In which I try to set up the Halloween Train because OMG I just want to dress them all up in costumes already! Also, stuff happens.

There was silence in Clarke Griffin's bedroom.

It looked like the start of a joke ("a brunette, a blonde and a redhead walk into a room") – but as the moment stretched out, they could all feel the tension, the invisible lines connecting each of them in different ways. And no one was laughing.

But then Clarke cracked a half-smile from where she sat, straddling her desk chair backwards. "Wait a second, you're serious?"

Lexa looked at her calmly. "When am I not?" She was sitting cross-legged on the end of Clarke's bed. She could have been doing yoga, she was so still.

Paige stopped pacing near the window for a second and snorted at that.

"Yeah, good point," said Clarke, still smiling. Lexa held her gaze, and Clarke suddenly felt the need to start fiddling with her chair, adjusting the seat so she could rest her chin on the back more comfortably.

"Lexa," Paige said. Lexa turned slightly to face her. "What, exactly, does the Halloween Train have to do with the Safety Committee? I thought you had some brilliant project for the three of us to work on, some bonding thing."

Lexa considered the question for a moment, then answered decisively. "Even before the three high schools merged, this town had a history of its own. A dark history." She looked at each of them in turn. "As leaders, it's our responsibility to ensure the safety of our fellow students, and part of that means helping Rosewood move forward, to let go of the ghosts of the past."

She gracefully unfolded herself from the foot of the bed and stood in front of Paige. "Paige –" Lexa put a hand on her arm. Paige turned away and looked out the window.

Lexa's head dipped just for a second, but she recovered quickly and addressed Paige's back. "I know it seems silly, but to me it just makes sense to have the Safety Committee involved in the Halloween Train. It's an opportunity to move on from last year's tragedies, to start fresh, to continue bringing our tribes together."

Paige kept looking out the window at the unfamiliar street, just a short drive from the streets of Rosewood and yet a whole world away.

It seemed like Lexa only opened up about things like this. Civic duty, blah blah blah. But open up about anything personal? Forget it. Paige was still miffed about their last meeting, when Clarke had proposed ending the patrols and Lexa jumped right on board, along with everyone but Paige.

She turned around and leaned against the windowsill, looking around the room so she could avoid Lexa's eyes. She saw Clarke's to-go cup from The Brew sitting on her desk, and when she recognized the cute little heart drawn on it, her own heart tightened unexpectedly.

God, she missed Emily. She didn't want to admit how much, but it was getting harder and harder not to compare Lexa's distance, her commanding presence with Emily's sweetness and warmth. Paige had realized recently that she couldn't be that person in a relationship (the sweet one, the expressive one), and with Lexa being Lexa, it felt like she had to be by default.

And Paige McCullers hated being things she had to be. Her whole life, she'd been trying to be what others needed her to be: her father, her coaches, the world. Only one person had ever seen something in her and told her not to look away. Had drawn hearts on her coffee drinks. And she'd let her go.

Ugh, McCullers, focus! she said to herself.

So she made a decision.

She rubbed her eyes. Lexa was still patiently watching her. Paige finally dragged her eyes up to meet Lexa's, then shrugged a little. "Guess we better get started if we're going to pull this off by tomorrow night," she said.

From where she was sitting, Clarke could see Lexa visibly relax, some of the tension in her shoulders releasing as she gave Paige a nod. Then they both looked at her, and she grinned. "You know I'm in," she said.

Clarke picked up her drink, twisting it in her hands. Suddenly she noticed the little heart and smiled. Emily must have drawn that, even though Clarke was being sort of a crappy girlfriend these da–

Wait a second – girlfriend? They hadn't actually made anything official, but now that she was thinking about it she realized it was true. Emily was the kind of girl you took home to meet your grandparents, total girlfriend material. Clarke was the luckiest person in Rosewood.

Except. There was always an "except," wasn't there? Here Clarke was, dating the hottest, sweetest, most awesome girl she'd ever met, and okay maybe there were actually two "excepts."

The first one was something she'd struggled with for a long time, something that had nothing to do with Emily or anyone else. Clarke's whole life, people had looked up to her. It just happened.

It happened when she was five and the only person in her kindergarten class who could open milk cartons, so the whole class would just pass them down and let her work her magic.

It happened in the wake of Finn's death, when as his grieving girlfriend she put her own mourning aside and helped her school heal and move forward.

It was happening now, with the Safety Committee, and always with Raven and Octavia, and every time she looked into Emily's big eyes and saw the emotion there, she felt it too.

And sometimes she was so damn sick of having people look to her to be more. She just wanted to be one of them. To find someone who would treat her as an equal. But at the same time, Emily was so much better than Clarke, in so many ways.

Ugh, maybe she was overthinking it. But then she looked at the second "except" in her life right now…

Lexa sat back down on the end of the bed. Paige's behavior the last couple of days was confusing her. She needed to put a stop to it somehow, as it was preventing her from accomplishing certain goals.

She allowed herself a moment to reflect. When the high schools had first come together, the threats were more obvious. Fights, bullying, insurgents like John Murphy – these were easy to quantify, to manage. But now, something unseen lurked just outside Lexa's direct view, and it made her uneasy. There was much she wanted to accomplish.

Lexa pulled her attention to the present. Paige was saying, "What is there even to do? It's happening tomorrow – I'm pretty sure they didn't put off all the planning until the night before."

Lexa began, "I was thinking–"

At the same time, Clarke said, "Why don't we–"

Lexa smiled and gestured for Clarke to continue. (Paige rolled her eyes – only inwardly, although she was sure neither of them would notice either way.)

Clarke cleared her throat. "What if we got each member of the Safety Committee involved? Have each of them take on a role that uses their skills in some way."

Lexa permitted herself a small smile and said, "That's exactly what I was going to say. We can propose a set of tasks to each member, get involved, be visible, and make it clear that this group is here to help, to be a part of the community." She and Clarke looked at Paige then, who shrugged and pushed herself off the wall. The three of them sat on Clarke's floor and started making a list.

Clarke suggested that their first recruit be her mom – Abby should be able to call the organizers and get the go-ahead for their entire plan. Lexa nodded, and Clarke hurried out of the room to find her.

As soon as she left, Lexa turned to Paige. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm not sure there's anything to talk about," Paige mumbled. "Look – I'll help you guys tonight, but then I'm done with the committee." Lexa started to say something, but Paige shook her head, cutting her off. Then she said quietly, "And I think – I think I'm done with us, too."

Lexa sat there, stunned. "Is this because of the meeting the other night? Because I thought we talked about that."

"We did, kind of," said Paige, not unkindly. "It's just not what I need right now. It feels like…a step backwards."

Just then, Clarke cleared her throat in the doorway. "Um…my mom called the guy in charge of the Halloween Train just now, and he's on board with the whole plan. Said they can use all the help they can get. Turns out he actually knows my mom or something."

"That's great," said Paige. "Let's finish planning out who does what, and then maybe we can split up the list and call people tonight."

Clarke sat down awkwardly, completing the triangle. Paige didn't know how much she'd overheard, but it was obviously enough. The sooner they could get this done, the better. She had somewhere to be.

Some of the assignments were easy: Doris, the cafeteria worker, was a shoo-in to help with catering. And the school nurse – well, you never knew when a nurse would come in handy at a Rosewood party. As for the rest of the members, one of the girls called each of them and had a conversation about how they wanted to contribute. It turned out that Mrs. Welch, the English teacher, had boxes full of Halloween decorations in her garage. And Ashley Marin actually had Lexa convinced that she'd be on "wine duty" for a couple of minutes, until she broke out laughing and offered to bring some extra costume pieces instead.

At one point, Paige got up and went to the bathroom, and Clarke looked at Lexa questioningly. But Lexa wouldn't meet her eyes.

The three of them worked efficiently, and soon the plan came together.

Paige's phone buzzed, and she looked at it absently, assuming it was her father asking when she'd be home. She was about to leave anyway. She had this urge to talk to Emily – just to explain things, not to try to win her back.

But she hissed involuntarily when she saw:

Oh, Paige. You really think Emily's safe just because she's not dating YOU?

-A.

"I – I have to go," Paige stammered, standing up and leaning heavily on the bed when she realized her leg was asleep.

Clarke and Lexa looked up at her, concerned. Clarke was doodling poster designs, and Lexa was putting her phone away. "I'm sure my mom can give you a ride," Clarke said. "Just hang on a minute, let's ask her–"

"No, it's fine," Paige said. She found her shoes and was already heading out the door. "Clarke, is there a bus stop anywhere near here?"

"Yeah, it's a couple blocks that way and then over," said Clarke. "But seriously, it's late–"

"See you guys tomorrow." And Paige was out the door.

Clarke and Lexa looked at each other, and Clarke saw her own surprise mirrored in Lexa's wide eyes.

Paige stalked out of the house in a blind fury. Screw this. No one was going to control her ever again. A was the only reason she and Emily broke up in the first place, and now it was looking like that was all for nothing.

"I'm going after her," said Lexa. She stood, then paused and looked back at Clarke. "Thank you for hosting us here. I think–" here, she looked down for a second, as if it were hard to continue – "I think the three of us could have done a lot of good."

And she rushed out after Paige, into the night.

Paige got to the bus stop and slumped against the sign post. Her head was swirling – with thoughts of Lexa, of Emily, of the Halloween Train.

Suddenly, a hand clamped over her mouth from behind. She threw an elbow backwards out of habit, and her attacker grunted.

But then Paige felt a sharp sting in her lower back, and another, and another…and as she fell to her knees, as she felt the knife slide out one last time…she thought of the train again, and Emily in her Barbarella costume…and she opened her mouth to say something, and she smiled.

Back in her room, Clarke looked at the list one last time. They'd accomplished a lot in just one evening. She was embarrassed about what she'd walked in on, and she hoped Lexa and Paige would still be able to work together. Clarke sighed and got ready for bed.

Lexa woke up, alone in the dark. Wait – not alone. She saw Paige lying a short distance away. That's odd, she thought.

And then blue lights were flashing, and sirens were splitting the night, and as Lexa stood up and shook her head to clear it, she realized she was holding something in her hand.

It was a knife.

Next chapter: The Halloween Train!