Happy reading and please review :)

-Jennifer11

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Sons of Anarchy or anything that Kurt Sutter created.

Kozik's POV

Piney, Opie, and Gemma got to see this girl. When was it going to be my turn to visit with Charlotte? Tara told us that Charlotte was going to sleep and that we could probably go home for the rest of the night. Gemma woke Jax up and pulled him towards the door while Opie went to Lyla and they decided they needed to go check on their kids. Half Sack looked unsure of what to do but Piney wasn't moving from his chair in the waiting room.

I cleared my throat. "Uh Half Sack why don't you go see if the guys need any help at the clubhouse? I'll stick around and watch Piney." The kid honestly looked relieved. Even though he had patched in, he was still a new guy in the MC. He just wanted to celebrate his patch and have some fun with the guys, not sit around some boring hospital with the old man. I was more than glad to stick around and keep Piney company.

Gemma's POV

I knew what Koz was up to when he told Half Sack to hit the road. He wanted his chance to check on Charlotte for himself. This girl could be trouble for him but she could also be good. I don't know her, yet. But from what I've over heard I think she's a good girl who's been in the wrong places at the wrong times.

I nodded at Kozik as I dragged my half-asleep son out of the hospital. Opie was laughing at Jax stumbling while leading Lyla to her car. It had been a long day for all of us plus we had gotten a new family member.

Kozik's POV

Piney had fallen asleep twenty minutes after everyone left. I couldn't sleep. First of all, these chairs were near impossible to get situated in. Secondly, I couldn't stop thinking about her. This girl was stuck in my head and for the life of me I couldn't understand why.

I checked to make sure the coast was clear and that Piney was really asleep before getting up and sneaking out of the waiting room. I quietly walked down the hallway towards room 312. I was worried that a doctor would spot me and tell me to leave, but I wanted to make sure that she was doing okay.

I peeked into the window and saw she was sleeping. I slowly opened the door and slipped in. I just didn't want her to wake up alone, after all she'd been through, she didn't deserve that. I crept quietly across the room and sank into the chair next to her bed. She looked peaceful despite the the bruises on her face. I found myself wishing I could fix things for her so she could just be back to normal. As I got myself comfortable in the chair I started feeling tired and slowly fell asleep.

Tara's POV

Just before dawn and during a break in my shift I decided to check on Charlotte. I opened the door to find Kozik asleep in the chair next to her. I took in the scene and thought wow they make a cute couple. I shook my head and smiled to myself as I checked her chart and vitals before leaving the room.

Charlotte's Dream

I was running down an endless alley trying to find my way back home. I heard some one's footsteps behind me. They were taking slow but loud, scary, ominous steps. It felt like they were a tiger stalking their prey. Like they were right behind me and knew every step I took.

I kept running. Trying to find a place to hide. Every step I took made the alley grow longer. I was getting tired but whoever was chasing me wouldn't stop. I knew they wouldn't stop until they caught me.

I finally got to a door. I threw it open and hid inside. Some clothes hit my face as I pulled my knees into my chest. I was in a closet. It sounded like this person was walking in circles around me. They knew where I was hiding.

All of a sudden the door flew open, blinding me. Rough hands grabbed my legs and pulled me out. I screamed: "Please! Stop! I'm Begging You!" I felt like I was being dragged miles towards a large toothed monster. I tried to fight them off but it was no use, their grip held strong and now they were holding my arms down.

"No! No! No!" I screamed at the monster. I could hear the monster saying my name before I saw the red, hungry eyes that were attached to the monster that was going to hurt me.

Kozik's POV

It felt like I had barely closed my eyes when I heard the bed rustle. Then I heard her whimpers and cries. My eyes flew open and I looked at her. She was having a nightmare. I jumped out of my chair and tried to wake her.

"Charlotte. Charlotte wake up." I gently touched her shoulders to try to pull her out of her dream. She must have known I was touching her because she started thrashing and almost hit me. I dodged her hands then held them down to avoid getting hit in the face. It was gut wrenching to listen to her cry out in her sleep.

"Charlotte, you've got to wake up. You're ok, you're safe, I promise."

Charlotte's POV

I woke up crying and more frightened than I was before. Then I saw someone standing over me. I nearly screamed until it registered, he was just trying to help me. He was gently holding my arms down and saying words in a soothing tone. He quickly let go of me when he saw I was awake.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to touch you… you were having a nightmare."

I just nodded. I couldn't answer him, I was sobbing too hard.

He sat back in the chair but was watching me, genuinely concerned. I pulled my knees to my chest as I tried to calm down because it was getting difficult to breathe. My ribs were burning but my tears were slowing down. I looked around the room and noticed it was barely light outside.

"Sorry" I whispered to man next to me.

He looked me in the eye and said, "Don't be sorry, are you alright? Do you need anything?" He seemed cautious to be around me. His hands were resting on the bed but he made sure he wasn't touching me.

I shook my head as I slowly reached down and lightly rested my hand on his. "Thank you…?"

"Kozik" He said quietly as he turned his hand over to hold mine as gently as he could.

"Thank you Kozik… for everything."

He nodded "I'm just glad I was there to help."

David's POV

Just after 8 am, I was finally able to get free of the station and go to check on Charlotte. I knew she'd be safe with the Sons around, no matter how much those guys ticked me off. Over the weeks and months we had come to an understanding of each other.

It was a pain in the ass trying to keep Weston's ass in jail. He kept getting out of every charge somehow. I was very angry that he wasn't paying for everything he did. But with Ethan Zobelle and some high priced lawyer on his side there was no way to keep him in custody.

I was walking towards room 312 when Tara was closing the door. "Tara. How is she?"

"She's stable and on her way to making a full recovery. Piney's in the waiting room sleeping if you'd like to follow me to give him an update?"

I nodded but something told me she wanted me to walk away from Charlotte's room. "Is she awake?"

"No, I'm sorry. She was awake earlier but fell back asleep."

I sighed as I followed Tara to go find Piney. He was fast asleep in a chair near the door. Tara woke him up as I took a seat a next to him so she could give us a full update.

"Charlotte is doing better this morning. She's going to be sore for a while and may need to seek counseling but luckily there was no severe damage or breaks. Just a lot of bruising. She should be able to go home tomorrow morning or afternoon."

"Thanks Doc." Piney grumbled. "Where's Half Sack? I need some coffee."

"I think he went home last night. Kozik stayed though. Sorry guys I gotta get back to work."

Tara's POV

I was about to make rounds this morning around 730 when I went to see Charlotte again. When I opened the door I was almost surprised to see Kozik still there. But they were slightly different; he had moved closer to her bed and was holding her hand and resting his head on the bed.

"Hey Koz" I whispered when his eyes opened.

"Hey Doc." He looked tired but was so cute to see him making sure Charlotte was fine.

"She sleep ok?" I asked as I looked over the chart again.

"Nah. I had to wake her up about like hour ago cuz she was having a nightmare. But she fell back asleep a while ago." His eyes darted from me to her quickly, as if something would happen to her if he wasn't watching.

"Koz, you should get some real sleep…" He nodded his head but I could see it on his face that he wasn't going to. I had to leave the room to continue doing rounds but I wish I could have stayed.

Kozik's POV

As soon as she touched my hand, I wished she'd never let go. How could I be "falling" this quickly for a girl like her? Normally I barely paid attention to women because the crow eaters take care of me. I can't get this girl out of my head. I only met her yesterday and she is under my skin.

After she woke from her dream, we barely talked. We sat in silence as she relaxed and tried to forget as much as she could. I pretended to sleep next to her in hopes that she'd fall asleep again. I knew she was exhausted and needed as much rest as she could get. I listened as I heard her breathing even and eventually deepen, signaling to me that she was asleep again. I hoped that she wouldn't have another bad dream but I could only wait and be there for her.

As she slept, I held her hand gently but firmly, letting her subconscious know that I was right there. My thumb lightly rubbed against her delicate hand as I studied her face. Underneath those bruises, was the face of an angel. How could someone so perfect be caught in a place like the Dirty Pig, with someone like Darby? She deserved much better. Hell, Charlotte deserved someone better than me. But thinking about her with any one else was near torture.

I leaned against the bed and closed my eyes, letting the sound of her breathing lull me towards sleep. As soon as I hear the door creak, I opened my eyes to see Tara checking in on us. After Tara left, I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't. Charlotte needed someone who could watch her back and protect her. She looked so vulnerable laying in this bed.

I jumped when my phone rang. I quickly answered it but whispered, "Yeah?"

"Church in 30." I heard Happy say gruffly.

"Got it. Send the prospects to the hospital to watch Charlotte?"

"Yeah."

It pained me to leave Charlotte but club business always trumps everything else. I saw Piney at the door and straighten up in my chair.

"You heard?" He said.

I nodded. "Yeah, the prospects are on their way."

"Good. She doing ok?"

"Now. Had a bad dream this earlier."

Piney shook his head. "Damn. Uh… Hale's in the waiting room. Should probably let him in here…"

I nodded. "Alright go get him." I watched Piney shut the door quietly before I got up from the chair. I leaned down and kissed her forehead lightly, barely brushing my lips against her skin. I whispered to her, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

I quickly stood and headed to the door at the same time Hale opened the door. I shook his hand as I exited the room. I stood outside of the room as I pulled out my phone. I had to make two calls before heading to Church.

The first was to the prospects; I called Filthy Phil, "Hospital. Now. Room 312."

The second was to Gemma, "Hey Gemma, I'm sorry for calling so earlier but Clay called Church, so could you come check in on Charlotte? I think she could use some girl talk." She agreed and said she'd be there soon.

Piney and I waited for the prospects to get there before heading to the clubhouse. "Stay here, outside of this room. Don't you dare move. If she leaves to room, you follow but that's it."

Piney was giving me a menacing look as we left the hospital and got on our bikes. "What?" I asked him.

He shook his head, "Nothin'… you better watch yourself."

I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to do what any father would do. I nodded in agreement, "I will, man. Sorry about that." I tried to gather my thoughts for a moment. "Look, Piney. I just met her yesterday. I'm not going to push her into anything. I swear."

Piney looked me up and down before starting his bike and taking off towards the clubhouse.

I was still thinking about Charlotte when we walked into Church. Clay looked angry which was never a good sign. I took my seat between Juice and Happy. I saw that Juice had a file folder with several papers.

Everyone looked tense when Clay's voice cut through the room, "Piney, how is she?"

"She's good and Doc said she'll be fine." Everyone nodded, relieved almost to hear that Charlotte would pull through.

"Tell us what Hale said, Piney." Clay nearly demanded. Piney started listing off what Hale had said the night before: Charlotte used to live in Charming with her mom until they moved about ten years ago, Hale was their neighbor, and Charlotte's mother was beaten to death a little over a week ago and had left her a letter saying Piney was Charlotte's father. Everyone was listening intently as Piney recalled what he could. When he finished, Clay nodded to Juice.

Juice opened the folder and spoke, "Apparently, Charlotte has been in the hospital before for having bruises and a couple of fractures." Juice passed out some photos of the three times that Charlotte had been in the hospital. "There's three reports of domestic abuse but all of the charges were dropped because no one knew who did it. The first one was when Charlotte was 12 and the last was when she was 16." Juice pulled another piece of paper out of the back of the stack. "This paper says that Charlotte's mother was in the hospital at least fifteen times. No one was arrested but we all know it was a boyfriend or husband. I couldn't get the photos yet but I'm sure it's not pretty. Also, I looked into her mom's death. It doesn't say who beat her but the police report says that Charlotte was the one who found her mom…"

I couldn't take it any more. I slammed my fist into the table. Just listening to Juice describe what happened made me sick. There was no way I could stomach the photos of Charlotte. What kind of animal hurts a little girl? I've seen a lot of fucked up shit in my life but this was getting to me. Juice was still talking about something but I was completely tuning him out. When Juice was finished, it was apparent that everyone in the room was angry and fuming.

Clay called us back to attention quickly, "Hale told Piney this morning that Weston was released this morning. The charges won't stick. Again. We were already promised once that if we played by the law, they'd take care of this asshole. Clearly, that didn't happen. We need to plan and retaliate because he deserves to rot in the ground for what he did." With every word Clay spoke, he grew more and more furious. We all knew it was because of what Weston did to Gemma and now Charlotte.

Clay bought his hand down on the table loudly as he yelled, " We HAVE to get this guy!" Everyone around the table nodded while giving verbal agreements.

Charlotte's POV

When I woke up around 11 am, Kozik was gone. I saw David sleeping in the chair next to me. He must be so tired… I thought to myself. I tried to stretch a little bit but only felt pain. I must have winced and cried out because David woke up.

"What is it? What's wrong?" He snapped awake, panicked.

"Nothing. I was just trying to stretch…"

He gently rubbed my shoulder as he scooted closer to me. "You doing alright? Sorry I had to leave last night…"

"It's okay, you had to. Some one has to protect the street of Charming. Plus I got to meet my father last night." I said trying to lighten the mood.

He simply nodded but I could tell something was bothering him. "Well…"

"David. What is it? I can handle it."

His eyes shifted down and looked anywhere but at me. "AJ Weston was released this morning."

I gasped but couldn't speak. I was shaking. This can't be happening to me again! My mind screamed.

"I'm sorry Charlotte. I tried everything I could. But he has friends in high places." The look on his face told me that he felt like he had failed me.

"David, it's alright. You tried right?" I said. My voice was shaky and I knew I sounded like I barely believed the words coming out of my own mouth. What else could go wrong? What do I do now?