Kathryn Elizabeth Darcy, before everything, is pissed off. Which means nothing good for the rest of the group and, if they know what's good for them, they definitely should just leave her alone, for now.

She's restless. On edge, she wants to scream. She just wanted to make sure that JJ was okay, how was that a bad thing? Yes, he was stealing from a drug dealer. But to be fair, it's not their first criminal offence, or the most dangerous one to date. It might come to bite them in the long run, but who even knows?

JJ is running on fumes, he's alone, he's angry and vengeful, and that's not a good mix, her of all people should know that. She wanted him to know that he wasn't alone, just like he did for her, and now John B was giving her the stink eye.

At least, the group has the decency to look guilty, as they sit in the Wreck. Kathryn leans against her chair, arms crossed, glaring back at John B everytime he looks at her. What's his deal anyway?

"Look, he'll come around, all right?" John B says, trying to bring her some comfort. "It's... He's doing a JJ thing."

She stares at him. "Nice. Good description, John B. Let your friend run wild and alone because that's just 'his thing'."

He makes a face at her. Kie sighs. "You think he'll go home?"

"There's about a zero percent chance that JJ goes home," Pope answers, shaking his head.

Kathryn wouldn't be so sure. Every time, when her and her mom fight really hard, she'd still come back to her. She was her mom, before she shipped her back to the Outer Banks because she couldn't handle her. Sometimes, the sense of home is stronger than the will to survive.

John B turns to Sarah. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Sarah answers. "Are you?"

"I mean, I'm in one piece, so..."

Right. Priorities, is that it? When your best friend goes temporarily missing with stolen money, ask your girlfriend if she's fine. That makes sense.

"I'm glad we're all fine, by the way," she remarks. "Very cool. All of us here. I'm thrilled, fucking shitting my pants with joy."

They glance at her, wary. Kathryn is currently a ticking bomb if they've ever seen one, they're aware of that. Kie understands it, mostly. Pope just wants the situation to remain under control.

"Okay," Pope sighs as he stands up. "It's too dangerous to pawn this thing off piecemeal. So our best bet is to go down there and get the rest of it. Bring it all up at once. Put it in – in a safe or a vault or something."

"Will we use your own private vault?" Kathryn asks, sour.

John B shoots her a glare, silently warning her that she's getting angry over nothing. Thing is, she knows. It's on purpose. She's pissed, she wants to get John B to notice it, and do something about it. Like going after JJ.

"I – I don't know," Pope goes on. "Just until we can find someone who won't rip us off. I can figure it out tonight, get it done, and we can be out there tomorrow morning."

John B nods. "All right, let's do it."

"Slow down."

"Let's go."

"What part of 'slow down' do you not understand?" Kathryn seethes, arms crossed.

John B doesn't answer. He knew that because Kathryn didn't get her way with the JJ situation, she was going to be irascible. He knew in advance, but this is getting on his nerves, isn't it?

"What about that thing with my dad?" Sarah asks.

"Shit."

Oh. Oh? There's a thing with Ward freaking Cameron now? Kathryn lets out a trembling breath, going red, almost like a teapot sizzling as she slowly stands up, hands down on the table. "A thing?" she echoes. "What thing, John B?"

It completely slipped his mind, it really did. And he only agreed to it to get Ward off of him, in his defence, but he didn't expect it to be such a big deal for Kat. He should have, because now, this is going off the rails.

He hesitates. "I... have to go fishing with Ward."

This is just wonderful, isn't it? "With Ward. The guy who fired you and is best friends with my mum. That Ward?"

Sarah frowns. "That's my dad you're talking about."

"Yes, princess, I'm aware of that."

Luckily for Kathryn, she's not the only one who finds this absolutely revolting. "You can't get five hundred mil 'cause you're gonna go kill fish?" Kie asks, eyebrows raised.

"Look, I have to go," John B answers.

"Blow it off," Pope presses. "It's five hundred million in gold! It's... John B, it's Cameron, come on now."

"Make something up," Kie adds.

But he can't. He's stuck, because if he says no now, Ward will know something is up. "Look, I – I have to, okay? He... he saved me, all right? If it weren't for Ward, I'd be in foster care. So... I have to go."

Kathryn scoffs, debating if she could send everything on the table flying and douse herself with cold water to calm down.

"Kat..." Pope tries.

"No, fuck that shit!" she erupts. "Ward didn't save you, John B. We did. Who found you? Sarah. Who called 911? That's Pope. Who stayed at the hospital for hours, waiting for the doctors to say something? JJ and Kie. And you wanna know who stayed day and night by your side? Me! I did! It was us. Not Ward Cameron – us."

Kie purses her lips. "Look I'm usually all in for the Cameron slander, but maybe we should dial it back."

"No, no we don't. Because I'm tired of seeing you crawl at his feet because he saved you from DCS, because you know what? Ward Cameron did nothing but sit in a chair, waiting for everything to play out for him, because it's what he always does. Nothing."

Sarah stands up, angry, but it's absolutely ridiculous in front of Kathryn's anger. "I'm sorry that you feel frustrated because you didn't do shit, but stop talking like that about my dad!"

"Oh that's just bloody rich, isn't it?" Kathryn scoffs. "Your dad, princess, peer pressured your brother into being a man and put so much pressure on him that he started doing drugs and drinking when he was fourteen. You wanna know how I know about it? Because it's what he told me, drunk and high, before he raped me."

Sarah closes her mouth, eyes bewildered. She wants to tell her that she's sorry for what happened, but it has nothing to do with her. Kathryn wouldn't listen anyway, not right now.

Kathryn gestures to John B. "And now he's partnering up with my mom, and wants to take John B on a fishing trip? Well, sue me for finding it fucking sketchy!" She rubs her face, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, Ward Cameron? Not a big fan."

And no one can blame her for it, can they? And John B won't, but he's had enough of Kathryn shouting and screaming and being angry any chance she gets to cope, when they did nothing to her. They don't deserve this.

She turns to him. "And I'm tired, that you – all of you, don't see what JJ's sacrificing for you. His father beat him up because he was trying to help Pope. He always puts himself in danger to help you and you – you drove him off. Told him you were tired of his shit. What shit, the 'saving your ass' shit? Or the 'caring about you more than himself' shit? The first freaking thing he did was give you the money!"

John B stares at her, because he just can't believe her. Kathryn is talking about what he did like it's a minor thing and not a felony that could send them to jail if not to the grave if Barry decides to take care of things himself.

"So we should all just nod along because he gave us the money of a drug dealer?" he shoots back. "You're so far up his ass you don't even know right from wrong anymore!"

She blinks, gaping. "Excuse me?"

The words were out before John B could even register what he was saying. But he's got a point, he knows it, and somewhere, Kat does too. She's so into the idea that she has to make up for lost time – or maybe she just wants to forget about that void she mentioned – that she keeps putting everything and everyone above herself.

Including JJ, and the fact that he stole twenty five grand from a drug dealer who knows their faces, and is armed.

"You heard me! Every time something happens to him, you get all defensive but sometimes, Kat, it's his own friggin' fault."

Is that what this is about? She scoffs. "So you're just jealous because for once I'm against you, is that it?"

He tenses up. Maybe it is. Maybe he just wants his best friend back, the one that doesn't snap at everything, and he's mad that JJ gets to have this side of her and he doesn't.

"You know that's not it," he still says. "I'm mad, because you keep putting him above everything else!"

"Oh I do that?"

"Yes you do!"

"Is that why you're going on a fishing trip with your dear old father-in-law?"

"This has nothing to do with–"

"It has everything to do with!" she fires back. "I don't trust Ward. He's trying to weasel his way into this treasure hunt and deep down, you know this, so I'm sorry that you're in the wrong here, John B."

He scoffs, leaning back on his chair, Sarah next to him, scowling. "And you think you're right?"

"That's not what I said," she denies.

"Oh right. Sorry, you just always act as if you know everything, so I got confused."

Kathryn lets it go to her head, and feels a pang of hurt in her chest. "Fuck you, John B."

"What's gonna happen when Barry comes after all of us?" he asks her. "A fishing trip and a drug dealer aren't exactly interchangeable!"

"That's not what I meant!" she cries out. "You just keep putting the gold and the treasure hunt above everything else – JJ has been your best friend since the third grade, and you're just letting him run around with stolen money because what? You want to get Ward off your back? So you have a fishing trip?"

John B huffs, outraged. "I'm sorry if I'm too involved in my dad's treasure hunt, is that what you want to hear?"

She shakes her head. "You know, you keep forgetting it, but my dad was in on it too."

"Well he didn't go missing because of it!"

"Didn't he?"

It escaped her, it really did, but now, it's just out there, and they're all confused. Why would he have gone missing because of the Royal Merchant?

"What are you saying, Kat?" Pope asks, confused.

She rubs her forehead, clearing her throat. She doesn't want to have that conversation, she really doesn't. "JJ found my dad's drainer in his office. And I'm all for keeping my head in the sand about it, but my dad wasn't an idiot. Maybe he left it behind, but I don't think he did."

"Kat, that's..." Kie doesn't finish her sentence, not knowing what to say.

"That's definitely something," Sarah finishes for her.

John B, on the other hand, just feels vindicated in his argument. "You didn't tell us?" he asks, accuses even. "Why? Because you were scared we'd care about you?"

She tilts her head to the side, scoffing. "No, you were just too busy going on fishing trips with the Camerons and getting blinded by the gold."

He purses his lips, nodding. "Just say what you truly think, why don't you?

"I think you didn't care enough to ask," she tells him. "You showed up late, with Barbie in your footsteps, and the first thing you wanted to talk about was her, and what's going on with JJ. You saw the journal, you didn't even ask!"

"Right I didn't ask," he scoffs, even laughing. "Because you would have answered me if I'd asked?"

"Yes," she says, truthfully. "In fact, if JJ hadn't found it with me, I would have told you. Just you. You're the only one I would've told, you just didn't care enough to ask."

"I never know how to act with you," he explains. He swallows thickly, guilt tugging at his stomach. "I never know what to share because you care too much. About everything else, but you. So someone has to do that for you," he tells her. "You said so yourself – you don't have room to care about anyone else if you want to get better, but you keep doing it, again, and again, and again!"

At a loss for words, she just stares. "It's JJ."

"It's always someone! You put people first so you don't focus on the void in you – that's not how you're going to heal! Going along with everything JJ does, even if it's going to put everyone in danger, and you know it is, that's just... That's just proving the point. I have to take care of you, because you just won't."

She knows what he's saying, and, deep down, she agrees, but she can't let him win. The fire won't accept defeat. She has to get back at him, to claw out his fears like he does hers, so that it's fair game.

"And that's just who you are, isn't it?" she lets out, suddenly calm, menacing. "John B, the big brother, always here to help." She points an accusatory finger at him. "That's not help, that's control. You want to control everything I do, so it pleases you. I don't need you to do that. In fact, sometimes, I just don't need you, and you hate that!"

She hates that, because it feels so much like pity, when he stares at her with those sad, guilty eyes. He wants her to be the girl she was before, he's been living in this fantasy where he was the only one who could bring her out.

But he doesn't want to control her. He doesn't want the 'old' her back. He just wants her to be okay. She won't heal herself, he knows how she gets. He has to help, because it's Kat, and she's his sister.

"You're way off." He scoffs, pained, a lump in his throat. She's saying this to hurt him, he knows it, but she hates her for making it work. "I'm not trying to control you. I'm looking out for you – I'm worried about you, dude, you're my best friend!"

"Then stop."

The two words are enough to choke him up with tears. He blinks them away, staring back at Kathryn, lips departed.

"Stop what?" he asks. "Worrying, or being your friend?"

She doesn't answer.

He didn't think she'd go that far. She's self-destructive, he always knew that. He knows that she's doing it, somehow, against herself, he knows it, but this hurts too much. He overstepped, maybe he did, but he only had her best interest in mind. Because she never does. She only has others, JJ's. It can't be healthy.

But if this is how she reacts everytime he tries to help her, maybe there's just nothing to do.

Sarah rubs his arm when he sits back in his seat. "You should probably leave, then," he says, voice hollow.

She licks her lips. She expected him to hold her back. She's not sure why, because she keeps pushing him away, but she really didn't expect him to let her go. Not him. He's her brother. And even that, Kathryn managed to fuck it up.

She gets a grip, shaking herself, nodding. "Yeah. I should."

Kathryn walks out. John B lets her.

Author's Note: CEO of making sad chapters before even sadder chapters

Editor's Note: Me when I worked my ass off to make this argument 50/50