For brief few seconds, it felt like their world existed in a vacuum, devoid of all sound. Birds chirped without voice. Cars moved soundlessly around them. Time existed in an altered state. Blood drops fell in slow motion collecting into a small puddle. Then the air collapsed back into place, allowing sound to return. Time returned to normal.

Juice watched as the woman in front of him pitched forward, her body no longer capable of holding her. Later, he remembered thinking it was not like you saw on TV or movies where the person softly crumples to the ground.

"Gemma!" he ran forward letting the woman who had become his surrogate mother fall into him.

"I'll get my bag and some towels." Tara dashed back into the house. While she was collecting her stuff, she called Jax telling him what she could and to meet them at St. Thomas.

Eli laid the back seat down in his police SUV and radioed the hospital. He and Juice then carefully loaded Gemma in the vehicle.

"I'm…fine," her voice was barely above a whisper.

"I know you are we're just going to take you to the hospital to make sure." Juice wasn't sure when the last time was that he felt such an overwhelming sense of dread as when Gemma nodded okay. He only knew her to go to the hospital for herself twice. Once she was unconscious. The second time was for the supposed car crash. From what he understood it wasn't easy getting her to do that.

Tara threw in her bag and the towels then scrambled in the back of the vehicle. "Go!" she shouted. The two braced themselves as Eli hit the accelerator and the siren.

Jax held Thomas a little tighter against him as he hung up the phone. He looked around the room at each of his brothers until his gaze found Wayne Unser nursing a beer at the end of the counter. He found his composure starting to slip.

Wayne looked up from his drink, "What is it son?"

Everyone in the room had now stopped what they were doing waiting to hear what had Jax so rattled. "That was, uh, Tara. When she got to the house, Gem. Mom was there. They got in an argument…"

"Oh shit. What did she do?" Wayne felt partly responsible for anything that might have happened.

When Jax looked back up there were tears standing in his eyes, "A couple of Niners broke into the back of the house looking for Tara. They started shooting."

After an uncomfortable silence, Chibs asked, "Is Tara okay Jackie?"

"Yeah, Tara's fine, Roosevelt, Juice came in killed both shooters."

"Gemma, what about Gemma?" Wayne concern showing in his face.

"Tara said that she froze. Gemma got her out of the way. Mom's been shot. Tara's says it looks real bad. We need to go to St. Thomas."

"What's the matter Daddy?" Abel wrapped his arms around Jax's leg.

"Everything is going to be okay, I…" he floundered.

Of all people, Chuckie stepped forward, the others too much in shock to offer anything, "Grandma's not feeling very good right now, but Mommy is taking her to the hospital. Your Daddy is going to go check on both while you and your brother sit here with me and…?"

"Me and eat more ice cream." Rat volunteered. This freed up the others to go to the hospital without worry to check on Gemma and find out what the hell happened.

"I've got to call Nero," he had no knowledge of what had happened between Gemma and Nero earlier. "Shit, no answer."

"I'll call Lyla. Have her keep trying. You go. I'll catch up." Tig looked like a lost child.

"You gonna be alright Tig?" Bobby patted him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. This is Gemma we're talking about. She's strong. She can get through anything."

"Nothing stupid Tig. No going out on your own." Chibs warned.

"No, I'll be right behind you." Tig was still off from what happened to Dawn. No one was sure what he might do if something happened to Gemma.

Nero sighed when he felt the vibration of his phone again. "I am very sorry, but I should take this. I could be about my son. Fiasco should be able to handle things for a minute."

Stepping to the back of the restaurant, he pulled his phone, scrolling the caller ID. The first four were from Jax. Nero scoffed. The next several was from Lyla. Now he was worried. Before he could dial out the phone began to vibrate again.

"Yeah?"

"Nero," Lyla was crying, "Nero there's been an accident."

"Lucius, is he okay? Please tell me…" he could not hide the panic in his voice.

"No Nero, its Gemma."

The air in the room suddenly felt too thick and hot. "W, What about Gemma?"

"They're taking her to St. Thomas." Lyla sobbed. God knows she been on the receiving end of the Matriarch's, (even if Tara was the new queen all of them still considered Gemma the Matriarch), temper before, however the woman tried to help her and Opie out. Plus they had bonded since Opie died, and she had decided to keep his children. Diosa provided them many opportunities for chats.

Nero was generally a patient man, but right now he just wanted to know what had happened, "Lyla! What happened to Gemma?"

"She's been shot Nero. It's bad."

He hadn't even hung up from Lyla when he sat down in the cab of his pickup, trying to put the key in the ignition with shaky hands. Guilt, anger and heartache boiled inside him like a poisonous cocktail as the day's events played out in his head. Finally, the engine roared to life, and Nero sped off as fast as the truck would go.

Tara had cut Gemma's shirt open then used a towel to remove the excess blood, so she could get a better look at the wound. Gemma couldn't stifle the groan. "Sorry," Tara said absently, glancing up. The woman had a ghostly pallor, and her breathing shallow.

When she had cleared enough of the blood away she found the hole was bigger than she expected. There was another anomaly, the edges were ragged. Tara leaned closer, probing into the opening. "Shit," she muttered under her breath, "Juice; I need your help."

The young man had been trying to look anywhere but down at what was going on. It wasn't that he was squeamish; he was just felt a little uncomfortable after Tara cut Gemma's shirt open. He wasn't sure why. Most of the shirts she wore were pretty revealing, but it didn't seem right.

"Juice!" Tara yelled realizing what the problem was, "This is no time to get shy on me. I need you to help me with Gemma.

The boy nodded, "What do you need?"

"I need you to roll her onto her side facing you."

Juice tried to be careful. However, he still heard her wince. He could also feel her shaking. "Why she is doing that?"

"Shock, from the blood loss." She lifted the back of Gemma's shirt, finding a small bullet hole confirming her suspicions. "It's a fucking exit wound. Lay her back down."

"She's going to be okay though, right?" his eyes glassy. Tara's eye could were always able to say a thousand things at once, and right now they told Juice all he needed to know.

While she fought to staunch the blood flow, Tara found herself getting madder and madder at her patient. She thought she had her mother-in-law all figured out. Strong, iron willed, willful, deceitful, a liar, and a murderer willing to do anything to keep the deck stacked in her favor. This did not make sense. "Dammit, Gemma, what the hell were you thinking."

The doctor didn't think the Matriarch could even respond let alone would, so she was shocked when she saw her mouth move. She had to lean down to hear her over the siren. She was even more puzzled.

"What did she say?" asked Juice.

"No one messes with my family."