NOTE: Sorry for the late update, I have been extremely busy. Hopefully I shall be back to normal updating regularly!
Thank you for reading and reviewing! Xx

Gemma's POV:

Urggghhhh. My head, my throat, my... nose? I look down and see tubes coming out of my nose. I glance around the room; the pale walls, the unmistakble musty smell. Shit. I'm in the hospital. What the hell happened to me? I see the silhouette of a woman in the doorway, with her back turned. It must be Tara.

"Why am I here doc?". My god I can barely speak. My throat is so dry, so painful.
She snaps her head around to look at me, the shock visible on her face. "Gemma! We didn't expect you to come round so soon!"
"What happened? Why am I in this shithole?".
"Gemma you had a heart attack. You are lucky to even be here".
"Well I suppose the arithmia was bound to cause one someday...why are you looking at me like that?". God she is looking at me like I comitted the biggest crime in the world. It is not like I asked for a fucking heart attack is it?
"Gemma, I am going to go and get Jax and Clay. Then I will talk to you properly".

Jax's POV:

I am shitting this. What am I going to say to her? How can you even begin such a conversation? Hey mom, you know this starving, cutting and burning yourself; can you stop it? Shit, shit, shit. I never thought I would ever be in this situation.

Walking to my mom's hospital room will go down in history as one of the longest walks of my entire life. Every step I take feels laboured. I can barely put one foot in front of the other without shaking. I glance over to Clay who has turned a whole new shade of green.

Tara pushes the door open and there is my mom, smiling away at us?
"My darling boys. Trust me ay?". She cackles, but her eyes are completely dead, any remnant of a twinkle is long gone.
"Mom." My voice is so shaky, I can barely speak.
"Oh sweetheart don't worry. I am fine. This was destined to happen with the arithmia." She tries to grab my hand with her bony fingers.

Tara clears her throat. "It was not the arithmia that caused you to have a heart attack Gemma. It was malnutrition".

Nothing.
No reaction from my mom at all. Just a blank stare at Tara. She is in complete denial.
"Mom? Did you get that?".
She starts laughing. "Yes Jax, I can hear. I have had a heart attack not my ears removed".
"MOM! This isn't funny...you..."
"Jax. This is ridiculous! I am completely fine." She is shaking her head, her irratability clear.
"Mom you are brushing this off like nothing has happened".
She clenches my hand as tight as she can manage. "Jaxson. I am fine. Honestly."

"Your arms say otherwise Gemma!." Clay yells, tossing the hospital chair across the room.

My mom looks down at her arms and she suddenly lets out this howl. I have never heard anything like it in my life. The pain, the torment, the frustration. It is like her body is being ripped open, inside out.

Gemma's POV:

"Get me a fucking cover NOW!". Oh my god. Oh my god. They know. Why the fuck would they let my son see this?
"Mom. Breathe. Breathe!"
Jax is trying to console me, which just hurts me even more. He shouldn't have to see this. See what I have done to myself.
Tara drapes another hospital gown over my shoulders. The stupid bitch! Why would she let my family see that?

"Why mom?" His beautiful blue eyes piercing through my soul. The tears bristening in his eyes.
"Jax, don't worry about your ol' mom. And as for you Clay, focus on your deal with the Irish. I will be fine. Can I speak to Tara, alone?". I watch Tara nod, but my darling boy isn't having any of it. Stubborn, just like his mom.
"But mom... we need to talk. And as for the Irish, that ain't important. You..."
"Please Jaxson. You and Clay attend to your duties. I will talk with Tara".
Tara ushers them out of the door. My god she must want to talk to me. I have no idea why, she should be terrified. I want to kill her.

"Yes Gemma?"
"Yes? Fucking yes? You allowed my son and my husband to see my arms in that state! What is wrong with you?"
She looks at me gobsmacked. "Gemma, of course they needed to see! They are your family, they need to understand the severity of the situation."
"No they didn't Tara! There is no situation! Accidental injury whilst I was intoxicated! There is nothing else to it!"

Tara's POV:

"Accidental injury? Gemma you have at least 60 cigarette burns all over your arms! You intentionally burnt yourself. Intoxicated or not!" I am incredulous, how can she try to pass off such a serious case of self harm as accidental injury. She has obliterated her skin, and is trying to act like it never happened.
" I was drunk, upset. It was a one off."
" Those knife marks on your legs. Where they a one off as well?". She looks away, trying to avoid the question.
"Look. Will you just discharge me and let me go home?" She snarls at me, trying to rip her tubes out.
" Are you insane Gemma? You have had a heart attack due to malnutrition. You are not going to be discharged until you are back to a healthy weight. Anorexia and Self-harm? You are lucky that you aren't in the psychiatric ward!"
Her eyes flicker with rage. " I am going home. I am an adult, I can do whatever the hell I want."
"Gemma I will section you, if you try to leave. So help me god!"

"UNSERRRRRRRRR!" She shrieks with a harsh hoarse tone. She has single handedly deafened the entire hospital.