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"It's not what it looks like."
Abby wasn’t caught off guard often. She was a generally steady person and capable of keeping her cool. “Unflappable,” Jake had once called her.
Of course, Clarke had the (not unexpected) ability to unsettle her, but for the most part she was the only one.
Then, one sunny summer day on Earth, Abby stepped into medical and found Marcus standing in the middle of the room with his shirt off while Jackson groped his pectorals.
“They feel fine,” Jackson said.
Abby’s mouth fell open.
Marcus looked up. “Abby!”
Jackson dropped his hands as if he’d been burned. “It’s not what it looks like!”
Abby’s shoulders started to shake.
“Check up,” Marcus stuttered. “It was a check up. I thought …”
“It was a mammogram,” Jackson interrupted, ignoring the way both his and Marcus’s faces flamed.
Abby guffawed. There was no other word for it: the laugh erupted from her, full and indelicate and uncontrollable. She laughed until she couldn’t breathe, until she was wheezing, and she pressed a hand against her chest in an attempt to slow it down.
A very unamused Marcus pulled his shirt back on as Jackson stuttered an excuse and fled.
That only made Abby laugh harder.
“Are … you … okay?” Abby finally managed to pant.
“Fine, thanks,” Marcus groused.
Abby wiped mirthful tears from her eyes. “Why didn’t you just ask me?”
“I didn’t want to worry you.”
Abby’s brows furrowed and her mouth screwed up as she tried to swallow back the fresh bout of laughter that tried to break free.
“Are you done?”
If she opened her mouth only laughter would come out, so Abby simply nodded.
“You’re not going to let me forget this, are you?”
“No, probably not.”
“Mom?” Clarke poked her head in the door. “Is everything okay? I just saw Jackson and …”
Abby started laughing all over again.