DESPITE THE situation, Aurora couldn't erase Sarah from her mind: She was probably worried for her or waiting for Rory to come back. What if Sarah had retaliated against Shoupe? What if she was in trouble? What if she got hurt? Rory couldn't stop worrying, as usual, and her thoughts seemed to consume her.

"Are you listening?" JJ's voice was muffled, almost buried underneath the girl's thoughts. He reached for her arm, gently tapping it; his voice became clearer, "Hey, Rory." The girl glanced at the boy, though when JJ looked into her eyes, he could tell that she wasn't actually there; Rory was stuck in her thoughts. JJ frowned slightly, "You good?"

"Yeah." The girl said quickly, before glancing down to JJ's ankle, "Are you?"

JJ nodded, trying to walk the limp off, before repeating, "I think staying at Groff's is the best option we have. The only option we have, really."

Rory shrugged, as the two twins walked towards the Genrette House in the pouring rain, "I don't know. I don't like him."

"You don't like a lot of people." JJ reasoned calmly, as he tried to concentrate on catching his breath, "Just try to trust him."

"Trust a man, who's apparently my dad, and who've I've only met once. Sure." Rory said sarcastically, before muttering quickly, "Sorry. Wrong time for sarcasm."

"I know you don't like trusting people, Rory. But, Groff can help us stay under the radar." JJ reasoned, as he arrived on the front porch. He hesitated before knocking loudly, his fist slamming against the door, "And, if he's our dad, it'll be cool to have a good one."

Rory nodded, biting her tongue: she's meant to trust a man who can't even open up the door to his troubled kids. That's a great start to trust! Rory shook the thought away, watching helplessly as JJ's knocks got louder.

The boy yelled, "Groff! Groff, open the damn door! Let us in."

"Who's there?" The man's cowardly voice trembled from the inside, "Who is it?"

"JJ Maybank." The boy replied, raising his voice over the storm. He glanced at his sister, who shook her head at him because she didn't want to speak; Rory didn't like Chandler Groff. JJ added for her, "And Rory. Can I just talk to you?"

The multiple locks unlocked, before the door slowly opened. Chandler Groff stood cautiously, glancing between them, "Oh, it's you." He let out a nervous chuckle.

Rory pulled a face in confusion, "Yeah, we said it was us."

"Right, uh, come in." Chandler opened the door wider, "Come in." He chuckled, "Look at you both. Been a night, huh?"

Rory mumbled, "Something like that."

"Let's get you both a towel." Chandler suggested, before walking into the living room. He added, "Is there news?"

"What?" JJ asked curiously.

"They found the amulet, I assume. Too late for Wes, I'm afraid." The man explained, passing the two a towel to wrap around them.

"No, it's, uh..." JJ trailed off as he looked up at the painting of Larissa Genrette; she was beautiful. He added, "It's actually about you."

"Me?" Chandler turned around to face them in confusion.

Rory glanced at JJ, who was now pacing up and down; the boy spluttered, "Okay, I don't know how to ask this, but... uh." He paused, looking at the floor, "Are we, uh... Are you our father?"

Chandler scoffed, smiling, "Your father? What a thing to ask."

Rory shot back, "Don't laugh at him." 

JJ nodded, "He's right. It is odd. But, uh, okay." He paused, "We got this letter, and Wes Genrette wrote it, and I couldn't make any sense of—"

"Wes wrote you a letter?" Chandler asked curiously, "Wow, he really wasn't there in the end, was he?" He looked between the twins, "Look, you seem like good kids. I'd be lucky." He chuckled slightly, "But, don't you already have a father?"

"Luke." JJ nodded, "Except he was the one who told us. After we got the letter from Wes. He told me you gave us to him after Larissa died."

"Luke told you that? Extraordinary." Chandler frowned, "Forgive me, but he's got a checkered past, hasn't he? Fugitive, I believe. Drugs?"

Rory looked at JJ. The boy scoffed, rolling his eyes in annoyance, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I don't know what Luke told either of you. And if I... If I had Luke for a father, I guess I'd want to swap him out too." Chandler sympathised, "Look, we all draw certain cards in life. I mean, I wish it weren't so. I really do, but—"

Suddenly, the distant boom of an air horn blared, almost ripping through the air. Rory stepped back away from the windows, her eyes darting to JJ and then to Groff; she wanted answers.

"What was that?" Rory insisted, "What did you do?"

Groff replied, peering out of the window cautiously, "It was a warning from Demp."

"Your servant, Demp?" Rory repeated, watching the man as he seemed to pack up his things. He was leaving. She frowned, "Aren't you gonna help him?"

"There's no time." Chandler replied quickly, "Follow me."

"What's happening?" JJ urged, looking out of the window, "Can you tell us what's going on?"

"Stay away from the window!" Chandler snapped, as he crouched down and retrieved a shot gun from the drawer, "JJ, this is for you."

JJ caught the gun, before scoffing, "What is this piece of shit? It's rusted shut. You can't even open it."

"It's been a while since I've used one of these." The man explained, before retrieving another gun for himself.

"What do I get?" Rory asked, watching as Groff frowned at her in confusion. She scoffed in disbelief, "So, you two get shot guns whilst I'm the one who gets shot." She added, "Thanks."

JJ passed the gun back to the man, "Good luck. Whatever this is, this is not our fight—"

Abruptly, a brick was thrown through the glass window. Groff grabbed the twins and pulled them inside another room, pushing them against the wall to hide them. Distant shouts and commands of the intruders outside echoed louder, as a few armed men entered the building; they all shouted one name,

"Groff! Chandler Groff!"

The man guided the twins outside, using another exit to lead them into the backyard. The siblings glanced at each other in concern, before feeling obliged to follow the man who could be their father; they couldn't leave the man and risk their future with him. Rory and JJ both wanted a dad, a family was all they ever dreamed of.

Chandler guided them towards the North End, which was where he kept his boat. He almost insisted on them using his boat, though the location of it was unknown. The boat was kept in the depths of the forest, and Rory couldn't keep up with the two running in front of her.

The twins cautiously followed after Chandler as they entered the wooden shelter where the boat was kept. Personally, Rory was expecting a Kook boat, like Topper or Rafe's boat. However, Chandler's boat was smaller than the HMS Pogue.

JJ scoffed, "When was the last time you used this?"

Chandler nodded, sitting on the desk to rest, "It's been some time."

"Clearly." Rory inspected the boat, before reading the name of it in bold. She frowned, "The Albatross." She glanced at JJ, who was already looking at her in concern.

"That's the boat that Larissa drowned on." The boy added, "I thought it sunk."

"Yeah, it was her boat." Chandler sighed, "It was recovered."

"Recovered?" Rory urged, "When was the last time it was serviced?"

"I don't know, Aurora." Chandler replied in annoyance, watching as the twins jumped down into the boat.

"Let's see if it works." JJ muttered, as he tried pulling on the engine, "Piece of shit."

Rory watched the boy as he repeatedly pulled on the cord to start the engine, though nothing happened. She folded her arms across her chest, deadpanning, "It's not working."

"I can see that." JJ huffed, chucking the cord down to reel back in. He suggested sarcastically, "Why don't you try?"

"With pleasure," Rory mused, smiling in frustration. She crouched down, pulling the engine's cord repeatedly. After a few attempts, Rory stood back up and brushed the hair out of her face, rolling her eyes as JJ scoffed beside her. Rory's eyes met with Chandler's, who had spent the last few minutes watching them struggle, "Are you comfortable?"

"Rory," JJ warned, as he climbed out of the boat.

"No, I'm serious," The girl said sarcastically, "You've been sat there watching us trying to start your piece-of-shit boat. Are you gonna help?"

"I just..." The man trailed off, watching as JJ walked towards the edge of the deck. He frowned, standing up quickly, "JJ. Wait, JJ! Where are you going?"

Rory began climbing out of the boat quickly, following behind Chandler, "What are you doing?"

JJ explained, "Rory and I are taking the tide. So, the current will push us straight across."

"Tide?" Rory scoffed, catching up to her brother in distress, "The current is dangerous and..."

Chandler finished her sentence, "That's why we have the boat!"

"You, shut the fuck up." Rory turned around to face him in frustration, before turning back around to JJ, finishing her sentence, "But, yeah, that's why we have the boat!"

"The boat which doesn't even start up. Look, Rory, we didn't do anything to these guys. They're not after us." JJ explained, "They're after him."

Rory thought for a moment, her eyes darting between the two. She tied her hair up, stepping closer to her brother. JJ climbed over the decking, dropping himself into the short fall to the deep water; he watched Rory jump in, making sure she landed safely.

Chandler called out desperately, "Wait, please! That's where the Albatross sunk. I-I can't go in that water!"

"I'm sorry, but we can." JJ shrugged, as the boy began swimming. He breathed, "Come on, Rory." The girl began swimming beside her brother, already panting due to the heavy feeling in her lungs.

"They're coming! I can't... I can't make it without you!" Chandler shouted, "JJ! Aurora! Please." He paused, before calling, "I'm your father!"

Rory's body paused for a moment, before she decided to carry on swimming away. Fuck him, she thought to herself, before realising that JJ was no longer beside her. She turned around, noticing the boy swimming back to the deck for the man; Rory cursed under her breath, before feeling obligated to follow.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know when to tell you." The man pleaded, "I just... I couldn't... I didn't know what to say."

She climbed up the decking, panting as she tried to regain control of her breathing pattern. Rory stormed towards Chandler, stepping in front of JJ as if she could protect him, "You're lying." She grabbed him by the collar of his stupid shirt, "Tell us you're lying. Now!"

"Rory!" JJ's voice was panicked, alerting the girl to let go of him and turn around towards the danger. The danger in question was two men, running towards them with large machetes.

Chandler insisted, "Run!"

JJ grabbed Rory's hand, dragging her outside of the shelter. The two siblings were ripped apart when two other armed men grabbed their squirming bodies; JJ kicked and wriggled, shouting Rory's name in protection yet fear.

"Get off her!" JJ yelled, his voice low and full of threat, "Don't touch her!"

Rory stopped shouting when a gun was pressed to the back of her head, a wave of fear drowning her.

a/n:
rory having beef with chandler ALREADY is so real