*A few months later.*

I sat patiently at the table in a small cafe on the edge of town. The huge bay window next to me was cool and snow fell gently down and created a blanket of white across the street which halted cars and buses. The sun was barely visible behind a sea of clouds but was still brighter than the dim lights hanging above me. I watched as people skidded on the ice and as kids hurled snowballs at each other's faces, deciding that at this particular moment in time that I would rather sit in the empty cafe with a warm cup of coffee.

A familiar figure walked into the room, crutches no longer by his side and no limp in his leg. It was of course JJ. His hair was longer than usual and the dark curls where reaching down to his shoulders. He smiled, waved and sat on the chair opposite me. After ordering a coffee he turned to me with his bright blue eyes.

"Hi." He smiled, taking his beanie from his head and placing onto the small wooden table.
"Hi." I replied, taking another sip from my coffee.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I can walk now. I didn't realise it took so long to recover from being shot in the leg."
"Hm...." He smiled gently, "me neither...or in the chest."
"Jeez....I'm sorry I brought it all up again." I sighed.
"It's okay Mikes, I wanted to talk to you about it anyway." He tapped his foot nervously against the floor.
"Okay."
"Well, did you hear about it?"
"Um...no..."
"Vince has been found guilty: he's been given a life sentence for one case of attempted murder and another for possessing illegal firearms and weapons."
"Oh," I spluttered, "but what about his brother?"
"The same..." Vince smiled, "but with a speeding ticket."
"Haha." I laughed weakly, "what are you going to do now?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Mikes."
"Okay...please continue....." I replied sarcastically.

"Okay so...you know how I said that Vince had killed my entire family?"
I nodded.
"I was wrong."
"Wait, what?! How?"
"Well..." JJ began as a smile etched its way into his face, "well I have a sister. I didn't know about her. She was adopted before I was born because my parents lost their house and didn't have enough money to keep her safe. But she also...she also lives with my brother who managed to get away. He's been hiding ever since he escaped from Vince."
"Woah! JJ that's great! How did you find out about them?"
"Vince." He spat the word out, "before they took him away he told me and apologised. At first I thought that he was lying but after a few weeks I managed to find her and then she told me about my brother."
"Are you going to visit them?" I asked.
"Yeah, in two days." He smiled, nodding his head vigorously.
"Dude! I'm so happy for you."
"Thanks."
"When will you get back?"
"Um..." JJ mumbled, avoiding eye contact as he messed with his lip ring, "um...I don't know Mikes. I'm going to live with them."
"Oh...okay..." I replied, words getting caught in my throat, "where do they live?"
"Australia."
"Oh."
"Listen I'm sorry Mikey! I will visit! I promise!" He cried, "I just don't want to stay here, I want to be with my family."
"It's okay..." I looked up from my feet and forced a smile, "I understand, you should be happy."

"You know what Mikes?" JJ said after a short silence, "you're the best friend that I've ever had."
"Oh"
"I've not had many friends..." He laughed, "but you're definitely the best of them."
"Thanks JJ, and despite everything you too. When is your flight?"
"Flight?" He asked, tilting his head to one side slightly.
"Well I presume that you're flying to Australia, not travelling by horse or walking."
"Oh shit yeah." He laughed, "my flight is in 2 days time at 11:05."
"Okay good. I'm coming to wave goodbye."
"But Mikes. Are you going to be okay? You know, in the airport? After what happened last time?"
"I'll have to be..."

We talked for another few hours in that small cafe until the owners were kicking us out onto the frozen streets. There we said our goodbyes, I limped away slightly as I held back tears. I didn't want JJ to leave, but at least I could say goodbye before I probably was never going to see him again.

Notes

Hello again with the almost final instalment of this fanfic! Ah, I hope this chapter was okay and I hope that the next chapter will bring this story to a good ending. I started uploading my other new story today, it's called the colours of humans so if you wanna check some weird ass story narrated by Death then that's it. Thank you so much for reading and for all the support given, I probably would have abandoned this story if it wasnt for the votes and comments so thank you very much. :) enjoy your day.
-Lou