A/N I'm glad for the great feedback. Dear, sweet, heebie jeebies! This was a hard chapter to knock out. I had it written but then I had to re-do it to keep the characters firmly grounded in the realistic approach I've tried to keep in Dixie's Story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing SoA related.

Chapter 21

Even though it was four a.m. Tara came to the hospital and straight to Dixie's bed. When their eyes met Dixie's worries that she shouldn't have called were relieved. Tara's eyes were filled with compassion and when she looked at her Tara wasn't looking at a sweet-butt. She was looking at Dixie. Dixie the girl who had grown up in Charming. She immediately asked what happened and Dixie answered honestly knowing that despite the situation that she couldn't keep anything from Jax Teller's Old Lady. Especially after calling her at 4 a.m. But, she didn't tell her Josh's name.

Heaviness sank into Dixie's chest and her eyelids drooped as she spoke.

"That's the adrenaline going down." Tara explained. She took Dixie's hand and squeezed it. "You'll feel fatigued for the next day to week."

Dixie nodded and let Tara make the decisions for her. Her mind was numb, her lips felt frozen, and all she just wanted to do was to close her eyes and make it go away. Tara took special time to explain to her the damage done to her body. Bruises, a sprained wrist, a cut on her lip, and slight vaginal tearing. She knew that Tara pulled a string with a woman because she saw her talking to a red-headed business-looking woman. They both kept looking at her and the next thing she knew they were taking her to a room.

"We can keep you here for today so you can rest." Tara explained, her eyes filled with resignation and compassion. "Dixie, I respect your decision but Tig is going to want to know. I know you two have this…thing going on that you want to keep private and we've all stayed out of it. But, it's hard to keep this to yourself when you're with somebody. And you can't keep this to yourself. You have to tell people. I can talk to Jax. The Club can handle it so the bastard never-"

"It was Joshua Hale." Dixie said.

Tara's eyes widened a bit and she shook her head. "He's getting married to a nurse here in the hospital…" She thought out loud.

"I don't want anyone to know. I need my job, I can't bail out on it again." Dixie explained. "If the Club makes trouble then I might lose my job."

Dixie really wasn't sure if that was entirely true but her mind was screaming at her to keep it quiet. To cover it up. She thought that Tara understood because she left without asking Dixie anymore questions.

Sleep found Dixie and she curled up in a huddle, cradling her damaged wrist to her chest, and cried herself to sleep. Dixie hated tears, she hated messy emotional sobs, but it was biting at her trying to get out. It did not take long for the heavy tears to pull her to sleep. When she woke a few hours later at noon-time she was met with the sight of Gemma sitting next to her bed knitting.

Tara had called Gemma.

In hindsight that made perfect sense. A few years ago Gemma had been hurt even worse than Dixie had been by enemies of the Club. But, Dixie was disappointed that Tara had reached out when she asked her not to.

"Hey there," Gemma said with a maternal, sad look on her face. "How you doing, baby doll?"

"I feel like crap." Dixie croaked. Her voice felt vulnerable and her face flushed.

"You'll be alright, baby. You need anything?" Gemma asked.

"Water?"

Gemma called for a nurse who brought her water and helped her sit up to drink it. Both her and Tara were going beyond out of their way for her and Dixie felt grateful. But in the back of her head she wondered why they were doing it? Gemma's face was not harsh or calculating. She wasn't here to see what Dixie's agenda was or examine to see if Dixie was going to go off the deep end and cause trouble for the Club. It took Dixie a moment to understand that Gemma and Tara were just here to help her because the simple fact was that Dixie had been almost raped. That was why they were helping her.

Dixie was completely correct in her understanding but she was wrong to think that Gemma was going to keep this to herself.

"I called your friend Maggie." Gemma informed her after she drank some water and felt better. "And I left message at the clubhouse for Tig. Tara's telling Jax right now."

Dixie shook her head horrified, her chest felt like it was cracking open for everyone to see. If she looked down she would have been surprised not to see heart, lung, and bone exposed.

Gemma sat next to her and looked at her with determined eyes. "You want those bastards to to steal your future from you? All that hard work you've put into building your life?" Her eyes became fiercer and she leaned in closer to Dixie, her eyes meeting Dixie's straight on. "Tig's gotta know he has a right to protect you. You keep this to yourself you'll lose that hold you got on a future with him. The bastards that did this to you think you're nothing but a whore. You gotta prove them wrong baby. You gotta do what you have to make them pay for what they did to you." Gemma looked at her with determined, pointed eyes. "Do you understand what I'm sayin', Dixie?"

Dixie nodded slowly. Anger started to kindle within her and the numbness slowly became eaten away by it. Anger was what she needed and Gemma was right. Dixie had built a life, she had protected her reputation within SAMCRO, she was close to something with Tig, and she wasn't going to let fucking Joshua Hale screw it up.

"Yes, ma'am." She conceded to the older woman. But despite her anger and despite her resolve to fight for –as Gemma put it – 'her future' she wasn't sure how this would play out. "How…how this going to play out?"

Gemma looked thoughtful for a moment and then she leaned back and nodded at Dixie. "Hale is a poisonous name to the Club. Not sure how it'll play out. But, baby, shit always works out in the end."

Dixie was quiet for a few minutes but when Gemma moved to leave the room she stopped her. "Thank you," She said with sincerity. Their eyes met and Gemma shook her head with understanding.

"Anytime, sweetheart." Gemma slung her bag over her arm and looked at the clock. "I'll see to it that –"

Before she could finish the conversation Tig walked into the room with a nurse trailing behind him telling him to stay out. His eyes were wide and he scanned them across her body. Gemma quickly left, squeezing him on the shoulder before she did.

"Aww, baby." He moaned, shaking his head and looking at her. "Damnitt, babe…I'm so sorry."

Dixie was quiet for a moment as her head raged against her heart. Her mind screamed at her to run and hide from him but all she really wanted was for him to be there with her. She forced herself to cling onto the anger that had pushed the numbness away and focused on doing exactly what she had just resolved to do. Not let them steal her future.

She held out her hand for him and sat up. He cautiously came over, as if approaching a wounded animal, and sat on the side of the bed. Tig's eyes winced as he took in the cut on her face and the bruises on her battered arm.

"Did Tara explain what happened?" She asked quietly.

"Not yet. Jax just said that you had been almost raped."

She realized that Tara had tried to respect her privacy but letting her be the one to tell Tig. Slowly she explained what happened the night before. Tig asked questions while she explained and when she finished he looked irate.

"So you're dickhead boss took…what a permanent leak? While you were stuck in there with perv of the year?" He demanded.

"The music was on a loop. I think…I don't know but he wasn't in there. He didn't hear me when I called for help either." Dixie explained.

He sat back down next to her and carefully examined her face with his hands. Tig's blue eyes had looked horrified when he came in and now they just peered at her with anger and sadness.

"All them fuckers are gonna pay. I'm gonna take care of this." He determined, his voice gritted with passion.

Dixie looked up at him and remembered what Gemma had advised her on. Tig needed to know she would let him protect her. So instead of asking him to stay with her or give into the irrational terror that was trying to take her under into the numbness Dixie kissed him softly and let him leave to do his business.