Thank you everyone for all of the support and the reviews. I just wanted to let everyone know that the updates with this are going to be coming a bit slower than they have been. And the only reason is I'm slowly rewatching Season 3 and trying to make sure I don't fuck this up too badly. Things will happen differently and some things may not happen at all but I do want to try and keep the feel of the story and the show . . . so that in mind here are the next two chapters.
Gemma sighed, happy to hear Tara's voice over the phone. The girl was learning . . . She'd talked with Ripley about the leave issue-a smart move since the girl was better suited to handle that one- and had dug out one Jax's prepaids to call her. And though she could hear the weariness in the doctor's voice she was thrilled to hear something other than Tig making the little Guatemalan whore scream. She'd caught him in the hallway in the tiny pink robe and had tried to pick on him like normal. But no matter what she just kept thinking about Ripley at home alone and waiting on him . . .
She shook herself, getting back to the conversation.
"So Ripley's going on leave? I bet Clay's about to have kittens . . ."
"I think he knows it's best for her right now . . . She still has a lot to do about London's stuff, you know? The penthouse in LA was rented out but she'd got to at least got look at the one in Long Beach . . . Its been pretty hard on her. Well, that and Tig not being here . . . Its so odd to see her without him now . . ."
Gemma sighed again, glaring down the hallway at the other guest room.
"Tell me about it. I almost wish she was here to keep him in line. I've got no clue what's going on but I'm about to kill a certain Tigger for being bad."
"Let me guess . . . taking full advantage of the whole Run scenario?"
Gemma rolled her eyes, going to answer when she heard a gunshot. She jumped as Tara's voice filled the phone more than it had before.
"Jesus, Gemma. What was that? Are you okay?"
She cursed, hearing the groans and scream coming from the back of the house. This was so not what they needed . . .
"No clue. Let me call you back, Tara."
Gemma hung up, dropping the prepaid onto the counter before starting down the hall cautiously. When she reached the doorway she saw her father, holding the hunting rifle and shaking his head. He looked agitated and confused, raking a hand over his face as he looked into the guest bedroom and kept asking questions.
"Why would you do this Rose? Why?"
Gemma gently pushed him aside and felt her heart stop when she saw what had happened. Tig and the little bitch were both nude . . . and Tig had a bleeding bullet whole in his shoulder that the woman was trying to stop. She looked back at her Dad, letting her emotions get the better of her as she tried to think of how to deal with this. She was a federal fugitive and Tig was wanted in Oregon. Any hospital visit was a gamble . . . and there was no one else here to rescue him with a flatbed if bounty hunters were called in again . . . shit.
But her Dad's words broke her heart as a moment of clarity hit him, and he surveyed the scene before him and the gun still clutched in his hands. He looked up at her, so lost and terrified that he'd done this that it almost killed her.
"Oh Dear God what have I done? What did I do?"
He turned, going back down the hall and for the millionth time Gemma cursed Rose. The fucking woman was always at the root of everything! She turned back to Tig and Anna, trying to figure out what to do when the woman spoke.
"We need to get you to the hospital."
Tig and Gemma shook their heads in unison, both knowing just how bad of an idea that was . . . But she was starting to form a better one . . . .
Tara moved quickly, trying to pull everything together she might possibly need to treat Tig's wound. She had tourniquets, probe, two separate sizes of tweezers, sterilized stitches, needles, syringes . . . gauze, bandage tape, antibiotics and a higher dose of ibuprofen then what you could get over the counter . . . What else did she need? This sort of thing she could deal with . . . it was actually keeping her mind off of everything going on, being helpful to Gemma and the Club . . .
She sighed, putting her hands on her hips as she closed her eyes fighting off another wave of nausea. They were becoming more and more frequent . . . and coupled with the panic attack in the operating room and her moods she was a ticking time bomb . . . she just had to keep it together. She couldn't let this destroy her . . . she really wished she could just talk to Jax-tell him about all of this and see where he stood on it- but with the way he was acting it was pretty impossible . . . He'd probably freak at her again and tell her to get out of his life again . . .
She shook her head, forcing herself not to cry. She'd come to far, made too many changes for him and with him to let all of this crumble now . . . not to mention the fact that she loved him more than she loved breathing or operating. Now if she could only convince him of that . . .
The sound of the door slamming almost made her jump but she kept it together and started organizing her pack. Jax stepped into the kitchen a few seconds later, looking over all the stuff with disdain and aggravation. Oh great . . . he was in this mood again. She almost preferred him catatonic if he was going to be hateful . . . but she would do what Ripley said and keep it together. She would be here for him and try not to be too hurt by this . . . because to quote the pathologist reactions to trauma manifested different ways. Ten people in the same bad situation would react ten different ways every time . . . and we just had to try and help them work through that . . . .
"What's all of this?"
She glanced up, shrugging slightly as she explained, remembering the Lidocain spray she'd brought home for Abel's shots. She could numb the surface with that . . . try and keep Tig out of pain. She explained as she moved, grabbing the last thing and putting it on the table.
"Apparently Nate had an episode and shot Tig. Thought he was hurting the caregiver . . . who he thought was Rose . . . ."
Jax growled shaking his head.
"Jesus Christ . . . so what are you doing?"
"Gemma wants me up there to treat the wound. They can't go to a hospital and its pretty much the only way . . . ."
Jax's face fell and Tara prepared herself for the upcoming fight. She was not going to trash another room. Not now. She had to get on the road after this . . .
"Oh so she calls you to come stitch up the psychopath? What about his Old Lady? No, actually I don't want either you or Ripley anywhere near this. Mom's a Federal fugitive. You get caught with her and that's serious jail time . . . What about work?"
Tara gave him a deadpan look, shaking her head.
"I know the risk Jax . . . and I want to help your Mom. And Tig won't let Gemma call Ripley . . . he was fucking the caregiver when he got shot . . . and what happens on a Run stays on a Run. Calling her into its like a slap in the face or something but I think she deserves to know he's been hurt . . . And I'm taking a few personal days from work, trying to get this settled."
Jax growled, turning to leave and barking out his final order over his shoulders as he made his way to the front door.
"You're not going, Tara. You need to go back to work . . . go play doctor at the hospital not with my Mom and fucking Tig Trager."
She waited until the door slammed and his Dyna roared out of the driveway before making her way to the Cutlass, pulling the prepaid she'd claimed as her own from her jacket pocket. As she stowed the bag into the back seat, she dialed a number she'd been debating on calling all night. A few rings later, she sighed in relief as the very voice she needed to hear flooded the phone . . .
"Hello?"
"Ripley? Its Tara . . . Look I'm heading up to Gemma . . . Tig's been shot. Do you want to go with me?"
Ripley drove down the long deserted highway, following Tara's Cutlass in the Camaro as she scrolled through her phone book. She'd already spent most of the trip on the phone with Unser . . . and the Chief was not happy that she was actually going to take a leave. Though she was pretty sure the 'indefinite' that she'd tacked to the end wasn't really helping him. But he'd taken the information down and said he would make the necessary calls. And sign her name to the condolences cards for the Hale family. She sighed, continuing to try and find the false name she'd assigned to the number she was searching. Now if she could only remember what name she'd actually decided to use for said number . . .
She'd programmed the number on a whim and right now she was happy she had. She needed to tell to someone about some of this shit . . . and it was pretty obvious that she wasn't going to be able to trust Tig the way she'd hoped. She selected the contact, hitting send before she really thought about it . . . and felt relief flood her as the voice she'd been looking for flooded the earpiece. At least she wouldn't have to explain to Opie or Chibs why she wasn't at home in a few hours . . . or deal with Happy.
"Yeah?"
"Kozik? Its Ripley . . . I needed to let someone know I'm on my way to Gemma. Tig got himself shot in a weird way and Tara and I are going to deal with it."
She heard him curse and move before the sounds of the Club faded and were barely muffled in the background. He'd gone outside? The other three would've been yelling for the noise to die and trying to pry information out of her while someone else took notes. But Kozik was going to let her handle this? The man just earned major brownie points in her book and didn't even know it yet.
"Okay now I can hear . . . What happened? He piss someone else off?"
She snorted, following Tara off an exit ramp and towards a very suspect but busy gas station . . . one where no one was sure to remember them if they were questioned and probably without cameras from depilated state of the pumps and the store itself. Just like she'd said they should if they had to stop. The good doctor was learning. She'd be a perfect little Old Lady in no time . . . .
"Try fucked someone else and got caught. Apparently Nate thought he was hurting his wife . . . . Dementia you know? Anyway he took a bullet to the shoulder and Tara's going to fix it. I'm going along to help keep everything in order until they get Nate into care tomorrow afternoon . . ."
He chuckled and she thought she heard the flick of a lighter. She groaned. She would love a blunt right about now . . . or hell even a fucking cigarette. That settled it. As soon as she got off the phone she was marching right into that station and purchasing two packs . . . . And killing her seven year record of not smoking. To hell with it.
"Uh huh. Sure. And to kick his ass right? Despite the hair I'm not dumb sweetheart . . ."
She laughed, shaking her head as she parked beside Tara, waving slightly.
"So you're aware that your hair is stupid? You're admitting that?"
"Yeah but the ladies love it . . . Look. You want me to give you girls a head start or to let Clay and the others know now?"
"Give us another two hours and we'll be there, way before dark if we're lucky and don't hit traffic . . . but I waited to call for a reason."
"Let me guess you figured I would be like your other babysitters and rat you out over every little fucking thing, right?"
"Yeah well gossiping seems to be the Sons new pastime . . . . Too bad they don't always have all of the facts when the go and run their mouths. Which reminds me . . . . You tell Chibs and Happy I am extremely pissed at them. If they wanted to tell Tig about the shoot-out fine. But telling him that I was too upset about Hale dying was just fucking stupid. And don't even get me started on Happy narcing about my ex sending flowers and calling to check on me at Luanne's service . . ."
Kozik groaned over the phone, letting out a laugh.
"Oh God they didn't? Tigger's about to flip his shit if they did . . ."
She nodded, resting her head against the wheel. The leather was cool against her skin even with how long she'd been driving. Why did Gemma have to hide so damn far away? She was usually who she had these kinds of conversations with . . . and now she was having to make do with Kozik of all people. Why was this shit happening? Oh yeah . . . the cunt bag Stahl. That's right.
"You're preaching to the Choir, Brother. But how do you know? I thought you two hated one another . . . "
He got really quiet, so much so she barely caught his next words. She was sure she wasn't supposed to hear them so she wouldn't comment but her Old Man was going to answer some questions . . . Actually a lot of questions.
"Not always . . ."
He cleared his throat, continuing.
"Look . . . it makes you feel any better I think they jumped your shit for nothing. I mean you two are docs right? Docs help people . . . and I know I would want someone to try and help me if I were fucked the way Hale was. Tigger is just pissed he wasn't there . . . he'll get over it. And if he don't then fuck him. Plenty of women have covered their Crows because not all Sons are good Old Men. Don't fret your pretty little head about it none, kay Doc?"
She smiled, nodding.
"Yeah Kozik. I got it. You know you better be careful . . . being so nice. People might get the wrong idea that you're decent and don't do everything in your power to try and drive my Old Man even crazier . . ."
"Why do you think I came outside, Doc? Shoot me text when you get in . . . and I'll tell the others then. Show 'em the text-pull Clay aside and fill him in- and save all of our asses . . . Just be careful. You and the little Princess are the next generation of SAMCRO royalty or something . . . going to birth the next wave of badass bikers . . . oh God Tig with more kids. The twins are bad enough . . . the little devils. Okay I'm going to go and drink that thought away . . . Later Doc."
"Later Kozik . . . and Koz? Thanks . . . for listening and not ratting us out . . . ."
"No thing. Its what family does, right?"
Ripley pulled her head up from the steering wheel, looking to the now inactive phone in her hand. She'd almost forgotten-in the turmoil of every thing around her since she'd moved back to Charming-why she'd moved in the first place . . . . and it hadn't been for a job or a romantic interlude. She'd had a great job-good pay and better benefits with more opportunity for advancement over time; a great relationship-with someone who, while hard to figure and nowhere near as talkative as her current lover- that had been pretty stable . . . and while she hadn't had with him what she had with Tig, she had never had to go patch him up because he'd been shot for fucking someone else in someone else's house . . .
She sighed, tossing the phone in her jeans pocket before getting out of her car. She'd come back to Charming for family . . . . and even though right now it was in shambles . . . and they were trying to fix it. It was still a family. And no matter how odd it was to see the changes within and outside of it, she was sure they would survive. It was still odd to think that it was fucking Kozik that had said something to spawn this little epiphany . . .
She shook her head, smirking as she spotted Tara carrying an arm load of what appeared to be junk food. With absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever . . . The little doc was so damn cute, grabbing different thins as she made her way closer to the counter. And so going in the right direction . . . and she was almost desperate for some chocolate . . .