Jigsaw Girl

Punch drunk and in love

"Lexa?" Clarke says, as she watches Lexa cover her mouth from her third yawn in the last ten minutes. "When was the last time you slept?"

Lexa thinks for a second, not really remembering, but knows it's been well over forty-eight hours. "Uhhh... it hasn't been that long." She knows the look that will be on Clarke's face before she even looks back to her.

"You need to sleep." Clarke commands.

"Or...I just need some coffee." Clarke shakes her head at her. "It's ok, Love. I'll be fine." Lexa knows she needs to sleep, but she can't. She wants to keep reading to Clarke, and if she is being honest with herself, she is scared to sleep. Scared that if she closes her eyes for longer than a blink, Clarke will disappear again.

Clarke shyly pats the spot next to her on the mattress. "I won't leave. I promise you."

She hesitates for only a second, before she climbs into the bed. Clarke pulls up one of the ratted blankets, and drapes it over them both. "I can keep reading to you." It probably would have been more believable if Lexa didn't scoot down so her head was on the pillow, after another yawn.

Clarke scoots down too, and faces Lexa. Her breath ghosts across Lexa's face, making her close her eyes. "I'm not going anywhere, Lexa." Then Clarke raises her hand, and starts ghosting her finger tips across Lexa's eyebrows, before moving them to her jawline. Then she starts the process over again.

"Oh that's just mean." Lexa tells her. It's one of Lexa's weaknesses, and always puts her to sleep.

"I can't believe you wrote me a book." Clarke whispers.

Lexa yawns again, and tries to open her eyes. "It was part of the deal. We signed a contract."

Clarke laughs softly, but doesn't say anything. She just keeps running her fingers lightly across Lexa's face. When she tucks some of the fallen brunette hair back behind Lexa's ear, she knows that she had fallen asleep. Clarke puts her hand down, and takes a minute to watch her sleeping love. She wishes things were different, she wishes it everyday. The last time she did this, the last time she watched Lexa sleep, was the night she left Detroit. The night she left her entire life behind.

Clarke reaches under the pillow, and grabs the drawing she had hid and opens it. The same scene plays out on the paper as it does in real life. It's of a sleeping Lexa.

After the very first time she slept next to Lexa, she wasn't able to sleep without her. So, the drawing was the next best thing, once she found herself sleeping alone. She would tape it to the wall closest to her so she could stare at it, until it calmed her enough to fall asleep. Every detail is the same, right down to Lexa's slightly open lips. Clarke smiles and runs a finger over the real ones.

"I love you." Lexa whispers in her sleep. This makes Clarke smile again, before the tears start. She had always talked in her sleep.

"And I love you." She whispers back, before placing a soft kiss on the older girl's lips. Clarke folds the drawing up and places it beside the bed. If she wanted to leave, now would be her chance. Lexa is a light sleeper, unless she goes a long time without it. Then she can only be shaken awake.

She debates on what to do, while she listens to the steady rhythm of Lexa's breathing. She turns around having made up her mind. Clarke lifts up Lexa's arm, and scoots herself until her back is flushed against Lexa's front, and brings her arm back down.

Either it's muscle memory or instinct, but the grip of the brunette's arm increases around her waist, while pulling Clarke's body as close as she can physically be to Lexa's. She laces her fingers with Lexa's, before bringing the other girl's hand up to her mouth, and kisses it. She's going to stay. She's going to finish the story, and then decide on what to do. She owes that much to Lexa.