Chapter 3
Two weeks passed without Clarke seeing Lexa, which was longer then she'd anticipated but something she was more than happy about. She really had no desire to see the other woman. There was a permanent sketch of her in Clarke's mind, one that she had tried to erase a million times but it never seemed to leave for good. Instead, she kept it locked a box that she had no intention of opening.
She stepped through the hospital doors and immediately relaxed, the hospital was her safe zone. Even though if it hadn't been for the hospital she wouldn't have been back in California at all. Her mother needed a favour and Clarke wasn't exactly one to turn down an opportunity. If it had just been her mother's asking, she may have felt differently but she was promptly informed that the board of directors were the ones who brought the idea up to her mother. Her mother, that now happened to be the chief of surgery. So when the chief of surgery from Cedar Sinai Hospital calls you, you answer regardless of who the chief is to you personally. You just don't turn down a job at one of the best hospitals in the country. Being a general surgeon wasn't exactly the specialty her mother expected her to take but she loved it. She thought herself to be well versed in cardio but she didn't want to deal with hearts for the rest of her surgical career.
"Hey Clarke, I thought today was your day off?" One of the nurses, Harper, said with a smile as Clarke approached the nurses station.
"It was supposed to be but they needed someone to cover the E.R. I decided the over time wouldn't hurt."
Harper smiled at her as she handed her a chart. "You know no one here thinks you got the job because of who your mother is. We've all heard great things about you, don't kill yourself trying to prove something to people who's approval you already have."
"Thank you, Harper, that means a lot." She smiled as she looked the chart over. Motorcycle accident, a few lacerations but nothing too serious.
"Bed 4." Harper added before Clark could ask her.
Clarke walked towards the right bed and pulled the curtain open just enough for her to walk through. "Hi there, I'm doctor Griffin, I'm going to be looking after you tonight Miss…" Clarke finally looked up from the chart with a smile not seeing a name on the chart.
Her heart stopped. This couldn't be happening, not here, not in her safe place. She knew she must have looked like a deer in headlights as piercing green eyes looked back at her. "Callaway, but please, call me Lexa." She wasn't the only one in the room who's heart stopped.
"Well Miss Callaway, I'm going to do a quick examination and we'll get this cleaned up and then you can be on your way." Clarke said professionally as she took in the look of the laceration on Lexa's leg before asking her to sit up. She had to keep reminding herself who was sitting in front of her because she forgot just how sexy the other woman's voice was. Taking her stethoscope from around her neck she put it on before holding the end to Lexa's back. "Can you take a deep breath for me please?" A pause. "Your lungs are clear, that's a good sign. She steadied her nerves as she moved to check the woman's heart rate. The tension in the air was thick, neither woman knew what to say or how to act. "Sorry this is going to be a little cold." Clarke figured if nothing else she was going to be professional even though what she really wanted to do was run as fast as she could in the opposite direction, jump on a plane and go right back to New York.
"It's okay." Was all Lexa offered, she was too stunned to function as she watched Clarke work around. This had really not been how she expected her day to go.
"You're heart rate is a little fast but nothing serious enough to worry about." Lexa cursed herself in her head, she had been trying to calm down but apparently it hadn't worked. The minute she had seen Clarke walk into the room her heart sped up and it clearly had yet to slow back down. "Everything else seems to be fine."
"I had my riding jacket on." Lexa informed her, Clarke had always told her that she didn't care how hot it was outside, she needed to wear the jacket.
"Good, you'd be surprised how many people don't wear one. I had a patient come in paralyzed all because he wasn't wearing a riding jacket. Too many people ignore motorcyles like they aren't on the road at all." Clarke wasn't one for small talk but it was all she could do to pretend that Lexa was just any other patient. "Your leg is going to need stitches but I need to clean it up first."
Lexa nodded, she really didn't know what to say. She was having a hard time taking her eyes off the blonde doctor. A part of her wanted to reach out and hug her and tell her how proud of her she was that she had accomplished her goals. The other part of her wished she had never gone to the hospital because seeing Clarke, especially Clarke in that white coat, looking all professional took her breath away. "You can get an intern to take care of that. I won't sue the hospital for malpractice."
"There's no one else here, which is why I am. Believe me I would have already called them in here." Clarke hadn't meant to be harsh but this was awkward and they both knew it. "Besides it needs to be cleaned properly in order to avoid infection. It's not like I think you're going to rest it and take it easy." The last part just came out, even after four years, a habit was a habit.
"This is going to hurt isn't it?" Clarke nodded as she sat down in the chair next to the bed Lexa was in. She moved the small metal table next to herself and put out the gauze, antiseptic and tweezers. "So you're finally home, I mean you're back." A part of Lexa wanted to tear up, she was pretty certain Clarke was never coming back to California.
Clarke nodded as she started to clean the cut on Lexa's leg. "Yes."
"I had a feeling, I ran into Octavia. She didn't mention anything but I figured the only reason she'd be here was if you were." She was rambling, she always rambled to Clarke when she was nervous and what was worse was that she knew Clarke was well aware of that.
"She got an offer from S.W.A.T. She couldn't pass it up."
Lexa's eyes went wide. "Seriously?" Again the blonde doctor nodded without looking up, far too focused on her task. "That's amazing and incredible. We're all very lucky to have her, and you too of course since you're working here." More rambling.
"You're going to need stitches but outside of that, you'll be just fine." She turned around and got the needle ready without showing it to Lexa. When she turned back around, she finally looked at her patient, their eyes locked and it was hard for either of them to look away. There was four years of emotion and pain behind both their eyes. "I'll be back in a few minutes to close you up." Clarke said as she stood up from the chair finally breaking their look.
"Aren't you going to freeze it?" Lexa asked nervously, needles had never been her strong suit even though she had a few tattoos.
"I already did." Clarke stated as she held up the empty needle before dropping it into the hazard bin. With that she walked out, leaving Lexa alone with her thoughts. Clarke had purposely held her gaze and not told her about the needle. She still knew her.
XOXO
8 Years Ago
"It won't be that bad, I promise I'll hold your hand the whole time and kiss it better once it's done."
"I don't want to get a tetanus shot though." Lexa whined from her seat in the doctor's office.
Clarke shook her head with a smile and placed a soft kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. "You shouldn't have stepped on a rusty nail then."
"How was I to know that a rusty old nail was going to assault my shoe?!" She pouted as she rested her head on her girlfriends shoulder. "I'm going to sue it."
Clarke kissed the top of her head. "My big bad lawyer, scared of a needle and mad at a nail. Here I thought you were fearless."
"Mockery is not the product of a strong mind Clarke."
"You'll survive."
Lexa looked up with at her girlfriend with a grin on her face. "I know what will make it better." She wiggled her eyebrows as the doctor called her name out.
They walked into the room together to which the doctor laughed. Before Lexa could see the needle Clarke cupped her cheek and turned her head before softly taking Lexa's lips between her own. Lexa had been so swept up in the kiss that she barely felt the needle go into her arm.
"All done." The doctor grinned and gave Clarke a thumbs up.
"You sneaky mom!" Lexa joked as they both stood up from the bed.
Clarke rolled her eyes. "Let's go get you some ice cream."
"Yes." Lexa cheered as she followed Clarke out of the office.
Fifteen minutes later they were sitting on the bench near the beach eating their ice cream cones. "I told you it would make me feel better."
"You really are three years old." Lexa shook her head and held up four fingers. "Adorable, I'm dating a toddler." She rolled her eyes as they intertwined their fingers.
"You really do always know how to make me feel better, thank you for coming with me. I know you should be studying."
Clarke smiled and kissed Lexa's temple. "Some things are more important than school but if I fail, you better be ready for me to be a housewife."
"If you were a housewife, I'd come home to the house on fire because you tried to do god only knows what, probably with Raven to boot."
XOXO
Sure enough five minutes later Clarke moved past the curtain once again as Lexa put her phone down. "How's the pain Miss Callaway?" The way Clarke said her last name almost brought a smile to herself but reality set in far too quickly.
"It's fine, I've had worse." She thought back to the way her heart broke 4 years ago, if she never had to suffer through that pain again then she was doing just fine.
"Did you feel that?" Lexa shook her head no as Clarke gently touched the area near the wound. "Good, if you feel anything at all please let me know right away and I'll make sure to take care of it."
Lexa could only nod as she watched Clarke get to work. There was so much she wanted to say. More than anything she really wanted to tell her just how proud of her she was because more than the pain of losing the woman she was proud of her for making her dreams come true. It was a thought she couldn't quite get passed. She had watched how hard the blonde had worked and it clearly had paid off. "You know this wasn't exactly how I pictured seeing you after four years, you know, under these circumstances." More rambling.
Clarke stayed silent as she continued to stitch Lexa's leg up. She was mad, she was furious, she wanted to scream and shout but more than anything to she wanted to wrap her arms around the woman lying on the bed and let her know that she was thankful she was okay. She had always warned her about being careful on her bike because people were reckless. She had seen far too many motorcyle accidents that ended with a lot worse than a few stitches. Octavia definitely hadn't been telling her the whole truth when she had said that Lexa looked okay because in reality she looked amazing but instead of allowing herself to feel every emotion there was she focused on doing her job.
"Take it, it was the job that brought you home?"
"I'm almost done here Miss Callaway."
"Clarke, come on, this isn't easy for me either. Especially since I showed up a bloody mess, literally a bloody mess and I now have my ex-girlfriend stitching me up."
Clarke stopped momentarily as she heard Lexa say her name. Something about the way her name rolled off her ex-girlfriends tongue always got to her and apparently still did but she wasn't going to let Lexa know that. "There we go, all done." Clarke applied a bandage to cover the fresh stitches before standing up.
"Please see the nurse before you leave to get instructions on how to keep the wound clean and if you have any questions or concerns feel free to come on back in."
"Will you be here?"
Clarke shook her head. "Probably not, I'm just doing the hospital a favour tonight." She started to clean up as Lexa grabbed her phone off the table. "The nurse will be right in to see you."
By the time Lexa looked up Clarke had already left the confines of the cubicle. Sure enough just as Clarke had left the nurse came in with discharge papers for Lexa to sign. The nurse helped her into the mandatory wheel chair and rolled her out to the desk. Lexa went through her belongings and pulled out health card. "Lexa Callaway, of the Callaway Group?" The nurse asked politely.
Lexa smiled. "Yes ma'am." Clarke couldn't help but notice just how charming Lexa still was when she wanted to be.
"Do you have a ride home? I wouldn't advise riding your motorcycle."
"Someone is coming to get me." Lexa said politely as her phone continued to light up. She ignored it as she signed the papers and spotted Clarke behind the desk. Rolling herself over to face the woman she cleared her throat.
"Everything alright Miss Callaway?" She looked up from her chart with a less than amused look on her face. Lexa had to scorn herself for momentarily thinking about how hot that look was.
"I just wanted to say thank you." Her phone was still lighting up every other second.
Clarke gave her a curt nod. "No need for thanks, it's my job. You should probably answer that, I'm sure it's important. Excuse me I need to go, have a nice night." With that she walked away without looking back
A few minutes later Lexa looked up when she heard the clicking of heels on the tiled floor. "You haven't answered your phone, are you okay?"
She felt a kiss on her cheek. "Sorry, I'm still a little out of it."
"Are you in pain, do I need to get them to give you anything stronger for it?"
Lexa looked up and saw a quick glimpse of Clarke looking in her direction. "No, no they took really good care of me. No pain at all." Costia looked in the same direction Lexa was looking in.
"Okay, good, let's get you home."
"Yeah, sounds good." Costia pushed her towards the doors, as they passed Clarke once more who was helping a young girl that looked as though she had a broken arm. She didn't look up as they passed her but Lexa had a hard time looking at anything except the blonde. She couldn't believe that after all this time that Clarke was home.
Once they were in the car, Lexa relaxed into the seat and closed her eyes. "So she's finally home, that was Clarke and she's home."
Lexa nodded as Costia took her hand in her own. "Apparently so."
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a long day and you don't have anything to worry about, Clarke and I were done a long time ago."
Costia kissed the back of her hand. "I thought you were over it?" Her tone wasn't accusatory but it wasn't entirely sincere either.
"It's easy to be over someone when you don't have to face the other person. That won't be the last we see of her, so I'm going to have to get used to it."
"What do you mean? Are you two suddenly going to be sorority sisters again?"
Lexa shook her head. "We always end up running into each other, it's inevitable. I gave up trying to figure out why a long time ago, but I just know it's going to happen."
"I see. So that Octavia girl from the coffee shop, that's Clarke's best friend." Lexa nodded again, she really didn't want to go over this right now.
"Yeah, but I'm really tired Cos, wake me when we get home k?" Lexa looked over at her girlfriend with a small smile before closing her eyes again.
XOXO
"Octavia?" Clarke yelled as she walked through the front door of her family home. It was noon so she figured the other woman would be up. "Octavia, I really need to talk to you so get your ass into the kitchen!" As she walked further into the house she realized that it was far too quiet. That's when she heard laughing coming from outside. Opening the back door she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Bought time you got home Griffin, so nice of you to visit by the way!"
"You were in Texas Raven!" They embraced in a tight hug. "I missed your ugly face."
"I can't help that I'm literally a rocket scientist but I missed your exhausted face too. Now tell us what you were yelling about."
Clarke looked between her two best friends. "First tell me what you two are up too? I heard laughing, you two laughing is never a good thing." The two had hit it off right away when Raven had visit their apartment one weekend just after Clarke had moved in. Sadly for Clarke they had been friends ever since.
"I was telling Octavia some stories, that's all. They may have been about how when you first tried to learn to surf, you may have ended up needing the life guard to save you."
"You never told me Lexa saved your life Clarke, that's something real big to leave out."
"This is why I don't allow you two to spend more than a weekend in the same room!" Clarke rolled her eyes as she sat down at the patio table. "Speaking of Lexa, guess who needed to be stitched up last night?"
Octavia's face fell. "Seriously? She was at the hospital?" Clarke nodded as she took a sip of Octavia's not so much orange juice.
"Damn that's strong O."
"Raven made it." They both said in unison as the other woman grinned. "Mostly vodka." Octavia added as if Clarke hadn't already figured that out.
"You know mimosa's are supposed to be champagne and orange juice right, vodka and orange juice is a screw driver."
Raven gave her an annoyed look. "I'm quite aware, I do own my own bar after all. Now continue with your story and by the sounds of it you need the vodka."
"She got into a motorcycle accident last night and I had to stitch her up, there was no one else that could."
"How romantic, now you've both saved each other." Octavia grinned earning a high five from Raven.
"We're almost 30 and you two are still high fiving? You could have warned me how good she looked O."
"Yeah I didn't think that was a good idea. I can rearrange her face though if you want." Octavia shrugged as she took another sip of her drink.
"Forget that, what did she say? What did you say?" Raven asked as she leaned forward, getting ready to hear the story Clarke was about to tell them.
A half hour later they were still sitting on the porch, enjoying the weather in silence when Octavia finally asked the one question she had been dying to know since they had gotten into town. "Who the hell owns that house up there on the hill, the mafia? And if so are they single?"
"One you have a boyfriend, you know Lincoln?" Octavia waved her hand dismissing Clarke's comment.
"Second," Raven started, "that's the Callaway house."
It took a minute for the dots to connect in Octavia's head. "That's Lexa's house?" Both Raven and Clarke nodded.
"Damn Clarke Kent, you really know how to pick em." She rolled her eyes at her friend and stood up.
"I'm going for a nap. Wake me up in a couple hours so we can all go do something we probably shouldn't."
Raven grinned. "Those are always my favourite things to do.
TBC…