JOHN B, EMERY, AND MARA RECUPERATED AT THE MELVILLE HOUSE FOR THE ENTIRE DAY.

they all got clothes that the family left at house year round, took showers, ate, and even went swimming in the backyard pool, the fence being high enough the neighbors wouldn't be able to see them if they were even at their houses.

so, sitting in the living room, with ten things i hate about you playing on the tv, emery dialed her mother's number, assuming levi hadn't already told her about the situation with emery being alive and all.

"hello?"

"mom?" emery asked, radio silence greeting her on the other line.

"who is this?"

"do you have another daughter you're not telling me about?" emery asked in disbelief. "i mean, not telling me about me and jj being twins is one thing, but a whole other person?"

"it's me!" mara called from the armchair.

suddenly, emery's phone buzzed in her hand, the girl pulling it away to see a facetime call. she ushered john b and mara over before accepting, the three of them sending amelia beaming smiles as the call connected.

"oh my god." amelia breathed. "oh my god!"

emery laughed a little, john b snatching the phone.

"did you miss me?" he asked, amelia nodding quickly as she began crying.

"where the hell are you guys?" she snapped, emery grabbing the phone back.

"the nassau house, we made it to the bahamas." she said simply, showing amelia that she was, in fact, inside their house.

"how did you guys get to the bahamas?"

"we hitchhiked on a cargo ship." mara deadpanned, amelia rolling her eyes.

"i won't tell anyone you guys are alive. im assuming the others already know?"

"yes, we texted them as soon as we got here." emery said, amelia nodding.

"okay, i'm gonna go before you tell me about whatever stupid plan you have, stay safe and text me tonight so i know you're okay."

"will do, i love you!" emery called, john b and mara quickly jumping into frame to say goodbye to amelia as the woman hung up, emery glancing at mara.

"you wanna call your mom?" she asked.

"and have her rat out john b? absolutely not." mara stated bluntly. emery shrugged, putting her phone down and going back to watching the movie.

"wanna go break into ward cameron's house tonight?" john b asked, emery wrinkling her eyebrows.

"are you stupid?" she asked in bewilderment.

"he is." mara deadpanned from the kitchen.

"how many of those are you going to eat?" john b asked as mara grabbed another packet of blueberry mini muffins, looking the brunette boy up and down judgmentally.

"don't shit on my dietary choices." she said bluntly as she sat down in the armchair again. "you literally just suggested that we break into the cameron house, you literal buffoon."

"okay, but like, what's the worst that could happen?" john b asked, emery raising her eyebrows.

"ward gets a notification from the security team that his house was broken into and he calls them to come to the house." the melville girl stated like it was obvious.

"okay, i didn't think about that." john b said bluntly.

"you can think?" mara fired, john b flipping her off as she put another muffin in her mouth.

"you guys are no fun." john b stated bluntly.

"and you're a bitch for making me sleep on the floor." mara shot back, the routledge rolling his eyes.

"you're seriously still mad about that?" he asked, mara nodding as though it was obvious.

"no shit i'm pissed, if i didn't have scoliosis before, i sure as hell do now, and it's all your fault." she said, tossing the empty mini muffin bag at him. "now be a dear and throw that away."

"you guys are more siblings than me and jj sometimes." emery mumbled, typing a reply to lee out on her phone. the two had been texting all day, mainly because levi was absolutely overjoyed to be able to talk to emery again. she had offered mara a phone to talk to jj, but both of them knew jj was absolutely shit at replying to text messages fast enough to keep a conversation going.

"i'm going to bed." john b stated from behind the girls. emery looked down at the time, it was nearing eleven.

"ill be up in a second." emery replied, she and john b exchanging smiles as mara stood up and stretched.

"im stealing some pajamas from you." she said, starting up the stairs, emery giving her a thumbs up as she got up too, taking her phone with her. she got to her room just as mara was leaving, john b laying on the bed in a pair of levi's basketball shorts and a gray hoodie that also belonged to emery's brother.

emery grabbed a tshirt and a pair of shorts, changing in her bathroom and brushing her teeth and hair before going into her room, laying next to john b.

"so we came to nassau for nothing?" john b asked, emery rolling her eyes.

"no, not for nothing, but we're not breaking into the cameron's house." emery stated bluntly. "you've had some really dumb ideas, but that one takes the cake."

"whatever." john b mumbled, but he smiled immediately after, telling emery he wasn't really mad at her. she rolled her eyes again, rolling over onto john b's chest, the boy pulling her closer to him by her waist, sighing contentedly.

"so how are we gonna get the gold?" he asked.

"we wait for the others to inevitably fly down here, there's no reason for them not to. not when my family owns a jet and they can leave whenever they want." emery said bluntly, john b nodding.

"do you wanna get married?" he asked again, emery laughing. "i'm serious."

"sure." emery said. "why the hell not. well call it a destination wedding, we can have it out on the beach and mara can officiate- y'know, really lock in third wheel status."

the joke made john b laugh, but mara, who was sharing a wall with their room, suddenly hit the wall hard.

"will you two shut up and go to sleep?" she yelled, emery rolling her eyes.

"okay, mom!" she yelled back.

"yes, ma'am!" john b called in reply, both of them smirking at each other before finally falling asleep.

"OKAY, WHATS THE PLAN?"

levi asked eagerly as the group walked down the dock behind the wreck. they had all decided to meet up there after school to decide on a plan to either clear john b's name or get to nassau.

"i always had faith in them." jj claimed boldly, levi rolling his eyes.

"okay, sure." he said, ainsley pointing at jj.

"you owe me twenty." she stated bluntly. levi choosing not to question why jj was betting on his dead sister, girlfriend, and best friend.

"kiara, i do need those setups done by five!" anna called from the deck.

"y'know, there are other people that work here!" the carrera called to her mom.

"but ain't none of them my children!" anna yelled back, pope and ainsley shaking their heads.

"i relate to that. on a deep emotional level." pope told kiara.

"i don't want to look at shrimp for the rest of my life- y'know how many i've had to clean these past couple weeks?" she asked in disbelief, all of them sitting down on a bench.

"okay, so are we going to nassau?" jj asked. "lee has a plane, it's doable."

"this is true." levi confirmed.

"we have to clear john b's name before he can come home or we all flee the country together." ainsley said. "we can't look suspicious."

"well it's only a matter of time before they get nabbed, so if we're gonna clear john b's name, we need to have done it yesterday." kiara said simply.

"i wanna hear jj's idea." levi said eagerly, looking forward to whatever the maybank would come up with.

"we kidnap rafe." he deadpanned.

"i'm sorry, what?" pope asked, eyebrows raised at jj.

"we kidnap rafe, tie him up, and stick the gun in his mouth, and just wait till he starts squawking." jj said, dead serious as he did.

"y'know torture's a war crime?" kiara asked.

"yeah, how exactly do you plan on clearing john b's name from a prison cell?" pope questioned further. "because that's a felony."

"where do i even start?" ainsley breathed, jj's face brightening as he pointed at her.

"ainsley can get back with rafe!" he said brightly.

"what?" levi asked, clearly regretting his decision to ask for the maybank boy's input.

"i'm not getting back together with rafe for john b. i'll die for him, that's something i'm down to do." ainsley said, shrugging as she did.

"no, no, ains, just think, if you get back together with rafe you can get him high and then he'll start spilling his guts to you. he's the probably dying to get back together with you anyways, he'll be very open to the idea. then, at the last minute, when you're on your way to a date or something, you shank him!"

"did you just suggest that ainsley stabs rafe cameron?" kiara asked, jj shaking his head quickly.

"not literally shank him, i mean like, call the cops and have them meet him at the restaurant with all her evidence. besides, she can get some rich girlfriend perks while she's at it, john b's name is clear, rafe's in jail, and everyone wins!" jj exclaimed, everyone looking at him like he was an idiot.

"jj, do i have to tattoo it on your forehead to get it through your head that i'm not going out with rafe cameron?" ainsley asked, jj throwing his arms up.

"pope shut down my kidnapping idea, okay, it's like, the only option we have right now."

"no its not." levi deadpanned. "we aren't committing war crimes- does literally anyone else have any other ideas?"

look, all we need is a material witness." pope stated. "we saw ward's plane fly right over our heads with the gold in it. he didn't fly it, and if somebody else did, they were there on the tarmac, they saw peterkin get murdered. we just have to find out who that was and get them to confess on record."

"i can find out who it was." levi said, smirking.

"little ghost recon?" jj asked, doing the pogue handshake with pope and levi while kiara high-fives ainsley.

"woogity woogity?" pope asked, levi already pulling out his phone.

"woogity, baby!" jj exclaimed.

THE SUN HAD SET TO A GORGEOUS AUBURN COLOR THAT REFLECTED OFF THE WATER.

the group had taken levi's truck to the house of ward's pilot- who levi had found out through a healthy amount of facebook stalking- was a friend of ward's who flew planes for him occasionally, and his name was gavin.

"if this guy was flying planes for ward, he's gotta be pretty tight-lipped." pope told the group, jj nodding from the back.

"alright, so direct approach gets my vote." he stated, putting his elbow on the center console as he raised and loaded his gun, levi briefly forgetting he was driving as he turned sharply to make sure he wasn't hearing things.

"why would you bring that?" the melville exclaimed.

"what?" kiara screamed.

"put the gun down, man!" pope demanded.

"guys, we gotta keep this simple otherwise we're never gonna get john b home." jj insisted, but pope was ready to counter the offer.

"or we tickle the wire."

"we what?" levi asked.

"tickle the wire." pope explained, pulling out his phone and a pair of airpods. "i plant my phone in gavin's car, and then we listen in on their conversation through the airpods."

pope held his phone up to levi. "say something."

"i don't have a dad." levi deadpanned, and after a second, his voice echoed back through pope's airpods.

"okay, we have audio." he announced to the car, levi pulling to a stop on the side of the road. "i think that's his house there."

levi put the truck in park, pope taking his airpods out. "okay, honk or yell or something if you see anything suspicious."

"got it." levi nodded.

"don't do anything dangerous." kiara said from the back.

"i'm not jj." pope replied with a smirk, ainsley laughing at the comment.

"funny, pope." jj said bitterly. "love third wheeling you guys, it's my favorite thing."

"you could've gotten on that boat." levi retorted.

"how's it going with pope?" jj asked, climbing over the console into the front seat as kiara and ainsley started a conversation.

"it's good." levi said shortly.

"in the bedroom is he kind of freaky- y'know, cause it's pope?" jj asked, levi wrinkling his eyebrows.

"for one, we're not even dating, and for two, why do you care?"

"i dunno, just asking." jj mumbled. "just trying to bond."

"you want to bond with me over that?" levi asked. "we can always just sit in silence."

"ranking wise-" jj started again, levi raising his eyebrows.

"oh, you're still going." he said, unamused with the boy's antics.

"yeah, i mean, was... ainsley better? per-say?"

"what?" levi and ainsley asked in sync.

"okay- never mind." jj said bluntly, pope running up to the side of the truck, jj climbing over the center console again as pope got in the passenger side.

"jj, that door works!" levi exclaimed.

"okay, phase one is complete." pope stated, looking around the car at the seemingly disgusted faces of everyone in the car. "what did i miss?"

"don't even ask." levi responded.

kens speaks 🪐

covid got me productive as hell and me and mara coordinated updates again so