Lilly
I was rereading old texts between John and I when my door flew open. I looked up to see Josie standing there.
"Josie, what is it?", I asked, concerned for my friend.
"You knew that Dennis is my father and you didn't think to tell me."
"Josie, I-I.."
"I thought you were my friend, Lilly, but maybe I was wrong. Neal and Jesse thought I deserved to know. They had the decency to tell me, but you didn't."
"I'm sorry. I didn't think you would want to hear anything Dennis had to say if you knew."
"That should be my decision. You weren't abandoned by your parents. You don't get to decide if I should hear him out or not. I thought I could trust you."
"Josie, of course you can trust me. Dennis wanted to be the one to tell you that he's your father. He wanted to tell you how you ended up in the system. He just wanted to get us off this ship first."
"He wants to get himself off this ship. He doesn't care about me. He could be working for Ernie for all we know."
"Josie, he does care about you. He does."
"And you know all this after knowing him for less than an hour. You know what? Go with Dennis. Since you trust him so much, you go and follow him to wherever he'll lead you. I'll take my chances here with Ernie.", she said before walking out my door.
Jennifer
I smiled as Joey handed me a cup of tea.
"Thanks, honey."
Nina began dabbing a cool towel on my face.
"You two can stop all this. I'm fine. It's only a few bruises. I'll live."
"Mom, let us take care of you. You would do the same for us.", Nina said.
"I'm so glad you're okay.", Joey told me.
I smiled and stroked his cheek.
"Me too.", I said before sipping my tea.
A knock on the door made the three of us jump. Joey walked to the door and slowly opened it. We all let out a sigh of relief when we saw Neal and Jesse standing there.
"Hey, mama. How are you?", Jesse asked as they walked in.
"I'm doing fine...Neal, are you okay?", I asked after noticing the distant look on his face.
"Umm...yeah, I'm fine.", he responded before looking at Jesse, who grabbed his hand.
"I think we should tell them too.",Jesse told him.
Neal nodded before opening the door and making a 'follow me' motion.
We all followed him to the laundry room we were in earlier.
"What's going on?"
"Dennis is Josie's father."
My jaw dropped. I looked over to see the shared look of shock on Nina and Joey's faces.
"Wh-what?! That can't be."
"It's true. We figured it out and told Josie. Maybe we shouldn't have done that.", Neal said.
"It was the right thing to do, babe."
"It doesn't feel like the right thing. She looked so mad when she went looking for Lilly."
"Lilly must've known when she brought us in here. That's why she trusted him so much.", Nina said.
"Can we even trust him? I mean, can we really trust a man who abandoned his own kid?", Joey asked.
"Look, we don't know the reason he gave Josie up. We can't judge him so quickly and right now, he's our only option."
"Look, we don't have time to change our minds. We have to get everyone and go meet Dennis."
Rocco
"What do you mean you aren't going?", I whisper-asked my infuriating girlfriend.
"I don't trust him. I'm not going."
"Josie, you aren't thinking straight. He's our only option."
"Rocco, I didn't say you couldn't go. You should go if you think it's your best shot.", she said as she looked at her her hands on her lap.
I walked over to her and kneeled in front of her. I grabbed her face to make her look at me.
"You really think I'm going to let you go when I finally got you back? I love you, Josephine Parks. I thought I was going to lose you when you got shot. I don't think I would survive if I lost you again."
She wrapped her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder.
"I love you too, Morocco James. You're not going to lose me, baby."
I pulled away from her and grabbed her hand. I leaned in close to her.
"If we stay here, we are going to die and if we leave with Dennis, there's a chance of us making it out alive.", I whispered.
She nodded slowly and sighed.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay. I'll go with Dennis.", she said quietly.
I kissed her gently before picking her up. She wrapped her long legs around me.
"I'm yours."
"And you're mine."
"Forever."
"And always.", she said before kissing me deeply.
The sound of the door opening made us pull apart.
We turned to see Neal, Jesse, Jennifer, Joey, and Nina standing there. I put Josie down and covertly adjusted myself.
"We need to go now.", Joey said.
"Where's Lilly and Malcolm?"
"They're headed downstairs to meet Dennis. Let's go."
We followed them, but stopped when we heard a loud engine.
We all ran to the lobby and saw Malcolm, Lilly, and Dennis there already. We were shocked to see multiple helicopters flying over us. About a dozen officers, wearing bulletproof vests and equipment glided down on rope ladders.
"Hands in the air!"
We obliged and a female officer stepped in front of all us.
"The hostages have been secured.",she yelled into her radio.
The other officers began running in the other directions.
One of the helicopters was lowered down on the deck. The officer instructed us to get on. She on with us.
"My name is Lieutenant Barr. We discovered you all after a video of you guys changing ships went viral. You must be Josephine Parks.", she said, looking at Josie.
Josie nodded.
"It was very smart of you to use sign language to send a message. Your boss, Mr. Wells, spoke very highly of you. He's the one who reported you missing."
"He did?"
She nodded before looking at Lilly.
"And you must be Lillian Daniels. Your boyfriend, John, reported you missing when he couldn't get in touch with you. He'll be meeting us at the hospital."
"Hospital? Why are we going to the hospital?", Dennis asked.
"We just need to get you all checked out. Make sure everything's okay. You must be Dennis Parks. Your son, Nick, called everyday to see if there was an update on your missing person case."
We all looked at Josie at the mention of Nick.
"W-what? I have a brother?", Josie asked Dennis, who stared at her with wide eyes.
"You know?", he asked her quietly.
She nodded.
"There's so much we need to talk about. I guess we can start with Nick. He's my son. I met his mother five years before I met your mom. Our relationship didn't last long. I didn't find out about him until a few years ago."
She nodded slowly and let out a heavy sigh.
After a few moments of silence, the officer told us that we have arrived. After landing, we were taken inside the hospital for evaluation.
Josie
After about an hour, the nurse finally finished examining me.
"We're just waiting for a few tests and then you'll be good to go.", she said before leaving.
Rocco and Jesse walked in the room and sat beside my bed.
"How are you two already done?", I groaned.
"It won't be much longer, love.", Rocco said as he kissed my forehead.
"This is crazy.", Jesse breathed out.
"What?"
"We're finally free. We're finally safe.", he said as he smiled.
"Ernie's still out there."
"They're gonna get him, babe."
My smile widened as Lilly, John, and Malcolm walked in.
"John!", I nearly shouted and sat up in bed, so he could hug me.
"How you feeling, honey?"
"Good. God, I've missed you."
"Not as much as I have.", Lilly said as she snuggled back into John.
The two of us still haven't spoken since I screamed at her.
"So, Josie, I hear that in a matter of six weeks, while in captivity, you managed to leave my buddy here-.", he said while pointing at Malcolm.
"-rekindle with your true love, reconnect with your old family, and find your birth father.", John finished.
I let out a laugh before grabbing Rocco's hand.
"Yeah, I guess so. It's been a crazy six weeks."
"I'm just glad you're all okay. You've been on every news station for the past 3 weeks."
The nurse walked back in the room.
"Alright, Ms. Parks, we have your test results back, would you like me to say in front of your company?"
"Umm..."
"Come on guys, why don't we give them some privacy?", Jesse said.
Neal
I walked out of the cafeteria and walked back to the waiting room. I saw everyone hanging out in the corner of the room.
"Where's Rocco and Josie?"
"Still in Josie's room. What's that?", Jesse asked, looking at the container in my hand.
"Well, you told me that there was still a lot of things you wanted to do and you said you wanted to try sushi."
He smiled and kissed my cheek.
"I love you."
"I love you more."
I handed him the container as Josie and Rocco walked in the waiting room.
I watched as Josie's eyes met the unfamiliar man standing with Dennis.
"Hi...I'm Nick."
"I'm Josie. It's nice to meet you, Nick. Can the three of us talk?", she asked.
Josie
The three of us walked to the outdoor seating area and sat down.
We sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Josephine, I just want you to know that your mom loved you so much. You were our whole world."
"Then why did you two abandon me?"
"Honey, it wasn't my intention to abandon you. When you were two years old, you were in a car accident with your mom. You two were 5 minutes away from home. When I got there, I was told your mother wasn't going to make it and they were trying to get you out the car. You were crying and your mother was telling you how much she loved you and that she'll always be with you. When she was gone, I was too devastated to even get out of bed. I lost my practice. I couldn't take care of you, so they took you away. Once I was finally back on my feet, I searched for you. I begged the agency for any information, but no one would help me. Finally, a few years ago, I found you online and honey, you looked so happy. I figured you were better off without me. Then, Ernie contacted me and told me he was holding you hostage. I had to at least try to save you.", Dennis said.
I nodded slowly, taking in all he spewed out.
"All these years, I wondered what I did wrong. When I was younger, I would wait for you two to show up at the orphanage."
"You never did anything wrong, my love. I should've tried harder. God, I missed out on so much of your life. Josephine, I would like to be a part of your life."
I nodded.
"I'd like that too, Dennis, but I need you to do one thing for me."
"Anything."
"Call me Josie.", I said with a smile.
I chatted with Nick and Dennis for a few more minutes before we walked back in the waiting area. A few officers passed us as we walked in.
"What's going on?", Nick asked.
"They arrested Ernie's family that were on the ship and the crew members that weren't hostages.", Rocco said as he wrapped his arms around me.
"What about Ernie?", I asked.
"They found his location. They're on their way to him now.", Lilly said.
I nodded.
"So, what now? Do we all just go back to our old lives?", Nina half-joked.
"I don't think we can. At least we can't, right babe?", Rocco asked.
I smiled at him.
"What's going on?", Neal asked.
Rocco and I shared a look before looking at the group.
"We're pregnant."
We watched as everyone's facial expressions went from pure shock to genuine happiness.
"Yeah, so our baby is gonna need all of their uncles.",Rocco said while looking at Joey, Neal, and Jesse.
"That means you too Nick.", I told him.
He smiled at me and reached out to hug me.
"I can't wait to get to know you guys."
"Me too."