(closed) but our hearts always beat like this: I have / to leave

[levered]

WHO: Lexa & Clarke
WHAT: Purely professional concern, with a side of puppy
WHEN: When the anchor plot people return
WHERE: Valley
NOTES: /o/

That she brings Dally is completely intentional. Bellamy is back, same as Lexa, and Clarke could have left the puppy with him. He and the puppy both might have been grateful for it. But Clarke leads, carries, and drags Dally along. Intentional, and also ninety percent self-serving: she doesn't first think about how Lexa's been through a lot lately and Lexa likes the dog and Lexa might be glad to see her, but about Lexa being chronically disarmed by the dog and Dally being a good distraction, if things grow awkward, and an even better excuse to leave abruptly.

Halfway there, when Dally runs behind a stack of barrels and Clarke is considering just leaving her there to become a feral barrel dog, then she does think that Lexa has been through a lot lately, and Lexa likes the dog. That gives her the necessary push to lie down on the ground in front of everyone, feeling foolish and exposed, and coax the puppy back out.

There's still dirt-grey snow caught in her collar and in the crevices of her coat when she sees one of Lexa's guards. She lifts Dally in her arms, a shruggy motion, as if that's why she's here.