Disclaimer: I do not have the rights to SOA and make no profit from my writing. Anything you don't recognize from the show I have created.
Content Warning: This fanfiction is rated M. Please respect that warning and do not read this if you do not want to read M rated material.
I no longer have a beta, so all mistakes are my own.
2042
Age 50
Matthew was sitting at a table in the clubhouse eating a plate full of scrambled eggs someone or other had cooked. He looked around the room at the passed-out patches. Bull, Tony, and Lance were all in precarious positions throughout the bar. He shook his head. Why anyone would want to drink themselves into unconsciousness was beyond him. He gave a nod to the table of old timers, drinking their coffee and probably discussing the stock market.
He spotted Shark strutting into the clubhouse and waved him over. Shark made a sideline for coffee at the bar before he joined the younger man.
"How was your night?" Shark asked Matthew.
"Beat the balls off Lance at pool. Won $100 off him."
"You're not that good." Shark teased.
"No, but he was that drunk." Matthew shrugged. "What about you? You didn't stick around very long."
"No, wasn't in the mood." Shark said simply.
"Have you hung out with mom at all since he came home?"
"Yeah, I bring her lunch sometimes." Shark shrugged.
"You know you can come over to the house. She'd be happy to have you."
"I know." Shark nodded his head. "I just don't want to complicate anything."
As the two sat in silence the door opened and Casper stormed in. He took a look around and walked directly behind the bar. He walked up to the black leather clad blond from last night and whispered in her ear, running a hand down her back. She smiled and he guided her out from behind the bar, toward the dorms.
"You have to be shitting me." Matthew dropped his fork.
"Matthew." Shark warned.
"Fuck that." Matthew shoved away from the table and stood up.
"Matthew, leave it." Shark warned again.
"No." Matthew spat and walked out the clubhouse doors.
Matthew sped the whole 5 minute ride to his mothers house. He knew she was awake by now. For his father to have walked out on her to go fuck some anonymous girl at the clubhouse…no. He would not just leave that. His mother needed to know what that man was doing.
Matthew parked and hurried in through the front door. He checked the main level for his mother and came up empty. He called for her as he ran up the stairs. When he got to her bedroom door, he froze.
"Mom?" He walked into the room slowly looking at the prone body of his mother.
"Mom?" She was laying on the floor with blood dripping from her forehead.
"Mom?" Matthew fell to his knees and shook his mother gently.
"Mom? Jesus, what the hell did he do, Mom!" He felt for a pulse and found one, he pulled out his phone to call 911. He stopped when he heard her moan.
"Mom, careful, don't move." Matthew gently pushed her back down as she tried to rise. It was then he saw the bruises on her neck.
"Jesus Christ."
"Matthew." Gabby held a hand to her bleeding head and tried to sit up again.
"He hurt you." Matthew whispered, in shock.
"Matthew, it's not what you think." She laid her bloody hand on his arm and he pulled away.
"No. He doesn't get to do this to you." Matthew stood back up and stormed towards the door.
"MATTHEW!" Gabby yelled once more as she heard the front door slam shut.
Matthew threw the clubhouse door open and stormed inside. He walked past the bar toward the dorms. Before he reached them, Casper walked back out, redoing his belt.
"You fucking son of a bitch!" Matthew threw the first punch and Casper went flying against the wall. He hit him again, in the face, again in the stomach. It was only moments before Casper recovered and started to fight back.
"You son of a bitch! She loved you! She waited for you! You put her through hell! What the hell gives you the fucking right!" Matthew continued to yell as he threw punches. Getting hit himself didn't slow him down.
The passed-out patches quickly woke up. Shark was already trying to get in between the fighting men. Lance jumped in to try to pull Matthew back and Tony stepped up a moment later to help him.
Bull tried to grab Casper by the arms, getting only his cut, he pulled hard, placing a hand on his shoulder.
The older men were screaming for the fight to stop. The left over women were running out the door.
Shark took a fist to the jaw from Casper and stepped out of the middle. He looked around the room and spotted the door opening. Gabby rushed in, unsteady on her feet.
"Oh god! STOP! MATTHEW STOP!" Gabby screamed.
Shark stormed over to her and grabbed her gently by the chin. "Jesus Christ. Gabby. Gabby. Oh my God." He touched her bloody head gently and let her go.
"TIG!" Shark yelled and turned around to the chaos, he kept a hand on Gabby's shoulder so she wouldn't fall over. "TIG!" He yelled again.
Tig rushed over and grabbed Gabby's arm. "Oh God, doll." He said immediately. "Come here, you need to sit, come here." He sat her down at the closest table and grabbed his bandana out of his pocket, pushing it against her bleeding head.
Shark saw red. He saw blood red. He went back into the fight. He shoved Matthew back 3 full steps as he got in the middle and started to pound on Casper's face. Tony and Lance continued to hold on to Matthew, who was fighting to get free. Bull moved from trying to pull Casper away to trying to get between Casper and Shark.
"You sick son of a bitch!" Shark swore as he beat his fist into Casper's face over and over again.
Casper was swaying on his feet, trying to defend himself, no longer able to go on the offensive at this point. Frankie and Hammer finally each got an arm of Shark and pulled him off Casper.
"EVERYBODY STOP!" Vin yelled to the room. "QUIET!" He repeated as the men continued to swear at each other. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"
"Pres!" Tig shouted from the table by the door. Vin turned around and Tig removed his bandana, showing Gabby's bashed in head.
"Jesus bloody Christ." Vin breathed out. "Take him in the dorm. Tie him down if you have to!" Vin yelled, pointing at Casper.
Matthew shook Tony and Lance off of him and ran back to his mom. "Mom, god mom, oh god." He gently smoothed her hair down with one hand as he clutched at her hand with the other.
Lance set down the first aide kit at the table and pushed Matthew back. "Give her some room." He whispered.
Shark started to walk over once he was free and Vin put a hand on his chest. "You and the kid get cleaned up." He said sternly, looking at the cuts and bruises on Sharks face.
Shark looked at Gabby one more time before nodding at his president. He grabbed Matthew by the back of his cut and pulled him away.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Vin yelled at Casper as he sat on a bed with a cold cloth over his face.
Casper stayed silent and dabbed at the open wounds on his face.
"Hey! Casper! You answer me you son of a bitch. Tell me, please god tell me you didn't do that to Gabby!" He pointed out towards the clubhouse bar.
"It's our personal business." Casper mumbled.
"NO." Vin said loudly. "You know what this club does to men who hurt woman. The whole reason you were locked up was because you went after a man that hurt another woman. How could you do this? Make me understand, please, Jesus, Casper."
"It's not the way it looks." Casper mumbled.
"Tell me what happened." Vin said more calmly.
"We were arguing, I grabbed her. I let her go, and she fell."
"You grabbed her around her neck, you left bruises on her!" Frankie spoke up.
"I didn't mean to. I just let go of her and she fell." He repeated.
"Matthew said he found her unconscious on the floor. Did you just walk away from her? Leave her there?" Frankie asked.
Casper looked down at his hands. He had no words for what he had done. "I made a mistake; I got my ass beat. Let's just drop it." He stood up and walked into the bathroom, eyeing his damaged face in the mirror.
"That's not gonna cut it. You need to go home. Grab some things, and get out of here."
"You voting me out? All on your own?" Casper whipped around to face Vin.
"No son, I'm telling you to put some space between you and Gabby. Between you and your son. Between you and Shark. Take a ride, take a trip, bunker down at another charter. Get your head on straight. Figure out what the hell it is you want now that you're free.
"I'm telling you I don't want to see your face until your bruises heal. And until Gabby's head is healed. You understand me?" Vin asked.
"Yes sir. Loud and clear." Casper threw the bloody rag in the sink and stormed out of the dorm. He bypassed the bar door and went out the back, going around the building to his bike.
Gabby had been moved from the old wooden chair to the couch in the corner. Matthew was holding an icepack wrapped in a soft towel to his mother's head. They had finally got the bleeding to stop.
Tig sat next to her, smoothing his hand down her hair. He tried to ignore the dried blood in it.
Shark was pacing the room. He had taken the time to patch Matthew up, as he had started the fight and taken some hits before Casper gave up. He had washed the blood off his own face and knuckles. He was livid. This was his worst fear realized.
He remembered the way Gabby had looked in the hospital bed after she was attacked. This was worse. Her husband had done this.
Vin walked out of the dorm after Casper had left and moved a chair in front of Gabby to sit down at eye level with her.
"How's the head, sugar?" He asked gently.
"Throbs." She said simply.
"You up for talking?" He asked, again, gently.
Gabby lowered her head. She took over holding the ice pack and motioned Matthew's hand away.
"It's not what it looked like." She turned to Matthew to speak.
"Mom, Jesus, mom, I thought you were dead laying there." Matthew couldn't hide the hint of tears in his eyes.
Gabby thought back to finding her own mother dead on the kitchen floor and closed her own eyes to will the tears away. She had sworn to herself her kids would never go through what she went through.
"We were arguing. I set him off. He grabbed me, and he was yelling. And he let go…and I woke up with Matthew over me." Gabby turned back to Vin to speak.
"I'm so sorry, Gabby. What Casper did was deplorable. I sent him away. Told him to go put his head on straight. Not to come back for a good long while." Vin squeezed her free hand.
"I set him off." Gabby whispered.
"No. I don't want to hear that. It doesn't matter what you were fighting over. He had no right to put his hands on you." Tig quickly told her.
"I snapped. We both snapped. There was so much tension. He just, outright said it was all my fault. And I had enough. I couldn't take it anymore. I told him it was his fault, his choice, his decision. He lost it. He just kept saying, over and over again, that it wasn't his fault. Like he was in a trance."
"He needs someone to blame. And he doesn't want to blame himself." Vin told her.
"I just…I just wanted…"
"I know mom." Matthew kissed the top of her head.
"I'm so sorry all this happened. I never meant for all this to happen." Gabby said, now fully crying.
"This wasn't your fault." Shark walked over to the group around the couch. "Nothing about this was your fault."
"Mom, I saw you on the floor, and I saw red. I've never been so angry or scared in my life. I should have stayed with you. I should have called an ambulance. I couldn't stop myself. That's not on you."
Gabby nodded her head slowly.
"I think we should take you to the hospital now." Shark added.
"No, I'm okay."
"You can't see how much blood is dried on your face."
"I can't. I can't go in, not with these bruises on my neck." Gabby ran her free hand over her collar bone.
Matthew sighed and gave his mom a half hug. "I'll call Suzie. See what she recommends."
"Thanks for doing this Suze, I know Tom Tom promised you wouldn't be taking care of us if you became a nurse. It's just…this is my mom."
"Oh, Matthew." Suzie put a hand on his bruised face. "I can't believe this happened. I'm happy to help, whatever I can do."
They walked through the lot to the clubhouse and Matthew led her through the door, hand on the small of her back. When he turned her towards the couch where Gabby still sat, she gasped.
"The head bleeds a lot. It's not always as serious as it looks." She said out loud to both herself and Matthew as they walked across the room.
"Suzie." Gabby said simply when the young girl sat down in Vin's vacated seat.
"Hay Gabby. Bad day?" She asked with a smile.
"Yeah." Gabby said with a snort. "Can you just tell these guys I don't have a concussion so I can go home? I need a shower."
She lowered the ice pack, her second now, and showed Suzie the large gash on her forehead. Suzie bit her lip to hold in her gasp.
"Do you feel nauseated?" She asked.
"No." Gabby assured her.
Suzie nodded and shown a flashlight into her pupils. "Follow my finger." She said as she held it up and went side to side. "Okay, good."
Suzie turned around to Matthew. "Can you get me the first aid kit?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure." Matthew jogged to retrieve it and brought it back, laying it open on the table next to Suzie.
"No offense to whoever closed this gash, but I'm gonna take these off and clean it, and re do it." Suzie spoke as she peeled off the butterfly bandages over the gash.
Shark walked back into the clubhouse and walked directly over to the crowded corner. "Casper packed up some clothes and left. He's gone. I ah…I tried to clean up most of the blood." He said sheepishly. He didn't mention that he'd had to run in the bathroom and heave after he saw the puddle on the floor.
"Okay. Did he…did he leave a note, say where he was going?" Gabby asked.
"No, sorry." He sat down in Matthews abandoned seat and Suzie gave him a once over.
"After I finish it, I'm looking at Matthew, then you." She told Shark.
"I'm good sweetie. Had far worse in my life."
"Did you clean out your knuckles? Do any of them hurt to bend."
Shark scoffed. "I know how to throw a punch." He assured her.
Suzie shook her head and went back to the task at hand.
"Okay. I officially say you do not have a major concussion. My tests don't exclude a minor one however, so no naps till bed time, deal?"
"Deal. Thanks Suze."
"No problem. I ah, I called my mom when Matthew told me. She's gonna come over after her shift."
Gabby nodded, and laid her head on Tig's shoulder.
"She said no naps." He teased her.
"So, keep me awake." She teased back.
Suzie got up and grabbed the first aid kit. She ushered Matthew into the closest dorm.
He sat down on the bed and Suzie sat next to him. Flashes of being a teenager with a major crush came back into his mind.
"You know…If you wanted to get me into bed…." He teased.
"Matthew, don't try to distract me. I'm mad. I'm….god I don't know what I am. What he did to her, that's terrible. It's, god Matthew, what you must have thought when you found her."
Matthew quickly wrapped his arms around Suzie as she started to well up with tears.
"It's okay, she's okay. You said so yourself." He rubbed her back and kissed her hair.
"She's like my second mom." Suzie mumbled into his chest.
"I know. I didn't get even half my anger out. It's just vibrating inside me. I just keep pushing it down for her." Matthew whispered in her ear.
Suzie pulled away slightly and rubbed the tears out of her eyes. "He really did a number on you." She stated, gently placing a palm on his cheek.
"You only think that because you didn't see him." Matthew tried to joke.
Suzie got up and went to the bathroom for a damp rag. She came back and started to dab at his open cuts. "What would possess him…I mean, I remember, maybe I don't, maybe I've just heard so many stories I think I remember, but he was always so good, so gentle, so loving."
"I don't know. She said he went into some sort of trance. Blaming her, saying it wasn't his fault."
Suzie shook her head. "It wasn't anybody's fault. It was a freak accident. Casper chose to beat someone up. He didn't kill him. He didn't mean to kill him."
"Yeah, that's what I've been told my whole life. But now, a month after he's out, and he's pounding my mom's face in. It makes it seem like everyone was glossing over the bad parts. Like they do at a funeral."
Suzie started to place butterfly bandages above his eye. "Do you think this was the first time? Would she hide it if he'd done it before, not as bad?"
"God, I never thought of that. Jesus." Matthew wiped a hand down his face disturbing Suzie's work. "Jesus!" He stood up and started pacing the room. "I knew it. I knew it the very first night that something was wrong. I KNEW it."
"Matthew, shhh." Suzie came up and placed a finger over his lips. "She'll hear you. She doesn't need to hear you right now."
Matthew bowed his head and rested his forehead against Suzie's. He held her upper arms gently and closed his eyes. "She's my mom, Suze. She's my life." He started to tear up and Suzie quickly wrapped him up in her arms.
"I know Matthew, I know what she means to you. She's okay. He's gone, and she's okay."
Only 2 more chapter to go!
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