The Heart of a Broken Soul

Of Jobs and Lockers

A/N:As always, thank you my lovely reviewers: medousaki, Venetiangrl92, Dahlia Rose-Marie, you guys are awesome! And everyone else reading!

This will be the last update for a couple of days (I'll be lacking Internet), so I apologize for that... Enjoy, though!

"I've been meaning to ask for a while now, but I guess I just never got around to it."

Gabby glanced up from the TV. "Hmm?" If Bobby'd just said something, it had fallen on completely deaf ears.

"I said, 'are ya lookin' for a job yet'?" he patiently repeated.

Gabby considered lying, and saying that she had started looking. He wouldn't fall for it, though. "Well... no. Not yet. I figured I'd wait until I finish school."

Bobby nodded. "I understand."

"But..?" Gabby asked. There was obviously more to the conversation. There was never not more when it came to Bobby.

"Well, I just thought now might be a good time to look into it. You can work and go to school. There's that diner you always go to, or even the hair salon where Lucy works," Bobby said. "I just don't want you to finish school and have nowhere to go."

"Do you plan on kicking me out, Bobby?" Gabby asked.

He scowled. "If I kicked you out, I'd have to make my own cookies, my own banana bread, and my own dinner. Lord knows I can't cook."

Gabby smiled. Bobby couldn't cook, at all. He couldn't even make coffee properly. When he'd taken Gabby in, it had probably been one of the best things he'd done. She cooked and cleaned, and in return he'd paid for her school fees. It worked out well for the both of them.

After her parent's deaths, Gabby didn't have anywhere to go; her mother had been an only child, and her parents had died; her father's side of the family had wanted nothing to do with any of them since he'd joined the club. Her brother and sister had been young enough that her aunt thought she'd be able to save them from the 'bikie life', but she figured that Gabby was too far gone, and gladly signed her over to Bobby's care.

"I'll ask Jocelyn," she promised. "I'll drag Luce down there after school today. I'm sure they can use an extra hand."

"There's no hurry," Bobby told her, "I just thought I'd mention it."

Gabby stood up, stretching. "It's alright. May as well ask. I'm off now." She grabbed her bag and headed out the door.

"Alright, have a nice day," Bobby hollered to her retreating back.

It took Gabby the better part of an hour to walk to school, but she preferred that to being dropped off by Bobby. It wasn't that she was embarrassed by him, so much that she didn't want people to know she was living with a member of the SOA. Affiliations with bike clubs can have interesting effects on people.

Lucy wasn't at school when Gabby arrived. She was earlier than usual, and the halls, for once, were basically empty. Gabby went and put her books in her locker. As she was shoving her bag in, a sound caught her attention.

Jeremy and Jessica, her face swollen and various shades of purple, were having a heated discussion at the end of the hall. Gabby watched curiously for a while as Jeremy's hands flew all over the place as he spoke. She saw his eyes move ever so slightly toward her, and she quickly dropped her head.

Her heartbeat quickened as moments later she heard deliberately slow footsteps. "See something interesting?" Jeremy asked.

Gabby shook her head. "I didn't see anything," she mumbled, as she rushed to close her locker.

She heard it more than she felt it, as a fist grabbed a handful of her hair and slammed her head into the locker. She heard a few gasps from other students, but no one tried to help.

Jeremy yanked backwards, throwing her onto the ground. She landed painfully as she put a hand to her forehead. Blood gushed out of a gaping wound, flowing into her eye and down her face as she hyperventilated. The blood mixed with tears as she sat there, whimpering.

Jeremy towered over her, tall and menacing. "That's right; you didn't see any-fucking-thing," he said to any would-be witnesses. He knelt beside Gabby. "The next time you look at me, I'll gouge your eyes out," he promised, he worked up a mouthful of saliva and spat on her face. "Ugly bitch." He stood up and strode off as though nothing had happened, leaving a bawling Gabby sitting in the middle of the hall.

It wasn't until he was completely out of sight did anyone start talking, their hushed voices echoing around Gabby as she hauled herself to her feet, only to fall back over again, disoriented. Her eyes were unfocused as the world seemed to swim around her, and she was vaguely aware of someone saying the word 'concussion' and someone else suggesting someone help her.

Someone finally rushed over to help, whether due to guilt or something else she didn't know. They pulled her off the ground, onto shaky legs and guided her to the nurse's office.

Gabby didn't remember much after that, but she remembered the hospital and the angry look on Bobby's face when he saw her. She didn't know why he was angry at her, but Filip was there, too, asking what the hell happened. And then there was Jax, Opie and Tig, and Gemma and Clay. Piney didn't show up until after she'd woken up the first time, because someone forgot to tell him that she was in hospital. Lucy managed to fight through everyone to reach her bedside, but she glanced nervously around, unsure.

When Gabby properly woke up, she knew she was alright, because her head was pounding, and Bobby was laughing at something that Lucy had just said. Filip stood quietly in the corner. Everyone else had left.

Gabby groaned, alerting them that she was awake. Lucy was the first to speak. "Oh, my God, are you okay? Jessica said they'd taken you to hospital because you were bleeding and you fainted but she didn't say what happenedandIwassoworriedbeca usenoonewouldtellme..."

"I'm okay," Gabby told her as she slowly sat up.

"What happened?" Bobby asked.

Lucy cut in before she could speak. "It was Jeremy, wasn't it?"

"Who's Jeremy?"

"It's not that little shitehead that was at the gas station?"

"Gas station? What are you talking about?"

"...told me that he was at school early because..."

"...knew that prick would be trouble..."

"...better tell me what the hell is going on before I go down to that school myself..."

"...and he was being unusually good..."

"...don't care if he's underage..."

"...but I can't believe he did this, Gab..."

"Hey!"

Lucy and Filip fell silent as Bobby tuned to Gabby. "What. Happened?" he asked.

"I... I can't remember," she lied.

"Right, well I'm going down to the school..."

"Please don't," Gabby begged.

"...they said there's no danger, and you're right to go when you're up to it, so when you are up to it, Chibs can take you home."

Filip blinked. This was obviously news to him, but he just nodded. Gabby noticed that he was wearing a cut. If he was transferred, he would have already owned one, but this was the first time she'd saw him wearing one.

"Good." Bobby made to leave.

"You should probably take Luce home," Gabby piped up, as though it was fair trade for him going to the school.

Lucy shook her head. "Mom knows I'm here, so it's fine."

"I'll be going soon," Gabby told her, "so you may as well get a lift. I'm fine, really."

Lucy sighed, glancing up at Bobby who shrugged, indifferent. "Yeah, okay. Will you be at school tomorrow?"

No, Gabby thought. I'm never going back again. "Yeah, of course."

"I'll see you then."

Gabby smiled as Bobby and Lucy left. Bobby was going to tear the principal a new one, who in turn would interrogate her for a solid hour or so. It was going to be complete torture.

"You do remember wha' happened, don't ye?" Filip asked when they were gone.

"I said I don't, so I don't." Gabby picked at a thread in her shirt.

"Was it that shite at that gas station?"

Gabby was surprised Filip even remembered. She was surprised he even cared. She went to say 'no', but the word caught in her throat As her heart skipped a beat. "It doesn't matter."

"That's as good a yes as any."

Gabby scoffed. "Like I said, it doesn't matter. Teachers won't do anything besides make it worse. No one cares, as long as it's you and not them."

"Wha's he got against you?"

Throwing her legs off the side of the bed, Gabby sighed. She didn't want to talk about it. "Can we go?"

"Not until ye answer my question," Filip told her.

"He's jealous," she told him sarcastically, "because I don't have parents, and he does."

Filip blinked, not completely comprehending what she meant. "He... what?"

"Can we go now?" she repeated.

Filip sighed, defeated. "Aye, sure. Come on."

As they headed home, Filip wondered what on earth would compel someone to tease another because their parents were dead. It had taken him a few moments to understand what Gabby had said, but when he had, it just pissed him off.

Her parents were dead. Both of them. And she had no other family. Filip failed to see the funny side of that. He tried to see it, but he couldn't. It was lost on him. Death wasn't funny, just like stealing someone's family wasn't. He could, to a degree, understand the pain she would have felt, only he actually had a chance of seeing his wife and child again. Gabby didn't.

The more he thought about, the angrier it made him. That shit, that little shit, had it in for him. Filip knew what the boy looked like, and after all Gabby had done for him, the least he could do was find the little shithead, rough him up enough so that he left her alone. He could practically feel the terror radiating off of her when he asked about the kid. It was logical enough for him to go rough the kid up, and had nothing to do with his growing attraction to her. Nothing at all

How's that for a nice kinda cliffhanger? :D sorry this is a short one, but there ya go :P