Jax was still bent over Jess when the paramedics arrived, panic and confusion swarming his mind. How did this even happen? Why did this even happen? And most importantly, who the fuck did this? Because whoever it was, they had just signed their own death certificate. The paramedics pushed him to the side and Jax stood, walking over to where Lux and Tig stood. He watched the paramedics check over Jess before loading her onto a stretcher.
"You need to get checked out, too," Jax heard Tig say, and finally tore his gaze from Jess to look at his sister.
"I'm fine!" Lux insisted.
"You got glass sticking out of you all over," Tig said, "You're going."
"I'm fine," Lux repeated, turning to her shoulder to pull a shard of glass out of her skin. Jax cringed at the sight of Lux's hands, covered in blood, before he looked down at his own bloody hands.
"Listen to Tig, Lux," Jax said wearily, "Get checked out. I don't need to be worried about both of you." Lux sighed, finally nodding.
"Okay," she assented. She turned to look at her brother, reaching her hand out and clutching his arm, "She's going to be fine, Jax." The words sounded empty even as she spoke them, but Jax held onto them, nodding.
"Yeah," he said as the paramedics began loading the stretcher with Jess on it down the stairs.
"Alright, meet me at the hospital," Jax said, following the paramedics. He turned back to look at Tig, "Make sure she sees a doctor," he said, pointing at Lux. Tig nodded as Jax raced down the stairs and across the street to his bike.
SOASOASOASOASOASOA
Jax burst through the front doors of the ER, striding up to the front desk as a woman looked up at him from behind her computer, her eyes widening slightly at the sight of the angry biker covered in blood storming towards her.
"Jessica Tyler," he barked at her and she quickly typed the name into her computer before looking back up at him.
"She's being prepped for surgery," the woman told him, "It could be several hours until we know anything." At the sight of Jax's nostrils flaring, she added, "But I'll go tell the nurses you're here so the doctor will know to come out when there's any news."
Jax finally nodded at her, glancing down at the blood still caked on his hands as he walked into the bathroom to wash it off. He stared at his weary and worried face in the mirror as the water running down the drain turned red. Once his hands were clean, he splashed some water on his face, hoping it would help the nightmare running through his mind, but it didn't.
He walked out of the bathroom just as Tig and Lux walked through the front doors, Opie not far behind them. Opie walked up to Jax as Tig pulled Lux toward the front desk to get checked in.
"I got Chibs settin' up meets with Alvarez, Salazar, LeRoy, and Darby," Opie told Jax as they each took a seat in the waiting room, "See if we can figure out if it was one of them, or at the very least if they've heard anything." Jax nodded, thankful to have a VP on top of things when all Jax wanted to do was punch the hell out of something.
"I've also got Juice doing the usual whatever-the-hell-it-is he does," Opie said, "We'll figure this out, brother." Jax nodded, knowing Opie was right because Jax would not rest until who ever had done this was in the ground.
"Did you call ma?" he asked. Opie nodded.
"Yeah, she said she'd get a hold of Luann and Jess's aunt, too," he said, "So… any news?" Jax shook his head, standing up to pace the waiting room and get some of his energy out before he completely exploded.
A nurse walked Tig and Lux through wide double doors that led into the ER and several minutes later Gemma, Clay, Luann, and Rose ran through the front doors into the waiting room, running up to Jax.
"How's Lux?" Gemma asked desperately.
"She's fine," Jax grumbled, "Just got some glass being taken out of her."
"What about Jess?" Luann asked, her voice panicky as Rose stood near her, looking close to tears as she eyed the blood covering Jax's shirt and jeans, "How is she? What happened? What's going on?"
"I don't know!" Jax bellowed at her, refusing to feel guilty as her face fell, "She was fucking shot. Twice. She's in surgery. That's all I know." Rose's face fell as she stared at Jax, shaking her head and walking away to take a seat on a chair.
Tig walked quickly through the doors from the ER and back into the waiting room, looking at Jax.
"Hey, I need to go grab Lux some clothes. They're full of glass. Will you go wait with her? She looks like she's about to punch someone if a doctor doesn't get to her soon," he said. Jax sighed in frustration, nodding as Tig hurried out of the hospital and Jax rose to walk back into the ER.
Lux wasn't hard to find. She was impatiently pacing the door of her room wearing a hospital gown, yelling at every nurse that passed her by.
"Hello!? Can you hear me?! Yeah, you! When the hell is the doctor going to be here?" She barked at a poor nurse who simply shrugged and scurried away. Lux saw Jax walk up to her and she scowled as she walked back into her room and climbed on the bed.
"This is ridiculous, Jax," she said, "They're taking forever. I can't get a doctor in here to save my life, no pun intended. Chibs coulda done this faster."
"Well there's no rush," Jax sighed, throwing himself into the chair next to her bed, "It's going to be a couple of hours before there's any news on Jess." Lux reached over, grabbing a hold of his hand and he allowed her to. They sat like that in silence until a doctor finally walked in, smiling at Lux over the chart she held.
"Hi Lux, I'm Doctor McNeely," she said cheerfully, "Looks like I'll be removing glass from you today." Lux scowled at the doctor's happy demeanor, glancing over at Jax as if to say 'You think this nut job is gonna do a better job than Chibs?' But she allowed Dr. McNeeley to check her over before having her lie on her stomach to pick out the glass.
Tig walked into the room, holding a bundle of clothes for Lux and Jax stood, allowing Tig to take his place as he walked back into the waiting room. Everyone was now sitting, their heads in their hands, and Gemma glanced up as Jax walked in.
"How's Lux?" she asked. Jax shrugged.
"She's fine, ma," he said exasperatedly, "I told you." Gemma nodded, glancing next to her at Luann.
"Okay then, I'm gonna go over to the girls' apartment. See what the damage is," she said.
"I don't know how you can worry about something like that at a time like this," Luann said and Gemma shrugged, standing and grabbing her bag.
"Well the girls are certainly in no condition to worry about it, and the Sons have more important things to deal with with this whole situation. So it falls to me," Gemma said, but Jax knew why she was so insistent. Just as his MO when he was panicked was to get angry, Gemma's was to try and fix whatever she could. She walked over to Jax, kissing him gently on the cheek as she squeezed his arm reassuringly.
"You have someone call me as soon as there's any news," she said, looking at him imploringly, "She's going to be okay, Jax." Jax nodded as Gemma turned and walked out of the front doors as he collapsed into an empty chair, his head in his hands.
Jax didn't know how long he sat there. It felt like days. Lux had come out of the ER long ago and was now stretched out across several chairs, her head in Tig's lap as she stared blankly at the ceiling. Not a single word had been spoken in that room in hours and just as Jax was about to stand up, walk into the ER, and demand some answers, a doctor walked out, looking at them all.
Jax rushed up to him, followed closely by Luann, Rose, and Lux, and he gave them all a small smile.
"Jess Tyler?" the doctor asked, and they all nodded eagerly.
"I'm Dr. Webb," he said, "I operated on Ms. Tyler. We have her out of surgery and she's stabilized." Jax felt his breath release in relief. Stabilized was good. Stabilized meant still alive.
"How is she?" Rose asked quickly.
"Well she's not out of the woods yet, but she's doing better than expected," he replied, "I'm optimistic." Rose nodded, clutching her hand to her heart.
"Thank God," she murmured.
"When can we see her?" Jax asked.
"She's resting now, but I'll be able to allow a few of you in at a time in a little while," he answered.
"So what happened with the surgery?" Lux asked. Dr. Webb looked around at the small group gathered around him.
"Are any of you immediate family?" he asked.
"I'm her aunt," Rose spoke up quickly. Lux scowled.
"We're all her family," Lux replied haughtily. Dr. Webb looked at her sympathetically.
"I'm sorry, I can't release any information about the specifics of the surgery except to a spouse or blood relative. Not until I get the patient's consent," he said.
"I'm a blood relative," Rose said insistently and the doctor nodded, motioning for her to follow him back into the ER. Jax sighed, running a hand through his hair as he turned around angrily, his mood darkening at the sight of Sherriff Roosevelt striding through the front doors and into the waiting room, walking straight towards Jax.
"Jax," he said in greeting.
"Sherriff," Jax replied coolly, scowling at him, "What are you doing here?"
"Got a call in about a GSW," he replied, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" Jax rolled his eyes away from the Sherriff, shaking his head. Roosevelt's eyes narrowed as he studied Jax.
"That's funny, 'cause I was pretty sure the name that came across my radio was the name of your new girl," he said. Jax returned his eyes to the Sherriff, narrowing them. Roosevelt shrugged, "It's a small town, Jax. Word gets around fast."
Jax took a moment to process the words, his eyes narrowing at the revelation. It had been so soon after he and Jess had gotten together, he'd assumed the target had been Lux. Lux's relationship to the club had always been common knowledge, and Jax had figured Jess had just gotten caught in the crossfire. But if word had already reached Roosevelt… then maybe this attack wasn't just against the club. Now Jax felt like it was personal attack meant to hurt him. But who was still around that worked that way? Who was around that targeted Old Ladies to get to the men behind them?
"Jax," Roosevelt said, looking curiously at him and shaking Jax from his thoughts. Jax turned back to glare at him, "You sure you don't know who did this?"
"If I did, I'd be there right now!" Jax yelled loudly at him, frustration and rage that he had no idea who had done this coursing through him.
"Don't do anything stupid," Roosevelt warned him and Jax scoffed, shaking his head.
"Yeah, you tell me that when two of the most important women in your life have been in the hospital on the same night," he said. Roosevelt sighed.
"You let the law work," he said, "We're on the same side of this one."
"Wouldn't dream of doing anything else," Jax sneered and Roosevelt pursed his lips, knowing that was about as close to assurances as he would be getting from Jax.
"Alright, well you let me know if you hear of anything," Roosevelt said.
"Got your number on my speed dial," Jax said sarcastically and Roosevelt sighed again, walking back out of the waiting room. As soon as he was gone, Jax stalked up to the front desk, grabbing a pen and a piece of paper from the woman behind the desk and marched over to Lux, who was still laying down on her back, and slapped the paper and pen onto her stomach. She glanced up at him, surprised, as she clutched the paper to her chest and sat up.
"I want you to write down the name of everyone you can think of that you've been running your mouth to this last week about Jess and I," he said darkly. Lux raised her eyebrows, nodding slowly.
"I wasn't aware that was privileged information," she spat at him, not liking the accusatory tone in his voice.
"Just do it!" Jax yelled and Lux sighed, nodding as she started writing.
SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA
Rose followed Dr. Webb into a small office inside the ER and sat down in a chair nervously as Dr. Webb took a seat behind a desk. He looked across at her, getting directly down to business.
"Jess was shot twice. Once was a clean shot through the spleen. We had to remove part of the spleen, but were able to keep most of the organ," he said. Rose looked at him with wide eyes, her eyes brimming with tears as she clutched a hand to her heart, nodding, "Which is good news," Dr. Webb added quickly, "She shouldn't see any sort of side effects with only a partial spleen, though she may become more prone to infections. We've got her on antibiotics now but she shouldn't have to take them regularly like she might have if we'd removed the entire spleen."
Rose nodded, knowing the doctor wasn't finished and praying to God that it didn't get worse.
"The other bullet was a bit more problematic," he said carefully, "It was lodged in her uterus. We were able to remove it, but the uterus was severely damaged." Rose nodded, taking a deep breath.
"So what does that mean?" she asked.
"It means the possibility of her being able to conceive is extremely slim," he said gently.
"Slim?" Rose repeated, not liking the feel of the vague word, "How slim?" Dr. Webb shrugged as he pulled out several MRI scans, laying them across the desk in front of Rose. With a pen he pointed out several areas on the scan.
"See these marks here?" he asked and Rose nodded as she stared down at the scan, "The bullet hit right there, which is just beside the fallopian tube. Due to the retrieval of the bullet, there will be scarring there that will build up, blocking the entrance to the uterus from the fallopian tube. It will be difficult for an egg to get past the blockage."
"How difficult?" Rose repeated. She felt as though Dr. Webb was dancing around the severity of the situation.
"We're talking about a very small number of women with similar issues that are able to conceive," Dr. Webb explained.
"But... then there's still a chance?" Rose asked in a whisper. Dr. Webb pursed his lips, looking back at Rose sympathetically.
"I… suppose," he said, "But without fertility treatment or some sort of intervention, the likelihood of conceiving naturally is almost zero." Rose's lip trembled as she nodded, blinking back the tears that were threatening to fall in sympathy for her niece.
"Can I… Will you let me tell her?" she choked, "Whenever she wakes up?" Dr. Webb frowned, but nodded.
"Are you sure?" he asked. Rose nodded, wiping her eyes.
"I don't want her to hear it from a stranger," she said, sniffling and Dr. Webb nodded again.
"Okay then," he said, rising from his desk. Rose stood as well, shaking his hand.
"Thank you, Doctor," she said, "For saving her life. I can't tell you…" he voice trailed off as she ran out of words, not wanting to think about any other options. He nodded, smiling at her.
"Of course," he said, leading Rose back into the ER waiting room.
Jax stood quickly as soon as she walked back in and she shook her head wearily, taking her seat once more. Jax followed her, Lux glancing up to watch them.
"I knew it would be dangerous," Rose muttered to Jax, looking up at him, "Her getting involved with you. I'd hoped you'd do a better job protecting my niece."
"There was nothing I could have done," Jax said, anger and desperation in his voice and Rose nodded, shrugging.
"That scares me even more for her," she said, sighing.
"What did the doctor say?" Jax asked. Rose hesitated. She knew her niece well enough to know she wouldn't want the whole world knowing her business before she even did. Rose shook her head.
"I'd like to tell Jess first, when she wakes up," Rose said.
"Good God, Rose!" Lux yelled, "Just tell us what the hell is going on!" Rose looked all around her, knowing she wouldn't be able to completely get out of this, so she decided to tell them half the story.
"They had to remove part of her spleen," Rose explained.
"Oh God," Lux moaned, "I don't even know what that is." She looked wildly around, jumping up as a man hurried past them in a white lab coat.
"Hey you!" she called out to him and he halted, turning to look at her, "Can you still drink if you've only got part of your spleen?" she asked. He nodded.
"Sure," he said before hurrying on his way again. Lux grinned.
"Thank God!" she said, and Tig laughed, but Jax just glared at her.
"Lux," he said warningly, but she just shrugged.
"Sorry big bro," she said, "You can deal with shit with your angry-Jax-serious-face, but some of us need to lighten up a little." Jax sighed heavily in frustration, taking his seat again as he waited for the doctors to let him into Jess's room.
SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA
Jess blinked groggily, looking around at her surroundings and trying to recall where she was, but it was all a blur. It looked like a hospital room, but she didn't remember being brought to the hospital. She glanced down at her hand as she realized someone was holding it and smiled as she saw Jax hunched over, gripping her hand tightly as he slept. She shifted her weight on the bed, gasping as a shooting pain went through her belly and suddenly it all came back to her.
"Ow!" Jess said, clutching her free hand to her belly and Jax perked his head up, frowning as Jess winced in pain.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Moving," Jess replied grumpily.
"Well don't do that," Jax said, "Does something hurt? Do you need a nurse?" He was halfway out of his chair before Jess strengthened her grip on his hand, shaking her head.
"No, Jax, I'm fine," she said. He paused, finally sitting down again and bringing her hand to his lips, kissing her fingers gently.
"What happened?" Jess asked.
"We're working on that," Jax replied, trying to keep the anger out of his voice for Jess's sake. Every time he thought about the previous night's events, he felt his rage taking over him again.
"Why did this happen?" she asked quietly. Jax sighed, shaking his head.
"We're working on that, too," he said, "My best guess… someone trying to hurt the club. Or, more specifically, me." Jess gave him a small smile, squeezing his hand.
"Well, they missed," she said, in an attempt to lighten the mood. It didn't seem to work. Jax frowned as he nodded, looking sadly at her.
"Jess…" he said softly, "Jess, I'm so sorry." Jess shook her head.
"You didn't do anything, Jax," she said, "It's not your fault."
"Yeah, but I-" he began, but she cut him off.
"No, Jax," she said firmly, gripping his hand in hers as she looked directly into his eyes. The last thing she wanted was for him to feel guilty about this, "This was not your fault. Trust me, I'd let you know if it was." Jax smirked, giving her a small laugh.
"Okay," he said. They both glanced up as Rose walked in, carrying a large bouquet of flowers and beaming to see Jess awake.
"You're awake!" Rose said, setting the flowers down on the table by the bed as she leaned over Jess, kissing her softly on the forehead, "How are you feeling?" Jess nodded.
"I'm okay," she said. Rose looked over at Jax.
"Do you think you could maybe give us a minute?" she asked nervously. Jax hesitated but finally nodded, rising from his seat and kissing Jess lightly on the lips.
"I'll go let Luann and everyone know you're awake," he said, "They're all worried." Jess nodded, smiling at him as he walked out of the room and Rose took his seat.
"How you feeling, Jess?" Rose asked, looking worried. 'Like I was shot,' Jess thought, but she didn't say it. She shrugged.
"I'm fine," she replied. She hated having everyone so worried about her and was not relishing the thought of more people visiting with similar expressions on their faces. Rose seemed to guess as much and tried her best to wipe the worry off of her face.
"That's good," she said, "You gave us quite a scare, I'll tell you." Jess grinned.
"What can I say? I like to keep things interesting," she said. Rose nodded but she didn't laugh and Jess could tell there was something more weighing on her mind.
"What is it?" Jess asked, "What don't you want to tell me?"
"What?" Rose asked, startled.
"I think I know you well enough by now to know when there's something you're not saying," Jess said, "Just tell me." Rose nodded, glancing up at the closed door to her room before looking back at her.
"I made the doctor promise that I would be the one to tell you about your surgery," she said. Jess nodded, beginning to get nervous. What could possibly have happened to make Rose so distressed?
"Okay," Jess said, waiting for her to elaborate.
"Well the first thing he told me was that one of the bullets went straight through your spleen. They had to remove part of it, but he said it was nothing much to worry about as they were able to save most of it," Rose began.
Jess nodded, rubbing her stomach. Okay, so she didn't have part of her spleen. She didn't even know what the hell it did, and if the doctor said it was nothing to worry about, she was not going to worry about it. But she knew Rose wasn't finished.
"The second bullet, though…" Rose said, increasing Jess's nerves as she paused and Jess wanted to scream at her to spit it out, "It got lodged in your uterus."
"Okay, so… what? They couldn't get it out or something?" Jess asked, wishing Rose would just tell her everything. Rose shook her head.
"No they got it all out," she said, "But… oh, I'm so sorry, Jess. It was damaged pretty bad. The doctor…. He said the scarring is so severe it'll make it very difficult for you to have kids. He said the likelihood of it was almost zero." Jess stared at her for a moment, letting the words sink in before she laid her head back on her pillow, staring at the ceiling while Rose watched her carefully.
She'd never given much thought to having kids. She'd never been in a relationship serious enough to start thinking like that, and truth be told none of her ex-boyfriends had ever really seemed like the fatherly type. She didn't even know if she would ever want to have kids. But that decision wasn't supposed to be made for her. She was supposed to be able to decide for herself and to know the option was no longer there made her feel as if her chest was caving in on her.
"Jess?" Rose finally spoke up. Jess shook her head. She didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to talk about it ever again. And then a thought occurred to her and she jerked her head up, staring at Rose with wide eyes.
"Who else knows?" she asked, her voice shaking. Jax was already feeling guilty enough about the whole thing, she didn't want to add this to it. Not to mention she wasn't sure how he would feel about the information. She knew how much he loved Abel. What if their relationship lasted and he wanted another child someday, and Jess would never be able to give him that? Would it be a deal breaker?
"Just me and the doctor," Rose assured her, "I told everyone about your spleen because they wouldn't stop pestering me, but I figured I'd let you decide what to do with the rest of the information."
Jess sighed in relief as she lay her head back down. She knew if she and Jax were going to be in a relationship, she'd need to tell him eventually. But right now, when it was all still so fresh… that was not the time.
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing! We loved all of the feedback we got on the last chapter! Please review and let us know what you thought of this chapter :)