a/n Thanks to the lovely folks who read and reviewed that last chapter! I'm sorry it's been a little while - I got a bit distracted by my own excitement at finishing "Child of our Time" and starting "Twist or Stick", so you might want to go check those out. Happy reading!

Echo ought to be happy. She knows this because everyone around her seems to be glowing with joy and thoroughly relaxed. This is no surprise, she supposes. Madi's council have been elected without a hitch, and after the tension of recent months she can quite understand why this has caused such delight amongst her friends.

Just now, for instance, the whole lot of them are crowded round the Griffin-Blake family living room, toasting the safety and good health of the future Commander. Kane and Indra both look calm and collected, clearly more than comfortable with being elected to take back up the mantle of leadership. Even Clarke and Bellamy seem at least to be at peace with the situation, for all that they will not let their daughter out of their sight. And the last couple of members of the new council are perhaps less predictable – peacemaking Monty and belligerent Kara Cooper – but they will make for a balanced team and the general consensus seems to be that Shallow Valley is in good hands.

And it is not only those on the council who appear to have found a new sense of purpose, either. Miller is following Bellamy everywhere like a particularly devoted lieutenant, while Jackson is talking about running med bay while Abby takes some time out to recover from her addiction. Murphy seems to have been put in charge of food supplies, and Harper is helping Gaia to train the cadets. And Raven, of course, is spending ever more time in her workshop with Emori, fixing things that Echo hasn't a hope in hell of understanding.

She's not jealous of her friends. Of course she isn't. She's happy for them, because she's a reformed spy these days, and being happy for her friends is what she does now. It's just that there isn't a whole lot of use for a spy in peacetime – even a reformed one.

She supposes she must have some skills that could be useful. She could go shoot things to eat for dinner, or teach a self-defence class, but having skills is not quite the same as having a purpose, it turns out.

Emori grins at her from across the room, and she makes a valiant effort to return it. This is not the moment, she decides, for prolonged introspection. This is the moment for throwing back moonshine and laughing out loud.

Monty passes her a glass, and she makes a game attempt to do just that. Raven, of course, is not fooled.

"What's wrong?" She asks, under her breath, lips thrillingly close to Echo's ear.

"Nothing."

"You know, I'm pretty sure that's what everyone says when the answer is something."

Echo dares to look up and meet her eyes, and smiles a little in spite of herself at the warmth in Raven's gaze.

"You might be right."

"I usually am." Raven reaches a gentle arm round Echo's shoulders, and Echo tries very hard to remember how to breathe. "So, you going to talk to me about it?"

She shakes her head. They do seem to be talking about things a lot more, recently, but it's still not exactly something that comes naturally to either of them.

"OK, then." Raven continues despite her silence, voice lacking its usual bite. "So I guess I'll have to work it out. You're at a party to celebrate peace, surrounded by a bunch of people who are really happy with their new jobs. But you still think of yourself a spy, and spies aren't known for being useful in peacetime."

"You – what?" Echo chokes out, wondering how on Earth Raven has got even that far. She's pretty certain that no one has ever stuck around long enough to get to know her this well in her entire life before.

"Good, so I'm along the right lines then. You know that's a heap of crap, don't you?"

"What?"

"It's a heap of crap. You're not a spy. You haven't been a spy for years, not since we got into space. You're a thousand other things, sure. A great teacher of Trig and self-defence. An awesome team mate for games night. A loyal friend. A hell of a good kisser, even. But not a spy."

Echo supposes she ought to scoop her jaw up off the floor, but she's not entirely sure she's capable of doing so, at this moment in time. "You really mean all that?"

"I really mean it. Every single word."

"Even – even the bit about kissing?"

There is a heavy silence, and Echo curses herself for ruining this whole talking about things idea with her pathetic, needy over-excitement. She ought to have learnt by now not to push Raven, ought to have noticed that forcing the issue only ever results in heavy silences.

Just when she thinks that she has ruined this evening once and for all, Raven speaks up. "Even the bit about kissing. Definitely the bit about kissing. I just – I don't know. I'm not ready. I'm sorry. I can't -"

"Hey, hey. I'm sorry for making a big deal out of it." She leans into Raven's warmth, noticing that for all the awkwardness of the moment she has not withdrawn the arm that still lies draped across her shoulders. "Forget I ever asked."

"No. I don't want to forget you ever asked." Raven visibly gathers her courage, takes a deep breath. "I just need some more time. I'm sorry. But when I'm ready, you'll be the first to know."

…...

Madi is pleasantly surprised when she walks into Ethan on leaving her lesson with Gaia. What with her lessons and the meetings of the new council, not to mention making plans for her upcoming ascension, she has not seen him in days.

"What are you doing here?" She hopes that she sounds more curious than affronted.

"Looking for you." He tells her, as if it is the most natural thing in the world. "Your dad said you'd be here. Want to go swim or something?"

She pauses on the doorstep, and wonders if there is any good way to explain to her friend that she doesn't have time to swim or something, these days. That being the future Commander is not exactly a barrel of laughs, and that her to-do list is currently longer than the sword that rests at her hip.

"I'm sorry, I can't." She opts for straightforward honesty in the end. "I really don't have time. I have to grab some supper and then get to the council meeting. And I told Auntie O I'd stop by, too, but I don't think that's going to happen because it's already -"

"Hey, Madi. It's OK. Breathe." Ethan offers her an encouraging smile, and reaches out a hand towards her shoulder as if calming an anxious animal.

She laughs at herself a little. "Thanks. Sorry. I'm still getting used to having to be everywhere at once. And I'm not even doing that much, the council runs pretty much everything."

"It's still a lot to do when you're just a kid."

"My parents were only kids when they started running things."

"That's so not true. Your dad was in his twenties and your mum was almost eighteen."

"But the way my mum tells the story, he was much more immature." They both have a good giggle at that, and Madi feels some of the tension easing from her shoulders.

"Come on." Ethan gives her an awkward little pat on the arm and then starts walking towards the heart of the village.

"Where are you going? I thought you were going swimming?"

"It'd be no fun swimming without you. I already spent the whole afternoon with Damien at training, I don't need to hang out with him again."

"I'll tell him you said that."

"No you won't." Ethan throws a confident grin in her direction. "So we're going to get you some supper, and then I'm going to walk to your council meeting with you."

Madi stares at him, shocked, for fully three seconds before she succeeds at getting her thoughts into some kind of order.

"Thanks, Ethan. That's – that's kind of you. But you don't have to."

"I want to. I figure walking to a meeting with you has got to be better than not seeing you at all."

"I'm sorry." She says, feeling rather guilty that she has been neglecting the precious few friends she has. "I should come to training with you guys again soon. It's been too long."

"It has. But that's OK. We'll see you when you've got time."

"Thank you."

"No need to thank me." He tells her, suddenly quieter than usual. "It's what friends are for."

…...

Bellamy is not enjoying watching his daughter lie unconscious on her bed. Gaia warned them that this might happen, that it could take quite some time to come round after taking the flame, but somehow he still feels wrong-footed. Madi had that chip placed in her head a solid seven minutes ago and she's still absolutely motionless.

"Should it be taking this long?" Clarke gives voice to the question he is thinking.

"There's no cause for concern." Gaia says, which is sort of an answer to the question, yet sort of not, he can't help but feel.

"The crowd will be getting restless." He frets, wondering whose ridiculous idea it was to have the massed ranks of Wonkru standing outside the house waiting for the new Commander to be presented to them.

Oh, yes. That's right. It was his.

In his defence, it made a lot of sense at the time. A simple yet effective way to mark the clear handover of power, and an opportunity for Madi to recite the lineage as she apparently must. But now all he can think is that there are eight hundred impatient soldiers outside waving their swords around, while his little girl lies here helpless and fragile.

It's not only the soldiers growing restless, as it happens. Beyond the three of them actually in here with Madi, the entire council are in the living room, along with Miller, waiting to escort the new Commander onto the front steps when the time comes. And Harper is playing in the corridor with a rather noisy Gus, and all in all the atmosphere is far from calm.

Madi blinks into wakefulness at last, and her choice of first words surprises them all. "What's with all the noise?"

"Not sure if you've noticed, kid, but you're kind of a big deal now." Bellamy tells her with an effortful grin. His comment has the desired effect, and even Clarke gives a reluctant chuckle.

"How are you feeling, Heda?" Gaia asks softly.

"I'm feeling ready." Madi says, tone decisive, as she levers herself into a sitting position. "Let's go."

"Now? Already?" Clarke is already half way to frantic, it appears, and Bellamy reaches out a calming hand to rub her shoulder. "Are you out of your mind?"

"I'm ready, Mum. I promise. I've been training my whole life for this, even if we only realised it two months ago. It's time to go."

With that, she pulls her mother into a hug and then strides out into the corridor. And Bellamy sits awestruck for just a moment, wondering quite who this intimidating young woman is and what she's done with his little girl, before he gathers his wits and stands to follow, dragging Clarke by the hand as he goes.

"It's time." Madi announces to the living room at large, and then seven of the most brilliant people he knows fall in line behind his adolescent daughter as if they would follow her to the ends of the Earth.

To be fair, she's always had that effect on people. He's pretty sure the flame has only enhanced what was there already.

They gather Harper, too, and Gus ends up perched at Bellamy's hip as they make their way to the door, with Clarke's hand still firmly entwined in his own. She's shaking a little, he can feel it, and he's not sure whether it's the pregnancy making her emotional or her horror of the flame causing her anxiety. Either way, he knows he will stand by her and help her to manage it.

They emerge onto the steps of their home to deafening applause. This is surely no surprise. But it is, perhaps, a surprise that the crowd falls silent instantly when Madi raises her hand. And then she recites the lineage, voice carrying in the still air.

He doesn't mean to find himself moved, but it happens all the same. There are her friends, the Wonkru novitiates, jostling for position and trying to get a better view. There is an elderly lady – a rarity amongst the former grounder clans – blowing kisses, and there is a man twice Bellamy's size with battle scars lining his cheeks who discretely brushes away a tear.

There is, in short, a whole village rallying together around his daughter.

…...

Happiness takes Harper by surprise. Sure, it has been a good few weeks, with peace looking increasingly like it is here to stay, and with Madi and the council taking the reins. Monty is loving life, speaking up in favour of non-confrontational solutions to every problem, and spending the rest of his time working on a way to use algae as fertiliser. And Harper finds herself ever more committed to her own role training the novitiates - she has something of a gift, it turns out, for communicating with young people and bringing out the best in them. But all the same, she is surprised to wake up the morning after Madi's ascension and find that her first thought is of her joy at being alive, rather than her disappointment at not being pregnant.

She has a good morning with the kids, taking them into the forest for a bit of work on their survival skills. Within a couple of hours, they have all manged to set fire to a bit of kindling, and no one has managed to set fire to the forest at large, so she's counting that as a win.

After that, she moves on to lunch with her friends. They are making a habit of this, recently, and Harper is pretty convinced that Echo is the driving force behind it. They are all of them so busy with their new roles that it does them good to get together to take a break and share food and company.

She wanders into the kitchen of the cottage that Echo and Raven share, and finds that she is the last to arrive.

"Hey." She greets the assembled crowd. "How are we all?"

"You'd know we're all well if you'd got here on time." Raven chastises her cheerfully. "Even Clarke beat you, and she's the Queen Mother or something now."

"The Queen Mother?" Emori asks, absolutely baffled to judge by her tone.

"It's an old Earth thing." Raven clarifies. "Not important. It means her kid is a big deal."

"Bellamy would be disappointed in you." Clarke reprimands her. "Everything about Earth culture is important, that's what he'd -"

"I'm great, thanks for asking." Harper cuts in with a grin before Clarke can turn their entire meal into an hour of talking about Bellamy. It's great that she loves him and all, but other topics of conversation are also available. "How about you, Echo?"

"Not bad. Kane asked me to run some training sessions for the guard, I'm not sure whether it's because he needs someone to train the guard or whether he was asking out of pity."

"He was asking because you'd be brilliant at it." Raven informs her briskly, with a squeeze of the hand that Harper suspects the rest of them are supposed to pretend they have not seen.

"You would." Harper agrees. "And how's the baby, Clarke?"

"Do you mean the toddler we already have or the baby in here?" Clarke gestures at her stomach. "Both good. Gus is following his dad around for the day, and this little one seems healthy so far."

"That's great news."

"Yeah." There is a pause, in which Clarke bites her lip before continuing in a strangely soft tone. "What about – Harper – have you – you know, any news?"

She knows what she is asking, of course, and on autopilot she trots out her usual answer.

"No, not yet. It'll happen when it happens. But in the mean time I'm enjoying -"

She breaks off, all of a sudden, while her brain catches up with her tongue. Because actually, now she comes to think of it, she thinks that there might be news. She's been so caught up in the joy of those around her, and in her own happiness at being – well – happy, that she hasn't paused to dwell on her unfulfilled wish of getting pregnant for quite some weeks. But it occurs to her very suddenly that, in fact, she cannot remember when she last had her period. Was it about the time Octavia announced her resignation, perhaps? In which case, she cannot help but hope that there might well be news.

"Harper?" Emori nudges her gently with a shoulder. "You OK?"

"I'm OK. I'm more than OK." She confirms.

"I'm sorry for asking." Clarke says, sounding rather sheepish and not much like she has ever lead the human race.

"Don't be. Don't be sorry. Thank you for asking. I think – I think I should go to med bay. I think I need to take a pregnancy test."

Shocked silence ensues. Of course it does. And it is, of course, Clarke who breaks it.

"I'll come with you. Jackson might be busy and I guess you don't want to be kept waiting."

With that, the pair of them leave the cottage, lunch utterly forgotten in the excitement of running this particular errand. They make their way across the village with more speed than dignity, and Clarke thrusts open the door of med bay, then sets about turning the place upside down in a hurried search for the pregnancy test.

The minutes that pass between taking the test and learning the result are the longest minutes of Harper's life. To her credit, Clarke does not try to distract her with inappropriately trivial chatter. She simply sits with her in silent solidarity and reminds her occasionally to breathe.

It is stupid to be so nervous about this. Harper knows that. Only this morning she was beginning to accept that she might never have a child, and she was happy nonetheless. Yet now that she has started to hope, she finds that she is really not at all ready to let go of this particular dream. If nothing comes of the frenzied excitement of the last ten minutes, she knows she will be absolutely devastated.

She asks Clarke to look first, to tell her the result as sensitively as she can manage. And then she stares at the floor, and grits her teeth, and prepares to be disappointed.

"You're pregnant." Clarke announces, and for a moment Harper is convinced that she must have misheard. "Really, look. You're having a baby. I'm telling you, there must be something in the water round here. I wonder how long it will be until Emori's expecting."

With that, at last, she believes. And, really, there is only one thing to be done in this unexpectedly wonderful situation. She lets her head fall to her knees and starts weeping long-overdue tears of happiness.

a/n Thanks for reading!