"Wishful thinking isn't good science."

— Marcus Kane, "Pilot"

Kane and the others marched into the guard meeting room. The whole guard was present as well as several volunteers, including the prisoner, William Lacroix. Kane ignored him and looked to the other volunteers: Jasper, Murphy, Emori, Rebecca, Jeff Trebenski, and Isaac Davis, the Earth Skills teacher. Clarke, Octavia, Monty, and Raven joined the other volunteers.

Standing in front of the empty board against the far wall, Kane said, "Thank you for coming on such short notice. I'm sure that Scanlan has briefed you on the situation." Everyone in the room nodded. "Good. We need to increase our patrols around Eden and man the guard towers at all times. Volunteers will man the towers while the Guard is on patrol."

"Why are we in the towers?" Jasper asked, placing his hand on his heart in mock hurt. "I'm a good shot."

"You are not in the Guard, civilians will not leave Eden," Kane replied. Jasper frowned, but remained silent.

"You don't have enough people," Octavia said, "there are twelve guards. Ideally, you would place patrols at the cardinal and ordinal directions. You need sixteen guards to do that if they go in pairs."

Kane sighed, he knew she was right. "Fine. Clarke, Octavia, Jasper, and Lacroix will join the patrols."

"You're choosing the prisoner over me?" Raven asked, frowning.

"You won't be on the ground for the same reason I won't be on the ground," Kane replied, looking down at her leg then his.

"Thanks, Murphy," she muttered, glaring at John.

"Enough," Kane said sharply. "We need to secure this place. John, Emori, Monty, Raven, Rebecca, Jeff, Davis, and I will be charged with guarding the towers. Lacroix, you're with Scanlan, I won't have you killing any more of my people."

"I won't," the prisoner responded.

Kane looked at him coldly before turning to the board. He quickly drew a map of Eden's perimeter and labeled the cardinal and ordinal directions. "The rest of you, pair up and pick a direction to patrol."

The others naturally paired together by couple — Octavia and Lincoln, Harper and Jasper — or friends — Miller and Jones, Bryan and Giles, Bellamy and Clarke. The four older guardsmen paired up and wrote their names. Kane said, "Patrols will occur four times a day, every six hours. The three patrols for each direction will alternate patrolling the cardinal and ordinal directions in six hour shifts. Proceed to your posts, we will join you around 12am."

Those on patrol left the room. On his way out, Jasper clapped Kane on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, boss, we've got this. Have no fear."

Kane turned to the volunteers. "We will also pair up, moving between three directions: the cardinal and its ordinal directions. Raven and Monty, you will take the northern sections; John and Emori, you will take the western sections; Jeff and Isaac, you will take the southern section; and Rebecca and I will take the eastern sections."

"No offense, Chancellor," Murphy began, "but are you sure this threat is real? This seems like a lot of security for a years old massacre."

"You didn't see it, Murphy," Monty said. "These people are dangerous."

Raven added, "They've probably been watching us since we arrived."

"Then why not attack when we were unaware of their existence?" Emori asked. "That's what Grounders would do."

"We've been aware since we got here," Monty said. "Someone left a note, remember?"

"It had three words on it," Murphy said with a roll of the eyes.

"Mr. Murphy," Kane began, "if you don't think the threat is real, why are you here?"

Murphy shrugged. "I have nothing better to do."

"You're Abby's intern," Emori said sternly. Murphy just shrugged and motioned for Kane to continue.

He did as if the argument hadn't occurred. "We will be on watch when the guard is out on patrol. This will occur four times a day, every six hours for about half an hour. Report to your post at midnight."

Abby pushed the front door open and walked into the house. The TV was blaring to her right and she found Benja, Madi, and Thelonious Jaha watching an old football game on the large screen. Marcus was asleep in the chair next to the couch. Abby stopped in her tracks and stared at the three of them. Jaha looked to her and answered her unasked question, "I was just dropping Benja off. He invited me to watch a game."

"Where are you dropping him off from?" Abby asked, walking toward the chair where Marcus slept.

"Engineering," Jaha replied. "I'm taking him as my apprentice."

Abby looked to Benja and found a broad smile on his face. She said, "Congratulations, Benja."

She knew he had wanted to be an engineer since Wick had started teaching him months ago. He was constantly on the computer in his bedroom, doing something technical that none of them understood. He had come a long way in the past 6 months and he regularly carried around a tablet.

She glanced down at Marcus, fast asleep, and asked, "What's the story here?"

"He's on watch at midnight," Jaha said, looking at their sleeping chancellor. "I tried to get him to go upstairs, but he just fell asleep. He seems anxious. Is there something that we should know?"

Abby shrugged. "I actually don't know, he hasn't told me anything."

She leaned down and coaxed Marcus awake by gently shaking his shoulder. He groaned and opened an eye. He muttered, "What?"

"You'll get a better sleep in the bed upstairs."

He shut his eye. "I'm already sleeping here."

"Marcus," she said sharply.

Jaha chuckled and said, "As stubborn as always."

Marcus muttered, "As the kids say, go float yourself."

Jaha just laughed and turned back to the game as the kids cheered loudly. Abby whispered, "Please go to bed, we should talk." Marcus groaned, but tried to stand up. She asked, "Where's your brace?"

"Raven's fixing it," he replied. Jaha stood to help, but Marcus waved him off. Jaha remained on his feet just in case, but Marcus managed to make his way around the chair, where Abby took his hand to steady him.

"Goodnight, Thelonious," Abby said as she and Marcus passed the couch.

"Goodnight," he said, eyes glued to the screen. As they mounted the stairs, they heard two sets of cheers and one groan; Benja and Madi's team was ahead at the half.

Abby opened the door to their bedroom and led Marcus to the bed. He plopped down unceremoniously and closed his eyes. Abby sat next to him and said, "What happened today?"

His voice was strained when he said, "I saw the bodies of hundreds of families this morning. They've been dead for a few years. The stench was..."

"Do you know who did it?" Abby asked gently.

He shook his head. "We believe it was the former citizens. I examined a few of the bodies and they were killed by bullets."

"Tell me about the Summit," she said. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"We didn't accomplish much," he admitted, taking her hand. "We have trade routes, but that's about it."

Abby nodded. She wanted to ask about Titus, but didn't want to hurt him by saying the name. Instead, she asked about Yola. "Did you speak to the leader of Podakru?"

He nodded and finally smiled. "We didn't steal him."

Abby sighed in relief and leaned against him. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her temple. She wrapped her arms around him as best she could with her growing belly in the way. They stayed like that for a while, Kane's hand sometimes flitting to her stomach absentmindedly. It wasn't until they heard Madi and Benja shouting, "You lose!" that Abby pulled away. She said, "I should get them to bed."

Kane nodded.

She said, "I'll wake you before midnight."

"Thanks, Abby."

Kane arrived at the Eastern tower at 12am sharp. Bryan Price and Justin Giles were standing there, waiting for him. Bryan was talking angrily about Nate Miller and how he seemed to be seeing Eric Jackson when Kane interrupted them. He looked away in embarrassment and Kane didn't acknowledge the issue. He asked, "Are you two ready?" They nodded. "We will just wait for Rebecca, then..."

"I'm here, sorry!" Rebecca said, running up the steps. In one of her hands was Kane's knee brace. "Raven was finishing up with this."

He whispered to her as she helped him put it on, "Thank you."

She smiled at him as she stood up. She looked at Bryan and Justin and said, "Well, go on. Aren't you supposed to be protecting Eden?"

Justin rolled his eyes and hit Bryan to follow him down the stairs. Rebecca leaned against the railing and picked up the binoculars that were hooked under the railing. Kane walked over and leaned next to her, watching Justin and Bryan exit the gate below them and make their way toward the forest in the distance. Kane picked up the radio attached to his hip and asked, "Are all patrols out?" There were a dozen crackled affirmations in response. "Eyes sharp."

He set the radio down on the railing. He glanced at Rebecca and asked, "How are you?"

She lowered the binoculars and looking at him. She shrugged, "I'm okay. I moved back in with Mom."

Kane nodded. "How is she?"

"Fine," Rebecca said with a smirk. "I think she's seeing someone on your Guard, but she won't tell me who. How are you?" He gave her a pointed look. "Yeah, I get it, you're worried. But how are you doing, really?"

"I'm fine?" She rolled her eyes. He said, more definitively, "I'm fine."

"How's Abby?"

He smiled. "She's doing very well. The pregnancy is starting to catch up to her, she's having to slow down."

"Which I'm sure she hates," Rebecca commented, picking up her binoculars again and turning back to the forest. "When's the baby due?"

"Middle of November," he replied, with a small smile. "Abby's ready."

"But you're not," Rebecca said, glancing at him from behind the binoculars. He shook his head. She sighed, "You'll be fine."

"But-"

"No buts," she said, smiling. "You'll be great. Trust me."