dove and sarah both arrived back at the house in which john b was hiding in.
dove trekked slowly up the stairs with sarah behind her.
sarah had stopped crying halfway through their run back, but dove could not stop.
"dove? sarah?"
dove breathed hoarsely and john b grabbed ahold of her.
"hey. hey, it's okay. it's okay. i got you. i got you, it's okay." he whispered.
dove sunk to the floor, taking john b with her and sarah watched, tears filling her eyes again.
"john b, it's bad. oh, it's so bad." dove cried.
there were sirens outside and the three went up and hid below the window.
"we gotta go, okay?" john b raised his eyebrows.
the two girls nodded and john b grabbed dove's hand and dove grabbed sarah's.
the three were able to slip out the back and out to the dock.
when they got there, there were only two paddle boards.
"you two go. i can take care of things around here." sarah said.
john b looked down for a second, thoughts running through his mind.
"no. you two go. save yourselves and i'll figure something out." john b said.
"what?" sarah furrowed her eyebrows.
"you two go. now. go somewhere safe. find the others." john b repeated.
dove shook her head and cupped john b's cheek in her hand.
"no. no, john b, i'm not going anywhere without you. i'm staying with you." dove replied.
"you can't. i can't drag you into this anymore. i can't let you get hurt because of me. i can't." john b shook his head.
"i don't care. i would risk it all for you.." dove shook her head.
john b kissed her hard and she kissed back, tears rolling down their cheeks.
they then pulled away.
"okay, you two gotta go. i'm gonna handle things here. go."
john b nodded and grabbed a paddle board.
dove pulled sarah into a hug.
"thank you." she whispered.
"yeah." sarah whispered back.
dove pulled away and sarah wiped a tear from dove's cheek.
"go." sarah nodded.
"will you be okay?" dove raised her eyebrows.
sarah shook her head. "don't worry about me."
"okay. thank you again."
dove then walked over to john b and grabbed the other paddle board.
they got into the water and hopped on before paddling away from the dock.
dove waved at sarah one last time before continuing on with john b.
🕊️
"john b." dove spoke up. "you're going the wrong way."
"yeah. i know. i'm going home and you're going to the boat dock." john b said.
"what?" dove furrowed her eyebrows.
"i will meet you there, but i have to go to the chateau." john b replied.
dove shook her head. "no. john b, you're not going to the chateau. there'll be cops crawling all over there just waiting to scoop you up. you're not going home."
"dove, i have to. the gold. from the royal merchant. it's there. i have to go grab it before i head to the boat dock." john b explained.
"fine, but i'm going with you." dove replied.
"no. not this time." john b shook his head. "you're going to listen to me this time. i let you come with me instead of heading to safety with sarah, but you're going to the boat dock and i'm going home and that's the end of it. i will see you there. i just can't let the cops get ahold of you. and if they get ahold of me, which i highly doubt, i don't want you mixed up in all of that. so we're separating just for now."
dove sighed. "i hate this so much."
john b reached over and grabbed her hand.
"i know. i do too. but it's going to work out. i promise. i'll see you in a minute, okay?" john b raised his eyebrows.
dove nodded. "yeah."
"okay. i love you, birdie."
"i love you more, bird."
she watched as he slipped his hand away and began paddling away, not looking back.
🕊️
dove continued paddling, journeying to the dock on her own.
she was slowing down, as she was getting exhausted and felt so alone.
she kept paddling until she saw a huge boat heading her way. it was the glissons' and a few of their friends.
gasping, dove slid off of her paddle board and sunk underwater so they wouldn't notice her.
she stayed underwater for as long as she could. she needed to get up for air. she felt like she was drowning and slowly sinking deeper.
not being able to take it anymore, she came up and saw that the glisson's boat was long behind her and she let out a breath then panted again.
she slid back on her paddle board after taking a small break and continued paddling to the dock.
🕊️
"where's dove? she—we got separated in the swamp and she was supposed to be here. i'd thought she'd get here before me." john b asked.
"no, no we haven't seen her, man." pope answered.
dove pushed the paddle board onto the dock and then pushed herself up.
"i'm right here."
john b turned around.
he smiled and made his way over to her, pulling her in.
"you came for me, birdie."
"i'll always come for you, bird."
she then grabbed his face and pulled him in for a long awaited, passionate kiss.
john b and dove pulled away then stepped up onto the boat.
john b turned to their friends with tears in his eyes. dove could barely even look at them or she would bawl her eyes out.
"hey, hey. i'm sorry for basically...throwing us off a cliff with this whole treasure hunt thing." john b apologized.
"hey, john b, yo. we were bound to run off a cliff at some point, right?" jj raised his eyebrows.
they all chuckled and dove looked up. the second she looked at her friends she began crying.
"yeah." john b whispered.
"at least we did it together, though. pogue style." jj said and pulled pope and kie into him.
dove squeezed john b's hand and buried her face into his upper arm.
"pogue style." john b whimpered.
"get out of here. now." kie ordered.
"we'll see you in two months, down in mexico." pope added.
"love you." jj said.
dove pressed her hand to her heart and blew a kiss to them. there was a million things she wanted to say, but she just couldn't. she didn't know how. she couldn't even form words.
the two then took off and dove turned back watching ad the others got smaller and smaller until she couldn't see them anymore.
🕊️
the sun started to set and it was almost dark out.
thunder was rumbling, but it wasn't really raining yet. dove could feel the dampness in the air, though. she knew the storm would start soon enough. she didn't know what they were gonna do when the storm really started.
they rode through the water by the base where the police department and the SBI were.
"theres so many people there. almost the entire police department plus the SBI."
"we have to go dark."
dove nodded and they went dark, drifting through the water slower than ever so they weren't noticed.
"we're clear." john b said eventually and sped up.
dove looked at the boy and kissed him on the cheek.
"for once i think we're gonna make it. we might be okay."
"as long as we're together, we'll be okay."
dove half-smiled and planted another kiss on his cheek.
the thunder began rumbling harder and lightening struck, the wind picking up.
dove looked around and noticed the whole island lighting up and the light from the light house spinning around.
"no. no, no. they're...they're gonna see us. john b, they're gonna see us! they're gonna see us!" dove exclaimed.
"just get down!" john b exclaimed.
dove got down while john b tried to get the boat running again.
police boats behind railing them and john b was able to speed up.
dove lifted her head up and saw them.
"john b, they're coming."
"we...we need to go south."
"into the storm?"
"into the storm."
thats when dove noticed the rain.
as they went south, there water got rough and splashed up and onto the boat.
the two held onto each other as the water got even rougher, soaking them.
"john b. it's mary." a voice said over the speaker on the boat.
dove looked over at john b, then back at the speaker.
"john b, i know ya there, kid. and i know ya with my beautiful babygirl. if you truly love my dovie, you'll bring her back here where she belongs. if you love her, you won't put her through all of this." mary said.
dove and john b looked each other and then back at the radio.
dove shook her head. "don't you dare listen to her, john b. i'm not going back. and neither are you."
"i know. i'd rather die than go to jail, birdie." john b said.
she looked up at him.
"and i would rather die than ever live with out you, bird."
john b looked at her and kissed her hardly.
"you're heading into a storm that you both cannot survive. just come back here and we can all figure everything out." ward then spoke.
john b picked up the radio.
"john b?" dove furrowed her eyebrows.
"ward cameron, can you hear me?"
"yes. yes, son, i'm right here. i'm right here."
"you killed my father and you and mary framed me for a murder i didn't commit! you took everything from me!" john b exclaimed.
"john b, sweetie, listen—."
dove snatched the radio out of john b's hands.
"don't you dare try to talk to him, mary! you're an evil, selfish bitch! you think by framing john b for murder, you can get closer to me or build up our relationship, but that relationship, if you could even consider it a relationship, ended as soon as dad died and you left. there's nothing there. there is nothing fucking there. so we're not coming back. and i hope to god that i never see you again."
john b then took the radio back from dove.
"and i swear to god, mary. ward. i will come back one day and take what's mine. so you two listen to me, alright? i'm coming for you. both of you."
john b then put down the radio and grabbed onto dove hardly.
a wave crashed, causing dove to scream.
dove squeezed john b with all her might.
"grab onto something!" john b called.
dove grabbed onto a bar above her.
another wave crashed and dove burins her head into john b's neck before everything went black.
🕊️
"birdie. birdie? birdie! dove!"
dove picked her head up and looked around.
she was in the middle of the ocean holding onto the bottom of a boat with a life jacket on.
before she could even do anything, she began coughing and hacking.
"birdie!"
"bird?"
"i'm coming!"
dove coughed again as john b swam over to her.
he took her in his am and she rubbed his hair back.
"we're alive, bird." dove squeaked.
john b nodded and smiled. "yeah. yeah, we're—. dove. dove, look!"
dove looked over and saw a huge boat passing by.
they both started screaming and yelling for help, waving their arms in the air.
dove looked around. she needed something shiny to reflect the sun so they would notice the two better.
dove then realized. the gold.
she opened the backpack and got out the gold as john b continued screaming.
"hey, help!" she yelled as she held up the gold.
"help!"
they continued screaming help, but the boat passed them by and dove closed her eyes and began crying.
"dove. oh, dove, i'm so sorry."
dove shook her head. "no. none of this is your fault."
he kissed her cheek and she looked over at the boat and saw something shining.
"john b, they see us!"
"here! over here!"
dove held up the gold as john b waved.
dove let out a chuckle and john b kissed her neck.
when the boat got to them, they were helped up and the people gave them towels to dry off and get warm.
"hey, larry! get some coffee on!" one of the men yelled.
he was a bigger black man. he seemed to be the captain of the ship.
the man began talking as they followed him up the stairs and inside of the ship.
"anybody i can call, let 'em know that you're okay?" the man asked.
dove turned to john b, knowing immediately who she wanted to call.
"sarah. john b, we have to call sarah. she can tell the others, but i want sarah to know." dove whispered.
john b shook his head. "birdie, it's too dangerous right now. obviously we're going to tell them, but right now..."
dove nodded. "you're right."
"whatcha talking about over there?" the man asked.
"oh. um, we were just saying that there's...there's no one for us to call." dove replied.
"alright. come on in, get warm, man. yo, larry, put some soup on too!" the man shouted.
dove stepped in and immediately looked to see if john b was right behind her and, of course, he was."
the man raised his eyebrows as dove and she looked away.
dream a little dream of me was playing on the radio.
larry handed the two coffee after the man told dove to take a seat, which of course she did.
"so, where were y'all trying to go?" the man questioned.
"um..." dove trialed off.
john b came over and pulled her into him.
"could you just drop us off at the next port?" john b asked.
"yeah, it doesn't matter where." dove shook her head.
"i was young and in love once. turned into a goddamn disaster. it was fun while it lasted, though." the man said when he noticed the way john b was holding dove.
dove don't know why she did it. she didn't know why she felt the need to, but she did.
"have you ever been married, though?" she spoke up.
the man looked at her. "excuse me, girlie?"
"i asked if you've been married before." dove repeated.
"no i haven't. have you been married?" he raised his eyebrows.
"i'm married right now." she replied with a smile.
she grabbed john b's hand and showed the man the little pieces of the bandana that were around their wrists.
"nah, y'all ain't married. those are just pieces of a shroud." he chuckled.
"yeah, they might be, but it's like our wedding rings. we even did it in a real church." dove shrugged.
the man squinted at her then looked to john b who smiled. the man started nodding.
"well alright. congratulations."
dove smiled and looked up at john b who grinned down at her.
it was silent for a little bit until john b spoke up again.
"where'd you say you were going again?" he asked the man.
"nassau." the man answered.
dove looked up at john b.
"the bahamas."
"the gold."
dove nodded and tucked her head into john b's chest and the boy just kept on smiling.
AUTHORS NOTE
onto season two!
muah,
lea <3