Chapter Text
It was just past 3pm and Lexa sat in her car just outside her childhood home. Even though she lived in this house for only seven years of her life, it still has been the only place that’s ever felt like home. Being put into the foster care even before she was one, she found a home with Gustus and Indra Woodson who had officially adopted her by the age of five. At the age of eight they had to move away abruptly.
Now eighteen years later, here she was, back in Arkadia. Whilst the world has changed dramatically since 1998 the suburb itself, hadn’t. The primary school still seemed to be running the same, the corner stores still were in business and the houses that Lexa remembered were still standing.
She told herself she wouldn’t drive past her childhood home. Lexa was meant to grab some groceries and make her way back to the apartment to help Anya unpack. But she couldn’t help it. Without really thinking Lexa took a left turn instead of right and found herself stopping the car when the house came into sight. It was a two story brick house, with two garages, and a fairly large front lawn. A small set of stairs led up to the front porch and towards the main entrance of the house.
Memories of her childhood started to slowly come back. She remembers running across her front lawn to catch the bus to school, learning how to ride a bike up and down the drive way, her parents setting up the sprinklers on hot days so they could run through it and sitting on the front porch with her best friend, Clarke Griffin.
Clarke was quite literally the girl next door. The Griffin family moved into the house next door a year after Lexa and Anya were officially adopted by their foster parents. Lexa didn’t like Clarke at first because of smart the blonde was. Despite being a whole year younger than Lexa, Clarke was put into the same Year 1 class she was in. Clarke was always nice to her though, despite Lexa doing everything she could to avoid her neighbour.
It wasn’t until when Lexa broke her arm that her friendship formed with Clarke. Her parents had insisted that they’d take her and pick her up from school, but even at such a young age she argued that she was fine to catch the bus. It was the first afternoon Lexa caught the bus home with a broken arm. Her stop was approaching so as she went to pick up her bag off the ground, someone walked past and picked it up for her. It was Clarke.
“Hey, I can carry my own bag,” Lexa said as she followed Clarke down the bus aisle.
Clarke doesn’t turn around though, simply walking right to the front of the bus. She thanked the driver and got off.
“Clarke!” Lexa yelled.
Clarke turned around. “You have a broken arm. I know Anya’s got afternoon soccer so I thought I’d help for today.”
Lexa crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t need it.”
“Too bad,” Clarke smiled. She waved to her parents who were waiting for her by the front of their door. “I’m just going help Lexa and I’ll be back!” she yelled.
“Okay sweetie!” Abby replied.
Clarke continued to walk up Lexa’s driveway. Once at the steps she puts the bag down and also takes a seat herself.
Lexa walked up to her house, trying to stop herself from smiling because Anya would not have done something like this for her. She goes to sit next to Clarke. “Thank you,” she whispered. She might not have liked Clarke that much but was always taught to say her please's and thank you’s.
“You’re welcome,” Clarke smiled.
The door behind them opened. Gustus came out, a little shocked to see Clarke and Lexa sitting on the footsteps. He was well aware Lexa didn’t really like Clarke so this was a welcomed sight. “Hey girls, how was school?”
“Great dad,” Lexa smiled.
“Fun,” Clarke replied. “I should go; my parents are waiting for me.”
Lexa nodded. “Okay.”
Clarke stood up. Saying goodbye to Gustus and Lexa one last time she started to walk back to her house.
“Clarke!” Lexa called out. The blonde immediately turned around. “Thank you for carrying my bag.”
Clarke grinned. “See you tomorrow.”
From that day onwards Clarke carried Lexa’s bag off the bus and up to her neighbour’s house. She’d sit on the front porch with Lexa for a couple of minutes before going home herself. Even when Lexa’s arm healed the two of them stuck to their routine. Clarke walked Lexa up to the house, they sat and talked for a bit and then Clarke went home.
The two quickly became best friends. The two of them were inseparable during the two years they had together. Short talks on at the front of Lexa’s house turned into weekend sleepovers and both kids asking their parents if the other could come over every other day.
Lexa smiled at the memory. They were some of her fondest and her parents made sure that she didn’t lose them growing up. Her daydream is slightly interrupted when a car pulls up into the home. She doesn’t know why but Lexa’s heart skipped a beat. As much as she felt like this was the only home she knew, it actually stopped being her home long ago.
A man, probably a little older than Lexa exits the car with a woman who’s probably a little younger than Lexa. Before they’re even at the front of the house the door is opened and someone comes out engulfing the two people almost instantly (Lexa concludes that this was a mother hugging her two kids.) The three of them disappear into the house.
Lexa remembers the last night she was every here quite vividly.
It was the third day of holidays and Lexa was already bored out of her mind. Clarke and her family went on vacation just the day before and Lexa was bummed that she wouldn’t see her best friend for over a month. Clarke and Lexa made big plans for the holidays but when their parents told them that they’d have to wait they both nearly cried. Now Lexa laid on the ground, simply watching the ceiling fan go round and round.
“Play with your sister,” her mum suggested.
“I think she’s already asleep.”
Indra looked up from her book and to the clock. It was only 8 o’clock. “Already?”
Lexa nodded. “She said she was tired from soccer. When’s dad getting home?”
“Soon.”
Eventually Lexa started to occupy herself with one of her colouring books whilst Indra remained reading her book. It was a nice, peaceful night given everything that’s happened in the past 8 months. Lexa was too young to understand what was going on with her parents but she knew it was bad. People in suits were constantly visiting and Lexa and Anya were watched by the Griffin family at least three times a week. Lexa didn’t mind though, it meant that she got to spend more time with Clarke.
But the day her parents told her and Anya that the bad stuff was over, they couldn’t be happier. It didn’t take them long for them to fall back into a sense of normalcy. Until one fateful night.
It was approaching 8:30pm when Gustus all but barged through the door of their house, followed by number of police officers. “Indra, pack what you can in 10 minutes, we have to go,” Gustus said sternly.
Indra didn’t question it. She nodded and ran up the stairs.
“Dad? What’s wrong?” Lexa asked as she stood up.
Gustus stepped forward, taking his daughter’s hand. “There’s no time to explain.” He walked them over towards one of the officers. “Detective Kash is going to take you to her car. I’m going to get your sister and come right to you, okay?”
Lexa was scared but managed to nod. Her dad placed her hand into detective’s hand and ran up the stairs.
“Come Alexandria, your dad will be back in a moment.”
Lexa allowed herself to be walked out of the house. The detective helped her into the car, leaving the door opened at Lexa’s request. It wasn’t long before she saw her dad carrying Anya in his arms, along with two duffel bags. Her mum followed closely behind, pulling along two suit case and another duffel bag.
The detective help load the luggage into the boot and within two minutes they were off. Indra sat in the middle back seat, letting both her kids sleep on her shoulders. Gustus sat up front, simply starring out the window hoping he was able to get his family to safety before it was too late.
When they were old enough to understand, Gustus and Indra explained everything to their daughters. What happened, what they were involved in and why they had to go into the witness protection program. For the most part Lexa and Anya had a relatively normal life after that. They settled down in a suburb far away from Arkadia, went to school, had friends and relationships like 'normal.'
Now eighteen years later, life had brought them back to Arkadia. With the threat from eighteen years ago long gone, both Anya and Lexa agreed that it was time to stop hiding, to come back home. Unfortunately, their parents had passed away a couple of months prior. There wasn’t a lot of things they were certain about at this point in their life, but when the chance to move back to Arkadia came up they instantly took it, both of them feeling the draw back to where they grew up.
Lexa focused her attention to the house next door, the Griffin household (or former Griffin household since what were the chances that they were still living there?)
Turns out, chances were pretty high.
Just at that moment the post-man had knocked on the front door and none other than Abby Griffin had answered. Lexa watched the woman sign for a package, lingering at the door as she went through her mail.
Lexa knew that there was always a chance that the Griffin family hadn’t moved, but now faced with the reality of it, she was still genuinely shocked. As Clarke was her childhood best friend, Abby and Jake became like second parents to Lexa and Anya. In one way or another some of her happiest memories included everyone in the Griffin family. Without really thinking Lexa turned the ignition off and got out of her car. From where she was she standing she couldn’t see Abby that clearly, but saw her enough to conclude that the older woman aged quite gracefully.
Taking a few deep breaths, Lexa started to make her way towards Abby. She crossed the street and started along the foot path.
Abby still hadn’t looked up from her mail, but was just about to turn back into her house.
“Ab–” something caught in Lexa’s throat. She cleared it and tried again, “Abby.”
Abby turned around at the call of her name. “Yes?” she smiled.
Lexa jogged up the driveway and stood a couple of feet away from the older woman. She was right, though it’s been eighteen years Abby had aged gracefully. “I don’t know if you remember me…” Lexa trailed off, not really knowing where she was going with this.
Abby placed the package on the ground and took a step forward. There was a strong sense of familiarity coming from the young woman in front of her, but she just couldn’t quite figure out where from. She raised an eyebrow, “Have we met before?”
Lexa nodded immediately. “I use to live next door.” She points to her childhood home, “My parents–”
Abby goes wide-eyed as she realised who was standing in front of her, “Alexandria Woodson?!” she cut in.
“It’s just Lexa Woods now,” she smiled. “But yeah…”
“Oh my god,” Abby gasped. She stepped forward again. “Is it really you? It’s been like... fifteen years?”
“Eighteen,” Lexa corrected.
Abby opened up her arms, “Can I… am I allowed to hug you?”
Lexa let out a small chuckle before stepping forward and wrapping her arms around the woman. She buried herself in the embrace. Abby was a second mother to Lexa and being reunited after eighteen years felt like coming home.
“My god, you’ve grown into a beautiful woman,” Abby whispered into the hug. “I can’t believe you’re actually here.”
“Me too,” Lexa admitted. “Me too…”