The next morning, the pair of blondes had taken a stroll out on the beach alone. The feeling of normalcy coming back by being on the shore excited them to say the least, but that dreaded feeling still hung over their heads. John B's court hearing was in two days. Like normal, the pogues would fill up one side of the room and the other would be full of kooks. And on that side, Ward Cameron would be sitting there watching as they gave John B his sentencing when it was Rafe that deserved it. Willow was sure that Rafe wouldn't even show up.

"Heard anything from Kie?", Willow asked as she sat down on the sand, giving her legs a rest from all the walking they had done. Walking was never a problem until they got on the sand. It took extra energy to try to walk through it with no issue.

"Nah.", JJ replied as he sat down beside her, running his hand through his hair before looking out at the water. "But Pope said she felt really bad about the other day."

"Right.", Willow nodded, crossing her legs as she looked out at the water as well. "I get it. I'm not mad at her. I think I'm done being mad at her. It's just so draining."

"Yeah, well... I can understand that.", JJ sighed.

"I'm sorry about the other day.", She spoke quickly, turning her head to look at him. She watched him blink once. Twice. Then to bring a sense of relief over her, his eyes met hers with a smile plastered on his face.

"There's no need.", He responded honestly, reaching his hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear before resting his hand on her cheek. "It's me that needs to say sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you past your limit. Besides, you were right. I don't know what it's like. I'm glad that she's trying to be better, but I will always worry about your relationship with her. I hate seeing you hurt, Bee. Knowing that she caused you all that pain angers me. I won't lie about that. But I can tell she's genuine."

"JJ, I...", She paused, trying to come up with words to say. She knew what she wanted to say, but she felt as if she were to say it then she'd scare him. She knew how JJ desperately wanted the attention and the love he deserved, but a simple 'I love you' would throw him off balance. She was worried that he'd not be ready for that big of an endearment. Hell, she'd even scare herself with it. She hadn't heard anyone tell her that for years, so she knew just how JJ would feel. "I really appreciate you understanding."

"Of course.", He leaned his face closer to hers, planting a kiss on her forehead. Once he pulled away slightly, he couldn't help but glance at her healing bruises. "Also, if I'm still being honest. I'm still mad at Gabby and Kelce."

"I know.", She rolled her eyes at the mentioning of the two kooks, pulling away from him.

"At least the bruises are healing a bit.", JJ spoke softly, watching her nod slowly. "But I swear to God. They try one more thing, I'll be the one in the back of a cop car."

"Shut up.", She laughed.

"I'm not joking.", He looked at her seriously, meeting her gaze. "Bee, I will kick Kelce's ass. Nobody lays their hands on my girl and gets away with it."

"Kelce didn't hit me.", She responded.

"No, but he held you back. Still had his hands on you.", He replied back before shaking his head. "And I'd like to see that asshole try to hit you. His ass is gonna be on the ground in point two seconds."

"Okay, hot shot.", She smiled widely, standing up from her place on the sand. "Let's get you walking again before you go all ballistic."

꧁꧂

Willow was in the kitchen of the Wreck, washing the dishes from the lunch rush. She wanted to help her mom with the mortgage payment the best she could since Amelia had a medical bill now. Amelia had also picked up an extra shift or two at her own job, telling Willow that she probably wouldn't be home much until John B's court hearing. Amelia was going to be there for her daughter, but also for John B. Now that the woman had fully been sober for a few weeks she started coming back to her old self. The only thing she struggled with was all the ptsd, anxiety, and depression that came along with it. With no drugs or alcohol in her system, she actually had to feel all these emotions all at once and she'd be lying if she said it wasn't bothering her.

Amelia would walk through town now and be worried about what people were thinking. While intoxicated, she didn't care who said what or what they even thought. Now, it felt as if she could hear murmurs from five feet away that sent chills down her spine. She was aware of all of what the town had known about her. She had slept around, was involved in an affair, did drugs and drank, abused her daughter while under the influence, messed up a few relationships here and there, and was quite frankly the worst mother that Kildare had ever seen after her own mother. Carolyn Jenkins had to have been the worst woman Amelia had ever known. A woman who still lived in Kildare but refused to contact her own daughter or see her own granddaughter due to her being the offspring of an unmarried couple. Willow still didn't know that her grandmother was even alive, but the old woman kept to herself and lived by her lonesome.

"Willow!", The cook, Billy, called out for her. He watched as she turned her head over her shoulder with her hands in the water as she scrubbed a dish.

"Yeah?"

"Boss wants to see you.", He came walking up to her, pointing towards the office in the back. "Said it's urgent."

"Oh, man.", Willow quickly pulled her hands out the water, drying them off on a towel she had hung up on the wall beside the dish rack before she walked to the office door. She knocked once, clearing her throat before the door opened to reveal Kiara's dad, Mike.

"Come on in, Willow.", He held the door open for her so that she could walk in. Once she did, she saw Kiara's mom sitting there as well. Her eyes flickered between both adults before sitting down, clasping her hands together as she sat uncomfortably trying to find the right posture.

"Willow, honey... we're gonna cut to the chase, okay?", Anna spoke up, watching as the blonde girl nodded quickly but remained quiet.

"We don't think it's a good idea that you work here anymore.", Mike blurted out, watching as she took in a deep breath and nodded.

"Is there any reason?", Willow asked, watching as the two adults shared a look. "I mean... I show up on time. I've gotten faster during the lunch crowd. I don't bother anyone. I kept my mom away from here. I do everything that's asked of me. I just- what did I do wrong?"

"It's just-", Mike was cut off.

"My mom just got home from being stabbed. She's got a medical bill with no help from insurance. We have a mortgage. I'm supposed to be helping her.", Willow spoke, feeling her eyes burning from tears wanting to form. "I don't get it."

"We're sorry.", Anna spoke softly, watching the girl with a frown. "But with everything that's gone on, we just think-"

"This is about John B being arrested, isn't it?", Willow quickly asked, glancing between both adults to see their mouths agape. She scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief. "I'm guessing you think that I'll scare off customers with him being my brother and all, right?"

"Sweetie, he's been arrested for murder.", Anna answered her, watching as she stood up from her chair. Willow was quick to take her apron off, slamming it down on the back of the chair she had been sitting on.

"He didn't do it.", She stated in frustration.

"Right. And I'm sure Kiara thinks that same thing, don't she?", Anna asked. "I mean... our daughter hangs out around you pogues and she won't come home."

"That sounds like a family matter. I shouldn't be brought into the middle of this. I shouldn't have my job on the line because of something I can't control.", Willow added.

"I can't have you work here. I can't have you near my daughter. You pogues are filling her head with shit.", Anna continued on.

"This is unlawful termination.", Willow told them, anger prominent in her expression. "So, I'll make it easier on you... I quit."

Willow turned around, opening the office door and walked through the kitchen to the front as she tried to keep her cool. She didn't even say goodbye to anyone as she made her way past the front counter, making a beeline for the door. Once she exited the restaurant, she bumped into someone before feeling them grab her arms gently to steady her. Once her eyes looked up, they met with his. Rafe motherfucking Cameron.

She was quick to pull away from him, contorting her face as she stared up at him. He watched her silently as she shook her head, turning away from him to hurry down the stairs. He glanced around to see if anyone was looking before following after her. "Wait! Willow!"

"Stay away from me, Rafe.", She spoke clearly, not turning around to look at him as she started to walk speedily. Only problem was that he jogged up to her, stopping right in front of her. She halted, staring up into his eyes in anger. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Look, just let me explain.", He groaned in frustration, running his hands over his face. "Alright?"

"What is there to explain!?", She shouted, making him quickly cover her mouth with his hand. She swatted his hand away, only bringing him to grab her shoulders. She winced at the sudden contact, furrowing her eyebrows as she watched something in his expression switch.

"Stay calm.", He demanded. "And I'll stay calm."

"Let me go.", She spoke softly, scared to even raise her voice at him. He slowly let her go, watching her look away. She tried to find a sign of anyone, but nothing. Great.

"You said you'd listen to me if I ever had a problem.", He said with a hint of hope, making her furrow her eyebrows in confusion as she met his gaze.

"Rafe, you realize that I told you that before you murdered Peterkin.", She replied. "Why would I listen to you? You're framing my brother and you think that's okay? You think I'll fucking listen to you?"

He closed his eyes in annoyance, rolling them slightly before scoffing, "I need you to understand... okay?"

"No.", She shook her head, pointing a finger toward him. "No, I need you to understand. You need help, Rafe. You need to stop talking to me. You need to leave my friends alone. You need to confess to what you did. You need to do the right thing."

"I did... do the right thing.", Rafe nodded weakly, letting out a sigh. He took in a deep breath, turning his head away from her as she watched him begin taking in quicker breaths out of anger. "John B killed Peterkin. I didn't."

"You are...", Willow scoffed, bringing her hands up to her head as she pulled at her hair. "You're fucking crazy!"

"I'm crazy!?", He raised his voice, pointing to his chest.

"Yes!", She shouted. "Yes! You're fucking crazy!"

Every ounce of Rafe's being wanted to hurt her, but he couldn't force himself to. JJ had mentioned to Willow a while ago that Rafe had never actually hurt her, but he'd hurt anyone else in his path. Rafe was always conflicted with her. He'd want to get her to shut up, but the thought of doing anything to her made him feel worse. Maybe it was because when she was with Kelce, she was the only one to make him feel worthy of something. She never once made him feel bad.

"So, you think you're not good enough?", Willow asked, turning her head to look at him with a frown. The two of them were lying on the rooftop of the Cameron household, looking up at the stars. Since she started dating Kelce, it seemed important for her to be closer to Topper and Rafe; especially Rafe. Kelce looked up to him for whatever reason and if she was going to play into the kook life to get away from Amelia, then she was going to do that.

"I don't know.", He shook his head, not looking her way as he kept his eyes on the night sky. "I'm sorry you had to hear him yell at me like that."

"I've heard worse.", She sighed, looking back up at the sky. "My mom tells me I'm a disappointment all the time."

Willow had overheard Ward shouting at Rafe from Sarah's room. She heard him say some cruel things and she had left to 'use the bathroom' before seeing him storm off to his room. She never had any reason to after all the shit he had said about her while she was hanging out with the pogues before getting with Kelce, but she knocked on his door to check up on him. She understood the stress and anger he had that was caused by Ward. Amelia caused it with her, too. Rafe just didn't know that fact.

"Why?", He asked curiously.

"I don't know.", She shrugged. "Guess I thought it was just a pogue thing. Didn't realize that kooks weren't perfect in their parents' eyes either."

"Guess that's what makes us similar, huh?", Rafe finally looked at her, watching her slowly turn her head before they locked eyes.

"Look, if you ever need to talk, I'm here to listen.", She told him with a faint smile. "If anyone understands the constant belittling from a parent, it's me. You don't have to do anything to prove yourself to him. Just know that. Don't let him turn you into someone you aren't just for a little acknowledgment."

"I don't think he likes me.", He spoke, furrowing his eyebrows as he pouted his bottom lip out slightly as he felt tears wanting to form. He quickly cleared his throat, sniffling before looking up at the sky again. "He likes Sarah more."

"I don't know what that's like, so I can't help you there. I don't have any siblings.", She sighed. "I wish I did. I'd want a brother. Think having a sister would be too much."

"Tell me about it.", He laughed. She laughed, too.

"It's getting late.", She spoke up, sitting up on the roof to look down at him. "I hope I was of help."

"You were.", He nodded. "Thanks, Wil."

"Don't mention it."

"I'm not crazy!", He shouted back.

"I told you not to listen to a goddamn thing Ward told you!", She shouted. "I told you-"

"You told me lots of things. I just- god... I just thought that out of all people you'd understand.", He shook his head. "But I see it now. We aren't close anymore. You don't care. Nobody ever cares. No... you're just in my way."

"What are you talking about?", She furrowed her eyebrows, feeling him grab her by the arm roughly. "Rafe, what the hell are you doing!?"

"What I should've done to John B."

꧁꧂

JJ was hanging out with Pope that day since Willow had gone to work. Kiara was taking a walk with Sarah. JJ knew Willow needed a lot of time to clear her head after everything that was going on, which is why she picked up a shift for work. It gave him plenty of time to ask Pope about Kiara, at least. They hadn't really had a chance to talk about the girls since they were always with them.

"So, you and Kie?", JJ asked him. "How'd it go on the break?"

"Dude...", Pope shook his head. "Nothing happened. We just slept."

"Right. Dude, I'm not buying it.", JJ responded to him.

"I don't care.", Pope shrugged, wanting to desperately change the subject. Pope was a gentleman, and he wasn't going to talk about what he did with Kiara. "You and Willow seemed pretty pissed the other day. What happened?"

"Same thing that always happens.", JJ replied back with a slight frown. "We take our anger out on each other at the wrong time."

"Sounds right.", Pope joked, watching JJ's frown turn into a grin.

"I apologized to her.", JJ let out a huff of air. "She's been through a lot, dude. Now her mom is like... a mom. It's weird."

"Think she'll fall back into it?", Pope asked.

"Who knows?", JJ shrugged. "I just hope for Willow's sake, she won't. The last thing Willow needs is-"

"I know.", Pope cut him off. He noticed the distraught in JJ's expression, which led him to change the subject. "And... Kiara hasn't even been back to see her parents yet."

"Really?", JJ asked. "It's been three days since we've been back home. I figured she'd already have gone."

"Nope.", Pope shook his head. "She's with Sarah right now."

꧁꧂

"Let me go!", Willow shouted as Rafe pulled her by her arm into the woods. "Rafe! Stop!"

He shoved her down on the ground, standing over her as she rolled on her back. "You know... you were different than the rest of the pogues. I actually thought you were a decent one."

She watched as he pulled a gun from his waistband, aiming it towards her. She shut her eyes harshly, her lip quivering. "What is wrong with you?"

"You.", Rafe let out a breath of air. "And those dirty ass pogues. You just don't know when to stop! John B killed Peterkin! I didn't do a damn thing!"

"Okay.", She nodded, opening her eyes to look at him. She figured if she lied to him, maybe she could get away. "Okay. I understand."

"You do?", He asked quickly, taken aback by her statement.

"It's John B's fault.", She let out a sob, not being able to lie without reacting to it herself. It only came across as her being upset that it was her own brother to do something like that in Rafe's eyes.

He put the gun away, squatting down in front of her to hold out his hand. She flinched slightly, which made him furrow his eyebrows. "I won't hurt you, Wil."

She slowly grabbed his hand, receiving help to stand up. Once she was stood in front of him, she placed her hands on his shoulders. "I'm sorry..."

"What?", He asked in confusion before she kneed him in the crotch, making him topple over as he groaned in pain. She was quick to turn away, running through the woods to get away from him. All she could hear from him was him shouting, "That's it! You're fucking dead! You hear me!? You're fucking dead, Bradshaw!"

Willow was running for what felt like forever, tears pricking her eyes as she heard Rafe shouting behind her. Her chest was heaving from her panic and from being winded. She came up to a fallen tree branch in the wooded area, leaping over it before she came out into the clearing where the road was. She halted, looking right and then left for any sign of people. Nothing. "Bradshaw!"

"No...", She muttered, quickly rushing off to the right before noticing where the road led to; the town. Yes.

Willow ran faster than she ever thought that she could, too scared to think of what Rafe would do if he caught up to her. The tears were spewing out as she felt her calves burning as she heard him shout out that he was going to hurt her. The second she was in view of the town, her eyes scanned the area. Before she could make it any further, she felt two pairs of hands grab ahold of her. She shrieked before trying to escape their hold, only slipping her arm out from one persons' hold. That's when she felt a pair of hands cup her cheeks to turn her head to look at them. Almost instantly, her eyes relaxed as one last tear escaped her eyelids.

"Jay?", She whispered, feeling her lip quiver before she threw her arms around him. She sobbed as she spoke, "He was gonna kill me."

"What?", His arms tightened slightly around her, glancing over at Pope who was looking at him in confusion.

"Who?", Pope asked as the blonde girl pulled away, wiping her tears away as she looked over JJ's shoulder to see if she saw any sign of Rafe. She didn't.

"Rafe.", She answered. She let out a sniffle as JJ ran his hand over her hair to fix it for her.

"I'm tired of that piece of shit.", Pope shook his head, eyes meeting JJ's before he looked down at Willow.

"Where'd he see you?"

"At work.", Willow answered him before letting out a deep sigh. She tilted her head up as she ran her hands over her face to try and keep herself from crying even more before saying, "After they tried firing me."

"Kie's parents fired you?", Pope asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"No, they tried.", She shook her head, shrugging her shoulders to try and prove she didn't care when in reality she did. "But I quit before they could."

"Where is he now?", JJ asked, deciding to push that part of the story off to the side until he figured out the Rafe situation first. Her safety was of utmost importance to him.

"He was following me through the woods.", She pointed in the direction she was running from, watching closely as JJ and Pope looked over. JJ didn't waste any time to nudge her to walk further into the town.

"We can stick out here for a bit.", JJ placed his hand on her back, rubbing circles over it as she tried desperately to fix her breathing pattern. His head turned to look at Pope on Willow's other side. He gave him a frown before he glanced back down at her. "New rule, Bee. You aren't leaving my side. I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you."

A/N - This chapter was a little bit of a backstory to those who might've been wondering why Rafe seems to care a little about her. She was the only one who used to listen to him and bring his spirit back up. She played the friend role a little too well for someone who hates kooks, but she's too nice for her own good sometimes. Hope you all enjoyed!

Btw! I believe I've asked before at some point, but what are y'all's thoughts on a Rafe or Pope story? Also, I was thinking of making a Rudy Pankow story with the same face claim as the one in this book as if she's like the actor. I just want to see if anyone would ever read either three of these!