I own nothing you recognize. Only original characters and storylines are my own.
Chapter Two
The darkness I was floating in slowly turned to a grey as consciousness came back to me and suddenly I was aware. This awareness brought a flood of pain and panic but also an edge of annoyance when I heard shouting from somewhere beyond my line of vision. The voices were familiar but I wasn't awake enough to grasp who they were.
"This would have happened whether she was my wife or not!" Male voice one.
"You so sure about that bikerboy? Where the fuck were you? When I got here she was fucking alone, what if she would have woken up without you scared and confused huh? I was right you never think about anyone other than yourself. You're a fucking prick!" Female voice one.
"Easy brother you don't want to crack a woman in the middle of a crowded hospital." Male voice two.
"I shouldn't have called you, you're making things worse Chantal." Female voice two and at the mention of the name full awareness came back to me. Juice was fighting with Chantal and Opie and Lyla were trying to be peacemakers. I made a noise and suddenly a very feminine hand was in mine.
"Sweetheart?" I painfully opened one eye, not completely able to focus and by the time I did her hand was pulled from mine replaced by my husband's rough one. Suddenly he was dominating my vision and I felt safe.
"Oh god baby…" Was all he said before he brought my hand to his lips.
"I'm gonna go get Dr. Nior." Lyla rested a hand on his shoulder and he nodded before he pulled up a chair never letting go of my hand.
"Esp- Is Espy?" My voice was so weak that it frightened me.
"The baby's fine." His eyes were moist and I wanted to kiss the burgeoning tears away. "You were shot twice Milla, once in the chest and once in the arm. The chest shot shattered your collarbone, the arm shot passed clean through. You also had a heart attack baby."
Oh great the family flaw waited until now to make an appearance. I had been put on meds throughout my life and the tear in my heart was supposed to be small enough that the meds took care of it. I hoped Juice put his boot up my cardiologist's ass. He held my hand like it was a lifeline and stayed silent; he obviously didn't want to upset me further.
"Any-Anyone else…" I coughed a little and Juice looked stricken.
"Two other people were shot, Chuckie and a little boy, no one's dead." I took a deep breath then started coughing again, damn it hurt.
"I'm going to go and get her some meds." I looked over to see Chantal, she looked deeply troubled.
"You do that and don't come back." Juice seethed and I flexed my fingers and he brought my hand to his lips again.
"I'll be back babe, no matter what the Neanderthal here thinks." She went out the door and Juice ran a hand over his Mohawk in frustration.
"Love you." Fitting that that's the first full thought I can express.
"I love you so much baby. I'm not leaving your side." I turned my head a bit and saw Opie leaning against the door jamb.
"Club, you gotta work for the club." I coughed again and Juice stared blankly at me.
"She's right brother, just because your lady's hurt doesn't mean you aren't our intel officer anymore. Clay will understand when you have to visit." Opie, always the voice of reason.
"Is Dad ok? Mom? Jax?" I needed to know my family was ok.
"Clay's at the clubhouse talking to everyone. I don't know about Gemma but I'll find out and Jax is in jail." I tried to sit up at the last and the pain kept me on my back.
"Why? What did Jax do?" Since the weakness had seeped out of me I could speak normally again.
"One of the shooters fell out of the van and he bashed his head against the road, right in front of the cops." Juice got a wicked gleam in his eye and I felt the ghost of a smile on my face.
"Should've curbstomped the bastard. Is my arm in traction?" I realized that I couldn't move my left arm and I was in a panic.
"Yeah, with the collar bone they needed to put you in traction. You'll be in surgery later today once they get the orthopedic surgeon from Sacramento. I'll try to be here when you go under but Ope's right, we have a lot of shit to cover." He squeezed my hand and I understood, he was my husband and the father of our child but he was still a Son and in times like this that took priority.
"Knock, knock, I heard my patient was awake." I looked toward the door and saw Dr. Nior come through the door followed by Lyla and Chantal who cast a quick glare in Juice's direction, a look which he returned before he gave a smile to the doctor. "How are you feeling Milla, I know you're in pain and probably nauseated but what else are you feeling?"
"Scared, worried, irritated, panicked, is Esperanza going to be ok?" I looked into her kind eyes and felt a myself tense again.
"I'll tell you as soon as we get some breathing room in here. Ladies, gentleman I need you to go in the hall. I'm going to conduct an examination and only the patient's husband is allowed to be present. You can see Milla later." Lyla nodded but Chantal refused to budge.
"Please Chantal, you don't have to leave but the doctor needs to do her job." She looked at me and nodded before she moved to the side the doctor was on. Dr. Nior moved as Chantal leaned down and kissed my lips gently, knowing she could get away with it with the doctor in the room.
"I love you and I'm not leaving this hospital for anything." She gave me a soft look and moved out the door. Lyla and Opie took her place.
"I've gotta go to the clubhouse Mills but I'll be back to check on you later. I'll see if I can bring you any news." He leaned down and kissed my forehead.
"Thanks Ope, love you." He nodded and stood by Lyla who leaned down and kissed my cheek.
"I'm gonna go check on the kids but I'm sure they wanna see you. As soon as they can we'll be here. I love you." She smiled and I felt a lot calmer.
"I love you too, tell Ellie that Espy's ok." She nodded and went out the door with Opie's arm around her waist.
"Ok, now that the room's cleared we can talk." She picked up my charts and looked them over. "The good news is that you've stabilized, your heart is back to beating normally and your blood pressure is only a little high. The bad news is that this is only a temporary state. I've talked with Mr. Ortiz about the symptoms you've been exhibiting for the last couple of weeks and it boggles my mind why you haven't been in earlier. You have the classic symptoms of high blood pressure and with your heart defect and pregnancy it's a very bad idea to keep piling stress on the way you do. I've already decided to put you on bedrest for the remainder of your pregnancy; you're only getting up to use the restroom, get food etc. According to your husband your family employs a nurse I say you up her pay scale and have her take care of you as well."
"Are the headaches because of the high blood pressure?" I asked and she nodded.
"There is a very good chance that the headaches you're having are microstrokes brought on by the high blood pressure and your high stress lifestyle. Until we do an MRI and CT Scan I can't be sure. As for the baby, her heart rate's stronger and steadier than yours is. You have a tough little firecracker there. Most women would have lost their babies from something like this but you have a fighter. She reminds me of your mother." I felt tears in my eyes at the mention of my mom and she gave me a sad smile. "A lot of us respect your mother and hope that she's doing ok, but right now, you and the baby are priority numero uno. I'm going to give you a very mild pain killer that won't harm the baby and then you'll be ready to relax before you go into surgery this afternoon. Doctor Mellencamp is here and is being prepped on your case. I have to go check on some of my other patients but I'm on call if you need me."
She nodded at me then at Juice before she left. He looked so tired and haggard that I realized he hadn't gotten any sleep at all and it was already morning. I reached up and placed my hand on his face as he leaned into it.
"Go get some sleep baby, before Dad calls you." He shook his head, "If you don't wanna leave there's one of those uncomfortable, impractical bed chairs right there. Just slide it over here and you don't even have to let go of my hand."
That got his attention and he moved to the side of the room and brought the chair over. He situated himself in it as best he could and took my hand. With one last loving look he closed his eyes and was out cold. I smiled as his light snores began to drift around the room. I tried to drift off again but found that my brain wouldn't shut off, a side effect of trying to keep everything together. Juice had barely gotten half an hour of sleep when his phone rang and he jerked awake. With a curse he picked up his phone and answered.
"Yeah Clay, just woke up. I'm at St. Thomas with Milla. She's doing better but the doc's worried. Yeah you can come see her; the doc doesn't like too many people in her room. Porn slut's in the hallway, haven't told her she could come in yet. I'd appreciate it. Yeah I can do that, just make sure there's someone with Milla. Thanks Clay." He turned and looked at me, alert despite his interrupted sleep. "Clay and the guys are coming to take care of business but he and Jax wanna see you so they're gonna come check you out then we're gonna take care of the business. I probably won't be around for the surgery baby."
"I understand, club business is club business. You know I'll be alright, I have protection detail." I nodded to the door where Paco and Chick were hovering. They'd taken it upon themselves to protect me. "Let Chantal stay baby. I know you two hate each other but she's good to me and I know she'd throw herself in front of any bullet. You know you can trust me."
"I trust you but I will never trust her." He ran his hand over his face and I reached across the bed for his hand. He took it.
"Please, it's the only thing I want." He looked pained but he nodded. He didn't have a chance to say any more before there was a knock at the door and Dad popped his head in. They must have been in the lot when Dad called Juice.
"How's my baby girl?" Dad came to the bed and leaned down to kiss my forehead while Jax came in. Bobby and Chibs must have seen that there was still room because they followed.
"I'm going to live, as long as I follow the doctor's guidelines. Your granddaughter, she's the fighter. According to Dr. Nior she's healthier than I am." Dad got a loving smile on his face and reached down to tuck a stray hair behind my ear.
"That's great baby and you know we're gonna have people on you twenty four/seven to make sure you follow those guidelines." He moved back and let Jax come to me. I was starting to feel like a queen in a receiving line for an audience.
"Hey Millipede, love you." He kissed my forehead as well and I gave him the most loving look I could.
"I love you too, stay strong bro I need you to be strong and so does Abel. I know you'll get him back, I have faith in you." He gave me a small smile before he leaned down to kiss my forehead again before he moved away, "How's Ma?"
"She's doing fine, wants to be home to take care of her little girl though. We'll have Juice call her on the prepay sometime when you two are alone. She wants to hear from you too."Dad stayed at the back while Jax moved toward the door. Bobby and Chibs simply took turns kissing my forehead and telling me they loved me. Apparently everyone loves you if you've been shot.
"Clay, we should be running our errand now." Bobby jerked his head toward the door and Dad nodded.
"Alright, I love you baby girl and the second I can get away I'll be back and the second Juice can get away I'll send him to you. He knows his place is here with you." He kissed my forehead again before he looked at Juice. "Let's head out."
"I love you baby." Juice gave me a kiss and it was deeper and fuller than any he'd given me since I woke up. "I'll be back the fucking second I can."
"Love you and be safe." He nodded and went to the door where Dad threw an arm across his shoulders and they went out. Almost as soon as they were gone a nurse came in and, not telling me what it was, put some drugs in my IV, with that I was finally able to drift off and enjoy some sleep.
I woke up later that night unable to move either arm. I glanced over to see a flexi cast had been strapped to my injured arm, strapping it to my body. I'd have to ask a nurse or doctor in the morning about the extent of the surgery and if I'd be able to hold my daughter. My other arm was pinned under the sleeping head of my husband. He was seated in a chair by the bed, his back bent as he clutched my arm and used it for a make shift pillow. I smiled and went back to sleep I was safe and protected.
Author's Note: The next chapter is told from the POV of another character. I hope it works out because I've been planning this one for a while. Thank you all for reading and reviewing. It's very flattering.