#i originally started writing this last night and then passed out in a delirious haze. yes i DID have a very strange dream.

[wawamouse]

Oz "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" -inspired AU

(Yes this is just me bullet pointing a fic I’m too lazy to write out)

Another strange unethical study gone wrong!

First the snatched inmates return to their pods, distinctly but indescribably Changed

Inmates who weren’t in the study observe the odd, emotionless state of their returned fellow inmates and initial responses range from ridicule and mockery to muttered statements acknowledging how creepy it seems, like all the study participants got brainwashed

Pod by pod, inmates from the study begin to emerge in the mornings, Different. Better?

They are polite. They do not fight. Even the most vile inmate suddenly takes a turn toward expressing remorse! The experiment from the staff’s POV seems to be a success. The inmates have no desire for parole or a hasty release. They will serve out their time quietly and without incident and if/when they are released, they want only to reintegrate into society so quietly that it will be as though they don’t exist. Ideal, no?

Cue increasingly unnerved staff — Sister Pete, Father Mukada, McManus, etc, perplexed by the changes they see

But the study appears to have been a rousing success, so Querns wants more people to sign up, and increase the incentives (incentives that, once the inmates emerge from the experiment, they no longer care about) (they no longer care about anything). The experimental Round 1 group is now moving into some sort of Round 2 involving different therapy treatments, while a new Round 1 is opening for volunteers.

Chico, working in the hospital ward, has been one of the inmates who got roped into helping the outside doctors who have been overseeing the trials. He finds the changes in the inmates very strange although he also thinks they’re kind of funny at first, too (because they don’t really react right to things he says)

But it gets harder to laugh off when Miguel says he’s thinking about signing up the next Round 1 of the study. If he gets the real drug then maybe he’ll finally have a better chance getting paroled

Chico tells him it’s a bad idea. Sure, no one’s brains have bled out their nose yet, but look around man!! Half of Em City has turned into creepy husks of their former selves.

Miguel can’t be talked out of it, so Chico just tries to make sure his name gets out into the control group by breaking into the office and going through the files (cursing under his breath the whole time like whyyyy should he give a fuck) (except that some of the other Latinos have already gone through the trial and they Changed and it scares him a little, deep down. It feels like they've all turned into background extras (lol) with no personality. HE’s not going to take some spooky mind numbing drug but if he’s the only one who doesn’t, he’ll be alone)

As he’s rifling through files he shouldn’t be looking at, he can’t find the subject lists but he does find papers that seem to outline some sort of secondary purpose for the project that no one ever really explained to the participants or the prospective participants. It’s hard to make out what it all means and also Chico’s running out of time (gate opening across the ward, someone approaching) so he just takes one of the papers and crumples up to stuff in his pocket before getting the fuck out of there

Since he couldn’t find the patient list, he’s not sure which group Miguel has been placed into. He’s also not really allowed to be around past the intake assessments so he can only help usher Miguel into a curtained off area and wait for him to emerge. Of course, that doesn’t really tell him anything either. Saying “how was it” and getting a grunt of “fine” doesn’t mean much; it takes a a couple doses for the drug to take effect

Cue Chico staring at Miguel during meals and first thing in the morning, trying to tell if he’s turning into a pod person (much to Miguel's bemusement and then annoyance)… doesn’t SEEM like it… But maybe it’s still too early

Chico’s still got that crumpled piece of paper in his pocket that he presses into a library book and carefully reads in the safety of their pod after lockdown; it's still got a lot of jargon that he doesn't understand and he crawls down to Miguel's bunk to show him. Chico is convinced that the gist of it seems to be that the project is some sort of mind control experiment; it's not that the inmates have been treated and are becoming better, they're just becoming blank slates.

"For what?" "For round fucking two, Miguel."

Unnerved, the next day Miguel agrees to not swallow the pills, just in case he has the real deal. Meanwhile, Chico goes to the only other person either of them can think of for advice: Rebadow.

Rebadow hasn’t taken part in the study. He says he doesn’t take part in any studies, and he’s seen his fair share come through Oz over the years—not since the first one, anyway. The first one?

BACKSTORY UNLOCKED: The year was 1966. Rebadow’s death sentence had just been commuted and he had a new lease on life. Oz’s then-new warden had agreed to let a private research group ask for volunteers among Oz’s inmates in order to gather participants for a behavioral therapy study. It was supposed to be a non-invasive experiment, and after a few weeks of drug trials and feeling no great difference in terms of his outlook on life (physical symptoms: fatigue in the morning and a general brain fog), it was announced that the study participants would be moving on to a new segment of the study. A “physical therapy” room had been set up in an old unused wing of Oz. Here, the participants were given increased/injectable dosages of the study drug and then subjected to various “stimulation” to see how they would react. Bob was place in a chair with a hood over his head and repeated zapped with what felt like an electric charge before the hood would be ripped off and a bright light would be shined in his eyes while a strange indistinct static would be blasted into his ears from a headset. Then he would be asked what the voice had told him and each time he would say that he never hear any voices. This went on and on for what felt like hours and at the end of the day, when he wanted to leave the study, the doctors told him that was alright, but he would just have to take some more medicine before so. Well, he was at this point, quiet wary of taking any more medicine, so he asked instead how much longer the study would be going on. The doctor told him it would only be one more day, and that the final day would really just be the patients getting asked a series of questions while having their brains scanned. Rebadow says that he doesn’t remember the final day whatsoever—just that he went into a room and had nodes attached to his head while he was lying down. The doctors asked him a series of inane questions and then asked him to count down from 10, and then the next thing he knew, he was waking up in his cell. He never did find out what the study was all about or whether it had been a failure or a success, but the research group left pretty swiftly and it was said that they were quite disappointed. One of Rebadow’s fellow participants later went berserk and got sent to Solitary before being transferred to a mental hospital instead, but every one else’s behavior seemed unchanged. Rebadow hadn’t been a particularly violent man—aside from the murder—to begin with, so it was hard to say. But a few weeks after the experiment, God spoke to him for the first time.

Chico: …That’s cool, Bob. What about the shit they’re doing right now? / Rebadow shrugs. He says it seems like whatever they’re doing right now, it must be more of a success. Science these days… it’s not like how it was when he was a young man. Back in his day, mind control was just a CIA pipedream.

Whatever is going on, he advises Chico to tell Miguel to find a way to back out of the study, or to at least make sure he doesn’t get locked into Round 2. Look around: haven’t you noticed?

The pod people emerging from Round 2 have started to cluster together, abandoning their previous affiliations to all shadily meet in the classrooms or gather at lunch tables to sit/stand as if in conference… But they don’t seem to be discussing much at all, or at least, when either Miguel or Chico try to pretend to stumbled across them and see what they’re up to, they fall silent and just make polite, robotic conversation instead

Miguel has experience with pretending to take pills but not actually taking them, so he’s been collecting the ones that he’s been given. He, Chico, Rebadow (and now Busmalis lol) gather around and stare at the little pile of pills Miguel has collected. Of course, none of them are fucking scientists or anything so they just sort of stare at the pills like they expect something to happen.

“Maybe they’re placebos,” Busmalis says. Miguel lifts his head a little and peers around Em City. “I don’t think they’re doing placebos anymore, man.”

Chico suggests they try crushing up the pills and giving it to someone else to see what happens. At such a concentrated dose, if Miguel is being given the real drugs, then surely if they give it to someone else, they'll know right away

Miguel's not so into that plan, but Rebadow reasons that the study drugs don’t seem to actually be actively harming (killing anyone), so Miguel sweeps the pills back into his pocket and says he’ll think about who to dose and how.

Chico’s vote is that Miguel gives it to Torquemada, who’s been running around doing his own thing in the background. It’ll be easier to tell if there’s a sudden change in someone with a bigger personality to begin with, plus fuck that guy for the Destiny business. With the inmates becoming transformed by the study drug anyway, the tits trade in Oz has been suffering a serious demand shortage that has caused some troubles for Torquemada, as his power is now beginning to slip. (“At worst, you’ll be putting the guy outta his misery by letting him join the vegetated masses” is Chico’s twisted logic). Still somewhat conflicted, Miguel agrees.

Busmalis is all “oooh How will you get the drugs to him? Sprinkle it in his food? Mix it into his toothpaste?” / Miguel and Chico just give each other a look.

Smash cut to: they have bonked Torquemada over the head and have dragged him into a supply closet to stuff the pills down his throat the old fashioned way: one guy holding his nose and and mouth until he swallows and the other guy sitting on his legs. Once all that’s done, they knock Torquemada out again and untie him like “now what” / “guess we see if anything happens” and skip off to wait for Torquemada to emerge from his beauty sleep either very pissed off or completely zombified

In the meantime, the inmates coming out of round 2 have formed even more of a peculiar hivemind, moving in packs and generally being very creepy. At night, some of them stand at the glass of their pods, just staring at each other until the hacks tell them to get back in bed.

Of course, Miguel and Chico aren’t the only ones who have noticed the strangeness. One of the bikers whose associates have mostly all been lured into the experiment by that point finally snaps and freaks out—starts wailing on another guy but is quickly subdued by a horde of the pod people, who turn him over to the hacks and confirm each other’s stories that he completely went berserk and needs to be duly punished

Similar incidents arise

Torquemada is discovered wandering around in a complete daze with no recollection of where he is or how he got there and is admitted to the hospital ward for evaluation. Dr Nathan thinks it could be some sort of temporary concussion based amnesia—he does have a bruise on his head, but it doesn’t really seem to account for the severity of his case; his motor skills and reasoning is all there — top notch, in fact, but it turns out he’s not only quite amnesiac but also very susceptible to suggestion and unable to remember too much at once. Gloria thinks they have to send him to the hospital for brain scans altho Querns isn’t so enthused about it, since Torquemada seems physically healthy and MRIs are expensive……. So Nathan just continues to hold Torquemada for observation instead. His condition doesn’t seem to deteriorate but it doesn’t seem to get better, either.

Miguel continues to feel conflicted about what’s happened to Torquemada, thinking the drugs basically gave him dementia or something (Chico: it’s not dementia, it’s mind control!! And if you’re not careful, they’ll turn you into him, too). They have a real philosophical argument about the point of continued resistance and sneak into the hospital ward to see Torquemada in person. Torquemada has no idea who they are and doesn’t hold much interest in anything around him. Just sits patiently in the hospital bed until he seems to pick up on the fact that they’ve sneaked over and aren’t actually working a shift, and then he calls Dr Nathan over who calls a hack over to drag them back to Em City and face discipline for wandering where theyre not supposed to be (Chico tells McManus that technically they are both allowed to be in the hospital ward as inmates; its not really their fault the hack who took them their took his eye off them. It’s a big misunderstanding, yep.)

McManus suspects that they’re (Chico’s) the ones who did something to Torquemada to make him all confused. He doesn’t know WHAT but he WILL find out. Also, he’s very fucking disappointed in Miguel (yeah yeah). It’s been a year and a half since the incident with Ruiz and the evacuation and then repopulation of Oz. Chico just barely avoids the Cage (gets gym and library privileges revoked for a month instead) and is dismissed, with McManus having Miguel stay behind to talk instead. (cue Chico dawdling around the base of the stairs for Miguel to come down; in the mean time, he gets to the enjoy the unsettling stares of the pod people around the unit. He starts to wonder if maybe they’re planning something)

When Miguel at long last comes out of McManus’s office, he seems subdued but just says that McManus suggested that going through with round 2 met help him show the parole board that he’s truly changed (results have been amazing. disciplinary slip hand outs have been at an all time low)

“You can’t.” Miguel only shrugs. “I know,” he says, but he doesn’t seem so sure.

That night Chico stands at the pod wall and quietly reports what he sees. He’s got all kinds of theories about the mind control—theories which Miguel usually listens to, but that night Miguel doesn’t want to hear anything about. He’s been moody about the whole thing since they when to see Torquemada and it’s clear to Chico that Miguel thinks that they really did just give him a concussion somewhat and that there’s no big conspiracy at all. It’s just their imaginations they’ve been letting run wild.

“What about the paper?” “Chico, we don’t know what that shit was talking about! You grabbed ONE paper talking about neurotransmitters and fucking CBT. It doesn’t mean SHIT.”

And Miguel likes Rebadow too, but the man says a CIA experiment let him hear the voice of God. Doesn’t that seem a little insane to Chico? JUST A LITTLE? Has it never occurred to Chico that maybe there’s nothing weird about what’s going on, and he just WANTS there to be so he doesn’t have to face the fact that he’s not likely getting out of Oz anytime soon?

Chico is like YEAH? What about them?! > Points behind him to the rest of Em City and Miguel just says quietly that nobody’s goddamn out there. Nobody’s standing out at the windows communicating telepathically to each other. It’s just Chico standing there making up shit to pass the time.

Chico dives at him and tries to choke him, demanding to know if Miguel’s been taking the pills the past couple of days after all. He took them, didn’t he? They™ got him, didn’t they?

Miguel manages to throw Chico off and hiss “Don’t you get tired of your own bullshit?” just as there’s a sharp rap against the glass and a strong light shining into the pod. The hack tells Chico to go back to his own bunk, but otherwise can’t be bothered to deal with them. Shaking, Chico retreats to his own bed, and sleeps very little that night.

The final day of the round 1 trials Miguel is participating in comes ups and while he’s locked into it based on the contract he signed, he’d originally decided he wouldn’t continue on to round 2 like the researchers will assume he will. Now Chico’s not so sure what Miguel’s plan is. After their argument, it seems like Miguel wants to just succumb to the mind numbing effects of the trial, and there’s nothing Chico can do about it. He does feel a little insane about it, wondering if Miguel is right and that somewhere along the line, he simply went off the deep end and didn’t notice. He’s always been a little ehh in the head but who in Oz isn’t? And he’s never been nuts the way Miguel has been. He’s always been able to SEE reason even if he doesn’t always ACT rational. The transformation of the pod people had seemed like an obvious thing in the beginning; now with everyone else acting one way, and him starting to become part of the irritable, troublesome minority, he’s not so sure.

He gets a last chance to catch Miguel for a muttered conversation as he’s waiting in queue to be called behind the curtain where the drugs are administered for the trial. Chico says that Miguel is right and that maybe he’s just been seeing what he wants to see, but one thing he does know is that Miguel Means Something™ to him , now, after everything, and he doesn't want to lose him to the apathy of whatever it seems like the drugs do to participants

Miguel just gives him a strange look but doesn't have time to say anything else because he's being called in next already. Chico steps back and gestures for Miguel to go ahead

Miguel acts normal coming back from the study that afternoon, but they don’t really get the chance to talk and then the next time Chico sees Miguel is at dinner after Miguel has had a counseling session with Sister Pete, which always puts him in a sort of dull mood, too, all tired from having to think about/remember why he’s still stuck in Oz. This sort of starts to make Chico think Miguel has turned into a pod person, and between Chico’s paranoia and Miguel behavior, they sort of keep at a distance as the unit goes into lockdown for the night. The quiet isn’t exactly unusual tbh but there’s an unease to it that hangs over Chico—keeps him wired, keeps him awake for another night even as the boom of LIGHTS OUT rings through Em City and they plunge into darkness.

The next morning, Miguel is still hard to read, but while they’re standing outside for count, he turns to Chico. Leans over and is like “you look like shit btw” and Chico’s like "Oh thank fuck"....the most beautiful words he's ever heard in his life. It's "You scared this shit outta me" and "You didn't take it?" / Miguel just shakes his head. He looks around Em City and says he doesn't want to be a zombie, doesn't want someone else planting thoughts in his head. Oz has already taken enough from him; when he leaves—and he will, someday—he wants to still recognise the man in the mirror.

It's an uncertain ending: Miguel and Chico have not been turned into the strange pod people... yet... but they’re surrounded by them, and it’s soon announced that the program was a success, and in turn, the Emerald City project looks like a success, and that the entire thing will be rolled out on larger scale to the rest of Oz in the an upcoming phase

---

That's the general idea anyway 🤪 I'm open to riffing on this

I just wanted some psychological vibes for Oz and I rewatched Invasion of the Bodysnatchers last night (the 70s remake)

#text #oz hbo #i originally started writing this last night and then passed out in a delirious haze. yes i DID have a very strange dream. #but it was a dream where i was watching a random tv show from 1986 and i was like Hey is that bobby cannavale.... oh hey... #there's a lot of oz actors in this random medical/police(?) drama??? omg.... #at one point the character were lip syncing 'the call' by BSB in an interrogation room in a very late 90s/early 2000s jumpcut style edit #maybe that was the fever dream of a dying patient idk #but in my dream i started watching the show bc i saw a clip of that scene and was like wtf 😭 #Also kirk acevedo's character (nurse or paramedic of some kind) had a really big dragon tat along his side and i was like SICk.... #but i think that particular detail was bc my tattoo artist sent me a design last night lol #idk where the backstreet boys montage came from. i must meditate on that one. #oz au

[thethingwithfeathers]

The Names We Use

I started writing this Kabby fic months ago! Like... just after the finale... but I got stuck and it joined the pile of half done fics I have. 

It’s mostly just head cannons and fluff. I hope you enjoy! 

The Names We Use- Kabby 

Her parents name her Abigail; they found it in a book of baby names that was stored on the ark computers. The book tells them that Abigail has a Hebrew origin and means Father’s Joy. Her family is not religious but her dad immediately loves the name. Even before she is born he is certain that she will be the best thing he’s ever done.

 Vera picked out the name Marcus when she was 15. The Ark has a huge wealth of information about the Romans and Vera absorbs it all eagerly. She is particularly struck by the story of Marcus Aurelius, an able military leader, but more importantly an intellectual who values the mind above all else. Vera delights in her son, just as she always knew she would.

 It is very early in her life when she becomes Abby to her friends and just about everyone else. This suits the little girl who thinks Abigail sounds old and formal. She also kind of likes it that her parents have a special name for her, something just for the three of them. There is universal agreement that the name Abby suits the high energy, smiling little girl whose hair streams behind her as she runs and plays.

 When he is 11 the most popular boy in his class, Jared befriends him. He is surprised but pleased when Jared makes the effort. Marcus is quiet and serious to Jared’s noise and charm. Jared’s dad is on the council and he seems able to get away with anything so when Jared asks him if he can copy his work Marcus says yes even though he knows it’s wrong. They are caught of course and when the teacher confronts them Jared immediately drawls, “Well Marky here was having trouble with the work. I was just trying to help him out but I guess he copied me”. Marcus burns with shame and anger and in that moment promises himself that nobody will ever call him Marky again and that one day he will get on the council and make sure the rules apply evenly to everyone.

 Her dad gets sick when she is 14 and there is nothing anyone can do to make him better. Everything happens so fast and Abby feels her near perfect life disappear in an instant. He holds her hand and lets his tears fall freely. “I love you so much Abigail. I’m so proud of you.” She decides right then she is going to be a doctor, and save as many people as possible. It lights a fire in her and during those long nights studying and struggling through the material her dad’s final words sustain her.

 By the time he is a teenager he has become Kane to most people. He wears his last name like armor. He understands why his dad is bitter, working long hours for little reward but not why he turns that anger towards his wife and his son. Instead of hiding from his last name he owns it, doesn’t give anyone the chance to use it against him.

 Jake calls her Abby most of the time, but he also calls her sweetheart and babe and whatever endearment pops into his head because they always make Abby smile at him (even if they are occasionally accompanied by an eye roll). She passes all her tests and becomes the youngest fully qualified doctor the Ark has ever had. When Jake proposes a few months later she is delirious with happiness. Jake starts calling her Doctor Griffin, his grin lighting up his whole face, “Dr. and Mr. Griffin, we’ll be unstoppable” he tells her and they both believe it.

 His first serious girlfriend usually calls him Kane, which suits him fine, or baby, which he hates. She does occasionally call him by his full name though, which he finds he sort of likes. She is smart and beautiful and when she smiles at him and sighs out “Marcus Kane” he can’t help but smile back. He isn’t sure if he loves her, but he wants to love her. It falls apart when he realizes that she thinks he is broken, that she wants to be the one to fix him, to turn him into someone else. After they break up she goes back to calling him Kane, like everyone else.

 He calls her Abby and she calls him Kane. They use each other’s names all the time, though neither of them gives that fact much thought.

 The way he says her name when they are arguing drives her insane. Abby, he sighs in a voice dripping with condescension and she wants to punch him in the face.  More than once she barley restrains herself to spitting his name back at him, like the very letters are a poison, Kane.

 They do agree with each other sometimes though. Not often maybe, but more than many people realize. Those times, when they were united in a cause they would exchange a small look, knowing that united they were essentially unbeatable.

“Abby is right.” He would say matter-of-factly and around the table eyebrows would arch, some half joking, some not. Other times Abby would declare, “I agree with Kane.”  And most of the council would save some time and just go with whatever it was.

 After Jake was floated, Clarke was imprisoned and the situation with the air supply became known to the council their animosity ratcheted up even higher. How could it not? There was so much anger in both of them, at the situation, at themselves and at each other. Each interaction became an accusation, either outright or badly hidden behind a thin veneer of civility.

 Then Diana Sydney tried to kill them all and Vera Kane lay dying and for the first time ever Marcus could not even say her name to call her over. She came anyway of course, and there was no need for words between the two of them, Vera was gone and they both knew it, though Abby could read the desperation to be wrong in his eyes.

 When she saw him again later that day, she saw him, his walls were down and Abby saw through his mask and his title to the man. He was trying to be Kane, detached and unaffected and Abby realized in that moment that he did so because he believed it was the only way to do his job. She wanted him to know that someone saw him and someone cared. To acknowledge the internal turmoil he was trying to deny to himself. It was natural in that moment to call him Marcus, his first name came out of her mouth without a second thought as her hand found his shoulder.  

 Abby believed she was going to die in the service bay. Her thoughts turned to her husband and daughter. She wondered if she would see Jake again and she hoped Clarke was alive and safe. Then she felt hands on her, turning her, cupping her face and his voice broke through the haze, calling for her to wake up, desperation and hope mingling together in the way he said her name.

 He stays Marcus to her. She isn’t sure if its because he crawled into the burning hot maintenance shaft and found her or because she wants him to know, for both of them that she sees him, imperfect and scarred and working, always working for their people and putting himself last.

 Things threaten to fall apart when Abby arms the delinquents and Marcus orders her shock lashed. They disagree but understand each other. Abby does not forgive him right away, not while the pain is still raw and throbbing, but she offers him understanding with her defiance. There is no way for Abby to miss the unspoken apology in his decision to go and leave the pin with her. (Ironically Abby later realizes it is his willingness to admit his mistakes and give up power that helps make him a good one to have it.)

 When he walks, almost saunters really, back into camp the only thing she trusts herself to say is his name, taken aback by the intensity of the relief she feels at seeing him alive and safe. When he calls her chancellor she feels her burden get slightly lighter and while she is not entirely sure she likes being chancellor, she definitely likes the way he says it to her.

 Less than a day after his return back to camp she catches him flinch ever so slightly when his forearm makes contact with the table. Abby decided not to focus on the fact that she was watching him closely enough to notice and reached out to grab his hand. He, of course, tries to tell her that it's nothing but she's heard that from him too many times to believe it and she simply raises an eyebrow and says maybe a little sharper than necessary, "Marcus". He realizes this is not a battle worth fighting and submits his arm for her to examine, knowing he'll now have to tell her the whole story. When she is done tending to him she looks at him with a mix of anger and sadness and fondness that shouldn't be possible but is and says "No more trying to sacrifice yourself Marcus. I need you with me down here." 

He nods and offers her a hint of a smile when he responds, "Yes chancellor."

Abby can't help but respond with a small smile. "Don't you forget it Councilor." 

 When Abby finds him buried under the rubble in TonDC her purpose in life narrows to getting him out, keeping him alive, not allowing him to give up. She calls his name, as he had months earlier and takes his hand. She calls his name again when more rubble falls on them, she knows the desperation is clear in her voice as she repeats his name over and over, a chant and a prayer, using her sheer force of will to make him wake up and answer.

 As they begin the walk back from Mount Weather he takes her hand when he sees her face contort in pain and with tenderness she never thought she’d hear from him he asks, “Abby, is there anything I can do?” She manages a small smile before it twists in pain and she squeezes his hand harder.

“Stay beside me, Marcus?” she asks hesitantly.

“Of course Abby” he assures her instantly, and he does. He speaks quietly to her and she knows he is trying to distract her from the pain and for once she is too tired to pretend to be ok and she lets his voice wash over her.

 He loves the ground and Abby loves witnessing the moments he lets his guard down, when he is Marcus, not councilor and leader of the guard, just himself. In these moments he will reach for her, his voice hushed and filled with awe. “Abby, look over there. Look at that.” He’ll point and she’ll follow his gaze to whatever site has caught his attention this time. A waterfall in the distance, an animal running through the forest, sometimes even something as simple as fruit growing ripe and full on a tree. She smiles back at him, “It’s beautiful Marcus”.

 They still argue, that will never change but it’s different now, he is far more wiling to compromise and apologize which helps Abby to soften towards him. Each understands now that they share the same goals, peace and safety for their people. They still snap at each other but now they know the arguments are temporary. They find themselves relying on each other and so they grow slowly and steadily closer. Abby has not heard her name said in that smug condescending voice since they landed on the ground and she has promised herself that she will never use his name as an accusation the way she has in the past

 Marcus has never commented on the change in the way Abby addresses him, pretended not to care for a short period of time but he wasn’t even fooling himself. He likes that Abby sees him, she somehow manages to convey her belief in him through just continuing to call him Marcus, it makes him want to be that man she believes he can be.

 It is easy to rile Abby Griffin up, she is fiercely protective of not just her family but of all their people and what she believes is right. When anything is threatened she reacts instinctively and it must be said, not always helpfully. She is also motivated first and foremost as a mother, she wants Clarke safe and if at all possible happy and she wants to KNOW Clarke is safe. Abby has never shied away from ruffling the feathers of others; she is not a born diplomat. Yet now all it takes to ground her, to calm her, at least temporarily, is the light pressure of his hand on her arm and her name on his lips.  

 Then comes Pike and the election and the failed coup and she is no longer willing to pretend she doesn’t love him. She holds onto her own words to him, “let’s call it hope” as she fights down her desperation, which she can feel rising like bile, threatening to drown her from within. She refuses to let it and because some things should never change when he tells her not to try and save him she does it anyway, of course she does. When he finally, finally kisses her Abby hopes and believes it is for the first but not the last time.  

Neither of them will ever forgive ALIE for using their relationship against them. It will take them a long time to heal, but both know the only way to do it is together. So that is what they do, learning how to support and comfort one another. “Abby” he whispers, voice breaking as she holds him close, kneeling on the floor of the throne room. They need so many less words now than they used to and he says so much with just her name. She answers back with his own, voice quiet and gentle, a reassurance, an apology, a declaration of love, “Marcus. Oh Marcus.”

 There is so much work to be done but they take any moment they can get. Abby learns that she loves the way he says her name in the morning. His voice comes out low and rough and she loves that she is the one who gets to hear it. She has even, once or twice pretended to still be asleep because she knows he will press little kisses on her forehead or her hair or her shoulder, as she lies spooned against him. “Abby, wake up. C’mon Abby, we have get up love”, his voice like rich, strong coffee pulling her awake.

 He loves that she always says goodnight to him. If he comes into their room after her he tries so hard not to wake her, but inevitably when he slides in beside her she will stir half awake and sleepily cuddle up to him while murmuring a sleep slurred, “G’night Marcus. Love you.”

 Of course they also enjoy finding new ways to make the other say their names. Abby enjoys making him lose the control he prizes so highly. The way he says her name at the end of a groan, or pants it out, her name tumbling out past his kiss swollen lips drives her crazy.

 When she moans his name the first time, breathless and urgent, he makes it a goal to hear her say it as often as possible for however much longer they are given to live. When minutes later she breathes against his ear, "Marcus you feel so good" he can feel himself fall apart a little more.

 He learns new ways to make her say his name and delights in them all. When he slides his hand between her legs she will sigh out his name softly, when he replaces his hands with his head between her thighs, his tongue and lips coax her towards pure bliss she tends to bite her lip, trying not too make too much noise but when he raises his eyes to look at her, when his mouth and his beard are right where she needs him his name comes out in a near scream.  

 When she slides a hand into his hair he lets out a soft sigh. When her lips find that spot on his neck, under his ear her name falls from his lips as a moan. When she finally gets a hand on his cock he stutters out her name “A-Abby”. Her name quickly becomes the only word he can form in the midst of wordless groans that Abby loves to hear.

 Marcus doesn’t do pet names the way Jake did, he pretty much sticks to Abby, but she can’t say she minds. She likes that there are things that separate the two men. In private though he will occasionally add to her name, “Abby, love, it’s ok. You’re ok.” he says softly when she wakes shaking and clammy from a nightmare.

 Abby occasionally calls Marcus sweetheart. She isn’t sure that he likes it, but he never protests and Abby secretly likes it that she gets to call him that sometimes, from anyone else he would not put up with it, but from her he does. Mostly though, she just continues to call him Marcus. He is still Kane to everyone else and she feels privileged that she is the one who gets to know Marcus.

 They survive. It takes everyone, but they manage it, the sky people and the grounders together. They lose too many good people and they are an emotionally and physically exhausted group, very nearly, but not quite beaten.

 A year and a half after the defeat of ALIE they find new names to call each other. Abby never thought she would call another man husband. Marcus long ago stopped believing he would ever have a wife. Each delights in saying and hearing their new titles. The morning after their wedding Marcus smiles at her, draped across his chest. “Good morning wife” he says smiling brightly. Abby feels a giddy happiness spread through her as she answers, “good morning husband”.

#Kabby #Kabby fic #I..um...actually kinda like this one #so I hope you do too #feedback is always welcome #and makes me happy #I did the thing #Marcus Kane #Abby Griffin