Prologue

Murphy knew something was wrong the moment Clarke Griffin did not show up for breakfast. The little blonde girl was nothing if not predictable. Every morning at 8 am she came into the dinner where he worked and ordered an egg white omelet with dry rye toast. It was a ritual and one Murphy had begun to look forward to. She'd come in with her big eyes and big ideals and they'd talk about everything under the sun.

When she didn't show up that morning Murphy got worried. It wasn't like he could just leave work and go searching the city for her however. The more time that passed, the more worried the boy got. He didn't have much in his life for friends and Clarke was basically like family to him now. When his past threatened to show up out of no where she was the person he turned to. When he thought he had knocked up that girl again Clarke offered her support to him. He had never really had that before.

It was nearing the end of his shift and she still hadn't come in or texted him to let him know and he couldn't handle it anymore. He scrolled through his texts, praying her address was still in their conversation from the time she invited him over to hang with her and her fiancé. He nearly exclaimed with joy when he found it.

"Allie!" He called out to his boss. An up tight twig of a woman who only ever seemed to look at him with distain and now was no different. Still despite how she treated him he knew she would not question him needing to leave early. "I think Clark might be in trouble so I'm leaving early today. Think you can handle it?" He questioned. Thought for the last hour and a half only 2 people had come into the dinner. They were in their lull and Embry was due to be in at any moment.

Allie merely waved him off. Clarke was a favorite around this place. Even Allie with her heart made of ice could refuse nothing if it was for Clarke. The Dinner didn't even make egg white omelets till the girl came around. That was just apart of the girls charm. She was all optimism and sunshine in a way that made her impossible to resist.

Quickly as he could, Murphy ripped off the apron he had been wearing and grabbed his jacket. It might only be September but the cold was coming. And after 2 years living in new York he still wasn't use to the cold. It was never like this in Arkadia.

He took off like a bullet. He had been carless for as long as he's lived here as it always seemed impossible to him to get around the city while driving. Today however he wished he had his own car if only to get to the east end quicker.

He expected a pretty nice apartment. Clarke just oozed grace and good upbringing but what Murphy hadn't expected was the penthouse of the most beautiful building he had ever seen. The Doorsman almost didn't let him in, until he said gave his name. Apparently Clarke had told the man to let him in whenever he came by. He'd have to thank her for that as it could be useful later on. Not that he really planned on coming back to this building. Everyone coming and going gave him the stank eye. Dressed in his worn down jeans and work shirt he definitely did not belong among the higher class. It amazed him that a girl like Clarke, even with her Grace and poise, could live in a place like this. She seemed so down to earth.

He pounded on her door, not bothering to keep quiet but no one answered. He stood knocking for five minuetes at a loss of what else to do. Despite knowing better he tried the knob, it was unlocked, and walked in.

This is a stupid idea, He chided himself as he walked through the apartment which shouldn't even be called an apartment. It was twice the size of the house he had lived in growing up. Paintings hung on almost every wall, nothing he recognized and he bet if he looked he would find they were one of a kind pieces. Not stock artwork for this girl.

Even her knick nacks on her shelves were far better then anything he had ever had. Gold plated and made of crystal. God he felt like such a creeper walking through her apartment like this.

Then he heard it. The unmistakeable sounds of sobbing. He ran through the apartment to find the source, when he finally found her in the kitchen.

The scene was something out of his childhood. She sat on the floor, curled up into a ball. Choas lay in her wake. The kitchen was a mess, pots, pans, and utelscils were scattered haphazardly all over the place. He knocked into a pot, Kicking it across the kitchen. He cursed himself, he use to be sneakier.

The sound Jerked her blond little head up. Gasps and pleas escaping her lips as she held a knife out.

"Please, no." she whined, tears streaming down her face. The moment her grey eyes fell on him however the knife dropped from her hands and she launched herself at him. It took everything in Murphy to catch her and make sure the 2 of them did not go down in the process.

He saw the bruises on her face, and the fat cut lip before she burrowed her head into his shoulder and cried even harder, letting everything loose from inside her. Never having been in this position before Murphy didn't exactly know what to do. So he simply held her like he wished someone would have held him when he was in a similar position as a kid. It didn't take a genious to figure out what had happened here.

It took a long while for her to calm down. Her eyes kept darting to the door as if waiting for her worse nightmare to come back at any moment. When she could finally talk without sobbing she told him the whole story.

"It wasn't always like this." She started out, her voice rought and raw from all the crying. She didn't sound a thing like the girl Murphy had grown to love like a sister. Her grey eyes red and bloodshot but at least she was no longer crying. She laughed, it was bitter sounding, and quite frankly it fit the situation. "that's what everyone says right? 'It wasn't always like this.' 'He's a good guy, I just make him mad.' 'It's not his fault.'"

Murphy let her speak feeling like she needed it more then he needed to know what happened.

"God I'm an idiot." Murphy kept his mouth shut though he was slightly inclined to believe her words. He was a bit heartless like that. Product of growing up in a soulless place like Arkadia. "I can't keep doing this. I can't keep fearing for my life and running away from him isn't going to be good enough. He'll find me. He's a prideful man. He won't take me leaving well. He'll see it as the worse kind of slight. I need to disappear." She sighed, leaning back against the couch.

The next words out of Murphys mouth he knew he was going to regret.

"I can help you with that."

"What?" She exclaimed, disbelief in her eyes. Her head snapped to attention. He shouldn't even be thinking this. He had been run out of Arkadia by the Mountain Men and this girl obviously had enough money to help her hide for a long time. She didn't need his help. Still with her looking up at him with those large stormy eyes he could deny her nothing.

"I know a place where he could not find you and even if he did it would not matter. Arkadia. It's where I'm from."

"The nightmare place you always talk about?" she questioned with a scrunch of her nose. She actually listened to him when he talked. That was refreshing. He simply nodded, a smile was too much to expect from him when talking about his home town.

"Yeah, It's pretty Lawless but that means Mr. Law Enforcer wont be able to touch you there. The problem is that women are not wellrecieved. They are either whores, strippers, or homeless heathens. To truly hid you we might have to disguise you as a man." It was a joke, though it wasn't far off. Arkadia was a hellish nightmare for men but it was definitely worse for woman. He wasn't even sure why he was bringing it up. A girl like Clarke could never survive there.

"Okay." Her curt response surprised him. He looked her over, trying to decipher her meaning.

"Okay?"

"Can we leave now?" She questioned, looking hopeful. Murphy had no intention of ever going back to that place. He had left Arkadia and who he had been in the past the moment he stepped into New York and yet he knew it was the only place that could save this girl. He was weak for her and knew he'd do anything she asked.

"If you are serious meet me at the dinner at midnight. Pack light, only what you need and nothing else." He offered before standing up off her couch. If this was happening he had some loose ends he needed to tie up. He really didn't want to leave her here by herself but the placed he had to go a girl like Clarke should never have to grace with her presence.

She nodded her head. Her curly blond locks bouncing up and down with the movement. She looked dejected but he'd worry about that later. For now. If he really was going back to Arkadia he needed to have something so that he was not shot on sight.

Murphy sulked outside the Dinner at 11:55. Everything he owned in the knapsack on his back but the little special delivery he had had to leave Clarke in order to get. His heart raced as he paced in the darkness of the shadows. She wasn't coming. Of course. She thought of a better way out of her predicament and didn't need him anymore. It was barely 12:05 when he turned to leave and go back to his apartment.

"John." He heard his name in hushed whispers. "John?"

He stepped out of the shadws and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

She pressed a hand to her chest and gasped at his sudden appearance. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"since when do you call me John?" He asked ignoring the properness of her statement. That would definitely be something he would have to talk to her about. She'd never pass for a hooligan with sentence structure like that. And her voice was so feminine. Another thing he would have to bring up with her if they were going to pass her off as a boy.

"Since I thought it would be better to say in the dark. John could be anyone. Murphy however can just be you." She responded, a quip on her lips. She was quick on her feet. That would definitely work in their favor.

He gave her a once over. Racking his brain as he thought about how they were going to pull this off. Her boobs were going to be a problem, but everything else he could work with.

"Come with me. I'm going to show you how to hot wire a car."

A/N:

This is the only part that will be in Murphy's POV. Hopefully you like their friendship as much as I do