It was ten minutes after the Miller woman's eyes had closed and she had passed out from the pain that Victoria had finally woken back up with a loud and throaty groan. It took a few seconds for Victoria to actually see through her hazy gaze to realize that the black SUV was completely upside down. Victoria tried to not panic at the situation that she was in as she tried to remember what exactly happened.
Victoria closed her hazel eyes as she slowly connected the pieces together of someone hitting the side of the black SUV before she remembered everything going dark. However, one memory immediately caused the Miller woman to open her eyes and quickly look around for the small child that she had been holding onto.
The pediatric nurse released a thankful sigh when she saw and finally heard the youngest Galindo crying in his car seat without a single scratch on him. Victoria hadn't even realized her hearing had momentarily went out until she heard Cristobal's crying along with Emily, somewhere, calling out for her son.
Victoria wanted to comfort her old friend and get the child to somewhere safe instead of practically hanging upside down from his car seat, so the Miller woman began to move towards the child. However, though, when Victoria sat herself up, she could feel that she had a couple of broken ribs at the intense pain that she felt when she moved. The pediatric nurse released a loud groan as she continued to move through her pain until she was sitting in front of Cristobal.
"Hey, there," Victoria softly whispered in a cracked and dry voice before she cooed to calm the crying child, "it's okay, sweetheart." The Miller woman moved her arms to get the child out of the car seat but immediately paused when she felt more pain. Victoria instantly realized it was coming from her right arm when she moved her limbs again to see what was the problem.
Victoria knew it was going to hurt but she used her left arm and prodded her right one to see what was hurting. The pediatric nurse immediately held in her cry when she felt that something was wrong with her midshaft humerus. Most likely a fracture, Victoria thought to herself as she lightly touched her upper arm by her elbow.
Victoria knew that there was no way she could fix it right now in the middle of the desert, so the Miller woman took a shaky deep breath before she focused back onto the youngest Galindo. The brunette woman's main focus was getting Cristobal out of the upside down car right now. Victoria briefly thought about how she was supposed to help the child with one arm before she nodded her head when she came up with a plan.
"Alright, little one," Victoria mumbled to the child before she told him, "we're going dancing for a sec." The Miller woman then lifted herself on her knees and with her left hand she unbuckled Cristobal's car seat before she carefully maneuvered the young child through his seat belt and quickly brought him into her chest with her uninjured arm.
Victoria immediately released a sigh when the small child was in the safety of arms as she had been afraid Cristobal would have slipped out of the car seat. "I got you, sweetheart," the Miller woman cooed as she carefully rocked him back and forth to calm him down from his crying. Once Victoria noticed the child's crying had came to a stop, she slowly crawled through the upside down car until she reached the backseat door that was broken off.
The Miller woman paused at the entrance of the door as she took a shaky deep breath from all of the pain that she was feeling. Victoria closed her hazel eyes as she held Cristobal to her chest while she tried to breathe through her broken ribs and tried to not move her right arm too much. However, Victoria knew it wasn't safe in the car, so she ignored the tears in her eyes and continued to crawl through the upside down car while she continued to assure Cristobal with her soft but shaky voice, "everything's going to be okay, little one."
It took a couple of minutes before Victoria was finally outside in the dark desert as it took her awhile to move with her broken limbs while she held the small child. The Miller woman immediately released a sigh when she leaned her back against the black SUV before she looked down at Cristobal with a tearful smile. "I told you everything would be okay," Victoria whispered to the small child before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to prepare herself for her next step.
Victoria wrapped her good left arm tightly around the youngest Galindo's body before she used her shoulder to push herself up from the ground. The Miller woman felt nothing but pain as she lifted herself from her knees but Victoria knew it needed to be done as she listened as her old friend continued to cry out for her son.
Victoria took a shaky breath after her bare feet were planted on the hot dirt of the desert before she squinted her hazel eyes and tried to see through the dark with the help of the headlights of a car - probably the one that hit us, Victoria thought. It took a few minutes for Victoria to finally see through her hazy gaze before she spotted Benson, one of the members of Nestor's security team, bending down in front of a crying Emily as he tried to check if she had an injuries.
I'm almost there, Victoria reminded herself as she slowly breathed through the pain of her body before she took cautious steps towards the blonde woman to assure Emily that her son was okay. Victoria was practically dragging her feet as she made her way towards her old friend - which felt like it was miles away. "Em," the Miller woman called out in a scratchy voice when she was about half way to the blonde woman, "I got him, Em."
The Galindo woman immediately looked up from her bloody hands from the broken windshield when she heard the Miller woman's voice before she released a loud gasp when she saw her son. "Oh, thank God," Emily mumbled before she sluggishly stood up from the dirty desert and rushed to her son. "My baby," the Galindo woman cried out once she was standing in front of Victoria before she shakily took her son and hugged him tightly into her chest.
Victoria couldn't help but release a heavy sigh once the child wasn't in her left arm anymore as the extra weight had caused an even worse strain to her broken ribs and right arm. The Miller woman briefly closed her hazel eyes as she tried to get used to the pain while she took a deep breath before she opened her eyes back up and wiped the tears that she had forgotten about with her uninjured arm.
Victoria slowly gazed around the desert once she could finally see with the tears out of the way and her spotting vision was clearing up. The brunette woman watched Emily holding her son as she continued to cry before she spotted Benson comforting a crying Maria on the ground of the desert. Victoria couldn't help but to be extremely confused to what exactly happened as she glanced at the people around her and the overturned SUV.
There was this bad feeling in Victoria's chest that said this wasn't just a normal car accident, so the Miller woman slowly circled around as she tried to piece everything together. However, Victoria immediately froze when her hazel eyes locked on three people - two men and a young child - exiting out of their car and heading straight towards them with creepy masks covering their faces.
"Benson!" The Miller woman hurriedly called out when she came to the conclusion that this wasn't in fact a normal car accident. Victoria knew it had to be a hit on the family of the Galindo cartel. It was the only thing to make sense to Victoria in her hazy brain. The brunette woman knew that she wouldn't be that much help since her handgun was in her clutch purse, so Victoria quickly headed over to Emily and Cristobal to protect them as best as she could.
Victoria placed her body in front of the kneeling mother and son to block them from the three masked people while Benson stood a couple of steps in front of her. "No tienes negocios aquí," [you have no business here] the security guard growled out as he prepared to protect the Galindo family with his life.
The three new comers, the rebels, didn't say anything as they slowly continued to walk towards the group of people with only one plan in mind to really hurt Miguel Galindo. The oldest of the three, a man with long wavy black hair, twitched his head to the side before he commanded, "danos el niño," [give us the child] as he held out his arms.
The blonde woman of Emily Galindo immediately cried out from behind Victoria's back when she heard what the man had said. "No, please," Emily begged as she held her son tightly into her chest. "I'll give you whatever you want just not my son!" Emily yelled out as she tried to compromise with the man who wasn't going to take the bate.
"Ve ahora y podemos olvidar que esto sucedió," [Go now and we can forget that this happened] Benson told the three masked people as he slowly brought his right hand to the back of his black slacks to reach his handgun. Benson didn't want to bring violence in front of Miguel's son but he knew he would have to if he was going to bring Miguel his family home.
However, though, before Benson could grab his handgun and scare the masked figures, the second male of the group, a short man with a buzz cut under his mask, swiftly drew out his own gun before Benson could even place his finger on the trigger and fired off a shot to the security guard's kneecap.
There was instantly the sound of Emily and Maria crying out when they heard the shot while the Miller woman tried to stay strong as she watched Benson drop to the ground and grab onto his right knee in pain. Victoria honestly felt overwhelmed now that she was the only thing standing in the way of the kidnappers and the youngest Galindo. The brunette woman didn't know what she was supposed to do when one of the masked men kicked away Benson's gun across the desert, so she couldn't use it to protect them all.
Victoria knew that she couldn't just stand there and do nothing, so her mind immediately went back to her childhood days in Charming, where she would pick a fight with any croweater and any man that looked at her the wrong way. The brunette woman stood up straight in her classy black dress and bare feet with her fists hanging lowly by her side. "Sal de aquí," [get out of here] Victoria simply commanded as she prayed that they could make it out of here alive.
However, when the three masked figures only stood directly in front of her, Victoria took a deep breath before she mumbled under her breath towards her old friend, "run." The Miller woman waited until she heard the rustling of Emily standing up from the dirty ground before she offered a distraction as she threw a punch to the biggest guy - which immediately caused him to double over.
I still got it, Victoria thought with a small shrug of her shoulders when she watched the man go down. The Miller woman then turned her attention onto the shorter man to distract him as well as she prayed Emily was at least a few yards away from here. However, when Victoria locked her eyes with the shorter man, she was surprised when he threw his own fist at her face.
Victoria immediately released a loud groan as she felt the man's knuckles basically push against her left eye socket. The Miller woman had stumbled back a few feet but she didn't go down like she never went down when she would get into fights as a teenager with Jax, Opie, and her brother, Nathan. Victoria, instead, blinked away her tears and pain before she looked back up at the shorter man. The brunette woman went to take her own punch like she did with the other man but was, once again, stopped when the shorter masked man threw a punch to her stomach.
The punch instantly placed Victoria on her back as she felt the masked man hit right against her broken ribs. The Miller woman let out a loud cry as she sobbed out in pain. Victoria didn't really know how bad her injuries were, but now that she was on the ground and felt the hit, she knew it was bad when she couldn't even pull herself up from the ground.
Victoria felt helpless as she watched as the young child in the mask and the one that had punched her walk around her and made their way towards the sluggishly jogging Emily and her son. Victoria knew she had to do something, so she pushed herself slowly onto her knees to stand up. However, Victoria was, once again, stopped when the more dangerous masked men with the gun walked closer to her and pushed against Victoria's broken arm - which caused Victoria to fall back to the ground as she tried to get away from the pressure on her arm.
The long haired male knew this woman would cause issues for the rebels if she were to fight back again, so the masked man placed his boot against Victoria's chest before he slammed her body down onto the dirty desert. However, the man rolled his dark eyes when he saw Victoria trying to crawl towards the security guard.
The masked man was beginning to become frustrated with the woman and her goal in protecting the Galindo family, so he stopped her chance of helping the small child and the blonde woman as he lifted his gun and aimed at the security guard, who was reaching for the brunette woman. "Nadie te puede ayudar," [nobody can help you] the masked man muttered before he pulled the trigger and shot Benson right in his head - instantly killing him.
The Miller woman couldn't help but cry out in defeat when she watched Benson's bloody head bounce off of the floor of the dark desert as her only chance of protecting Emily and Cristobal was suddenly dead. Victoria knew that she couldn't give up yet, though, when she was still breathing. If I'm still breathing, I'm still fighting, Victoria reminded herself as she remembered Clay taught her that lesson when she was getting her ass kicked with her whole face bloody and bruised when she wanted to give up.
Victoria still had to make sure Emily and Cristobal were safe, so the brunette woman took a shaky and painful deep breath through her cracked ribs before she slowly brought her body up in a sitting position. The Miller woman ignored her tears as she glared up at the man in front of her before she threw out her leg as hard as she could to knock him off balance.
Victoria's bare feet didn't really do much damage like her heels would have done but it did cause the taller man to stumble back a few steps. The Miller woman used that opportunity to push herself up onto her knees before she slowly popped back up onto her feet. Victoria took a painful deep breath before she threw the hardest punch that she could with her left hand.
However, Victoria's mind was still foggy from the concussion that she probably had, so the brunette woman didn't see the right hook heading towards her stomach before she could even finish her solid punch. The Miller woman barely even had time to bend over in pain before the now angry man threw an elbow to her back - which instantly caused Victoria to drop down onto her knees.
The long haired man was beyond pissed that this regular-looking woman was fighting back so much. The rebels didn't need that when this was supposed to be only a ten minute job, so he knew that he needed to put her down. The masked man didn't give Victoria any time to recover from the hits her body was taking before he slammed his right boot against her ribs with all the power that he had. The man watched as the brunette woman rolled herself into a ball before he offered two more kicks to her side. The rebel then bent down until he was eye level with the crying woman before he threw another punch to her face and whispered, "quédate abajo." [stay down]
Victoria felt like she was practically on the brink of death as she watched her attacker walk towards his fellow mask-wearing friends with her face pressed into the desert. The Miller woman honestly didn't know if she was already dead or not as her body didn't hurt anymore. It was like a dull and numb pain and Victoria knew she should be hurting from everything her body took. However, Victoria couldn't think about the issues with her body when she heard her old friend cry out as the three masked figures stood over her.
Victoria couldn't just not do anything when her friend's son was in danger, so the brunette woman ignored the tears in her eyes before she pushed herself onto her knees and used her one good arm to crawl towards the group of kidnappers and the Galindo family. It took quite awhile, though, since Victoria had to stop a few times when she felt her breath leave her body or her right arm wouldn't work correctly or she became too dizzy.
The Miller woman had just arrived at the upside down black SUV when she heard Emily curse at the masked figures before she watched the kidnappers quickly jog towards the old station wagon that they had. Victoria heavily sighed in defeat when she realized that she was too late. The brunette woman threw her head back against the black SUV while she watched the man that had attacked her start up the vehicle.
Victoria felt like she couldn't watch Cristobal be ripped from his family, so she turned her hazel eyes down to the desert ground. However, the brunette woman's heart began to pound in her chest when she noticed her black clutch purse lying beside her. Victoria knew this was her chance, so she quickly grabbed her purse before she pulled out her handgun just as the station wagon began to pull away.
The injured brunette woman quickly pushed herself up onto her knees and aimed with her sleek weapon. Victoria didn't want to accidentally hit Cristobal, so she took aim at the tires on the left side of the station wagon before she swiftly fired off as many shots as she could while the car sped out of the desert.
Victoria's exhausted body immediately fell over after about two minutes when she realized that the clip was empty and the station wagon had escaped. The Miller woman heaved out a sigh of defeat when she could only hear Emily and Maria crying in separate places in the desert. Victoria felt her heart break at the sound of her old friend crying for her son. She wished that she could have done more but she knew this was bigger than her, so Victoria pulled out her cell phone from her clutch purse and dialed Nestor's number.
Victoria slumped her head back against the upside down black SUV as she listened to the ringing tone with her hazel eyes squeezed shut before she finally heard the sound of someone breathing through the device. "Nestor," the Miller woman called out in a scratchy voice before she begged in a voice that was filled with tears, "w-we need help."
The man on the other line, Nestor, was confused and instantly worried when he heard Victoria's voice. It wasn't abnormal for them to talk over the phone but the strong emotions that the Oceteva man could hear was what was worrying him since Victoria is always so strong and never shows any fear. Nestor didn't like the sound that was coming from Victoria, so he immediately tried to calm her down as he softly told her, "hey, hey. Take a deep breath."
Nestor patiently waited for the brunette woman to do what he said while he glanced over to Miguel, who was looking at him in confusion, with a light shrug of his shoulders as he didn't really understand what was going on himself. The Oceteva man silently nodded his head when he heard Victoria take a shaky deep breath before he gently asked, "now, where are you?"
Victoria slowly opened up her hazel eyes as her body was slowly beginning to shut down before she sluggishly glanced around her for any road sign or billboard. However, the brunette woman, sadly, couldn't find any sort of indication to where she was. Victoria honestly haven't been around Oakland that many times so she didn't know where she was like she would if they were in Santo Padre.
"I-I don't know," the Miller woman finally relayed to Nestor after a few minutes of helplessly looking around. Victoria leaned her head back onto the flipped over SUV with an exhausted sigh before she hurriedly told the Oceteva man in a shaky voice as she prayed that he could find them, "we were on our way to Miguel's and t-then this car hit us at an intersection and w-we ended up in the desert."
Nestor silently nodded his head as he swiftly turned his Audi around to head in the opposite direction that he and Miguel were heading towards. "I know where you are," the Oceteva man assured the brunette nurse as he sped down the highway. "We're only a few minutes away, so we'll be there soon," Nestor told the Miller woman before he softly murmured, "you just need to keep taking deep breaths, alright?"
Victoria slowly nodded her head in agreement before she swiftly let out a groan when the movement caused her head to ache. The brunette woman took a moment for a vision to clear before she mumbled, "I will." Victoria then sluggishly ended the call with the Oceteva man, who had tried to ask if she was okay, before she let her hand fall limp on the desert ground.
The Miller woman let out an exhausted sigh as she slowly closed her hazel eyes and tried to relax herself by taking deep breath like she told Nestor that she would. However, the deep breaths didn't really help with her ribs now that she was feeling the pain again, so she tried to stay as still as she could. The quietness - expect for Emily and Maria's crying, though, didn't exactly help keep herself relaxed as her mind was running a mile a minute.
Victoria felt this large amount of pain that wasn't just from her injuries but over the missing child. The Miller woman felt guilty that she couldn't do more for Cristobal when she had been the only thing between the masked figures and the small child. Victoria wished that she had been faster and stronger or she could have saved him and protected him.
Victoria let out a sigh as she knew that she couldn't think too much about what happened with the youngest Galindo when she couldn't do anything to change what happened. The brunette woman just made a mental note that she would help in every way that she could in helping find Cristobal.
The Miller woman slowly opened her hazel eyes as she tried to distract herself from the pain that she was feeling - physical and emotional - but immediately froze when she spotted Benson's body. Victoria had forgotten through everything that happened about how the masked man had shot and killed the security guard. The Miller woman tried to tear her eyes away from the dead body but she just couldn't.
It wasn't the first dead body that Victoria had ever seen since she watched her brother kill their father's associate when she was a young teenager along with her time with the Sons of Anarchy club. However, this one was affecting Victoria a lot when it could have been her on the ground with a bullet through her head. Victoria had known of the possibility of her life ending when she was fighting two men - one with a gun - but it was just now settling into Victoria's mind that it could of been her in Benson's place.
Thankfully, though, before the Miller woman could get too lost in her thoughts over the kidnapped child and the dead body in front of her along with the crying women surrounding her, the familiar Audi swiftly pulled through the desert and right next to the upside down black SUV. Victoria knew it was Nestor, so she tried to stand up with the help of the ruined car behind her but she could barely move without an ounce of pain entering her body. Victoria was too exhausted to fight the pain, so the brunette woman kept her body against the car as she waited for the help to arrive.
It only took about a minute and a half after the Audi had pulled into the desert before Victoria watched as Miguel hurriedly jogged up to his wife and Nestor made his way towards her. The Miller woman glanced up when she saw Nestor's black shoes stop in front of her before she mumbled a quiet, "hey."
The Oceteva man squatted down in front of the brunette nurse before he murmured back, "hey, yourself." Nestor then slowly gazed at the Miller woman's body before he noticed the purple bruises forming all over the nurse's skin. Nestor could tell that Victoria was probably in some sort of pain, so he wondered, "do you need help getting up?"
Victoria looked over the Oceteva man's shoulder as she avoided looking into Nestor's brown irises before she silently nodded her head and quietly mumbled, "yeah." The Miller woman couldn't find it in herself to look Nestor in the eye as she felt ashamed that she needed help like some weak little girl. Victoria knew that she basically went through hell and should feel weak right now but Victoria couldn't show that side of herself again like she did during her childhood. Instead, Victoria held in her tears and ignored the pain as best as she could until she could release them once she was alone.
Nestor gave the brunette woman a gentle smile before he grabbed ahold of her left hand as he had noticed how Victoria was holding her right one to her chest. The Oceteva man looked into Victoria's hazel eyes until she gave him a small nod before he carefully helped her up from the desert ground. Nestor then softly placed his hands onto Victoria's waist so she wouldn't fall back before he stared into her hazel eyes and wondered with his brows furrowed, "what happened tonight?"
Victoria bit down on her bottom lip as she tried to control her emotions while she could hear the painful sounds of her old friend crying into her husband's chest. However, the Miller woman couldn't exactly stop the tears from falling down her face like she would have liked. It was like she had no control of her body anymore from her painful injures and from not being able to help Cristobal.
The brunette woman couldn't even control the shake of her upper body before she tightly gripped the tense Oceteva man's upper arm in a vice hold. Victoria knew that she was basically falling apart already, so she didn't try to hide it any longer. Instead, the Miller woman took a shaky deep breath before she whispered with guilt in her voice, "I-I couldn't save him. I-I couldn't help him."
Nestor wasn't exactly a fan of emotional women but he decided he could be for Victoria as he pulled her tightly into his chest. "Hey, it's alright," the Oceteva man cooed as he ran his fingers through her brunette hair. "You don't have to worry. I'm going to handle this," Nestor softly assured the pediatric nurse as he could put together what exactly happened here tonight by the missing Galindo child and the emotional Emily.
The cartel assassin continued to hold Victoria in his arms as he let her cry on his shoulder for a few minutes before he noticed how Victoria tensed when he squeezed her waist. Nestor slowly pulled back while he continued to hold onto Victoria's waist before he scanned her body. The Oceteva man could now notice since they were so close together that something was definitely injured by the way Victoria's right arm was held and how Victoria was basically bent over to not put any strain on her stomach.
Nestor didn't like that the Miller woman was in pain, so he pulled her back into his chest as he held up her weight before he turned his gaze over to the saddened Galindo couple. "We need to get them out of here," the Oceteva man called out to Miguel before he promised, "I'll send some guys out here to see if they find any leads."
Miguel wrapped his right arm around his wife's shoulder and pulled her tightly into his chest as Emily continued to cry for their missing son before the Galindo man faced his best friend. "I want everyone we have out here looking for mi hijo," the leader of the Galindo cartel ordered with a fierceness shining through his dark eyes as he didn't plan on stopping until his son was found - no matter who's life was caught in the cross hairs.
"I'll get on it," Nestor told his childhood best friend with a small nod of his head before he watched as the fierce Miguel walked his emotional wife to the black Audi. The Oceteva man waited until the Galindo couple were seated in the backseat before he swiftly pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his black slacks while he still had one arm wrapped around Victoria's waist to make sure that she didn't fall over.
The head of security for the Galindo cartel shot the members of his team a text message which contained information on the location and the missing Galindo prince along with the fact that this was number one priority for everyone before Nestor slipped his cell phone into his pocket. The Oceteva man then focused back onto Victoria as he stared into her hazel irises before he asked since he knew she wasn't one hundred percent okay, "can you make it to the car or do you need help?"
The Miller woman immediately shook her head - which made her headache even worse - as she didn't want to feel more weak than she already was from crying in front of Nestor. Instead, Victoria shakily pointed her one good hand over to the missing Galindo child's nanny, who was slowly trying to stand up from the ground, before she commanded in an exhausted mumble, "help Maria."
Nestor silently shook his head in amusement at the stubborn woman before he told her in a soft whisper, "you don't have to be strong all the time." The Oceteva man then slowly slid his hand down the length of Victoria's good arm before he gave her left hand a slight squeeze. "Just stay here," Nestor ordered as he stared into Victoria's hazel eyes before he promised, "I'll be back and I'll help you."
The head of security for the Galindo cartel waited until Victoria nodded her head in agreement before he cautiously leaned the brunette woman's body against the upside down SUV so she wouldn't end up falling down. Once Nestor was sure that Victoria could hold her own balance, he quickly jogged over to Maria, was now fulling standing, and lightly grabbed ahold of her upper arm.
Nestor had quickly did a scan of the Galindo nanny's body to check for injures like he had done with Victoria. However, when the Oceteva man couldn't find a single mark of Maria, he walked the woman towards his black vehicle. Nestor opened the backseat for the nanny before he helped her into his Audi beside the Galindo couple.
The Oceteva man waited until Maria was settled beside Emily before he closed the backdoor of his car and swiftly jogged back towards the now swaying pediatric nurse. "I got you," Nestor murmured as he wrapped his arm around Victoria's waist. The cartel assassin gazed down at the Miller woman's face for a moment to make sure that she wasn't going to pass out on him before he readjusted his arm around her waist and mumbled, "come on," as he began to walk back towards his car.
It took a few minutes of the pediatric nurse and the cartel assassin walking through the desert before they finally reached the black Audi since Victoria had to stop when the pain became too much for her. Nestor unwrapped one arm from Victoria's waist as he opened the passenger door before he slowly lowered the brunette woman into the leather seat. The Oceteva man then leaned over Victoria's body and helped buckle her in before he pulled away and stared at the brunette woman. "You good?" Nestor inquired with his brows furrowed as he was afraid that she was in pain right now.
Victoria bit down on her bottom lip for a minute or two as she gazed up to the Oceteva man's brown irises before she slowly nodded her head. "Fine," the Miller woman swiftly squeezed through her lips before she immediately closed them as she tried to hold in the cry that she really needed to release from the pain that she was feeling all over her body.
Nestor continued to stare into Victoria's hazel eyes for a moment more as he made sure that she was okay before he carefully closed the passenger door and quickly rounded the car. The Oceteva man entered the black Audi before he took a quick glance at everyone in the vehicle with a silent sigh. Nestor knew the night was only beginning, so he swiftly pulled out of the desert and headed back towards Santo Padre with the plan to do whatever he could to find the Galindo prince.
Victoria slowly leaned her body against the cool window in the sleek Audi with a heavy sigh escaping her exhausted body as they headed back home to Santo Padre. The Miller woman was just so tired - mentally and physically. Victoria honestly didn't know how she got herself in this situation again. Victoria had tried her best to stay out of problems that didn't involve her. She had been clean for years after getting in trouble with the Sons of Anarchy motorcycle club but here she was again - getting in the middle of something that didn't involve her. It was like trouble just kept on finding her when she just wanted to take care of her family - the Reyes men - and work as a normal pediatric nurse.
However, just like every other time, Victoria didn't plan on backing out like she didn't when her Godson was kidnapped and she had found herself in Belfast. Victoria barely knew her old best friend again but Victoria wasn't going to stand back. That was never her forte. The Miller woman felt guilty that she couldn't save Cristobal in time, so she made a promise as she closed her hazel eyes that she was going to help as best as she could to bring the Galindo prince home.
The Miller woman was so lost in her thoughts about the past and the present that she didn't realize that they had arrived back in Santo Padre until they pulled in front of a compound-like house. Victoria furrowed her brows in confusion before she glanced to the clock by the radio and noticed it had already been twenty minutes since they had left the desert. The brunette woman shook her head as she didn't know how she had lost track of time like that. It's probably the concussion, Victoria reminded herself as she watched as Miguel helped Emily towards the house with Maria slowly trailing behind them.
Victoria released a heavy sigh once she watched the trio walk into the home as she knew it was time for her to get out of the car as well. The Miller woman was dreading the pain but she knew that she couldn't stay in the car all night - no matter how comfortable it was. Victoria took a deep breath as she prepared herself before she carefully unbuckled the seat belt and slowly pushed open the passenger door. However, though, when Victoria moved her body to exit the vehicle, she could only let out a painful moan from the movement of her ribs.
"Hey, careful," the Oceteva man quickly told Victoria from the drivers seat, where he had been carefully watching the brunette's movements, before he swiftly exited out of the black Audi and rounded the vehicle. Nestor placed himself between the opened passenger door before he leaned his body down so he was level with the Miller woman's hazel irises. The cartel assassin could tell that Victoria was hurting by the way her face was scrunched up, so he asked to see if it was serious, "do you think you broke something?"
The injured Miller woman slowly nodded her head with her hazel eyes tightly closed as Victoria tried to relax her body to get used to the pain but it wasn't exactly working. Victoria sat there with her eyes closed for a couple of minutes until the pain was bearable again before she slowly gazed into Nestor's brown irises. "It's my ribs and my right arm," the pediatric nurse mumbled before she added from her experience in ortho rotations during nursing school, "they're fractured."
"Alright," Nestor mumbled, mostly to himself, as he inspected the Miller woman's body after he knew what was going on. The Oceteva man knew what he needed to do and that first started with getting the injured woman out of the car, so Nestor leaned into the black Audi and carefully wrapped his arm around Victoria's midsection before he cautiously helped her stand onto the pavement outside of the Galindo compound.
"You good?" The Oceteva man inquired as he looked down into Victoria's hazel eyes once they were both standing on their two feet outside of the sleek black Audi.
Victoria had her good fist clinched in the Oceteva man's button down shirt the entire time that he was helping her out of the vehicle. The Miller woman wanted to cry out the whole time that he was helping her but Victoria didn't need anyone worrying about her, so she only nodded her head in silence.
Nestor scanned down the Miller woman's face as he could tell that she was lying. However, he didn't mention it as he knew, from the short amount of time that he and Victoria had gotten to know one another, that she was very stubborn. Instead, Nestor switched his position so he had his right arm around holding tightly onto Victoria's hip before he slowly led her into the Galindo compound.
"Come on, this way," the Oceteva man told Victoria as he steered them towards a long hallway to the left of the front door. Nestor helped the injured woman walk down the hallway until they reached the second to last door on the right side before he pushed one of the two wooden doors open. The Oceteva man then walked Victoria over to the long table that was settled in the middle of the conference-like room before he placed his hands onto her hips and lifted the injured woman up onto the table.
Nestor figured this way he would be able to reach the Miller woman's injures better instead of having to bend over a chair to reach her ribs and arm. The Oceteva man made sure that Victoria was as comfortable as she could get on the table before he swiftly turned around and headed towards a cabinet in the back of the room. Nestor opened the cabinet and grabbed a white medical kit before he went straight back to the large table to deal with the pediatric nurse's injuries.
The Oceteva man placed the medical kit onto the table and opened it up before he began to grab a few things that he would need to patch up the brunette woman's arm and ribs. Nestor was currently making sure that the medical wrap wound work for the broken bones of the Miller woman as he aimlessly told Victoria like it was the most normal thing in the world, "take off the top of your dress."
Victoria's hazel irises immediately widened when she heard the Oceteva man's command along with a slight blush as she wasn't expecting that to come out of Nestor's mouth. However, the Miller woman turned embarrassed after a moment when her hazy mind realized that it wasn't sexual or anything. It was just to help her. "At least take me to dinner first," Victoria jokingly mumbled as she hid the embarrassment that she had just felt.
Nestor shook his head in amusement along with letting a quiet chuckle escape his lips while he continued to prepare the medical materials for the injured woman. The Oceteva man stopped for a moment, though, as he looked down into Victoria's hazel irises before he teased, "well, at least your humor isn't injured."
The Miller woman playfully rolled her hazel eyes at the Oceteva man before she sarcastically uttered, "ha ha." Victoria couldn't help but smile, though, as the small joke got her out of her tense mood after everything that happened at the desert. It was like Victoria could finally breathe again.
Victoria knew that she really did need to take off the top part of her dress, despite her embarrassment, so the injured woman listened to the Oceteva man as she slowly and sluggishly pulled her left arm out of her black dress. However, though, when Victoria tried to do right arm, the one that she knew was fractured, the brunette woman could only loudly groan before she moaned out, "it hurts too much."
Nestor's brown irises immediately softened when he heard the pain come out of the usually strong and stubborn Miller woman before he softly assured her, "I got you." The Oceteva man then moved himself to stand directly in front of Victoria instead of to the side of her before he carefully helped slide the brunette woman's injured arm from the black strap of her dress.
Nestor gently placed the Miller woman's arm to her side with a light touch of a feather once her injured limb was free as to not cause Victoria anymore pain. The Oceteva man then connected his brown eyes with Victoria's hazel ones as he slowly began to push the black dress down the brunette woman's waist so he could reach her ribs while he avoided looking down at her body when she was so vulnerable in front of him.
"Thanks," Victoria quietly mumbled with a hint of embarrassment shining on her reddened cheeks once the Oceteva man had took a step back and she could feel the cold air on her exposed skin. Victoria wasn't one to be embarrassed of showing her body but being in front of Nestor half naked like this made Victoria feel like that weak little girl again and she absolutely hated feeling that way after so many years of moving past the trauma of her childhood.
The Oceteva man only nodded his head as he could tell Victoria was feeling uncomfortable before he headed back to the medical supplies on the table. Nestor decided that he would fix up the Miller woman's ribs first since that way he figured Victoria would be relaxed with her not so exposed. The Oceteva man grabbed a white compression wrap from the table and moved back in front of the Miller woman.
Nestor had to bend down a little bit since the Miller woman was so small before he placed one side of the compression wrap against Victoria's stomach. The Oceteva man looked up at Victoria with an assuring smile before he quickly but cautiously wrapped the compression piece around Victoria's ribs and secured it together.
"Ow, fuck," the Miller woman moaned out with her hazel eyes scrunched up once she felt the compression wrap pressing against her ribs. Victoria knew the feeling of wrapping up broken ribs but that didn't mean it was anymore uncomfortable than it had been when she was younger.
"It'll get easier once you get used to it," Nestor assured the Miller woman with a slight smile playing on his lips before he slowly lifted Victoria's black dress over the wrap and further up her chest so she wouldn't be uncomfortable with being exposed like that in front of him as he knew that she hated feeling weak from the short amount of time that he has known the pediatric nurse.
Nestor watched the Miller woman for a moment as he made sure that the compression wrap wasn't causing her too much pain - other than the usual feeling of being wrapped tightly - before he moved onto her next injury. "So, what part of the arm do you think you broke?" The Oceteva man inquired as he squinted his eyes at the brunette woman's right arm.
The pediatric nurse sluggishly lifted her left arm and moved her hand over to the area that she had felt this most pain. "It's mostly in this region," Victoria mumbled as she pointed towards her shoulder socket and down to a few inches above her elbow.
The Oceteva man studied where Victoria was pointing towards for a moment as he carefully prodded the brunette woman's upper arm so he could figure out what kind of fracture she had. Nestor took a few more minutes of feeling Victoria's injured arm before he silently nodded his head and murmured, mostly to himself, when he realized which bone was broken, "midshaft humerus."
"That's what I was thinking," Victoria tiredly mumbled as she sleepily watched as the Oceteva man grabbed a plain white brace for her arm. The Miller woman then straightened out her body - instead of being bent sideways to hold her exhausted body up - when Nestor walked back towards her and began to place the brace around her injured limb.
"How do you know so much about medical procedures for breaks, anyway?" Victoria curiously wondered with a twitch of her head as the Oceteva man placed the brace around her with a touch of expertise. The brunette woman shot Nestor a small, teasing smile as she joked, "I thought I was the nurse here."
The Oceteva man let out a small chuckle as he wrapped the straps of the brace across Victoria's chest and tightly secured it. Nestor glanced into the brunette woman's hazel eyes for a quick moment before he explained as he focused back on making sure the brace was fitted in the right position, "I had medical training while I was serving with the Navy."
Victoria silently nodded her head in understanding before she murmured, "I suppose that comes in pretty handy these days." The Miller woman figured that it's smart to have medical training like Nestor does if tonight was any indication with only a small outing with the leader of the Galindo cartel. Victoria would bet all the money in the world that this wasn't the first time someone had to be patched up like how she is always patching up the Mayans.
"Well, don't make it a habit in getting hurt," the Oceteva man jokingly told the pediatric nurse when he glanced into her hazel irises with amusement shining through his brown ones before he quickly focused right back onto the brace to make sure that he was doing it correctly and wasn't causing Victoria anymore pain.
The Miller woman rolled her hazel eyes as she muttered, "trust me, I don't plan on having a repeat of tonight." Victoria hated getting hurt as it reminded her so much of her childhood and how weak she used to be because of her father, so Victoria definitely didn't plan on making it a habit, ever.
The conference room in the Galindo compound slowly became silent for a few minutes as the Oceteva man triple checked the arm brace before he uttered once he was finished, "alright, there we are." Nestor then took two small steps back so he could observe his final product before he inquired encase he needed to fix anything, "how does it feel?"
Victoria cautiously lifted up her right injured arm before she was pleased when her arm stayed secured in place by her side like it should. The Miller woman shot the cartel assassin a small smile before she told him, "it's good." Victoria knew that Nestor had done it correctly since she had repaired multiple bones through her ortho rotations while in nursing school.
The Oceteva man shot the brunette woman a small grin as he commented, "good." The grin on Nestor's face, however, didn't stay long when he noticed blood dripping from Victoria's face that he didn't notice earlier. Nestor stepped closer back in front of the Miller woman before he brought his hand to the side of Victoria's face and murmured, "you have a gash."
The Miller woman immediately furrowed her brows when she heard what the cartel assassin said before she quickly brought her hand to her head where she could feel a swoosh of cold air. Victoria tapped the spot above her eyebrow before she connected her hazel irises to her hand and sure enough, there was fresh blood covering her fingertips. The brunette woman rolled her eyes at the red liquid before she mumbled, mostly to herself, "I guess he did get in a few good punches."
The Oceteva man couldn't help the anger that bubbled into him when Victoria mentioned what happened tonight. Nestor had slowly gotten closer to the Miller woman over the last week so he had become to care about her as well and he did not like hearing about someone hurting her. However, Nestor wasn't one to show his emotions, so he pushed them to the back of his mind as he muttered through his clenched jaw, "let me patch it up."
Nestor walked back over to the kit of medical supplies and searched through everything before he found what he was looking for - the suture kit. The Oceteva man took the needle and thread out of the package and grabbed a disinfect wipe before he walked back over to the Miller woman. Nestor knew that he needed to be close to the wound, so he settled himself between Victoria's thighs before he got to work as he wiped the blood from Victoria's face.
The Oceteva man made sure there wasn't anymore blood on Victoria's face before he tossed the bloody disinfect wipe down onto the table behind the brunette woman. Nestor then connected his brown eyes with Victoria's hazel ones before he gently inquired as he wanted to make sure that Victoria was doing okay before he began, "you ready?"
Victoria took a slow deep breath through her fractured ribs before she nodded her head and mumbled, "stitch me up." The whole stitching thing didn't actually bother Victoria at all. Victoria couldn't even count how many times Chibs had to patch her up from when she would get into fights along with any trouble she would find with her brother, Opie, and Jax when she was a teenager in Charming.
It was just the fact that Victoria was just so exhausted from everything that happened tonight. The broken bones and bleeding face was nothing compared of how emotionally exhausted Victoria was right now. The injuries did account to why she was feeling like a weak little girl, though, and she hated that so much. Victoria rarely showed weakness - except with Angel - so she hated that she was feeling like that again in front of someone that she had barely started being friends with.
The other thought that was bothering Victoria and her exhausted body was the guilt. Victoria felt guilty that she didn't do more in protecting the youngest Galindo. The Miller woman prided herself in caring for children as a pediatric nurse, so she felt horrible that she couldn't keep Cristobal safe. However, as Victoria aimlessly messed with her fingers, she silently swore that she was going to do everything that she could in helping find the Galindo son.
While the Miller woman was lost in her guilt and her emotional trauma, the Oceteva man began to work on stitching up the opened cut above Victoria's eyebrow. The conference room in the Galindo compound was silent with only the sound of the needle and thread going through the pediatric nurse's skin for a couple of minutes before Nestor finally tied off the suture.
The Oceteva man took a step back once he was finished and studied his work for a moment or two as he made sure that it was perfect and there was no more blood falling through the gash. Nestor nodded his head to himself as he was pleased with his work before he connected his brown irises with Victoria's hazel ones. The Oceteva man couldn't help but frown when he could see the strong emotions swirling through the pediatric nurse's eyes, though.
Nestor walked back between the distracted Miller woman's thighs before he gently grabbed ahold of Victoria's chin and slowly stroked the side of her face. "Hey," the Oceteva man softly murmured to get Victoria to focus on him before he continued, "everything's going to be alright." Nestor wasn't the best at comforting people but he was willing to try for the Miller woman for some reason that he couldn't understand.
The Oceteva man trailed his large hand down the side of Victoria's neck and gave her warm skin a small squeeze before he told the brunette woman in a soft but determined voice, "I'm going to figure out who did this." Nestor shook his head with his jaw clinched tightly while he continued to gently hold the brunette woman close before he snarled out, "I promise, I won't stop until they are dead." The cartel assassin rubbed his fingers along the side of Victoria's face as he added, "I promise, no one will touch you ever again."
Victoria knew that the Oceteva man was just talking about what happened tonight but the brunette woman couldn't help the shiver that ran down her spine at the promise as her mind went swiftly back to her childhood and the fact that her father was still free out in the world. Victoria always had this feeling that her father would come back for her, so it made her feel safe - even thought Ezekiel was really the only one that knew what she had gone through.
Victoria mentally shook her head when she realized what she was thinking about as she knew it wasn't the time right now to be thinking about her abusive and free father. Instead, the Miller woman took a deep breath before she looked into Nestor's brown irises with tears clouding her hazel ones from Nestor's assuring words - even though he basically promised to kill someone for her but that wasn't anything new for Victoria when she had been close to two motorcycle clubs' her whole life.
The thought that Nestor, someone that she was slowly becoming to trust, would do something like that was what mattered to Victoria. The pediatric nurse learnt to respect someone with that kind of loyalty from Queen Gemma herself, so it meant the world to Victoria that Nestor was willing to do that for her.
Victoria gave the Oceteva man, who was gazing into her hazel eyes from his position between her thighs, a small smile before she reached down and grabbed his free hand that wasn't settled on her neck and gave his hand the hardest squeeze that she could. "Thank you," Victoria softly whispered as she felt safe for the first time since the incident.
Nestor gave the Miller woman a small smile along with a small nod as he accepted her praise before he told Victoria with a tiny smirk playing on his lips at the use of her nickname that he learned while in Charming, "I got your back, tiger." The Oceteva man could see the emotions swirling through Victoria's hazel eyes as he carefully watched her for a moment before he murmured, "come here." Nestor pulled the brunette woman into his chest and wrapped his arms around her waist as he knew Victoria needed it right now and he would gladly be her shoulder to cry on.
The Miller woman couldn't help but release a sigh of relief when Nestor wrapped his warm body around hers. Victoria didn't know how much she needed the comfort until she was in Nestor's arms. It just made all her worries disappear for the moment as she absorbed the comfort from the cartel assassin.
However, the comfort didn't stop from Victoria's thoughts to go running wild, though. The Miller woman's mind was filled with every horrible detail that she had witnessed tonight in the desert. Victoria still felt so guilty about how she couldn't save Emily and Miguel the pain of losing their child when she could have done something - even though there wasn't really anything that she could have done against three people.
The Miller woman just hated feeling this useless when she was all about protecting the people in her life and that now included the Galindo prince. Victoria didn't like to sit back and wait. She was never like that even back then when her Godson had been kidnapped to another country, so Victoria didn't plan on doing that now. Victoria mentally swore as she squeezed her hazel eyes against Nestor's chest that she was going to do whatever she could to help bring Cristobal back home no matter the cost.