Don't Need Them - John Laurens x Reader {DISCONTINUED}

- 59 -

kjsdlsk sorry it's been so long since i updated-

school takes my motivation for consistently updating this and Our World and throws it out the window oop. gonna try and hopefully get back on track tho-

Your POV

Guilty.

Despite knowing that's what the verdict would be, there was a sense of relief when that word came out of the judge's mouth (without "not" attached to it).

Part of me had thought Alexander was going to take the biggest hit out of the three of them, as most of it was of his own devising, but there was a sense of satisfaction hearing Hercules get the real short end of the stick. He was the one who hospitalized John after all.

The number of people trying to surround John and me after the case was a little overwhelming. We just wanted to get back home to Frances and Bowie, and have a peaceful remainder of the day as the little family we were.

After some time, we were finally able to get back to John's car, the noise from the crowd a good distance away quieting significantly when we closed the doors.

John huffed, running his hand through his short curls. "Jesus Christ."

"Tell me about it," I muttered, glancing into the side-view mirror to the crowd still in front of the courthouse. "The amount of paparazzi an' sh*t is insane; a little more privacy would be nice."

"They're reporters, chickadee. They don't give a sh*t about our privacy, they just need a story to post."

"Someone oughta knock some sense into them," I shrugged, turning to him. "You ready to go?"

"Definitely." John turned the car key, the engine starting. "Let's get outta here."

~

We had only been inside for a few seconds before we heard rapid little footsteps, Frances toddling into sight as fast as a one-year-old could. "Home!"

John knelt down. scooping her right into his arms before standing right back up. If I hadn't known better, the fluidness of his movement gave away no hint of injuries. But I knew what had happened. Thankfully, he seemed to be recovering well.

"Hi, birdie! Look at you in your pretty dress!" John exclaimed.

Frances giggled. "Hi!" she squealed.

John chuckled, pressing kisses to her cheeks. "Someone's all excited today."

"Figured we'd dress her up a bit today since you two have prob'ly had quite a day."

We looked over to see both my moms walking over, also hearing the click of Bowie's nails behind them.

"You can say that again," I responded, shaking my head. "It wasn't even so much the actual trial. Just dealing with the paparazzi and reporters and stuff like that."

"Everyone wants some kinda info so they can just run with it," John added, looking back to Frances, who'd clearly gotten distracted by his tie. "Seriously was startin' to think we wouldn't get in or outta that place."

"Were they, like, blocking the doors?" Mom asked.

I shook my head. "No, but.. there was just so many of them, Mom. Like, yeah, I guess this whole situation is kinda a big deal, but the number of microphones and cameras these reporters were trying to get close to us..

We didn't say anything though, just kept trying to get inside and then to our car afterward. Not sure how the trio handled it though."

"Alexander prob'ly ran his mouth, honestly," John replied. "If he saw an opportunity for their sentences to change in the slightest, he'd definitely talk to 'em."

"So, essentially by guilt-tripping?" Mama tried.

John nodded. "Not gonna go into detail as to why he'd try to play a sympathy card 'cause there's a lil' birdie here," he nodded towards Frances, "but I definitely gave them a reason to try and use it."

"I'd like to think it didn't work," Mama responded. "There's blatant evidence against them. People won't be happy if something gets taken off of their sentences either."

"You should see Twitter," I commented. "The news just got out and people are already getting opinionated. Most of 'em are happy with the results, but the number of people seriously asking for the jury to reduce the trio's sentence or even just let them go is crazy."

"They're prob'ly all their obsessed fans or whatever," John said. "They've always been negative towards us since we walked away from the trio."

"Even from their fans, though, I don't understand." I sighed, shaking my head. "Wishing people who not only kidnapped a baby, but hospitalized another man for trying to get his own kid back, to just go free? That's twisted."

"They ain't far off from the guys then," John chuckled to himself. "At least now the three of 'em can't do somethin' to us or Frances. Let alone even see us."

"For the next ten years at least... hopefully," I tacked on the last word. "'Cause sometimes the jury is twisted and decides to lessen things.."

"Don't worry about that, sweetheart," Mom spoke up. "As of right now, you have those ten years. So think about that. Don't think about what could happen down the road just yet."

Mom was right. As of today, us Laurens's had plenty of time to just be a family. No distractions, no one getting hurt. Just peace.

take the ending as you will, i ain't saying anything just yet-

hope you enjoyed this tho and again really sorry for neglecting this for like over a month yikes. time to go work on Our World-

~ Galaxy