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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝘄𝗼: 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲?

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After John B took the tape to Shoupe, which told them that Ward killed Kevin and Big John, that Savannah killed Gavin, and Rafe killed Sheriff Peterkin, the Pogues all went back to John B's house to celebrate.

JJ trilled rapidly. "Ladies and gentleman, Ward Cameron, king of the Kooks, is going to jail!" JJ exclaimed happily, making the boys laugh. "Along with Savannah Blake, who's basically Mother Gothel at this point!"

"You still never told me how you know Tangled," Cassie tilted her head at the boy and he just shrugged goofily. He was in too good of spirits to think about his relationship with the girl right now. They were finally putting Ward and Savannah away, he couldn't be dwelling on something negative.

Cassie shook her head at him with a small grin and walked over to where Kiara and Sarah were sitting.

"Goodbye! Goodbye! Adios! They're out of there! Adios!" Pope whooped as John B and JJ cheered along with him.

As Cassie made her way over and sat down, she noticed the look on Sarah's face. And it had been anything but happy. "Hey, you good?" Cassie asked the girl.

"Fine," Sarah answered monotonously.

Cassie and Kiara shared a glance before the latter inquired, "Do you regret it?"

Sarah shook her head. "No. He deserves all of it, and I know that," she replied before she sucked in a breath.

"He's your dad. I get it," Kiara said. "I'm sure it sucks to be in the middle."

Before the blonde could answer, her phone started to ring. She picked it up to see who was calling before she whispered, "Sorry," and got up to go take the call.

Kiara turned her attention toward Cassie. "What about you? How are you feeling about this?"

"I mean..." Cassie shrugged. "I'm...glad? Is that weird? I mean, my mom is a murderer. She murdered Gavin. And-and she helped Ward cover up the murder of my father. And I know that he apparently wasn't a good guy, but...but that doesn't make what they did any better."

"Yeah," Kiara nodded with a lopsided frown. "So after your mom gets arrested...where are you gonna go? Home?"

Cassie hadn't thought about that. If her mother was put in jail, she would have no caretaker and she was still a minor. They wouldn't let her live on her own for long. "I don't know," she shook her head.

Kiara placed a hand on the girl's arm. "Well, you know you're always welcome at mine, Cece."

Cassie gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Kiki." Sarah came walking back over, a distraught look on her face. "Hey, you okay?"

"They're coming for my dad and your mom right now," Sarah revealed and Cassie's eyes widened. "We gotta go. I need to be there."

Once Sarah told the boys the news, John B immediately took the Twinkie to the Cameron household with the Pogues. As they drove, many cop cars speeded past them in the direction they were just about to go in. "Shit," Kiara breathed out.

"Oh, my God. Can you please hurry? I need to be there for Wheezie," Sarah told the Routledge boy.

"You think I wanna miss this?" John B responded and Sarah looked over at him, giving him a look of disbelief at his comment.

Cassie and Kiara shared a glance with one another after his statement, knowing that's not something Sarah would want to hear right now but they couldn't really say anything.

And Cassie didn't want to say anything. Ward killed her dad and Savannah aided in it. She didn't want to miss this either.

The bustle of cop cars drove up to the Cameron household. Shoupe and some other SBI agents got out of their respective cars, getting ready to raid the house if they needed to.

However, Savannah, who had been called over to the house by Ward right before John B had played them the tape, opened the patio doors with Rose standing behind her.

"Put your hands up where we can see them!" Shoupe demanded Savannah and she did was she was told, making another cop go over and start to handcuff her while telling her her rights. "Where is he, Savannah?"

Savannah sent a glance to Rose from over her shoulder. "He's out on the Druthers," Savannah let up with a sigh.

"Please get out there," Rose pleaded from behind Savannah.

"All right. Stay put," Shoupe told Rose. "Come on!"

John B pulled the Twinkie up to the side of house since everywhere else was blocked off. They all rushed out of the Twinkie, looking over the wall to see what was happening. "Holy shit," Sarah whispered.

"I can't see, bro," JJ said as he and Pope kept pushing each other out of the way to try and see.

"Okay, well, now I can't see," Pope argued.

They watched as a bunch of officers began to run toward the docks, saying something they none of them could hear.

"Screw it. I'm going over," John B said before he pushed himself up, hopping over the wall.

"Right behind you," JJ commented before he looked at Kiara and leaned against the wall to help her up. "All right. Three, two, one, go."

"Yep, thank you," Kiara grunted as she hopped over the wall.

JJ then looked at Cassie. "Ready?"

She looked at him and nodded before she stepped on his hands, helping her hop up over the wall. Pope did the same with Sarah before they all rushed over to the house.

They made their way over to the house, noticing Wheezie and Rose walking out on the patio. "Wheeze. Wheezie," Sarah said breathlessly as she reached towards her younger sister.

"What's going on? Why are the police here again?" Wheezie questioned as Sarah enveloped her in a hug.

"Go inside. Don't come out," Sarah instructed shakily before Wheezie ran inside without a word as she started to cry.

"Cassie!" Someone called out from behind the group and they all spun around, seeing Savannah in handcuffs as the officer tried pushing her in the back of a cop car. "No, wait, let me talk to my daughter! Cassandra!" She screamed as she tried to fight off the cop.

Although Cassie had believed she would be happy to finally see her mother get what she deserved, her lip began to tremble at the sight of her in handcuffs. She could only imagine what it would look like before and now that it had been real, she finally realized that this was her mother.

Her mother that birthed her. Her mother that raised her. Her only parent left and now...she would be taken away from her too.

Cassie watched as her mom tried to push the cop away from before she shook her head, turning around so she no longer had to watch. "No, Cassandra, please! Please!" She heard her mother's shouts before the cop shoved her in the back, closing the door on her.

JJ reached toward the Blake girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?"

She shrugged his hand off of her. "I'm fine," she told him sternly and he nodded slowly, backing away.

The Pogues all rushed down toward the dock since they saw the officers going that way before, seeing Ward standing on the Druthers as he spoke to the officers down below. "Dad!" Sarah called out once she had seen her father.

They officers stepped toward them, making them put their hands up to show they were unarmed. "Hey, hey. You gotta let us through," John B begged the officers. "Shoupe, Shoupe!"

"Hey, that's Sarah Cameron! Let her through!" Shoupe shouted and the officers quickly cleared a path for the teens, letting them get onto the dock.

"What are you doing here, Sarah?" Ward called out.

"Dad! What are you doing?" Sarah cried as they made their way through the crowd of cops.

"Vic, you gotta get her out of here! She can't be here right now!" Ward shrieked.

"Just come on in, and you-you...you can talk to her!" Shoupe tried to reason with Ward.

"Sarah, I'm so sorry, baby. I can't!" Ward apologized as he began to lift the anchor to the Druthers up from the water.

"What are you doing? Dad, no, no, no!" Sarah pleaded, her voice cracking.

"Ward, this ain't gonna end the way you want it to!" Shoupe said as police boats on the other side of the water began to speed down towards the Druthers. "You don't need her seeing this!"

Ward started to climb down the ladder towards the control room. "No, Dad, don't leave!"

"I love you!" Ward professed.

"Where are you going?" Sarah questioned in a strained voice.

"Hey! Damn it, Ward! Turn it around and get back in here!" Shoupe directed.

"Dad! No! Please don't leave!" Sarah implored before Ward stepped into the control room, disappearing.

Suddenly, an explosion of orange and red came out of the Druthers, sending debris from the ship flying everywhere. Everyone on the dock took a step back, shielding their face from the sweltering heat from the raging fire.

Once the debris had fallen into the ocean, the Pogues had all stared at the boat in shock before they slowly began to realize what had just happened.

Ward blew up the ship with him inside it.

He was dead.

"No. No," Sarah trembled through labored breaths. "Dad," she sobbed. "DAD!"

Cassie held a shaky hand up to her mouth as she watched the fire continue to spread through out the ship, knowing that there was no way Ward could have survived that. And that was his plan all along.

She began to recount how the man had been there for her and her mother after Kevin's passing. Although it had been of ill nature and he was the reason for Kevin's death, he still helped them when they had no one else.

Isn't it strange how you think you know someone, but they turn out to be an entirely different person than what you thought? And yet, still care for them?

Cassie felt her eyes water now that she had been thinking about her own father, her eyes set on the flames that erupted from the boat. Was that what her father's plane crash had looked like? The one he had been dead in before it even fell from the sky?

"No!" Sarah gasped. "NO! DAD!"

Sarah looked over at John B, who didn't even give her a glance as he continued to look at the ship. She let out a choked sob and fell to the ground just as Topper came running over, catching her as he crouched down with her.

That's when John B finally looked over, seeing Topper with his hands around the girl as he tried comforting her but she was a sobbing wreck.

John B looked back at the Pogues, seeing that Pope and JJ were still trying to wrap their heads around what had just happened and that Kiara's eyes had also begun to water.

He finally met eyes with Cassie and that's when she broke down from all the thoughts about her father, wrapping her arms around Kiara who had been right next to her. Kiara immediately enveloped the girl in a hug, trying to soothe her. John B just looked away and back toward the boat, no expression on his face.

JJ looked down at Cassie in front of him, his heart heavy at the sight. He wanted to wrap his own arms around the girl just like Kiara had been doing. But he didn't.

He wanted to, but he didn't.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

A great man once said that if you're born poor, that's not your fault. But if you die poor, well, that's on you. I think, in the end, it was my fear of going back, of losing everything I have, that made me lose sight of everything I am...everything I wanted to be. I killed Kevin Blake after he found out about the affair Savannah Blake and I were having. I forced her to keep it a secret or else I would kill her too. I killed Big John Routledge. I murdered Sheriff Peterkin. I shot Gavin Barnstead. I know there's nothing I can do to ease the pain I've caused. Many will say I took the easy way out. But I leave this world with the terrible pain of knowing that I leave behind my family, shattered by grief, broken by my sins. I don't expect you to forgive me for leaving you this way. I just pray you understand that...I can't go on ruining your lives anymore. This had to end. To all of you, I leave my estate, uh, to be divided equally, and I leave a love deeper than I could ever express. Take care of each other.
— Ward Cameron

After the wreckage, Cassie walked herself home despite John B offering her a ride. She just needed to be alone.

She hadn't been home in days and she needed the comfort of her room without her mother being there to trap her in it.

Once she made it to her room, she collapsed onto her bed and sobbed herself to sleep. She kept thinking about her own father and now Sarah had lost her own just like she had.

Although both of their fathers had been horrible people, they were still their fathers. They were their blood. And if anyone knew Sarah Cameron and Cassandra Blake, they were both daddy's girls.

Even though their daddy's were terrible this whole time and now, gone.

After sleeping for God knows how long, Cassie woke up from the sound of the front door opening downstairs. She furrowed her brows. Could that be the Pogues?

She got up from her bed and walked downstairs, seeing that now the front door had been closed. She continued walking down the stairs before she realized the kitchen lights had been on.

She froze.

"Cassandra?"

She swallowed hard.

Cassie slowly made it to the bottom of the staircase and her mouth parted in shock at her mother standing right in front of her. No orange jumpsuit, no handcuffs.

"H-How?" Cassie choked out.

"Ward left a message before he died, confessing to everything. They dropped the charges, honey," Savannah told her as she took a step forward.

Cassie pedaled backward and yelled, "No! Stay away from me!"

"Cassie—"

"No, you're-you're supposed to be in jail! You're supposed to be locked up!" Cassie cried, shaking her head. "You-you covered up Dad's murder and you killed Gavin!"

Savannah pursed her lips at her daughter. "Well, Ward confessed to all of it so I didn't."

"But you did!" Cassie raged. "I saw you!"

Savannah tilted her head. "What?"

"I saw you shoot Gavin, Mom! I was there, okay?!" She admitted and Savannah swallowed hard, blinking. "The cops didn't believe us which is why we went through all this effort. But for what? For-for nothing? I'm guessing Rafe's free too?"

Savannah sucked in a breath. "Yes, he is," she confirmed and Cassie looked up at the ceiling, not believing any of this. "Cassie, honey, I know you're upset but you have to know that I still love you, okay?"

Cassie face twisted. "You love me? No, you don't love me! If you did, none of this would have ever happened!" She screamed and Savannah looked away from her. "That's it. I'm done! I'm done! I'm leaving!" Cassie gave up before she ran out the front door, realizing that the sun was going down. How long had she been sleeping for? The whole day yesterday and today?

"CASSANDRA!" Savannah demanded as Cassie bounded down the steps and toward the street, running like her life depended on it. Perhaps it did since her mother was a murderer.

She kept on running until the sun disappeared and out came the stars. She didn't know how she was able to keep running for. Maybe her years of doing track and other sports here and there had paid off.

She ran herself all the way to John B's. She didn't know why she didn't just stop at Kiara's, but something in her gut told her they would all be at the Château. And she was right.

She slowed down, her clothes sticking to her skin since she had now been drenched in sweat. But she didn't care. She needed someone. She needed the Pogues.

She went to go inside before she heard shouting down by the dock. She sucked in a breath as she carried herself over, not even feeling her feet at this point.

As she got closer, she noticed John B was in the water and the others had been cheering him on. The first one to notice her had been John B, since he had now been facing the dock. "Cassie?"

They others whipped their heads toward the girl, seeing the state she was in. "Cassie? What-what happened?" Kiara instantly questioned, sobering up at the sight of her best friend.

"My-my mom. She..." She shook her head rapidly. "She's out."

And as soon as she said those words, she let out a sob and collapsed to the floor due to the amount of running she had just done.

JJ had been the first one to rush over followed by the others as John B climbed out of the water as quick as he could. They had crouched down beside her, trying to comfort her as best as she could.

"Out? How-how is she out?" Pope asked since it didn't make sense. The tape had Gavin on it saying that Savannah covered up Kevin's murder and if anything were to happen to Gavin, it would be because of Ward and Savannah. It didn't make sense.

"Ward, he-he left a video confessing to-to everything," Cassie sobbed as tears streamed down her face. "They let her out."

The Pogues all shared a look before they all wrapped their arms around the sobbing girl, letting her cry all night if she needed to. Even beyond the grave, Ward was still fucking with them and it infuriated them.

And it infuriated JJ even more to see how much it had affected Cassie.

Once the girl calmed down, they all went back the house since it was getting late and they all had school tomorrow. They had already missed too many days at this point.

"Let me just quickly pull out the couch for you," John B muttered to Cassie and she nodded slowly, wiping at her eyes and sniffling.

"Actually, she can take my room," JJ spoke up and they all looked over at him confusion, including Cassie. "Think she deserves a real bed after all this, don't you think?" He shrugged nonchalantly before he met eyes with her, giving her a small nod.

Her lips quirked up into a small smile, feeling her stomach flutter. "Thanks."

JJ shrugged again. "Don't mention it."

JJ moved to take her over to his room, the others staying back. Although she was still sweating, she didn't think she could shower. She didn't even think she could stand in the shower for more than a minute.

She laid herself down JJ's bed, releasing a deep sigh from giving her legs a much needed break. "Did you run all the way here?" He asked her.

"Yeah," she said and JJ let out a low whistle. "I just had to get away. My car's been parked somewhere on the street for, I don't even remember, and I just needed to leave. I couldn't stay there."

JJ nodded as he looked down at her. "I get it."

"And I needed someone. I needed you...all," she continued as she peered up at him from where she laid on the bed.

She didn't know why he was being so nice to her. How could he be when she was practically pushing him away while also bringing him close? She was messing with his head and yet, he was still doing this for her.

JJ didn't know why he was being so nice to her. She kept giving him mixed signals and messing with his head and here he was, doing this for her. She really did have him wrapped around his finger. How did that even happen? If only he knew.

They stayed staring at each other for a few moments before JJ cleared his throat, "Better let you rest."

He turned to walk away before Cassie called out, "JJ, can you—"

She paused when JJ turned back around, seeing the almost hopeful look on his face. "Can you tell Kiara to come stay in here with me? Please?"

JJ's face fell a bit but he tried not to let it show. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll tell Kie." He then left to go send Kiara into Cassie's room, letting the two girls sleep on his bed for the night.

When Cassie had woke up the next morning and looked around the place, she realized the Pogues had all left for school. "Shit," she cursed since she realized she was extremely late for her own class before she saw a note on the fridge.

Cassie,
Didn't want to wake you. Thought you deserved a day off. Stay here all day if you'd like. The food in here might be moldy though.
                   — The Pogues

Cassie let out a small laugh to herself as she read it, feeling much better than she did last night.

And it all had to do with the Pogues.

Isn't it strange how she started off the summer tolerating them for Kiara's sake and now they had been a lifeline to her?

Isn't it strange?

authors note!
i love found family tropes sm 🫶
i wish i had a friend group like
the pogues it's so clear they care
for each other sm :( and dw there
will be a lot more jj and cassie next
chapter