Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 23: Someone To Watch

"Hey, have you seen Octavia?" Clarke asks.

"She and Lincoln went hunting," Finn says through a mouth full of food. He's seated on the grass, in the sun, next to Raven. It took Clarke ages to find them, even though they're less than a couple of hundred feet from the village. She wonders if they're avoiding all the training warriors, or just the Grounders in general.

Clarke sighs. "I know. But they left yesterday, they should be back by now. Lincoln told Indra they'd be back by midday." The hunt is an obvious cover. Clarke just isn't sure whether the two of them have taken off because Octavia wants time to cool down, or to think of more crazy theories. Maybe both. Either way, now that she and Lexa have agreed to tell them everything (well, nearly everything) Clarke just wants them here. They left while she was still with Lexa. She's been fighting the desire to tell one of the others everything since she fell to the ground, and now she finally can it's stressful to delay.

At least her free morning has done her some good, though. She spent it with Wells, being beaten at chess, talking about nothing in particular. He hadn't said a single word about Lexa, and she'd been too scared to bring it up. But then when she'd stood up to leave, he took her hand and squeezed it for a second, and smiled at her.

Perhaps they'll talk about it more at a later date. For the moment, for them, that's enough. They've known each other long enough to not need many words.

"Try Anya, she'd know," Raven suggests absently, not looking at either one of them. She's still fiddling with some of the little pieces of metal she brings everywhere. Then there's a little sliding noise, and she crows, "Aha! Done!"

"What are you done with?" Clarke says curiously. In her experience, everything Raven makes is useful, and nearly everything Raven makes is deadly. Lexa and Clarke had requested Raven work on some things – radios, specifically, followed by bombs – but this doesn't look like either one of those. Too small.

"Found an old broken watch earlier in the scraps," Raven says, holding it up. "Just wanted to see if I could fix it. Lots of little cogs." Despite her triumph, her voice sounds flat, and Clarke realises that despite nominally sitting next to Finn on the ground, there's a very deliberate and pointed space between them.

Her stomach sinks. So Wells persuaded Finn to come clean after all. Poor Raven.

Of course, Raven would hate her pity, so Clarke forces herself to pay attention to other things. "Nice," she says, taking a step closer to look at the watch. It's old and clunky, and whatever kind of band it used to be connected to has clearly rotted away or been ripped off, but she can see the hands tick-tick-ticking their way around the little circle. It makes her think of her father's watch, accidentally abandoned back on the Ark in her first few minutes in this new world.

Finn reaches out tentatively and takes it. Raven lets him, though she doesn't look pleased about it. "Pretty cool," he says, giving Raven a cautious smile. She gives a wooden one back.

Clarke smiles uncomfortably, deciding that it's time to get the hell out of this awkward situation. She'll go talk to Anya, then maybe train with Lexa for a while. While her heart aches for Raven – and even Finn somewhat, it can't be fun to have the person he's closest to give him that cold look – she's not going to be any use here.

"Can I have it?" Clarke says suddenly, gesturing at the watch. "It's fine if you want to keep it," she adds hurriedly. But the truth is, she suddenly really wants it. She wants that comforting ticking noise, reminding her of her father, his strength, his kindness. If she can't have his actual watch, it would be good to have something.

"Sure," Raven says with a negligent shrug. "Take it, it's yours. I should really be working on making radios out of the scraps Anya's been bringing me instead."