Chapter 9 - Finn Comes Undone
"He's here, Clarke!" Octavia practically yelled. "Why? Why would he come here?"
"Oh, my God," Clarke breathed out, looking at the agitated brunette. "Where is he?"
"He was in the kitchen the last time I saw him. He was yelling and pushing Jasper around. Bellamy was trying to talk to him when I left to find you. I think Lincoln was going to see if he could help too. He's out of control Clarke," Octavia added in a loud whisper.
Lexa watched the interaction between the two girls in confusion and no small sense of frustration. Clarke had been about to kiss her; she was sure of it. She had no idea what she would have done if the kiss had happened; she had told herself never to go down that road again. Lexa had convinced herself that to allow herself to become close to someone was a weakness, and for two years she had held herself aloof and distant from any emotional or physical intimacy. It terrified her how easily she forgot herself in the blonde's presence, how easily Clarke slipped behind the walls she had built up around her heart and how quickly the emotions she had held at bay for years erupted within her.
She watched as the blood drained from Clarke's face when Octavia mentioned someone named Finn and became concerned when something akin to panic flitted across Clarke's face. Then she watched as Clarke carefully schooled her features to one of calm indifference as she stood up from the couch and visibly straightened her back and squared her shoulders, before looking down at Lexa with regret.
"I'm sorry about this," she said and headed off in the direction of the kitchen leaving a very confused Lexa in her wake.
Octavia had turned as well and was about to follow after Clarke, when Lexa stood up quickly and grabbed the smaller brunette by the elbow, stopping her departure.
"What's going on, Octavia?" Lexa asked, concern evident in her voice.
Octavia jolted and turned, seeming to take in the other woman's presence for the first time. Lexa could tell that the younger girl was inebriated, her eyes going in and out of focus as she looked at the Lexa.
"Oh, Lexa!" she exclaimed as she finally registered who was holding her arm. "Shit! Shit, shit, shit!" she muttered loudly, looking in the direction of the kitchen.
"This is so incredibly messed up, Lexa," she said as she looked back at the other girl, seemingly pleading with her to understand. Understand what, Lexa had no idea.
"I don't understand what's going on, Octavia."
"Clarke didn't... no. No, she wouldn't have, not yet," Octavia finished, mumbling, looking at the floor. Then she raised her head and looked again at Lexa, "Of course, you wouldn't know. How could you?" Octavia babbled shaking her head.
Lexa was about to shake the younger girl into making sense when they heard yelling from the other side of the house. Octavia looked at Lexa with a worried expression in her eyes and tugged her arm out of the other girl's grip, "I have to go..."
Lexa released her, and Octavia took off out of the living room and headed to the kitchen, with Lexa following closely behind.
Most of the partygoers were crowded around the entrance to the kitchen, trying to peer over and around each other at the drama unfolding on the other side of the wall of people.
Octavia used her small size and sharp elbows to duck under arms and squeeze between bodies until she was standing at the front of the crowd. Lexa arrived a moment later, pushing through the last of the mob to stand by Octavia's side.
They were just in time to see a dark-haired boy step towards Clarke with a fisted hand.
Clarke was about to shoot a withering glare at her best friend for interrupting what was sure to be a fantastic moment before what Octavia was saying registered.
"Finn's here."
Clarke felt the blood leave her face and had an intense urge to flee before she got control of herself. She managed to get a bit more information from the agitated brunette before turning to face Lexa. She could see the confusion in the other woman's eyes, and regretted not being able to explain to her what was going on. All she could do was apologize.
Clarke went to the kitchen, where Octavia had said Finn had been last she'd seen him. As she got closer, she saw a few people had noticed the commotion and were starting to gather to see what was going on. She could also just see Bellamy, with Lincoln close behind him, blocking an angry Finn from leaving the confines of the kitchen.
Clarke pushed through the few people standing in the doorway and walked in to stand beside Bellamy. As soon as she got there, Finn noticed her and turned his attention away from Bellamy, focusing on her. The look in his eyes froze Clarke to her core. She didn't know this Finn. Gone were the soft brown eyes that had always looked at her with tenderness and need. The anger and hurt that Clarke saw there now made him unrecognizable to her as the boy she had gotten to know over the last few months.
Finn just stared at her, so Clarke cleared her throat, took a couple of steps closer and quietly asked him, "What are you doing here, Finn?"
"What am I doing here?" he repeated, almost to himself, looking away from her. Then he looked back and yelled.
"What am I doing here? God, Clarke! How can you even ask me that? What am I doing here? I'm here for you! For us!" He was practically screaming now, gesturing wildly with his hands.
Clarke took a step closer to the young, agitated man and quietly asked, "Finn, maybe we should go somewhere else? Talk in private?"
Finn carried on as if she had said nothing, ignoring the plea for a more private conversation. "We were fine. We were happy, Clarke, and then all of a sudden you decided you were done with me – out of the blue. I told you I loved you, for God's sake! I just…I don't understand Clarke," Finn said desperately.
"Why won't you give us a chance?" he pleaded.
Clarke could feel the crowd behind her growing and wished that Finn had agreed to have this conversation in private, but her attention stayed on the young man in front of her.
She flinched slightly at his words, but shook her head and looked at him sadly. "Finn, I told you, we're over." She didn't want to hurt him further, but she also had to make him understand, so she asked. "What did you think would happen, coming here?"
"What?" he asked stupidly.
"What did you think was going to happen, Finn? That I would see you and decide I'd made a mistake and take you back? I told you that I didn't feel about you the way you were starting to feel about me. That hasn't changed," she finished softly.
Finn looked at his ex-girlfriend with his mouth open and shook his head. He seemed to see the group of people gathered behind her and Bellamy for the first time. His eyes shifted to the mob, and he noticed that some of them were whispering and laughing. At him, or so he thought.
Embarrassment flooded his system, and he stepped towards Clarke with his fist clenched. Clarke's eyes widened, and she took a hasty step back as Finn stepped towards her. As she backed up, her foot caught on the leg of a stool tucked into the kitchen island. She tripped, windmilling her arms, trying to grab the edge of the island to break her fall, but missed and went down, smacking the back of her head first and then the side of her face on the stool as she went.
Bellamy was already moving forward when he saw Finn's forward movement, but could do nothing but flinch at the loud crack as her head hit the wooden stool as she fell. He was close enough to semi-catch her before she hit the floor though and he gently eased her down into his lap.
Clarke's head exploded with stars, and she vaguely felt someone catch her and heard all hell break loose until the ringing in her ears overtook her and she succumbed to darkness.
Lexa was moving as soon as she saw Finn step toward Clarke with his fist clenched. It seemed to happen in slow motion for the brunette, watching Clarke trip as she backed away, then falling and hitting her head on the stool as she fell; she was stepping past Bellamy as he caught Clarke and gently lowered her to the floor. She could hear the uproar occurring around her, and she appreciated Lincoln's presence beside her as she approached the young man who now stood heaving over a listless Clarke.
She and Lincoln took another step towards Finn and his head snapped up, as he realized what was happening, a wild look in his eye. Finn looked around frantically for an escape, but Lexa and Lincoln were in front of him, the island to his right, the rest of the kitchen to his left and when he spun around, realized that Jasper was still behind him. He looked to jump over the island to get away, and when he did, noticed the block of carving knives on the island and immediately grabbed one and started brandishing it in front of him.
"Get away from me!" he yelled.
"Put the knife down, you dumbass!" Bellamy shouted from the floor. "For Christ's sake. Don't make this worse than it already is."
Lexa and Lincoln had stopped their advance when Finn had grabbed the knife, but Jasper was still creeping up behind him. He caught Lexa's eye and she subtly shook her head to try to keep Clarke's intoxicated friend from trying to be a hero, but he just smirked at her in response.
"I love her, Bellamy!" Finn wailed, "I just wanted...I never meant..." Before he could continue, Jasper made his move, coming up behind Finn he attempted to wrap his arms around the other man to bind his arms. Some noise or sixth sense tipped Finn off, though, and he spun around, knife clutched in his hand and sliced through Jaspers' abdomen. Jasper staggered back, both hands holding his stomach. As blood started to well between his fingers, he fell to his knees.
In the distance, police sirens screamed, getting louder as they approached. Someone had called 911 at some point during the altercation.
"SHIT!" Finn yelled, grabbing his hair with his hands in agitation. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen," he wailed, tears streaming down his face.
Everyone had backed away from him as he brandished the knife in front of him again after Jasper fell, and no one stopped him as he stepped around the fallen boy and bolted out of the sliding door at the side of the kitchen, onto the outside deck and disappeared into the dark.
Lexa moved directly to Clarke's side, and Lincoln went to Jasper, barking out orders to those around him for help. A now-sober Octavia arrived next to him in moments with towels and Lincoln immediately ripped open Jasper's shirt and applied pressure to the wound on his abdomen. He lifted it after a moment and inspected the slash quickly before stating, "It's not too deep, he's lucky. He should be okay with some stitches."
Lexa heard all of this as she knelt next to a still-unconscious Clarke, whose head and shoulders Bellamy had cradled in his lap. Her heart clenched when she saw the blood from the cut on the back of her head on Bellamy's hands and pants, the scrape along her cheekbone from hitting the stool, and the bruise spreading across Clarke's cheek. It was all she could do to stop herself from reaching out and pushing a loose strand of hair away from the blonde's face. Instead, she thrust a tea towel at Bellamy that she had grabbed off the counter, to press to the back of Clarke's head, as she watched the pulse point in her neck beat out a steady rhythm, assuring her that Clarke was okay.
Raven barged in moments later, disheveled and looked around wildly.
"What the fucking hell happened?" she hollered, eyes landing on Clarke and then Jasper.
She knelt down next to Lexa, reached out and felt Clarke's pulse, then gently touched the scrape on her cheekbone and the purple bruise. Lexa moved out of the way and stood up, moving over to see if she could help with Jasper, looking back at Clarke's supine form every few seconds.
Lincoln had Jasper's bleeding under control and instructed Octavia to keep pressure on the wound while he checked on Clarke. Lexa stood between the two wounded friends, unsure where to go or what to do. She was on the verge of panic, the complete and total feeling of helplessness threatening to overtake her. It was a too-familiar feeling, and she felt her chest constrict as she fought to try to calm herself. She forced herself to focus on Lincoln's quiet, calm confidence while dealing with the injured friends and felt herself relax marginally. Once again, she was thankful for Lincoln's grounding presence.
Raven had moved over to help Octavia with Jasper, so Lexa went back to Clarke's side and sat quietly with Bellamy as Lincoln looked over the unconscious girl.
"She'll probably need stitches for that head laceration" Lincoln informed them, "and she'll have a concussion, not to mention one hell of a headache, but it could have been worse. She should be okay." He looked at Bellamy and gave him a half grin, "Nice catch."
"Thanks," Bellamy said, "I'm just glad I was close enough."
Octavia and Raven were sitting with Jasper, who was trying to make a stupid joke about how much women love scars. The two girls forced a laugh at his attempt at humor and Raven reached out and squeezed his shoulder.
"You got to the ruckus late," Octavia observed quietly to Raven out of the side of her mouth.
"Yeah," Raven replied sheepishly, "I was...upstairs...checking someone, er, something out," she finished lamely.
Octavia rolled her eyes at her friend and began filling her in on what had happened. She was interrupted minutes later by the arrival of the police and the paramedics, so they surrendered Jaspers' care to them and moved out of the way.
Lexa sat by Clarke's side, fighting the urge to touch her. She found herself shaking from both fear and anger, and she tried to calm her racing mind.
Though it seemed trivial in the wake of the violence, Lexa couldn't shake the thought: Clarke had a boyfriend. She wasn't sure what had occurred between the two before she got there, but she had heard the young man profess his love for her. She had no idea what Clarke had said to him before that, or why he had approached her the way he had, but it made her burn with rage.
Lexa looked up as the police and paramedics entered the kitchen and stepped away from Clarke to give them better access to check her condition. As they assessed her vital signs, Clarke started to flutter her eyelids and moan softly.
The police began talking to the partygoers, trying to piece together what happened, and they were sending home those who couldn't be of help. The house was starting to empty, and soon Jasper and Clarke were loaded on stretchers and taken out to the waiting ambulances. The police asked Lexa to stay, as well as Lincoln, Octavia, and Bellamy as they were all witnesses.
Raven, having missed both the confrontation and the attack, rode with her injured friends in the ambulance, promising to text the others with updates. She also pledged to call Clarke's parents. Monty had already called Jasper's. He was also accompanying the ambulance since he'd been in the basement struggling with a faulty tap for a new keg of homebrew while the incident was happening.
Lexa felt like screaming. She wanted to go with Clarke, but she knew that Raven would keep her word and let them know what was going on. Still her skin itched from the inactivity; she just wanted to give her statement and go to check on Clarke. However, she wasn't sure if Clarke would want her there, and truth be told, Lexa wasn't sure she could set foot inside the hospital. As she was taken to another room by a police officer to get her statement, she pushed that thought aside to focus on the task ahead of her.
She had finished with the officers about the same time as Octavia, both of them looking at each other, saying nothing before Octavia broke the silence.
"So..." she said fidgeting slightly and not meeting Lexa's eyes.
"So," Lexa responded quietly.
Octavia looked at Lexa suddenly and narrowed her eyes and tilted her head slightly as she contemplated the taller brunette in front of her. Then, as if making a decision of some sort blurted out, "Clarke broke up with Finn a few days ago. He didn't take it well."
Lexa's eyebrows shot up briefly in surprise, both by the suddenness of the remark and with the understanding that Finn was not Clarke's boyfriend, at least not anymore. The relief that flooded her system also took her by surprise, and she felt some of the tension of the evening leave her neck and shoulders.
"Oh."
Lexa had a thousand questions, but she didn't give voice any of them. Instead, she asked, "Are you going to the hospital?"
"Yes. Are you?" Octavia queried back.
Lexa looked away from the girl to her tightly clenched fists held in front of her and slowly forced herself to relax them. Octavia noticed and quietly asked, "Lexa?"
Lexa looked up at her and saw compassion in the younger girl's bright blue eyes. She took a deep breath.
"Do you think I should?"
Octavia didn't hesitate. "Yes. You definitely should," punctuating her statement with a nod.
Lexa didn't say anything, just nodded back. They went to find an officer to ask if they could leave. After receiving permission and confirming that they would be available the next day if they were needed, Octavia went to find Lincoln and explain what they wanted to do.
Lincoln nodded.
"I'll drive."