Rain fell as two young girls sprinted across the beach together. The first, just several steps of ahead of the second, wore her brown curly hair in two french braids that ended just above her shoulders. Her vision was blurred, rain fogging up her glasses, but she was undeterred. Lexa had a heart full of adventure. Despite the fact that her parents had been killed in a car crash a year earlier, Lexa had a vivacious grip on life.
"Come on, Clarke!" she yelled back to her friend as she hopped over a log and looked back over her shoulder.
Clarke, wavy blonde hair matted to her face, too short to pull back with a hair tie, fumbled her way through the sand to follow her friend. The brunette slowed down to allow for the blonde's shorter legs to catch up with her. Clarke was always just several steps behind Lexa, their friendship one they'd shared since early childhood. They'd raced on the playground, the beach and in each other's backyards. Clarke always just a step or so behind Lexa.
The brunette reached out for Clarke's hand and the exact moment lightning struck barely feet away from them. Both girls screamed and Clarke leapt into Lexa's embrace.
"We needa get outta here Lex!" Clarke yelled over the storm. They had other friends, of course, but they'd always been a 'we'.
Lexa simply shook her head in response. "Don'tchya know?" she asked. "Lightning never strikes the same place twice. Besides, come 'ere."
Lexa grabbed Clarke's hand and led her the few feet to the site of where the lightning had struck. The sand there was still smoking so Lexa held Clarke back with a hand as the younger girl looked down. "What is it?" Clarke asked.
"Once it cools, we'll dig it up and I'll show ya," Lexa smiled. Lexa's parents had been the one to tell her about how glass forms when lightning strikes sand.
"Ya know, you never answered my question from earlier, Lexa," Clarke crossed her arms across her chest. "You said you wanna marry me, but that's silly. We're both girls. Why'd ya wanna marry me for anyhow?"
"Well before they died, my Momma and Daddy always told me that they got married 'cuz they wanted to marry their best friend. And you're my best friend," Lexa answered matter-of-factly.
"That the only reason why you wanna marry me?" Clarke taunted.
"Well that, and so I can kiss ya anytime I want," Lexa smiled, causing the smirk to fall from the younger girl's face.
The two young girls leaned in at the same time and their lips touched tentatively. Lightning struck behind them. This time is was Lexa that yelped at the sudden sound of thunder and pulled Clarke to the ground.
"We'll be safe here," she repeated as the two friends sat beside the smoking sand, hands held tightly, but still smiling at having shared their first kisses with their best friend. Neither girl thinking about the fact that one day, they'd promise to be each other's last kiss as well.
Clarke stood in the middle of the aisle in the backyard of the Blake plantation. She was dressed in a full skirt, Vera Wang bridal gown, her hair elegantly pinned back, makeup artistically applied. Waiting for her at the end of the aisle was a man who wanted to marry her and provide for her everything he could. Surrounding her were aisles full of Manhattan's elite alongside Polis Alabama's everyday people.
Clarke Griffin stood in the middle of them all, torn. Torn between the floppy-haired, well-groomed brunet at the end of the aisle and the brunette whose hair was more often knotted than not, clothes stained with grease and years of age.
When Finn approached her, Clarke looked up from the pen she held posed above her divorce papers. She pressed it to the page again, then paused again, and put it down. It was then that she sighed and turned to Finn.
"Finn. You don't want to marry me," she spoke, looking directly at the floppy-haired man.
"I don't?" he asked in confusion.
Clarke shook her head. "No, you don't. Not really."
"Why not?" he asked, clearly still confused.
"Because you deserve to marry someone who can give you their whole heart," she explained. "And I can't do that for you. The thing is, I gave my heart away a long time ago, my whole heart, and I don't think I ever got it back. I can't marry you Finn, because I gave my heart away more than fifteen years ago, even if I didn't realize it at the time." Her voice cracked as she finished speaking. "I'm so sorry, I can't marry you. And you shouldn't want to marry me."
"Wow," Finn shook his head. "So this is what it feels like." Clarke looked at him, confused. "I've never gotten my heart broken before. I've never not gotten what I wanted. This is a first for me." Around them, people looked at Finn incredulously. "It's a nice change of pace." At this, several people chuckled.
"That's it? You have GOT to be kidding me," a voice scoffed. Julia Collins stepped into the aisle and strutted her way towards Clarke, Finn following quickly behind her. She stopped when she reached the blonde, then turned towards her son, "You're just going to let this girl walk all over you like that?" She then turned to Clarke. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? I have never seen anyone more manipulative in my entire life, and I'm in politics! You stupid redneck whore!"
The words felt almost like a slap across Clarke's face, but she wasn't the one who felt the physical slap. That was Julia. As soon as the words 'redneck whore' were out of her mouth, Abby slapped her palm across Julia's cheek.
"No one talks to my baby like that!" she exclaimed, eliciting cheers from the audience and even a smile from Finn.
The rain started with a few small drops, but quickly turned into a pouring storm within a few seconds, as southern storms tend to start. Several people yelped and attempted to cover their heads, but Clarke simply tilted her head back and looked up at the sky and laughed.
Jake pulled Abby to his side and kissed her full on the mouth. Anya smiled a rare smile that no one was supposed to see, but when she glanced down the aisle, she saw a brunette looking at her with curious eyes. She raised her eyebrows at her, and Raven smirked in response.
As everyone started to run to find shelter, Clarke looked around and made an announcement to the crowd. "If you're friends of the bride, stick around! I'm gonna find me my wife!" This elicited more cheers and a sound of disgust that came from Julia's mouth, silenced with a glare from Abby.
On the other side of town, Lexa Woods was finishing putting the lightning rods in the ground, completely unaware of the fact that she was still a married woman.
Finally, the rods were all in the ground. Just in time too, as Lexa saw the first flash of lightning and heard the first roll of thunder. The lightning was still a few miles out, but with the wind, it would reach her beach in no time. With ten conductors in place, Lexa was sure she'd get at least one new glass piece, hopefully more.
In the meantime, however, she'd have to wait out the storm. The rain was now falling hard. She was just about to turn back to wait it out in her truck when she heard the wind howl in a way that sounded eerily like it was calling for her.
"Lexa!"
The sound of her name being called so clearly forced her to whip her head around. It wasn't the wind and she certainly hadn't imagined it. Clarke was running across the beach toward her, barefoot and clutching the side of her wedding dress as she struggled to make her way through the wind, rain and sand in the large gown. The dress was nothing like the simple one Clarke had worn on the day she had married Lexa, and while Lexa could tell the dress she currently wore was gorgeous, she still preferred the other, it had been more true to Clarke's personality at the time.
Lexa was so focused on Clarke's dress, that she didn't fully internalize the fact that Clarke was there with her on the beach on the day she was supposed to be getting married.
"You owe me a dance, cowgirl," Clarke spoke again as she finally reached Lexa.
It had been her biggest regret. She regretted still being drunk at the wedding and missing their reception, but missing their first dance had been what had truly stuck with Lexa. Clarke had been so excited for it. To have a dance together as wives. Lexa had never forgotten it, and clearly neither had Clarke.
"Nice dress," Lexa pointed to the gown the blonde had dirtied in the sand and storm. "Where's your spouse?"
"I'm lookin' at her," Clarke responded confidently with a slight smirk. "Turns out you and me, we're still hitched."
"Is that right?" Lexa asked, mildly confused. She'd signed the divorce papers. Why would they still be married.
"Turns out I forgot to sign the papers," Clarke explained, clearing up Lexa's confusion. There was a long pause when the only sounds they heard were those of the raging storm around them. "Why didn't you tell me you came to New York?"
"What's with you southern girls?" Lexa asked as the realization hit her full on. Clarke was there with her. She wasn't with Finn. She wasn't in New York. She was there with her, on their beach. Clarke was choosing her. "You can't make the right decision so you try all the wrong ones?"
"At least I fight for what I want!" Clarke exclaimed in response. Lexa laughed and shook her head. It was so typical for Clarke's response to be defensively stubborn.
"Yeah?" Lexa questioned. "And what do you want Clarke?"
"I've fucked up, I know. We both have. I know running away wasn't the answer, but I'm done running. I won't be easy, I know that. I know that we'll have to work at us. Hell, I know it won't be easy, but that doesn't mean I don't want to try," Clarke explained as she took a step closer to her wife. "You're the first person I kissed Lexa and I want you to be the last."
"We had our chance," Lexa shook her head.
"You're wrong," Clarke insisted. "You said that lightning doesn't strike the same place twice, but you're wrong. Because I love you. I didn't just love you then; I love you now and I always will. You're the lightning that keeps striking my heart and I can't get away from it. I can't pretend it isn't there anymore."
"Whatchu wanna be married to me for anyhow?"
Lexa watched as a smile spread across Clarke's face and she knew they were both remembering the first time they'd been caught in a storm together on the very same beach, in the very same spot.
"Well before they died, my Momma and Daddy always told me that they got married 'cuz they wanted to marry their best friend. And you're my best friend," Lexa answered matter-of-factly.
"That the only reason why you wanna marry me?" Clarke taunted.
"Well that, and so I can kiss ya anytime I want," Lexa smiled, causing the smirk to fall from the younger girl's face.
The memory of their first kiss flooded over them both as Lexa waited for Clarke's response, knowing the exact one she'd get.
"Whatchu wanna be married to me for anyhow?" Lexa's words had once belonged to Clarke, and this time is was Clarke who responded to them.
"So I can kiss you anytime I want," Clarke echoed the words of years earlier.
It was Lexa who took the final steps forwards, closing the distance between herself and her wife. She crashed her lips against the blonde's and wrapped her arms around her, lifting her slightly off the ground.
"And you've always been my best friend," Clarke added after Lexa put her down and rested their foreheads together. "You always will be."
They stood there in the rain together when blue and red lights startled them. Lexa wrapped a protective arm around Clarke as the police car pulled up. Both women smiled as Lincoln exited the vehicle.
"I hear you two ran out on a perfectly good cake. There's a wedding reception going on, but the happy couple is nowhere to be found," he yelled over the howling wind of the storm.
"What do you say we finally get that first dance?" Lexa asked as she took Clarke's hand and led her towards Lincoln's car.
The reception had been moved to Grounders and the place was haphazardly decorated with whatever wedding decorations anyone had grabbed from the Blake plantation.
Anya carried the cake into the bar and placed it in the center of the room. She looked at the rigid figurines of a man and a woman on top of the white pastry. She shook her head and threw it away. Seeing his opportunity, Bellamy snuck behind the bar and grabbed an old toy with two plastic block-shaped fighters on it. He ripped them off the toy and placed them on top of the cake.
On the other side of the bar, Monty was struggling to hang a "Just Married" banner above the pool table. He was hanging one side up, but the weight of the banner unpinned on the other side threatened to tear it down. Suddenly the weight was lifted as the other side was pinned. Monty turned to see who was helping him and smiled in surprise as he recognized the man who had come down from New York with Clarke.
"I'm Nathan," the man extended his hand.
"Monty," he blushed slightly in return as he shook Miller's hand. Their hands remained touching for just a moment too long for it to be a friendly, cordial greeting.
Abby put out her homemade pies and slapped Jake's hand away when he tried to steal icing off the cake. Raven and Bellamy, despite having only just met the night before, were arguing about when they thought the wives would arrive, when Lincoln pushed open the door to the bar. The bells rang as the women in question entered behind him.
"May I present Mrs. and Mrs. Griffin-Woods!" Lincoln announced as he stepped aside to show off the women. Clarke and Lexa raised their hands to reveal that the sheriff had handcuffed them together, everyone in the bar cheered. Lincoln then withdrew his keys and unlocked them from each other. "On second thought, maybe leaving them with handcuffs isn't the best idea." His words elicited laughter all around him.
"I do believe I owe this lady a dance," Lexa announced after their hands were free. She dragged the woman out onto the dance floor.
"Make it a good one, Ahn," Clarke looked over Lexa's shoulder and made eye contact with her sister-in-law. Anya grinned and turned on the jukebox, choosing the perfect song for the occasion.
Neither Clarke nor Lexa registered the appreciative cheers that the song earned as the first notes started playing. They were too busy looking at each other with grins on their faces, arms wrapped around each other as they started to dance.
It wasn't a typical song for a first dance, but they weren't a typical couple, and this wasn't their first dance as a married couple, but for all intents and purposes, they'd both think of it as that.
Abby and Jake were the first couple to join them on the dance floor, but they were quickly joined by Lincoln and Octavia, then Jasper and Maya.
Miller asked Monty to dance with him and the southern boy didn't say no.
When Bellamy asked Raven to dance, she laughed and shook her head, saying she didn't even know the words to the song.
Bellamy belted out the words to the chorus at Raven who laughed at him in return. When he asked her again to dance, she dragged him onto the dance floor.
Soon, everyone was on the dance floor paired up like the couples or Octavia and Lincoln's boys. Anya leaned on the jukebox and took in the sight of half the town coming together to celebrate her sister and sister-in-law getting back together. Everyone was happy, but nobody more so than the still-drenched couple at the center of it all.
"Is Alabama our forever home?" Lexa asked as she spun Clarke around, then pulled her back in.
"You're my forever home," Clarke cheesed back, earning a kiss from her wife.
The last notes of the song trailed off and a new song started. Several people left the dance floor, but Clarke and Lexa remained, dancing long into the night. They stopped only to cut the cake. A large swipe of icing had been taken out of the pastry when they went to cut it. Abby blamed Jake. Octavia blamed her kids. Monty jokingly blamed Fuzz. Of course, nobody saw the cat with the burnt tail hiding in the corner of the bar.
Finally the night came to an end and Clarke rode shotgun in Lexa's truck back to their home. They hadn't left each other's side all night and the drive back was no exception as Clarke nuzzled into Lexa's side as the brunette drove. Neither of them had had more than a glass of champagne to drink that night, but they felt drunk on love.
When they arrived home, Lexa stripped Clarke's damp gown from her body and Clarke returned the favor. The brunette carefully unpinned the elaborate updo on her wife and when blonde curls fell across her face, Lexa brushed them back and kissed the pink lips she loved.
They didn't spend long rediscovering each other's bodies, the fatigue of the day finally getting to them, but they knew they had the rest of their lives to rediscover one another.
Clarke and Lexa Griffin-Woods spent the first six months of their new married life in Birmingham, where they ran the store together. The transition period wasn't easy. They fought nearly daily after the honeymoon period wore off, but they never went to sleep angry, and soon they found each other again. Old wounds were healed and faults forgiven.
A month after they moved into Lexa's home in Birmingham together, they had their worst fight.
"We have no friends here! All we do it go to the stupid store, spend the day there, then come back home, eat dinner and go to bed. I can't handle it!" Clarke exclaimed, having gone fully stir-crazy.
"Then why don't you just run away back to New York if you hate it that much," Lexa had yelled back in return. "That's what you do, isn't it? Run away when things aren't perfect, when they aren't what you expected them to be."
"Maybe I will!" Clarke walked away from her wife, making her way to the door. "At least in New York I have friends and I actually feel like I'm doing something other than running a store!"
"Leave then, no one is stopping you!" Before the words were even completely out of Lexa's mouth, Clarke had opened the door and left, slamming it behind her.
An hour after Clarke left, Lexa tried calling her, but Clarke had left her cellphone behind. She knew Clarke needed space, but she was still afraid that her wife had left her again. She didn't fall asleep that night, instead she kept herself posted up on the couch, refusing to sleep until Clarke came home.
She came home just before sunrise. Lexa looked at her through bleary, tired eyes as the blonde entered their home. Neither woman said anything right away. Clarke slipped out of her shoes then crawled onto the couch with Lexa, bringing her into an embrace.
"I drove back to Polis," Clarke finally explained. "I was going to just go to my parents' house, but I knew they would yell at me. So I went to our house there, but I knew right away it wasn't where I was supposed to be. It's not home if you're not there. You're my home. I'm sorry."
Lexa rubbed Clarke's back and they fell asleep in each other's arms on the couch. The next day, Lexa let an employee run the store for the day as she took Clarke to the back studio where she taught her how to blow glass. A week later, Clarke started to use the back office to get back to sketching designs for a new clothing line.
A month later, when Lexa was busy with clients all day, Clarke went back into the back studio where she spent hours working on a glass piece. It wasn't perfect by any means, it wasn't even that good, but after she presented it to Lexa, Lexa put the vase in the middle of their kitchen and Clarke promised to always have it full of flowers. Lexa loved flowers, a secret only Clarke knew.
Clarke finished her sketches for her new line and started to contact vendors about it. When Vanity Fair ran an article titled "Clarke Blake No More - Clarke Griffin-Woods!" detailing the woman's love story, Deep South Glass took off even more than it had been before. They started receiving orders from all over the country.
The decision to move back to New York City was an easy one. Neither woman felt that Birmingham was their home, and despite their love for the small-town, Polis was too full of ghosts for them to return to. Clarke was able to return to her career as a fashion designer, her career skyrocketing into new heights of success as Lexa ran her business from the city.
They took many trips back to Polis over the years. A year after moving to New York, they landed at JFK after visiting for Christmas and ran into Finn Collins. He greeted the pair warmly and introduced them to his fiancee, Laura Vanderbilt. After they chatted for a bit, the two couples parted ways amicably with plans to meet up at an upcoming gallery opening.
Lexa and Clarke spent every Christmas in Polis until the year they were both thirty-three, nearly eight years after moving to New York City together. The couple had planned to host the holiday at their apartment. They'd made plans to have an elaborate meal, aided by Abby in cooking. Lexa still was a horrible cook.
Christmas Eve was a quiet affair, the big plans were for the next day. Jake and Anya played chess while Abby started to cook for the next day. Newly married Raven and Bellamy had shown up with bottles of wine, Bellamy having moved to the city after they married. Abby abandoned her cooking when Miller and Monty showed up with their twins, cooing excessively over the three-year-olds.
It was supposed to have been a quiet night, but that changed when Clarke went into labor. She wasn't due for another week, but it seemed like their baby wanted to have their first Christmas sooner rather than later.
Noelle was born in the first hours of that Christmas morning, the perfect Christmas present. She came home several days later in a stocking and Clarke only had a minor heart attack when Lexa pretended to hang their newborn in her stocking above the fireplace.
Years passed and the Griffin-Woods family enjoyed their life in New York City as well as the many trips they took to Polis, Alabama.
Just as with Christmas, the Griffin-Woods family returned to Polis annually for the Catfish Festival. The year Noelle was ten, her mothers let her wander alone through the festival for the first time. Of course, she wasn't really alone. She had her honorary cousins to follow around and the friends she'd made from spending so much time in the small town over the years.
It was a total accident that Clarke and Lexa witnessed their daughter's first kiss. They had been walking through the fairgrounds, hand in hand, just enjoying being with each other, when they passed by the game booths. They watched as their daughter threw a softball at old milk bottles, knocking them down.
Octavia and Lincoln's youngest child, Bear, a year older than Noelle, was with her. Noelle cheered after she knocked down the bottles.
"I told you I could knock 'em down!" she grinned at Bear. "So now you gotta kiss me."
"Okay," Bear grinned in return before quickly pecking Noelle's lips. Noelle grinned as she pulled away, then grabbed Bear's hand.
"Come on," she exclaimed. "Let's go find another game I can beat you at."
Once the two children were out of sight, Clarke and Lexa broke out into laughter, before finding themselves in each other's arms, having their own kiss underneath the fairground lights.
Neither Lexa nor Clarke were sure when they first fell in love, but they did know that they had a love that never ended. They'd struggled, but found each other in the end and that was all that mattered. Sometimes lightning can strike the same place twice.
Sometimes what you're looking for is right where you left it.