Author's note: I had to do my best to resist not titling this fic 'paint me like one of your French girls'. Seriously, I'm running on an hour of sleep and have uni in six hours. But this idea came to me (partly inspired by the titanic) and my wild imaginations during my insomniac nights. So I had to write this.

Also, can we just talk about THAT GOD DAMN KISS CHEEK! I needed to write after all of them feels. Also, for god's sake Marcus of course you would say something as ridiculous as "what was that?" just to ruin the moment. So yes, I had to add that ridiculous comment in here too, although I showed Abby's actual reply to it ;)

Summary: Her lips softened into a curious smile. "Were you drawing me?" Abby discovers that Marcus is quite a talented artist as she discovers a few sketches that he had drawn of her. A beautiful woman in his pictures who has captured his heart. Kabby

Disclaimer: I do not own the 100. Al rights go to the creators of this show.

The woman in the picture that captured his heart

…

Abby was looking for Marcus when she had discovered his sketches, scattered across his coffee table.

Marcus had been spending a lot of his time in his quarters lately, sometimes stumbling in late to the early morning meetings and at other times, choosing to eat in the comforts of his room instead of outside with the rest of his soldiers. Abby had wondered if he was working but doubted it, since the settling peace between the clans had meant that the guards were not required to regularly patrol Arkadia anymore, reducing Marcus's workload. She had even wondered if he was delving into the luxury of taking longer than necessary naps, which seemed even less likely. But Abby would have never imagined that the former aloof and pragmatic Chancellor had been spending his time huddled in his room, drawing of all things!

Abby approached the sketches curiously and picked them up, her eyes blooming with surprise. They were actually good.

The first one was of the sun setting behind the mountains. Although he only had black charcoal to work with, Marcus had shaded areas of the sky and the blazing steaks of the sun carefully and so precisely that Abby could vividly see the fire dancing in the sky. The next photo was of Bellamy, standing tall and proud next to a line of cadets. The next photo was of Indra and Lexa, standing formidably and bearing pointed spears.

Abby's breath caught in her throat when she turned to the next photo. It was of her. Abby was on her knees, gently taking a calloused and mysterious hand in hers. Her eyes were round and glassy, almost desperate, but she was smiling as if she was watching the first flower since winter blossom before her eyes. The picture radiated with hope.

Was she tending to a healing patient?

The picture stirred a deeper memory within her. A memory of her trapped under the ruble with Marcus when she had feared the worst before help had finally come. She remembered turning to Marcus, squeezing his calloused hand in hers as she whispered, 'We're going to be okay'.

The last one was of her too, a simple portrait of her face. Abby's hair was braided to the side and her head was dipping down, a shy smile gracing her lips as if she was recalling a happy memory. Her eyes were soft in this one too, so far from the usual fiery and intense gaze she wore as Doctor Griffin. Marcus had taken extra time to sketch and brush over every little detail, from the crinkles outlining her sparkling and smiling eyes, to the traces of dirt along her skin and the lines furrowed across her features where her previous frowns had been.

"Abby, Sinclair said that you were looking for me-"

Marcus stopped at the door, noticing her studying the pictures with a fond smile.

Abby startled, lifting her head up. "Marcus, I'm sorry. I saw these out and I was curious…I hope you don't mind".

"No, it's fine". Marcus said as he approached her.

Abby shook her head incredulously as she flipped through the pictures once more, her eyes always lingering on the sketches of her. "You never told me that you were so talented".

Marcus shrugged nonchalantly, watching her admire his sketches. "I used to draw when I was a teenager, watching space from outside my window. All I could sketch back then was the earth and the stars. But earth has so many more wonders to capture from the ground, and since our peace with the grounders, I've finally had the time to do it".

Abby smiled softly, almost shaking her head in disbelief at Marcus's creativity. "And you've been keeping your artwork a secret this entire time?"

Marcus lifted his shoulder in another shrug. "I don't see why anyone would care".

Abby blinked. "I'd care. These are beautiful Marcus, and they should be displayed".

Marcus's eyes drifted over to his work. "Perhaps. But families are still burying their loved ones out there. I think art is the last thing our people have time for".

Abby smiled at him softly. "I disagree. I think some of us need art more than you think". Abby stared at the sketch of her holding the mysterious hand once more. "Beauty like this brings us hope".

Marcus turned back to her, studying her closely, before he cleared his throat and said, "Sinclair said that you were looking for me?"

Abby blinked, dragging her attention away from the sketch as she tried to remember why she had wanted to see him. And just like that, the drawings were back on the table and it was all business between them again.

But all day Abby's thoughts kept on drifting back to the sketches with a fond smile as she wondered how many other pictures of her Marcus Kane had drawn.

…

Abby's eyes fluttered open, the scratching noises of charcoal running up and down paper stirring her out of her slumber. Abby rubbed her eyes, stretching up from the couch. She eyed the paperwork on the coffee table wearily.

Marcus had let her fall asleep during her work again, much to Abby's irritation.

"How long was I out for?" Abby yawned, picking up her paperwork and examining the documents.

"Just a few hours".

Abby's eyes widened as she went through the now organized and filled out documents. "You finished my paperwork for me?"

Marcus lifted his shoulder up in a shrug. "Bellamy offered to train the new recruits, so I had some spare time. Besides, you needed the sleep".

Abby shook her head at the papers, placing them back on the table. "You didn't have to do that".

An amused smile touched his lips as he sent her a look from above his pad. "You know Abby, a small thank you would suffice".

Abby frowned, noticing him place his sketchpad and charcoal back down on the table. Her lips softened into a curious smile.

"Were you drawing me?"

Marcus hesitated as she stood up and went to reach for the sketch. He quickly snatched the pad back.

"It's not finished yet," Marcus explained quickly.

Abby raised her eyebrows. "Oh really? Come on Marcus, I'm sure it's not that bad".

Abby made to reach for it again but Marcus jumped out of his seat, moving the sketch into the air. Abby let out an irritated huff, eyeing the sketch with growing curiosity.

"Marcus".

"It's not finished".

Marcus stepped back as Abby advanced towards him, determination lighting her eyes. Marcus took off with Abby after him. But his quarters were small, and it wasn't easy to lose a stubborn councilor when he was trying to dodge tables and chairs in the process.

Abby caught his jacket, pulling him back whilst Marcus tried to avoid colliding into a chair. He tripped and fell, bringing Abby down with him. Sensing her opportunity, Abby quickly crawled on top of him, reaching for his sketchpad with success. Marcus's eyes widened as he quickly tried to stop her, pulling her back down and rolling her onto her back, straddling her waist to keep her in place as he wrestled her for the sketch.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Their heads snapped up at Raven Reyes, whose gaze was shifting between the two of them, smirking.

"Not at all," Abby huffed, pushing Marcus off of her. "What is it?"

"Jackson needs a hand. Something about Monty's fever burning up?"

Abby repressed a small sigh as she stood up. "Thank you Raven, tell him I'm coming".

Abby waited for Raven to leave before she spun around and jumped on Marcus, successfully retrieving the sketch. Marcus protested, but Abby was already racing out the door before he could catch her.

Once she was sure that he wasn't coming after her, she stopped to admire the picture. Abby gasped, stunned.

She was sleeping on the couch on her side, her hair in loose waves around her. She looked so relaxed and peaceful, clearly caught in a blissful dream. Abby was hugging her pillow too, so her shirt was hitched halfway up her back. And it was there that she saw the scars. They were drawn in intricate, quick slashes down her lower back. They were beautiful.

Perhaps it was because they weren't a bloody, angry red like they were the last time she saw them in the mirror, (she hadn't glanced at the scars since Jackson had tended to them that day). Or perhaps it was because they stirred deeper feelings within her. Because the woman in that sketch was sleeping peacefully, unaware of the marks down her back, and had long forgotten the pain that they had caused her. They were just another memory, proof of what she had endured.

Abby was so memorized by the sketch that it took her a few seconds to register it slip away from her fingers. Abby startled, looking up at Marcus.

"I don't understand. Why didn't you want me to see this?"

"The scars," he said softly. "I guess it's been so long since…since I had done that to you. And I didn't want to remind you".

Abby understood. "You know, I didn't think those scars could be anything but ugly. I guess you proved me wrong".

Marcus shook his head. "I didn't make your scars beautiful Abby. You did. The way you carried yourself after your ordeal and continued to lead our people and tend to your patients, despite the pain. Scars tell a story. And when I studied yours, I saw courage and endurance. I saw beauty".

Abby's lips parted, lost for words.

Marcus passed her the sketch, squeezing her arm as he did so. "Look at it tonight. Maybe you'll see it too".

…

Abby hung behind the Council meeting as everyone but Marcus filed out the door, waiting for him to shuffle through his papers.

"Marcus, I was hoping to ask you a favour".

Marcus lifted his head up, raising his eyes. "What is it?"

Abby revealed his sketch of her sleeping from her pocket. "I was looking at this last night and…and I think I finally understand what you mean. When you said that there was beauty to the scars".

Marcus nodded slowly, waiting.

Abby took a steady breath, firmly meeting his eyes. "So…I was hoping you could draw me again?"

Abby grazed her lower lip as she studied his gaze, unsure of his answer. But Marcus was nodding slowly, his lips twitching into what could have been a hint of a smile.

"When did you want me to come by?" Marcus asked.

Abby bit back a shy smile. "Actually, I have a different idea. I was hoping you could meet me at the gates at sunrise tomorrow?"

…

Marcus met Abby that morning right on time. She didn't tell him much as she led him out into the forest for about half an hour before they reached the end of the forest and into a small field.

Marcus gasped at the sight. He briefly remembered passing the grassy field a few times on his journeys to Polis and the Grounders' villages, but he had never taken the time to stop and admire it. The grass was lush and tall, reaching halfway up their knees, and peppered with dandelions. The sun was still rising over the fields too, bursting its orange flames into the soft blue sky.

"It's beautiful," he said.

Abby nodded, admiring her surroundings. "I thought this would be a perfect place. And it would get us away from Arkadia too".

Marcus was about to ask her why she wanted to be away from everyone else when he turned back around, his breath catching in his throat. Abby had slipped out of her boots and jeans and was kneeling down, slipping her shirt over her head.

Abby bit back a shy smile, dipping her head down and blushing when she felt his eyes on her.

Marcus followed the scars that were down her waist (caused by a C-section from birthing Clarke?) and the small household burns and cuts along her arms. His eyes lingered on the scars that branded her wrists (from when she was strapped up in Mt Weather? Or tied up and slashed under Kane's orders?). There were stretch marks down her hips and upper thighs too, and more scars and bruises down her legs from her past injuries. His eyes halted on an inch long scar just below her knee, her haunted screams echoing in the back of his mind.

Abby sensed his distress at he stared at the one particular scar. "Hey," Abby caught his gaze, her eyes softening on his reassuringly. "Marcus, I want you to draw all of them for me".

Marcus nodded slowly. "How did you want to sit?"

Abby pushed her lips together in thought. She hadn't considered that. She lay down on the field so the grass was surrounding her, before sitting up with her legs crossed. She curled her legs to the side and leaned on her hand, before changing her position again. Finally, Abby decided on sitting down with her legs drawn up slightly towards her chest and her hands around her knees, her hair blowing in the wind.

"How's this?"

Marcus smiled softly, admiring her from behind his pad. "Perfect".

And then he went straight to work.

He sketched her with broad, quick strokes at first, shaping her figure, before he slowed his pace down, doing more intricate brushes. Occasionally he stopped to erase a few lines and re-sharpen some features, or even paused to stare at her for a few moments, trying to get her angle right and catch the lighting perfectly on his paper.

Abby smiled as she watched him work. She watched his eyebrows furrow and the small lines crease his features in concentration. Even though he was working, he looked relaxed too. Abby could tell that he was finding comfort in his artistic hobby.

After a while, Abby found her muscles begin to ache and her weight grew heavier.

"How long Marcus," she called out. "I have an itch I need to get too".

Marcus looked up, casting her an adorable smile that crinkled his eyes. "Art takes time Abby". Abby huffed and Marcus let out a breathy chuckle. "It's almost done".

Finally after what seemed like hours he had finished. Marcus raised the sketch into the air, studying it. She was stunning.

"It's done".

Abby let out a sigh of relief and stretched leisurely. She scratched her nose, sighing blissfully. Then she was racing over, too excited about seeing the finish product to bother getting dressed now.

Abby took the sketch and knelt down next to Marcus, the drawing taking her breath away. She was beautiful.

She was kneeling in the field, the blades of grass dancing around her. He had captured every single scar and bruise and blemish so perfectly, and just like her earlier picture, made each and every one of them as beautiful as the other. She was smiling in this picture too, a biting and almost breathy giggle. The sunlight bathed her skin, highlighting the shadows that played along her face and down her shapely curves. Her hair brushed down her eye and blew around her frame.

Abby's eyes lingered on the scars on her wrists and the one below her knee, the Mt Weather scars. These were the scars Marcus had witnessed in the making, and the ones he had paid most attention too, sketching them in detailed lines and complex shades.

"It's beautiful," Abby whispered, dragging her eyes up form the page and to the Artist. "I never thought that anyone could make me look this beautiful".

Marcus shook his head, his eyes lingering on hers. "It's not my skills Abby. I only drew what was right in front of me".

Shock blossomed in her eyes, her lips softening into a small smile.

And then Abby was leaning forward and capturing his lips in a tender kiss.

Perhaps it was impulse. Perhaps it was because she had never felt so stunningly gorgeous before. Or perhaps it was because the man she had been crushing on these past months had all but told her that she was breathtakingly beautiful.

And as Abby felt his lips responding to hers, sending her heart into a fluttering mess, she had to say that she had no regrets at all.

Marcus's dropped his charcoal and went to cradle her cheek, his other hand curling behind the curve of her neck as he guided her deeper into their kiss. Abby's hands ran up his torso, her fingers ghosting around his neck.

They briefly broke apart for air, darkened, lustrous eyes searching each other for an answer, before their lips came crashing back together again. Their kisses were hotter this time, more passionate, tongues dancing feverishly and teeth bruising lips, and Abby was soon shedding Marcus of his jacket. Her arms entangled around him and pulled him closer to her body, his breath caressing her jaw and his hands sculpting down her curves, and all the while she pushing herself further into him as she guided him down on top of her, wanting him closer, wanting to mold their bodies together and ease the fire between them.

Marcus straddled her waist, capturing her lips in another biting kiss. His lips peppered a trail down her jaw and the slope of her neck, nipping along her skin and sucking the hollow of her neck. Then he was shuffling further down and kissing the mark curved along her hip and then the one she had received at Mt Weather, murmuring 'beautiful' as he did so.

Marcus continued to kiss and nibble and suck every one of her scars, his lips brushing over every inch of her skin until Abby was a breathless mess beneath him. He made her feel like a Goddess. Like she was indeed the most beautiful creature on earth. Kissing her as if his very lips were worshipping every inch of her skin. And it exploded feelings within Abby, of fire and electricity and crazy thumping butterflies that Abby hadn't felt consume her since Jake.

It wasn't long before he found the birthmark along her inner thigh and was burying his head between thighs, releasing a few gasps and moans from above as she became undone.

And it wasn't long before Abby had rolled him onto his back, straddling his waist. She all but tore his shirt off as she kissed her way down his neck, along his shoulders and down his torso, leaving behind a few marks of her own.

Their remaining clothes were soon torn off, and the rest was a blur pleasure and pain and other indescribable sensations as Abby felt him move inside her, causing her to gasp and moan and cry out his name breathlessly with each wave of pleasure that rippled through her, and as their hands intertwined together and she dipped her head down to drink in another kiss, her back arched in one last cry as he sent her over the edge.

Abby collapsed into his arms, breathless.

Marcus stared at her with round, lustrous eyes, but his lips were curled in a lopsided smile as he whispered, "What was that?"

Abby rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway. Because of course Marcus Kane would say something like that just to ruin a moment. She kissed his lips once more and rolled onto her side, curling up against his body as she tried to regain her breath.

"That was me showing just how beautiful you made me feel today," Abby finally breathed, her eyes fluttering close as she inhaled into his forest smelling scent. "And showing you how much I care".

Abby hesitated but when she looked up, Marcus was staring at her like she was his all and everything, melting her heart.

"I care about you a lot Marcus," Abby began, encouraged by his warm smile. Abby studied his gaze, shaking her head incredulously. "Probably too much".

"I didn't think that was possible," Marcus whispered. "After everything I've done-"

"You're not that man anymore," Abby interrupted him firmly, a fiery burn in her eyes, as if she would hit him if he said anything else.

Marcus just shook his head bewilderedly at her, a smile playing on his lips. "Sometimes I think I'm in love with you Abby Griffin".

The words slipped from his lips before he could give them a thought, but Abby's smile was widening. She pressed her lips against his. "And sometimes I think I'm in love with you too," Abby whispered into his lips.

Abby glanced at the picture of the stunning woman with the warm eyes and bubbly laugh and beautiful blemishes, whose Artist's heart she had so clearly captured. "Why did it take me such a long time to realise how you felt towards me?"

Marcus smiled down at her. "I wondered the same thing myself".

And then he was closing the space between them in another kiss. Because the past and everything else didn't matter. It was just the two of them and this moment. Marcus and Abby and the picture that had brought them together.

Fin

…

God so many regrets but none at all. Because the idea of Marcus secretly spending his time drawing Abby is just too cute and romantic. Also, who wouldn't want to draw Paige Turcu. The woman is gorgeous and beautiful and her laugh is so so so beautiful, and I kept on thinking of her as I described Marcus's drawings. She's gorgeous 3

Anyway, please leave a review and let me know what you thought!

~ Lydia