The Bonfire: Cardiac Arrest

Trigger Warning: Rape Attempt / Sexual Assault while in medical distress. 

I'm sorry for this chapter, it's dark and twisted. This might be hard for some folks to read, the POV switches back and forth in sections between Willow and JJ, but the hard part is in the first Willow POV, so if you want to skip it, just read JJs view and the last section of Willow's POV. 

JJs POV

It feels really fucking good to be at this bonfire tonight, but I feel guilty for leaving Willow home alone. I know she's okay, she needs the rest but I still worry about her. I hope she isn't thinking about the bullshit from school today, I can't believe Tessa would think she had another chance with me, especially since she talked down on my girl the way she did. No one compares to my Princess, I could never get with someone like Tessa after being with someone like Willow. 

Tessa tried getting my attention when we got here but I shut that shit down right away. I could have been nicer about it but whatever, she doesn't get to hurt Willow's feelings and then get away with it. I was happy to see she has double black eyes from Willow slamming her face on the desk though.

I'm pissed that her and that other girl brought up shit about my dick, that wasn't their information to give out. I already get hit up by girls all the fucking time because of my reputation, I don't need people talking about my body like I'm an object, I don't go around blasting personal information about the girls I get with so they shouldn't do that shit to me. And I don't want Willow to have to deal with all of this, it makes me regret sleeping around so much. 

John B doesn't seem too bothered by Tessa and Willow not getting along though, he was more than happy to indulge in her attention when she turned to him after realizing I wasn't going to get with her. I think he just needs the distraction from Sarah though since she's here with Topper, I doubt he'd actually run off and get with Tessa or anything. 

I know Willow is safe from Rafe since he's here, I've already ran into him once since we got here. His face makes me want to lose my shit, the fact that he was inside of her.. that he hurt her. Fuck, there goes my good mood again. Might as well down some more beers and forget about that shit for the night. 

Once my babies here I can't party like this, so I have to get it out of my system now. 

"You gonna introduce me to your friend?" Sarah crosses her arms and stares at John Bs frustrated face.

"What are you doing here?" He looks confused on why she's mad.

Bro you're all over another girl, the same girl that hurt your sisters feelings earlier and with how often Willow and Sarah text, I bet she already knows about what happened today. 

"Same thing you're doing here it looks like." Sarah sasses, though I notice the sad look in her eyes. 

"I think we should go." Topper tries pulling Sarah away but she steps out from under his arm.

"I don't know what you mean. I think we're just getting started."

"Good idea." Tessa hangs off John Bs arm, giving Sarah a bitchy look, "You should go."

"Did I ask you?" Sarah raises her voice, stepping forward so she's in Tessa's face.

"You don't own everything, Princess." Tessa fires back, "You aren't even together."

"Why are you still talking?"

You go barbie, put her in her place. 

"Relax! Have a little respect! Her dad just died!"

"Shut up, Kook!" Tessa yells at Topper, "Back off!"

"She's a real gem." Sarah sarcastically tells John B, looking straight into his guilty eyes.

"What am I to you, huh? Am I just another one? Like that?" John B points at Topper.

"She just another groupie that you're gonna collect?" Sarah gets in his face, "Did... did I mean anything to you? Did you... did you tell her?"

"You wanna start shit right now?" Topper yells at John B from behind Sarah. 

I stay back so I can watch this shit show unfold, while Kie and Pope try to make their way through the crowd that's formed around us. I'm glad Willow didn't come, she doesn't need to be around this stress, I know Tessa would have caused more issues between her and I if she was here. 

"Do I wanna start some shit?" John B yells back at Topper.

"Come on, John B. Kick his ass!" A random dude screams.

"They all know what happened last time."

"Topper shut up!" I yell.

"Just get out! Just go!" Sarah shoves John B backwards.

"I'll beat your ass." Topper threatens, "Get out of here!"

Kelce runs up out of no where and gets in John Bs face, "Hey, she don't want you anymore, bro."

"Shut the hell up!"

Kelce smirks, "What you gonna do, John B, kill me like your sister killed Sheriff Peterkin?"

"Fuck you bro." John B shoves him backwards.

He smiles at him when he regains his stance. Then John Bs fists are flying into his face. 

I'm surprised Rafe hasn't jumped into this fight yet, he loves getting the chance to have a go at us, probably ran off to mack on some girl. 

"Stop! Stop!" Kie's voice rings out over the crowd.

"You're fucking dead man." John B slams Kelce to the ground, sending his fists into him over and over.

"JB, stop." I pull him by his shirt, as much as I like a good fight, Willow can't lose her brother to a jail cell for assault. 

The crowd screams for John B to kick Kelce's ass, but all I can think about is getting home to my beautiful Princess. I'm starting to hate the party scene, it's too much drama between the Kooks and Pogues these days. I just want to go cuddle my girl and talk about our baby and our future together. God, I'm going soft, but I don't mind it one bit. 

"John B!" Popes voice scream pulls me from my thoughts. 

"John B stop!" Kie pleads, "You're gonna kill him."

"Fuck. JB! He's down, we gotta go!" I get John B to his feet, keeping my arms around him until I know he won't go back for more.

"We have to get out of here!" Kie yells. 

"Let's go, John B, he isn't worth it." I tug the back of his shirt so he will follow me to the van, "Neither is Tessa, you know she's just trying to cause problems between us and our girls."

He nods, "Yeah, but--"

"You can talk to Sarah later." I pat his shoulder before jumping into the back of the van. 

~~~~~

TRIGGER WARNING STARTS HERE. 

Willow's POV

It's been an hour or so since everyone left, it's completely dark outside now, so I decided I'd had enough time in the hammock and made my way inside, grabbing a snack from the kitchen before dropping onto the couch in my living room, clicking on a show to watch to pass time until everyone gets back. 

I started to feel like I was being watched after the second episode of my show started, so I discreetly pull my phone out and pull up Sheriff Shoupe's personal number, he had told me to contact him directly if Rafe ever gives me a hard time.

"Willow, you're in danger. Leave now." 

I knew it.

The sound of footsteps across my porch make my stomach flip, I hit call on Shoupe's contact and set my phone off to the side so he can hear what's happening, because I know this isn't my friends, they are way too loud. 

Rafe slowly walks into the room with his hands held up, "I just want to talk, is that okay?"

I bring my blanket up to my chest, "Stay over there, Rafe. Don't come near me."

He nods, his eyes slightly rolling back when he moves, "I can't stop thinking about you, Brookie, especially after that night I had you.. fuck you felt so good to me." 

"You raped me." I cry, "You hurt me."

He tears up, "I'm sorry, baby, I.. just.. I needed you."

"You can't do that to me again, Rafe, okay? I'm close to my due date, if you make me have sex and it stresses me out too much, you could make me go into labor." 

"Run."

He crosses the room, ignoring my pleas for him to stay away, "Just one more time, please Brookie?"

"No," I cry while he pushes me back to hover over me, "Get off, Rafey, get off of me."

"I won't hurt you, but you can't be fighting it like this." He murmurs in my ear, his hands pulling my pajama shorts down.

Pain radiates across my belly when a contraction hits me.

"AH!" I scream in pain, "NO RAFE, STOP. PLEASE."

"Don't fight it." He kisses down my neck while his fingers slip between my thighs, "Relax."

"Please... stop." 

"Baby--" He freezes when we hear a noise outside, before we have a chance to react, Sheriff Shoupe and three of his officers bust through the door, "Hands in the air, Rafe." 

He slowly sits up, his hands shaking when he raises them, "We're just hooking up, I didn't do anything wrong."

"That's not true!" I sob, the female officer steps over and covers me with a blanket. 

Rafe gets to his feet, backing towards the front door, so Shoupe steps forward with his taser in his hands, "She's lying."

"Don't move, hands up."

Another wave of pain hits me, causing me to roll to my side gasping, "C-contractions..." 

"We need an ambulance..." I tune out the officer calling for medical while I clutch my belly. 

I tune back in when I hear shuffling and Shoupe yelling at Rafe, "Take one more step and we'll have to use the taser." 

"I wasn't doing anything wrong."

"I was on the phone with him," I gasp, "he heard us talking."

Shoupe nods, "Not to mention, your three years older than her, Rafe, she's a minor and you're taking advantage of her. And she's in active labor on top of that." 

"You'll regret it, Brookie," Rafe angrily tells me, "if you go after me I'll make you pay. You know I won't stay in jail, even with my dad gone." 

Before I can respond, he runs out the front door, Shoupe and two of his officers chasing after him. 

"Few more minutes and we will get you on your way to the hospital," The female cop kneels down in front of me and moves hair from my face while I cry out in pain, "Focus on breathing, can you do that?"

I nod and take a shaky breath, "It... hurts."

"I know, sweetheart, I have three kids of my own. But you'll get through this, the pain is short lived compared to the many years you get with your little one. Are you having a boy or a girl?"

I sniffle, feeling relief from my contraction dissipating, "A girl." 

"Willow?" Ricky calls out, him and his partner stumble into the house with their EMT bags, his eyes land on me and soften, "Baby time?"

"I.. think.. so." 

They start checking me over as another contraction hits me, obviously less than 10 minutes apart now. 

"This was a sexual assault in progress," The female cop mutters from somewhere in the room, "suspect fled the scene when we tried to apprehend him." 

Ricky's eyes glisten when he notices my shorts across the room, "Where's JJ?"

"He went with my brother and... our friends to the annual... bonfire." Before he could respond I grab his arm, "OW-W-W." My entire bottom half feels like a fire was lit between my legs, "FUCK." My heart start to pound in my chest, my breath turns to gasps as everything starts to hurt, "I.. can't... breathe."

"We need to get oxygen on her," Ricky calls out, "she has a heart condition. Lets get leads on her and get her in the rig stat." 

"JJ.." I groan, my vision tunneling into darkness.

I swear I can hear a baby crying. 

END OF THE TRIGGER WARNING. 

~~~~~

JJs POV

"We have stuff for smores!" Kie exclaims, breaking off from us to head towards the chateau.

"Hey, don't be loud, Willow's probably asleep." I tell Kie, she nods and disappears into the kitchen, leaving the lights off as she rummages around. 

John B and I get the fire going while Pope grabs the beers we forgot in the van. When Kie came back out with the smores stuff, we got busy warming our marshmallows. I couldn't help but feel like I should wake Willow up to join us, but she needs her rest. 

"Hey, did you really stick up for Sarah?" 

Kie looks over at John B and smiles, "Of course I did. She's not a real Kook."

"Yeah, tell that to Topper." He grumbles, turning to grab Kie's freshly made smore, "I just want one bite. That... Mmm."

"What are you doing? No, stop!" Kie laughs while he shoves it in his mouth.

"You're not having any of mine." I chuckle and turn away when John B eyes my smore too.

"Hey, hey. Shh." Pope hushes everyone. 

I freeze when I hear rustling in the bushes in the tree line.

"Somebody's here." John B whispers, his eyes looking around the yard.

"You don't think that Topper would..." Kie trails off when a twig snaps behind us.

"I wouldn't put it past him." I grumble while getting to my feet.

"Do you have your gun?" Kie whisper shouts.

"Oh, now she wants the gun!" I whisper shout back.

"Oh, now you don't have the gun?" Kie sasses back.

"Shut up." John B hushes us, "Hey, who's out there? You Kooks better not try anything."

"Who's there?" I chime in when no one responds back.

Renfield came walking out of the dark tree line with a cocky smile, "How y'all doing?"

"It's this piece of shit." Pope seethes, "You gotta be kidding me."

"Lovely evening we're having. Look, I, uh... I don't hold a grudge with any of y'all, all right? But this can go hard, or this can go easy. You know what I'm here for." He walks up to us and points towards the tree swing in front of me, "Let me give you a little demonstration. You see that swing? I got the best bow hunters in the Army Rangers with me."

He brings his fingers to his mouth and whistles, then an arrow whizzes through the air and slices the rope of the swing, making me flinch.

"Now, they're out there. They'll stick you just as soon as I say so." Renfield threatens. "We clear? Now, I'm not gonna give you a countdown or any bullshit like that. I'm just gonna whistle."

"No." Pope clutches the key in his hand, looking at him with hatred in his eyes, "This key belongs to my family."

Renfield laughs, "I'm losing my patience with you, Pope." After a long pause he moves his hand up like he's going to whistle again, Pope finally hands the key over, "Did the right thing, kid. Knowing when you don't have a choice is an underappreciated talent. You be safe." He walks off with the key, leaving an angry Pope behind him.

"I'm so sick of this shit." Pope seethes, running off to the chateau before we can calm him down. I furrow my brows when he rushes back outside with fear across his face, "Something happened in here."

I rush passed him, pushing my way inside, stopping short when I see medical supplies and blood all over the couch and floor in the living room, "Check the room," I don't turn around, "CHECK THE FUCKING ROOM." 

I already know she won't be in there but I need to know for sure. Footsteps sound behind me while my eyes stay glued to the scene in front of me.

"She's not in there." Kie cries, "Fuck, she went into labor alone." 

I whip my phone out, cursing when I realize it's still on silent from school, "Fuck, I have hundreds of calls and texts from Ricky telling me to get to the hospital." 

I shove my phone in my pocket and run for the van, everyone following behind me. 

"Did he tell you if she's okay?" John B starts the van and floors it through town.

"He said it was bad." I pull my phone out and look through the messages, "No.." I breathe out after my eyes land on a certain text, "No no no no NO!" 

I break down, sobs raking my body.

"What JJ?" Kie cries out, "JJ! WHAT?"

"Rafe," I choke out, everyone's eyes go wide, "he.. fuck I can't say it." 

"No." John B shakes his head, "Rafe was there, he.."

"He left, John B." Pope exclaims, "He had a girl with him so I didn't think anything about it. I figured they left together."

I read through more of the texts, my chest tightening from the pain of knowing what my girl just went through alone.

"It's bad guys." I finally say, "Her heart fucking stopped. And I was out fucking partying. GODDAMNIT." 

"JJ, calm down." Kie rubs my arm, "She needs you to go in there calm, okay?"

"This can't be happening." John B mutters to himself.

I practically throw myself out of the van after we park at the hospital, running inside as fast as I can. I stop when I see Shoupe, he rushes up to me and hugs me, which was oddly comforting, "She's stable now and baby is okay."

"She's here?" My heart sinks, I missed my daughter being born.

"She's a fighter, just like her mama. But son, there's something we need to talk about." He leads us to a private waiting room, "Willow called me on my personal, I could hear her asking Rafe to leave the house and to get off of her. I got there as soon as I could, but he ran. I've got guys out looking for him right now. The stress of everything caused Willows heart to stop when her heartrate got too high, we call it cardiac arrest."

I run my hand through my hair, "Is she going to be okay?" 

"The doctors can tell us more," Shoupe pats my back, "it's time for you to go meet your daughter."

I sniffle and follow him, leaving my friends behind. We went up the elevator to the maternity wing, and down a long hallway. Shoupe parted ways with me once a nurse took me into the little nursery where a ton of babies lay alone in see-through baby beds. 

The nurse, who's name tag says: Jenna, stops at one of the beds and smiles at me, "This is your daughter."

I smile while tears run down my face, my eyes glued to my sweet little Princesses face, "Can I hold her?"

"Yes." Jenna leads me to a sink and makes me wash my hands, which I didn't realize were as dirty as they were, that's embarrassing, then she takes me over to a reclining chair while pushing the baby bed with my beautiful daughter with us. 

I quickly sit down, and hold my arms out before the nurse hands me my little girl. I stare down at her face, taking in every single detail, smiling when I see her mama amongst her features, "I love you, little Princess." 

"Isn't she beautiful?" Willows shaky voice asks.

I whip my head up to see her being pushed in a wheelchair by a different nurse. Her curly hair in every which way, tired eyes, and weak body, one of my hands reaches out to caress her face while clutching our little girl to my chest with the other.

"She is, just like you." I murmur, "She has your nose and your pouty lips."

Willow leans closer to us, resting her face against my arm so she can see our baby, "How does Emmy Jade Maybank sound?" 

I peer down at her face, "I like that. Our Emmy Jade."

"I love you." Willow kisses my arm.

I look into her tired eyes, "I love you, baby. I'm sorry I wasn't there." 

"Nothing we can do about it now," She yawns, "I'm just happy Shoupe got there before things got bad."

"Did Rafe--"

"No, but he tried." She cut me off, "He was going to keep going even though I was clearly going into labor."

Anger floods my system again, "I should have been there."

She shrugs, "But you weren't. Lets not talk about it anymore, I want to enjoy this moment."

I nod and look back down at Emmy, "I can't believe she's here." 

"Me either." Willow starts to slump to the side, her eyes fluttering closed so I grab her the best I can with my free hand.

"Fuck," I look around until I catch one of the nurses eyes, "We need help."

The nurse runs over, pulling Willow back into the wheelchair, her fingers feeling her pulse. Everything went in slow motion after the nurse, Jenna, pushed a button on the wall. There was a dinging sound and an announcement for some kind of code blue alert, causing nurses to flood the room, surrounding Willows unconscious body. 

I held Emmy close to my chest, tears running down my face, feeling helpless when they start CPR on Willow after getting her on a bed in the hallway. I watched through the windows of the room until they wheeled her away. 

"Would you like to feed her?" A different nurse asks me, she shakes a small bottle in the air, I nod and take it from her, not knowing what I'm doing, but I figure it can't be that hard. I gently place the bottle to Emmy's mouth and watch her slowly drink down the formula. "Once she's done eating I can have someone walk you back to your friends." 

It doesn't take long for Emmy to finish eating, the nurse showed me how to burp her and get her changed into her little nighttime outfit, which she looked really adorable in. I kissed her head a ton of times before finally telling her goodnight, leaving her behind. 

The hospital felt eerily quiet while I silently walk with another nurse down to the waiting room, once I made it to my friends I broke down again, letting out all my emotions while I see Willow behind my eyes, her limp body being worked on because she stopped breathing. 

Fuck all of this hurts too damn much.

"JJ, what happened?" Pope wraps his arm around my shoulders and guides me to a chair. 

"She was fine.. and then she just stopped breathing." I cry, "we were talking and then she just.. she just fell over and they had to do CPR. I don't know if she's okay, they took her somewhere."

John B buries his face in his hands, "She has to be okay."

"JJ? Kie?" Sarah's frantic voice echoes through the hall, Kie runs out of the waiting room and ushers her into the room where we are, "How are they?"

I slump into my chair while Kie and Pope explain everything to Sarah while wraps me in a hug, "I'm sorry, JJ. She's strong, she can get through this."

"You didn't see how weak she was," I mutter, "she looked sick. Still beautiful, but I could tell something was wrong." 

"JJ Maybank?" I snap my head up to see a doctor standing at the door, "Can you come with me?" I nod and quickly get to my feet, "The rest of you can head home or sleep here, but visiting hours aren't until tomorrow morning at 9am." 

I follow the doctor, listening to her ramble on about cardiac arrest and heart conditions, but it was honestly way too much information for me to understand right now. 

I breathe out a shaky breath when I see Willow asleep in her hospital bed with Emmy in her little see-through crib next to her. I cross the room and check on them both, before squeezing myself in next to Willow, she sleepily kisses my chest and curls into me. 

"Goodnight, my beautiful girls." I kiss Willows head and settle in to sleep, running my fingers through her curls. 

I love them so much. I really really do. 

~~~~~

Willow's POV

"You ready to go home?" JJ asks me, while I change Emmy into her cute little froggy outfit.

"I am," I smile, "I'm tired of this uncomfortable bed, and I want a real shower."

"Your guardian is waiting outside in the Twinkie," He jokes, "you know, I was super surprised with how easy it was for John B to get custody of you."

"I know," I sigh when JJ takes Emmy from me, "I can lift her, babe, I'm not fragile."

"I know," He sets Emmy into her car seat and clips her little buckles, "I like to help, you're tired, just let me do things for you."

"Fine, you get all the dirty diapers," I chuckle when he scrunches his face, "you wanted to help."

He pecks my lips, his hands slipping into mine to help me stand, "Let's go meet your aunts and uncles, Emmy." He tells her while holding her seat up closer to his face, "You've only met your grandma and grandpa Heyward's so far, everyone else is dying to see finally see you." 

My hands wrap around his bicep while I walk with him through the hospital. As soon as we step outside, our friends swarm us. Kie and Sarah get to us first and gush over how cute Emmy is.

I smile when Pope pulls me into a soft hug, "Good job, Willow."

"Thanks, Pope." I step away, letting John B hug me next, "Missed you, Johnny."

"I missed you too, Will. Been a long week without you." He kisses my head, "Which we were sad you didn't let us visit, but we get it, you needed rest."

"We wanted some time with Emmy first, and Willow was adjusting to her new meds," JJ states, "now lets get them home."

I settle into the back seat next to Emmy, JJ on the other side of her car seat, while everyone else piles in, minus Sarah, since she took off to a friends house. I guess her and John B are still fighting. JJ told me all about their big argument at the bonfire, so I get why they're avoiding each other but it sucks to watch it unfold. I miss having Sarah with us, apparently she's always with Topper and her old Kook friends now.

That makes me sad, she's better off with us. 

My hand sits on Emmy's belly, while leaning back to rest. My body still feels exhausted from multiple rounds of almost dying, I have a couple cracked ribs from CPR and I'm obviously still recovering from giving birth. I was told that when I passed out, Ricky had to catch Emmy because my body relaxed and she popped right out. So JJ and I both missed her birth technically. The whole thing makes me sad but I don't let myself dwell on it, I can't change the past, and Emmy is safe, so we don't bring up what happened anymore.

"Welcome home." John B exclaims while parking in our driveway.

"Good to be back." I painfully climb out of the van, letting JJ get Emmy out, getting a head start to the porch to sit down on the couch, "Anyone want to feed Emmy?"

"I do," Kie rushes over to sit next to me, watching eagerly as JJ very slowly gets her out of her carrier, "She is seriously so cute." She smiles down at Emmy after he hands her over.

"She definitely is." I give Kie a premade bottle and watch them with a soft smile on my face.

Emmy is so adorable when she balls up her little fists at her face and I love her little chubby cheeks and ocean blue eyes. She's perfect.

"Some babies are ugly when they're this little," John B tells us, "but somehow y'all made a cute one."

"I mean look at us," JJ points between himself and me, "of course our kids going to get our good looks."

"Do y'all mind if I go lay down?" I quietly ask.

JJs eyes soften, "Yeah, baby, we'll watch Emmy." He helps me to my feet and walks me to our room, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I climb in bed and pull the covers up to my chin, "I'm just tired."

"I love you." He leans down and kisses me, "Let me know if you need anything, I'll bring it to you."

"Thank you, Jay. I love you too."

I'm far from okay, but I don't want to tell him that, I don't want to ruin everyone's excitement over my sweet baby girl being here. I can handle these thoughts in my head, the fears that nip at my nerves, and the pain my bodies in. 

I'll be okay eventually, I just need time. 

-