Hey guys, sorry this is a little later than I originally promised, which isn't because I didn't have it written (I did) but just because I've been at home with my family and transitioning from living in my college town and back into my hometown. Anyway, I'm sorry it's shorter- especially since it's been so long. But the one after this, and the one after that are really long!
Thanks to my reviewers: sydcast, brainy-brownie123, catcatcar, and Nessie2000.
Of the three years thus so far that Clarke had known Raven, she'd never met either of her parents. It was the oddest thing, since Clarke was sure she was at her best friend's house fairly often.
She knew, somewhere, that Raven didn't have a dad. It was not uncommon for people to be without dads, having a father somewhere but not wherever they were, but it wasn't an occurrence Clarke became aware of until after she left the safety bubble of the Alpha station. Most kids there had a mom and a dad, or a dad and a dad, or a mom and a mom. Well, they had parents, and she never imagined there was something beyond that, until she'd met Bellamy, who didn't have a dad either. Wells didn't have a mom, but that's because she died, not because she wasn't there. Clara Wells was a bright face on the photographs, a happy memory around the house, always talked about with a smile. In this way, Clara was still there.
She wondered where Raven's dad went often, but Raven never talked about it, so Clarke didn't want to ask.
She knew that Raven had a mom, but Clarke had never actually met her. She'd seen her shadow lumbering drunk about, or watched her figure under a pile of dirty blankets shift in sleep, but never once had she talked to the person that birthed Raven. Raven never talked about her either and didn't ever seem concerned by the fact that most times Clarke was over her mother was missing. Perhaps it did bother her, but she was far too used to it.
That's when Clarke realized she was not only gifted in the way that she was born into a life where her parents were important enough to get whatever they needed, but more than that, she was born into a life where she knew both her parents loved her unconditionally. Raven didn't have either of those things, but yet, Clarke never felt she was weak because of it. Perhaps she liked Raven so much because the girl taught her so much about life that Clarke merely had never taken the time to think of before.
One day they were playing at Raven's house and Raven was showing Clarke one of her newest inventions. Raven had stood on her tip-toes to tuck it back into the hidey-hole she'd dug out so her mother didn't take her inventions apart to trade it for whatever she traded it for, and turned to say something to Clarke. The item came tumbling down, having not been put away fully, and the next thing Clarke knew, blood was welling on Raven's scalp. It just wouldn't stop bleeding. Clarke had seen her mother deal with situations like this all the time, so she didn't worry or panic, but calmly brought Raven (who was freaking out just a little) to her mother. It was really deep, and it needed stitches.
"I should call your mother. She'll want to know what happened and how to best take care of you. You need to be careful for a bit, Raven." Abby said, reaching for the comms.
"She won't respond." Raven said, gingerly touching her scalp, "Call Mrs. Collins instead."
Abby paused, mouth hanging open, looking for Clarke for an explanation. Clarke didn't spend a whole lot of time talking about the lives of her new friends, especially Raven, because she was under the impression it was Raven's life to share.
"Her mom isn't around a lot, and when she is she's...sleeping." Clarke didn't want Raven to be taken away from her home, especially when she knew how good Mrs. Collins was to her.
"My mom works a lot." Raven said, a lie it seemed she had used more than once, swinging her legs on the table, "Mrs. Collins takes care of me during the day."
"Oh, sure." Abby seemed hesitant, but called the number nonetheless, and soon it was the next-door neighbor bustling into the medi-bay with her son trailing behind her. Finn came up to Raven, worried, and Raven brushed his concerns off. Clarke had gotten to know Finn very well; he was Raven's best friend (tied with her, she liked to think). He always was giving her extra food and making sure she was happy. He lived next to her and understood her problems in a way Clarke never could, and for this, Clarke was grateful he was around.
Abby attempted to contact Raven's mother next, but to no success. She tried four times, all reaching an empty tone and no one on the other side of the comms. It seemed no one knew where she was either.
Raven was instructed not to tumble around but to be very cautious for the next couple weeks while the wound healed over, to come back to Abby every week to check on the progress. Mrs. Collins settled Raven into her own bed in her unit, and she and Finn went out to get some dinner. Clarke offered them some of her extra coins she kept on her, because after getting ten stitches, Raven deserved something worth her while.
When they were alone, Clarke couldn't help but feel tears spring to her eyes. Which was silly, since she wasn't the one who'd gotten hurt and seemingly spilled half her blood over the floor.
"Clarke, what's wrong?" Raven asked, almost going up to scratch her head, but pulled back at the last second.
"I just...you don't have much of anyone." Clarke felt guilty for living in a place with a mom and a dad who would drop everything if she got a paper cut, where Raven's own mom couldn't be found when her daughter was bleeding onto the floor. It was moments like these that Clarke wondered why someone had kids, if they were just going to ignore them. She wanted Raven to be loved because Raven deserved to be loved, and it angered her that her mother didn't, "No family, Raven."
It was the first time she'd brought it up to her.
Raven stared at her, confused for a second, before laughing a bit-not the response Clarke had been expecting.
"Of course I have a family." Raven said very matter-o-factly, "It's just not the one you think."
"What do you mean?"
"I have Mrs. and Mr. Collins and Finn, I know they'll always look after me. I have you and Jasper and Monty and Bellamy, and you guys are always giving me extra food or making sure I have enough when Bellamy doesn't have that much himself, he still gives more. I even have Murphy." She said. Clarke frowned.
"Murphy?" She didn't dislike him, she just noticed that around everyone his natural reaction was to go on the defense, and she didn't think it was possible for him to connect with anyone other than his slightly weird admiration of Bellamy.
"I know, he's grumpy, but I'm grumpy too and so we can stand each other." She shrugged, "He doesn't bring me food or clothes that don't fit him like you guys do, but he walks me to class everyday, now that Finn and I are in different classes. He and Finn even get along, I think."
"That's...nice of him." Clarke gave a low chuckle, figuring if anyone could deal with Murphy, it was Raven, "I guess you do have a family."
Like Clarke thought, Raven was always making her challenge what she thought she knew.
That was the day that Clarke learned a family didn't mean just a pair of parents and a baby, but it meant those that looked out for you and loved you. She'd always been upset that she didn't have cousins, aunts, or uncles like the people in some of the old books she'd read about did. She was upset she couldn't have a little sibling, that her family was so contained in itself, just a little pod. But if she thought about what Raven said, which she found herself doing quite often in the years to come, perhaps she had more of a family than she'd thought.
Years later, she'd muse upon how lucky it was that her mother hadn't done anything about Raven's situation. If perhaps Clarke had not been so adamant about taking care of her friend, or she'd just been another person that Clarke didn't know at all, Raven's fate may have ended much differently. If there was an inquiry about her mother, chances were her mother would be deemed unfit and slapped with a child endangerment felony, and that would lead to Raven's mom being floated.
That would have left Raven as an orphan, and orphans upon the Ark were not a well-off group. While it wasn't illegal to adopt an orphan even if you already had a kid, since you weren't the one that birthed them, most family units only had room for three. It was, in most families' cases, unsustainable to take on another mouth to feed or find a place for them to sleep. Those that could take on another kid usually could only take on one, and there were far more orphans than parents that could take them in. Sometimes these orphans ended in the Skybox, nowhere else to put them. Sometimes, these orphans laid low under the radar, underfed and underclothes, sleeping out in service tunnels and begging for their next meal. They often had to resort to crime and this ended them up in the Skybox, and that always led to being floated at 18.
Clarke knew Raven was resourceful, but even the best of people got beaten down eventually, and she didn't want to imagine what it would have been like otherwise. Raven had a mom-a shitty one- but her mom did her singular job and kept Raven somewhat safe.
As much as Clarke hated her, she sometimes felt the need to thank her for that.
So, this story has given me a really interesting way on deciding how I think the way things on the ARK would go, and we'll get more into this into later chapters. This, the discussion on orphans, is just a small part of it. I suppose that this story-although mostly Bellarke- is so much more than just that.
I think this story also is beginning to show you at least one more ship ;) I pretty much ship Raven with almost everyone- Raven/Wells, Raven/Monty, Raven/Jasper, Raven/Rowan, Raven/Murphy, but I can only really see Murphy with Raven. Tho I was so happy in the season finale to see my trash baby so darn happy :) I can ship his happiness.
BTW, if anyone wants to discuss their thoughts about the final with me, I'd totally be into it.
Remember to review with thoughts and such!
