I own nothing you recognize. Only original characters and plotlines are my own.
Chapter Seven
"He's in 207, I saw him this morning, they have him doped up but he's in good spirits." Tara had greeted me as soon as I walked through the doors I was grateful. She left me outside his room with a hug and I stood outside, terrified of what I'd find. With a deep breath I walked through the door and let it out. Juice was lying in the hospital bed, his eyes were hooded and trained on some nature program. I felt something wet on my cheeks and realized I was crying. I took another deep breath and walked deeper into the room, he sensed my movement and looked over, this time he had a grin on his face.
"Baby, you're home." He tried to move and winced in pain. I rushed to the bed and held his arm down.
"Don't move, you don't wanna break your stitches." I looked up from his hand and saw his eyes on me. "Oh god baby."
I started crying in earnest and he moved his hand to the remote, shutting off the tv and moving up the bed. Once he was more level with me he reached up and caressed my hair.
"Move the rail down Milla, I want you in this bed with me." I shook my head and he reiterated his request.
"Can't, your stitches." I stopped crying and took a shaky breath while he took my hand in his and brought it to his lips.
"Holding my wife in my arms would be worth a few popped stitches, now get in this bed with me and we'll see if we can get the peanut to kick again." I couldn't help but nod as I moved the rail down and gingerly climbed in the bed with him. After only a couple minor sounds of discomfort I was comfortably situated at his side as he held me. "There, now you said my voice set her off, anything yet?"
"Nope, but as soon as she does you'll be the first person other than me to feel. I almost broke a woman's finger in the Newark airport when she tried to touch my stomach." He chuckled and I let my hand run down his chest, then placed it on his heart. He looked at me completely understanding.
"I won't leave you baby, even if I die my ghost is gonna haunt you." I smiled, it was what I needed and before I knew it we'd both fallen asleep.
"Hey babe wake up, how can you sleep through this?" Juice shook me lightly and I opened my eyes to see him grinning at me while his hand was resting on my stomach. The tone of his voice was pure awe and it made me smile as I woke up.
"She knows her Daddy's here." I whispered as I took his hand and placed it where the vibrations were strongest.
"Wow, we made that." I didn't think it was possible but he grinned wider and I had to kiss him.
Eventually the kicking ceased and he looked disappointed before his face contorted in pain. I moved away but he pulled me back into his arms.
"Just a spasm baby, the doc said it happens all the time with puncture wounds. Shit, I will never make a shanking joke or a prison rape joke ever again. Shit's too real." I looked at him as my brow furrowed in confusion and he looked embarrassed, "Forget I said the last thing ok baby?"
I didn't get a chance to reply before a cough was heard at the doorway. I looked away from him and saw my mom standing with a box that had to be from Stumpy's and a balloon. She smiled at me and gave Juice a sympathetic look before she walked in the room and set the food on the rolling table along with the balloon and went to the visitor's chair.
"How're you doing Juice?" No preamble just the straight up Q and A with my mom.
"Surprisingly well for being shanked in the yard. The baby's kicking, I just felt it." He sounded so proud that I had to grin.
"Good, you need something good. You know the club appreciates what you went through, right?" She got up and ran her hand through my hair as she took Juice's.
"I did everything I did to protect this family, to protect my family." He pulled me in tighter with his free hand and my mother leaned down to kiss his cheek.
"We are your family darlin' and I'm proud to call you my son." She smiled at him before she kissed the top of my head and moved away. "I brought you two breakfast from Stumpy's, the hospital food is shit. I'm gonna go visit Chibs but I'll be back and remember, there is no privacy in a hospital room."
She walked out and I kissed Juice gently before I got out of the bed and started getting the food out of the containers. It smelled like heaven and Juice tore into it immediately while I watched him. After he'd finished his portion of the breakfast he still looked hungry so I moved mine toward him and he stubbornly shook his head.
"No way, you eat. The baby needs nutrients. Shit did you remember to take your pills while you were in Newark?" His concern was sweet but I was more worried about him. I did what he said and ate the french toast while we shared the hashbrowns. Soon enough we were both full and content and I sat on the end of his bed and told him all about the business trip. There was a knock on the door and we looked up to see Tara standing with a smile.
"You're looking good Juice, Mills we need to check his vitals and do an examination, it should take about an hour. I'll give you clearance to visit Chibs if you want." I looked at Juice and he nodded before I moved to kiss him again.
"I'll be back in about an hour baby. Love you." I walked toward the door and her stopped me.
"Tell me how he's doing when you get back, ok?" He asked and I nodded before I went out the door to the elevators heading up to the ICU.
In no time at all I was at Chibs' door, not nearly as nervous as I'd been with Juice. I opened the door slowly, quietly to make as little disturbance as possible but my care was shot to hell when I yelped at the sight of the woman in the hospital chair. She was an older woman with darker skin sitting like a queen.
"Umm, sorry, I thought Chibs was alone. If you want some time with him I could go." It took me a second but I'd recognized her from the few photographs Chibs counted among his most prized possessions, she was his Fiona.
"Not a problem darlin', who do you belong to, ya look a bit familiar?" She sat up and I could see the cunning in her eyes. Mom had right to be afraid of her.
"I'm Gemma and Clay's daughter Millicent. I was here visiting my husband and decided that I needed to see Chibs." I deferred to her without even realizing it.
"Who woulda thought Gemma and Clay would make such a beauty? I'm Fiona Larkin, Chibs' wife." She extended her hand and I took it, not taken in for a minute by her smile. If the stories were true she was a cunning, cold, heartless killer. She would have gotten along well with Happy.
"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am." She grinned at that and led me to the other chair.
"Polite too, you sure you belong to Gemma?" She smiled before she looked up at Chibs. I'd heard stories and now I didn't know if I believed them, the look in her eyes was pure love and concern, it was a look I'd seen in the mirror of Juice's eyes that morning. Maybe she wasn't as heartless as they said.
"You don't mind me hanging around for a while do you?" I sat back a little and put my hands on my stomach.
"Not at all lovey. How far along are you?" She took in my stomach and I smiled.
"Five months, the baby's getting more active."The baby was always a topic of interest with me
"Hold onto all the little memories yer gettin' with the wee one. Soon enough they'll be the only ones you have that are worth a damn." She looked at Chibs and I saw raw pain flash across her face, yeah she wasn't as heartless as everyone thought.
True to my promise I made it back to Juice in an hour and I found him watching a movie and flinching. I chuckled when I saw it was Midnight Express. He heard me and patted the bed next to him. This time I didn't fight him and merely walked to the bed and crawled in.
"Didn't you get enough of the real thing baby? This'll probably give you PTSD." I rested my head on his shoulder and he changed the channel to the Food Network. I grinned and snuggled closer, suddenly overcome with nostalgia.
"When I get out of here, we're going to that restaurant in Oakland. This time we'll actually make it through a whole meal." I laughed and he kissed the top of my head.
"I was thinking about something Juice; we have no names picked out for the baby." I looked at him and he got a thoughtful look on his face.
"I thought we'd name a boy Jean Carlos Ortiz Jr. and our baby girl would be Gemma Millicent Ortiz, keep the tradition going." I tried to keep from shuddering at his name choices and wasn't successful.
"Umm, I was thinking about going a different path. Your Mom's name was Esperanza, it means hope and this baby is our hope. Along with Abel they form a new generation of SAMCRO. Then for a middle name I wanted Donna, that way we'd be honoring her memory. What do you think?" He gave me the soft look that he reserved only for me and rested his forehead against mine.
"Esperanza Donna Ortiz, it's perfect." He placed his hand on my stomach and the baby responded by kicking again. She liked it too.
Later that night I was sitting in the uncomfortable visitor's chair while Juice lay snoring in his hospital bed. He'd had more spasms so I insisted that he get drugged up. He'd protested at first but the doctors agreed with me. Now he was in a morphine induced dreamland and I was doing some work for Elliot that didn't require my actual physical presence. He'd called me earlier to check on me and see how Juice was doing while I praised him for helping the family. He let Tristen take the credit and simply asked if I needed any more help. As it was I was doing fine as long as he didn't fire me for absence. He joked that he wouldn't fire me under one condition and thus I was now filling out paper work for him that Julie had dropped off. Julie was the receptionist and would work as an assistant from time to time. Behind her back I called her life preserver, she kept me from going under but refused to accept any praise. I had put the finishing touches on the last bit of paperwork when there was a knock at the door. I looked up to see David and suddenly got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"Hi David, if you're here to wish a speedy recovery he's kind of conked out right now. I'll let him know you stopped by." I put the papers into my satchel and stuffed it under the chair.
"I'm glad he's doing alright Milla, you and the baby need him but I'm not here about Ortiz. I have something that I need to tell you." My heart dropped at the tone of his words.
"Luann Delaney was found beaten to death this afternoon, as of right now that's all we have." He walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Are you sure?" I asked as I fought to control my breathing and my heart rate.
"We're sure, I'm so sorry Milla. I know the two of you were close." He moved his hand until his arm was around my shoulder and offered support.
"No, no it couldn't be her. The last thing I said to her was that I hoped she got enough money to fill the empty spot in her soul. We didn't get a chance to fix things. She can't be dead David. We didn't fix things." I started crying and David knelt so that he could take me in his arms. I needed to be held and he suited the purpose.
"I'll keep you informed when we hear anything new. It'll be alright Milla, just take care of yourself and the baby. Ortiz will be out of here in no time. I have to go inform your family, want to come with me?" In that moment I'd never liked David more.
"No if I'm gone when he wakes up he'll freak and I don't want him tearing stitches. Thank you for coming to tell me personally David, I know others in your department who wouldn't understand what a blow this is." I sniffled and he grabbed tissues from the tray by Juice's bed and helped me wipe my face.
"I know you and Mrs. Delaney were close, she was willing to go to jail to protect you. If I hear anything new I'll personally track you down and tell you. I'm also going to give you this warning if your family hasn't already told you. Stahl is back in town and I'll do what I can to keep her off your back." He kissed my forehead and got up.
"Thank you David, for being so considerate. I need to be alone with my husband for a while." He got the hint and walked out after a wave goodbye.
I found myself unable to cry anymore and simply crawled into bed with Juice. I'd tell him when he got up but for now I moved his arm until it was around me and pressed myself into his side. In sleep he tightened his arm possessively around me and I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heart beat and feeling his chest rise and fall and that was where I stayed, even the nurses didn't dare budge me.
