Chapter 23:
Clarke started at the hospital. She knew that would be one of her mother's first questions. What kind of supplies did they really have? They'd put on a good show before, but that was when they were trying to get them here. She had to admit she didn't really know what she was looking for. Her mom was the doctor. She knew enough to get by, but she was no healer. Lexa brought Atami with them in the group of 20, but she didn't know anything about this kind of technology and medicine. Clarke just resigned herself to writing down the names of things she thought were important. She'd brought Lincoln and Octavia along to help. At first, she was concerned. The supplies seemed pretty limited. It appeared the show really was a show, but then they found a large room that had rows and rows of medication. More than likely, much of it was expired, but Clarke just made notes. There was also a basement where machines were stored. She had Lincoln and some other grounders help move them around when they were in the way so she could see what was behind them. It reminded her of inventory. Finding, writing, moving onto the next thing. By the end of the morning, they had made it through much of the hospital. Clarke sensed they had the technology; just not the people to run or use it. They had the people and some of them could train others on how to work it. The thing she didn't know was how to make more. Once this medicine ran out, how would they make more? Could they make more? She'd have to leave that for other to figure out. By afternoon, she'd returned to the house only to find no one there.
"Come." Lexa motioned with her hand from the car York was driving.
"Where?" Clarke asked.
"Our new home."
Clarke climbed in the car next to Lexa. Lexa smiled at her and York drove off.
"Where is this new home?" Clarke asked her.
"You'll see."
After a few minutes, they arrived outside a house that was much bigger than their last. It had a large front yard and was made out of durable brick. It looked as if it had been taken care of well over the years.
"Here." York said. He turned off the car and climbed out of it. "Oh and driving lessons start tomorrow. I can't be the only one in this place that can drive a car." He joked.
Clarke and Lexa got out too.
"Whose house was this?" Clarke asked.
"My parents." York shared. "I've been keeping it up since they died, but it's been vacant ever since. It's one of the nicest in the city, close to the city's main buildings. It belongs to you now." He held up a set of keys.
"What? No, York. This place belongs to you." Clarke argued.
"I can't live here. Never could. Too many memories. That's why I moved in with Brooklyn a while back. I would have given you Carolina's presidential home, but Lexa said you'd never take it."
Clarke looked back at her.
"She was right."
"Bring your people here, Clarke. We can all start over. You can be the leader we need."
She looked at Lexa again and then back to York.
"Thank you." It was all she could say.
"I'm going back to the hospital to continue the interviews." He said. He and some of the others had been interviewing the captives to try to determine who knew of Carolina's plan and murderous past. So far, they believed only a handful of people assisted her. The rest had been let go, but were being watched just in case they tried something or had been great liars. Lexa was leading up many of the interrogations with Indra taking the overflow.
They walked inside their new house. There was a winding staircase leading to the second floor ahead and to the right. The foyer was large and had a tile floor. Lexa took Clarke's hand and walked her past the staircase and through the expansive kitchen. There was a backdoor that Lexa pushed open.
"Look." She pointed.
In the backyard was an old pool. It was nothing like the pool with the river running through it at the capital, but it had water in it and the woods butted up against it so it was beautiful to Clarke.
"It's perfect." She looked at Lexa. "Is he really sure about this? Did you ask him for this place or-"
"He offered. He knew you wouldn't want to live at Carolina's house and I told him about how we didn't want to stay at the house we'd been given. He told me about this house. I saw it and knew you would love it."
"It's great, Lexa. Thank you."
Lexa took in Clarke's expression. She was definitely happy with the house, but there was something else going on beneath that as well.
"Back to work?" Lexa guessed.
Clarke laughed lightly.
"I need to talk to Bellamy about what his group found and then catch up with Kane about setting up the watches on those we've let go. I don't want the innocent people thinking they're still in prison, but I want to know what's going on at the same time. I think he can handle that and it will keep him busy too. Then, I need to call the camp and we need to call the capital and tell them what's happened here."
"Miles to go before I sleep?" Lexa asked almost to herself.
"What?"
"It's from a poem." Lexa educated. "My mother used to read it to me each night. She had it memorized. Her mother read it to her and so on."
It was then that Clarke realized how little she knew about Lexa's family beyond the fact that they were all dead.
"I never took you for the poetry type." Clarke smirked. She started walking back inside the house with Lexa following her.
"No need for it as Commander, but my mother was not a Commander."
They walked back inside and Lexa took her up the stairs.
"What did she do?"
"You would call her a judge."
"You have judges?"
"Yes, the Commander cannot see to all the issues of their people. We have several judges. They hear about the concerns of the people and make decisions. They meet with the Commander when needed."
"I guess I know where you get it from."
They arrived at the top of the stairs and Lexa started walking toward a room.
"Get what from?"
"Your strength." Clarke replied. "It has to take a lot of that to be a judge for your people." She followed Lexa into the bathroom and saw the amazing bathtub that was wider than the one at Lexa's place in the capital.
"I thought you'd like that too." She said. Clarke just smiled at her. They left and walked toward the bathroom.
"What did your father do?"
"He was the Commander's second until his death." She stood in the doorway and allowed Clarke to enter before her.
Clarke looked around the room and noticed the large bed and wondered if that had been the same bed York's parents slept in. She made a mental note to try to change it with another one if she got the chance. Lexa walked over to the large bay window that overlooked the backyard.
"How did he die?" She gently asked.
"Battle. Protecting the Commander. He died with honor."
"And your mother?"
"In childbirth."
"Lexa…" Clarke had no idea.
"My younger brother. He survived only days after her death. My father and I had each other though."
Clarke walked up and stood beside her, staring out the window instead of making eye contact.
"What were their names?"
"Liam and Nexa. I was to be named after my father if I was a boy. When I was born, they…"
"Got creative?" Clarke asked and looked over at her with a small smile, trying to keep the mood light. Lexa didn't look in her direction, but she smiled slightly and lowered her head.
"My brother was named Liam. He would have been called Liam Strik."
"Strick?"
"Little. Liam Little."
"It's a good name."
"He would have made a good warrior." Lexa said and stared back out the window.
"Or something else." Clarke replied.
"I should get back to the interrogations." Lexa deflected. Clarke could tell she'd had her fill of bringing up old memories.
"Okay. I'll find Bellamy." Lexa walked toward the bedroom door. "Lexa?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for this." She looked around the room.
Lexa nodded and smiled shyly.
"Bell, what do you know?" Clarke asked.
"Well, the electricity is hydro so we're good there. They've got a dam just like the mountain. The fuel is another story. It can be produced from the plant they've got, but it looks like it takes hundred of people manning the damn thing." Bellamy explained. "Davis runs the place. He's been basically on his own with his son trying to keep the cars and planes in fuel." Bellamy introduced Davis who was standing to his left. He was a man of about 40. He was wearing an old, tattered jump suit that was covered in some kind of grease.
"I had nothing to do with-" He started as he wiped his hand on a rag.
"I know." Clarke interjected. "You've been cleared. I just need to know what you need here to keep the fuel coming for the basics. The stoves run on gas, don't they?"
"Yeah and the heaters too. We've been rationing for a while now. Before you got here, at least. With winter coming though, that gets hard. People start to freeze, they start fires instead of turning on the heat, and accidents happen. We lost 10 last winter that way."
"What do you need?" Clarke asked.
"People who are willing to work. I can show them the ropes. My son Leo can too. He's a good kid. Works hard."
"You'll get your people tomorrow." Clarke told him.
She started walking off and Bellamy followed.
"Food supply looks good for now. They farm and raise cattle. The only problem is-"
"Winter?"
"Yeah, they should be stocking up to make it through, but they need help."
"We can do that."
"Davis is going to need at least 50 people to get this place up and running again."
"How many for the food?"
"Probably at least another 50. Maybe more."
"The dam?"
"20 to 30 to keep it going. It's been run down without maintenance. Davis said his friend who works it has mentioned there are some major structural issues that need to be addressed so maybe even more for that."
Clarke sighed.
"Anything else?" She asked, knowing the answer.
"Security? Government? Doctors?" Bellamy listed.
"Just to start." Clarke added.
"Clarke, if we're going to make this place home, we need more people who have skills. We've got a lot of warriors here. They can fight, but if there's no battle to fight…"
"I get it." She paused. "I'm making a call to the camp today. Catch a ride with York. Meet Lexa and I at our house. We'll work on a plan together." She told him.
"Okay." He replied.
Clarke pulled out the radio and Raven helped her find the right frequency. They'd tried contacting the camp earlier, but no one was on the other end. It didn't concern anyone since the routine they'd setup before they left was for one contact at the same time each week. The camp would still turn their radio on everyday, but there might not always be someone there to listen for them. It was long past dinner and most of the Sky People who'd come to the city with her were in the new living room. Octavia and Lincoln remained at the hospital to guard those still imprisoned in the rooms. After all the interrogations were done, Clarke was confident that only about 7 people knew what the president would resort to if they didn't comply with her plan. 2 of them outright admitted they also knew about her killing the cabinet members and that they helped her do it.
"Camp Jaha, it's Clarke. Anyone there?" She said into the radio. She repeated after she heard only static.
"We should contact the capital. We can reach back out to the camp later." Lexa suggested.
"Clarke?" It was a voice on the other end of the radio.
"Jasper?"
"Yeah and Monty's here too. We just started our watch or I guess technically our listen. Your mom suggested we start setting up shifts at the radio."
"Jasper, I need you to get my mom. We need to talk to her."
"Okay, but how are you guys?" He paused. "How is it there?" He sounded sad. Clarke recalled watching him cling to the girl he loved in the mountain as she lay dead. Seeing that was one of the reasons she decided to leave the camp. That all seemed like so long ago to her now, but she was guessing it didn't seem like that long ago to Jasper or even Monty and the other mountain survivors. When she was in the camp, she'd isolated herself so she wouldn't have to see their faces, their stares.
"It's okay. Just get Abby for me. Please." She stated realizing the residual tension between the two of them and not wanting to make him think she was dolling out orders.
"She's in medical." It was Monty. "Jasper's going to get her."
"Okay. Monty, do we have anyone that knows anything about fuel or hydro electricity?"
"Um… I don't know. I guess Raven and Wick would be my top picks. Why?"
"Long story. You'll hear in a minute. Anyone else you can think of?"
"I can try to put together a list for you? Anything specific I should ask them?"
"I don't know. We just need people who are familiar with it to direct people who aren't."
"Okay." Pause. "How important is this?"
"It's important." She told him. Then, she heard some shuffling on the other end.
"Clarke?"
"Mom?"
"It's me. What's going on?"
"We need to talk." Clarke started at the beginning. It was harder than she expected. Her mom had been here and had seen all the amazing things Carolina had promised. She was having a hard time believing that everything was just a ploy to get them here.
"Clarke, are you sure? Maybe you misinterpreted her meaning. I can talk to-"
"She's dead, mom."
"What?"
"She's dead. She was killed by the man she's lied to for years. She murdered his parents because they might have opposed her and she killed 3 other people that we know about so York killed her."
"Clarke…" It was an exasperated sound, not an angry one. "I'm sorry. I should have seen it." There was static. "I should have thought it through before we just agreed to go, but we had a chance to save Raven's life and then when it worked and they showed us what life could be like there, I just jumped on it."
"So did I." Clarke responded.
"So did I." Kane added. "I don't think we can blame anyone. We all wanted what Carolina offered." He looked at Clarke. "We can still have it if we all work together."
"What do you mean?" Jasper asked. He and Monty were still listening in.
"We're staying." Clarke said.
"There are people there that-"
"Don't like us very much? Yeah, we know. We've arrested them. We'll figure out what to do with them later, but all of us here think we stand a good chance of making this place our new home."
"What do you want us to do?" Monty asked.
"York's agreed to fly the plane for us and they have one other pilot York trusts. We have enough fuel, according to him to get back and forth about 10 times. That's about 200 people with the two planes."
"We have more than 200 people here, Clarke." Abby filled in.
"I know, but we need more fuel to get them from there to here. We need to get as many people here as possible to help work at the plant and in other places. Once we have a system in place, we can make regular runs to get the rest of the people."
"What about the people who don't want to go?" Jasper asked. Clarke wondered if he was talking about himself.
"I'm not going to make anyone come here if they don't want too, but we can't help them if they stay. They'll be too far away. With winter coming, we'll need the rest of the fuel and food for ourselves. In the spring, we can start supply runs maybe, but-"
"That's assuming they make it through winter?" Monty asked and really answered himself. "If they're waiting for Jaha to come back or send a message from the City of Light, they could be waiting a long time."
"Yeah."
"My people are more equipped to handle the harsh winters." Lexa shared. "With the alliance still in place, you can send the people who want to stay to the capital. They will be taken care of there." She offered.
"What makes you think any of us will want to be with any of you?" Jasper asked with disdain.
"What do you think it's like here, Jasper?" Raven asked. "We're all going to live together. One big happy family." She replied with a little sarcasm.
"If people want to stay at Jaha, I won't stop them, Jasper, but there's nothing I can do to help them either." Clarke explained.
"I can talk to everyone. Let them know the plan." Abby stated.
"I need you to focus on people who can help specifically with what I mentioned. Monty knows the details."
"Okay."
"I can send York tomorrow if you can get people ready. He believes he can get pretty close to the camp, but you'll still need to walk a few miles to an area where he can land."
"We'll be ready." Abby confirmed. "Give Jasper the details when you have them. I'll get the first group ready."
"We'll send two of our groups first. They can get started on getting settled and we'll work with the citizens to get job placements going. Then, we'll send for two groups of grounders. When they arrive, we'll do the same until we can't pick up anymore." That was shared with the group in front of her more than the group on the other end of the radio. "We have to move fast."
"Understood." Kane stated.
"Mom, I need you in that first group."
"Clarke, I told you-"
"I know, but the only doctor here can't be trusted and I need to get the medical situation taken care of here. There are people there that can take care of Jaha in the meantime. If need be, you can always fly back with York on one of the trips and check in."
There was a moment of silence.
"Okay. I'll be on a plane tomorrow." She agreed.
They wrapped up with some details of the plan and Clarke felt much better after having spoken with her mother. Despite the fact that she believed herself an adult and constantly battled for her mother and others to see her that way, for some reason, talking to her mom about what they went through and her plan made her feel like she was doing the right thing.
"I'll have the plane fueled up and ready to go when you say." York mentioned.
"Thank you." Clarke told him.
"I'm going to head out now. Anyone need a ride anywhere?" He asked. Before, their house had been so near the others, it was only a walk across a yard to get home, but now it amounted to a few miles.
"I'm in. By the way York, I'm gonna need some driving lessons stat. Now that I don't have too, I really don't want to walk everywhere." Raven said. Wick stood with her and they exited with York. Kane followed close behind with Bellamy until only Indra remained.
"Commander, I wish to remain behind." She started. "I do not believe you are safe and you have no guard."
"Thank you, Indra, but you require rest as well. Send two warriors to stand out front and back. That will be enough for tonight. We can undertake a security plan tomorrow. I want one for Clarke to take effect immediately."
"I don't-" Clarke tried to interject.
"Heda is right, Clarke." Indra stopped her. It sounded strange hearing Indra say her name and not call her Sky Girl. "You are the leader of this place." She looked to Lexa as if to check on the article she'd used. She said the leader and not a leader, which made it sound as if Clarke was the sole person in charge of this new civilization. Lexa didn't comment. "Your security is important. I will find the best warriors who are loyal to Heda to stand guard night and day."
Clarke just nodded knowing there was no objecting to this plan, but also starting to see Indra warming toward her made her want to just accept her offer.
"If you want a ride, you should leave now or else-"
"I will walk. Scout the neighborhood on my way back. I will send the guards at once." She nodded at Lexa and then proceeded out the front door.
Clarke let the hot water run down her body. She'd walked so much during the day, she could feel the sweat and dirt washing off her body and rolling into the drain. She ran her finger through her hair and started thinking about housing. She hadn't uncovered how much actually existed versus how many people they'd bring. Carolina seemed to think it was enough, but no one could trust what that woman said. She made a mental note to discuss it with York and others the next time they spoke.
She heard the bathroom door open and knew it was Lexa. She opened the shower door and climbed inside. She didn't say anything. She just grabbed the bar of soap and used it on Clarke's body. Clarke stood still and felt her soft hands run over her body. She closed her eyes and considered for a moment that this whole thing could work. If they handled it the right way, they could all make this a home. The entire coalition of the clans including the people from the ark, could potentially live in the same place, work together and experience no more war. The thought left her once she realized the hands had stopped moving, the soap was gone from her body and she felt lips kissing her neck.
She reached around and touched the back of Lexa's head to encourage her to continue. She felt one of her hands reach around her body and between her legs. Her breath stopped momentarily until the fingers started working against her. She turned in Lexa's arms and was promptly pressed against the wall so Lexa could continue while kissing her.
"That feels good." Clarke told her and the fingers began moving faster. All other thoughts left her brain. She only knew how good it felt when Lexa touched her like this. Lexa's lips moved to Clarke's neck. Clarke's arms were around her neck. She gripped her hair as she came with Lexa pressed all the way against her. After a moment of shared silence, Clarke pushed Lexa back toward the other shower wall and watched her smile as she did so. She knelt in front of her and slid her legs apart as far as they would go in the shower. Lexa just lifted one leg off the ground and placed it on Clarke's shoulder. Clarke put her tongue to work and listened to Lexa's sounds. This continued into the bedroom and through most of the night. Clarke finally felt as if they were in a good enough place to just enjoy herself and the woman she loved. She fell asleep with a smile on her face. She'd done that a lot since Lexa, but this was the first time it was for more than just the woman lying beside her.