"How's she doing?"

Carrie looked away from the heart monitor, looking over at Mackenzie. "Still breathing. Her rate stays steady for a bit before taking a bit of a dip. Not enough for her to code, but enough where they want to keep a close eye on her before moving forward with surgery."

"How did last night go? How were her vitals then?"

"It was touch and go," Carrie answered, feeling the tears well up while recalling the event. "We almost lost her for a moment."

"Which is why, they're holding off on further surgeries," Mackenzie stated, sighing while feeling her heart break. Staring Donna while she laid in a hospital bed, fighting for her life. "She's strong, she's not going anywhere."

"She's fighting to stay," Carrie agreed before shaking her head. "Dr. Matthews is worried it might have hit the brachial plexus."

"Shit, if it did she'll lose complete arm movement." Mackenzie's heart went out to Donna. She would be lucky to be alive but she would have no use of her right arm.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah," Tara turned back to the other doctors. "Excuse me."

Her and Jax walked into the empty waiting room, closing the door behind them. Sitting down in silence. Before she spoke up. "I heard about what happened to Donna."

"Yeah. She's still under observation." Jax looks up to look at her. "You doing okay?"

Tara shakes her head before scoffing. "No. I'm not okay. The past few weeks I've been trying to make everything fit but I can't. I can't sleep, I don't know if I'm more scared that we got away with murder or that we'll be caught."

"Nothings going to blow back on you," Jax said trying to alleviate some of her stress. "On either one of us. As far as everyone knows, Kohn is on the run. He didn't want to do time, so he didn't go back to Chicago."

"But what does that make me, I may not have killed him but I shot him too."

Jax shook his head before staring her directly in the eyes. "It makes you a survivor."

Tara looked away. Before grabbing his hand, kissing the back of it. "You're a good man with a big heart. You try to do as much good as you can, but you live a life that I don't think I'll ever fully understand." Tara pauses, biting her lip before looking up at Jax. "I called Chicago Presbyterian and they're willing to take me back."

Jax scoffs pulling his hand from hers. Shaking his head while leaning back in his seat. Not believing that Tara is doing this to him again. "Don't you ever get tired of running?"

"This is the best choice for me. It's the most realistic one."

Jax got up intent on walking away right then and there. But remembering what he had told Donna about closure the night before had him pausing and turning back around to face Tara. "As soon as things get tough. Or someone pressures you and starts to test your loyalty. Little Tara goes packing and hits the road. Now that you feel safe again, you're going back?"

Jax shook his head, feeling angry at himself for falling for her again. "That's the real reason you came back isn't it because you knew I'd do your dirty work. Because you knew I'd do anything to protect to you. Well do you know how many women I've slept with in the past ten years. Hundreds." Jax shook his head, feeling angry at himself for falling for her again. "I married Wendy because I was tired of being lonely. Tired of feeling the endless disconnect. I wanted to feel something again. But I couldn't and it was all a sad time out."

"I tried to move on. Even though you were here. That night I helped you deal with Kohn. I was supposed to go on a date with Carrie."

Tara furrowed her brow, trying to put a face to the name. "The nurse from the NICU?"

"Yeah. I'd been seeing her but couldn't make anything official with her. As soon as things got heated between us I'd pump the brakes," Jax shrugged while shaking his head. "Ignoring her because I was feeling shit, I'd only ever felt with you. And that confused and scared the shit out of me."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I ruined what could have been a good thing with her, for you. When you came home. It was like some kind of sign to me. Like my past was coming back around and giving me a second chance at doing things right."

Jax scoffed. Not believing his own idiocy at believing things could pick up where they had left off. "I was willing to be all in. Go back to how things used to be but make them better this time around. Then I asked you if you loved me. A simple question that if you still felt the same way, should have been answered but you didn't."

"So you know what I did? I went to Carrie, she confronted me about being with you and standing her up. So I told her that I'd helped you deal with your ex, didn't tell her I killed a guy let alone a fed." Jax explained, knowing Tara would freak out more if he didn't explain the last part. "She asked me if I'd slept with you. I could have lied but I was honest with her. I apologized. Told her that I was all in with her. And you know what? I slept with her that night."

Jax shook his head. Feeling angry at Tara and himself. "She willingly gave herself to me and I ended up hurting her once again for you because you said you wanted to do this. For our shot at a second chance but now that chance is running back to Chicago." Jax turned around, ready to walk out but changed his mind at the last minute.

Turning back and kissing Tara, a kiss that was filled with his anger and sadness. Breaking the kiss and pulling back to look her in the eye. "Take care of yourself Doc."

"We will continue to monitor her very closely," Dr. Matthews informed them. "I know last night was very touch and go. But that is to be expected, especially since the bullet managed to hit the brachial artery. She got lucky that someone was there and that they were quick on their feet to apply pressure. That, is what gave her more time to make it to the hospital. If she had been left alone, she would have bled out and died on the scene."

"My concern now, is to see how much more damage the bullet did. If it just hit the artery, then it she got very lucky and she will recover soon. But she will have movement of her shoulder and arm," Dr. Matthews sighed before shaking his head. "If it hit the brachial plexus, which is the nerve bundle in the shoulder, she could lose complete arm movement. But with her still unstable, we have to wait until her stats go up. Once she's stable enough where we don't fear the risk of her coding on the table. Then we can see the extent of damage and know more."

"Go home and get some rest Opie," Carrie softly said. "I'll stay with her."

"You haven't left today at all," Opie argued, looking up at her. "You should go home and rest. I managed to get a power nap in earlier."

"I'm afraid to leave," Carrie admitted softly, looking at Donna. The only sound coming from the monitors and ventilator. "I'm scared of getting the call. The one where she doesn't make it."

"I'm scared too. Earlier, I sat outside in the car. Looking between my phone and the hospital," Opie shook his head, leaning his arms on his knees. "I didn't get much sleep, knowing that I could get a call that she was gone. I can't lose her."

"And you won't Harry," Carrie reassured. "Donna's fighting to stay here, she's strong. She'll make it through." Carrie looked away from Opie towards Donna. Trying to reassure him, just as much as herself.

Their family would have a difficult time recovering if Donna didn't make it. And that wasn't something she wanted to go through.

It's a little short but I had to scrap the other chapters in order to rewrite them. So they could fit this new direction. But I kept the conversation between Jax and Tara. As that is an important part of the storyline.

Especially now that Tara knows about Carrie. Things are going to start to get interesting in the future chapters.

Remember that certain situations might seem to be overlooked but that is not the case. They will be confronted and answered but just at a later date.

Also all suggestions are welcome. I've kind of hit a tough spot in how to make Donna's storyline fit into the events of season 2.

Which to be honest I can't because her death is one of the focal points of it. As it leads to him being distanced from his kids. Not to mention it leads him to side with Clay while forming some tension with Jax. And thats where Lyla comes into the mix and their storyline begins.

I already knew that if I let her live, I wouldn't be able to follow show canon. At least not completely like before. But I'm still going to add some events that occurred from it.

So just let me know what you guys want to see and I'll see if it could fit into the storyline.

Also there are going to be some time jumps in upcoming chapters and while it may not seem completely realistic Donna is probably going to heal a lot "sooner" than it would happen in real life. Because let's be real I don't want to write her whole healing processing and you guys don't want to read that lol.

So let me know your theories in the comments below.

Thank you for the continuation of support by voting, following and adding this to your reading list, library. It's greatly appreciated.