I did a few AU prompts on tumblr a couple of weeks ago and I never got around to publish them. There were three other requests but I have no muse for them for now. I'll save them for later ;)

34) meeting at a masquerade ball au

"Masquerades are supposed to be fun, you realize."

Marcus didn't startle – because he would be signing for the guards in a few months and guards didn't startle – but he looked at the girl with something akin to alarm. The paper mask on her face hid much from view but not enough for him not to see she was pretty. Her hair was loose on her shoulders, shiny and glossy, even though he couldn't quite tell if it was brown or dark blond in the flickering lights of the party.

Parties were a rare thing on the Ark and they should be fully appreciated, he knew that.

"Who says I'm not having fun?" he frowned behind his own hastily made mask.

"Oh, so that's your idea of fun…" the girl teased. "Lurking in the corner and watching… Are you tracking someone specific or…"

"I keep track of everybody." he snorted, relaxing a little. "That will be my job soon. I'm going to be a guard."

"That's nice." the girl smiled. "I will start in medical in a year. I want to be a doctor."

"That's… actually more impressive than the guards." he admitted, a little sorry he wasn't going to sweep her off her feet with his bravery. Everybody knew doctors were in short supplies and it was one of the hardest training courses.

"Does the future guard want to dance?" she grinned.

"I'm not great at dancing." he winced.

"Hence the lurking in the corner?" she guessed.

"Maybe." he confessed sheepishly.

"I'll teach you." she decided, grabbing his hand and pulling him on the dance floor without leaving him a choice. He was taller, heavier and bulkier. He could have resisted. But he found himself powerless under her hand. "My name's Abby, by the way. Abby Griffin."

"Marcus." he answered. "Marcus Kane."

"Nice to meet you, Marcus Kane." she laughed.

He found himself laughing too.

He wondered if that was how a real breath of fresh felt like down on Earth.

37) meeting in prison au

"That's starting to become a habit." Marcus smirked as he bounced down the few steps that led to the main part of the precinct. "What did you do today, Doctor Griffin?"

His eyes darted from the cuffs Captain Jaha had just taken off her wrists to the annoyed looking Officer Byrne, standing there, clearly seething in frustration. He could sympathize. He had lost count of the number of times the woman had gotten arrested at a protestation march or another only to be freed without charges once people had realized who she was: a high profile doctor, very active in the local community, very popular and appreciated, and who had operated pro-bono on at least a hundred of poor kids who couldn't afford insurance. Everyone in town loved Abigail Griffin and throwing her in jail would cause a riot. Plus, arresting her would be bad publicity and it wasn't something anyone in the precinct was willing to risk.

Did the double standards annoyed Marcus? Yes, it did. Did he mind? Not really given that her heart was always in the right place and she had never actually hurt anyone. He used to think a lot in terms of black and white before he had met her. Now… Now he saw more in shades of grey.

"Detective Kane." Abby greeted him with a small nod. "There seems to have been a small misunderstanding."

"When is there not with you?" he teased.

"There was no misunderstanding, Ma'am. You were going at a hundred miles over the speed limit." Byrne cut in.

"Because of an emergency." Abby retorted. "As I tried to explain to you. And because of you my patient's life was made at risk."

"You missed a surgery?" Marcus frowned.

"It's alright." she sighed. "I called the hospital and Jackson handled it but it could have been much worse."

"You should have asked for me." he chided her.

"I did!" she snapped. "Sixty times. But Officer Grumpy wouldn't call you. If Captain Jaha hadn't walked past…"

Jaha had been standing right there in silence during the whole exchange, half-frowning.

"I didn't realize you knew Doctor Griffin, Marcus." the Captain cut in.

"Well, she seems to like getting handcuffed." he joked and only realized how it sounded because of the deep embarrassing resulting silence. Abby was glaring daggers at him. "I mean, she gets arrested a lot, sir, not that… She doesn't… We don't…"

"I have no affinity with handcuffs." Abby interrupted his awkward babbling. "Am I finally free to go? I have a patient I need to check on."

"Of course." Captain Jaha offered at once. "We are very sorry for the misunderstanding. Aren't we, officer Byrne?"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am." the policewoman gritted through her teeth.

Byrne looked anything but sorry and Marcus discreetly nodded at her to go.

"Do you have your car? Can I borrow it?" Abby asked. "Mine is parked somewhere at the other end of town."

"I will have Officer Byrne bring it back to your house." Jaha offered while Marcus wordlessly fished his keys from the back pocket of his pants and handed them to her.

Abby barely took the time to nod at the Captain, already hurrying toward the exit only to stop and turn around at the last moment. "Can you pick up the kids tonight? I know it's supposed to be me but now I need to review Jackson's work…"

"You've got my car." he pointed out. "How do you want me to pick them up?"

She flashed him one of those smiles that made it hard for him to breathe properly. "Improvise!"

She was gone before he could tell her that she was impossible and he watched her disappear through the door, feeling his lips stretching into a smile. The Captain clearing his throat brought him back to Earth really fast.

"I wasn't aware you were involved with someone, Marcus." Jaha said. "Good for you. Doctor Griffin is… quite the woman."

"We're not involved, sir." he winced. "Her daughter is a friend of Octavia's, they're in the same class. We carpool."

"Carpool." Thelonious repeated with an amused smile. "Is that what they're calling it these days?"