The Coastal Venture: Wake Up

JJs POV 

We've been all over this stupid fucking ship looking for Willow, Emmy and Sarah. The only person we found was Cleo, of all people to be here, our old pal from the Bahamas just so happens to be doing a leg on the same ship we end up on. I'm actually happy about it, she's down to help us find the girls so now we have a plan to overtake the ship.

Pope and Cleo are going to take the bridge and have the Captain announce for everyone to meet in the forward hull, then Kie is going to lock the crewmates in once they're all in there. After that, John B and I find the girls, while Pope, Cleo and Kie deal with getting the cross to the lifeboat where John B, the girls and I will be waiting. 

Sounds like a solid plan, of course it is, it's my plan after all. 

"Attention, all passengers, all crew, report to the tween forward hull. That's an order." A males voice rings out across the boat.

I smile and look back at John B and Kie, "Go time." 

John B pulls the grate off the side of the wall in the container, we all file out, "Split up, meet where the life boat is after doing your tasks." 

"Lets roll." I skip off towards the cabins area.

John B takes off for the area I had spotted Sarah earlier on when she was arguing with Ward, which totally threw me for a loop until Pope had walked up with Cleo. 

"Come on, Princess, where are you?" I mutter, clicking open a door at the end of the hallway, my eyes land on Willow, "Fuck, baby." I scoop her unconscious body in my arms, while wildly looking around for Emmy. 

I don't see a trace of her. No car seat, toys, diapers, her bags, nothing. 

Where the fuck is my daughter? 

"Willow," I kiss her forehead, "Wake up, baby, wake up." I lightly shake her, taking steps towards the door, not knowing what to do. 

Where could Emmy be if she's not with Willow? Rafe wouldn't kill a baby would he? Is he that psychotic? 

My heart hurts when I take off running with Willow when I hear people fighting close by, I have to get her somewhere safe, then I can go back and look for my little Princess. 

I run through a darkly lit room, red cascading along the walls from the red hued bulbs above me, the sound of metal clanks beside me, then Willow and I are on the ground. I groan and pull her into me while I roll over.

"Its the same old shit," Rafe swings a long gaff in the air, "Pogues stealing shit from us. Stealing gold, my girls, you know, I can't.." He whistles lowly, "I'm not gonna let that happen." He swings the gaff down towards me, but I'm quick to kick him in the knee, sending him to the ground, giving me time to jump to my feet and grab Willow.

My legs push me to run again, normally I'd be down to fight this dumb fucker, but not when I've got Willow passed out in my arms and my daughters missing. I can hear him behind me while I climb a ladder with one hand, grunting from the weight of Willow and the metal being slippery from the condensation in the hot room.

"Where you going, huh?" Rafe yells, he falls back when a fire blows out of the engine, almost scorching his face. 

I fling us out of the room and slam the door shut, locking him inside. Fuck that was close. 

"Willow." I continue to run, finding my way through the ship, the sound of my little Princess' cry makes my feet faulter, I wildly look around, realizing I'm on the wrong side of the ship for the life boat. 

Shit.

"Jay." Willow's eyes flutter open, "You came for me?"

I blow out a long breath, "Hi baby. Of course I did."

She grimaces, "Ward said... he told Sarah that he traded the cross for us and y'all... took the deal." 

"That's a fucking lie," I shake my head in disbelief, "I'd never chose anything over you and Emmy." 

She clings to me, her body shaking in fear, "Get me away from.. him. Please."

"I am, baby, I am." I kiss her lips, "Can you stand?"

"I can try." 

I set her down, steading her by the waist when she stumbles backwards, "Shit, making me wonder what they drugged you with."

"JAY." Willow screams and pulls me towards her.

My hands grip her waist while I step forward, looking over my shoulder to see the Captain swinging a machete at me. 

"Stay behind me." I tell her before turning to face the angry man.

"Of course, there's more of them." The Captain exclaims, I guess he doesn't like stowaways, "Get down on your knees."

I shake my head, "Yeah, that's not gonna happen." 

My body ducks down when he swings the machete at my face, throwing my fist into his torso when he steps closer, he grunts and swings the machete around again. Willow stumbles forward and slams the dudes arm into the wall, I brush her off the guy and fling him to the ground. 

"Where's John B?" I ask Willow, while kicking the dude, "He should be getting the lifeboat, they might already be in the water to get the cross loaded." 

"JOHN B." She leans over the side of the boat, looking for our crew, "Shit." 

My head turns, hoping she sees one of our friends, but my body gets flung to the side. My head slams back on to a hard surface when I fall to my ass. Everything slows down when the Captain swings his machete towards Willow, the end of it connecting to her temple, I felt bile rising in my throat when her eyes roll back, her body falls over the side of the ship before I can grab her. 

Falling to the water below.

"WILLOW." I scream, jumping to my feet within seconds. I use all of my pent of rage, slamming my hands into the Captains chest, knocking him to the ground. Then I'm flying overboard, falling towards my girl. 

Leaving my other girl behind. What did I just do? 

My body plunges into the cold water, sputtering and gasping when I surface, I quickly swim over to Willow and pull her close, keeping her body above water so she doesn't drown, "Wake up, Princess, wake the fuck up." But she doesn't. "Please." I beg, cringing when I see blood oozing from her head, "I love you, Willow, I love you so much. Please don't hate me." 

She looks peaceful, even while blood runs into the water around us, she's beautiful. I've never seen someone quite so alluring as her. Everything about her draws me in. The sweet coconut smell from her soft skin, the cute little crinkle her nose does when she laughs, or the dimples in her cheeks when she smiles at me. I couldn't image a world without her in it. Maybe that's why I jumped, though I can't imagine a world without my beautiful perfect daughter either. 

Fuck I have to find her. 

"HELP." I scream into the salty breeze, "SOMEONE HELP." Please, she's dying, she feels cold now. I can't lose her. "JOHN B." She can't die on me, "Stay with me, baby. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"JJ!" John Bs voice rings out over the water.

I sob into Willows neck, "We're safe now, Princess."

"Oh my God." Sarah breathes out above me. 

I lift my head to see all of my friends on the life boat and my little Princess.

"Help, please."

"Let her go, Jay, we've got her." John B gives me a sad look when I finally release my grip on her, him and Pope pull her up into the boat. 

I'm too weak to do anything when they pull me out next, my body slumps into Willows side, one of my hands rest on Emmys belly, while I stare at my fiancés lifeless face, "Wake up, Princess, I need you."

"Go, John B!" Pope yells, the life boat lurches forward, hitting the waves, making us bounce around. 

Emmy starts to cry, but I don't want her out of her seat, so I pull her closer and rub circles on her belly, shushing her like I always do. She settles down and chews on her little fists, watching me with those beautiful ocean eyes of hers. 

Is this what Willow see's when she looks into my eyes?

"No no no no." John B groans after the engine stalls, we come to a stop, everyone panics around me but I can't do anything to help. 

"Willow, please." I plead with her, shifting in my spot so I can see her better, "Breathe." 

"He's got a gun," Pope stresses, "he's pointing it at us." 

I snap my head to see Rafe pointing a rifle our way, his eyes lock with mine. I stare back, anger boiling in my blood, he's responsible for everything my girls have gone through. I'll find a way to get back at him, to hurt him, make him pay for what he's done. 

The boat lurches forward again, John B driving us away while Rafe drops the gun with teary eyes. I sit up, shaking Willow as fear settles in, "Willow, please! Wake up!"

"You gotta wake up, Will." John B calls out, "Come on sis."

I pat her chest, hoping that'll do something while everyone begs her to wake up, letting out a shaky laugh when she finally pops her eyes open, "There you go, cough it up baby." 

"There you go." Pope encourages her, "Welcome back to the land of the living." 

Just like last time she drowned, which seems like ages ago, that was back when we were freshly together. 

I wrap my hand around the back of her neck, the other on her shoulder, "Hi."

Her lips curl up in a smirk, "Sup."

"Oh hush." I swat her face away playfully before hugging her head. 

"Just always looking for attention, huh?" John B jokes.

"Whatever it takes, right?" She weakly responds, a soft smile on her face when she see's Emmy next to me, "What happened?"

"You took the blunt end of a machete to the head."

"Next time duck." Cleo chuckles. 

"I'll try to remember that." She leans back, her arms wrapping around my torso, "My head hurts."

"Pope, look for a medical kit." My fingers gently grasp her head to turn her so I can inspect the gash on her temple, she winces when I carefully touch around it, "I think the blade got you too."

"Wonderful." She groans when Pope presses a gauze to the wound, "Gentle, jeez."

"Sorry." He mutters before glancing back at the cross being pulled up the side of the ship, "This shit ain't over."

"No it ain't." John B agrees. 

All I care about is having my girls back, that's what matters the most to me, they're my treasure. 

~~~~~

Willow's POV

"Good job guys." Sarah yells out to the boys, they look exhausted pulling the life boat to shore, while us girls sit with Emmy in the sand under the shade. 

My head feels like someone's taking an icepick to my brain, this shit sucks. And my leg is on fire from the salt water in my gator bite wounds and I'm pretty sore down below, giving birth did not do me any favors, but thankfully I didn't tear since Emmy is so small, still hurts though.

"Okay, anybody know where we're at?" JJ plops down next to me and pulls me in close, smiling at Emmy in my lap. 

"Deserted beach. Unknown island." Pope rests one of his hands against a palm tree next to him, smiling at me when I glance at him. 

"Alright, I'll take that as a no." JJ sighs, "Plan A, huh, Pope? That went well."

"This is the lowest we can go." Pope states in frustration, "We literally have nothing else to lose. The cross, gone."

"The gold, gone." Sarah adds.

"Seriously, if we had a nickel for every time we got beat up, I'd say we're at a dollar fifty."

"That's more than I got on me." Kie smiles at JJ when he looks her way. 

Sarah sighs, "That somehow doesn't make me feel better."

"Yeah, you're right." John B nods to himself, "But, I mean, we've... we've had some good stuff happen, right?"

"Name something." Pope drops his arm to be dramatic. 

I agree what has gone good for us.

"Uh, the boiler room. If the boiler didn't explode, I wouldn't have gotten away from Rafe." JJ chimes in, "He almost gaffed me while I had Willow passed out in my arms." 

I look up at his face, sighing in relief when I don't see any injuries from his encounter with my stalker. 

"That wasn't luck. That thing was gonna blow the second I stopped feeding it." 

"Stealing my thunder, Cleo." JJ shakes his head.

She laughs, "Sorry."

"Okay. Pope, you're related to Denmark Tanny. That's crazy." John B tries finding something else to be happy about.

"And I lost all his inheritance." Pope deadpans.

"You know what? Guys, this is it. This is the Pogue life. We are in the Caribbean. It's our own little slice of paradise. With my best friends, with my family. I don't know... I wouldn't wanna do it with anyone else." John B exclaims, "Look, and while you guys were complaining about every little thing... JJ?"

"Hmm?"

"I was looking at those burly lefts." John B points to the ocean, "There's some slabs out there."

"Just a few." JJ smiles and looks at me.

"Willow, you see that? I know you wanna get out there." John B grins at me when I look up at him.

"Of course I do." I force a smile back, being stuck here with a baby doesn't sound safe or healthy. Then again being somewhere where Rafe can't find us, that sounds amazing. 

"No boards." Kie states the obvious.

"Well, we can bodysurf till we make some boards." John B counters, still committed to his idea of fun.

"Lame." Kie playfully fires back.

"Pope? Come on, man." 

"They do look pretty tasty." Pope eyes the waves before turning back to us.

John B laughs, "Oh, yes, they do."

Pope looks around at the island, "There's nobody around. We could squat here for a bit. Kind of belongs to us now, huh?"

"You got a point." JJ happily agrees, kissing my cheek out of excitement. 

I flinch away, keeping my eyes on Emmy so I don't feel embarrassed. 

"Seven-way split?" Sarah chimes.

"Poguelandia." JJ pulls away from me and dances around, making me chuckle at his enthusiasm, "I claim thee Poguelandia... I like the ring of it. I'm gonna make a flag. It's gonna have a chicken on it. With a coconut bra, smoking a J...in Crocs." 

Everyone busts out laughing at his wild idea.

"I could use a J." Kie sighs longingly while watching JJ. 

Same girl, same. 

"Let's get to work." Pope claps his hands together, "We can start working on provisions. Set up shop."

John B kneels down in front of my best friend, "Sarah, til death do us part?"

She smiles, "Til death do us part." 

He helps her stand up, "Welcome back to the pogue life."

"Full pogue." Sarah laughs when he spins her around. 

Pope helps Cleo to her feet, "Welcome to the Pogues."

"Thanks." She smiles at him.

JJ scoops Emmy into one arm and pulls me up to stand with him, "Fiancé," He pulls me against his body, "to a long life together."

"Forever and ever and ever." I sigh and lean into him, playing off how dizzy I am by hugging him and Emmy. 

Maybe this won't be so bad, it's the break from the chaos that I've been wanting. 

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