Title: Final nail in the coffin
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. Again. Continuation of Road trip.
Slackjawed Abby felt the colour drain from her face. Her eyes scanned the bedroom as her pulse accelerated dangerously making her feel faint. The normally neat room, her sanctuary, could now only be described as complete mayhem.
The beautiful bed, a gift with a headboard carefully and artistically carved by her wife, was cracked down the middle. The bedframe was bent strangely into a v-like shape, leaving Bellamy trapped somewhere amongst the pillows and rumpled sheets in the middle. Annoyed when his attempts at escaping lead nowhere, he huffed and puffed and instead of freeing himself he ended up tugging the sheets and blankets towards him, burying himself even more.
The bedside tables were both turned over, the lamps smashed on the floor, shards of porcelain spread across the plush carpet next to books and magazines with folded pages. Abby breathed a sigh of relief as she realized the greatness in Raven's idea of moving their toys, the kind children should not be privy to, from the drawer in one of the bedside tables to a locked box in the wardrobe; out of reach of one nosy little daughter and her friends.
Her relief didn't last as she took in how Lexa sat precariously straddled across the tilting footboard. With feet dangling in the air she sang 'row, row, row your boat' loudly and slightly out of tune, her excited voice rising even more in volume as she got to the merrily-part. The ever present soft toy, her bunny, hung upside down from one of her fists, swaying out of sync with the shrill singing.
Octavia stood amidst the chaos, crying, tears streaming down her face as she wailed loudly while Clarke stood silently next to the dresser, a broken picture frame at her feet. Abby's eyes fell on the fractured glass on top of the wedding photo; the sight of Raven's smiling face made her heart clench. Panic seized her and she swallowed, trying to stave off the queasiness that knotted her stomach and made her palms sweat.
Abby looked down at the tray she was holding, seeing how her hands trembled she decided to put it down before she dropped it. Her eyes fell on the chair that normally held a pile of Raven's clothes. The pile was now spread across the floor leaving the seat of the chair empty. She placed the tray down at the same moment as Octavia noticed her presence and stretched her arms up, asking to be picked up. Abby lifted the girl, kissed her cheeks and gently wiped the tears from her face. She wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, but she could barely wrap her head around the chaos before her.
"Wh-wha… What happened?" Abby had left the bedroom for the kitchen to fetch hot chocolate and sandwiches for the children after their tiring day playing in the snow. When she left Clarke and her friends had been quietly watching the television, nestled under blankets in her and Raven's bed. Octavia had conked out as soon as her head hit the pillow, exhausted after hours sledding in the snow.
She should be angry, but all she felt was sadness at the destruction of the bed that meant so much to her. Her wife's hard work was now ruined and all the times shared in this very bed, side by side, talking about hopes and dreams and their shared future had probably come to an end. They'd have to buy a new bed and she knew that it would never compare to the one her wife had made her.
They'd spent their first night married in this very bed. They'd slept in it, entwined, for three years and they'd snuggled during late night talks about their future, about their dreams and hopes and two nights ago they'd sat, backs against the headboard, tentatively discussing the possibility of expanding their small family.
Bellamy had managed to crawl out of the carnage and was now stuffing his face with the sandwiches Abby had brought. Octavia had stopped crying and at the sight of the hot beverage on the tray she wanted to be let down. Abby placed her gently back on the floor, giving her a cup of cocoa and rubbing her back in a way she knew comforted the girl.
Her eyes swept across the room once more. She cleared her throat, looking straight at her daughter who was still standing by the dresser, frozen before the damaged picture frame.
"Clarke, what happened?"
Clarke shrugged, a sheepish lift of one side of her mouth.
"I leave you alone for a few minutes and this is what I come back to. You've broken the bed. Raven's beautiful bed! How am I going to explain this to her?"
Clarke shrugged again, biting her bottom lip she bent to carefully pick the wedding photo from the broken glass. She held the photo out in front of her, offering it to her mother.
Abby stared at the picture of herself and her beautiful wife. She shook her head. "This is a disaster." Abby wanted to cry.
"Just close your eyes." Were the not-so-helpful words coming from Lexa.
"Close my eyes? What good will that do?"
"You'll disappear."
"Lexa. That's not how it works."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean-" Abby swallowed her words at her daughter's loud cough and furrowed brow. She felt a headache coming on. She couldn't deal with this right now. Unlike other children her age Lexa still hadn't grasped the concept of people still being able to see you when you close your eyes. They'd tried to explain it to her, albeit in a roundabout way, but their words didn't seem to stick. "I mean, that doesn't work… for grown-ups."
"Oh." Lexa seemed perplexed.
"Yeah, so any other ideas?"
All the children were quiet as they took in the mess they'd made. Bellamy swallowed the last bite of his sandwich and after wiping his hand on his pants, patted Abby's arm in a gesture that felt more belittling than comforting.
"You could fix it." Proud of his fantastic idea he went back to the tray and grabbed yet another sandwich.
"Fix it? I wouldn't know where to start. I mean, I could clean the mess up, replace the lamps and the broken frame, but the bed… I wouldn't even know where to start."
"When I don't know how to do stuffs I ask Walter." Lexa helpfully supplied.
"Walter?"
"Yeah, he's great at fixing stuffs!"
Octavia nodded along with Lexa's words.
Abby had no idea who Walter was, but she figured it was worth a shot. She'd do anything not to have to explain to Raven that their beloved bed was no more.
"Okay. D'you think you can ask Walter to help me?"
Lexa's vigorous nod made the cold hand gripping Abby's heart release its hold slightly. "Let's get this mess cleaned up and move the lamps from the guest room in here. I think there's a picture frame in my office that we can use for the wedding photo."
...
That night, when Raven got home, she tiptoed into the bedroom, not wanting to wake her family up. She'd had to stay late, a meeting with a potential subcontractor dragging on. She didn't notice anything amiss, the soft light of the moon guiding her way as she placed her clothes on the chair by the door and crawled, exhausted, into bed next to her wife. She wrapped her arm around Abby's waist, kissing her shoulder and receiving a content murmur in response to her actions.
"Hey babe, I'm home. Miss me?"
Abby turned around, opening her eyes slowly, a smile gracing her lips. "Mmmm… missed you." She leaned in to place a kiss on her wife's lips but as her hand traveled down Raven's body a loud crack was heard and for an instance it seemed like there was an earthquake. Raven let out a surprised scream and Abby's eyes grew wide as she felt herself fall.
The bed had collapsed.
Disentangling from the mess that was now their bed, Raven reached for the lamp on the bedside table, realizing that it was not the one that had stood next to her side of the bed for the last year and a half. Nonetheless she found the switch and light spread through the room. She got up from the wreckage, poking and prodding at the sheets, the mattresses and the broken pieces of the bedframe.
What she found was disconcerting. She looked at Abby who now stood by the dresser; face pale and drawn.
"Why are there nails, not screws, holding our bed together? And why hasn't this break been reinforced, and this bit here replaced?"
Abby swallowed, mumbling under her breath.
"Abby? Who did this? I sure as hell hope you didn't pay the quack who did this."
"I-I-I… Raven, I left the room to make the kids a snack and when I came back they'd managed to wreck the place. Wreck the bed. I didn't want to make you sad. This bed, it means so much to us, and you put so much work into it and-"
"Hey, it's okay. Calm down sweetheart. Take a deep breath." Raven wrapped Abby in her arms, kissing her forehead. "I'll fix the bed tomorrow, don't worry."
"The kids said Walter knew what he was doing and-"
"Honey, do you know who Walter is?" Raven smiled, placing a tender kiss on her forehead.
"Not really no. I thought he was an uncle of Lexa's or some handy guy Anya's been dating."
"No."
"No?"
"No. Walter is Lexa's stuffed bunny."
Abby felt her mouth open, jaw slack. "I took advice from Lexa's bunny?"
"Yes, honey." Raven kissed her cheek. "I'll go get the guest bedroom ready."
Stunned, Abby watched her wife leave the bedroom. She thought back to the afternoon, how she'd given Clarke and Lexa permission to use the phone to call Walter while she wielded the hammer as she did whatever Walter said she should do. The kids obviously hadn't even made a real call, instead pretending to talk on the phone while they themselves came up with the building tips and tricks. She didn't know if she should be angry with them or proud of their ingenious way of getting themselves out of trouble. That she had fallen for their tricks was laughable. She'd been so upset and worried that she hadn't even thought to question how Lexa knew the phone number to a man she herself had never even heard of.
She decided to have a stern talk with the children tomorrow, but right now she had a wonderful wife waiting for her. Closing the door on the mess Abby padded across the hall towards the sliver of light spilling out from the slightly ajar door of the guest bedroom. She smiled at the sight of Raven waiting in bed for her. Tomorrow night they'd be back in their own room, in their own bed, but right now there was nowhere else she'd rather be.