THE COURTROOM WAS LOUD.

it certainly wasn't doing emery's throbbing head any favors as she sat there waiting for john b to be brought to the bench. she was sitting between jj and levi, the maybank with an arm slung around mara and his knee bouncing anxiously, levi simply had his hands folded and was staring at the floor.

finally, after what seemed like an eternity, john b was brought out to stand in front of the judge, who proceeded to bang her gavel on the desk in front of her to quiet the room down.

"john booker routledge?" she confirmed, her voice echoing around the now silent room. "pursuant to the north carolina statute section fourteen, you are charged with murder in the first degree with aggravated circumstances. if convicted, the maximum sentence would be the death penalty." she said dryly, tapping her gavel on the table once more.

emery's jaw fell agape at the judges words, the melville shoving herself to her feet, jj doing the same. around them, everyone else began to stand and speak again, some shouting in protest while others seemed rather happy with the thought of a child being killed for something he didn't do.

"your honor, he's seventeen!" jj yelled over the ruckus.

"stop." kiara told the maybank firmly, but he kept going.

"quiet!" the judge demanded.

"he's seventeen! are you kidding me?" jj continued.

"you're good." pope was telling his friend, but jj wasn't listening.

"hey, john b, we're gonna figure it out." the blonde called, john b turning to his friends, all in truth looking terrified.

emery shoved past levi and pope to get to the aisle that led to the front of the room where john b was still standing.

"john b!" emery yelled, the routledge turning towards her immediately. tears were running down her face again, john b wanting nothing more than to turn around and give her a hug. however, the cop stepping in front of her to push her back shattered his hopes immediately. "no- get off me!"

"emery!" mara called from behind her friend, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her away from the cop. "hey- get let go of her!"

"emery!" another voice called, the melville turning to see none other than sarah cameron standing in the crowd behind her.

"come on, emery, we're leaving." jj said firmly, attempting to pull the girl past sarah, but emery yanked herself out of his grip.

"she was there too." she mumbled, jj looking between sarah and emery and inhaling deeply through his nose.

"emery, hey!" sarah called, emery turning and walking over to the cameron girl.

"what's up?" emery asked, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of one of john b's hoodies, sarah glancing around anxiously. emery looked up to see ward standing not far away, the melville's eyes narrowing at the sight of the man.

"i'm gonna testify." sarah said. "i was there too, and wheezie knows that rafe wasn't home that day. i just wanted to let you know."

"thank you, sarah. really, it means a lot." emery said, the cameron girl nodding and turning back towards her father, mouthing a goodbye to emery as she did. emery walked back over to jj, who was leaned against the wall by the door.

"what was that about?" he asked, emery leaning closer to him and lower her voice.

"sarah's gonna testify against rafe, ward, and jackson." she whispered. she and jj walked out of the courtroom with the flood of other people, pope, kiara, ainsley, mara, and levi all waiting outside the door. jj hadn't brightened up at all at emery's news of another witness to say that ward, rafe, and jackson were lying, and the whispering around him wasn't helping.

"justice is served."

"he had it coming."

"is this a joke? like, are we in hell or..." kiara trailed off.

"i should've left as soon as i knew jackson was home." emery mumbled, mara putting an arm around her friend's shoulder and squeezing it reassuringly.

"it's not your fault." she said firmly, emery smiling at the stevens girl. jj, however, was still pessimistic.

"they're gonna kill him, guys. i know it." he gritted, emery and mara only looking up at him, eyes full of concern.

"so sorry for what you and your family have gone through." someone was saying behind the pogues, emery and mara both turning to see that the man was talking to ward. "thank God the system works."

"shut the hell up!" emery yelled, the crowd around them falling silent. "you won't even listen to anyone's side of the story but his because the system was made for you people, rich white men."

"he'll have his day in court. a jury will decide." the man said firmly. it was then that emery recognized the dark haired man standing somewhat behind ward.

jackson.

"john b shouldn't be the one in court!" mara yelled.

"they should." emery said firmly, pointing between ward and jackson. "they're both covering up a murder- they're letting rafe get away with this!"

"y'know, you two have a lot of nerve to show up today when it's your fault that john b is even in there!" mara exclaimed, jackson stepping up.

"respectfully, girls, neither one of you know what you're talking about." he stated calmly.

"i was there!" emery screamed. "i was there, sarah was there, rafe was there, and you two lied and put a seventeen year old up for slaughter for something he didn't even do!"

"i know you're upset, emery, i understand that." ward said, clearly attempting to diffuse the situation, but mara and emery weren't having it.

"upset?" mara asked in disbelief. "yeah, ward, we're a little more than upset that you framed our friend for a murder that your psycho of a son carried out."

"i don't know how you sleep at night, i really don't." emery spat, looking between the two men.

"i know he's got you fooled. he's got you all fooled." ward continued, emery's face contorting into one of sheer rage and disbelief, her eyes widening as she struggled to not strangle the two men in front of her.

"isn't that jackson melville's daughter?" someone asked from behind emery, the older man looking around emery asked to see them.

"yes, yes she is, she's just upset as it's her boyfriend up there and all-"

"for the last time, i'm not your daughter!" emery exclaimed. "i'm his affair baby, the reason he left the island for so long, and the biggest disappointment to ever touch the family name."

"emery-" ward tried, but mara stepped in front of her friend.

"no- don't talk to her!" the stevens girl exclaimed. "you should be rotting in a jail cell, i don't know what gives you the right to think you can talk to us after what you're doing to our friend."

"mara, i understand you and emery are a little emotional right now-"

"emotional?" emery yelled, she and mara sharing the same appalled expression.

"no, we aren't just emotional-" mara started, starting to walk towards ward, but jj immediately grabbed the stevens girl by the waist. she began to kick and thrash in his grasp, but jj wasn't letting go.

"mara- mar, hey!" he shouted. "stop- stop- mara, stop!"

"no- get off me!" mara shouted, shoving jj by the shoulders. shoupe and the other deputies had intervened at this point, standing between ward and the group of teens.

"you wanna get arrested? you need to go." shoupe was telling the group sternly.

"this is bullshit." kiara mumbled.

"it's not by chance that your daughter's calling you a liar!" emery called over her shoulder as she walked away with the pogues. this earned a reaction out of ward who turned to look at her, but the pogues had already gotten to levi's truck. emery sighed heavily as she slammed the passenger door, levi climbing in next to her on the driver's side, jj, mara, and pope getting in the back while kie and ainsley took her car.

"well that was a shitshow." levi breathed. the sky had started to cloud over already, despite the weather that morning saying that- in addition to john b being on trial for murder- there wasn't supposed to be any weather activity for the next couple hours.

"tell me about it." emery sighed. "is mom gonna hire him a lawyer?"

"she says they're not letting her." levi said bluntly. "spoiler alert, her and jackson aren't legally divorced, so she can't hire a lawyer to testify against him. she also can't be a witness to his manipulation because they're still legally married and his lawyer isn't letting him go through with the divorce until this murder case is out of the way."

"this is such bullshit." emery groaned.

"i know it is, ems." levi replied shortly. "and the lawyer mom hired for us is also suggesting you don't testify either."

"what?" jj, mara, and emery all asked in sync.

"since emery isn't jackson's biological child, it raises questions about her birth father." levi explained, jj rubbing his eyes with his palms, something emery had seen him do more in the last couple days since john b had been arrested. "it puts jj in danger of foster care because mom and luke signed a custody agreement when you guys were born. and considering that luke is in jail right now and the only reason that jj isn't in foster care as is is because mom is on the island, it makes mom appear unfit as a parent because she never appealed luke's abuse or attempted to get full custody of jj."

"she did try." jj said immediately. "she did, he wouldn't listen. she served him with papers i don't know how many times, and he used them to burn the trash most times. amelia tried to get me away, and the courts didn't do anything about it."

"either way," levi interjected firmly. "it could still result in all sorts of shit for you and emery if she testifies jackson's treatment of me, her, and mom when we were kids. she can still tell people what she saw on the tarmac, but as for what happened when we were kids, she shouldn't talk about it."

"whatever." emery snapped, rolling her eyes, clearly annoyed. "as long as they get what they deserve, i don't care."

the rest of the car ride to the chateau was silent, the tension in the car so thick you could cut it with a knife.

the melville siblings had silently agreed on something, though.

they weren't stopping until jackson was behind bars.

RAIN PATTERED ON THE SHINGLES OF THE CHATEAU ROOF.

the pogues were all sitting in silence. emery was putting little braids in levi's hair, her brother sitting on the floor in front of the couch where she was laying. mara was sitting on jj's lap, the maybank's arms wrapped around her waist with his head laying on her chest while she ran her fingers through his hair. ainsley and kie were sitting on the floor with levi and pope. the four of them had found a deck of cards and were playing a game of rummy and having emery keep score on her phone.

"y'know what?" emery asked suddenly, tossing her phone down on the couch, everyone turning towards her. "i'm gonna testify anyways."

"emery-" levi started, but the melville girl shook her head.

"lee, if jj isn't lying which i assume he isn't, there's a record of those documents somewhere. she had to get a lawyer to file them and that lawyer should still have them. mom isn't going to be declared unfit as my guardian because luke is a shitty person."

"so what's your plan for the tarmac?" jj snapped impatiently. "you really think the princess is gonna snitch on her family for john b? because i sure don't."

"jj- shut up!" emery yelled. "honestly, i get it, i really do. john b being in jail right now is probably really hard for you, and it is for all of us, but this isn't about you. so please, stop being an asshole every time someone makes a suggestion for how to fix this and try to come up with something yourself."

"emery-" mara started, but emery cut her off.

"none of you guys know." she said firmly. "i watched peterkin bleed out on that tarmac. i had to pull john b away from her because if i hadn't, rafe or ward or jackson would've killed us." emery swallowed thickly. jj's previously stone-hard facial expression had softened. "and sarah was there too, and sarah probably feels even worse than i do because she doesn't have anyone she can talk to about this."

"emery, just calm down for a second." levi mumbled.

"no, no, because i'm tired of everyone thinking that i'm an idiot or that i don't feel the same way that everyone else does about john b because i'm not wasting away while he's in jail. i haven't slept since he got arrested, i've barely eaten anything, and you guys constantly yelling isn't helping anything." emery snapped, looking around the porch at everyone. "i mean- mara literally died. i watched mara die and i had to bring her back to life- y'know how many people have asked me if i was okay?"

silence.

"y'know how many of you i've heard ask mara if she's okay?" emery added, and was again greeted by silence. "we're acting like assholes to each other right now, and we claim that we're friends, but not a single one of us has stopped to think about how any of the others might be feeling."

"okay, emery, the rest of us went through shit while you were gone too." kiara snapped. "we watched gavin die and had shoupe ignore us and act like we were liars, we brought him the gun used to kill gavin and peterkin, and we were still ignored. you aren't the only one going through things."

"i never said i was!" emery yelled. "when have i ever acted like i was the only one going through shit right now, please, someone tell me."

"emery- what're you trying to say?" jj asked snappily.

"what i'm trying to say is that we can all whine and cry because they might execute john b, or we can go to that courthouse and make statements." emery said bluntly. jj shifted mara off his lap, the stevens girl moving to the arm of the chair momentarily while jj stood up before moving back to be sitting in the chair, picking at her nails the entire time.

"she's right about one thing." jj said flatly. "we gotta do something. our boy is a po-dub right now, okay? he's held captive by the enemy, maybe even scheduled for execution. are just gonna sit here?"

"okay, so what's your plan?" kiara asked angrily. "we start by kidnapping shoupe?" she added sarcastically.

"maybe!" jj piped up, mara turning to her boyfriend in disbelief. "like, that's not the worst idea, actually."

"oh, it's not?" kiara asked.

"no!" jj replied.

"that's actually worse than john b saying we should've thrown a rock at mrs. crain's motion sensor lights." emery deadpanned.

"hey, the other option was 'move really slowly', so at least his eliminated the obstacle." mara replied.

"that is actually the worst idea i've every heard." pope replied in the same deadpan tone as emery.

"okay, pope, look, we've been doing everything your way, and how has that been working out?" jj fired.

"okay, okay, so what's your plan?" pope asked, standing up from his spot next to levi. "you gonna storm a jail, guns a-blazing?"

"look, pope, all i'm trying to get you to understand is they got our boy." jj said, his voice pained. emery sat back down behind levi, bouncing her leg anxiously. her brother grabbed her knee so she would stop and reached into the pocket of his jeans, passing her an orange bottle. the melville girl twisted the cap off, dry swallowing two of the pills and capping the bottle again, passing it back to levi.

"are we just gonna sit here and do nothing? no! we're gonna go get his ass." jj was telling pope firmly, his voice raising. "we're gonna do something about it."

"jj, we're not storming a jail. it's not happening." pope replied as though it was common sense.

"no, fine, man. sit in your comfy chair. do nothing." jj said, voice flat and lacking any emotion. "i'm gonna see what i can do. make something happen, even if i have to do it by myself."

"okay." kiara said, clearly agitated with the blonde's actions. jj put his cap back on his head, glancing over to emery and mara momentarily, both girls standing and following him towards the door of the porch.

"ems!" levi called, the younger melville turning to her brother right as he tossed the keys to his truck to her. emery caught them with one hand, pushing the porch door open and running across the yard to avoid getting any more water on her that necessary, but despite her best efforts, her hair still appeared brown as it stuck to her face when she got in the truck, her once gray shirt now appearing black as it stuck to her skin.

jj soon clambered into the passenger seat, mara climbing into the backseat and sitting in the middle, leaning over the console.

"tomorrow's visitation day at the jail." jj explained to the two girls. "i'm gonna cook up a plan and tell him what it is, if you guys want to go you can."

"i'm going." emery said almost immediately.

"if she's going, i'm going." mara added. jj didn't reply, just turned his body to be facing forward and stared at the windshield that was impossible to see out of due to the rain. emery started the truck, turning the heat and windshield wipers on as she pulled out of the driveway of the chateau.

"how's lee gonna get home?" mara asked.

"if he even wants to go home tonight, he'll call me." emery answered shortly, turning onto the main road going to figure eight as mara looked at her skeptically.

"what do you mean 'if he wants to'? is something going on at your house?"

"no, he's just absolutely head over heels in love with pope and i assume he's gonna stay the night at either heyward's or the chateau with him." emery answered simply. "we left and came back to the whole fruit bowl, if you can't tell."

even jj managed to laugh at the comment, emery and mara joining him. the pogues had always known how to find humor in a dark situation. when jackson left, jj had made the comment that he started drinking when he was four as a result of his mom leaving and now he and emery could go on booze runs together.

"mom raised the whole fruit bowl, i don't know what you're talking about." the maybank managed to get out, only making emery and mara laugh harder.

"does that mean you like men too?" mara asked, emery looking over at her brother with raised eyebrows.

"mom would probably expect it this time." she commented. "you wouldn't even manage to get out that you had something to tell her."

"maybe it's hereditary." jj added.

"very possible." mara continued as emery turned into her driveway, putting levi's truck in park and, yet again, running from the driveway to the front door with jj and mara right behind her. the trio ran through the front door into the kitchen where, as per usual, amelia was standing with her baking utensils out.

"how are we?" she asked happily, rounding the island to give mara a hug, which the stevens girl happily returned. the two pulled apart, amelia hugging emery properly for the first time since her return to the island. "i've missed you guys so much."

"okay, it was never a secret that emery was your favorite but it still hurts." jj commented sarcastically, amelia rolling her eyes and hugging the blonde.

"okay, sure." she replied. "go upstairs, all of you. get ready for dinner."

"yes, ma'am." the trio mumbled, all running up the stairs. emery and mara both grabbed random sweatpants from emery's drawer as well as different t-shirts, mara changing in the bathroom while emery changed in her room, the melville laying on her bed and mindlessly scrolling on her phone when mara re-entered the room.

"aren't we going down for dinner?" she asked, emery shaking her head and counting down from three on her fingers. sure enough, as soon as she out the last finger down, the door opened and jj stepped in.

"knocking is a foreign concept to him." emery explained. "what's up?"

"can we talk about fish?" jj asked suddenly, mara furrowing her brows as the maybank sat criss-crossed next to emery's bed with his head leaned back on the mattress.

"sure. why not?" emery asked, still not looking up from her phone.

"they think they're above getting caught by me." jj replied, mara growing even more confused at the evident hurt in the maybank's voice. emery was still unfazed.

"how dare they?" she asked sarcastically. "throw a hand grenade in the water, that'll teach them."

"emery, he might actually try to use a grenade to go fishing if you tell him that." mara replied snappily.

"that's his problem." emery replied flatly.

"also, how can they not breathe out of water but they can breathe in it? like, i don't get how they're the exact opposite of us." jj ranted.

"the world may never know." emery told the blonde shortly. "again, throw a hand grenade in the water and they won't be breathing at all."

"stop telling jj to go fishing with hand grenades." mara snapped. "also, how often is this happening?"

"y'know how john b tells you his shower thoughts and it takes him like four hours to get them all out?" emery asked, mara nodding slowly, emery pointing between herself and jj. "this is that."

"what if everything i see blue pope sees as red?" jj asked.

"i'm done." mara said bluntly, putting her hands in the air in surrender and walking out of emery's room.

"so what's really up?" emery asked quietly as mara's footsteps retreated down the hallway. jj turned to emery, chewing his bottom lip.

"i'm scared, ems." jj mumbled, emery slowly standing up and moving to sit by where jj was sitting next to her bed. "they're gonna find a way to make john b look like the bad guy, i just know it."

"hey, no they aren't." emery assured, putting her arm over jj's shoulders. "moms gonna pay for him to get a good lawyer, me, levi, sarah, and mom are all gonna testify against jackson, sarah and i are gonna say what we saw in the tarmac with john b, and, hey, you guys found that gun, didn't you?"

jj slowly nodded. "shoupe probably didn't send it in, he thought we were pretty full of shit."

"jj, if i have to send that gun in myself under shoupe's name for ballistics, i'll do it." emery said firmly. "i'm not gonna sit by and let them kill john b, we're gonna fix this."

"how do you know?" jj asked quietly. "emery, this isn't something you can fix, this is the death penalty. i lost john b once and- i can't do it again." he added quietly, his voice cracking.

"hey, j, listen to me." emery mumbled, pulling jj closer by his shoulders. "you're not gonna lose john b again. shoupe might not act like it, but he doesn't have the heart to kill a kid with no evidence against him."

"im just so over this shit." jj admitted. "i just wanna be back to hunting treasure and surfing and going to keggers and- being normal, i guess."

"i do too." emery said. "i really do, j. but hey, we're gonna see john b tomorrow. well go to the police station and you and me and mara will all go see john b and we can laugh and talk like we used to. it'll all be normal."

"no it won't." jj muttered.

"no, it won't." emery admitted. "but we have to make the best out of a bad situation. and if that means that we have to go sit through a five minute visitation with john b, then we're gonna go sit at the police station for five minutes."

neither of the twins said anything for awhile, not until amelia called them down for dinner. the trio sat at the kitchen island, each with their plates of chicken alfredo in front of them. no one said anything until mara spoke up.

"is everything okay?" she asked, mainly to jj. the maybank nodded, giving her a small smile.

"fine."

kens speaks 🪐

honestly so much of this is filler but it's fine bc i <3 jj and emery sm