Chapter 37

When Opie and Dani arrived at Teller Morrow, he parked his car in an empty space before climbing out of the truck and reaching for her to help her out. "You going to check on the kid today?" He asked her once she was out of the truck and the door was locked.

Dani nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to head there first, I need to go to the community college and pick up some different books. The Ged prep books I have are different from the ones they're teaching from so I haven't started with any of my online lectures yet—Oh, and I need to stop by the store and pick up a few things that we are low on."

"You gonna be ok going on your own? You haven't really been out on your own since we got back from Oregon."

Dani shrugged. "I have to get out sometime. I can't spend all my time here, or with you or Jax or one of the guys. The hospital and the community college are both public places, and I'll be home before dark so I think I'll be ok."

"Check in with me throughout the day so I know you are doing ok." Opie told her.

"I will. I promise." Dani said and leaned up on her tip toes to give him a soft kiss before they headed in separate directions- Opie to the garage and Dani towards her own truck. She gave a wave in the general direction of the garage as she drove away, headed for the hospital.

She made her way to the hospital and followed the signs, taking the elevator to the right floor for the NICU. She checked in at the nursing station and was told that there was only one visitor allowed at a time and his grandmother was currently in with Abel. She pointed Dani over to the viewing window where she could see into the small room. She looked over to the corner and saw Gemma standing over an incubator. Dani watched for several minutes as Gemma stood watching over her grandson, a softness on her face Dani hadn't seen before. Gemma must have felt someone watching because she looked up after a couple minutes. She nodded at Dani and spent another minute or two cooing at Abel before she made her way to the door. She made sure the door shut before taking the two steps necessary to stand in front of Dani.

"Hey hon," Gemma said. "I didn't know you were stopping by."

"Yeah, I wanted to see how he was doing," she said gesturing to the tiny baby boy on the other side of the glass, "and I figured you might be here, so I wanted to check and see if you needed anything,"

"Thanks baby. I need to take care of some things for Jax's place. That junkie whore trashed the house. I cleaned up most of it last night, but there's a lot that still needs to be done to get ready to bring him home. I don't want to leave him alone. You mind staying with him for a while I make a couple calls and pick a few things up? Should Only be about an hour or so." Gemma said gesturing to the baby.

"Of course, I can stay for a little while. How is he doing?" Dani asked. "When are they going to be able to do the surgery?"

"He'll be ok. They're going to take him to operate on his sometime today." Gemma spoke with such confidence that Abel would be ok that Dani felt it boost her own hope that he would pull through.

Dani nodded, taking in the information. "Ok. I'll be here 'til you get back. Do you know how long it will be? I was planning to stop by the community college to pick up some books for my GED course."

Gemma's face flashed briefly with surprise. "I didn't know you had signed up for classes. I remember you mentioned wanting to look into that when you first came home. Good for you, baby. I'll only be about an hour or so. Don't worry."

"Thanks. I'll see you later." Dani said, giving a small wave as Gemma walked away and she turned to go into the nursery. She went over to the corner where Abel lay in his incubator. She placed a hand on the plastic and looked down at her nephew. "Hey there Abel." She said softly. "I'm your Aunt Dani. I know your probably scared and confused about what's going on right now. But you just stay strong little guy. You're Daddy loves you, and your grandma loves you, and so do I. All you have to do is grow stronger and stronger and we will spoil you rotten for the rest of your life."

Dani pulled a chair up next to the incubator and sat ant talked to Abel, telling him about his family, making up little stories. She barely registered the door opening until someone cleared a throat.

"Visiting hours are for family only." A female voice said.

"I am family." Dani replied not looking up.

"You aren't Wendy's family. She said her sister was of town. And I know you aren't Jax's family. Hanging out around that club doesn't make you family."

At this Dani looked up and saw the Dr. Gemma had spoken with the other day- the one who used to date Jax. "Dr. Knowles, right?" Dani asked, as the doctor nodded. "Do I look like some chick who hangs around the club? You don't know Jax's family as much as you think you do. I'm his sister- Abel's aunt, and I am going to stay here until he's ready to go to surgery or Jax or Gemma get here and want to sit with him." She spoke in low soothing tones as if she was still talking with Abel but stared at the woman with defiance as if daring her to argue with her.

Dr. Knowles looked her over critically, apparently seeing enough resemblance to question herself, but not completely willing to admit she was wrong because she said almost as a question. "Jax's sister was kidnapped when they were kids, and she was presumed dead?"

"Except I wasn't dead, and I escaped from my kidnappers and found my way back home and got un-presumed dead. There was a very annoying and personally invasive article in the paper and everything."

Tara stuttered briefly as if at a loss for words on what to say. "I'm uh, here to run a couple tests before we take Abel for his surgery." Dani took a step back and watched as Dr. Knowles checked his chart against the displays of the medical equipment around the incubator and then put on some gloves and a sterile gown and opened one side of the incubator and drew a small sample of blood. She closed the incubator back up and as she was removing the gloves and gown she spoke again. "As soon as we get these results back, we will be starting surgery on his stomach. Someone should be in soon to take him to get prepped for surgery."

"What about his heart? When will you operate on that?" Dani wanted to know.

"It depends on how he does while in surgery," Dr. Knowles told her. "Ideally, we would give him time to heal from the first surgery and relieve some of the strain his system is under before operating on his heart, but…"

"But what?" Dani insisted.

"He's not as healthy as we would ideally want him to be. The lead doctor on his case doesn't want to wait, and I agree with him. His best chance is for us to operate now, and depending on how he does while in surgery will depend on if we will wait or not to operate on his heart."

Dani nodded in understanding. "I can stay with him until they need to get him ready for surgery though, right? I told Gemma I'd stay."

Dr. Knowles nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. Look I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't realize who you were." The apology seemed halfhearted and not very sincere.

"So you decided to judge me based upon your own preconceived notions of the club," Dani offered, then continued when the other woman looked like she was about to protest. "I know you and my brother used to be a thing, and I have no idea what happened between you two or why you clearly dislike people associated with the club, but that club is my family and they have quite literally saved my life, so I don't appreciate hearing your intolerance. But if the club bothers you so much you should probably stay away from Jax. He was born into the club- it's not some men's auxiliary he joined so he could have a place to have some beers with his buddies. It's in his blood- it's his family. He's going to lead it one day, and if you can't at least respect that the club is a part of who he is, then it's no wonder the two of you didn't work out." Dani paused for a moment, allowing her words to sink in before adding "Now thank you for your part in making sure my nephew has his best chance at a full life, but we are done discussing my family. Don't you need to get those tests to the lab?"

Doctor Knowles stared at Dani before nodding. "It won't be long before someone comes to get him." With that, she turned and walked out of he room, though Dani thought she heard her say something about being just like her mother.

"Never thought I'd take that as a compliment." She said softly to Abel.

Gemma had returned shortly after her conversation with Dr. Knowles and Dani brought her up to speed on the surgery and that someone would likely come for his soon. She offered to stay with Gemma at the hospital, but Gemma assured her she wouldn't be alone long and to go ahead and get her books sorted out.

Dani remembered to pull out her phone and call Opie as she was pulling out of the parking lot of the hospital. She gave him a quick update on Abel and let him know she was on the way to the community college.

When Dani pulled into the college and found a parking space, she was relieved that there were some people milling about—enough to make her feel comfortable someone would see if something bad happened, but not too many where she felt overwhelmed, like at the ball game. 'A nice, medium amount of people.' She thought to herself as she locked the truck door and made her way to the registrars office.

There were a few people in line ahead of her and Dani waited patiently for her turn. When she got to the head of the line, she stepped forward to the desk and explained that due to some personal emergencies she had missed the first couple of her GED classes she had signed up for and wanted to make sure she could still be in the class. She was assured that she could, and Dani asked about how to obtain the books she needed. The woman helped her take photo and print a student ID card which she would need to purchase her books from the student bookstore and gave her directions down the hall to the store.

Dani found her way easily and started browsing for the right section. She had just located the first book she needed when the back of her neck got that itching sensation, like someone was watching her. "You're being paranoid," she muttered to herself. Still, she quickly found the other book she needed and made her way to the register. As she was pulling her wallet out of her purse she glanced around furtively, not seeing anyone paying attention to her. She quickly completed her transaction and made her way back outside to her truck. She quickly hopped in and locked the truck door and glanced around again. Once again, she saw nothing and chuckled at herself for letting her nerves get the best of her.

She made her way to the grocery store and ran in long enough to pick up some milk, butter, ground beef and onions. Once again, while waiting to check out she had that niggling feeling that someone was watching her, but a glance around again confirmed no one was paying attention to her. Dani paid for her merchandise and was glad she was done with her errands and could spend the rest of her day safely at home. She pulled out her phone to call Opie as she got close to the house but hung up on the second ring when she saw he was already there. She could see him loading a bag up with something in the garage and she hurried to turn off the car so she could greet him. She grabbed the bags from the seat beside her and hopped out, slamming the door shut. "Hey Sasquatch," Dani called. "I didn't think you'd be home yet. I was just calling you. What do you think about meatballs and pasta tonight for dinner?" She asked as she approached him.

Opie pulled the flap down on his bag and took three steps to meet her and leaned down to meet her with a quick kiss. "That sounds great babe, but I don't think I'm going to be home for dinner." He told her regretfully.

"Ok," she said slowly and glanced back and for the between the pack and him. "What's going on?" As she was asking, she heard a motorcycle approaching and turned to see Jax pulling up to the house on his bike. He gave her a wave but sat on the bike as it idled, waiting.

"Gotta do a run for the club." Opie told her reaching for his pack, which he slung over her shoulder and turned back to her. He put his hand on her upper shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "I'm sorry."

A million different thoughts and worries ran through Dani's head in the next few seconds. Where were they going? What were they doing? How dangerous was it? Would he be all right? But all she said was "Ok, be safe. Do you think you'll be home tonight or…?"

"I'll be home tonight but it will be late. You gonna be ok? I can send the prospect over so you aren't alone? Shit—how did everything go today while you were out? I only heard from you after the hospital."

"It went fine. I was a little nervous, which made me feel paranoid, but nothing happened. You don't need to send anyone over to keep me company, I'll be fine. I'll make dinner and try and catch up a little on my class. I'll be fine. I'll have a plate in the fridge for you when you get home."

"Ope, we gotta go," She heard Jax yell and turned to give him a wave at the same time gesturing for one more minute.

She turned back to and leaned into him to soak up his warmth in a hug before pulling back. "Go.," Dani said. "Be safe." Opie leaned down to kiss her again and they lingered over each other's lips for a moment before she reluctantly took a step back. "Go. The sooner you go, the sooner you'll be home.'

"Don't worry," Opie old her, taking his own step back. "I'll be home soon as I can."

She gave him a small smile to try and ease the worry from her face. "See you later. Be safe." She said again and watched as he headed to his bike before making her way inside.

Dani spent the evening just as she told Opie she would. She spent some time in the kitchen, cooking the spaghetti and meatballs she had planned. She ate at the table and while watching a recording of the first class she missed before cleaning up the kitchen and covering a plate for Opie and putting it in the fridge for him to eat later.

Grabbing one of her new textbooks she curled up on the sofa with a throw blanket and turned on the tv for some background noise and started to study. At some point she must have drifted off because the next thing she knew, she was waking to a familiar hand brushing the hair from her face.

Opie was sitting on the edge of the sofa, looking down at her. "Hey," he said in that low rumbly tone of his.

"Hey," Dani replied sitting up and leaning into Opie with the relief of having him home. "Everything go ok?"

Opie let out a half chuckle. "Mostly," was all he said.

Dani let out a sigh. She had said she didn't want to know about the details of what he did with the club. This was part of that. "But you're ok? Everyone else is ok?" She asked.

"Yeah, babe, we're all ok." He told her. Dani sighed with relief and wrapped her arms around Opie's waist, burying her head into his chest and inhaling deeply. He smelled like himself but also something more. She inhaled again and frowned as she pulled back. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"You smell different. Like smoke, and something else." She sniffed again. "Is that sulfer?" She asked.

Opie shifted backwards and stood up, pulling her with him. "Sorry," he said.

"It's ok. Why don't you get changed and I'll heat up your dinner if you're hungry?"

Opie pulled her closer. "I'm not hungry for dinner yet. I'm gonna get cleaned up."

"Ok," Dani nodded, and moved to take a step back but Opie pulled her closer to him.

"I'm in the mood for a long, hot shower. Come with me?" He half asked, half commanded, his tone getting all gravelly and sexy.

"Hmmm…" Dani said, sounding intrigued.

"Yeah?" Opie asked, wrapping his arms around her and leaning down to place a kiss on her neck.

"Yeah," Dani replied, shivering from delight at the attention Opie was currently paying her.

"Good." Opie said and he swooped her up in his arms. Dani laughed as Opie lifted her and carried her down the hallway to their room, kicking the door shut behind them.