CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

As a reminder: This is being reposted. This story is complete in it's entirety.

We pull into Gemma's driveway and she's out of the car and through the door before the last of the 4 bikes with us pulls in.

Shaking my head I open the door and manoeuvre my way out of the car, my feet hit the ground as the containers are lifted out of my hands. Looking up into Happy's eyes I can see he has something to say. "You gave them cupcakes?" He tries to pout and the enforcer for the club looks so odd with the look on his face that I can't help but laugh.

"Nah Happy, they helped themselves." Leaning closer so my breath brushes his ear I whisper, "There's more at the clubhouse still and I hid them."

He nods once and walks into the house; Clay comes up behind me and rests his hand on my shoulder. "You'll be with at least one of us till he's dealt with, ok?"

"Weren't we already doing that?"

Clay nods "Yes, but it'll be tighter now, I'd like someone to be within eye shot of you at all times, but that's a bit over the top." he tells me as we walk through into the dining room.

Everyone's already waiting at the table and the kids jump up from their seats and run over, Clay scoops them both up as Ellie starts chatting "Grandpa, look what mommy did." Ellie sounds so excited as she shows Clay the 4 braids that stick out of her head. "She said it'll make my hair curly."

"That's good Jellybean. Now, go eat your dinner." Clay sets the little girl on her feet and the sight of the old biker in leather holding the little blonde girl makes me grin at him. He looks at me, "Shut it you, or shall I bring out the photos I still have of you when you were younger?"

"I'll be good old man!" I splutter some of the photos he managed to capture of me when I was younger are not good.

"Do tell." Jax pipes up from the end of the table curiousness in his tone.

"No way that's happening. If you see kid photos of me then I get to see kid photos of you!" I say, poking my tongue out.

We banter all through dinner, Donna threatens to get out some of the photos she's got buried of her and I when we were in our very early teens, till she realises that she'd have to show Opie as well and suddenly backtracks fast.

"We should have an old photo night one night." I comment as later we sit in the living room with coffee and cake; the reaper cake had been a hit, with Gemma announcing I'd have to decorate a cake like that for every event now.

Clay leans forward in his chair, "You'd have some sorting to do first."

I sign deeply, "I know."

Everyone but Gemma looks confused so I fill them in. "When Mom and Dad died the big stuff was sold off obviously but a lot of the ornaments and books as well as all their photos, home movies and that sort of stuff was boxed up and stored in Jacob's barn. Senior that is. God, if JJ knew it was there he would have gone through it all for either valuable shit or blackmail material."

No one argues with my statement, unfortunately we all know what he's like and how desperate he is to get the town 'moving forward'. Even though he's only 26 he's convinced that he'll be mayor by the time he's 30. I guess his name may help, but I really don't want to see what the town would be like if he went from property developer to mayor. The developments he'd done in the surrounding towns were great, cause they weren't in Charming.

Happy demands more cake so with a muttered comment about needing to get them joggin I go into the kitchen to get him another slice. I've just picked up the plate when I glance up and out into the backyard, my eyes lock on Craig, standing on the other side of the window staring at me. An evil smile spreads across his face and he waves slowly, the motion breaks the lock down my body is in and I scream, the plate falls out of my hand, bouncing off the edge of the bench it shatters as it hits the floor, cake splatters all up the cupboard in front of me.

I'm not sure how much time passes but it feels like hours, I hear the thuds of running footsteps but my eyes aren't seeing what's in front of me anymore, instead all I see is the inside of the shed I'd been locked in. Images flash inside my head; photos of my injuries, copies of the reports that were supplied to the police, newspaper articles, Craig's smile as he was sentenced, his promise that he'd come back for me, the headless cat that Cam hadn't been quick enough to remove from our front door.

A sharp pain in my cheek brings my out of my memories and I see Donna right in front of me, her eyes are wide with fear and she's pale and trembling, Opie is standing behind her looking worried and out of the corners of my eyes I can see Tig by the door with Happy. Gemma and Clay are hovering on one side of me. It's not till my brain manages to process the height difference between me and Tig and Happy that I realise I'm sitting down and that my seat is breathing, my head snaps around so fast that I hear the slap of my hair hitting Clay's back.

It only takes me till mid-turn for me to realise who it is that's beneath me, my eyes meet the worried blue of Jax's and I relax enough to speak. "Craig, he was in the backyard." My voice sounds rough and it hurts to talk Clay, Gemma, Donna and Opie seem to relax a little when I speak, all of them moving from their crouched or seated positions on the floor around me.

Jax nods, "We figured that when you screamed for 5 minutes straight then a constant stream of his name kept coming out. By the time we got out there he was long gone."

I can't bring myself to acknowledge any one else in the room "Are the kids okay?" I squeak out.

"Yup, slept right through it. How? I have no idea. You were screaming loud enough to wake the dead."

I feel the blood drain from my face and the instant thought is that I need to check on them, struggling to get out of his iron grip he tugs me closer, ignoring everyone around us he grabs the side of my face and forces me to look at him, "They're fine darlin' Opie checked on them and Doj hasn't moved from his place guarding their door. In fact I'd almost say you've lost your dog to the twins."

I nod again and droop backwards, his arm comes up to catch me and I end up with my head resting against his neck, inhaling a few deep breaths I'm comforted more by the scent of him and the feel of his hand rubbing circles on my back then any of the words that have been said.

A few minutes pass in complete silence before Jax's hand stops moving, "Sit up."

Pulling myself into a sitting position I see Gemma standing beside me, a glass of water in her hand. "Thanks Gem." I manage to get out before the pain in my throat forces me to shut my mouth again. Taking a few sips of the icy water helps and by the time I've drunk half the glass I feel a little better. My heartbeat is back at a normal level, not sounding like hummingbirds wings and my skin doesn't feel cold and clammy anymore. Moving to get up Jax clamps his hand on my shoulder forcing me to stay still so I let myself lean back against him, even though I feel a little better I still don't feel like myself.

Turning my head to look at Clay I try not to let panic take control again at a thought, "Has anyone heard from Al or Cam lately?"

Clay nods but it's Jax that answers, "Juice has been staying with them, well Al really and we've had Koz and Sack there as well. They haven't been alone since we got the phone calls."

I feel the relief that settles over me and my entire body sags as whatever energy that I had vanishes with the last of the adrenaline. I know I sound exhausted when I look at Jax out of the corner of my eye and say, "Can we go home I'm really tired."

My head flops again and I almost miss the look that Gemma sends to Clay, but the 'I told you so' in her eyes is obvious even from the tiny glimpse I got.

"Sure darlin', let's get you outta here and into bed." The snicker that I hear from behind me isn't hard to place but all I have the energy to do is raise a single finger and aim it at Tig which just causes him to laugh louder.

Resting my head back on Jax's shoulder I try and take a second to gather the energy to stand up and almost shriek when he slides a hand under my legs and stands straight up. Walking towards the garage he says over his shoulder, "Ma, I'm leaving my bike here and taking the Caddy."

I attempt to get loose of his arms, "I'm okay, let me down and I'll be fine for Gemma to take me."

Jax gives a little jerk of his arms, "Do you even realise what time it is?" I shake my head, "It's almost 1 am darlin', they're all just as tired as you."

I'm amazed that somehow I've lost 5 hours of time with no memory of what happened in any of it. "I'm so sor..."

Gemma glares at me, "Don't you even think of saying you're sorry baby. It's okay, Bobby's going to get the garage opened in the morning and we'll get there a bit late, that's all."

Jax didn't even stop walking while Gemma told me off and we're in the garage with Happy holding the car door open for me. He climbs in the drivers seat and doesn't say a word while Jax sorts himself in the back seat with me still on his knee. It's so strange to me seeing them both in a car, the fact it's voluntary and not a cop car are shocking facts but I'm so exhausted that I'm almost asleep by the time we pull out of the driveway, I don't remember turning the corner at the end of the street, or pulling into the drive, the next thing I'm conscious of is Jax setting me down on his bed and shaking me gently.

Sitting up a little groggily I manage to pay attention to him asking me if I want to change to sleep, I'm already in shorts and a t-shirt so shake my head and flop back down onto the pillow, I'm asleep again before he even has a chance to cover me with the blankets.