Flatline (CLEXA AU)

Chapter 5: Closer

When Clarke came home from brunch, she found Octavia cooking in the kitchen and decided to keep her company until she was done eating. They talked about Octavia's upcoming business trip to Washington DC the following weekend and she wanted to make sure Clarke would be fine by herself, since she would not be there on the 1st of February, which happened to be the 7th anniversary of Costia's death.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Octavia insisted.

"Of course... It's been 7 years, O... I'm fine..." Clarke tried to reassure her.

"I know, I'm just worried... Lincoln told me about your patient the other day..."

"O... just... I'm fine, ok?" Clarke stood up, letting Octavia know she was done talking about it.

"Do you work on the 1st?" Octavia still wasn't ready to let it go.

"No, I have the weekend off."

"Do you have any plans? Is Lincoln free? Maybe the two of you could..."

"Listen..." Clarke interrupted her. "Thank you for your concern, really... But you don't have to worry about me, ok? I'm going to stay in my room and watch her favourite movie, listen to some of her favourite music and I'll go to bed afterwards."

"So you won't go out, get shit-faced and end up God knows where with God knows who the next morning?" Octavia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course not," Clarke chuckled. "What I am, a teenager? Plus... you know I prefer sleeping in my own bed," she winked at her before she turned around and left the kitchen.

"Yeah, right..." Octavia shook her head as she grabbed her phone and sent a text to Lincoln.

Clarke went to her room to change the sheets and she spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping, before going to the hospital for her 9 pm - 9 am shift.

The next morning, she came home to an empty apartment, since Jasper and Octavia had already gone to work and Lexa was either out or in her bedroom. Clarke had bought some vegan pastries and two cups of coffee on her way home with the intention of inviting the brunette to have breakfast with her in the kitchen.

She put the variety of pastries on a big plate and placed it on the kitchen island, leaving the two cups of coffee next to it before she walked in the direction of Lexa's bedroom. She knocked on the door, feeling a bit nervious as she was waiting for a reply.

"Yes?" she heard Lexa's voice and slowly opened the door.

"Good morning," she said as she leaned in, locking eyes with the brunette who was sitting behind the desk. "I just got back from work and... I thought ... maybe you'd like to join me for breakfast?" she asked, sounding almost shy. "I brought some pastry... both, savory and sweet, because I didn't know your preferences..."

"Umm..." Lexa's eyes widened as she was trying to find the words to speak.

"There's coffee as well, if you're not hungry... or if you already ate." Clarke smiled softly.

"No..." it was everything Lexa managed to say, noticing how the smile disappeared from Clarke's face and was being replaced by an expression of disappointment.

"Oh, ok... no problem..." Clarke tried not to sound too discouraged. "Some other time, then..." she nodded and was about to close the door when she heard Lexa's voice again.

"No!" Lexa exclaimed as she stood up. "I mean... I haven't eaten yet, actually..." she smiled at the blonde. "I'd like to join you... thank you."

"Great!" Clarke grinned and held the door open for Lexa, who had started walking in her direction.

They went to the kitchen together and Lexa was surprised to see the amount of pastries on the kitchen counter, wondering if maybe they were expecting someone else as well.

"Is someone joining us?" Lexa asked as she sat on the kitchen stool.

"No... why?" Clarke frowned and sat next to her.

"It's just... a lot of food," Lexa smiled. "I mean... I know my hips are big, but... I swear I don't eat a lot."

"Oh, no no... I didn't think... It's not..." Clarke started rambling. "Your hips are perfect... I mean... that's not what I..."

"Clarke..." she was suddenly interrupted by Lexa, who had a big smile on her face, and she thought to herself that it was most beautiful smile she had ever seen. "I was joking..." Lexa said, finding Clarke's flushed cheeks to be quite adorable.

"Oh..." the blonde smiled back, feeling the room temperature rise all of the sudden.

"I've been told a have a strange sense of humour," Lexa shrugged as she put one of the savory pastries in her mouth.

"People say that about me too, actually," Clarke replied, grabbing a pastry as well.

They smiled at each other and continued eating, until the blonde decided to interrupt the silence, even though she didn't find it to be particularly uncomfortable.

"Lexa, I... I'd like to apologize," she said and saw green eyes finding hers. "You must have the worst opinion of me..."

"I don't," Lexa spoke. "I'm sorry if you felt like I was judging you... You're a free woman and you can do whatever you feel like doing."

"But, still... I should've been more discreet about it... It was your first weekend in the loft and you probably didn't sleep well because of... well..." she said and tilted her head down.

"Your... guest... was pretty loud... but I had my ear plugs, so... problem solved," she smiled, trying to make Clarke feel better about it. "Plus, it's just like when I was living in the student dorm... that's why I bought the ear plugs in the first place," she shrugged and took a sip of her coffee.

"Great... so now I'm an adult woman behaving like a freshman in college," Clarke laughed.

"Oh, no... I didn't..." Lexa started blushing. "I wasn't... I mean... That's not what I..."

"Lexa..." Clarke interrupted the rambling with a soft smile on her face, getting Lexa's attention. "I was joking," her smile widened when she saw the brunette's face relax. "See, I wasn't lying about my sense of humour..."

"Right..." Lexa smiled, relieved to see that she hadn't offended her roommate.

"So... Are we good then?" Clarke asked, still looking at Lexa.

"Yes... we're good," the brunette nodded.

"Start over?" Clarke wiped her hands with a paper towel before extending her arm towards Lexa.

"Start over," Lexa did the same and then shook Clarke's hand.

The moment their hands touched, they both twitched due to the static electricity, just like the first time they felt each other's skin, only this time they laughed about it and didn't seem to be in a hurry to interrupt the contact.

"Do you always do 12-hour shifts?" Lexa asked once they had started eating again.

"No, not always... some months I do three 12-hour shifts a week, sometimes only one and the rest of the days only 6-hour shifts... it depends, really."

"So... you have a 36-hour workweek, then?"

"In theory... but it's almost never like that," Clarke replied. "I always end up doing more... or covering for some of my collegues... What about you? How come you're working from home?"

"Oh... I just... I don't feel very comfortable working in a common office... like it's usually done in IT companies..." Lexa explained.

"Right... Is it because you work better when you're alone... or?" Clarke was curious.

"That too... But also because it would drive me crazy if I had to listen to the guys' endless debates about which part of Star Wars was the best and if Megan Fox was hotter in Transformers or in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," she rolled her eyes, making Clarke laugh.

"I see... So I suppose it's mostly guys at the office, yeah?"

"Pretty much... But it wouldn't matter either way... As you have probably noticed, I'm not particularly good at socializing... and making friends... regardless of their sex," Lexa smiled softly, looking away from Clarke.

"Oh, I don't know about that... I think you're doing great, actually," Clarke smiled when the brunette glanced at her before taking another sip of her coffee. "Speaking of socializing... do you and Jasper have any plans for the weekend?"

"I don't... but Jasper is actually going to Atlantic City on Saturday... It's Murphy's bachelor party, so they'll spend the weekend getting drunk," Lexa said calmly.

"Murphy?" Clarke frowned.

"John Murphy... they work together," Lexa explained.

"No, it's just that... Just this morning as I was leaving the hospital, I ran into Emori... an ER nurse I often work with... and she invited me to her bachelorette party this Saturday... and I'm pretty sure her fiancé's name is Murphy."

"It's them, yes," Lexa confirmed. "I've never met them, but I know their names."

"What are the odds?" Clarke smiled.

"I could probably make an algorithm and I'll be able to calculate the odds, if you'd like," she said in a neutral tone.

"You could do that?" Clarke was interested.

"I was actually joking, but... yeah, I suppose I could," Lexa smiled, looking at Clarke.

"Oh," Clarke laughed. "Sorry... It's hard to tell from the tone of your voice, but I'll make it my mission to figure you out and I promise that by the end of this month, I'll be able to tell exactly when you're joking," she said in a determined manner.

"You're ambitious, I see..." Lexa raised her eyebrows and looked away.

"Only when I'm intrigued..." Clarke replied and saw the brunette's cheeks turn red as she was finishing her coffee.

"I have to get back to work," Lexa said, getting up from the chair. "Thank you for breakfast," she looked at Clarke before she picked up the empty cup of coffee.

"It was my pleasure... thank you for joining me," Clarke smiled at her. "Leave it, I'll clean up," she said, looking at the cup in Lexa's hand.

"Oh... thanks," Lexa smiled back and left the cup on the kitchen counter. "I'll see you around..."

"You can count on it," Clarke's smile widended as she watched Lexa walk away, ogling her long legs all the way up to her elegant derrière and couldn't help but wonder what it must feel like to be allowed to touch her body and provide pleasure to her, fulfilling every single one of her fantasies, that the blonde suddenly found herself anxious to discover.