Chapter Text
This was the first time Lexa had ever had a job where she didn’t dread Monday mornings. Political campaigns are usually a mix of different rhythms and cycles, and so many of them tend to peak on Monday mornings and dump all their accumulated problems at the campaign manager’s feet. Her feet. Monday is when every element of the campaign usually decides they either need something yesterday or that what they promised for yesterday can’t be done for another week. It’s when candidates come in after a weekend of obsessing over an inconsequential comment from a voter or a neighbour or a friend that has them convinced their entire campaign is a trainwreck in progress and wholesale changes need to be made now. It’s when campaign managers realise that staying up late on Sunday night when they’re still sleep-deprived from the week before wasn’t a good idea.
That had been her experience up to this point, but on Marcus Kane’s mayoral campaign it’s a case of another Monday, and another meeting where Lexa gets to give her candidate good news. This was something she could get used to very easily, if she wasn’t careful. Her previous two campaigns as a campaign manager had collapsed into fiery oblivion through no fault of hers, but a few months in, getting Marcus into Arkadia’s City Hall was looking like it was going to be relatively stress-free.
“You’re still polling around seventy percent in the headline figures, and the most any of the other candidates is getting is fifteen. The really good news is that the number of don’t knows is going down, and they’re breaking for you in the same numbers as everyone else already has so your lead is stable. You’re doing well on all the issues and across the demographics too. I’ll email you the highlights when I’ve had a chance to look through the data.”
“Great, and you’re sure we’re fine with nomination papers, signatures, everything?” Marcus never liked to discuss the good polling numbers, he’d told her early on in the campaign that it felt too much like tempting fate to dwell on them for too long, and Lexa was happy to indulge him and move on to other subjects. She’d encountered too many candidates who liked to bury themselves into the numbers so deep they forgot the people behind them.
“Everything triple checked and with the city’s election department. They told me they’ll be done checking signatures by late today or early tomorrow, but we’re well over the minimum, so they’d have to disqualify a whole lot before we get into trouble. And if they do-”
“There’s still over a week to find more before nominations close. I know you’ve got it covered, but old habits die hard and it’s the one thing I always worry about until I know it’s confirmed.” Marcus shrugged. “Once you’ve seen someone’s whole campaign derailed and ended because they got that wrong and left it too late to rectify it, you get obsessed about making sure you get it right.”
“It’s fine.” Every candidate had their superstitions and obsessions, and Lexa didn’t mind indulging this one. It was a lot easier to manage than him wanting to micromanage every word that appeared on every flyer and poster and letter that went out from the campaign, which she’d had to deal with before. She’d heard him tell the story about his first campaign for a seat on the city council, where one of his fellow candidates saw their campaign end before it even began because of it. “I’ll call you as soon as I get word from them. I think that covers everything I have, anything else?”
“One thing. Did you hire anyone for the designer position yet?” Lexa could sense him tensing a little as the question came out, sitting up more straightly in the chair and looking slightly past her.
“Not yet, the guy I saw on Friday was a bust.” Lexa said, wondering where he was going with this.
“But we still need someone?”
“Raven’s covering it, but even she is going to need to sleep at some point, so yes.”
He gave a tight smile in response to that. “I know someone who might be interested, but I want to be clear that staffing is entirely your decision, this is me asking you to consider someone, not ordering you to hire her.”
“Understood, and I know you wouldn’t do that. Who is it? Because I’d settle for anyone vaguely competent at this point.”
“Abby’s daughter. She’s an artist, but she’s done graphic design work to pay the bills, and she came back to town about a week ago. I don’t know the details, but she’s talking about staying around here for a few months, and if she’s going to do that she needs a job. So I said I’d ask, but only take her on if you think she can do it. I’m not looking for sinecures for people I know.” He seemed genuinely apologetic as he talked about it, which reassured Lexa that this wasn’t an attempt to saddle her with someone incompetent just to keep the candidate happen. Mrcus’s massive lead in the election was thanks to him being the council member who’d exposed the corruption that flowed through the previous mayor’s administration at every level, and she’d agreed to take on his campaign because of his honesty.
“Get her to send her details to me, and I’ll take a look. If she’s any good, we’ll see, but I promise you that if I hire her, she’ll definitely be working. And she might just say no when she realises how little we’re paying.” Lexa said.
Clarke Griffin didn’t say no when Lexa let her know what the pay for the role was. Instead, she sent Lexa a link to her commercial portfolio with a note that says sorry not too much recent, was focusing on art this year, more fool me and a suggestion that they meet at the coffee shop round the corner from the office that evening. The rest of Lexa’s day was filled with meetings with the campaign’s core team: Harper for TV and press, Raven for social media and data, Maya for volunteers, Lincoln for field operations and Jasper for print and logistics. That gave her a list of issues to resolve, a lot of which come down to an insatiable demand for new material, be it posters, flyers, mailers or ads, all of which they’re trying to fill while keeping everything else going. By the time she was headed to Grounders for her meeting, she was devoutly hoping that Clarke Griffin was the solution to her problem.
Back at the start of the campaign, she'd run the usual series of checks on Marcus as well as his friends and family, just to be sure there were no scandals waiting to be exposed by opponents. Even though Abby wasn’t his wife or actively involved in the campaign - she would turn up occasionally at events but was normally busy working at the hospital - she and her daughter were checked out and had no red flags. Lexa remembers some mention of Clarke being an artist in New York, but when she looks her up online she only finds a couple of locked social media accounts with a description that was just time out.
“Lexa?” She looked up from her phone to see who was asking for her, and was instantly distracted by a stunning blonde woman with a nervous smile, making Lexa try to think where she knew her from.
“Yes, that’s me. I’m Lexa.” She wondered if they talked in a bar one night, but she would surely have remembered someone as good looking as her, and it’s not like she’d had a wild social life since coming to Arkadia a few months ago.
“I’m Clarke. Griffin? About the job on Marcus’s campaign.”
“Oh. Right. You’re Clarke. Sorry, I was miles away.”
“It’s okay, I’m a bit early, I’ll just get a drink, do you want anything?”
“I’m good, but thanks.” Lexa said, doing her best to get herself feeling professional and not check out the other woman as she heads to the counter. The first attempt was a failure, but by the time Clarke returned with a mug of coffee, Lexa was feeling much more in control of herself, a mantra of you’re meant to be interviewing her and she’s basically your boss’s daughter getting her into the right frame of mind.
“Is this just a chat, or a proper interview?” Clarke asks after she sits down. “Because I’m not bad with the first, terrible with the second.”
“The first, mostly.” Lexa said. “I’ve seen your portfolio and it looks like you’ve got the skills to do the job, I just want to be sure you know what you’re getting into. You’ve not got any political experience, have you?”
“Dad used to bring me along to help on some of Marcus’s campaigns when I was younger. I’ve stuffed a few envelopes and handed out some flyers, but nothing more than that.”
From what Marcus had told her already Lexa knew there was a long history there, but this wasn’t the place or the time to pry any deeper into that. “If you’re not used to it, working on a campaign can get pretty stressful. Lots of odd hours and short deadlines - short tempers too - especially when election day gets close. And the pay’s terrible too. I know this isn’t an interview, but I guess there’s no real way to phrase this that isn’t like one: I’m wondering just why you want this job?”
Clarke just looked at her for a moment and then her face broke into a broad smile as she laughed. “Well, it’s not for the money. But it’s better than nothing and I really don’t want to be asking my mom for a loan, so its either this or I go back to the counter here and ask for an application form. I don’t know how much Marcus told you about what I was doing before?”
“Only that you were back in town, had experience of design, and were looking for some work.” Lexa thought about the more fool me and time out comments, but decided this wasn’t the time to ask about those.
“I had big plans for what I was going to do in New York, but for various reasons they didn’t happen, and I needed somewhere else to be, so I came home. Now I’m just figuring out what comes next, you know? I definitely don’t want a career in politics, but if I can get paid while helping Marcus become Mayor, then that feels like something useful to do with my time while I figure the rest of my life out.”
“That’s…not the answer I usually get to that.” Lexa wasn’t used to people being this honest when she’s looking to employ them. They’re usually gushing about what a good opportunity it is, telling her how they’ve spent their life waiting for the opportunity to be an underpaid dogsbody on a low-level political campaign and how they agree with all the candidate’s stances on everything. Clarke’s honesty is refreshingly different, and coupled with the way her blue eyes are currently looking at Lexa, it should be ringing alarm bells, but Lexa chooses to ignore them.
“I haven’t just talked myself out of a job, have I? Because that really would be a new low for me.”
“Oh no, absolutely not, sorry if I gave you that impression, I was just thinking. You’re obviously qualified for it, and you’ll fit in with the rest of the team, so it’s yours if you want it. Can you start tomorrow?”
Clarke had to stop and check she’d walked into the right office when she arrived the next morning, as once she passed through the door everything was a lot calmer than she expected it to be. From what she’d seem of political campaigns on TV, she was expecting the place to be buzzing with activity, full of people crammed round messy desks to look at complicated numbers on screens while shouting loudly at each other.
It wasn’t quite as neat and ordered as some of the places she’d freelanced at in New York, where the decor made the place feel like you were working inside an iPhone and leaving a single loose sheet of paper on the wrong desk could be a sacking offence, but it was calm and ordered, people working at neat desks, and where there were piles of posters and flyers, they were neatly organised, with signs over them saying what they were and where they needed to go. It was relatively quiet too, people focusing on their work as the low drone of a TV showing a local news channel buzzed in the backgroud.
Quiet until someone spotted her, anyway, and Clarke realised she should have asked Lexa more about who she was going to be working with. “Griffin? What are you doing here?” A familiar face appeared from behind one of the monitors. Raven’s eyes looked as wide as they did after she’d pulled a college all-nighter.
“Raven?” Clarke smiled nervously, trying to read the other woman’s mood, hoping the wide eyes were the result of overwork and not a suddenly rekindled desire for revenge against her because of what had happened with Finn. “Um, I’m here to work. Lexa hired me yesterday as a designer.”
“Really?” There was a stare that felt homicidal just for a moment before it passed into relief. “That’s great, you can have like half of my to do list, and I can get on with what they’re actually paying me to do. And you should actually be good at it too.”
Clarke was trying to work out what was happening. Seeing Raven here was unexpected, and so was the way she was reacting to her. “I should go see Lexa, let her know I’m here, see what she wants me to do? Where’s her desk? Office?” She realised she’d jumped into this without really considering what it would be like. All the questions she could have asked the day before had melted away when she’d found herself trying not to obsess over how gorgeous Lexa was.
Raven walked over to her. “She’s in the back office right now, I’ll show you.” She led Clarke round the edge of the office, then lowered her voice when they were away from the others. “I heard from O that you and him broke up.”
“We did.” Clarke said, trying not to look at her former friend. “He cheated, I kicked him out.”
“Ha! Knew it.” Raven exclaimed. “Look, I know I was angry with you and him - especially him - back when it all went down, but I’m genuinely over it all now. Amazing how small all that college drama looks when you’re in the real world, right? Anyway, if we’re going to be working together, then it’s probably best we never mention him and just move on, right?”
Clarke nodded, still trying to process it all. It had been a while since she’d had to keep up with a flow of ideas from Raven.
“But before we put that rule in place, I just want to say one thing.”
“Okay. Say it.” Clarke tensed as she breathed in, knowing she deserved whatever it was.
“I told you so.” Raven grinned. “That’s all. And Woods should be in here.” She knocked on the door they’d reached, then opened it without waiting for a response. It opened into a small office, not much more than a cubbyhole, almost entirely filled by a small desk and a pair of chairs. Lexa was sat in one of them, the handset of a desk phone cradled between her chin and shoulder as she spun round to see who had come in, somehow managing to simultaneously glare at Raven while she smiled at Clarke.
“…look, when this is done I’ll think about it. Call me in a couple of months, we’ll talk then. Thanks, good luck to you too, Indra.” She smoothly slipped the phone from her and back to its base. “Raven, what have I told you about knocking?”
“Sorry, I was just editing the latest No Secrets At City Hall ad. That ‘we must stop secret meetings in private rooms’ speech you wrote is really good, you know? Anyway, Griffin’s here, so you can do your boss thing with her and I’ll get her set up on the system while you do.” She backed out of the doorway, leaving Clarke and Lexa alone.
“Come in, sit down. I should have been out front to greet you, but I had to return a couple of calls. I hope Raven didn’t scare you, she’s amazing at what she does, but she’s a little intense when you first meet her.” Lexa said.
“Oh, I know. We were at college together.”
“Really?” Lexa’s eyebrows raised. “This city has a population of what? Quarter of a million people? And yet everyone seems to know each other.”
Clarke laughed. “Yeah, that’s Arkadia. My dad used to say it was just a very big small town.”
“That sounds about right. It’s a nice place, hopefully we can make it better by the end of this campaign. So, we went through the basics last night, but this is where I have to do the boss thing and talk you through how this all works, then you’ll have to fill out a bunch of forms so we can legally employ you and pay you, but after that I try to let people get on with their jobs without me leaning over their shoulders all the time. Before we start, any burning questions or problems?”
Just one, Clarke thought, are you single? Then she shook her head. “No. I mean, I have a bunch because I only have a vague about idea how all of this works, but I assume you’re going to cover that, and if there’s anything I don’t know after that, I’ll ask.” She had only worked in a few offices but she understood that hitting on your boss on the first day wasn’t part of the way things were done, even if your new boss was incredibly hot in several different ways.
“We’ll start with a tour. Easier to show you everything rather than just talk about it.” Lexa said, standing up and letting Clarke squeeze out of the office before her. It gave Clarke a chance to see that Lexa was wearing a perfectly fitted suit with heels, at which point she lost count of just how many of her buttons Lexa was pressing.
Oh God, I’m so dead, she thought as she tried to concentrate on what Lexa was saying as she showed her around the campaign office, not wanting to get caught ogling her into oblivion on the first day. This is going to be a long two months.