𝟏𝟎𝟐.         𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝

apologize        ────         one republic

☀︎ 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐥𝐲𝐧'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯

"𝖶𝖧𝖸 𝖨𝖲 𝖬𝖠𝖳𝖨𝖫𝖣𝖠 𝖧𝖤𝖱𝖤?"

We've just arrived back at Poguelandia, JJ and I fully prepared to just get in the shower and wash the past twenty-four hours down the drain, but we come face to face with our six-year-old friend. She's in the kitchen with Emory, snacking on a bowl of cereal.

The moment she spots JJ and I walking in, she's bouncing off her seat and charging to us, her body crashing into my legs. Her arms lift, embracing me despite still being wet from the water. "Kid, what the hell are you doing here?" I ask, placing a hand upon her head as she squeezes me tightly.

I'm not mad that she's here, obviously, I'm just concerned that we've gone and kidnapped a child once again. How long has she been here? She seems to be still wearing the clothes from the hearing, indicating to me that she's been with my friends whilst I've been committing property destruction and getting kidnapped by mercenaries.

God, I'm setting a great example, aren't I?

She glances up at me, nose scrunched. "You're wet." She steps back, looking to JJ who looks so exhausted. Despite that, however, he offers her a tired smile, opening his arm out hug her too.

JJ dips slightly, embracing the little girl who, I think, soothes him in an indescribable way. I think the journey home brought about a thousand worries and questions, all which have led him to this── to being exhausted and in desperate need of a hug, and there's nobody who squeezes quite as tight as Matilda does.

"You guys okay?" Emory asks, lifting herself off her seat. "You're... wet."

"Great observation, Em."

Her eyes flit to me, zoning in on the ring that Sarah has been gushing over the entire journey. "Oh, my God. Are you──" She points from JJ to me, mouth agape. "You're engaged?" Matilda backs away, separating from JJ.

Matilda squeals, looking to me with the sweetest smile. "You're getting married?"

"When did you propose? Before or after the fire?"

"Did you not like the fire?" JJ asks, placing a hand upon Matilda's head, ruffling her hair affectionately. She's now holding my left hand, staring intensely at the two rings that rest on my finger, eyes bulged wide.

"No, it was sick," Emory chuckles, stepping over to slap her hand against JJ's in approval. "Just when did you have time to propose? You guys were literally running from the cops."

"He got down on one knee," Sarah exclaims, earning a gasp from Emory. "John B didn't even do that."

"Hey," he fights. "This isn't about me."

"You're getting married!" Matilda giggles, moving my ring around on my finger, staring in complete admiration.

"Yeah..." I lean into JJ. "Yeah, we are."

"Yes, it's great," John B mutters, stepping past me and JJ. "I can't wait."

"Keep up with that attitude up and you won't be walking me down the aisle," I call out, seeing him stop in his path to turn around and face me.

His eyebrows furrow. "I'm walking you down the aisle?" I smile, hearing the small thrill in his tone at the thought of walking me down the aisle.

"I don't have a dad, do I?" He cracks a smile, continuing to move back, likely heading towards his room. "Will you do it?"

"You don't even have to ask, B."

"Aw, see, that's what we need," Sarah teases, moving to follow John B, poking her finger into his back.

If JJ and I can be anywhere close to them when we're married, I'll be very happy. They're a true inspiration, them being my only reflection of what a marriage can look like. After all the hardships they've faced, they've always come together in the sweetest way, it's inspiring. I love them both a ridiculous amount, so happy to have them both in my life.

"Can I come?" I drop my head, peering down at Matilda whose head is still leaning into JJ. The fact that Matilda has to ask is insane. She, by extension, has to be at my wedding and in just about anything major in my life.

I think I love this kid a crazy amount. I don't when it happened nor how it happened, but looking at her now, I know I love this kid. She's been a bright presence in my life lately, keeping me up when things are rough. I'm pleased I got to see her tonight after all JJ and I have just gone through, and I think JJ is equally as pleased.

I smile tiredly at her, though I'm never too tired for this girl. "You wanna be the flower girl?"

"Yeah!" she beams, spinning around to Emory. "I'm gonna be a flower girl!"

"Yeah." Emory exhales a laugh. "I heard, kid."

"What's my role?" Kiara pipes up, moving to lean against the kitchen counter.

"Uh, maid of honour, obviously."

Her face softens, seeming to be surprised though I don't know why. She's been my best friend for years. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I need you and Sarah up there."

"Bitch, where the fuck am I?"

"Language!"

I sigh, leaning my head into JJ's shoulder, dying for a shower before I drop dead from exhaustion. "Sorry." Reaching into her pocket, she slaps a two dollar bills onto Matilda's open palm. "Ooh, can I be best man? I know I'm a woman, but come on."

"Is that just because the maid of honour and best man always hook up at weddings?" I ask, looking from Emory to Kiara who are grinning at one another. "Seriously, guys. There's a child here."

Matilda pouts. "Who's the child?"

"Like you two can talk. You're about to get in the shower to──"

"Hey!" I interrupt, placing my hands on Matilda's shoulders. "Speaking of showers, I am going to have one and you two can watch Matilda, alright?"

Emory scoffs. "Yeah, like I haven't been watching your child for the past twenty-four hours."

JJ slides his arm around my back. "Yeah. Shower. Good idea." His head falls, hitting my shoulder. He's tired, unbelievably so, so we need to go and have a shower before we fall into an intense sleep. "Let's go, Sunny."

"I thought there was only one shower?" Matilda questions, looking to Emory and Kiara as we move away, heading towards the bathroom.

Emory blows out a breath, shaking her head at us as we move away. "You'll understand when you're older, kiddo."

"Won't be long!"

The minute we're in the bathroom, the door shut behind us, JJ presses me into the bathroom door and... hugs me. A little surprised, I remain with my arms at my sides, letting him fall into me, head remaining buried in the crook of my neck while his arms tighten around my back.

I hear him breathe out a sigh, his lips trembling against my bare shoulder. "Sunny..." The crack in his voice has me lifting my arms, bringing them around his shoulders, my fingers pushing up into his hair as he remains in position, glued to me.

I lean into him, pressing a kiss against his temple. "Hey," I whisper, moving my fingers through his hair gently. "JJ, it's okay." It doesn't matter that our clothes are still damp from jumping in the water, we need each other in this moment, both of us completely and utterly exhausted from all that's occurred in the past twenty-four hours with destroying downtown OBX, with discovering that Groff is JJ's father, and with getting kidnapped. It's been a long fucking day.

Honestly, I'm surprised that we arrived at the house without any infiltrations. I mean, I expected the police to be swarmed outside waiting for us to return home but there was... nobody which I didn't understand. Hello, JJ and I literally wrecked as much as possible, and they just decided to ignore it. Whatever. Better for us, I guess. We get to relax tonight without any interruptions.

I feel something warm against my shoulder── a tear, I think, though I can't be sure. Whatever it is, it has the back of my eyes burning as I suspect JJ is beginning to let himself fall, not just into my arms but into the shock of all that's occurred lately. Now, standing in this bathroom, alone with me, he feels safe to let himself fall under the weight of Groff's confession, of being kidnapped, of committing a crime.

JJ often plays it off, trying to push his feelings to one side to benefit others. Though, when he's alone, I know there's a vulnerability hidden beneath those pretty eyes of his that he tries so hard to keep up, but that wall has fallen, revealing this breaking boy in my arms.

His whole life, he's discovered, has been a painful lie. He's been abused by a man who was never his father, not biologically. Luke harmed him in more ways than one, and now Groff has gone and done just about the same thing, not physically abusing him, but mentally harming him by confirming a belief JJ never wanted.

It's why, after realising just how much all these lies have been impacting JJ, I know what I need to do. Although, I think by telling him this secret I've been keeping about his relation to our friend, I think he'll feel a bit better. Maybe he'll even see it as a positive thing, you know, to have a sister, to be the younger brother.

Speaking from experience, the younger siblings── even if younger by two minutes── get protected far more than the older siblings. I think, having Emory in his corner in this capacity, will make him feel more at ease. Well, I hope it makes him feel better as I don't think the news of him and Emory being related is all that bad, right?

I hold onto JJ tighter, kissing his head again just as I hear it loud and clear── a sob. The sound is so foreign to me as JJ has not cried in front of me in a long time, the last time literally being when Luke left dark bruises on his skin and I drew around his marks, needing him to not see himself in such a harsh way.

I hate his father. Both of them. I don't care if I barely know Groff, I know enough from what I've seen that he is not to be trusted, not by any of us. JJ has cried because of Luke, and now he's crying because of Groff. I want them both dead. They've both hurt this boy in my arms, completely unaware of the damage they've inflicted, and now I wish for them to literally die.

I attempt to swallow the emotion eating at the base of my throat, threatening to unleash in the loudest possible way. I need to focus on JJ as he is the one who's been thrown around. He's suffered a great amount today, far more than I have, so I need to put all my energy into helping him in whatever way I can.

Bringing his head back slowly, forcing him to bring it from my shoulder, I bring his forehand to rest against mine. "Hey." I slide my hand against his jaw, tracing my thumb across his wet cheekbone, noticing that his eyes are squeezed shut, tears collected on his eyelashes. "Hey, look at me, JJ." His bottom lip trembles, bringing a squeeze to my chest. "JJ, baby, look at me."

His eyes blink open slowly, sadness glossing the blue in his eyes. The corner of my mouth tugs upwards, pleased to see him meeting my gaze. "There you are," I beam, attempting to remain light. "Talk to me, JJ."

"I-Is it really true?" He blinks, hoping to rid the tears that are annoyingly falling regardless. I continue moving my thumb against his cheek, feeling him lean into me as a source of comfort. "Is he..." He sucks in a sharp breath, his hand squeezing at my hip rather than rubbing at the invisible pain in his chest. "Is he really..."

"JJ," I breathe out, hearing my voice crack as I can't help but feel indescribably sad for the boy in my arms. "I'm sorry. I am so sorry for everything that's happened lately, okay? I-I'm so sorry t-that you found out like this, that it... that it's true. I'm so sorry."

"It can't be true." Unsurprisingly, he's in denial. I can't say I blame him, not after meeting Groff. I get wanting to replace Luke, but why is it that JJ didn't get a better example of a father in exchange? Why is he lumped with a man who nearly got us killed── who has killed?

"JJ, this does not change anything, okay?" He tries to look away from me, emotion continuing to eat at him, but I take his face in my hands, forcing him to remain eye contact. "You are still JJ Maybank, alright? Y-You're a Pogue. You're the most loyal of us all. You're smart. You're kind. You're beautiful," I exclaim, watching his chin wobble as I talk. "We love you, JJ, okay? All of us do. You're our best friend. We're here for you. We've always been here for you."

I stare at the boy I get to call mine, so unbelievably lucky that he is mine as, if things had turned out differently with him being raised by Groff, I likely wouldn't know this boy confiding in me. Knowing that fact pains me, though I can't dwell on it too much as it's not true. He is mine, and I am his. Life was kind in that respect.

"I love you," I continue, feeling my eyes swell and my throat constrict. "I love you so much, JJ, and I promise I am not going anywhere. I am right here. I am yours. You need anything, I'm right there with you, baby, I promise."

He sniffles, pressing his lips together. "For the rest of your life?"

"For the rest of our lives," I correct, swiping my thumb under his eye where tears fall. "We are gonna find this stupid crown, get a shitton of cash and be done with all this treasure hunting for life, okay? We're then going to get married, and w-we'll go to Paris for the honeymoon, how does that sound?" I see the corner of his mouth twitch, wanting to go upwards. "We'll then travel, have our surf trip all over the freaking world. Just you and me, okay? Forever."

"Forever's a long time, Sunshine."

"Not long enough," I comment, my voice shaky. "If it were possible, I'd choose you in every lifetime, JJ. That's how important you are to me. I can't imagine a single scenario, a single world, a single lifetime, a single universe that you're not in. I can't imagine my life without you in it, JJ, don't you realise that? You bring me so much happiness, so much love, so much life."

I close my eyes, getting lost in his orbit, wishing I could keep us in this bathroom, locked away from all the pain and sadness that's associated with being out in the real world. "I love you, JJ, with every bone in my body, with every fibre of my being, with every beat of my heart. I love you," I voice, feeling his fingers now running soothing circles against my hip rather than squeezing it.

"I love you," he breathes out, his own eyes coming to a close as I feel him begin to relax, though the tears are still very much flowing. "I love you." Lifting his other hand, he presses it against my face, holding me. "I love you."

He leans in, our noses brushing together before his lips press over mine in the sweetest, simplest cushion. It's a gentle gesture, a small greeting of our mouths moving together in blissful synchronicity. I push my hands back into his hair, getting lost in the easy press and push of his lips against mine. One hand caresses my face, his finger gliding up and down my cheekbone whilst the other hand rubs my hip.

There's so much love behind this kiss. So much want and passion, yes, but there's also a thick layer of gentleness and simplicity in this kiss. Our lips search their favourite place── their home, if you will. His tongue moves across my bottom lip, sweeping into my mouth as I press my fingers into the base of his skull, needing him to be even closer as I never want to let go.

Though, as I need to breathe and because I still plan to tell him something he deserves to know, I bring myself back, but I remain close. "JJ." He swallows, hazy eyes searching mine. "I-I need to tell you something."

"Is this about w-what you and..." I nod slowly, speaking his mind silently. I never had the chance to explain why I was glaring at Groff in the way that I was nor did I get to explain what it meant when Groff claimed I knew something which, yes, I do, but JJ is unsure of what that is.

"You might wanna sit down," I say, pushing my hand into his so I can guide him to sit on the edge of the bathtub. Sitting down for news this big might be easier, I don't know.

I stand in front of him, him now sitting on the edge of the bathtub with his hand still tucked into mine safely. "W-What's going on?"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you this sooner. I-I mean, with finding out about Groff and wrecking downtown and..." I shake my head, realising I'm saying nothing. "Anyway, I-I'm sorry that I didn't tell you what I'm about to tell you sooner."

He inhales carefully, face scrunched. "What?"

"Do you remember when Luke told us that, uh, he heard a rumour about Groff having an affair? That he supposedly fathered another child?"

JJ observes me, nodding. "Yeah."

"W-Well, it wasn't a, uh... it wasn't a rumour. It was true," I confirm, feeling an intense tightening in my chest as I pull my hand from his, rubbing my palms against my dress, hating how dirty and wet it is at the moment.

"How do you know?"

"Because I know who his other kid is," I voice, leaning back against the sink. "Actually, we know who his other kid is."

I watch JJ's face shift, further confusion creeping into his features. "W-Wha──" He rears his head back, looking so unbelievably puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

"Groff did have an affair, JJ. H-He fathered another kid," I say, keeping my eyes on him despite my desire to look anywhere but at him. "He cheated on your mother and got another woman pregnant. Y-You, um... you have a sister, JJ. An older sister."

He scoffs, squeezing his eyes shut again. "Brooke, I-I don't understand. I──"

"This other woman moved away to Miami after she found out about Larissa being pregnant," I interrupt, and he clamps his mouth shut. "She gave birth to a girl who is six months older than you. She called her──"

"Emory," he gasps, his head falling into his hands as he processes everything── my words, Groff's words, Luke's words. All at once, I watch the realisation hit that not only is Luke not his father, but he's been looking into the eyes of his older sister for nearly two years, unbeknownst to the fact that she was his sister this entire time.

I push off the sink, stepping towards him. "JJ..."

"I have a sister," he chokes out, breathing going back to being heavy and frantic. "E-Emory is my── Are you serious? Does she know?"

"Well, she knows about Groff, but she thinks her brother died, but..." I lift my hand, gesturing to him. "...you're obviously not dead."

His face drops. "She doesn't know about me?"

"No," I say. "But I think you should talk to her, explain it to her. She deserves to know, JJ, just like you deserved to know, and I am so sorry that I didn't tell you sooner. I-I just── Well, Emory didn't want me to tell anyone about Groff being her dad and..."

"Sunny──"

"...I'm just so sorry, JJ. I-I should've told you. I should've said──"

"Stop." JJ snatches my hand, levelling me with a softer expression. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Brooke. I-It's okay. Really."

He tugs on my hand, bringing me towards his lap. I sit down, placing my arm around his shoulders. "Really?"

"I'm not... that shocked, not by Emory. I-I mean, it's probably the, you know, better news I've heard lately..." He sniffles, his eyes remaining on me. "It's fine, Sunny, I promise. I'll, uh, talk to her, I guess. I-I don't know."

"You don't have to do it right away, I just think it would be better for her to hear it from you── her brother."

His eyes bulge, an exasperated laugh slipping past his lips. "Brother," he repeats, speaking lowly. "I don't know the first thing about being a brother."

"I don't think there's a class or anything, you just are one," I reply, moving the hair away from his forehead. "Believe me, when I put two and two together, I was so freaked. Like, you and Em have just been friends this entire time and now you're..."

"Brother and sister," JJ finishes.

"I'm sorry about the overload of news," I say, still feeling a little guilty about the way he found out certain things, knowing I could've helped a little more. "I'm so sorry, JJ."

"Stop apologising," he insists. "You did nothing wrong, Sunny. You didn't write my shitty life." I frown, feeling something smack me square in the chest. He must catch the downturn on my lips, wincing in regards. "Shit. I-I don't mean..."

"No, it's okay."

"Obviously, not all parts of my life are shitty, Sunshine. Hello, I'm getting married to the greatest woman alive." He peers down at my left hand that sits on my lap. "We're going to get married, we're going to travel, we're going to have everything, Sunny. I'm gonna give you..." Blue meets brown, both of us emotional. "...everything. Anything you want, Sunshine, it's yours."

"Anything you want, it's yours," I chorus, leaning my head into his, breathing him in.

He kisses me briefly. "I love you."

"I love you."

──────────────────────────

✩ 𝐣𝐣'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯

𝖨 𝖲𝖨𝖳 𝖠𝖢𝖱𝖮𝖲𝖲 𝖥𝖱𝖮𝖬 𝘔𝘠 𝖲𝖨𝖲𝖳𝖤𝖱．

Yes, that's right. I, on top of having two fathers── I guess── and a dead mother, have a sister who, for the past eighteen months, has been a friend. All this time, sitting across from me at dinner, at the fire pit, at the shop, has been my sister, and I had no fucking idea.

Emory senses that I'm staring at her, probably freaking her out. "What?"

I shake my head, passing off the joint I rolled to my girlfriend── sorry, my fiancée. I'm still getting used to saying that. "Nothing," I utter, my smile tight-lipped. I pull my gaze off a confused Emory, glancing at Brooke who, instead of smoking the joint, hands it to Kiara, staring at me with wide eyes, signalling to me that I need to talk to my sister.

Fuck. I have a sister. Just like trying to wrap my head around the fact that I now have a fiancée at nineteen-years-old, I now have to wrap my head around the fact that I also have a sister who has been my friend this entire fucking time.

Sighing, I refocus back on Emory who is already watching me, beyond perplexed. "Do I have something on my face?"

"N-No..." Looking at her, I try to place any similarities we have. Visibly, I don't think Emory and I look alike, but personality wise, we are definitely the same person in the way we behave and act in certain situations. She's always the one who's applauding my poor decisions, jumping right on the bandwagon of crazy with me which, supposedly, we inherited from our father.

I still feel sick to my stomach thinking about it, the shower I just had only doing the bare minimum to calm me down. Brooke being there soothed me, her presence blocking out all those horrifying reminders that I was abandoned, and that I am Chandler Groff's son. Now, it seems that I have somebody who can relate to me── to being lost and abandoned, to being related to Groff. I just need to, you know, tell her, and I haven't got a damn clue how to approach it.

"JJ, you're freaking me out."

"Sorry." I meet her eyes, knowing all this time that we don't have the same coloured eyes── me inheriting mine from my mother supposedly, and her inheriting her colour from her mother, both of whom are dead which is... odd, if you dwell on it. "Uh..." I gaze at Brooke, feeling her kick my leg under the table gently, forcing me to actually get my fucking words out.

"Wait, are you asking me to be your best man?"

My face scrunches, lost on where she got that from. "Uh, no." Obviously, John B is going to be my best man when I get married. Though, now that I know about Emory being my sister, is she supposed to be by my side too? Fuck, I don't know. I mean, she'll obviously be at the wedding, but where she stands is lost on me. Literally does not matter, does it?

She groans, taking the joint from Kiara. "Okay, then what the hell is wrong with you, Maybank?"

"I need to talk to you later," I push out, relieved the words finally fell past my lips.

Placing the joint between her lips, she inhales sharply, nodding along── to the joint or to me, I don't know, but she nods, seemingly beginning to float away into a world of her own. When she brings the joint back, a large cloud of smoke exiting her mouth, she shrugs her shoulders, gaze locked on me. "'Kay."

I wonder if she'll be surprised. Or maybe she won't be shocked, maybe more... pleased, I don't know. Finding out that I'm related to Emory was definitely the better news I've heard in the past twenty-four hours, but if I were to tell her that, it would go straight to her head.

"Hey!" I jump, caught off guard by the tiny presence that comes rushing over to us── the teenagers smoking in the living room. God, we are truly setting a horrible example for this girl. Emory immediately lowers the joint, wafting the smoke away from her face as she holds the joint under the table as if Matilda didn't see the freaking thing. "I saw that," she states, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Kid, why aren't you asleep?" Brooke asks having laid her down in Sarah and John B's bed a little over an hour ago after we showered.

"I can't sleep," she complains. "I'm awake!"

Brooke's head falls to one side, hitting my shoulder. "You need to sleep."

"But you're all awake," she remarks, jutting her bottom lip out. "Can't I stay up with you?"

"No," we all say, only saying that as we're currently smoking a joint, sharing it between the six of us. Pope and Cleo aren't here as, shockingly, Pope has been tagged by the police after he attacked an officer to defend Brooke and me. Crazy, I know, but I do appreciate his act of heroism even if he's now on house arrest. I'm assuming Cleo is with him.

Matilda's head drops. "Please."

This kid, I swear. She's the brightest ball of light I've ever laid eyes on. She's so full of life, so bubbly and wild in the best possible way. Despite there being a lot of hardships in her young life, she doesn't let those deter her from enjoying herself and her life. She's been a great ninth addition to our crew even though she is far too young to be involved in our world. Brooke and I just got kidnapped by mercenaries, so believe me, this isn't a world for a six-year-old to be in.

I think, crazily enough, I actually love this kid. Sure, when I first met her, I was shocked that Brooke had actually befriended a six-year-old, but I now understand her. Matilda is the perfect distraction, reminding us that we can have just as much fun despite all the trouble we've experienced.

So, because I care about this kid a lot more than I ever thought possible, I hold my arm out to her. "Hey, Tills." She peers up at me, her eyes large and puppy-eyed. "You wanna stay up?"

Her eyes then widen. "Yeah!"

Brooke slaps my knee gently. "JJ!"

"Dude, bad parenting," Emory laughs, that noise followed by a cough.

"Just an hour," I say, focusing back on Matilda who is already moving towards us. "Okay, kid? One hour."

She nods firmly. "One hour."

I help her up, sitting her in between me and Brooke who is shaking her head, disappointed that I'm not encouraging Matilda to go to sleep, but she's young and it's only, like, nine o'clock. She can stay up for another hour, can't she? It's not that bad.

"Careful, JJ, or your fiancée will be leaving you."

"Thank God," John B mutters, eating a glare from both me and Brooke. He can act like he's not happy for us, but I know him. His face was overjoyed when he realised that Brooke wanted him to walk her down the aisle, and I know he can't wait to refer to me as his brother-in-law. He can lie all he wants, but I know he's happy for us.

"What are we doing?" Matilda asks.

"Smoking a joint and trying to figure out this scroll," Emory replies, lifting the joint back up from under the table.

"Em." Brooke tilts her head to Matilda, her tone stern.

"What? It's not like I'm gonna give it to her."

Matilda giggles, head shaking. "It's fine. Mom used to have them all the time," she tells, a silence falling over us as we don't know how to respond for that. Thankfully, Matilda is speaking back up, breaking the silence. "What's this scroll?"

"Obviously, it's a map of sorts, right?"

"Yeah, but it looks like a trippy mosaic," I say, leaning forward to take the joint from Emory. Matilda glances at me, and I make sure to blow the smoke away from her face, as even though she doesn't seem to mind, I certainly care.

I then hand it off to Brooke who, again, passes it straight to Kiara. It's weird for her to not want to take a hit and relax, especially after the past twenty-four hours, but I'm not judging. Maybe she's actually trying to be responsible for Matilda.

"It's so weird. It's all scrambled," Kiara says.

"I mean, what are we supposed to do with this?"

"Decode it," I propose. "That's what we're supposed to do."

"But... how?" Kiara asks, watching Emory who passes off the joint to John B who then hands it over to Sarah.

"With a codebreaker, thats how," I reply, placing my hand against the trippy mosaic scroll thing, seriously trying to figure it out. "Alright. Everything's coming into focus now." I shake my head, feeling painfully dizzy. "You're just got to let your eyes go out of focus for it to be in focus."

Matilda's nose scrunches. "Huh?"

"I think we're in mind melding," John B comments.

"We got mountain range."

The joint gets pushed into Kiara's hand before Sarah takes a hit.

"Hear me out. Waterline, right?"

"Yeah. Good job. The blue's water."

"Don't you mean the water is blue." I look to Matilda, offering her a smile.

I click my fingers. "Right."

"The jungle──"

Suddenly, a clatter is heard just outside the house followed by a dog barking. "What was that?" I ask, instinctively placing a hand on Matilda's shoulder as if to protect her. Though, I'm currently going through the motions, so I don't know much help I can be.

We hear more rustling outside, prompting John B to reach for the bat hidden under the table. Despite smoking that joint, I'm on high alert, knowing I need to protect Brooke and Matilda── they are my priority. Everybody else can fend for themselves, I guess. Sorry.

I move from the table, going to peer out the window, holding my arm up to Matilda who is looking like she wants to check. "Stay there." Brooke places a hand on Matilda's shoulder, keeping her on her chair.

"I knew we shouldn't have come back here." I grab the nearest weapon I can find── an oar, but it'll do for now.

"I have a gun under my bed," Emory chimes, raising her hand, still appearing to be very much intoxicated.

Sarah's eyes widen. "You have a gun?"

Matilda sinks back into Brooke. "Gun?" Shit. Like I said, this isn't the place for a six-year-old.

"Under our bed?" Kiara asks, horrified that she's been sleeping above a gun for however long.

She shrugs, lifting the joint back up to her lips, not seeming to care that we may be about to die. Perhaps those mercenaries came back for me and Brooke, I don't know, but I refuse to let her get hurt. And, because Matilda is here, I need both of them safe and away from whatever's out there.

"Em, get the gun," I say, looking over at her to find her coughing. Geez.

"Ugh, you get the gun, dude. I'm busy."

"B, take Matilda back into mine and Sarah's room," John B instructs, pointing down the hall.

"Yeah. Come on, kid." Matilda and Brooke lift themselves off their seats, and Matilda complies, obviously a little frightened which I feel guilty about as she shouldn't be scared in this house, not when there's worse out there.

Still looking out the window with John B, not seeing anything that would indicate somebody is outside, I hear Matilda shriek, alerting me. I spin around, oar held high as if it'll actually act as a decent weapon, and we each come face to face with... Groff.

He looks disheveled, like he's been dragged through bush after bush. I don't know, but he doesn't look good. He must've followed us from the boat, but part of me had assumed he got caught by the mercenaries and that he was dead. Though, it seems I was entirely wrong as he's standing right here, wet and muddy from the water, looking rough.

He holds his hands up defensively. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he apologies. I look away from him, watching Matilda press her face against Brooke's hip, hiding.

I then, stupidly, glance to the only person who I know has sobered up now. Sneaking a glance over my shoulder, I find Emory straightening from her seat, staring forward at Groff who isn't even looking at her, instead looking to me.

"JJ, you made it back," he breathes out, eyes flitting to Brooke who has her arm around Matilda. "You both did."

Brooke tightens her hold on Matilda. "Yeah."

I feel a presence next to me── Emory. She's moved from her seat and is now coming face to face with Groff── our father. Her mouth is agape, her breathing heavy as she attempts to understand what he could possibly be doing in here.

"Oh, my God," Sarah exhales, head falling into her hands.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Emory asks, looking around at us── looking to Brooke who obviously knows, and then peering over at Kiara who, unsurprisingly, also knows the truth.

"Em..." Kiara sighs, moving to reach her girlfriend.

She trains her eyes back to Groff, shrugging Kiara away from her. "What are you doing here?"

He finally meets the eyes of Emory, seeing that she's visibly upset. "I-I..." He swallows thickly, obviously not knowing how to interact with her. He then looks to me, his other kid in this fucked up equation. "I-I had nowhere else to go, son."

"Wh-What is──" I don't need to look at Emory to know how she's looking at me. "Son? What is──" In my peripheral, I see the pieces slot together in her head, her words dying in her throat as her head begins to shake vigorously as if that'll rid this nightmare we've crawled into. "Oh, my God. No." She hits my arm, forcing me to look at her. "You're── No."

I press my lips together, nodding, confirming what she's already built together in her head.

Since discovering that Groff is her father, she's assumed that Groff's other child, her brother, is dead as it was stated that Larissa and her child drowned. Although, I never did drown and now Emory is face to face with me, her brother.

"What's going on?" John B asks from behind us, just as confused as Matilda, Sarah and Kiara who obviously don't know the truth about much. Hell, I didn't know the entire truth until an hour ago.

Looking away from Emory whose head is still shaking, as in much denial as I was, I peer at my friends who stand behind me. "You know Groff," I exhale, looking back to him as he stands there, just staring, knowing he's caused a lot of shit by storming into our home.

"What is this?" Sarah asks, eyes flitting from me to Emory to the man behind us.

"He's our father," I confirm.

──────────────────────────

𝖠𝖥𝖳𝖤𝖱 𝖠 𝖳𝖮𝖴𝖦𝖧 𝖢𝖮𝖭𝖵𝖤𝖱𝖲𝖠𝖳𝖨𝖮𝖭 𝖠𝖡𝖮𝖴𝖳 𝖬𝖨𝖭𝖤 𝖠𝖭𝖣 𝖤𝖬𝖮𝖱𝖸'𝖲 𝖱𝖤𝖫𝖠𝖳𝖨𝖮𝖭 𝖳𝖮 𝖢𝖧𝖠𝖭𝖣𝖫𝖤𝖱 𝖦𝖱𝖮𝖥𝖥，𝖤𝖬𝖮𝖱𝖸 𝖲𝖳𝖮𝖱𝖬𝖤𝖣 𝖮𝖥𝖥．I wanted to go after her, actually sit and talk with her about everything, but she hurried off upstairs before she, and I quote, "killed him". Can't say I blame her, I guess, but I chose to invite him in, allowing him to sit in our house.

I hated telling my friends. I hated the looks on their faces as the pieces began to fit together. I hated telling them something that I wasn't even sure I wanted to believe. Not a single one of them responded, not even Matilda who shouldn't even be listening in on such a conversation, but she's renaming quiet at Brooke's side.

"So, you're Emory and JJ's real dad?" Kiara finally asks, speaking slowly. She's just as worried about Emory, but when I insisted that I wanted to go and speak with her, she instructed me to stay put and let Emory cool off. Being on the receiving end of Emory's upset is not something anybody needs right now, so I reluctantly sit here, feeling nothing but guilt over the fact that I couldn't tell her the truth, that she had to face me with Groff in the room. It's not fair.

These past twenty-four hours have sucked.

Groff sighs, nodding. "I-I don't deserve the title... but yes, I am JJ and..." He pauses, visibly struggling to get my sister's name out his mouth.

"Emory," Kiara and Brooke chew out.

"Y-Yeah, Emory, I-I want to apologise to her," Groff insists, though I'm unsure if he's genuine. He doesn't seem interested in knowing Emory, not even seeming to care when she stormed out of here stating that she wanted to kill him. "I-I could've done better by both of you, I know that." He peers at me but I keep staring forward, looking to Matilda and Brooke, finding that they are the only reason I'm remaining calm.

"Maybe you should remember Emory's name first," Kiara snaps. "Then you should apologise to her." Not that I think she'll listen, but he owes her something. I mean, he abandoned her before she was even born as Groff chose to stay with my mother. Thankfully, she sought comfort in another father, and ended up having a decent enough life as far as I'm aware.

"Right." Groff sniffles, nodding. "But I'm afraid time is short. We are all in danger here," he tells, looking to the tube on the table that holds the scroll. "Let me guess, you opened that packing tube over there and found a scroll inside, but you can't read it. The scroll is encrypted."

"How do you know that?" John B asks, arms crossed over his shoulders. After telling him, I sensed that he didn't trust Groff completely. In fact, I think all my friends, especially Brooke, are skeptical of Groff.

"Because if you took that from the Corsairs, I suspect that you are in possession of the Mogador scroll... created by Barbary pirates in seventeen-o-three," Groff explains, but not a single one of us know what he's talking about. It just sounds like gibberish. "The Lupine Corsairs are dangerous mercenaries. Now you've stolen from them."

They're the bastards who kidnapped us.

A beat of silence passes through us before John B talks, asking a question we're all thinking. "Okay, so w-what the hell is this.... Mogador?"

"It's...a map," Groff tells.

"To where?" Sarah asks even though we know what it leads to.

"Well, if I knew the answer to that, I'd be a very rich man," Groff chuckles. "But I can tell you who made it. Murad the Younger."

Brooke and John B share a look── one of those freaky twin looks that I don't understand. "Murad?" They seem to know the name, likely learning it from their father or something.

Groff's eyes widen, seeming surprised that Brooke and John B would know him. "Oh, you know him?"

"Not personally, no," Brooke bites out, contempt in her tone.

Ignoring her, much like he did the entire time we were trapped, he continues, "Barbary pirate, slaver. In seventeen-o-three, a Berber shepherd gave Murad a gold coin as tribute. He asked the shepherd where he'd gotten the coin, and after some... persuasion, the Berber told him about a hidden vault in the desert filled with gold. And one other very special item..." Groff drawls, looking around at us.

"The Blue Crown," John B finishes.

Groff smiles, looking sinister in the way he does. "So you know what it is?"

"Uh, it's a..." Sarah clears her throat, not wanting John B to say much more as we don't know if we can trust this guy. I mean, I know Brooke doesn't trust him, neither does Emory, but my friends are on the fence... kind of. Well, they're leaning more towards not trusting him.

"Our dad was a historian," Brooke jumps in, her hand rubbing Matilda's shoulders gently. "It was just, like, a... a bedtime story." Groff hums, though he doesn't seem convinced by their lie.

John B nods in confirmation. "Yeah."

"What is it, though? The crown thing?" Kiara questions, wanting to see just how much information Groff possesses.

"A mythical artefact," he answers. "And if you trust the legends, a dangerous weapon capable of granting wishes and rendering enemies defenseless."

"Wishes?" Matilda inquires, finally feeling brave enough to speak, though she looks like she wants to take that word back the moment Groff lays eyes on her. I clench my fist, hating that he's making her feel uncomfortable, hating that she doesn't feel so safe right now.

Groff stares at the little girl with narrow eyes, a thought likely crossing his mind upon seeing a child in our house. "That's what they say," he replies slowly, still staring at Matilda who looks away, obviously shy.

Groff turns his eyes back to me, but I don't offer him any kind of explanation as to why a child is in our house. No, she's not mine, but she spends more time here than at her own house, and I care about her a great deal. Based on how Brooke holds onto Matilda, she doesn't want Groff knowing any further information on Matilda, and I won't be offering it.

"And you believe that?" Kiara asks, glaring at him, just as much disdain for him as Brooke has.

"No, of course not, but... it's invaluable. I'm looking for it just like you, and if I could help you find it, I'd... just want to get my cut. Nothing more," he informs, peering down.

"If they found it three hundred years ago, there's no way that magic cap is still there," I comment, finally speaking and meeting my father's eyes when he brings his head back up.

"Maybe, maybe not." He shrugs, tilting his head. "See, Murad was encamped in Essaouira, in what's now Morocco. But before he had a chance to follow the map, it was stolen by an enterprising young woman named Elizabeth Howell, who later became Blackbeard's future wife."

"Elizabeth Teach," Brooke relays, knowing that information already.

"Very good." Brooke scrunches her face up, continuing to hold on tight to Matilda as Groff carries on. "Blackbeard helped her elude her captors, and the two of them escaped to the Carolinas with the map. The rest of their lives they wondered, was there really a vault in the desert that held the crown? On the day he died──"

"He left Elizabeth the map," Sarah interjects.

"And now you have it," Groff confirms, looking at John B. "But you can't read it, right? You need a lens── a special lens, a piece of refracted crystal encased with a chain. Elizabeth Teach had that lens when she was killed at Blackstone."

"So let me guess, you, uh, you have that lens," John B assumes, raising his brow at the man.

"Not in my possession, no. But I know where it is."

"Where?" I ask, meeting my father's eyes head on.

"Your mother's grave."

──────────────────────────

❀ soph speaks

emory and jj know!!

ugh i just love matilda being involved in their lil group even if its so not safe for her

you can expect more of jj's povs in the upcoming chapters, especially with him and emory trying to to get to know their *gag* father

next chapter is solely a sibling therapy session between jj and emory AND john b has something very big to tell his sister

literally just a family friendly chapter next before the, uh....... spice comes as brooke and jj haven't celebrated their engagement just yet

thankyou for reading :)