It happens six days before the election.

The earth shakes beneath Lexa's feet and her entire world is flipped upside down.

On a regular Wednesday morning, like so many before them, Lexa boards the bus and looks out into the crowd moving on the sidewalk and sees her.

And something clicks into place.

Watching this stranger, this girl she's never seen before, and Lexa feels a pull.

Like this is the girl she's been looking for all this time.

The one she's been searching for in the eyes of all the others. All the ones who flirt, who buy her drinks, who hand over their numbers with expectation and lust in their eyes.

All the ones Lexa has always ignored.

This girl...this girl looks up towards the bus and catches Lexa's eyes for a second.

And Lexa is paralyzed in the moment.

Blood pounding in her ears and stomach flopping to her feet.

Everything in her body wants to move, to leave the bus and fight the crowd to catch up. To hear this girl speak, learn her name, understand everything about her.

But she can't.

The bus moves and she's jostled into her seat, upset and wondering if something magical just slipped through her fingers like water.

She shakes her head, trying to clear it. Trying to pull reason and logic back to the surface. It's just a pretty girl. Just a pretty stranger.

Xx

Life shouldn't feel mundane in the last push before Election Day, but it does.

Everything feels dull, rote. The early pre-dawn run through the park every morning, the coffee stop, the polling numbers and speeches and appearances, even turning her key and returning back to her sparse apartment with the plain white walls and starchy white sheets.

Nothing feels the same.

Lexa can't shake the itch. Can't fight the pull, the feeling of something warm and alive between her ribs, can't forget the girl she saw for only an instant before she disappeared into the crowd.

Xx

"Do you remember that picture we found and buried before your second term in the House?" Indra comes storming into Lexa's campaign office, her voice tight and grim.

Lexa's stomach turns, "Indra…"

Indra slaps down a copy of the Metro. "Flip over to the back page."

It's there, on the top corner. Blurred out but clearly her. Young and foolish and enjoying New Orleans far too much. "Fuck."

Indra nods. "We need to get ahead of this."

"There's no getting ahead of this… it's already out, published."

"We need to address this-"

"How did this come out? I thought we had all the copies?" Lexa cuts her off, tries to tamp down the anger growing in her voice, but questions snarl out of her.

"Lexa-"

"No, stop. I don't want excuses." She holds up her hand and Indra stops talking. Lexa runs her hands over her face and tries to think of a solution.

Indra breaks the silence, "We should say something before your appearance tonight, everyone will make it all about this instead of your platforms."

"No."

"Lexa,"

"I'll address it. Change the speech for later, I'm not doing anything before tonight. It's just the Metro, everyone knows the Metro is full of shit."

"The election is in three days, you need to be taking this seriously."

"I am taking this seriously."

"You've been in a daze all week!"

Lexa holds Indra's glare, knowing full well her head hasn't been in the game since Wednesday. "Am I not allowed to be nervous?"

"Sure you are," Indra's words are still hard, but disappointment sneaks through. She grabs the paper and turns to leave, "I'll see what I can handle from here. But, you're making a mistake on this."

Xx

The story doesn't die down. The weekend passes and it gets picked up by every other media outlet. Lexa's speech touches on it, but adds to the firestorm.

When Octavia tells her Monday that the polling data shows her lead cut down to three points, she knows she made a misstep.

"She was right, O."

"Indra is always right about shit like this, when are you going to listen."

Lexa shakes her head, "I thought I had it handled."

"So did I. It's too late to do anything about it now, we just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow."

"Yeah." Lexa sips at her beer, the alcohol fueling her thoughts.

"You haven't been yourself all week…" Octavia lets it hang there. Lexa avoids it.

"My eleven point lead has been severely chopped, of course I'm not myself."

"I'm not talking about politics. Though, who knew you were cocky enough to blow a lead that big."

Lexa scoffs, sips her beer again. "Guess there's a first time for everything."

They sit in silence for another few moments. The sounds of the bar alive around them. Octavia looks exhausted, the kind of exhausted that needs more than a good night's sleep.

"You can tell me about it, you know. I am your friend."

"There's nothing to tell."

"You've been in a daze, I've never seen you like this."

Lexa fights the images that swim before her eyes, the smile that wants to pull her lips. And as much as she wants to win the election tomorrow, she wants to see that girl again even more.

Xx

The hotel suite doubling as campaign headquarters for the night is dead silent.

Lexa lost the Brooklyn district.

Lexa lost her home.

"Hope you wrote a good concession speech, O."

"There's still time-"

"I lost my neighborhood… it's over."

They stare in disbelief as state pulls red on the monitor for the first time in years. She turns to Indra, feeling nothing but remorse. "I'm sorry I wasted your time."

"I would follow you anywhere, Lexa. This hasn't been a waste."

"We lost."

Xx

Her speech is fine. Standard. Moving at parts.

Lexa sneaks down to the bathroom of the closed hotel bar to hide. To lick her wounds before going on stage.

To run through the speech again, try to make it real. Make it feel natural.

The bathroom is large and empty, but she calls out anyway to make sure she's alone. When no one answers, she begins reciting her speech from the top, pacing the tile floor, her heels clicking and echoing around the room. Mumbling and quiet, she tries out different inflections, different word choices, still not liking the taste of defeat on her tongue.

She stops only when she hears something fall against the floor, and a quiet whispered "Shit."

She startles, heart jumping to her throat, blush immediate on her cheeks. "Hello?"

There's no sound, no reply.

"Hello?" She tries again.

Slowly a stall door opens and Lexa's heart races for another reason.

"Sorry, I um… I heard you come in but I'm hiding in here and then I didn't know what to say and you kind of just started talking and then it was more awkward and-" The girl looks up, Lexa sees recognition dawn on her face. "Oh, it's you."

"It's me."

The pit that settled in Lexa's stomach begins to dissolve. She feels something else run through her veins. Something warm.

"That election didn't go too well for you then, huh?"

She laughs, "No. Complete disaster."

"Well, that's a shame."

"It is. I didn't even win my home district."

"Ouch."

She nods, "Yeah."

"You don't look too sad about it."

"Believe me, I am."

"Then why are you smiling?" The other girl feigns confusion for just a moment, her eyes serious and so blue against the navy of her dress.

"Because all I can think about right now is asking you for your name."

"Well, that was a line if I ever heard one." A laugh, melodic. It chips away the last remainder of the unease in Lexa's stomach.

"No line, just the truth." Lexa shrugs, her eyes honest and focused on the face before her.

"Hmm… well Miss Alexandra North, I suppose I can let you in on a little secret."

"See, you've already done your due diligence. I'm just trying to catch up."

"Looks like you've been trying to catch up all night." The girl says it with such a smile, such an ease, that Lexa lets it roll off her back.

"Gonna keep me running?"

A hand reaches out, blue eyes focus on hers, "Clarke."

Lexa takes her hand, firm and strong, one shake and then two, "It's just Lexa."

"Just Lexa… maybe that's why you lost." She winks and Lexa feels her knees wobble.

"Wow, you really know how to kick a girl when she's down, huh?"

"Kicking you would be telling you that speech is good."

Lexa laughs, "Just going to keep bringing the pain?"

"Oh yeah. Who ever told you that people want their politicians cold and stoic?" Her eyes glint with mischief.

"I'm not cold and stoic..."

Clarke nods, "Yeah, you are."

"Any ideas on how to fix it then?"

Clarke takes a step closer to her, "Unbutton that top button, show the world you like to breathe."

"But I can't look like a floozy." She fakes admonishment.

"Trust me, you don't. But you could look like you know how to have fun once in awhile."

"I have fun."

"I know, I've seen it…it was plastered all over the papers this week." A smirk and a shake of her head.

"Ah, seems you know me even better than I thought… which means you know I really shouldn't be looking like a floozy." She teases back and Clarke steps closer.

"This girl… this girl is the one I would have voted for."

"Did you?"

"Don't you think you should get to know me a little better before you start asking me about such intimate things like political preference and voting habits?"

Lexa just smirks, taking it in stride. "You're a bit overdressed for my rally."

"Are you always this cocky? With the lines and the assuming I'm here for you?"

She nods, "Hazard of the trade."

"There's a gala in the smaller ballroom tonight. I'm in here hiding."

"Bad date?"

"You wouldn't believe."

"I think my night has been going worse, up until now…"

"Up until now?" Clarke's voice is soft and deep, her eyes flitting between Lexa's lips and her eyes. Lexa feels something pull her forwards, towards lips and a smile. Before she knows it, Clarke's arm is around her shoulders, the other hand on her waist, pulling her close.

And then mouths connect.

Lips on hers hungrily kissing, aching for more. Lexa's hand weaves through Clarke's hair, sits at the base of her neck and keeps her there. A small moan gets swallowed, a brush of tongue.

It's the kind of kiss that leaves a mark on the soul. Searching and desperate, calm and steady, like seeing something new for the first time and coming home all at once. It leaves Lexa breathless and wanting. She tilts her head, asking for more, and Clarke responds, pulling her body closer, closer.

It shakes everything inside of Lexa to her core.

Until Octavia's voice breaks through the haze, "Lexa- oh god, sorry!"

Clarke jumps away from Lexa, her cheeks red, her eyes on the floor. She wipes her mouth and smiles when she touches her lips.

"Yes, Octavia?" Lexa calls over her shoulder, unable to stop looking at this beautiful girl in front of her.

"It's time…. Um, I'll give you a second."

"Nope, I'm good." Lexa stands up straighter and fixes her hair in the mirror, Clarke's gaze burning into her.

"I'll just… be going." Clarke moves towards the door, a secretive look on her face. "Remember, be you."

"Wait…"

She turns around and flashes a brilliant smile, "Don't worry, Just Lexa, I'll see you around."

Lexa rushes past Octavia and back into the hallway just in time to see Clarke turn the corner towards the wide stone stairway leading into the lobby. When she reaches the top of it, blonde hair is already disappearing into the night.

Xx

"Lexa… what was that?"

"I'm not sure." Lexa lengthens her stride, trying to get away from the questions and the analysis. Wanting to cement the feeling of Clarke's lips against hers into her memory.

"What do you mean you're not sure? You were macking on somebody in the bathroom and you're not sure?"

Lexa straightens her jacket, opens the door that leads to the wings of the stage that's been set up for her. "She kissed me, I think."

She can feel the incredulity on Octavia's face without looking. "Lexa,"

Lexa turns and snaps, nerves and the kiss both rattling inside of her, "Enough."

The announcer calls her to the stage a heartbeat later. While Octavia is facing her down with a glare that means this conversation isn't finished, as much as Lexa wants it to be. She can never quite stop being handled by everyone around her.

The supportive cheers from the crowd ring dull in her ears. Her first loss sits heavy on her shoulders, she can't help but feel like she's let everyone down.

She begins her speech and makes it a quarter of the way through before she remembers the way Clarke looked at her.

The way Clarke saw right through it all. The facade. The politician's veneer.

And she stops.

"You know what," She clears her throat. "That's all bullshit. Get knocked down, get back up isn't from my neighborhood. It's just one of those sayings. It sounded good in the speech, it tests well with focus groups. It's canned. Clever. It's not me."

The crowd stills.

"I got knocked down New York. By my past. By my arrogance. By my pride. I got knocked down and I stayed there, forgot how to fight for you. For myself. I let everyone else tell me how to react, how to think. I stopped being me." She glances to the wings, Indra's face baffled and angry, Octavia stunned, pacing.

"Everything you see up here has been tested, been approved by a team. By more than one team. What looks good on television. What sounds good in bites, in clips. What will have the least amount of ripples but still get the message across. This suit, this suit was picked out for me and color tested by a team of seven people. Seven. These shoes," She leans down and slips out of one, holding it up to the light, "These shoes were broken in just enough to show that I'm busy, that I have a life, but not enough to show that I don't take care of things, that I'm careless."

The lenses all snap, reporters and media focused intently on the blip of reality they're seeing for the first time.

"This election has taught me many valuable lessons. Has reminded me that we cannot escape our past, no matter how hard we try. That it is important to remain humble, down-to-earth, apologetic when the time comes. I didn't fight hard enough for you this time, New York. But I promise you that I will from this moment on. Thank you for getting me this far. May we meet again."

The cheers begin again louder than before but Lexa doesn't hear them. They've never mattered less to her. She catches the eye of a woman by the front of the stage, who nods and smiles with approval. She looks at Lexa like she knows her, like she's known her forever. Lexa pauses for just a breath before shaking her head and crossing back to the wings.

Xx

Her speech goes viral.

Everyone calls her a rock star, laments not voting for her.

It does nothing to ease the pain of losing. Of restlessness that sits in her bones.

Octavia's firm offers her a job, a way to kill time before the next election cycle. She takes it, not knowing what else to do. Having packed up her life in D.C. and transplanting back to Manhattan for the stay.

It's been weeks but she thinks about that kiss, the way Clarke moaned into her mouth, the weight of an arm around her shoulders, every night.

Every moment she's not busy.

Every time her mind wanders.

For the first time in as long as she can remember, something makes her feel alive. Real.