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Chapter 101 Short Good-bye
The intensive care unit at St. Thomas is typically restricted to family only, but they made exceptions for Hale and Gemma. Wayne Unser had blood family but no one to come to his bedside as his body made one last doomed effort to fight off the cancer that was spreading through him.
He'd gotten divorced a year ago and Della moved to New York with her boyfriend. His two adult daughters were scattered across the country and had little contact with either of their parents in the last decade.
By blood, he had family, but in reality Gemma was all he had. He wanted to see her one last time before he died. She was the love of his life.
Wayne fell in love with Gemma when she was sixteen. He was a rookie cop and too old for her. He never crossed the line with her. Not once. Still, he'd loved her.
When Gemma left, he met Della through another police officer. They married a couple of years later and had two daughters. Gemma's return to Charming brought back all his old feelings for her despite her being married with a baby.
His marriage to Della was little more than roommates and child care providers. The love they had leaked out over the years. The divorce was a long time coming.
Hale promised him that he would ask Gemma to visit him. When he started in law enforcement, he'd been idealistic just like Hale. That was so long ago, he barely remembered those days.
The day in Floyd's barbershop where he agreed to look the other way in exchange for SAMCRO protecting the city from gangs and drug dealers, it wasn't all about keeping the city safe. He knew that deal would keep him in Gemma's life.
Gemma walked into the ICU room, no flowers or balloons. They weren't allowed in ICU even if Gemma had thought to bring them. She was immediately struck by how small and old Unser looked in that big white hospital bed. He was hooked to an IV with a clear bag of solution dripping into him. Monitors watched over his vital signs.
"Hey, Wayne," Gemma greeted him. "Why didn't you tell me how sick you are?"
"Wouldn't have done any good."
She pulled up a chair and sat down beside him.
"I thought the doctors were watching over you keeping the cancer in check."
"Watchful waiting they call it," Unser said bitterly. "Cheaper to watch it kill me. Fucking HMOs."
"Are Della and the girls coming to see you?"
"No point. Della has a new guy and by the time the girls get here if they even bothered to come—I'll be dead or in a coma."
Gemma couldn't think of anything to say to that. She regretted coming to the hospital. She didn't know what he expected her to say.
"Are they at least giving you the good pain meds so you aren't suffering."
"So far, but when the cancer gets all through you, they can't give you enough painkillers or you'll overdose. Instead, they let the cancer torture and kill you. Fucking HMOs." Unser's words were angry but he lacked the energy to put passion and hate into his voice.
"I'd better be leaving," Gemma said.
"Gemma, I love you," he said. He broke off and cleared his throat. "I am in love with you. Have been since you were sixteen." He had to confess his feelings before he died.
Gemma had nothing to say to that. What did he expect from her? To say she loved him too? She could never love that little turtle of a man.
"Take care of yourself, Wayne" Gemma said getting up and leaving.
She wished she hadn't come. It was Hale's fault. He'd guilted her into seeing Unser. Once Unser retired, he'd lost his usefulness to SAMCRO and to her.
Wayne Unser watched the love of his life leave as a single tear rolled down his cheek.
Author's Note: On the TV series, Gemma had this coldness to Unser that I'm trying to mimic. On the show in the TM office, when he told her loves her—that he's in love with her—she just looked at him. In S7 when Jax finds Gemma to kill her and Unser is there, Jax urges him to leave so he won't have to kill him. Unser tells Jax that this is all he's got meaning Gemma. Gemma just stood there and didn't encourage Unser to leave. There was also the scene in S3 when they return from Ireland. Gemma and Unser are in her dining room and she asks him how things are going with him. He gets choked up and says they are "shit side up". After a brief pause she tells him that Jax may be in trouble. Completely ignores his confession. Doesn't express any sympathy or concern for him.
This isn't a filler chapter. It plays a role in future chapters.