Vanessa was in a deep sleep, completely exhausted from the party and the drama that came with it. Coming home to a very upset baby did not help to diffuse the situation and the stress that she had felt, but her escapades with Jax after Abel finally fell asleep helped slightly. Yet she was still completely drained. She heard the phone ringing but refused to open her eyes. Jax's arm left where it was hovering over her hip and she felt him jostling around on the bed, groaning as he tried to find his phone.
"Nes, it's you." Jax spoke, voice still hoarse with sleep. Vanessa groaned as she stretched out and reached over to the nightstand next to her, opening up the flip phone without even looking at the number.
"Hello?" She rasped out.
"Vanessa? I-it's Wayne, I need your help. Medical emergency. Jax can't know."
"O-okay." She rose up out of bed at hearing Unser's distressed voice over the phone, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with her empty hand.
"I need you to meet me at Gemma's house as soon as you can, sweetheart."
"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes." Vanessa hung up the phone and got out of bed, hoping that Jax had fallen back asleep so she would not worry him for leaving so early in the morning.
"Who was it?" Jax asked her, his eyes still closed.
"There's an emergency at St. Thomas. They need me to come in."
"Shit, babe. It's 4 am."
"I know, I'm sorry for waking you up." She whispered as she threw on a pair of jeans, a bra, and a black tank top. "Neeta will be here around 8 for Abel. You okay with him until then?"
"We're good, darlin'." Vanessa nodded her head and grabbed her purse, walking over to Jax and placing a gentle kiss on his lips.
"Love you." She whispered, kissing him once more.
"I love you, too."
The fifteen-minute drive over to Gemma's house seemed longer than usual, even with absolutely no other cars on the road, and Vanessa couldn't help but feel the uneasiness that overtook her. All she knew was that there was a medical emergency. She didn't know who, or why, or what happened. But as soon as she got to Gemma's she grabbed her large medical bag from the passenger seat and jumped out of the truck. She walked quickly to the door and saw the light on, Unser opened the door for her immediately.
"What happened?" She asked, worry clouding her expression. Unser didn't answer her, only walked her into the living room where she saw Gemma sitting on the leather couch in only a bathrobe. Her face was covered in bruises, while dried blood was crusting over certain scrapes on her face. Vanessa gasped at the sight of the usually strong woman looking so broken down.
She sat down next to Gemma on the couch, grabbing alcohol and cotton pads to begin cleaning up Gemma's face. She gently swiped away any dried blood and any open cuts on her face.
"Jax see you leave?" Gemma questioned her hesitantly.
"I told him it was St. Thomas." She continued cleaning Gemma's face before she spoke again. "You need to tell me what happened so I can help you."
"Use your imagination." Gemma sighed, avoiding any eye contact with her. Vanessa immediately knew what happened to her. She could see it in her face; despair. A face that Vanessa too has held, one that she was all too familiar with.
"Maybe we should let her rest awhile." Unser suggested.
"We have to get her to the hospital."
"No! No hospitals."
"I can't treat you in your living room, Gemma."
"Look, I'd have to check in. The insurance and shit. Everybody'll know."
"There are laws in place to protect that information." Vanessa tried to convince her. "No one will know."
"I said no hospitals." All three of them stayed silent for a few minutes as Vanessa tried to think of what they could do.
"W-what if you bring Abel in? Say you're doing more tests on him and then you can treat her there." Unser proposed.
"I'm just a nurse. I can't get her everything she needs. The antibiotics, the meds. All of that is shit that I can't get her without a doctor."
"I'll be fine." Gemma said, but Vanessa could tell that she was the furthest thing from fine right now. Gemma needed to be tested. She needed to make sure that she was put on antibiotics as soon as possible. Plus, there was the extensive bruising on her face that was very noticeable.
"They're gonna see your face, Gem." Vanessa sighed. "Okay, okay. I have an idea. A crazy idea, but maybe it could work. I don't know." She mumbled to herself. "A car accident."
"What are you talking about here, sweetheart?" Unser looked on at her, confused.
"Tara gets into work at 7. We can use a car accident as a cover, but I'll talk to her. Tell her what really happened so I can talk her into treating you privately, okay?" Vanessa took a deep breath. "All we need to do is fake a car accident. The accident will be a cover for the insurance."
"I can do that." Unser started. "I can take the Cadillac out and find a good place to crash it."
"If someone finds out what you're doing you can get fired for this." Gemma stared at Vanessa.
"And I will deal with that if it happens." Vanessa's lip trembled at the thought of Gemma going through what she had went through back in New York. Having to seek help while so vulnerable after an experience like this was frightening, especially when you don't have anyone else to rely on. So, Vanessa was dead set on doing whatever she could to help Gemma through this. "I want to help you, Gemma. I need to."
"Promise me... you won't tell anyone."
"We gotta tell Clay." Unser spoke up.
"Not Clay. Not Jax. No one."
"You said no secrets between me and Jax, remember?"
"This isn't your secret to tell, Vanessa. No one finds out. Promise me."
"Okay. I promise, Gem."
"Was this because of the club?" Vanessa asked quietly after Unser had left to go complete his part of the plan. Her hand was comfortingly placed on top of Gemma's trying to show her some form of solidarity and to ensure that Gemma didn't feel alone.
"I don't know, sweetheart." Gemma spoke, but Vanessa didn't believe her. She didn't question her though, instead just sat there with her quietly. "You have your piece on you? You know, in case it does have to do with the club."
"I do." Vanessa breathed in deeply. "Who would do something like this Gemma? Jax said that it's like some unspoken rule that rivals don't go after the women or the children. So, who would do this?"
"I'm not sure, baby. But you don't have to worry. Nothing is going to happen to you or my grandson." Vanessa couldn't help but think that people have been telling her not to worry a lot recently, but it didn't help. In fact, it just made her worry that much more.
Vanessa and Gemma were sitting in the car, waiting until they saw the familiar Cutlass pulling into the employee parking lot of St. Thomas. The silence between them was deafening, but it was almost as if neither of them knew what to say to the other. Instead, they just sat there quietly and waited.
"There she is." Vanessa mumbled, grabbing her bag with her scrubs and jumping out of the truck, Gemma following slowly behind her. "Tara!" Vanessa called out, causing Tara to look back at her.
"Vanessa? You okay?" Tara asked, seeing Vanessa walking quickly and restlessly towards her.
"I really need your help." She told the doctor, causing Tara to glimpse at Gemma who was walking slowly towards them. Tara noticed the bruises and cuts surrounding Gemma's face. She noticed how slow the matriarch was walking too. Tara couldn't ever remember a time where Gemma looked as weak as she did at the moment. In fact, this was about the only time Tara wasn't completely intimidated by the older woman.
"Jesus, what happened to her?" She asked Vanessa quietly.
"That's why I need your help. She was attacked last night. I need you to treat her… under the radar."
"What the hell are you talking about, Vanessa? I could lose my job for that. So can you." Tara hissed, avoiding eye contact with Gemma.
"She needs help, Tara."
"Then bring her into the ER." Tara began to walk away when Vanessa called out again.
"Please!" She moved quickly towards the doctor once more. "She was raped by multiple men. She doesn't want anyone else to know, but she needs help. Help that I can't provide for her without a doctor. I did what I could, but she needs antibiotics and tests. Please Tara, she needs you."
Tara stood quietly for a few seconds, looking back towards Gemma and seeing the broken look on the woman's face.
"Fuck. Fine." Tara sighed, sounded exasperated. "How do you expect this to work? We need a story for hospital and insurance purposes."
"I already got it covered. Car accident. It'll help sell the bruises on her face."
"Jesus, you're really starting to fit in pretty well with all of them aren't you?" Tara sneered, seeing the almost offended look on Vanessa's face. Tara sighed and instantly regretted what she had just said to her soon to be sister-in-law. "Sorry. I know you're just trying to help her. But you need to be careful with them, Nes. You're risking both of our jobs right now." She took a deep breath. "Come on. I'll get her set up in a room."
"Thank you, Tara." Vanessa took hold of her hand and gave her a tight hug. Tara pulled away and started walking into the hospital while Vanessa turned around nodding at Gemma, taking her hand and walking with her into the hospital.
Vanessa stood to the side in the examination room, changed into her scrubs even though she had the day off. She found herself holding Gemma's hand again as Tara examined the woman. She knew what it was like to go through this alone. Having someone violate you again after already being violated in the worst possible way. Regardless of the bad blood between them, the last thing Vanessa wanted was for Gemma to go through this.
"There's a number of small tears. It's nothing that won't heal on its own. We'll start you on antibiotics right away." Tara said, disposing of the gloves. Gemma looked up at Vanessa, not knowing why she would need antibiotics.
"It's procedure to treat for chlamydia and gonorrhea even before the test results are back." Vanessa told her, squeezing her hand the slightest bit before pulling back and peeling the butterfly stitches off of the prominent cut on her face. "You should have a plastic surgeon look at this."
"I've been hit before." Gemma spoke monotonously while Vanessa placed gauze over the cut, just as someone knocked on the door.
"It's Chief Unser." Tara said, worriedly. "Will he want to question you guys about the accident?"
"It's alright, he knows the truth. Let him in." Gemma spoke more sternly. "What is it?"
"Clay is here." Wayne announced with a shrug, refusing to make eye contact with her.
"You son of a bitch."
"I told him you were in an accident, that you ran your caddy into a concrete barrier out by the utility shed. Take my head off if you want, but he needed to know that you were here." He took a deep breath as Vanessa and Tara looked at each other. "He don't know about nothing else."
"I'll go out and talk to him." Vanessa announced.
"I-I don't want to see him yet." Gemma mumbled, her lip trembling.
"Actually, they're all here…" Unser started. "Jax and the guys. Neeta and the baby too, just in case the whole car accident plan didn't work. I wanted us to have a backup."
"Jesus Christ. Is there anyone you didn't tell?"
"I'll handle it. Can you stay with her?" Vanessa asked Tara, who was looking at her watch.
"I have a surgery scheduled in about 30 minutes, so I can't. I'm sorry." Tara walked out of the room without saying anything else.
"Doc doesn't seem to like me much." Gemma sneered, an annoyed look on her face. "Go deal with them. I'll be fine, baby."
Vanessa walked over to the nurse's station to sign a few papers regarding Gemma's care before going to find the guys, but before she could Jax strode over towards her, a concerned look on his face.
"Hey." He kissed her quickly before continuing. "How is she?"
"She's fine. Just a few bruises."
"Okay, good." He sighed in relief. "And you? You doing okay?"
"W-why wouldn't I be?" She asked defensively, not understanding why he would be asking her something like that if he didn't know the truth about the incident.
"The car accident. I just didn't know if something like this would trigger shit. You know, with Lily."
"Right." Vanessa took a deep breath. "I-I'm good. I'll be fine."
"Yeah?" He kissed her one more time. "We should go let everyone else know that she's fine."
They walked down the hallway together, Jax's arm wrapped around her. The second they turned the corner, Clay and the rest of the guys flanked them. Wondering about Gemma's condition, and she felt a twinge of guilt for having to lie to all of them. But she owed it to Gemma to keep her promise. Gemma was right, it wasn't her secret to tell.
"What's going on? Is she okay?" Clay was the first person to ask her.
"Yeah. When she hit the barrier, she took a pretty good shot to the face. There's some swelling. We have to run a few more tests, but she's going to be fine."
"But, uh, it's nothing serious?"
"No." Vanessa shook her head.
"Can I see her?"
"It's gonna be a little while."
"Okay, well, I appreciate you taking care of her."
"Of course." She smiled before walking away from everyone before looking back to see Clay and Jax talking privately.
"Feds raided Luann's studio. Asset seizure. Wiped her out." Unser called out to everyone, causing Vanessa to stand quietly in the back, wondering what this meant for the club now. Especially since everything had been quiet with the feds for a few weeks. But as the shit continued to pile on, she was starting to realize that things were about to get a whole lot louder.
AN: Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I had a lot of things going on and ended up getting a second job so I've had a lot less free time. But I'm starting to figure out a writing schedule. Thanks for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows! Don't forget to review and let me know what you think of these last 2 chapters!