#is the home where clarke raised her daughter and built between them through six years of solitude and peace

[the-witch-of-woods-beyond]

can we please finally talk about how can’t catch me now is literally clarke griffin’s anthem post praimfaya: believed dead and mourned for six years by spacekru, but she unburied herself from the wreck of their departure and crawled across the dessert to build a home in the last piece of earth left, waiting years for her people to return and nurturing the land they then fought for and destroyed all while raising the last true commander of the twelve clans.

[comeoncomeout41]

I just watched the Elf episode of The Holiday Movies That Made Us on Netflix after remembering that I started writing an Elf supercorp AU for Christmas in 2018 (don’t judge me) and found my old notes app first draft so Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! MAYBE I’ll finish it this year... (she said as a lying liar who lies.)

*The fic in which Kara’s pod crash landed at the North Pole, 13 years later her adopted elf mother Eliza and her elf sister Alex tell her about her cousin Kal now Clark Kent and she decides to go to Metropolis to meet the only other person like her. She meets Lena “naughty list” Luthor. And Clark and Lois are Jewish.

🔥🎄🎄🎄🧝‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Some elves are born to work in Santa’s workshop. Kara Zor-El, however, was not born an elf or even from this earth for that matter.

When her pod crash landed at the North Pole thirteen years ago, she had no memory of a lost planet, no recollection of a cousin she was sent to protect who had already grown up to become Superman, and no idea how to be an alien living with elves. Santa was perturbed as to what to do with a skittish teenaged alien who cringed at the sound of tiny hammers building toys.

The elf doctor, Eliza Danvers, having a daughter around Kara’s age, naturally stepped in to help raise her, teach her elf culture, and attempt to control her powers. There were several mishaps of course.

Kara’s eyes lit up the first time she saw a Christmas tree. Literally. The green pine was burned to a crisp with her heat vision. But she quickly uprooted another tree from outside the elf village and helped Alex redecorate the new tree. And spent several hours carefully placing the new lights and ornaments, after breaking several of the glowing strings of light and the ornate red and blue colored bulbs. When Alex had trouble reaching the top of the tree, Kara swooped her up under her arms to help her place the star on the tree. And she managed to only break one of Alex’s ribs in the process.

After years of being at the North Pole, Kara was actually a wonderful toy maker once she learned to control her strength. When other elves managed to meet their five hundred toy quotas, Kara would have five thousand toys completed. The workshop wouldn’t need any teddy bears for another century, but finding storage for all of the toys Kara built was becoming difficult.

So from there, Kara’s primary job became Elf Master of Letters. She spends several hours each day answering letters for Santa as Santa’s tight schedule and the millions of letters he received each year became too much for the old bearded man. And although she always needed a little proofreading as the different Earth languages were sometimes difficult and much different than her native alien tongue, she enjoyed writing and speaking to children all over the world, bringing them the joy of Christmas.

Alex read over the letter Kara had just finished typing. Her younger but much bigger sister looked to her with a twinkle in her eyes and waited patiently. When Kara saw the red ink marked all over Kara’s letter she cooed and gasped, “That red is so pretty Alex. I know Raymond in Denver will love it! He told me red was his favorite color. I wanted to tell him that’s Santa’s favorite color too! But I didn’t want to give all of the big man’s secrets away, you know?”

Alex sighed and rested her hand on her sister’s shoulder, “Kara, these are your typos. Look here.”

Alex pointed to the last line, “Beleiving isn’t singing. Singing is beleiving.”

“He asked if he could see what the North Pole looks like. I set him straight. Believing isn’t singing. Singing is believing. That was in that one Santa Claus movie you had me watch, which I know isn’t historically accurate or based on true events, but I still,”

“Kara, remember your English spellings. I before e except after c? And it’s seeing not singing.

“Except in some cases like neighbor and weigh. And I just thought! It’s a play on words because ‘the best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear!’”

Alex smiled at her then, “You’ll get the hang of it.“

“Yeah, okay so I can’t spell that great, but the writing was good right?” Kara looked hopeful.

Alex shoved her shoulder, “You know you have more Christmas spirit than any other elf. Now come on and fix these typos, so we can go drink hot chocolate with Mom.”

That night when Kara had gone to bed, belly full of twelve drumsticks, eleven pickled peppers, ten cups of hot chocolate, nine hams glazed, eight glasses of milk, seven strudel pastries, six white chocolate goose eggs, five onion rings, four carrot cakes, three French bagels, two turtle chocolates, and a chocolate pecan pie, she curled up on her elf sized bed. Eliza had knit a fourth blanket onto her elf quilt the previous month when her toes started peeking out at the bottom. Alex had tucked her in tonight, making certain she was snug as a bug in a rug in the tiny bed, wishing sweet dreams of sugarplums dancing in her head.

She was content, happy, home and tomorrow would be her thirteenth birthday at the North Pole. What more could her life possibly be, what could be more rewarding than being apart of the magic that brought Christmas to children all over the world? And still Kara thought of that world and all of the little lights that wrote those letters to Santa, the gleaming eyes of all who opened presents on Christmas morning, and she wondered if any of them were like her. If they could hear the faintest sounds of snow falling or reach up and touch the clouds. If they could roast chestnuts with their eyes or see through all those pretty presents wrapped neatly under the tree. If the people of this world could believe that Santa would come every year to bring them gifts, then she had to believe that somewhere out there, there was someone else who was just like her.

That night Kara dreamed of a beautiful red sunset and little baby boy named Kal. It all felt so real, seeing him jet across the sky in a similar pod to the one Kara had found in an abandoned workshop years ago, knowing it must have been how she found her home. She wrote a letter to Santa as soon as she woke up, asking him to find a home for Kal for Christmas.

_____

Kara had been in trouble a bit, always an accident, because really how was it her fault if Blitzen couldn’t keep up with her? He could have flown faster if he hadn’t eaten all of that maple syrup and maybe then he wouldn’t have been left behind! She carried him back the whole way anyway! After she found him three days later in the Swiss Alps.

But this time when she was called to Santa’s office and Eliza and Alex sat patiently waiting for the charges from the big boss, Kara didn’t know why she was here at all, or rather, now she was on the floor with wood debris around her rear because the little chair was a lot lower than she had anticipated. That was the tenth one this month.

Santa cleared his throat and rubbed his white bearded chin, “I read your letter, and I spoke to your mom and sister. I think they have something they’d like to tell you.”

Kara widened her eyes and looked to her mom, “Are we going to adopt Kal? Like you adopted me? Please say we can Eliza. I promise I’ll teach him myself how to control his powers, and I can build him a crib myself. I’ll even chop down the tree for the wood and we can,”

Eliza cupped Kara’s face and kissed her forehead, a tear prickling at the corner of her eye, “Do you remember Kal now sweetie? Do you remember Krypton?”

Kara blew out her breath in bewilderment, “Krypton? What’s that? Is that where I’m from? Is it in Canada? I’ve always felt I was probably a Canadian because I don’t get cold at the North Pole, and I make the best maple syrup every year during the elf Christmas party.”

Santa nodded, “Its true, you really do.”

Alex gasped, “you know you’re not an elf?”

Kara chewed at her fingernails, “Well I’m not, am I? I’m bigger than all of you and I can lift a Christmas tree over my head like it’s mistletoe and fly with reindeer and all sorts of stuff. I’ve known for awhile I’m not from here, but this is still my home. You two are still my family.”

Alex held back all her unshed tears, “But you have other family out there, and we can’t keep you from knowing about Kal anymore.”

So that day Kara cried when Santa showed her the picture of Kal, or Clark Kent as he was called on Earth, glasses askew and a beautiful woman on his arm. Clark without the glasses bearing what she was told was her family crest, the House of El, taking up the mantle of Earth’s greatest hero, Superman. She had crafted thousands of figurines of her only living blood relative, and yet she hadn’t the faintest idea that she had been sent to protect him for all of these years. He had grown up, not alone at least. He was raised in Kansas on a farm, and now he lived in Metropolis with his wife Lois Lane and their son Jonathan Kent.

“Does he even know I exist?”

_____

Kara changed into her best elf attire and her bright red boots that Eliza had made her for Christmas, letting her open one present before she left. Today was the day that she would fly to Metropolis and meet her cousin for the first time. She couldn’t wait, but the dread at leaving Alex and Eliza settled deep in the pit of her stomach. And all of the letters to Santa she still wanted to respond to sat neatly at her desk in her room.

She was leaving behind her entire life at the North Pole. She told herself she wasn’t losing her home, but it still felt like it. Santa’s workshop, Eliza and Alex, it was all she had ever known or could remember. Would it be the same when she came back? Would her room still smell like a gingerbread house and would her stocking still hang by their chimney with care? Would Kal come with her or would she split her time between Kal and Alex and Eliza like some children who get double presents when their parents divorce?

Alex knocked on her door and waltzed in, “Hey Kara, mom made you something to take to Kal. There’s a winter storm over Greenland, you should probably get going soon.”

Kara wiped the tears from her eyes and her sister rushed to hug her. She had to bend down a little and lift Alex off the ground, but no way was she leaving without giving her sister a proper hug.

“I’m going to miss you and mom so much, Alex. I’ve never been away from home for more than a few hours, how am I going to make it to Christmas without you both? Will you even still want me back?”

Alex nuzzled closer, “You better come back because I don’t want to imagine this place without you. Who’s going to lift the fridge so mom can sweep under it hmm? Who’s going to change all of the light bulbs in the workshop when they blow out? Who’s going to drink hot chocolate with me and watch Hallmark movies in July?”

Kara laughed, shaking her head and deposited Alex on the floor, “I thought you hated the Hallmark channel.”

Alex simply rolled her eyes, “But I love spending time with my sister, and I love you, you big sap. I swore I wasn’t going to cry.”

Feeling slightly better Kara shoves her sister’s shoulder, a little too hard and catches her before she falls, “I love you too, dork. Don’t open the present I got you until you get back, pinky swear?”

Alex locks pinkies with Kara and kisses her thumb, “I’ll miss you. Please be safe. No breaking the sound barrier, watch out for pigeons because there’s a lot in Metropolis or so I’ve read. And when you see Kal remember to call him Clark Kent.”

“Got it, and don’t eat anything I don’t buy myself or anything not given to me by Clark, Lois, or Jonathan because there’s a high chance it’s not candy.”

Kara hugged Eliza for thirty minutes after that, and then Alex for another ten minutes before waving goodbye to Santa and all of the elves at his workshop. Metropolis wasn’t so far for her to fly, and she’d be home in no time.

She coasted through the peppermint sparkled glaciers, touched the northern lights, sailed through the skies above the Arctic Ocean, grazed the top of the Daily Planet, and landed atop the small two bedroom apartment building on the rent controlled side of town. Inside the windows of the corner apartment on the top floor, Kara saw Kal with his family, lighting candles, looking happy and calm. She decided to wait until morning to meet Kal, Clark, alone.

She listened into the city around her, all of the heartbeats like a million tiny hammers beating together, all except one. Kara flew the city, pinpointing the sound, admiring all of the lights on all the trees in all of the buildings and all the shining multicolored bulbs lining the streets. And it was there, in the tallest tower of the tallest building, one light shone through the wall to wall window, a small desk lamp in the large office. At the desk a woman with jet black hair and skin as white and fair as snow sat, typing away at her computer, nibbling on the pen in her mouth. She strained her long elegant neck, and stretched her arms above her head before getting back to work.

Kara glanced below the balcony to the street corner, finding what she knew the young woman needed. She floated down to the alley and walked into a coffee shop, took some time figuring out how to pay for a cup of coffee with the paper and coin money that Santa had given her before she left. Smiled and thanked the cashier for helping her, put one of the bills in his tip jar (it was a hundred.) She quickly flew into the woman’s office, left the coffee on her desk, and flew out of sight, feeling a little like Santa herself in the moment.

The woman grabbed the coffee absentmindedly and sipped, not expecting it to be so hot Kara sees her fanning her mouth and frantically searching the room with her eyes. When she turns to peer out her balcony, Kara sees her face, hard jaw line, soft endearing green eyes. She smiles as the woman screams and locks her balcony door as the windows go pitch black.

[iswearonmarcuskane]

Kickin’ & Screamin’ // Chapter 16

Title: Kickin’ & Screamin’ Fandom: The 100 Pairing: Kabby Tag/Warnings: Modern AU Setting, Kicking and Screaming AU, Kid!Delinquents Chapter(s): 16/22 Read earlier chapters on: AO3

Chapter Summary: Hold on to your hats, we’re getting blasts from the past!! Also,,,, who knew that kids were smart????

Chapter 16: You can learn something new every day if you listen

Abby likes to believe she makes good spaghetti.

Clarke disagrees.

Abby knows that.

Abby chooses to ignore that.

Jake was more of the cook in the family. Abby helped out but the main course was always made by him. He knew how to cook her steak just the way she liked it, he knew how Clarke liked her corn shaved off the cob, and he made a bombass apple pie.

Abby’s tried to recreate it once before for Clarke’s birthday. Long story short, the fire department was laughing for a good five minutes because of the crowd from her party stranded on her lawn was all due to a smoky oven by a burnt apple pie.

Abby buys apple pie from Kroger now.

Why bring that up? Because Abby knows her spaghetti may not be the best, even if it’s all store bought at this point, but it’s not that bad to the point Clarke isn’t eating it at all.

“Everything okay, honey?” She finally asked her daughter, worry creeping through her.

Clarke looked up from pushing the noodles around with a fork to her mother. She nodded and said, “Yeah.”

Abby frowned as she watched her daughter go back to pushing the noodles. Obviously something wasn’t okay. Abby took a bite of her spaghetti and asked, “How was practice today?”

Abby wasn’t allowed to attend practice due to rules of the league stating she couldn’t be in attendance. She could guess it was a shit show though when she drove up to pick Clarke up. The girl looked upset, as did the rest of the team.

Clarke shrugged her shoulders and said, “Same old.”

That could very well mean two things: her practices or his practices. The two were very distinctly different. She asked her, “Not fun?”

Her daughter shook her head as she finally took a bite of her dinner. The scene broke Abby’s heart a bit. She had never seen Clarke so upset after a practice before. She had always left hers with a smile on her face.

Abby asked her, “Too serious again?”

Clarke nodded as she set her fork down. Abby examined her as Clarke whispered, voice cracking the slightest bit, “It’s not fun at all, Mom.”

Abby’s heart broke a little more. She reached across the table and grabbed her daughter’s hand, giving it the lightest squeeze of comfort. As Clarke looked up to make eye contact with her mom, Abby told her, “Marcus doesn’t know the definition of fun.”

Clarke laughed a little and squeezed her mom’s hand back. They let each other go and Clarke wiped at her eyes, not letting the tears fall. She admitted to her, “I miss you there. I miss sharks and minnows. I miss when soccer was fun.”

Abby frowned and looked down to her own spaghetti. She twirled it around her fork for a while before looking back to Clarke. She said more to herself than to her daughter, “But he knows what’s best doesn’t he?”

Clarke chuckled a bit and Abby smiled.

They both went back to eating when silence fell between them. Clarke was actually eating her spaghetti but still looked like something was on her mind. After a small mental battle, Clarke looked to her mom, asking, “You know what I’m thinking about?”

“That I should’ve stuck to using Prego sauce instead?”

Clarke laughed, a smiling gracing her face again. “Besides that,” Clarke said.

Abby shook her head, feeling the light mood turn the slightest bit serious. Clarke set her fork down as she looked up to their ceiling. A faint smile found its way to her lips as she told her mom, “I’m thinking of the time Dad convinced you take the surgeon job at Arkadia Hospital.”

Abby fell silent. It definitely wasn’t what Abby thought Clarke was thinking of. Suddenly very nervous, she asked her daughter, “Oh, you are? Why?”

Clarke looked from the ceiling to her mother, the smile adorning her lips now sad. She told her, “Just getting a sense of déjà vu, that’s all.”

That peaked Abby’s interest. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity and asked her, “Really? How so?”

Clarke shrugged as she picked up her fork once again, swirling the noodles. She explained, “This whole situation, really.”

“Situation?”

Abby was getting nervous, knowing where this conversation was headed. She felt like the kid and Clarke was going to lecture her for having her elbows on the dinner table.

“You know,” Clarke elaborated, “this whole thing with Kane. It’s different than it has been over the years.”

Abby couldn’t say Clarke was wrong because she was right. The two used to fight and tease each other but the hatred they shared between each other was never real hatred. It was a rivalry that didn’t cause the riff that existed between them now.

Abby asked, “How does that give you a sense of déjà vu for when I changed jobs?”

Clarke made eye contact with her mom again and asked, “You don’t see it?”

Abby felt a little attacked if she was being honest. What was the relevance between the two? Jake had pestered her nonstop for a week about the job interview and told her that the job would change her life. Abby didn’t want to transfer jobs to a superior position at a top rated hospital. She was afraid of failing their expectations.

It clicked. Clarke saw the lightbulb go off above her mother’s head and she smiled at her. “Got it?”

Abby nodded and shoved a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth. She was preparing herself for the lecture Clarke was sure to give her.

Clarke leaned back in her chair again, head tilting towards the ceiling again. She spoke fondly of the memory, “Dad pestered you all week to go to the interview. He tried bribing you with chocolate. God knows how you didn’t fall for that.”

Abby couldn’t believe she didn’t either. He had bought her favorite brand and there was a lot of chocolate waiting for her at home after her regular shift at her old hospital. It did taste good though.

“I was six when this was happening. I vaguely remember it but at the same time I remember it so vividly. I was supposed to be in bed but I didn’t want to sleep because Dad had snuck ice cream to me behind your back-”

“He did what?”

Clarke burst into laughter, her eyes coming from the ceiling to meet her mom’s. Hers were sparkling with light humor, telling her, “Another story for another time.”

“Mhmm,” Abby narrowed her eyes at her, shoving more spaghetti into mouth. Jake was a lucky man Abby couldn’t reach him to shake sense into him. They had agreed no sugar for Clarke after eight since it wound her up. She wondered how many times he had snuck sugar to Clarke behind her back.

“But, anyways,” Clarke continued, “the point is I heard you two talking on the patio that night. He wasn’t trying to bribe you into it or joke about it. It was a serious conversation about your future.”

Abby remembered that night well. They sat on their wooden bench that sat on their patio. It had been a wedding gift from his parents, one him and his father built forever ago.

Clarke said, “I remember you telling Dad how scared you were of leaving Polis Hospital. You said you were comfortable there, you had a great reputation with everyone in the staff and patients. You told him that you didn’t want to leave it for something else, uncertain if it would hold the same environment.”

Abby had said all that. She was afraid her skills would be less of those with years of experience in that staff, resulting in her not having the good welcoming feeling she had at Polis Hospital.

“And you know what Dad told you?” Clarke asked her.

She did know what Jake told her. Abby decided to not answer though, watching her plate.

“He told you that someone like you brought that feeling wherever you went,” Clarke told her, a fond smiling gracing her lips. “He also told you that in life you’re going have to take risks that may seem scary since they may change everything.”

The relation between the situations was clear as day. “You were scared of the change taking the job would ensure. You’d be set on a higher standard, you’d be working in a different environment than the one you worked for ten years in, and you’d be working with brand new people. Sound familiar?”

A little too familiar for Abby’s liking. She set her fork down as Clarke watched her. She didn’t continue on until her mother made eye contact with her. “But you took that leap of faith, you had hope that things would work out. You trusted the support you had from Dad and trusted Arkadia Hospital to offer you great opportunities.”

Going to that interview had been nerve wrecking. Abby felt underdressed and overdressed at the same time. She felt like a low end surgeon compared to those who walked by her as she waited for the interview. But one look at the wedding ring on her finger gave her the confidence she needed to walk into that interview as if she was already the top surgeon there.

“It worked out,” Clarke summarized.

Abby nodded, thinking of how she got a call back that same night. Even when she broke the news to her boss at Polis Hospital, he had told her he knew she would go onto greater things. He told her he was happy he was able to get her on her feet. “It did,” Abby commented.

Clarke sighed as she wiped her mouth with her napkin. She set it down on the table and said, “I know how afraid you were to give up the Lifesavers and coach with Kane. Trust me, we were scared too. We didn’t hear good things from Jasper that his brother had+ told him.”

The two laughed at that. Abby had heard her gossip mainly from Cece and the other parents but she did hear a thing or two from Jasper here and there.

“You felt comfortable with our little team, even if were in last place,” Clarke told her. “We all enjoyed it and had fun, something you made sure was the number one reason we were there. You knew that wasn’t a priority on Kane’s list and it terrified you to think that would change. That’s how it’s similar to the job situation.”

Abby knew she was scared of that. What was worse that when her fears came true, she didn’t react in the right way. Last time, with the job, things had turned out right. This time, however, they didn’t. It resulted in arguments and lying; it resulted in this mess between them.

“I know you thought of it too, but we all had the small feeling of hope that maybe combining with Kane would give us a win,” Clarke confessed. “We were fine with last place but who doesn’t want a win? I know how much you wanted one for us and we wanted to give you one.”

Abby didn’t think her want for a win was that outwardly expressed but maybe the kids had read into one of her many outbursts that stated otherwise. Oh well, not everyone can be perfect in those regards, and Abby wasn’t known for it.

“Now,” Clarke added, “I don’t want you to think Kane is our savior and that he is the solution we’ve been waiting for. Obviously that’s crap. He only won game and that was against us.”

Abby wanted to record that and put it on loop through a stereo and stand outside Marcus’ house as she held it up for him to hear all night.

“He’s going through the same process, truly,” Clarke said. “He’s a part of the solution, like the surgeon job was. The job had the staff, the patients, and the environment involved. Now we have him, his kids, and new game plays. All of those were different from the old to the new image.”

Looking at it, Abby saw the differences Clarke stated. Polis Hospital wasn’t as big so the staff was close and personal. Arkadia Hospital was huge and the staff really only knew those in their department unless they branched out themselves. For their teams, Abby had kids who grew up thinking fun was the biggest priority. Marcus had trained his kids that hard work was the main priority.

“That’s where the change comes in,” Clarke told her. “Like with the surgeon job, you had to adjust to the new staff, patients, and environment. You made changes with how you handled patients and how you communicated with co-workers. I’m guessing some of those weren’t easy for you to make but you did it because in your job you needed to succeed, but mainly because you wanted to succeed.”

When Abby had first met Emori, the two did not click at all. Emori was younger than her but had scored an internship at Arkadia Hospital in the past years. Both tried to outcompete the other until an almost fatal mistake happened in surgery. Afterwards, they reached a compromising point on how to work with each other.

Ever since, the two have climbed to the top together as a few of Arkadia Hospital’s top surgeons.

“The same is going to have to happen with Kane. You’re going to have to learn new game plans, formations, certain techniques, and…new positions,” Clarke’s voice fall off towards the end of the sentence.

Abby’s eyes shot to hers, fear prickling her skin. She knew what topic the conversation was turning to, but it didn’t mean she was prepared for it. To be honest, she never thought she would be.

“I’ve heard you argue with Kane about me playing defense, Mom,” Clarke admitted. Abby flushed with embarrassment. “You’re not wrong, I love playing forward.”

Abby was a bit confused, thinking maybe she was going to win this argument once and for all. Then Clarke bit her lip and looked to her plate, saying, “But I really do enjoy playing defense. I can see the whole field and I feel like I can be the leader I want to be from there. I feel like I contribute more to the team there than I do at forward.”

Abby fell silent, not sure what to think. She did know her heart was breaking in her chest however. She felt certain that Clarke loved forward. When Abby was the coach of the Lifesavers, Clarke always jumped at the opportunity to play forward. Where did defense come from?

“Now, don’t think I’m defending Kane for what he did on Saturday, because I’m not,” Clarke explained. “However, he wasn’t wrong when he said me being at defense will help benefit us. And you know what? And you weren’t wrong either. I did love playing forward for the Lifesavers, but I don’t play for them anymore. I play for the Delinquents.”

It was like a bow and arrow match. It was one of many arrows that had already struck her in the heart. Abby and Marcus had fought a lot on the sideline of whose tactic would work better as if they still were on two different teams. They weren’t compromising to work together for what would work for the Delinquents.

“Things changed and I realized that I’m more useful on defense than up top. I’m willing to make that change for our team so we can succeed. I want you to know this because I’m going to be Dad for a moment,” Clarke said. “It’s okay to change for when the time calls for it.”

Abby felt the tears go down her cheeks before she noticed she was crying. She knew Clarke was right. Things needed to change, not only her side but Marcus’ too, and they needed to change fast. She had tackled change once and it succeed. This time could as well, even if it was a rough start.

It was like the surgeon job. It was rocky at first with Emori but they came together after a fallout. Abby could conclude, although not as serious, that she and Marcus had their fallout this past Saturday. He would have to recognize the wrong he did and apologize and Abby would apologize for her side as well.

A hand wrapped around Abby’s and she lifted her head to meet the comforting gaze of Clarke. She offered her mom a small smile, telling her, “It’s gonna be scary, but just like it was with Dad, you have a whole team to back you up. Yes, even Kane. I know deep down he doesn’t want you to fail.”

Abby doubted that at first but deep down, she believed it. All because deep down in her, she too supported Marcus. If he lost the game on the upcoming Saturday, then it was game over. Forever. She couldn’t give up on him, no matter how wrong he did her.

“I think he’s frustrated just like you are,” Clarke told her, “because you guys can’t see eye to eye. You both have great traits that contributed to your teams separately, but now as co-coaches or whatever you call yourselves, you need to combine those traits.”

Abby agreed and stayed silent, wiping her tears with her free hand. There was nothing she could do now unless Marcus won on Saturday against Ice Nation. It was all up to him this time, truly. If- When he won that game, Abby would ensure they would sit down and work this out.

There was only one problem with that. Abby stated it, “I want to do that. I want what’s best for the team and if it means changing, then I’ll have to trust what will happen is what is meant to happen. The only problem is…what Marcus did Saturday… Clarke, can you believe he did that?”

Clarke was silent for a while as she contemplated the thought. She finally said, “It wasn’t okay what he did. I can you tell you this though. Like you said on the bench that game, that wasn’t Kane. He can act all tough he wants but Octavia’s told me he’s a softie. There’s no way he made that decision without some sort of influence.”

“Influence?” Abby repeated her, mind reeling to find one. Almost immediately, her brain landed on a single man who had influenced her the past three weekends with his bullshit.

That man was using their bickering to his advantage. He was using their situation against them so they would be their own downfall. He was doing it because he felt threatened by them.

But it had worked. And if you didn’t think Abby was imagining her car running him over in the parking lot, you were wrong.

“Cage,” the two said simultaneously.

“God, he’s annoying,” Abby groaned, much worse adjectives bouncing around her mind. Hey, she did try to control her swearing in the household. The soccer field was free range.

Clarke nodded in agreement and let go of Abby’s hand. She said, “I saw him talking to Kane after I pulled you two apart after the game against Alpha Station. I figured he was being himself.”

You know how pathetic you had to be that a twelve year old is annoyed by you? Not even just one, but thirteen of them. Yeah, pretty pathetic.

Abby shrugged and said, “He caught us at a vulnerable time and used it against us. He won that battle, but the war isn’t over. We’ll get him back in that championship game.”

“And I can’t wait,” Clarke smiled as she picked her fork back up.

Abby did as well, swirling noodles on it. She took a bite of it and noticed they had went cold. Damn, they must’ve talked for a while.

She looked up to see the same reaction from Clarke. Clarke looked up to meet her mother’s gaze. Abby asked, “Pizza?”

+

“How about we get pizza tonight? We can get your favorite, Octavia! Bacon and pepperoni!” Marcus looked to his daughter in his rearview mirror.

She hadn’t talked the whole car ride home. All she did was watch out the window and ignore her father.

Marcus couldn’t figure out why she was so upset or any of the kids for that matter. Practice had went well he thought.

They worked hard and focused on their game plans that needed improvement from their last game. They also developed a strategy to shut down a common attack from Ice Nation. On Thursday, they would perfect it more.

That’s why he was so confused on why Octavia looked upset the whole practice and after. Even Bellamy looked upset.

He pulled into the driveway of their house and parked the car. He shut it off and looked back to the kids. He frowned, asking, “No?”

Octavia said nothing as she exited the car and ran into the house. Bellamy and Marcus watched her from the car. Marcus looked back to his son in confusion and Bellamy told him, “We need to talk.”

Marcus was a little taken back. Had his son, twelve years old, just told him that they needed to talk? Was Marcus about to be lectured by his son? Did he mention he was twelve?

Marcus didn’t respond as they both exited the car. He walked into the house, Bellamy following behind him. Octavia was nowhere in sight as she must have ran off to her room.

Marcus shut the front door and locked it behind him. Bellamy dropped his bag off by the door, next to Octavia’s. He looked to his dad and said, “I’m up for pizza.”

Marcus chuckled, rubbing a hand through the kid’s mess of hair and lead him to the kitchen. As Bellamy sat at the table, Marcus ordered the pizza on the phone. The whole time, he felt himself getting nervous for this talk with Bellamy. He felt like he was in trouble.

When Marcus finished the order, he set his cellphone on the counter. He looked up to make eye contact with his son. Bellamy pointed to his father’s usual seat at the dinner table and told him, “Have a seat.”

Marcus raised an eyebrow at that and asked, “Did you forget who is in charge here?”

Bellamy raised an eyebrow back and stated, “I’m not the one in trouble.”

So he was in trouble. That peaked Marcus’ interest as well as his nerves. What was he in trouble for? Practice? The game on Saturday? Did he not order the right pizza?

Marcus made his way over to his chair and slowly sank into it. He folded his hands on the table and asked Bellamy, “What am I in trouble for?”

“Too many things to count on my fingers,” Bellamy commented.

Dread found its way through Marcus’ system. Bellamy’s face and voice had shown he was being serious and it wasn’t about the pizza. How many things could have Marcus done to make him this upset?

“That might’ve been an exaggeration,” Bellamy admitted, Marcus mentally sighing, “but there are a few things.”

Marcus nodded as he settled back in his chair, asking, “And what are they?”

Bellamy didn’t answer right away. He was looking at the ceiling and tapping his fingers against the table. Finally, he looked away from the ceiling and to the pictures hanging on the wall. In every picture there were the same three people: Bellamy, Octavia, and Marcus.

Marcus followed his son’s eye movement, feeling his nerves kicking back in. Soon, they made eye contact again. Bellamy looked upset and he asked his father, “Do you remember that promise you made us six years ago?”

Marcus knew exactly what promise he was talking about. His eyes shot to the pictures on the wall, taking into account that a certain person was not present in any. She hadn’t been since six years ago.

His eyes made their way back to Bellamy but he didn’t say a word. He had a dreadful feeling of knowing where the conversation was going. He didn’t want that; he didn’t want to admit it.

Bellamy seemed to be lost in a memory, confliction resting on his facial expression. He focused on his father again, settling for saying, “I didn’t think I would ever have to admit this, but I feel with this situation, I need to.”

That made Marcus even more nervous. What did his promise from six years ago have to do with the present? What from that night six years ago would be relevant to their situation? What was the situation?

“I never told you it because I didn’t feel like I would ever have to,” Bellamy confessed. He looked a bit embarrassed. “Before…before I told you about Mom that night…” His world fell short, looking down to the table.

Slowly, Marcus reached across the table and took ahold of one of Bellamy’s hands. He could feel his son shaking under his touch and it broke his heart. That night wasn’t easy on any of them. Bellamy looked up to meet his father’s gaze and nodded to him.

He sighed, it coming out shaky. He continued, “I knew about the affair before that night.”

It was like a bomb went off. Marcus felt the dread he had seep into him and speed through his veins. He felt sick all the sudden. Surprise was the biggest emotion he felt as he asked him, “You did?”

Bellamy nodded and told his dad, “I had come home early from Miller’s because his dad had an emergency. Mom didn’t answer her phone so his dad dropped me off. I walked into the house and….and I found them.”

Marcus could only think how scarring it must have been to be a six year old to see their mother doing things with a random man when their father wasn’t home.

Marcus asked, “How long before you told me?”

Bellamy looked away from his father, afraid he’d be mad at him, saying, “Two weeks.”

Marcus didn’t respond right away. Two weeks Bellamy had known that his mother was sleeping with her co-worker behind his father’s back. When Marcus had found out, it was because Bellamy had called him one night when he was at a client’s house for a lawsuit and Bellamy said it was an emergency. Marcus didn’t expect to find his wife of ten years to be sleeping with her co-worker on the bed they shared when he came home.

Marcus wasn’t mad at Bellamy. He was mainly confused. He asked him, “Why didn’t you tell me then?”

Bellamy didn’t look back to his father as he complemented his answer. He finally told him, “Because when I found them, Mom rushed to assure me it was okay. She was telling me it made her happy.”

It was like the knife from six years ago that was still jabbing his heart got twisted. He felt pain from that statement. He knew the last year of their marriage was rocky but he had thought that they were making amends. Obviously, he wasn’t the one making them.

Bellamy shrugged and told his father, “I did ask about you. I asked if you made her happy and she said it was too complicated for me to understand.” He looked up to Marcus then and added, “I know that’s bullshit now.”

Marcus laughed a little, not scolding his son for his language. Marcus knew he learned the word from Abby. Just thinking of her made him feel guilty all the sudden. He remembered Bellamy had said it reminded him of a certain situation. Was he talking about Abby?

“She was right though,” he admitted, “I didn’t understand then. I was six years old and I wanted my mom and dad. She knew that too. So, she bribed me with buying me whatever I wanted from the comic store if I kept quiet about it.”

Marcus had wondered where Bellamy was getting all those comics from. Marcus knew he bought them for him for his birthday and Christmas. Once in a while he would buy Bellamy one just so he could have another, but the kid had accumulated ten in one week.

“I was six,” Bellamy shrugged. “I got to keep my parents and have comics whenever I wanted. It was a dream for a six year old.”

Marcus couldn’t blame Bellamy. He understood that. Maybe a little too much with his previous actions this past Saturday.

A question popped into Marcus’ mind. He asked, “What made you tell me?”

Bellamy finally looked to his father and frowned. He told him, “I noticed things after that. I saw the smiles she was giving you. I saw the goodbye kisses she gave you. I knew they were fake, she knew it too. The problem was you didn’t.”

Bellamy looked back to his hand that his father was still holding. He continued, “Octavia and I could feel the tension or whatever it was between you and Mom before then. We knew something was off.”

Marcus had tried so hard to keep their marriage problems away from the kids. He didn’t want them to see the affect it was having on them. More importantly, he didn’t want it to affect them.

“After finding out about her and that guy,” Bellamy said, “I saw how fake she was being with you. You thought it was improving but she was faking it. You didn’t deserve that.”

Marcus felt the knife twist again. He had thought their marriage was on the mend weeks before he found out about the affair. He thought he was doing something right. Like stated before, he obviously wasn’t the one making her happy.

“The more I thought of it, you didn’t deserved to be lied to,” Bellamy told him. “You thought everything was okay and she wanted you to think that. She wanted both us and that guy. She was being selfish.”

He looked up to his father, frowning. He added, “She was doing it behind your back.”

The familiarity of the situations Bellamy had brought up struck Marcus like a train. The severity of the situations didn’t line up but the tactics and the reasoning behind them sure did. His wife had cheated behind his back, lied to him, and did it because she was selfish.

Marcus had went behind Abby’s back and lied to her about the game time on Saturday. He had purposefully told her the game got moved because he wanted to prove he could win without her but mainly because he wanted to win. He didn’t want to lose his job. He did it out selfish reasons.

“That’s why I told you,” Bellamy concluded. He pulled his hand from his father’s and ran it through his messy hair. He shrugged, adding, “It wasn’t right for her to do that.”

Marcus agreed completely. But how hypocritical was he being? He had done the same thing to Abby not even a week ago.

He hadn’t felt guilty for doing it initially. He was too focused on that fact that he needed to win and prove he was the better coach. Was that how his ex-wife felt? Did she not feel guilty while committing the act? Did she at all after?

There were better ways to approach the solution to that, so why did he choose the path he did? Especially after what he promised.

Bellamy asked him, “You remember that promise you made us that night? After you kicked Mom and that guy out?”

He did. He didn’t want to say it though because he knew both him and Bellamy knew he had broken that promise on Saturday.

Bellamy stated it anyways when his father didn’t answer, “You promised us that you would never do what Mom did.”

Marcus hung his head in shame, waiting for Bellamy to state the obvious. He did without hesitation. “And you broke that promise. You did the exact same thing with Coach Griffin on Saturday.”

Deafening silence fell between the two as realization came crashing down. Marcus already knew it but Bellamy telling him made it worse. It made it real. It made him feel like shit.

Marcus had felt terrible after he found out about his wife. He swore to himself and the kids he would never be that person. Look at him now, being that person. He didn’t even realize it until his son pointed it out.

And, boy, did he feel guilty. He could only imagine what Abby felt like. She was probably feeling the same way he had been when he was in her place. How could he put her through that, knowing what it felt like?

He couldn’t answer himself. He couldn’t find a reason why he would put her through that or why he would ever think that was okay.

He shook his head. What was he thinking? Abby was right when she said the old Marcus would’ve never done what he did. It was a Cage thing to do.

He tried to come up with a reason, telling Bellamy, “I never meant for it to get to that point. I would never think of doing that.” He shook his head, disappointed in himself. “I was so worked up over the fact that we had to win the next game and Abby in general. Jaha had told her then to not let her ego get the best of her but I let mine get the best of me.”

He thought of when Octavia ran off the bench crying. He thought of the disappointment she must have felt. She probably saw her mother in her father then. She caught it right away but he didn’t.

All he ever did for the team, it was for to make her happy. He wanted them all to be happy. He thought winning would make them happy, so he had done what he thought would give them that.

He added on, “I just want you guys happy. I thought winning would make you happy. And we needed that win to keep going, to keep you guys happy.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Bellamy told his father. Marcus looked to his son as Bellamy continued, “Octavia told me about how you asked Coach Griffin if she asks Clarke what makes her happy. You know what she asked me?”

Marcus didn’t know and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. Bellamy told him, “She wants to know why you don’t do the same. She asked me why you don’t ask her what makes her happy.”

It was because he figured he knew what made her happy. He asked Bellamy, “It’s not winning, is it?”

Bellamy shook his head and told him, “You know that but you don’t want to admit it. You know what makes her happy, you’ve seen it. Again, you don’t want to admit it. Sound familiar?”

Abby immediately rang through his mind. He told her the exact same thing. Had he been that oblivious too? How many times had he been a hypocrite to Abby?

“What is it?” Marcus asked

“If you don’t know,” Bellamy said, “then why don’t you ask her at practice Thursday?”

Marcus fell silent as he thought over Bellamy’s words. He had fucked up. Bad.

He still couldn’t believe he had done what he promised he would never do. He was ashamed of himself. It was like Abby had said, he couldn’t tell himself apart from Cage. That would have been a move Cage would have executed if he felt threatened.

A spark went off in his mind. He was still Marcus and he knew he would never make that decision himself. He was in a vulnerable state then, emotions high and desperate to keep his job. He was desperate to win.

Cage found him during a vulnerable time, not by coincidence if Marcus guessed, and used it to his advantage.

He fueled the fire between Abby and himself. He was turning them against each other and waiting for one to crack and turn against the other. It was Marcus who cracked and done what he did.

What made Marcus curious about the situation was why. Why did Cage feel the need to fuel their fire and destroy them? If he was confident enough that the Delinquents can’t beat him, then why would he bother with trying to mess them up?

It was because Cage felt threatened. Just like he felt with Indra’s team.

The coincidences of Cage’s involvement with Indra’s team having to collapse and Marcus’ sudden outlandish decision were making him skeptical. His mind flashed back to when he had run into Cage after the game on Saturday.

He had told Marcus he was happy with the decision he made concerning Abby. He was on the phone with Nia after learning that they were advancing to the semifinals. It was screaming sketchy but Marcus couldn’t place a finger on it completely. It did make him feel uneasy though.

With the results of his decision, he was now going to have to face Ice Nation alone. Abby would be at the game but she would be on the sideline.

Now, he was trying to figure out when he would get the chance to apologize to her for his actions without getting hit by her car. He was pretty sure she wanted to do that. It wouldn’t be the first time he thought she wanted to. He’s seen that glint in her eye before and has heard the threat many times.

He looked back to Bellamy who was getting out from his seat. There was a faint knocking at the door, indicating that the pizza was here.

Marcus looked down to his hands, frowning. Unlike the other times, this time, he would deserve being hit by her car.

Trust wasn’t easy for them to begin with. They didn’t trust each other coming in and whatever progress they had created over the last weeks was now destroyed by what he had done.

He knew if they wanted to succeed, they would have to work together. They couldn’t keep competing with each other, especially if it brought out this side in him. It wasn’t good for him or the team. It made him into a man her never wanted to be.

He wanted what was best for the team; he wanted them happy.

Marcus watched as Bellamy handed the pizza man money from his wallet and grab the pizza. Marcus then looked to Octavia’s room, where the door was still shut firmly.

Abby knew what made Octavia happy, just like he knew defense made Clarke happy. Marcus didn’t want to admit sharks and minnows made Octavia happy because he didn’t think highly of the drill. He didn’t want her tactics, from a lesser coach, to be the reason his daughter was happy.

He was, once again, being selfish.

Bellamy brought the pizza to the table and told his father, “I’ll go get Octavia.” Marcus didn’t reply as Bellamy walked off.

But, if the game made Octavia happy and it helped her improve, then Marcus would have to swallow his pride. He may not like the game, as it takes away time for serious drills, but he would have to accept the fact that everything didn’t have to be serious.

He wasn’t ignorant to the fact that the kids’ emotions at today’s practice were drastically different than they were when Abby ran sharks and minnows.

When Abby ran it, the kids were chatty and more engaging. When Abby didn’t run it and he ran it how he wanted, the kids didn’t seem happy or interested.

He may have pestered Abby for being ignorant for change, punished her for it even, but he was at fault as well. He just didn’t have someone to pull a stunt like he did for him to realize it. The kids were enough evidence.

He heard two pairs of footsteps making their way back to the table and he looked behind him to see a grumpy Octavia going to her usual spot at the table. Bellamy had grabbed paper plates and gave them each one.

Bellamy immediately dug in as the other two waited. The two were watching each other.

Marcus had never told Abby she was wrong when she called herself a terrible coach. Yes, Abby was a terrible coach but only in certain areas. In regards of having fun and engaging the kids, Abby was the better coach of the two.

In that aspect, Marcus was the lesser coach. He was terrible at it.

Combine their best traits however, as they canceled out each other’s bad traits, they could really do something spectacular.

If Marcus truly wanted to make Octavia happy, he had to change the way he coached. He would have to make adjustments to his serious schedule for practice and compromise some time for the game.

He was sure Abby was going through the same realization, a realization that they needed to adjust their coaching and actually work together. He had just wished he hadn’t put her through what he did to make her realize it.

Or maybe she wasn’t going through it. Maybe she was still fuming with rage from what he had done. He would surely understand that.

She may be waiting for Saturday to roll up. She may be waiting to see if he can prove what he had told her- that he could win without her. She may be waiting for him to crash and burn. She may be waiting to tell him, “I told you so,” if he loses the game.

And Marcus wouldn’t blame her.