I Won't Stop Protecting You

Chapter 14

Most of the time, when Lexa is awoken, it's usually down to the sunlight, or her wife getting up- unless she planned to leave early. But this morning of all mornings, was different. It was the screaming that woke her up.

Lexa shot straight up in her bed, covers tangling at her arms as she shoved herself up and towards the door, bare feet slapping near silently against the stone flooring. Clarke was not far behind, the panic arisen in both of them. She wasn't quite sure what was worse. The fact that someone was screaming, or that the person screaming was unmistakably her daughter.

Surely nobody had managed to sneak into Polis, never mind the tower. It was heavily armed and, as Clarke would say, it would be a suicide mission. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest as she grabbed the door frame, swinging herself around it to bound through the darkness, eyes squinted to narrow slits to get even a hint of vision. Her shins bumped against the couch before she reached the handle of Cora's room, pushing the door open with such force, someone might have believed that she was attempting to knock it off it's hinges.

"Cora?" She exclaimed, searching in the darkness. To her suprise, there were no tall, dark figures lurking in the shadows. No bloody stains on the curtains, or marking the floor. Only her daughter, sat up against the headboard clutching a pillow tightly in her arms.

Clarke was the one to take the smarter option and light the candle near the entrance, illuminating the room with a soft glow. The blonde was at her bedside almost instantly, squatted and reaching for their daughter's hand.

"Cora? Baby, talk to me. What happened?" Clarke whispered softly.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lexa spotted Amell lingering in the doorway, eyes filled with worry. He opened his mouth to speak, but the commander shook her head. With that, the boy took one last look at his younger sister before turning to head back to his room. The last thing she needed was Cora feeling crowded.

"Get away from me!" Cora snapped, yanking her hand back away from Clarke's grip.

If Lexa hadn't been looking, she would have had no idea that it was her daughter who had spoken. Cora may have been mischievous in her own way, and rebellious in other ways, she never spoke to her mothers in such a way.

"Cora" Lexa said softly, reaching for her.

"No!" She yelled once more "Get off of me!"

Lexa slid onto the bed, taking the pillow from her grip and wrapping her arms tightly around her daughter. She pulled the teenager into her lap, ignoring her fights for resistance.

"Leave me alone! I don't want you here! I don't want this!" Cora slapped at her arms, nails digging ever so slightly into her mothers soft skin. And yet, Lexa's hold on her never once faultered.

"Shh... chil au goufa" Lexa whispered softly in their native tongue "Breathe"

"Please" Cora said quietly, her voice catching as tears rolled from her eyes, cascading down her cheeks and landing on Lexa's arms. Clarke reached across, resting a hand on Cora's knee, blue eyes glowing with sympathy.

"Breathe, goufa. Nomon ste hir" Lexa continued to whisper in her ear, beginning to rock from side to side. She could feel her daughter relaxing into her arms, her head leaning back to rest on her shoulder. For some reason, even as a baby, Cora would stop crying almost instantly when Lexa spoke in trigedesleng to her, even if she really didn't understand it's meaning in the slightest "Would you like to talk to us about it?"

Cora sniffed, lifting a hand to wipe the tears from her face with the back of her arm. Lexa loosened her grip, moving over to make space on the bed for Clarke to join them. The other mother did so without a hint of hesitation, wrapping an arm around Lexa and finally managing to take Cora's hand like she had attempted to before.