It comes to Kathryn's mind that she'd get kidnapped easily. If she didn't know better, she would think the Pogues are actively going to sell her. It already happened once anyway.

What she means is she just jumped into the Twinkie which is, admittedly, a shady van, without asking any questions. She's not sure she even knows where they're going... Only that it has something to do with 'Redfield' and John B.

She doesn't feel like pushing and asking questions because, for once, it's almost like they know everything about her. And she's okay with that. At least, she tries to be. That's all she does lately, try. But that's the bare minimum, isn't it?

"You mind if I just relax on this one?" JJ gets out a blunt. "It's been a long day, and a lot of weird stuff's gone down. I'm just gonna lay low." He notices Kathryn looking at him weirdly. "Oh, did you want a hit of this?"

She gives him a sickly sweet smile. "Oh yeah, sure." He passes her the blunt. She puts it out. "Thanks."

"Dude!"

"Explain to me how getting high is going to help?" she asks, arching an eyebrow.

"By getting creative!" he cries out, clearly pouting. "Do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative? If you got creative, then–"

"Oh don't be such a baby–"

"Guys, guys, stop fighting," John B interrupts them. "Look, I – I know I was wrong about the lighthouse, all right? And pretty much wrong about everything else going on. But I – I was right about one thing. Okay? My dad is trying to tell me something."

Kathryn disregards JJ and tries to smile at him. "That's okay. We're going to figure it out." At least she hopes so, otherwise this might get weird.

But she has to admit, it does look like Big John to leave behind a treasure hunt. It's how Kathryn and John B even met in the first place; Edward and him used to meet in bars and terraces – depending on who invited who – to talk about old artefacts and lost treasures. Edward was a history nerd, and Big John was... obsessed. With the Royal Merchant, mostly, but anything that had gold and was lost had an interest to him.

To be fair, Kathryn's dad had been obsessed too. Enough for her to know the story about the wrecked ship filled with five hundred million in gold by heart. The freed slave that survived – Denmark Tanny – founded half the island, so. Her dad thought it was out there. Big John thought so too.

He had always been on a treasure hunt, it was only logical for him to send his son on one after his death. Or disappearance. Now at least, they're going to know what they're searching for.

John B slows down the van, and parks near the wood, on an unlit sidewalk. Kathryn's the last one to get out of the Twinkie.

She looks around, confused, before realising where they are. "Hey, um, real quick, what are we doing in a graveyard?" She should have asked where they were going.

John B climbs up the gate, and lands on his feet. He turns to her with a smirk. "Treasure hunting, bug."

"If dead people are involved, it's called grave robbing and that's illegal."

"C'mon, live a little."

Pope snorts, following John B. "Ironic."

Reluctantly, Kathryn follows the group into the graveyard. This promises to be interesting at best, illegal at worst. Overall fun.

They walk forward with flashlights, Kathryn staying behind, looking around, the tiniest bit paranoïac. Walking in a graveyard in broad daylight is already creepy, so at night with only flashlights, it's breaking records.

JJ pinches her forearm. "You scared?"

She swats his hand away. "I'm not scared. Why would I be scared, walking around in a graveyard at two AM? You're scared." She's positively losing her shit.

"Nah, I'm not scared," he says, shrugging.

"Really?" He nods. "Yeah, I believe you."

She doesn't, but he seemed a little too sure of himself. She waits a few moments, letting him walk in front of her, and picks up a branch. She slides it slowly on his back.

"Fucking–" He jumps at least six feet high.

"Not afraid my arse," she laughs.

"It's not funny! I could've warned the guardian."

"Aw," she coos, jutting her lower lip out. "I'm sorry. Pussy."

He moves to grab her arm but she evades him, laughter trailing behind her. Everyone missed that sound. JJ missed that sound.

Just, you know. Not when they're trying to be discreet. "Guys, please," John B mutters. "I'm not going back to the police station."

Kathryn rolls her eyes but closes her mouth, a small smile playing on her lips. JJ narrows her eyes at her, silently promising that he'll get her back.

"John B, what are we doing?" Kie asks as they stop in front of a huge vault.

It's covered in ivy, so much so that Kathryn has no idea who it belongs to.

"You know how you're trying to remember a song and can't remember who sings it?" John B asks.

Kathryn side-eyes him. "I hope this is going somewhere, because I didn't get out of the studio to hang in a graveyard for nothing."

"If Picasso could let me finish–"

"Picasso did cubism, I do cartoons."

"Yes and they're very pretty, but not my point." He inhales. "So, Redfield. This whole time, I thought it was a place, right? But it's not a place." He shines his light on the vault's name, and takes some ivy off. There's 'Redfield' carved on it. "It's a person."

Well, that made more sense. "Voi-effing-là," JJ lets out.

"See, my great-great-grandmother Olivia Redfield," he introduces. "That was her maiden name."

There's silence, everyone inspecting the moss and ivy covered vault, for a minute, taking everything in.

"Not gonna lie," says Kathryn. "Your dad sure knows how to create a treasure hunt."

"Sure does," Kie agrees.

"But he could've put a little 'O' in front of it to help us at least. Took us two days and attempted murder to get there."

Pope nods. "Yeah, that too."

"I'm sorry you guys found it hard," John B says, a hand on his heart. "Breaks my heart. Help me with the door"

Pope helps him and they begin to push, but nothing happens. JJ joins in, but the door still doesn't budge.

"Is that part of the plan?"

"Shut up Kat."

"I'm being silenced."

Kathryn steps forward to help, as a snake comes out of a hole in the stone. She jumps back, a shriek stuck in her throat. She doesn't have anything against snakes, but falling from the wall is just pushing it.

JJ darts back, tugging Pope and her with him. "That's a moccasin, all right," he says. "Ye olde Doctor Cottonmouth. Death in tall grass."

Kathryn hides behind him, keeping an eye on the snake to make sure it doesn't come any closer. "I don't fucking care about its wikipedia page," she cries out. "Make it go away!"

JJ barks at the snake. Kathryn wonders if he managed to light the blunt back up, smoke it, and get high when she was looking away.

"Is he insane?"

Pope hums. "Undecided."

"They hate dogs," JJ explains once the snake slithered away. "Everyone knows that."

Kathryn nods. "Yep. Everyone."

"I did," John B adds.

"We totally did."

They step forward to get back to the vault, but JJ stops them.

"Hold on, hold on."

"What?"

"If there's one, there's probably dozens. All around."

"What?"

"You're shitting me."

JJ starts barking around them.

"Stop barking at the snake!" John B cries out.

"Just making sure it's clear."

"Shut up!" Pope interrupts. "John, look. We're not gonna get in there, all right? It's not budging. We should probably just go."

Kathryn nods. "Yeah, especially if there's a dozen snakes inside, it's not happening."

Kie walks around the wall of the vault, and notices an opening in the stone, chest-level. It's half hidden by leaves and dead branches, and smaller than she expected. She figured she'd fit, but maybe not. She looks behind her, and her eyes fall on Kathryn. She's slimmer, shorter.

"You can get through."

Kathryn turns to her, confused, before noticing the opening. "I can definitely die trying, yeah." Everyone looks at her oddly. "Being buried alive is not exactly in my plans right now."

"You're the only one who can fit," Kie explains. "It'll be fine."

She scoffs. "Tell that to the friggin' snakes!"

JJ frowns. "You scared?"

Somewhere deep inside, she knows that he's trying to reverse psychology her into doing it. He knows she'd do anything to prove him wrong. She's just too touched in her ego to care. "I'm not."

"Seriously, is there one thing you're not scared of?"

"Yeah, punching you in the fucking face."

"Kat, Kat, Kat, Kat," John B interrupts. He puts his hands on her shoulders. "You'll be fine, I promise."

She doesn't see how she'd be fine. "Okay, but what if I freeze inside, or pass out? What if there are snakes? What if I'm stuck? What if–"

"Bug, I promise you, everything's gonna be okay. Just – breathe with me."

She takes slow, laborated breaths with John B, clenching her jaw and trying to be as truthful as she can. "I'm not sure I can do it."

"I trust you," JJ says immediately, behind John B. "Just so you know."

Kie nods with a reassuring smile. "Me too."

Pope gives her a thumbs up. "We'll be right here anyway."

"But," John B says, "if you don't wanna do this, you don't have to."

She really is about to say no. She really doesn't want to crawl inside his family crypt. But it's John B. He was her best friend. He is her best friend, and it's about his father. He deserves to know the truth.

And if she does this, they'll owe her something, which sounds good to her too.

Kathryn nods reluctantly. "If I'm stuck, I'll tell Henry. He'll kill you all." She steps towards the opening. "Also, can you help get those branches away?"

They can't remove a huge branch barring the opening, so Pope, Kie, and John B have to push it to clear the way. JJ crouches down and holds out his hands in front of him, ready.

"I'm gonna boost you, all right," he tells her. "I've seen it in the movies several times."

"That's reassuring."

"Just, c'mon, trust me. Ready?"

She sighs. "When am I, ever?" She turns back to John B. "What am I even looking for?"

"You'll know when you see it."

Kathryn stares at him. "That's all you can give me? I swear, John B, if I'm doing this for another compass..."

"You'll kill me, got it."

She takes a deep breath, and hands Pope her flashlight. This is going to be just fine. In and out.

She looks down at JJ, ready. "You better know what you're doing."

"All right, so put your hands right there." She puts them on his shoulders. "Your foot." She puts it on his hands. "Alright on three–"

Kathryn, too stressed out and willing to end this as soon as possible, already jumped and climbed through the hole.

"Okay, never mind. Just forget about three."

She lands on her feet, feeling oppressed by the dark surrounding her. At least, she doesn't hear any slithering or rattling or anything indicating a snake, which is a start, she thinks.

"Okay, I need light."

"Yeah, here." Pope hands her her flashlight back.

She takes it, and immediately flashes it on the ground. No snakes. She lets out a shaky breath.

"You alive?" she hears John B ask. "You got, like, a – a heartbeat and everything? Not frozen?"

She takes a few steps forward, trying to forget the trapped feeling in her stomach. "Still walking, so I guess. Also, no snakes, thank fuck."

"That's good, that's good."

There's a dark corner, and her light's not powerful enough for her to see from here. She's not approaching it until she knows what's there. "Guys, I need more light."

"Yeah, yeah, here. Yeah, I gotcha." John B hands her his huge lantern through the gap.

She turns it towards the dark, and frowns. What she couldn't see was an opening in the wall – not a dead body, at least from what she can see from here. She takes a step forward, eyes dropping on something that definitely shouldn't be there.

"Did you find something? Is there gold?" JJ asks.

"No, it's..." She huffs. "It's a package."

She takes it in her hands. 'For Bird' is written on it. She walks back to the gap, and hands it to John B. She can see the look of recognition on his face, and takes it as a good sign.

"Okay, help me out before I ruin those pants."

JJ hoists her up by her armpits. He helps her snake her way through the opening, and she ignores the way it feels, pressed flush against him, feeling his muscles tense and his breath on her face. He smells good.

When her feet hit the ground, she immediately takes a step backwards. She feels nauseous now, and almost guilty for it.

"It's not gold," Pope sighs, saving her the embarrassment.

If no one is especially happy about that, John B smiles from ear to ear. "Holy shit," he lets out. "This is from my dad."

Unfortunately, they don't have the time to rejoice.

"Code red. Code red," JJ panics. "Square groupers! Square groupers! It's the guys who robbed your house!"

Adrenaline courses through their veins as they hide behind the vault, not even checking what JJ saw. Kathryn tries to hold back the frost in her veins for as long as she can, jaw clenched tightly.

"Light," Kie presses.

In the hurry, they forgot to turn them off. Kathryn turns her light off, and turns around to remove JJ's headlamp. She knows he wouldn't have thought of it himself, and he nods at her, thankful.

They can hear a vehicle stop.

"Guys I see something!"

"You sure it's them?" Kathryn asks as JJ pokes his head out the corner of the wall.

He immediately ducks out, almost shoving her in his hurry. "Homie's got a gun," he answers.

Well, that's an answer in itself.

"Screw this," Kie exclaims, and she begins to run.

Without thinking, JJ takes Kathryn's hand in his to force her to move in case she was frozen. She appreciates that, as the wind whips her hair around, because she would've remained there all night if he wasn't here.

They all run towards the gate, the small car right behind them, and climb it. JJ boosts Kathryn up. Once she's on top, she turns around to help him up, holding her hand out.

They fall backwards on the ground, JJ landing on Kathryn. She groans, standing back up. "You have pointy knees."

"Excuse me?"

"Guys! Guys!"

They turn around. "Shit." Pope's shorts are stuck in the gateway.

JJ takes out the gun. "Pope don't move okay–"

Kathryn shoves his arm away. "Are you insane?"

"Well–"

"Don't answer that!"

Kie hurriedly walks over, and tugs on his shorts. There's a loud ripping sound as Pope lands.

He starts running in underwear towards the van. Kathryn can't help but laugh as she helps him in. as John B starts the Twinkie. "You know what, I almost don't even regret going into that crypt now."

Pope turns red, out of breath. "For the package, right?"

"Keep telling yourself that."

Author's Note: So uh I just thought about KD in the hot tub scene and other scenes important for her character and I made myself cry

Editor's Note: Oh fun I still do that!! Except now rereaders are screaming with me