The violent pounding on the door and the incessant ringing over her phone, brought Juliet out of her drunken stupor. Flicking on the light, she grumbled as she wobbled towards the door. Delirious from her deep sleep the alcohol in her body was not helping. After screaming out she was coming the pounding at the door still didn't stop.
"I told you to go the fuck home Jackson!" She cried as she flung open the door.
"Wrong Teller." Gemma croaked out.
Juliet felt like vomiting at the sight before her, Unser was holding up a battered and bruised Gemma. For the first time, Gemma Teller looked vulnerable, she looked broken. And that was something Juliet wish she'd never have to see. The moment she laid eyes on the bloody MC Queen, all haziness left her body, and she snapped into emergency mode.
"Jesus Christ. Get inside. Take her to the bathroom; I'll get her some clothes to change into."
Unser led Gemma to the bathroom as Juliet ran to the bedroom pulling out a pair of sweat pants and a long shirt. Knocking on the door, she found the older woman looking defeated sitting on the toilet seat. Concentrating at the task at hand, she didn't ask questions, now was not the time to question the woman in front of her.
"I brought you some clean clothes. I'll help you in to them."
Gently helping her out of the tattered clothes, Juliet tried to hide her gaze. Bruises and cuts littered her body, and while pulling on Gemma's pants she could see all the bruising on her thigh. Biting back the vile in her throat, she steadied her mind; she had to be strong for her surrogate mother. Now words passed between the pair as Juliet dressed her.
"Come sit on the couch. I'll get the first aid kit."
As she searched for the first aid kit and rubbing alcohol in the bathroom cabinets, Unser was doing his best to get Gemma comfortable on the couch. Juliet sat the alcohol and kit on the table, before sitting next to her on the couch, pulling out the cotton balls Juliet gently applied the alcohol to Gemma's face.
"Gem, what happened?"
"Use your imagination."
"Maybe we should let her rest for a little while." Unser interrupted getting up from the chair.
"We need to get her to a hospital. I'm not a nurse; I can't get her what she needs."
"No. No hospitals."
Juliet wished she was surprised that Gemma resisted going to the hospital, but she wasn't. Ever since she'd been a little girl she knew the matriarch of the family to want to do things on her own.
"Honey, you need to go to the hospital. I can't treat you here."
"No. I can't check in. There will be insurance and shit. Everybody will know."
Gemma refused to make eye contact with her, instead looking down or to the side. The queen was ashamed. Juliet lightly touched Gemma's back trying not to invade her space too much but give her comfort at the same time. The way she was acting Juliet knew that this was not just a regular beating; getting the shit kicked out of her wouldn't bring the Queen down like this. If her suspicious were true, she really needed to get Gemma to a hospital. Looking to Unser; she could tell the older man was concerned. Racking her brain, the only thing she could think of was to call Tara and ask for her help.
"Can we trust Tara?"
Both Unser and Gemma looked at her incredulously.
"If we can get her sneak you into the hospital and run some tests, we get you taken care of and nobody knows. This is what we are going to do. We'll get you home, get you some new clothes and meet Tara at the hospital."
The other two were silent, but nodded in agreement.
"Promise me you won't tell anyone." Gemma demanded
"Gem.."
"Promise me."
"We gotta tell Clay." Unser interrupted standing up.
"No. Not Clay. Not Jax. No one. I'm not going if you don't promise me."
Gemma still refused to look anyone in the eye, but her tone was firm. Juliet looked to Unser who was staring in disbelief, but finally conceded.
"Alright."
"You have my word. I won't say anything."
Juliet packed up the first aid kit before getting up and pulling Unser to the side.
"They are going to see her face."
"I know, stay with her. I'll handle it."
As Unser headed out the door the two women sat in silence. Gemma kept looking off in the distance and down at her lap. In all her years of knowing Gemma, she'd never been broken or vulnerable. She has always been the ass kicking bitch, Juliet knew and loved till tonight. The rage she felt for the fuckers that did this to her surrogate mother was up there with the hatred she had for the person that took Donna's life. This would test the Queen, and she didn't know if Gemma would make it through. The only thing Juliet could do for Gemma right now was to keep her secret and do whatever she could to comfort her. Not wanting to send her into shock, Juliet rested her hand on top of hers, giving it a small squeeze. She could see the tears threatening to fall as Gemma grasped her hand.
"We're going to get through this mom. I promise you."
Juliet sat with Gemma while Tara checked her out. Tara had managed to check Abel as a cover so that she could properly care for Gemma. Tara had protested keeping it a secret from Jax, but after threatening words from Juliet she conceded. There was a knock on the door, causing all the women to turn their attention to the intruder, upon seeing it was Unser, Tara let him inside. Unser stood by Gemma's upper body, facing the front wall.
"Clay's here."
"You Son of a Bitch." Gemma yelled, causing Juliet to jump up and come face to face with Unser. Juliet was ready to pounce.
"I told him you were in a car accident."
"What?"
"That's going to be hard to explain since her car is fine." Juliet injected.
"I ran her car into a cement barricade, out by the utility shed. Take my head off if you want. I just didn't see any other way to sell this. He don't know about nothing else."
There was silence as the women processed what Unser was saying, Juliet being the first one to speak up. Unser made the right decision, there was no way the club wouldn't notice Gemma's beat up face.
"Tara, can you go talk to him? Hearing it from a doctor will make it more believable."
Tara nodded silently. Juliet could see Gemma was struggling to say something.
"I don't want to see him yet."
"Actually, they are all here. Jax, Clay, Bobby. They're all here."
"Jesus Christ." Juliet mumbled. "Is there anyone you didn't tell?"
Tara put her hand up stopping Juliet from yelling at Unser.
"I'll handle it." She said before heading out the door.
"I'll go help her."
With Tara and Unser out the door, Gemma held Juliet's hand.
"This wasn't about me."
"What do you mean?"
Juliet was confused; some group of assholes had kidnapped and raped Gemma how could it not be about her.
"What those animals did, it was to hurt Clay and Jax. Anyone finds outs they win. I can't let that happen."
"Whose they momma?"
Gemma released Juliet's hand, "That don't matter."
Dropping her head, she refused to look at Juliet.
"I'll go get Tara, while you get dressed."
Walking to the nurses' station, she noticed Jax walking up to the desk. Just as she was about to call out his name, Jax grabbed Tara from behind giving her a kiss on the lips, keeping his arm around Tara, she could hear him asking about his mother. Juliet went to approach the pair when she heard something that through a wrench in her plan.
"Look I'm glad you asked me the truth, means a lot to me that you want to figure out how to make things work."
The tender moment between the couple had bile creeping up Juliet's throat. Where his hands had been hours previous felt as though they were burning through her, he'd used her. She couldn't lie about how he made her feel last night, she didn't realize just how much she missed being with him till he pinned her against the wall. Christ, they had almost had sex against the clubhouse. Yes, she had been angry at him last night, ignoring that stupid roar of his bike as he followed her home, but deep down she enjoyed it. Jax and she always played the game of cat and mouse; it made things even more exciting. Disgust ran through her, how she could be so damn stupid to think he'd leave Dr. Tara Knowles for her. As much as Juliet wanted to run away into the comfort of her own home, she needed to be there for Gemma, least until she was safe in Clay's arms. Juliet, made no attempt to follow the couple who went to greet the rest of the club, instead she returned back to Gemma's room.
"Who took the wind out of your sails?" Gemma questioned her.
Juliet looked at the older woman, she couldn't help but feel guilty, she was letting Jax get to her when she needed to be strong for Gemma.
"Nothing, Gem."
"You sure? Doesn't have anything to do with tell Jackson to go the fuck home last night?"
She couldn't help but be surprised by the matriarch, here she was just hours after being beaten and raped and she wanted to know what happened between her son and Juliet. If this was how she was going to deal with her ordeal then Juliet would oblige her.
"Jax and I just got a little confrontational is all."
"Ya fuck him?"
"You know, not many moms want to know about their son's sex life."
"Answer the question."
"No, we didn't. Chibs interrupted us."
Gemma stayed silent, making a face that told Juliet to continue.
"Nothing is coming out of it. He loves Tara."
"He doesn't know what he wants."
"I heard him tell her in the hallway just now."
Nodding in understanding, Gemma placed a hand on Juliet's shoulders.
"You're the only woman for my son. Everyone knows that."
"Gem, it's not gonna happen."
"It will baby. He can't stay away from you too long. "
Tara came in through the door interrupting the two women.
"I need to run a few more tests."
"I'll be outside." Juliet excused herself.
"Go home baby, get some rest. I'll be fine."
Nodding, she gently hugged Gemma before heading out the door and to her car. The drive back to her house was quite and just as she pulled into her drive way the phone rang.
"Hello."
"THE FEDS ARE RAIDING THE STUDIO!" Her mother screeched through the phone.
"I'll be right there."
Before her mother could answer she hung up the phone. Hitting her head against the steering wheel Juliet let out a frustrated scream. Today couldn't possibly get any worse.
