A/N Sorry it took so long, we went away for the holidays. Here is Chapter 7 and it is told in 3rd person since there's so much to cover! Thanks.

**Police Station**

When Jax and Chibs pulled into the station parking lot, Unser was just coming out of his car.

"Jax. Chibs. What can I do for you?" he asked warily.

Jax looked him straight in the eye. "You can tell me where Gemma is."

"How could I do that? I'm not your mothers keeper." Wayne was on edge today, Jax could tell.

"Wayne. I don't have time for this. I need to know where Gemma went. And I need to know now. I don't have time for your bullshit. She needed to get out fast and not get asked any questions. Now you fit that bill perfectly."

"Listen Jax. I don't know what's going on, but she's your mother. She was a wreck, saying she was in danger and needed help. Please tell me the danger isn't you." Unser had more to say, but Jax cut him off with a gun to his face.

"The danger my mother may be in is on her own volition. She's not in trouble, but she will be if she hides. Hiding shows guilt. Now again. Where. Is. Gemma?" Jax enunciated his last three words.

"Jesus, I don't know. I took her to a bus stop about ten minutes past Oakland. Didn't tell me where she was going. Made a comment about seeing someone she hated more then Tara, and not being at home." Unser took a deep breath when Jax withdrew the gun from his face.

"Somebody wanna tell me what the fuck is going on? What's got you on a man hunt for your mom and you waving a goddamn gun in my face?"

"Nope." Jax replied. He had holstered his gun and was headed back to his bike.

"Jackie Boy. You know where she's going don't ya?" Chibs asked.

Jax ran his hands over his scruffy face.

"Yeah, she went home to her parents house. Rose is the only person on earth my mother could hate more then Tara."

-FFTTF-

Hospital-

Opie had just walked into the waiting room that Donna was hanging out in when a doctor came out.

"Family for Dr. Knowles?"

Donna had jumped up to stand next to her husband.

"Okay, she's awake. She's been asking for Jax." The doctor turned to Opie. "Are you by chance him?"

Opie smiled. Of course she'd ask for Jax. "No, sorry. But I think I'll make an okay substitute. I'm Opie Winston and this is my wife, Donna."

"Perfect. She's asked for Donna and has mentioned an Op. I'm assuming that's you? She's been kind of loopy because of the pain medication, but it's wore off by now. You're both welcome to go in. She's in room 127. The nurse will show you the way." The doctor ushered them to the nurse who in turn ushered them to Tara's room.

Opie needed to call Jax, but he wanted to see Tara awake for himself first. Opie couldn't stop the emotion that coursed through him seeing Tara laying in a hospital bed, wired up, and beaten. He had known Tara for a long time. He couldn't help make the comparison to Donna. Could something like this happen to her? The club life was hard on the members, harder on the old ladies.

"Hey, Op. You okay?" Tara's voice brought him out of his musings.

"Yep. Glad you're awake." Opie kissed her on the head and walked to the other side of the room. He got out his cellphone and called Jax.

"Yeah?" Jax answered.

"Tara's awake, brother. And yes, I checked on her first. I'm looking right at her." Opie answered, winking at Tara.

"That's good news. She say anything yet?"

"No, we just walked in. I checked on her and called you right away. Hey, hold on a second." Opie handed Tara the phone.

"Jax?" Tara questioned quietly. She heard Jax sigh on the other end. She wished Jax was with her, not somewhere else.

"Yeah, darling. It's me."

"Are you coming here?" Tara asked, fear creeping into her voice.

"Not right now. I'm really busy right now. But as soon as I'm back in Charming, I'll come see you. But for now, Donna and Op are always going to be there. If it's not them, someone with a patch I can trust will be there." Tara had started crying at how genuine he sounded. "Listen, I gotta go. Chibs and I are refueling. We're about three hours away from where we're going. Op will keep me updated and leave you with a prepay that will have any contacts you need. And Tara. I love you." Before Tara could answer, he had hung up. Tears were now running full force down her face.

"Hey, you alright?" Donna asked.

"He loves me." was all Tara could say.

Opie started laughing. "Yeah, no shit."

Donna shot him a hard look.

"What? I'm just saying it's not a surprise." After a few more "pleasantries", Opie got right to the point.

"Tara can you start all over? Tell us how everything started, and what happened?" Opie looked over at Tara who had begun playing with her sheets and then wringing her hands.

"Only on one condition. You relay it to everyone else. I don't want to have to tell the story 50 times. I tell you, you tell everyone else, including Jax." Tara bargained.

"Anything you want Tara. Just talk to us."

Tara took a deep breath before beginning her story.

"After I was forced out of Charming 10 years ago, I needed something to keep my mind busy. All I wanted to do was come back. My self preservation told me that wasn't a good idea though. So I went to college and enrolled in the medical field. I went to med school immediately after graduation. I was in Chicago my last year of med school where I met a man named Josh. He was charming and had a stable life. He's an ATF agent." She paused when she saw Opie stiffen in her peripheral vision. She waited to see if he was going to say anything, but he was silent, so she continued.

"Things were good for about six months. Then things...weren't. He started yelling at me more often. Diminishing every accomplishment I'd made when he wasn't succeeding at work, and hitting me on occasion. It was bad. I had only 2 months left until I could start my residency with a hospital. I'd done internships and now I could start my residency. I broke things off with Josh after one really nasty physical altercation, and focused on my schooling. After about a week, I'd notice him on campus, near my apartment, even at the hospital I was interning at. He was stalking me, Op. I knew I needed out, so I looked for jobs near my home. A job as a neonatal surgeon had just come up here in Charming and it seemed like fate. I got accepted for the job almost immediately. I packed up, and moved home. I was staying in Lodi until the closing and everything happened on a house here in Charming." Tara took a deep breath and continued.

"When I was in town looking at houses, I ran into Gemma. I was at the store buying some things before I left for Lodi. She seemed pleasant which should have been my first problem. Asked me where I'd been, what I was up to for ten years. Acting as if she completely forgot she pushed me out of Charming a decade ago.

" I didn't think anything of it, until a week later. I was coming back to where I was staying in Lodi, gathering the last of my things to move to Charming. I was locking up when I felt someone push me back into the room. I was disorientated, but I knew who it was. Josh had found me. He left me tied up or in a locked room for nearly 3 months. I didn't know if Gemma had anything to do with it, until today. I was begging Josh to just kill me. To end it." Tara's voice was breaking. Donna was crying, but trying not to show her despair for her friends sake.

"There was a knock at the door, and Josh began arguing with someone. He was angry. Then I heard Gemma's voice." Tara stopped to look up at Opie. She knew she needed to share what she heard, but she was worried. She was being used as leverage to make a deal. Would it be against the whole club? Against Jax and Opie? She took a deep breath.

"Opie, I need to tell you what Gemma said, but you're not going to like it." Again, Opie stayed silent, but Tara knew she had Opie's undivided attention.

"Gemma's exact words were 'I didn't ask you to kidnap and torture her. I asked you to kill her. Deals off.' " Tara watched Opie. She watched the emotion flickering across his face until his face just became blank. The silence stretched on for about a minute before Donna spoke.

"Op, what does this mean?"

"It means I need to call Jax." Opie excused himself and got out his phone. He tried Jax four times, leaving two messages before he gave up and called Happy.

"Hey, it's Op. Come to the hospital ASAP. I'll meet you in the waiting room."

"5 minutes." was the response he got before Happy hung up.

Opie went back to Tara's room. "Donna, you stay with with Tara. Do NOT leave her side. I'm meeting Hap in the waiting room. We won't be far."

Happy entered the room to find a pacing Opie angrily shutting his phone.

"Opie, what the fucks going on?"

"Gemma made a deal with a fucking ATF agent." Opie could tell that Happy didn't believe it.

"Come on man. It's Gem."

"Happy, why'd you vote yay to this?" Happy thought about it for a minute.

"Because something wasn't right."

"And don't you think that this can be that something that isn't right? Gemma had someone to kill Tara. Instead of killing her, he kidnapped her and tortured her. He was her ex boyfriend from Chicago. And he was the AFT agent Gemma made a deal with." Opie didn't need to finish his sentence before Happy had heard enough.

"Gemma is ratting on the club? What the fuck is the world coming to?" Happy was beside himself. Happy went to ask another question, and was cut off by Opie's cellphone.

"Jax. Where are you?"

"Almost to my mother. Where are you?" Jax asked. Was this a puzzle?

"I'm at the hospital with Tara. She told us a lot of things you need to know about. You got a minute? I want you to know the details before you get to Gemma." Opie was frantic.

"Op, are you alright? What's going on with Tara?"

Opie sighed. "Short version for now. Tara was in an abusive relationship back in Chicago with a guy named Josh. She said your mother forced her out of Charming 10 years ago, but didn't elaborate." Opie was cut off by Jax.

"What the fuck do you mean 'forced out'?"

"Jax, let me finish. She went to med school and halfway through her last year, the guy she was dating turned crazy and she broke it off after he beat her up. Then he started stalking her. She got a job as a surgeon here in town, thinking it was fate that it came up right before she was applying for jobs. She was staying in Lodi until she found a house. She ran into your mother when she was house hunting and Gemma played nice. Then a week later, the crazy ex came back and held her in that house for almost three months. Then today someone came to the door and he started arguing with them. Tara said she then heard your mom's voice. Jax, this is going to be hard, but I have to tell you what she said. Gemma told Josh that she didn't ask him to kidnap and torture Tara, she asked him to kill her." He heard Jax take a deep breath. "Jax, that's not all. She then told him that the deal was off."

"Deal, what deal? Who the fuck is this guy?"

"He's ATF."

Opie was only met with silence on the other end.

DUN DUN DUN! :) Working on a long Chapter 8! I'm digging the writing aspects!