8 months later

Marcus thought by now he'd have a chance to explain himself to Abby, that he would never have voted to float Jake. He had wanted to show that he could be better then what people thought he was, but Abby never gave him that chance. In her mind their actions had lead Jake to make the decisions he did. That they had in turn killed him. They'd fallen back into their old relationship, the relationship that was driven by extreme contempt. Marcus dove into a deep darkness of cynicism while Abby spent her day searching for redemption.

It had been decided to send 100 juvenile offenders to earth to determine it's survivability. Clarke was among those sent. For Abby it was another strike against Marcus. He'd taken everything from her as far as she was concerned and she had no problem throwing it in his face. She'd made it her new mission in life to undercut his decisions and authority. Today was no different and Today was launch day.

Marcus walked into earth monitoring, it was a hive of activity as everyone watched as months of planning was put into action. "What's our status?" He asked.

"Total system failure" Sinclair answered " that's what we're looking at. All we know for sure is that they were off course when we lost contact."

This was not the news Marcus was hoping to hear. Everything they had was riding on the success of this mission. "What about communications?"

"Other then telemetry from the wristbands we've got nothing. No audio, no video, no computer link. Everything that we programmed in to help them is gone. They're on their own." Sinclair added.

'Shit' Marcus thought. Things were not going well so far. At least the wrist bands Abby had designed were still working. He had to admit their design was impressive. Moral was starting to falter in the room. Marcus decided it was time to get everyone back on the same page.

"Here It is, we know they've landed but communications are down, which means we're still blind to conditions on the ground." He announced to the room. "Thanks to Abby's wristbands at least we know how those conditions affect the human body, which is more than we've had for 100 years. So nice work, now what are they telling us?"

Abby started to answer "two dead kids, dark tiles." She motioned to the massive screen of data in front of them " , please share our theory with Councillor Kane." The way she said his name was cold, as if she despised it's presence on her tongue.

Glancing between the two Jackson continued where she left off "Of course. Granted they've only been on the ground for 7 minutes but as of now we believe the fatalities are due to landing, not radiation."

Abby could see Jackson starting to falter under Marcus's skeptical stare so she took over again "both boys died at the same time that we lost contact with the drop ship."

"Rough landing? That's your theory?" He questioned

"The dots connect."

"Would you agree that if it was radiation we'd see fatalities climb fairly quickly now? Because I'm noticing a lot of red on that board." He stated smugly.

"Spiking vital signs, two possibilities, one injuries sustained during landing." Abby explained.

"And the other?"

"They're excited to be there." She answered with a hopeful smile. It shouldn't bother him this much that she's probably right but it did, it was just part of his nature. His only response is to nod, pursing his lips in thought.

The following hours passed by painfully slow. To be honest this was the longest amount of time Abby and Marcus had spent in the same room since Jake was floated. Both of them were painfully aware of this fact as they caught each other glancing at the other a few times.

"Hey darling how's Clarke?" Callie entered disrupting one of these moments.

"Her vital signs are strong. Blood sugar's low ,she hasn't eaten." She replied sadly.

The phone ringing stops any further conversation. "This is ." There is a pause as Abby's face falls. "On my way…. Jackson put it out there we need blood. 'A-neg' and a lot of it. Then get your ass to the OR." She orders.

Callie asked the question they were all wondering. "Abby what's wrong?"

"The chancellors been shot." She announced before darting down the hall to medical.

'Fuck' Marcus thought. The chancellors safety was one of his primary jobs and he'd been so distracted as councillor Kane he'd failed as head of the guard. This was going to be an even longer day and he wouldn't be able to rest till he knew who had shot the chancellor.

He'd radio'd his senior officers to meet him at his office as he sprinted through the halls. Unsurprisingly they were all there when he got there. There was a certain level of fear he instilled as a leader, and god help them if they didn't meet expectation.

"Who was in charge of the chancellors security detail." He yelled as soon as he entered the room.

"I had recruits Hanby and Sigoda on his detail." Lieutenant Graco answer hesitantly.

"You left the safety of our chancellor in the hands of two recruits!" Marcus yelled his face turning red.

"Sir I believe the chancellor requested…" he tried to defend

Marcus cut him off by holding up a hand "Get out of my sight I'll deal with you later." As the lieutenant left Marcus continued "Now for everyone else I want to know who did this by the end of the day. Major Byrne I want you in charge of witness interviews, detain anyone you feel needs to be looked at. Commander Shumway get your people on surveillance cameras, there's no way they didn't catch our suspect. I want them found now." With orders given everyone went to their respective duties.

When answers came to who the shooter was Marcus was almost disappointed to learn it was a nobody janitor named Bellamy Blake, of course he remembered the family's history but he expected a much larger conspiracy. He sighed sitting back at his desk, he'd already been awake for going on 28 hours and the adrenaline from the day as wearing off. There was a soft knock on his door that brought him back to his surroundings.

"Sorry to bother you sir but this is nurse Smyth she was in the OR with the chancellor and has some information for you." One of his sergeants escorted an older women in.

"How is the chancellor?" Marcus asked first.

"He made it out of surgery but the next few hours will be critical to his recovery, but that's not what I'm here to discuss." She answered taking a seat in the spare chair across from Marcus.

"Then what can I help you with?"

"I believe vastly over stepped her bounds in the OR. Of course I'm happy she kept the chancellor alive but she used over double the allowed blood and sedatives per patient."

Of course this was about Abby, she would be the cause of another headache for him. "And you believe her decisions were unreasonable." He tested to see how much of an issue this would create.

"Well Sir I think you would agree no one life is greater then another and the perception that she would do this for the chancellor but not another father or son would cause somewhat of an uproar." She wasn't wrong, and he knew there was an OR full of knowledgeable witnesses.

"Thank you for coming to me, I'll look into it personally." He mustered up the best smile he could come up with. His smile quickly fell as soon as the woman left. "Dammit Abby" he cursed under his breath. This put him in a difficult predicament. There was no doubt she'd committed a crime, there were at least half a dozen witnesses. People had been floated for far less. If he pardoned her it would be noticeable, stirring up questions and showing his weakness. He sighed, grabbing a few of his guard and heading to earth monitoring where he knew she'd be.

She appeared to be celebrating something when they entered. A short lived celebration as one of his guard announced their purpose. "Councilor Abigail Griffin you're under arrest for exceeding the maximum medical supplies allowed per patient."

Marcus walks right up to her hoping he could express to her how much he hated doing this without loosing his facade. "Sorry this has to be public, the policy in these matters is very clear. No special treatment." He starts to exit but he cant help but allow himself a kane-like question "How much blood did you use Abby?" He was trying to force her to confess.

Jackson caught on as he warned Abby not to answer but Abby had no problem calling his bluff "I used whatever it took. Breaking the law to keep you from becoming Chancellor was the easiest decision I've ever made."Her eye shone with a hint of excitement. They were playing their game again.

"In that case , given your confession. In my role as chancellor pro tempore, you leave me no choice, but to find you guilty."

"We always have a choice Kane. You chose to press charges against my husband, your friend, even though you knew he'd get floated for it. You chose to include my daughter in those charges and now you're choosing this. Hiding behind the law absolves you of nothing." The venom in her voice as she spoke almost broke his composure. He wanted yell and scream to everyone that he played no part in Jake and Clarke's arrest. That he'd done everything he could to save them.

Instead he steeled himself again "Be that as it may, in accordance with penal code one, because all crimes committed by those above the age of maturity are capitol crimes. You are hereby sentenced to death. Execution is set for the morning, and I choose at every turn and at any cost to make sure the human race stays alive."

She seemed shocked for the briefest second at his sentence but she wouldn't falter "That's the difference between us, Kane. I choose to make sure that we deserve to stay alive."

He stared at her for a moment before gesturing to his guards to bring her to the cells. He followed behind as they walked her to Clarke's old cell. Every surface of the cell was adorned with Clarke's artwork. Unbeknownst to Abby, Marcus had regularly dropped off art supplies to Clarke to help pass her time in the skybox. She had clearly made good use of them. What he didn't understand was that he had supplied her with paper why did she find the need to draw on the walls? She was just as defiant as her mother.

Marcus followed Abby into the cell and dismissed the rest of the guards. They were alone together in a room for the first time in months.

"Is this part of my punishment Kane? Being in Clarke's cell? You can't just be happy with floating me?" She spat.

"I don't want to float you!" He sneered back. She knew him well enough to attack his weaknesses. "Why do you have to be so infuriating?"

"Because I hate you." She spat, tears coming to her eyes.

He charged towards her causing her to back up against the wall. The raw emotion in his eyes causing the breath to hitch in her throat. "Enough!" He growled. His face only a few inches from hers. She'd been punishing him for months and his resolve was cracking. "You drive me crazy."he continued in the same dark tone.

They'd been here before, he knows that. At that time he was the one pulling the strings causing her to break. This time all she had to utter one word "same" and he snapped. In a quick move he punched the metal wall next to where Abby stood, mere inches from her head. The pain immediately radiating in his right hand, but she never flinched. "Real smart Kane break your damn hand." She chastised him.

"You didn't move." It was a statement because he knew she wouldn't have, she was stubborn, but so was he.

Abby started fussing with his hand, the doctor in her drove her to inspect his injury. She wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. "Of course not." She answered absentmindedly.

"Why?" He asked halting her movement and making her look at him. "Why wouldn't you flinch?" She opened her mouth to answer but stopped when she realized the answer. "Say it Abby." There wasn't another soul on this ark that wasn't afraid of Marcus Kane. He'd made sure of that. Abby was the only person to see past his well crafted mask.

"You'd never hurt me." She whispered. She dropped his hand, the injury forgotten as she processed the meaning in her own answer.

"I'd never hurt you Abby. You have to remember that. Please help me keep you safe." His whisper matching hers. He could see a cycle of emotions flashing through her eyes as if she was trying to figure out where she should land.

"It's not your job to look after me Kane." She tried to reflect her earlier anger but found no bite in her response.

"Actually it is. I promised Jake I would." He stated sternly before leaving her speechless, alone in the cell.

Marcus walked with purpose down to medical searching until he found Jackson working at a back desk. "Jackson. I need a status on the chancellor. Can we speak privately?"

Marcus felt sorry for the young man for a second because it was obvious he wanted to tell him to 'fuck off' after arresting his mentor but he was too afraid to do so. Instead he lead Marcus into Abby's vacant office.

"The Chancellor is improving better then expected but still remain in serious condition. Abby did a great job repairing the damage." Jackson answered flatly.

"Great. You have 10 hours to get him up and moving." Marcus stated as if he was asking the young man to clean his room.

"I'm sorry what? No way!"

"Yes. I need you to get him up and moving before Abby's sentence is carried out. Do you understand what I'm asking?" Marcus knew his people skills were not his strongest asset but he hoped Jackson understood that they needed Jaha awake to put a stop to Abby's execution.

"This is madness. There has to be another way." Jackson stuttered.

"It's what I need you to do to save Abby and keep the ark from falling into chaos. They fear me but they respect Jaha, he's the only one who can make the call. Please Jackson." He almost begged in a very un-Kane-like manor.

"Okay." Jackson replied as if puzzle pieces were clicking into place in his head. He'd been a silent observer of Abby for a while and now he was figuring Kane out too. To be honest it made a few other things make a heck of a lot more sense.

"Thank you." Marcus stated sincerely as he started to turn to leave "oh and Jackson I'd appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about this conversation."

"Of course."Jackson nodded.

It wasn't till Marcus entered his quarters that he remembered his hand. He probably should have asked Jackson to take a look at it as it had swollen to double its size. Abby was right it was a dumb move but at least he proved his point. It was the closest he's been able to get to make her listen to him. He laid down on his bed still fully dressed in his clothes from the day. Even after his running around from the event of the last 48 hours he knew there was no chance he'd get any sleep. The pain in his hand beating out its own time with his heartbeat, as he felt helpless. He'd set a plan in place but their was no guarantee it would work. He knew he was asking a lot of Jackson, Jaha had barely survived. He thought for a second about going up to talk to Abby again but decided it was better he didn't press his luck, she already had enough on her mind. So instead he just stared up at the stars. He remembered back to when he was younger and he would do the same with Abby. Why did things have to get this complicated? They used to be easy.