This chapter got away from me and turned out a lot longer than initially intended... but I am SOOOOO excited to post it.

I'm only three chapters in and this is one of my favorites... but that just could be because of the ending ;)

Anyway, I read and re-read this and I know there are probably still errors to be found.

There was a window between us, we were upstairs, and he was down, but the sound of the gunshot still rang loudly in my head, as if I had been standing right there. It's the sound I hear in my dreams since the day we were shot at on the marsh... since I was shot at John B's, when Peterkin's was shot, when Rafe shot into the sky after pointing the gun at me, after I shot my dad... I was exhausted but sleep was not coming anytime soon, between being in a crazed man's house who kidnapped us and having Rafe only a few feet away on the floor, I was very uneasy.

Kie lay next to me on the bed and based on her tossing and turning I knew she was having the same problem I was. Staring up at the bed canopy I let myself wonder about the others. If they were safe, if JJ was okay... if he was planning something recklase because I knew he probably was. I wanted him here... no, I wanted to be with him... I wanted to be back on the island.

"Roe." Kie whispered beside me, and I could hear her shuffle in the covers to turn and face me. "Are you up?"

"Yeah." I answered quietly turning my head to look at her. "Can't sleep."

"You think he's asleep?" She asked her eyes looking at the foot of the bed, where Rafe was lying. Sitting up quietly I moved to the end of the bed and listened carefully. I could hear soft heavy breathing from the ground.

"It sounds like it... but I mean..." I shrugged lying back down.

"Listen..." she said her voice getting even quieter, causing me to scowl and scoot closer to her to hear. "I... I want to tell Singh about the diary."

"Are you nuts!" I exclaimed in a loud whisper and Kie quickly covered my mouth with her hand shushing me. I shook her hand from my mouth, "why the hell would you want to tell him?"

"Look around Rowyn..." she sighed nervously biting at her fingernail. "we are locked in a room with Rafe... we don't know where our friends are... This Singh guy doesn't seem like the guy that's just gonna let us walk out of here, even if we do convince him that we don't know anything."

"He also doesn't seem like the guy that is going to believe us if we tell him we have it..." I scoffed quietly rolling my eyes.

"What if I tell him we need to get it for him?"

"You really think he's going to just lets us walk out of here, trusting us to come back?" I scowl at her.

"What other choice do we have?" She hissed at me, and I sat there in silence thinking. She was right. Our options were severely limited.

"I get it." I sighed. "I just..."

"We aren't lying... we did have the diary at one point."

"Back in Kildare... he's not going to let us go all the way home without him or his goon squad."

"I want to try." she said after a slight pause. "We can't just sit here and wait for him to move."

"Yeah..." I nod, "fine... so what's the plan." We spent the next few hours talking about what she planned to say and do. We went through all the pros and cons... and there were more cons than pros, but in the end, someone had to make the first move. Sitting and waiting for the same treatment Singh gave Portis wasn't an option I was willing to accept.

Kie was sitting on the edge of the bed beside me, her feet hanging over the edge as she anxiously thought about her next move.

"I can do it if you want." I say putting my hand on hers. She looks over her shoulder at me and gives me a nervous smile before shaking her head. "I'm serious Kie, I don't like you going down to talk to him by yourself."

"No, I can do this..." she took a deep breath to regain her courage and looked at Rafe still sleeping on the floor. How the man could sleep after everything yesterday was beyond me, Kie and I were up all night. I watched as Kie went to the window and started tapping on it.

"Hey... hey," she quietly yelled hoping to get the guards attention. "Hey, I need to talk to Mr. Singh... go get Mr. Singh." By now Rafe had started to grumble and sit up staring at Kie confused. Looking at me I just shrugged, throwing the covers from my lap.

"What are you doing?" Rafe asked, standing up walking towards Kie before turning to me. "What is she doing?"

"Hey you!" Kie called again, now that Rafe was awake her voice was louder and the tapping on the window got harder. "I need to talk to Mr. Singh."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up." Rafe hissed. "Will you stop her."

"Nope." I shook my head letting the 'p' pop.

"Why the hell..." he put his hands on his head and groaned loudly. "What the hell, hey... what are you doing?"

"Like I owe you an explanation." Kie scoffed walking around him to the door.

"Think for a second." Rafe said his tone almost begging. I was watching as he struggled to understand. I stood from the bed and leaned on the post at the end crossing my arms. I hated this plan, I didn't like any part of it, and if I was being honest, I didn't think it was going to work. But I've been in her position before, feeling helpless and needing to try anything. Kie was not just going to sit by and wait to be rescued, and neither was I. We talked all night about options, but with how big the plantation was and who we were dealing with... we didn't have any, and lying our way out of this was the only thing we could think of. "Kie what are you doing?"

"Hello!" Kie started banging loudly on the door.

"Hey!" Rafe said reaching to grab Kie's arm to stop her. "What are you doing."

"Don't!" Kie turned sharply putting her hands up to him. "Talk to me."

"Seriously?" he looked at me and I shrugged. "Goddammit Rowyn do something about your friend."

"Like what?" I raised an eyebrow and I watched as he stood there and he started to process everything. Slowly he started walking up to me and his voice got low as he spoke.

"You're lying about this diary thing." he said, conviction in his tone and his eyes. "You know where it is."

"No..." I stated keeping my eyes on his.

"You don't... Okay..." Rafe wasn't buying it. I could see in the way he pursed his lips and nodded to my denial that he wasn't buying any of it.

"Fine, I get it... I wouldn't tell me either Roe." he sighed as Kie walked passed us and started banging on the window again. He kept looking at her but then turned back to me. "But he is never gonna believe we don't know something alright?"

"'We' don't." I stated firmly. "We aren't friends here Rafe. There is no 'we'. Even if we did know something about the diary there wouldn't be a 'we'."

"Listen." he came up to me and took grabbed my arms to pull me closer.

"Hey!" Kie stated coming between us pushing him back. "Back off."

"Look around ladies," Rafe took a defeated step back before opening his arms to the room around us. "I'm the only friend you got here."

Before either of us could say anything the door to the room unlocked with a loud click and the guard from yesterday entered and looked at us. Kie looked at me quickly and I sighed, giving her a small nod. She was moving towards the guard before Rafe could stop her.

"I need to talk to Mr. Singh. I have something to tell him, its urgent." she said looking over her shoulder as the guard looked from her to Rafe and I.

"Yes." The guard nodded and stepped aside for Kie to walk in front of him before shutting and locking the door again. Rafe and I stood in silence until he stepped away and ran his hands over his shaved head.

"Fuck." he cursed loudly. "You're seriously okay with this?"

"No." I rolled my eyes walking around to sit back on the bed. "But I trust her a hell of a lot more then I trust you so... catch 22 really."

"Really Rowyn, we are both locked in here." Rafe scoffed and shook his head. "At some point you're going to have to trust me."

"Ha." I laughed at his statement. "you want me to trust you? After everything you did, to me… to your sister, to John B?"

"That has nothing to do with our current situation."

"It has everything to do with our situation Rafe!" I exclaimed standing up in front of him. "This all started when you shot Peterkin and blamed John B. Seriously Rafe…, you killed her, you blamed John B, you tried to flush me out of the drain, you nearly killed Sarah… twice, you stole Pope's cross, kidnapped me… why is it so hard for you to believe that I don't want to trust you? Everything you have ever done has been for you, when have you ever done something for someone else?"

"I tried to protect my family." He stated his eyes fierce as he stared back at me. We both fell into silence and I eventually broke eye contact with him and crossed my arms to walk to the window. "You think we ever had a shot, Roe?"

"No." I answered easily sighing, turning to look at him. "Our relationship was a business transaction between our fathers. You didn't want me as a girlfriend any more than I wanted you as a boyfriend."

"That's not true." He shook his head and I scowled at him in disbelief.

"I wasn't good enough for you…"

"I never said that."

"It was how you looked at me Rafe, it was how I felt with you." I said. "I had to change who I was just to feel like you saw me. I tried at first. I wanted to make my father happy but, hell I just wanted to feel… I don't know something other than disappointment. But I wasn't me, I lost myself every time I was trying to be what you and Figure Eight wanted me to be."

"I'm sorry." Rafe sighed taking a seat on the bed and putting his head in his hands. I watched him cautiously from my spot by the window, watched as he processed everything. He looks like he actually felt sorry, felt bad, and it was unnerving. "I guess… I've been trying to prove to my dad that I can do this, be the man…"

"You trying to prove yourself… that's what I felt I had to do with you." I pointed out before moving to sit beside him. "I don't think… back then you ever meant to strip me of who I was, and we were both really young and just…look Rafe, you screwed up, you made mistakes, it's gonna take a lot to undo any of that."

Before anything else could be said the door to the room was slammed open and Kie was pushed into the room before the guard slammed the door and locked it again. Kie looked scared and shocked.

"Kie?" I asked walking towards her as she sat eyes wide on the end of the bed her head going to her hands. "What's going on?" I looked up to see Rafe scowling and watching her as she breathed heavily.

"What happened?" Rafe asked, I looked at Kie but her eyes were still on the floor.

"Kie, what happened? What did Singh say?" I asked kneeling in front of her putting my hands on her knees.

"You're gonna have to talk to me at some point. Okay?" Rafe said frustrated. I turned and glared at him, but he just scowled at me and threw his arms up.

"Leave her alone Rafe," I said.

"We need to know what happened Roe," he said angrily his hand outstretched at the door. "We're all locked in here, there is a guy with a gun out the door… at some point y'all are gonna have to trust me."

"Do I have to remind you of everything you've done?" Kie finally spoke looking up and glaring at Rafe.

"Already done." I said quietly and Kie turned to scowl at me as I shrugged standing up and leaned on the bed frame.

"I am so sick of …" Rafe raised his hands to run them over his head as he turned away from us, "…I'm as much a victim as you all are." I raised an eyebrow at him as Kie gave him a look that disagreed with his statement. "No? Think about it okay? What did I get from shooting Peterkin huh? Nothing Okay? I had nothing against her. I mean I... I... I liked her. You think I wanted to make that choice huh? What I did was a gift from me to my father for... for him. And I got screwed because of it okay? So don't get that look when I say I'm a victim, all right? I am!"

I turned to look at Kie as she stared out in front of her trying to process what he said. Part of what he said was right, his dad, his family, the situation he was put in. Rafe was not a nice guy, but was he 100% guilty?

"I will admit though, what I... What I did to Sarah... What I tried to do, um... What I tried to do to Sarah, I admit that was wrong." Rafe's voice cracked and I looked up to see him looking at me with tears in his eyes, "What I did, almost did… to you Roe… in the drain, or that night at the boneyard…it was wrong. I know that. So, you don't have to remind me." This time he let out an actual sob that made my heart crack a bit for him. I had to swallow and look to Kie, but when our eyes met I could see her feeling the same way. "She was family, I should've never touched her, you know? I should've never touched you but, you know, I just lose control in moments like that, and I don't know what happened. Its just... I'm trying, I'm trying to get better."

"Okay." I sighed nodding and meeting Kie's eyes for confirmation.

"Yeah." Kie agreed.

"Okay." Rafe seemed to breath a sigh of relief and looked a bit more relaxed. "It doesn't matter… all I'm saying is just that I'm not the bad guy you think I am okay? Okay, but even if I was, even if I was just like, bad Rafe Cameron or something, you got no choice. You may… you may not want to trust me, okay, but I'm your best bet." I hated to admit it but as I looked around the room I realized he was right. He moved to stand beside me his hand on my arm forcing me to look up into his eyes as he continued. "Look, I got a boat that can get us off the island, okay? But first, we gotta get out of here, and it is better if we work together."

When he said he had a boat I looked to Kie, a small bit of hope filled my chest and I realized we did have an actual shot at getting out of this alive. Before I could say anything a truck out the window revved its engine, and I could hear yelling as guards ran around the compound. Scowling I went to the window, Rafe behind me, his hand on my shoulder as Kie stood next to us.

"They're leaving?" Rafe questioned confused watching as a bunch of guards jumped into the back of the truck.

"They're going to find John B." Kie answered stepping away to sit on the bed and I forced myself to look away from the window.

"What do you mean?" I asked panic gripping my lungs.

"Singh… when I was talking to him got a text from Porter." She explained and I looked back out the window as she explained.

"Porters dead." Rafe said quietly his eyes glued on the truck outside.

"We know that but…"

"John B and JJ don't." I finished closing my eyes realizing what was happening.

"Sucks for them." Rafe commented and I turned to look at him over my shoulder. He briefly looked down at me and the back at Kie. "But that's good for us though, this may be our only shot at getting out of her."

"So what's the plan?" I asked just as the truck tore out of the area. We let Rafe explain the plan, and I had to admit it actually sounded like it would work.

"You ready Roe?" he asked looking at me as I watched Kie get herself in the tub hanging her foot out of it.

"Get away from me!" I yelled walking to one side of the room and slamming the dresser into the wall so it made a loud thud.

"I'm tired of this shit!" Rafe yelled back and I had to remind myself the anger I heard in his voice was all an act.

"You are fucking crazy, get away!" I said again this time taking a paper weight from the dresser and slammed it into the mirror cringing before stepping across the room quietly to go into the bathroom.

"I'm gonna kill you Roe!" Rafe yelled following me.

"Get off her Rafe!" Kie called from her spot just as Rafe broke something else in the room before hiding behind the door.

"Help!" Kie called as I made a pained cry and then we all sat in silence waiting for the guard posted outside the door to come in. It didn't take long for us to hear the click of the lock on the door. Slowly from my spot behind Rafe I heard the guard open the door and start walking through the room cautiously until he was just outside the bathroom.

"What be dis?" he questioned just as he stepped into the frame of the door. Seeing his foot pass the frame Rafe slammed the door into the man knocking the gun from his hand. As Rafe attacked the guard I stepped around the door and picked the gun up and then held my hand to Kie to help her from the tub.

"Stay down." Rafe said pushing the guard down roughly. "Stay down."

"Here take this." I said handing the gun to Kie as I moved past the guard on the ground towards the bed.

"Don't move." Kie stated pointing the gun at him.

"Huge mistake." The guard grumbled. "You'll regret 'dis."

"Hey," Rafe said leaning over the guard and then reaching into his pockets. "Give me your phone." I went back to the canopy on the bed and pulled it down hearing the material rip as it was pulled from the bed posts.

"Here, tie him up." I said kneeling on the ground and holding the guard down handing the cloth to Rafe. He moved quickly and tied he guard up being sure to make it as tight as possible. I stood up looking around, my heart pounding, Kie still held the gun out at arm's length at the man.

"Don't make a sound alright." I heard Rafe whisper to the guard. Standing he looked at both of us and nodded before heading to the door peering out it and checking the hall before motioning for us to follow. Walking out of the room I waited for Kie and watched as Rafe closed the door and locked it.

"This way come on." Rafe whispered leading the way towards a staircase. Once we were at the end of the steps we I pushed the door for the servant's staircase open and looked around. In front of us was the front door and a shadow of the guard could be seen through the glass. I saw Kie glance to a room off to our left and then back at Rafe.

"Hey," she whispered tapping Rafe's arm to get his attention. "Hey, hey Rafe… Rafe, Rafe, let me see the phone."

"Why?" Rafe asked with a scowl.

"Just here." I said taking the gun from Kie and passed it to him. "Trade, give us the phone."

"Okay fine." He agreed handing me the phone and I handed it to Kie who smiled at me nodding and I watched Rafe put the gun in the waistband of this pants. "Okay this way, this way." Rafe looked at both of and nodded his head towards another part of the house. I watched him walk away but from the corner of my eye I watched Kie go the opposite direction.

"Hey?" I whispered following her. She stopped in front of a painting, and I leaned in closer to read the label on it. "El Dorado?"

"Its what Mr. Singh was talking about." She said lifting the phone up to take a picture of the painting.

"Send that to me, yeah?" I stated nodding to the phone as she nodded and started typing on it.

"Rowyn what the hell?" Rafe's exclaimed quietly as he came back towards us scowling. "What are you doing? Lets go!" I tapped her arm as she continued typing on the phone.

"Hold on." She hissed and I rolled me eyes as Rafe looked at me annoyed.

"Come on!" he stated firmly.

"Okay, I'm coming!" she said and nodded to me. Taking a deep breath I put my hand on her back and followed them around to the side of the house and out the door kitchen door. We snuck around the side of the house and Rafe looked cautiously around the building. Kie grabbed my wrist and I looked down at her hand and then up at her confused. Her eyes were on a truck just leaving on the other side of hedge.

"I've got an idea." Kie said already moving cautiously forward through the lawn. "Come on, come on, come on." I followed close behind looking over my shoulder to see Rafe behind me his eyes catching the truck on the road. We quickly picked up speed and followed the hedge along the road as the truck drove beside us slowing down as it reached an intersection.

"They're slowing down, come on, come on!" I called over my shoulder ducking under hedge and out onto the road reaching the truck just as it passed us. Grabbing onto the back I pulled myself up and held onto Kie as she did the same. Rafe grunted as he jumped beside me, he smiled at me for a brief moment before hearing a man inside the back of the truck say something upon seeing us. Before I could stop him, Rafe pulled himself into the bed of the truck and attacks the man before he could call for help.

Quickly pulling myself on top of the hay, or whatever the truck was hauling, I turned and helped Kie in and turned to see Rafe get knocked down, landing on his back in front of me.

"Rafe." I stated, panicked as I saw the look in his eye as he looked back at his attacker. This was the look he had every time he lost control. He kicked out his leg hitting the man in the chest knocking him back and threw himself on the man lifting him up by the shirt landing a punch across his face, before pulling him towards the side of the truck. "Rafe wait." I called, hearing the mans terrified cries. Without hesitation Rafe tossed the man over the side and I heard him hit the ground with a thud. Eyes wide I watched Rafe lean over the edge of the truck to watch the man and heard Kie beside me whisper a quiet 'no' in shock.

Turning back to us he looked at both of us waiting for one of us to say something, but the words I had for him were caught in my throat. Taking in a shaky breath I crawled as quiet as I could to the front of the truck and leaned my back on it, Kie following and sitting beside me, her hand squeezing mine. Rafe was out of breath, but I felt his presence as he sat on the other side of me, and a small, amused chuckle leaving his throat.

"What are you laughing at?" I asked, suddenly angry at him. "You just threw a man from a moving truck."

"He would have made them stop the truck and turned as back over to Singh Roe." Rafe breathed out.

"You don't know that." I shook my head looking ahead of me.

"Would you have wanted to wait and find out?" he questioned. I ignored him turning to look at Kie, who seemed to be having the same thought I was about Rafe. He was unhinged and had no remorse. It was a dangerous combination I was all too familiar with, but we needed him to get out of the compound and off the island. "Come on we need to get under the tarp before we reach the check point." I looked down at the dark blue tarp we were sitting on. Shifting my weight, I lifted myself enough to pull the tarp over mine and Kie's legs like a blanket and Rafe shifted down under it beside me. With one more glance at Kie I shrugged and pushed myself down onto my side and felt Kie move as close to me as she could. Rafe pulled the tarp over us and tucked it over our heads so there wouldn't be any of ourselves showing.

I felt the truck slowly start to stop and I held my breath. Kie still had her hand in mine and squeezed it. I reciprocated the action and opened my eyes to see Rafe staring at me with a scowl on his face as the truck came to a full stop. I kept my eyes glued to his as we heard talking and the crunch of feet moving around the truck. Rafe's hand clenched in a fist as the person stood just beside us and I reached over with my free hand and rested it on his hoping to help him calm down. If we got caught now, there would be no hope in us getting out.

"Yeah... Yeah all clear!" a man yelled, and my eyes widened as I looked back up at Rafe, a small smirk appearing on his lips.

"Let them through!" another man called, and the truck lurched forward as it was put into gear and started back down the road. We all lay under the tarp for several minutes after the truck pulled away waiting to put distance between us and the check point. Eventually Rafe moved and pulled the tarp away a little to look over the edge of it before fully pulling it off him.

Letting out the breath I was holding, I closed my eyes and sat up relief running through me, my hand still in Kie's. Kie was breath heavily as she tried to slow down her racing heartbeat and Rafe was smiling beside me amused.

"I told you, we just had to work together." He said with a chuckle

"You really want to choose now for an 'i told you so' moment?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him in disbelief. He shrugged and readjusted himself against the back of the truck cab.

"All right, listen." He said the lighthearted tone from earlier replaced with a serious no nonsense one. "I'm headed out to my boat, okay? I can give you two a ride out, drop you wherever, somewhere safe... one thing though...Look at me," he paused, and his hand gripped my arm pulling my attention away from the disappearing compound behind the truck and the changing landscape. Sighing, I looked at him hoping to keep my expression blank. "I know your friends are on the island, and my sister... I'm not helping them all right? I can't trust them, okay? I'll give you a ride out, not them, okay?" I felt the lump in my throat grow as I kept my eyes on his slowly nodding, feeling tears prick at my eyes at the thought of leaving the others.

"We just want to get off the island." Kie spoke quietly beside me looking around me to Rafe. I turned to her and looked for a hint, a glint of what we had talked about the night before. I knew I wasn't leaving this island without them, and she wasn't either, but Rafe didn't know that... and he couldn't... because he was right, we needed him to get out of there, and we needed him to get off the island.

"That's smart." Rafe smiled with a nod, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the cab of the truck. "You know, I never thought of either of you as Pogue's."

"What did you think of us as?" I asked, turning to look at him.

"I mean, you already know I liked you Roe, and I always liked Kie." he said with a small chuckle looking at both of us. "You're both at least half Kook... together I guess that makes you a whole one." He laughed before leaning his head back again and closing his eyes. Kie made a small laugh, and I smiled trying to ignore the comment. I looked at Kie and felt her hand tighten around mine. She knew it too, we were gonna have to make a move soon, whether we were ready or not.

"You want to trust him... after everything Roe?" Kie questioned the night before as we lay trying to come up with an escape plan.

"No... but I want him to think we trust him." I hissed quietly pausing to make sure I could still hear his soft breathing from the floor. "He got here somehow... Look I don't like it, but if we get out of this house, away from that Singh guys... let's say the plan to talk to him works... Then what?"

"We find the others." she answered simply.

"Great, but then what?" I asked again, I couldn't see her in the dark, but I heard her breath hitch at my question as she thought about it. Rolling over I turned to face her and placed my hands under my head. "Singh will hunt us down once he knows we're lying, and I don't think there will be a place on this island to hide. We need Rafe to get off this island. However, he got here... we need that transportation."

"So, what do we do? Even if Rafe does agree to help us off the island, John B? Sarah? JJ? There is no way he will help them." I nodded, taking a deep breath.

"We'll need to distract him and then make a break for it." I say quietly.

"What if it's a plane? We can't fly." she countered, and I knew that was an option.

"We'll take a note from JJ's book and force the captain to fly us out of there and then land somewhere until we get the others."

"Seriously?" she said, and I could hear the exasperation in her voice. "That is seriously worse than any of JJ's ideas... he is a bad influence on you."

"You have a better idea?" I asked and I could hear her groan quietly rolling away from me onto her back.

"It's a terrible idea." she said.

"I'm not leaving without them Kie... we can't, they wouldn't leave us." I said my voice a whisper.

"I know Roe..." she sighed, "When did life get so complicated?"

"The gold..." I answered simply.

"So... we play along as long as we can." she said, and I nodded in agreement.

Small kiosks and shacks replaced the vast farmland that surrounded the compound. Rafe instructed us to move closer to the end of the truck waiting for a moment to get off. When the truck stopped for people crossing the road, we took our chance and jumped to the gravel road. I was very much aware of my lack of footwear as we walked quickly away from the truck. Singh had left out a change of clothes after our meeting with him, in the form of a silk tank top and either shorts or pants. I took the shorts and Kie took the pants when we changed, both of us were uncomfortable with how light and airy the fabric was. But the man hadn't left foot ware, I am sure in an attempt to keep us from running away.

My feet protested but I kept up with Rafe as he led us towards the marina.

"Come on my boats down here." Rafe said and we followed him looking over our shoulders several times to make sure there was no one following us. We continued down the docks looking around the area for Singhs men until Rafe stopped at a boat tied to the dock and jumped in. I stood looking that floating object, my mind running 100 miles an hour formulating a plan. Kies hand brushed mine as she came to stand by me, and I glanced at her out of the side of my eye, and I could see her nod slightly.

"Okay, we should have enough juice to get us to Saint Lucia, no problem." Rafe was talking as he jumped up to the helm and started the boat. "Hey." He called, and I looked up at him covering my eyes to the sun. "Get in the boat!"

I looked to Kie and then back at the island, before slowly turning back to the boat, my eyes glancing at the edge of it. "Rowyn!" he called again, and I looked up at him taking a deep breath.

"You're not gonna pull anything if we get in?" Kie asked from beside me.

"No," he said, annoyance laced in his tone. "No, I'm not gonna pull anything okay? I'm trying to do you all a solid here. You really wanna be back there with Singh, or do you wanna be somewhere safe?" He stood up and pointed to the front of the boat. "Now, can you please help me with the bowline?" Swallowing the lump in my throat I looked to the line holding the boat to the dock and then took a step into the boat. Kie hesitated behind me before following. As I made my way to the line, I glanced at her and nodded to the helm. She nodded and hung back, slowly making her way to the back of the boat.

Moving to the other side of the guard rope on the boat, I looked at the line before glancing over my shoulder at Rafe, who was still messing with the engines and starting the motor.

"Hey, uh Rafe!" I called from my crouched position over the line. "I, um... I can't get it!"

"What?" He yelled down at me and I stood pointing to the rope.

"It's too tight, I can't get it!" I said, "I need help."

"Goddamn, do I have to do everything?" Rafe grumbled as he made his way down the front of the boat towards me. He was so focused on getting to the rope he hadn't seen Kie moving up to the seat he had just been in. Moving towards me he motioend for me to get back over the ropes. "Move." he stated, and I watched as he jumped the lines and easily started unwrapping the bowline. Making a quick glance over my shoulder at Kie, she just nodded.

"Fuck it." I said to myself before stepping forward, just as he threw the bowline to shore, and I pushed him as hard as I could. I watched as he fell back into the water shocked and waited to see him resurface looking at me hurt and confused. Kie was already turning the wheel and the boat was moving away from the dock.

"Rowny!" Rafe called from the water, and I watched as he stared daggers at me. "Hey, what do you think you're doing! Kie!"

"We've gotta help our friends!" Kie responded.

"You don't know what you're doing! Hey!" He continued to call, and I started walking away from the edge. "You're gonna regret this shit, Rowyn!"

Turning I moved to the back of the boat watching as he got further away. Smiling I raised my middle fingers, "Regrets for Kooks!" I called. He was still yelling at us as we got further away, but I ignored it as I joined Kie at the top of the boat. Kie nodded to me to hold the wheel as she stepped away. I watched her reach into her pocket and pull out the guard's phone from earlier. "What are you doing?"

"If the others have Jimmy's phone, then we can send them a message." she answered looking through the contacts.

"What if Singh found them?" I asked concerned, my eyes still in front of me.

"Do you really think he could get his hands around JJ?" She looked at me with an amused look and I rolled my eyes.

"Point." I nodded. "Send them a pin for the docks at the other side of the island. We should be there in like 45 minutes."

JJ POV

So, it was a good plan... until more men showed up. If it had just been the two of them, we would have had it locked down, but this Singh character had a lot of friends, friends we couldn't fight. We ran away from the ruined building and through the town following Cleo as she brought us into a horse stable. Looking over my shoulder as we ran, I didn't notice she had branched off until we heard a whistle forcing us to stop.

"Hey boy!" Cleo called across the dirt road waiving her hand at us before disappearing into the building. "Come!"

"That way. That way." I pointed and started running into the stable, ignoring the horses around us staring at us as we went past them. We continued until we were at the back of the tables hiding within supplies and crates stacked high against the wooden walls.

"They coming?" Cleo asked as John B went to the small window to look out.

"I don't see anything." he replied and I leaned over putting my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath.

"So what's the plan? What's our plan B?" I asked looking around. Everyone looked exhausted, but as tired as I was, I wasn't ready to give up. "We just kicked the hornets' nest. We gotta think of something quick."

"JJ calm down." Pope said and I turned to look at him in disbelief and offense.

"Calm down?" I questioned looking around to everyone, before stepping to get into Pope's face, "I really wish y'all'd stop telling me to calm the fuck down... we did something to their guys... we do something to their guys, they're gonna do something to Rowyn, to Kie... they're gonna retaliate."

"It was you're idea." Sarah scoffed with a scowl, and I turned to her a little taken back at the accusation.

"Yeah, I know that was my idea, okay?" I said hurt. I had thought it would work... I needed it to work. Rowyn had been with this guy for two days now almost. The thought made my stomach turn, and now the thought of what was going to happen after what just went down... it made me want to hurl. "My bad! That one's on me! I realize that, but thanks for the reminder, Sarah..."

I turned away from her as regret appeared in her eyes. She didn't mean it, I knew that. We were all tired and stressed, and we all wanted to get the girls back. I knew that, but sometimes it was hard to pull myself down to reality... that was what Rowyn did for me... every time I spiraled, she was there.

"Why did we leave that island..." I asked more to myself remembering the look of concern on Rowyn's face as the plane came in. I could have stayed on that island with her... that could have been our adventure... and we just left it. "Oh, oh, wait, wait!" I snapped my fingers pulling myself from my own thoughts. "I got something, what if I offered myself up as a hostage?" Pope was already shaking his head, but I put my hand up, "No. Hear me out, hear me out. What if I got inside the walls, did the Trojan horse type thing?"

"No, no..." Pope shook his head.

"That's how wars are won." I interrupted him as he came towards me and put his hands on my shoulders.

"JJ that would only get you kidnapped too." Sarah said quietly, I watched as she stood and put her hand on my arm. "Rowyn would be pissed if you did that, she wouldn't want you to trade yourself for her... neither would Kiara for that matter."

"Plus, that's not how the Trojan horse works." Pope added and I threw my hands up and took a few steps away from them with my hands on my hips.

"Okay fine. What do you got?" I asked, in the distance there was a bell that rang across the island, and I watched as John B stood by the window as if in tranced by the sound. Shaking my head, I looked back to Pope. "This is usually where you got the moves, bro, alright? Remember Spock? We could really use him right about now."

All ideas had stalled out, and eventually we all found spots around the stable and dozed off. Sleep was hard, every time I closed my eyes, I saw Rowyn getting carried off by one of the men from the beach. Just as I fell asleep for the fifth time the phone, I still had stashed in my pocket buzzed. Groaning, I looked up with a scowl and slowly pulled it from my pants. There was a new message incoming from FENTON.

Meet Pin 6:15 P4L

I read and re-read the message a few times before I started waking up the others.

"Hey, guys." I called still staring at the phone. When no one moved I raised my voice and tapped John B on the leg. "Wake up. Wake up! Guys! I got something." Holding the phone out I read the message aloud. "Meet us at pin at 6:15. P4L"

"We're supposed to believe that's Kiara and Rowyn?" Sarah asked, sitting up, as I handed the phone to John B. and she read the message over his shoulder. I shrugged and looked to Pope as he thought about it.

"I don't know. This all could be a trap." Pope sighed, "It's exactly how he set us up last time."

"He knows we got the phone, and he knows he can't track it so..." I nodded in agreement a hint of frustration in my voice as I pushed the hat I had been wearing from my head and ran my fingers through my hair.

"We go out there and bam, he's got us." John B finished what I had been saying as I continued to nod.

"Sometimes you guys can be so stupid." Cleo said and I looked up at her with a scowl.

"I'm sorry?" John B asked confused.

"You got beat so bad you flinch even when someone's trying to help..." she rolled her eyes and took the phone from John B and looked at it. "P4L, that Kiara and Rowyn man! No way they sent that as bait, they'd have to kill them. Come on JJ, your girl ever let them do something like that as bait?"

"No." I shook my head confidently watching as she smiled at me.

"We gotta help them, come on! You're all just sitting there just flinching," she stated tossing the phone back at me and I caught it clumsily nearly dropping it as I watched her start backing up towards the exit. "Let's go." Before we could argue she was already heading to leave the stable.

"I don't know man; it could still be a trap." Pope said skeptically.

"It's the only option we got." I said with a shrug, pocketing the phone before getting up and following Cleo.

"We gotta check right?" I heard Sarah say behind me and just like that we all followed Cleo to the boat yard. Hiding behind fishing crates and barrells I looked down at the phone looking at the Pin on the screen as I scanned the boats in the water.

"You got the boats?" John B asked behind me.

"Yeah, you got the windows?" I asked, not bothering to look at him as I spoke. He nodded giving me a quiet 'yeah' in response.

"Guys, Singh's men could be posted up literally anywhere." Pope whispered his eyes darting all over the yard.

"No shit," I said scanning piers and the walkways for any sign of Kie or Roe. Someone standing off to the side leaning on a rail, had dark curls covering her face and my heart jumped at the thought of it being Rowyn. "Guys is that her?" I asked pointing to the girl. Pope moved beside me and squinted shaking his head.

"I don't think so." he responded, and I took a deep breath continuing to search.

"Give me the phone." Cleo stated, holding out her hand. I handed it to her and watched as she looked around the boats and back to the phone. "That boat, that's the pin, the white one right there." I followed her finger and saw the boat and nodded. Pulling the gun from my pants I turned and cocked it with a loud click, before putting it back.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked, turning to me behind her with a look of concern on her face.

"There's one way to find out." I answered, pulling the hat onto my head and started to move around the group and the crates we hid behind.

"Dude..." I heard John B call followed by Sarah and Pope calling my name, but I waved them off and turned only to hiss at them to stay put. I walked towards the boat with one hand behind my back on the gun. As I made my way closer to the boat I continued to look around for any signs of a trap, until I was directly in front of it. Turning around, I looked up at the building and the other boats before finally turning back to the boat. I had to blink several times as my eyes found Kie on the stern staring at me, a smile growing on her face.

"JJ?" I heard her say, but before I could respond or move, she was stepping to the other side of the boat. Her head disappeared but when it came back into view it was followed by another person. My heart started beating faster as Rowyn came into view. She stared back at me as I dropped the hat from my head. I watched her walk past Kie hesitating as if she thought I was about to disappear, before she started to run towards me. My legs were already taking me towards her and then she was right in front of me.

My arms were open as she jumped into them, and her arms went around my neck, mine going around her back lifting her into the air. I felt her legs wrap around my waist as she clung to me, her head burying itself into the crook of my neck, and I let my face bury into her hair. One of my hands still held her around the waist and the other I brought up to hold the back of her head. I could hear her crying softly into my shoulder and I felt tears prick at my own eyes as I held her. Everything else around me seemed to stop, all I cared about was right here in my arms.

She pulled away from my neck and her hands came to hold either side of my face, her eyes meeting mine as she smiled at me. Her legs released my waist, and I lowered her feet to the ground, keeping her as close to me as I could.

"I didn't think I'd see you ever again." she whispered a tear sliding down her cheek. Bringing my hands to her face, I brushed it away with my thumb before shaking my head and putting my lips to hers. In that one kiss I felt everything, the fear of losing her, the fear of never seeing her, the fear of her being hurt. As our lips separated and put my forehead to hers.

"I'm so glad you're safe." I whispered and I felt her nod against me before I pulled her into my chest again. Letting out a shaky breath I watched from over Rowyn's shoulder as Kie ran down towards us. The others had come out from behind their hiding spot and met her wrapping her into a hug.

"God, I love you." I heard Rowyn say and I smiled pulling her from my chest to kiss her again before tucking her into my side and opening my arm to hug Kie as the others gathered around us. I felt her fingers grip my shirt as if scared I would walk away, I would leave and just held her tighter hoping to reassure her that I wasn't going anywhere. Not anytime soon, and I would be damned if I let someone take her from me again.

Let me know what you think and drop any suggestions or thoughts on future chapters.

I have a good idea on what i want to do for the whole anniversary party episode but all stuff leading up to i am still formulating in my head.

:)

Hope to see you again soon. 3