SMOKE SIGNALS / OUTERBANKS
ੈ✩‧₊˚ written by catie . . . © vqnillascented
chapter forty four ━━  ' rescue mission '

JJ COULD BARELY HEAR THE ROAR OF THE PLANE ENGINE OVER THE SOUND OF HIS OWN RACING HEART.

It had been three hours since they had all decided to go home one last time, for any last things they might need.

It had been two hours since the designated time to meet up at the airport to leave for South America.

Alex was nowhere to be seen.

"Where the hell is she?" Kiara exclaimed, rising from her seat on the plane steps.

"I don't know!" The words exploded out of him, his anxiety making him tense, reactive.

"We have to leave." John B said, a resolute look in his eye.

"No." JJ shook his head, matter-of-fact. "Not until Alex gets here."

"We've been waiting two hours." Pope pointed out.

"I'll call her." JJ said, reaching for his back pocket, but John B put a hand on his shoulder.

"You've tried that." He reminded him. "Sixteen times actually."

"Fuck." JJ huffed, reaching up to tug at his hair, not really knowing what to do with his hands.

"JJ, I'm sure she's fine." Sarah said, even though her worried expression contradicted her words.

"Yeah, well, I'm not." He urged, turning to get a good look at everyone. "I'm not going anywhere until I know that she's okay."

"We can leave without you guys." John B suggested.

"No." JJ said again. "She's coming. She has to be."

It only took another five minutes going by with no sign of her for JJ to spring back into action.

"Katherine got to her." He said.

"What?" Sarah's brows pinched together.

"That's the only thing that would stop her from getting here." He tried to think, pacing to try and burn off some energy. "I'm gonna find her." He said, hurrying over to his dirtbike, his limbs shaking with nerves. "Don't leave without us, okay?"

He ignored the groans from the others, not really caring about anything but Alex at the moment.

He had to make sure she was okay.

Alex tried everything to get to those keys.

She pulled down on the doorknob, trying to snap it off, to no avail. She tried leaning away from the door, using all of her body weight to break it, still nothing.

She kicked the door to break it down, but the wood was too thick. She tried to open the doorknob with her mouth, tried to naw off her chains with her teeth, she was so desperate. But still, she remained in that same place for what felt like hours.

The others had probably gone on to South America without her, and she honestly hoped that they had. They shouldn't have to wait any longer just because of Alex and her fucked up family.

Clack, clack, clack.

Alex straightened.

The doorknob rattled as Katherine turned it, moving Alex out of the way with the door itself.

"We're going to Tannyhill. You're talking with Rafe." Was all that Katherine said, not a hint of remorse in her expression. Alex had thought she had seen a flash of regret, a spark of hesitancy the night before, but there was nothing now. Just the cold, dark eyes that she had grown up with.

Katherine slipped the cuff from the doorknob, and Alex considered running, but she was yanked to her feet and dragged down the stairs before her sleep-deprived limbs could comply.

The cool morning breeze hit her skin as she was dragged outside. She tried to make a big show while in the driveway ━ maybe one of the neighbors would see and call the cops. But nobody was outside at this hour, and so Alex was loaded into the back of her mother's SUV.

The roads were mostly empty at this time of day, so all Alex had to look at was the trees passing by as Katherine drove in silence.

With only one of the cuffs still around her wrist, Katherine being in too much of a frantic hurry to leave to remember to secure her, Alex weighed her options. She thought about breaking one of the windows, or trying to yank open the trunk and fling herself into the pavement, but she was just so tired of fighting. Every single day there was another battle.

As much as she didn't want to, she could talk to Rafe. Hell, she might even team up with him if getting rid of Ward was what he wanted to do. Katherine didn't have to know.

She was just preparing all the things that she would say to Rafe ━ sorry for stealing your boat and almost shooting you ━ when the sound of another vehicle on the road caught her attention.

She sat up slowly, sneaking a glance out the back window.

There, following a few yards behind, was Ricky's ambulance. Ricky was inside, but he wasn't in the driver's seat.

Behind the wheel ━ was JJ.

Alex's breath caught in her throat, but she forced herself not to make any sudden movements. She snuck a glance up at her mother, finding that she was too focused on the road to notice what was going on.

Alex slid her hand along the carpeted trunk floor, keeping the maneuver out of sight of the rearview mirror. Her fingers found the hatch, slipping under the lock. She pulled up.

In one quick moment, Alex had gotten the trunk open and was tucking and rolling onto the road.

Katherine slammed on the brakes, but it was too late.

Alex pushed herself to her feet, stumbling a bit from the sting of her flesh, but she pushed down the pain, sprinting for the ambulance.

JJ swerved into a nearby ditch, turning the vehicle so the side door was facing her.

Alex's lungs burned. Her feet ached. Her legs were cramping. But she didn't stop. She couldn't stop.

She slammed into the side of the ambulance, throwing open the side door. Then, she launched herself inside.

The brakes squealed as JJ made his great escape, but Alex could see out the back window that Katherine was gaining.

She crawled over to the window to the front seats, sticking her face into the hole. "Holy shit!" Was all she could think to say.

"Holy shit!" JJ echoed, a huge grin on your face. "I knew Katherine had gotten to you, I knew it!"

She blinked at him, unable to believe this wasn't a dream. "Why aren't you in South America right now?"

"And leave without my girl?" JJ almost laughed at the idea. "No way! Everyone else is pretty pissed at the delay, but I told them I wasn't leaving until I got you back."

"You'd do that for me?" She felt the ghost of a smile on her face.

"It's already done." He waved off her gratefulness. "Now, excuse me, but I've got to lose your mother."

He swerved again, taking a hard left through somebody's yard. Alex held on for dear life so that didn't topple over, calling out a quick, "Hey Ricky! What's up?"

"Good to see you." Ricky gritted out, latching onto the overhead strap as the ambulance bounced along.

JJ surely broke every speeding limit as he raced against the clock, but, luckily, there were no cops around. Alex didn't have time to even think this was strange because they were arriving at the airstrip before she could really even blink.

He parked the ambulance just up the road, jumping out to let Ricky take the wheel. He yanked open the back hatch, grabbing Alex's hands to help her jump down to the pavement.

"My hero." She pretended to swoon.

He shook his head. "You've saved me more than once, Alex. In more than one kind of way."

She smiled up at him as he ducked to hide his blush. "Shut up. Tease me later, we got a plane to catch." He held out his hand to her and she slipped her fingers between his, sharing a tight squeeze before they started running, hand in hand, towards the tarmac.

It didn't take long to realize that things had somehow gotten even more derailed from the original plan.

An all too familiar red motorcycle was parked next to the plane.

Rafe was there. And so was Ward.

Alex pulled free from JJ's grip, needing to run faster the rest of the way. "What the hell is going on?"

Rafe turned at the sound of her voice, his expression melting with...relief? He was relieved to see her?

"Alex, thank God." He had his father's arm slung over his shoulder, helping Ward to stand, the older man's shirt all tattered and bloody. "Tell your friends that Dad should be able to take his own damn plane."

Alex blinked at him. There were so many things to say right now, so many things to apologize for, to reprimand him for. This was not how she expected their next meeting would start.

"What?" She spluttered, trying to make sense of the scene before her. "My mom told me that you were trying to kill Ward."

Ward groaned in pain, blood pouring from a wound in his stomach.

"I called it off." Rafe hissed. "I have to help my family. Please help me help my family, Alex. A fisherman spotted him. I have to get him off the island right now."

Alex shifted her gaze to Sarah, who was standing a few feet away from her injured father, her hands shaking as she tried to stay back.

"Ward gave us this plane." Kiara snapped. "We're taking to South America. He's not going to take this from us too. Not now."

"There are hospitals there." Rafe fired back. "Just get him out of here, away from the cops and drop him off at a hospital far away from you guys."

"Hell no." Pope raised his voice. "We're not getting on a plane with him. No way."

"This is his plane!" Rafe yelled back.

"That he offered to us!" Cleo stepped forward.

Sarah buried her face in her hands, her shoulders trembling.

"This is not my decision." Alex said after a long, tense pause. "John B?"

He had started pacing, staring up at the rumbling storm clouds overhead.

"He stays here, he gets arrested." Sarah finally spoke up, tears in her eyes.

"I don't think I can get on a plane with that guy." John B said firmly.

Alex couldn't disagree with that.

She glanced back at Rafe, who was already watching her, expectedly. Ward was draped over him, blood staining both of their clothes, his chest heaving with labored breath.

Alex felt her breath catch in her throat. Nobody should have to feel that constant slice of pain that came from losing a father.

She nearly stumbled at the thought. Where had that come from? The pang of empathy was unfamiliar,  but it jolted her senses awake.

"This is his plane." She said, slowly, carefully speaking each word, keeping her eyes on Rafe.

"Are you being serious right now?" JJ yelled at her.

She faced him, a heavy weight on her chest. "Ward has done a lot of cruel things. I don't want to be like him."

JJ clamped his mouth shut, understanding flashing in his angry gaze.

"It's still not up to me, though." She slinks back in place next to JJ. "It's John B's. And Sarah's."

Rafe gave her an appreciative nod, and she didn't know how to feel about the gesture. She wasn't doing this for him.

There was somebody else that she was doing this for.

JJ wrapped his arms around her protectively as she shuddered against fast-rising tears.

"We can't stop him from leaving." Sarah said. "But he's not going to stop us from going to Orinoco. If you don't want to get on that plane, I get it. We'll find another way."

Slowly, John B shook his head. "There is no other way." He looked around at everyone on the tarmac, giving a firm nod. "Let's go."

Rafe wasted no time getting Ward up the plane's stairs. "You're gonna be alright."

Alex followed quickly behind him, the first on board. She watched Rafe lower Ward into one of the seats, as Ward writhed and grunting in pain. She sucked down a breath. Rafe turned at the sound.

"I'm sorry for ━" She started to say, but he waved her off.

"Thank you." The word sounded foreign on his tongue. "You've been...way too nice to me. Way more than I ever deserved." He wrung his hands. "Just, thank you."

She just nodded, and he slipped past her, descending back down the stairs. She watched him leave, swallowing hard.

Everyone got on board, John B the last to join. The engine was already fired up, ready to start take off as soon as the stairs were cleared.

Out of her window, Alex watched as several police cars pulled up, sirens wailing. But they were too late.

The plane was in the air, heading for South America.

catie speaks!

the pogues are on their way! surely nothing else will derail them...

rafe & alex's dynamic is always so fun to write...like, the empathy they have for each other but also the pain they've caused. how alex is rafe's soft spot even while she's hating him??? it's so toxic i love.

OBVIOUSLY JJALEX ARE MY OTP AND CAN NEVER BE OUTDONE, but rafealex is just fun to ponder sometimes, you know?

any thoughts? theories?

thank you so much for reading! i hope you liked it!! please vote and comment if you enjoyed, and follow to be notified when i update! love you alllll 🫶

virtual hugs,
catie!