I groan, rolling over to see what time it is. A loud noise had woken me up, and I was finding it hard to believe I had slept more than an hour.
My stomach surges in pain; the hydros I took last night, before the drive here, have completely worn off. Sitting up, I lift the SAMCRO shirt up to see my bandages are still in place and there are no blood stains. That's a good sign; my stitches held.
Six in the morning already? Already, how? Throwing the warm covers off of me, I force myself out of bed. Four hours of sleep will have to do. I quickly throw my long, ash-brown hair in a messy bun, put a pair of tiny black Soffe shorts on, and walk out of the back apartment. The smell of coffee hovers in the air as I make my way towards the bar. There, fiddling with the coffee machine is a woman I have missed dearly.
"Wanna make me a cup while you're at it, Gem?" I ask, the corners of my lips turning into a smile.
Gemma jumps at the sound of my voice, dropping the coffee mug she has in her hand. "Son of a bitch," she shouts, the glass mug breaking against the floor.
I bit my bottom lip, to keep from laughing at her. She turns around and looks at me like she has seen a ghost.
"Don't tell me you have forgotten me? It has only been four years," I tease. I walk over to her, with my arms open. I expect a hug from the woman I am closer to than my mother.
"With all the stunts you have pulled over the years, I don't think it would be possible to forget you. Get over here baby girl." Gemma commands, with her hands on her hips.
She steps over the glass and walks toward me. There's the Gemma I know. The woman who comes to work in a leather jacket, nice jeans, and black boots every day; despite the fact she works behind the desk at an auto repair shop. She doesn't take anyone's shit, and all the men here respect her. Gemma is the ideal image of an old lady.
I wrap my arms around her tightly, ignoring the stabbing pain in my abdomen. "How long are you here for?" Gemma pulls away and bends down to start picking up the shards of glass.
"I am thinking forever," I tell her, helping to scoop up the last few pieces of glass. At this point, searing pain is cutting through me. Considering I had just gotten stitched up hours before driving here, bending down wasn't something I should probably be doing.
"Forever huh? I am sure my boys were happy to hear that." Gemma stands up throwing the glass pieces in the trash behind the bar. She turns back to me and sticks out her hands for the glass I am holding.
"Yeah... they don't know yet. No one knows I am here, well except you." I mumble, taking a seat on one of the bar stools. Gemma laughs under her breath while pouring coffee into two mugs she took out from a cabinet behind the bar.
"You, sweetheart, have not changed one bit. Coming and going without saying a word to anyone, doing whatever that pretty little head of yours wants to do." She slides a steaming hot cup of coffee my way, with a smile on her face.
I can't say I have changed, that would be a big fat lie. To me, life is all about living right then and thinking it over later. Sure that motto has gotten me in trouble more times than I can count, but no one can ever say Casey Winston led a boring life.
"You know me, Gemma, living for the now and not regretting it later," I wink, "I am going to grab some creamer from the fridge in the back, want any?"
I jump to the floor and start heading to the kitchen. "Honey, you need to learn to drink it black. That is how coffee is supposed to be."
I turn to face her, cocking one eyebrow. "Just because that's-"
"Casey your bleeding!" Gemma exclaims, rushing over to me, instantly turning into a concerned mother.
Oh shit. I guess that explains the excruciating pain when I was bending over. I had tried my hardest to ignore the discomfort, not wanting Gemma to get suspicious. But, it never occurred to me that the pain could be from my wound reopening.
As Gemma tries to pull my shirt up, to inspect where the blood is coming from, I grab her arms. "Gemma, it's nothing. Really-"
She slaps my hands away. Gemma gasps at the sight of the white gauze, now stained with blood, wrapped around the front of my lower body. "Nothing? If I pull this thing off am I going to find stitches underneath. And don't you lie to me Cas."
Now that I have officially caught, maybe telling the semi-truth would be a good idea. "Yes MOM, you will, but it's okay. I am okay! Let me just clean the blood up." As I try to move away from her, she grabs my shoulder tightly.
"We are going to the hospital. I should have an extra pair of shoes in the car, let's go." Gemma points at the club house's front door with her best don't-mess-with-me look.
"I am not wearing a bra or underwear. Can I please change?" I suggest, not budging.
"So you can lock me out and sneak out of one of the windows? Uh-huh, I don't think so. You aren't as clever as you think. I would be a fool to fall for one of your old tricks." With a roll of my eyes, I give in, because if there is one person who doesn't put up with my shit, it's Momma Gemma.
My legs are dangling off the hospital bed; I am anxious to be discharged. However, the doctor won't stop asking me questions. Gemma has left me to fend for myself, in search of more coffee. Or so she said, her phone in her hand when she left makes me think otherwise.
"What hospital did these stitches?" Doctor Carter asks, giving me a look that tells me he isn't pleased with my dodgy answers thus far. Doctor Carter looks fresh out of medical school, untainted by awful, and stressful patients such as myself. If he were on Grey's Anatomy, no doubt he would have earned a nickname for how good looking he is.
"I never said they were done at a hospital, but a doctor did do them," I reply hastily, "Can I, please go now. You already sewed me back up, given me drugs, and lectured me on taking better care of my injuries. I am starting to think you are keeping me around is some strange form of flirting."
Doctor Carter chuckles at my response, which I am surprised by. The point of saying what I did was so he would get annoyed at me and leave the room for my discharge papers. "I take it you don't like hospitals."
"I don't dislike hospitals; I just know there is no reason for me to stay. Additionally, Charming isn't the biggest town; staying any longer would mean word getting around that I am here, and I don't want that."
"She has a point doc. Can we get her out of here?" Gemma questions, walking into the room with two cups of coffee in her hands. Greedily, I grab one from her hand as she sits next to me one the bed. After Gemma saw the blood on my shirt, I hadn't gotten a sip of my coffee she had given me at the club house. Running on four hours of sleep without coffee is torture.
"Alright ladies, I will get those papers to you here in a second." Dr. Carter closes file he has on me in front of him and leaves us be. Finally, he stops asking questions. If Gemma hadn't of come in, I think he would have held me, hostage, here even longer.
"You took a long time to get coffee." I look over at Gemma giving her an I-know-you-are-up-to-something look.
Before Gemma can answer, I hear a nurse yell. "No running!" And in that second I knew just what she had done.
"You didn't!" I protest, standing up. I slam my coffee down on the tray next to me, sprinkles of it landing on my arm.
"One of us had to." Gemma smiles, not a trace of guilt in her voice.
Within seconds Jax and JJ Teller are standing in the doorway, almost out of breath. I take a deep breath before looking their way.
"Mom are you...Casey?" JJ's face breaks out into the biggest smile. JJ was the second older brother I never asked for but was grateful to have. He comes towards me, about to engulf me in a bear hug.
"Ah no! I just got restitched!" I shout, protectively placing my hands over my stomach.
JJ grabs the sides of my face and plants a kiss on my forehead. "How long have you been home? Why didn't you call and tell me? Are you okay?" he asks, his blue eyes boring into me.
Looking away from him, I glare down at Gemma. "I can't believe you told them I was in the hospital."
"She didn't." Jax interrupts, still standing in the doorway. His arms cross over his chest; I can't tell if he is angry or upset, but he is one of the two.
I take a big gulp at the sound of his voice. Hard to believe it's been four years since I have set eyes on Jax. Saying goodbye to him was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Didn't help that it was a spur of the moment decision, that no one saw coming.
"They asked why I wasn't at work. I just told the boys I was at the hospital and gave them a room number," she explained with a smirk.
Typical Gemma, never giving me a choice when it came to her sons. She was well aware I didn't want to be reunited with anyone right away. I had told her to drop me off at my car once we left, and to clean up my stuff in the back apartment. I had decided there were some things I wanted to do before seeing my father and the rest of them again.
"Then she didn't answer our calls after that," JJ says, letting go of my face and looking over at his mother.
"JJ, will you help me track Dr. Carter down? Casey is just itching to get out of here." Gemma stands up, grabbing her big leather purse.
If I didn't love her, I would have some not very nice things to say about her right now. She is just trying to get Jax and me alone. JJ, oblivious to the whole thing, agreed to help. "Don't go running on us again Crazy," he calls out, leaving me alone with the one man I was not prepared to see.
When they were gone, I sat back down on the bedding, knowing there was no way out of this situation. "Guess I don't get a hug." I joke.
Jax squats down in front of me, bringing his fingers to my chin. He pulls my face, up to look at him directly in the eyes. "How long are you staying, Casey?"
I bit my bottom lip. Jax doesn't call me by my full first name, maybe a nickname or 'darlin', but never my full name. The seriousness in his voice makes me cringe. All of this was my fault, our now strange relationship. Things had happened, and I just left. Instead of working my problems out, I fled.
"I am back Jax, for good," I tell him. Jax looks deeply into my blue-gray eyes, giving me chills.
His fingers fall from my chin, he stands up, never taking his eyes off of me. "Okay."
That is all he says before leaving the room. I watch him go and wonder what the hell I was thinking when I left him behind.