Title: Road Trip
Author: mikipau
Rating: K+
Fandom: The 100
Pairing: Abby/Raven (Doctor Mechanic)
Disclaimer: I do not own the 100.
Summary: 6-year-old Clarke and her friends get up to no good when being watched by stepmom Raven.
A/N: Doctor Mechanic Week. Day 7: Road Trip AU. Silly nonsense. Please forgive me.
Raven stood in the driveway, hands on hips as she glared at the squirming children before her. Bellamy was kicking the toe of his left shoe into the ground, carefully avoiding Raven's eyes by staring at his feet and letting his curly hair shield his face from view. His sister, the youngest of the bunch, sat on the pavement beside him, eyes filled with tears. Octavia hadn't even turned four yet and sometimes the antics of the older kids became a little too much, though she tried her best not to let on.
For some reason Lexa's eyes were closed, her ever present stuffed rabbit hung upside down from her hand, its ears dangerously close to a puddle left by the rainshower from this morning. Clarke, of course, was glaring right back at Raven, feet planted firmly and far apart, her hands tight little fists at her sides.
"Clarke, your mom is gonna kill me!" Raven couldn't hide the exasperation she was feeling over the latest stunt the gang of miscreants had pulled on her watch. Abby was not going to be pleased when she came home. This might even put Raven on the couch for the foreseeable future.
Her words made the tears in Octavia's eyes escape and within seconds the girl was crying loudly. Raven hurried towards her, picking her up and cradling her in her arms.
"It's okay baby. It's okay." She tried to calm the girl down, stroking her hair and kissing her temple repeatedly.
"I don't want Abby to kill yooouu!" Octavia's horrified cry was met by Clarke rolling her eyes.
"She won't kill her. They're in love."
"That's true." Raven couldn't fault the logic her 7-year-old stepdaughter presented. Still, she knew she was in trouble. Searching out Octavia's eyes she tried her best to reassure the girl. "Abby won't kill me. I'm just worried she'll be angry with me for not watching you more closely."
Octavia's tears stopped falling and she sniffled miserably before resting her head on Raven's shoulder, her hand coming up to tangle in Raven's ponytail. Raven stroked the girl's back while turning her attention to the other children.
"Can you please explain to me how this happened?"
"We were going on a road trip!" Lexa's enthusiastic voice made Raven want to screw her eyes shut and hide from the world, similar to what she imagined the girl had been doing moments before. This was a disaster.
"You were going on a road trip? In my car… to where exactly?"
"The waterpark."
"And who was driving?"
The children all looked at Clarke, Octavia's pointing finger superfluous in clarifying the events to Raven. She got to her knees, Octavia balancing precariously on her hip as she tried to shift her weight from her bad leg onto the good one.
"Clarke, you must understand that what you just did is dangerous. Something could have happened. You could have hurt yourself or your friends. In fact, something did happen." She looked at her car, backend dented from the impact with the street light at the end of the driveway.
"I'm sorry. Okay? I thought I could do it, it looks so easy when you and mom drive."
Raven let out a sigh. "I'm going to move the car and then all of you are coming with me to the kitchen. We're going to sit down and talk about this and you're going to promise me to never, ever, do anything like this again."
The kids all nodded their heads, guilty expressions on their faces as they walked single-line into the kitchen, the ears of Lexa's stuffed rabbit dragging in the dirt behind them.
...
Raven had returned her dented car to the driveway, had a long talk with the culprits and after dinner and a bath she'd put Clarke to bed. She was almost done mounting a key cabinet high on the wall just inside the front door when it opened.
"Raven what happened to your car?" Abby took in the key cabinet and the screwdriver clasped between Raven's teeth. "And where did that key cabinet come from?"
Raven made sure the cabinet was hanging straight before moving the pile of keys from the bowl on the hall table to the hooks in the cabinet.
"Clarke and her friends went on a road trip to the waterpark. It ended just past the driveway, against the street light."
"What?!" Abby's eyes grew large, her hand going up towards her throat. Raven bit her lip, ready for all hell to break loose.
"No one got hurt. Well, besides my car. It was very undramatic, though Octavia had a meltdown when she thought you were going to kill me."
Abby didn't respond. She stood staring at the key cabinet, hand still resting on her upper chest, no doubt her heart was racing at the possible outcomes of Clarke's latest adventure.
"I mounted it high enough for Clarke not to reach. From now on I think it's safer if we keep the keys away from her. She promised not to do it again and I believe her, so this is more for my own peace of mind."
Abby nodded, she placed her own keys in the cabinet then turned to walk into the kitchen. Raven followed, watching Abby's tense shoulders she felt on edge waiting for the expected explosion to come.
"Where were you when all of this happened?"
"Sinclair called, he needed the new plans for the engine. They were playing in the garden and I went inside to mail it to him and the computer wanted to update something and... I was barely gone 15 minutes." Raven's hand went to her forehead, rubbing it in a tired gesture. "I heard the crash and ran outside just in time to see them get out of the car." She shook her head. "I talked to them, they know that what they did was wrong and dangerous, that someone could have gotten hurt."
Abby sighed. She leaned on the kitchen counter, her shoulders slumped. Raven stood beside her, carefully placing an arm around her, holding her close to her side and placing a kiss on the top of her head.
"I'm sorry Abby."
A small smile graced Abby's face. "Darling, you don't have to be sorry." She turned to place a soft kiss on Raven's lips. "I don't blame you. This could have happened on my watch too. Put Bell and Clarke together and things will happen, especially when Lexa is there to cheer them on."
Raven nodded and tightened her arms around Abby. What had happened was bad, but fortunately it hadn't ended in disaster. The car could be fixed. She didn't know what she would have done if the kids had gotten hurt.
They stood in the kitchen, holding each other, wrapping their minds around what had happened and what could have happened. Eventually Raven's leg started to ache and she shifted uncomfortably.
"Time for bed?"
Raven nodded. They held hands as they walked around the house, turning the lights off and making sure that everything was closed and locked for the night. Raven let out a sigh of relief when the bedroom door finally closed behind her. Hopefully tomorrow would be less eventful.
They got ready for bed, the normal routine comforting to Raven who loved these moments of silence that they shared. She lay watching Abby as she read, running the tip of her finger along Abby's arm, feeling herself settle down and the worries of the day float away. Abby put her book down and dimmed the light. Like every night she settled on her side, pulling Raven's arm around her waist.
Just before drifting off a stray thought made Raven open her eyes.
"Abby?"
There was a responding mumble, more felt than heard.
"What's up with Lexa's rabbit, anyway? It's creeping me out."
Abby let out a peal of laughter, turning around to face Raven she kissed her soundly as she continued to giggle. Her mirth was contagious and soon Raven joined her in her laughter. They lay in bed, giggling like teenagers, bellies aching and eyes twinkling, the late hour and the events of day forgotten.
