7. Eden

The silence in the bedroom was daunting.

Abby was sitting at the foot of the bed, tightening her shoelaces, lost in her thoughts. Marcus was already dressed and he watched her for a moment, committing her to memory.

They had made love that morning but it had tasted like goodbye and Marcus hated that.

There were risks in what they were about to do, so many risks…

They had checked and rechecked they could open the iris from the other side, they had talked about possible rescue missions and contingency plans, they had talked about the GDOs (which from what he had gotten from Raven were remotes that would open their iris once they entered the right code – Raven's birthday as it turned out ), they had carefully prepared the weapons they would be taking with them as well as the equipment… They were as ready as they were ever going to be when it came down to Gate travel.

It didn't make it any less dangerous.

"Abby." he said at last. They didn't have much time left before he was scheduled to join the others in the Gate room.

She looked up at him and forced a smile that looked terribly fake. "I know."

"We have to do this." he insisted anyway.

She nodded. "I just hate sending you off on diplomatic missions. You always manage to come back hurt."

"But I always come back." he pointed out, joining her at the foot of the bed. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and when she melt into his side, he pressed a long kiss on her head. "I don't like the idea of leaving you behind either."

Last time he had left her behind, she had been tortured, her mind stolen from her and memories she cherished had been wiped clean. He would never forget and he would never forgive himself for not insisting more for her to leave with them. He knew, deep down, that she would never have. She was Abby Griffin and Abby Griffin saved people, that was who she was. She had needed to stay just like he had needed to leave. It didn't make the prospect of another separation any easier.

"I will be fine." she promised, propping her chin on his shoulder. "I'm sure David, Harper and Nathan understood your specific instructions to never let me wander anywhere without one of them." He winced and she laughed. "Did you truly think I wouldn't find out about that?"

He shrugged. "Who gave it away?"

"Murphy." she grinned. "Who is supposed to discreetly shadow me and make sure nobody tries to murder me."

In retrospect, he should have known better than ask Murphy and Emori for help. "What did it cost you?"

"Nothing." she mocked. "He likes me now. We bonded in a time of crisis." She said it lightly but with enough inherent sadness that he could take a wild guess at when that had happened. She studied him. "What did it cost you?"

"Two shirts and half my rations for a week." he sighed. "That's the Chancellor discount apparently. Then again he doesn't like me."

She shook her head at him with fondness and a bit of exasperation before brushing her hand against his cheek. "I will be safe. You have to stay safe too."

He kissed her deep, wishing they could never stop, wishing things were easier and they were still in Arkadia where their greatest concern would have been deciding about planting crops on the right or on the left side of camp.

"I love you." he whispered against her lips.

"I love you too." she answered in the same manner.

It was difficult to detach themselves from each other, difficult to leave Marcus and Abby behind to go be the Chancellors.

The others were already in the Gate room, already geared up and ready to go. Octavia was talking with Indra and Roan, Bellamy, Clarke and Raven were laughing… Marcus slipped on his backpack, clipped his gun to his vest, adjusted the odd unfamiliar weight of the zat'nik'tel against his thigh, and cleared his throat.

"Are we ready?" he asked around. He only got nods so he turned to the control room where Monty and Jasper were sitting behind the computers and gave them the signal. They all stood aside while the Gate dialed.

"Be careful." Abby begged Clarke, hugging her for dear life.

"I will, don't worry." her daughter promised before lowering her voice – but Marcus heard all the same. "I'll make sure he comes back in one piece."

"All of you should come back in one piece." Abby countered. "But please do. I don't trust his self-sacrificing tendencies."

Clarke laughed and nodded, escaping her mother's arms to go stand next to Bellamy.

Raven was patting Abby's shoulder for her own hug when the Gate flared to life. She was laughing too. "Don't worry, Abby, I'll get that lot of dumbass back here for you."

"Don't be reckless and watch out for your leg." Abby instructed.

Octavia was treated to a hug too. She suffered it tolerably well, even briefly giving in to it before stepping away with her warrior scowl in place. Bellamy didn't even try to escape it, he just opened his arms and hugged her tight.

"SG1, it's a go." Monty told them through the mic.

Marcus frowned. "SG1? I don't remember we agreed on a codename..."

"Don't be a spoilsport, Kane." Bellamy teased. "We're SG1, new generation." The kid looked at him from head to toes and then snorted. "Well, we are. You're more the tag along dad who wants to do what the kids do. It's a bit sad actually."

"It is." Clarke joined in, her eyes twinkling in mischief.

Marcus blinked, his lips twitching in amusement despite himself. "Chancellor, here."

"If they respected that, we would know by now." Abby sighed but he could tell she was amused too.

"Oh, we respect Chancellor Griffin." Octavia cut in, joining the fun. "Abby has the scary mom look."

"You all used to be scared of me." Marcus argued.

"Key words? Used to." Raven taunted, limping toward the ramp. "We're doing this or what?" She stopped at the foot of the ramp and turned back to where the two Grounder leaders were waiting in silence for all of them to start behaving with a little more dignity. "Oh, fuck it." She limped right back to them, fisted the front of Roan's jacket and pulled so she could coil her other hand around his neck. The kiss was hard, messy, tongues were obviously involved and it was very embarrassing to witness. The mechanic drew back and licked her lips. "Just in case, you know… We die or something."

"Yu laik nau teik wan op, Raven Reyes." Roan replied. You are forbidden to die.

"Yeah, hold on to that thought." the mechanic laughed, walking back toward the Gate.

She had begged to be allowed to go first.

Marcus would have preferred if it had been him or Bellamy but he had caved. She had a gun, she knew how to use it…

She took a deep breath and then stepped into the event horizon. The kids walked in the blue puddle one after the other, leaving him to take the rear. He glanced over his shoulder at Abby one last time and then he breathed out as was advised before taking the step that would take him to the other side.

It was like crash landing on Earth. Except worse.

He instinctively gasped for breath once on the other side, feeling as if his body had been frozen, twisted and then thrust around inside a washing machine.

The trip clearly hadn't affected Raven too much because she was still over the moon. Bellamy and Octavia looked alright too… Clarke was a little green and they exchanged sympathetic winces as they tried to catch their breath.

The Gate died behind them, plunging them in complete darkness.

He switched on the flashlight on his gun and the others did the same, the small beams of light bounced on consoles and concrete walls, not providing much information on their surroundings.

"I've got the DHD." Raven said, her flashlight aimed at the Gate's control panel. She quickly dialed Earth while he and Clarke hastily moved away from the wormhole's range. They all breathed a sigh of relief when it actually worked.

Their radio immediately buzzed with statics. "Marcus?"

Abby's voice was good to hear and he smiled despite himself when he grabbed his own radio. "We made it through in one piece and we have a way home."

"You're supposed to call us SG1, you know." Raven chided Abby in her own radio.

"Everything seems calm around here." he told Abby. "We're going to look around. We'll make contact in five hours, as planned."

"Be careful." Abby begged. "All of you."

"Don't worry, Mom." Clarke butted in. "We've got this."

It soon turned out this base wasn't underground. After a few corridors, they found windows that provided natural sunlight and Marcus started to relax. They toured the whole place and after triple checking for radiation of any sort, they wandered outside. There were more buildings but some of them were in states of disrepair, others were completely ruined.

The air smelt strangely salty and a little damp.

It was Octavia who found the cliff a few feet away from the Alpha site, hidden by trees. Huge waves crashed against the rocks, birds chirped in the sky…

Marcus took a second to close his eyes and simply enjoy the feeling.

After weeks of being trapped underground and the recurring dreading thought that they would never feel the sunlight on their skin again… This felt like paradise.

"We can never go back to living inside." Clarke declared in a low voice, coming to a stop next to him. "We need this place to work out."

"This place or another." he agreed.

The Alpha site was a big complex that stretched like a very small town. There was a habitations area with small little houses – it seemed to be the more damaged area – empty labs, a medical facility, storage buildings with jeeps that made Raven squeal in delight… They checked out everything to make sure it was safe but the place seemed to have been abandoned for a very long time. The only things of interest that had been left behind were the cars and Marcus suspected they were only there because they were too big and impractical to travel wherever their ancestors went.

There were no traces of battle, no skeletons, nothing indicating they had been removed by force.

"Raven, try to restore power if you can. Octavia, stay with her for cover." Marcus ordered. "Bellamy, sweep the base again, check everything and start thinking of possible defenses we could put in place. If we bring more people here, I want to be certain it's a viable option." He nodded at Clarke. "Are you up for some exploring?" Clarke shrugged with a smile and he studied all the kids in turn. "We're radio checking every half hour. Everyone stays sharp."

"Yes, sir." Bellamy said, pushing the others into compliance.

Marcus and Clarke headed to the woods at the edge of the compound. The trees were tall and not at all the same species that were growing near Arkadia. It looked like an odd hybrid between forest and jungle. He was fascinated by everything from the huge butterflies to the sound of the waves. They followed the cliff edge for a solid fifteen minutes before they found a steep path leading down to what seemed to be a pebble beach.

They hesitated, wary of sudden unpredictable tides, but in the end curiosity won and they ventured on the beach, trying not to twist their ankles on the pebbles. Waves licked at their boots, the smell of salt was even stronger here.

"Do you think it's a sea or an ocean?" he asked Clarke, crouching at the edge of the water, fascinated by the coming and going of the waves.

"I don't know." she shrugged. "But we need to find clear water if we're seriously thinking about moving here."

"Water and potential food." he agreed, dipping his hand in the water. It was cool and translucent. He could spot small fishes further from shore. "We could build boats."

"Mom's going to love this." Clarke grinned, sitting right next to him, apparently not caring that her pants would be damp. It was warm though and after a second of reflection, Marcus sat down too. "She always had this thing for oceans. She collected old pictures and stuff. I used to draw it for her every birthday. Dad always tried to get me new blue pencils so I could do hues properly…" Her lips pursed and she averted her eyes. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry for mentioning Jake." he countered, gentle but firm. "I know I never said…"

"Don't." she cut him off. "I don't need apologies."

It was his turn to avert his eyes. He and Clarke had gotten spectacularly well since they had all reunited on the ground but they had never talked about the elephant in the room and now that he and Abby…

"Jake was my friend." he offered quietly. "I know what he means to your mother, what he means to you… I would never… I'm not trying to replace him, Clarke."

It was a long minute before she nodded. "I know."

Marcus licked his lips and let his gaze explore the endless horizon. "Jake is a part of Abby. I would never deny her that. Or you, for that matter."

She made a pebble turn in her hand again and again. "You really love her, don't you?"

"More than anything." he answered honestly.

She watched him for a while and then looked down again. "You make her happy. It's a good thing. I don't… I'm okay with it, Kane, you don't have to worry."

He cleared his throat, flashing her a small smile. "Thank you."

She shook her head with a smile of her own and got to her feet, holding out a hand to help him up. "Let's go find clear water."

It took them twenty minutes to find a river. Clarke took samples they could test while he kept watch but if there was a hostile presence on this planet, it was well hidden. The jungle was tricky and they would probably need to learn about its natural dangers but the whole place seemed like a better option than Cheyenne Mountain. They could probably take everything they needed with them and build the rest. Whoever had designed the Alpha site had been prepared for a long stay.

"Where do you think they went?" Clarke asked, as they were hiking back toward the base. "This camp is good. Why would they leave it?"

"For more?" he suggested. "Maybe they found a better planet… Maybe the people who left by ships came for them… We're not sure what happened to Atlantis…" The reports on that front had been vague and difficult to decipher. "Maybe they found it again."

"A flying city…" Clarke sighed. "I know it could come in handy but it would feel too much like the Ark."

"We will need to explore further away from the Alpha site before we decide if we want to move in or not." he declared. "We need to make sure we won't walk straight into another war."

He could do without a brand new Grounders threat.

"I agree." Clarke approved. "Indra, Roan and Mom should check it out anyway so the coalition stands on equal footing."

"Yes." he nodded. "We can have a few more people over. Volunteers. But we shouldn't give up on our options. I still think developing some sort of Gate exploration program would be worth it in the long run. We have coordinates where they found allies in the past… We could try to renew alliances with them. Establish some sort of trade system… If we really move people here, we could use Earth as a harbor of sort, centralize gate teams there, organize rotations… It would be safer this way."

He was so focused on what they could do he was firing ideas without giving her a chance to answer and it took him five minutes to realize she was giving him the same amused look Abby had given him in Polis.

"Mom's right." Clarke grinned. "You're really cut out to be Chancellor."

He felt himself blush a little under a compliment he still didn't think he deserved.

"I just want the best for our people." he protested.

"You don't want just the best. You want the most." she shrugged. "That's the difference. It's not just about survival to you."

He hesitated for a second and then it was his turn to shrug, a little sheepish. "Someone very wise once told me we should make sure we deserve to stay alive."

A small smile played on Clarke's lips and he knew he didn't have to elaborate on who exactly had said that.

"Dad would have loved this." she said, as the compound came into view. "Not just Earth, but a gate that opens on other planets… He would have loved this."

It wasn't difficult to imagine Jake down there with them, smiling wildly at the adventure ahead, at the rare pieces of alien technology… And yet… The Ground had changed everyone in some ways, he couldn't help but wonder if Jake would have truly thrived down there. Keeping a cool head had never been his friend's forte. Abby sometimes let her emotions rule her head but she always kept the bigger picture in mind. Jake now…

Clarke looked, if not happy, at least content however and he didn't want to spoil that for her.

"He would have." he offered.

The smile morphed into a beaming grin and he had the distinct feeling he had just passed some sort of test. He supposed it was simply good they could talk about Jake. The subject had been mostly left alone with Abby but, then again, Abby and her daughter were different. Abby reasoned in terms of before and after the Ark fell to the Ground. To Clarke there was no such clear distinction, the whole thing was a long string of related events.

Everything was calm when they walked back into the Alpha site. Bellamy greeted them with a nod and a smile for the girl he thought nobody knew he was in love with.

"Raven says she needs spare parts if we want power." the boy told them. "It's nearly time to contact the SGC anyway. One of us should head back and debrief the council."

Marcus nodded. "Send Octavia. Maybe it will make Indra more at ease with the whole thing. And ask them for reinforcements along with whatever Raven needs. I want to start looking around properly. Map out the area."

"Tell them to send some of the horses over." Clarke ordered and faced with their inquisitive faces she winced. "There are horses hidden in the spare storage rooms on the upper levels. My Grounders like their horses and they don't share Azgeda's ideas about them being good meat."

The fact that she had managed to hide horses from him in a base he toured everyday was impressive. But then again Clarke was impressive. He waved his go ahead to Bellamy.

Once Octavia was gone through the Gate, they set camp outside the main building for the night. It was downright chilly which was surprising given how warm the day had been but Marcus put that on unpredictable weathers on strange planets.

"It's weird." Bellamy said after a while, his eyes turned upwards. "Stars aren't in the right place."

"They're in the right place." Raven argued. "You're not, dumbass."

"It's a whole new Earth to learn." Clarke sighed, resting her head on Bellamy's shoulder.

They all watched the stars in silence for a while before Marcus cleared his throat. "Is that what we're calling it? New Earth?"

Raven wrinkled her nose and poked the fire with a long branch. "It sucks."

Clarke rolled her eyes. "You can do the naming since you're both so clever."

The mechanic grinned, wriggling her eyebrows. "I vote for Reyes." Both Clarke and Bellamy snorted, prompting Raven to chuckle. "Oh, come on, it's not worse than New Earth. We should vote. What do you say, Kane? You want to give your name to this planet too?"

"He's more the kind to want to name it after Abby." Bellamy teased.

It was Marcus' turn to roll his eyes but he did so with a fond smile on his lips. He was distracted though, seriously pondering the question.

It was his mother's voice that gave him the answer, coming from the far end of his memory.

"Eden." he suggested.

The Tree she had tended to all her life was lost now but the name could survive.

"Eden." Clarke repeated slowly and, because she was sometimes as perceptive as Abby, she flashed him a small smile. "Your mom would have liked that."

He smiled back at her, appreciating the words. There was a murmur of agreement between Raven and Bellamy and he figured it was done. The Alpha site was renamed. Eden. A promise.

Silence fell though, a bit embarrassed on the others' part. Marcus didn't really notice, his mind was elsewhere, suddenly lost to a grief he had barely had time to address, let alone process.

"She scolded me so badly once, I burst into tears." Raven said suddenly. "Vera. I thought it would be a good idea to take the Tree out of its pot so it could breathe." Faced with their incredulous gazes, she shrugged. "Hey, I was six." Her lips stretched into a smile. "Then she comforted me and explained all about trees and plants. She was always so nice…"

Clarke and Bellamy nodded their agreement.

He wasn't surprised the kids all had fond memories of his mother. Vera Kane had always fascinated children mainly because she knew so many stories and was always willing to humor them. She had been an extraordinary woman.

This wasn't the Eden she had been hoping for.

But, perhaps, it could be just as good if not better.

At least, that was what he firmly told himself the next morning when Indra passed the Gate, leading a spooked horse by the reins, followed by a handful of Grounders and guards carrying everything Raven had required.

"Mounin hou." he greeted her. Welcome home.

"Ste em hou?" Indra retorted a tad ironically. Is it home?

"Come and see." he grinned, leading her outside.

She closed her eyes when the small salty breeze caressed her face and she took a deep breath. He waited patiently for her to reacquaint herself with the feeling of being outside and silently followed when she wandered around the ruins of the compound. He started explaining what they could do, how they could organize if they decided to colonize the planet, so the different tribes didn't have to live all over each other, and she listened and nodded at several points.

"It seems I owe you an apology, my friend." she declared after several minutes. "This was worth the risk. Brana hod, brana stot au."

"I hope so." he offered. "I honestly hope so."

A new world, a new beginning.

Only one chapter left! I hope you liked this chapter! Please let me know!