Three days had passed and Samantha had barely left Kozik's side. She'd left to go home and shower once, at Kozik's insistence,and had checked in with Sara at the bar. Her manager was more than happy to take the extra shifts, and apparently Tig had been stopping by and flirting with her.
The doctor came in and told Kozik he could go home that afternoon, so Happy had left and went to the clubhouse to inform Clay, and get Kozik some clean clothes. Everything he was wearing when he'd been shot was destroyed when they cut it off him in the ER. Sam had scrubbed the blood from his leather kutte, and Happy had shown her how to properly care for the leather. It was probably in better shape now than it was before he got shot. The leather shined and the patches were bright white again.
Sam was sitting on the edge of the bed talking with Koz when Gemma bustled in with a couple of porn stars in tow. "You ready to go home baby," Gemma cooed at him, completely ignoring Samantha's presence. "The girls are so excited to have you back at the clubhouse."
"I'm not staying at the clubhouse Gem, and I don't care how 'the girls' are. I know you've already been told that. I'll be by for the party I know you're gonna insist on throwing tonight but I'm staying with Sam," Kozik said with a glare.
Gemma ignored him and continued urging the porn stars to coo over Kozik. Samantha was seething, but didn't let it show, Kozik wasn't paying them any attention. She'd let Gemma play her games, Koz was still going home with her at the end of the night.
Happy came back with the clothes and frowned at the porn stars, "Get lost," he growled, and both women went for the door, one of them looking relieved to have an excuse to escape without bearing the brunt of Gemma's wrath.
"This shit is gonna stop Gemma," Kozik said before Happy could even open his mouth to rip her a new one. "My private life is none of your goddamn business and you're gonna stop pretending Samantha doesn't exist."
"Yeah what happened to the rule that if a girl fucks more than one patch, she's a crow eater and not girlfriend material?" Gemma snapped.
Kozik chuckled, but Happy was the one to speak first, "So that'd make you head crow eater then wouldn't it Gem?"
Samantha looked between Kozik and Happy, confusion written all over her face. "Gemma was married to John Teller, Jax's father and the founder of the Sons, when she started banging Clay," Happy explained. "No one talks about it but it's pretty common knowledge, at least in the West Coast charters. I heard the stories when I first patched in Tacoma."
Samantha laughed. She couldn't help it. She laughed until she had tears in her eyes and Gemma was glaring. "So you call me a whore, while you're the one who fucked around on your husband, behind his back, with his so called friend. Good one Gemma. Real classy."
Happy snorted as Gemma stormed out of the room and Samantha stood from the bed and helped Koz sit up. "Let's get you dressed, shall we big guy?"
Happy handed over the duffle bag of clothes and went to stand outside the door while Samantha helped Koz into his clothes. It took a little time and a considerable amount of effort on both of their parts, but soon Kozik was dressed and slipping into his leather kutte. Sam knelt to slip on his socks and lace up his boots, as Happy poked his head in the door. "You kids behave, here comes the nurse with your paperwork." Samantha snorted as she finished tying Koz's boots and stood up. "I don't know if I can Hap, I'm such a whore."
A nurse came into the room with a stack of prescriptions and discharge instructions, and a wheelchair to take Koz downstairs. Samantha went ahead of them to pull her car up to the front of the hospital. By the time she made it to the doors, Happy, Koz, and the nurse were waiting on her.
Hap helped Koz into the passenger seat and shut the door, tapping on the roof as he stepped away. He had taken the prescriptions and would drop them off on his way back to the clubhouse.
"Where do you want to go? The clubhouse? My place?" She asked as they pulled out of the hospital parking lot.
"Could we go somewhere for food," he asked. "I'm starving and really sick of all things mushy," he whined a little.
Samantha smiled and reached over to squeeze his hand. "How about a nice burger and fries at the diner? I'll even get you a chocolate shake," she gently teased.
Kozik agreed and they headed over to Hannah's. Once there, she allowed him to put his arm around her shoulders and lean heavily on her, as they went up the steps. He wobbled a little, not really having regained all his strength yet, so she slipped her arm around his waist and smiled at him. She'd keep him from falling, but also help him keep his dignity, something she knew he appreciated.
They got to the closest booth and Koz slid into the first bench, while Samantha went around to the other. After ordering their food, they fell into easy conversation, and they were surprised when the waitress came back with their food so soon.
As the waitress left their table, Kozik reached across the table and took her hand, "Thank you for everything you've done for me the past few days. I don't know why you do it, but thank you."
"When I was sitting in that recover room, watching the heart monitor and wishing for you to wake up, I realized I'd do anything in the world for you to open your eyes and give me one of those smiles again. I was so scared Koz," she admitted.
Koz squeezed her hand and smiled softly, "I'll do my best to never give you a reason to worry like that again."
They ate their burgers and fries in mostly silence, before paying the bill and slowly making their way back to the car. "Let's go back to your place," Kozik said tiredly. "I could use a shower and a nap before we have to deal with Gemma again." Sam agreed and headed over to her place.
Samantha helped Kozik into her house and put his bag in her bedroom. She found Koz's bag of medication on her kitchen table and briefly wondered how Happy got in her house, but then realized it's Happy and he could probably rob a bank without getting caught. She was really glad to be on his good side. Koz sat down on her bed and looked at her helplessly. "Can you help me babe?"
Sam walked close to him and stood between his legs, putting her arms around his neck, "Anything you need," she promised, running her fingers through his messy blonde hair.
She helped Koz out of his boots and socks, and then led him into the bathroom. She turned on the hot water and let the room get steamy as she helped him out of his clothes. Once she had adjusted the water, she quickly stripped out of her own clothes and helped him into the shower.
Samantha turned them so that Koz's back was to the warm spray, and then she wrapped her arms around him and held him close. His arms slid around her and they rested their heads on each others shoulders. "I love you Samantha," Kozik whispered, holding her just a little tighter.
"I love you too Koz, I never expected it but I love you so much " Samantha held him as tightly as she dared, relishing in the solid feeling of him in her arms.
They stood together under the hot water, Sam using her body to carefully shield Koz's incision from most of the water. She helped him scrub himself clean and then pulled the sprayer down to help rinse him off. She even scrubbed his hair for him, though he stopped her when she reached for the conditioner. Once he felt sort of human again, she turned off the water and helped him towel off.
After they were dry and back in the bedroom, she pulled back the covers and helped Koz into the bed. After putting fresh, dry bandages over his incision site, she went back to the bathroom and brushed out her hair, braiding it quickly before joining Kozik in the bed. She carefully snuggled up to him and he held her as tightly as he could without hurting his stitches. "God I can't wait to feel better," he murmured into her ear.
"I know Koz, I can't wait for you to be better," she agreed.
They woke up a couple of hours later, Samantha had turned to face Koz and rested her head on his chest. Their legs were tangled together, and in that moment, Samantha wanted to stay there forever. That was soon interrupted by the shrill ringing of the phone Happy had apparently placed in Kozik's bag.
She rolled out of bed, dug around in the bag until she found the prepay phone, and groggily answered, "Hello?"
"Bout time you two made it to the clubhouse. Party's started and everyone wants to see the guest of honor," Happy's gravelly voice said from the other end of the line.
"He's asleep but I'll wake him up and we'll be there soon," she promised.
After snapping the phone closed and tossing it on the nightstand, she crawled back under the covers and softly kissed Koz, "Time to get up, your adoring public awaits."
Kozik groaned and tried to roll over but it hurt and he just grunted loudly into the pillow.
"Lay here while I get dressed and then I'll help you," she said, kissing his cheek before crawling out of the bed.
Kozik rolled his head to the side so that he could watch Samantha dress. He admired the view as she slipped into her bra and panties and then went to the closet. She came out wearing his SAMCRO tank top and a pair of jeans. She looked so sexy in the simple outfit. Her braided brown hair fell halfway down her back and he wanted to unfasten it just so he could run his fingers through it and hold her close as he kissed her senseless.
Samantha stepped in front of him and broke the daydream he'd been having of her. She helped him sit up and get into his boxer-briefs and a pair of sweats. Together they got him into a SAMCRO t-shirt and his kutte. Kozik sat on the edge of the bed feeling useless as Samantha helped him into his socks and boots.
When she stood up, Koz grabbed her by a belt loop, pulling her close to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head against her stomach. "Thank you so much baby," he said, "I don't know what I'd do without you right now."
Samantha pulled back enough to see his face and leaned down to kiss his head. "I'm here Koz, so don't even worry about what would happen if I weren't here."
They stayed together like that for a few moments until Sam stepped back and helped Koz off the bed. "Let's get to this party so we can come back home and go back to sleep, sound good to you?" she asked, handing him a couple of pain pills and an antibiotic that the doctor had given him.
Koz agreed and they made their way out of the house and into the car. "Here we go," Sam said, taking Kozik's hand and squeezing it before she put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway.