A/N: Had some continuation errors in this chapter earlier. fixed them! enjoy

Lexa absentmindedly smoothed down the front of her suit jacket as she and Gustus made their way slowly down the escalator towards baggage claim. She adjusted her sleeves under her jacket, pulling each one out just a little bit farther than it had already been. Then she checked her watch, not even bothering to make out what time it actually was. She had been noticing all of her nervous habits more and more lately. It probably had something to do with how nervous she always got around Clarke.

"Gustus!"

Lexa whipped her head around, searching for the owner of that all too familiar voice. She looked up at Gustus and saw a grin spread across his face and he gave a discreet nod. This was one of the many times when Lexa decided she would pay millions of dollars to be over 6 feet tall like her bodyguard. Once they both stepped off the escalator, Lexa shot through the crowd in the direction Gustus had been looking, with her bodyguard hot on her heels. She saw a flash of blonde hair through the mass of bodies and made a beeline for it. It was only when she was about to wrap her hands around the blonde woman that she realized this might not even be the correct blonde woman.

"Lexa!"

Lexa had been correct. Clarke turned around and barely even got a squeal of excitement out of her mouth before the taller brunette had her wrapped up in her arms, tighter than was probably necessary.

"I missed you." Lexa mumbled into the blonde's ear and squeezed her just a bit tighter. After what seemed like hours, the two girls finally pulled apart from their embrace and gave each other a once over. Clarke let out a little laugh and rolled her eyes.

"Are you seriously wearing a suit right now?" She asked, letting out another laugh.

"Of course I am. Why?" Lexa pouted a bit, jokingly.

"You're wearing a very expensive, well-tailored , one-of-a-kind suit and I'm wearing yoga pants, my mom's sandals, and my dad's old Georgetown University sweatshirt. This is getting out of hand." Lexa smiled to herself as she took in what Clarke was wearing. The two girls had a very stark contrast between them, but that was one thing Lexa enjoyed about their relationship.

"I think you look beautiful, Clarke." Clarke rolled her eyes again playfully.

"Yeah, right. You don't have to lie to me, I already like you." Clarke winked at the brunette and Lexa blushed.

"I'll keep that in mind." They grinned at each other until Lexa heard someone clear their throat behind her. She turned to see Gustus with his arms crossed and a teasing smirk resting on his lips. "Gustus. Right." She turned back to Clarke. "Would you like to get breakfast, Clarke? It's still early."

"Of course I would. I know some great places downtown." Lexa nodded and turned back to Gustus, saying something to him that Clarke couldn't quite hear. When she turned back, Gustus turned and began walking away. "Where's he going?"

"He's going to gather our bags, rent a car, and go check into our hotel. You and I are going to get breakfast." Lexa answered easily and Clarke reacted with a smile before looking down at her choice of clothing again.

"Okay, I'm so down for breakfast, but is there any chance we could stop by my mom's house first so I can change? It will literally look like you found a homeless person on your way to work and decided to treat them to a tasty breakfast." Lexa laughed at Clarke's description.

"Well, as I said, I think you look beautiful. But if you'd like to go change, that's fine with me." Clarke smiled at the taller girl and grabbed her hand, leading her out of the airport and towards the parking lot where she parked her mother's car.

It wasn't a long drive to Clarke's mother's house, but it wasn't a short drive either. It was just the right amount of time to give Lexa a moment to internally freak out about possibly meeting Clarke's mom. She checked her leather watch. It was almost 9:00 AM. Surely her mother would already be at work by now, Lexa knew she was Chief of Surgery at the University Hospital. Lexa sucked in a quick breath when Clarke pulled into a large house, one with multiple cars in the driveway.

"What the hell are they still doing here?" The blonde mumbled to herself as she unbuckled her seat belt. She turned to face Lexa. "Those are Ray and Octavia's cars, meaning they're still here after our sleepover last night. Do you want to wait out here? I'll just be a second." Lexa finally let go of the breath she'd been holding. Neither of the cars belonged to Clarke's mother, they belonged to her two best friends.

The two best friends who would be very protective of Clarke.

The two best friends who would try to intimidate Lexa.

The two best friends who would ask Lexa about her intentions with Clarke.

Lexa sucked in another quick breath. She glanced over at Clarke who was looking at her with confusion, awaiting her answer. How long had it been since Clarke had asked the question? What question had Clarke even asked? Lexa looked back at the two cars parked ahead of them in the driveway, then back to Clarke.

"I'll come in. I need to stretch my legs a bit more after that flight." She finally answered and Clarke grinned and nodded, quickly making her way out of the car. Lexa followed suit.

"Okay, so there's no need to freak out about meeting Raven and O. But, they do know how I feel about you, so they might grill you…I apologize in advance for that. But they're really nice!" Clarke stopped walking when she realized Lexa wasn't following her. She turned to find Lexa standing a few feet behind her with her hands stuffed in her pockets. "You okay?"

"Will you come kiss me before we go in there?" Lexa asked, almost shyly, and Clarke's heart melted at the sentiment. She quickly made her way over to Lexa, wrapping her arms around the taller girl's neck and feeling Lexa attach her arms around Clarke's waist.

"I was so excited to see you earlier, I forgot to kiss you. How fucked up is that?" Clarke practically whispered as she leaned in closer and closer to Lexa.

"Stop talking, beautiful." And with that, Lexa closed the gap. It had only been a handful of days since the last time she kissed the blonde, but she immediately decided she never wanted to wait that long again for the rest of her life. She deepened the kiss slowly, Clarke immediately granting her access. Lexa wasn't sure how long they kissed for, it could have been seconds or it could have been hours. When she finally pulled away from the younger girl, she rested her head on her forehead and took a few seconds to catch her breath. "Did I mention that I missed you?"

"You did actually." Clarke giggled and ran her fingers through the baby hairs at the base of Lexa's neck. "I'm starving, let me go get changed." Lexa groaned loudly, making Clarke laugh. "You're a child, Lex."

"A child who doesn't want to stop kissing you." Lexa began to follow Clarke towards the house then stopped, thinking over what she had just said. "Weird." She shrugged and grabbed the hand of the blonde that was held out in front of her, and they made their way inside.

"So can you guys explain to me why you're still sitting on your asses in my mother's house, when neither of us are here?" Clarke asked as she made her way into the living room to find Raven and Octavia draped over the couch, watching a cartoon. Lexa hung back a bit, leaning against the door frame that led to the living room, not wanting to call any attention to herself. She buttoned the top button of her suit then placed her hands in her pants pockets.

"We do this all the time, Clarkey." The one Lexa remembered as Raven spoke up without turning her attention from the TV.

"Yeah, even when you're in New York, we come over all the time. Your mom has the best cable plan in the tri-state area." The other girl, Octavia, explained while also not taking her eyes off the cartoon in front of her. "Plus, why would we leave if neither of you are here? Somebody has to keep an eye on –" Octavia stopped talking when she turned her attention to the back of the room, eyes immediately falling on Lexa. "Oh, hello."

Lexa felt her stomach drop to her toes. She couldn't seem to wrap her head around how nervous she got when she was with Clarke. At work, Lexa was stoic and a hard ass and didn't flinch at anything. When she was on her motorcycle, she could hit speeds of over 100 MPH and not even bat an eyelash. But when she got around Clarke…everything was completely different. She had been nervous to ask Clarke out, she had been nervous to show up at her apartment unannounced, she had been nervous to ask if she could come to DC to see her, and now she was meeting the girl's best friends and she had never been more nervous in her entire life.

Guys, this is Lexa. Lex, this is Raven and Octavia." Raven whipped her head around at Clarke's introduction and now Lexa saw two heads grinning at her wildly over the top of the couch. She swallowed hard then put on her business face. That was the only way she was going to get through this.

"Raven, it's nice to see you again. Octavia, it's lovely to meet you." Lexa took a few steps forward until she stood directly behind Clarke. She placed her hand on the small of Clarke's back and felt the smaller girl shudder beneath her touch. "Clarke, would you like to go ahead and go get changed? I'll be here when you're finished." Clarke looked from her best friends to Lexa then back at her best friends. She quickly nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be quick." She turned back to the two girls who were re-situating themselves on the couch. "Be nice, please." They both shot a thumbs up into the air without saying a word. And with that, Clarke turned and made her way to the other side of the house to change.

"So, where shall we start?" Octavia asked mischievously, rubbing her hands together like Lexa had seen Clarke do before.

Lexa had made her way around the living room to sit on the love seat that was diagonal from the couch. She had only been sitting for a few minutes when Raven announced that she and Octavia had a few questions for the older woman. She had been waiting for the questions when Octavia had finally spoken up.

"Well, I think first things first." Raven said to Octavia then turned to face Lexa. "Why Clarke? I mean look at you, you could probably go out in New York and get any human being you wanted, yet right now you're choosing Clarke. The two of you live two very different lifestyles. She doesn't enjoy working out, she doesn't know shit about business, she enjoys buying her clothes at thrift stores or taking them from her dad's old closet, she's a school teacher. Explain your reasoning to me." Lexa took in everything that Raven said to her, and responded immediately, without hesitation.

"It's for all of those reasons that you just stated. Our lifestyles are very different, but she gives me such a sense of balance. I think I do the same for her." Lexa began then looked down at her watch absentmindedly. She was immediately taken over with thoughts of her father. "Clarke and I…we're more similar than most people know. I lost my father at a young age as well. He left my mother and me, and then my mother blamed me for it. So I essentially lost both of my parents. The two people who were supposed to love me unconditionally and be here for me no matter what, they were both just gone. That experience caused me to build some pretty tough walls around my heart. But Clarke…" Lexa took a deep breath before continuing. "Clarke made her way through those walls. But it's weird. It's not like she tore them down completely, they're still there. She just seemed to cut out a Clarke shaped hole in the wall and she waltzed right through. She's the only one I'm letting in. I've gotten to know her very well over the past year. I've seen how passionate she is about art and those kids. I've seen that passion carry over into every aspect of her life. I've seen her on the days that she doesn't even want to leave the apartment because she feels like she's failing her students. I've seen her drunk. I've seen her asleep. I've seen her in her painting clothes, and I've seen her in that little black dress she likes to wear every time she goes to a nice dinner. As much as I've seen of her, she's seen just as much of me. And it hasn't thrown either of us off the scent. And I think that's a first for both of us." Lexa realized at this point that she was rambling, but felt like she needed some sort of closing statement. "To fully answer your question, I chose Clarke because she chose me right back. And I hope we'll both continue to choose each other every day for a very long time."

"That's…an acceptable answer." Raven replied quietly.

"No further questions." Octavia added and Raven nodded along with her. "You've got the job, Ms. Woods. When can you start?" Lexa almost laughed at the shorter girls joke until she saw blonde hair enter the room to her right.

"Clarke." Lexa said, immediately standing and buttoning her top button. She let her eyes roam quickly down the blonde's body, taking in what she had changed into. A white sundress with flats, and she had let her hair down and out of the messy bun. "You look stunning." Lexa grinned and Clarke blushed.

"Flattery, Lexa." Clarke winked at the taller girl then turned to her best friends who were still sitting on the couch. "Were you two nice?"

"You always doubt us!" Octavia groaned.

"They were incredibly pleasant, Clarke. Don't worry." Lexa explained and Clarke nodded. "Are you ready to go?"

"Absolutely."

And with that, they left the house and Clarke's two best friends behind.

"I'll have the fresh fruit plate, with oatmeal and a black coffee." Lexa stated to their waitress before closing her menu and turning her attention to the blonde sitting across from her.

"And I would like…the chocolate chip waffles, applesauce, hash browns covered in cheese, and biscuits with lots of butter. And an orange juice." Clarke grinned up at the waitress who was working hard to write down her whole order. When the waitress was done she left the table, taking the menus with her. Lexa raised an eyebrow at Clarke. "What? I'm hungry. And this place has the best everything…I'll probably get a to-go box for most of what I ordered."

"Oh, will you really?" Lexa countered and Clarke shrugged.

"Nah, I won't. You know me too well already, Ms. CEO." Clarke placed her elbows up on the table and rested her chin in her hands.

"It's funny that you mentioned that, because I was just thinking that I don't know enough about you." Lexa replied, leaning back in the booth a bit and draping her arm over the back of it. Clarke felt her eyes fall to the brunette's torso, where her shirt had become even tighter with the position she was now sitting in. The blonde swallowed hard.

"Well, what would you like to know about me?" Clarke dragged her eyes back up to Lexa's face. "You already know all of the basics."

"What do you consider the basics?" The waitress returned and deposited Lexa's coffee and Clarke's orange juice. "Thank you so much." She smiled and turned away from the table.

"Well, you know my favorite color –"

"Forest green, kind of a dark teal, and a deep purple." Clarke smiled at the brunette's interruption.

"You know my favorite animal."

"Dogs. Any kind of dogs, to be specific. I live for the days when you walk onto the elevator and tell me about how you followed a dog walker three blocks out of your way, again, just because you didn't want to stop watching the dogs." Lexa chuckled a bit then took a sip from her coffee.

"Oh my god, I've done that so many times." Clarke practically barked in laughter.

"You've done it five times just since I've known you. Five times in one year is probably five too many times." Clarke laughed harder and just shrugged.

"Back to my point, though. You know my dream vacation destination."

"The Cliffs of Moher in Ireland is the main dream."

"You know what I wanted to be when I grew up."

"Well, that's a trick question." "Lexa countered, putting her coffee mug down. She crossed her arms and leaned her elbows on the table.

"How is that a trick question?" Clarke quirked an eyebrow.

"Because, when you were in kindergarten you wanted to be a firefighter. All through elementary school you wanted to be a park ranger because you thought that would be the way you could save the trees. Which I totally condone." Clarke laughed. "In 7th grade, you decided you wanted to be a professional soccer player. But then you didn't make the middle school soccer team so you dropped that dream. Then from 8th grade through the time you graduated, you wanted to be a world famous artist. It wasn't until you got to college and saw some inner city kids spray painting a beautiful mural on a wall that you decided you wanted to be a teacher."

"See? You know me pretty damn well, Lex." Their waitress dropped off their plates of food and they quickly dug in.

"Clarke, I could literally have the power of reading minds, I could know your every thought, and I still wouldn't think I knew you well enough." Lexa explained and Clarke shot her a chocolaty smile.

"You're really cute, you know that?" The blonde asked with a mouthful of waffles. Lexa grinned.

"I appreciate the compliment, Clarke."

"So, what are the plans for the rest of the day?" Clarke asked as the two girls climbed back into her mother's car with full bellies.

"I actually have a couple meetings this afternoon that I should probably be preparing for." Lexa answered solemnly, secretly wishing she hadn't scheduled any meetings for the few days she was going to be in DC.

"Oh, right! Of course. I'll get you to the hotel then." Lexa groaned in response.

"Can you kidnap me or something? I'd much rather spend the day with you." Clarke laughed at the older woman.

"I don't think it would be a good idea for me to kidnap someone who actually has a paid bodyguard." Lexa groaned again. "However, I can invite you to come hang out with me after all of your meetings tonight?" Clarke posed the statement as a question and Lexa quickly felt herself nodding. The blonde laughed again. "Okay, perfect. Raven, Octavia and I are going to get dinner and have a few drinks tonight. I'm sure they'd love for you to join."

"Well, I'd hate to impose. You can mention it to them and just let me know what they think of the idea." Lexa responded as she fidgeted with her ring inside her jacket pocket.

"You're always so worried about imposing. Oh my god. Like, do you not understand that I would literally give up just about anything in order to spend more time with you?" Clarke asked, raising an eyebrow. Lexa smiled gently and shook her head.

"You're exaggerating, Clarke."

I am not! I'm serious. Spending time with you is one of my favorite things in the whole entire world." Lexa blushed and shook her head again.

"Still exaggerating."

"Wanna know a secret?"

"I do love secrets, Clarke." Lexa grinned over at the blonde who kept her eyes on the road.

"Every day for the last year, I've been about ten minutes late to work. I'm still working on my lesson plans when the students start coming in for the day. I had to make up some silly rule about the first 15 minutes of class being free draw time, just so I can get everything ready for the day. If I left the apartment five minutes earlier each morning, I'd be able to catch the earlier train, and I'd be right on time. Every. Single. Day." Lexa looked at the younger woman incredulously.

"Then why do you…?" She trailed off, not really sure what she was trying to ask, though Clarke knew.

"Because those 60 seconds I spend with you every morning in the elevator are more important than I've ever led you to believe. It allows me to start every single morning with a smile on my face. Honestly, I probably would have already quit my job and moved back to DC if it weren't for our little conversations in the elevator every day. They keep me strong." Clarke explained. Lexa desperately wanted to kiss the woman next to her. She ran a hand through her wavy brown hair and turned her attention back to the road in front of the car.

"They keep me strong too, Clarke." She saw the blonde woman smile out of the corner of her eye.

"Well, here's your hotel." Clarke said as she pulled into the parking lot. She stopped near the front door and turned the car off. "Do you want to just let me know when you're done with all of your meetings today?"

"I can do that."

"Okay, cool. O and Ray are wanting to go out around 8 PM, is that okay for you?" Clarke asked and Lexa responded with a quick nod.

"That should be perfectly fine." Green eyes met blue as Lexa turned all of her attention towards the girl sitting next to her. "I'm going to kiss you now." Blue eyes sparkled and Clarke nodded her head quickly and Lexa leaned forward and captured her lips.

The only thought Lexa had was, "how does this keep getting better?" She and Clarke had kissed a few times now, and each time felt like the first time all over again. Lexa had butterflies in her stomach, and her hands were shaking a little as she placed one gently on the side of Clarke's face. She was nervous every time she kissed Clarke. She hadn't been nervous about kissing a girl since high school, and that was only because it had been the first girl she ever kissed. Clarke made her feel like a teenager again. She pulled away from the kiss slowly, keeping her eyes closed for a few more seconds.

"If you stay in this car any longer, I'm not letting you leave." Clarke said gently. Lexa opened her eyes and green immediately met blue again.

"Is that supposed to make me want to leave?" Lexa joked, raising an eyebrow. Clarke laughed.

"Go do work, Ms. CEO." Clarke said, shoving Lexa towards the door.

"Hey, fine! You don't have to get physical." Lexa feigned hurt as she rubbed her shoulder where Clarke had pushed her.

"Oh don't act like you don't want me to get physical with you." Clarke countered.

"Oh Clarke, I just don't want our first time getting physical together to be in your mother's car." Lexa leaned across the middle console and gave Clarke a chaste kiss. "I'll see you tonight, beautiful."

"Are you sure Raven and Octavia won't be upset that we didn't pick them up? Because I offered." Lexa loosened her tie a bit more as she and Clarke climbed out of the back of the SUV that Gustus had rented. After her meetings, Lexa had simply tossed her suit jacket to the side, rolled up the sleeves of her light blue button up, removed the top button, and loosened her tie. She didn't have the time to dress any more casual than that. She looked over at Clarke, who was wearing skinny jeans and a t-shirt of some band that Lexa had never listened to.

"They're not upset, Lex. They live on the other side of town. It would have taken us all way longer to get here." Clarke turned to the taller brunette who had her hands stuffed in her pants pockets. "Stop stressing out. You've already met them."

"Okay, yeah. But I'm about to spend an extended amount of time with them. I can't help but be a little nervous…" Lexa trailed off, busying herself with rolling her sleeves again. Clarke grinned and took a step closer to her, placing her hands on the older woman's upper arms.

"You're the CEO of one of the most influential businesses in this country. And you're nervous about hanging out with my friends for an hour or two?" Clarke raised an eyebrow at her. "What's gotten into you?" Lexa didn't answer. She just leaned down and kissed Clarke gently. She immediately felt herself calming down. She smiled into the kiss as she thought that all she had to do to keep herself calm for the rest of the night, is to keep kissing Clarke every chance she got. She finally pulled away from the kiss when the need to breathe became overwhelming.

"You're very important to me, Clarke." Lexa said as the two women caught their breath after the kiss. "So your friends are very important to me as well." Clarke smiled up at her then they heard someone clearing their throat behind Lexa. She turned to see Gustus standing next to the SUV. "Gustus, would you like to have dinner with us?"

"No ma'am, Miss Woods." Gustus said simply and Lexa gave him a quick nod.

"Very well. I'll message you when we are nearly ready to leave." Gustus returned the nod then climbed into the SUV and pulled away from the curb.

"Where will he go while we're here?" Clarke asked as the two women turned and made their way inside the restaurant.

"If I know him like I think I know him, he will be parked across the street with his eyes trained on the door and windows for the entire time." Lexa laughed gently. "He takes his job very seriously." Clarke was about to respond when she saw Raven out of the corner of her eye, waving wildly at the two girls.

"Raven and Octavia are over there, come on." Clarke grabbed Lexa's hand and pulled her gently towards the booth that her two best friends were sitting at. Clarke slid into the empty side of the booth, followed quickly by Lexa.

"What's up, love birds?" Clarke rolled her eyes playfully at Octavia's comment.

"You guys are late. Did you get distracted in the backseat of the car or something?" Raven winked at Lexa, whose face completely paled. Clarke had to physically restrain herself from laughing at the brunette's misfortune.

"Oh my god, shut up guys." Clarke said as she placed a kiss on Lexa's cheek. Raven and Octavia laughed as the color returned to Lexa's face.

The rest of the night seemed to go down without a hitch. The group of girls all ordered a few drinks and once Lexa had a certain amount of whiskey in her system, her nerves really seemed to calm down. Though, that might also have had something to do with Clarke's hand keeping her own hand hostage on Clarke's lap for the majority of the night.

Octavia and Raven asked more and more questions about Lexa as they tried to get to know her better. At one point, Lexa explained what she did for a living and what her business was striving for and she found Raven practically drooling at the description. She made a mental note to ask Clarke about that later.

She learned that Octavia was a martial arts instructor and was working on saving up enough money to open up her own gym. Raven was just a couple months away from graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering. Lexa couldn't help but wonder how three girls who were all so incredibly different had become best friends? Though, Lexa and Clarke were very different as well and yet she had found herself falling for the blonde for nearly a year now. Lexa found herself with a goofy grin on her face when she realized that Octavia had been trying to get her attention.

"I'm sorry, what?" Lexa felt Clarke squeeze her hand and looked over to see a nervous expression. What had she missed?

"I was asking if you wanted to come tomorrow? Because I totally have the right to invite whomever I want. And I'm inviting you, as my guest, not Clarke's." Clarke and Raven laughed at Octavia's announcement.

"You can't invite my girlf-…" Clarke caught herself and cleared her throat, receiving an odd look from Lexa. "You can't invite Lexa as your guest."

"Why don't we leave that up to Lexa?" Octavia countered, raising an eyebrow. Clarke leaned forward in her seat, ready to challenge the smaller girl in a joking manner.

"Why don't we tell Lexa what she's being invited to?" Lexa interrupted and the other three girls at the table all turned their attention back to her.

"Oh, right. We're having a family dinner tomorrow night. It will be me, O, Ray, Octavia's brother Bellamy, his best friend from college Lincoln, our two close friends from high school Harper and Monroe, Harper's girlfriend Fox, Monroe's boyfriend Murphy, and…am I forgetting anyone?" Clarke turned to her two friends, giving Lexa a minute to release a breath she had been holding. How does Clarke have so many friends? And how was Lexa going to deal with meeting all of them, at the same time?

"Just your mom, since it's at her house." Raven answered nonchalantly.

"Oh yeah! And my mom." Clarke said, turning back to Lexa whose eyes were practically bugging out of her skull.

"You want me to meet every friend you've ever had in your entire life AND your mother? Tomorrow?" Lexa squeaked out and felt Clarke squeeze her hand again. The blonde knew that would calm her down.

"You don't have to. I don't want you to feel pressured at all, Lex." Lexa took a deep breath and nodded.

"Can I have some time to consider it?" Lexa asked and Clarke immediately nodded.

"Of course. And really, I won't be offended at all if you don't want to. I know you didn't come to DC just to meet everyone else in my life." Clarke explained quietly as Raven and Octavia talked among themselves.

"You're right. I came here simply to see you." Lexa responded, taking another sip of her whiskey.

"I know." Clarke gave Lexa a quick kiss. "No pressure."

Lexa walked to the front door of Clarke's mother's house with Gustus at her side. She hoped it would be okay to invite him, but she wasn't going to be able to do this without another familiar face. She adjusted her shirt sleeves under her suit jacket. She was wearing a light gray suit with a light purple button up underneath. She decided to forego the tie, knowing this was more of a casual event, and left her top few buttons unbuttoned. She caught Gustus looking down at her from the corner of her eye. She looked up and gave him a quick nod, and watched as he reached forward and knocked on the door. After just a few minutes, the two were met by a very familiar blonde.

"Gustus! Lexa!" Clarke practically yelled as she pulled the two into a massive hug. "I'm so glad you guys came!" Clarke leaned forward and kissed Lexa on the cheek, making the older woman blush.

"Well, I decided that if this relationship goes the way I would like for it to, then I'm going to end up meeting all of these people anyway. Might as well go ahead and do it, right?" Lexa responded and Clarke grinned.

"Right." She turned, dragging Lexa and Gustus into the large house. "You guys can take your jackets off, make yourself at home. I'll be right back!" She exclaimed before scurrying out of the foyer. Lexa took her suit jacket off and hung it up on the coat rack next to the front door. She heard Gustus chuckling quietly behind her.

"What's so funny, Gustus?" She asked, raising an eyebrow in his direction.

"Nothing, ma'am." He responded between fits of laughter.

"Gustus." She challenged.

"It's just…Miss Griffin said my name first. She was far more excited to see me." He let out another bellow of laughter and Lexa couldn't hide the smile that made its way onto her face as well.

"Shut up, Gustus." She pushed his large laughing body out of the foyer and into the living room where the rest of Clarke's friends were.

Clarke quickly found her way back over to Lexa and Gustus. She spent the next hour or so introducing the two of them to each of her friends.

Bellamy was a firefighter. Lexa found him to be rather arrogant yet charming, and based on the face Gustus was making, he only found him to be the former.

Lincoln was a photographer. Lexa made the assumption before she even met him. He was toting around camera equipment all night, taking some wonderful candid photos of everyone. He took one of Clarke, Lexa, and Gustus that Gustus absolutely adored. He quickly gave his email to Lincoln so he could send him the picture.

Harper was an electronic technician. She had begun working on computers at Best Buy but quickly moved up in the ranks of IT guys. She now worked at a very well known government building in DC, repairing their computers on a daily basis. Lexa and Gustus both were very impressed.

Monroe was still in college. She had taken some time off at one point because she didn't know what she wanted to do. But now she was back and she was working diligently on getting a degree in chemistry, having decided to teach high schoolers after many long conversations with Clarke.

Fox was also still in college, she was a few years younger than everyone else. She was going to school for music, though she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with that degree.

Murphy was in the police academy. His father had been a police officer, and his grandfather before that. He had always known that was what he wanted to do. He only had about 4 weeks left until he would be done with the academy. Lexa barely even knew him, but she was proud of him.

Everyone sat down at the table as Clarke and Octavia placed all the food in the center of the table. Lexa glanced at the empty seat across from her. She still hadn't seen Clarke's mom. Maybe an emergency had happened at the hospital and the surgeon wouldn't be able to make it tonight. Lexa felt horrible for almost wishing that were the case. But, of course, as soon as Clarke and Octavia sat down and everyone started digging in, Dr. Griffin walked into the dining room.

"Hi, kiddos! So sorry I'm late." Lexa felt herself standing up immediately as Dr. Griffin reached the table. "Oh, hello?"

"Dr. Griffin, Lexa Woods. It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Lexa reached out her hand and shook Dr. Griffin's hand. "And this is my dear friend, Gustus." She motioned to Gustus who was also standing and shook Dr. Griffin's hand.

"Mom, I told you about Lexa." Clarke said as she pulled Lexa back down to her seat. "Told you she was in town for some meetings?"

"Yes, of course. It's lovely to meet you as well, Lexa." Dr. Griffin nodded to the woman and they both sat down at the table, keeping a wary eye on each other. "So, Lexa." Dr. Griffin began once everyone else had resumed talking among themselves. "What is it that you do for a living? I'm certain Clarke has told me, it must have just slipped my mind."

"I'm the owner and CEO of Woods Corporation and Trikru Industries." Lexa flinched as every jaw at the table practically dropped to the floor.

"Are you serious?"

"How old are you?"

"Did you start that business when you were still in diapers?"

"Are you hiring?"

"You're buying dinner for all of us next time."

"That's wonderful that you're so successful at such a young age." Dr. Griffin responded, ignoring the comments of everyone else.

"Thank you. I've worked very hard to get to where I am." Lexa felt Clarke squeeze her knee and she smiled over at the blonde.

"Clarke had mentioned that you were in town on business for a few days. And I do believe a few of my coworkers had meetings today and yesterday with a representative from Trikru. Any correlation?" Lexa swallowed the food that was in her mouth before responding.

"Yes, ma'am. My engineers and I have developed more eco-friendly medical supplies. We have some machines that are run on solar power, so the hospital doesn't have to depend on a gas generator if the power ever goes out. They'll be more mobile, much lighter, you won't have to rely on batteries or re-charging or plugging anything into the wall. We're in the process of selling our products to a few hospitals across the country to see how they do." Lexa replied and Dr. Griffin gave a curt nod.

"That's a wonderful idea. I'm sure all of your meetings have been going well?" Lexa was about to respond when she was interrupted by Raven.

"Dude, seriously, can you hire me? I'd love to be on the engineering team that comes up with shit like that. That's my dream."

"Raven, language." Dr. Griffin said as she stabbed at a few pieces of broccoli on her plate.

"Sorry, Doc." Raven apologized then looked back at Lexa. "But could you consider it? I'm good at what I do. Ask anyone."

"I believe you. I'll have to talk to a few people, and of course we would need a resume from you. But I'll give you my e-mail and we'll keep in touch." Lexa smiled as Raven practically squealed with excitement.

"Hey, there you are." Clarke walked into her backyard to find Lexa laying on her old trampoline. "I was worried you had left but Gustus is still hanging around Lincoln, so I knew you had to be here somewhere." Clarke climbed onto the trampoline and laid next to Lexa, quickly taking her hand in her own.

"I apologize, Clarke. I get overwhelmed in large groups of people sometimes." Lexa answered and Clarke just cuddled in closer to her.

"My mom was really impressed by you tonight." The blonde woman said quietly.

"Hopefully she doesn't think I was trying too hard or anything." Lexa mumbled and felt Clarke kiss her cheek.

"You were just being yourself. Which means she probably thinks you were just as perfect as I do." Clarke kissed down from Lexa's cheek to her jaw, peppering kisses all along her jaw line. "I don't want you to go home tomorrow." Clarke mumbled against Lexa's neck, were her lips were now working. When Clarke hit an overly sensitive spot at the base of Lexa's neck, the brunette growled and flipped them over so she was straddling the blonde.

Lexa leaned down and kissed her passionately. She placed one hand on the trampoline next to Clarke's head, and the other was on Clarke's neck, almost cupping her cheek. Lexa swiped her tongue along Clarke's lower lip asking for the permission that Clarke almost immediately granted. Clarke's hands found themselves resting on Lexa's hips, playing with the hem of her shirt that was coming untucked.

"Do you want to stay at my hotel tonight?" Lexa asked as she broke the kiss and saw Clarke's blown eyes looking back at her.

"I absolutely want to." Clarke answered and Lexa grinned, leaning down to kiss her again. "However…I shouldn't do that." Lexa stopped halfway to Clarke's lips and raised an eyebrow. "If I come back to your hotel with you, to be blunt, I am going to want to fuck you for about 5 hours straight. If not more."

"Probably more." Lexa mumbled to herself as she waited for Clarke to continue.

"But I don't think we should do that yet. I think we should go back to New York, we should go on a date, we should figure out what this is and where we want this to go, then we should fuck each other's brains out. Do you agree?" Lexa gave a quick nod and leaned down to kiss Clarke one more time.

"I wasn't trying to pressure you into anything. You know that, right?" Lexa asked quietly and Clarke laughed.

"You didn't. I'm a big girl, Lex. I can handle it." Lexa nodded again then both girls climbed off the trampoline. "So you have one more meeting tomorrow then you're leaving?"

"I am."

"Will I see you tomorrow before you leave?" Clarke grabbed Lexa's hand as they walked back towards the house.

"I'm actually not sure that I will have time. These meetings never last a certain amount of time. I could have time to get lunch with you afterward, or I might have to rush straight to the airport. I don't want to make plans then have to cancel on you." Lexa replied as they walked in the house and she found herself scanning the room for Gustus.

"I understand." Clarke tried to hide the fact that she was upset. "I'll see you Sunday though? When I get back?" Lexa nodded quickly, turning her attention back to the blonde.

"Of course. You can text me when you get back and I'll stop by." Clarke nodded and Lexa turned back to look for Gustus, whom she finally found sitting on the couch between Lincoln and Octavia, laughing loudly about something. "Gustus seems to be enjoying himself." Lexa nodded towards her bodyguard and Clarke giggled.

"I'll have to bring my friends up to New York more often so we can all hang out more. Did you like everyone?"

"I did. Bellamy seemed a little full of himself, but not everyone can be as perfect as me." Clarke laughed loudly as Lexa threw her arm over the blonde's shoulder.

"Oh god, yeah I'm so glad you're not full of yourself like Bell is." Lexa's stomach fluttered at the sound of Clarke's laugh.

"Miss Woods, are you ready to leave?" Lexa turned to face Gustus and she nodded quickly.

"Yes, Gustus. You can say goodbye to your new friends and I'll meet you out at the car." Gustus nodded and turned back to Lincoln and Octavia. Lexa took her arm off Clarke's shoulder. "I better get going. You'll text me as soon as you get back Sunday though?"

"Of course I will. I mean, I'll text you a lot before Sunday. But, I'll also definitely text you as soon as I get back. I'm kind of expecting you to be waiting for me inside my apartment." Clarke joked and Lexa smiled.

"If I had a way of getting into your apartment, I would be there waiting for you. With chocolate. And wine. Probably naked." Lexa watched as Clarke's eyes glazed over a bit.

"You're such a tease, Lex." Clarke laughed and shoved Lexa playfully.

"I apologize, Clarke. I promise I'll make it up to you as soon as you're home." She leaned down closer to the blonde so she could whisper in her ear. "I won't tease at all, if it makes you feel better." Lexa felt the smaller girl shudder at the thought and she leaned back grinning. "I'll see you in a few days, Clarke."

"Can't wait." Clarke grinned up at her as Lexa turned and made her way out of the house.