Taylor Verheidan and her father Mitchell were spending a quiet Saturday at home, he tinkering with some sort of electronic at the bar while she channel surfed, finally deciding to just leave it on some sort of sci-fi/horror movie as she tossed the remote on the couch and walked over to the bar, watching her father tinker.
"You talked to Chibs today?" he asked, a knowing smile on his face that she saw even though he didn't look up. He knew that she'd talked to him around 8:30 this morning, having heard her phone ring and the muffled sounds of an hour and a half long conversation. But, she would amuse him and answer.
"Yeah; he's gonna work at the shop for while then head this way. Said, he might bring the guys up along with a load of assorted meats and have a cookout," she said, smiling when he looked up at her. His own smile echoed hers, glad that she had found her a place amongst the guys, her and Chibs having seemingly hit it off immediately after he'd joined the Charming charter about a year ago after having spent most of his club time in the nomad charter, Taylor tagging along with him.
"Well, I better go dust off the grill then," he said with a chuckle as he stood and stretched; however, their attentions were drawn out the window at the sound of approaching bike motors. Looking at her watch, Taylor wrinkled her brow a bit; Chibs had said that he wasn't leaving the shop until twelve, but it was only eleven thirty. Her father was standing at the window, watching, a darkened look on his face. He wasn't sure who it was, thinking at first that it may be the guys with some intel on Jax's son Abel and that the Sons needed to load up to go find him. He just wanted to have this done with, so much having already happened. Not only had Abel been kidnapped, but Half - Sack had been killed, and last night at his wake, two more people had been killed by some unknown shooters in a white van. One was a defenseless kid, but the other had been Deputy Chief David Hale who'd gotten run over by the van while trying to stop it. It was dark days for the club; dark days, indeed, but they were about to get darker.
"Maybe Clay let them leave early," Taylor mused, starting to make her way over to the door, but a gasp from her father stopped her in her tracks.
"Shit," he hissed then jumped away from the window. "Baby girl, get down!" he yelled, grabbing her and taking her to the floor just as a barage of bullets showered through the wall and the window, glass shattering. Crawling from her father, Taylor crawled over to the bar, popping the hideaway section open, grabbing two AKs, she slid one over to her father. Grabbing the gun, he looked over at her, and with a nod, the two of them stood up, squeezing the triggers on their guns and sending a barage of bullets back. Suddenly, something red sprayed Taylor in the face and she looked to her right just in time to see her father fall to the floor, the carpet around him staining red quickly. Falling to her knees beside him, she found the shot - a femoral artery shot - and pulled her t-shirt off, applying pressure to the wound. That's when she felt the sharp pain collide with her shoulder, screaming as she looked down at her shoulder where blood was now flowing down her arm; thank god it was a through and through.
Keeping pressure on her father's leg with her wounded left arm, Taylor grabbed her cellphone out of her right pocket, hitting send twice, Chibs number being dialed. The bullets still rained around them, and she jumped when she heard Chibs voice answer. However, she didn't get a chance to say anything to him as he heard the bullets in the background.
"Taylor, what's goin' on ov'r there?" he yelled into the phone as he put it on speaker, the rest of the Sons gathering round him, all of them looking around at each other as they heard the gunshots in the background.
"Chibs...oh god Chibs please get over here," Taylor's voice quivered through the phone. "My dad's been shot, and I think I have too," she continued, Chibs already running to his bike.
"I'm on my way swee'heart. Hold on," he told her before flipping the phone shut and shoving it into his pocket, starting his bike and roaring out of the parking lot, the rest of the Sons following suit behind him. None of them had even given a second thought to putting a helmet on. This was a dire emergency; there wasn't time. A brother and his love one were in need, so there wasn't a moment to spare.
Taylor flipped her phone shut, tossing it aside as she picked up her AK and fired more shots back at the guys outside. However, everything grew suddenly quiet, and Taylor looked up at the sound of a rumble approaching - the Sons. Suddenly, the bikes outside roared to life, peeling down the driveway in a hurry. Then, there was silence again, and Taylor looked down at her father, he looking back up at her.
"Baby girl, you...okay," he asked, his breath ragged as his eyes looked over her shoulder before locking with her eyes. "You...you've been shot," he breathed out, reaching up to her. She grabbed his hand, holding it tight as she kept the pressure on his leg, but he was bleeding out fast. Then, the rumble came roaring up her driveway, but she didn't take her eyes from her father as his breathing became more and more shallow. The man was slipping away in her arms, and there was nothing that Taylor could do about.
"Daddy...daddy, stay with me," she urged, tugging his arm lightly to keep him awake. The bikes pulled up outside, the ignitions cutting to silence before the sound of sirens followed and grew louder. One of the guys had obviously called 911 on the way. The sirens died as they pulled up outside. Chibs was off his bike before anyone else could move, his long strides carrying him to the steps, and he took them two at a time, busting through the door and stopping in his tracks as his eyes fell on Taylor who was holding her father in her arms, the man barely alive. Medics filed in the door, trying to get Taylor away from her father so they could work on him. "NO! NO!" she screamed even as she felt Chibs' strong arms around her, pulling her away.
"Taylor, baby, let 'em work," he told her, pulling her close to him and making his way out the door. But, there was nothing they could do; the man had been doomed to death before they'd even gotten there. They just didn't realize it yet. Once outside and safely down the steps, Chibs loosened his hold on Taylor, but he had to tighten it once again as she tried to go back into the house. However, her struggling slowly began to lessen until her body suddenly went limp in Chibs' arms. "Shit," Chibs cursed as he looked her over and noticed the bullet wound in her shoulder. He yelled for a medic, hoisting Taylor up in his arms as he began heading for an ambulance, met there by a medic that directed him to put her on the gurney in the back of the ambulance. He did so, taking a seat beside her as the medic began working to stop her bleeding and stabilize her. Her eyes slowly slipped open, a glazed look to them as she raised her head, her eyes staring out the back of the ambulance as the other medics pushed another gurney by with a black bagged figure laying on it, and immediately, Taylor knew it was her father.
"Daddy," she stated hoarsely, but as she went to raise up, the oxygen tube she had on jerked her back. Frustrated, she jerked it off, slipping out of the grip of the medic as she called out to her father. Chibs caught her just as she was about to hop down out of the ambulance. "No no no, I have to get to my daddy. I have to," she yelled, fighting against Chibs as he held fast to her and pulled back over to the gurney, laying her down. There, he straddle her, putting his weight on her hips so that she couldn't move. She looked up at him as tears started forming in her eyes, falling in the realization that she had lost her father. Leaning over her, Chibs cradled her face in his hands and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"He's gone luv; I'm so sorry, swee'heart," he said as he held her, feeling his own tears now falling. Mitchell Verheidan had been a man that Chibs had really looked up too. The man had taught him self control and helped him learn to control his temper. Taylor had also helped with that as well and had become a solid rock that Chibs could lean on as he had for her. And in this moment, he knew he was going to have to let her lean on him as she dealt with this tragedy.
"Chibs," said a voice from the back of the ambulance, and the Scot slid from the gurney and looked back to find Tig standing there. "Clay wants to see us," he continued then looked at Taylor. She looked up at Chibs, nodding to let him know that she wasn't going to try to get away again, and he headed out the back, walking over to Clay with Tig. The SAMCRO president had a grim and serious look on his face, and he looked like he was trying to fight back tears, and in fact, he was. Mitchell had been a steadfast friend that he would not soon forget; in fact, he would never be forgotten. With the Sons gathered round him, Clay looked at each one in turn, all of their faces etched with blatant pain. They had been through so much within the past week or so, and it was beginning to take it's toll on them all. They'd just attended a wake last night, and it was for sure now that they'd be attending another one.
"Men, this is going to be a difficult time for us all, but none so much as the young woman lying in the back of that ambulance. As a club, we must be there for her as her father would have wanted us to. Juice, I want you to find out as much as you can about the group we saw riding off as we turned in; match their cuts. I wanna know who the hell they are, because I wouldn't mind trackin' 'em down and gettin' some god damn answers," he ordered, looking over at the young man with the lightning bolts tattooed on the side of his head, the man nodding in understanding.
"I wouldn't mind joinin' ya on tha' li'l interrogation," Chibs fumed, his Scottish accent playing heavily on his voice in his anger. Suddenly, Tig elbowed Chibs in the arm and nodded in the direction of the ambulance. All of the guys turned to find Taylor standing there, her intense blue eyes watching them, her arms hugged around her as she shivered lightly. That's when Chibs suddenly realized that the black silk bra was the only thing covering the top half of Taylor. Jax had noticed as well, because he pulled off his hoodie and stepped over to Taylor, helping her pull it on. Once he'd gotten it on her, she looked up at him, tears brimming her eyes and falling again. Suddenly, Chibs was at her side, pulling her into his arms as she buried her face into his chest, her petite frame shuddering with her sobs. All the Sons stood there looking at the young woman standing before them in the arms of their brother. How could something like this have happened to such a beautiful person? Why was all this tragedy hitting the Sons and their families all at once? It was like it never ended. Bobby and Tig turned away as they felt their own tears beginning to fall. There wasn't a dry eye amongst the Sons as each of them walked forward and put their arms around the two until they had all formed a tight group almost as if they were trying to create a barrier between Taylor and the pain. It could even be said that they were "leaning" on one another and pulling together, the only way they knew that they were going to get through this.
+{o}+
The night sky sparkled with millions of tiny stars overhead but that was the last thing on anyone's mind as the Sons sat in the ER waiting room, waiting for word about Taylor. She was okay, but she'd had to go to the hospital so that she could get her shoulder stitched up, but she hadn't wanted to ride in the ambulance alone, so Chibs and Tig had ridden with her, the rest of the Sons following the ambulance to the hospital. Chibs paced back and forth in front of the ER doors like a caged panther; he wanted to go back to Taylor and hold her in his arms. Suddenly, the doors slowly swung open, and Tara walked through them, causing the Scotsman to stop in his tracks as the rest of the Sons stepped forward, gathering around her.
"Taylor is okay; thankfully the shot was a clean through and through so that we didn't have to surgically go in and remove a bullet, but she was in a lot of pain, so we've given her a mild sedative so that she's more comfortable," she explained then held the hoodie out to Jax. "She said to give this back to you," she said with a small smile then looked up at Chibs. "She's asking for you." Chibs nodded and followed her back as she swiped her badge and took him to where she was. Tara quietly opened the door, and Chibs walked in behind her, his eyes falling on Taylor lying on the hospital bed. She was sleeping softly, the beep of the monitors the only sound in the room. "I'll give you some time with her; just lemme know if you need anything," Tara whispered, Chibs nodding in understanding, and then she exited the room and quietly closed the door behind her.
Chibs walked over to the bed, sitting down on the side of it, his eyes watching Taylor - the way her eyes were flittering behind her eyelids and the steady rise and fall of her chest with each breath she took. Taking her hand in his, Chibs raised it to his lips, placing soft, gentle kisses across the back of her hand, looking up at her as she opened her eyes and looked at him, a small smile playing weakly across her lips. Tears formed in the Scot's eyes as he looked at her. She had been in and out most of the way to the hospital, and he'd feared that he would lose her; it was astounding the amount of blood a person could lose just from being shot in the shoulder.
"Ev'ryone's here and were all relieved when Tara told us tha' ye were alright. Jesus, Mary, and Bride Taylor, I though' I'd lost ye," he said, the tears falling hard now. It wasn't normally that Chibs broke down in front of anyone, but with Taylor, things were different; he could talk to her and cry if he needed to. She understood and didn't judge him for it. Looking up at him, Taylor saw the emotion in his eyes, and placing a hand at the back of his neck, she pulled him down to her, and he rested his head on her chest, crying as she gently stroked her fingers through his hair with one hand while the other hand soothingly rubbed his back. Leaning up ever so gently, Taylor placed a kiss on the top of his head, and he looked up at her. His hand came up to gently rest against her cheek as he slowly lowered his lips to hers. He was gentle with her as he wrapped his arm around her and gently pulled her up against him.