𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱: 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. . . 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧

𝐂𝐎𝐁𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐇 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 dropped off at the château in hopes of john b being there. i mean, it's not like they had to go home and check in with anyone. coby was actually surprised that jj didn't tag along with them. the couple walked onto the deck of the château, coby perking up when she saw feet hanging off the couch that was on the side of the fish shack. she walked around the corner, a smile appearing on her face when she saw that john b was peacefully sleeping on the couch. she jumped onto the routledge boy, instantly pulling him out of his sleep. a grunt left his lips as he wrapped his arms around coby, not wanting her to fall.

"nice to see you too, c." he groaned, sleep still in his voice.

"we thought you fucking died!" she told him as she pulled away, sitting on the edge of the couch.

"we're sorry that we left." sarah apologized, sitting on the edge of the couch next to coby.

coby nodded, "yeah. they just dropped us off. we literally couldn't hear anything on the phone."

john b's eyebrows furrowed. "what? you couldn't hear anything?"

"no, just that we should come back to obx, but that's it." sarah answered, earning another nod from coby.

"so, you guys don't know." john b mumbled.

"know what?" coby and sarah asked in unison.

"guys. he's alive. my dad's alive." john b said, his voice barely above a whisper. the couple shared a look with one another. "and he's here right now. look." he finished, looking through the window to the pull out couch that was inside the château.

the two girls followed his gaze through the window, only to see that no one was there. they shared another look with one another before they turned to look at john b.

the routledge boy sat up more, his brows furrowing when he realized that his father wasn't where he last saw him. "no, he was jut right there. guys, i swear to god, he was. he was here. dad!"

"john b." coby mumbled, looking at him with worry.

"no, no, jake. hey, look. i - i promise he's here. give me one second." john b told her, pulling his legs from under the blanket before he got up. "dad!"

"hey, um -" sarah tried.

"no, no, hold on. i promise you. hold on." john b urged, stepping off the porch.

he called out for big john, looking around. sarah and coby looked at each other again, not exactly sure what they should say or do. they let john b look for his dad around the château for awhile, the boy checking the dock, the shed, along with other places. by the time he was done, the sun was starting to come up over the horizon. coby had convinced john b to go shower and change since he was able to access his clothes. when he was done doing that, he was back to calling out for his dad and convincing the girls that the older routledge had been there.

"he was here." john b urged, walking back down the porch and outside.

"john b, i -" coby sarah tried.

"no, i swear, he was here, all right?" john b said.

"okay."

"i'm not crazy. look, that's the boat right there. okay?" john b continued, pointing towards the boat that was tied to the dock. he then pointed back to the château. "and he was sleeping inside right there. look, uh, you believe me."

"i mean. . ." sarah muttered.

"right?" john b asked.

"hell, i wouldn't believe him either." a familiar voice appeared, making the two girls look to who it belonged to. "hello, sarah and coby."

coby's eyes fell onto big john, her mouth hanging open. it seemed like everything had hit her at once, the sawyer girl turning to look at her best friend, who sent her a shrugged. she looked back at big john, feeling tears come to her eyes as she looked him up and down. she brought a hand up to face as she watched the man get closer, the tears trailing down her face.

"come on, coby and sarah." big john urged, his arms opened as he got closer to the girls. sarah walked up to him. "or should i say mrs and mrs. sawyer. welcome to the family, sarah."

"where the hell did you go?" john b questioned.

"sorry." sarah apologized, pulling away from the older man, turning to look at john b.

coby walked over to big john, she placed her hands onto his arms to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. big john looked down at her, sending her a warm smile as he engulfed her into a hug. coby let out a laugh as she melted into the man's arms. big john wasn't her father, and she knew this. but he had been the closest person to one.

"come on, son. it's a day of celebration. bring it on in, boy." big john instructed, his son doing as told.

with that, he wrapped his arms around the three teens. the four of them stood there, the two girls crying their eyes, while the two routledges were just standing there, smiling at each other.

"i can't. . . i can't believe it." sarah stuttered.

☠︎ ✶ ♡ ✶ ☠︎

𝐂𝐎𝐁𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐇 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐔𝐏 leaving the château, the latter leaving on her bike to go to her home while the former used her skateboard to go to the hell that was legally where she resided. coby didn't want to leave sarah, wanting to go with her just in case. but the cameron girl had insisted that coby went home to get her clothes to get it over with. coby dreaded seeing her mother and step-father. but she wouldn't have to see them if she snuck in.

the sawyer girl only agreed to go because she would be able to ride her skateboard for the first time in over a month. she new that jj, john b, and pope would let her borrow their clothes. she did a few tricks as she rode down the street, waving to people that recognized her. when she appeared at her house, her mood immediately dropped. she had hoped that her two guardians weren't home. but she saw that both cars were out front. she picked up her board from the ground and walked over to her bedroom window. she looked through the window, seeing that her bedroom door was wide opened.

she sucked in a deep breath, pulling away before she pulled the window open. she tried to do it slowly, not wanting to make any noise. she gently placed her skateboard on the grass  before she slowly but surely climbed through the window. she moved her angled her body so that she wouldn't step on a certain floorboard that creaked. she stood up straight once she was fully in, going over to her closet. she made sure to open it slowly, looking towards her bedroom door. she grabbed a book bag that was on the floor, opening it before she started to gently place clothes in the bag. she didn't want to have to come back. she wanted to have everything she needed. she tried to stuff everything into that one bag, but obviously, one bag could only hold a certain amount of things.

the thought of leaving her brother's belongings then came to her mind, making her look through to the door again. she mentally cursed as she thought about her options. she could go back out her window and then sneak into taylor's room through his. but his window has always been a pain to open and she knew that it would make too much noise. she sucked in another deep breath before she walked towards her bedroom door, slowly opening it. she could hear music coming from the living room, which meant that her mother and step-father was probably noting up whatever drug they had.

she crept through the hall, trying not to make any noise. she opened taylor's room, wincing when she heard how loud the door creaked opened. she stopped her movements and looked down the hall, making sure that they hadn't heard her. she continued entered her brother's room before she slowly closed the door. she quickly made her way towards the dresser, opening the drawers to grab a majority of taylor's shirts and pants. she then went over to the closet, stuffing most of his sweaters into her bag.

she then scanned the room, seeing if there was anything else she wanted. she didn't have that much room left in the bag. she actually didn't expect all those clothes to fit. her eyes then stopped on the stuffed bear that was laying on his bear. she smiled at, swiping the bear of the bed before she stuffed it into her bag. she was about to walk back towards the door, but she stopped when her eyes landed on taylor's desk. she had never really paid attention to anything on it. i mean, she was pretty sure the last time she was in the room, she had gotten beaten to a pulp by james.

she looked through the papers that were sprawled out on his desk, left untouched. the papers looked like they were printed off of different websites, a lot of them talking about the royal merchant, the cross, and a bunch of other lost treasure. she blew out a breath of air, her cheeks puffing up. her brother really loved this. she grabbed all the papers, putting them into a neat pile before she folded it messily. she then saw a book, flipping through the pages. it was taylor's journal. he documented his thoughts. she raised her eyebrows as she grabbed it, stuffing the folded papers into the book before she placed it into her bag. with that, she zipped the bag up, ignoring the fact that was practically fighting with the bag to close it.

the sawyer girl froze when she heard the faint music stop. she then heard the footsteps coming towards the door. panic entered her body as she looked around the room, trying to find a place to hide. she quickly made her way towards the corner that the door was in, placing the bag next to the bed. she screwed her eyes shut when the door was thrown open, the knob hitting her arm. she held her breath as she saw james enter the room, watching as he looked around the room.

"james, what is it?!" the voice of alice appeared, coby hearing the slur coming from her.

"i thought i heard something." james grumbled, turning to look at his wife.

alice looked around the room, not noticing the opened drawers and closet. coby didn't know if it was because of how high the woman was or the fact that she never came into the room, but she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "there's no one in here."

james made a noise of annoyance, doing one more look over at the room. his eyes then went over to the bedroom door, his eyes squinting slightly. he was about to look behind the door but alice called out for him. he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. coby let out the breath she was holding, sliding down the wall slightly. she didn't know what would've happened if she was caught, but she was glad that she wouldn't have to find out. she couldn't risk going back out into the hall to go into her room. so she just grabbed her bag and walked over to taylor's window. she noticed that the music had turned back on, it being louder this time.

she opened the window quickly, not wanting to waste time in doing it slowly. she practically threw herself through the window, closing it before she went back over to her room window. she grabbed her skateboard from the grass before she ran off to the road. she threw her board down before she hopped on it, riding down the road and back towards the château.

she went inside the place that she actually considered home. she took a shower in the bathroom, accidentally using all of the hot water. but too be fair, she hadn't taken a shower in over a month. she got out and got dressed, putting on a pair of shorts and one of taylor's shirts that she had taken. she didn't care enough to fix up her curls, the only thing she did was running a brush through them. she had seen the note that john b and big john had left on the door when she came in, not expecting them anytime soon. she was expecting sarah to appear, but she hadn't.

instead, kie did. she had cleaned herself up and changed her clothes but it looked like something was bothering her. the two girls went over to the shed, sitting in the chairs. coby watched the shorter girl closely, waiting for her to say something. but all she did was look at the ground with a bothered look.

"what's up, k? are you okay?" coby quizzed, tilting her head slightly.

kie looked up at her, shaking her head slightly. "rafe is here."

"what?" coby asked, her face dropping as she sat up.

"sarah saw him at tannyhill. she had to sneak out." kie explained. she then saw the look on coby's face. "she's okay. i spoke to her before i came here. she wanted me to tell you and jayj that the cross is coming here tomorrow. she went to go tell pope about it."

coby calmed down, relaxing into the chair she was sitting in. "okay. okay, that's good for us."

"yeah, it is." kie mumbled, her eyes going back down to the ground.

coby picked up on this, tilting her head again. "seriously, kie. what's going on?"

"it's jj." kie answered. coby raised her eyebrows at this, silently telling kie to continue. "we. . . almost kissed on the boat. and pope saw us, so jj went to go talk to him. it's been weird between us since then."

coby nodded, taking in the new found information. "just give him some time. he's gotta go through his own mental battle with that before he comes to you."

"but what battle does he have to go through?" kie questioned.

coby smiled slightly. "that weird pogue and kook thing. 'how could a kook like or love me?' 'i'm south side trash.' i went through that when i first got with sarah. i wasn't trying to ruin it or be destructive with it. i just had my doubts. he just needs to get over that."

"you went through that with sarah? i didn't know that." kie mumbled.

"yeah. it was that, plus the fact that she had cheated on topper with me. . ." coby explained, pursing her lips as she went off into thought. "kind of makes you think."

"what helped you get over that?" kie asked, her voice soft.

"the way i felt." coby answered. "i've never felt like this before, and the girl felt the same way. i mean, besides us. but you know how that went." kie let out an airy chuckle. "but. . . the way she would look at me, the way i felt safe with her, that's what help me get over that."

kie took in the information, nodding her head slightly. "you're not that angry girl anymore, are you?"

coby shrugged, a smile pulling at her lips. "i still am. but only when i need to be. i think being a fugitive for a few weeks and then being stranded on an abandoned island for over month emotionally matures a person. i don't know how or why, but it does."

kie chuckled at that, shaking her head slightly.

"did sarah tell you about big john?" the taller girl questioned.

"yeah. isn't that fucking insane?" kie answered, earning a nod from coby. the carrera girl then went silent for a few seconds, her mind wandering over to a certain curly haired boy. "does that. . . does it make you think that taylor's alive?"

coby sucked in a deep breath, her chest aching slightly. "i'd love to think that he's alive. i miss him so fucking much. i mean, i never would've thought that i can miss a person so fucking much. but i know, deep down, that he's actually dead. i mean, there was blood on the letter he left me. there's just. . . he's not alive."

kie nodded slightly, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at coby closely. she could tell that it had hurt her to say that, which made kie regret even asking the question.

"i'm sorry." she apologized.

"it's okay. not your fault." coby said, sending her a reassuring smile. "now, let's come up with ship names for you and jj."

"oh, god." kie laughed.

daij speaks!
ANOTHER UPDATE. i'm trying to decide if i want to involve alice and james more or not. cause like. they weren't really in the last season. but i fucking hate them so. this is also shorter than usual because i'm saving all the angst for the next chapter.

i hope you guys enjoyed this 🫶🏼