25.

By the time the ambulances had arrived they had found that Donna had been shot in the stomach and Tara had been shot in the chest. He and Ope were in the respective ambulances of their women. Jax was hanging onto Tara's hand. He was afraid to let go, afraid that if he did she would. He cried he was so terrified of losing her. Seeing the blood trying to ease out of the wound in her chest was taking it's toll on him. Once at the hospital they took both Donna and Tara into surgery. Sitting in the waiting room he seen when his brothers and then his mom came in.

"Any word?" she asked.

"Not yet. Where's Thomas?"

"Shelly has her."

"Who?"

"One of the other old lady's."

"Okay. How are you mom? I was so scared that you had been hit too."

"I would rather it be me then Tara and Donna."

Jax couldn't say anything to this. They turned to watch Opie pace back and forth.

It felt like days but it had only been a couple of hours when Piney walked in.

"Dad." Opie said hugging his father.

"I know son. We will get the bastards."

Piney then told his son to follow him and nodded at Jax to do the same.

"Did you find out anything?" Jax asked.

"Not a whole lot but I did want to ask you something."

"Okay."

"Have you seen Clay up here yet?"

Jax thought about it and realized he hadn't. "No, but we were both out of it when we arrived."

"Yeah, well I know for a fact he wasn't here. I followed him."

Jax raised his eyebrows. "And?"

"He went to see someone and you are never going to guess who it was."

"Who?" Opie asked.

"It was the guy from the cartel."

Jax knew then that Clay had everything to do with Tara and Donna getting shot. He just wondered now if they were the intended or was it his mother.

"I have to get mom out of here. I am going to have to tell her what we know so far." Jax said.

"Yeah, I figured you would." Piney said.

They went back to the waiting room and Clay was there. Jax went to sit next to his mom as they waited on word for Tara and Donna. The first doctor came out and it was Donna's doctor. "Is Donna's husband here?" he asked. Opie stood. The doctor went over to him. "Your wife was shot in the stomach. We were finally able to control the bleeding. She will be in here for awhile. But she is doing better. I don't see why she can't have a full recovery. I did want to let you know that the baby she was carrying didn't survive. I'm sorry. "

"Baby?" Piney asked.

"Yeah, she told me on our honeymoon." Opie said tears running down his face.

"Will she be able to have more?" Gemma asked.

"I don't see a problem, but we will need to wait for full recovery."

Jax grabbed his best friend and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry Opie." he said.

"You can go see her if you like." the doctor said to Opie. Opie nodded his head and he and his dad followed the doctor.

Sitting there with his head in his hands he wondered why it was taking so long to hear about Tara. About that time the doctor came out.

"Mr. Teller?" he asked.

"Yeah, how is Tara?"

"It was touch and go for awhile. We believe we have repaired the damage. We will be keeping a close eye on her though. She was shot in the chest. Very near her heart. In fact so near the bullet grazed the heart. Once we repaired that we found that when she fell she landed on her arm in a bad way. It pushed the bones up into her skin. We had to go in and pull the bones away and place them back. The nerves in her hand was severed."
"What does that mean?"

"It means she may not have use in that arm or hand."

"Okay, so what now?"

"She will be in here for a long time. She has to recover from the bullet wound and her physical therapy on her hand. But we can't do that until we can take the pins and brace off of her arm."

"She was a nurse. Is that going to be a problem?"

"It could be. We will have to wait and see. Let's not borrow trouble yet. She's gotten this far let's keep trusting okay?"

"Yeah, thanks doctor." he said shaking the doctors hand.

"If you come with me you can see your wife."

Jax looked over at his mom and together they followed.

Gemma gasped when she seen Tara.

"She is on a ventilator to help her breathe. When the bullet grazed the heart it punctured the left lung. She will be on that until she wakes up."

"When will that be?" Jax asked.

"That will be up to her. Sometimes the body needs the rest to recover quickly so it will demand it. We just have to wait and see."

Jax walked to the side of the bed where her arm wasn't all bandaged up. He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. "Tara, you hang in there baby. I love you."

Gemma heard the doctor leave and walked over to her son.

"We are going to be her strength."

"Yeah." Jax said. He knew he couldn't tell his mom anything yet but he needed to tell her something.

"Mom, I need you to stay with me up here at the hospital."

"Okay baby. I'll be here."

"Thanks. Um.. I can't answer any questions just yet, but can you try not to be in a place with Clay alone?"

Gemma stared at her son for a moment. She wondered if he found out the threats that Clay has used on her from the very beginning.

"Sure baby." she said.