The Home We've Built

Chapter 4

They had gathered everything onto the boat and headed off till they were nowhere near anyone. Once they anchored out they set all the blankets up and layer down to go to sleep. Sarah and John B set up on the floor of the front of the boat cuddled together, John B being the big spoon and Sarah being the little spoon with Alaia curled up against Sarah's stomach. "I love you Sarah." John B told her, "Love you too." Sarah mumbled to him falling asleep. John B chuckles at how tired she is and makes sure to stay awake long enough till she is for sure asleep before he falls asleep. Over on the other side of the boat Kie and JJ are cuddled up on the floor and Pope on the seat. "You know," JJ whispers to Kie, "I really hope this all works out between us." "Just so you know," Kie whispers back, "I do too." She told him, giving him a kiss and cuddling into his side, "Goodnight JJ." "Goodnight Kie." "Goodnight everyone." JJ says, "Goodnight." Pope and John B replied.
The next morning John B woke up hearing JJ, Kie, and Pope talking quietly, he looked down to see Sarah cuddled into his side and their fur baby in beneath them Sarah and the blankets hiding her. John B quickly slips out of the blankets and heads over to the group. "Good morning." John B said, getting their attention, "Good morning." They replied, "What are you all up to on this fine, fine morning." He asked them, "Just talking about how adorable you and your mini family look." Kie told them, "I even took a photo for you guys to use as a lock screen on your phone." She said excitedly. "Wow, thanks. Only a slight problem with that idea, we don't have phones anymore." He said with a slight smile, "Oh, right! We forgot to give these to you guys so I'll give you yours and Sarah can have hers when she gets up." Kie said as she passed John B a silver iPhone X with a clear case. "Kie, I can't take this from you." John B said. "I figured you would say that, but the only reason I got these for you guys was so that we can contact each other if we split up at some point. And if it makes you feel any better you can pay me back for it once we get the gold, deal?" Kie said confidently, "Deal." John B replies. He takes the phone from her and sees the photo of the three of them on his lock screen, his home screen has a photo of the whole group together that they took the night before. He looked back to where his little family was sleeping to see the puppy waking up, "Hello Alaia." John B said quietly, hoping to get the puppy's attention before she woke Sarah up. The puppy looked at John B and wagged her tail moving over to him. "Good morning Alaia." The others said to the puppy in John B's arms, to which she responded with a wage of her tail. "Are you hungry baby?" John B asked her, resulting with a lick on the cheek and a squirmy puppy in his arms, "Okay, Okay. Let's go get the chicken out of the cooler for yah girl." He said putting the puppy down and heading to the cooler grabbing the container of chicken and an empty dish to use for her, he placed a bit of a chicken in the dish and placed it down causing Alaia to eat it up as fast as she could. Once she was done eating he praised her and gave her a quick pet, then put the dish back into the cooler so they could give her more at lunch time. He then goes and sits beside his friends while Alaia walks over to Sarah, smells her and walks back to John B to climb into his lap which he allows.
A while later, John B sees that it is almost 10:30 and Alaia is starting to get anxious, probably needing to use the bathroom. He decides now would be a good time to wake Sarah up, let her eat some food on the way over to some land to let Alaia use the bathroom. So he turns to the pogues and asks them to get everything ready so they can head to land when Sarah wakes up. As they start lifting the anchor and collecting their blankets John B goes over to Sarah with Alaia. "Hey Sarah?" He asks gently, "You should get up now so we can let Alaia use the bush, huh sweetheart?" "Yah, I guess." She tells him, sleepily. She then starts to get up but not after John B gives her a quick kiss and they exchange 'good mornings'. When she gets up she folds all the blankets and stack the pillows on top, playing them in a compartment under one of the seats with the others. "Good morning, Sarah." Kie and Pope say as JJ says, "About time you come and join us, sleepyhead." They all laughed. "Good morning you guys." She replies with a slight yawn. Once they get everything ready to go, John B starts the boat and heads to some secluded land for them to stop for a bit. "Okay Alaia, go get busy." Sarah said, to which Alaia barked and headed into the bush still having eyes on her Sarah. While Alaia was busy, the 5 friends picked some food that they found and put it in the basket that they had brought with them. When Alaia came back, they all took turns throwing sticks for her to wear off all her energy. They knew she was done when she went to Sarah and John B and crawled in between them to sleep, that's when the 5 friends decided to head back on the boat and come up with a plan as to what they would do next.
When they got in the boat John B sat down on one of the seats and Sarah laid down beside him, with Alaia resting between her and the back of the seat, opposite the side of her wound. They had come down to the conclusion that they would focus on getting the evidence to exonerate John B, that's when Kie remembered. "Oh, hey Sarah?" She stared, "Yah?" "I've got something for you, I already gave John B his." "Oh Kie you dont need to give me any-" She started, "No Sarah. I already told John B this so I'm going to tell you, I'm giving you this for safety reasons and when this is all over you can pay me back for it if it makes you feel better." Kie told her, handing her the phone, "You have the same lock screen as John B, I had taken that photo this morning and thought you would like it. Your home screen is a photo of you and Wheezy, I know how much you love her and that you had given up your ability to see her through this whole time." She knew how Sarah had taken responsibility for raising Wheezy since she was a baby because Rose and Ward couldn't give her the time of day, she knew how hurt Sarah was about not being able to see her. "Oh my god. Thank you so much Kie. I really do appreciate this." Sarah told her, hugging her while crying into her shoulder. A few minutes later they pulled apart and wiped their tears away.
"I have an idea." John B said, "What is it?" They asked, "What if we talk to Lana and see if she has any solid proof to help clear my name. I mean she knows that Ward was the last person to see my dad, so if we can get the solid proof then we'll be able to get the gold and take down Rafe and Ward." He told them all. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Sarah said, "Okay, all in favour, put your hand up." JJ said as they all raised their hands. "Ok so it's settled, we can head over there now and talk to her. When we get there I need someone to be out keeping watch for anyone who would report us." He told them as he started the boat, "Yeah no problem man." JJ told him and with that they headed over to Lana's home.