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It’s been a slow day, thankfully, after the nightmares that the flu outbreak caused last week. When they came to Earth, everybody was too busy focusing on oncoming war with Grounders, as they should, so none of them paid much attention to Earth’s own methods of keeping people in line. Supplies in medbay were thin, as was expected from coming down in a literal tin can with slim hopes of a successful landing, so they didn’t really take much medicine, dividing it through the stations. Only thanks to Lincoln and Nyko, Abby and Jackson were able to make herbal medicines and infusions for diseases Lincoln told them about, amongst which was the damned flu. Surprisingly, even people born in space weren’t immune to that, so when the camp started getting sick, a whole chaos erupted with worry that the Grounders started biological war. Of course, they couldn’t be more wrong than that.
After Mount Weather the truce lasted, frail as it was, but still, so everybody was calmer. Chancellors duties now consisted of constant meetings on how to improve the camp. Title stayed with Abby, however she and Marcus effectively acted like co-chancellors. People seemed to be content with their leadership, hence there was no need to call an election for now. Maybe later, when the times were better.
Almost everybody who went down with flu was as good as new now, which only left two patients for Abby to take care of. Middle-aged woman, who for now had it worse than anybody, but was steadily coming back to herself, and a young kitchen-duty worker, who seemed better as well. Their fever broke down overnight, so simple observation and plenty of fluid would work, and they would be back on their feet in no time. Marcus, as a changed man he was now, strove to help everybody who got ill, walking them to medbay, keeping up their fluid intake, doing basically anything to take most of the work from Abby and Jackson’s shoulders. As doctors, they were used to various diseases, which were not affecting them as they did to most people, but Marcus was not, and Abby was worried that he would catch it as well, and with the way Abby was swamped with medical, Arkadia needed at least one, fully devoted Chancellor, and truth be told, she cared about him, which was why she’d rather see him healthy and stable.
Cared about him
The thought startled her a little. Of course she cared about Marcus. How could she not? He was her dear friend, a person she could trust with, pretty much everything. Without him she sure as hell couldn’t have done a good job with the camp the way she did, so of course she cared about him. They were shifting nowadays. When they made eye contact, it always seemed a little too long to just be friendly oriented. She even caught him once or twice staring at her, making her cheeks flame up crimson. Swift, casual touches whenever they were near each other, almost as if a ground would break if they didn’t. Both of them didn’t seem to last long without talking, or spending time with one another. But that was just what friends did, wasn’t it? Abby didn’t know what to make of it, and staring at the inventory list in front of her like an impostor, she realized she hadn’t actually done any of the work she was supposed to do, her mind filled with thoughts of Marcus, his small smile whenever he saw her, his gentle eyes boring into her soul, wanting to break her open to him. The way his hand on her shoulder or arm made a shiver run down her spine. The way he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. The way…
“Abby!” Jackson’s voice piercing her ears made her head snap sideways, the young man’s silhouette visible only, the sun making its way through the tent flaps “Are you okay? I’ve been calling your name like three times already” young man laughed, clearly amused about Abby’s startled expression, making her cheeks burn up at the thought that she’s just been caught daydreaming. Of Marcus at that.
“What? I- yes, I’m fine” Abby coughed, trying to compose herself together “What’s going on? Did you need something?”
“Yes, actually. I need you-” he pointed towards Abby “to go get something to eat and rest. Your shift ended like half an hour ago, go home!”
Abby’s eyes widened at that. Half an hour! She’s been making dreamy eyes to the thoughts of Marcus freaking Kane most of her shift, and managed to do absolutely zero actual work. She’s too old for that
“What? How… I mean, I- I can’t! Inventory needs to be done and I still need to check on Shannon and Hunter, see if anything changed.” woman shrugged, making it clear that she would, in fact, do her job.
“Abby, they have been stable for two days now, the worst is already behind us” Jackson said calmly “it’s not like I can’t handle two patients, that are asleep, and an inventory, which is not the most challenging job as you know”
“No, I know! I know you can handle it Jackson” Abby smiled, shoulders dropping a little in obvious relief that Jackson didn’t pick up on the blush on her cheeks
“Besides, you look like you could use a break” the man said, concern started to etch his features. “You’re a little red, are you sure you’re not coming down with fever? Here, let me take your temp” he moved to the shelves next to the entry in order to fetch the thermometer. Shit. Abby quickly scrambled onto her feet, going to the sink to start washing her hands, her back to the young man. She took a deep breath, hoping that she didn’t sound as out of breath as she felt. “Jackson, I told you, I’m fine. No need to worry, I promise” Abby shrugged and looked over her shoulder. Jackson frowned his brows in obvious worry, but decided to drop the subject, much to Abby’s relief “Ok then, but please Abby, go rest.”
The Griffin woman opened her mouth to object, but as stubborn as she was, she realized she was in no state to do actual work, and the thought of a few uninterrupted hours of rest was tempting, so she smiled and went to her desk to pick up her coat and medical bag.
“Promise to send for me if anything changes, okay?”
“Okay, okay I promise” Jackson answered over his shoulder. Just as Abby was about to leave the tent, he spoke again. “Oh! Almost forgot. Kane wanted to see you”
“Did he say what for?”
“No, just that he had some questions. He wouldn’t tell me, but it seemed pretty important” This made Abby frown. If it was that important, surely he would come to her straight away, right?
“Thank you Jackson. I will talk with him. See you around”
Without further ado Abby left the medbay and made her way to the camp’s dining area. What was that about? Every time Marcus had some important news or queries, he always came straight to her. Something was definitely off. As she reached her destination, Abby scanned the crowd, only to see that Marcus was missing. It was only 6PM, there weren’t many places that he would be at this hour. After a quick swipe of faces in the mess hall, Abby decided to go to their office, thinking that maybe he got stuck on workload, as there was always something to do within the thriving community. No such luck there. Feeling of worry started to come up Abby’s spine, something was wrong. The only other place Marcus would be, would be in his quarters. She quickly made her way, bumping through some people with a small sorry, grimacing at the non-chancellor way of greeting her people.
After no time she finally reached Marcus quarters, and as she was about to make her way through the door, she realized she never once had been in his sleeping area. She lifted her fist into the air, and knocked her knuckles on the steel door twice.
No answer.
She tried once more, and again was met by silence. Was he asleep? If something was that important, he wouldn’t just go to sleep. Cursing under her breath and feeling slight anger clouding her head, she swiftly grabbed the handle, pressed downwards and slowly pushed the door open.
All anger evaporated from her once she saw the man curled up in a ball on the makeshift bed.
“Marcus? Are you asleep?” she slowly made her way up to the bundle of blankets, peering up on his face only to realize that the man in question was shaking uncontrollably with a sweaty and pale face. His breathing was ragged, coming out in rough gasps. The woman gasped and lowered herself on the bed next to Marcus, her hand coming up to feel his forehead. He was burning up.
“Marcus? Can you hear me?” Abby asked and was met with no answer. “Marcus, sweetheart, can you open up your eyes for me please?” she softly inquired, gently shaking the man’s shoulders.
Much to her relief Marcus seemed to snap out of his state, groaning, he slowly rolled his head in Abby’s direction, without opening his eyes
“Abby…” he whispered, his voice hoarse “I feel like I’m dying” He coughed twice, wheezing the air into his lungs. He slowly opened his eyes, squinting on the intrusion of the daylight, and looked up at the woman before him with grave fear in his eyes “Am I dying?”
Abby had to stifle a laugh. What an idiot.
“No, Marcus, you’re not dying.” the woman answered, her lips turning into a soft smile “Can you tell me what’s hurting?”
“Everything, Abby. Everything hurts” Marcus grimaced, obviously in pain. “My head, it’s ten times heavier, and my nose- I can’t breathe. I must be dying” as amusing as ill Marcus may be, Abby decided to put him out of his misery in explaining to her what the flu's been doing to him. He closed his eyes again, leaning into the cool of Abby’s hand on his cheek.
“Marcus, you caught the flu. You’re definitely not dying” Abby murmured, grasping his face in her hands so he would look at her again. The action met the desired thought, and the man opened his eyes again, looking at Abby as if she was his lifeline. “Can you sit up and take some painkillers for me please? It will break your fever down, you’ll feel better” she asked
Marcus obliged, grimacing and hissing in pain as Abby dropped her hands from his face and he sat up, with somewhat difficulty, on the bed. “The flu? Ho-” another cough “How?”
“Probably from all the helping you’ve been doing last week.” Abby said over her shoulder as she retrieved two painkillers and a bottle of water from her bag. “If anything, I’m surprised it didn’t get to you sooner” She handed them to him and he took it gratefully, swallowing the medicine with furrowed brows, his throat aching.
“Thank you” Marcus hoarsely murmured, a small smile creeping up his cheeks, shifting in the bed to lay on his back again, grasping her hand in the process. Abby smiled, more at ease now that he was taken care of. They sat like that for some time, until Abby noticed Marcus’ eyes dropping, on the verge of sleep. As comfortable as being in his presence was, she knew he needed the rest, so she slowly started to pull her hand from his, which seemed to catch his attention, because he grabbed it tighter.
“Stay” Marcus whispered, opening his eyes slightly to look up at her hopefully. The question caught her off guard, because they weren’t used to seeking out touch from one another that openly. But how could she say no, when he was looking at her that way?
“Yeah, okay” Abby answered, climbing her way to the other side of the bed over Marcus. She lay on her back, slightly turned to him, position not entirely comfortable, but she wanted him to make the final move. And he did. Marcus turned to her, putting his head on her shoulder, his arm coming around her waist to cling to her. The action made butterflies fly free in Abby’s stomach. She brought her arms around him as well, hugging him close to her, one hand running small circles on his broad back. They lay like that, not talking, not thinking, lost in the feeling of each other's body against one another, when Marcus’ breathing evened out slowly, meaning he was giving way to sleep at last. Abby sighed, dropping a small, feather-light kiss to his hair, smiling. Her heart was full of affection for this amazing, complicated idiot of a man, too stubborn for his own good. Feeling her eyelids grow heavy, mind and soul comforted and content in the man’s arms, just before peaceful and easy sleep was about to overtake her, she remembered that Marcus actually had to see her about something important.
But that could wait.
Now she had to hold him.