THE Bexley house is the last place Eden wanted to go.

After the Pogues finally dispersed away from the tree and back to the Chateau, they all parted ways. The utter silence the friend group sat in almost reminds Eden of when they were told John B. and Sarah had died—no one dared speak on what they'd just witnessed. Instead they sat in silence reminiscing on what could be done.

Kiara muttered something about going to The Wreck before leaving. Pope stated that a hearing would be held for John B. as soon as possible because of the case's importance before running off towards the HMS Pogue. JJ didn't even bother announce where he was off too before grabbing a joint and running out the door.

She would have tagged along with JJ if she didn't see the tears prickling in his eyes as he slammed the door. Everyone needed their own time to process what they'd witnessed—processed that they'd just seen their friend carelessly attacked, seen him unconsciously handcuffed and thrown into at cop cruiser—and Eden would respect that.

Even if it meant she had to go home.

Her father, Eden wasn't worried about. Tom would be upset his daughter ran off with her friends to Charleston and stole his wallet, but he'd get over it—just as he did every other time she ran off with the Pogues for days at a time, only returning home to let her parents know she hadn't died, or to grab a spare outfit.

It was Isla who had her dreading her eventual trip back home.

Not only was she not in the mood to hear the lecture she was bound to receive for running off like that—she'd run off to Charleston, not to the Chateau—but Eden knew everything. Suddenly, a woman she would rather ignore became a woman she wanted nothing to do with. Her mother was a part of the reason her best friend was currently in a jail cell, the reason Ward Cameron was able to get away with both Big John and Peterkin, the reason Rafe was still on a rampage rather than behind bars.

She may not have committed the murders herself, but to Eden, she was just as guilty for keeping the secret. Especially when John B. was Eden's best friend—she didn't care that Isla hated the Routledge, but the fact that she was willing to see her daughter go through pain made it worse.

Eden was already in a shitty mood. Her best friend whom she'd just gotten back had been ripped away from her, future undetermined. She still hadn't been able to do anything about her graze, meaning it was still opened underneath the bandage, waiting to be infected. She has pent up anger over the cops and the Cameron's and her mother.

Coming home was not the best idea with the Bexley's current state but she had nowhere else to be.

Besides, she already felt numb. No comment her mother threw at her could make her feel any fucking lower.

Eden's hand hovers over the door knob before she twists it open with a small click.

"About time, don't you think?"

The Bexley isn't even inside her own house and the lecture has started. Here we fucking go.

"I don't chase after you to Charleston, the least you could do is return home at a decent time." Isla Bexley chastises, sitting upon the kitchen island. She has a glass of wine in her hand and a tight lipped expression. "But, no. Honestly, I'm just hoping you have your father's wallet on you still, which he—" Her eyes catch hold of the blood stained bandage wrapped around her daughter's arm and her gaze narrows, "What happened to your arm, Eden?"

Eden's already fed up with her mother's bitching. How could she bitch about Eden being home a day or two late when John B. had just been put in jail—Isla had to know. The least she could do was try to understand that maybe, her daughter wasn't okay. That maybe she'd been home late because she had much more to worry about than getting home at a decent time.

So, bluntly, Eden drops the elephant in the room.

"Was it worth it?"

Isla tilts her head, "Was what worth it?"

"All of this." Eden gestures around her, voice quiet yet emotion clear in her tone. She was generally curious—did Isla think everything was worth it? Imprisoning a seventeen year old over a crime he didn't commit, lying to her daughter, keeping secrets. "Was it all worth it for a little more money in your pocket?"

"Eden, I don't know what you're on about right now—clearly, whatever happened to your arm is messing with your head." Isla set her glass down and stalked towards her daughter. She gets close to the girls, trying to get a look at her arm. "Let me see what happened—"

"Get off of me!" The Bexley girl exclaims. She can't believe her mother is trying to gaslight her yet again—trying to make her believe that her arm was messing with her head. "Are you really trying to gaslight me right now? Haven't you done that enough over this past year?"

"Eden, what has gotten into you?"

"Don't do that." Eden frowns. She just wants the fucking truth. "You and I both know what I mean."

Isla still held strong. "I don't have a clue."

"Were you ever gonna tell me?" Eden continues to question, despite her mother's denial of even understanding what she was on about. "Or was I bound to hear from Carla Limbrey all the way in Charleston that my mother is a part of the reason Rafe Cameron is getting away with Peterkin and John B. is in jail."

That seems to hit Isla, because the woman's facade slightly falters. Of course she knew what Eden was talking about, but now she knew. Knew that Eden was never going to forgive her for ever siding with Ward Cameron. Knew that now that the Bexley held the knowledge about the secrets and lying that nothing between them would ever fall back into line.

"Ah, Carla Limbrey." Isla forces a smile on her face before she continues, "You know, Eden, Carla isn't a saint either—"

"I don't give a fuck what she is. She's not my mom!" Eden cries, looking at Isla with a pained expression. Sure she cared that someone was keeping the secrets, keeping John B. in jail but it hurt more because it happened to be her mother more than anything. "I never thought you were a good person, and I know you stoop low, but this hurts." She could feel tears prickling in her eyes but she had to get this out, "You're my mom—you're supposed to be my mom. But you let my best friend get put in jail and think I'm gonna be okay with it? You—you decide to help Ward cover up a murder for a little more gold in your pocket and think I'm just gonna be fine? You lie to me and try to gaslight me into thinking that I was crazy for thinking John B. was innocent when you knew it was true too? Who fucking does that?"

Isla can feel her daughter's pain. Sure, she feels bad seeing her daughter like this—this wasn't how she intended things to work out. Ward promised her gold, not her daughter's watery eyes—but she didn't regret what she did. She had to help Ward even if it meant she betrayed her own blood. Eden wouldn't understand.

"Do you think I wanted you to find out?" Isla finally admitted, voice tight as she stared at her daughter. "Call me a shitty mother or whatever you think I am, but I do care about you, Eden. I did what I did but I never wanted you to know—"

Eden cuts her off sharply, "If you really cared you'd go turn yourself and the Cameron's to Shoupe before John B. gets a sentence."

"I can't—" Isla doesn't like how her daughter stated the phrase, "I can't do that."

"That's what I thought." Eden mutters, wiping her eyes as she moves away from her mother and further into her home's kitchen. "I'd say I'm surprised you're choosing Ward over me and Dad, but I'm really not." She pauses, "Does Dad even know?"

"No, he doesn't." Isla sighs, putting her fingers on the bridge of her nose, "And I'd like to keep it that way."

"Great." Eden sighs. Her eyes scan over the alcohol selection her parents had on the counter and she grabbed the bottle of Vodka without any hesitation. "Picking Ward Cameron over your daughter and your husband. Really fucking selfish, Isla."

The Bexley woman's eyes narrowed once more at the alcohol in her daughters grasp, "Where do you think you're going with that?"

"Away from you." Eden sneers. She didn't feel like staying in her house anymore—she'd rather sit alone in her sorrows at the Chateau. Moving towards the door, she states, "Call me when you decide to become a good person."

Isla storms forward and tugs on her daughters wrist, causing the girl to slightly whimper in pain—her entire arm was sore from the graze wound, and she hadn't taken any pain kills in the past few hours. "You're not going out with that this late. You're staying here."

"As if I'm gonna listen to you now." Eden hisses, feeling her mother's nails digging into her wrist. "Go call Ward or something, I'm sure he'd—"

A slap echoes through the walls of the Bexley home.

Everything is silent for a moment.

Eden's head whips to the side and her cheek stings. She looks at her mother surprised, jaw clenching. Did she just get slapped?

Isla's eyes slightly widened—she didn't know what happened. She was mad at Eden of course, but she hadn't meant to slap her. Noticing her daughters expression, the woman suddenly exclaims, "Eden, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I didn't—"

"No—I'm done." the Bexley girl manages to state, forcefully yanking herself out of her mothers hold. That was the final straw. She doesn't care if it was an accident—her mother had just slapped her. She storms towards the door, "Fuck you too, Isla."

"No, Eden, I didn't—"

Eden exits her home and slams the door before Isla Bexley can say anything else.

Eden was drunk.

She'd walked all the way from her house back to the Chateau, allowing the bottle of Vodka she'd stolen to drown her thoughts about what happened out—to clear and numb her mind even more than it had been that day already.

Ultimately, she'd made her way back to the Chateau—drunk or not, the path from where she lived to the house, while long, was muscle memory by now—and she'd crashed on the couch. As expected, no one else was there, which left Eden with only her alcohol as company; fine by her.

She sat in utter silence, taking swigs from the bottle ever so often as she thought over what her mother had said. What did she mean she couldn't turn herself and Ward in? How far involved was she to where she felt no choice but to follow through, but to keep staying with the Cameron's?

Not to mention the slap. Eden knew her mother wasn't great, but she'd never gotten hit or slapped like that—that was new. If anything, the Bexley would leave her house with merely a few bruises on her wrist but now she's sure her cheek is flared.

If Eden didn't want to go home then, she certainly didn't now. If her mother was sorry, she'd show it—she'd do the right thing and go to Shoupe. Until then, the Bexley was going to sleep at the Chateau, whether or not it was empty or full.

The Chateau door opens with a small click.

Eden doesn't turn her head over, but from the corner of her eye she can see the familiar frame of JJ Maybank entering the house.

"Eden?" JJ's voice asks, slightly confused on why the girl was sitting on the couch with a bottle of Vodka in her grasp, eyes zoned out towards the wall in a haze. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be—" he stops himself. Eden was supposed to be at her house and knowing her current situation with her mother, something had happened. "What happened?"

"Oh, you know, I brought up that I knew what a backstabber she was and she hit me." Eden shrugs. She wears a weak smile as she looks up at the Maybank, holding up the bottle towards him as she tries to deflect attention from her flared cheek or tear stained cheeks. "Want to finish this off with me?"

JJ frowns, "She—she hit you?"

"Just a slap." Eden replies casually, watching as JJ's frown deepened. She stands up—a little too quickly for her hazy mind's liking—and tries to walk closer to the blonde, slightly swaying as she hands him the bottle. A drunken giggle falls past her lips as she speaks, "I stole it from my mom and I walked all the way here. Surprised she didn't try to chase me down just to take it back."

JJ nods, taking the bottle from her as she invited him too. However, instead of taking a swig, the boy holds it close. Clearly, Eden was drunk and clearly she wasn't okay. "And I'm gonna take it from you now, kay?"

"Hey, I said you could drink with me, not the rest of it by yourself." Eden frowns, trying to take the bottle back.

"You're drunk, Eden."

"I want to be drunk."

The two fight for the bottle like two toddlers fighting over a stuffed animal before it ultimately slips out of their grasp, falling against the hardwood floor of the house with a clink. The glass shatters and Vodka starts to pour amidst the pieces of glass.

"Well, great." Eden huffs glumly, looking down at the shards and liquid beneath her feet. She crouches down to start trying to pick up the mess but she suddenly starts to get emotional—maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was just her brain telling her to let it out. She tries to wipe her eyes before JJ sees her crying; she looked stupid.

But, she isn't as slick as she thinks she is, because the Maybank knows what it looks like to try and hide tears—he's been there before. He crouches down beside her, "Eden, it's a bottle—"

"I'm not crying about the fucking Vodka." Eden leans back against the arm of the couch, curling her knees to her chest like a child as she begins to fully cry.The bottle shattered just like everything else had within the past day. "I'm just so fucking sick of all of this. All of it."

JJ's gaze softens and he looks at the girl, prepared to listen to whatever she needed to get out. Eden Bexley had been there for him when he needed a shoulder to cry on—she hugged him first when he had his breakdown in the hot tub—and she deserved the same treatment. She didn't have John B. but she had JJ.

Eden lets out a shaky breath, "I just want to go back to when we were riding on the HMS Pogue every day and having sleepovers every night at the Chat. I want to make bracelets without feeling useless because why should I make bracelets when my best friend is wanted for murder? I want to go back to before I knew my mother was involved in all of this because that was my final straw. She says she can't turn herself in for me or my dad's sake and I'm just so fucking done with it all." She roughly wipes her tears away, "I don't even know why I'm crying over this."

"Because you're not okay, Eden." JJ reasons. She kept saying that she was fine every time he asked about her graze wound, but his words went further than her wound. He knew that Eden had been toeing towards the end of her line ever since John B. went missing and it was only so long before she just broke. "It's okay not to be okay. I mean—who expects you to be okay, Eden? Seriously. Because it sure as hell isn't me or John B."

Eden let's out a small sob, "No one expects me to be okay—I expect myself to be okay. You guys need someone stable and that's me. I remind you guys to sleep enough but maybe I'm not getting enough sleep. I don't talk about my shit all the time because we have more important problems. I push aside my stuff for the Pogues." She takes a breath, "I can't let ya'll down because I'm too busy crying about my stuff."

"Well, no one's depending on you right now." JJ states, looking at the girl with a knowing expression. He didn't want her holding in her emotions anymore—he wasn't going to judge her. Not when she's seen him at his lowest. "It's just me—I won't judge you, Ed'."

Eden sniffles, "I know."

"Come here." JJ stands up so he's not crouched atop the glass. 

Eden does the same thing and allows him to embrace her. She feels his arms wrap around her securely and she just leans into his chest, holding on to him with a solemn expression. She needed this.

JJ holds on to the girl for a few more moments before looking down at her arm, noticing the blood stained bandage that was still wrapped down her arm. He gently pulls away, "Here. Sit down and let me re-stitch and bandage your wound before it gets infected—"

Eden shrugs, "I don't even care anymore—"

"I do." the Maybank cuts her off firmly before repeating himself, "Go sit down and let me take care of it."

"What about the glass and the Vodka seeping into John B.'s floor?"

"I'll take care of it later." JJ replies.

Eden finally gives in and moves back to the Chateau couch, "Okay."

That's how the night ended for Eden Bexley. She ended up falling asleep as JJ worked on her arm and he let it happen—he wanted her to just relax from everything going on in her head. Quietly, he cleaned out her wound and stitched her back up, making sure her bandage stuck tight against the graze. 

He picked up the glass and spilled drink on the floor when he was finished with Eden as he said he'd do and eventually ended up sitting on the couch beside her, joint in between his fingers as he sat awake.

JJ's eyes glance down at Eden's sleeping figure—she looks peaceful, innocent, enough. 

In the Maybank's opinion, the Pogues didn't deserve everything Eden gave them in return. She was their sister, their best friend, their comforter, their mother for all purposes—in simple terms, without Eden Bexley, the Pogues wouldn't be the Pogues.

They could all live one hundred life times and never deserve the ounce of care she gave.

mara's misc

i told ya'll it wasn't gonna be prettier

this chapter was really fun and interesting to write (i say that like i didn't have isla and eden argue, isla slap eden & eden just cry in front of jj) just bc i was all my own? like no show dialogue or scenes. my big brain did this and managed to stay creative enough which is crazy tbh bc i'm the most uncreative girly i know.

the on ongoing battle between me and kensie (mvybanksss) about jjeden stands strong. the entire end section was for her and for her only. if you ever see us arguing in the comments about this, don't ask.

also i watched saltburn last night at like 1am with my friends and um.....it was interesting. didn't know how to feel during the bathtub or vampire scene but uh it happened and we lived. i actually fell asleep towards the end of the movie, got woken up by my friend to watch the graveyard scene, only to go back to sleep so ig i never finished the movie but i knew what happened.

despite the odd scenes, it wasn't a terrible movie. the beginning is kind of slow in my opinion but oh well. i just wanted to see how interesting it truly was. i also watched euphoria so things could be crazier *shrugs*

also also also also because i'm random i just spent like an hour deciding on names for eden's future children (with the help of GhostWriterGirl-1) so let's present them bc i got bored so...

hadley grace bexley (unsure on who her dad is so bexley for now)—portrayed by lola tung

james booker bexley (same thing as hadley)—portrayed by charlie bushnell 

that's all i got.

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 43!!