The next day when the sun had just come out, Kiara and Pope had driven the boat back to the chateau where JJ, John B, Willow, and Sarah were waiting for them. Willow was the first to notice, bringing her to tap on JJ's shoulder. "Jay, they're back."

"What?", He whipped his head around to look out at the water, seeing the HMS Pogue pull up. He let out a breath of air that he had been holding in after the instant worry took over him. She hadn't specified on who was back. He turned his head, whistling to retrieve the attention from John B and Sarah. "Come on."

Willow grabbed her bag, tossing it over her shoulder before helping John B walk Sarah down to the docks. Willow glanced down to see she was still limping, bringing her to look up at her freshly new sister-in-law. "Come on, Sare."

"Hey!", JJ shouted as he rushed down the docks to meet up with Kiara and Pope at the end of it. "Guys, don't tie up. Stop it!"

"What?", Kiara asked quickly.

"We're dipping.", JJ rushed down the ramp to the boat while John B, Sarah, and Willow made their way as quickly as they could due to Sarah's injury.

"Wait, why?", Pope asked in confusion.

"What? What are you talking about?", Kiara asked.

"I got it.", Sarah spoke to John B and Willow once they made it to the ramp, which allowed her to hold onto the railing. They obliged and let her walk on her own.

"What happened last night?", John B asked Kiara and Pope.

"We slept on the break. What's up?", Pope answered the brunette boy.

"Slept, right. Yeah.", JJ commented as he walked up to Pope, patting his hand down on the boy's shoulders' as he looked into his eyes before getting onto the boat. "We were up all night."

Willow walked up to Kiara and Pope, glancing between the two awkwardly before she looked in front of her to see JJ had already been holding his hand out for her. She smiled sweetly, grasping his hand as he helped her get on. John B spoke up, "We gotta get the hell out of here."

"What? Why?", Pope asked quickly, irritation growing since they hadn't even answered why the first time he asked.

"Rafe knows we're here, so we have to leave like now.", Sarah answered him before she got on the boat as well. Kiara and Pope unraveled the rope that they had tied up so far before JJ had stopped them and they got on the HMS Pogue as well. Once the six of them left the chateau on the boat, they found a spot to talk amongst themselves.

Once they were all either sat down, or standing in the circle, Willow was the first to speak. "How much time do you think we have?"

"Not enough.", Kiara responded to her quickly.

"An exact number would be much appreciated.", Willow looked amongst the group, furrowing her eyebrows when she noticed that none of them were looking directly at her. "What?"

"Not enough time to be focused on how much time we have left.", Pope was the one to respond to her, watching as she raised her eyebrows and scoffed.

"Yeah... Rafe and Barry know now, so it's not long before everyone else does. Pope's right. We can't focus on that.", Kiara added, which made Willow stand up from her spot to stand beside JJ on the sidelines.

"All I'm saying is that an estimated amount of time would help us figure out what the fuck we need to do and when.", Willow replied.

"She's right.", JJ nodded beside her, looking down to see her giving him a nod of approval.

"I mean... this happened last night. Rafe has probably, if not yet, gone to Ward.", Willow continued on, taking notice of the way Sarah dropped her head down. "Judging by the fact that he might've waited till morning to tell him... I'd say there's about an hour before the cops go and stake out at John B's."

"You watch way too many crime shows.", Pope shook his head.

"Okay, well... those crime shows have helped me avoid a lot of creepy people.", Willow bit back, feeling JJ place his hand over her shoulder to ease her nerves. "Besides, maybe we should've just listened to JJ in the beginning."

"Oh, you did not just-", Kiara looked at her incredulously.

"Exactly!", JJ was quick to speak, cutting Kiara off. "We should've gone south, man. Finally, someone agrees."

"Will you two stop?", John B shook his head at the blonde pair.

"What? No!", Willow furrowed her eyebrows slightly, staring at her brother. "I mean... now it might be our only option."

"I've been saying that this entire time. Why does no one ever listen!?", JJ shouted as he walked into the middle of the group.

"Stop!", John B walked up to JJ, glancing toward his sister to see her roll her eyes. His eyes met with JJ's once more before saying, "I get it. I get it. I understand."

JJ walked back to where he was, almost walking past Willow until she held out her hand to place it on his chest. He turned his head slightly to the right to look down at her, noticing a faint smile form from the corners of her lips. She glanced down for a moment to see his fists were clenched as he tried to hold in his frustration. She dropped her hand down to grasp his hand gently, feeling him open up his hand for her to intertwine his fingers with her own while the others kept talking. None of them even cared to glance over at the two blondes, too busy discussing the next step in helping John B.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to back you up.", She whispered to JJ, watching his face contort as he tried to keep himself from looking too saddened. Not many people ever apologized to him, but she always did.

"It's okay.", He murmured.

Willow dropped his hand once she heard Sarah say something about talking to her dad, which obviously didn't sit right with Kiara. "What?"

"My dad is gonna have to choose between me and Rafe.", Sarah defended her plan, glancing around the whole group to see the majority of them not looking pleased.

"Sarah...", John B walked up to her.

"He's gonna choose me.", Sarah spoke louder.

"Just please listen. Ward keeps lying to you, Sarah.", John B stated.

"Sarah, he's not gonna agree after all that's happened.", Kiara added.

"No.", Sarah shook her head. "I... I know it sounds crazy."

"Yeah, it does.", Kiara raised her voice slightly from the calmer tone she had just spoken to her in.

"I know!", Sarah practically shouted, taking a moment to look over to see John B turned the other way. "But he's my dad. And I know him, and I know he loves me."

"I'm game.", Willow shrugged her shoulders, making eye contact with Sarah after she spoke. She gave her a gentle smile, turning her head to look at John B to see the annoyance in his expression that she'd agree after what happened with their own father. "Look, for all we know... he could take her side."

"Willow...", John B let out a sigh as he closed his eyes.

"Bee, come on...", JJ looked down at her with a look of disapproval. "He won't-"

"Two hours.", Willow stated, cutting him off before looking around the circle. "The least you guys could do is give her two hours. It's her dad, okay? I'd want you guys to be okay with it if it were me in her shoes."

"Yeah, well-", Kiara was quickly cut off.

"Don't.", JJ shot her a glare.

"Thank you, Lo.", Sarah looked up at her with a faint smile, sniffling before she stood up to walk away. None of the others cared to say another word as John B went to follow her. Willow glanced between JJ, Pope, and Kiara to give them all a disappointed look.

"It's her dad, guys. Have a heart...", Willow spoke.

꧁꧂

While the pogues were waiting on Sarah to come back, Willow had been helping JJ find any kind of wood that they could find. Kiara had joined them to cover more ground, but also that they had extra help in general. Kiara had trailed off from the two since neither of them seemed to be talking, which just made her feel awkward since there seemed to be some tension between the two blondes. Honestly, there had been just a little bit. After Willow sided with Sarah, JJ was not hiding his feelings towards it.

Once Willow dropped a stick into the pile that they were tossing all of it into, she let out a huff. "Okay, I think that's all we need."

JJ's eyes darted over toward the pile, then shot up to meet her gaze. "No. Just a little bit more."

"Are you serious?", Her face contorted in confusion, waving her arm off in the direction that Kiara had went. "Kie probably has a handful of sticks or logs... or whatever. This is plenty, Jay."

"Just keep looking.", He stated in an aggravated tone.

"Why?", She asked, obviously annoyed. "What has gotten into you?"

"What was that all about, Willow?", JJ quickly turned to look at her, dropping a stick down onto the ground as his eyes burned through her own.

"What was what all about?", She asked, having no clue what he meant.

"You know deep down that her talking to Ward is a bad idea.", He stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Besides, you hate Ward. We all hate Ward, so why would you tell her to?"

"Because it's her dad, JJ.", She furrowed her eyebrows in anger. "Why should she not have that hope that he will help her?"

He watched her in disbelief, shaking his head slightly before looking down at the ground. He kept himself from not making eye contact with her as he asked, "Is this about Sarah, or is this about you?"

"What?", She scoffed.

His eyes trailed up to find her own, noticing how they seemed to have darkened once he looked at her. It seemed to him that once he looked at her, she quickly caught on to what he was implying. Almost like she could read his thoughts behind his eyes. "Willow, look..."

"No, you look.", She raised a finger to point toward him, stepping closer to him. "My mother could've died. That alone... is like... a wakeup call to the both of us."

"I get that, but-", He started to say.

"I'm not done.", She cut him off quickly, watching as he quickly shut his mouth and dropped his head. "Yes, I am hoping that this actually turns my relationship with my mom around. What is so wrong with that?"

"She beat you! That's what!", JJ shouted, which made Willow flinch at the suddenness. JJ was too angry to notice. "She said that she'd change how many times? Tell me how many times she said that!"

"JJ..."

"No, tell me.", He spoke angrily. "I mean fuck! You know how many times my dad has said that shit? Too many to fucking count with my fingers. You think she actually means that?"

"Shut up.", She spoke quietly, shaking her head as she fought back tears.

"She's a fucking addict, Willow. She's never gonna change.", He spit out venom with the words he spoke, watching as something inside of her changed drastically.

"Shut the fuck up!", She screamed, bringing him to exhale sharply as he turned his head away from her. "For a fucking second, I thought you would be supportive over this. But I get it... you're just upset that my parent is actually willing to-"

"Guys!", Kiara shouted after trying to get their attention for a few seconds, but neither of them had noticed due to the anger radiating off of them. Kiara hadn't heard everything, but she did hear the last bit that Willow had said. Nothing she heard had been said by JJ. Willow glanced over at the girl, but JJ's eyes never left her. He stared at her in horror of what she was about to say, and Kiara noticed. She looked at Willow, furrowing her eyebrows. "What the hell is your problem?"

"My problem?", She scoffed, looking back at JJ to see him fighting back tears as he bit his lip to keep it from quivering. That's when it hit her. She hadn't even realized what she was beginning to say. She had gotten black-out angry to the point she couldn't control any of it. "JJ, I didn't mean that."

"Sure.", He sniffled once, grabbing up some of the sticks and wood that they had thrown into the pile. "We gotta get back to John B and Pope."

JJ was quick to walk off, leaving Willow standing there as she met Kiara's glare. "Kie, I swear to god I-"

"Save it. We've got more important things to worry about.", She shook her head before walking off after JJ, leaving the blonde girl standing there alone.

Willow let out a groan of frustration as she pulled at the strands of her hair before quickly reaching down to grab the sticks as she breathed out shakily. "Fuck."

Once she caught up to the two of them, they had just dropped the sticks down by John B and Pope. Willow noticed Sarah driving the boat towards them, which made her drop hers down, too. Kiara happily ran down the beach with her arms raised. "Sarah!"

"You made it!", JJ shouted as they all ran down the beach as she cut the boat's engine off.

"What happened?", John B asked as she hopped down from the boat carefully. "How'd it go?"

"You guys were right. It didn't work.", She sniffled, glancing over at Willow for a second before looking away. Willow nodded gently, clearing her throat before turning around to see Pope frowning at her.

"What?", She asked.

"You good?", He asked cautiously.

"Yeah.", She nodded with a faint smile, glancing over at JJ once he spoke up.

"Well, then that settles it, guys. Now, y'all need to load up in the paddy wagon and get the heck out of Dodge right now."

"Right, you'll need supplies, and you'll have to split as soon as possible.", Pope added, glancing over at Willow to see her looking down at her feet as she moved her foot over the sand. The girl only ever zoned out like this if there was something wrong, so he knew she had been lying.

"Guys, I think it's too late.", Kiara spoke, which brought all of them to look over at her to see her staring off into the distance of the water. Willow was quick to follow her gaze, eyes widening once she saw the police.

"Shit.", She muttered.

"They followed you here?", John B asked Sarah. "Must've been your father."

"Good going, Willow.", JJ spoke up as he rummaged through his bag, causing her to glare at him. The glare intensified once she watched him take the gun out of the bag.

"Yeah, blame it all on me.", Willow bit back. "I get it! I'm the problem!

"We're gonna have to find another way out of here.", Pope was quick to speak.

"Stay on the beach with your hands in the air!"

"Shit, guys... let's go!", Willow shouted before she darted off, feeling a hand rest on her back. She looked to her left to see that it was Pope trying to keep her running at a decent pace. Her head whipped to her right to see JJ booking it in front of the whole group to lead the way.

"Let's go! Let's go!", Pope shouted, trying to inform them that they had to run faster.

"Go!", John B shouted toward them as he tried to help Sarah since she couldn't really run on her own due to her wound.

They booked it through the wooded area, Willow scraping her leg against a fallen tree limb which only made her seethe. "Damnit."

JJ quickly looked over his shoulder at the sound of her cursing, not letting the anger keep hold of him as he asked, "Bee, what's wrong?"

"I'm fine.", She spoke as she winced at the stinging sensation each time her foot planted down on the ground.

"Don't stop.", Pope spoke from beside her, watching as she tried desperately to quicken up her speed.

"Sarah, you good?", Kiara asked as they made it to some water that they had to swim through to get to the other side of the land.

"Yeah, you good?", Pope asked.

"Yeah.", She responded.

Once they were out of the water with the police and swat team following them, they were quick to hide behind a big tree. That's when they heard police sirens, which meant that cop vehicles were heading straight to them. They were surrounded. Once JJ backed up against the tree, he was quick to pull out his gun. "No getting out of this. We gotta make a stand."

"You're just gonna get yourself shot.", Willow reached for his hand, holding it down as his eyes met her own. "JJ, please..."

"If I'm going to go out, I'm going out protecting John B.", He ripped his hand out of her grasp, using his bandana to dry the gun off.

She shook her head, looking over her shoulder to look at John B. He noticed the desperation in her eyes, and he looked at JJ, then back out at the cops. He heard her say something to the blonde boy as his world began to spin. "It's only going to make things worse."

"What do you want from me, Willow?", He seethed.

"To put it away.", She grabbed his wrist, placing her hand on his cheek to force him to look at her. "Stop it. You know this is crazy. Stop."

"This is the only way.", He lightly pushed her away.

"No.", Pope spoke up.

John B looked down at Sarah this time, finally taking in everything that was going on around him and he knew what he had to do. He quickly turned around, grabbing JJ's wrist after he cocked the gun. JJ tried turning to look at the cops, but John B kept him in place, and he took the gun out of JJ's hand. John B dropped the gun to the ground before he spoke, "It's gonna be alright."

John B patted the side of JJ's face, glancing over at Willow to see fear rising in her expression. "John B..."

"Here we go.", John B spoke before raising his hands in the air as JJ covered the gun with the dirt from the ground.

"John B, step out into the clearing!", Shoupe shouted. "Get down. Do not move!"

The pogues raised their arms as well due to the fact all the police were aiming their guns at John B, which made them feel like they had to show they were unarmed, too. Willow watched in horror as they all shouted at John B with guns pointed toward him. Shoupe looked at the group before saying, "The rest of you stay right where you are. Keep your hands where we can see them."

"Listen, Shoupe. I wanna testify.", John B told him.

"It's about time. Get down. Do not move a muscle. Everybody else, don't move.", Shoupe spoke as he walked right up to John B.

"Don't move. Keep your hands where I can see them.", Officer Plumb spoke to the group as she, and another officer, pointed their guns towards them.

Willow let out a shaky breath of air as she watched one of the cops pull John B up to his full height before slamming him on the ground. "Stop it!"

"No!", Sarah shouted.

"Stop! Let him go!", Kiara shouted as well.

The officer proceeded to kick him, which made JJ shout, "Sheriff, what is that!? You're gonna let that happen!?"

"Don't move!", Officer Plumb shouted as she got closer to JJ.

"Shoupe! Please!", Willow shouted as a tear ran down her face. "Tell him to stop! Please!"

Shoupe looked at her and was quick to turn around, holstering his gun before rushing up to him. "Thomas! Stop!"

"Get off!", He pushed Shoupe back before turning to look at John B. "This is for Peterkin."

He was quick to punch John B in the face, which made Willow scream. "You asshole!"

Officer Plumb pointed the gun in her face, making Willow glare at her. "I said don't move!"

"Get the gun out of my fucking face!", Willow shouted.

"Calm down!", Plumb shouted back.

"How can I be calm!?", She felt pure rage as she stared at the female officer. "You've got a fucking gun pointed at us for no goddamn reason!"

Plumb got closer to her which made JJ shout, "Sheriff! Get your damn people under control!"

"Plumb!", Shoupe shouted, watching as she turned to look at him. "Put down your gun."

Willow watched closely as she scoffed, holstering her weapon. Plumb looked straight into the blonde girls' eyes as she said, "Your family is all sorts of messed up."

Willow's eyes turned cold as she stared at the woman, watching her turn to walk towards Thomas. Willow took in a deep breath as she felt the skin on her face grow hot out of anger. She was sick of people talking about her family at this point. She went to take a step forward, but Shoupe noticed. "Willow, no."

Her eyes darted over to him, watching as he shook his head with saddened eyes. She could sense the sympathetic look in his eyes before she looked away and exhaled sharply. JJ didn't care about whether or not he moved at this moment, knowing she needed a shoulder to cry on. He got closer to her only to see her look up at him with tears in her eyes, not taking any time before wrapping his arms around her. She couldn't hold back her crying any longer. "I know, Bee... I'm sorry."

A/N - First book is at 60k reads!! I'm so proud of the story line and I gotta say, this chapter was a pain in my ass to write because I wasn't gonna originally have them argue like that to each other. I felt like it was needed, though. Just to show how serious she is about her making amends with her mother to JJ and obviously, he wouldn't necessarily be okay with it for obvious reasons. The next few chapters will be filler chapters because I feel like it'd be a few days that went by before John B's court date.