Raven walked slowly back into her apartment, and saw her daughter sitting on the couch. "I thought you should be sleeping," said Raven, who sat next to her. Esmelerda stared at her mother. "Nothing, I just can't sleep." Esmelerda shook her head. "I always saw Caroline in front of me." Raven placed her hand onto her shoulder. "How's your case?" She asked, her eyes gleaming. "It was the daughter of my…old friend." Raven bit her lip. "She probably had some sort of congenital heart disease, which was undetected. She seemed really pale."

Esmelerda stared and smirked. "What kind of dumb parents are they?" Raven smiled. "No idea. You should really go to bed." Esmelerda stood up and walked back into her room.

Raven stared at her disappearing shadow. Her heart ached. How could she do such a devilish thing to her, to lie to her about her father?

For fifteen years, Esmelerda thought that her father was killed in a car crash. The truth was that her father was still alive, unknowing of his other daughter's presence.

Raven could not tell her daughter that she was the creation of a sin, committed by her father, suffered by her mother.

It was all because of that stormy night, fifteen years ago.

A stroke of lightning slashed through the pitch black sky. Raven was tossing and turning on her bed, her eyes stared at the wall. No she could not sleep, when she heard the noisy arguing of Starfire and Robin; No she could not bear the irritating moaning of Terra and grunting of Beast Boy; No she could not stand the piercing screech of Cyborg's horror video games. She could not stand anything, nothing.

Suddenly she heard a large bang, and sat up onto her bed. The arguing sound stopped, ended with a clean slap. Then she heard heavy swearing by Robin which then stopped for a while, when the swearing turned into nonsense. Then someone opened the door of her room. It was Robin, covered with the stench of alcohol. "It is illegal to drink alcohol or to break into someone's room." She frowned and said to him. He smiled, and slurred a few words. Raven stared at him impatiently. He placed his beer bottle onto the dresser. "I really love Starfire, you know?" He smiled at her and said, taking a seat on her bed. "I don't care; I want to sleep." Raven replied in a monotone. Then Robin's tone turned into a really angry tone. "But she was dating Speedy as well! That bitch!" Raven took a gulp, and tried to walk away from Robin. Then suddenly he pulled onto her wrist and threw her onto the bed. 'Fine! If she cheats on me, I will cheat on her as well!" He pressed Raven onto her bed, Raven's eyes flashed back, when suddenly a piercing pain numbed her. Robin bit her on the neck, she felt powerless. He was controlled by his anger and continued. Raven could not do anything, but to try everything she could to stop him. But alcohol plus anger outmatched Raven. He grasped onto her wrist so hard she began to yelp in pain. Suddenly she felt that her clothes were ripped off, she screamed in surprise, no one heard her. He began to kiss her roughly. She tried to kick him, but it was no use, she could not do anything to resist him. He seemed to be possessed that he was ever so powerful. Suddenly a searing pain happened in between her legs. He was grunting, pushing fro and back into her. She began to cry, as the pain ripped her heart apart. Then when he was finished, he walked out of the room stumbling, as if nothing had happened. Raven could only sat there and cry. She did not want anyone to know, not even Robin himself. He was drunk, she told herself. He was so drunk that he rapped you. But she couldn't hold back her own tears. She could not tell Starfire about this. No one shall ever know about this, no one. Then she decided that perhaps leaving was the best option for everyone. She crashed her titans caller and grabbed her few possessions. Then she teleported away.

"Mum, mum!" Esmelerda shook Raven awake. 'What…oh Esme," Raven looked at her daughter. Esmelerda eyed her suspiciously. "You have afternoon shift today remember?" Esmelerda said to her mother. "I am going to school now, breakfast is on the table. Bye." She left the apartment. Raven rubbed her forehead. She looked at her appointment book.

It's another day, she thought to herself. Then she ate her breakfast hastily and got changed. She walked to the hospital slowly. In five minutes she was in her office, reading one of her huge reference books. A knock on her door interrupted her. "Dr. Roth, there is a Mr. and Mrs. Grayson here." Raven rolled her eyes. "Let them in." She said. Then the door flung open. Starfire came in almost crying. Robin was holding her in his arms. "Hey Raven." Raven did not greet them warmly. "That should be Dr. Roth." She spat coldly. "What do you want?"

"Have you discovered what is wrong with Amelia?" Robin stood up, pressing his hands on her desk. "I need to run a detailed check in order to be certain, I suggest, no I require her to be admitted into the hospital." She blinked. "It is a must. We will send an ambulance to pick her up, she should be able to start the check within an hour. Now would you excuse me, I have to take a stroll at the wards." She then walked straight out of her office. "This is not Raven that I have known," said Robin. "She is totally different. I want to go out for a while, Star, I need to be alone for a moment." He walked outside, he lowered his head and walked out of the hospital. He walked aimlessly at the sidewalk then suddenly he bumped into someone. "Watch it," he heard a familiar voice. "Raven?" He looked up, only that she saw a girl staring at her with her single revealed dark violet eye. "Wacko," then she strolled off, walking towards the hospital. He shook his head and looked again, that girl's shadow was exactly like Raven. One second he thought that he saw two shadows behind her, but then that vision vanished. He took a turn and walked back to the hospital. Starfire was walking impatiently outside the Computerized Tomogram scanning room. Her face was worried sick. "Robin, Amelia had been in that room for half an hour already," she took his hand, and then they sat down, staring at the clock as its hands moved. Time seemed to slow down. Robin was still troubled. Then suddenly Raven walked out of the room. "Please come to my office." She said, then she stormed away. Robin stared at her in her white doctor's coat. It was like when she wore her white robe, her shadow seemed flawless. He stood up and walked with Starfire, they opened her door. She was sitting in her office chair, her face was emotionless. "I have finished the check." She said coldly. "It appears that she has ventricular septal defect." Robin and Starfire's mouth opened wide. "That is…?"

Raven's lip turned thin, then she took a deep breath. "That is due to a defect of the ventricular septum, the wall dividing the two ventricles of the heart. The cause of this defect is unknown. Blood from the left ventricle leaks into the right ventricle, then passes through the lungs and reenters the left ventricle, through the pulmonary vein and left atrium." She then sighed and took a sip from her cup of coffee. "Due to the circuitous refluxing of blood, there will be a volume overload on the left ventricle. And the elevation of pressure and volume of the right ventricle, might lead the pulmonary hypertension."

Starfire's face went pale. "Is Amelia's situation serious now?" She grabbed Raven's hand. 'Please tell me that you could save her, Raven, please!" She began to cry. Raven withdrew her hand from Starfire's grasp. "All I could say is that, there might be a high possibility that she will require a heart transplant, as the ventricular septal defect slowly becoming heart failure."

"A heart transplant? But will that be highly risky?" Robin asked.

"That is your only hope," replied Raven. "I will try to look for a suitable heart, starting from the death row inmates." She began to look at her computer. "If I am you, I will go and see that girl right now. Go." Robin suddenly turned and spat hastily. "I don't need you to teach me what to do to comfort a child; I am a father of two." Then he stormed out of the room, pulling Starfire with him. Raven smiled coldly and said quietly to herself, almost like a whisper. "No Boy Blunder, you were a father of four, now three." Then a knock interrupted her thoughts. "Come in," she said, Esmelerda stepped inside. "Those faggots in school are trying bug the living shit out of me." She spat as she sat on the armchair. "They asked me how I feel about losing Caroline. Guess what I replied?" Raven shook her head and smiled. "I said to that stupid social worker, 'Try go home and chop you mother into two million pieces, that's how I feel, faggot.' Seriously, I have no idea how stupid that bitch could be." Raven shook her head again. "Esme, she was only trying to help you," she said sighing. "You haven't went to Dr. Slater's clinic didn't you? He was anxious about that."

"Don't have to, I am not sick." Esmelerda replied with a smug smile. "Dr. Slater deals with those mentally ill retards. I am definitely not one of them."

"But you need counseling, Esme." Raven said to her daughter. "I know that the death of Caroline has been a heavy blow on our family, but you can't live under that shadow all the time, Esme, you need to live on."

Esmelerda didn't speak for a while. She walked towards the book shelf. "Say, I really hate cars," she said. "My father was killed by a car, so was my sister. I fucking hate those people who killed them; I fucking hate those who stare." Then she smiled coldly. "I should go now. Got homework." Then she walked out without turning around. Raven buried her face into her hands. Esmelerda was always mentally unstable, as the hatred engulfed her mind. The unstableness of her mental state intensifies ever since Caroline was killed. She went out every night, and each time Raven tried to enter her room, there was a certain lock that blocked her.

Sometimes, it seemed just like herself some years ago.

Then suddenly her computer had a alerting sound, a beep, indicating there was a match found. She raised her head and looked.

"No." She whispered, as all colors rushed down from her grey face. "This couldn't be happening."

On the screen it wrote:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Amelia Kory Grayson

Ventricular septal defect

Heart Defect

Require Heart Transplant

Match Donor:

Caroline Arella Roth

Car crash victim

Consent of family: required

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Author's note:

Well that is predictable isn't it, anyway please read and review!

I treat reviews seriously!(I know it is kind of short, do forgive me)

V.S.V

13-3-11