Clarke is walking home from the hospital where she volunteers when she hears loud whimpering. Normally she would ignore the noise; she was used to homeless junkies on the streets of San Francisco, but it is raining, and she feels bad. Clarke follows the noise into an alley and is surprised to see a girl around her age slumped against a brick wall. She is soaking wet and obviously going through withdrawal. Clarke crouches down and puts the back of her hand to the girl's forehead, immediately recognizing a fever.
The girl doesn't resist as Clarke pulls her to her feet, allowing her cold body to sag against her own. They begin walking slowly out of the alley and down the street. The half conscious body using Clarke as a crutch takes a lot of her energy, but she is determined to get this girl help.
Clarke knows what her mom would say if she knew what she was doing. Being a doctor herself, Abby had always told Clarke that there was nothing anyone could do for the addicts who spent all of their time and money trying to get more drugs. When Clarke would try and give money to those begging with cardboard signs, Abby would grab her arm, pulling her away.
Luckily, neither Abby nor her husband Jake are home tonight. Jake is out of town for business and Abby has a late shift at the hospital across town. Clarke sighs in relief as they turn on her street. She struggles to unlock the front door, almost dropping the girl, but she manages to get the door open, and pushes them inside. Getting them up the stairs is even harder. Once Clarke has gotten the girl safely in her bed, she sits down in her desk chair. She realizes she doesn't even know this girls name. She'll have to ask in the morning.
In the mean time she gets a glass of water for each of them and settles herself on the carpet next to her bed, preparing for a fitful sleep. Clarke is worried about this girl, but she is glad that she is helping. She falls asleep to the sound of the stranger's ragged breathing.
Clarke wakes up the next morning to screaming. She bolts up, ready to face an intruder. She realizes that her mom is screaming at who she thinks is an intruder: the girl in Clarke's bed. The girl is sitting and looking around, overwhelmed by her surroundings. Abby stalks over to the girl, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the bed towards the bedroom door.
"How did you get in here? Get out of my house before I call the cops!" Abby heads to the stairs, but stops when Clarke jumps in front of her.
"Mom! Stop!" Clarke ignores her mom's incredulous stare as she helps the girl back into her bed. "It's alright." She whispers quietly. "You're safe." She makes sure the girl is sleeping before she shuts the door and faces her mom, who is silently fuming.
"Why is there a junkie in your bed?" Abby whispers angrily.
"She's not a junkie." Clarke responds. "She's, um… a friend." She silently wishes she were a better liar.
"Oh, so you're friends with drug addicts now? I'm a doctor, Clarke. I'm the one who taught you the signs." Abby gasps slightly as an idea comes to her mind. "Are you doing drugs?" She grabs Clarkes chin, turning her head to look into her eyes. "You of all people!" Clarke shrugs her off.
"I'm not doing drugs, okay? I found her last night. It was raining, and she was burning up, and I couldn't just leave her to die. She can't be much older than me." Clarke looks at her mother with large eyes. "I know you won't kick her out. I got my need to help others from you."
Abby looks at her daughter, unable to ignore the pride swelling in her chest. She sighs. "Fine. I'll assess the situation and decide what to do." She begins to walks towards the bedroom, but Clarke stops her.
"Let me start. You're going to scare her after earlier." Abby nods, knowing her daughter is right.
Clarke opens her bedroom door quietly so as not to wake up the girl. She is already up, however, and is sipping on her glass of water, looking around. When she sees Clarke she sits up straighter, eyeing her warily. Clarke smiles, trying to look comforting.
"It's okay, you're safe now." Clarke frowns slightly, seeing that the girl doesn't relax her posture. "I'm Clarke. What's your name?"
The girl doesn't respond at first, as if deciding if it's safe for to talk to Clarke. Finally she whispers "I'm Allie." She says it so quietly that Clarke almost misses it. She speaks again, louder this time. "Where am I?" Clarke nods.
"You're in my bedroom. I, uh, saw you last night and you had a fever, so I brought you to my house. How are you feeling?"
Allie sighs. "I feel worse than shit."
Clarke laughs sympathetically. "You're going through withdrawal. The symptoms could last months." Allie scoffs.
"This isn't my first time, Princess." Clarke flinches at the nickname. "What do you know about addiction, anyway?"
"More than you'd think." Clarke sighs. "I work with rehab patients at the hospital."
Allie rolls her eyes. "I don't know if you're expecting me to be impressed by your good deeds, but I'm not. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go." She stands up, almost falling over. Clarke rushes over to stop her, gently pushing her back onto the bed.
"Hey, you can't leave. You're too weak." Clarke reaches into the drawer of the nightstand beside her bed, pulling out Advil. "Here take this." Allie holds out her hand, accepting the pills.
"Thanks." She says grudgingly. Clarke smiles, hoping this is progress.
"What was it?" Clarke asks tentatively, hoping this is not a touchy subject.
Allie shakes her head. "You mean what is it."
Clarke's eyes gleam defiantly. "No, was. I'm helping you get off of whatever it is you're on.
"While I appreciate your concern, you don't know anything about me, so I am going to kindly ask you to fuck off." Allie says, matching Clarke's defiance.
Clarke doesn't say anything, still hoping for Allie's cooperation. After a few minutes of silence, Allie sighs.
"Heroin." She says quietly. Clarke stands up, determined not to judge.
"I'll be right back, I'm going to talk to my mom."
"Is your mom that crazy woman who almost killed me?" Clarke snorts at the exaggeration.
"Yup, that's her. Um, do you want anything to eat?"
Allie smiles slightly. "Nah, I'm okay. Thanks, though." Clarke smiles in response then leaves. Abby is just hanging up the phone.
"That was the hospital." Abby says. "They're coming to pick up your… friend… in an hour." Clarke's eyes widen.
"What? No, mom please."
"Why not? She needs help, and we are not professionals in this field." Abby sighs, seeing how attached Clarke has grown to this girl. "What's her name?"
"Allie. That's all I know, but she needs our help. I could see it in her eyes. She needs a family." Clarke looks at her mom hopefully.
Abby nods slowly. "Fine. I'll call the hospital. But if she steals one thing or makes one wrong move, I'm calling the police."
Clarke hugs her mom tightly. "Thank you." She says before going back to her room.
Allie is holding a framed picture of Clarke and her parents. "Is this your family?" She asks curiously. Clarke smiles.
"Yup. That's me, and Abby, who you've met, and Jake, my dad. He's out of town for a month." Allie puts the picture down as Clarke clears her throat, preparing for a hard conversation.
"So… my mom called the hospital." Before Clarke can continue, Allie begins to breathe heavily.
"What? I can't go there. If they know that I'm here, they'll kill me." Clarke wonders who they are, but she doesn't ask.
"Allie, it's okay. I talked her out of it. You're going to stay with us for as long as you need." Clarke watches Allie's whole body deflate in relief.
"Thank you, Clarke." Clarke smiles.
"Of course, Allie. I just want you to be okay. I'll let you sleep, you need to get rid of that fever." Allie nods, getting back into bed.
"Oh, and Clarke?" Allie's voice stops Clarke from leaving. She turns around.
"Yes, Allie?"
Allie blushes, looking down. "My name's not Allie. It's Raven."
Clarke smiles. "Well, it's nice to meet you Raven."
Within the year Abby begins to treat Raven like a daughter. Clarke and Raven become inseparable. Clarke becomes an official doctor, working with addicts. Raven works at a homeless shelter, helping addicts get back on their feet. Both of them are very successful for only being in their early twenties.
This all ends when Raven relapses. Clarke doesn't know how exactly it happened, but one day she goes to their usual meeting spot, an abandoned playground behind the hospital, to see Raven with a needle in her arm. Clarke runs over just in time to see a dark figure turning the corner. She tries to run after it, but it seems to disappear.
She turns to see Raven throwing the needle on the ground, sighing happily. Clarke marches over, grabbing Raven's other arm.
"How long?" She growls angrily. Raven shakes her head.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She says dismissively, trying to walk away. Clarke only tightens her grip.
"How. Long."
"Two months." Raven says quietly. Clarke releases her and steps back, running a hand through her hair.
"How did I miss this for two months?" Clarke chastises herself. "Mom is going to kill you!"
"Hey, I kept it quiet for this long, I think I can keep going." Raven smiles.
"You may be able to keep quiet, but I can't!" Clarke pulls out her phone, calling in Uber to take them home. Raven grabs her arm.
"Clarke, please don't. You don't understand." Clarke pulls her arm away angrily.
"You're right. I don't understand. Would you care to explain to me?" Clarke crosses her arms.
Raven sighs. "I'm sorry, Clarke. I don't want to hurt you, but if I tell you anything they will."
"Who are they? You've mentioned them before. Raven, if you're in trouble, tell me! Mom and I can help you!" Raven shakes her head.
"I've already said too much. I love you Clarke. You've treated me like a sister. But now I have to go." Clarke watches as Raven turns and runs out of sight.
Clarke is in shock the whole ride home. When she gets home she runs past Abby and goes straight to her room. She begins to cry as she flops onto her bed. She thinks about the first time she met Raven, all those years ago. She thought that she was better.
After an hour of crying, Clarke sits up. Someone has done this to Raven, and she's going to find out who.