Cora sat in her father's police car, looking out the window at the night sky. She was silent as he drove, her mind wandering to the thought of Kozik. She couldn't rid herself of jealousy; she couldn't shake away the fear that he was hooking up with someone else.
She hated that she felt that way. He wasn't her boyfriend; she had no right to worry about who he was sleeping with. Yet, she couldn't help but feel the way that she did, and that scared her.
She didn't want romance; she didn't have time, or at least, she wouldn't allow herself time for it. It was safer to just keep a distance from everyone; she didn't want to risk getting her heart broken again.
Whatever she was feeling for Kozik, it needed to go away. They could only be friends; it was likely that he would want that too. After all, why would he be interested in her? She was just the boring counselor who didn't drink, had a fear of motorcycles, and talked his ear off at parties.
The sound of Unser's radio going off snapped Cora out of her daze. She turned her head, glancing over at her father, listening to what was being said. The voice was muffled, but both father and daughter managed to understand its message. Someone had made an anonymous tip about a car parked outside a warehouse—a black Cadillac, to be exact.
Unser froze at the description of the vehicle, glancing over at his daughter with wide eyes. "That sounds like Gemma's car."
Cora gave a shrug. "Why would Gemma's car be at a warehouse?"
Despite his daughter's nonchalance, Unser couldn't shake the feeling of dread that crept over him. "We should go check it out," he muttered. "Just to be safe."
Cora gave a sigh; she was tired and just wanted to get to bed, but she knew that Unser was right. The least they could do was check out the scene, make sure that everything was alright. "Sure," she agreed. "Let's go."
Unser radioed back to whoever had announced the tip, asking them to repeat the address so he could check it out. The instant they responded, Unser turned the car around, heading in the opposite direction of Cora's apartment.
Cora closed her eyes as he drove, resting as she slumped in her seat, listening to the faint static of her father's radio.
After a few minutes, they arrived at the warehouse. Unser pulled into the parking lot, stopping his car beside the Cadillac that had been described. Cora glanced out the passenger window at it; she instantly recognized it as Gemma's car. Her father had been right.
She swallowed nervously, looking over at her father. "That's definitely Gemma's Cadillac," she murmured, dread in her voice.
Sighing, Unser unbuckled his seatbelt. "Stay here." Cora nodded as he opened his car door and got out. She watched as he made his way up the warehouse ramp, disappearing inside.
He was gone for a few minutes. After a while, Cora started to worry. She contemplated getting out and going inside to check on her father, but she decided against it. He had told her to stay in the car. Clearly, he was worried that something bad had happened to Gemma—something that could put Cora at risk.
She waited another few minutes, watching the warehouse door closely, until finally, it opened, and Unser emerged with Gemma. She was clinging to his side, an arm wrapped around his shoulder as she struggled to walk. Her face was swollen and bruised, and her hair was a mess; her clothes appeared to be torn too, though she hid that with a blanket that was wrapped around her body.
They started to make their way down the ramp; Cora unbuckled and got out of the car, rushing to meet up with them. She went to Gemma's other side, grabbing hold of the matriarch's arm, helping her as she walked to the car. She guided Gemma to the passenger seat and then popped into the backseat. Unser got into the driver's seat, starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot and onto the main road.
No one said anything at first. Cora was utterly speechless. She had never seen Gemma so vulnerable, so shaken up before. She had always seemed invincible.
Finally, after sitting in silence for a few minutes, Unser was the one to pipe up, his concern for Gemma becoming too much to bear. "What happened, sweetheart?" he inquired, glancing over to her, worry coating his face.
Gemma didn't turn to meet his gaze; she just kept her eyes focused before her. "Nothing," she mumbled in response, her voice hoarse.
"C'mon, Gem," Unser sighed. "You've got to give us something."
Gemma took a deep breath, finally looking over at the Chief. "Where are you taking me?" she asked.
"St. Thomas," he answered .
She shook her head immediately. "No," she replied; her tone sounded insistent. "You need to take me home."
"Gemma, you need help," he urged, looking over at her.
She huffed. "Give me your phone."
"What?" He raised a brow at her. "Why do you need my phone?"
"Just give me it," she demanded, putting her hand out towards him. He gave in, digging his phone out of his pocket and handing it to her. She took it from him, dialing someone's number. "I'll call Tara," Gemma explained. "She'll patch me up."
Unser didn't say anything else, nor did Cora. He just drove, his eyes glued to the road, listening as Gemma talked to Tara.
After a few minutes, she hung up the phone, and handed it back to him. "Drop Cora off, then take me to Tara's," she announced.
"What?" Cora blurted. "But I want to go with you." She leaned forward, tilting her head to look at Gemma. "I'm worried about you."
The matriarch shook her head. "Go home, sweetheart," she muttered. "No need to worry about me."
Cora frowned. She wanted to pry, to push Gemma for answers and insist that she let her go along, but she knew the woman was going through a lot. She didn't want to bombard her. If Gemma wasn't ready to talk and didn't want Cora involved, then Cora would just have to respect that.
"Okay," Cora murmured, nodding her head. "Whatever works best."
"Thanks." Gemma went quiet after that; Unser didn't say anything else either. They just rode in silence, not saying a word the whole way back to Cora's apartment.
It was early the next morning and Cath was at Jax's house, feeding Abel breakfast as he sat in his high chair. As she spooned food into his mouth, she struggled to ignore her pounding headache. She had drunken just the slightest bit too much the night before, and now it was coming back to bite her in the ass.
She thought back to the earlier events of the morning as she fed Abel, her mind wandering, replaying her interaction with Happy quite vividly, as though she were reliving it.
She woke up in one of the dorm beds, tangled in blankets, immediately overwhelmed by an immense headache. She managed to sit up, rubbing at her eyes as she looked around the room, trying to remember how she had gotten there.
She took a moment to glance down at herself, noticing that she was completely naked; her clothes were in a pile on the floor. She looked over at the spot in the bed next to her; it was empty, but looked used, the covers pulled back as though someone had already gotten up.
That was when everything started to flood back to her, snippets of her night with Happy returning to the forefront of her mind. It all felt like a fever dream. She had been extremely drunk, not enough to stop her from functioning, but enough to be unreasonably bold. But the fact that he had gone along with it, and he hadn't pushed her away, surprised Cath. He must've been drunker than her to do such a thing.
Groaning, she got off the bed, stumbling across the room to get her clothes; she was eager to get out of the clubhouse. She started to gather up her outfit from the previous night when she heard the sound of the bathroom doorknob turning. She turned her head, eyes going wide as she watched Happy open the door and step out.
Their eyes met as he made his way out of the room. She mumbled a soft "hey" at him, not really sure of what to say as she stood naked in front of him. From what she could recall, the night before had been enjoyable. Yet, she wasn't sure how things had been from his perspective; and she wasn't sure what their night together meant for them now. They were friends, but not in the way that she and Tig were; the morning after they had slept together, they had just laughed it off and moved on. But this situation was different.
Happy didn't say anything in response at first; he just watched as she started to dress herself, moving as quickly as she could. After a moment, he finally spoke up, asking, "Got a ride?"
She turned, glancing over her shoulder at him, managing a nod. "Yeah," she replied. "I drove myself here last night."
"Good." He walked over to the dresser where his kutte was, picking it up and shrugging it on. "Had fun last night."
She was surprised to hear him admit such a thing, though also relieved. She nodded in agreement. "Yeah, last night was," she paused, raising her eyebrows in disbelief of the memories she had, "interesting."
He smirked, and watched as she pulled her hair up into a sloppy bun and then adjusted her jeans, smoothing them out. "Nice tattoo you got," he remarked. His mind wandered to the thought of it. The tattoo wasn't nearly as she stupid as she made it out to sound; it was just a small, black silhouette of a cat, positioned on the side of her ribcage, just below her left breast.
"Thanks," she mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Yours are better though." From what she could remember, he was covered head to toe in tattoos; there were too many to count, let alone estimate.
She felt her pockets, ensuring that her car keys were still there. Then she headed towards the door, ready to leave. Once she made it there, she turned, meeting his gaze. There were some things she wanted to establish before she left.
"Just to be clear," she announced, "this wasn't meant to be anything serious." She figured that this was just a one-night thing, but she wanted to double check. Happy was an intense guy, and seemed like he could be possessive if, by some chance, he thought that there was something between them that wasn't really there.
"Good," he responded, unfazed by what she said. He paused, looking her up at down, noting the shape of her body, her soft curves, accentuated by the clothes she had on. "We could do this again sometime." He wasn't searching for any kind of commitment; it was just nice to have a break from the croweaters every now and again.
She raised her eyebrows, a bit surprised to hear him suggest such a thing; she wasn't opposed to it though. "Yeah, sure," she shrugged, still a little shocked. "And we'll just keep it casual."
It seemed almost like the perfect scenario. Cath was by no means a romantic, nor was Happy. She didn't want the effort of a relationship, or any of the work that went into one.
He gave a small nod in agreement; then, he gestured to the door, as if permitting her to go. "Later, Cat."
She rolled her eyes as she headed out of the dorm, though she hid a smile. As dumb as the nickname was, it was starting to grow on her. It felt almost like a term of endearment coming from him—like some sort of inside joke, one which had somehow led to sex.
Suddenly, Cath was wrenched from her thoughts by the sound of the front door opening. She stood up from the kitchen table, peering around the corner, watching as Gemma entered into the house. Cath gasped the second she caught sight of Gemma's face; it was bruised and cut up.
"What the hell happened to you?" she entered into the hallway, going straight to the matriarch, concerned.
"Car accident." Gemma shook off Cath's worry, pushing her aside and going into the kitchen, getting Abel out of his highchair. "I need to get to St. Thomas."
Cath followed after her, furrowing her brow. "And that requires Abel?"
Gemma turned around, frowning. "I want to keep the accident quiet," she admitted solemnly. "Tara's going to check him in, say she's running more tests; it's a cover."
"Jesus, Gem." Cath ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head at the matriarch. Something felt off. "Why can't you just sign yourself in? Do you distrust doctors that much?"
Gemma didn't respond. She just narrowed her gaze, looking to Cath with a serious expression. "You going to help or not?"
Cath sighed, managing a nod. "Yeah." She glanced over at Abel, cradled in Gemma's arms. "You take him to the hospital; I'll go pack a bag for him and meet you there."
"Thanks."
Cath smiled lightly before turning and heading towards Abel's bedroom. So far, her morning was off to an odd start.
It was later in the day and Cora was headed for her lunch break. She made her way down the hallway, making a beeline for the elevator. She considered calling her father or Gemma before heading to the cafeteria, wanting to check in and make sure that the matriarch was doing okay after what had happened the night before. However, she was quickly stopped in her tracks as she spotted her sister sitting in a chair with Abel on her lap.
She bolted over to where Cath was, her eyes wide. "What are you doing here?" she asked, confusion in her voice.
Cath glanced up at her sister, shrugging casually. "Just waiting for Gemma," she explained. "She got into a car accident. Took a bad hit to the face."
Cora nodded, trying to hide the shock that washed over her. She knew that Gemma hadn't been in a car accident; someone had attacked her, though she had refused to say who. Clearly, she wanted to keep it secret; Tara must've convinced her to fake the accident so that she could get proper medical treatment.
Cath noticed worry in her sister's face; she reached out and placed an assuring hand on her arm. "She'll be fine."
"Yeah," Cora responded softly. It was just easier to agree with Cath rather than to bring up the truth, which she didn't even know all of anyway. She sat down next to her sister, smiling at Abel, trying to take her mind off of everything with Gemma. "How's this little guy doing?" she wondered.
Cath shrugged. "He's good." She paused, smirking at him. "Learned how to pull hair though, which doesn't help with my headache."
"Did you drink too much last night?" Cora snickered.
Her twin rolled her eyes. "Maybe." She paused, taking a deep breath, the memory of the previous night running through her mind.
"Where'd you disappear to anyway?" Cora inquired, raising a brow. "I couldn't find you to say goodnight." Cath averted her gaze, looking to her lap, biting her lip. Her silence earned more curiosity out of Cora. "What happened?" she pried. "You didn't hook up with Tig again, did you?" Cora frowned at the thought of that, especially now that she knew what she did about his role in Donna's death.
Finally, Cath sighed, admitting the truth. "No, I slept with Happy."
Cora's jaw dropped. "You did?" she asked; her eyes went wide with surprise. "I didn't realize you two were a thing."
Cath shook her head. "We're not," she corrected. "We just hooked up." She bounced Abel on her lap as she added, "We're keeping things casual."
"You too scared to commit?" Cora wondered teasingly.
Cath glared at her twin. "Says the girl who hasn't dated anyone since high school."
"Not true," Cora sputtered. "I went on a few dates in college."
"Really?" Cath raised a brow, doubting her twin's words.
"Yes, I did," Cora countered. "But they just weren't right for me." She looked to her twin, trying to sell the lie that she was telling.
In reality, she'd met plenty of nice guys. Finding the right guy wasn't a problem; Cora could find the good in almost anyone. It was trusting another person that was her issue. Ever since David, she had closed herself off, scared to get hurt again. It was just easier for her to be fully independent and distracted by work.
"Is Kozik right for you?" Cath asked with a smirk, regaining her sister's attention, looking at her mischievously.
Cora merely scowled, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't know," she muttered. Her mind wandered to the memory of the night before, when she couldn't find him anywhere and concluded that he was probably hooking up with some croweater. "I'm not looking to find out."
"Oh, c'mon," Cath snorted, rolling her eyes. "It's obvious that you like him."
Cora shook her head. "It doesn't matter if I do or not," she replied. "I'm too busy with my work for romance."
"You choose to be busy." Cath stared her sister in the eyes, looking abnormally serious. She was worried for Cora; she wanted her to be happy, and knew that her constantly pushing people away, passing up on good chances to be social, was unhealthy.
Cora sighed, shaking her head as she stood up. "I'm going to go check on Gemma," she announced, bringing their conversation to an abrupt end.
Cath made no attempts to stop her from heading off to find Gemma. There was no point in pushing her; she'd already tried doing that in the past, regarding Tacoma, and it didn't work. Cora would come around eventually; it just had to be on her own terms.
So, Cath let her sister walk away, watching as she made her way down the hall, searching for the matriarch.
Cora stood outside one of the hospital rooms, waiting for Tara to finish talking to Gemma about whether or not Cora could come visit, because, apparently, Gemma had been hesitant to let any visitors in.
After waiting around for a few moments longer, Tara stepped out of the room, giving a light nod to Cora. "She said you can go in."
"Thanks," Cora grinned. She stepped around Tara, entering into the room as the young doctor held open the door and then shut it tightly behind her.
The instant Cora entered into the room, she caught sight of the matriarch. "Hey, Gemma," she greeted. She offered a light, sympathetic smile as she looked the woman up and done, her bruises even more visible now that it wasn't dark out. "You doing alright?"
"Never better," Gemma remarked dryly. She watched as Cora made her way across the room, sitting down on one of the visitor chairs.
"Cath said that you were in a car accident," the young counselor began, "but I know that's not true."
"Your dad staged it, gave me an excuse to tell the guys," Gemma explained quickly. "Tara used Abel to check me in, keep things off the book."
Cora nodded. She had to admit, the plan was rather clever. Still, she wanted the truth. "Why're you so eager to hide this?" she asked softly, trying not to seem overbearing. "What happened?"
"Not hard to figure out," Gemma muttered. "You're a smart girl; what does this look like to you?"
Cora paused, looking at the matriarch, studying her face even further, noting every bruise and cut on the woman's face. It appeared that she had only gotten beat up, thrown around a bit, yet Cora knew that such an attack would never be enough to shake Gemma. The woman was tough and could take a few hits without complaint. Clearly, something else had happened, something that Cora couldn't see.
That's when it clicked. She couldn't keep herself from blurting out, "Did they—"
Gemma cut her off before she could get the words out, managing a weak, "Yeah."
Cora sat, frozen, a million emotions washing over her. Her heart broke for Gemma; she wanted to get up and hug the matriarch, to assure her that everything was going to be okay, that justice was going to be served, but she didn't. She knew better than to bombard the woman, especially after what had happened.
She took a deep breath. "Who did this to you?" she asked slowly. She met Gemma's gaze, trying to encourage her to tell the truth.
Yet, Gemma waved her concern off. "Does it matter?" she scowled. "The guys aren't going to find out."
Cora frowned. "Why not?" she pried. "You need to tell them; they can help you get back at whoever did this."
But Gemma was insistent, shaking her head. "They can't know," she grieved. "If they find out, then the assholes that did this win."
"I don't understand," Cora groaned, exasperated. Gemma seemed like she was talking in riddles. "Why would they win?"
Gemma stared into Cora's eyes, conveying a seriousness, a sharpness that Cora wasn't used to seeing directed at her. "They hurt me to get to the guys," Gemma answered lowly, keeping her voice hushed. "I can't let them win. I've got to hold myself together for them."
Cora sighed. She didn't like that Gemma wasn't going to tell anyone the truth, but she knew that it was her choice. No one could force her to talk; and if Gemma didn't think that telling the Sons the truth was wise, then Cora would just have to support that decision and not tell them either.
"Well, if you ever need someone to talk to," she mumbled, giving in to Gemma's wants, "I'm always available. You're not alone."
Gemma cast Cora an unimpressed look. "I don't need a shrink, sweetheart," she scoffed.
"Whatever," Cora replied, rolling her eyes. "Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help."
She got up to leave the room, but was quickly turned back around by the sound of Gemma's voice. "Just keep this secret. That's all I need from you, okay?"
Cora took a deep breath at the request; it seemed that everyone in the Teller family was asking her to keep secrets all of a sudden. First, Jax asked her to stay quiet about Donna's death, and now Gemma wanted her to keep the truth about her attack hidden too. But rather than argue, Cora merely shrugged and gave in. If this was what Gemma felt was best, then Cora trusted her and wanted to respect her wishes. "You have my word."
"Thanks." Gemma nodded to Cora, casting her a light smile.
She watched as Cora returned the look before turning and leaving the room, giving the matriarch the space that she needed.