I received an ask about writing something with Marcus being jealous of Jaha so… This was born. It's a bit crackish but hey we all need some crack before tonight right?

Jealousy & Quiproquo

Something was off.

This thing between them was still new but Abby had twenty years of marital experience up her sleeve and she knew when something was off.

Something was definitely off.

It puzzled her because as far as she could tell they had been… good, more than good even given what had happened during what she had taken to call the AI crisis. They had been exploring this, them, for a few weeks now and it was great. Despite the limited time they could spare from their respective jobs, they worked. They were in that perfect place in a relationship where everything was still new but was starting to be familiar enough that it was comfortable and Abby loved it, she loved everything about it.

Which was why she didn't like the closed off expression on Marcus' face. He was lying on his side with his head cushioned on his bent arm, his other arm was around her waist but the way he held her was more distracted than actually affectionate. She had been in his bed for exactly fifteen minutes and he hadn't tried to take off her tank top or her pajama pants which was certainly a first. When she had sneaked in his room and joined him under the sheets, he had simply tossed an arm around her waist before continuing to stare in the distance.

And that was how it had been for the last fifteen minutes.

She was on her back, watching him in the semi-darkness, lightly running her nails up and down his forearm, but he didn't seem to notice.

"What's the problem?" she asked when she couldn't take the silence anymore. "Please, tell me it's not the Grounders, people in secret bunkers or another mad AI."

He startled a little and his eyes darted to her face. "If the camp was in trouble you would be the first to know." He said it almost reproachfully, as if she should never have suspected him of keeping secrets from her. "We're still doing this together."

"We do a lot of things together, Chancellor Kane." she teased, rolling on her side to face him. She slipped her arm under the sheets and sneaked her hand under his shirt, finding the warm skin of his side.

For the first time that night, his face relaxed and a playful smile stretched his lips. "And I love every single one of these things, Doctor Griffin."

It would have been easy to lean in and kiss him, to distract him from his dark mood and coax him into more pleasurable activities. It would have been easy but neither Abby nor him had ever done anything because it was easy.

"What's going on with you?" she asked quietly.

He studied her and then licked his lips, averting his eyes. "I want to say something… But… I'm not sure we're in a place where I can say it."

He looked nervous all of sudden, the kind of endearing nervousness that made him look years younger. Abby smiled at him, her thumb tracing soothing circles on his side. She had a good idea of what he wanted to say and she didn't mind saying it first. There was no hesitation in her voice, no room for embarrassment or second-guessing, they were long past that and the fact that those words hadn't been shared yet was a bit ridiculous.

"I love you." she whispered like a gift.

His eyes shot back to hers, his lips parted in surprise and she had the very sudden, very terrible feeling she had read the whole situation wrong.

"Oh god." she groaned after a minute of excruciating silence on his part. "And here I was thinking to myself there was no risk of that being embarrassing…"

"No, no, no!" he rushed out, brushing her hair back to cup her cheek. "No, don't be. I was just surprised. I love you too. Of course, I love you, Abby."

He wasn't lying, she knew he wasn't lying but something was still being left out. She let him kiss her, she let him push her on the her back but when he grabbed the hem of her top she drew back from the kiss and tangled her fingers in his hair to stop him from nuzzling her neck – there was no resisting him when he started nuzzling her neck.

"Since you clearly weren't about to share your feelings for me… What did you want to say?" she asked, more amused than angry.

He winced. "Forget it, it's not important." He tried to kiss her again but she had a firm grip on his hair and she avoided his mouth easily, shooting him a look. The wincing turned to a pleading expression. "I'm not going to say that right after you told me you love me. I will sound like an ass."

"You often sound like an ass, Marcus, it's one of your endearing flaws." she grinned. It didn't sound good though, whatever he wanted to say. And something had definitely been off before. However he loved her so it couldn't be that bad. There were cricks to work out in every relationship, compromises to be made… She knew he was annoyed by her tendency to leave toothpaste traces in the sink. Maybe it was just about something stupid like that. "Come on, tell me."

He hesitated and it was obvious to her he was having a heavy debate with himself. In the end, he settled back on his side again, closer than before, and distractedly retraced the hem of her tank top with his fingers. "Just… Don't get angry, alright? I know it's not reciprocated and it's not your fault but it just makes me… I'm not jealous, it's not that. You have never given me any reason to be jealous and I'm not angry with you. But I guess I am a bit… territorial."

He was watching her with apprehension and all she could do was blink in complete confusion. For a second, she felt dread at the thought he could be talking about Jake but it didn't make any sense.

"I don't know what you're talking about." she confessed.

He frowned a little before amusement and fondness battled on his features. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." she shrugged, starting to feel annoyance creeping in. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

He chuckled. He chuckled and then rubbed his face and she punched him in the shoulder because it looked a lot like he was mocking her.

"Sorry." he breathed out, not sounding sorry at all. "Sorry…" He wrapped his arm around her waist again and drew her closer to drop a kiss on her shoulder. "I love you."

She didn't think she would ever get tired of hearing that. His mouth trailed up to her neck but she refused to be so easily distracted so she pushed on his shoulder a little. "Explain yourself. Why would you be jealous?"

"Territorial." he corrected, sounding embarrassed.

"Semantics." she deadpanned, not in a mood to humor him.

He let his head flop on the pillow with a long pained sigh and then chanced a glance at her. "I hate the way Jaha looks at you."

Again, she found herself blinking.

"Jaha." she repeated. "Thelonious Jaha. The man we may or may not be expecting a coup from?"

It had taken a while for Jaha to recover from his City of Light misadventure but it hadn't taken half as long for his interest in power to manifest. When he wasn't trying to win Marcus' ear, he was not so subtly reminding everyone of his time as Chancellor.

"He wants you." Marcus said plainly.

"You're crazy." she scoffed.

"It's obvious, Abby." he insisted. "It was already obvious back on the Ark." She opened her mouth to protest but he rolled his eyes before she could. "I'm telling you he does. I don't know if he's in love with you or if it's just…" He stopped and shrugged. "Every time you turn your back to him or you look away he has that look of yearning on his face… It makes me want to punch him. Hard. I know you're not going to like it and I'm sorry but it does."

She chose to push aside any thought of Jaha having more than friendly feelings for her because it was disturbing. She smirked instead, hooking a leg over his. "As long as you don't actually punch people… I don't mind you being territorial."

"No?" he smirked right back, curling his hand under her knee and tugging until she was straddling him.

She lied down on his chest, tucking her head under his chin, and pressed a kiss against his pulse point. "Not if it means I belong to you. I like the idea of belonging to you. As long as you belong to me too…"

"Is that even a question?" he snorted.

"I think we should test it." she grinned, letting her hand trail south.

She rather liked the territorial idea.