Jax smiled before answering his phone. "Hey Lissie."
"Jaxie! Sup ma brother!" Lis said and Jax laughed. "OK, I am never doing that again. I was just calling to let you know that we are almost at the garage and someone is very excited to see his uncle."
"Hey Sammy!"
"Unca Jax!" The three-year-old called out, making Jax smile.
"Hi Buddy. You coming to see some cars?"
"Yeah!"
Suddenly there was a strange noise, almost like gunfire hitting metal, and there was a slight swerving noise. "Lis, what's going on?"
"Someone's shooting at us." His sister said in horror. "Sammy, bend down and cover your head." She said calmly although her voice shook slightly. "Sammy, bend down!"
"Mommy, what's happenin'?"
"Just bend down sweetie, OK?" Lis said, the gunshot noises and swerving still echoing in the background. "Jax, are you still there?" Lis asked before screaming as there was the sound of glass shattering.
"Lis? Lis?" Jax asked.
"Jax we're literally one minute away." Lis said, with Sammy calling for her attention, "When we get there, I want you to close the gates straight away. Just stay down Sammy, sweetie. Jax, do you hear me?"
"Yeah, I hear you." Jax said, gesturing to Bobby and Happy to go to the gates. "Just keep driving and Sammy stay down." His head jerked up as he heard the tyres screeching just down the road. "Come on Lis, you're nearly here." The berry coloured people carrier swung into the lot and Happy and Bobby slammed the gates closed. Jax hung up as Lis practically fell out of the car. Her left arm and her leg were bleeding heavily but she limped around as Tig pulled the door open and lifted a lifeless Sammy from the car.
"No. No. Sammy! SAMMY!" Lis screamed, falling to her knees in front of Tig and he gently placed Sammy in her arms. "Sammy come on. Wake up. Wake up. Sammy please." She wept as she cradled him close. "Sammy. Oh Sammy." Jax knelt next to his sister and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into him as she cried over her dead son, tears falling down his own face at the loss of his nephew.
"What happened?" Clay asked as he reached the group with the others and Gemma before stopping in his tracks at the sight of a bleeding and glass covered Lis holding a dead Sammy. Juice immediately knelt in front of his girlfriend and joined her and Jax in their little mourning huddle, tears pouring down his face. "Lis, who did it?" Clay asked softly and his stepdaughter shook her head.
"I don't know. It came out of nowhere. I tried to get Sammy to stay down but he wouldn't listen." The tears began falling again. "It's all my fault. It's my fault. It's my fault. It's my fault." She repeated over and over again, holding her son close to her.
Once they finally managed to prise Sammy's body away from Lis and Jax had carried her into the clubhouse, Lis sat on the table in chapel and stared into nothingness while Chibs cleaned her up. Unser and a couple of his men had arrived and taken Sammy's body away whilst she was inside. Jax watched his sister as she didn't even flinch while Chibs stitched her without anaesthetic. "There we go lass." The Scot said once he'd finished but Lis didn't respond. Chibs packed up his things and kissed her hair and left the two siblings alone.
"I'm so sorry Lis." Jax said and she finally focussed her eyes on him. "I am so, so sorry." Lis shook her head.
"It wasn't your fault." She sighed, holding a hand out to him. Jax walked over and took her hand, allowing her to kiss his knuckles before pulling him to sit next to her on the table. She nuzzled her head into his shoulder and he carefully wound his arms around her. "The thing is, I'm still gonna be a mom."
"That's the problem when you lose a child. You stay a parent even though you don't have a child anymore. I guess Mom struck lucky when we lost Tommy because she still had both of us." Jax said and Lis shook her head.
"No Jax." She said and he looked at her. "Six weeks." Jax crumpled his forehead in confusion for a second, staring at his sister, not understanding. Suddenly, it hit him and the tears welled in his eyes.
"Does Juice know?" He asked and she shook her head. "Are you going to tell him?"
"Of course. I was going to tell him today, but now…" She trailed off, unable to even think about it. "I'm not entirely sure how he's going to react."
Jax smiled positively. "Juice will be so excited. Trust me." He said and Lis gave him a quick half-smile before leaning in so he could kiss the top of her head. As he held her Jax thought about all the shit his sister had been through. She had been incredibly close with Tommy when they were toddlers and she had been devastated when he died. She had gotten married at eighteen, five months after graduating high school at the top of her class, to a guy who was in her class after being held back two years, and was then divorced before she turned nineteen. She gave birth to Sammy a week late and she raised alone until she met Juice eighteen months ago and the couple had been inseparable ever since. Jax smiled at the thought of his sister's new relationship. It was so much better than her first marriage and she was happier than he had ever seen her. The young intelligence officer had been an incredible stepfather to Sammy and had loved the boy like his own. "Juice is going to be so happy." Jax reassured. "Trust me."