Synopsis: Kane nearly dies protecting misbehaving Skaikru children.
Year #1. Month #1.
The infirmary doors swished open but Abby didn't have the energy to even lift her head to see who had arrived. She knew Jackson was still lingering close by and if it were an emergency, she would know soon enough. Instead, she tightened her fingers around the prone hand under her cheek and squeezed her eyes shut.
She sensed a presence before she heard the question.
"How's he doing?"
Abby opened bleary eyes to see a Jaha-sized shadow fall over the stark white of the sheet covering the man on the medical bed in front of her.
With difficulty, she lifted her head to scan the steady readings on the screen beside her, take in the oxygen mask secured to his face and the IV line attached to his arm. "He's alive."
A few beats of silence fell before Jaha continued, as she knew he would.
"I know it's too early to consider-"
A cold chill raced down her spine because of course he would be the one to remind her of the bunker's limited resources. "Don't you dare finish that sentence, Thelonius." The controlled fury in her voice stopped him cold.
Choosing to keep her hands busy rather than jam something sharp into somewhere more sensitive than Jaha's thigh, she tapped the high tech (Cadogan apparently spared no expense for his angelic chosen) screen displaying remarkably stable readings.
"I hear congratulations are in order."
Abby exhaled slowly, head swiveling to regard him with calm suspicion.
He shrugged, undeterred. "It's a confined space."
She scrubbed her hands across her face. Because of course the boy Marcus had saved overheard a whispered conversation with Jackson when she thought he was sleeping. She'd only discharged him thirty minutes ago. Apparently, news traveled even faster here than on the Ark.
"It is," she conceded. There was no point in denying it.
The tentative smile he offered her looked strained to her sleepy eyes.
"It's good news."
When she didn't acknowledge him quickly enough, he repeated himself, more slowly, searchingly. "It is good news, right?"
She returned to her seat and threaded her fingers through long, motionless ones and willed them to move. "Thelonius, I really don't want to talk about this with anyone but Marcus."
"He doesn't know."
"I only found out today." She bit out, tone more prickly than she intended.
His hand landed gently on her shoulder and she resisted the urge to shrug it off. They were friends but they weren't especially close. Not anymore. Not since he'd tried to kill the man she loved. He'd already succeeded once. And she would never give him an opening to do it again.
The door swung open and a purposeful Octavia approached.
"If you'll excuse us," Octavia said tersely and Abby wanted to hug her. The girl no longer bothered to hide her animosity for Jaha and it had only grown since their seclusion began.
"Of course."
Abby was mildly surprised that he capitulated so quickly and they watched him walk away, head held high and completely unaffected by the curt dismissal.
Octavia immediately glanced at her stomach and Abby resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"It'll be one of the 13."
Abby's stomach roiled. She hadn't had the time to think about the bunker's inability to sustain more than thirteen newborns over the next five years. It was a conversation that hadn't gone well with the resident population. Nor did Octavia's command that everyone be implanted with a chip that would be removed once their bunker exile had ended. There was no reason to believe there was anything wrong with her chip but it had apparently failed at some point. Otherwise, she wouldn't be in her forties and unexpectedly pregnant.
Her hands flew to her still very flat stomach. "I hope so."
The second time around, Abby caught the finality of the statement that was never a question to begin with. "It will be one of the 13."
Abby could only offer a breathy, grateful, "Thank you," in response.
Octavia's carefully controlled emotional façade cracked as she looked at her mentor and still unconscious friend. "And whatever he needs, do it."
Abby swallowed hard, recalling Jaha's irritatingly practical concern. But this was not the Ark and they would not be so draconian with resources this time around. The lessons learned in space had been heartbreakingly hard. But they were on the ground now and just as Marcus and Octavia had busied themselves with writing bylaws for the bunker by taking the good elements from the Exodus Charter, she would do the same when it came to the necessary use of resources under her supervision.
Octavia gently squeezed her shoulder and left Abby with her melancholy thoughts.
She resettled onto the uncomfortable chair beside Marcus' bed, linked their fingers and closed her eyes for a few moments of much needed rest.
It was a grounder who burst through the infirmary doors, startling Abby from where she stared disbelievingly at a data pad of her own medical records. Jackson hovered nearby glancing protectively at her while he instructed Niylah on how to chart the inhabitant medical records.
Abby didn't catch most of the rapidly delivered Trigedasleng and Niylah immediately translated.
"Pipes and racks collapsed in water recycling. Many hurt."
Abby snatched up her medical bag. "Niylah, stay here and prepare for incoming wounded. Jackson-" but he was already at her side.
They tore out of the infirmary on the Grounder's heels, leaving Niylah behind to prepare for an unknown number of wounded.
Abby skidded to a halt once they reached the cavernous water reclamation room, eyes instantly sweeping over and triaging the area. Racks of heavy piping lay scattered across the cement floor and children of all ages were crying and cowering in the arms of whichever adult had reached them first. Water from an overhead pipe gushed onto the floor and a collection of people from multiple clans struggled to contain it.
A skaikru man who Abby recognized as someone who had done nothing but challenge Octavia's every decision, stood over a pile of pipes, directing a group as they removed and lifted overturned solid steel racks and piping.
Abby knelt beside the nearest child and breathed a sigh of relief once she determined that he had no physical injuries.
Her vision narrowed and time slowed when a large pipe revealed a prone form she would recognize from any distance. She ignored Jackson's call to be careful and navigated quickly over the fallen pipes toward a very unconscious and bloody Marcus Kane.
When two Grounders lifted him to reveal a mostly unharmed child, instant nausea threatened to bring up everything she'd eaten that day. Jackson moved to the child while Abby reached for the man to whom she hadn't spoken in weeks.
"Keep him still," she snapped, assessing the injuries she could see. She quickly stemmed the steady of trickle of blood from his head as the Grounders hovered close.
Dimly, she heard the child Jackson treated say through tear-filled awe, "He saved me."
Instinct drove Abby's ever move as she evaluated her patient with a critical eye and steady, experienced hands. Bruising on his chest and back indicated there could be internal damage and she ordered the Grounders nearby to go back to the infirmary and bring back a stretcher. Before they returned, she'd diagnosed a broken leg, wrist and, as he hadn't yet woken, a severe concussion.
Hours later, when everyone was settled, she disappeared into the storeroom that also doubled as her bedroom and took a moment to have a mild panic attack.
After a moment, Jackson stepped in with a small flask of water that she gratefully sipped slowly. When she made to leave the room, a gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"Take a minute. He's stable."
"The kids?" She felt guilty for not checking sooner. But she knew Jackson had them. She knew.
"Nothing serious. Only one left for observation."
She didn't need to ask. The one who'd been found under Marcus. The one who would be hurt far worse right now, or dead, if it hadn't been for him.
She cupped her hands over her still flat stomach. She'd confirmed the results just this morning and she'd not even processed the news herself yet. "He can't die, Jackson."
"He won't."
There was no way he could know that. And so his assurance left her with little comfort. She heaved a wobbly sigh and left the room.
She woke to a gentle tug on the hem of her shirt.
"Doctor Griffin?"
Abby blinked sleepily down at the little boy Marcus had saved. Over his shoulder the boy's father stood uncomfortably a few feet away.
"What is it, Matthew? Are you feeling okay?"
"He saved me."
Pride swelled through her fractured heart. "He does that sort of thing."
"I wanted to thank him but-"
Abby hoped her response sounded more convincing to his ears. "He'll wake up soon."
"I hope so."
The boy looked at Marcus with such adoration that Abby was suddenly struck with excitement about her unexpected news. Excitement over holding and raising a fiery combination of two strong personalities that would challenge them both at every turn. Until this very moment, she hadn't realized just how badly she wanted it. "Did you want to wait with me?"
"My dad won't let me."
Abby nodded sadly. Completely contrasting other clans views of him, she knew the Skaikru disdain for Marcus went deep. He'd used Clarke's list but he was actually here, a physical presence toward which they could direct their hate. Once she repaired her relationship with Marcus, they were going to heal their people. Together. They couldn't spend the next five years like this. The most important thing she'd learned since they reached the ground was that they were stronger together. Always.
"I'll let him know."
"Thanks." The boy wandered back to his father and Abby watched them silently leave the infirmary.
"He made it."
Abby's head whipped around to find a bleary-eyed Marcus staring at the closed door, oxygen mask held lightly in a slightly trembling hand.
"Marcus!" She glanced quickly at his oxygen levels and removed the mask. "Don't move too much."
"That won't be a problem," he bit out through clenched teeth as he attempted to sit up.
She busied herself with a thorough check of his injuries, pressed and prodded at bruised skin. "Tell me when it hurts."
"Abby?" The gentleness in his voice stilled her hands and she lifted her head to meet his cloudy eyes.
She was struck with the sudden need to apologize. Begin the healing process between them sooner rather than later. "Marcus, I'm-"
"I'm not sorry, Abby." His voice was low, weak and the tone was stubbornly final.
She tensed but he continued before she could frame a response.
"You are essential. To the bunker. To our people." His voice cracked, full of emotion. "To me. "
She pursed her lips to keep them from trembling. She knew he was right. Her medical training alone made her essential personnel but her guilt over the countless decisions that caused the deaths of so many was overwhelmingly difficult to live with.
"I know," she whispered and would have chuckled at his wide-eyed response if he wasn't in so much pain. "I'm sorry it took you almost dying for me to admit it."
"Worth it," he grimaced as he tried to sit up again.
She reached out and gently cupped a whiskered cheek. Flattened the palm of her hand gently on his chest to keep him still and met his eyes with a stern, mildly reproachful glare. "Not to me."
He closed his eyes and when they reopened, they were filled with a pained longing. "Abby."
Abby leaned forward, brought their foreheads together. "I love you, Marcus. We will survive this."
The fingers of his unbroken wrist trailed purposefully down her neck, came to rest on the empty space her necklace, and its ring, used to reside. She flattened his hand there. Clutched it tightly, closed her eyes and relished in the comforting presence that she'd desperately missed over the last few weeks.
"Marry me."
Shock and awe were commonplace on the ground and in their lives now but Abby momentarily gaped at him with a new kind of wonder. To his credit, he remained still and quiet as she processed the not entirely unwelcome - or much of a surprise – words.
But her shock quickly gave way to a warmth and giddy excitement she hadn't felt in a very long time. After all, they'd fallen from the stars in a metal tin can and survived the impact. They could overcome anything. Together.
She leaned forward and touched her mouth to his. When they parted, she delighted in his cautiously patient smile.
"Yes."
END
Notes: The chapter names will reveal where, during the six years and seven days, the story takes place.