Three days later, Ava found herself hunched over the toilet forcing herself to throw up everything Clyte made her eat. She hasn't been alert much since he brought her here. She knows he's drugging her and the drugs knock her out for hours at a time. Laying down on the floor, this afternoon, if it was afternoon, was the first time he left her immediately after he forced her to drink and eat what he brought her. Every other time, he stuck around until after the drugs kicked in and she was weak. Only then, did he leave. She turns her head and sees the bruises up and down her arms.

"Get up, Ava," She tells herself trying to get the energy to move. She puts her hand on the tub and pulls herself up. At least it was better than crawling back out of the bathroom. She gets up on her two feet wobbly and looks at the bedroom and feels the urge to throw up all over again.

After washing her mouth out, she looks at herself in the mirror. She looks like a dark and blue discolored mess. She felt like there wasn't a piece of her that wasn't swollen or bruised. Picking up the shirt Clyte brought her to wear, she looked at the gunshot wound that was infected again. Clyte poured cleaning alcohol on the wound but that was it.

She looks outside the curtains carefully and sees the sun high up. The place doesn't look familiar though. she walks back to the dressers and tries to find some clue as to wear she is. She sees a receipt in between the bed and dresser. The receipt is from Lodi.

"Shit," Ava says knowing she needs to get out and somewhere safe before Clyte comes back.

She sees a long van pull up into the parking space in front of the next room. It's a van with a Christian Church logo on the side, and although she looks like shit, she knows there's safety in numbers. She puts on the sweats Clyte brought for himself and left here and although Ava hates wearing one more thing of his, beggars can't be choosers. Ava walks out into the sun for the first time and she shields her eyes from the sun.

"Young lady, are you okay?" An old woman from the van comes up to her.

"Yeah, just, yeah. Um, I know this is weird, but do you happen to have a pair of pants or sweats on you I could wear?" Ava asks calmly.

"We're dropping off some clothes to the shelter by our church. I can give you a pair, but if you want, we can give you a ride to the church too. A lot of people find a lot of help from the church. I'm Melissa," the older woman says all motherly like.

"Allison," Ava says lying. "And yes, I would love a ride, thanks."

Melissa introduces Ava to the other shelter volunteers and they all tell her that God will help her if she reaches out and accepts him. Yeah, right, Ava says in her head sitting in the van. The sun is so bright today and Ava wonders if there is a God, why didn't he help her…

Pulling up to the church, Ava thanks them and says she's gonna sit inside the church for a bit. Going inside, Ava wonders how long it's been since she's been in a church. She walks to the left up behind the main rows to the stairs. She walks up and sits in the back where it's dark. She pulls her knees up to her chin and rests her head. And as hard as she tries, she can't stop the tears that fall as she looks up at the figure the world calls God.

Charming, California

"This is insanity," Jax says watching Abel go yet another ten rounds in the ring. He already beat out Benny. Now, he's up against Chibs. Ava still hasn't gotten back. There's been no outward reaction from Abel, but Jax knew his son. Abel was freaking out that there's been no word from her. Maddie hasn't heard from her and Trevor said she hasn't even called Maxie.

"How's he doing?" Tara says coming up by him. She just finished her shift and didn't go home to change yet.

"He ain't saying much. I figure let him get it out of his system here where we can watch him rather than somewhere where he's tempted to do something that'll put him in jail," Jax says giving her a kiss on the cheek before getting closer to the ring. "There's been no sighting of Clyte either."

"You think he's done something?" She asks wondering.

"Luke said he heard from her via email, but nothing over the phone. He also says it's normal for her to keep in touch with email. She likes modern technology," Jax says letting out a chuckle.

"Do we know where her friend is?" Tara says watching Trevor separate Abel and Chibs. Chibs is winning, but Abel's getting inventive with his attacks.

"No, that's the kicker. Maxie only heard Ava mention a Amy once or twice. Nothing to show that Ava's close with her." Jax says.

"Maybe she wanted something different, a different place for a while away from the normal everyday. After Abel and the Tacoma girl, it's not hard to believe. Ava likes her space and doesn't mind traveling," she responds leaning into Jax a bit more when Chibs hits Abel's side where he was shot.

"Yeah, maybe," Jax says but he didn't sound sure. "What if she doesn't want to come back? What's he gonna do?"

"What did you do when I left, Jax? He's exactly like you when someone hurts you," Tara says.

"Luke's given her too much freeway. If and when she gets back, until this shit with the Dirt-Riders stabilizes and our Clyte problem gets resolved, I shit you not I'm gonna ground her myself if for no other reason than to snap Abel out of this shit. He can't be distracted now," Jax says knowing it's wrong, but also knowing that he can't give Abel the time he needs to sort himself out.

Miles away…

Ava left the church and got new clothes dumping her old ones in a dumpster behind the church. Melissa stopped by with the clothes when she walked out the side entrance from the church. When she put the clothes on, she found an envelope in her denim jacket pocket. There was a fifty dollar bill in there and a note from Melissa wishing her well.

Ava got a meal from the shelter. It wasn't the best stew ever cooked, but it wasn't drugged and Ava felt much better after getting food in her system. Next on the list is finding a way to get back to Charming undetected. Asking a volunteer if they have a phone she can use, she goes into the back office and calls Luke.

"Hello?" Luke says picking up on the second ring.

"Hello? Hi..it's me," Ava says avoiding saying his name.

"Ava! You know, I know you like this email thing, but I got a new rule for you. You call me at least once when you get wherever you're going. Email's annoying as shit," Luke tells her laughing.

"Yeah, will do. I need your help," Ava tells him trying not to let her emotions show in her voice.

"What's wrong?" Luke asks.

"I need you to get me. I can't talk long, but I'm in Lodi," She tells him and gives him the address of the shelter. "Hey, um, I need you to come now. I can't really explain over the phone, but just come, okay? And come alone. Don't bring anybody else, especially not Abel."

"Ava, you're worrying me here. what's going on? Is it Clyte? Did he get to you?" Luke says and she hears him open the door in the house.

"Please…just come and come fast. I really need you," Ava says and her voice cracks a bit.

Few hours later, Ava sees Luke's truck pull up right in front of the shelter and she runs outside and gets in his truck before he can get out.

"Jesus Christ! What the hell happened to you? Was it Clyte? Goddamm it," Luke says and pulls her into his arms as she starts to cry. He looks at her face and sees the bruises going down her shirt as well. "What did he do to you, baby?"

"I'll be okay. I will, but we need to leave. I snuck away while he was out," Ava says motioning for him to start driving.

"He got you when I went out. Shit, the emails and Amy. You told me about Amy once and I never thought…" Luke says trying to control his anger and keep himself from letting the guilt eat him right now. he'll think about himself when he gets his niece home and safe.

"I went for a walk, and he got to me," Ava says leaving it at that and resting her head on the seat.

"Baby, are you okay?" Luke says looking over to her needing to know if she needs to go to the hospital.

"Just bruises and a few scratches. I'll heal, just..let's go home. I don't wanna be anywhere else except the house," She tells him and looks outside at the setting sun.

"We need to call Abel, let him know." Luke says trying to figure out if she's downplaying her injuries.

"No!" She yells back. "There's nothing he can do now. There's nothing anyone can do now."

"Your wrist is bleeding," Luke tells her calmly. Her wrists have a gash all around them, like she was tied up.

"It'll stop," Ava says pulling the jacket over her hands.

Clyte

"We'll be ready to strike tomorrow. Sons are preoccupied. All I need is.." Clyte tells his boss over the phone. Clyte's at the harbor in Charming overlooking a ship pulling into the docks.

"I don't care about specifics. You told me you could get California. Make it happen. And Clyte, no mistake. We can't draw attention to ourselves," His boss says on the other side.

"Yes, sir," Clyte responds hanging up. He walks up to the boat when it docks and waves down a ship worker. "How fast can you unload?"

"Unload? We're here to pick up. We didn't get anything to ship down," the guys responds.

"You weren't loaded? You came out of Warrenton with nothing?" Clyte says pissed off.

"There was nothing there. Port commissioner said nothing was there," The worker says.

"Did he, really?" Clyte says walking away and calling the commissioner. After finishing the call, Clyte was convinced that somehow, the Sons intercepted his shipment that was meant for Warrenton. Pure anger sets in and he kicks over bucks on the dock into the water trying to figure out how to tell his boss he can't deliver a solid port from California. He's also trying to figure out how to tell his boss that he lost the biggest shipment of guns they've had in a while to an MC club he pissed off.

Going back to the hotel, Clyte decides it's time for a little bargaining suggestion to the Sons. He had all the fun he's going to get with Ava. Hopefully, by the time he returns Ava to Charming, she'll get used to the drugs and want more. If that happens, Clyte wouldn't mind keeping Ava. The young girl is quite a sight to look at, feels damn good too. He didn't plan on letting Ava go alive, but with present events as they are, he'll have to use Ava to get his guns back. Maybe if Abel's desperate enough, the new president may finally decide to share some of their guns with Clyte's group.

Walking into the hotel room, he finds Ava's not on the bed. She's nowhere to be found.

"Goddamn bitch!" He yells out throwing the lamp. He's lost his bargaining trip and possibly any chance he's got of appeasing his boss.

Luke's house…

Luke parks in the garage to give Ava the privacy she needs. He helps her out of the car and he sees her shirt on the side is stained.

"Your side is bleeding," He says getting inside and helping her sit at the kitchen table. He grabs the first aid kit from the bottom drawer in the kitchen. Luke's not much of an organizer, but Ava always said medical supplies aren't things that should be left all over the place.

"Come on, honey. let me look at you," Luke says helping take off her jacket. He sees the bruises and cuts all over her. "What happened to your side?"

"He shot me. That's how he was able to get me. He had a silencer on. Bastard was smart too. He made sure the bullet grazed me so it wasn't a fatal hit. It won't stop bleeding though," Ava says gripping the chair when he starts cleaning out the wound.

"It's infected and the wound is torn probably by moving around," Luke says and Ava thinks about how hard she fought against Clyte and how much harder he fought her back.

"It'll be fine. I need to shower so you can wrap it up after. It'll just fall off," Ava says lowering the shirt.

"Are you bleeding anywhere else? Ava, Clyte didn't…he didn't…?" Luke says hinting about rape, but knowing the answer scares the shit out of him.

"What, rape? No worries there, Luke," Ava says taking the gazes and cleaning supplies and going upstairs.

"I'll get you something to eat, huh? The blinds are closed in your room so no one can see inside. I'll put up a dark curtain so no light goes through," Luke says helping her up. He lets out a sigh of relief and gives her a kiss on the forehead. "Whatever you want to do, we'll do it. You don't want Abel to know, that's fine. But these bruises won't go away overnight. What about school? I can call the office and pull you out for a while, you can do your work here."

"Yeah, that'll be good. Thanks, Luke," Ava says leaving him to go into the bathroom. Neither turned on the lights yet.

She closes the bathroom door and drops everything on the counter. She turns on the water as hot as it will go and takes off her pants. She grimaces when she feels the cloth rub over the deep cut on the inside of her thigh. She found some medical supplies when she was at the shelter and figured the wound in her thigh was more important than her side since the pants would rub against it whenever she moves. Clyte may not have raped her, but he was close. He even let Ava know how he was gonna do it when he griped her thighs and started cutting her.

"Hey, Luke?" Ava asks through the door.

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna need some vitamin E capsules," She tells him.

"All right, I'll get it when I pick up some medicine for the infection," He tells her.

"And Luke?" Ava asks cautiously.

"Yeah, honey?" He replies.

"Don't leave until I get out, okay?" She tells him.

"I won't, Ava. I promise, baby. You won't be left alone ever again," He says clearing his throat.