantly at Clarke's actions, then she grinned.
"Did you meet someone during the break?" Octavia wiggled her eyebrows, and Clarke turned away to look out the shuttle window to avoid her gaze.
"No."
"Really?" Octavia crossed her arms, and Clarke kept her eyes fixed on the sky as the shuttle lifted off.
"Yup." She said, attempting to keep her voice steady.
"So you didn't meet a cute girl and do the dirty with her?"
"Lieutenant Blake!" Clarke scolded, deciding this was a fitting time to pull rank. "This is inappropriate behaviour, and such activities should not be discussed with your commanding officer." She sent her a glare with icy blue eyes, and the brunette cringed.
Octavia threw up both hands in surrender. "Alright fine!" She crossed her legs and sat back, settling into a more comfortable position.
Clarke sighed, and waited until Octavia dozed off before pulling up the message on her tablet. She was more than relieved that Octavia was unconscious at this moment. Lexa made her heart skip a beat, made her giggle, completely out of character from her stern captain's mask.
She closed her eyes, and the events of the past three weeks with the brunette swam through her mind as she dreamed.
"Anything exciting over the break?" Lincoln asked as he accompanied Lexa on her walk. They were both making their way to the bridge, their uniforms smelling clean and fresh.
"Not really." She said nonchalantly. Two red shirts saluted her and Lincoln as they hurried along their way, and she nodded to them.
"You look really well-rested." Lincoln remarked casually. "I'm not implying anything." He said quickly when Lexa gave him a glare.
"I did get a lot of rest." She conceded. "You forget how stressful it is to command a crew." Lincoln grinned and punched her shoulder lightly.
"Yes I do, I remember when you didn't have so many frown lines."
"I'll remind you that most of these wrinkles are because of your reckless actions." She intoned as they boarded the elevator. Once the doors closed Lincoln turned to her.
"God I keep forgetting that you're part Vulcan." He complained, and Lexa smirked. The doors opened, and she strode out and towards the Captain's chair.
"Captain on the bridge." Gustus called, and Lexa nodded to him.
"Thank you Mr. Kenilworth." She sat down, and instantly the familiar structure of the chair had her enthused for their mission. Lexa flipped one of the comm switches. "Indra, how are we doing?"
"Captain, we're looking good down here." Indra reported from her comm. "Purring like a kitten."
"Colorful simile, and very unlike you." Lexa joked, grinning widely. Lincoln, from where he was talking to Echo at the helm, turned to frown at Lexa. It was remarkably out of character for her to fib or joke, and she knew he would call her out on it later. She sent him a censoring glare, before speaking. "Ms. Frost, if you would take us out."
Echo hid her grin, and instead settled on: "Affirmative captain."
Once they were in warp, Lexa switched on the comm to contact her crew. "This is the captain speaking. Our mission at this current time is to visit the planet system of the Andorian Empire. A member of Starfleet is currently being detained for petty crimes. Our mandate is to barter for their transfer to our hands so that they can face justice on Earth. Lieutenant Anya Arlington and I shall be meeting with Andorian representatives on the moon Andoria. ETA should be within hours." Lexa cut the communication line and sat back.
Lincoln walked over to her chair and she refused to meet his doe-eyed stare. "So are you sure nothing exciting happened?" He asked tentatively. "Or, someone's cloned you, or that you have a happy identical twin that you've hidden from everyone?"
"Cut the crap Lincoln." She snapped. "You're just building up to ask if I got laid."
"Well did you?" Lincoln asked, and he almost flinched under her harsh glare. However, the firm line of her lips gave her away pretty easily to her best friend. He clapped his hands together and let out a howl of laughter, catching the attention of all other personnel on the bridge.
"Shut up before I cut out your tongue." She snarled, and he wiped away a few tears. Lexa crossed her legs and pulled on a cold mask over her face, attempting to remain as nonplussed as possible. When he managed to compose himself, he looked down at her.
"So, who is she? Someone we know?" Lexa put one hand up in the universal stop signal, and Lincoln immediately closed his mouth.
"She's…a Starfleet officer." She said quietly. "And I'm not going to tell you who it is, so stop asking." Lincoln held his tongue, but the shit-eating grin on his face was certainly something Lexa wanted to punch.
"This is just great." He said excitedly, and at that instant she stood from her chair and was nose-to-nose with him, staring him down as one would an unruly yearling.
"A word of this to anyone else, and that thing that defines you as a man will be woefully missing from your person." She growled low, her eyes narrowed warningly. Lincoln swallowed and nodded, and with a huff, she sat down again.
"Whoa what's going on here?" Anya seemed to materialize out of thin air at Lexa's shoulder, and the younger woman craned her neck to answer her.
"My first officer and I had a simple disagreement." Lexa stated calmly. "Relatively minor dispute." She added brusquely. The corner of Anya's mouth twitched, but the otherwise reserved officer nodded at her captain's words.
"You're the boss." Anya acknowledged, dipping her head slightly. "We're almost at Andoria." She informed Lexa, and the captain nodded.
"Good." Lexa stood and cracked her neck. "Let's get ready to meet the Andorian representatives. Lincoln, you've got the bridge."