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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁

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Cassie drove back home with tear stained cheeks that she tried rubbing away, but it was no use. They would stay with her for the next few hours as a gentle reminder of what she had lost: JJ Maybank.

All she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and die. And also smash a few vases while she was at it.

Losing someone you loved by them dying was one thing, but losing someone you loved and still having to see them the next day was another.

Although El Dorado turned out to be dead end and they lost all of the other treasure, she knew she would be seeing JJ again. Whether that be in group hang outs or in passing, she knew the universe wasn't on her side and it would thrust JJ in her line of sight so she could die all over again.

At least she could be alone in her house to scream and cry her heart out all day with no one to judge her for it.

However, that proved to be severely wrong when she pulled up to her house and saw a white BMW and a bright pink Jeep parked in the driveway that had a bunch of rubber ducks lining the windshield. She squinted her eyes, seeing a bumper sticker on the back of the Jeep that read, HOT GIRLS HIT CURBS.

"What the hell?" She whispered, trying to figure out if she's ever seen this car in the OBX before and came up with nothing. She had seen plenty of white BMW's, but the pink Jeep? Definitely not. The license plates also read they were from Virginia. Weird...

She made her way inside her house, seeing that the door was already opened and her heart started thumping worriedly. Could the cars have been a ploy to get her to come inside and her mother would be standing right there, ready to kidnap her again?

"Oh, I forgot my AirPods in the car. Lemme go get them!" she heard someone shout from upstairs and the person went down the steps, becoming face to face with Cassie. "Oh, shit!" the girl cursed, a smile making its way on her face. "Mom, Cassie's here!"

Cassie blinked, recognizing the girl to be her cousin of the same age, Emery Zhu-Blake. She also recognized the woman coming down the stairs after her to be her aunt, Beatrice Blake.

Emery had gorgeous green eyes that she had gotten from her mother with long, brown hair that cascaded down her back. Her mother's hair had been a lighter shade of brown and had been much shorter than her daughter's.

Beatrice had been two years younger than her brother, Cassie's dad, but she was pregnant with Emery at the same time Savannah was pregnant with Cassie, the girls only being a few months apart.

Cassie hadn't seen them since her father's funeral. At the time, she had been married to her husband, David Zhu, but they had divorced shortly after Kevin's funeral which was why she changed her surname back to Blake. Apparently he had been cheating and gambling their money, so Aunt Bea left him and was able to get sole custody of Emery who wanted nothing to do with her father anyway.

She didn't know why the two of them were here. Aunt Bea and her mother never really got along — she made it a hassle for Kevin and Savannah to get married apparently — so she never made any trips down to visit.

She should have made it more of a hassle, honestly. Therefore, Cassie would have never been born and none of this would have ever happened. Yikes, that sounded depressing.

"Oh, Cassie!" Aunt Bea exclaimed once she saw the blonde girl standing there, making her way down the steps.

"Aunt Bea? Emery?" Cassie questioned before Aunt Bea wrapped her niece in a hug. "What-what are you guys doing here?"

Aunt Bea pulled away, cupping Cassie's face to get a good look at her. "Have you been crying?" she asked, taking her hand away from her face.

Cassie wiped at her eyes. "Uh, yeah. Was listening to sad music in the car," she lied.

"Oh, who? Wait, wait, lemme guess. Olivia Rodrigo? Taylor Swift? I know how popular they are now."

Cassie let out a breathless laugh as Emery piped up, "Mom, oh em gee, let her breathe. We just got here."

Aunt Bea took a step back. "You're right, you're right. Sorry," she apologized. "But to answer your question, we're here because your mother called us the other day."

Cassie swallowed hard. "She-she did? What did she say?"

"Well, she told me she would be gone for a while so she needed someone to watch over you. She didn't say why she was gone and I didn't ask," Aunt Bea relayed. "And she also told me that you were apparently missing for over a month and suddenly she got a credit card charge that told her you were back?"

Oh, shit, the phone. "Yeah...about that..." she trailed off before she shook her head. "It's fine now," she shrugged it off, not wanting to explain everything to her and her cousin just yet.

"You have to tell me all about it once I'm settled in!" Emery squealed. "Oh, I took the guest room, is that okay? Aunt Savannah told us we could stay here until we found a rental. I gotta get enrolled to school here until we decide if we stay or leave. I heard the theater program is decent here so I'm excited!"

"Yeah. Yeah, that's fine," Cassie nodded, forcing a smile.

"Yay!" Emery cheered with a bright smile. "Oh, wait, lemme get my AirPods. Be right back!"

Emery went out the front door to go retrieve her AirPods from her pink jeep, leaving Cassie and Aunt Bea to be standing there alone.

"Cassie," Aunt Bea began, "you know how your mother and I haven't really gotten along, yeah?"

"Mhm. She's mentioned it." Savannah had more than just mentioned it, but she didn't want to go into it right now.

"Let me just say, whatever is going on...I'll be here for you," Aunt Bea assured the girl. "I don't want to talk bad about your mother but—"

"Oh, you can. I'll allow it," Cassie immediately cut her off.

Aunt Bea let out a laugh. "But...I never thought she was the right fit for Kev. Something about her, I don't know, something about her was just...off to me."

"Well, you'd be right," Cassie confirmed.

"Hm," Aunt Bea nodded. "Kev was always an...interesting guy too. But he seemed to become a much different person right before he died."

"Yeah, well..." Cassie trailed off, not knowing if she should tell his sister about his abusive tendencies just yet since she just got here. "Well, we can't worry about it now."

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess you're right."

Emery came rushing back in. "Found them!" she rejoiced, holding up the AirPods in their pink case. "Also, there's someone here to see you, Cassie."

Cassie whipped around, expecting it to be JJ for some reason even though he told her he was done with her, but it was Sarah Cameron instead. "Sarah?" Cassie furrowed her brows.

"Hey, um, I'm sorry if this is a bad time," Sarah began.

"No, it's okay. What's up?"

"Um...John B and I kind of got into, like, a little fight," Sarah told her.

"Yeah, I've noticed he's been acting weird since his dad got back. His dad that doesn't like me apparently," Cassie replied, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, and basically, I don't have anywhere to stay, and Rafe's at Tannyhill. I tried Kie since I already stayed here last night and didn't want to overstay my welcome, but her parents said no. So I was just wondering, maybe, if I could stay here with you again?" Sarah inquired.

"Oh, Sarah, I would say yes but my cousin, Emery, just took over the guest room," Cassie told her, giving her a lopsided frown.

"Oh, it's okay. I don't mind sharing," Emery piped up behind her with a shrug, giving Sarah a sweet smile.

Sarah looked past Cassie, seeing Emery standing there. "Oh. No, no, it's okay. I don't wanna intrude on your...family time," Sarah said.

"Are you sure?" Cassie asked, seeing how down Sarah had looked. It seemed like love wasn't in the air lately.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll probably just hit up JJ or something."

"JJ...yeah," Cassie clicked her tongue and Sarah pursed her lips.

"Did you and JJ—"

"Talk? Argue? Yeah. Yeah, it's-it's a long story, but um...I'll see you later, though to talk about it maybe?"

"Yeah," Sarah nodded before she walked away from the house.

"What's a Rafe and what's a Tannyhill?" Emery questioned after a moment.

Cassie started to smile, turning to the girl. "I'll have to catch you up on a bunch of stuff," she said. She hadn't really spoken to the girl since her father's funeral, only sending happy birthday messages every year.

Maybe it would be nice to talk to someone who was out of the loop on everything.

"Oh, yes, give me all the tea," Emery responded before she grabbed Cassie's hand, pulling her up the steps so the two girls could catch up on life together.

After telling Emery basically everything that went down in the last few months, Cassie drove to Heyward's Seafood to go pick up some dinner for them all to eat for the night.

She thought it would be nice to give Heyward some business so she walked inside, looking around. "Oh, hey, Cassie. How ya doin', sweetheart?" Heyward asked the girl with a smile.

"Hi, Heyward," she waved. "I was just going to pick up some dinner. My aunt and cousin are here for a bit so thought it would be nice to have a good meal."

"Well, I'm glad you thought of this place then."

"Of course."

Cassie wandered around the shop, looking for something good to eat before she spotted Cleo and JJ outside setting up the table for dinner.

Her heart dropped at the sight of JJ and she froze in place, not knowing what to do. Just by looking at him, she wanted to start crying again but she forced herself not to. She had to be stronger than that.

He hadn't seen her yet so she could have just run out of there empty handed and apologize to Heyward about it later. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

However, before she could spin around and sprint away, Cleo noticed her and called out, "Hey, Cassie girl!"

Fuck my life.

Cassie plastered a smile on her face as she walked over to the both of them, avoiding JJ's eyes on her. "Hey," she breathed out.

"Watchu doin' out here?" Cleo asked.

"Well, my aunt and cousin are in town so I wanted to cook some dinner for them. See if I remember how to work a stove after spending a month on an island," she joked a bit and Cleo chuckled. "What about y'all?"

"Eatin' with the Heyward's," Cleo answered, placing a hand on her hip.

"Oh. That's nice." Cassie nodded before her eyes darted over to JJ, who pulled his eyes away.

Cleo glanced between the two of them, sensing some tension. After the other night of JJ almost dying, she could tell that something had been going on between them. And then Pope basically confirmed it when they got home that night but now the two just looked...awkward.

She cleared her throat. "Oh, let me get the placemats," Cleo remembered before she rushed off to get the placemats, leaving Cassie and JJ alone as he scrubbed the table in a very cumbersome silence.

Cassie clasped her hands behind her back, swaying on the balls of her feet with pursed lips. What was she supposed to do? Start talking to him? About what? She couldn't just start talking to him after he said he was done with her, could she? She didn't know the rules to now any of this worked.

It seemed like she didn't have to think any further about it, however, because JJ decided to pipe up and ask, "So your aunt and cousin are in town?"

She cleared her throat, blinking since she hadn't expected him to start talking to her. It wasn't like they even agreed to be friends after their "break up." It was left rather...harshly.

"Uh, yeah. Apparently Savannah called them to come," she told him and his head snapped over, looking over at her in concern. "Don't worry, it's my aunt on my dad's side. She's never liked Savannah so I don't think she's here other than to watch over me. I hope."

JJ hummed with a nod before he went back to cleaning the table. Cassie watched him, seeing the way his arm muscles had flexed with every motion he made to clean the table. It was just like when he rubbed up and down her thighs when they—

No, Cassie. I'm supposed to be done with him, not gawking at him, she thought to herself as she pulled her gaze away from the boy, trying to push away any inappropriate thoughts.

Mrs. Heyward came walking over, checking on the food on the grill as Cleo came back with the placemats and utensils. "Well, I appreciate the help, you two," Mrs. Heyward said to Cleo and JJ as Cassie just stood there awkwardly, not knowing if she should go back to shopping or not.

"You know I ain't missin' Mrs. Heyward's cookin,'" JJ flattered with a smile.

"Unlike my derelict son. He's usually here by now," Mrs. Heyward pointed out as JJ went to go grab the food from the grill, but she slapped his hand away.

"I'm sure he'll be back any second, Mrs. Heyward," Cleo assured her.

Heyward came walking out and Cassie turned to look at him. "Either one of y'all moved the pistol from in there?" he questioned. "The one I keep under the register? JJ?"

"Whoa, okay. I didn't touch it. Okay?" JJ denied.

"Yeah, well, somebody did. 'Cause it's gone," Heyward reiterated.

The three of them held their hands up. "Wasn't me," JJ told him.

Heyward turned to look at his wife. "You see? I— Dang it!" He rushed back inside. "I gotta find it!"

"All right, all right, I'm sure it's somewhere. Heyward, I'm sure it's somewhere."

Cleo and JJ turned to one another. "It's him," Cleo said and Cassie furrowed her brows.

"Yeah, he's going after Rafe," JJ breathed out.

"Hold up, what?" Cassie cut in, walking over to them. "What happened?"

JJ and Cleo shared a glance before JJ reluctantly explained, "I was at the marina before and overheard Rafe talking with Barry. He melted the cross down."

Cassie gaped. "What?"

Rafe melted the Cross of Santo Domingo, a priceless artifact with nothing else like it? Oh, her hatred for the boy just increased ten fold.

"Yeah, and when I told Pope, he stormed off."

"He's definitely looking for Rafe right now. With the pistol," Cleo added. "And he also just quit school so that adds an extra layer of shit he's pissed about."

"Pope quit school?" Cassie repeated with wide eyes since she knew Pope had been the only one to go back as of now, and Cleo nodded. "Shit, shit, shit, shit. Okay, okay, well-well we gotta find him, right?" Cassie immediately assumed, seeing as though he had a gun on him.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'll check Tannyhill," JJ voiced.

"I'll take the marina," Cassie said.

"And I'll check back home. He could either be trying to shoot Rafe...or himself," Cleo spoke ominously and Cassie and JJ shared a worried look before the three of them rushed off, going their separate ways to try to find the Heyward boy.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

It had gotten dark once Cassie reached the marina and she had texted both her cousin and aunt that she was running a bit late. Well, maybe not "a bit" but they would have to understand.

She spotted Rafe's boat on the water, the one she stole back in Barbados, and creeped her way over since the lights had been on. As she made her way down the dock, she noticed Pope below, aiming a gun right at Rafe Cameron's head as he spoke on the phone without any idea a gun had been pointed at him.

Her eyes widened and she quickly made her way down to where Pope was, carefully making her way up behind him where he was sitting on a cooler.

She had never seen the boy aim a gun before. That was usually JJ's job. So the fact that Pope was holding it up and he looked like he was about to shoot...she knew he had entered his breaking point.

She'd been there before but never to the point of almost killing someone. Just killing vases if that counted. And she knew she would have felt better if she had a friend by her side.

Which was what Pope needed now.

A friend.

"Pope," she began gently. "You don't want to do this."

"How do you know what I want?" Pope questioned in return as he kept the gun aimed at Rafe, not even looking back at the Blake girl.

"I know you shouldn't let the anger get to you," she told him.

"You're one to talk."

She let out a short laugh. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Which is why if I'm the one here trying to get you to stop, you know it must be bad," she admitted and she could hear Pope take in a sharp breath. "You don't know how much I wish I could put a bullet straight through Rafe's head. He deserves it. We all know that."

"So let me do it," Pope replied.

"No, Pope...I can't let you do this. Not you. It shouldn't be you." She could see how the gun began to shake in his hands. "How would your parents feel?"

"I think they would understand why I did it," Pope answered shakily as a tears dripped down from his eyes and onto his cheeks. "For once, he would lose like we always do."

"I know. I know," Cassie whispered, looking down and shutting her eyes for a moment.

Cassie completely agreed with him. It should have been Rafe who lost, not the Pogues. He was a horrible person and the Pogues had been a family, trying to get this cross back for Pope's sake.

But she couldn't let Pope go through with this. He had the brightest future ahead of them all and even though he had quit school, he was still the smartest person she knew and deserved to have a good life that didn't include going to jail.

"It doesn't matter anyway. I've lost everything," he breathlessly concluded. Cassie took a step forward, crouching down next to him as she carefully put a hand on his shoulder. She could feel how tense he was.

"Pope, you haven't lost everything. You have your family, your home, the Pogues who would take a bullet for you," she listed off. "And you have me, if that's any consolation," she added with a shrug, her eyes watering a bit at the state of the boy next to her. "If you do this, you lose all of that. And that's not nothing, I can tell you that right now."

The gun continued to shake in Pope's hands, his face scrunching up as more tears fell from his face.

"Rafe deserves to be shot, but you know what? If you do this, he'll still win. You'll go to jail because of stupid Rafe Cameron and knowing how the system works here, you may never see the light of day again," she went on and Pope let out a sniffle. "That's him winning. And if you do this...you'll become just like him. But you're not him. You're surrounded by people who love you and you're smart, caring, selfless...everything that Rafe is not. You're Pope freaking Heyward, one of the best guys I know. The guy that saved me from Rafe, remember that?"

"Y-Yeah. I-I remember," Pope nodded as the gun in his hand slowly started to lower as he thought back to the hangar and how he had run up on Rafe while he had been choking Cassie. He thought that had been the most anger he felt in his life, but this topped it.

"You stopped yourself from going further then and you can stop yourself now. You hear me? You can stop yourself before you do something you're going to regret. Because it'll feel good for a second and then after that...everything you have will be gone," Cassie went on. "And you can't let him win."

Pope let out a shaky breath as Cassie slowly reached her arms around him, putting her hand on the gun to help him lower it further. "Don't let him win," she repeated as Pope let out a choked sob as he allowed her to lower the gun.

He dropped the gun to the floor and held his head in his hands as Cassie draped her around him. "It's okay," she soothed him. "Just let it all out." He turned and wrapped his arms around her, crying into the crook of her neck. "I got you, it's okay, Pope."

She held him in his arms as she let him cry it all out, rubbing her hand up and down his back to comfort him. She had shed a few tears herself because of the boy's pain.

Once the both of them had calmed down, Cassie drove him on back to his home where Cleo had been waiting for him outside.

"Hey, Pope! You good!" she called out to him as the two made their way over to her.

Pope looked at Cassie, who answered for him, "Yeah. Yeah, he's good."

"Thanks, Cassie," Pope expressed, turning to her. "That was some good philosophizing back there."

She started to smile, letting a few chuckles. "I learned from the best," she nudged his shoulder with his her hand and he laughed. "I gotta get back home, though. Goodnight, Popey."

He nodded at her with a gentle smile. "Goodnight."

She looked at Cleo. "Take care of him for me, yeah?"

"You know I will," Cleo smiled. "Goodnight, chief."

Cassie sent her a wave before she walked off back to her car, looking over her shoulder to see the two of them conversing. They seemed to be smiling at one another before Pope walked off and Cleo started climbing the steps, only to stop and watch as the boy walked away.

Cassie turned back forward, smiling to herself at the interaction that would have never happened if she didn't find Pope down at the marina and stop him from going through with killing Rafe.

Maybe she didn't ruin everything she touched.

authors note!
i love pope and cassie sm you don't
understand. they balance each other
out so well. and this moment helping
her realize she didn't ruin everything
she touched...ugh i cant. is it bad to
love ur own plots this much? LMAO
also introducing...

havana rose liu as emery zhu-blake

and

elizabeth olson as beatrice blake

they won't be in the story too much,
especially aunt bea, but i hope to bring
emery in a bit and hopefully more in
s4!!!