Chapter 2

Long and slender fingers slowly moved over the soft bedsheet only to stop short when they reached the other side, sheets cold as if there hadn't been another body occupying the other side of the bed a few hours ago. A sigh sounded through the silent bedroom but the disappointment which usually formed in the pit of her stomach had already dulled over the time.

Maybe it was because she didn't dare to hope anymore.

Lexa sighed again at the prospect of leaving her warm bed to get ready for work and therefore out to the freezing weather, the woman almost considered calling in to her secretary and telling her that she won't come in today.

Almost.

After a quick calculation Lexa decided it wasn't worth the hassle. If she'd call in now the information would immediately reach her sister the moment she'd step off the elevator. Meaning she'd still be clothed for the cold weather and ready to turn on her heels to take the elevator back down to the lobby. Anya was a quick walker which meant that she'd reach her car in less than two minutes. She also considered the rush-hour traffic meaning that it would take Anya at least double as long as usual to get to her place. A brief glance at the clock told her that her sister probably just had dropped off Aden at the Polis Elementary School and was on her way to work. All in all she'd give Anya forty minutes before she'd come pounding on her door demanding to know why her sister – who never took a day off before – wasn't coming in today.

Lexa rather take the cold air and a long day at work then the flood of questions coming from her sister.

She yawned lazily as she sat up in bed, her brunette hair all over the place. Knowing that she couldn't avoid the inevitable Lexa pulled herself from her covers and got out of bed, moving towards the kitchen. There was a used coffee mug on the sink, the first and most likely only indication of her late night guest.

The brunette clicked on the power button of her coffee machine pulling it out from its stand-by mode and made herself a cup. That was one of the things Lexa couldn't live without: a hot cup of coffee in the morning. Without it the brunette didn't seem to function right.

After a quick shower she got dressed and made her way to work. Traffic was as terrible as every morning, though despite her annoyance she was never one of those drivers who yelled, honked or hit their steering wheel in frustration. It was a known fact that the traffic was this bad so why should she make her morning any more dramatic as it had to be?

Lexa used the time in her car productively. She sorted out her messages while waiting to drive a few feet closer to her destination, did work-related phone calls or sent out e-mails. The brunette's work day started well before reaching her company.

Finally reaching her company it took Lexa only a few minutes to reach her office. It was somewhat of a peaceful sanctuary to her. Her office created a bubble in which she honestly felt unreachable for the outside world. There were no noises from the streets below and all calls and visitors had to go through her secretary first which meant she can remain undisturbed if she wanted to.

"You're late."

Or not.

Briefly closing her eyes Lexa sighed and turned around to meet the stare of her sister. Of course Anya would be the exception to this rule. But she didn't blame her secretary for this fact. Anya always got her way if she really wanted to. Just like her Anya could get quite intimidating and after the first few times where her secretary jogged helplessly after her sister into her office, apologizing profoundly at the disturbance, Lexa told her that her sister was allowed into her office at all times just so her secretary's life got a little easier. Standing up to Anya wasn't an easy feat and Lexa admired her courage for having done so each and every time.

But there were still times Lexa regretted giving her sister a free ticket into her office. If only to see Anya getting delayed for a minute or so.

"Good morning to you, too." Lexa replied sarcastically as she got out of her coat and made her way to her desk. "My alarm clock didn't go off." A lie. She knew that and she also knew that Anya knew. But she had never been good at lying. At least not spontaneously and not to her sister.

"That's the reason why you turn on more alarms in your smartphone than just one. I should know, I lived with you long enough for that."

"A fact. Assuming the battery of my phone isn't at its end, that is."

"The top drawer of the grey cupboard in your home office is filled with new cables and adapters in case one might stop working." Anya scoffed. The blonde knew her sister too well. She had back-up plans for everything.

"That only helps when I notice that the current one doesn't work."

"Oh, please! You always look on your phone to see if it gets charged before finally going to sleep. And even if everything fails I know for a fact that you instructed your secretary to call you should you not be in at eight sharp." Her sister glanced smugly at her.

"I-" Okay, her secretary did call her this morning as she had been instructed but Lexa had already been on her way, just quickly thanking her secretary and telling her she'd be in shortly. What did gave her pause however was the fact that her sister knew about this. Lexa narrowed her eyes as she observed Anya. "How the hell do you know about this?"

Anya just shrugged, still happy with having thrown off her sister with her revelation. "I have my ways."

"Could you please refrain from intimidating my secretary? I feel like I have to give her a raise just for putting up with you."

"I don't know what you mean."

Lexa just rolled her eyes. "Sure."

Anya watched her sister organizing her desk and turning on her computer to start a new day of work. Lexa's life consisted almost only of her work. Sure, as CEO of a huge company she didn't have as much free time as others did, having to jump from one meeting to another, having phone calls at odd times and flying out to different countries was really time consuming. Anya often tried to get her away from all of this making her spent time with her and Aden, though her sister seemed to always get sucked back into the long hours of work.

She had always been like this. Some would say Lexa was almost obsessed, but she knew better. Anya knew that Lexa was just overly dedicated. When Lexa started something she would follow it to a T and put everything she had into it.

However it hadn't been as bad in the beginning as it was now. Back then she was happily in love with her then-girlfriend Costia Greene. Lexa had tried to give her the world and after three years she had proposed to Costia. Anya really thought that they'd stay together forever.

Oh, how wrong she had been. She didn't know when it started but there was a point when everything went downhill. Work had gotten worse back then with Azgeda Inc. trying to destroy Trikru Corp. and Lexa had worked day and night to fight against Nia Queen's actions.

Anya didn't know much since Lexa never really told her what happened. All she knew was that her sister knocked on her door late at night, tears streaming down her face and a big overnight bag at her feet. There were no words needed back then for Anya to understand that something might have happened with Costia. She never wanted to pry and the topic was a sensible one, even after such a long time.

"Are we still on tomorrow?"

"Hmm?" Lexa hummed a little distracted by something on her monitor.

"Christmas tree shopping?"

The brunette looked up at her sister at that. She distantly remembered having spoken about it sometime last week. "Was it really tomorrow? I thought you meant next week."

"Lexa, Christmas is almost here. Besides, you promised Aden that you'd come with us."

Lexa sighed but already knew that she couldn't talk herself out of it. Her sister was right, she had promised her nephew that she'd be there and she always tried to keep her promises to Aden. She loved him too much to disappoint him.

Her office phone rung and Lexa looked back up at her sister nodding briefly. "I'll be there." With that the brunette accepted the call and watched as her sister silently made her way out of her office as she listened to the caller while she thought about all the things she had to do so that she could go tree shopping with her sister and nephew the next day.