The alarm clock reads 9:30 as the morning sun drifts through the curtains causing Lexa to slowly open her eyes. Her mind immediately fills with thoughts of last nights events and they bring an instant smile to her face. Those couple of hours sitting with Clarke on her balcony, watching the stars and talking, will go down as two of the best hours of her life. For the first time ever, she isn't waking up sad on her birthday.

As she lifts her arms over her head to stretch she hears Clarke yelling from outside her door. "Wake up sleepy head! Breakfast is ready!"

Lexa giggles. "I'm awake! I'll be down in a few."

Lexa bounced gleefully down the stairs and headed directly to the kitchen. She stops dead in her tracks at the entrance and her mouth drops open. There are balloons scattered around, the biggest stack of chocolate chip pancakes she's ever seen and three Griffins standing there watching her with huge grins on their faces.

Mrs. Griffin is the first to approach her, pulling her into a hug. "Happy birthday, sweetheart." Mr. Griffin takes a hold of her next, squeezing her in a big bear hug, "Happy Lexa day, kiddo." He kisses the top of her head and she is soon enveloped in Clarke's arms. "Happy birthday… again" the blonde says with a smirk as she pulls away.

Lexa smiles brightly, looking between all three Griffin's. "Thank you SO much. All of you." She pauses and wipes a tear from her face. "This is already the best birthday I've ever had."

"It's only just beginning Lex. Come on, sit down. Let's eat!" Clarke says as they all take their seats at the table. Lexa pauses to take in the contents of the food laying out on the table.

"This all looks amazing. I love chocolate chip pancakes." She said, piling a decent stack onto her plate.

Mrs. Griffin laughs, "That's what Clarke said."

Lexa looks at Clarke, confused. "And how did you know about my love for chocolate chip pancakes?"

Clarke shrugged. "You told me" she responded as she sprayed an ungodly amount of whipped cream on top of her pancakes.

"Oh yeah? When? I don't ever recall talking to you about pancakes, Clarke." Lexa grabs the whipped cream can away from the blonde. "Also, that's way too much whipped cream. You're going to give yourself a cavity."

"There's no such thing as too much whipped cream, Lex." She says with a wink. "Anyway, to answer your question, you told me a month ago." Lexa looks at her with confused eyes, prompting Clarke to further explain. "I went to see you at The Dropship while you were working. I was excited when I saw you all had chocolate chip muffins. When I stated my joy, you scoffed and said 'Muffins are child's play. Nothing beats chocolate chip pancakes. Those are the best things on Earth.'"

Lexa looks at the girl and feels a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks. "You continue to surprise me, Griffin." Clarke smiles and then proceeds to spray more whipped cream on her pancakes. Lexa rolls her eyes and takes the can out of the girl's hand again, this time placing it out of her reach, earning a pout from the blonde.

Neither noticed the knowing looks the elder Griffin's exchanged with one another.

"Where are we going?" Lexa asks from the backseat of the Griffin's car. After breakfast, they all piled into the car and were now off to an undisclosed destination.

Mr. Griffin laughs from the driver's seat. "Well, that would ruin the surprise. Not to worry, kid. This is a Griffin birthday tradition."

Lexa looks nervously over at Clarke. "It'll be fun Lex, I promise. Trust me." Lexa nods and laces her fingers' with Clarke's before she returns her stare out of her window. After about 10 minutes a building comes into view. Lexa searches the building until she finds a sign. Finally she spots it. 'Arkadia Lanes', it reads.

"Bowling? This is the Griffin birthday tradition?" Lexa had never gone bowling before and she couldn't help but show the excitement on her face.

"You better believe it! We've been doing this on all of our birthdays since Clarke was four and could hold a ball. Let's go!" Mrs. Griffin exclaimed, getting out of the car.

After renting their shoes the four of them found their bowling balls and headed to their lane. Once she had her shoes on, Lexa walked over to Clarke who had begun entering their names into computer.

"Ok, Lexa. What do you want your bowling name to be?" The blonde asks her.

"What do you mean?"

"Your bowling name. We all have bowling names, look." Clarke points at the screen. Lexa studies the names:

The Dude

Dr. Gutterball

Sky Princess

Lexa looks at Clarke. "Sky Princess? I thought you hated being called princess."

Clarke shook her head. "I don't like when you call me 'princess', Lex. It means you're mad at me or think I'm a spoiled brat... I don't like when you see me like that. I don't want to be that person." Lexa looks at her apologetically, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder. Clarke offers her a small smile before continuing. "So, your bowling name birthday girl?"

Lexa bites her lip. "I don't know, Clarke. You pick one for me."

Clarke playfully taps her chin while she thinks. Suddenly a mischievous grin appears on her face and she begins typing. Lexa looks over the blonde's shoulder. "The Commander" she says with a laugh. "Really, that's what you come up with?"

"You're bossy."

"You're rude."

Clarke winks at the girl. "Let's go dad, you're up!"

Clarke is sitting with her mother while watching her father teaching Lexa how to throw the ball. She can't help but smile at her dad as he talks animately. She can hear him saying things about "boards, arrows and the 'pocket". Her eyes then fixate on the brunette who is listening intensly to the man's instructions.

Clarke looks over at her mother. "Thank you mom."

"For what honey?"

"For being there and helping Lexa. You and dad have been great with her. You've really gone above and beyond anything I could've asked for and..." She pauses and moves her eyes back to where the brunette is standing. Green eyes briefly lock with hers and they share a smile, "she looks so happy."

"You don't need to thank us honey. She's a special girl. We're just glad she's allowed us to help. According to Marcus, she doesn't accept help easily." Mrs. Griffin notices her daughter's gaze drift back towards Lexa causing the older woman to smile. "Does she know?"

Clarke looks at her mother curiously. "What?"

"Does she know how you feel about her?"

Clarke sighs and shakes her head. "No. At least, not the way you're talking about."

"Well, are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know mom. Not yet. Lexa knows I care about her… as friend. And she needs a friend right now. She's going through a lot and it took me weeks to even get her to consider me a friend since she hated me in the beginning. Her friendship is too important to me to risk telling her about… these feelings."

Mrs. Griffin takes her daughter's hand. "First of all, I find it really hard to believe that that girl ever really hated you. Secondly, just don't wait too long to tell her. If you learned anything from losing Charlotte, it should be that life is short. We all deserve to be happy and share that happiness with the people we care about."

Clarke smiles sadly at her mother then looks back over to Lexa as the brunette throws the ball down the lane. "STRIKE!" Her father yells and Lexa immediately begins jumping up and down. She runs up to Clarke and stands directly in front of the blonde. "Clarke! Did you see that? I did it!" Clarke stands and hugs the girl. " Awesome job, Commander." Lexa rolls her eyes and proceeds to give Mrs. Griffin a high five.

Lexa is placing her rental shoes on top of the counter when she feels Clarke grab her hand and begin pulling her away while shouting, "Mom, dad, we'll be right back!"

Clarke continues to pull her across the bowling alley. Lexa is about to ask her what she's doing when her eyes land upon a photo booth. Clarke enters the booth first and sits down, then motions for Lexa to sit on her lap. Lexa smiles shyly and sits while Clarke puts money into the machine. "You ready?" Clarke asks her. Lexa nods.

Lexa laughs when Clarke puffs out her cheeks like a chipmunk. She follows the blondes' example, puffing her cheeks out as well just as the camera flashes. Next Clarke puckers her lips and raises her eyebrows and the camera flashes again. They're both laughing loudly at this point. Clarke begins preparing for her next pose when Lexa leans over and places a soft kiss on the blonde's cheek just in time for the camera to off.

Clarke's cheeks instantly warm up with a blush. She turns to face the brunette whose cheeks are sporting a similar blush. Green eyes are searching her blue, trying to read her reaction. Clarke smiles. They simultaneously begin leaning in towards each other, not breaking eye contact. She's just about to close her eyes, when, FLASH. The sound of the camera clicking caused both girls to jump back slightly. They both let out nervous giggles and Lexa gets up off of Clarke's lap and exits the booth. Clarke lets out a deep breath and follows the girl out. They stand side by side in silence, waiting for their photos to drop out of the window. Once they fall, Lexa immediately grabs them and smiles, showing them to Clarke beside her. Clarke smiles at the girl, grabs her hand and they walk out of the bowling alley.

"Wanna watch a movie?" Clarke asks as they all enter the Griffin household. "Yeah, sounds good." Lexa responds.

"Not too late girls. You have school tomorrow." The sound of Mrs. Griffin causes Lexa to pause at the bottom of the stairs. The brunette turns around and walks towards the adults who are now seated in the living room. "Um, Mr. and Mrs. Griffin. I don't know how to say thank you enough. Today has been amazing, it honestly feels like I'm dreaming. I had so much fun and I'm honored that you included me in your family tradition."

Mr. Griffin stands up and walks over to the young girl. "You're apart of this family now kid. Always will be." Mrs. Griffin joins them. "Once you're in, there's no escaping. You're stuck with us." She says with a laugh. Lexa laughs and puts arms around both of them. She whispers another "Thank you" before letting go and walking back to Clarke who's still waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

11:59

Lexa looks away from her alarm clock down to the blonde girl asleep on her shoulder. The movie they were watching ended an hour ago but Lexa couldn't bear the thought of waking this sleeping beauty. As the clock strikes midnight, she looks at the photos in her hand, gently running her fingers down the strip of paper. She closes her eyes and whispers:

"Best. Birthday. Ever."