As John grabbed the bags, Kay picked up her box of stuff again, putting the photos back in and gave her sister one more hug briefly before grabbing her hooded jacket to pull out the car key. She let Serena speak to Sam as she headed toward the front door.

Sam took the black card from Serena and nodded, "thank you, and you take care of yourself okay?" she replied to her, still thinking about them more than herself. "I hope you have a smooth journey back" she added, giving Serena a hug goodbye.

Serena hugged her back and said “we will. We will take care of each other” she waved and headed outside. John was putting the bags in the trunk and said “alright girls let’s hit the road”

Sam saw them out and stayed by the front door as she watched Kay and John pack the car and nodded at Serena's words. Kay walked round to the driver's side, made sure there were no cars coming before opening the door and getting inside. She put the key in the ignition but waited for the other two before she started the car up.

When they were both ready and in, she then started the car and when it was clear, she pulled away from Sam's house, seeing in her rear view mirror that Sam was waving them goodbye as they pulled away. Kay sighed as she gripped the steering wheel, finding that just like before it was incredibly hard to leave her sister behind, in fact for her it was almost harder this time because she wasn't running for her life this time.

John moved his hand to hers on the wheel and smiled. “It’s different this time…she knows your alright. And your happy…” Serena nodded as she leaned back in the seat. “I’ll be happy to see the others…it feels like it’s been months…”

Feeling John's hand on her own made her glance at him and nod, smiling slightly, "I know, but that makes it so much harder to leave this time. Last time I was so focused on getting out of our dorm room alive, I didn't think about anyone else, let alone her. Now I've got her back in her life? It's harder to leave, even though I need to" she explained to John, before continuing on to reply to Serena.

"and yeah, it does feel like forever, but no doubt they had a much calmer time than we did" she smiled softly, glancing at Serena through the rear view mirror before bsck at the road in front of her. "I couldn't have done this without you both though, I'm always going to be grateful to you both for this" she added.

John smiled and said “we wouldn’t have made it without you love…and Serena…” he glanced back and saw Serena had fallen asleep. “She passed out…poor kid is still wiped out”

Even now, Kay couldn't help but feel like John gave her more credit than she deserved but that's just because of the type of person she was. When he mentioned about Serena having fallen asleep in the back, she couldn't help but glance back at her and smile softly. "that girl surely knows how to fall asleep quickly. She deserves the rest though, I say we'll only wake her if we stop for a pitstop somewhere" she replied, eyes bsck on the road, glad to finally get out of the city traffic and onto the highway.

John nodded and said “I bet he had to learn this skill to recover her strength faster…” he looked back again and said “she probably wore herself bad this morning…”

Kay nodded and made a simple 'mhm' sound in agreement at John's assumption as it did seem to be the most plausible. In some way, Kay actually envied Serena having the ability to just fall asleep quickly, as she herself never could, or very rarely could because she had trained her mind to always be on alert for dangers.

---

The drive back took a good hour longer than the day before going to Seattle as they hit traffic on the second leg of the journey after doing a pit stop so Kay could stretch her legs and get some food and something to drink. Other than that need, she actually realised how much she missed driving and didn't mind it, even if the traffic and poor drivers irritated her to an amusing level for others.

Instead of going straight back to John's, she headed to Chas' so they could reunite with Josh and Trish, figuring Serena would wanna see them as soon as possible.

They pulled in and John sighed slightly. “Hopefully his wife is in a good mood…she hates me. For good reason but still” Serena opened the back and said “how do we explain everything to them…”

John got out and said “crap; I didn’t change. Chas is going to think I was shot again”

Kay let herself slump back in her seat for a moment before making an effort to et out of the car. She needed a breather from the many hours of driving. She looked at John realising that yes, he still had the blood splattered shirt on which needed to be covered properly, not just by his trenchcoat like he did at the services. "I don't know what we're gonna tell them, but I'm sure that talk can probably wait until we're back home. Or at least, I'm hoping so." she replied to Serena first.

"if you got a spare shirt in your bag in the trunk, then just change shirt in the car. Problem solved. Either that or you borrow this hoodie of mine as its so big on me, it'll fit you" she suggested to John. Sure her hoodie was worn and old, but it didn't look too awful in her eyes and even if it was beyond wear she still would have kept it on her at all times because it was one thing that helped keep her warm under her oversized biker jacket when homeless, thanks to a fellow homeless guy giving it to her one night.

John sighed and said “my other shirt is in worse shape…I’ll just stand in shadows or behind you two…only thing I can think of” he moved to the door and knocked on it. Serena followed him, looking herself over to make sure she wasn’t covered in something.

Kay sighed as John decided on an option that wasn't in her opinion, a great one. Following the two of them out of the car and to the front door, Kay removed her hoodie and placed it against John's chest. "just wear the hoodie, you don't need Renee any more suspicious of you than she already is and it can be washed at yours" she told him whilst they waited for the door to be answered.

She heard chatter from inside the house and heard the familiar heavy footsteps of Chas before he opened the door to the three of them. "hey guys, come in"he greeted, stepping to one side.

John sighed and muttered “Chas will know what’s up…I never wear hoodies…” when the door opened he was wearing it but it wasn’t big enough to cover all of his bloodied shirt.

Serena smiled weakly at Chas and said “thank you. Hopefully we aren’t bother you or the others…” John waved and said “thanks mate…”

Chas saw John wearing what he recognised as Kay's hoodie and Rose an eyebrow but said nothing just incase Renee overheard. Stepping to the side, he let them all in. "josh is in the living room, Trish is with Geraldine in Geraldine's room" he explained. "how was the drive?" he asked, "long" Kay smirked, making Chas roll his eyes. "it was fine, got stuck in traffic either side of the highway, but otherwise it was alright" she then replied with a serious answer.

Serena closed the door behind her and smiled at Chas then headed to the living room. But she paused just outside of it, not sure if she could see josh just then. Fearing he would see he monster.

John lead Kay down the hallway then saw Chas’s look. He smirked weakly and muttered “bad morning…I’ll explain later…”

As John lead her down the hallway, she stayed close to him, even to the point she grabbed his hand. It wasn't that she was afraid of her surroundings, it was purely just because she was partly tired of driving and nervous meeting yet another new person, even if it was Chas' ex wife. She also felt she didn't want to risk being taken again so she figured as remaining right next to John at the services worked, she would do the same here.

She then saw Serena hovering just outside of the living room. "he's gonna be happy to see you Serena" she comforted and reminded her. "she's right, he's been impatient to see you back safe" Chas said to Serena before looking at John, "damn straight you will tell me everything later." he smirked to his friend.

John sighed and said “just keep Renee from seeing my shirt and we will be okay…” Serena sighed and opened the door and walked inside. “Josh?”

John moved to put his arm around Kay. “Easy love…this house is shielded just like the house…”

Josh looked up when he heard the door open to the living room and his name get called, smiling broadly as Serena was standing in front of him. He instantly stood up, put his jug down that he was holding and walked over to her, hugging her instantly. "hey! You're back!" he beamed.

Feeling John let go of her hand made Kay frown slightly only for it to disappear when he put his arm round her waist. She nodded at his words as she put her own arm round him back. "old habits die hard..." she replied to him as they made it to the living room and saw Serena get hugged by Josh which made her smile.

She then heard running footsteps down the stairs behind them and a voice she didn't recognise but guessed who it would be. "JOHN!!" Geraldine called out excitedly for her godfather as she ran down the stairs and toward him.

Serena hugged him back, tears filling her eyes. She lowered her face into his shoulder, her tears flowing off into his shirt. “I missed you…”

John moved so he could hug Geraldine and said “hey kiddo! How’s it going? You having fun with your new friend?” Trish was at the top of the stairs and saw them, smiling softly with relief.