"Chibs! Gemma! Clay! Bobby; come in here, hurry!"
Jax, Juice and Opie threw open the doors leading to the clubhouse, a figure wrapped in a bloody white sheet, was laying limply in Opie's arms. The three Sons' faces were wide with terror and their breathing was harsh, almost like they had ran a million miles just to get back safely to the clubhouse.
Gemma, Clay and Bobby came running into the main living quarters off of the clubhouse, where they saw Jax and Juice roughly swipe everything off a nearby pool table, where they lay the figure gently down onto the green felt-top.
"What's the matter?" Gemma asked in alarm, but Jax ignored her as he roughly pulled his hoodie over his head. All three of them backed away a couple of steps when they saw that the bullet-proof vests that Juice and Jax were wearing, were riddled with bullet holes. "I asked what the Hell happened!" Gemma repeated herself, her voice louder still, and shaken with fear, but Jax continued to ignore her as he inspected his vest.
"Where's Chibs?" Juice demanded hurriedly as he took of his vest and pulled his shirt back on. They all shrugged.
"I don't know. Probably at home." Bobby told them and Jax nodded grimly as he threw aside the bloody sheet.
"Better call him, then. We found Velvet."
Gemma's hands flew to her mouth in horror when she found herself gazing down at the broken, bleeding, and unconscious body of Chibs' favorite and oldest daughter. "Where did you –"
It was Clay that finally spoke, but he was interrupted by the shop door banging open where it soon closed, and a man with salt and pepper colored hair and with scars branching out from the corners of his mouth, entered the room. He gazed at the six people grimly crowded around the pool table, and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"What's all this 'bout?" He asked, his strong Scottish accent splitting the awkward air.
They slowly moved aside, allowing him to view the half-dead figure of his oldest daughter, and his face paled ten shades as he stumbled over to her, where he shakily moved a hand underneath her head, where he brought her bloody, bruised face into the light. Gemma let out a sob and fell into Clay's arms. Jax grimaced as Juice flinched at the look of her.
"V-Velvet! Velvet, darlin', talk to me!" He sputtered and there was a pained moan that came from the petite woman laying on the pool table. It suddenly occurred to everyone standing there, not just Jax, that she looked like a broken little bird. A sparrow or a dove.
She slowly opened her eyes and groaned a little. " . . . Da? That you?" Chibs grinned and nodded.
"Yah, its me, sweetheart, I'm here!" He assured her before he looked up at Juice, Opie and Jax. "Where'd ya find her?"
"Out by Fun Town. She was last reported being seen in the company of the Russians and Kurt Darby." Jax told him and Gemma sighed as her hand moved to her throat. Velvet had flinched at the name of Kurt Darby, the handsome son of Earnest Darby, the leader of the Nordics, a local white supremacist drug dealing group.
"Her mother's Russian and the Head Honcho's woman, that explains why the Russians were there. He probably figured out that Velvet wasn't his, and ordered for her to be snuffed out. Plus, I think Darby mentioned that the 'daughter of your Field Doctor', was fucking his son." Chibs let out a sob as he gazed down at Velvet. She looked a right mess, with her long dark hair sticking up out at odd angles like Tig's. Her eyes were puffy and bruised, as the rest of her face, which was also bloody as fuck. Her lip was split, causing it to swell somewhat. She also had finger marks around her throat, meaning someone had tried to choke her, probably Kurt. As for the rest of her body . . . Chibs didn't have the heart to look.
"Da! It hurts! It hurts everywhere!" Velvet closed her eyes and let out a couple of painful sobs. She coughed through her sobs, and a trickle of blood spilled forth from the corner of her mouth. Chibs hands grew more shaky as they moved instead to frame her face, where they moved a lock of her hair out of her face. Jax smiled sympathetically. He had grown up with Velvet, named so for her hair, which looked like black velvet, and seeing her like this made even him want to cry.
"Don't worryVelvet darlin', we're takin' ya to the hospital!" He looked meaningfully at Jax, Gemma and Clay. Gemma gazed at Juice and frantically waved her hand, her eyes wide with terror.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go get the van ready?" Juice nodded and frantically jumped to his feet, where he ran to go get the van. "Opie! Carry Velvet to the van, Jax, get in the back with Velvet, Clay will drive, and Opie and Chibs can ride with me. We'll be fallowing you."
They all nodded now that orders had been giving out, and they all jumped to the rescue. Juice had pulled up in front of the clubhouse in under five seconds, and Jax had the back open in three. Opie gently lay her down and Jax moved behind her as Clay hopped in the front seat and started the engine. Chibs' hands were on the back doors of the van, and he gave Jax such a chilling glare that Jax felt his spine being enveloped in ice.
"You keep her safe, Jax." He told him dangerously and Jax nodded, his eyes wide with promise.
"Of course I will, buddy. You know I will." Chibs nodded as he slammed close the doors and ran off. Jax sat down and gently cradled Velvet's head in his lap so that she wouldn't choke on her own blood or get shaken too badly. Something was torn inside her.
She was dying.
Velvet opened her sloe-brown eyes and gazed up at him. They were the same eyes that she had inherited from her father, and she smiled up at him weakly. "Thank you . . ." Jax smiled.
"Don't mention it. I've grown up with you; this is what friends do." Velvet smiled and closed her eyes. Jax knew that she was just resting, after all, she needed it, but nonetheless, Jax kept his eyes on her like a hawk. If she died on his watch, Chibs would ream him a new asshole and then make him his personal bitch! Chibs would be beyond angry. Velvet was, after all, his favorite daughter, being the child of Katerina Korolykov, a full-blooded Russian who had captured Chibs' heart with just a smoldering look alone. That, and her beautiful dark ethnic looks. The looks that her daughter had quite obviously inherited from her. Jax soon envisioned her the way she usually was, the way that had captured the heart (or the cock, however you looked at it) of Kurt Darby. Her long, curly black hair, her beautifully flawless, marble-like skin and heavy Russian accent. Her almond-shaped, sloe brown eyes, and naturally full, cherry red lips. Any man would have to be crazy not to think that she was gorgeous. She had inherited Chibs' temper and personality, however, which made some men a little put off when they first met her untrusting Scottish ways.
"I'm afraid that I'm not as pretty as I normally am, Jax . . ." She croaked, her throat still sore, but she laughed a little anyways. Her weak voice broke through his reverie and Jax smiled.
"Nonsense. Your still gorgeous, Velvet. You always are." He assured her and she scoffed.
"I doubt that."
"What happened out there, anyway? When we found you, you were almost dead, with this huge Russian on top of you, choking you."
"Kurt Darby happened."
Jax left it at that, knowing she would not want to divulge any more information at that moment.
They arrived at the ER, where immediately, four or five doctors, including Tara, Jax's ex. fiancé, jumped to help the woman. They quickly loaded her onto a Gurney, where they immediately began examining her.
"Her esophagus is slightly torn on the right side and her lung is punctured. Three of her ribs are broken and so is her left fibula. We need to get her into surgery, now, before internal bleedings gets too bad and inflammation sets in!"
Without missing a beat, they then sped her down the blinding white corridor towards surgery. Chibs was gazing after them, heartbroken, with Gemma's hand tightly on his shoulder, keeping him from running after her and making a fool of himself. Velvet had to be scared. Terrified even, and Chibs felt like he was going to cry. He had raised Velvet since she was a babe, for her mother, Katerina, wasn't exactly the best mother ever; she was too occupied with her reputation to bother to raise the spawn of Sons of Anarchy's Emergency Field Medic, and who was also an enemy gang of the Russians.
Chibs loved her. She was his little girl, his little Imp. His little Velvet.
"Goddamn that Kurt Darby!" Chibs hissed darkly, his eyes clouding over in anger, and his hands balled into fists as his sides. "I'll 'ave his pretty little supremacist head on a fencepost when I'm done with him!" Jax sighed and nodded in agreement as he stood beside Chibs and watched them wheel off Velvet.
"Hey, Clay!"
They all turned around, only to see Juice running towards them. He stopped in front of them, panting, and motioned towards the automatic doors. "Its Kurt Darby! He's being wheeled in!"
"What?" Gemma's confused voice split the air and Juice nodded as he swallowed.
"He didn't attack Velvet at Fun Town. . . they were attacked!"
Velvet moved in and out of consciousness for about two weeks after the surgery. Chibs stayed all day, every day, his vigil the most loyal and protective Velvet could have had. Gemma and Jax flitted in and out all day, asking of her progress and her condition.
Then, on the first day of the third week, she awoke and stayed awake. She blinked tiredly for a moment after she opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings, from the bright, colored vases of Get Well flowers and huge stuffed teddy bears covering every inch of the hospital room, to the scruffy biker asleep in the armchair by the bed. She smiled in amusement as her father shifted uncomfortably in the chair and buried his face in the crook of his arm. His salt and pepper hair was greasy and sticking up everywhere. He had major 5 o'clock shadow, and he probably smelled bad.
"How long have you been here, da?"
Chibs jumped awake and his wide eyes darted onto Velvet, where he let out a relieved sigh and grinned. "Oh thank God your awake!" He sighed in relief as he hugged her to him tightly. "Tara! She's awake!"
A doctor with shoulder-length dark brown hair and wearing a long white lab coat with green seafoam colored scrubs, entered the room with a look of intense relief on her tired face. "Your awake, thank God!" She spoke tiredly as she left the room, and then reappeared a few seconds later with Gemma, Jax, Opie, Juice and a new guy that she didn't know, trailing behind her.
Gemma hugged her tightly. "Thank the Lord!" She murmured as she kissed Velvet on the forehead. "We were so worried about you, Velvet sweetie!"
She backed away to stand next to Chibs, leaving a sheepish looking Jax, Opie and Juice standing to the side of her bed that was nearest to the door. Velvet smiled at them. "Thank you . . . so much, guys!" She told them quietly, and they all smiled warmly as they moved forward, where they each hugged their childhood friend. She clung particularly close to Jax. She didn't know why, she just felt right in his arms; but she did feel Tara's jealous eyes burning holes into their embrace.
The three of them moved to the side, and Gemma stepped forward again. "Sorry, Velvet, but this is Half-Sack, our new Prospect." She told her as the new guy stepped forward. He smiled and waved uncertainly, and Velvet furrowed her eyes in slight confusion.
"Why do they call you Half-Sack?"
Half-Sack's eyes darted to her father standing behind her, whose arm was wrapped around her shoulders protectively. He smiled a half-smile and shrugged. "I would show you, but . . . Chibs would probably kill me." Chibs laughed.
"You got that right, boy-o." He spoke good-naturedly when he regarded the Prospect, but she could tell he was being a tad more protective of her than was usual. Velvet smiled when she realized what it was.
"Oh! Yeah, I wouldn't right now no . . ." She told him teasingly and he flushed a little as he moved awkwardly from foot-to-foot. She smiled. He wasn't handsome like Jax or Juice was handsome, but he good-looking nonetheless, and she found his shy personality adorable. At least he wasn't cocky like some of the other guys in Sons of Anarchy.
Velvet didn't notice how Jax gazed at her and Half-Sack with a look of expertly disguised jealously; but Gemma did. She cracked an amused half-smile and nudged Chibs subtly in the ribs before she crossed her arms in front of her chest. Chibs gazed at her inquisitively, and she nodded toward the scene before them. He noticed everything that Gemma did, and grinned as well.
Personally, if there was anyone in Sons of Anarchy that he wished that Velvet would hook up with, it would certainly be Jax, his closest friend, but he guessed the Prospect was a good enough guy. After all, everyone else in the club liked him.
"Here we are, home sweet home!"
Velvet and Chibs stepped through the front door into the clubhouse, to a roaring applause. Everyone was joyous that Chibs' daughter was well and doing wonderful. She was, after all, well-known within SAMCRO and Charming in general, as the Princess and daughter that Gemma and Clay never had. She was also well-known as the Jewel of Sons of Anarchy, and was well-loved within the group. It was always thought of that she would grow up to marry a key member, maybe even Jax or Juice. Hell, even Opie or Happy had some good bets before Opie married Donna.
Juice, Gemma and Opie squeezed by her in order to get into the clubhouse, after grinning and squeezing her shoulder in reassurance. Jax moved beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist, where he kissed her on the neck.
"By the way, you look positively gorgeous . . ." He whispered in her ear before grinning and moving past her. He moved to stand next to his ex wife, Wendy, who they were trying to work things out with for the sake of their son, Abel.
Velvet grinned and blushed a little as she was ushered over to the large group of men standing by the Chapel. Clay, Tig, Bobby, and Piney smiled a small smile as they neared her. They each hugged her in turn, with Clay breaking apart from her in the end. They gazed at her pointedly.
"If you don't mind, we would like to handle this issue personally." Clay asked her and Velvet nodded.
"Of course. I didn't think of asking no one else."
"Whoever done this, will pay; we promise sweetheart." Piney told her in his wheezy voice, and she smiled as Tig added on,
"Yeah, they're going directly to me!" He assured her gruffly, his dark eyes flashing dangerously, and Velvet laughed a little. It was common knowledge all-throughout Charming, that Alexander 'Tig' Trager, was psychotic. Nobody messed with him, and he was well known for being fiercely loyal to those he loved and cared for. Velvet was happy to be able to count herself among those lucky few people.
Clay stepped forward as Gemma put her arm around Velvet's shoulders. "Can I have everyone's attention, please?" He held up his hands as he spoke, and everyone silenced so that they could hear him. "Just a couple of weeks ago, we found the daughter of our beloved member, Chibs, half-dead over by FunTown. She had been hopelessly beaten, raped, and close to death. We are now happy to report, that she is now released from the ICU, and is back within our ranks, safe and sound!" Velvet stepped forward, and Clay wrapped his arm around her, where he hugged her close. "SAMCRO is personally looking into the matter, and the offender will not go unpunished!"
The roar of the crowd was deafening, but the only person she saw in the crowd was the new Prospect. He smiled a small smile and waved shyly. Velvet grinned and waved back as she wrapped her arm around Clay's waist, reveling in the fact that she was being freely welcomed back into the fold of her one, true family.