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There had been a time, not so long ago, when Marcus’s presence had made Clarke wary. Their interactions had lacked the cool and thinly veiled hostility that had punctuated much of her mother’s interaction with the Chief Security Officer, but after he’d locked her in solitary Clarke could never quite bring herself to trust him.
Amazing, how quickly and completely life on the ground had changed things.
Now, as they sat next to each other in the dirt near the fire, Clarke was pleased to admit that Marcus’s presence was reassuring. She liked the man and, what was more, she trusted him. Marcus had supported her even when Abby had not, or been unable to; his obvious devotion to her mom was just another mark in his favor as far as Clarke was concerned.
They’d come a long way from their days in space; they all had.
Clarke raised her eyes to the night sky. “Do you ever miss it?”
Marcus glanced over at her and then followed her gaze up to the stars. “No.”
“I do.”
“Of course you do. You were happy up there, Clarke. You had your family, and your friends, and the promise of a life of relative safety.”
She turned her eyes to the man next to her. He wasn’t looking at the sky anymore, and he wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were fixed on the fire.
“I’m ashamed of the man I was on the Ark.”
On the other side of the fire, Abby accepted the cup that Raven handed her. Marcus fixed his attention on her, but Clarke’s attention stayed on him.
“Clarke …” He paused. She waited. When he locked gazes with her, there was something bottomless in his eyes. “I know that I don’t have the right to ask this of you - that it might seem ridiculous, or selfish, but -”
“You want to marry my mom.” Marcus’s mouth fell open. Clarke smirked at him. “You want my permission before you ask.”
He blew out a breath and snapped a piece off of the twig in his hand, which he threw into the fire. “I forget how clever you are, sometimes.”
His nervousness was endearing. Clarke nudged him with her shoulder. “I didn’t know the Marcus Kane up there. Not really. And what I did know, well, none of that matters anymore. That was a different place, and those were different people. I like the man you are now. Maybe it’s the beard.”
Marcus barked out a surprised laugh. “Keeps my face warm,” he said.
Clarke smiled. “I know that I haven’t been around a lot, but I see what you do for my mom. And it’s not just that you’d do anything to protect her, because I know you would, but that you aren’t afraid to stand up to her. She trusts you, and depends on you. You make each other better. So if you love her as much as I think you do - as much as I know she loves you - then you should stop wasting time over here with me and get on with it.”
The young woman was soundly surprised when Marcus extended the arm nearest her and wrapped it around her shoulders to pull her into his side in a hug.
“Time with you is never wasted, Clarke.”
Tears sprung to her eyes without warning. Marcus Kane wasn’t Jake Griffin - would never try to be, Clarke knew - but there was something so paternal about the act, and the words, that it made her achingly aware of just how much she missed having a father figure in her life. She was so busy trying to keep her friends alive, so busy leaping from one narrowly averted catastrophe to the next, that Clarke had forced herself to forget how nice it felt to be a kid; how freeing it was to just be held by someone who could be trusted to bear the burden.
Of course, Abby chose that moment to appear in front of them, and she zeroed in on the two stray tears that had escaped to make their way down Clarke’s cheeks.
“Clarke? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said, and hastily wiped the tears away. Marcus’s arm loosened around her shoulders and she straightened up. “I’m fine, mom. I’m just gonna go …”
Marcus reached for her before she could stand. “Stay? Please.”
Clarke hesitated and then nodded. Abby glanced first at her daughter and then at Marcus, confusion etched into the lines of her face. The confusion evaporated and was replaced with disbelief (and some caution) when Marcus lifted himself into a position where only one knee was on the ground, and took one of Abby’s hands in his.
He cleared his throat and reached into his pocket to retrieve the thin silver band he’d been carrying around for weeks. He held it up to glint in the firelight. “Let’s get hitched.”
Stunned, delighted laughter rang out from both in front of and behind Marcus. Startled faces turned to pinpoint the sound, so full of joy, and so rare, and a buzz began working its way through the crowd. Marcus paid them no heed: his eyes were trained on Abby, whose whole face glowed with the force of her mirth. Behind him, Clarke was laughing so hard he could hear her gasping for air.
By the time the laughter had calmed, Marcus felt infinitely lighter. “Now that we got that out of the way,” he said with a teasing grin, and squeezed Abby’s hand. “I love you, Abby. I want to marry you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, however long that may be. But I also want you to know,” and here he turned his head to look at Clarke, “I want both of you to know that I would never try to replace Jake. I’m not your father, Clarke, but I promise to love you like I am; to be your friend, and your confidante, and whatever else you need me to be, whenever you need me to be it. I love you - both of you - and I want to be part of your family, if you’ll let me.”
Abby’s eyes were suspiciously wet when she spoke. “There’s no one to marry us, Marcus.”
“That doesn’t matter. If you say yes, that’s enough for me. I don’t need vows or a piece of paper to make it real. You don’t even have to wear the ring, if you don’t want to. All I need is you, Abby.”
Abby pulled her hand away from him and framed his face mere seconds before bending down to capture his lips in an earnest, breathless kiss.
“Of course I’ll wear the ring,” she murmured against his lips.
Marcus started to smile. “Is that a yes?”
“I’ll marry you if it isn’t,” Nate Miller called from somewhere behind Abby.
The titters of laughter were the first indication that Marcus had of being watched, but he forgot that a second later when Abby kissed him again.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
The people that he hadn’t noticed before began to clap and shout out their congratulations, and Marcus smiled as he slipped his ring onto the third finger of her right hand. Abby gave him a watery smile and shook her head at him; she drew her hands to herself and slipped off first Jake’s ring, and then Marcus’s, and then switched their positions.
When Abby had helped him to his feet, swept him up into another kiss and then released him again, Marcus turned to find Clarke waiting patiently behind him. She threw her arms around his neck.
“Thank you, Marcus.”
“I meant every word.”
“I know. Welcome to the family.”