Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: So this chapter is a day later than the rest. My family was out of town for a few days and we got back super late, so I decided to wait until today when I could be sure I liked what I had written. But the rest of this story should stick to my usual update schedule. A couple of people asked for a chapter on Kane, and since I've been writing the characters everybody else asked for, I decided to give it a shot. I'm not sure how happy I am with this chapter. I hard a really hard time finding a good voice and arch for him. But I think it ended up fairly in character. Hopefully you guys will agree. Enjoy!

Marcus

It's late afternoon when the scavenging team get back to Camp Jaha. Theoretically, if a person didn't dawdle and didn't mind walking a bit in the dark, the trip to and from Mount Weather could be made in a day. But Marcus prefers to do it in two. Despite the truce with the Grounders, he doesn't like his people out after dark unless absolutely necessary. Plus it gives the scavenging party more time to look. (It's getting harder to find supplies they haven't already picked over, although they're still finding new nooks and crannies.) So they make the trip two days. It feels odd sleeping in the silent halls of the mountain, but better safe than sorry.

Technically Marcus doesn't have to go on these supply runs. But carrying back things like medicine makes him feel useful. It's not that he isn't useful in camp. He's on the council, which makes him a significant part of the ruling body. He gets a say in practically every decision Abby makes. But sometimes it's just nice to have something to do with his hands.

He goes out into the woods every now and then and checks on the small tree his mother once cared for. He wasn't sure the tree would make it through the winter, but it did. Just like their people. It's every bit as resilient as they've turned out to be.

It still amazes Marcus how far they've come since reaching the ground. Camp Jaha is thriving, and it makes him proud. Proud of their people and of the part he's been allowed to play here. He considers himself beyond lucky to have a hand in the future his people are building here. But it's also more than that. There are things in his past he's not proud of. Things he can't take back. Chief among them is killing over three hundred of his own people. That decision can never be undone. But by serving his people now, by doing what he can to secure a future for those who remain, Marcus feels like he's slowly earning his redemption.

There are a few people who still harbor grudges against him. Namely the hundred. Marcus doesn't blame them. He was part of the body that sent them to prison. Some of them deserved that harsh sentence, but others, like Octavia Blake, didn't. True, many of them would have been released at eighteen. But Marcus was also responsible for floating some of their friends and family. These kids hate the old council and all it represented to them. They seem to have forgiven Abby because she's Clarke's mother. And if they can't have the Griffin they want, they'll settle for the other one. Besides, since coming to Earth, Abby has made several calls that have earned her some respect from that bunch. But Marcus is a different story. They obey him because Bellamy says to. But it's clear he has a long way to go before he'll have their loyalty.

It doesn't stop him from trying though. That's part of why he goes out with some of the patrols and supply teams. It's good for those kids, and the rest of the camp, to see him doing his part. To know that the council is not a ring of cushy seats for the privileged few. Down here, everyone pulls their weight. Even so, it'll be a long time before these kids accept him, and they'll probably never look up to him the way they do young Clarke. But while they may not see him as their people, Marcus still sees them as his. He'd look out for them even if Clarke hadn't left. But her departure makes it even more important. She saved him in Mount Weather too. And by extension, probably the rest of Camp Jaha as well. Marcus owes her at least this much.

Besides, he's one of the few people who truly understands why she left. The others may know the reason, but Marcus understands. He knows what it's like to have that many lives hanging over his head. Despite what people think, he didn't want bloodshed anymore than Clarke did. But they both did what they thought was right for their people. And then they had to learn to live with it. At least Marcus signed up for it. Well, not that specifically, but he took the job knowing there would be hard calls. But Clarke never asked for any of this. She stepped up because she had to. Besides, Marcus had already been hardened by the world. Clarke was introduced to harsh reality far too fast. And the magnitude of it broke her. That's the real reason Marcus let her go. He had seen the brokenness in her eyes, and even the thought of what it would do to Abby hadn't been enough to make him stop her. This was partially his fault, after all. She had only come down to Earth because he had insisted she be punished along with her father. And maybe her presence had kept them all alive, but she still deserved better. Much better. And so Marcus had let her go, vowing to guard her people until she returned.

And that's exactly what he's done. He's had to work mostly through Bellamy, seeing as he's who those kids will listen to. But Bellamy's actually come to genuinely look up to Marcus, and they've developed a sort of mentorship. It's quite incredible, really. That boy came to the ground as a disgraced janitor, and now he's the head of the guard. And Marcus has a feeling there's a day coming when he'll be a leader for all of these people.

Bellamy is conspicuously absent from the main gate when Marcus and the rest of the supply crew reach it. Usually someone under his command has seen the team coming up the road and gone to fetch him so he can brief Marcus on anything important that happened during his absence. But instead it's Sergeant Miller who opens the gate. A group of civilians appear to help with the supplies, and Marcus hands off his heavy bag to one of them.

"Good haul?" Sergeant Miller asks as the civilians carry off the supplies.

"We found most of what we were looking for," Marcus says. He rubs his sore shoulder and looks around the main yard before turning back to Sergeant Miller. "Where's Bellamy?"

"In the mess with the others," Sergeant Miller says. Then his eyes widen and a grin appears on his face. "You haven't heard yet, have you? Clarke came home."

"She's back?" Marcus asks in amazement.

"She got here this morning," Sergeant Miller says. "Some of the kids talked their way into a day off to see her. They're in the mess now. Abby and Bellamy are with them."

Marcus can't quite believe it. He heads straight to the mess hall to see for himself. But sure enough, Abby, Bellamy, and about ten of the former delinquents are crammed around a table talking and laughing. And there, at the head of the table, sits Clarke herself. Only once he sees her smiling face does Marcus finally allow himself to believe it. Clarke has come home.

No one at the table has seen him yet, so he stands there in silence and just drinks it all in. The former delinquents all look happy. Happier than Marcus has ever seen them. Even stoic Lincoln is smiling. And there's a twinkle in Bellamy's eyes that hasn't been here since Clarke left. Her absence was hard on him, a constant reminder of his own scars. He and Clarke are like two parts of a whole. They fit together in a way no one could have ever predicted. And without her, it's been a struggle for Bellamy to bear all the responsibility alone. He's managed it, but it's taken a lot out of him. But now he looks like he's finally found himself again.

The most remarkable change, however, is in Abby. For as long as Marcus has known her, Clarke has been the center of Abby's world. Everything she does is to make a better life for her daughter. That's part of why there had once been so much animosity between she and Marcus. She hadn't been able to forgive him for imprisoning Clarke. Learning Clarke was alive on the ground had helped, and since then they've come a long way. But Clarke is still the dearest thing in Abby's world, even if she doesn't always show it. Which is why Clarke's departure nearly broke her. She's been a shadow of herself these last few months. Yes, she's done a remarkable job as the chancellor. But when work stops and the chancellor mask comes off, it's clear she's in pain. That her heart is broken, and there's nothing anyone can do to mend it. Only now Clarke has gone and done the one thing that can. She's made her mother whole again. The joy on Abby's face makes that clear. And it warms Marcus' heart like nothing else.

The kids notice him suddenly, and all conversation pauses. Marcus isn't really sure what to say. Clarke does seem to have developed a certain respect for him, and she did ask him to take care of Abby. But he's also the man who floated her father and had her locked up. Besides, it's clear from the way the teenagers are starting to fidget that he makes them uncomfortable.

"Don't mind me," he says modestly.

He's about to turn and leave them all in peace, but a scraping chair stops him. Clarke has gotten to her feet and is making her way around the table. Marcus expects her to maybe shake his hand, but to his utter shock, she wraps her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

"Thank you," she says so quietly that only he can hear. There's so much meaning in those two words. Thank you for letting me go. Thank you for taking care of my mom. Thank you for being there for Bellamy. Thank you for keeping an eye on my people when I couldn't.

Marcus hardly knows what to say. This is a girl he imprisoned. The daughter of a man he had floated. A girl who not only overcame, but somehow turned into exactly the sort of leader Marcus wishes he could be. She should hate him. But in spite of all of his mistakes, here she is hugging him. If Thelonius were here, he'd probably call it a sign. Some kind of cosmic confirmation that Marcus has finally managed to achieve redemption.

He wraps his own arms tentatively around Clarke.

"You're welcome," he says quietly.

Clarke pulls away before things can get awkward and smiles up at Kane.

"You can join us if you want," she says, motioning at the table.

"I have some business I need to take care of," Marcus apologizes. In truth it could probably wait, but these kids have waited for their friend long enough. He doesn't want to intrude. But he can't stop himself from adding, "But maybe we could talk later if you wanted?"

"I'd like that," Clarke says honestly. "We probably have a lot to talk about."

She glances briefly in her mother's direction and then back again before giving him a knowing smile. Kane finds himself wondering if she knows about the growing relationship between himself and Abby. But if she does, she must approve, because she says nothing.

"I'll leave you to it then," Marcus says.

Abby is watching him over Clarke's shoulder, and he gives her a smile before exiting the mess hall. He can hear laughter ringing down the corridor after him. He pauses for a moment, listening with a smile as Clarke's voice enters the fray again. It doesn't matter to him that she was able to help those kids where he couldn't. What matters is that his people are safe, they're happy, and they're whole. And at the end of the day, that's really all Marcus ever wanted.

Please, please let me know what you think what you think about this chapter. You guys have no idea how much your feedback means to me. The next chapter will be Lexa's point of view when she learns Clarke has returned home. Then the thirteenth and final chapter will hopefully be from Monroe's point of view. I've already got an idea for it, so we'll just have to see if I can find a good voice for her. My one-shot "Exit the Hero" has Kane as one of the people Clarke says good-bye to before leaving, and there's a short blurb in there about their good-bye if you want to read it. If you're interested in Kane and Abby's relationship, my connected one-shots "The Sun Will Rise" and "Raise Your Glass" both contain a lot of discussion about them as well as a short scene in each with the two of them actually interacting. As always, thanks for reading!