Ana spent most of the day after the shooting laying in bed. Juice and Happy had stopped by long enough to move the TV into the room and to drop off junk food. Juice also got her a set of watercolors and a painting pad, for when she got bored.
"No getting up unless you absolutely have to," he said, kissing her quickly. "And call us if you need us."
"We mean it," Happy said, stealing a bag of M&Ms and pocketing them. "Anyone other than the club or Tara comes in, you shoot first and ask questions later."
"I'll remember that," Ana said sardonically. She hated being laid up, but the fact of it was that her leg burned like hell, and it was best if she stayed off of it. She took some med s after they left and drifted off into a sleep that lasted most of the day. She was awakened by her phone ringing.
"What?" she grumbled as she answered.
"Morning to you, too. Why aren't you at my garage?" Gemma's voice asked.
"Um...I'm sick," Ana said, not knowing if she should tell Gemma about the drive by. "Yeah, woke up this morning feeling like shit, so Juice is getting Piney to help out today."
"Oh," Gemma said. "Sorry to hear that sweetheart."
"How are you?" Ana asked quickly, wincing as she sat up.
"I'm good," Gemma said. "I'm at my dad's now. He's not doing too well since my mom died, but it's a safe place for now."
"Just be careful," Ana said. "We don't need you getting locked up on top of everything else."
"Yeah, I heard about the drive by," Gemma said. "So tell me, are you really sick, or did you get hit?"
Shit, Ana thought. She should have known better than to lie to Gemma. Gemma always finds out what's going on, even if she's miles away.
"Yeah, I got hit," Ana said. "Leg. Bad graze."
"I figured, you little liar," Gemma said, laughing. "Everything else okay? With Abel?"
Gemma didn't know Abel was gone, and Jax was wanting to keep it that way. Still, Ana's heart broke when she realized that she was going to have to lie to Gemma about it.
"Yeah," Ana said, forcing a smile. "Yeah, he's good. Getting big. And everyone else is okay, too. Don't worry, Tara and I are making sure they stay straight."
"Good," Gemma said, her voice breaking a little bit. "Thank you, Ana. I'll let you get back to sleep. Love you."
"Love you, too," Ana said, wiping her eyes as she hung up. She stared at the TV without seeing it, thinking about everything that was going on. Ana knew the right thing to do was to leave Charming and all the people in it, but she was in too deep now. She loved these people, she loved the club, she loved the town, and she loved Juice. She didn't know when that happened, but it did, and it was too late to leave it behind. This was her family, her home, and even if she had to take another bullet, she wasn't backing down now.
Ana was asleep a few hours later when she heard a key turn in the front door lock. She grabbed her gun, just in case it was someone other than Juice coming through the door.
"Baby, is that you?" she called out, cautiously.
"Yeah," he said, walking in her room. "Shit, I didn't know you were sleeping. I tried calling but you didn't answer. I was just going to crash on the couch again or something."
Ana turned the light on and, wincing, sat up so she could study his face. Why was he wanting to crash here, and not at his place or the clubhouse. He leaned against the doorway, trying to keep his emotions in check. There was pain in his eyes as he looked at her, and her heart hurt seeing it.
"What's wrong?" she asked softly.
Juice walked over and sat on her bed, taking his hand in hers. He didn't answer at first, he just looked down and lightly caressed her leg with his free hand. He looked back up at her and sighed.
"It's this shit with Abel," he said finally. "I got some information that showed us he was alive as of three days ago, but now it's risky trying to go get him, with most of us out on bail until our trial. He's in Vancouver. It's just complicated, and now we don't know where he is."
Ana shook her head. She knew there was more bugging him than that.
"There's something else, isn't there?" she asked. "Come lay down with me, and we'll talk about it."
Juice looked over at the space next to Ana and lifted an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah," Ana said. "My couch is uncomfortable anyway, remember?"
Juice took off his shirt, shoes, and socks as Ana flipped the covers down so he could get in bed with her. She moved over as he got beside her. Juice lied on his back, pulled Ana to his chest, and sighed.
"Now this is something I could get used to," he murmured as he stroked her hair. He loved the normalcy of the whole thing, being in a house, holding his girl while they fell asleep. Yeah, this was definitely something he wanted.
"Don't change the subject," Ana said quietly. "What's really got you so upset?"
Juice sighed then propped on his elbow so he could look at her.
"Do you regret being with me?"
"Wow," Ana said. "That's out of left field."
"Ana, I'm serious," he said. It had been on his mind all day. What with Donna dying, the bomb, the guys going to jail, Abel being kidnapped, Gemma being raped, Half Sack being killed, and with her being shot, Juice was starting to worry that Ana would have had enough of Charming and would want to split. He was selfless enough to let her go if she wanted to, but probably selfish enough to follow her if she did. "So much shit has happened, and I've been worrying that one day, it might be too much for you. You don't have anyone holding you back here, like Tara-"
"I have you here," Ana interrupted him. "And I don't regret a single thing when it comes to me and you."
"You mean it?" he asked, stroking her side softly, taking in what she was wearing. A thin purple camisole and black silk sleep shorts was all she seemed to have on, and he winced at the white bandage covering her upper thigh.
"I promise, Juan Carlos," she replied, her eyes drifting shut. "Now let's go to sleep, okay?"
"Okay," he said, easing back on his back and letting her lie on his chest. He stayed awake long after she was asleep, because his mind wouldn't shut up. Juice had something else on his mind, too, something he wanted to ask her but he knew he wasn't ready for. She probably wasn't either.
The shit with Abel had him really thinking about a future. How he would feel if it was his kid who'd been kidnapped. Which had him thinking about whether or not he wanted kids. Ever since he'd met her, he'd been thinking about a lot of things that he didn't know if he wanted or not. A wife, a kid, a family. Not just the family he had with the MC, but the family he could come home to when the club shit got to be too much.
He wanted all of that, but only if it was going to be with her.
The next two weeks went by, and they still had no clue about Abel. Juice found out that Cameron was dead in Belfast, and Abel still was no where to be found. Jimmy O'Phelan was saying Abel wasn't there. Jax wasn't buying it, and neither was Juice, but there was nothing they could do to find out otherwise. So, even though there was a bail hearing coming up, it looked like they were headed to Canada. All Juice had to do was tell Ana. She was back at work, going over everything that she'd missed. With Gemma being gone, everything at the garage went to shit, since Piney didn't really like to file paperword. She was filing some repo reports when he knocked on the office door.
"Hey, beautiful," Juice said, coming in and kissing her on the cheek. "How's the leg?"
"Sore as shit," Ana said, sitting down before he could tell her to. He looked down at her shoes and shook his head, amused.
"It's definitely not because you're wearing heels," he said sarcastically.
"Heels make my ass look good," she said, signing off on a reposession in Lodi.
Juice closed his eyes and moaned. "Yeah, that they do, babes," he said dreamily as he wrapped his arms around her shoulder and nuzzled her neck. Ana sighed in contentment for a moment before remembering where they were.
"Stop," she said, looking in the garage where Jax and Clay were talking. "Why are you in here, anyway?"
Juice sighed and sat on the desk.
"I gotta go for a couple days. Going to Oregon, then heading up with Jax to Vancouver to try and find Abel," he said.
"Wait," Ana said in disbelief. "I thought you said Hayes was found dead in Belfast. Why are you headed to Canada?"
"Jimmy says Abel's not there," Juice said. he laughed at the look on Ana's face. He knew she wasn't buying that bullshit either. "Trust me, we don't believe him either but we have to make sure he's not there before we pry Jimmy for information again. He's a very dangerous dude."
"Ah," Ana said. " Well, then do what you have to do, Juan. I'll be fine."
"Really?" Juice said, surprised. "No bitching me out, begging me to stay?"
"I'm only clingy on pain meds, Juice," she said, turning her attention to the invoices that had piled up. "I'm not going to demand that I come first when you've already been told that the club does. I'm not your wife."
Not yet, Juice thought as he trailed a finger down her neck, and grazing the upper swell of her breast. Ana's eyes closed for a brief moment before knocking his hand away.
"If you're going to get handsy, do it when the blinds are closed," she said, then realized her mistake when he laughed and hopped off the desk. He closed the blinds and locked the door before he drew her close to him.
"One of these days," he said, running his hands down to her ass and pressing her body tightly to his, "you're going to realize that you shouldn't say things like that around me."
Ana rolled her eyes but smiled as he brought his lips to hers, and moaned as he kissed her heatedly, his hands firmly grasping her ass. Ana wrapped her arms around Juice's neck, stroking the spot where his mohawk ended. Juice groaned and sat on the couch, bringing Ana down with him where she was straddling his lap. He cursed her for wearing jeans today, because if she was wearing a skirt, this would have been so over from the moment the blinds were closed.
"God, I want you," she moaned as his lips trailed kisses down her chest. His hands were on her breasts now, squeezing slightly so Juice could kiss the swells that showed above her shirt.
"Now?" he asked, looking up at her with a devilish grin as he let one hand trail down her uninjured leg. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not?" she asked breathlessly as he placed another kiss on her collarbone.
"Because," he said between kisses. "They may not see us," another kiss on her lips this time, "but they will definitely hear us."
That sobered Ana up quickly, and she got off of Juice's lap, adjusting her shirt and fixing him with a pointed stare.
"You're that self confident, huh?" she asked.
Juice shook his head, still trying to get his dick under control. "Nah, it's a long story but this room isn't sound proofed at all. I didn't mean we'd be loud although," he said, giving her a sexy grin, "I'm pretty sure we would be."
Ana rolled her eyes again as he kissed her sweetly.
"I'll be back in a few days, okay? And Tara should be back later tonight," he said, adjusting her shirt where a mark he'd left couldn't be seen.
"Be careful, baby," she said. "I'm serious, I don't want you in the hospital again."
"I will," Juice said. "You be careful, too."
Ana was in the garage late that night when she saw Tara's Cutlass pull in. She sighed happily, hoping to spend the night at her place tonight. Her leg was killing her, and she shouldn't have been driving to begin with. She also really didn't want to be alone, and Juice's cologne was still on her pillows where he slept there the night before. She shut out the light and walked out to greet Tara.
However, it wasn't Tara who got out. It was Gemma.
"Oh, shit," Ana said, walking as fast as her injured leg would take her, trying to catch her before she went in the clubhouse. Ana was too late, and Gemma came out, frantic. She spotted Ana and headed her way.
"Where's Abel?" Gemma asked, panicked. Ana froze, and knew now the truth was going to have to come out, and she was going to be the one to have to tell her. Ana hoped Gemma wasn't carrying a gun, because she knew once Gemma found out, Gemma really would kill someone.
"Gemma, calm down, okay?" Ana said, trying to console her. "Let's go wait for Jax-"
"I want to see my grandson!" Gemma yelled tearfully as her phone rang. She answered it as motorcycles pulled into the lot. She saw Tara and Jax hop off of one, but before she could call them over, Gemma began to collapse.
"Gemma...GEMMA!" Ana yelled, catching her before she hit her head. Gemma was having a hard time breathing, and her eyes were filled with tears. "Come on, Gemma, breathe!"
"Mom!" Jax yelled, rushing over. Juice pulled Ana up and held her as Jax and Tara looked over her, trying to find out what was wrong.
"She just showed up, asking for Abel," Ana said to Juice. Tara called for an ambulance and Jax looked up at Ana. "Someone called her phone before I could say anything. I don't know who, but she collapsed."
Sirens wailed and Juice squeezed Ana's hand as an ambulance pulled in. She didn't know what was going to happen now that Gemma knew what was going on, but she knew one thing was for sure. Once Gemma pulled through this, there was going to be a storm brewing in Charming, and no one had their umbrellas.
Okay so this was short and sweet and I am so sorry. But get this, I'm going to be moving soon. I'm hoping to finish part one of this story before then. If not then know that I will update asap.
As always thanks to you beautful reviewers, both here and on Tumblr. You're all amazing and awesome and all good things.