A/N: The title for this is made up this episode didn't have one so I put one on it.
John B POV:
I hopped over the wall and made my way inside, going to the top. I walked in slowly looking around seeing that the place was empty. I head up the stairs to the bell tower. I checked each halls I passed to see if there was any sign of someone but none so far.
I stop a door that has a familiar feel behind it. I stand there and just look at it not sure if I want to open it but it was starting to open. I run and hide behind the corner. I waited a moment before slowly peaking out, I start walking to the stairs trying to see who that was.
I inhaled a sharp breath as I saw him. Dad. I walked down the steps slowly not wanting to be seen just yet.
"Dad?" I asked and the man slowly turned around and looked up at me. I really hope I'm not hysterical right now.
"Is it really you?" I asked again and I can feel the tears coming.
"What took you so long, Bird? I've been ringing for hours."
I walked down the rest of the steps and we embraced each other in a hug. I really couldn't believe that it's him.
"I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead." I tell him, I didn't want to let him go.
"I'm sorry for the Houdini act. It's a long story, kid." He tells me but at the moment I don't care, I'm just happy to have him back.
"Check the church!" We hear being shouted from outside.
"For another time." He tells me as we let each other go.
"What?" I asked confused at to what's happening.
"We gotta vanish."
"Pops, talk to me."
"Come on. Keep your head down. Head down." He tells me as we quickly make our way out, staying low so we won't be spotted.
"Shit, ain't going that way."
"Um, the Pouges, the marina, they've got a boat. Come on. Follow me." I tell him and we start running to the marina.
"Good boy. It's good to see you, kid."
"Yeah, you too, Pop. Come on, hurry up."
We go over the way that I came in on. We make our way down and into a good spot that we can take our time on.
"I think we're good. That was a close one."
"Okay Dad. Start talking. So you've been alive this whole time and didn't think to call?" I asked him
"What, you think I didn't want to? It killed me. It would've put you in danger." He tells me
"I was in danger the entire time you were gone." I told him
"Hey, look, we're here now. Okay? And I'm not going anywhere. I just had to vanish for my safety. And yours."
I didn't know if I wanted to believe his story or not. It just seemed liked he was making up parts of the story so that I wouldn't be upset.
"Look, it wasn't my first choice. You got to know that. Let's go find your friends." We started up again and headed down the hill to the marina.
"Come on, buddy."
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Narrator POV:
The Pouges, are out at sea, contemplating on whether or not leaving John B was really for the best. JJ was yelling at them in protest at how they could do that.
"So this is what we're doing, huh? We're just sailing out. We're just gonna forget about John B?"
They shake their head and just avoid eye contact, not wanting to acknowledge the question.
"We should never have left him. We're turning right back around." JJ told them going to the wheel.
"No! We're all gonna get caught. What type of plan is that?" Cleo told him getting fed up with his complaints. She stood her ground with him.
"It's a plan to stick together, Cleo." JJ tells her
"Then we are dead together" She tells him.
"She's right. We had to leave, or we'd all be zip-tied in the back of a pickup. We did the right thing." Kie said trying justifying are plan.
"Really Kie?! That's what you're going say!" JJ yelled at but I was getting sick of this, blaming each other.
"Shut up!" Nala yelled and they all got real quiet.
"I'm sick of this. JJ I know you didn't want to leave John B behind, trust us no wanted to. But if we all end up dead there is no way we can save him." Nala told and he backed down from yelling anymore.
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Narrator POV:
"Cone on, Dad. The boats docked right over here." John B and Big John ran over to the spot where the boat was at but stopped because they heard some men shouting, "Shit."
"They're gone. Singh must've run them off." Big John said turning John B around to face him, "Okay, plan B. We take my boat. It's back at my place. We gotta pick something up there anyway."
"Hang on, I gotta call them." John B pulled out the phone and went to the contact number and began to dial them.
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The phone ringing broke up the silence that was place on the boat just a few minutes before. Kie went to answer the phone.
"Who's that?" JJ asked her
"It's Portis" She tells them
"Portis? That's John B. That's definitely John B. Hold on." JJ went to grab the phone answering it right away, "Yo! Dude! Is this you?"
"Yeah, it's me." John B said
"Speaker. Speaker." Nala told him and he quickly put the phone on speaker so they could all hear him.
"What.... Do you need us to turn around?" JJ asked him
"No, don't worry about it." John B told him
"Yo, say it again. Say it again." JJ told him and he held the phone out more so everyone could hear him.
"I said don't worry about me, okay? Look it's way too hot here. You guys gotta get out of here."John B told them as he watch Singh and his men standing around the dock still, "Go back to OBX"
"We do not copy. Can you..." JJ said into the phone but Sarah wanted to talk with John B so she took the phone out of JJ's hands.
"John B. Are you okay?" Sarah asked him as she moved out of the way to let JJ steer the boat while she talked with him.
"Yes. I'm fine. Everything's good. Listen,-
"He's fine. Thank God. What happened?" Sarah said interrupting John B to tell everyone that he was alright.
"I found my dad. He's alive." John B told them but the phone was starting to cut out.
"Wait. What did you say?" Sarah asked seeing how his words didn't come through clearly. They called each others names trying to get hear each other better, but the last thing that was said was "Kildare."
John B and Big John got up and made their way out the dock and to Big John's boat and wherever else they needed to go to before leaving.
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Nala POV:
"Kildare. What the hell?" Sarah said panicking
"You guys think he found his father?" Cleo asked
"He's been missing for almost a year." Pope added
"Doesn't matter. If JB said he found his Dad then he did." I tell them. But honestly he sounded pretty happy when he said that he found him so I'm gonna be optimistic about it.
"Sarah, what do you think? Should we go back?" Kie asked her but Sarah was looking off into the distance. Thinking on what we should be doing.
"Sarah... We're sitting ducks right now. We need to make a decision." JJ told her ready to go either way, "Are we turning back around, or are we gonna keep going? Sarah we need to make a decision!"
"He said go!" Sarah yelled out but that clearly wasn't the answer JJ was hoping to hear and he began to protest but Sarah cut him off telling him to go. I walked over to Sarah and took as seat next to her.
She looked at me and I gave her a nod, she rested her head on my shoulder and started to let out a soft cry. I knew how she was feeling and it's the worst feeling out there.
"Don't worry Sarah, John B will be okay." I tell her
"I hope so."
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John B POV:
"This is it right here. Come on." Me and dad walked up to some gate, he opened it and we ran to the door. He unlocked the door and turned on the light
"Here it is. The spider hole. It ain't much, but it ain't a bad place to lay low."
"Okay, spider hole, good name." I tell him as I go to look around the place. I noticed the map on the table marked with the locations of the Royal Merchant.
"Still hunting, huh, Pop?"
"I'm breathing, I'm hunting, man, what can I say? This time I'm putting it all together, John B."
Pop rushes around putting things into a bookbag, I picked up 'El Dorado: The Greek Legend' book off the table, I see that he had a couple of pages marked.
"Getting close. I can feel it. Onto something big."
"I, uh... I heard you died at the Shoals, Dad?" I tell him
"Yeah, well, somebody died out there. It wasn't me."
Well if it wasn't Pop, I do wonder who actually did though. For the longest time I thought it was Pops but now someone's family out there doesn't know.
"Look. Just gotta go on a little retrieval mission." He said clicking the gun, "They we can split."
"Okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Dad, Dad wait." I said going up to him, "Retrieval mission? A gun? What...No! What are we doing?"
Dad rest his hands on my shoulder look at me with determination, "The game is afoot. Okay, kid? Right now. And this time it's for the mother lode, the big kahuna, all the marbles, alright."
"Right." He's still chasing after it. I thought maybe he would have given up but I knew deep down that wasn't happening.
"Okay. Come here. It is good to see you. It is." He pulls me into a hug and it felt good to hug him again. Even though I know something bad might turn up soon, I'm really grateful for right now.
"But if we don't move out, like now, the game is gonna end early. Alright?" Pop let's me and go and grabs his bag off the floor. "It ain't just Singh that's after us. I got mixed up with Limbrey and a whole lot of things."
Limbrey? It took me a moment to process what he said. I chase right after him,
"Wait, wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Dad. Did you just say Limbrey? Like Carla Limbrey?" I asked again.
"Yeah. How do you think we got a boat?" He tells me. I can't believe this. We have to deal with her again!
"Come on, man. No, no, no." I say in protest. I can't believe this is happening.
"She... she helped me out a little bit. It's logistics, etcetera, but now that I found you, I'm gonna owe her something. Better to pay later than now." He tells me but I couldn't trust this. I couldn't trust Limbrey would keep her end of things.
"I can explain it all. Focus, " Dad slaps my cheek twice to get me out my thoughts and back on him, "We gotta go. We gotta go!" Dad yells and I grab the other bag off the floor.
"Shit all over the place" I mutter to myself as I walk out right behind him.
"That a boy! This way!" I follow him down the stairs and down to the beach. We hopped onto a small boat and drove it over to the boat he had waiting in the water. I help him tie off and soon we are out into the sea.
I looked at Dad and a familiar feeling washed over me, I missed this. A smile rose to my face and I gave Dad a hug, which he hugged me back with one hand since he still had to keep the boat steady.
"Well done, boy!" "Woo!!"
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Nala POV:
"So you sure you didn't tell him where the diary is?" JJ asked me
Trust me Singh is the last person who I want to have the diary, after the whole 'it's our family destiny' lecture. I still haven't told any of them that Carlos Singh is my uncle. It's not a very good conversation to be had.
"I said I've seen it, but I never told him where." I say as I kept the boat steady. JJ comes down and over to me, he wraps this arms around me and giving me a kiss on the lips and cheek before sitting down.
"Why does Singh want it so much?"
Well I guess now would be a good time to tell him. I can't really hold off any longer.
"Well Singh said that it's our family's destiny to find the city of gold and everything that comes with it." I tried not to make the hit to obvious hoping he would catch on. Which he did.
"Wait. Run that back. Did you say 'our family's '? What do you mean by that?" He asked me with a confusion on his face.
"Yeah and that's because him and my father are brothers. And we aren't related to the Haywards, it was all because my dad didn't want my uncle to get us involved with his crazy ideas about El Dorado."
"Carlos Singh. Is your Dad's brother! Whoa!"
"Yeah. Major plot twist."
"Wait then what does your crazy uncle want with the diary?"
"Well uncle Singh said that it holds a clue to the location of the city of gold. He said the gold on the Merchant was just a small part of it."
"Okay, so the diray we have leads to a 500 year old treasure that no one's ever found?"
"Yeah that sums it up" I tell him
"I'm in. It's kind of like my best option at this point, so..... Definitely beats sitting in geometry class."
"Good point."
"I mean, I don't even know what'll happen when we get back to the OBX. Nothing good. I can tell you that. Nothing good."
"Well let's see, Dads going to ground me for life probably. Shits gonna suck."
"Yeah. I bet he's coming up with a new way to do it"
"What new way would that be?" I asked him curious to know his answer
"Telling his sweetheart daughter that she can no longer hang out with her terribly troubled boyfriend" He said working his charm
"Way to pull a Sarah. Demoting me fiancée to girlfriend. Thanks so much I feel the love." I tell him sarcastically
"You're very welcomed." He said taking a bow and scaling like he was getting applause, "But at least you don't got a restitution, tho. No job. No parents. Yeah arrows are going to be coming in hot." JJ said he was getting to his usually overly cocky self again, "But do you know what we do when arrows come flying?"
He pretends to start blocking arrows and making sound effects for every block he does. I laugh at his attempts of blocking and sending the arrows back.
"And that spear comes at you, you plant, grab, disarm, straight into the jugular, finish them off like..." JJ was giving me a demonstration on what to do but all I could do was laugh. Oh how I missed the days were we just could goof off like this.
But I didn't realize that I took my hands off the wheel and the boat began to wobble a bit. I start to fall but JJ catches me and pulls me into his chest, holding me by my waist, staring into my eyes.
"Just one by one. We'll defeat them all."
"J, you know, whatever happens we're gonna handle it together. "
"Nala, I-"
"Hey!" Pope yelled cutting off JJ. They both look over at him and he just smiles at them, "Just wanted to let you guys know that we should probably stop for gas."
"Alright thanks Pope" I said giving him a nod, "Hey JJ remember don't say anything about Singh, I wanna tell them."
"You got it." JJ gave me a kiss before he headed off to talk with Pope.
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John B POV:
"So what's the plan, Pop?" I asked him as I tie the boat down.
"Just like I said, Bird, just a little pit stop to get that thing I was telling you about. Then goodbye, Bridgetown."
I didn't trust this at all. It felt way to sketchy but
"Come on, partner. Back me up."
"Alright. Let's make this quick." I say as I follow him off the boat and to the shop across from us. We walked in and I see that it's some sort of history shop thing.
"Dad, what are we doing?" I asked as I took a quick glance around the place noticing all the artifacts.
"Just got to pick something up. Only take a minute" He tells me
"RJ."
"John. Please come"
"Long time."
"Okay then." I followed behind them, this definitely was going to turn south soon. I know it will. But I don't say much just listening in.
"So, what are you doing here, John? What do you want?"
Dad pulled the gun out, "Sorry for the strong arm, RJ, but we're pressed for time. I can't get bogged down in a protracted negotiation."
"Really? You pull a gun on me? Your partner, who saved your life?" RJ said opening up a safe.
"If you knew what happened, you wouldn't hold it against me. And I knew you'd buck at the finish line. Just give me the price.
"Armed robbery?" I asked him
"It's not robbery. The piece is mine. Ain't that right, RJ?"
"I think an impartial judge would say the ownership is debatable."
"Oh great" I mutter. I really can't believe we are really doing this. I thought robbing places was just a JJ thing.
"As you can see, I kept my part of the bargain, partner. Here it is safe and sound. Just like I promised." RJ said as Dad went to grab it.
"I've missed seeing you." Dad said as he kept unwrapping whatever it is. It's a rock. All this for a rock!?
"Here, kid. Take a look at this." I move over to get a better look at it.
"The Signpost of Orinoco."
"Signpost of what?" I had no clue what he was talking about or referencing. I don't know what this has to do with anything at all.
"This way lies the treasure, that short of thing. At least we think that's what it says. Next stop, El Dorado."
"Yeah, if you can find the other half...and if you can decipher it, maybe." RJ explained, "And I'm going to want my cut. Don't think I won't come after you if I don't get it."
"If this thing works out, you'll never have to sell a knockoff God of Fire and War again."
"Arjun! You here?" We hear someone shout from the front, we go quiet and RJ tells us not to move. We hear RJ say that it's Singh and we got worried. We listen in on what they say.
"It's always a pleasure to come into your shop, Arjun. You have such fine pieces, you know?"
"I would love to show you around, but unfortunately, we're closed." RJ tells him but Singh convinces him to let him look around and RJ agrees. I turn to Dad and see that he's packing up.
"You need to talk to me right now."
"John B, we gotta get out of here now." Dad hands me the stone and pushes me over to the window. I try to slowly move the table over so I can crawl out the window. But the table is being louder than what I thought.
I set the stone down and try and get the window to open, "Shit it's stuck." I start to search around for something to help me out and I pick up a knife and I break off the sides and gently pull the window out, setting it down.
"Alright, coast is clear." I tell Dad
"Alright, we gotta go." I lift myself up and through the window falling into a pile of scraps. Dad comes out and
"I gotcha! I gotcha! I gotcha!" I said catching his legs so he would land pretty okay.
"Help me out. Help out your old man, help me. Come on." I help him up as I get up as well.
"Where's the piece?" "I thought you had it!?"
"No!" Dad rushed back to the window to get the stone out. I go over and hold his legs so he doesn't fall in. I help him back out but next we know, shots are being fired at us. We take off running back to the boat. I untie the boat and we are off.
"You got it John B. Let's vámonos!"
At this point I'm wondering if all this was really worth it. Was going to the church really worth it?.
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JJ POV:
"Almost to port, bro. Want to fill her up?" I asked Pope. Things between us has definitely been a little weird. I don't even know why.
"Need to get some food too." still no response, "Hey Pope. Pope, look man." I say as I walked over to him. I'm now in front of him hoping that he will look at me so we can talk.
"I don't know what's up but you gotta talk to me."
"It's nothing at all." He tells me
"We're Pogues. We do not lie to each other."
"It doesn't matter." He said dismissing what I said
"Pope, I don't want things to be weird between us, okay?"
"Well, things aren't weird."
"They aren't weird now?"
"No, things aren't weird."
"Well, then who's lying right now?" I asked him
"Fine. Do you see her." He said pointing over to Nala who was hanging out and talking with Cleo, Sarah and Kie. Oh.
"That is my family, and you cheated on her multiple times. Nonetheless hurt her. I just can't see her go through that again."
"Pope man. I'm not going to hurt her, you know this! I'm gonna marry her. Everyone in the universe knows that I love her and hurting her is the last thing I want to do."
"I know that but I can't help but think that something might happen and you pick the option that isn't her." He tells me walking away. I just stand there in disbelief that he would actually think that way. I will always pick Nala, he knows that.
I take a moment to think, he was right though. I have put her through a lot, even when we were kids. I head downstairs to a small room, I got and sit on the bed with my head in my hands.
"What's got you down baby?" I look up and see that Nala was standing in the doorway. Looking down at me, with a worried look across her beautiful face.
"Oh it's nothing at all. Don't worry about it princess." I tell her pushing my hair back and letting out a sigh. She walked over to me taking a seat on my lap, putting her arms around me and gently playing with my hair.
"JJ, I've been with you since we were kids. I know when you have something bothering you. So spill it."
"You always seem to know don't you."
"Yep, so tell me what's wrong."
"Pope had me thinking, and well he's right." I tell her, I didn't want to admit it but he was right.
"Right about what?" she asked me confused on what I'm talking about.
"That since day one, I've always put you in harms way and tha-
"Stop right there." She said cutting me off mid sentence, "You don't put me in danger okay. I've been in danger before I've met you, and even now I chose to be here. To be with you, got it."
She said resting her hands on my face, "You always know exactly what to say to make me feel better."
"That and other things too" she said and we both laughed and I kiss her lips, she smiled softly and kissed me back. Man, do I love this girl.
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Word Count: 4141