Fighting Back

Chapter 24

Tara finally left Charming Police station around 10 o'clock that evening. She had been questioned by pretty much everyone, Stahl, Unser but she kept to her story telling them that Gemma had pulled a gun on her and forced her to handover the her key card. When Stahl and Unser finally realised that Tara was not going to give anything away, and considering the fact that legally she had done nothing wrong they had no other choice but to let her go.

Even though Tara was completely exhausted both mentally and physically, she still had one more thing to do.

Parking in the driveway of Clay and Gemma's house, Tara pulled her bag onto her lap as she rooted for the keys to house. Having found them she walked up to the front door and let herself in. She made her way through the darkness and into the kitchen where she dropped her bag and turned on the lights. She headed for the cupboard where Gemma normally kept the bird food, before she went into Gemma and Clay's bedroom. Walking inside she looked around the room quickly realising that her precious bird was not in his usually spot. Tara smiled to herself, even with all the drama that was currently going on within Samcro Clay had remembered to make sure Gemma's pride and joy was taken care of.

Turning off the light she backed out of the bedroom, but as she turned around to make her way to the kitchen she stopped dead when she saw someone standing in front of her. She dropped the bird food onto the floor as she took a step backwards in shock.

"Ryan." She said barely managing to keep her voice from cracking.

As Ryan took a step towards her, Tara to turned on her heels and ran towards the closet at the end of the hall, the closet that just happened to contain a certain hat box.

"Shit." Ryan cursed to himself as he watched her run down the hall. "TARA, TARA." He shouted at her, but it had no affect. So he took after.

Tara had her hand on the closet and was about to pull the door open when she felt it slam shut. Her eyes immediately going to the manly hand that was resting beside her head.

"Tara I'm not here to..." Ryan was cut off when Tara turned around sharply, kneeing him in the groin, causing him to double over.

Pushing past him she ran towards the kitchen where she had left her bag, or more importantly where her gun was. But once again she never made it.

Ryan recovered from her assault pretty quickly. When he was back on his feet he chased after her. He caught her arm in his hand before pulling her back and slamming her against the wall. Although he had come with the intention of not hurting her, she was making it very hard and was trying his patience.

"Help...Help..." Tara shouted, hoping that the neighbours might hear, even though she knew it was a long shot.

Growing tired of her Ryan pulled his gun from the waist band of his jeans and used the butt of the gun to hit Tara in the side of her head. His arm wrapped around her waist as her body went limp.

"Now look what you made me do."

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"What the fuck are you retards doing?" Kozik snapped as he walked out of his dorm room dressed in nothing but his jeans.

Kozik was cranky he had just been rudely interrupted from one of the best nights sleep he'd had since arriving in Charming, and that pissed him off.

"Well." Kozik asked again.

Miles and Phil exchanged looks. They knew that the noise of plates and cups being slammed around and the occasional smash was what woke Kozik up but the fact of the matter was it wasn't them. But they were reluctant whether or not they should say anything. But they didn't have to because as Kozik stood staring at them with a murderous look on his face another smashing noise erupted from the small kitchen.

Kozik turned to face the kitchen as he heard another crashing sound. He looked back at the two prospects. "Out." He ordered. The two men hurried out of the Clubhouse.

He watched the two men leave before turning his attention back to the kitchen. Rubbing the back of his neck he reluctantly walked towards the kitchen. He leant against the door frame as he watched Nicole slamming the draws shut, before throwing another cup onto the floor.

"So I take it someone got up on the wrong side of the bed." Nicole shook her head before returning back to slamming the draws.

"Don't start on me Koz, not unless you want one these cups to be thrown at your head."

"So who's pissed you off, so much that you're smashing up the place?"

"Gemma." She snapped

"Gemma?"

"That's what I sa..." Nicole stopped when she finally turned around to face him. She couldn't help but look at his naked top half. It was a sight she hadn't seen in a long time and judging by the perfect six pack he was sporting, the years had defiantly been good to him.

"Hey you're making me feel violated." He mocked as she continued to stare at him.

With the sound of his voice Nicole snapped out of her stare and looked up at Koz who was smiling at her.

"I know I'm pretty amazing." He joked. But Nicole didn't see the funny side she was to pissed off. Grabbing the cup off the counter she threw it at him. The cup missed his head as he ducked just in time. The cup smashed into pieces against the wall behind him. "That almost hit me."

"I know, your lucky."

"Lucky?"

"Yeah. I was aiming for your head." She answered sarcastically. Kozik was about to fire back his own sarcastic comment when her phone started ringing.

"Yeah." She snapped as she answered her cell. Her eyes staying on Kozik. "What...You're shitting me...How much?...I'll be there in 10. Thanks Candy." Nicole pocketed her cell in jeans. She grabbed her bag off the side before pushing her way past Kozik. But he only let her get so far before she felt him grab her.

"Who was that?"

"Candy, she said Tig's been arrested."

"Tig's gone to Belfast."

"No he hasn't, thanks once again to that lovely Aunty of mine." She pulled her hand from Kozik's grasp as she headed for the door.

"Nicky wait."

"What?"

"You can't leave without an escort and plus what about the mess in the kitchen."

"That's what Prospects are for. I'll be waiting in my car. And please put a shirt on."

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Tara tried to move her head but as she did she was met with a pounding in her skull. Instantly her hands tried to move towards her head, but she quickly realised that her hands couldn't move. As her eyes moved towards her hands she realised that they were tied to a chair. She was gagged and tied to a chair in Gemma and Clay's living room. The nightmare wasn't a nightmare, Ryan had been here.

Her eyes scanned the room but found that he was nowhere to be seen. Taking advantage of the opportunity Tara tried to wriggle free on the ties that held her. As she tried to fight against the ties that bound her, she was oblivious to the fact that the back leg on the wooden chair was about to give way.

Ryan was in the bathroom when he heard the crash. He ran into the living and found Tara lying on the floor. He walked over and grabbed the sides of the chair as he pulled it back onto all fours.

"That was silly." He told her. Tara just rolled her eyes as she was unable to speak.

Ryan shook his head at her, she really wasn't grasping this situation he didn't want to hurt her but she was leaving him no choice. His eyes went to the fresh blood that was running from the head wound he had inflicted last night when he hit her with the butt of his gun. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a towel. Sitting back in front of her he started dabbing the towel against the blood.

"I never meant to hurt you, but you just keep pushing me." Tara wanted nothing more than to hit him. She knew exactly what he was trying to do, he was trying to make her feel guilty, but he was forgetting one thing she wasn't Nicole, she wasn't his Old Lady who would lap up his bullshit and drop to her knees and beg him for forgiveness.

"Now If I remove this gag are you going to play nicely?" Tara nodded her head. "Good. But first of all I want to explain why I'm here. Nicole's in danger and I need to warn her so she can protect herself, but I can't get anywhere near her. I'll be dead on the ground before I even get to tell her, so that's where you come in. Tara I need you to reach out to her get her to come meet you, so I can tell her, so I can keep her safe." Once he was finished he pulled down her gag.

"What..." Tara swallowed hard."What trouble?" Tara asked intrigued by what she had just heard.

"Ethan Zobelle kind of trouble." Tara let out an exasperated breath at the sound of his name. Ryan continued. "They offered me a deal. Help them hurt Samcro and they would break me out."

"So why are you here?"

"Because I overheard his new right hand man, talking about how they were going to take Nicole and use her to try and hurt the club. Now I don't really give a shit about the club but I can't let them hurt her, I won't."

"Hypocrite." Tara tried to mumble under her breath but Ryan heard her.

"What?"

"Your a fucking hypocrite. You were the one who put her hospital, you were the one who hurt her, your the one who tried to rap..." Tara was cut off when Ryan's hand wrapped around her throat.

Tara felt the wind being knocked out of her as he tightened his grip around her. She could see the change in eyes they grew darker, colder and in that moment she thought she was going to die, her baby was going to die.

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Tig lay on the bed in cell he was being contained in, when Unser walked in. "Chief." Tig got to his feet when he saw Unser. "Where's my lawyer."

"Belfast maybe." Unser said making a sadistic smile creep onto Tig's face.

"Funny."

"I thought so. Anyway seems you won't been needing a lawyer, your bail's been posted."

"Really? Who?"

"Who do you think?" Unser opened up his cell as Tig walked out.

When they walked outside Tig stopped when he saw Kozik standing in the station.

"You posted bail?" Kozik laughed.

"No I did." Nicole said as she stepped from behind Kozik, a brown envelope in her hand.

"Thanks Doll." But Nicole didn't acknowledge his thanks. She walked over to him and slammed the brown envelope, containing his belongings, against his chest. She looked over his shoulder at Unser. "Can we go now?"

"Sure." Tig, Kozik and Nicole went to walk out but Unser continued talking. "Oh and by the way, Tig your licence has been suspended."

"Why?" Tig whined.

"You took three armed law enforcement on a 100mph goose chase. It will be two years before your behind a wheel."

"Are you kidding me. How the hell am I meant to work, how am I meant to ride. Come on man you'll be dead before I get my licence back." Nicole hit Tig's arm at his words of unkindness.

"Hey, enough you have no one to blame but yourself." She looked back over at Unser. "I'm sorry were leaving now." She looked to Kozik. "You drive the tow truck back and Tig you can ride with him because I can't be bothered with either of you." With those final words Nicole stormed out of the station.

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Nicole was in the garage office when she saw the tow truck pull into the parking the lot. She walked over to the door as Tig slammed the door shut on the truck. She watched as he stormed around the truck towards the drivers side. Pulling open the door he dragged Kozik out.

"Shit..." Nicole ran over to the two warring brothers.

"I ain't ever letting you patch in asshole." Tig shouted as he landed a right hook to Kozik's cheek. Kozik flung himself at Tig sending them both to the floor.

"It's been 9 years man, get over it." He said before punching him.

"She was 16 man..." Kozik hit him again. Tig managed to flip him over so the he was now on top.

"Fuck sake." Nicole shouted as she went to pull Tig off Kozik. As she struggled to pull him off Tig ended up pushing her away from him causing her to fall to the ground. "Ouch..shit." She looked down at her grazed hands before looking back at Tig and Kozik who had finally managed to tear themselves away from another.

"Doll, I didn.."

"Whatever, just cut the shit okay, I don't need you two idiots tearing bits out of one another we have enough to deal with." She got back onto her feet. "Now go and get yourself cleaned up." She ordered, before storming back inside the office.

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Ryan stood in front of Tara his hands still shaking form what he had done. He had almost the killed her, what the hell was he thinking.

"Look, I shouldn't have done that but you just..you..look I need your help, Nicole needs your help so the question is are you going to help her or not."

"How do I know this isn't a trick?"

"You don't but do you wanna risk it?" Ryan knelt in front of her. "All I'm asking you to do is make one little phone call." Tara thought about it and realised she didn't really have a choice.

"Okay."

"Good."

###############

"Look I don't want to hear your bullshit apologises." Nicole snapped when she heard the office door open.

"Excuse me?" Nicole looked up when she heard the strangers voice. Instead of seeing Kozik or Tig like she had expected it was some completely different.

"Sorry." She apologised getting to her feet. "I thought you were someone else."

"That's fine, but I feel sorry for the person you're expecting." The man joked with a smile on his face.

"Again sorry. So what can I do for you?"

"I'm here to hopefully pick up my car. I brought it in yesterday."

"Of course Mr Williams right?"

"Andy."

"Okay Andy. I'll just go and check on your car."

Taking advantage of her absence Andy did a quick check of the parking lot or more how many bikes were there. He was pleased when he only saw a couple, which would inevitability make his job easier.

"Okay Mr Wil...Sorry Andy. Your cars all fixed all you have to is pay and sign these documents."

"Thank you Miss..."

"Nicole."

"Nicole." She felt herself blush as he threw her a dazzling smile. While he was filling out the forms, Nicole's cell started ringing.

"Sorry I just have to take this." She told him.

"No problem." Nicole walked out the front of the office.

"Tara."

"I need to talk to you."

"I've been trying to get hold of you..."

"I know and I'm sorry but I need to speak to you now."

"Okay, come to the Clubhouse."

"No I can't. Meet me at Gemma and Clay's."

"Tara you know I'm on lock down I can't leave."

"Please, you know what this about." At that point Tara knew she had Nicole hooked.

"Okay I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Oh and Nic please come alone. I don't want anyone else knowing about this."

"Okay." Nicole pocketed her cell and walked back inside the office.

"I'm all done." Andy said as he looked back at her. He could tell she looked flustered.

"Thanks. Here." She handed him the keys to his car. "The boy's will sort you out." Nicole didn't say any more, she just grabbed her bag off the desk and left the office.

As she walked across the parking lot towards her Mustang her eyes kept scanning the lot making sure that no one was watching her leave. Once she was inside her car she sped out of the lot towards Clay and Gemma's. She was so preoccupied that she didn't notice that Andy's car just happened to be taking every turn she did.

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Both Tig and Kozik were sitting in the bar cleaning their war wounds. Neither one of them saying a word. The deadly silence was broken though when the clubhouse doors opened. Both men tensed but when they saw the familiar leather cuts they relaxed.

"Do I even wanna know?" The first man asked observing the wounded men in front of him.

Tig was the first to greet his brother. He pulled the man who was about 6 foot, salt and pepper colour hair that was cropped closely to his head, into a manly hug slapping him on the back.

"Quinn, good to see you brother."

"Tig." Tig looked over Quinn's shoulder at the man standing behind him. Noticing this Quinn quickly introduced the two men. "This is Dougie. Considering Samcro has already stolen my best man, (aka Happy) Dougie here is the next best thing." Tig walked over shaking the hand of his brother.

"Brother." The man called Dougie replied.

Once all the meets and greets were out the way the four brothers sat down at the bar. Tig had called Miles over to serve them drinks.

"When we called for back up we didn't expect you to come yourself." Kozik said to the president of the Nomads.

"Ryan, was one of my guys figured I owed you this much."

"Well we really appreciate it." Tig said raising his shot glass to Quinn who returned the gesture.

"So where's the girl?" Dougie asked from the end of the bar. He shrugged off the looks he was currently receiving. "Shouldn't we at least know who were protecting."

"She's the mother charters niece and that's all you need to know." Quinn snapped back at his brother.

"Go and get Nic." Tig told Miles.

The four of them continued to sit around the bar talking between themselves until Miles returned with Nicole but he returned no more than 5 minutes later without her.

"Where is she?" Kozik snapped.

"She's not here. Her cars gone, I think she left." Tig banged his fist on the bar.

"Shit." Dougie laughed into his drink. "Something funny?" Tig asked.

"You've been looking after her for less than 24 hours and you've already lost her. It's hilarious." Tig went to lunge at him but Quinn stopped him.

"Hey. This won't help."

"No but it'll make me feel a hell of a lot better." Tig snarled in Dougie's direction. Quinn turned back to Dougie who was still laughing to himself.

"You stop that shit now."

"Yes Prez."

"Good, now lets go find her."

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Nicole took a breath before stepping into the house, she hadn't been inside since the attack and she could already feel her hands getting sweaty by the thought of what happened inside, but she had to push all that aside Tara had called her here for a reason and Nicole needed to sort out a few things with her herself. So taking one final deep breath she let herself inside.

"Tara...Hello.." Nicole called out as she walked further into the house. Her calls were met with complete silence.

Nicole was confused but as she took a couple more steps everything became clear. She saw Tara tied to a chair and a gagged. She looked unconscious, but Nicole wasn't sure, the only thing she knew was that she needed to get her out of here.

Running over to her, Nicole cupped her face. "Tara...Tara...Wake up..." She whispered. She was relieved when she saw Tara's eyes flutter open, thank god Nicole thought. Nicole was about to start untying her wrists when she heard a creek on the floorboard behind her. Nicole froze, as Tara's eyes widened.

"Hello." Nicole didn't need to turn around to know who that voice belonged to. Nicole felt a tear roll down her cheek.

Slowly Nicole stood to her feet, her back still to Ryan. Letting her bag drop off her shoulder she subtly tried to look inside it for her handgun, but Ryan must have guessed what she was trying to do because he grabbed her bag and threw it across the room, before wrapping his arm around her body. Nicole started to scream and fight against him. Ryan covered her mouth with his hand.
"I'm not here to hurt you, I promise. I'm not going to hurt you." He slowly felt her stop fighting against him. When he thought it was safe enough he removed his hand from her mouth.

"Let her go." Were the first words that came out of Nicole's mouth.

"What?"

"Let her go and I promise, you can have me. I won't fight you. But please let her go, she's pregnant." Nicole pleaded. He moved her hair placing it over her shoulder before he leant down to whisper in her ear.

"I can't, not yet. But I promise I'm not going to hurt her or you." He placed a kiss on her neck. Nicole closed her eyes in disgust.

"Well well isn't this a cute sight."

Ryan let go of Nicole and turned around to see where the new voice came from. He wasn't the only one, as soon as he let go of Nicole she turned around as well. Looking past Ryan she saw Andy, she was confused. But Nicole was not stupid, if a situation seemed fucked up it normally was and she was done taking risks. Without a moments' hesitation she pulled the gun from the waistband of Ryan's jeans, pushing him forward as she pointed the gun at the two men in front of her.