"Do you understand?"
"Yes," Cassidy said softly as she stared into the mirror, her hand running a brush through her blonde hair despite the fact that she had been brushing it for the past twenty minutes, as she avoided looking at Father Kellan through the mirror.
"Tell me what you understand."
"I'm not to leave this house," She said gesturing towards her crutches that were leaned up against the wall, "Not that I really could even if I tried, but if I did try, this anklet I'm wearing will automatically send an electrical shock into my body, knocking me out."
"Well then," Father Kellan stood up, "I think we are done here, I trust you will be happy here Ms. Somers, at least till I can get you back to your family."
"Don't do me any favors," She said quietly as he exited the room.
Cassidy sighed as she took in the master bedroom, just one part of her own personal prison. She wasn't sure when they had gotten here, wherever here was, all she knew was that after the man – who she had named Scrugs for no reason whatsoever – had shot her through the knee, she had passed out, and when she had woken up, she was here in this bedroom, on this bed, with Father Kellan waiting for her to wake up, so he could tell her something about a gun run happening, and how they had patched her knee up.
She looked down at her left leg, the same leg that she had been shot in, and stared at the hunk of metal that was wrapped around her ankle. It was a tracking anklet that was currently blinking green – which allowed Cassidy to assume that no one was going to try to electrocute her just then – that Scrugs had taken way too much delight in putting on her.
If she hadn't been a prisoner before, she definitely was one now.
Cassidy grabbed the crutches that were leaning against the wall and tucked them underneath her arms wincing as she did so. If she hadn't just had her entire knee shattered, she probably would have thought using the crutches were one of the most painful things ever.
She was no stranger to pain, in fact she was very used to it, resulting in a high threshold of being able to withstand it, however, she also had absolutely no upper body strength, and the crutches were really showing her that.
The house was big, she realized, it was only one story, but it was big, with a wide, open layout, and judging the by floor to ceiling windows, the house was in the middle of nowhere, as far as she could see there was only grass, dead grass at that.
"Where exactly are we?" She asked Scrugs as she crutched her way into the kitchen where he was currently sitting at the table a laptop in front of him, and a stack of folders pushed off to the side, she doubted she wanted to know what was in either of those.
"We're home love."
"Let me rephrase that, are we even in the United States anymore?" She asked moving towards the fridge and yanking it open.
"Aye."
Cassidy nodded to herself before pulling out eggs, mushrooms, peppers, and some cheese, "Are you hungry?"
Scrugs looked at her for a second too long before nodding slowly as if he wasn't quite sure what to make of her question. Hey, she wasn't the one who was handing out drugs like they were party favors, that was all this guy.
She had just figured that he didn't look like the kind of guy who cooked, and as sweet as the idea of freedom was, she also wasn't going to starve this guy. It wasn't like he could just go out and grab some takeout, or order in. She figured he was stuck here just as much as she was.
"So, did you always picture your life would turn out like this?" She asked digging through drawers and pulling out a pan, and a cutting board, and scoffed to herself when she realized that the only knives in the kitchen, were plastic ones. She would have to make do with that.
"Like what?"
"Well the whole tracking anklet and the house, really just makes this a glorified version of grounding for me, but you aren't really doing anything, you're just my baby-sitter."
"This is an honor."
"What being able to spend time with me?" She laughed as she cut the pepper with took a bit too much effort on her part.
"No, being part of the downfall of Jax Teller."
Cassidy's hand froze in the action of roughly stabbing into a red pepper for a brief second before she resumed the action pretending like the statement didn't bother her. "Oh?"
"Jax Teller is your old man's da." Scrugs said informatively.
"I know," Cassidy said as she dropped the peppers into the bowl where she had cracked the eggs in. That was one of the very few things she did know, she remembered everything about the night she had been taken, she remembered the names Jax and Tara, it wasn't a detail she was ever likely to forget.
"I bet your wondering what you have to do with all of this."
"Isn't it obvious?" She asked as she began cutting at the mushrooms, it wasn't hard to figure out why she was taken, "You need Jax to do things for you, but he would never just help you, however if Abel were to ask him, I'm guessing he would be more inclined to comply, and the only way to get Abel to go to Charming was to have something that would make Abel run there. I'm Abel's incentive, so in turn he could be Jax's incentive."
"That's very perceptive Ms. Somers, and while that holds true, you're role to play in this is bigger than that."
"Is that so?" She asked trying to downplay her curiosity as she added the mushrooms to her concoction.
"Of course, you are the incentive here, that is your entire role, but you aren't just Abel's incentive."
Cassidy paused in the act of pouring the eggs into a pan that was currently being heated on the stove, "What do you mean? Jax doesn't care about me, taking me isn't any incentive for him."
"First of all, you, Cassidy, seem to have an ability to make anybody want to help you-"
"That's not true," She interrupted him.
"If it isn't then why am I having this conversation with you right now? Why am I answering your questions?" Scrugs raised his eyebrows.
"Maybe you just like hearing the sound of your own voice," She said in a playful tone as she poured the eggs into a pan, and taking a spatula, and holding it between her teeth as she reached up into the cupboards unsure of what she was looking for, but doing it anyway.
"Maybe I do, and maybe someone has damaged you so badly that you can't tell the kind of effect you have on people."
Cassidy dropped the bowl that was in her hand, and spun around faster than it should have been possible for a girl who only had one working leg. She grabbed the spatula out of her mouth with her hand as she stared at him with wide eyes. "Why would you think that?"
"Besides your reaction right now, well that has to do with the other person you are going to be an incentive for."
Cassidy closed her eyes holding warm tears, this was not happening right now, this was not happening to her. They couldn't know, nobody knew, god even Abel didn't know, he was lying to her that had to be the only reasonable explanation. No one who took you captive was so willing to give you information unless it wasn't real.
"You're lying," She accused in a hoarse tone.
"Am I?" Scrugs raised his eyebrows and pointed at her leg, "You're entire knee is shattered, we didn't fix that knee, just made sure the bleeding stopped, unless you get a knee replacement, you are never going to walk again Cassidy."
"I know that."
"Exactly, yet you didn't even bat an eyelash, you haven't been given any medicine, you have to be in copious amounts of pain, yet you haven't so much as flinched. You've barely paid any mind to the injury. You're used to it Cassidy, you are used to the pain."
"You have no idea what you're talking about," She shook her head as her tears finally made her way down her face.
"Don't I?" Scrugs stepped forward, "I know exactly who you are, I'm from Ireland, I was recruited in the IRA at the age of twelve, they picked me up off the streets, taught me how to shoot gun, how to set a bomb, how to detonate one, how to kill, I was born in a warzone."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"It has everything to do with you, because that's how I know who you are. When I look at you, I see myself."
"I am nothing like you," Cassidy cried.
"Aren't you? You want to know why we are one in the same, Cassidy? It's simple really, I was born in a warzone, and so were you."
"I was not born in a warzone," She said heatedly.
"Yes you were," He said taking a step closer to her, "You were born in a warzone, and ever since you've been running from one."
"I have not."
"Really? So the name Mick Holland means nothing to you?"
"You know what?" Cassidy said turning off the gas, "I'm not hungry anymore. I think I'm just going to go walk by the front door so somebody electrocutes me, because that sounds like something much more productive to do instead of having this conversation with you."
She grabbed the crutch she had laid against the island before tucking it under her arm and moving away, but she didn't get far before Scrugs grabbed her arm, causing her crutches to fall, and swung his fist directly into her face.
She cried out, and tucked her chin into her chest as she fell, her arms moving forward to catch her fall.
Survival Rule Number One: When you go down, tuck your chin into your chest, it helps prevent concussions.
"You didn't even flinch," Scrugs scoffed shaking his head, "You were provoking me, you knew I would hit you. Like I said Cassidy, there are many layers that are going to go into ruining Jax Teller's life, but I never said there wouldn't be collateral damage along the way. I think you'll find that your life is going to go up in flames as well by the end of this."
"If you're so sure I was born in a warzone," Cassidy said quietly as she pushed herself up, "Then that means I survived one. That means I know how to survive, you can't ruin my life Scrugs, not when there is so little of it to ruin."
"I think you'll find that the little that is left will be easy to destroy, after all you're going to help me do it. You're going to do it to yourself."
(Abel)
Abel sighed as he rested his head against the wall of the hospital waiting room, it was four in the morning, and they had been there since two.
He didn't know the details but there had been some kind of problem at the gun run, the issue had been resolved but not before a man he now knew as Tig had been shot in the chest, and had to be brought into the hospital.
"Can I help you?"
Abel turned to look at who Tara – who had otherwise been sitting quietly next to him – was talking to, and stood up as well when the man flashed a badge at Tara.
"I'm looking for the family of Alex Trager?"
"That's us," Jax said firmly cutting in and placing his body between Tara and the man in a move that wasn't territorial at all.
Abel frowned as he stared at the man, he had absolutely no idea who this man was but something about him seemed vaguely familiar, like he recognized something in him, or had seen him before.
"Well the hospital is legally required to let the police know when someone comes in with a bullet wound or anything similar, so when he wakes up, I need to have a word with him."
"And who exactly are you?" Jax raised his eyebrows.
"FBI," The man flashed his badge again, "Agent Holland."