ONLY ANGEL | JJ MAYBANK

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

•••

The ride home is one of the dreariest car rides they've ever had as Kie drives JJ and Collins back to her house.

They were still ridden with this sort of sickening turn in their guts over the fact that they'd witnessed a man die that night. No matter the fact that his body had vanished and the crime scene had appeared like nothing had ever happened, they still had the memory of it to exist in their minds. They definitely could've felt much worse if they hadn't figured out what to do next, especially after all the work they'd put into trying to put Ward and Rafe away for good, only to come up short. They could still cling onto what little hope they had and put it into their need to find that gun, but it was hard to not be pessimistic when they'd failed so many times.

"Bright and early tomorrow, guys." Pope reminded them, his voice monotonous as he said it. They were so drained. A good night's rest was in desperate need.

"See you." Collins climbed out of the car after JJ, shutting the door behind her and waving goodbye before Kie drove off down the road. She looked back and walked alongside JJ as they dragged themselves up the footpath to her front door. "Charlie must've followed the party after last call."

She said it in regards to his missing bike which was usually parked in the front yard. He should've been home, normally he would be. But it wasn't uncharacteristic of him to be out late when he worked a bar shift. Collins figured that he must've been having a good time with some of his patrons and decided not to end the night so soon. However, it was also way past his normal hours. Time could sometimes get away from him.

"Lucky me." JJ sighed in relief. "Instead of tossing back beers he'd be tossing bottles at my head for bringing you back past curfew."

"Like you care about curfew anyways." Collins sneered as she rolled her eyes at him. She unlocked the door with her keys and pushed her way inside the dark, empty house. There was nothing else that Collins wanted more than to change into her pajamas and fall into bed so she could sleep away all of her stress.

As he kicked off his shoes which would need a good drying from the rain overnight, JJ nodded. "You're right, but only because the one person who'd be keeping me out late just so happens to sleep in the same room as me."

Collins fought the smile from spreading across her face. It's crazy how they can joke like this after what they'd been through that night. It almost feels wrong, like it was immoral for them to be okay after someone's life had been lost.

"Touché." Collins headed straight for the bathroom and turned on the shower to warm up the water. It felt like an eternity before she felt the steam start to rise and the heat fill the room.

JJ appeared in the doorway, shaking while rubbing his hands together in an attempt to generate some warmth. He stepped into the bathroom and sighed in relief. "Fuck, it feels good in here."

Fidgeting uncomfortably in her damp jeans, Collins said, "We should probably get out of these wet clothes." Immediately, she wanted to eat her words. She hadn't intended for it to sound so provocative when the words left her mouth. Her gaze flickered over at JJ, her lips parted in disbelief of herself. "So you know, we don't catch a cold. That's what I meant."

JJ enjoyed the innocent gleam in her eyes, deciding to tease her with a suggestive comment of his own. "I can get on board with that." He smiled with a hint of mischief as he moved closer to her, his hands going for the hem of her shirt that was still damp from the rain. He tugged it up to momentarily expose part of her stomach before her shirt fell back over his hands, which when they touched her skin, covered her in goosebumps from how cold they were. Collins could've easily mistaken the heat of his breath for shower steam if he wasn't so close to her.

Her hands moved to wrap around each side of his arms, not particularly in a manner of pushing him away, nor in order to pull him closer. It was just so she could make contact with him until she could decide one or the other.

"What if Charlie comes back?" She asked him with a hint of worry in her voice. There was nothing she was afraid of more than the thought of Charlie catching them in the middle of something indecent.

But JJ on the other hand, seemed to have no fear. "Don't worry, I'd hear him, sweetheart." He whispered. She liked when he did that, when he whispered for no reason.  There was no one else around to listen, yet he still spoke at a volume like they were in a movie theatre. She also liked when he called her sweetheart. Even still, she didn't believe him for a second.

A shiver ran down her spine, not from feeling cold, but because of JJ's hands moving further up under her shirt. Fingertips grazed the outer aspect of her bra, and not even a cute one, as if she had any. This was uncharted territory they were approaching. She tried to lock eyes with him, but his eyes always seemed to be looking at her lips.

"You feeling brave tonight, Maybank?" Collins questioned, a soft grin on her lips while she managed to keep her cool on the outside while her body was going into spasms on the inside. Which body system would fail first? The tissues beneath her skin as they melted under his touch, the muscle fibers in her heart as it beat wildly like there was no rhyme or reason to its pattern, or her brain as a result of all electrical signals dying out due to the absolute mind-numbing effect that the thought of JJ's eyes somehow having X-ray vision brought upon her?

"Always."

He dipped his head down to catch her lips, pulling her into a kiss so deep her legs felt like jelly. Their bodies came so closely together, it was like they'd formed an inseparable bond. Collins felt her feet shift backwards, and JJ just took the lead, pivoting them so that her back was against the wall and she was trapped between his legs. It was mildly concerning how the sense of suffocation from the steam and the confinement between the wall and JJ felt so addicting to her.

She ran her fingers through his hair, emitting the tiniest whimper as JJ nipped her bottom lip with his teeth before roaming to her neck and taking as much of her into his mouth like he didn't want any part of her to be neglected. It was like heaven when their bodies were aligned like this. That was the only way Collins could describe it. Only heaven could feel this dreamy. Nothing of the Earth could compare to how ethereal it felt when his lips touched hers or when his hands caressed her skin.

Collins sometimes had a hard time believing that everyone could feel this way. None of what she was experiencing was original. That's why people wrote novels, filmed movies, sang songs about what it feels like to be with someone truly special. The only thing unique about her was the fact that it was JJ she was feeling these feelings with. No one else could say that at this moment besides her. However, one could point out that this was Collins's first everything, so of course it felt good when you have nothing else to compare it to. Which only made Collins wonder, did JJ feel the way that she felt? Did her touch ignite fires in him? Did her kiss make his knees shake? Did it feel the same for him, with all the other girls he'd been with, as it did for her when he was her first?

JJ's tug on her shirt became more deliberate as he held it up halfway, exposing her torso and looking at her for permission to remove the soft barrier between them. His eyes seemed to have somehow deepened in color, the blue changed to a shade in its spectrum that Collins had never seen before. They were dark, and that was when she realized that his pupils had nearly almost doubled in size. He looked at her like he was almost begging, sending a shockwave of heat flooding across her whole entire body.

"Is this okay?" He asked, his voice gentle in her ear while he placed scattered kisses around her jawline.

Collins swallowed thickly, eyes fluttering shut when JJ's lips tightened around her skin in a sucking motion. How could she even think straight? This couldn't be fair. All she could manage to formulate as a response was a feeble nod, holding his gaze before she moved to raise her arms and surrender to him.

Except she sort of killed the vibe when she winced at the sharp pain that straining her shoulder elicited.

She quickly drew her arm back down to her side, grasping her throbbing shoulder. How could such a small and simple movement hurt so bad? JJ frowned in concern, hovering his hands over her as he was caught between being too afraid to touch her and wanting to help her in any way he could.

"What's wrong, are you hurt?" He attempted to pull back the neck of her shirt to get a better look, but his hands were batted away using Collins's one good arm.

"You fell on me, doofus." She replied, mock scowling. She was in too much pain to really be mad at him. "I landed on my shoulder. I must've pulled a muscle or something."

"First of all, I wasn't the one who fell on you, Pope was. I was merely just the force that pushed him into you." JJ said defensively, though they both knew that was little consolation. Collins just massaged her shoulder, but it sort of just made it feel even worse. "What can I do to make it better?"

Collins thought about it; the pain was damn near unbearable, but not enough for her to let it ruin this moment. "Pretend like nothing even happened and keep on kissing me." Collins sighed, draping her arms around his neck and trying her best to ignore the protest her body was trying to impose. All she wanted was to savor this moment with the boy she adored, whilst they had the house to themselves. Who knew when another opportunity like this would arise?

JJ's hands drifted back to the hem of her shirt. "I can be gentle." He whispered against her ear while his hands revealed the soft, delicate flesh beneath the fabric.

His voice and his words made Collins feel like a puppet on a string from how under his control she was. She let him pull her shirt over her head and drop it to the floor before he was quickly snaking his arms around her waist and running his hands up her back. She wore what was between a sports bra and a bralette, nothing sexy or particularly unflattering, but something simple. It was so like her to wear something like that. She never anticipated anyone ever seeing it so why bother wearing something desirable? Only, of course the day that finally happens, she's horribly unprepared.

"You're so beautiful." He whispered against her lips. His words echoed in Collins's mind while she kissed him, almost drowning out her own self-conscious thoughts. The only way she could get herself to relax was the fact that he's seen her in a bathing suit before. This should've been nothing different. She was only second guessing herself because of the circumstances. Charlie out of the house, the steamy bathroom, wet clothes; it was just the ambience that was making her so nervous.

More goosebumps rose upon her skin as JJ's wet shirt pressed against her bare stomach. Collins pushed it up and felt the heat of JJ's body underneath it, warming her hands and the rest of her that came into contact with him. JJ took that as his cue to remove the article of clothing, swiftly pulling it off in one brief motion. Collins knew it was rude to stare, but she couldn't help how drawn to his chest that her eyes were. He hadn't even looked at her for as long as she was looking at him.

If she was beautiful, he was gorgeous. Collins couldn't even begin to fathom how he was with her, how he was looking at her, kissing her, worshipping her when he existed the way he was. She'd been staring at him for way too long, her eyes hadn't made contact with his in a while, prompting her to finally look up and meet his gaze. There was a sort of amused expression on his face that made Collins blush in embarrassment for her stare. "Sorry." She murmured.

JJ brought his hand up to cradle her jaw in his palm and lifted her chin up to get a better look at her. "There's nothing I like more than when your pretty brown eyes are on me." A few beats passed while he reconsidered his statement before JJ followed up by saying, "Actually, I can name a couple of things but all of them have to do with you so I would say that it's definitely in the top five."

She laughed, the red in her cheeks deepening while droplets of perspiration dotted across them. Despite the flutter in her chest she got every time she lost herself in JJ's embrace, Collins couldn't help the side of her that took one step back and assessed the situation before her. There was just something about the fact that he was standing in front of her, and of course Collins wanted him, she wanted him more than anything in the entire world and it was just within a fingertip's reach. She just wasn't sure if she could fight the underlying feeling inside of her that was holding her back. The part of her that stopped her from committing to the act, from being able to let go and fully give herself to JJ in a way that she feared could break them.

JJ moved to kiss her again, but Collins turned her face at the very last second, causing him to miss her lips and meet the corner instead. "You know I've never kissed anyone but you before?" She asked him suddenly, catching him by surprise.

"No," JJ cleared his throat awkwardly. "No I didn't know that." It did seem like the sort of thing they would've talked about before they'd started kissing, but this was the first time Collins had actually said it out loud, and clearly, they were well past just kissing. But really? She'd never kissed anyone else? Not even an innocent little kiss out of curiosity on the school playground? Or even in that awkward transition during middle school where you just want to get it out of the way before you get bullied about it in high school. No one but him had ever wanted to kiss Collins Jacobson?

He supposed he was grateful for that. He'd been the only person in the world to have ever touched his lips on hers. It gave him a sense of pride to claim that title as her first kiss. No one else could know what they were missing out on and sure enough, people would realize how sorely mistaken they were to have not taken the chance to kiss Collins when they had it.

Collins looked up at him timidly, finding it a bit harder than usual to maintain eye contact with him. "So it would be safe for you to assume that that's as far as I've ever gone."

"Okay," JJ said carefully, swallowing deeply between bated breaths. It was hard to focus when she was half naked in front of him. It was normal for sex to be the only thing on his mind and even then it was hard to concentrate on anything else. Now he was thinking about sex with Collins and it was impossible for him to hear or see straight when his imagination was running wild.

"I don't know if I'm ready for anything more right now."

Okay, that was JJ's cue to snap out of his little fantasy and get serious. Collins's feelings came first and there was nothing more important to JJ than to listen to her and make sure she was heard.

She hoped he'd heard her the first time, because she didn't want to have to repeat it. Maybe that wasn't the right way to go about it. God, why was she so stupid? She didn't intend on hurting his feelings, but she was not off to a good start so far.

"Is it too much?" JJ gazed at her, trying to read her thoughts based on what he could see from the outside. All she had to do was tell him and that was that.

Holding her hand to his chest, Collins took in a shaky breath, practically on the verge of tears as she tried to muster up the right words to describe how she felt. "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting any of that to happen. It's just that I've never done it before." If her face wasn't already the shade of beets then it was now. He already knew that but it still embarrassed her to admit it out loud.

But JJ, like the gentleman that he was, didn't make any remarks or display any reactions at her expense. Instead, he was totally understanding of the whole thing. "You're right. If it's too fast for you then it's too fast. I don't want you to feel rushed."

Collins felt the knot in her chest start to loosen at his reassurance. A few more of the right words and he would settle the anxiety in her. Somehow, that's all it took when it came to JJ's comfort. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lead you on."

"Collins." JJ chuckled as he stopped her from saying anything further. "I don't expect anything from you. You don't have anything to apologize for."

She bit her lip and looked up at him shyly. "But I want you to know that it's not out of the cards. Trust me when I say that I do want to, eventually, I just don't want to question myself during it. Instead of wondering to myself whether or not I'm actually ready, I'll know."

JJ nodded his head in understanding. "I don't want you to ever feel pressured to do anything you don't want to do. I can be patient. A girl like you is worth waiting for."

Collins smiled, that fluttery feeling taking it's brief control over her chest once again. "You're probably the only guy in the world that would say something like that."

She was thankful that this wasn't a deal breaker for him. She's sure that there were some boys that would get angry at their girlfriends for being 'prudish'. JJ could've easily called her a tease for feeding into the sexual tension between them, but he'd surprised her with how at ease he was all things considering. It made her all the more confused as to why she just couldn't do it with him when he was showing her how perfect he was in every way possible.

Sex didn't have to be scary if she didn't let it. But the extreme extent of vulnerability that came with it was what scared her the most. That wasn't to say that she didn't trust JJ, but their relationship seemed to move at a mile a minute and at some point she needed to hit the brakes and just think for a moment about what it was that they were doing.

"Here." JJ plucked the towel hanging on the hook next to them and wrapped it around her shoulders to cover her up. Collins accepted it gratefully, pulling the ends together to hide her chest. Just when she thought he couldn't get any more sweeter. It was so hard to say no when he was being so kind. "I should probably let you shower now."

He hesitated before he left, the two of them sharing a moment just gazing at each other before JJ swooped down and stole another kiss. If they could somehow stay this way forever, Collins would be content with that. Perhaps part of the reason why she was so afraid to take the next step forward, was because she was so comfortable with where they were now. She didn't want to risk changing things to a point that they could never return from. This little slice of serendipity that she had in that moment was too good to give up. For a second longer, Collins basked in the gesture, comforted by his presence until his lips were leaving hers all too soon.

JJ's eyes stared deeply into hers before they flickered back to her lips. He used the pad of his thumb to wipe the moisture off of her bottom lip. She wanted to feel him for just a little while longer, she wanted him to give her more reassuring words and for things to just be still for another beat more. But nothing good lasted forever, and so JJ eventually slipped away from her grasp, disappearing out of the bathroom and leaving Collins with empty hands that once held on to him

•••

After school the next day, they'd decided to follow their next big plan to free John B. The gun that had now been affiliated with two separate murders was their greatest chance of taking Ward down. That's why they were headed to where they believed the gun had ended up after being carried away by the storm. There was a high likelihood that Ward would believe that the storm had done him a favor and disposed of the evidence for him, so if they could get to it first then they could finally have the upper hand over him. Just because the rich guy wasn't willing to go down to the drains didn't mean that they weren't.

"This is the North drain. It should've gotten washed into the gully. So if it got washed out from this drain, it would've been pushed out around here." JJ led the way as they trumped down the bank towards the water. He pointed to the general vicinity of where he estimated the gun to be.

"Here, as in somewhere in this trash." Pope said, nodding his head towards the tiny floating island of plastic in the water.

"God, people who use plastic should be shot." Kie huffed, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

Wrinkling his nose, JJ shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "Personally, I love plastic. I use it everyday. Love the stuff." Collins rolled her eyes at him for his snide comments.

"Hopefully you recycle it and don't just let it flush into the ocean." Kie deadpanned.

"I thought you'd say something like that so," Pope held up a roll of trash bags to show to her. He was good at the little things. He knew exactly what would make Kie swoon in ways that no one might've even thought of. You could tell that he cared in that way. It was admirable how much of an effort he was making.

Looking at him with a small smile on her face, Kie quirked her brow and asked, "Did you just proactively protect the environment?" Collins could practically hear her heart skip a beat.

Shifting his gaze between the two, JJ stood uncomfortably with Collins in the middle of their little flirt fest. "Should we leave you guys alone, or what's going on?" Kie and Pope just looked down in embarrassment, both of their faces going a little red.

"Feels kind of ironic that we're picking up plastic and putting it into a vessel made of plastic." Collins remarked as she began filling her own bag with debris. She had to admit, there was an absurd amount of plastic in the water. At a certain point, she was pretty sure she'd stopped looking for the gun and was just cleaning for a while. It felt satisfying to rid the Earth of what humans had inflicted upon it.

After packing over five whole bags full of garbage, the result was that the water near the drain was finally cleaned up but there was no gun retrieved in the waste. "Well, if it's not in the trash it's gotta be somewhere in the storm drain."

"It would be, wouldn't it?" Collins pressed her lips together into a tight line in disappointment. Nobody ever said it would be easy, yet for some reason, their luck was complete shit.

"Good thing I brought the crow." JJ reached into his bag and pulled out a crowbar, taking it to the metal gate blocking the drain.

Kie raised her brows. "So are we gonna do, like, rock, paper, scissors? Alphabetically?" Both boys shook their heads vigorously.

"In the sewer, there's this worm that you get when you're down there. It gets into your blood and then it has to come out your pecker. So, uh, that would be a hard pass for me." Pope nodded in agreement with JJ's arbitrary little excuse to not go into the sewer.

Throwing her hands up in exasperation, Collins rolled her eyes at them. They were ridiculous. "I'll just do it. Clearly, this has turned into a girl's job and Kie already went into John B's grandma's tomb of death so theoretically it should be my turn. It's fine." JJ opened his mouth to protest, then realized that if he wasn't going to offer himself up in her place, then he really had no say in the matter at all. There were a lot of things that he would do for Collins, but risking his dick was not one of them. He hoped that she would understand that.

"You know, all you guys had to do was tell us that you're scared." Kie snickered at them. "Seriously, it's kinda cute. You should've just led with that."

As Collins waded through the water to approach the entrance into the drain, JJ grabbed her arm to stop her just before she could climb in. "Hey, just- you know, be careful in there."

A small smile tugged on Collins's lips as she looked back at him. "Watch it, JJ, before Pope starts telling us to get a room." She giggled a little bit before ducking headfirst into the pipe, crawling into dirty waters and only slightly regretting offering herself up to the job.

JJ watched her as she moved further in, seeing nothing but darkness from his end of the tunnel. "Damn." He muttered, second guessing himself and his lack of chivalry for letting his girl climb into a sewer because of his own cowardice. Did that mean he just got shown up by his own girlfriend?

Holding her breath, Collins tried not to breathe in the odors that hung stagnant in the air within the small pipe as she advanced forward. She was afraid that if she inhaled and actually smelled the things around her, she wouldn't be able to proceed any further. Years of corrosion on the pipes walls made her hands and knees sting with every move she made on the uneven surface. Her skin was already filthy, covered in whatever grime she was crawling in, and wet from sweat and humidity. This was disgusting.

"It's probably at the bottom of the catch basin!" Pope's voiced yelled at her from the other end of the drain behind her.

"Catch basin, got it!" Collins yelled back in response. She flinched as she felt something squishy beneath her hands. If she didn't find this gun, she was going to need some serious counseling. She could already feel herself developing claustrophobia and germophobia at the very same time.

It felt like an eternity before she finally reached the end of the sewer where the drain intersected between continuing on further or exiting through the manhole above her. The sun shining through the cover was the only source of light in there, illuminating what little space there was to see.

Collins groaned at the multitude of floating pop cans, swimming in the water with her, grimacing as she started sifting through bottom. Kie would hate it in there. "John B, you owe me for this." She grumbled, even though she knew he was sort of already paying for it with his freedom.

She tried everything in her power to not let her face touch the water, bending down to retrieve whatever items she could feel touching her shoe, the majority of them just being more pieces of rubbish to add to the pile. It was getting to the point where she almost felt like she was picking up the same piece of garbage, just in different cycles. Every time she felt something texturally unappealing, she'd shudder and try to suppress the gag that rose up the back of her throat. She didn't even want to know what she was stuck down there with.

"Hey, Colls, you good? You find it yet?" JJ's voice echoed and carried down the drain to where she was standing.

"Yeah, I'm good." She replied, more preoccupied with trying to grab the mysterious object that she'd accidentally kicked with her foot. "I think I got something!"

"Is it the gun?" Kie shouted eagerly.

Finally able to wrap her hands around it, Collins knew right away that it was much too soft to be the weapon in question, but she still picked it up anyways to get it out of the way. As she brought it up to the surface, her eyes squinted as they tried to make out what it was in the dim lighting. All she could tell was that it was furry, parts of it were red, like meat, and it smelled absolutely rancid.

A sharp scream escaped from her as Collins quickly threw it away, shaking while trying to wipe her hands clean despite being surrounded by filthy water. Whatever it was, or used to be, consider her traumatized. "Something is dead in here! I repeat, something is dead! It was not the gun, definitely not the gun!"

"Don't touch it, Colls, that's how you get worms!" JJ warned her.

"Too late!" She screamed back in response. God, she could still feel it on her hands. "This is way worse than the tomb of death!"

"We'll make it up to you! Promise!" Kie yelled. She cringed and exchanged worried glances with the rest of the group from outside the sewer as more disgusted cries from Collins carried down the tunnel.

"It's all right, guys, she eats hot dogs for fuel, she's practically indestructible." Anyone who could live off of those like Collins could, was sure to have a body of steel. JJ said it more as an attempt to put his own mind at ease, but he wasn't kidding anyone. He was anxious for his girl in there.

While Collins shuddered in pure repulsion, suddenly extra conscientious about what it was she was wading in the water with, a new sound snagged her attention. For a moment, she was actually too busy to think about touching dead things to dwell on it, because the sound was so alarming. It almost resembled white noise due to how indistinguishable it was. If it hadn't been so blatantly loud, she would've probably disregarded it. Collins had a difficult time discerning it at first, but then there was a rush of water flooding through the drain pipe in front of her, and instantly, there was no confusion on what it was.

"Oh shit." She cursed. "Guys! The water!" She didn't understand where it all could've came from, but all she knew was that it was coming in at full force with no sign of stopping, and she was still in those pipes with very few places to go.

"Collins! Get out of there, now!" A jumbled mess of yells echoed down the end of the drain, mixing with the sound of the water flooding towards her, until Collins couldn't make out a single word.

Her chest started pounding and panic ensued. The water was rushing in so fast, it had started to rise up to her shoulders when it'd originally sat below her waist. She couldn't even attempt to make a break for the tunnel she'd crawled through because it was now flooded with water. So Collins resorted to grabbing onto the ladder and climbing up to the manhole so she could make her escape. At this rate, she was going to be completely submerged within minutes.

When there were no more rungs to climb onto, Collins tried to push the cover up with her arms, but it wouldn't budge. No matter how much force she applied to raising it up, it refused to move. She pounded against it, trying to shake it loose, but nothing worked. It must've been rusted shut over the years. She could've used something to chip away at it but she was empty handed.

Banging on the metal with her fist, Collins started to  yell next. "JJ! I'm over here! Help me, please!" She tried squeezing her hand through the gaps in the cover to try and wave for help, but only her fingers fit through the space.

Collins didn't even have to look to see that the water was less than two feet away from submerging her entirely. Without moving the manhole, there was no where else to go. If this was a metaphor, the water was sand in an hourglass, and time was running out for her. Just when Collins thinks all hope is lost, she sees JJ, Pope, and Kie skid to a stop above her.

"We got you, CJ." Pope told her, somehow remaining relatively calm considering the situation. Don't be mistaken, he was shitting himself, but JJ was already freaking out and they didn't need two people losing their heads.

"It's stuck! Please hurry, the water's coming up!" Collins felt a sob fall between pleads, the air felt like it was already getting sucked out of her. She was scared. She now had to tilt her head back and bring her mouth and nose between the grates in order to breathe.

"Come on!" JJ shouted in frustration as he, Pope, and Kie simultaneously tried lifting the cover up, only for it to refuse to give. The girl of his dreams was going to drown right in front of him if he didn't do something fast.

He could see her trying to breathe through what little room the cover allowed, right before she took a big gasp for air just as the water engulfed her. He didn't know it was possible for his heart to beat so fast. How long could she hold her breath? The timer had been set and if they let it run out, it would be Collins's life coming to its abrupt end.

That absolutely could not happen, JJ refused. Something superhuman must've came over him or maybe even all of them at the same time, because they all started to pull together for another time, and all of their strength seemed to kick into full gear. As they strained their muscles to pull in unison, they finally began to feel the manhole actually shake free and lift up.

More water flooded up to the surface as Collins emerged with it, sputtering to cough out what she'd inhaled into her lungs. Not wasting another second, JJ bent down and hooked his arms under hers and pulled her out, falling back onto the concrete with her on top of him. Collins leaned with her back against his chest, trying to catch her breath and near close to passing out from utter exhaustion.

JJ hugged her so tightly, it never crossed his mind for a second to let her go. He should've never done it in the first place. It should've been him down there. He'd never been so happy to see her and know that she was okay. Even just the fact that he could feel the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed was comforting. That at least meant that she was alive. "Jesus, I thought we'd lost you. Are you okay?" JJ peered over to get a better look at her, pushing the wet hair stuck to her face out of the way. He couldn't tell if it was his heart that was beating so fast or hers.

Collins nodded weakly in response to him, completely wrecked. She reached behind her and squeezed him on the arm in reassurance for further emphasis, before reaching down to retrieve the object that was poking into her back uncomfortably. Holding it up, she said, "Is this that gun we were looking for, or are you just happy to see me, Maybank?"

Everyone's eyes widened as they took in the firearm in her hand, smiles spreading across each of their faces before they started laughing incredulously. To be honest, they'd totally forgotten about it. Their only concern in that moment being Collins while the gun had been in total disregard. JJ took the gun from her, wrapping it in a handkerchief before they slowly started to get up to stand.

"She's got jokes, huh?" Kie nodded at her, just before pulling Collins into her embrace, to which the girl accepted tiredly. She smelled the worst out of all of them but none of them could care less.

Joining in on the sentiment, Pope wrapped his arms around them with a big smile. "You did it, Collins. We're gonna get that dirtbag."

"That's my girl." JJ pumped his fist in the air excitedly. "We better get this to Schoupe." They all nodded in agreement, walking together to head to the station.

Raising her hand up to speak, Collins said, "For future reference guys, I can't be the only one out of the four of us who knows CPR."

"You'll have to give us the crash course later." Kie responded lightly, grateful that they hadn't had to get to that point with her.

As they proceeded into town to where the Sheriff's station was located, they hadn't given any thought to how they looked while walking the streets of Kildare county. Collins looked the worst; she was covered head to toe in dirt, clothes soaking wet alongside the others. They all reeked of sewage, but were victorious in their efforts to get the murder weapon that could pin Ward to everything they'd been trying to get the cops to arrest him for, along with Rafe. So even though they looked like they'd been through the wringer, they couldn't have been happier because of what it gave them.

They ignored the stares that they got once they'd stepped into the station with only one individual in mind. They made a beeline straight towards his office, bursting in unannounced to see Schoupe sitting at his desk, busy with work. He looked up upon their sudden arrival, confusion overtaking his expression.

"You wanted proof? Here's your proof right here, Schoupe." JJ set the gun on top of Schoupe's things in front of him. Mic drop. Now there was no excuse for Schoupe to not take them seriously.

Schoupe looked at them dubiously with his brow quirked. "Y'all are telling me that this is the firearm that Rafe Cameron killed Peterkin with?"

They nodded affirmatively. "That's exactly what we're telling you, Schoupe."

There was still some disbelief evident in his gaze at them as Schoupe followed up by asking, "And it's the exact same firearm that Ward just used to kill Gavin? Where's that corpse again?"

Collins almost groaned out loud in frustration while also refraining from rolling her eyes at the same time. Obviously, he still didn't believe them, even though they'd handed him the freaking murder weapon. He was still a skeptic. Would anything they did change his mind?

"Didn't you look?" Kie furrowed her brows in confusion.

Schoupe nodded. "I checked the hospital. I went by his house. He was out."

"No shit, because he's dead!"

"Just because he is not in his damn home, does not mean he was a victim of a homicide." Schoupe's voice grew louder as did his aggravation with them. They could say the same thing for him, too. What on earth could be doing with his time that was more important than solving a murder in his county? Why was he so unwilling to follow the leads that they were practically leaving him a trail to follow to with breadcrumbs like a freaking bird in the wild. They were basically doing his job for him and yet they were somehow the ones asking too much of him.

"Are you at least gonna send it in for ballistics and shit, or are you just gonna sit on your ass?" Kie scoffed. That was the bare minimum at this point. Even if it didn't happen to be the murder weapon, they still had to run those kind of tests on firearms just to see if they're linked to any crimes. At the very least they could do that and then they could finally see that it was the same gun used to shoot Peterkin.

JJ shook his head in disdain. "No, he's just gonna sit there and wax that damn mustache. Collins almost died for that gun, what the hell is this?" All that effort, all that stress for nothing?

Pushing himself up out of his desk, Schoupe stomped over to the door to his office and swung it open before pointing and showing them the way. They'd pushed one too many buttons. He'd had enough of them. "Get out. I got work to do. Y'all are smelling up my damn office."

There wasn't anything else that they could say that would convince him to change his mind. And at this point, Collins was tired of trying. They already had their suspicions that Ward was bribing the officers to keep quiet and sit back on the so-called investigation. They should've known that even if they could magically get Rafe to admit it himself that he had killed Sheriff Peterkin, it still wouldn't be enough to free John B. These dirty cops and their no-word for money mentality. It was sick.

Walking out of the building, Collins had a sour taste in her mouth and it wasn't anything leftover from all the gross water she'd accidentally swallowed. She was pissed off, which she wasn't alone in. Everyone else was practically fuming.

"We would've been better off paying someone to bring that stupid gun in. Nothing we do is ever gonna matter because it's us. Schoupe doesn't trust a single thing that we do." Collins crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. She needed a freaking shower to wash off all this anger she was feeling. Maybe if she was clean she could think more clearly, but her own stench was clouding her judgement and making her even more grouchy than usual.

"That brings us back to square one." Pope sighed. Now what? They still had to free John B but they were running out of ideas.

What happens if they can't come up with a solution to their problem, and John B and Sarah can never come back home? They had no clue what those two were going through and no way of finding out. They could've been in serious danger as fugitives in a foreign country. Collins missed them, and she knew everyone else was sharing the sentiment with her.

They needed a win, and unfortunately, all that had become of their day was just another failed attempt. Pope was right, they were back to square one. Nothing had even changed since they'd started this whole game to exonerate their friend. The only difference between their failure yesterday and the one today, was that they had at least had an idea of what to do next. Schoupe kicking them out just felt like he'd hung them out to dry with no where else to go.

Collins supposed that just meant that they'd have to find another way. Until something actually worked, that was the only plan that they had. Keep looking, keep trying.

Whatever it takes.