AN: The much awaited chapter is finally here! I don't know how exciting that is anymore in the face of these election results. We can't let this scare us into hiding who we are though. Just stay strong, Clexakru, because our fight is not over.

Lexa wanted to scream, run, do something, but she found herself frozen, rooted to the spot as she looked into the faces of the people who had tormented her for years. They were both smiling at her, pretending to be those people that had shown up on Luna's doorstep years ago, those people who had promised her the life that she had always wanted. And she had fallen for it. She knew that it was fake now.

Mr. Kane smiled happily at her, completely unaware that anything was wrong.

"Your parents have been informing me that they were able to come this year after all, and they wanted to surprise you."

Lexa swallowed thickly.

It was definitely a surprise.

She quickly forced a smile though, not wanting to clue Mr. Kane in to the fact that anything was wrong, and she found it easy to call upon the happy act that she had been putting on every time that Abby had asked her a question that made her skin crawl. She stepped forward to greet her parents, and she cringed when they hugged her, mentally calculating any way that she might be able to ditch them.

"How about you show us your room, sweetie? We'd love to finally see it," her mother said with false cheerfulness.

Lexa knew that her twelve-year-old self would have been in heaven because of the hugs and the affection that her parents were showing her right now. This was all that she had ever dreamed of as a kid and all that she now knew she could never have. She wouldn't fall for the same mistake twice.

She knew that her parents were up to no good and was aware that they were only trying to get her alone, but she was going to let them. She knew that it was the only way to find out what they wanted and why they had shown up here after two and a half years. She honestly wondered how they even knew about this event in the first place, but she supposed that she could ask them once they were alone. She beckoned for them to follow her, wanting to get this over with before she lost all traces of the confidence that she was trying so desperately to cling to.

"Sure. Right this way." Lexa began to lead the way up the stairs.

"Have fun," Mr. Kane told her before heading off to the kitchen to help Indra prepare lunch.

Lexa couldn't help but feel, as she walked up the stairs, that she was trekking to her death. She wanted to plead with Mr. Kane with her eyes, hoping that he might notice something in them, but she knew that she could not. No one could know about this if she did not wish to be placed in the system. She had to sort this out on her own.

As expected, the moment Lexa and her parents were inside of her room, their smiles immediately dropped, replaced by ugly scowls. The looks on their faces didn't fit the mood that Lexa had come to associate with this room. This was her home, and she did not like the fact that these people were inside of her and Clarke's safe space. She vowed that she was not going to act like some weak little girl this time. She squared her shoulders, hoping to be as strong as Clarke had been making her feel.

"How did you find out where I was?" she asked, careful to keep the bite out of her tone so as not to upset them right away.

"Are you kidding?" her mother sneered. "We've been getting these silly little invitations for this ridiculous event every single year."

Lexa's mouth dropped open in slight shock, and her eyes hardened into green blades. "And you're just now choosing to do something about it? If this event is so stupid, then why are you even here now?"

Her stepfather stepped forward menacingly, grabbing her wrist in a painful grip. "Don't you dare talk to your mother that way, you little bitch! Do you hear me? You are to be respectful when you speak to us."

Lexa was instantly filled with terror at the sight of his hate-filled eyes and the feel of his grip on her wrist. She had hoped that he would not try to harm her with Indra and Mr. Kane right downstairs, but clearly, that was not going to stop him. Lexa brought her eyes up to look directly into her stepfather's, and she quickly squeaked out an answer before he broke her wrist. "Yes, sir."

"Good." He nodded gruffly, releasing his grip on her. She tentatively flexed her wrist and breathed out a sigh of relief when she found that she could still move it. It would probably bruise, but he hadn't done any real damage to it.

They were all silent for a moment, and Lexa wanted to ask again, in a less sassy way, why it was that they were there. However, she found that she could not speak, and she cursed herself for trembling slightly in fear.

"As for why we're here," her mother finally spoke, "we know that you've been staying with the family across the street again, and that is not going to continue any longer. There is lots of work to do around the house, and we want you back home to do it."

Lexa could not think of anything worse. There was no way that she could go back to that life that she had led before coming to school at Polis. She thought that it might finally break her completely, her pieces becoming so small and infinite that there would be no way for anyone to glue them back together, not even Clarke.

Lexa wanted to protest, wanted to stand up to these awful people, but she found that she couldn't do it under the harsh light of her stepfather's angry glare. She hung her head submissively, and she loathed herself for it.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Now that's more like the girl I remember," said her stepfather. "It's good that you are remembering how to be obedient. I wouldn't want to have to hurt you."

Lexa shuddered under his gaze, the false kindness that had entered his eyes, and she wished that he would leave now. The two of them had gotten what they came for, so why were they still here?

"We know that the neighbors are paying for your schooling," her stepfather continued, "and we don't think that it's fair for them to have to keep wasting their money on you. We ourselves can't continue to pay for this fancy-ass school of yours, so you're coming home now. It'll be great to have you back."

An incredulous look settled over Lexa's face. "But I still have school. You can't pull me out in the middle of the semester."

Lexa knew that arguing was the wrong thing to do, but she hadn't been able to stop herself in her utter shock at his statement. The hard look came over his eyes again, and he raised his voice. "Don't you question me, girl! We are pulling you out now. You're not going to continue sitting up here on your high throne like the queen when you're nothing more than a worthless bitch. You're old enough to get a job now, and you were always great at cleaning up the house, and quite frankly, we need our slave back. You can continue your education at the public school down the street, where it's free. We're leaving now, so grab your things."

Lexa felt extremely dizzy all of a sudden, and she grabbed onto her bedpost to keep herself from falling. She could feel her throat constricting, making it harder to breathe, and tried her best to fight off the panic attack that she thought was sure to be coming. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if she had a panic attack in front of this man whom she had thought was out of her life for good. He would probably beat her to death.

She tried to force his presence to the back of her mind, instead focusing on what he was demanding. He was trying to take her away from her new home, her new family, her new life, and she couldn't think of anything worse than leaving this place that had made her want to live again. Even more importantly, she knew that there was no way she was going to let this man take her away from Clarke. She had finally found someone again who loved her despite everything that she had been through, someone she loved more than anyone she had ever known in her life. She had finally found a home in her roommate, and she sure as hell was not about to lose it. So yes, here he was, her worst nightmare, standing right in front of her, but she couldn't feel her fear anymore. Now, she felt only anger and determination. This was where she drew the line.

She stood up tall, exuding the utmost confidence, eyes sparking with defiance, and for the first time ever, her voice did not shake when she addressed her stepfather.

"No."

Her stepfather stepped forward again, his voice low and dangerous. "What did you say to me?"

He was daring her to say it again, but she didn't even flinch, her eyes never wavering from his. "I think I said no."

"I never want to hear that word from you again! I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice."

She knew what was coming before she even felt it, and she allowed it as he punched her right in the face. She reeled back, clutching her hand to her cheek, but she wasn't going to let him hit her more than that. In all her time with her stepfather, she had never tried to evade his beatings. She thought she had deserved them, but Clarke had taught her differently. She didn't deserve this, and she knew that, so she made a break for it, catching her stepdad off guard.

She ran for the door, about to go yell to Indra or Mr. Kane and show them the proof in the red mark that she was surely sporting on her cheek. Her stepdad stood there in shock for a moment, unable to move, and that's what she had been counting on as she reached for the doorknob. She began to turn it, but he grabbed her off her feet, and she wanted to cry because she had been so close to freedom, so close to saving herself.

Her stepfather flung her hard into the wall, and she fell to the floor with a thud, the air knocked right out of her. She tried to get up, but she was too dazed to move. She tried to at least crawl away, maybe pull herself underneath the bed, where it would be harder for her stepdad to get at her, but her body wouldn't work as she gasped for breath. All she could do was watch as he approached her, the embodiment of each of her flashbacks and nightmares, and hope that her next few breaths would not be her last.

The residents of Arkadia house and their parents walked through the doorway thirty minutes after Lexa had left them at the ice cream shop, Clarke had counted. She walked into the living room, expecting to see Lexa, but all she saw was Indra and Mr. Kane on the far side of the spacious room, getting the table ready for lunch. Her face fell as people around her began settling onto the couches, wondering if her roommate had wanted to be alone with Luna's parents for a while.

"Where's Lexa?"

"She's upstairs in her room with Tom and Linda," Mr. Kane said jovially. "They were able to come here to surprise her."

"Cool. Did Luna come, too?" Clarke asked curiously.

"Luna?" Mr. Kane looked lost, and Clarke could see that the answer was no. "I'm not sure who that is. Only her mother and stepfather came."

Clarke felt like her stomach had fallen out of her body, leaving her insides to trickle out behind it as she processed what he had said. It hadn't been Luna's parents who had come at all, and Clarke knew that she had gone completely white when she realized who had come in their stead.

Clarke felt extremely faint, and it took all she had to turn her head and gauge the reactions of those behind her. As expected, the students all had worried looks upon ashen faces while the parents smiled on obliviously.

Everyone was silent for a moment, the moods of those silences quite different between the two age groups, and then Anya appeared at Clarke's side, tugging at her sleeve. "We have to do something. Who knows what they'll do to her?"

The dryness in Clarke's mouth made it hard for her to get her words out. "We can't all go storming up there at once."

"Well, someone has to go up there," Octavia argued. "We can't just leave her with them."

"I'll go," Clarke said, trying to calm herself down as much as possible. "You guys stay here, and I'll go check on them."

Octavia stood from where she had been sitting on the couch. "I'm not letting you go by yourself."

"Yes, you are," Clarke said sternly. "I can handle it."

"What is going on here?" Abby finally asked, and Clarke had honestly forgotten that the parents were still there. It felt like everyone had disappeared, except for her housemates, her brain zeroing in on the people who knew exactly what a crisis this was.

The blonde looked at her friends, wondering how on earth to answer her mother. She knew that Lexa would probably want her to lie, but one scanning of the looks on the parents' faces, and Clarke knew that they could tell that what was happening was serious.

"Lexa's stepfather used to abuse her before she came here," Clarke said shakily, "and we're scared, I'm terrified, of what he might be doing to her upstairs."

Abby put a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened, and it took her a moment to regain her calm composure. "I'll go up there and take care of it."

"No," Clarke said immediately. "It has to be me. Lexa would want it to be me."

There wasn't even a moment left for Abby to protest because Clarke was already sprinting up the stairs. She tried her best to get control of her thoughts, mind searching desperately for some form of plan as she ran down the hallway. As her mind began to weave together the beginnings of a plan, she halted outside the door. She didn't particularly like her new strategy, but she couldn't argue with the fact that it would probably be her best shot. Pressing her ear to the wood, she listened.

"We're leaving now, so grab your stuff."

The voice was male, obviously that of Lexa's stepfather, and Clarke smiled with pride when she heard Lexa say no. The blonde was surprised, grin only growing, when Lexa didn't back down to his questioning. She had been so caught up in this pride for her girlfriend, though, that she had completely forgotten about what would inevitably happen next until Tom started yelling. The doorknob rattled, and Clarke jumped to action, flinging the door open in time to see Lexa hit the wall hard on the opposite side of the room and crumple to the ground. Tom advanced towards her, and Clarke decided to stick to the plan that she had formulated outside the door. She knew that it was the only way to keep these awful human beings away and keep Lexa out of the system.

She pulled out her phone and set it to record as Tom yelled obscenities at the poor girl on the ground, and Clarke found it hard not to cry out with Lexa when he kicked her hard in the stomach. He bent down, maybe to pull her to her feet or maybe to hit her, but Clarke didn't wait to find out. She stopped her recording, sliding her phone back into her pocket, and she pounced onto Tom's back before he could hit his stepdaughter again. He reared back in surprise, and Lexa looked up at the blonde in slight disbelief. "Clarke?"

"I'm here," Clarke said soothingly, meeting Lexa's eyes.

"Get off me," Tom swatted at Clarke, and she let go of him, dropping to the ground and racing over to where Lexa lay, forgetting that Lexa's parents were even in the room as she and the brunette on the floor in front of her became the only two people in the world.

Clarke gently pulled Lexa into her lap, running her fingers through brown hair in the way that she knew instantly comforted the other girl. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Lexa moved her limbs as if she was surprised that they still worked, clearly still in shock. Then, the tears finally fell from her eyes, and she collapsed into Clarke, shaking as she sobbed.

Clarke rubbed her girlfriend's back as she turned to Tom with fury sparking in her blue eyes. "How could you do this to her?! Again."

Tom simply stared at her, clearly still surprised that she had pulled him away from Lexa like she had.

"You know what? I don't even care," Clarke continued. "I know you two are just horrible people, and there's nothing that can be done about that, but you are NOT taking Lexa out of this school. If you know what's good for you, you'll never come near her again."

Tom's lips pulled back in a threatening snarl. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Her girlfriend," Clarke snapped, her voice sharp, but her hands gentle as she clutched Lexa to her. "You are leaving now, and you are to stay away from Lexa, is that clear? If I ever catch you two anywhere near her again, I will not hesitate to call Child Protective Services and have both of you thrown in jail."

Tom chuckled, a dry, humorless laugh. "I don't think so. You have no proof, little girl."

"I have all of the proof that I need." Clarke pulled her phone from her pocket and brought up the video so that Tom could see it for himself. "I have you on video standing over Lexa as she lies on the floor, yelling awful things at her, and I also got you kicking her in the stomach, and it's clear you were going to hit her again after that. So, you can either leave now, and I'll keep this video to myself, or you can try to take Lexa back to your house, and I'll show it to the police. Your choice."

Clarke had never been so angry before in her life, and she knew that she sounded sort of scary, but that was exactly what she wanted. She thought that she could detect a hint of fear on Tom's face, and it was written plainly on Linda's. Clarke scoffed at the two of them. Of course, they were both cowards as well. Lowlife cowards who enjoyed seeing Lexa in pain. It made Clarke sick to her stomach.

Linda grabbed Tom's arm, speaking in a gentle voice. "Maybe we should go."

"Let's get out of here," he agreed. "I don't know why we even went to all this trouble in the first place just to come visit that piece of shit."

Clarke almost lost her temper in that moment. She wanted to jump up and punch Tom in his own face, wanted to scream at him that Lexa was the best thing that ever existed in this world, that he was the piece of shit. She restrained herself only because she was still holding Lexa in her arms, and she didn't want to do anything that could make this worse for the poor brunette.

Tom and Linda then stormed out the door with one more glare at Clarke, leaving her and Lexa alone. Clarke still did not speak though. She had no idea what to say. So, the two of them sat quietly on the floor, and Clarke hoped that Lexa found the silence to be comforting.

"Thank you for saving me," Lexa finally spoke.

"No problem," Clarke said quietly, a tiny whisper that escaped her lips in the shock that she was still feeling, now that the moment was over.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't deal with them on my own." Lexa's voice was so small that Clarke barely heard her.

The blonde immediately began rubbing her hand up and down Lexa's arm. "Hey, don't think like that, okay? There was nothing you could have done to stop your stepdad from being the cruel, evil person that he is. I'm proud of you for standing up to him."

Lexa shrugged, and Clarke's face fell, knowing that Lexa would normally have smiled at her praise.

"Either way, I'm glad that you were there," Lexa said.

She wiped her face against Clarke's shirt and then stood from the blonde's lap. Clarke was reluctant to let her go, and she wished that she had held on tighter the minute Lexa's warmth left her.

Lexa stepped in the direction of her bed, but Clarke reached out and caught her hand, causing green eyes to look down into blue for the first time since the brunette's parents had left. "Are you okay, LW?"

Lexa hesitated, looking conflicted, almost as if she were deciding whether or not to tell the truth. She let out a long sigh. "I hope so."

The uncertainty in Lexa's voice frightened Clarke a little, but she could tell that her roommate wanted to be left alone. The blonde was hesitant to leave her girlfriend alone after what had just happened, but she had learned by now that she needed to respect Lexa's wishes. Plus, Clarke knew that her mother was waiting downstairs and was probably starting to worry. She nodded to Lexa as she stood from the floor, and the other girl nodded back. As Clarke walked out into the hallway and shut the door behind her, she found that what worried her the most was not what might happen if she left Lexa alone or even what she had witnessed moments ago, but the distance that she had seen in green eyes before she had left.