𝐍𝐎 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘, 𝐍𝐎 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐄 - kiara carrera²

𝒙𝒍𝒗𝒊𝒊. 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑸𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒚

"Tatum Quinn," he sighed, dragging a hand over his forehead. "We've been looking all over for you."

The girl giggled and shook her head. "It's Heyward now," she corrected with a grin, hugging her brother close to her chest. "We're adopted! Exciting, right?"

"You know, if it weren't for me and my good word, you'd be rotting in a cell right now?" the officer said, unbothered by her unbotheredness. "You're the most dangerous criminal in this whole state, probably one of the biggest serial killers in America, maybe even the world."

The girl's grin only grew, amused by the way her heart was swinging off her chest and back. This was when the pouge's realised, when they knew they messed up, when the remembered everything. She hadn't taken her pills in days. 

"Ever heard of Eleanor Neale?" Shoupe went on, causing the girl to nod, looking straight at Pope with a giggle, knowing she was one of his favourite YouTubers of all time. "Well, she did a whole three-hour video dedicated to you and your story. It has over four million views, two million comments, and each one of them is saying how much of a sick person you are and how they want you fried on a chair."

Tatum leaned back, TJ wrapped in her arms, who smiling at the man in front of them, thinking he was just another friend to meet, another man to love him, and his big sister raised a single brow at the statement.

The pouges all watched her with caution, Kiara held in her breath from beneath her, all of them waiting for her to snap, for her to ruin herself all over again, for her to run wild. They should've remembered.

"But you don't care, do you?" asked Shoupe, ignoring the others, only focused on Tatum for the time being. "Because that's not what sociopaths do."

"Hey -!" JJ tried to interfere.

"Now, I don't agree with these people, Tatum," the Sheriff cut him off, continuing with his talk. "I actually kind of like you. But the law is the law. Step out of the car, please, and put your hands behind your back."

This was it. This was the moment. JJ clenched his jaw. Sarah squeezed her eyes shut. Cameron gulped. John B bit his lip. Pope's face dropped.

But Tatum abided. Lightly squeezing the hand hidden under the blanket, Tatum Heyward gently passed TJ to Sarah and jumped out the Twinkie.

From under the blanket, Kiara felt the squeeze, she felt the weight taken off her back, she felt the desperate need to rip off the blanket and chase after her girlfriend, to beg her not to go, to fight off any officer that tried to take her Tatum. But she knew her girl well enough to be able to translate every touch from her into words. This hand-hold was gentle, quick, soft - it was Tatum's way of telling her to stay there, to keep herself hidden, to tell her that she'd be okay. A burning hot tear slid down her cheek.

TJ, however, did not get the message. As he watched Officer Plumb roughly grab his sister's wrists, as he watched her throw his sister's head onto the front of their vehicle, as he watched her hurt his sister while she was being arrested, he screamed. The baby grew the rage that only a Quinn infant could have and thrashed against the lovely Sarah Cameron's grasp.

Tatum, trying her very hardest to ignore the orders her mind was giving her, to go against what her limbs wanted her to do, to focus hard on something else, met her baby brother's eye with a guilty look. She was leaving him. Again. She took him from his father to give him a happy life, and she was only destroying it. Over and over again, she kept ruining it. He would grow to hate her, to resent her for the things she put him through as a kid.

"Can somebody get that baby to shut the hell up?" one of the officers commented, which only made TJ wail more, clawing Sarah's cheek to get her to drop him.