CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: QUARTET ASSEMBLE 

( episode seven: dead calm )

✲*'。

"Quartet Assemble!" Arden Kim cried out happily from her perch on the counter of Kie's kitchen. 

After the night before, the girls had ended up crashing at Kiara's and the boys at the Chateau. Arden had no shame in the way she had forced the girls into having a sleepover together for old times sake——that was until both Sarah and Haven crashed the moment their heads hit the pillow. Arden couldn't blame them, it had been a long night, they hadn't arrived back at Kie's until the sun was beginning to rise. It certainly didn't help that they had been shot at, Arden had experience in sleeping like the dead after that. 

However, no matter what she did, Arden couldn't nod off, her body working on over drive. As she had tried to creep out of the bed all four girls had fallen into, she never noticed Kiara tiredly following after. Arden had landed face forward into Kie's couch, tiredly watching a rerun of the first Marvel's Avengers movies. 

Arden froze in surprise as another body curled in beside her. She glanced up to see Kie tiredly yawning, leaning her head against Arden's shoulder, watching the movie half heartedly. 

After managing to watch another two movies; another marvel and an animation, Kiara was forced out of her restless sleep by Arden. She wouldn't shut up, moaning about the 'hunger which would take her out.' So rather reluctantly Kiara ended up making way too many waffles that Arden had happily just finished off as Sarah and Haven tiredly made there way into the kitchen.

"Who the fuck let Ard watch Marvel?"Haven huffed in exhaustion as she slumped onto the closest chair. "It's way too fucking early for this." 

"Well if the two do you didn't crash straight away then we wouldn't have had this problem!" Kiara hissed from her perch beside Arden. 

"Ladies, Ladies, Ladies," Arden spoke up in a placating manner, smirking at her friends in delight. "We can all watch Marvel at a later date, now we must go to the Chateau to get our money!" 

Haven only shook her head in annoyance. "Hulk, give me the strength to not choke you." 

Arden raised an eyebrow just as a shit-eating smirk crossed her lips.

"You are one kinky bitch ya know?" 

The rest of the morning quickly passed by, with the girls showering before they loaded up into Kiara's SVU. When they did end up arriving, Arden tiredly leapt out of the van, wandering off towards the hammock as she wanted to try and get some shut eye before they did try to pawn of the gold. 

Just as she was about to fall asleep, a body landed right in beside her, startling Arden momentarily. She forced her eyes open to glance up and see JJ staring down at her. "Well, you look shit," He commented, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as she tiredly nuzzled her head into his chest. 

"I couldn't fall asleep," Arden pouted as JJ's laid his hand down on her bump. 

JJ didn't bother to respond, messing up her hair softly. The soothing motions were enough to still Arden into a quick nap. She never even noticed when JJ slipped away to go and get the blow torch for Kie to use. She could have only been sleeping for a few moments, but it helped to ease the slight migraine that Arden had felt coming on earlier. She blearily followed after JJ as led her over to where Kie was turning on the blow torch, easing her into his arms.

"Ard," Sarah called out from behind her, bounding towards Arden who looked up from her where she was sitting beside JJ as they had been watching Kiara melt down the gold John B had picked up the night before. 

Arden smiled up at Sarah who sat down beside her friend, an expectant look on her face. " Can we talk?" 

The Korean girl's lips formed a small 'o' shape as she nodded in understanding. "Sure we can ----- JJ let go." 

"Watcha going to gossip about?" The blonde questioned as his voice went a few octaves too high. Arden glared at JJ who smirked down at her. "Is that seriously what I sound like to you!" She hissed. 

"Oh god," Sarah muttered to herself before a secretive smirk worked its way onto her face. "I need sex advice." 

Whatever Sarah had been planning, it clearly didn't work. If anything JJ leaned in even closer, fascinated with the conversation. "You're obviously not a virgin anymore."

"No Saz, I'm clearly not, this idiot took care of that and even knocked me up in the process!" Arden commented in a teasing tone while JJ stared at her dumbfounded, clearing not expecting Arden to say that. 

"How far have you gone?" She questioned instead, moving past the comment she had just made. 

"Just as far as we have gone ---- which isn't that far."

Arden nodded and from behind her she could hear JJ choking on the beer he had began to chug. "Hold up."

He stood up watching the two girls stupefied. "You two...."

Arden and Sarah nodded, Kiara who had temporarily stopped melting down the gold to get a drink of the cold beer herself, wandering over to hear the tail ends of what they had been discussing. "I forgot that even happened, didn't even last a week." Kiara commented before taking a long swing from the beer. 

JJ continued to stare at the two girls speculatively before turning to Kie, asking about the gold. 

Sarah shot Arden a beaming smile while her best friend rolled her eyes. "Now what do you really want?" 

"You know me so well slut!" Sarah commented, a wry smile on her face as her hand dug around in her pocket. She pulled out a small green pouch, dropping it into Arden's hand. 

"No. No presents," Arden hissed under her breath while Sarah waved her hand away. "Trust me you'll like it!"

Arden stared at her friend dubiously before slowly opening the pouch. Arden's eyes widened as she caught sight of the 'L', her gaze shooting up to Sarah. "You literally just found out her name last night...." 

Arden had little to no shame in admitting she accidentally had confessed her daughters name to Sarah before the others. Sarah was her person people!

"John B mentioned that JJ wanted to name his kid with the letter 'L' and I know you so it didn't take that long to work out." Sarah declared, moving to grab the necklace. "Let's see it on!" 

Arden albeit reluctantly turned around, moving her loose dyed blonde locks out the way as Sarah placed the golden chain around her neck. She moved to touch the 'L', her fingers gently grazing the engraved in little diamonds. 

"Saz..." Arden trailed off, her eyes wide in happiness while Sarah puffed her chest out proudly. "I did good with my push present didn't I!" 

Arden blinked, staring at Sarah who gazed back at her in delight. "Saz, what the fuck is a push present?"

The drive over to the pawn shop was one off the longest drives of Arden's life——not to be dramatic. On the ride over from where she sat beside Kie, her leg kept bouncing up and down, enough to the point that Arden's actions had forced Kie into holding down her legs. Arden couldn't help it, she was nervous. Finally things were beginning to look up and she didn't want anything to go wrong. 

"Hell of a job melting it down, Dr. Frankenstein," JJ called out sarcastically. 

"Like you could've done any better," Kie retorted with a sharp glare on her face. 

"I could have. I took a welding class." 

Arden huffed in annoyance, smacking her head into Havens side. She was way too tired for this. Haven glanced down at her in concerned annoyance before shaking her off. Haven was ready to focus on this task, as she would say to Arden this way no time for jokes. 

"Easy for you to say," JJ hissed, holding up the lump of gold. "You're not the one who has to pawn this piece of shit off." JJ huffed, turning away as he adjusted his grip on his back pack. "How'd I get this job anyway?" 

And Sassy Pope was back! "Cause you're the best liar." 

Before they could move any forward, Sarah reached out to John B stopping the group from moving. They all looked at the kook girl in suspense, waiting for her to get on with it. 

"I'd actually say Arden's the best liar out of all of us..." Sarah trailed off, prompting Arden to shoot 'her person' a dark stare. "Are you serious right now?" Arden practically hissed, clenching her fists together. 

Sarah awkwardly nodded, gesturing down to her bump. Arden really wanted to bang her head against a wall in this current moment. Of course Sarah would bring this slowly healing rift up. "You have the best excuse to be looking for some gold." 

Arden was incredibly thankful for the fact Sarah didn't explicitly address her lying to the group. Nobody knew the true reason, only the assumption that she went along with because of her controlling mother which was half of the truth. 

The other half? Arden didn't want to even speak about to JJ which she would have to do in the coming weeks. "Give me the piece of shit," Arden hissed, stalking forward to grab the stupid gold. She marched in, keeping her stare directly ahead as she quickly readjusted her pink sundress to emphasis the baby bump. 

"Afternoon Ma'am," Arden called in when she forced the door open, trying her best to look polite. The last thing she needed to do was blow there cover because she was feeling pissed at Sarah because of the way she got her into this. 

"Afternoon," The old woman replied dubiously, eyeing up Arden as she crept closer to the counter. "I see you buy gold," Arden declared, wincing in her head at the words. 

"That's what the sign say don't it?" 

"My mistake," Arden giggled holding up the gold wrapped in a towel. "I'm so glad you do! Right here I got a lot of it for you to buy." 

Arden almost leapt a foot in the air as an arm tightly curled around her waist. She glanced upwards to see JJ staring directly at the pawnbroker, silently pulling her closer. "We're about to blow your mind," He cockily declared, shooting Arden an arrogant smirk. 

"I ain't got much mind left to blow, so have it," The woman countered. 

"How about them gold apples?" JJ questioned, smacking down the lump. 

The pawnbroker just smirked, chucking at them. "That ain't real." 

"That ain't real?" JJ questioned, shaking his head in amusement. "She don't think they real baby." JJ murmured down to Arden who only shook her head in mock disappointment. 

"It can't be." 

"Feel how heavy it is," JJ pushed on, keeping his eyes on the pawnbroker. 

"Let's get some light on that," He cheekily pressed on, as she pressed a magnifying light on the gold. "Spray-painted tungsten." 

"What the fuck even is that?" Arden questioned at the woman. "Really? Okay." JJ hummed, continuing on. "Why don't you see how, uh ... soft it is?"

"You mind?" The pawnbroker questioned. Arden personally reached out, dumping it into her hands. "Not at all!" 

She smacked a specific sort of hammer into it that Arden didn't recognise, eyes furrowing in surprise. "Wow. Would you look at that?" 

"Hold your horses. We ain't got the acid test yet." 

"Ooh the acid test!" JJ exclaimed, squeezing Arden's hip as he glanced back at their friends. "My favourite guys." Arden only sighed, but kept her eyes complete focused on the test in front of her. She could hear the woman muttering as she tried to work our exactly if what they had was gold. 

"It looks like some body tried to melt it down," The pawnbroker accused, her eyes settling on them both. 

"My fault," Arden frantically sighed, placing her and JJ's hand over the bump. "We're expecting our first any day now so I robbed my Momma. She's one of those rich kook bitches. I stole her jewellery and melted it together." 

"Seven pounds, that's a lot of earnings." 

Arden glanced around, a smirk playing on her lips as she reached over to grab Kiara who looked ready to murder Arden on the spot. "Our girlfriend here also chipped in, stole some of her own mothers. All three of us want to be there for our child." Arden forlornly declared, hiding her head in Kiara's neck. 

The pawnbroker shot the trio a dubious look. Kiara shot her an awkward smile, clumsily patting Arden's back. "Give me a minute," She hummed, disappearing out of sight. 

Kiara glared at Arden who only smirked in response. "It's high time you help us with our love child my darling," Arden mocked in a British accent. JJ muffled his snickers from beside her as Kiara breathed in deeply. "I'm gonna kill you later," she said with a fake smile as the woman came back. 

"So I talked to my uh boss." 

"And?" 

"This what I can do." She relied, dumping about fifty thousand onto the counter. 

"50K?" JJ scoffed. "Ma'am, you think I walked in here not knowing the spot price? I know for a fact this is worth 140 at least. I gotta provide for my kids and .... Girls." 

"Well, sweet kid, you in a pawnshop. This isn't Zurich. Do I look Swiss to you." 

"Ninety or I walk," JJ replied, Kiara tightly squeezing Arden's arm when she moved to give a sarcastic response. 

"Seventy. Half price.... And I won't ask questions where you got this?" 

The trio glanced back to John B, understanding the silent message. "I'm going to need that in large denominations, please." 

"Well, here's the snag," the pawnbroker continued on. "I don't have that much denominations here. I can write a cheque." 

"Ma'am I want cash for gold. It's on the sign. And that's what I expect."

"Well, I have to send you the warehouse. I have the money there. Is that alright?" 

"It will do I suppose," Arden huffed as she shared a look with Kie and JJ. 

"Where is this warehouse?"

✲*'。