─☼☼☼─

"You have two new messages."

Message received today at 5:54pm

Can you come over today, please? I need to talk to you. Or I can come to The Wreck. Anywhere...just please talk to me. 

Message received today at 7:07pm

Charlotte, this is getting ridiculous. Call me.

─☼☼☼─

"𝙋𝙃𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝘿𝙊𝙒𝙉, 𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙇𝙊𝙏𝙏𝙀." Anna spoke, returning to the kitchen table with two mugs of tea. "We need to talk."

Knowing where this was headed, Charlotte did as her mother said, mentally preparing herself for a conversation she did not want to have. 

"I'm okay, mom." She assured, hoping to squash the discussion before it even had to begin. "I'm going to be okay."

Anna's hand placed itself over Charlotte's giving a light squeeze. "Your dad and I have been really worried about you. These last few months, you've been...you haven't been yourself."

A wave of defensiveness surged through Charlotte as she pulled her hand away from her mother's. "You mean I haven't been the me you've been used to."

"What?"

Sighing, Charlotte leaned back slightly. "Look, mom, I know I've changed this summer, but have you ever considered that maybe it's for the better?"

Anna gawked. "For the better, Charlotte? You're always out runnin' around with your sister and her friends to God knows where? You're pushing away your old friends, your boyfriend─"

"He is not my boyfriend." Charlotte gritted out, clenching her fist in her lap. "Do you even know why we broke up, mom? What he put me through?"

Pausing for a moment, Anna studied her daughter's face. "Charlotte, sweetie, you've barely gotten out of bed in the last few weeks, barely eaten...I just need to know what's going on."

Charlotte wanted to tell her mother everything, she wanted to so badly. But she knew that wasn't an option. So, she told the part of the story that made the most sense. "Kensington tried to sleep with Rafe after we broke up." 

The shock factor that she had hoped to drop on her mother worked. Anna sucked in her cheeks as her eyes grew wide, "You're kidding."

"No." Charlotte assured, plastering on her best 'I'm so sad that my best friend tried to sleep with my boyfriend' face. "That's why I've been distant from her and Willa. That's why I was spending a lot of time with Kie and the boys. I was just trying to digest everything. I was upset enough over Rafe and I, and then the thing with John B and Sarah, I just─"

She let out a fake sob, burying her face into her hands. 

Among other things, Charlotte Carrera was an amazing actress. 

"Oh, Char." Anna soothed, pulling her daughter toward her in a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry, sweetie. I had no idea."

Little did Anna know, the betrayal of her ex-best friend was the least of Charlotte's concerns right now. 

"Why don't I go make us some popcorn and we can watch that show you like...the one about the FBI?" Anna pulled away from Charlotte slightly, brushing a stay piece of hair from her daughter's face. "How does that sound?"

Truthfully, Charlotte felt bad about lying to her mother? But was it really lying if it was part of the truth?

Wiping the fake tears from her eyes, Charlotte nodded. "Sounds great, mom."

─☼☼☼─

The mother-daughter duo were on their third episode of Criminal Minds when the front door flew open before promptly slamming. 

In marched Kiara Carrera, drenched in rain and clearly on a mission. 

"Charlotte, my room. Now." She barely even acknowledged her mother as she ordered her sister upstairs. 

Looking to Anna with furrowed brows, Charlotte paused the TV. "I'll uh─I'll be right back."

Anna opened her mouth to say something, but Charlotte was already halfway up the stairs by that point. 

With her footsteps echoing in the upstairs hallway, Charlotte turned into her sister's room, the door instantly being slammed behind her. 

Kiara moved away from the door, holding her hands on her forehead as she paced the length of the room. Clearly, something had happened tonight.

"What happened?" the eldest of the two demanded, her heart jumping in her chest. "Why are you freaking out?"

Finally stopping, Kiara looked to her older sister with a look of pure stress. "Ward killed Gavin."

Her words were blunt and to the point, and quite honestly they took Charlotte off guard. With her expression falling, Charlotte shook her head. "Gavin?" She repeated. "Like the pilot Gavin?"

"Yes." Kie answered, lowering herself onto the edge of her bed. "We tickled the wire...y'know like Pope suggested." When Charlotte nodded, she continued. "Then we called Gavin and told him that we know what he did, that he flew the plane out of there after Rafe killed Peterkin. I guess that got him all freaked out so he confronted Ward...threatened to turn Rafe in and then..." She trailed off, using her fingers to replicate a gunshot. 

"And you saw this all?" Charlotte clarified, mind reeling.

Kiara nodded. "Had it all on camera before JJ and Pope dropped it." She muttered something under her breath, rolling her eyes at the recollection.

"Did you call the cops?"

Scoffing, Kiara glared at her sister. "Of course we called the cops. But Shoupe wouldn't do anything obviously. The gun washed away in the rain...we had no real proof."

"Fucking hell." Charlotte muttered, running a hand over her face. "What happened to the body?"

"Ward took it." Kiara answered. "My guess is that Gavin will be fish bait."

The thought of Ward dumping Gavin off of his huge yacht cause Charlotte's stomach to clench. The prospect of Rafe helping him made her actually want to throw up.

"I'll go down to the station tomorrow." Charlotte offered. "Maybe Shoupe will listen to me."

Kie screwed up her face. "Why? Because you're Rafe's ex? I really don't think that's going to matter right now."

"I'm just trying to help, Kiara. You don't have to be such an ass."

"I'm not trying to be an ass. I'm just saying, Shoupe isn't going to listen to any one of us." She answered, kicking off her wet shoes.

Charlotte shrugged. "So that's it then?"

"No." Kiara answered, a slightly anxious look coming to her face. "We have a plan."

─☼☼☼─

"This plan literally sucks."

By mid-afternoon the next day, the four of them were standing in the warm heat of the September day, staring at the entrance to the storm drains. 

This was apparently the big plan. Find the gun, turn Ward in. 

"Look, Charls, none of us are too thrilled about this. But your little boyfriend and his dad aren't making things easy on us here." JJ announced, placing his hands on Charlotte's shoulders. 

Shrugging away from him, she fell silent. 

Every reminder of what Rafe had done, what he was, caused her body to feel like it wanted to shut down. 

Not seeming to notice, JJ continued as he and Pope hopped into the shallow water in front of the drain. "This is the North drain. It should've gotten washed into the gully. So if it got flushed out from this drain, it would've been pushed out to, like─" He paused to motion to the space in front of them.

"Somewhere in this trash." Pope concluded.

"Correct."

Kiara scoffed from next to Charlotte. "Oh my God. People who use plastic should be shot."

Charlotte rolled her eyes at her sister as JJ began sorting through the trash. "Okay, personally, I love plastic." He argued, clearly trying to be a pest. "Use it everyday. Love the stuff."

"Okay, well hopefully you recycle it and don't just let it flush into the ocean." Kiara challenged, hand on her hip.

"I thought you'd say something like that, so...trash bags." Pope interjected, holding up the roll of black bags. 

Charlotte rose her brows as Kiara tried to hide her smile. "Did you just...proactively protect the environment."

It was no secret that something was going on between Pope and Kiara, but they had kept it rather shielded from the other two for the most part. 

But now, JJ and Charlotte were sharing a look as Pope and Kiara shared their own, more intimate look. 

"Do you want us to leave you two alone, or what's going on?" JJ wondered. "Charley and I would be happy to give you some space, isn't that right, Charls?"

Charlotte snorted as she nodded over-enthusiastically. "Oh, totally."

The roll of trash bags were fired at JJ and Pope glared at the two of them. "Just pick up the trash."

Grinning, Charlotte looked to her sister who was smiling blissfully. "Remember last week when you told me you were just friends?" She challenged, dropping her voice into a whisper. "I don't look at my friends like that."

Without dropping her smile, Kiara gave Charlotte a light shove. "Shut up and get down there."

"Whatever you say lover girl."

─☼☼☼─

Twenty minutes and ten trash bags later, there was no sign of the gun. 

"Well, that was fun." JJ muttered, throwing the last bag up onto the culvert. 

"If it's not in the trash, then it's gotta be somewhere in the storm drain." Pope deduced, frustration leaking into his voice. 

JJ nodded, not even trying to sugar-coat it at that point. "It's in the drain."

"Damnit!" Pope cursed, glaring at the sewer. 

Kie rose her brows, unamused. "Of course it is." 

"Good thing I brought my crow." JJ declared, seemingly too excited over the prospect of someone going into that drain.

"So, like, are we gonna do rock-paper-scissors?" Charlotte wondered. "Or odds? Youngest goes?"

"Or oldest?" Kiara interjected.

"Don't think so." Charlotte fired back.

"None of the above." JJ responded. "Help me with this, Pope." He beckoned, prying at the bars.

"Alphabetically?" Kie offered, voice hopeful. 

"Nah." JJ shot down all of their suggestions. "See, in the sewer, there's this worm that you get when you're down there. It gets into you blood, and then it has to come out your pecker. So that would be a hard pass for me."

Pope nodded. "That's gonna be a no for me too."

"How is that fair?" Charlotte challenged.

"No, Charls it's fine." Kie assured. "I get it. They're scared."

JJ screwed up his face. "I'm not scared."

"It's kind of cute." Kiara mocked. "Little Pope and JJ need the girls to save the day, typical."

"It's just the pecker thing." Pope argued, ego now bruised. 

Kie shoved her sister toward the drain, "You don't have to be scared. Charlotte will do it."

Spinning around, Charlotte furrowed her brows. "Me? Why me?"

"Because you're the oldest." Kiara shot back.

"So? You owe me. You're going in."

"I owe you? For what?"

Charlotte placed her hands on her hips, brows raised. "Summer 2018."

Kiara threw her head back. "Oh, come on, you can't cash in on that now."

"Pretty sure I can."

Pope and JJ were sharing curious looks. Leaning over, JJ poked his head in between the two girls. "What happened in summer 2018?"

Ignoring him, Kiara clenched her jaw, shoving past her sister. "You suck, Charlotte."

As Kiara bent down, Pope stopped her. "Just...just be careful."

Nodding slightly, she rose her brows. "I'll be so careful." Her words full of mockery.

"I deserved that." Pope muttered, stepping back as Kie dropped to her hands and knees, tentatively crawling into the entrance. 

"You're not actually letting her go alone, are you?" JJ whispered to Charlotte who had already moved toward the entrance. 

Rolling her eyes, she lowered herself into the drain. "Obviously not."

"You still owe me for summer 2018!" She called to Kiara as she crawled in after her.

Kiara shook her head, cringing as she touched something in the water. "That's not how it works."

Rolling her eyes, Charlotte made a face of disgust as she followed Kiara through the dirty water. With each moved, she swore she could feel the germs swarming her. 

"This is absolutely disgusting." She muttered, something slimy touching her leg.

"Just uh─holler if you need anything!" JJ called in after them. "We'll, uh, we'll holler back!"

"Very helpful, thank you." Kie yelled back, sarcasm coating her words. 

The two sisters were silent as they crawled on, each of them searching for the gun as they waded through the dirty water. 

"You guys see anything yet?" Pope called.

"Nothing!" Kie responded.

"Keep looking!" JJ proded. 

"It's probably at the bottom of the catch basin." Pope added. 

Focusing on blocking out the horrible smells, Charlotte's voice came out as a grunt. "I wish they would stop telling us how to do our job."

"Too scared to come in here but more than willing to tell us what to do." Kie echoed her sister's feelings, letting out a grunt as she pulled herself into the catch basin.

Charlotte followed in after her, wincing as the water met her chest for a brief moment before she was able to stand to her full height.

"It has to be here." She announced, already feeling around for any sign of the gun. "If it's not...I'm gonna be pissed."

Kiara tossed a piece of trash out of her way, almost hitting Charlotte with it. "People are so shitty."

"Watch where you're throwing." Charlotte demanded, moving trash out of her own way.

The two fell into silence for a moment, both of them with disgusted looks on their faces as they moved around in the murky water, using their hands to feel for the gun.

"Oh my God, I think I found something." Kiara announced suddenly, wincing as she pulled something up from the bottom. "Guys!" She called out to the two boys. "I think I found something."

When the thing she had a hold of rose to the top, both girls let out a scream as they scrambled away from it. It was a dead carcass of some kind. 

Charlotte felt like she was going to throw up, in fact, she quite literally started gagging. 

"There's something dead in here!" Kiara screamed, letting out quick shrieks as she tried to move away from the carcass. 

The smell only got worse as that thing began floating around. Charlotte was really starting to wish she hadn't decided to be such a good sister by following Kiara in here. 

The boys started yelling back at them, asking what kind of body they found, if it was the gun, if it was Gavin, blah, blah, blah. 

Kiara and Charlotte were too preoccupied to answer any of their questions. Kiara, with trying to put as much distance between herself and the dead thing, Charlotte, with trying not to vomit everywhere. 

"Don't touch it!" JJ yelled. "That's how you get worms!"

"I'm literally going to kill him." Charlotte gritted out, her voice wobbling as she gagged again. 

But the dead carcass floating around was about to be the least of their concerns. 

They heard it before they saw it...the sound of gushing water. 

Spinning back toward the way they came, Charlotte's eyes widened at the sigh of water rushing toward them, blocking the way out.

"Guys!" She screamed, voice breaking. "The water!"

"Kiara! Charlotte! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!" Pope screamed, urgency in his voice.

Kiara let out a panicked gasp. "We don't have time!"

The water flooded into the catch basin, almost knocking Charlotte off her feet as she shoved Kiara toward the ladder. "Climb!" She ordered, voice tearing through her throat in terror.

Kie grabbed onto the rungs, the boys' voices being drowned out by the water as it continued rushing into the drains. 

Charlotte grabbed onto the rungs below her sister, holding onto the ladder for dear life as the water tried to wrench her off. 

In all the chaos, she felt something hit her leg, and upon looking down, she saw the metallic glint of the gun. 

Her heart leapt. But she didn't grab it as quickly as Kiara would have. Hesitation swept over her for a brief moment, knowing what would happen to Rafe if she picked it up. 

"Charley, hurry up!" Kiara screamed from above her, snapping her out of her muddled thoughts. 

Silently, she reached down and swept up the gun, shoving it into the waistband of her shorts. 

Maybe it wouldn't even matter that she grabbed the gun, she was pretty sure Kiara and her were about to die anyway.

She barely had to use any effort to climb up the ladder, the force of the water basically shoved her toward the manhole where Kiara was already trying to free them. 

The youngest of the two sister had her hands gripped around the cover, trying to push it open. 

Charlotte held onto the ladder, lower than Kiara, which meant the water was overtaking her quicker. 

"Hurry!" She pleaded, unsure of who she was even pleading with at this point. 

There was no way Kie was going to be able to lift that cover by herself. 

As if the universe read her thoughts, the sound of Pope and JJ's voices soon filled her ears. "We're here!" JJ assured, the two of them already working on freeing the two girls. 

"Please, hurry!" Kie begged, "Charley's going under!"

And she was right. No matter how high Charlotte seemed to pull herself, the water pulled her deeper and deeper. 

Kiara had grabbed onto her sister's arm, trying to yank her up to the highest level they could go, put the force of the water was strong. 

Charlotte sucked in a deep breath, preparing for the moment when she would not be able to breathe.

She was holding onto her sister for dear life, praying to a God she wasn't even sure she believed in. 

Kiara had one hand on the ladder, the other around her sister. "PLEASE!" She screamed, voice breaking in terror. "HURRY!"

And then, all Charlotte could hear was the sound of rushing water. 

It grabbed onto her, trying to pry her from the ladder, trying to pull her down to the depths of the basin. 

This was it. 

Anna and Mike Carrera were about to lose both of their daughters in one stupid freak-accident. 

Kiara squeezed Charlotte's hand, the two of them still gripping onto each other as the water surrounded them. At least they were dying together. 

Just when Charlotte had accepted their fate, they were propelled upward and onto a hard surface. 

Kie was out first, followed quickly by Charlotte who let out a retched cough as she struggled to catch her breath. 

Resting her face on the road, Charlotte sucked in deep breaths, trying to calm her body after the near-death experience it had just endured. 

Kiara still hadn't let go of her older sister's hand as she, too, struggled to breathe. 

"Are you okay?" Pope panted, wrapping his arms around Kiara. 

"Pope, get off me." She demanded, trying to push him away. "Get off me!"

The two sisters continued retching, each of them sucking in deep breaths of fresh air.

"You guys good?" JJ wondered, his voice wobbling with genuine worry.

"Great." Charlotte muttered, her voice hoarse as she looked up at him. "Just out of curiosity..." Reaching into her waistband, she pulled out the gun. "This isn't what we were looking for, was it?"

JJ's face lit up in excitement as Pope let out a laugh. Kiara looked equally as shocked. "No fucking way."

JJ quickly took the gun from Charlotte, wrapping it up, excitement coating his features. "We're going to get this son of a bitch, man!"

As the other three of them celebrated, Charlotte wore a smile, but it wasn't one full of excitement. It was one hidden with apprehension. 

She wasn't really sure how to feel.

─☼☼☼─