As far as her brain was concerned, Tara was awake. However, the image ,or lack of one, before her eyes told a different story. The sound of a beeping monitor told her she was inside a hospital as a patient, but she couldn't figure out where or why. Softly, she reached up to try to feel her face and found bandages covering it.
Before she could take the time to investigate further, Margaret Murphy's voice came from somewhere nearby "the bandages are there for a reason."
"What happened to me?"
Margaret was silent for a minute as if trying to debate which bits of knowledge about what had happened were important for Tara to know right then. "You were found on your couch."
This comment confused Tara, "Did I have an aneurysm? That would explain my memory loss. Was it a blood vessel leading to my eyes?"
"No," Margaret sounded like she wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Tara what had really happened. After a pause she added, deciding that Tara would appreciate honesty best "you were attacked. You lost a lot of blood and you've got some injuries that could still be life threatening. You really don't remember anything?"
For a second Tara found herself straining her memory for any recollection of the attack. After a minute, one detail came to mind "I think I remember Chibs singing to me."
xxx
The previous night had been sleepless, spent with five people crowded into one bedroom. There were five instead of three because the club had somehow decided that without Tara and with Jax being a loose canon that Abel and Thomas were best staying with those who had found them. At least the little boys thought it was one big sleepover and had only asked about what had happened once. Still, nobody else had slept. Chibs had been too wired to even stay in bed most of the night and had found himself pacing the room. Of course this disturbed his wife and his daughter, who was lying on the floor, but both of them were also tense and wide awake.
What seemed like an eternity later, the morning sun peeked through the windows. Looking in the mirror Chibs saw a weary almost zombie like looking man. If he'd been by himself this might have been a moment when he'd ignored what was a Catholic sin and ended it all or even use narcotics to trick his body into a needed slumber.
Instead, he got dressed and let Fiona make him a strong cup of Darjeeling.
It was around ten when a knock came at the door. Chibs pulled out his gun before instructing Fiona and Kerrianne to stay in the kitchen. Outside the door stood Deputy Cane with a woman in a sheriff's uniform.
"Jesus Christ, haven't you bothered us enough?" Chibs growled running a tired hand through his hair.
In response to his lack of an introduction the woman decided not to provide one of her own and instead responded "you seem to be a popular guy. First the sheriff dies right where we're standing and then your number is the last one a murdered man called before his death."
Absently, Chibs realized she must mean Juice and that made something inside his gut clench up. "I have nothing to say about that. Especially not to some pig that won't even give me their name."
The woman extended her hand "Althea Jarry. I'm the new sheriff in town and you'd do good to lower your gun and invite us inside."
Tiredly, Chibs lowered his gun, still with no plan to allow the new sheriff inside.
However, before he could react the woman peered over his shoulder. "Isn't that one of the sons of a murder victim? I think we need to have a talk at the station."
xxx
Jarry had lied about Tara Knowles being a murder victim. The last she had heard, Jax Teller's current old lady seemed to be actually improving, but there was no way to know what the man in front of her's involvement was in the crime. She knew that the man who had earned the name Chibs had a violent past before SAMCRO. The man had cultivated a relationship with the IRA at a young age, even going as far as marrying an IRA tied woman who had an equally unsavory record. As far as Jarry was concerned, both him and his wife, who was also bought to the station, were not just bad seeds but natural born killers. It was no stretch to believe that after breaking up from the club he'd decided to enact his vengeance on Tara Knowles-Teller and would decide to finish off the job if he knew she'd lived.
Hoping to make an example to show the club what happened, Jarry made sure to have both Filip Telford and his wife handcuffed and loaded into separate police cars. Much to her surprise, the biker's daughter insisted on sliding into the police car next to her mother and without someone present to watch them, Tara's young sons were forced along for the ride as well.
Once had the station, Jarry had called Margaret Murphy, a friend of Tara's and had her take them.
xxx
The new sheriff seemed all too eager to flaunt her prowess over SAMCRO and this was the last thing the club needed. It didn't help Chibs' mental state at all that she'd revealed that Tara was apparently deceased before pulling him away from his wife and daughter and handcuffing him in the back of a police cruiser. Now, in the interrogation room he found himself almost in a broken state of not quite being all there.
"Tara Knowles must have done something to really piss you off. You brutalized her so badly, that if she'd survived she would have been completely blind. Of course, I'm sure you didn't care. Just another old lady after all."
Chibs had fully intended to keep quiet and return the sheriff's baiting with some kind of anti-response, but something about the casualness in which the woman referred to what had happened to Tara in her final hours made him angry. Instead of remaining stoic he found himself lunging towards the sheriff who was trying to get into his face as an intimidation tactic. The woman managed to move back in time to prevent him from slamming into her face, but he found himself almost growling at her. "Don't you ever disrespect her like that again!"
Yes, Tara is permanently blind (as long as a few other future complications) but alive. I didn't think it would be plausible for her to survive such an attack and be completely the same in the future, but she's gonna live.
