This story is part of the 52 stories in 52 weeks challenge created by ourwritingtherapy on tumblr. Week 2 prompt is: a story about rising to a challenge
This is taking place between S2 and S3 !
Rite Of Passage
They both watched the arrow fly far above the target and Marcus was suddenly glad the shooting range was desert that morning. He cleared his throat and notched another one, trying to remember every piece of advice Indra had nagged into his brain when she had let him borrow the bow.
That arrow found the target but not the bull eye and Abby looked far from impressed.
"Tell me again what's the point?" she asked.
He had thought getting her to agree would be a simple formality but, clearly, he had been wrong. She had been strangely reluctant to back his decision up since he had brought it up the previous evening while they were reviewing reports in the war room.
"It's a Grounder rite of passage." he shrugged. "They call it Soujourn gouthru. It's something they have to do when they come of age if they want to be a warrior."
She crossed her arms, her eyebrows shooting up, her lips twitching. "I hate to break it to you, Marcus, but it's been a while since you came of age."
He placed a hand on his chest to indicate she had wounded him, his own mouth stretching into a smile. "They used to do it with Reapers and Mount Weather men around, I will be on Trikru territory the whole time. It's perfectly safe."
All he would have to do would be to hunt a wild boar that had been troubling some of the villages. Alone and without his gun. It was supposed to be a spiritual journey as well as a hunting expedition.
"You and I don't have the same definition of what safe means." she countered. "You're my Commander of the Guards and they respect my authority well enough. Why does Indra want you to…"
"It was my idea." he admitted. Indra had brought the rite of passage up while they had been comparing training techniques and it had stuck with him. "Besides, we agreed it's important to create a strong bond with Trikru."
He had her there and he knew it.
In the last couple of months, following the Mount Weather debacle, they had both done their best to secure peace with the Grounders. Trikru had been the easy part. Indra was willing enough to bury the hatchet and Lexa was working on the other clans. The ultimate goal was to make them the thirteenth clan but that would take some work still. He and Abby had been tirelessly trying to secure links with Trikru by offering medical help and ratifying trading agreements. Marcus was fascinated by the Grounders' culture and Indra was happy to play teacher so…
"We agreed it's important to create a strong bond with Trikru not that it's a good idea for you to go wander after a wild boar by yourself just to prove that you're just as good as their eighteen year old warriors." she pointed out, her eyes darting from him to the arrow embedded in the target.
It stung a little that she implied he wasn't. Then again, she had been forced to check him out in Medical more than once after he had sparred with Lincoln.
He turned to face her properly, studying her. "Are you worried about me?"
"Worried?" she repeated, a touch mocking. "Because you want to go out in the wilderness with only a bow you can't shoot properly to catch a wild boar that may have two heads and who knows how many tusks? Why would I be worried, Marcus? That sounds perfectly safe to me."
"I'm also allowed a knife." he corrected.
She rolled her eyes. "I feel much better now, thank you. If you have a knife, you obviously won't get gutted."
He couldn't help his chuckles but she wasn't really joking and she didn't look amused.
"Look… I promise I will be careful." he offered. "If it's too much for me, I swear I won't take unnecessary risks and I'll come back home with my tail between my legs."
He hadn't really meant anything by that but her eyes darted down to what actually laid between his legs and she walked away, muttering something he didn't quite catch. It was probably for the best.
He chose to take that as an official permission though.
It took him the day to gather supplies and make sure Arkadia's guards wouldn't fall into chaos in his absence.
"For the record, I disapprove." Abby told him that evening, when he took his usual seat on the other end of the couch so they could go over that day's reports. "If you rip your artery again, don't count on me to stitch it up."
"So, you will leave me to bleed to death?" he teased, distractedly adding an interrogation point in the margin of one of Sinclair's reports. He circled it three times for good measure. He would send it back like that. Hopefully, the next report would be clearer.
"I will let Jackson take care of you." she declared, tapping hard on her tablet. "And I will make sure he uses a very big needle to sedate you." He shuddered at the thought of needles, which didn't escape her. She nudged his knee with hers, keeping her eyes on her tablet. "What do Grounders think about wannabe warriors who are scared of needles?"
"You are a very mean woman, Doctor Griffin." he replied.
She glanced at him, an amused smile on her lips. "It's Chancellor to you."
"Yes, Ma'am." he snorted.
The next morning, he was in front of the camp's gates at the brink of dawn. He wasn't surprised to see Abby lean against the mouth of the station. She didn't come to say goodbye but she lifted a hand in farewell and he answered in kind, strangely reluctant to leave her.
"You're sure you want to do this?" Bellamy asked for the third time as he handed him his pack.
"I'll be fine." he insisted. "Don't come looking for me unless you're sure I'm in danger, alright?" He let his gaze wander to the station. Abby had gone back inside but he sighed. "Even if Chancellor Griffin orders you too."
The boy's mouth twitched and, for a second, he looked like he wanted to say something else but in the end he simply shrugged and gestured at whoever was on guard duty to open the door for his superior.
"Have fun." Bellamy said.
"Fun isn't exactly the aim, here." Marcus grumbled. "This is serious for the Grounders."
Lincoln hadn't been short of stories about Soujourn gouthru. It was a challenge for the young warriors, something almost sacred. Marcus had seen the glint of interest in Octavia's eyes and he figured it wouldn't be long before she requested to be allowed to do the same – if she even bothered to request it. None of the other kids seemed to care. Although, he supposed they had found their own rites of passage when they had first reached Earth.
The hike to the wild boar's hunting ground was pleasant at first. Solitude was a difficult thing to find in Arkadia, all the more so for him who was constantly called from one end of camp to the other to settle disputes, handle problems or act as deputy when Abby was busy in Medical. It was good to be able to walk around without having to worry about anything but the direction he was going in.
He had grown used to being on the ground but he didn't think he would ever grow tired of how green everything was, of the sensation of the sun on his skin or the rich smells of the woods… He loved everything about the woods. The sounds of birds, the wind in the leaves, the different kind of trees…
Of course, it became a lot less pleasant around noon when the sky started going dark and menacing. He switched tracks and hurried in the direction of caves he knew to be nearby but he didn't manage to reach them before the downpour began. He was soaked by the time he found shelter and a lot less appreciative of the surrounding landscape.
There was beauty in the lightning storm but he couldn't deny there was also something terribly frightening to it. They were ants, he mused. So easily crushed…
The rain stopped eventually and he went looking for his boar – or the kodonpigi, as Grounders called it.
Wotchas kodonfeis, Indra had warned. Watch the tusks.
The woods' ground was a mess and his limited skills at tracking weren't much help. It was luck that made him stumble on the wild boar in a clearing. He quickly hid behind some bushes with none of the stealth that came so naturally to Grunders and got his bow ready, thankful that the animal was busy eating… whatever it was.
He managed not to betray his presence until the arrow was lose.
It barely grazed the wild boar but it certainly got its attention.
Which was how Marcus ended up running for his life, chased by a monster pig, how he fell down a mudslide and eventually found refuge in a tree he had all the troubles in the world climbing on.
With the wild boar circling the trunk and him trying not to fall, he finally acknowledged that Abby had a point and that he was too old for that kind of things. He wasn't ready to give up yet though.
He did try to use the bow but the boar's skin was thick and it only enraged it more even when he managed to find his target.
He reconciled himself with the idea of sleeping in a tree, his clothes still soaked from the earlier rain, covered in mud and a little afraid he would tumble down and get trampled by the animal. He dozed off more than he slept, aware that the boar wandered off at some point but not willing to take his chance and get down in case it was just a trick to ambush him.
Could wild boar think of an ambush?
It gave him an idea though.
He slid down the trunk at first light, less gracefully than he would have liked, and headed straight to the dropship. He grabbed some scraps of metal, found a sturdy long stick and, soon enough, he had made himself a shovel.
Since facing the boar full on was out of the question, he would trap it first.
He was knee-deep in the hole he was digging when he caught sight of Bellamy, gun strapped to his chest. The boy was trying not to laugh and losing that battle fast.
Marcus supposed he had seen better days.
He was sweaty, covered in mud from head to boots and he had been sneezing a little too much. It told him he was bound to get a cold – courtesy of the damp clothes – and that Abby would probably have something to say about that.
"Didn't I order you not to come after me?" he sighed.
"Chancellor Griffin was worried." the boy shrugged. "You weren't answering our calls."
Marcus leaned on his shovel to check his radio, making a face when he realized he must have broken it when he had fallen down the mudslide. "I'm fine. You can head back."
"Are you trying to bury yourself alive?" Bellamy mocked.
"I'm setting a trap." he argued.
The boy snorted. "For yourself or for the pig?" Before Marcus could answer – or tell him he really ought not to be that cheeky with his superior officer – Bellamy reached for his own radio. "Zoe, I have him."
It took a couple of seconds for the answering statics. "How is he?"
Monroe sounded concerned.
Wasn't there a single person at camp who actually believe he could do this without getting himself injured? He had grown used to the kids who had enrolled in the guard looking up to him since Mount Weather, it was a little discomforting to realize they were doubting him. And at the same time it felt good to know they cared.
"Dirty." Bellamy remarked with a smirk. "But you can tell Abby he's in one piece. No broken bones, no torn open artery."
"Will do. Arkadia out." Monroe chuckled.
Marcus shook his head. He half wanted to ask if Abby had actually warned the boy about broken bones and his tendency to get his veins sliced open or if it was Bellamy embellishing what had probably been a simple order: find Kane.
"Need help?" Bellamy offered.
Marcus refused with a wave of his hand. He was supposed to do this by himself and he would do it by himself. The kid must have gotten the gist because he carefully sat down near the edge of the hole and watched him put his makeshift shovel to good use.
"You're really into the man in the woods thing, aren't you?" Bellamy teased after a few minutes.
He knew the kids were sometimes making fun of him behind his back about that but he had never called them out of it so far because… It came out of fondness, in his opinion. It wasn't something he would have tolerated from new recruits back on the Ark. But, then again, he hadn't tolerated much back on the Ark.
His hair was too long, he was growing a beard, he had found plants in Mount Weather's greenhouse so he had started a small garden near the north fence, and he genuinely enjoyed learning about Grounders. He was fascinated with everything they could teach him. The language, their way of life, what he would have otherwise called Earth skills…
He spared a thought for Charles Pike, wondering what had happened to him…
"It wasn't supposed to be us." he answered after a moment.
"What?" Bellamy frowned.
The boy's attention was split between him and their surroundings, which was very good. He was becoming a better soldier every day and Marcus may or may not have decided he was training him to replace him one day. Perhaps one day soon. Once he and Abby would have secured peace with the Grounders… There were too many leadership decisions to make nowadays. They couldn't spare Abby's medical skills but they could spare his military ones and he could assist her better if it became his main focus.
"My generation." he clarified. "We weren't supposed to see Earth." Truth be told, he hadn't thought anyone would ever see Earth again. He had lost hope at some point and that was what had prompted him to turn his back on his mother's beliefs. "Being here, it's… A gift. And I want to make the most of it."
"Dangerous gift." the boy remarked.
"Nature is dangerous." Marcus replied. "You just have to respect that."
"I wasn't talking about nature, Kane." Bellamy clarified.
And Marcus had known that.
Bellamy wasn't entirely sold on the Grounders issue. Trikru was one thing… Trikru was their immediate neighbor and they were friendly enough, Indra made sure of it. But Lexa's betrayal at Mount Weather… For the good of their people, because they needed the Commander to be on their side, Abby – and he supported her in that regard – had decided to forgive but…
"You will have to let that go at some point." he advised, not unkindly.
"It wasn't your hand on that lever." Bellamy spat.
Marcus drove the makeshift shovel in the ground and leaned on it again, staring at the boy who wouldn't look at him. Guilt was written all over the young man's face. There had been three hundred and fifty people in Mount Weather and Clarke's run away act had left him to shoulder that burden alone.
"Not that one, no." he said quietly.
"The Culling." Bellamy briefly met his eyes and looked away just as quickly. "That was my fault too. If I hadn't told them to take off the bracelets…"
"I would have insisted Earth wasn't safe anyway." he cut him off and then shook his head. "I was certain I was right, Bellamy. It wouldn't have mattered."
He started digging again, aware the young man was staring. Three hundred souls were heavy on one's shoulders. He knew that for a fact.
"Clarke tried to warn me." Bellamy said.
"The world would be a far better place if we just listened to Griffin women when it matters." he chuckled with some bitterness.
He couldn't help but be bitter when listening to Abby could have saved so many lives. She wasn't always right and he wasn't always wrong, he knew that, but together… Together they found a balance. Together they were the best leaders they could be and if, ultimately, his place was only to advise and she was the one with the actual power… He was alright with that. He was done with power play, done trying to desperately climb the political ladder, done trying to…
"Is that why you made Abby Chancellor?" Bellamy asked with genuine curiosity.
He thought back to those first few hours on the ground, to the danger of growing chaos within the survivors, of Abby stirring it up by defying his orders, to Byrnes urging him to do something, to Abby tied in the middle of something that wasn't yet a camp… It had been the only way he had seen to keep order. But…
It still made him feel disgusted.
Contrary to what she had liked to believe he had never enjoyed arresting her or sentencing her to death. He certainly hadn't enjoyed watching her get shock-lashed.
The Exodus Charter…
The Exodus Charter had no place on the ground but he hadn't been the right one to make the transition into something less extreme.
"She's better at decision making." he explained.
At least, she hadn't gotten three hundred and twenty people killed yet.
After a couple of seconds, Bellamy cleared his throat. "She really was worried, you know. You keep joking it off but… With Clarke out there…"
"I know." he cut him off.
He knew Abby was worried every time he left Arkadia even if there was no real reason for it. He also knew he wasn't sure what it meant for her to be worried about him like that. She was always concerned when they sent teams out there – and that was what made her such a good Chancellor, she cared - but it was different when it was him. And he wasn't sure what it meant.
"You've been friends a long time, right?" the boy insisted.
That was a lot more prying than Bellamy usually allowed himself. Marcus would have expected that kind of questions from his sister – because Octavia was never shy about prying or teasing him or embarrassing him – but not from him.
"We've known each other a long time." he corrected, wiping his brow with his sleeve. "We haven't always been friends."
They were now though. Closer than ever. Closer than he had ever been to anyone maybe, including Callie and Callie had been the only woman who had sometimes made him think about settling down.
"Because you arrested Clarke's dad?" Bellamy asked.
Jake.
"Clarke's father was my best friend." he explained.
Although that wasn't quite true either, was it? At that point… At that point, Jake had been closer to Jaha for years. Marcus didn't have a wife, he didn't have kids, he was all about his career… They had slowly grown apart until he had found himself having more in common with Abby than with Jake. He and Abby had always found something to argue about – to everyone's annoyance, he could still see Jake and Callie rolling their eyes at them over dinner – even back when it had been more friendly debates than the more aggressive fights that had followed Jake's death.
"Twisted." the boy commented.
"Tell me about it." he sighed.
"Were you two already…" Bellamy let that question trail off.
Marcus looked up at him, a frown on his face. The hole was deep enough to reach his shoulders now, Bellamy's legs were dangling not too far from him. "What?"
"Sorry." the young man immediately winced. "That's none of my business."
No, it wasn't, but the boy's prying wasn't the most alarming in that line of questioning. Marcus quickly reviewed what had just been said, what had been implied and…
"There's nothing going on between me and Abby." he said firmly because it seemed important, somehow, to get it out in the open.
He knew there were rumors going around. It was natural given that they spent half their nights locked in the war room to either try to expand Arkadia or work on peace treaties with the Grounder. And they also tended to grab lunch and dinner when they could and spenp the little free time they got together so… He knew there were rumors but he hadn't thought they were that serious. He had thought it was innocent gossip not…
"Sure." Bellamy nodded, too quickly and a bit too… Was the kid humoring him?
"I'm serious." he insisted.
"Okay." the young man shrugged.
Marcus studied him for a second, certain that he was being mocked, and then shook his head, walked closer to the edge of the hole and outstretched his arm. "Give me a hand."
"Aren't you supposed to do it all by yourself?" Bellamy snorted.
He could get out by himself. Probably. He had left a thick wine on the other side to climb out. But the kid was annoying him and it would be quicker that way so he simply lifted his eyebrows and waited until Bellamy complied and helped him out of the hole so he could finish setting the trap.
He started tying twigs together under Bellamy's amused gaze. Marcus almost asked him how he would hunt that wild boar without the gun strapped to his chest. He refrained. Because he wasn't sure his hunting skills were what had the kid so amused.
It took him half an hour to finish the trap.
It didn't look half bad.
"How are you going to get the pig in the hole?" Bellamy frowned.
"He likes chasing me." Marcus joked.
The boy suddenly looked a little alarmed.
He didn't look any less alarmed when Marcus came sprinting back an hour later, a pissed off wild boar charging after him.
"Kane!" Bellamy shouted, gun ready to fire.
Marcus leaped over the trap and the pig, as planned, ran straight ahead and ended up in the hole. It took another half hour to actually kill it and get it out of the hole without the younger man's help. And it wasn't exactly easy to sling it over his shoulders.
The hike to Indra's village was long and difficult. Every of Marcus' muscles hurt by the time a sentry shouted a warning in Trigedasleng.
"He didn't help." was the first thing he told Indra when she was within hearing range and her eyes fell on Bellamy. Marcus felt strangely proud of himself – prouder than killing a wild boar should have made him feel given his age.
"Yu don os, lukot." Indra nodded, gesturing at her warriors to relieve him of the dead animal.
You did good, my friend.
He handed the bow back to her with a smile. "Nou ai bezer shuda."
Not my favorite weapon.
"Nowe foto ste ogud." she replied.
It never hurts to be prepared.
He had offered to teach her how to shoot but Indra regarded their guns with disdain. It wasn't all about the fear of the Mountain Men, he figured, she also considered blades and arrows to be more worthy weapons than technology.
The sky was darkening by the time they left the village to head back to Arkadia. They walked in silence half the way, Bellamy attentive to their surroundings and Marcus a little distracted. He had mulled over how to say this since he had finished digging the trap.
"There's really nothing going on between Chancellor Griffin and I." he stated finally. "There's never been anything."
Bellamy glanced at him, amusement flickering on his face. "I said okay. You don't have to keep bringing it up."
"You said okay but you didn't believe me." he countered. "I don't want people talking about her like that."
And that was the real crux of the matter. He hated the thought that some people might be saying she had been cheating on Jake with him or that anyone could think for one second it was the real reason for Jake's death… He hadn't known those rumors were that serious or he would have put an end to them quicker. She deserved better.
Bellamy watched him for a second and then shrugged. "Nobody is saying anything mean. Look, I'm sorry I asked if you were already together when Clarke's father died… You would never do this kind of stuff, I know that. It was a stupid question."
"It's not the point, Bellamy." he argued, raising his voice a little. "There's nothing going on."
He should have known better than losing his temper because Bellamy closed off. "You don't have to tell me but you don't have to lie either. There's nothing wrong with it. We all think it's cool."
It took him a whole minute to process that and he was almost scared to ask. "We?"
"Me, O, Harper…" the kid shrugged. "Everyone."
"Who's everyone?" he insisted. "And why is everyone talking about my private life?"
"Everyone." Bellamy repeated with obvious irritation. "I don't know. Raven, Sinclair… It comes up sometimes, that's all."
Marcus rubbed his face, wincing at the dry patches of mud he could feel sticking to his skin. Or maybe it was the boy's words that was making him wince.
"Nothing's going on." How many times had he said that already?
"Yeah, right." Bellamy snorted. "You're kind of obvious, Kane, you know."
He opened his mouth to tell him to mind his own business and then closed it again because… He probably was kind of obvious. He had caught himself openly staring at her more than once, he knew he smiled at her like a fool sometimes too, he knew he wasn't as discreet as he should be no matter how hard he tried. So the whole thing was his fault and it wasn't fair on her.
"She's not…" he started only to clear his throat awkwardly. "She's not interested. It's not like that for her."
And wasn't that a humiliating thing to admit to a kid he liked to consider a surrogate son…
This time the young man didn't even bother pretending he wasn't making fun of him. "You're hopeless."
That, he couldn't dispute, because he had known for a while his feelings for Abby weren't exactly friendly and it hadn't stopped him from falling deeper and deeper into that pit.
"Just tell everyone they got it wrong." he sighed. "I don't want people saying that kind of things behind her back."
Bellamy let out a sigh of his own.
"Kane." the boy firmly declared. "I'm saying this with respect but get your head out of your ass."
His eyebrows shot up. "With respect?"
His sarcasm flew high over the younger man's head.
"Let me put it this way." Bellamy insisted. "You're both very obvious."
They weren't too far from Arkadia now and Marcus desperately wanted to drop the conversation in case someone accidentally overheard. There were patrols in the nearby woods.
"How is it going with Gina?" he countered.
He had hoped to fluster the kid who had been so very uncharacteristically reluctant to approach the young woman. That was how Marcus knew it was serious because when it came to flings Bellamy was never shy.
"Better than you with Abby." Bellamy deadpanned. "But your moves are rusty so that's not hard."
"My moves aren't rusty." he scoffed, a bit vexed.
"Do you even have any move at all?" the boy taunted.
Marcus rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Youth."
By tacit mutual agreement they fell silent when Arkadia's lights appeared around the trail. It was completely dark now and the guards on duty looked relieved to see them both back. It was safer out there nowadays but there never was any guarantee.
Bellamy headed straight to the group of former delinquents huddled around one of the campfires, no doubt to regal them with a mocking retelling of his Soujourn gouthru adventure. Marcus glanced around but he couldn't spot Abby anywhere so he briefly checked in with Miller – who told him the Chancellor was in Medical and had requested to be told as soon as they would be back – and went straight to his room.
He allowed himself the luxury of a very long hot shower. He had mud stuck in places mud had no business being.
He was just stepping out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his hips, when someone knocked on the door. He headed straight for the dresser anyway, thinking it would be Bellamy or Nathan Miller coming to check the patrol duty with him. "Come in."
He only realized his mistake when he heard the door opening and a soft surprised "oh" that didn't belong neither to Bellamy nor Nate. He turned around but Abby had already recovered and was closing the door.
"Sorry." he winced. "I thought you were… Someone else."
She frowned. "I just came to check you were alright but if you already have plans…"
That confused him for a second until he realized she though he was expecting someone he wouldn't mind opening his door to half naked – or very naked.
"I thought it would be Bellamy." he clarified and, because her frown deepened before turning into amusement, he gestured down at himself. "No ripped up artery."
There were bruises.
But bruises would fade.
"Don't sound so proud of yourself for that." she chided him, dropping her medical bag on the small table. Clearly, she hadn't trusted him not to have somehow gotten himself injured. She reached for his arm and inspected the purple bruise there with pursed lips. "How did you do that?"
"I fell down a mudslide. You can laugh." he offered, purposely leaving out the part where he had been chased down that slide by a massive pig with impressive tusks.
She didn't laugh but her mouth twitched and her eyes sparkled.
"So… Did you learn something important about yourself during this very manly rite of passage?" she teased.
"Women do it too." he pointed out. He went to sit on the bed, making sure the towel was still secure. "And I learned Bellamy is very good at tracking me."
"He had a good teacher." she smiled, leaning against the table. "I remember a time when tracking people was your favorite hobby."
"Tracking you was my favorite hobby." he blurted out before he could think better of it.
She looked surprised and an odd sort of tension rose in the room. He cleared his throat but couldn't think of anything he could say that would somehow salvage that.
"You still have twigs in your hair." Before he could protest, she was standing right in front of him and her fingers were running in his wet hair and…
"You didn't have to send Bellamy." he told her. "I was fine."
"You shouldn't have been out there without a gun in the first place." she argued. "And if you hadn't wanted me to send someone after you, you should have answered your radio."
She was right on both accounts so he dropped it.
Her fingers stilled in his hair.
She was far too close. If he tilted his head up he would be an inch away from her breasts and the conversation with Bellamy was far too fresh in his mind. Maybe he should have done something about it. At least try…
Hunting a wild boar with only a bow and a knife was easy, however, confessing his feelings to Abby Griffin… That was the real challenge.
He wondered if he could make it look casual if he were to grab the pillow and place it on his lap.
"I can't lose you." she whispered.
And of the thousand things he would have expected her to say, this was the last one.
He looked up at her, drawing back a little to avoid any accidental collision with her chest and keeping his eyes firmly on her face. "Abby, I'm fine."
"I know." she admitted with a small shrug. "But… Clarke is gone and you're… I can't lose you, Marcus."
One of her hands left his hair to trail down the side of his face, ended up on his shoulder. There was a question in her gaze, something vulnerable and hopeful that felt so precious he could only… He covered her hand with his, his thumb tentatively brushing circles on her wrist.
She closed her eyes and licked her lips, her voice dropping to a murmur. "You keep getting kidnapped or hurt or go hunting radioactive wild boars…"
"It was a normal one, actually. Huge but normal." he objected.
She glared at him. "It's not funny."
"I didn't say it was." he winced. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt that way."
"Then, you're an idiot." she scoffed.
"I've been told." he snorted. She frowned but he shook his head and stood up. His hand hovered over her waist before carefully making contact, giving her time to step back if this wasn't what she wanted. She didn't move so he closed the space between even more. "Abby, I…"
She kissed him before he could finish.
It was a shock, the feeling of her mouth crashing against his, but it was a shock he quickly got over. Her kiss was demanding, a question and a challenge all rolled into one…
He was only too happy to answer both.