HUGE response to the last chapter! So happy you liked the cliffhanger at the end and I absolutely loved hearing your predictions for how things will go down with Kohn. Oh, and thanks for letting me know that you all apparently LOVE smut :-) I'll definitely keep writing it so long as it fits the story.

Trigger warning for this chapter (assault and attempted rape just like on the show). Again, I'm playing with the timeline and changing some events…hope you like where it goes…

Chapter 21

Tara lifted Abel out of the incubator and held him close in her arms. "You're finally free, little one."

She gazed at the newborn, who softly cooed in her arms. He was so small, so sweet, so incredibly beautiful. She cared for all of her patients, but over the weeks that she had been caring for Abel, Tara had fallen head over heels for the little boy. She tried to ignore how natural it felt to hold him, how easy it was to love him like he was her own…how right it felt to hold a baby that had Jax's eyes.

She smiled down at him when he grabbed her finger with his tiny hand. "You're going to be a heartbreaker just like your daddy, aren't you?" And if she didn't know better, she could have sworn she saw him smile back.

Tara gently patted his back as she made her way to Jax and Gemma. They both looked so happy at the site of Abel, finally healthy and thriving. Jax had tears in his eyes and his face beamed with pride. And for once, Gemma didn't look at Tara like she hated her...she almost looked grateful.

Tara looked on, smiling, as Jax held his son for the very first time. It was one of the most beautiful moments she'd ever seen; the man she loved more than anything happier than he had ever been.

When she stepped out of the nursery with Gemma to give Jax and Abel some time alone, she found herself staring back at them through the glass. The two of them made a beautiful family, and just for a moment, she let herself pretend that she was Abel's mother, that she was Jax's wife, and that she was a member of that perfect little family too.

A few hours later, Tara was walking out of St. Thomas. She had tried calling Gracie twice in the last 30 minutes to come and pick her up, but she never answered. As she walked outside, she flipped open her phone to try calling again but paused when she heard the unmistakable sound of a Harley pulling into the lot.

Jax walked towards her with an apologetic look on his face. "Hey Doc, listen. I'm sorry to do this, but the club needs your help."

Tara walked into her house, with Jax following closely behind. She had no idea why, but he needed medical supplies and surgical tools for the club. She went to the hallway closet and got out her personal kit, since she wasn't able to take anything from the supply room at the hospital without getting caught.

When she handed him her medical bag and they spoke to each other, the same sadness that broke her ten years ago suddenly consumed her once more. Her heart ached at Jax's words. He didn't come right out and say it, but she could always read him like a book. He was telling her that there wasn't any hope for them. She knew he was right, of course…that if they were ever to get back together, most of her time would be spent worrying about whatever dangerous shit he was doing, his would be spent apologizing for it. It was why they split up when they were kids and why Tara had so desperately tried to keep Gracie away from Juice. It was simple…when it came to men like Jax and Juice, sometimes loving them just wasn't enough. Before he left, she reminded Jax that the man she saw with Abel earlier had a love and vulnerability that never existed in the past. She silently prayed that maybe it would be enough to bridge the gap that so deeply divided them right now.

She closed the door and walked to her bedroom. When she sat down on the bed, she looked at her bedside table and noticed that her iPod wasn't where she had left it that morning. Then, when she looked over at her dresser, she saw another iPod that had no business being there at all. A wave of panic swept over her…something just wasn't right. She ran to her closet to retrieve the gun Grace had given her, since she had stopped carrying it the day before when she thought Joshua had left town. But as soon as she opened the closet door, she screamed.

Gracie was on the floor, her hands and feet bound with zip ties and her mouth covered with duct tape. Her beautiful green eyes were swollen and red from crying and were darting around in every direction. She had bruises on both sides of her face and a large cut above her right eye that was leaving a trail of blood down her cheek and onto her light blue scrubs.

Tara ripped the duct tape off in one swift movement. "Oh my God, Gracie! Are you…"

As soon as the tape was gone, Gracie just screamed. "Tara, run! He's here! Run!"

Grace's eyes shifted over Tara's shoulder, and before she could even turn around, Kohn had tackled Tara to the floor beside Gracie.

Kohn flipped Tara onto her back and she started screaming hysterically. He grabbed a nearby pillow and shoved it over her face with his left hand, while his right held his gun against Gracie's temple.

Kohn waited for the sound of Jax's Harley to fade into the distance before he spoke. The sound of his voice sent chills down Grace's spine.

He shoved his gun harder against Grace's head before removing the pillow and looking down at Tara. "Now Tara, do you see your friend? Do you see what I'll do to her if you scream again, honey? Do you understand?"

Tara looked over at Gracie, tears streaming down her best friend's bruised and bloody face. She looked up at Kohn and quickly nodded.

Tara tried without success to keep her voice from trembling. "You're…you're hurting her. You're hurting me, Joshua."

He suddenly looked apologetic as he holstered his gun and pulled Tara up so that she was sitting on the bed. "Tara, I'm sorry. I didn't want it to be like this, but I just needed five minutes with you…."

For just a moment, Tara thought that maybe she could reason with him. "Josh, you're in a lot of trouble. Please, just go, just…"

He was suddenly furious and screaming. "I just need five god damn minutes, Tara! Five fucking minutes!"

Tara glanced quickly at Grace's tear stained face before raising her hands up in surrender. "Fine, ok, sure. Five minutes."

She held her breath and fought back tears as Kohn pulled a nearby chair over to the bed, sat down in front of her, and started talking. The entire time he was speaking, trying to rationalize and justify his psychotic behavior, all Tara could think about was how she could possibly get herself and Gracie out of this situation alive.

She knew she had to keep him calm. That was their only hope. She tried her best to sound convincing as she apologized for getting the restraining order, promised him that she would never be with Jackson, and tried to make him believe that she would give him another chance.

Gracie had moved so that she was leaning against the wall opposite the side of Tara's bed. Her whole body ached, her heart was racing, and she was experiencing a terror that she had never known was possible. Every time she watched that monster put his hands on Tara, she had to swallow back the bile that threatened to rise in her throat. Oh God, please don't let him hurt her. Please don't let him hurt her.

She couldn't believe how delusional he was, that he somehow believed in his sick, twisted head that he and Tara could work through their differences. Tara was trying her best to stay calm as Kohn professed his love for her, but Gracie could see the mounting fear behind her eyes. When he leaned in and kissed Tara on the lips, Grace once again tried to quietly pull her hands from her restraints, but her wrists were already raw and bleeding from the hours that she had spent trying to free herself without success.

Gracie froze when Kohn's voice suddenly got cold and emotionless. "Do you want to talk about our baby, Tara?"

Tara quickly glanced at Gracie before meeting Joshua's stare. Her voice was quiet but strong. "I had an abortion at six weeks. It was never a baby."

Kohn nodded his head. "You're right. It wasn't. It never had a chance." He jumped out of the chair so quickly he knocked it over. He bounded over to Grace, grabbing a fist full of her hair and dragging her across the room so that she lay at Tara's feet. Gracie held back her screams, even as the pain in her already throbbing head became unbearable.

He slammed her head to the ground and once again unholstered his gun and held it against Gracie's face. She held back her screams, but was unable to hold back her tears, certain that this was the moment he would finally kill her.

Kohn cocked the gun and then looked up at Tara with hatred in his eyes. "You killed our baby because you let this stupid bitch talk you into it! You murdered our baby because this fucking little cunt was jealous of our love, Tara!"

Tara started to cry, terrified that the woman she loved like a sister was going to die right in front of her eyes. Oh god, and it would be all my fault. This is all my fault. Suddenly sure of what she had to do to protect her only family, Tara slowly reached her hands out to cup Kohn's face.

She willed her body to stop shaking and tried to keep her voice calm. "You're right, Joshua. It was a baby…it was our baby. I should have talked to you about him when I found out…I'm so sorry, baby."

Kohn leaned into her touch and nodded. "See sweetie. That's all I wanted. I just wanted you to admit that you made a mistake so that now we can move past it." He pressed his gun harder into Gracie's cheek, causing her to whimper. "And you admit that you never wanted to get rid of the baby? That it was all her idea? Because she needs to pay for what she did to our family, Tara."

Tara swallowed the vomit rising in her throat as she leaned in and kissed him. "I know that Grace has…" She looked down and met Gracie's eyes for a moment. "I know that she's made some mistakes…unforgivable mistakes. But I love her, Josh. Not as much as I love you, but she's like my family. If you hurt her, it will hurt me. Please don't hurt me."

A few moments of silence passed before Kohn sighed loudly and grinned at Tara. "You know that I could never hurt you, sweetie."

He took the gun off Gracie's face and held it at his side. "What should I do with her then, Tara? She's a toxic little bitch. She can't be a part of our lives. She'll tear us apart."

Tara nodded and tried her best to return his grin. "We'll leave. You and me. We'll go back to Chicago and start over. We'll leave her here, and I swear that I will never talk to her or see her ever again. Ok?"

Tara could see the doubt still looming in his eyes. She briefly looked down at Gracie and hoped that her friend understood what she was trying to do, or if nothing else could see in her eyes how much she loved her. She looked back at Kohn and plastered a grin on her face.

Tara started to slowly unbutton her shirt. "Now, Josh. It's been too long. It's time for a fresh start. I need you, please." When her shirt was unbuttoned, she unzipped her jeans and slid them to the ground.

Kohn looked down at Grace, still laying on the floor, and then back up to Tara. "You want to do this now? What about her?"

Tara fought back tears as she shook her head and forced a smile. "I'm glad she's hear, baby. She needs to see how much I love you, how much you love me. Then she'll leave us alone."

She stood in front of him and started to unbutton his shirt. He smiled again and kissed her before pushing her down to the bed. Tara tried not to let her expression change when he placed his gun on the bedside table and peeled off his shirt.

When he jumped on top of her and started running his hands all over her body, she bit her lip to keep from crying out in disgust. Every touch against her skin felt like acid. You can do this, Knowles. You have to give Gracie a chance to run. You can do this. His movements were frenzied and she knew that she had to get him to slow down, to get lost in her so that Gracie would have time to crawl away. Tara knew that Kohn was going to rape her, knew that she would not leave her bedroom alive. But if this was what she had to do to give Gracie a chance to escape, she would do it a thousand times over.

She caressed his face in her hands and blinked away the moisture from her eyes. "Not like this baby. Please…make love to me. Slowly, gently…like I know you can. Please, Josh. I love you."

Tara watched in relief as Kohn took a deep breath and nodded. He let her flip them over so that he was lying on his back and she was kissing a path down his chest. When she heard him start to sigh, she knew that his eyes were probably closed and it was now or never. Please Gracie Jane, get away, please. She took a moment to glance towards the door hoping to see Gracie making her way to the living room, but instead saw her silently crawling towards the bedside table.

Gracie did her best to crawl the few feet to the table, mostly using her knees and forearms since her hands and feet were still tied together. She knew that she would still be able to fire Kohn's gun if she could reach it, since it was out of its holster and already cocked. She also knew that if he opened his eyes even a second too soon, she would be dead. But she didn't care. She wouldn't let him hurt Tara, not without a fight.

Just before she reached up for the gun a single thought ran through her head. I hope Juice knows how much I love him. Then she rose up on her knees as fast as she could and grabbed the gun.

As soon as it was in her hand, she screamed. "Tara!"

The second that Tara flew backwards towards the end of the bed, Gracie aimed and fired at Kohn, sending a bullet directly into his stomach.

Kohn immediately rolled off the bed and onto the floor. He was grasping at his wound, trying to stop the blood from oozing out of his body. He glared at Gracie. "You stupid bitch!" He looked over at Tara, who was standing at the end of the bed, frozen. "Tara! Look what she did! Baby, please don't let me bleed out. Please don't let me die, Tara! Call an ambulance!"

Tara looked down at Gracie, who was still on her knees leaning against the bed for support, with the gun trained on Kohn. She went to the kitchen to grab a pair of scissors and then ran quickly back to Grace, cutting the zip ties from her hands and feet.

Tara didn't even try to hold back her tears. "Are you alright, Gracie Jane? Oh my god, are you ok?"

Gracie nodded, her eyes never leaving Kohn. She wanted to break down, to scream in agony, to cry in relief, to crawl into bed and drown in sleep until she awoke and found that the pain and terror of the last few hours had all been a horrible dream. But she couldn't just yet. She had to be strong for Tara. "I'm fine, Doc."

She lifted her gaze to make contact with Tara for just a moment and saw that the woman in front of her, standing in only her bra and underwear, was shaking uncontrollably and on the verge of going into shock.

Tara was trying to speak, but the words just weren't coming out. "Gracie…I…I…I don't know…I don't know what to do…"

Grace once again focused her aim on Kohn. "Knowles, you need to take a deep breath, ok? Just calm down. Put some clothes back on and then call Jax. He can't be that far away." A few moments passed and Tara had yet to move. "Get your cell and call Jax, Tara!"

Tara nodded, throwing on a long cardigan that was lying on the floor, and ran to the living room to get her phone.

When Tara went into the other room to call Jax, Gracie found herself staring in fascination at the blood flowing out of Kohn's abdomen. A voice deep inside her was telling her to go to him, to apply pressure and stop the bleeding, to call an ambulance and save his life…but she didn't move. She couldn't, because an even louder voice was screaming at her to let him die. He was going to rape Tara. He was going to kill her. He was going to kill me. He was going to take me away from Juice when I only just found him. He'll never stop. As long as he's alive, we'll be in danger. He'll never stop.

Tara came back a few minutes later with a washcloth and bandages. She knelt down beside Grace and started wiping the blood away from her face. She glanced at Kohn, who was still on the floor trying to apply pressure to his own wound.

Her voice was still trembling, but the color was coming back to her cheeks. "Jax is on his way." Tara pressed against the cut on Grace's forehead and paused when she saw her wince. "Gracie, this cut needs sutured."

Gracie shook her head. "Just put a bandage on it now. I'll deal with it later."

Tara nodded. When Gracie's face was clean she moved to her red, swollen wrists and cleaned the areas where the zip ties had broken her skin, applying some small band-aids.

When Tara was done cleaning her up, Gracie finally stood. She swayed slightly from side to side, and Tara caught her before she fell over.

"Oh my God, Gracie. What did he do to you?"

Gracie shook her head as she tried to steady herself. "I'm ok. He hit me on the back of the head when I came home from work, probably with his gun. I woke up on the floor and I think I hit the coffee table on my way down." She reached up and gently felt her swollen cheeks. "He backhanded me a couple of times, but that's it. I have a mild concussion and I'm dehydrated, but I'm alright. Just give me a minute."

Gracie took a few deep breaths and her dizziness slowly started to subside. She felt Tara's hand pulling her out of the room. "Come on Gracie Jane. He's not going anywhere."

They went to the living room where Grace gave Tara the gun so that she could go the bathroom and change her clothes. Just as she came back out about two minutes later dressed in jeans and a gray long sleeved t-shirt, there was a loud knocking on the front door.

Tara ran to the door and opened it for Jax. He looked at Tara wearing next to nothing and then at Gracie's bruised and battered face. "Shit."

Tara was pacing back and forth in front of Jax, quickly losing the calm that she was trying desperately to hold on to. "I tried to stop him, Jax. I tried to talk to him. Gracie saved me. She shot him. Jax, she shot him. She had to."

Jax pulled her in close and wrapped his arms around her, stroking her hair and whispering in her ear. He looked over at sweet, nice little Gracie whose face looked like it had been hit with a fucking truck. "Are you alright?"

Gracie just nodded. He went to her, keeping one arm around Tara's waist and putting his other around Gracie's shoulders. He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "You did good, Gracie."

He looked back and forth between the two women and he was suddenly furious and filled with rage. "Where is he?"

Tara spoke softly. "In the bedroom."

Jax looked down at Tara's half naked body one more time and cursed silently in his head before grabbing Kohn's gun out of her hand and walking to the bedroom.

When he got there, he saw Kohn trying to crawl across the room.

Kohn looked up at Jax and he looked terrified. "Oh shit." He looked up at Tara. "You stupid bitch."

Jax started for Kohn, but Tara pulled him back. "Jax, she shot him. I didn't know what to do. What do we do? What do I do? I don't…I'm…"

He pulled the nearly hysterical woman into another hug and looked over at Grace who stood a couple feet away looking eerily calm. He knew that both of them were in shock. They were just showing it in different ways.

He looked at Tara as he spoke. "It's ok. We call this in. Gracie won't get charged. They're going to patch him up. He'll do a few years for assault…but then he's gonna be out, free to do this again."

Tara looked at Gracie and then back to Jax and started shaking her head and crying. "No, Jax! No! I can't! I can't go through this again!"

Jax held the only woman he ever loved in his arms and kissed her forehead.

Suddenly Kohn's voice rang out through the room. "You stupid whore!"

Something in Jax snapped at the sound of his voice. He pushed Tara towards Grace and took long purposeful strides over to the bleeding asshole on the floor.

"I guess once a biker slut always a biker…"

He never got to finish his sentence. Jax raised the gun and fired a single round into Kohn's head.

Jax was only vaguely aware of Tara screaming behind him as he went to the side of the bed and sat down. Tara and Gracie walked into the room together, both looking shell shocked and staring at Kohn's lifeless body. Tara sat down beside Jax and finally lost it completely, sobbing hysterically into his kutte as he wrapped his arm around her tightly.

Jax looked up at Gracie. "Grace, listen. I'll take care of this. I promise, but there's a guy dying at the clubhouse right now, a friend of the club. He needs Tara's medical kit or he's not going to make it. There's shit going down that I can't talk about, Gracie, but it's fucking bad. If I don't get back there soon, people are going to come looking for me, and we can't let that happen. No one else can know about this. Gracie, I have to…"

"I'll go."

Jax looked at her, confused. "What?"

Grace looked down at him, her eyes clearer than they were a few moments ago. "I'll take the supplies to the clubhouse. You can't leave her like this. You can't leave her with…him. She needs you. Please, Jax. Stay with her. I'll go."

He hesitated for a few seconds before nodding his head. "Yeah, alright. Just…be careful, ok?" Gracie turned to leave the room but stopped when he called out her name once more. "Grace, you can't tell anyone about this."

She nodded and was almost out the door when Jax called out, "Not even Juice, Gracie."

She turned towards Jax and glared, her eyes hard and her voice steady. "I'll lie to everyone else, Jax, but I will not lie to him."

Jax sighed and reluctantly nodded. "Alright."

Gracie walked into the living room, grabbing the medical kit that Jax had left on the sofa. She got the keys to the Cutlass, slipped on her shoes, and headed outside. When she got in the car, she rested her hands on the steering wheel and took a few deep breaths. Her shaking hands fumbled with the keys for just a moment before she was able to start the car. Her mind was blank and her body numb as she drove out of her driveway on autopilot, towards the clubhouse, and into the night.

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