A few hours later Jax, Opie, Chibs and Happy had finally arrived at St. Thomas Hospital in Charming and they were exhausted. Jax had explained their story to the cops. He explained that he realized his sister had been kidnapped and that he found out that it was Tyson Jacobs and they had received a tip that she was at Buddy's apartment. When they got there Buddy was already dead, either a suicide or someone killed him as they were leaving the apartment and then they found Summer close to death in the back bedroom. The police had recorded every word and they seemed pretty convinced that this was the truth. They had the ambulance take Summer to the closest hospital where they offered to fly her to St. Thomas where the doctors knew her and her family.
Now, here they sat in silence, nobody wanting to talk about the seriousness of the situation. Jax and Chibs stood up as Tara walked through the doors. "Doc, how is she?" Chibs asked quietly. Tara, Jax's wife and Summer's best friend, looked at Jax and then at Chibs with tears in her eyes. "She lost a lot of blood you guys," she replied quietly as she swiped at the few tears that escaped from her eyes, "She crashed on the table, but we managed to resuscitate her and now she is in stable condition. We had to go in a repair a small tear to her stomach because of the stabbing, but other than that, she will make a full recovery." Even though they all knew it was obvious Jax had to ask. "The baby?" he asked quietly. Tara looked at him and the tears began to flow freely as she shook her head in response. "There was no way that baby would have survived that," Tara replied, "The baby was small, but the knife went straight into the uterus, causing an instant miscarriage." Jax pulled Tara into his arms and held her tightly and kissing her softly on the forehead.
Chibs rubbed his forehead and then shoved his hands in his pocket. "Can I go in and see her?" Chibs asked quietly, interrupting their moment. "Of course," Tara replied, turning to look at him, "She hasn't woken up yet, but we are optimistic that she should wake up any time. She was beaten up pretty badly and the multiple rapes caused a lot of damage, but she will be on the road to recovery in no time." Chibs kissed Tara on the cheek and smiled sadly at her. "Thanks love," he whispered before he turned and walked down the hall towards Summer's room.
"Hey," Opie called out from behind Chibs. Chibs turned to face Opie and without saying anything, he put his arm around Opie's shoulder and they walked silently into Summer's room. Everything from the last day or two had been forgotten, the most important thing to Chibs right now was family, especially Summer. They sat down on either side of Summer's bed and Chibs burst into tears despite his best efforts to hide behind his strong persona. Her long black hair flowed down over her shoulders and she was sleeping peacefully. Her face was pale and bruised as was her neck and her arms. Chibs felt like the events of the past day were all his fault and he wish he could rewind and deal with the situation differently.
"Don't you do that," Opie said quietly, looking over at Chibs. Chibs looked over at Opie curiously as he wiped the tears from his face. "Don't do what?" Chibs asked. "Take this all on yourself," Opie replied, reading Chibs' mind, "This is in no way your fault. Yeah, you two had an argument or you broke up or whatever happened, but that wasn't why she got kidnapped. That wasn't why she lost the baby. Someone was out to get her and they did. Unfortunately, it all happened one thing right after the other." Chibs looked at Opie and the tears flooded his eyes again, but this time he wouldn't let them fall. "If I had just held her in my arms," Chibs mumbled, "If I just kept her by my side this morning, instead of letting her leave." "Well, if you're blaming yourself for this, then so am I," Opie replied, leaning his elbows on his knees, "If I wasn't such a dick about the whole situation you and Summer would be together and happy with no grief from me." Chibs couldn't find a response for that because it was partly the truth.
"Can we just move on from this?" Chibs asked after a couple moments of silence, "We're here, Summer is ok and now I just want to forget the rest of it." "I'm ready to forget it too Chibs," Opie replied, "After this situation today, it is very clear that the two of you love each other and you guys deserve a chance." Chibs could see the sadness in Opie's eyes, but he could also see that this time, Opie was sincere about letting Summer go and letting her have a fair chance at love, no matter who it was with. "Thanks," Chibs said quietly as he kissed Summer's hand gently and then stood up, "I'm going out for a smoke. I need to clear my head." "Sure," Opie replied, "I'll sit with her. I don't mind." Chibs gave him a small smile and then walked out of the room.
A few hours later Summer opened her eyes and slowly everything came into focus and the pain became undeniably apparent. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth quietly as she looked around the room. She noticed Opie hunched over the bed, his head resting on her hand. She squeezed his hand and whispered his name, "Opie." He didn't moved from his spot so Summer slowly and gently pulled his toque off of his head and ran her hand through his hair. When they were together one of her favorite things was to run her hands through his hair. She heard him sigh quietly and then he lifted his head up to look at her. His eyes widened and then he smiled a sad smile.
"It's good to see you awake baby girl," he said quietly with relief, "Tara said they were expecting you to wake up at any time." "How long have I been out?" Summer whispered. "Awhile," Opie replied, "It's 6:00 a.m. on Monday morning. We rescued you yesterday evening." "What happened after I called you?" Summer asked, her voice shaky with fear and emotion. "You crumbled," Opie replied, "You passed out and when we got to you, it was almost too late." "What happened?" she asked again, looking him straight in the eye. "Buddy won't be bothering you again Summer," Opie replied as he looked down at his hands, "I made sure of that... But now we have to keep you protected. We have no idea where Tyson is and we can only imagine the shit show that is about to begin because of Buddy, but we are guessing there will be some retaliation." Summer ran her hand down his face to his cheek, which was warm beneath her hand and for the first time in a really long time, the fireworks that she usually felt when she touched him were no longer there. She felt something different though, she felt respect, admiration and a different kind of love than before. It was like he was finally acting like a friend or a big brother and she appreciated it so much more than she could put into words.
She moved her hand to her lap and rubbed her stomach and then her heart sank. "The baby?" she asked hesitantly. "I'm sorry Summer," Opie replied quietly, shaking his head, "We lost the baby." Even though she already knew the answer, Opie's response destroyed her and she couldn't stop the tears from cascading down her face. Her hand went up to her mouth after a sob escaped her lips and instantly she felt Opie's hand squeeze hers. Normally in a tough situation he would throw his arms around her body and hold her until the pain went away, but not this time.
Opie looked at her and he was confused and unsure and in that moment she knew why he wasn't getting close to her. After all that she had been through, he was afraid to scare her or do anything to trigger the horrible memories from the day before. "It's ok," she whispered, "You are the last person I'm afraid of Ope." After she said that he sat up and pulled her into his strong arms and rocked her until the crying subsided slightly. "It's going to be ok," he whispered into her hair, "It's horrible that it had to happen Summer... but maybe, maybe this is a good thing." Summer pulled away from him slowly and looked into his eyes. "Why would this be a good thing?" she asked curiously. "Because, now you get an opportunity to start fresh," Opie replied with a sad smile and brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes, "You won't be tied to me and you have an opportunity for a fresh start with Chibs. I was willing and ready to do the baby thing with you, but it would have created so many complications. It would have been a very difficult situation."
Summer had no idea where all of this was coming from and she was feeling confused and happy and sad all at the same time. "Where is this coming from Ope?" Summer asked him quietly, "Not more than two days ago you hated both of us and now... Chibs and I aren't together and we had a major falling out before I ran off." "Chibs and I have worked it out Summer," Opie replied, reaching for her hand and holding it tightly, "When we realized that the possibility of losing you was high, we realized that our behaviour and our attitudes were pretty childish. We had to put our feelings aside and focus on finding you and being there for you." Summer didn't say anything in response but just smiled at him.
"I'm tired," she whispered as she leaned her head against the pillow, "Thank you for being here Ope..." Opie stood up and kissed her softly on the forehead. "You sleep baby girl," Opie replied, "We'll be here when you wake up."
Summer nodded her head slightly in response and then closed her eyes. Even the darkness couldn't shield her from the memories of the day before.
The whole club was waiting at the hospital for their chance to see Summer, but they had agreed that Gemma, Opie, Chibs, Jax and Clay were the ones who would take shifts and be with her for a couple hours at a time. Tara had mentioned that Summer would probably suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and it might be hard for her to forget what happened.
Opie walked down the hall to the waiting room with a small smile on his face and Donna ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Chibs stood up when Opie and Donna walked up to him. "She isn't awake now Chibs," Opie replied, "But she did wake up and we talked. I'm sure she would be happy to see your ugly face the next time she opened her eyes." "Bastard," Chibs replied with a small smile on his face, "Does she seem ok?" "No, not really," Opie replied, "This destroyed her, but seeing you by her side will definitely change that a little bit." Neither Opie nor Chibs could actually talk about what was really on their mind because Donna was there.
"I'm glad she woke up," Donna said quietly, holding on to Opie's hand, "Can you let me know when I can go and see her?" "Of course love," Chibs replied as he squeezed Donna's shoulder gently, "Maybe in the next day or so. Opie will let you know." "Thanks," she beamed up at him.
Chibs nodded in response. "If you head out come say bye Ope," Chibs said quietly, "I'm going to sit with her for a little while. I want to be there when she wakes up next." He began walking to her room when Gemma looked up at him. "Did you want to go see Summer?" he asked her, forgetting that she hadn't seen her daughter yet. "Nah," Gemma replied with a smile, "You go be with her. I'll go in when you're done."
Chibs smiled to himself as he made his way to Summer's room. Gemma had always been able to cover up her worry as best she could. If you didn't know her, you would never be able to tell when she was worried or struggling with something. She had always kept her feelings very well covered up. Except when it came to her family, she was never very good at hiding her feelings then. Guaranteed Gemma was freaking out about Summer at that very moment, but she knew that Chibs wanted to see her just as badly.
It was dark in Summer's room and as Chibs pulled up a chair beside her bed, he could hear her breathing heavily and she was kind of whimpering. The poor girl was terrified and she was probably reliving every moment in her sleep. He sat down beside her and reached for her hand. He gently squeezed her hand and leaned his head down to kiss her fingers softly. He just wanted her to wake up so that he could see her beautiful blue eyes and let her know that everything would be ok. He would protect her, the club would protect her and nothing like what happened yesterday would every happen again.
He knew that Jax and Opie felt the same way, that one of them would have to die first before anything would happen to Summer again.