Tapping the Rudder: New Girlfriend

Third Person POV

Kiara and her parents go silent, their family discussion about sending her to a wilderness camp coming to an end when a knock sounds from the patio door of their restaurant, they turn to see Pope and Cleo awkwardly waving.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Carrera." Pope kindly greets them.

Kie jumps up from her seat, "Uh, I'm gonna get that."

"Kiara." Her dad warns, "Come back."

Kie ignores him and steps outside to greet her friends, "Guys, what's up? Now is not a good time. My parents are on a literal warpath about my future."

"This'll only take a second." Pope tells her in a serious tone, "Look." He shows her his phone and also holds up an old paper with symbols on it, "It's a letter Denmark Tanny wrote to his daughter."

"We found it last night. Family heirlooms and thingums." Cleo smiles at Kie, all of them sitting down at a table on the outdoor patio.

Pope stares at the paper and the phone, "We think we found a connection to the idol. Look, check this out. See the king sun glyph here?" He holds the phone up again, "It matches the one in the painting we found."

"Couldn't that mean it's pretty common?" Kie asks.

"Actually, no." Pope tells her, "These glyphs are Kalinago, which has never been deciphered."

"Never?"

Cleo shakes her head, "Never ever."

"Never ever." Pope agrees, "Some people believe that the captain of the San Jose actually found somebody who knew how to translate these glyphs because he found El Dorado."

"The priest that talked to Denmark Tanny, that was on the Royal Merchant." Kie runs her fingers through her hair.

"Exactly. Every glyph that is in this letter is in the artifact. This isn't just some random Rosetta stone for Kalinago. This... this is a direct translation key for the idol!"

"And we can use this to save Willow, Emmy and Big John." Cleo smiles again.

Kie stands up, "Guys, we have to get this to John B, like, yesterday. I may have burned my bridges with JJ, maybe this will make up for that."

Pope furrows his brows, "What do you mean?"

Kie sighs, "I was a little insensitive to the fact that Willow and Emmy were abducted, I made it seem like I didn't care but I do, I just wanted to clear the air first about him stealing from my dad, but he didn't care."

"I mean yeah, why would he right now?" Cleo asks, "Willow and Emmy are everything to him and they're in danger, of course that's all he can focus on."

"I know, I messed up." Kie grumbles, following her friends when they start to walk off.

"Hey!" Mike yells out, they all stop and turn to him, "Where you going?"

"Uh, to the break." Kie lies, "We're gonna go check out the surf. Can we finish this later?"

Mike stares at her for a moment, knowing she's lying, "Yeah. Have fun."

"Yeah." Kie, Pope and Cleo run off to find John B and JJ.

~~~~~

JJs POV

I don't know what to think right now, all evening I've been pacing the yard while we wait for Sarah to show up to the chateau. She called a pogue meeting; saying it had to do with getting Willow, Emmy and Big John back. I've been listening to Pope, Kie and Cleo ramble about the idol, or gnomon and glyphs and symbols. But it's overwhelming, I can't handle all this shit on top of worrying about my girls.

Sarah bounds down the porch steps, snapping me out of my thoughts, "Hey, thanks for waiting. Um... Look who decided to come home." She glances back at the house, John B timidly walks out a second later.

Fuck yes, we're back to game planning. Got my boy back.

"I have something I want to share with you guys." Sarah tells us, "I can get us down to the Orinoco."

I stutter out uncoherent words as I take in what she said. She can get us there?

"Are you serious?" Pope asks.

"Yeah."

"Okay. And how's that gonna happen?" Cleo asks what were all thinking.

Sarah grimaces, "My dad's gonna let us use the plane."

I scoff, "Ward?"

"Your dad?" Pope talks over me.

"We lay low tonight, then wheels up first thing in the morning."

I eye John B, seeing him wearily watching Sarah talk. He looks conflicted on trusting her, just like I am. This could go wrong if Ward or Rafe are planning something shady. It's not that I don't trust her in general but she's obviously wanting to do anything she can to make up for things and get her best friend and niece home, so her decision to trust her dad again might be the death of us.

"Okay, that's a lot to process. Your dad actually helping us." Pope breaks the silence we fell into.

Sarah nods, "I talked to him. He'll do it."

"So we trusting Ward now?" Cleo looks between the group.

"Trust Sarah." Kie states.

"Alright." Cleo laughs.

"That's all I needed to hear." Pope happily exclaims.

I scratch my neck and look away, not entirely sold like everyone else seems to be.

"But wait, I also just have one more thing to say. Um..." Sarah pauses to collect her thoughts, "Since we've gotten back from the island, I've done some things that I regret." She looks over at John B, he looks back at her with pain written all over his face, "A lot."

Fuck, I can't imagine how he feels. It reminds me of the pain Willow had on her face when she thought I cheated on her.

"Yeah, uh..." John B clears throat, "I feel... I feel like we've all done a thing or two that we regret."

I scoff when he looks at me, I did that shit to get us to my girls, not to be reckless for fun but whatever. I'm always judged for trying my hardest to contribute to the group and to plans, even after John B told me about all the shady shit he did with his dad, I didn't judge him for it. Shit, he just cares about me, cares about keeping me out of jail, but still. I hate being called out on everything I do.

"And I don't... Poguelandia, guys." Sarah exclaims, "It's all I've been able to think about. We were all together on that island, and it was a good thing, and I don't want to ruin a good thing. And I... I just wanna know, are we still all in?" She takes her time looking at all of us, settling her gaze on me, "Are we still all together? Because I am. I want to be there to get Willow and Emmy back, they deserved more than what we put them through, they deserve to come home to us together."

Kie nods and pulls her into a hug, "Yeah."

"We pon road!" Cleo sings, hugging Sarah next.

I stay silent and watch John B frown at Sarah.

"I love you." Sarah tells Cleo as they pull apart.

"Still can't believe you got the plane." Pope hugs her next.

I finally put my judgment of Sarah's decisions to the side, deciding to use whatever options I have to get my girls back. I climb off the hammock, all of us linking arms in a group hug, facing John B, "Let's go get my Princesses and Big John, alright? What do you say there, shit bird?"

He gives me a small smile before looking at Sarah, both of them locking eyes and sharing a silent conversation.

"I think this deserves a woogity." Pope excitedly tells us. "How long you gonna pretend you're not coming over here?"

"You in?" I ask.

Though I know he is by the smile that crosses his face.

"Come over here, funny man." Cleo exclaims.

"We don't bite." Kie jokes.

We finally pull John B into the group hug, cheering in excitement. If only my Princesses were here for this happy moment.

"Now we woogity!"

"Oh, we're really doing this, aren't we?" John B asks as he looks around at the circle.

"We're getting them back, just like I said we would man." I smile at him.

"We're doing it, man!" Pope agrees.

~~~~~

We ended up inside sometime later, I grab and beer and pass Pope and Cleo, glancing at their game of dominos before sitting down in the living room next to Kie. I guess we should clear the air while we have spare time, because Sarah was right, Willow deserves to come home to a healthy environment. Not the toxic drama that was happening when she was here.

Kie glances up at me while she strums her fingers on her ukulele, "Hey."

I smile, "Hey, uh, I guess we should talk."

"Yeah we should." She sets her ukulele down and fully turns to face me, "I'll start," She looks down at her lap, chewing on her lip for a moment, "I do care about Willow and Emmy, in case you thought I didn't. I know I made it seem like I cared more about the money, but I was only trying to clear the air, I wasn't dismissing their situation."

I nod in understanding, a sense of relief coming over me, "You had me worried, Kie."

"I know, I could tell. I felt like shit about it, because they're my family just as much as the rest of you are," She gestures to our friends in the other rooms, "but you hurt my feelings, JJ, I felt like I at least deserved a small amount of your time to talk about it."

"Yeah.. yeah you're right. Uh, like that whole entire money clip and Dad situation?" She nods, "Well, um, that wasn't that cool, and I'm kinda beating around the bush a little bit, but, um, I'm..." My eyes catch the glint of light outside the window. My heart drops to my stomach when I realize what I'm looking at.

I stand up to get a closer look, Kie following behind me when she notices it to, "What is that?"

"It's a fire, we gotta tell everyone!" I rush out as I run off to my room, grabbing my bag and throwing as much of Willows and Emmy's stuff as I can before running back out, "FIRE GUYS!"

We all rush to the door but the fire flares up in our faces.

"Sarah get away from the door!" John B yells.

"Fuck." I look around and realize we're practically surrounded. No, we can't lose everything.. my daughters entire life is in this house. So is Willows. The baby bed, her clothes, our special items, everything.

"The window!"

We scramble across the living room and tug open the window, filing out into the night while we cough from the smoke. I look back at the house with tears running down my face. Willow and Emmy will come home and be homeless. We have nothing now.

They deserve better than this.

~~~~~

We slept outside for the night, not like we had any other options since the Chateau burned clear to the ground. Once everyone was awake we split ways to get ready for our trip to South America, we made the promise to get to the tarmac in an hour to leave on the Cameron plane.

I feel conflicted with the idea on being on the same tarmac next to the same plane that ended up with my girl being pinned to a murder she didn't commit. If something happens today that delays me from getting to her, I'll be real fucking pissed.

I quickly throw more things into my bag, walking around my room at my dads house. I was so focused on grabbing important things for Emmy and Willow during the fire that I didn't grab many of my clothes, so I came to my dads to get a few fresh sets for myself.

I stop in my tracks when I hear an engine outside of my house, when I look out the windows my stomach twists in fear. Fuck not this right now.

"Oh shit." I whisper to myself as I duck down out of view.

A door slams while I hunker down on the floor, "JJ! It's your ol' buddy, Mike. You lost my load. Time to pay up!" I stay silent, slowly making my way towards my backdoor, "Alright, we're gonna do this your way. I'm coming in, JJ! Yeah, I know you're in there." I slip out the back door, panting as I scurry across the yard, stopping when I get to the tree line a good distance from my dads house to take in my surrounding one last time.

"JJ!"

I hated this house. It reminds me of everything my dad did to me. Fuck, go away memories. I shake my head, getting rid of the images of my dads fists coming towards my face, and hold my fingers up in peace signs, goodbye past, it's time for me to move on from this shit and focus on my girls. Leave my trauma in the past, because Willow needs me, I know this El Dorado shit is probably wearing her down. She needs support, she needs me to be okay for her.

I take off through the woods and head for the tarmac.

~~~~~

When I get to tarmac only John B and Sarah are there, which stresses me the fuck out. Everyone is taking way too damn long. But we need all hands on deck in South America.

"Dude, where is everybody?" I throw my backpack on the ground when John B doesn't know either, "We should get in the Twinkie, and we should just get 'em."

"Just give 'em five minutes, alright?"

Sarah throws her arm out to point at something, "Guys, there's Pope and Cleo."

They ride up on their dirt bike, hopping off with their bags, ready to go.

"Were you guys waiting for us?" Cleo asks.

"Yes, we were. You're late." I exclaim while tugging my backpack on, "Did you actually convinceyour pops this time or..."

"Cleo convinced him." Pope juts a thumb in her direction.

"That's what I'm talking about." I do the pogue handshake with Cleo, "I thank you for being a part of my crew."

"Anytime." She smiles at me.

"Hey, where's, uh... where's Kie?" Pope asks.

"I don't know." Sarah sighs, I glance around and feel guilt creep in, I pissed her parents off pretty bad and sorta made them think she deserved to be sent off to boarding school or some shit, "It's gotta be her parents, dude. They've been up her ass."

"They must've said she couldn't come." Pope reasons, "We're gonna have to do this without her."

"That's.. that's fucked up, what about no pogues left behind?" I run my hand through my hair, looking towards the road, "Do you think she'd understand why we left her behind?"

"Yeah man, she knows we have to get there as soon as possible," John B reassures me, though he sounds unsure of himself, "it's not like she won't see us when we get back."

"Lets wait around a little bit longer," Sarah chimes in, "if she doesn't pop up in the next hour--"

We all turn to face the road when we hear a dirt bike approaching, seeing Rafe fucking Cameron parking close to us with someone on the back.

"Oh great," I huff, "here we go."

Rafe jumps off the bike, panicking when the guy on the back falls off, blood splatters on the ground next to him from a wound on his torso. He turns to us with a stressed expression, "I need help, Sarah help."

She stares at him with wide eyes, all of us watching him pull the helmet from the guys head, revealing Ward fucking Cameron.

Rafe frantically hovers his hands over his dad, "Hey. You're okay, Dad." Ward groans in response, "You're okay, Dad. Come on. You're good." He turns to Sarah again, "Come on, help! Help! Don't just stand there." He watches her struggle with the decision to help, "I need some help, please, come on."

Sarah rushes over after Rafe gets Ward to his feet, "What happened?"

He wraps his arm around Ward, struggling to carry most of his weight, "Let's go on the plane."

Sarah grabs Ward from the other side, helping guide him, "Come on."

"A fisherman spotted him, alright?" Rafe stresses, "They know he's alive. We gotta get him off the island right now." Ward groans again, clearly in a decent amount of pain, "I got you. I got you."

We all stay glued to our spots after they disappear inside of the plane, not knowing how this will affect our plans to get to South America. Fuck this is stressing me out, my hearts about to bust out of my damn chest. I share a look with John B, knowing he's just as worried about travelling with Ward or losing our ride completely.

Sarah rushes out of the plane, immediately going up to John B, "Shit, this cannot be happening."

Pope steps closer with a pissed off expression, "No. Hell, no."

"Are we still going?" Cleo gives Sarah a weary look, unsure of her intentions, "Don't worry, he's not coming?"

"He wasn't supposed to." She puts her hands on her hips, looking at the ground, "He stays on this island, he gets arrested."

"I don't think you understand." John B moves to be in front of her, "I don't know if I can get on a plane with that guy."

"Just listen, John B, this is his plane." Sarah answers in a defeated tone, "I can't stop him from leaving. But he will still give us a ride to Orinoco, so if you don't wanna get on the plane, I get it. We'll find another way."

John B locks eyes with me, sharing a silent conversation, "There's no other way."

I nod in agreement. I said I'd do anything to get my girls, if that means we end up in close quarters with Ward, so be it.

Sarah exhales slowly, staring at John B with an unreadable expression.

"Let's go." He cups her face, "If you're going, I'm going. It's you and me. Let's get on the plane." He turns to Pope and Cleo, who look like they don't want to go now, "Come on, we're getting on the plane. We gotta go."

"With them?" Pope points at the plane where Rafe and Ward are.

"Yes." John B exclaims, "We don't have any other choice."

"Just stick to the plan." Cleo quietly tells Pope, "Come on."

Rafe appears at the top of the steps, his head turned towards his dad inside, "You're gonna be alright."

When he gets to the bottom step, Pope puts his hand on Rafe's shoulder, stopping him, "We're not done."

Cleo nudges Pope up the steps, "Hey. Don't let the devil tempt you. Go."

Sarah stops in front of her brother, he pauses, looking at her with a weird expression, "Please take care of him." She shakes her head and brushes past him, stopping to look at John B when she gets to the steps.

"Let's go."

Rafe squares up to John B and points at the plane, "You do anything to him, anything, I swear to God I'll find you." Then he shifts his eyes to me, pinching his brows together, "Where's Willow and Emmy?"

"Um," I look between Sarah and John B, contemplating telling him the truth or not, I notice John B subtly shaking his head.

Rafe steps towards me, "Where the fuck are they, JJ?"

"Honestly, it's none of your fucking business where my girls are, Rafe." I seethe, "You've done enough to Willow, bro, it's long overdue for you to fuck off and leave us alone."

He scoffs, "She's pregnant with my baby, JJ, so it is my business. I need to know if she's safe or not."

I shake my head, my jaw clenching, "You fucking raped her, you don't get to call her baby yours." My head snaps backwards when his fist collides with my cheek bone causing me to stumble backwards, but I'm quick to steady myself, smirking when I look at him, "I've been waiting for this."

I charge at him, sending my fist into his nose, blood gushes down his face, his feet stumbling backwards.

"Hey, come on guys," Cleo sighs from the top of the steps, "we don't have time for this, JJ."

I ignore her comment and dodge Rafe when he goes to tackle me, wrapping my arm around his neck from behind, slamming him into the ground before he can comprehend what I'm doing, I tower over him, watching him roll to his side, "Stay the fuck away from my girls."

"I'm not trying to get with Willow man, I have new girlfriend," He coughs, "look, I.. I know I hurt her, alright? But I care about her and regardless of what happened, that's my baby she's carrying. I have a right to know where she is. And I promised her I'd be there for her and the baby, I owe her that much. She asked me to help provide for her so I'm going to do exactly that."

I have no idea how to process his admission. Why didn't Willow tell me about this promise he made?

"You have a girlfriend?" Sarah asks in disbelief, "So you purposely get Willow pregnant and then you turn around and start dating someone?"

Rafe groans while he gets to his feet, one of his hands clutching his lower back, "I'm with Sophia."

She frowns, "Moved on fast."

"You're the one that told me to move on and let Willow be with JJ," Rafe exclaims, "you told me she's happy, and that's what matters right? Look, I'm not dads little puppet anymore, I'm not going to do his dirty work anymore. I know I'm helping him leave town, but I'm still upset over what he.. what he made me do." He turns to look at me, "Did Willow tell you anything about our... time together?"

"She didn't have to," I ball my fists at my sides, "I can imagine what rape consists of, I didn't need her to give me the run down on what you did to her."

Rafe shakes his head, "Bro, I don't know why she made it sound like she didn't enjoy it considering she was moaning my name and finished faster than any girl I've been--"

I slam my fist into his face, my last bit of patience gone. I feel someone's hand on my shoulder, then I'm being pulled away, I go to brush them off until I realize John B is stepping in for his turn. I move out of the way, pride filling me when John B throws a punch to Rafe, dodging his attempts to hit back.

God this feels good.

I sit down on the plane steps, looking down at my bloody knuckles while I steady my breath. It feels amazing to finally get some pay back on Rafe, no one gets to hurt my girl and get away with it, even if I had to wait a while to get him back. The fact that he wants to talk about Willow like that, make it sound like she wanted to be raped. Doesn't matter if her body responded to him, he still forced her, whatever she did with him was out of fear.

My body freezes when the sound of a gun clicks above me, when I slowly shift my eyes upwards, Rafe smiles down at me, the barrel of his pistol pressing into my forehead.

"You aren't leaving with them, I don't know what you guys are up to," He flickers his eyes over to John B and Sarah, blood dripping from his chin, "but whatever it is, JJ is staying here."

I scrunch my face, "Yeah, no, that's not gonna happen."

"You know I'll kill you, not like I haven't already tried." He yanks me by my shirt so I'm standing, turning me away from him, the gun against my back.

"You don't understand, Rafe," Sarah holds her shaky hands up in the air when she steps towards us, "he has to go with us, we're... we're going to get Willow and Emmy, they went somewhere with Big John and need help getting back home."

Rafe chuckles, "I don't care what you're doing, now go before you're left behind, I already told the pilot to leave. Besides it doesn't take that many people to go get them, you and John B can handle it without JJ."

"Rafe, please just let me go, we can settle this fight another day but right now I need to go get my girls." I sigh when he shoves the gun into my spine.

"Not gonna happen."

"Just.. just go." I weakly tell John B and Sarah, noticing the plane is running now, "I'll get Kie and find my way there."

John B nods, his face showing how conflicted he is to leave me behind, "I'll get them, Jay, it'll be alright."

"I know." I force a smile, "Tell her I love her, and give Emmy kisses for me."

"I will." John B tugs on Sarah, making her follow him up the steps, she keeps her tear filled eyes on me, frowning when the door starts to close.

Rafe shoves me away from him, "Get the fuck out of here before I change my mind on not killing you."

I regain my footing, gripping the straps of my backpack while walking towards the Twinkie. I feel like my chest is being crushed by a truck, it hurts so fucking much to be walking away from my only chance to get to my girls. But I know Rafe will kill me if I piss him off enough, I didn't bring my pistol, since it burnt up in the house fire, so I can't defend myself.

When I get to the van, I turn to see Ward going back into the plane, the door closing behind him. Seconds later they start to roll away, headed for take off. I can't keep watching, so I quickly jump in the drivers seat, tearing off towards the Carrera's, might as well go bust her out so we can find another way to South America.

I made things shitty for Kie, I made her parents think badly of her and this is how I make up for that. Kie has been apart of the pogues for years, so it doesn't feel right to leave her behind and maybe she will have ideas on how to get there, maybe cough up some of that Kook cash she has stashed away. Maybe we could steal a boat, shit that might work. I think Willow would agree with me bringing Kie, if we can even get there, but even after everything, I think Willow would want her best friend away from her judgmental parents and with us.

-

I know this is kind of a weird way to get JJ split up from the group, but I didn't want to have him run off to 'save kie' like he does in the show because that would destroy Willow. Originally I wrote it out this way and I made myself cry because it made it look like JJ chose Kie and that was not how I wanted things to go after her breakdown, I'm trying to build her back up, so I had to come up with something crazy to prevent him from being able to leave that made sense since his girls come first for him, he wouldnt just willingly stay behind.

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