Holly cleaned up Jax's face when he got home, listening to him fill her in on what happened.
"I knew there had to be more to the story. Squeaky clean my ass."
He stopped her hands, noticing they were shaking and cold, lightly breathing on them to warm them up.
"I was eating ice cream. I'm fine."
"How are you feeling?"
"My ass is sore and having Chibs look at the scrapes going up and down my back, to include my ass, is a bit embarrassing. But, I'm working on healing."
She kissed his head, sighing softly.
"I'm sorry for the shit I said yesterday. I guess I was holding onto more than I thought I was."
"It's ok. We all need to vent from time to time. We rely on you and mom for so much that we don't think of the weight of this shit. You're doing alright considering everything that's happened. Tell me next time you're hurting like that, ok? I wanna be there for you too."
She nodded, kissing him softly, letting him pull her into his lap carefully. She gripped his hand, gently playing with his fingers, letting her mind wander for a minute.
"When my parents died, all I could do was wonder if I were living the life they wanted for me. Was I the daughter they'd wanted? Even from a young age, I never felt like I was. I always felt like I was letting them down somehow. When you and I started sleeping together, things changed. I felt like that doubt was going away. Like I wasn't letting them down anymore. But since Kohn, I feel like I'm letting them down again and I can't shake that feeling. When I read your dad's journal, I knew why my dad left the club when he did. But I couldn't ever figure out why he didn't leave Charming altogether. And then I found a letter my dad wrote me when I was 16. Just like your dad, my dad liked to write. He was always writing me letters. But this letter was talking about how Charming was the first place that grabbed at his soul. The only place that he had been that made him wanna return if he left. Almost like it was calling him home. When he met my mom, he said he felt like more pieces were falling into place for him. Like he was more whole. And when they had me, he felt complete. He said when he saw the three of us together, you, me and Ope, he could see us having the same kind of relationship that he, my mom and your dad had. That he hoped I would find the happiness in life that he had in Charming."
"And have you?"
"Yes. And no. I'm worried that history's repeating itself. That we're gonna end up like our parents did."
"We're not gonna become our parents. I promise."
Holly sat in the car as Gemma drove to the store. They needed to get groceries for Holly and Jax's house. She glanced over for a second.
"I'm sorry for what I said. I don't think you brought on what happened to Chibs. I was hurt and felt like I was alone. I shouldn't have taken it out on you like that."
"It's ok, baby. You weren't entirely wrong, though. I didn't care. I was worried about what it would do to our family that I just let you fade. And for that, I'm sorry."
"We are family, Gemma. I'm still not thrilled about how you handled things, but I can kind of understand why you wanted to stay quiet about it. Something big happens, we have to stick together."
"We will, baby."
She smiled a bit and nodded, watching out the window.
"The ice you're standing on is a little thicker now."
When they got to the store, she let Gemma get the produce while she and Eddie took Abel to get the rest of the stuff, chatting until she went up to pay for everything. As she went to load up the car, she watched as Gemma walked off, putting Abel in the carseat as Eddie helped to load the bags in the trunk. She looked over when Gemma came over to the them.
"What's with you? Why'd you walk off?"
"I'm driving."
She nodded, confused by her behavior. Until she saw Zobelle's daughter. She looked over at Gemma as she started driving.
"Gemma, don't do this. I know why you want to, I want to too. But you'll just get in trouble for this."
But nothing Holly said made any difference. When they caught up with Polly, Gemma jumped out of the car and went after her. She told Eddie to stay there in case Gemma needed to get away fast.
Holly put away the groceries as someone knocked on the door, going over to look through the peephole, letting Eddie in, locking the door behind him.
"Where's Gemma?"
"Lost her. Feds stormed the house that she went to."
"Shit. If I don't hear from her within the next hour or so, I'm gonna have to call Clay. And I really don't wanna do that."
"It would probably be best if you call Jax now."
She sighed and nodded, going over to grab her cell, dialing Jax's number.
"Holly? What's up?"
"I didn't wanna bother you with this, but it's Gemma."
"What happened?"
"She ended up chasing - Holy shit!"
She let out a small scream as Cameron pointed a gun at her, taking her phone and hanging up on Jax before getting Eddie to give over his gun. She kept glancing over at Abel, who had started crying, and then at Emika, who came running in, barking and growling at Cameron. Until he shot her in the head, making Holly scream louder. She started crying when Eddie got stabbed trying to protect Abel, standing up when Cameron went over to Abel.
"Wait! Cameron, you don't wanna do this. Gemma has no reason to kill Eddie. Polly Zobelle, definitely, but not Eddie. You know how this shit works. Old ladies don't usually get involved unless absolutely need be. But if you really wanna get back at Gemma for what happened to Eddie, then take me instead. It'll hit Gemma, Clay and Jax at the same time. You'll have more leverage."
"How about I kill you, take the kid and be done with it?"
Holly held onto Abel as Cameron drove to the docks, looking at him as he parked.
"Cameron, you still have the chance to make things right. Let us go and the guys'll forget about this. They'll let you go, I'll make sure of it."
He cocked his gun and pressed it against her head, making her fall silent.
"Get out."
"I'm not going anywhere without him."
"Get out or I'll kill you both right here."
"No."
"Get out, bitch."
She shook her head, trying to keep a straight face. She needed to buy some time for the guys to catch up to Cameron. She blinked back tears when she heard the motorcycles, still staring at Cameron.
"This is your very last chance. Let us go."
Cameron cursed and took Abel from Holly. Holly yelled and climbed out of the car quickly, taking off after Cameron, quickly followed by the guys, all of them giving chase. She ran as fast as she could, but they didn't make it, not that it stopped her. In one last ditch attempt to catch Cameron, she drove into the water. But she couldn't swim fast enough to catch up to the boat. It didn't help that her ankle got caught in a net coming off one of the boats. Juice had to cut her free and bring her onto the dock. She sat there in shock next to Jax, who was screaming. Just like she was on the inside, but she couldn't get her burning lungs to expel the air needed to scream.