A/N – I just want to say a huge thank you to all of you that have supported this story so far. It has been a long time since I have written something and actually enjoyed doing it.

I love reading what you guys think of the story so far so please keep those reviews coming.

Chapter Six

Clarke stood in the middle of the empty street and gazed down at a map that was spread out on the hood of the jeep. She pulled the red marker from between her lips and tapped part of the map with the lid of the pen. She looked around to make sure they were in the right place before she folded the map up and stuffed it in her backpack, "C'mon, Zeus."

They walked up the steps toward the old Victorian house slowly. Clarke never took any pleasure in this part. Still to this day it felt like she was committing a felony. At the end of every supply run she would tell herself that had those people been alive, they would have helped in her hour of need anyway. Its what she would do if the roles were reversed after all.

Once they reached the top of the steps, Clarke pulled her rifle up and aimed it at the front door before quickly kicking it open. She motioned for Zeus to go first and only when she heard his bark echo from inside did she follow.

"You did so good! Yes! Yes!" Clarke complimented him enthusiastically as she patted his head. Zeus wagged his tail fiercely at the praise before he wandered into the living room and jumped up on the sofa.

Clarke began to rummage around the house, picking up bottles of liquor and water, looking through the stashes of medicine bottles, flicking through the owner's CD collection. She checked every cupboard, shelf and hideaway she could find.

Leaving the living room, Clarke headed upstairs and pushed open the first door she came across. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the king-size bed in the middle of the master bedroom. It had been crudely covered with a quarantine plastic tarp, and Clarke was able to make out the two forgotten forms that had been left to rot underneath. It was a sight that she had regretfully become accustomed to. Sighing she shook her head and closed the door.

Clarke continued further down the hallway and came to a halting stop when she noticed a red bow on one of the doors. Her eyes immediately drawn to the yellow post-it-note just below it. 'Do not open until x-mas.' Taking a steadying breath, Clarke slowly pushed the door open and peeked inside.

The nursery had clearly only been decorated days before the virus outbreak. Two cribs on opposite sides of the room, one pink and the other blue. The room was lovingly put together, and completely unused. Swallowing hard, Clarke silently closed the door again, wishing she had never opened it in the first place.

The virus has destroyed many lives.

After arriving home, Clarke spent the rest of the day down in the lab preparing the serum for human trails. It was a long drawn out process, but one that she was making head-way on. Clarke was confident that within the next few days they would be able to begin.

It had been two days since she captured Lexa. Two days since the woman last fed. This morning Clarke had filled a glass full of her own blood and left it for the woman without uttering a word. She had expected it to be gone by the time she returned home, but as usual Lexa was putting up a fight.

"Drink it," Clarke said, "We both know you need to."

Lexa looked up angrily, "Are you getting some kind of sick fascination out of this?"

Clarke shook her head in distaste, "Just drink it, Lexa."

After a few more minutes of pondering, Lexa finally picked up the glass and took a tentative sip of Clarke's blood. A hungry groan sounded from between her full lips and rippled through the air towards Clarke. It sent a violent shiver through her body, and Clarke struggled to ascertain whether it was out of fear or lust for the woman.

Clarke continued to watch with utter fascination as the other woman's tongue peeked out to meticulously lick at her lips. When another hearty groan rumbled through her body, Lexa seemed to give up fighting and threw the glass back and drank with abandon.

She put the empty glass down a moment later as a ragged breath racked her body, "Why are you doing this to me?"

Clarke looked at her without a definitive answer in her mind, then with a shrug of her shoulders she said, "I need to keep you alive, it's as simple as that."

Lexa's eyes closed at her seemingly hurtful words, "We both know that's not true."

Clarke decided that she would rather just ignore the comment than start another argument with the woman. Instead she opened the hatch in the wall and quickly grabbed the empty glass, "I don't understand it. It's been three years now, and still you're alive. As far as I know I'm the only human left and yet you're not dead. How are you doing it?"

"There are plenty of animals out there, Clarke."

"And what happens when you wipe them all out like you have us?" Clarke glowered at the calm woman before her.

"I did not wipe them out. Your government did that all by themselves."

"When did you give up on the human race?" Clarke's voice aghast.

"When they gave up on me," Lexa said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I haven't given up."

"On me?" Lexa probed, "or the human race?"

"Both," she said fiercely.

"That is awful patriotic of you, Clarke."

"Stop avoiding the question," Clarke sniped, "what happens when there's no more blood for you to feed on?"

Lexa stopped her feeble pacing and stared at Clarke with those penetrating green eyes, "We die," she stated, almost like it was the simplest thing in the world. Like it was inevitable.

Clarke froze in place when her words hit home. It struck a chord deep within her, almost like she should have known the answer already, "How do you know that's what will happen?" she asked shakily.

"Because I have seen it happen, Clarke. We are not like the human race, there is a hierarchy to abide by. Those at the bottom often starve."

"And those at the top?"

"The Commander and her loyal servants are always fed first."

"The Commander?"

"Our leader," Lexa confirmed with a slight nod of her head, "as I mentioned before, our kind need order and guidance."

"I never knew you were all so…" Clarke frowned, trying to find a suitable word, "evolved?"

Lexa's response was a warm and hearty laugh that ignited the dull fire within Clarke, and before she could even try and hide it a light blush licked at her heated cheeks. Lexa spotted the subtle change and instantly her eyes honed in on Clarke's. Her jaw clenched tightly as she took small steps towards the glass that divided them.

Despite her mind screaming at her to stop, Clarke followed Lexa's lead and soon their faces were mere inches away. They stood there quietly, the stillness of the room cradling them protectively, "I hate what you've become," Clarke said, fighting back tears.

"I did too at first," Lexa admitted.

"What changed?"

"I don't really know," she said honestly, "It just got easier, almost like a switch was flicked and I no longer had to feel the despair of being what I was."

"Your life was that easy to forget, huh?" Clarke said bitterly.

"No," Lexa breathed as she raised her hand to rest over Clarke's, "If it was easy I wouldn't stand outside your door every night."

Clarke's mind reeled from her blunt and blatant words. Her eyes flickered between Lexa's green and vibrant ones, searching for something deep within them, "I thought you just wanted…" she stalled, unsure of what exactly she thought Lexa wanted.

"What? To drink you dry?" Lexa tried to joke, but both of them knew that it wasn't really a laughing matter. She soon sobered though, "I wanted to be with you, and the only way I knew how was to make you one of us."

"You did?"

"I still do," she said searchingly.

Clarke didn't know what to say or do. Here Lexa was basically confessing her undying love for her. It was everything she wanted to hear, but at the same time everything she didn't. If she was truly honest she had never fallen out of love with Lexa. However, the woman had died and become something that would separate them forever. It was a love that was doomed to fail before it even fully began, and so Clarke had shut it out all these years.

Even if she was to admit it. To tell the woman on the other side of the glass that she loved her back, what use would it be? The glass dividing them might as well be oceans for they could never truly be together.

"Clarke?" Lexa said as she sought to regain Clarke's attention, "What is it?"

"I can't," she breathed.

Lexa let the words sink in for moment before she nodded her head gravely, a frown quick to cloud her hurt expression "I understand. Its been years since we met and-"

"No," Clarke cut her off fiercely "I mean, I'm immune Lexa. Even if I wanted to, which I don't by the way, I wouldn't be able to join you."

"You're immune," Lexa said, almost as if speaking the words aloud would make them more real, "Do you know why?"

"It's a natural immunity. There is no way to know for sure," Clarke said.

"Is there a way to reverse it?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Clarke asked, her brow furrowed in confusion, "It is the one thing keeping me alive."

"Exactly!" Lexa pushed.

Clarke's silence was deafening. Had she been right in her judgement of the woman before her? "The Lexa I knew would never wish me dead," she said shakily, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

"But you wouldn't really be dead, Clarke!"

"Inside I would be, and everyday I would hate you for it. The only way we could every truly be together is if and when I cure you."

"No," Lexa said with a resounding shake of the head.

"Why?"

"Because I would be dead inside, and everyday I would hate you for it," Lexa said, repeating Clarke's words from a moment ago.

"I honestly don't understand you anymore," Clarke said, and with one last fleeting look at her, Clarke pushed away from the wall and left the room, ignoring Lexa's voice calling for her to come back.

How had they gone from loving confessions, to talking about her dying in the space of minutes Clarke would never know. It was Lexa's unfazed approach to it that really shook her though. Did Clarke's humanity mean so little to her?

When Clarke opened the cellar door Zeus's insistent barking suddenly engulfed her, "Easy boy. What's wrong?" she soothed as she ran her fingers through his fur in an attempt to calm him. Zeus ignored her feeble attempts and ran into the living, barking all the way. Sighing Clarke followed after him and walked into the dimly lit room, "What is it, Zeus?" she said as she rubbed at her eyes tiredly. When was the last time you got any sleep? She asked herself.

It was then that she froze. The thought of sleep somehow triggering something in her mind. The room is dimly lit, she thought. Clarke swore as she ran towards the open window and saw that not only had the sun begun to set, but that the darkness was now quickly creeping in, "Shit!" she swore again, only much louder this time.

A/N – Damn cliff-hangers.

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