She had always been taught as a kid that stealing was bad. A person who stole was a terrible person and bad things happened to terrible people.

Clarke realised as a teenager that it all boiled down to a matter of circumstances.

Stealing was bad, it was horrible, it wasn't a victimless crime.

Especially when it was large corporations stealing from significantly poorer people.

But Clarke wasn't a large corporation, she was an orphan kid who was just trying to keep her head above water.

So she learned. She learned how to pick up someone's wallet from a table without getting caught, she learned how to pick pocket, how to dip someone's bag.

He best friend, Raven, learned too. She was in the same boat as Clarke, an orphan, so they worked together.

From the age of thirteen they would go out to busy places, malls, sporting events, parks, anywhere there was a lot of people, and they started off making a couple of hundred a day, but they would get busted multiple times a day.

As the years when on they got better, their technique and team work strengthened so they started making more money, which meant they could afford to get into more high profile places which, but extension, meant more money.

It was how they managed to afford their own place after getting kicked out of the orphanage, how they put food on the table and kept the heating on.

It was their livelihood and they were damn good at it.

And, sure, at the beginning, when they were picking marks who were barely scraping by themselves, they would probably be considered terrible people.

But now, with their marks being people who have more then enough money, and people who prayed on lower class people? Clarke liked to think they weren't so bad now.

Not that she cared, she didn't lose any sleep at night, she was dealt a shit hand, watching her parents being murdered in front of her then being thrown into, and getting lost in, the system. Her life had been shit and this was her way of dealing with it.

So she didn't feel bad looking into the eyes of her marks as she took their phone and wallet.

They moved around often, from state to state, always sticking to highly populated areas, that was where they made the most money.

So, at twenty four, they were making a decent profit from each of their marks and had gotten so good that she can't remember the last time they had been made.

Which was why they were both intrigued when the hot girl in the suit made them instantly.

Clarke had spotted her at the beginning to the night, while she was lifting a rich, drunk man's wallet, sitting on her own at a table. She was dressed in a black suit and a red shirt, open a few buttons. Her hair was down but thrown lazily over her shoulder, but she looked good, even in the slightly dishevelled state.

She also looked like she had had a long day so Clarke quickly messaged Raven, while her current mark breathed down her neck, informing her that she may have a new mark and that she should be ready in case the plan went ahead.

Clarke shrugged off the man but he just kept pawing at her, and as much as she looked disgusted this was perfect. She easily lifted his wallet and spinning away, motioning over to the girl in the suit. "That's my girlfriend there. Thank you for the drink."

"Honey," The man tried to grab her arm but she was gone before he could, making her way over to the girl at the table, setting her purse on the table and sitting down.

The girl looked up from her phone, her head tilting curiously at Clarke.

"Will you pretend to be my girlfriend? Just for a few minutes."

The woman frowned, a ghost of a smile on her face. "I suppose I've been called worse," The girl smirked flirtatiously and Clarke had to stop herself from swooning as she stared into the woman's dark, forest green eyes. "But I usually go by Lexa."

"I'm Clarke,"

"And who was he?" Lexa nudged her head in the direction of the man at the bar.

"Someone who couldn't take no for an answer." Clarke answered easily, rolling her eyes dramatically as she leant her elbows on the table, her hands linked together and her chin resting on her fingers, fluttering her eyelashes at Lexa. "Men, right?"

"Men," The woman agreed, and Clarke could feel excitement bubble inside her when Lexa leant her elbows on the table, too, obviously intrigued. "Are you from around here?"

"I'm not really from anywhere." Clarke answered, grinning when Lexa raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I haven't been in a place long enough to make roots, my job has me moving around."

"What do you do?"

"I don't know if I should tell you, wouldn't want to ruin the air of mystery around me."

Lexa's lips hooked up into a smirk at that, "That boring, huh?" She sounded almost challenging, a cheeky smirk on her face.

"I'm a hostess," Clarke lied easily, "I travel from state to state throwing parties for high class clients."

Lexa looked almost impressed as she nodded. "Okay, that's not too bad."

"What do you do?"

Lexa shrugged nonchalantly, leaning back in her chair. "I'm a criminal."

Clarke rolled her eyes with a little snort. "Okay, if you didn't want to tell me all you had to do was say so."

A few minutes turned into almost two hours of flirtatious conversation and fleeting touches. Somewhere in that time Lexa has taken off her jacket and rolled up the sleeves of her red shirt.

"No way," Clarke laughed and for the first time in god knows how long she was laughing genuinely at a mark.

"Way," Lexa grinned. "He yelled at me, called me all kinds of misogynistic names. You should've seen his face when he walked in and I was conducting his interview."

"What did he do?" Clarke asked, genuinely curious how this story played out, her fingertips dancing across the tattoo on Lexa's forearm.

"He went really pale at first, then redder than that lipstick you're wearing. Then he started stuttering out an apology, claiming he had just had a bad day." Lexa shrugged, taking a drink of her wine. "I took one look at his résumé, said that anyone would be stupid to hire someone with such a thin, unimpressed résumé, then had my assistant show him the door."

"Damn," Clarke muttered, her voice dropping a few octaves. "That's kinda hot, actually."

Lexa grinned, opening her mouth to speak but stopped when a credit card was set down in front of her. "Thank you, Doctor Keenan." The barman smile politely, but both Lexa and Clarke knew that was an indication that the bar was closing.

"Doctor, huh?"

Lexa shrugged nonchalantly. "Is there somewhere I can walk you?"

"I'm staying here, actually." Clarke grinned, arching her eyebrows half questioningly half challengingly.

And that's how she ended up with her front pressed against the door of her room, Lexa pressed again her back, kissing her neck while Clarke fumbling to unlock the door.

"I hope you're better with your hands than this," Lexa whispered just before the door swung open and Clarke shoved her into the room, slamming the door and advancing on Lexa.

"You have no idea what these hands are capable of."

Lexa smirked seductively as she took a seat on the edge of the bed, leaning back on her elbows, eyebrow cocked and hands raised challengingly. "Impress me,"

Never, in all of her years of doing this, had Clarke been attracted to a mark, but there was just something about this woman, an easy sex appeal that Clarke found ridiculously attractive.

So she advanced on Lexa, climbing onto her lap as Lexa sat up straight, allowing the woman to cup her ass, effectively stopping her from tumbling backwards off of her lap.

Then they were kissing again, all biting, teeth clanking, hair pulling, and Clarke can't remember the last time she had been kissed like this. Years, for sure. Probably back when she was sixteen and dated that girl Niylah.

Clarke pulled at Lexa's bottom lip, dragging her teeth along it before pushing Lexa back, smirking down at her as she ran her hand through her own hair, throwing it lazily out of the way and pulled the straps of her dress down, watching almost smugly when Lexa watched the movement attentively.

They started Kissing again, Clarke's hands planted on the bed beside Lexa's head while Lexa's were pressed against her lower back.

Then the door burst opened and Clarke knew it was time to act. She quickly scrambled off of Lexa, looking panicked at Raven who had a gun levelled on Lexa.

"That's my wife,"

"Are you fucking serious, Clarke. Again!"

"I-"

"Shut up," Raven snapped, pointing over at Clarke who immediately shut up, eyeing Lexa who looked... Amused?

"Give me one good reason not to shoot you?" Raven growled, jabbed the gun in Lexa's direction.

Lexa pouted thoughtfully, one arm tucking under her head. "You know, I'm drawing a blank."

"She isn't messing around, Lexa. She's done hard time." Clarke sounded distressed but something in the way Lexa was acting was strange, like she knew this was a stick up?

"I'll do it, I'll kill you."

"Do it?"

"Lexa!"

"You have no idea what I was about to do to her. All kinds of nasty stuff."

"Shut up!" Raven snapped.

"What kinds of stuff are we talking about?" Clarke asked curiously.

"She would have been ruined for anyone after that."

Clarke knew for sure that Lexa knew this was a hustle when she started talking about Raven doing her a favour, something about a tumour the size of a golf ball.

Clarke fell back onto her hunches, a little bummed that they'd been made.

"She knows, Raven." Clarke grumbled, and Raven looked between her best friend and the smirking woman on the bed before lowering her gun.

"You guys suck," Lexa laughed.

"Just give us the money," Clarke grumbled.

"Or?" Lexa prompted.

"She'll shot you in the neck."

"I don't wanna shoot a chick with cancer," Raven argued.

"She doesn't have cancer, Reyes!"

"You both really fucked this up. For one you have to wait until I have my pants off then you come bursting in, that way I would have been a lot more panicked, I'm more likely to take off without my wallet then." Lexa advised. "And you never drop the act. You never break. Regardless of what happens, you have to adapt."

"When did you make us?" Clarke muttered, watching Lexa as she stood up, fixing her shirt and grabbing her suit jacket.

"When you lifted that drunk losers wallet at the bar."

Clarke recoiled, "Then why did you come up here?"

"Professional curiosity," Lexa shrugged, pulling on her jacket. "Plus you're hot, so, win-win."

Clarke rolled her eyes at that.

"The lift was awful, you're all thumbs, sweetheart."

"Excuse me?" Clarke looked offended, a growl forming on her brow. "That was a good lift."

"Nope, you were too heavy."

"I got his wallet, didn't I?" Clarke shot back.

"You could have extracted his modulars without him realising he was so wasted." Lexa rolled her eyes, making for the door. "You suck." She called as she left.

"Fuck you!" Clarke shot back, huffing out a breath when the door clicked closed.

"She was..." Raven started, pausing thoughtfully. "Obnoxiously hot."

"That was a good lift."

Raven eyed her best friend, shaking her head as she laughed at the woman. "She got under your skin."

"No she didn't! I just know that that was a good lift!"

"Okay," Raven laughed, motioning back to the door with her unloaded gun. "Take off, I've got a girl coming here on about ten minutes."

"Who?" Clarke asked, shuffling off the bed and grabbing her jacket. "Same girl?"

"Yup," Raven hummed.

"You know her name yet?"

"Blake," Raven shrugged. "Doesn't matter though, it's just a little fun while we are both in town. I think she's leaving tomorrow."

"Okay," Clarke pulled on her heavy jacket, giving Raven a little pat on the shoulder. "Go get'em tiger."

"Maybe I should've left you and the suit a little longer, you need to get laid, too." Raven teased as Clarke left the room.

"Bite me,"

"If you play your card right, maybe." Raven called from the doorway.

Clarke flipped Raven off as she entered the elevator, smiling at the man standing beside her.

She easily took his wallet as they both attempted to leave the elevator at the same time.

She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket as she walked back to the apartment she and Raven were renting for a short amount of time.

"You really should be more aware," a voice said, stopped her in her tracks. But once she realised who it was she kept on talking. "I've been behind you for two blocks."

"That's some Christen Grey level creepy there." Clarke grumbled, still feeling a little bummed out. She didn't even look back at Lexa as she continued walking. "And I don't have eyes on the back of my head, how was I supposed to see you?"

"If you're gonna get in this game, maybe you should grow a pair."

"I can take care of myself." Clarke snapped.

"Nah, you're gonna get hurt." Lexa disagreed. "Let me buy you coffee?"

"It is almost midnight." Clarke argued, turning to glare at Lexa, who smiled, shrugging her shoulders halfheartedly.

"Decaf?" Clarke eyed Lexa curiously, rolling her eyes when Lexa smiled, nudging her head in the direction of the local coffee shop. "I'll buy you a cookie."

Clarke agreed, not because of the cookie or the coffee but because she was curious. She knew she and Raven were good, if they weren't they would be broke and in prison right now, so she wanted to know who the hell this woman was and how she made them so quickly.

They ended up in a dingy little cafe, sitting by the window, Clarke with her decaf and Lexa with her expresso.

"What?" Lexa questioned when Clarke just stared over at her.

Clarke wasn't sure if she wanted to ask who the hell she was or why the fuck she was drinking an expresso this late.

"Who are you?" She settled for, because that was the more pressing question right now.

"Lexa. Woods, Lexa Woods." Lexa offered. "Not doctor anything."

"And you're a what? Lure, roper?"

"Both. Anything I need to be." Lexa answered easily.

"No one can be anything." Clarke shot back disbelievingly.

"You can if you grew up in the business."

"You grew up in this?"

"Mhm, my dad worked with my grandfather." Lexa leant her elbow on the table, rolling her bottom lip between her forefinger and thumb, eyeing Clarke across the table. "My father and grandfather used to go for big risk jobs, nothing else, I'm talking your mobsters in Boston, gangsters in LA, at one point they even hustled the mafia, couldn't come back to New York after that." Lexa spoke, looking up at Clarke who was staring at her attentively, obviously hanging on ever word she was saying. "One day they get made by a mobbed up guy, guns come out, stand off, you know? Ten guys, all of which with guns grades above my father's and grandfather's, there was no way this could end other than my father and grandfather dead. No way out, except one." Clarke bobbed her head as she spoke, sitting forward in her seat. "You ever heard of the Toledo Panic Button?"

There was a minute little head shake from Clarke.

"So, all these guys, guns on my father and grandfather, thinking they are dirty and working together, there was only one way for my father to prove he wasn't. He turned to my grandfather and shot him, proves you're not together,"

"You kill your partner?" Clarke asked incredulously.

"Well, you hope you don't, do it right and you don't."

"Does it work?" Clarke questioned curiously.

"Well, my father has been made four times, survived all four."

"So, your father killed your grandfather?"

Lexa nodded, "That's the kind of world you are in, dabblers get killed."

"Look, I wasn't born into this like you. I was just the foster kid who watched her parents die. I didn't go to school, I had no prospects, no future. Honestly, we should just be thankful I'm not a hooker right now."

Lexa huffed out a laugh at that, leaning back on her chair.

"Tutor me," Clarke requested, and Lexa frowned, shaking her head.

"No,"

"Why not?" Clarke snapped.

"I'm heading out of town, tomorrow."

"Look, I can pay you if that's what the problem is." Clarke rushed to grab the wallet in her pocket, taking out the couple of hundred that was in there.

Lexa was frowning at the black leather in her hand. "Whose wallet is that?"

"Uh," Clarke pulled out one of the ID cards. "Doctor Jason Patrick." She answered with a shrug, stuffing it back into her pocket.

Lexa sighed, but Clarke could tell that she had her, so she grinned. "Come on, then."

They ended up in the clearing behind the cafe, "Okay, we'll make this quick, it's cold." Lexa shrugged her jacket off as she advanced on Clarke. "I'm going to teach you a few necessary touches, but at the end of the day…" She handed Clarke her jacket as she spoke. "This is all about focus."

Clarke frowned when Lexa held up her ring, glancing down he hand to see that her ring was, in fact, gone. "How did you…" Clarke huffed, snatching her ring back and thrusting Lexa's jacket back at her, placing the ring back onto her finger.

Lexa smirked smugly, throwing her jacket onto the railing and taking ahold of both of Clarke's hands.

"The thing about focus is that it's like a spot light and our job," Lexa pulled Clarke a little closer, holding on hand up and forcing Clarke to spin under it, holding up the woman watch when she was facing her again. "Is to dance in the darkness."

Clarke grabbed her watch, an amused, and impressed, smile on her lips. "I didn't feel you take that."

"The brain, it is nowhere need as great as we make it out to be," Lexa continued, holding up Clarke's ring. Again.

"Jesus. When—?" She took the ring back, placing it back on her finger.

"It can't multitask," Lexa turned to walk over to her jacket, throwing Clarke's wallet over her shoulder.

"How did you get that?!"

"You take Zumba?" She asked, holding up a zumba card from Clarke's wallet.

"You think it's easy keeping a body like this?" Clarke grabbed the card, stuffing that and her wallet into her pocket.

"You think with your hand, you can't do that, you have to get into the marks head, see what they're seeing, see things from their perspective. As much as people want to be different, human behaviour is very predictable." Lexa held up her hands as she walked closer to Clarke again, drawing Clarke's attention to them. "If I look at my hands, it naturally pulled your attention to them, too." Lexa moved to stand beside Clarke, her front pressing against Clarke's back as she held her hand out in front of the blonde girl.

Clarke stared down at her empty hand, wondering what this could possible have to do with anything.

"But, when I look at you," Lexa moved so that she was now standing in front of Clarke, their eyes meeting not two seconds later. "It causes you to look up at me, all you see it me."

Lexa glanced down at herself, which prompted Clarke to do the same, the blonde woman doing a double take when she noticed her sun glasses hooked into Lexa's shirt. She huffed, trying not to look impressed as she snatched them back. "Adorable." She tried to sound exasperated. Judging by the smug look on Lexa's face she failed.

"Touches are important, I touch you here," Lexa touched Clarke's right shoulder, slipping her phone out of her pocket easily. "I steal from here. I touch you here," She touched Clarke's left hip this time, taking her keys from her right front pocket, throwing them up for Clarke to catch. "I steal from here. I step here," Lexa grinned, looking downright gleeful and playful at this point. "You aren't going to slap me, are you?"

"Why?" Clarke asked carefully.

"You would if you knew where my hands was."

It took a few seconds, but Clarke slowly registered the pressure and warmth on her ass, prompting her to halfheartedly push Lexa away, with an eye roll, only to be taken completely my surprise when Lexa held up her handbag. She quickly glanced at her shoulder, because she still didn't really believe she could have taken that without her noticing. But she had, and Clarke was impressed. And maybe a little turned on.

"Okay," She pulled her bag out of a laughing Lexa's hands. "I get it. I get it."

"You get their focus," Lexa spoke, her voice dropping a few octaves to that same, flirtatious tone from earlier that night. "You can take whatever you want." She stared into Clarke's eyes for a few seconds, the smouldering look transforming into a smug look when she held up Clarke's ring.

Clarke couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her lips then, allowing Lexa to slide it back into her finger.

Lexa gave her a wink, and gave her hand a little squeeze.

"Be safe, okay?" She said before moving to grab her jacket, and Clarke watched her go, half expected the girl to throw her wallet at her, or even her bra. But she didn't, she just walked onto the main road and took a left.

Clarke decided it was her turn to do a little tailing, following the woman to her hotel.

She waited until Lexa had been inside for a good ten minutes, texting Raven in the meantime, telling her they were leaving tomorrow, to where, she wasn't sure yet.

She prepared herself, pulling on her best 'scorned wife' face and stormed inside, her phone to her eat as she marched up to the front desk.

"No, she is fucking there, I know it! And she's here with that — that skank." She growled, taking the young boy behind the desk completely by surprise. Clarke levelled him with a glare. "Lexa Woods, when is she checking out?"

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, we can't—"

"No, listening to me, kid, do you know what it feels like to know your wife is taking her bit on the side to fancy hotels like this when she only takes me, her wife, to travelodges?" Clarke's eyes welled up, and she could see the boy start to panic. "Please, kid, I need to know?"

The boy nodded quickly, typing away on the computer. "She — there isn't a Lexa Wood's here, ma'am."

Clarke faltered, not sure what to do next. Then a name popped into her head.

"Of course they book it under her name. She is so fucking sly. How about Doctor Keenan?"

The boy looked unsure, glancing away before typing in the name.

"Yes, there is a Doctor Maria Keenan here, she is set to check out at seven tomorrow morning, she has booked our sister hotel in New Orleans,"

"Huh, New Orleans." Clarke nodded, not bothering to say anything else to the confused boy behind the desk, quickly leaving before Lexa made her. Again.

Clarke picked Raven up the following morning, flashing the sleepy girl a smile, which had her glaring suspiciously.

"What..?"

"I think I've found out in to the big leagues." Clarke answered with a grin.

"Oh, god." Raven grumbled, leaning back in her seat as Clarke pulled away from the curb. "What half-baked plan do you have now?"

"Trust me, this plan is flawless."

"They always are," Raven muttered disbelievingly, looking entirely unimpressed as she stared out of the window. "Where are we going?"

"New Orleans,"

"You know what? I don't even wanna know what you have planned." Raven laughed, leaning her head against the window and closing her eyes. "Wake me once we get there."