𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙮 𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚 𑁍 𝙟𝙟 𝙢𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙠

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡

And in all honesty, she didn't want to go anywhere else. She just wanted JJ.

So she ran, lungs burning and breath strained, forcing herself to keep going until she saw the house in question. Once it finally came into view, she could feel a slight weight lift off her shoulders - partly because she was too tired to keep running and partly because she knew there was a chance JJ would be there.

Blue rushed through the tall, unkept grass and pushed through her exhaustion, deciding to go around back instead of heading towards the front porch. She knew that if the blond boy was there, he most likely wouldn't be inside. JJ liked to avoid his house as much as possible, so he was often killing time by fixing his dirt bike outside or just smoking a joint in the hammock, not wanting to be trapped in the same space his father inhabited.

When she finally turned into the backyard, she could have cried tears of joy. There he was, standing in the middle of the lawn, ears covered by a pair of old muffs as he stood with his precious gun in hand. In her rush to her safe haven, she hadn't taken the time to slow down or see what he was shooting at; she simply kept running and decided to yell to make sure he could hear her over the earmuffs.

"JJ!" She exclaimed, almost groaning in annoyance when he didn't acknowledge her call in any way. He stood with the gun in one hand, pointing it at his target, clearly mumbling something to himself as he did so. Blue took a quick breath before trying again. "JJ!"

He heard her that time. He whipped around, eyes wide and full of shock, instinctively moving his gun with him - keeping the shooter's stance and pointing the weapon at Blue. She instantly screeched at the sight of the barrel staring down at her and dropped to the ground, afraid he would accidently pull the trigger in his startled state.

"Blue?!" JJ yelled, staring at her with an expression that could only be described as shocked and slightly guilty. He quickly put the gun down, setting it on a tree stump before running over to where she sat on the grass. "You scared the shit out of me!" He reached down to pull her up, keeping his hands on her arms after she was standing.

"You just pointed a gun at me!" Blue cried.

"I didn't mean to!"

She nodded, knowing that already, but still recovering from the disastrous occurrence. Despite her shocked and overwhelmed state, she clung onto him, her hands gripping his biceps as she fought to catch her breath.  She then looked over, seeing a stuffed animal with several bullet holes decorating its matted fur. "Are you shooting a teddy bear?"

"Never mind that." He dismissed the question, noticing her distressed appearance, his eyes raking her frame as he took in her flushed cheeks and her chest heaving up and down. "What's wrong? Did you run all the way here?!" He asked, concern beginning to lace through his features as he spoke.

"Yes." Blue spoke through an airy voice. "Hold on, let me...let me catch my breath."

JJ unwound himself from her and turned away, grabbing his half-gone water bottle from the tree stump and bringing it over to her. She took it without hesitation and chugged it down, the liquid disappearing down her throat in mere seconds. JJ's hands returned to her arms after she was done with the drink.

Once Blue was finally able to breath normally and calm herself down, she looked back up at him, seeing the intensity swimming in his ocean eyes. She could tell he was growing anxious, obviously knowing that if she had run all the way over to his house, something was very, very wrong.

"What's going on?" He asked, his tone taking on a gentle note, but still carrying a sense of worry with it.

"DCS came," She started, "And they wanted to take us. Oh god, it was so awful, J. They were gonna take us without any warning. We weren't even gonna get to say goodbye!" Her words started to become erratic, the very recent memories of thinking she was going to have to leave without being prepared taking over her mind once again.