The next few days passed in a bit of a blur. Lucy packed up her apartment and convinced her landlord to let her out of her lease a few months early. The usual team came together again to move the crazy number of boxes and furniture to Taryn's three-bedroom apartment closer to the water and they celebrated with champagne and beer when Lucy's keys were handed over. The two girls got along easily, they'd practically lived together before it was official anyways and being best friends certainly helped quickly resolve any disputes they did have.

It took a while to get all the boxes unpacked and for them to find ways of bringing all their furniture together cohesively, especially since Taryn had a modern style while Lucy's was much more eclectic but once they figured it out it looked beautiful. It was a good time for them both, Lucy didn't have to work so much since she was only paying a portion of the rent and Taryn insisted she start actually listening to child labor laws. Taryn went to work for her advertising company in the morning while Lucy attended her advanced classes at the nearby university, they met up in the evenings for dinner and occasionally went home to make drinks together. Things were easy then, smooth.

And then that day happened. Lucy was walking to a local Indian restaurant to meet up with Taryn, Rory, and Kel after one of her biology labs went late. She wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings, which seemed stupid looking back on it, but there was a certain feeling of safety she had here. If she was paying attention she would've noticed how the same man had been near her for the last hour: outside her classroom, in the coffee shop on campus, sitting at a nearby table in the university library, walking ahead of her just now…ducking into the alley between two tall buildings. He put his hand over her mouth and nose as she passed, and she disappeared into the darkness so quickly nobody noticed, even though it was a busy street.

Three blocks away her friends started to grow worried as she became more and more late. They tried calling but there was no answer. Her professor hadn't seen or heard from her since she left the lab a few hours ago. She was gone.

Lucy woke up in a bright white room. An IV was taped into place in her hand and there was some sort of wheezing that she didn't know how to explain, along with the usual beep beep beep that came with hospital rooms. Taryn was asleep in a chair nearby, her eyes red and puffy. She looked disturbed even in sleep. Lucy had no idea what had happened to her, and started to panic from her lack of memory. Her breathing sped up and as a result, so did the beeping until two nurses rushed in and Taryn startled awake.

"Lucy, dear" one of the nurses said, trying to make eye contact "you're in St. Paul's hospital, you're okay…everything is fine but I need you to calm down. Can you do that for me please?" She started breathing in and out deeply and Lucy followed along.

The beeping returned to normal when the other nurse jumped in. "Do you need anything? "We can get you water or…"

"Yes! Yes…water please"

"Alright then." The two of them left and Lucy looked to Taryn who started crying again.

"Lu-Lucy I-I'm so s-sorry"

"Taryn, what happened?" Lucy said, scared of the answer.

"I-I had to tell them everything." She rushed to say, "they didn't have any record of you because you don't have a record and I had to tell them you were from California and you were 17, it was the only way they could treat you! Please don't hate me!"

"I don't understand" Lucy's tears started coming now, "what did they have to treat me for? Why am I here?"

"Oh Lucy!" Taryn sobbed again "You don't remember anything? This guy was stalking you and pulled you into an alley and-"

"Oh." Lucy didn't know how to respond to this information. It was like her brain shut off. It was like she was a robot.

"The police showed up…someone called them I guess…I don't know…they showed up and the guy started running, they got him but you were totally unconscious and really beat up. They said you definitely put up a fight but he had an advantage or something. I don't know. I'm so sorry." Taryn kept sobbing but Lucy still didn't feel anything.

"What are they going to do with me?"

"What?"

"You told them I wasn't a citizen, right? That I was 17 too...what are they going to do with me?"

"I don't know, Lucy. I'm sorry."

Lucy finally started to cry. Taryn's sobs grew louder and the two girls hugged each other for support and waited to see what was going to happen.

A few hours later, a woman with wavy brown hair and glasses came in. She wasn't a doctor, her loose cardigan and sneakers gave her away. Lucy and Taryn had stopped crying by then, and they were just sitting together in silence, waiting.

"Hello, Lucy" the woman said "my name is Sandra and I'm a social worker from Seattle."

"Seattle? What are you doing up here" Lucy said…still unusually quiet.

"Well, because you're technically a citizen of the United States, we're going to take you back home and place you into foster care there." Apparently Sandra believed in the band-aid approach to bad news.

"What do you mean 'take me back home'!?" Lucy suddenly exploded, "I am home! I've lived here for ages and everyone I know is here! I'm not going back there!" The beeping increased again.

"I know this is going to be really hard for you, Lucy. But you're technically still a child, I have to bring you back."

"No you don't! I've been here for years, I'm technically a citizen!"

"But you're not, sweetie. There's no record of when you first got here or proof of your residence since most everything was under the table but still, you're a child."

"Just shut the fuck up!" Lucy screamed. "I'm seventeen, can't you just leave me the fuck alone!?"

Sandra started to cry too, "I'm sorry, I can't."

Taryn decided it was time for her to intervene now too, "What about me? Can't I like, adopt her or something? Then she'd be a citizen and we already live together anyways and-"

"I'm sorry, it just doesn't work that way. On your next birthday you can come back and I'm sure it'll be easy for you to make connections and work on getting your citizenship granted, but for now you're going to have to come with me."

Tears were running down Lucy's face again, but they weren't the loud sobs that she'd experienced before, this was a silent sort of pain. "Can't I at least have a few days here? To say goodbye to people and get my things together?"

Sandra sighed, she was clearly unhappy about this arrangement as well "I can only give you 48 hours, and I'll have to be there too. I really am sorry, Lucy." Lucy just nodded. "I'll go check with the doctors and see when you can go home, okay?"

Sandra left the room and Lucy turned to Taryn, unsure of what to do now. Ten minutes later the same nurses came back in with a sad look in their eyes. They removed the IV and unhooked the wires connecting Lucy to the beeping machine. She slowly got out of bed and Sandra left while Taryn helped her dress in the clothes she'd brought from their apartment. Lucy was so sore it was hard to move. Sandra said she would pull up her car and meet them out front while Lucy limped towards the automatic doors, putting most of her weight on Taryn. The car ride home was quiet, and once they reached the apartment Sandra quietly sat on the barstool, letting the two girls have as much space was allowed.

Their friends came to the apartment the next morning, but there was a sort of mourning that was washed over them all, replacing the usual banter and jokes. They helped Lucy pack. Nobody talked much. Later that afternoon they all gathered in the living room, playing board games and drinking tea, and finally they all started to speak. Reliving old memories, laughing about inside jokes. It was the kind of bittersweet conversation that was usually reserved for funerals. Lucy only brought a few bags with her, leaving the rest of her things with Taryn and reminding her that she would be back, and soon. They all hugged one another and promised they would keep in contact, no matter the charges to their phone bill, and the whole lot of them would take a drive down to Seattle soon. Taryn walked down to the car with Lucy. They shared one last tearful hug and Lucy got in the car while Sandra drove away, tears in her own eyes as well.

Two hours passed in silence. Sandra didn't turn on the radio or ask any questions, she just let Lucy have her time to process, waiting for her to open up first. "I know it's your job or whatever," her voice cracked, "but you saw how much support I had there, I still don't know why you made me leave."

"I know. I wish I didn't. It's just what the government thinks is best for you, even if it doesn't always work out that way. I'm sorry."

Lucy nodded and silence washed over the car once again, but now that Lucy had started talking Sandra didn't want her to sink back into herself. "Would you like to know about the family you're going to be staying with?"

"I guess"

"Grab the file out of the glove box."

Lucy quickly did as she was told and pulled out a plain manila file and read the name on the tab. "The Stevensons?"

"Mhmm. Steve and Donna are foster parents and they have another foster daughter too, Katie."

"Can I read through all of this or is it like, confidential or something?"

"You're going to be living with them, you can read through it"

Lucy was quiet again while she began reading but quickly noticed the address listed for Steve and Donna, "Where's Forks? I thought you said I was going to Seattle?"

"I'm from Seattle. Forks is just a few hours out, it's along the coast."

"Oh." Lucy sounded disappointed. She thought she could at least count on still being in a bigger city.

"I think you'll really like the family. They're great people! And I think you'd get along with Katie really well."

"You barely even know me, Sandra" Lucy said. She'd meant to simply state a fact, but it ended up coming out kind of rude.

"I know, but I can tell" apparently the rude factor of her comment wasn't offensive, at least. "once you relaxed a little with your friends, I could tell what you were really like."

Lucy nodded again. She didn't know what to feel. She was upset about the guy from the alley, of course she was upset, but it was something she'd been through before…a lot of times before. But having a family and then being taken away from them…that was new. And she hated it.

"I know it doesn't feel that way now," Sandra continued, "but I promise you things will get better and be okay. I'm going to make sure you get settled in here okay and I'll always be around if you need me for anything and I'll even help you move back to Vancouver next year. It's just ten months, Lucy, and I really will be here every step of the way."