Gemma and Stella working in the office actually turned out to be a good thing. The place was actually organized, they hardly wanted the guys to be in there because they would be back to square one. All the bills were paid and everything was up to date but it was no surprise that they made a good team. Suddenly they heard Stella's ring tone I put a spell on you, and now your mine. Stella looked down at her phone and frowned. She didn't know the number.
"Hello?" Gemma looked up when complete silence followed "How bad is it?"
"What's going on?" Gemma asked quietly.
"Do you need the trunk?" she asked the person over the phone "How bad is he? Take him to the hospital. Opie I don't care if he doesn't want to go. Make him. I'll tell Piney to get the trunk. Where are you? Okay. Stay there. Do not let him move, you understand me?"
There was fierceness in Stella's voice that Gemma knew from experience, which came out when someone they cared about was hurt
"What happened?" Gemma asked again.
"Alex fell off his bike. He was riding alone, they never ride alone. Ope found him. I gotta go find Piney so he can pick the bike up"
"Is Tig going to the hospital?"
"He better be" Stella said before leaving the office. Gemma decided to break the news to Clay. Gemma knew what was going on in Stella's head. Not knowing how bad Tig's injuries were. Stella was thinking the worst. She had lost all the color in her face and her heart was beating out of her chest. She was trying to be cool and calm on the outside but Stella was freakin' the hell out. When Piney arrived with the bike she was surprised and pissed to see who was sitting in the passenger seat.
"Why aren't you in the hospital?" she called out
"Don't need to be"
"Bullshit!"
"Princess.." he started
"Alex!"
They all watched as Tig and his Princess had a battle of wills. They stared each other down for a few seconds, waiting for the other to give in. It was a new experience for everybody since Stella and Tig were simpatico about most things in life. She could see that he wasn't going to change his mind, so she was going to have to change her tactics
"Alex, let me put it this way, if you are not sitting in my car in sixty seconds. I am going to take that bike, shove it into a compactor and then sell it for scrap metal"
"You wouldn't dare"
"Try me" It was the conviction in her last comment that made everyone sit up and take notice, including Tig. She wasn't buffing. He was pissed but she didn't care, she'd deal with that later "Get in the car"
"Fine" he agreed.
"Thank you"
Gemma walked over and kissed Stella. Told her that they would met her there in a little bit before Stella march over to her car and hopped in. They could only imagine what the conversation was going to be like on the way.
Stella was sitting on the hallway floor, resting her head on the wall, looking up at the ceiling when Gemma and Clay found her. When Stella saw them she shook her head and rolled her eyes. Clay held out his hand and helped her up.
"Any news?" he asked
"Sprained wrist. Two broken ribs and a bump on the head. He got off easy, could have been a whole lot worse"
"He'll bounce back"
"Yeah, he will" she said nodding her head "Hey, what was he doing out there alone? He was under that bike for half an hour, on the side of the road"
"He didn't go out, alone"
"What?"
Stella marched up that hospital hallway, like a pissed off hurricane. Opie saw her coming and knew that she had found out the truth of the day.
"I don't want to be you right now, Jax"
Jax turned around and barely uttered her name when she slapped him with all her might.
"Where were you?"
"Stel.."
"How dare you! Be reckless with your own life. You do not get to be reckless with his. He is all I have left"
She stormed back down the hallway. Opie started to laugh.
"Well it could have been worse. She could have dropped kick ya"
"True"
She walked outside and lit a cigarette as soon as she was standing out of the non smoking zone. She might have been ticked off but she wasn't going to break the law and waste money on a fine. She sat on one of the concrete benches and stared out at the parking lot and on to the road. The cars were constant. She wondered where all the people in the cars were going and where they had been.
"He is not all you have" someone said behind her. She looked over and smiled at Opie before nodding her head.
"I know that"
"Stel, I know it's been you and Tig against the world for your whole life but it's just not true. You have a really big family who loves you"
"Baby, I know" she told him with a chuckle "It's just I still see him as invincible. When I was a kid I thought nothing could touch him, nothing could hurt him. It's days like today that it all comes crash down, to me that Alex isn't invincible he is in fact very human and one day. I am going to lose him and it scares the crap out of me"
"Did you really threaten to crush his bike into a cube?"
"Damn straight"
"How are you still breathing right now?"
Stella cracked up laughing. Opie was right. If anyone else had threatened to do that, it would have been a whole another story. Stella took another drag of her cigarette and enjoyed the breeze that was rushing around the hospital building. She pulled her jacket tightly around herself as Bobby walked up to them.
"Is he awake yet?"
"In a matter speaking" Bobby told her with a chuckle.
"He's out of his mind of meds, isn't he?"
"It's the funniest thing I have ever seen"
"Oh this I have to see" Opie said standing up "You coming?"
"Nah. Something I have to do"
Opie smiled and nodded his head, knowing exactly what that something an hour later Jackson's face still felt like it was on fire. Stella sure knew how to hit, not that he should have been surprised. He wasn't angry, Jax actually thought he got off lightly, he was expecting a whole lot worse. Everyone knew that Tig and Stella were Ying and Yang, if he hurt, she hurt and in more then one way. Yes they had spilt up on the road and yes it back fired on them and now he was paying the price. Suddenly he saw an ice pack in front of his eyes.
"Does it hurt?"
Jax looked up and smiled at her "Like hell"
Stella gently sat on his lap and gently placed the ice pack on the side of his face. He thought it hurt more then it should and he tried not to let it show but failed.
"Sorry" she said quietly "I get tunnel vision when he's hurt. I got scared and I took in out on you. I'm sorry Jackson"
"It's okay. I actually half expected to be in a body bag at this point"
Stella laughed loudly and shook her head
"So you got off lightly then, huh?"
"I guess I did" he said smiling at her "Where did you get the ice pack?"
"Male nurse"
"Of course"
"You are not the only one with a panty dropping smile"
"Now that, I was aware of"
Gemma walked down the hallway and stopped once she saw them together, almost intimate she really didn't want to interrupt them up but Tig wanted to see his Princess and Gemma had no doubt that Stella wanted to see her scarecrow.
"Baby, he's asking for you"
Stella turned around and looked at Gemma surprised before standing up and walking towards Tig's room. Gemma looked back at her son and turned her head to the side before smiling. She walked over to him and sat down. Gemma patted his leg before Jax rested his head on her shoulder. Neither of them needed to say anything because Gemma being there was enough, because sometimes even the toughest guys needed their mother some days.
Stella lent against the doorframe of his hospital room and smiled because he hadn't noticed her yet, hospital drugs were pretty good from what she remembered. When he finally saw her the first question out of his mouth was
"Is my bike okay?"
"You're in here aren't you? I kept my end of the deal"
"Good. You know if anyone else ….."
"Bikes are replaceable. You are not" she said forcefully " What happens to me, if you're gone. I would well and truly be alone. No one to stop my marrying a Kyle Hobart type"
"Don't even think...No. Wouldn't happen"
"You better stick around then huh?"
He waved her over to the bed, she wasted no time getting there either. Stella climbed up on the bed with him and allowed herself thirty seconds to fall apart. She didn't need to be so strong in front of him, like she did with everyone else he saw right through that anyhow.
"Princess, I'm not going anywhere" he told " You and me against the world right?"
"Yeah"
It had always been that way, ever since she was little. Sure their relationship had changed dramatically over the years but there was that fundamental core of Stella and Tig against the world. As long as it stayed that way Stella and Tig were going to be alright.
The next time he woke up he saw a pair of size six high heeled boots resting on the edge of his bed. He followed the boots up her legs and wasn't surprised to see Stella had dragged one of the chairs in his room closer and now was fast asleep, dead to the world. That was the about the same time that Jax walked in the door. He smiled at sleeping beauty in her slumber.
"Where did the shiner come from?" Tig asked him quietly. Jax looked down at Stella and then back up at Tig, before they both laughed. She might have been tiny but she was theirs. "Take her home, Jax"
"Touch me Jackson and the right side of your face will match the left" she said before opening her eyes and smiling "I'm not going anywhere"
"Yes you are and don't fight me on this. I'll be out tomorrow morning anyhow" Tig told her
"If the doctors say you can" she fired back
"What did I say about not fighting me?"
Stella sighed loudly and hopped up out of the chair. He pulled her towards the bed before they kissed goodbye, one of those kisses that made Jax raise his eyebrows and get a little jealous. She lent against Jax as they walked down the hallway, out of the hospital and to his bike.
"Don't fall asleep and fall off the bike" he said placing the helmet on her head.
"What you think this is my first time on the back of a bike?"
"Just making sure" he said turning the engine on. She held on tight as they made their way through Charming and back to Jax's place.
