Synopsis: A culling. Again. The third time is definitely not the charm.

Six Years. Seven Days.

Abby lay in the dark, eyes skipping over the nearly empty racks of medical supplies in the small store room that had doubled as their bedroom for the last six years. An excuse that she needed to be closer to Medical and he needed to be closest to the Council room earned a quick approval to move a narrow bed into a space filled floor to ceiling with crates and boxes. But that was then; six years ago. Now, there was more than enough room for twice their number in the space.

With an anguished sob, she rolled over in the narrow bed, snuggling against the firm chest of the man asleep at her side. He didn't move as she wrapped her arms around him, nuzzled her nose against his neck and inhaled his usually calming and familiar scent.

Everyone slept deeper these days as the oxygen levels fell. As the one hundred plus year old machinery struggled to accommodate the nearly fourteen hundred people still crammed into a bunker meant to hold considerably less.

The surface had been habitable for a year and seven days now. And they still hadn't been able to dig themselves out of a bunker built with the best materials 21st century money could buy. Communications had been cut when Praimfaya hit and hadn't been reestablished. They didn't even know if the kids had successfully made it to space.

So much uncertainty in a world that made it quite clear it was done with the race that had all but destroyed its natural beauty. But one thing was so certain it stole the breath from her lungs every time she treated someone experiencing oxygen deprivation.

It was long past the time when they needed to hold a vote to determine a course of action; A vote that would tear families apart. Again.

A third culling. Octavia was pushing for it. With Indra's grudging support. The weight of leadership had not been kind to the young woman. Had tested her in ways that had left her a broken shell of the girl who had assumed the mantle of command by winning a fight to the death. She'd lost her innocence in the process but had done better than anyone could have hoped. She'd kept the 12 clans together. Made them work to build a better, peaceful world.

This time she and Marcus were on the opposite side of that chillingly familiar argument. And Jaha – well, he hadn't changed. He'd been ready to carry out the job ever since the equipment began to fail. It was his responsibility, after all, to keep it functioning. And he'd stretched the resources far past their time. There was just no more left to give.

She closed her eyes and snuggled deeper into the warmth of her husband's arms. Remembered the day she'd been told a decision would soon have to be made.

The office/control room had been converted into a makeshift Council room not soon after the bunker had been sealed. Octavia and her advisors, Indra and Marcus, had permanent positions on the newly formed Council. With consultants from each bunker division invited to give updates when needed.

Abby stood opposite the three sitting at the table. Hands on her hips, her eyes flashing and temper flaring.

"We can't do this again."

"There is no other option," Octavia insisted, unmoved by the older woman's fiery emotional display.

"Abby's right. There has to be another way." The heartache in his voice was unmistakable. Marcus knew from painful, personal experience how the weight of such a decision of this magnitude could weigh on a person. He'd never been able to forgive himself for his part in the first Ark culling. And he still woke from nightmares screaming over those he had to watch carried out of the bunker to die in a radiation-soaked death wave.

Octavia threw up her hands. "Of course you agree with her."

"We've done this before."

"And it worked," Indra offered. Direct as always.

"There's always another way. We just have to find it." His words were laced with hope but the tone betrayed the factual desperation behind them. He knew there was no other way.

Octavia's response was firm. Final. "We're out of time."

Tears leaked from the corner of Abby's eyes. Today they would vote to cull a few so the many could survive. They would ask for volunteers. Again. Parents would give up their lives for a chance their children would again see the sun.

And this time, the personal impact would be devastating.

Because she knew he would be the first. And there wasn't anything she could do to stop him. His empathy was why she loved him so deeply. She should have known it would one day destroy her.

He would sacrifice his life for the small dark-haired boy curled onto the makeshift pallet by their bed. That little miracle of a child who had come violently into their world five months after they'd shut themselves below an irradiated surface and scraped and clawed to give some semblance of a happy, normal childhood.

His arms tightened around her shoulders and she buried deeper into his warm embrace. Of course he was awake. "Don't think about it."

"I can't lose you, Marcus," she whispered, her voice cracking with restrained emotion. She couldn't wake their boy. Not yet. It wasn't time. There wasn't that much left to them anymore and she selfishly wanted a few more minutes.

He tilted her chin up and thumbed away her tears before tugging her impossibly closer and depositing a gentle kiss to her trembling lips. She desperately tugged the soft strands of his thick hair and allowed him to swallow her moan with his talented mouth.

"I can't," she whispered desperately when their need for air drew them apart.

His hands slid to her backside, pulled her against his ever-growing erection and she instantly recognized that all too familiar attempt to distract her…

"Shh," he murmured as a hand slid beneath her sleep pants to dip into her heat.

…and she was desperately willing to let him.

"Marcus." His name was a simple breathy exhale as two long fingers joined the first to curl maddeningly in just the right spot.

His lips landed on her neck. Nibbled at the tightening cords. "Relax."

She exhaled sharply when his thumb teasingly circled that little nerve center. With expert precision, he increased the speed and scissored his fingers. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as he dragged his mouth from her neck and intercepted her moan with a toe-curling kiss. Her nails dug into his shoulders when he varied the pressure and she struggled to control the trembling in her limbs as he smoothly stroked her through a shockingly quick orgasm.

This time, he kissed away the tears that leaked from her eyes while his fingers brought her down from the sudden high.

With a watery hiccup, she whispered the heartbreaking words she never expected to ever have to repeat, "I can't do this again."

His only response was a heartbreaking sob, "I'm sorry."

Outside, a commotion she feared with a visceral heartache heralded the beginning of the end of her life as she knew it.

END

Author's Notes #1: I hope you enjoyed my first foray into The 100 fic. This is wholly unbeta'd as I don't know anyone in the fandom so please let me know if anything is not clear or if you see any glaring, unacceptable mistakes.

Author's Notes #2: I intend to add more self-contained chapters to this as the summer goes on (holy long hiatus Wonder Woman!) that will build on the narrative revealed in this first chapter.

Author's Notes #3: And last but not least, all writers love feedback. If any of these stories have moved you in any way (whether good or bad), I'd love to hear it.