Chapter Text
The clock on the nightstand read 5:59am, immediately after it changed music blasted through its speakers.
“Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun.”
A hand slid under the blankets to turn off the radio rocking the Christmas song. A minute later chestnut curls emerged as the brunette sat slowly on the bed, wiping the sleepiness from her face. Green eyes appeared behind blinking eyelids, trying to adjust to the darkness in the room. She turned on a lamp and got off the bed.
Immediately she began with her routine with her body workout as she always did first thing in the morning. Still in her sweatpants and tank top, she did a series of squats and pushups to awaken her lethargic body.
Once done she headed into the bathroom and took a quick shower.
After brushing her teeth she pulled out from her closet, a pristine police uniform. Navy blue pants and tucked neatly inside a long sleeve button up shirt in a charcoal grey color. Around her neck she tied a navy tie. She put on her black boots after dressing and then she grabbed her badge, from her dresser that read commander of Tondc PD. She pulled her hair into a bun and walked to her drawer to pull out her .40 Glock 23. She strapped her holster and put her gun inside. Next she strapped her favorite dagger on her waist and once ready she walked outside of her bedroom and went downstairs into the living room of her two-story house.
Soon a german shepherd wiggled its tail to greet her.
“Hey Titus, how’s my boy today?” She pet his head, kneeling slightly to greet the medium sized dog. “Let’s give you breakfast buddy!”
She walked into the kitchen and poured the dog food in Titus platter. The dog barked once showing his happiness.
“Commander!” A voice greeted behind her. “Morning.”
“Hey Anya, you look like shit.”
“Ha! I’ve had better nights, Lexa. You left earlier and Linc and I were bored to death! Niylah was asking for you though.” Anya walked in, already dressed in her police uniform as well.
“I drank with you like you asked me. I wasn’t getting wasted, and much less hooking up with Niylah. I was clear I’m not interested.”
“Oh come on! She’s been thirsting for you for months. No one is saying you have to marry her. It’s been years since Costia, you have all the right to move on.”
Lexa glared at her partner and friend. “I’m not discussing my personal life again, Anya. I’m done with it.”
Anya shook her head. “Fine. But you should stop being the grinch, for fuck’s sake. It’s Christmas season!” The woman sat at the kitchen island, knowing well that her friend was set in her ways and there was no way to make her change her mind. “I heard in the weather broadcast that we might have a snow storm in the upcoming weeks.”
“Yeah, the snow is already annoying but if we're going to get buried in it we better be ready. I’ll speak with the Chief today to see what measurements we will take to keep the population safe.”
“You got it, partner.” Anya petted Titus as well before pouring herself some cereal. “Going ahead?”
“Yeah, I need to do some rounds around the gas station regarding some animals prowling according to Quint. Also have an appointment with the mayor. I’ll see you at the station later.”
“Got it.”
Lexa put on her thick winter jacket before opening the front door. The snow covered slightly the streets of her neighborhood and the sun was already shining over the horizon. Each house had their Christmas decorations in place, signaling that it was that time of the year. If it wasn’t for Anya, Lexa wouldn’t even bother putting decorations. At least they had a tree.
Three weeks before Christmas and the town of Tondc was as festive as ever.
She walked to the Tondc PD jeep wrangler parked outside her home and stole a glance at their neighbor's house. On the porch she saw the tall man with blonde hair waving at her.
“Morning kiddo. Cold today huh?”
“Yes, Mr. Griffin. Be careful on the road on your way to Arkadia Engineering. It might be slippery.
“Will do, kid. You too.” The man smiled as he waited for his wife to come out and shut the front door.
A second later his wife came out.
“Hey Lexa, good morning.”
“Dr. Griffin. Good day.”
“Much work at the station?” The older woman with chestnut hair asked.
“A little bit, you know that Tondc gets a bit crazy with the holidays.”
Abby laughed and that laughter reminded her of the Griffin’s daughter. The one whom she hadn’t seen in years after she left to join the police academy. Lexa looked at the shut window on the upper side of the Griffin’s house. At this time of the year, the huge oak tree that stood between the two houses, connecting Lexa’s room to Clarke’s, had no leaves.
Lexa’s lips curved a little bit as she remembered how many times she had to tell Clarke to shut the hell up, or to stop making noise with her dumb friends. She felt an itch in her left forearm where she had the scars of a ridiculous accident.
The two girls had gone to different elementary schools but ended up at the same high school. Lexa was just two years older than Clarke. No, they weren’t friends. They weren’t enemies either. They were simply neighbors. But it was as if they developed some sort of competitiveness between them and had to fight about almost anything.
“Why do you have to be so annoying! I have to study for my english test and you won’t stop friggin’ singing. Shut up!” A young 12 years old and very scrawny Lexa shouted through her window.
“It’s Saturday night, Lexa. I have all the right to have fun. Maybe you should go to the library!” The blonde with defiant blue eyes crossed her arms in front of her chest, perking her fine eyebrow and standing as tall as she could in her own balcony.
Lexa clenched her fist. “Trust me that if the library was open at this time I wouldn’t be here listening to your ugly singing.”
“Ugly singing but still better than you!”
I’m going to throw that damn radio through the window if you don’t stop the noise!”
“Oh yeah? I dare you!”
Lexa didn’t waste time and jumped into the oak tree thick branches, she was very agile moving from branch to branch as if the tree and Lexa were one and in no time she reached Clarke’s window. She stomped inside her room and grabbed the tiny speaker throwing it into the yard.
“You jerk!” Clarke punched Lexa in the arm.
“Shut. Up.” Lexa growled in Clarke’s face and returned to her bedroom using the tree again.
Lexa snapped out of her reverie, there was no point dwelling in the past. That memory was just one of the many confrontations she had with her neighbor throughout the years.
After her father died in the line of duty, she had no idea who her mother was and her dad never talked about her, Lexa moved from Polis to the small town of Tondc, where her uncle Gustus welcomed her with open arms. So did the Griffin’s who had become almost parents to her and loved her as a second daughter. They even asked her years ago to stop addressing them so formally, but Lexa was Lexa. Always formal.
She tipped her chin to the Griffin’s to wish them a good day before putting over her head her hat. Lexa opened her car before Abby called her name again.
“Guess who's coming home for the holidays?” Abby asked with a happy smile.
Lexa laughed. “No way. She always cancels, Dr. Griffin.”
“Oh no, Clarke is really coming this time around. She’s bringing a friend and her new boyfriend. Jake is picking them up tonight!”
Lexa’s laughter died immediately. Brows creasing. “Oh! I had no idea she was with someone.”
“Oh yeah, some California kid who thinks he’s dope.” Jake joked earning an elbow from Abby in his ribs. “Be nice Jake!”
“We’re having dinner together so don’t get too busy, Commander Woods. Tonight at 9pm?”
“Of course, Dr. Griffin. I uh- I’ll try.”
Abby entered her car to drive to Tondc local clinic after kissing her husband goodbye.
“Don’t worry Lexa, you’re still my favorite daughter. No new kid on the block will replace you.” The man winked and hopped inside his car as well.
Lexa jumped in her jeep and sighed. “Hell, just what I needed for Christmas. Clarke Griffin is coming back.”
____________
On the other side of the country was no other than Clarke Griffin M.D. Only being 32 years the woman was concluding her residence in orthopedics as one of the best surgeons with a high surgery success rate and working to help with the recovery of many more patients with her development of new prosthetics. Several hospitals were already offering the young prodigy a place to work along their specialty team after Clarke successfully applied the ‘Griffin Technique’, successfully using nanotechnology to repair damaged tissue in a patient. The technique was far from perfect, Clarke had to improve it by a lot but it had been a great starting point to finding her best friend, the first patient of the surgery, Raven Reyes, genius engineer and programmer, who would later offer Clarke a partnership to develop prosthetics with nanotech.
Clarke was packing in the apartment she shared with Raven her clothes. The blonde was excited about going back home after 6 years. The last time she had been in her hometown was after she graduated medical school and before enrolling in her internship program. She loved the holidays so much, she loved the snow from her home and she missed it badly. The ginger cookies, the Christmas songs, all the holiday environment was what Clarke enjoyed the most.
The thick forests surrounding her home was what made Tondc such gorgeous special place - the pink and yellow from spring, the greens of summer, the oranges and reds from fall and the pure white of winter. Clarke missed it terribly.
This time she was going to spend 3 weeks at home before she decided what to do with her career and her personal life. Her best friend Raven introduced her now boyfriend of almost six months Finn Collins during a trip to the beach. Raven and Finn were childhood friends and of course Raven had to introduce the man to her now business partner. They clicked and developed a friendship of sorts, the attraction was there so Clarke jumped into the relationship and she was content. Still, Clarke felt that even though she had accomplished so much she was missing something in her life.
“Alright Griff, I’m all set. How are you doing?” Raven limped to Clarke’s bed until she was sitting in the mattress while the doctor packed.
After an accident in a motorcycle Raven was left with severe nerve damage and her leg useless. When Clarke’s mentor took the case, Clarke did all the study and research she could and realized that Raven’s best option was creating a synthetic connection with nanotech to keep some of the pain at bay and restore a level of sensibility rebuilding gradually her tissue. The discovery and procedure had changed Raven’s life for the better and bonded the two forever.
“Almost done. Just need to finish packing that pile over there.” Clarke pointed with her dimpled chin to the corner.
“Ah cool.” Raven said grabbing the photo album from the nightstand and checked it out. “Tondc looks pretty nice.” Raven commented as she passed the pictures that she had seen in other occasions when drinking with Clarke and sharing stories of their families and friends. Seeing little Clarke smiling with her parents hiking was such a joy.
“It is. The people is really great, some more than others but you’ll fit perfectly.” Clarke smiled at the fond memories.
Raven kept passing pages. “And the reason you took ortho.” Raven pointed to one of the pictures in the album. A girl with green emerald eyes with her arm in a thick white cast was glaring at the camera with a teen Clarke with a similar expression on her side, pouting with her arms crossed. “You never told me the full story.”
“It was stupid really. Lexa fell from the balcony, she’s such a clutz.” Clarke said, not looking at Raven and focusing in her task of folding clothes and packing them neatly.
“Lexa, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Gaunt, but cute.”
“Trust me she’s everything but cute.”
Of course what really happened that day was something that only Lexa and Clarke knew. A secret that marked the professional path of the blonde in a way they had never seen coming.
“Clarke! Do you really need to keep the volume so high?” Lexa shouted from her window as it was their main form of communication.
Clarke loved to test her patience like no other, doing the things that annoyed the brunette in a daily basis just because.
“I’m trying to train here!” Lexa kept her complaints.
Clarke however was pretty busy, in her bed, touching herself because she was bored and tired and needed something that could send her to the edge so she could sleep. The sound system was muffling her whimpers as she rubbed her clit. For a 15 year old girl Clarke was pretty experienced in certain things. She had already kissed a couple of boys and recently Clarke discovered her attraction for a girl. She always thought girls were cute but this one clearly meant something else. Reason why she was trying to picture said girl doing interesting stuff with her. However Lexa’s voice was irritating which complicated things because while Clarke was fantasizing with the girl from her history class, Niylah; Lexa was intruding in said fantasy.
“Damn it, Griffin!” Lexa shouted angrily.
But Clarke didn’t hear her anymore so she thought Lexa already gave up, so she picked up the pace and began matching her thrusts with the motion of her hips, pushing a digit inside as more wetness flowed between her legs. She shut her eyes and she could picture that gorgeous tall girl with honey blonde hair and green eyes. Okay, no the girl had brown eyes.
“Focus!” Clarke was close, she could feel the climax coming.
“Clarke, could you please- FUCK!” Lexa stumbled in the bedroom, with her green eyes wide and her face turning quickly a deep shade of red reaching up to her ears. She backtracked towards the balcony bumping on her way out with shoes, tables and books making a mess in the room; her green eyes glued to the creamy exposed skin and beyond until Lexa had the not so bright idea to close her eyes on her way out. “Oh my God!”
“SHIT!”
Clarke was semi naked in her bed masturbating and Lexa had the brilliance to enter through her balcony in that exact moment. That day couldn’t be more embarrassing and scary.
“I’m so sorry, Clarke! I- I had no idea.” Lexa was walking blindly on her way out, her converse squeaking on the tiles as she took a step backward. “I uh, well. I ah-”
“Lexaaaa!” Clarke screamed when the idiot tripped with the veranda and down she went. Luckily for her she bumped her ass and head with some branches that cushioned what could have been a deadly fall.
Clarke quickly put on some panties and the image that she saw of Lexa with her forearm twisted in the wrong direction, blood in her forehead, howling and twisting her face in utter pain was something she never forgot.
That was the reason why she became an orthopedist. The guilt of being the cause of fracturing Lexa’s arm pushing the younger blonde in a way into greatness.
Clarke couldn’t help releasing a sigh. That was the last day that Lexa ever crossed using the oak tree between their windows and using the balcony to enter her bedroom. The brunette avoided her for a whole week and even though the version of the event they told their parents and Lexa’s uncle was way more mild - Lexa jumped as usual tripping on her way out. Her parents hadn't bought much that version for some reason but no one asked more about it.
Lexa had been angry with the blonde since she had to keep the case for 8 whole weeks since she broke her ulna and her radius was dislocated. Gustus and her parents wanted them to be in good terms again and under the oak tree they shook hands promising to be at least good neighbors. To commemorate such event they took a picture right in front of the tree.
“Okay, ready to go. Let’s pack this in the car and head into the airport.”
“Alright! I’m really curious to meet your neighbor though.” Raven shut the photo album and put it back in its place.
“Last I heard from my folks is that she became a cop.” Clarke commented picking her travel bag with her. “I haven’t seen her in… 16 years.”
“A cop? Hot!” Raven grinned. “That must be quite the reunion then.”
“I guess, if she’s around. Last time I was home she was in Polis.”
“Okay, time to go!”
On their way to the airport Clarke called her mom to check the schedule and confirm her flight information. Her father was supposed to be there picking her up when her flight arrived.
“Yup mom, I already confirmed with the airline. Remember both Finn and Raven are spending the whole vacation with me.” Clarke nodded her head as if her mother was right there. “Yeah, I know mom. Don’t worry. I’ll see you tonight. I love you too.”
“All is ready then?” Raven asked.
“Yeah.” Clarke sent another text to Finn letting him know she was already leaving.
Clarke with an e (10:15am): Hey Finn, I’m going to the airport. Mom is excited to meet you.
Spacewalker (10:18am): Hi Princess, omw. c u @ airport
Clarke stashed her phone and thought about how great was going to see everyone again. These were going to be the best holidays ever.
Clarke finally was going home.