AN: sooooo I'm back! I'm so so sorry for abandoning Cate's story. I am still without a laptop and my life has just been hectic! But I have returned and I have missed you all dearly. So jumping right into it.. I give you chapter 36! As always your thoughts and reviews are always welcomed and appreciated. PS. There seems to be some layout issues on the app, and I can't access the website for some reason - so apologies if it all seems crammed! I just want to get it uploaded for you all. Jade x

CHAPTER 36

"Cate?" Juice's voice broke her out of her thoughts, bringing her back into reality. She must have zoned out for the entire journey on the back of his bike, as they were now far from the scene of the crime and parked up at Teller Morrow. Cate looked around, the lot was empty of people and missing the infamous Harley's - it was then she remembered seeing them all outside of the supermarket when Wayne ushered her out of the scene.

"Cate, are you alright?" Juice asked and she looked towards him, stood beside her as she remained seated on the back of the bike. Slowly she nodded her head. Of course she wasn't fine but she was still registering everything that had just happened.

"I'm not sure.." she admitted quietly. She then began to lift her leg over the back of the bike to get off it and she felt Juice place his hands on her waist, supporting her. His touch was calming and she found it endearing how much he seemed to care about her wellbeing. "Thank you." She added once she was on her feet and she looked up to meet his gaze and gave him the smallest smile she could muster.

"You're welcome.. c'mon." He insisted and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, guiding her towards the entrance of the garage. It was eerily quiet with nobody around, a place like that wasn't supposed to be quiet; it was supposed to be loud and full of clanging and banging and music from stereos. "Would ya like a drink?" He asked.

"Water would be great.." she answered, suddenly aware of how dry her mouth felt and how rough her tongue felt against the roof of her mouth. She felt his arm disappear from her shoulders as he left her at the bar to go behind it. He ducked down behind it and appeared back into view with a bottle of water.

"Here ya go." She watched as he unscrewed the cap and then passed it to her. Cate reached out to retrieve the bottle, she grabbed it with a hand covered in dry blood and it was then, when she caught sight of the dry blood, that she came crashing back to Earth from her temporary state of numbness. She swallowed the hard lump in her throat before taking a few big mouthfuls of the refreshingly cold water, appreciating the feeling of it soothing her dry throat.

"I need to get this off me.." she said after placing the bottle down on the bar, looking directly at Juice, avoiding making anymore eye contact with the evidence of what had happened lathered across her pale flesh. "I need to get it off me right now.." her voice sounded weaker and it broke at the end. She could feel her heart gaining speed within her chest, thumping quicker and quicker with every second that passed. She was starting to fall into a panic attack, something she could usually control quiet well but today was different. "Please Juice.. I cant.." Juice rushed around from behind the bar to be by her side, where she felt his hands on her hips, tugging her gently away from the bar she'd been stood against.

"Shh, it's ok.. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere." His soothing voice sounded from behind her and Cate did her best to listen to every syllable as a distraction. "Let's go get you cleaned up, I have a room back here.." he continued to speak and Cate just walked, allowing him to guide her to their destination freely. They stopped at one of the doors scattered across the dimly lit corridor and he stepped in front to unlock the door and push it open. "Here we go.." he spoke, stepping inside and holding the door open for her. Cate stood there for a moment, gazing in at 'his room' before clearing her throat and entering the room. She took a few slow steps into the centre of the room and heard the door shut behind her. "So this is my room.. where I sleep.. I mean I do have a place but I spend most of my time here." He was rambling nervously, she could hear it in his voice. And despite all of her anxiety and stress about what had happened, she still managed to pull a small smile at the sound of his own anxiety. At that moment though, she couldn't take it all in just yet, her mind was too preoccupied thinking about the fact that she was covered in that young boy's blood.

"Juice I really need to shower, I can't think about anything else while this is on me.." she explained, turning to face him, her eyes stinging from tears that threatened to spill.

"Of course!" He enthused, rushing forward to the door at the back of the room which upon opening, revealed an en suite with a shower. She'd never been so happy to see a shower. Cate followed Juice inside, where he took to turning on the shower and she was already undressing before he'd even got a chance to leave. "I'll be right outside, ok?" His voice reverberated off the bathroom walls above the sound of the running water and Cate just nodded her head, wiggling out of her jeans. They felt damp on the knees but she tried not to think about it as she stripped. She knew Juice had left as she'd heard the door close behind her. Within seconds, Cate had stepped into the shower and closed the door behind her. The hot water was a blessing, hammering down on her skin, burning and melting away the evidence of what she had just experienced.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, stepping under the shower head completely, allowing the water to rain over her, cleansing her. However by closing her eyes she had welcomed visions of what had happened into her mind; the state the young boy had been in, the blood, the way his eyes rolled back when his heart had temporarily stopped. Cate opened her eyes with a quiet sob, she looked down and lifted her arms, the blood all but gone, apart from a few tougher patches which had dried more than the rest. She scrubbed at her arms until they were sore and flushed pink from the repetitive rubbing. Finally, it was all gone, rushing down the drain in a rosé whirlpool.

She stood under the shower for a minute longer, silently crying, content in knowing that nobody could see her or hear her thanks to the running water. She didn't want to cry, she didn't want to feel so weak and vulnerable. But it had all been such a shock and his name had been Michael. What were the odds of that? If there was a God, why was he so cruel? Hecate drew in a deep breath, regained a sense of control and twisted the knob of the shower to turn it off. She stepped out and reached for a towel, wrapping it around her body and securing it by tucking the corner of it under the section over her chest. She grabbed the smaller towel and began squeezing her wet dark hair within it with one hand, whilst opening the bathroom door with the other.

Hecate emerged from the bathroom to find Juice sat on the edge of his bed, fingers tapping against his knees, head down. But that soon changed when he heard her and she caught his stare as he quickly looked up and towards her. He looked so concerned and in one sense it made her feel bad and in another, it warmed her heart to see someone care for her so noticeably.

"Are you ok?" He asked, standing up from where he'd been sat at the end of the bed and turning to face her, standing across from her.

Cate smiled a little and gave a nod of her head, awkwardly rubbing the toes of her right foot into the rough carpet beneath them and squeezing her wet curls with the towel. "All better now.." she said in a quiet and somewhat lighthearted tone of voice. She watched as his lips turned into a small smile, that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Honestly, it was just a shock, Juice.." she spoke, slowly walking towards him. "One minute I was paying for my groceries, the next... madness.." she continued, pausing as she sat down on the bed just next to where he had previously been sat. "And that boy who got wheeled out.. he'd been shot.. twice.." she watched as Juice sat back down beside her before turning her gaze to stare ahead at where a mirror had conveniently been put on the wall. She could see herself, her face fresh and clean, her skin pale as always, but in her eyes there was sadness.. she glanced away and back down at her hands which were now placed on her lap. "He was in really bad shape.. lost him once.. but I managed to stop his bleeding until the paramedics got there.. his name was Michael.." she trailed off then, a pain twisting in her chest. She heard Juice sigh and then felt one hand squeeze at her left hand and another reach across her back to pull her into his side.

"Shit, Cate.. I'm so sorry you had to go through that.." his words were sincere and sad, Cate just gave a small shrug of her shoulders.

"I'd say wrong place at the wrong time.. but it's a good thing I was there, right? I mean.. that boy might stand a chance now.." she tried to find the positives in the shitty situation. He'd of died there and then if it hadn't been for her, so perhaps he stood a chance at survival. She didn't know what the future held for him but she hoped he'd survive thanks to her help.

"Oh he definitely has a fighting chance if you had anything to do with it.." Juice complimented and squeezed her shoulder. Cate instantly broke out in a smile and a small laugh escaped her mouth.

"Are you trying to be cute because I'm in a towel?" Cate joked quietly, turning her head to look up at his face, catching him with his infamous eye-reaching grin.

"No way!" He gasped, feigning shock and Cate smiled, shaking her head. And then his lips were on hers but it wasn't a forceful or heated kiss, it was a gentle one, his warm lips pressing perfectly against her own. It lasted seconds but it was all she needed. Cate pulled back and smiled, opening her eyes to meet his own brown ones.

"Thank you for being there for me.. my knight in shining leather.." Juice laughed, a hearty, genuine laugh and in turn, it made Cate laugh, which was something she really needed.

"That's a good one, babe.." Juice complimented her play on words but Cate was too busy calming down her belly which had erupted with butterflies when he called her 'babe'. Cate cleared her throat and looked down at herself.

"I don't have any clothes.." she stated, pouting slightly as she thought about the predicament she had found herself in.

"Nope.. it kinda looks that way.." Juice began, the mattress shifting as he stood up from being sat beside her. "It's cool though 'cause you're reallllly working that towel.." he continued and Cate rolled her eyes with a snort of a laugh. "You're just lucky that you've found a generous guy like myself who has clothes to spare and happens to be very charitable.." she watched as he moved over to a set of wooden drawers by the mirror and opened one of them to pull something out and then opened another to grave something else. "Not the latest trend but I believe beggars can't be choosers.." he turned to face her with a grin, holding out what appeared to be some jogging bottoms and a T-shirt. Cate smiled at the whole display, staring over at him wit a warmth filling her. She really really liked this guy.

"Well, thanks for being so understanding.." she played along and stood up, she took a few steps forward and reached for the clothes but he pulled them out of reach, a grin present on his face. "Juice.." she warned playfully, raising a brow in his direction. He gave in then and reached them back out to her which she grabbed swiftly. "Thank you." She said and quickly leant forward to place a quick kiss on his cheek before retreating back to the bathroom where she got changed. Not even a minute later she re-emerged in his clothes which swamped her but she couldn't really do anything about it. She heard Juice laugh and she rolled her eyes as she walked further into the room.

"You look cute." He commented and she rolled her eyes again and shook her head.

"Of course you'd say that.. I'm wearing your clothes." She teases and tucked her hands into the pockets of the baggy jogging bottoms.

It was then a ringing from a cell phone sounded from his direction and she watched as he reached into his pocket and retrieved the device. He answered and held it to his ear, she watched as he listened and briefly spoke to whoever was on the other side. A 'yes' here and a 'no' there. As he spoke, she sat back down on his bed only this time she sat at the top and brought her legs up with her, pulling her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. She took a moment to look around at his room. It was immaculately tidy, his collection of DVD's looked neat, his electronics were arranged in some way on his desk, nothing looked untidy or out of place. She imagined that was down to his OCD but it made her smile, it was Juice's room all over, she was sure she could pick it out from a line up of rooms.

"That was Jax.." Juice's voice caught her attention and she looked back towards him, watching as he tucked his phone back into the pocket of his leather vest and began to walk towards the side of the bed she was on. "They've called a meeting.. it's here but I'm not sure how long I'll be gone.." he explained, sitting down by her, reaching out to put a hand on her bent knee.

Cate nodded her head briefly and smiled at him. "It's fine, I understand." She assured him, putting a hand on top of his, her fingers slotting between his knuckles.

"You can stay here though.. I mean, if you want to? You can watch the TV or have a nap or somethin'.. if you want.." he sounded uncertain, as if she wouldn't want to stay in his room - which was silly. Cate shook her head before twisting and changing her position so she was on her knees beside him, she reached out to cup the side of his head with her left hand, gently brushing her thumb over his cheek.

"Juice.." she began seriously and paused, staring into his eyes. "A nap sounds perfect.." she watched as he suddenly grinned and leant into the touch of her hand. She laughed, and even as he pressed his lips to hers again, she smiled.

"Juice! C'mon fella!" An Irish voice sounded from behind the door and Cate pulled back from the kiss with a chuckle.

"Go on.. before they revoke my invite." She teased. Juice laughed and gave her one last quick kiss on the lips before leaving her side on the bed.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." He spoke, to which Cate gave a smile and a nod as she watched him leave, closing the door behind him.

Hecate sighed heavily and lowered herself down onto his bed, resting her head on one pillow and pulling another into her chest to hug against herself. Juice made her feel so at ease and so happy, despite the horrors that had occurred only a couple of hours before. Her emotions were all over the place, crazy things just kept happening but she wouldn't deny herself the feeling of happiness, not when it was so hard to come by. So Cate closed her eyes, feeling somewhat content with where she was, her safe little Juice fort, and in only minutes she slipped into a much needed sleep.