After this episode and Marcus giving the pin to Pike, this begged to be written. I did my best, any mistakes are on me, my beta is asleep and I couldn't wait!

From Chancellor To Chancellor

The war room was often full of their silence as they worked side by side on different projects, sometimes exchanging a look or a smile from the other side of the room. That morning the silence was deafening, almost uncomfortable. The room that had become theirs at some point in the last months now felt alien, violated. Perhaps because it was no longer theirs anymore.

Abby's eyes rested on the couch she had fallen asleep on more times than she had slept in her own bed ever since it had been brought from Mount Weather then travelled to the two mugs resting side by side on the desk in the corner. Her fingers brushed the round battered pin on the lapel of her jacket.

"I wanted to give this to you." she whispered.

Behind her, Marcus breathed out a sigh. She kept her back to him, mostly so he wouldn't see the sadness and disappointment on her face. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

"I know." he said. "Vox Populi."

"This is not right." she protested.

"This is democracy." he countered easily.

They had been having the same discussion all night, arguing about allowing Pike on the ballot or not. It was a pointless argument, she knew, if people wanted Pike on the ballot, it wasn't for them to forbid it. Arguing had helped the night go faster although it hadn't helped ease the feeling of dread coiling in her stomach.

"And it is still not right." she retorted. "Pike will destroy everything we worked for. The coalition, our peace, Lincoln, Clarke… He will destroy Arcadia."

And who knew what would happen to her daughter?

She heard him walk closer and she stood her ground, still absentmindedly fiddling with the pin on her jacket. She was devising half-cooked schemes to keep it, to refuse to hand over the power… No Chancellor had ever done that in the past but she could be the first, couldn't she? Hands came to rest on her shoulders, powerful hands that squeezed once to let her know he was standing there, right behind her. As should be. "Charles isn't a bad man, Abby."

"The pin should be yours. It was supposed to be yours." she breathed out. "What are we going to do?"

"What we've always done…" Marcus offered. "What is best for our people. Whatever form that takes. Together."

"Together." she repeated. It sounded like a promise. She was wary of promises but she trusted his, always. She turned around to face him and his hands slowly fell from her shoulders, lingering like they often tended to do. She searched his eyes, expecting to find calm and reassurance in them but she was unnerved by the small glint of worry she could glimpse. "You don't believe in what you're saying. You don't believe this won't mean the destruction of all we worked for."

The accusation didn't make him flinch but he lowered his eyes, staring at the pin.

"I don't know. I… I don't know." he confessed. "I do believe you and I will always put our people first. And I also believe we will do it together."

"That's how we work best." she admitted with a small smile. "We need balance."

"Yes." he nodded.

"Who will be Pike's balance?" she asked.

She thought he would answer that they would have to tame him but she knew it would never work out that way. Marcus might have been Pike's friend once upon a time but that held little weight down there on Earth, not with the stakes being so high. And Abby… Abby meant nothing to him. Marcus and Abby worked well together because they were so different and yet so important to each other. She couldn't have done anything without him and he wouldn't have done anything without her – nothing worthwhile at least. They needed each other.

"I don't know." he said again, rubbing the back of his neck. "I almost miss Thelonious…"

One mad Chancellor at a time, she thought.

"We can't let this happen, Marcus." she insisted.

"Abby, it's already done." he snapped. "And you need to get that pin to him now." He brushed his fingertips against the round metal… She instinctively reached for him and their hands fell between them, fingers entwined. She didn't really know that happened. His face softened. "You have to do it. From Chancellor to Chancellor."

That was the tradition, a way to transfer the power, to prove the old Chancellor recognized the authority of their successor…

She unpinned the round piece of metal with her free hand before guiding Marcus' hand up. She placed the pin in his palm.

"Abby…" he protested.

She forced his fingers to close around the pin and kept his fist trapped between her hands so he wouldn't try to give it back.

"The good of our people comes first, before anything. From Chancellor to Chancellor." she whispered urgently. "Do you understand what I am saying?"

He nudged her chin up with his free hand, tilting his head to the side. "I can't understand what you're saying because it's treason, you're not Chancellor anymore and I'm still Commander."

She brought the hand she was still holding to her lips and pressed a light kiss on his knuckles. It was a bold move. She felt high on adrenaline and too little sleep. She felt the urgency twisting her stomach, the impending doom at their doorstep…

"Give it to Pike for me." she ordered. "My last command as Chancellor."

"Do I have to kiss him when I do?" he joked.

It was a poor attempt at lightening the mood but she found a small smile making its way to her lips all the same. "Don't make me jealous."

"Would you?" he asked, lifting his eyebrows in that inquisitive way of his. "Be jealous if I kissed other people, I mean."

There would be a time to answer this question seriously, she thought, but not now. Not when the situation was so desperate.

"Your Chancellor awaits in a cell." she reminded him. She had become good at deflecting.

His eyes softened and he brought their still linked hands to his own mouth. His beard scrapped the delicate skin of her knuckles and his lips lingered longer than hers had done but she wasn't complaining. Her breath caught in her throat and she imagined how it would feel to have his lips roaming on other parts of her.

"My Chancellor is here." he murmured, almost too low for her to hear before taking a reluctant step back, the pin safely enclosed in his hand.

He paused on the threshold and gave a last glance at the war room. "I will miss this place."

"You are still Commander." she shrugged. "You will be back."

She, on the other hand, needed to gather her stuff. Doctors were rarely allowed in the war room… She would probably be limited to the Council room from now on.

"How long will I stay Commander do you think?" he snorted. "And it won't be the same anyway. You know what I mean."

"I do." she confirmed.

He gave her a sad nod and left. There was something strangely definitive in watching him go despite the fact that she was sure she would see him in a little while for lunch. She gathered her things quickly, having no wish to bump into Pike.

She paused on the threshold too and looked back to frame the room in her memory.

It was funny how you never realized what you had until you lost it.

She had been happy in that room.