While Sarah and Kiara would never admit it to the boys, their time together on the boat had worked excellently as a reconciliation. Slater had to admit, she was kind of excited to get to know Sarah better. After talking with her in the car, and now that she and Kiara had made up, Slater decided that Sarah Cameron wasn't half bad.

Slater was quick to judge Sarah, just as JJ was quick to judge Slater, and she realized her mistake. After all, Sarah wasn't her brother.

After their day of surfing, she rode with John B, Pope, and JJ on the S.S. Pogue back through the marsh so they could pick up Kiara and Sarah. Pope had borrowed some rope from his father, so they formulated a plan to sneak back onto the Crain property to investigate the well.

As they motored up alongside the other boat, Slater noticed Kiara and Sarah sitting on the edge.

"You've gotta admit, it's pretty funny!" John B called out from across the water.

"Mastermind, huh?" Kiara said.

"I'm always planning," the pogue replied. "Still hate me?"

"A little," Sarah replied with a smirk, her arms folded over her chest. "We're both gonna get you back when you least expect it."

"Watch your back, boys," Kie agreed. Her eyes then locked on Slater, who was seated at the rear of the boat, a grin on her face. "Don't tell me you were in on this too, Slater."

Slater shook her head. "I promise you I had no idea until the three of them walked into The Wreck without you, smug as hell."

Kiara rolled her eyes, though she was grinning. "I figured. You would've come up with a much better plan."

The two girls went on to say that while they hadn't completely reconciled their differences, they were agreeing to work together, for the good of the treasure hunt. Based on the way they were both smiling and chatting, however, Slater assumed things had gone better than either Kie or Sarah would let on.

After making it back to shore, the six friends piled into the Twinkie before heading towards the Crain house.

"I can't believe you guys went into her house," Sarah exclaimed, shaking her head. "I mean, didn't she kill her husband with an ax?"

"THANK YOU!" JJ groaned, throwing his hands into the air. "I'm glad someone is thinking rationally."

"JJ, name one time you were ever thinking rationally, in like, your entire life," Pope joked.

JJ was silent for a moment as he attempted to think of something, but before he could open his mouth, the group erupted into laughter.

Slater grinned and elbowed JJ, who was sitting next to her. "C'mon, Pope, be fair. He's got that pogue ingenuity."

JJ watched her with a smirk, biting his lip to prevent himself from giving a smart ass response that would definitely out the two of them to the rest of the group.

John B parked the van down the street and the pogues hopped out, ready for their heist mission.

"Didn't Deputy Dad have something to say when you walked out of the house in all black?" JJ teased as Slater exited the vehicle.

"Well, he did, but I told him I was hanging out with Sarah Cameron, so he decided it was okay," Slater replied, laughing as she looked at Sarah.

Sarah laughed and rolled her eyes. "Oh my God, Slater, I've been wanting to talk to you about that! What is with our dads being so chummy lately?"

Slater knew Sarah meant it as a joke, in a, "haha, aren't our parents embarrassing?" way, but her mind couldn't help but drift back to her conversation with Rafe on the topic.

"My dad always likes to have the cops on his good side."

Slater forced a smile. "Well, it's good to know we can rely on each other as excuses when lying to our parents, at least."

They hopped over the stone wall, flashlights in hand, and made their way towards the Crain house. Just as they stepped towards the house, the porch light went on.

"Shit! Flashlights!"

They all hurried to turn the lights off, crouched down in the tall grass, breathing heavily.

"God, this place is even creepier in the dark," Slater hissed.

"Okay, so she has motion sensor lights," Pope said with a frown.

"We could ... uh, move really slowly, maybe?" JJ suggested.

"Moving slowly is still moving, JJ," Pope replied.

"Let's throw a rock at it," John B suggested.

Kiara rolled her eyes. "That's a really good idea, actually," she deadpanned. "Let the ax murderer know that we're here."

"What about the breaker?" Sarah asked. "Should be in a circuit box on the porch." The group looked at her in surprise before she added, "We used to play hide-and-seek here as kids, and if we were brave enough, we'd go all the way up to the porch."

"You're not going into the house alone," John B said, shaking his head.

"Watch me."

"Crain chops people into pieces," JJ said.

"She's like, what, 85? She's barely still kicking."

"I'll go with you," Kie offered.

"Be safe," John B said, his eyes focused on Sarah.

As the two girls headed towards the house, Pope and JJ held in laughter, JJ crouching in front of Pope to hold his face and dramatically repeat, "Be safe."

"I'll be so safe," Pope replied. "For you."

"Can you guys stop?" John B asked, his eyes still on the house. "I'm going to kill you."

Pope smirked before saying, "But how would that keep us safe?"

Slater giggled into the back of her hand, trying not to make too much noise, as the boys continued to trade insults back and forth, until eventually, John B said, "Some day, in the distant future, when one of you two finds a girl and turns into a mushy gushy piece of shit, all this energy that you're tossing my way? It's all coming back to you."

In the dark, they didn't notice the way JJ's cheeks reddened, or the way his eyes quickly darted towards Slater. Instead, JJ composed himself and said, "Is that what happened, JB? You're so pussy whipped that you've gone all mushy gushy?"

"Hey, at least I'm getting some," John B retorted, to which Slater rolled her eyes. Sometimes she forgot just how vulgar men could be.

"Oh my God, guys, enough," she groaned. "You're vapid and disgusting."

"Vapid," Pope repeated. "Took the words right out of my mouth, Slater."

"Oh come on, Pope," JJ chuckled. "Don't act like we don't see you gawking at Kie every day."

Pope scoffed. "I -- I am not gawking at anyone, JJ. If anyone's gawking at anyone, it's you gawking at --"

Slater froze, almost certain that her name was about to come out of Pope's mouth, when the lights to the house clicked off.

"Let's go," John B said, and the four crept down towards the basement, where they would meet Sarah and Kiara.

They readied the rope, each peering over the edge of the dark well. The sensation made Slater's stomach drop, and her skin suddenly felt very tingly. She wasn't usually afraid of heights, or water, but the two in combination with the darkness and the location made her feel like she was going to both throw up or pass out.

She backed away, suddenly nauseous, as JJ and Pope helped John B into the well.

"Nice and slow, keep it going," John B said.

"Wait, hold on, let me get situated," JJ said, and Slater's eyes widened as she watched the rope slip from his hands. He hurried to grab it, but not before John B dropped several feet down.

"I told you not to drop me!" John B yelled in a panicked voice.

"Do you need any help?" Slater offered.

"Can you keep an eye on how much rope we have left?" Pope asked. "Otherwise we've got it."

"Yeah, it really feels like you've got it," John B muttered from down in the well.

They continued to lower the Routledge boy down, the rope quickly disappearing.

"Fifteen feet left," Slater said, nervously eyeing the well.

"Whoa, stop!" John B called out. "I'm hanging over some ... sewer-water looking shit."

"Do you want to keep going?" Pope asked.

"I guess."

"Not much rope left, JB," Slater said.

"Wait, I'm at the bottom!"

"Any gold?" JJ asked.

"I think I feel something with my foot," John B said, and then they heard the sound of him splashing down into the water. It was silent for a moment before the water splashed again, and John B began frantically yelling. "Pull me up! Pull me up! It's Mr. Crain!"

"I told you!" JJ hissed as the two boys began to pull John B up.

"Wait wait wait!" John B yelled, and the sound of stones plunking into the water below echoed up from the well. "Hey, I think I found something. Give me a minute."

Slater shared a nervous look with JJ and Pope as they awaited further instruction from John B.

Suddenly, Kiara and Sarah burst into the basement, shrieking and yelling about how they'd found Mrs. Crain upstairs, and she'd tried to attack them with a fire poker.

"John B, we gotta go, man!" JJ called into the well.

"I'm coming!"

As they frantically pulled him up, Slater noticed footsteps coming down the basement stairs. She turned, coming face-to-face with an elderly woman, her eyes white with cataracts, who was leveling a rifle at her.

She screamed and ducked, just as the gun went off, a bullet lodging itself in the stone wall behind her.

The others began to scream as well, and their grip on the rope loosened, sending the pulley spinning and the rope slack.

"She can't see for shit! She's blind!" Sarah yelled, and they all scrambled through the basement door as she continued to shoot at them.

"Why are we always getting shot at?" Pope asked as they piled into the Twinkie, John B, covered in mud, hot on their heels.

"Go, JJ!" Kiara ordered.

"Everyone good? Anyone shot?" JJ asked as he pulled the van out of its spot.

John B raised a muddy brick towards them, swiping a thumb across it to reveal a shiny, gold surface.

"No you didn't." Sarah gawked, a smile forming on her face. "No you didn't!"

"We did it, baby!"

They all began to scream and shout, staring at each other with dumbly happy faces.

"Wait, guys, we're going to be rich!" Kiara squealed.

John B replied by saying, "Full kook!" which led to the rest of them chanting, "FULL KOOK!"

They tore through the island, JJ speeding the Twinkie all the way back to John B's house. None of them could stop smiling, and they were all listing the things they were going to buy with their newfound wealth.

"I'm going to build the biggest kook house on Figure Eight and park it right next to Slater's," JJ joked. "Just so Deputy Shoupe can look at it every day and say, 'Goddammit, I'm neighbors with a Maybank.'"

"I'm buying a car with a working fucking radio," Slater said with a laugh.

"I'm going to college to study dead bodies!" Pope exclaimed.

The others looked at him for a second, silent, before erupting into laughter. "Goddammit, Pope, you're weird as hell, but I love you, and you ARE going to college, man," JJ said. "You're going to study those dead bodies so damn hard."

With minds of gold and hope for the future, the pogues arrived at the Routledge chateau with an aura around them.

"John B, go jump in the marsh, you stink!" Kiara said, shoving him as he walked onto the porch.

He grinned and flicked some of the mud at her, which resulted in her shrieking.

"She's right," Sarah said with a laugh. "C'mon, Pogue King, let's go take a dip." She reached for his hand and pulled him off of the porch and towards the water.

Pope and JJ shared a knowing look, and before either of them could make a vulgar comment, Kiara slapped them both lightly on the cheek. "Why am I friends with you? You're disgusting."

"You're friends with us, because we found the gold, and we're going to be rich!" JJ said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Who wants a beer? We deserve a victory beer," Pope said, heading into the house.

"Whoa, who is this, and what have you done with Pope?" Kiara teased.

"Slater Cambry," JJ said, leveling his finger at Slater's chest. "Call Deputy Dad right now and tell him you're spending the night with Sarah Cameron."

Slater giggled and shook her head. "And what if he calls Ward to see if I'm actually there?"

"Well then, fuck 'em, because we're going to rich!" Kie said, pulling Slater in for a hug.

Pope returned with the beers, and Slater texted her mother, asking if it was okay that she spent the night at the Camerons. Even if she said no, Slater figured spending the night with the pogues was worth it, because she was feeling the happiest she ever had before, and that feeling would be worth any amount of grounding.

The pogues were worth any amount of grounding.

Slater took a sip of her beer as JJ and Kiara took hits off the latter's pen. She settled onto the porch swing, finding JJ beside her, as Kiara and Pope each took over one of the armchairs John B had pulled out onto the porch.

John B and Sarah returned, soaking wet and holding hands, smiling and laughing to each other. They took beers and settled down with the others, before John B raised his drink.

"This is the best day of my life," John B said. "And I am so happy to be sharing it with you guys."

"Cheers to that!" JJ howled from beside Slater. "Woogity woogity!"

"Woogity woogity!" John B repeated as they knocked their bottles together.

They continued to drink and smoke before eventually John B pulled an old boom box out of his closet, along with his father's collection of cassette tapes. This led to more drinking, more smoking, and eventually some dancing.

"Slater!" Kiara called as she and Sarah danced around the yard to Big John's Country Hits of the 90s cassette. "Come and join us!"

Slater laughed and handed JJ her beer before hopping off the porch to join the girls in the grass.

"Did you ever hear back from Deputy Dad?" Kie asked, reaching for Slater's hands.

Slater had completely forgotten about her parents, and she frantically pulled out her phone, knowing that she was very drunk and whatever time it was, it was very close to her midnight curfew.

She had one text from her mom, a single emoji: a thumbs up.

"A thumbs up!" She exclaimed, to which Kiara and Sarah cheered. "Sarah," Slater said, pulling the Cameron girl in for a hug. "I have you to thank for this. Now that I'm a free woman, you're going to be my excuse for so many things."

"Slater." Sarah grinned, her hands on Slater's shoulders as she stared into her eyes. "I am so honored to be your excuse. Any time, please."

"John B, come get your girl!" JJ hollered from the porch. "Slater's about to steal her!"

"Not on my watch, Cambry!" John B yelled as he hopped off the porch, making a beeline for the girls. The other boys followed, joining the girls as they spun around in a circle to a Shania Twain song.

Kiara took Slater's hand and spun her around in a circle, again and again, until she was so dizzy that some beer sloshed out of her bottle. She stumbled, attempting to re-balance, before teetering directly into JJ.

They careened to the ground, and the rest of the group erupted into laughter.

"Oh my God, JJ, this is karma!" Kiara shrieked. "Karma for you treating Slater like shit!"

"I don't treat Slater like shit!" JJ protested as he and Slater sat up, his hands still on the girl's leg from when they fell.

"Oh, please," John B laughed. "All you've done is complain about her being here, in front of her, I might add, even though she's saved our ass several times."

"And, she's a lot of fun to have around," Pope said, offering a hand to help Slater up. "And she's a better surfer than you are."

The group exploded into raucous laughter as JJ got to his feet, a cocky smirk on his face as he looked between Pope and Slater. "Them's fighting words, Pope," he joked.

"Thank you, Pope," Slater said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "I deserve the compliment, especially after all the times JJ called me a kook."

"You're not a kook, Cambry," JJ said, shaking his head with a smirk.

"Oh, what was that? I didn't hear you," Slater teased.

"I said, YOU'RE NOT A KOOK, CAMBRY!"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ author's note ✫・゜・。.

i love this chapter so much :) THEY FOUND THE GOLD! i love seeing the pogues carefree and happy, just like kids should be. i know damn well that night after they found the gold, they went back to john b's and partied. we were ripped off for not getting that in the show, so i added it here. this is a long chapter, and i hope you enjoyed it.

please remember to vote, and i would love to read any comments you have!

thank you so much for reading :)

xx,

madi