Kathryn keeps staring, and JJ doesn't move or say anything to stop her. He just stares back. Seconds pass slowly, blue eyes in brown eyes, and she realises that she has to do something. Anything. Maybe shove him out of the way and run back to her uncle's house. Spill the drink in his face – he just saved her from Kelce, she knows that, but the molten lava in her body wants him gone.
Looking at him is like the past staring back at you, and taunting you. Like he knows everything she forgot. She hates it. She wants him to look away.
It doesn't help that she feels this sense of unnerving guilt. She left them behind. She's the one who vanished out of their lives. Somehow, it only fuels the fire.
She looks away, to John B, who just shoved Kelce out of the way. His eyes are wide open, lips parted in shock. She can see the ghost of concern on his face. She remembers that Henry told her his father was missing, lost at sea. Just like hers. She feels worse.
She has to get out. Sarah, who finally reaches her, sends her a look. "You're okay?"
She doesn't answer. Kathryn goes back to staring at JJ. "I'm not thirsty," she tells him, voice firm. She needs to get out of here.
JJ's smirk feels wrong, fake. It's almost grotesque, he doesn't even bother to hide his anger. Good, he should be angry. That way, he'll leave her alone.
He sticks his tongue in his cheek, as if he wants to hold the words back. "Why not? It's not like you talked yourself hoarse, is it? Haven't heard from you." His gaze hardens. "Haven't heard from you for years, actually."
Her stomach drops to her knees. He's doing it to hurt her. She knows it, he knows it, John B knows, a fucking bird would know it. Her mask crackles before she gets ahold of herself. It's not like she's going to cry, right here, right now. She doesn't even flinch, instead looking back into JJ's eyes, defiant. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he makes a mental note.
She has nothing to do with who she was.
She flashes him a picture perfect smile. "You know what, I was busy, actually."
"Yeah? For four years? You're fucking kidding me."
"No, I swear. I had better things to do."
Please, she begs silently. Please just leave me alone. She knows herself. She knows exactly why she avoided the Pogues, and especially JJ. She knows that if they start talking again, she'll spill the beans, tell them everything that happened, and they'll be disgusted and angry and outraged like her mother was.
She knows that if it happens, she'll die again. Henry and Max won't be able to stop her, no matter how hard they'll try.
"You know what, I'll drink it. I'll – Thank you, man. I appreciate it."
Kathryn didn't expect to owe something to Topper. Then again, is he really doing it for her? The Kooks are always begging to start fights with the Pogues, and rarely even need a pretext. She knows that Topper may be a good guy, but he's still a Kook. He thinks that Pogues are lesser, somehow. Surely, he should be aware that he's nothing short of a massive prick.
"It's fine, Topper," Kathryn tries.
Something gleams in JJ's eyes. "That's very nice of you Topper," he says, "but I didn't ask you. If you said pretty please, maybe, but you didn't."
Oh god. Well, this is not going to end well, is it? "JJ," she warns, voice low, but he barely looks at her, focusing on Topper.
Topper goes red in the face. "Oh, pretty please. Pretty please?"
"Yeah so," JJ says, looking back at Kathryn. "KD, you can have it. Peace offering."
She sighs, closing her eyes tightly. "Just stop whatever you're doing..."
Kathryn doesn't have the time to end her sentence, before Topper spills the entirety of the drink in JJ's face, screaming that she didn't want it. Kathryn gasps, and turns towards him – JJ is already gripping his shirt, harshly pushing him away.
JJ doesn't let him finish, anger washing over him, distorting his face into a mean grimace, and he grips Topper's by his shirt to push him away. Topper staggers back, out of balance.
Anger is written all over JJ's face. To be fair, he's right, but she's not sure a fight is going to solve anything. He tries to walk past her, but she grabs his arm, nails digging into the flesh. He tries to wiggle his way out, but she holds on.
"Stop this!" she cries out. "I know it's hard for you, but don't be the bigger idiot."
"Oh you're so fucking funny!"
John B moves to help her, forcing JJ back. The crowd is gathering around them again, looking to get every detail of the fight.
Unlucky for Kathryn, that also means that the other Pogues are coming. She sees Pope run towards them, before stopping abruptly. His eyes almost bulge out of their sockets when he sees her. "Uh... what... how...?"
Oh this is so spectacularly bad. "Not right now," she tells him.
JJ frees himself from hers and John B's grip. Resentment comes off of him in waves as he stares back at Kathryn. She stares back, unflinching, despite being very aware that John B and Pope are doing the exact same.
"What do you care, uh?" he accuses.
She clenches her jaw. "You want to get beaten up? Be my friggin' guest, JJ!"
John B steps between two. "Alright, alright, time out guys, c'mon."
Pope intervenes too, almost half-heartedly. He sends Kathryn a dubious look, almost like he's waiting for her to do something wrong. She makes a face. She deserves that.
"Dirty Pogues!"
Everyone slowly turns back to Topper, shocked. He didn't just say that. They were deescalating the situation – he did not just say that. Jeez, it's like that guy really just does think only with his balls.
John B is quicker than any of them – he shoves him, hard. It's a wonder that Topper doesn't fall immediately to the ground. Kathryn turns around, facing Topper, turning her back on JJ but still using her body to prevent him from doing anything stupid. Also, to stop Topper if he decides to go back to his initial target. She tries to stand between him and the Pogues. 'Going out will do you some good,' Henry said. What happened to that?
"John B!" Pope screams. "We're supposed to be incognito, remember?"
Kathryn sharply turns to him, frowning. What the fuck is he talking about? First of all; if there's one thing the Pogues are good at, it's drawing attention to them. She's the Kook queen, she knows what she's talking about.
Second of all, "What's that supposed to mean? You're fugitives or some shit?"
Going by the glare JJ sends Pope, he shouldn't have said anything. Uh. She tables it for later.
She doesn't have the time to dwell on all the reasons she shouldn't get involved – Topper stomps forward, ignores Sarah's screams, and practically shoves her out of his way. If that wasn't enough to make the fire in Kathryn explode, he punches John B in the face.
John B falls back into the water. In the middle of her panic, she feels JJ push forward, and she has to push back. She knows how JJ gets when he's in a fight. Having seen it first hand, and going by what's happening, she has to prevent him from making the situation way worse and killing Topper, or something. She's not sure she wants to know.
Topper grabs John B by the shirt. "Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?"
Something snaps in Kathryn, and she lets JJ go to walk towards Topper. Anger boils in her veins, let loose. "The fuck did you just say to him?" John B tries to stand up. "Stay down."
Topper retreats, hands in the air. Kathryn stomps so hard the water splashes around them. "Kat, come on. You know these guys just don't listen–"
"I know you're a fucking prick," she interjects. "I know you should bow down before this gets bad."
When she's angry, Kathryn doesn't feel the panic. She doesn't feel anything else. Just fury. She becomes sharp like a blade, and wants nothing more than to make the other bleed.
Topper scoffs. "You're not one of them anymore, stop pretending like you are."
He tries to move past her to get back to John B, but she shoves him back. "Why's it always about Kooks and Pogues with you idiots?" she retorts. "I'm not going to let you insult the memory of the dead guy, fuck off!" She keeps herself from saying that John B was her friend, because he wasn't, not anymore.
A muscle flexes in his jaw. "Don't touch me."
She laughs, shoving him harder. Anything to get him away from John B. "What are you going to do? Hit me?"
He raises a hand. "I'm warning you."
"Do it," she coos. "Do it. Hit me." She shoves him again. "Show Sarah who you really are, uh?" Again. "Hit me!"
The blow comes softer than she expected, but she trips on her feet and falls back into the water. She deserved that too, she thinks, for what she did to the Pogues.
The cold water washes over her, appeases the fire. When Topper towers over her, jaw set and brows furrowed, he looks like a dog with rabies, and Kathryn can't move. She's not sure she even breezes anymore. He's holding her down.
"Topper!" Sarah screams in a last attempt to draw his attention anywhere else.
The fire turns to ice. Her mind is overcome by memories, flashbacks that come in waves, and Kathryn thinks she's going to die. Or pass out. Her vision blotches, and she gags on the salty taste of the sea.
JJ looms over Topper, appearing out of nowhere. Something pushes against the back of the Kook's head. The safety of a gun clicks. Somewhere in the fog of her mind, Kathryn thinks; Holy shit.
Topper gasps, his grimace of hatred fading, turning into absolute terror. "Yeah, you know what that is," JJ says, smiling. "Your move, broski."
Kathryn rolls out from under Topper, and stands up, head spinning from the sudden rush of adrenaline that came with the panic attack. Her jaw hurts, she realises. If Topper disfigured her, she's tying his balls to her truck.
Someone helps steady her, and she looks back at Kie with surprise. Kie lets go off her like she burned herself. "You're welcome," she lets out, cooly.
Kathryn can only nod, bringing a hand to her jaw. She remembers when she ironised that JJ would try and kill Topper. It doesn't feel so funny anymore. She steps forward, carefully, holding her hands up. "Now what, JJ? You shoot the guy?"
Behind her, the Pogues start to all scream at the same time.
"Come on! Chill dude!"
"JJ!"
None of it seems to really work, because JJ barely gives them any of his attention, still holding Topper at gunpoint. "JJ," Kathryn calls softly, trying to get him to snap back into reality. "Put the gun down."
It ticks him off. He spares her a burning glance. "Did you say something, princess?"
She scoffs. "Yeah, I said put the fucking gun down!"
She deserves this, she keeps telling herself. Their anger. She can't get angry at them, it's legitimate. She needs to know this, to prevent the fire from burning them too.
Topper starts to pant, and she almost forgot he was there. "Okay, okay. We're good, alright?" Slowly, he takes careful steps towards his girlfriend. JJ lowers the gun.
Sarah doesn't look at Topper, instead turning back to the Pogues. "Kie!" Sarah screams. "Can you check your psycho friend, please?"
Kathryn glares at her. She didn't expect that from her. She's almost disappointed. Topper did just try to drown her and John B over a drink. Surely morals had to come into play at some point.
"Okay, everyone listen up!" JJ screams, looking around. Kathryn turns back to him, almost anxiously. "Get the hell off our side of the island!"
He shoots twice in the air. The crowd gasps and shrieks, running away. Kathryn keeps staring, then frowns. "That's... we're on Figure Eight, you moron."
JJ looks back at her, and he looks like he wants to say something, but Pope and Kie begin to scream.
"Are you crazy? You idiot!"
"Stupid!"
"Why would you do that?"
"It's not worth it!"
"I'm saving her life, okay!" JJ tries to defend himself.
Kathryn scoffs. "I didn't ask you to, don't bring me into this!"
His attention narrows to her. "You're giving me shit for it, seriously? You shouldn't even be here!"
"Oh you really wanna do this now?"
"To be fair, you did disappear for four years," Kie remarks.
Kathryn clenches her jaw. She can't get angry – but then again, can't she? It's what she's best at anyway. And they keep pushing, and pushing, and pushing, and she knew this was a bad idea, and no one listened to her. They never do!
"Fucking deal with it," she retorts, out of breath. "What, you think I left because of you? Get your head out of your arses!"
"Well then why did you leave?" Pope interjects, fed up with their little screaming match.
Silence falls on them. Kathryn closes her mouth, for once. She stares at the three of them, looking at her intently, waiting for an answer. She has none, not for them, not for anyone. Only Henry and Max know, she wants to keep it that way.
If she tells them; if she tells them... Some twisted part of her thinks she wouldn't survive it, if her old friends looked at her with disgust and hatred.
Which makes her realise that only three of them are shouting at her. "Where's John B?"
Water splashes, and they turn just in time to see him fall. All four of them rush towards him, screaming his name, but he doesn't respond.
He's unconscious. "We have to get him out of the water," Kie instructs.
JJ starts to drag him back into the sand, Pope helping him.
"We have to get him home," Pope corrects.
Kathryn looks at them with wide eyes. "We have to get him to a hospital."
"We can't. DCS would get him," he quickly explains, voice strained.
"DCS would what? The fuck happened to you guys?"
"Can't tell you," JJ says. The anger in his voice when he said the last word seemed to have duplicated. That's fair.
She doesn't think she's what they'd call trust-worthy.
"Anybody have a first aid kit?" Kie asks.
"I do," she proposes.
"Of course you do."
Heat spreads to her cheeks. "Alright," Kathryn sighs, turning to look at JJ, who just won't stop talking. "Fuck you JJ."
He leans John B on a rock for support, then turns to her, "You too, KD."
She shakes her head and rolls her eyes, before turning to Pope. He's the most rational out of all of them, on a bad day. "My uncle's place is just down the streets. If we can get John B there, he'd have a place to spend the night away from... DCS or whatever. I just have to get in first to disable the alarm"
Pope nods fervently. "Yeah, yeah, that'd be great."
She holds up a hand. "It doesn't come from the kindness of my heart."
"Yeah, 'cause you have none," JJ lets out.
"Fuck off, JJ. I want to know what I'm dealing with," she tells Pope.
"Bit rich coming from you," Kie remarks. "Why do you want to know? It's not like you're involved."
"If I invite killers with a gun into Henry's house, I'd like to know," she lies easily.
It sounds better than to say that she's curious what her old friends are involved in. She was always curious – her mother hates it. That, she got from her dad. And anyway, it's not getting involved, really. She just wants to know. Maybe help if she can? No – that'd be going too far. That'd make them ask her questions she can't answer. And besides, she doubts they'd accept it.
Pope looks between the three of them. "Since no one is going to admit we need help, I will. Add beers to the mix and we'll tell you everything."
She considers him. "Deal."
JJ glares at her, and she can't help but smirk. If he wants to be a pain in her arse, two can play that game.
Author's Note: KD and JJ are so in love and it shows a hahahahaha
Editor's Note: I was in full delusion at that point