Radioactive ²|JJ Maybank

2.4 Denial

Once she had gotten home, she went straight up to her room and began folding her clothes while a song on the radio played in the background. So much had happened in one day. She was happy but numb at the same time.

Jamille was worried about her niece. She hadn't cried. She hadn't screamed. She hadn't completely broke down like Jamille had done when she found out the news.

Esperanza was used to it.

She was used to bad things happening to her.

She had lost 3 people in a span of 9 months. Alexander, Elena, and the baby. She didn't know how to feel.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted to fall apart. But she couldn't. Because John B was counting on her to clear his name and get him home.

Esperanza glanced up at the clock in her wall knowing that the Pogues would be pulling into her parking lot so they could plan as any minute. The music paused on the radio which made her turn her head.

    “On much sadder news, Elena Mendoza, formerly known as Elena Machado, has been confirmed dead by the Charleston police department. What the Outer Banks local was doing there we have no clue. Mendoza had been the victim of a hit and run. Not much has been said about the accident, police have yet to release if she had died instantly from the impact or later at the Charleston hospital. Further details are still unknown as the accident is still under investigation. Elena is survived by her sister, Jamille Machado, her two nieces, Catalina and Calliope Machado, and her daughter Esperanza Mendoza. She will be joining her late husband up i-”

The radio speaker was cut off by Esperanza throwing the radio out of the window before she went back to folding her clothes in pure silence.

Her phone immediately began ringing. Phone calls. Text messages.

She didn't care. Nothing would bring back her mother. It didn't matter how sorry people were. She was still gone and that wasn't going to change.

She let out a breath before going into her bathroom, wanting desperately to wash away her day. She stood underneath the burning hot water for a few seconds as it enveloped her into a wet blanket from hell. She ran her hands through her long hair as it soaked up the water. She just needs it to stop. Everything needs to stop.

Meanwhile JJ, Kiara, and Pope were speeding to figure eight after listening to the news channel.

"JJ! Slow down!" Kiara yelled as she leaned back against the passenger seat of Esperanza's car.

JJ had made no move to slow down but instead went faster so he could get to the girl. All he knows is that she just lost her mom. She had no one right now. Sure she had her aunt and her cousins but Esperanza didn't know them. Right now she was surrounded by complete strangers.

Esperanza had walked out of her bathroom just as the pogues were rushing into her bedroom. JJ had stopped the second she sent him a smile, "Oh hey!"

"Wh-Hi. How are you?" Kiara asked with furrowed brows.

"I am fresh and clean because I just took a shower — Oh!" Esperanza was knocked to the floor with a laugh as Padfoot jumped onto her. Esperanza had scratched behind the dogs ears while also shielding her face from getting licked. Once Padfoot jumped onto JJ she used the bed to get back up. "Oh hey! Look! I got Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Disney plus." Esperanza had grabbed the remote to her new TV to show the pogues the streaming services on the TV. Her hands flew up in shock when Pope brought her into a sudden hug. “You okay, P?” she said pulling back and putting her hands on his shoulder.

"And how are you feeling about your- Ow!" Pope was cut off by Kiara and JJ elbowing him in the side.

"My mom? I already lost my father. So I know the routine." The pogues gave her a sympathetic 'I'm so sorry' face making her whole demeanor change,"God I am so sick of that face! I hate it! I've seen nothing but that face for nine months! Make a different face!" She snapped with a glare at the three.

JJ had immediately changed the topic onto John B and what there plan was to clear his name. He had sat next to Esperanza on the bed and held her hand. JJ was always going to be there for her and nothing was going to change that. Although Esperanza didn't want to talk about her feelings at the moment he was going to be there when she was.

Eventually Jamille came up, her eyes red and puffy due to crying, with a Pitcher of Lemonade. The four said thank you as she left. JJ looked over at Esperanza, who didn't look at her aunt the whole time she was in the room. She kept her eyes on the floor to avoid seeing her aunt's distraught face. The room was filled with an uncomfortable silence since they didn't know what to say. Eventually Pope and Kiara decided that they had to go home leaving the couple. Esperanza had to admit the second they left the silence wasn't that uncomfortable anymore. Esperanza was running her fingers through JJ's sandy blonde hair as he laid on her chest while also rubbing his back.

JJ was rubbing her leg just around where her stitches, from getting grazed with a bullet, used to be. Now it was just a scar. "I think I would." He said suddenly while looking up at the girl who was already staring down at him.

"Huh?" Esperanza said in confusion.

"Have kids." He finished,"You know. Eventually. You asked me that before we started dating."

"Oh yeah. With who?" She said with a mock serious in her tone.

"I don't think I could see myself having kids with anyone but you. You- You're it for me." He said as she gave him a soft smile. "Would you want to be the mother of my children when we get to that point? In like ten twenty years."

"Of course I do."

JJ smiled up at the girl before tracing a circle over the scar on her stomach. The scars that were on her body at the moment were just proof of everything they had went through, everything she had went through, that summer.

"Do you still have those dreams?" He asked her.

Esperanza was quiet for a few seconds before she spoke in a small voice,"sometimes." She had admitted.

Only it wasn't sometimes, but all the time. Almost every night Esperanza had woken up because she had seen the same two men bursting into her home and shooting JJ and herself in the head with bullets. Other times she had seen herself bleeding out on an operating table. And instead of helping her the surgeons and nurses just stared at her before walking away. That dream began with her up in the gallery and then had her grabbing rags and trying to stop the bleeding herself, it would end with Esperanza choking on her own blood. It had felt so real that the girl would wake up choking on nothing but air. There had been a few instances where she had even woke up JJ from coughing too loud.

Hey!

I am so sorry that's it's taken this long for me to update this story again. I have school starting in like four days and we've been getting ready for that. I also have so many more books I'm working on. I have a vampire Diaries/Legacies. Then there's a Teen Wolf one. Another Outer banks story. Only this time it's a kook JJ falls for and not a pogue. I also have a Criminal minds and Grey's Anatomy story. Those two are linked because these two twins, one chooses her family's legacy of being an FBI agent and the other is an attending at Seattle Grace. I also have several Harry Potter stories that are all connected. And then there are my Marvel Stories. The main one I'm writing is Tony Stark's daughter who's Bucky's love interest. And then there's Captain America and Agent Carter, Evelyn Carter is Peggy's sister and Steve's love interest. She ends up freezing herself and coming out of the ice 3 years before Steve. There's my Eris fanfic. She's Loki's love interest. Then there's my Thor Fanfic. And on top of that I'm writing my own original book. So that's 15 books not counting this one and all the sequels to those books. That's atleast 5 harry potter books. 2 or 3 grey's anatomy books. 2 or 3 Criminal minds. 5 of the vampire diaries/legacies. Around 9 Teen Wolf books. About 7 books for Tony Stark's daughter. So that right there is around atleast 34 books. Plus throw in studying and school.

Anyways I kind of liked this chapter even though it has nothing to do with the plot of the show. But it's actually really important to Hope's plot. I think that was my mistake with the last book. I hardly did any chapters that didn't feature atleast one scene from the show. I won't make that same mistake here.