Blue and red lights flash behind them, and a siren starts. They're so beyond screwed at this point, Kathryn might as well start dialling her dad's phone number and ask him to pay her bail, because she's ending the night in jail.

She hangs onto JJ and turns back. "JJ–"

"I know, I know!"

He speeds up, coming up right next to the truck's bed, where Cleo and Pope are holding onto the Cross for dear life. Kathryn holds onto him, not sure what he's doing, not sure she should trust him either, but she does.

"What are you doing?" Pope screams over the wind and the revving.

"Josh, keep going straight!" is the only answer he gets.

Josh pokes his head from the driver seat. "Pease, be careful!"

JJ drives over the line, nearly colliding into the truck.

"Get ready to jump."

"What?" Kathryn screams in his ear, hoping that he actually lost all functioning brain cells.

"What?" Pope shouts at the same time.

"Have you lost your bloody mind?"

"Probably! Get ready to jump."

Kathryn looks back at the truck, where Pope and Cleo are already hanging halfway out, Pope stretching his arms out to catch her.

"Come on, I've got you!"

"I'm gonna fucking die."

"You're not, baby, just focus, okay?" JJ screams, trying to catch her eye and not drive into the truck at the same time.

She winces, and takes in a deep breath. She has no idea what his plan is, but she'd rather not be on the bike for whatever he has in mind. If he thinks it's too dangerous for two, there's gotta be a reason she's not willing to find out.

Kathryn grabs Pope's arm, shakily sitting as up as she can. JJ is the best goddamn driver known to man, keeping steady as she puts a hand on his shoulder, hoisting herself up to her feet, and lunging forward for Pope.

He catches her, and she collides against the wooden box, landing on the bed.

"Are you okay?" Cleo cries out at the same time as Pope.

Kathryn climbs to them, sitting in between. "Yeah." She looks out to the road, out of breath.

JJ has decreased speed. He breaks abruptly, the bike standing on the front wheel for a good ten seconds, before he halts.

"What's he gonna do?" Cleo asks, worried.

"I don't know," Pope says.

Kathryn swallows around the lump in her throat, squinting her eyes to see. "I don't think he knows either. I swear, if he gets killed..."

They watch, leaving, as he turns around and drives straight to the police car, before throwing something at it.

The car turns around after him.

"He's an idiot," she lets out, worry gaining at her stomach. "We have to turn around!"

The three whirl back towards the window, hammering and screaming until Josh effectively stops the truck in the middle of the road, and does a U-turn that nearly sends all of them flying, taking the opposite direction.

Josh drives as fast as he can, until he catches up to JJ, driving on the road parallel to him. They have to take a right to go on, driving under an overpass.

An overpass where JJ is currently driving. A car coming right at him, the cops at his ass. They're going too fast, the road is too small. Something bad is going to happen.

Kathryn barely has time to scream before she sees the bike crashing over the rail, hears the truck's tire screech, and smells burnt rubber.

No.

"No!"

She nearly shoves at Pope to get off, jumps off the truck, almost breaks her knees. The bike is in pieces in front of her, rubble all over it. There's no way he could survive that fall. The thought makes her sick, her chest constricts.

"JJ? Where is he?"

She screams his name at the overpass, at anyone who wants to hear, the others spreading around the scene, trying to catch a glimpse of him, but nothing. Tears are already spilling down her cheeks.

That can't be right. This can't be happening. He's an idiot, but he wouldn't actually get killed. Right? Right? She feels faint. She might pass out.

Josh tries to take her in his arms, but she walks away. "No, no, where's JJ?"

"Maybe he's up on the bridge," Pope tries, clearly not believing what he's saying.

Kathryn's breathing, heavy, erratic, makes her see stars, bending over with her hands on her knees, catching a breath that won't come. Josh rubs her back, but it doesn't help. She's transported back to the Coastal Venture, to seeing JJ in the water, face first, and she can't even join him this time, which might be worse.

They were barely on speaking terms. They literally just argued, and if JJ is dead before she gets him back, if he's dead and she never got to kiss him one last time, Kathryn won't live with herself. She won't live, period. She won't believe it until she sees a body. A body, oh god, he can't be– she never got to kiss him again.

"I wish I could say I did that on purpose, but that was the gnarliest powerslide I've ever done."

Kathryn stares at the ground. She can't believe her ears, but then again. Of course. That bitch.

JJ is standing three feet away from her, panting, sweating, honestly a whole mess, but he's breathing and that's more than she can say for herself. She stands back up straight as Pope runs to his best friend and hugs him, Kie immediately joining him.

Josh holds her shoulder, as she stares, watching as he avoids her gaze and keeps coming back to it, knowing that whatever's coming, it's going to be bad. Worse than Sarah pushing at him before tugging him into a hug.

Anger builds up in her. She thinks she might actually kill him.

"The pleasantries are nice, but we should really get out of here," Pope calls out, running back to the truck.

"Come on, Kat," Josh whispers at her.

She shrugs his hand away, and stalks over to JJ.

His blue eyes bug out, looking around for someone to help. She's going to kill him. He survived this to be killed by Kat Darcy, he's sure of it. This is it.

"Uh, KD, look, uh–"

"Shut up."

Before she can think, Kathryn grabs his cheek and crashes her lips against his.

This wasn't desire for him. This wasn't a way to get back at him. This wasn't revenge, or lust. This was need. Kathryn needed to feel JJ against her, needed to feel his lips move against her, the grip immediately coming at her waist, his blonde hair tickling the side of her face.

JJ responds as eagerly, chasing her mouth, following her lead, he always does, clinging to her despite knowing that he shouldn't. His hands dig into her side, bunching the fabric there. How could he ever go without this? She was intoxicating. He could never get enough.

Kathryn kissed JJ until she convinced herself that he was alive, that she was alive, flush against him, coming back to life in the desperate salty taste of their lips.

She lets go, hands falling at her side, taking a step back, swallowing thickly. They can't do this. They're broken up. But...

"I know," she lets out, through her bruised lips. "I know. I know, it doesn't..."

JJ looks just about to faint. "It can't change anything," he finishes for her.

She nods. "But I needed it."

He doesn't answer, but he doesn't have to. He needed it too. It didn't fix anything that he had broken. He wished it did. It felt like it could.

Josh clears his throat behind them. "Uh... we have to go."

Kathryn flinches at his voice, turning around to face him. He doesn't meet her gaze, feeling too out of place for this whole thing. She feels bad for him, worse for herself, dirty. She's used him again, and gone back to JJ, despite knowing that she can't have him.

It's not fair on anyone.

Josh has a crooked smile. "We have to go."

"Hey!" They look up at the cop, standing on the overpass. "Hey, you kids, don't move!"

"Go!"

JJ tugs at Kathryn's arms, forcing her back to the truck as Josh climbs in the driver seat. Cleo and Pope take their places back in the bed, Kie, Kathryn and JJ piling in up in the back of the truck.

Josh takes off, driving way over the speed limit, but clearly not fast enough. They stay in silence for about ten minutes of driving aimlessly, as long as it's away from the police, before he slows down.

The fact that JJ's thigh is pressed flush against Kathryn's doesn't help. Neither does the fact that she's sitting against his arm, or the fact that she just kissed him like the idiot she is. And he kissed back. It all felt too natural.

"Be honest," Josh starts. "The cops are definitely going to take my truck now."

JJ rolls his eyes, reaching forward and past Kathryn in the middle seat. "Jeremiah, turn here. Turn here!" He taps his shoulder for emphasis, Josh shoving back.

"Don't touch the driver! And I have an actual name, you know?"

"Look, Jillian, just turn around!"

Kathryn yanks his arm back. "Stop distracting him!"

"He said don't touch the driver!" Sarah adds.

"Then go faster!" Kie defends JJ.

"Think about it, if I go faster, that's gonna draw attention," he tells them.

"Yeah, I feel like that ship has sailed at this point," JJ remarks.

"How does this even work? You guys argue about absolutely everything."

Kathryn licks her lips. "Are we talking about the friend group, or..."

As if to answer them, Cleo starts hammering on the window. "Put the pedal to the metal, boy!" she screams from outside, Pope nodding next to her.

"Maybe put it a little bit," the blonde goes on. "You're going sixty-five!"

"Okay, fine."

Josh speeds up, clearly not happy about it, clearly not looking where he's going.

He drives over a speed bump. The whole truck shakes.

The Cross falls.

"Stop!" Pope screams outside. "We lost the Cross!"

"Great, Joelle."

Kathryn holds her head in her hands. "This is a disaster."

"Tell me about it," Kie easily agrees, climbing out.

The teenagers rush outside to make sure the Cross is intact. If they did all of this just to break it at the last moment, someone is going to be pissed.

Pope quickly slides off the lid. The group slows down, taking a look inside.

Three jars filled with flour are sitting there, but no damn Cross, that's for sure.

"What the hell?" Kie lets out.

"What the fuck?" Kathryn corrects.

"Shit." Pope stares at the inside of the crate, shaking his head to himself. "It's fake. It's all freaking fate."

He kneels down next to it, JJ kicking an invisible rock behind him. "Of course, we did. Of course, we stole a fake."

"Shut up, JJ." Kathryn kneels down next to Pope. "Hey. It's okay. We'll have another shot at this."

She doubts that they will, but it's not what he needs to hear, right now. Rafe had been one step ahead of them. He always was. And once again, Pope was deprived of his birthright, after fighting so hard to get it, and the bitter taste in her mouth was enough to make Kathryn sick, so she couldn't even think about how he was feeling.

All she does is rub his back as he stubbornly stares ahead. JJ puts a hand on his shoulder. Sarah apologises, but nothing more can be done.

For now, Rafe Cameron got the Cross, and they're all just a bunch of idiots for believing they could win this.

"Guys," Josh starts softly. "Look, we have to go. I can hear a car coming."

"Dog, would you relax?" JJ spits out, clearly pissed that he'd interrupt another moment, standing up. "They're not gonna think some dude in flip-flops is a part of a robbery."

"Right, with the crate right next to my truck, that makes so much sense, JJ."

"Girls," Kathryn hisses back at them, before patting Pope's back. "Babe, we gotta go."

Kie nods. "We got to go."

They pile back into the truck, Cleo tugging Pope with her.

Kathryn sits in the passenger seat, this time. It's easier on everyone. Easier, easier, easier, she keeps chanting in her mind. Safer. After they just risked their lives getting a Cross that wasn't even there in the first place, Kathryn doesn't mind safer.

Nothing was ever easy with them. Even this rescue mission had been a nightmare. JJ nearly died for flour. And she had kissed him, and they were broken up, and everything was so messy... That Kathryn really wouldn't mind safer.

"It didn't mean anything," she tells Josh, because it didn't, and it's easier to say with her back to JJ.

Yeah. Safer. That's exactly what she needed. Exactly what she can convince herself she needs. She just had to turn a blind eye to the rearview mirror.

Author's Note: hi friends <333 SOME GOOD FUCKING FOOD AT LAST