This is a Christmas present for Akachankami so… Yeah… I tried again. :p I hope you like it and it's not completely stupid. Have a merry Christmas and I love you very much 3

Must Be Fate

Abby was pacing.

She had been retracing the length of her living-room for some time now. She had dragged down the boxes overflowing with Christmas decorations from the attic and had abandoned them in different places of the room, the huge Christmas tree was sitting in its usual corner, waiting to be decorated, the two mugs of hot chocolate had long cooled down on the coffee table… And Clarke was over a hour late.

When she heard a car engine slowing down to a stop in the street, Abby bolted to the window, pushing the curtain aside only to hold her breath when she glimpsed the police written on the side. No, she thought, not again. Clarke had only been eight when a policeman had rung her doorbell to tell her Jake was dead but ten years later, the memory was still fresh in Abby's mind. She rushed to the front door, slamming it open in her hurry only to pause and gulpe a freezing breath of air in relief when she saw blonde hair getting out of the car, closely followed by ebony black tresses.

Clarke and her best friend Octavia both looked unhurt.

Which didn't explain why they were in a police car or why they were a hour late.

At seventeen, Clarke wasn't a bad kid. She was smart and kind but she and Abby had their issues and she had been a little difficult of late. Octavia and her older brother's influence wasn't helping. The Blake kids weren't bad kids either, just unlucky, but they were definitely used to being on their own and authority wasn't something they were good at respecting. She knew from some conversations with Clarke that the siblings sometimes flirted with the law – something Abby had formerly forbidden her daughter to ever try. Still, she didn't think it would come this far.

She watched, her heart beating fast, as the police officer got out of the car and escorted both teenagers to the door with a hand on each of their shoulders. She barely registered the dark hair, the beard, the deep eyes or the tentative smile on his lips.

"Clarke, what's going on?" she asked as soon as her daughter was in hearing range, hoping it wasn't too bad. If the policeman had brought the girls back surely it wasn't so bad. Nothing nobody would press charges for. They would get by with a warning and she would lecture Clarke and Octavia until tomorrow morning and ground them both – even though she had no actual authority on the Blake girl.

"Sorry, I'm late." Clarke said. "Raven's tire completely blew up…"

"Is she alright?" Abby cut her off, now worried about her daughter's other friend who spent almost as much time at their house as the Blake kids did – how she had ended up with a house full of kids, she didn't know, but Clarke had a knack for choosing friends whose family wasn't exemplary and they all knew they would find the Griffins' door open if they needed it. "Were you in an accident? Is it…"

"Mom, calm down!" Clark scoffed, rolling her eyes. "It's fine…"

"You come home in a police car. How is it fine exactly?" Abby snapped, the fear she had felt a few minutes earlier taking over.

"Sorry." the policeman said, taking his hand from her daughter's shoulder to outstretch it. "Wrong impression. It was late and the kids didn't have a ride so Octavia called me."

"And you are?" she asked with some annoyance, shaking his hand only by reflex. It was warm and a little calloused and she didn't know why she noticed.

"He's Marcus." Clarke sighed as if she really should have figured it out by herself.

"Bellamy's friend?" she frowned, recalling a couple of conversations where a Marcus had been mentioned.

"Actually, he's kind of a honorary uncle. Sort of." Octavia butted in. "It's cold, Mrs Griffin, can we get in or…"

"Oh, yes, of course." Abby stuttered, stepping aside to allow the girls inside. The policeman hesitated on the porch and she gestured at him to come in too, slightly embarrassed by her earlier behavior. "Would you care for some tea? Or coffee. I think I have some left." She was aware she was babbling but now that he was standing in her house, it was a little difficult not to notice he was handsome.

"Marcus Kane." he offered and faced with her confused expression, he clarified. "That's my name. Octavia isn't the greatest at introductions. And you're Abby, of course. The kids talk about you a lot. You're a doctor, right? Clarke said something like that once, I think…"

"You know Clarke?" she frowned, not sure if she should be alarmed or irritated that her daughter was apparently well acquainted with handsome policemen who were old enough to be her father.

"She comes to my house when Octavia and Bellamy stay there… She slept over a couple of times." Marcus explained with his own frown. "And… You didn't know that."

Abby rubbed her face, deciding that it was probably some more acting out on her daughter's part. When Clarke said she was having a sleepover with Octavia, she assumed it was at the Blake's house – which she was already not thrilled about because Aurora Blake wasn't the most stable person on the planet – and not at a stranger's…

"Sorry, who are you again?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest and studying him. He didn't look like a creep and he was in the police but what did that even mean in their day and age? "Because when the kids talked about a Marcus, I got the impression you were at school with them."

The man was clearly amused by her attempts at intimidating him.

"I arrested Bellamy a couple of times two years ago and I sort of got involved with the family." he explained, furrowing his brow as if he wasn't quite certain of how exactly he had found himself in such a situation. "The kids stay with me when it's too… complicated at home. Where Octavia goes, Clarke follows, you know how they are… And Raven's never too far behind either so… Yeah. I didn't know you weren't aware of where you daughter was or I would have gotten in touch… I should have gotten in touch before probably, the kids are always going on and on about you…"

He looked a little ill-at-ease and she couldn't quite fault him because she was still staring at him with her arm crossed as if she was the police officer and he was the suspect.

"Mom, where are the cookies?" Clarke shouted from the kitchen where bangs of cupboard doors and laughter clearly indicated the kids had made themselves at home.

"Where they're always are! And no cookies before dinner!" she shouted back, not averting her eyes from the man standing in front of her. Slowly, she let go of her defensive attitude and offered a hesitant smile. "So. Tea or coffee?"

"Coffee." he answered with an almost relieved smile.

He followed into the kitchen where the girls had indeed made themselves at home. Octavia was sitting on the central kitchen island, her feet on the stool right in front of her, and Clarke was using the fancy machine to make themselves some hot chocolate.

"Octavia." Marcus rebuked with a small frown.

The girl rolled her eyes but jumped from the counter and sat on the stool before raising a defiant eyebrow as if to say happy now? and Abby was suddenly reminded that as difficult as she was, Clarke wasn't so bad.

Clearly, staying in the same room as two adults was asking too much out of the seventeen years old because they scampered to the living-room with their drinks.

Conversation was complicated at first but after a while Abby relaxed and it flowed more easily. Marcus was a little stiff but quite charming and before she realized it, they were on their second cup of coffee, a hour and a half had passed and she had been laughing more in that brief moment than she could remember laughing in the last year.

"Mom." Clarke interrupted with a small scowl, her blue eyes darting from her to Marcus. "We're decorating or what?"

"I should probably go…" he said. "I didn't mean to intrude…"

"Oh, you can stay and help." her daughter granted. "We're too short to reach the top of the tree anyway."

Abby frowned a little because decorating the house for Christmas was their thing and they had always managed together before. It was obvious Octavia was staying though and thus their little ritual was already disturbed that year. It didn't take that much to convince Marcus to stay, a polite invitation on her part and an exasperated "Come on, Kane, it will be fun!" from Clarke – she discovered quickly that while he was sometimes Marcus, he was Kane more often than not to the kids, and she discovered that because Bellamy soon showed up in search of his sister, closely followed by Jasper, Monty and Finn.

It wasn't long before a tinsel fight erupted in her living-room and Abby and Marcus dodged out of the way, seeking refuge next to the door. They watched the teenagers with a mix of fondness and horror.

"Are they like that at your house too?" she asked.

"Yeah." he sighed. "It's good, I guess. It means they feel at home."

Octavia gave a loud shriek when Bellamy grabbed her around the waist so Clarke could empty her handful of tinsel over her head.

It was Jasper who pointed at the adults, laughing, and it wasn't long before Finn followed in his hilarity. Marcus looked up and back at her, his face was amused but his smile was tentative.

"Mistletoe." he said. "It must be fate."

"Why fate?" she asked, glancing up at the mistletoe she was certain he had helped Clarke hanging on earlier. The possibility that he might have steered her in that particular direction crossed her mind.

"Because I have been thinking about kissing you for at least half a hour now." he admitted, sheepish like a little boy caught in the act.

"I see." she grinned, her suspicion confirmed. "Well… I wouldn't dare stand in the path of fate."

He leaned in and kissed her, his lips lingered a little longer than the traditional peck on the lips warranted. She didn't complained because when he drew back she instinctively followed.

"Gross." Octavia declared.

And all the kids burst out laughing.