Depths

The Hideout

Feet pounding on the ground as she runs, Harli tries to push aside the pain shooting through them. She checks behind her to make sure that she's not being followed. After everything that had already happened in the last two days this was the last thing she needed to happen. She runs until she's sure that she's safe and she sneaks into one of her many hide outs, in an old abandoned church, to lay low for a while. She climbs to the top where the bell tower is and watches through the cracks of the wood to make sure that she wasn't tailed. She pulls her phone out turning the sound and location off. Despite the towers still being down on The Cut and services being nonexistent, she wasn't taking any chances.

It was well after dark and several hours later before Harli hears a noise coming from the stairs leading to the bell tower. She shoots up from her lying position and grabs onto her backpack in case she needs to make a quick run of it. The door lifts slowly before revealing the intruder. Her heart rate quickens as she holds her breath. A messy mop of blonde hair pokes through and Harli lets out a deep breath.

"Cupcake?" JJ calls out as he climbs up into the tower.

"J?" Harli calls out to him as she stands and rushes into his arms.

"Hey. Hey, are you okay?" He pulls her into his embrace, holding one hand on her head and pulling her to his chest.

"Were you followed?" Harli nervously asks, still pressed against him.

"No. What's going on?" JJ pulls away slightly from the girl in his arms to look at her face. "When you didn't show up at the movie I got worried and went by the chateau to look for you, but you and JB weren't there. I checked your room and noticed some pictures from your dresser mirror missing and knew something was wrong."

"DCS showed up at the house just as me and JB were getting home. They were there to take us away. John B made a plan at the last minute and got us out of there and we split. I ran as fast as I could." Harli breathes out in one sentence as her heart rate is quickened after everything. "How did you know to find me here?"

"I figured you'd be at one of your hide outs. This just happened to be the first one I checked." Harli finally leans back far enough to see the moonlight shine on JJ's face, revealing his busted lip.

"J, what happened?"

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

 "No! What happened, J?" Harli demands. He sighs, knowing that she's not going to let up on interrogating him.

"Topper and Rafe jumped Pope and I at the movie tonight. It got pretty bad, but Kie set the screen on fire and caused a distraction."

"Oh my god!" Harli gently places her hand on his cheek. "Oh my god. Here I am freaking out about being in hiding and you're literally battered. You shouldn't have come to find me. You should be home taking care of this and resting!"

"Li, shhh. It's fine. Stop. Just stop." JJ talks over her as she rambles, finally getting her to be quiet. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be, okay?" Harli closes her eyes and sighs heavily as he pulls her to his chest again and strokes her hair. "I brought you some food. Snacks I snagged from the concessions before the movie." JJ pulls away and digs through his backpack, pulling out chips, candy and a couple of sodas. "Where's JB? Where's your Jeep?"

"I don't know. He didn't tell me where he was headed when we split. The Jeep is at the Country Club with a flat tire." Harli sighs as she picks up a bag of chips and opens them up, returning her thoughts to her brother. "Do you think he got nabbed again?"

Panic sets in as she starts to think about the possibility that John B didn't escape. Surely he would've come looking for her by now.

"Hey, I'm sure he's fine." JJ scoots closer to her to comfort her before she enters full blown panic mode. Harli hasn't had a panic attack since she was nine, but JJ knew that it wouldn't take much in this situation for it to be triggered again. When they were younger he was the only one that could calm her down from a panic attack. After her mom died she would have them all the time and JJ made a point to always be near by to help out if needed. "Look, I'm going to stay with you tonight, okay? Then, tomorrow we'll figure everything out."