A/N: Hey guys, it's been such a long time but I think I'm back for a while. Long story short, I absolutely hated the season 6 finale of the show and it's part of the reason I haven't watched season 7 yet but more relevant, it left me totally uninspired. I just wasn't into it anymore. That and I've been crazy busy the past year. But I started the series over again and I remembered why I loved SoA. I've had about half of this written on my computer for a really long time and after reading most of my posted chapters again, I've decided to pick back up. Plus the odd review or two I've gotten out of the blue definitely gave me somemotivation to get back on the horse. So for those of you who have stuck with me, thanks and for new comers, welcome and I hope you enjoy :)

Rachel chewed on her fingernails in the back of Sam's car. She was surprised he'd shown up at the bar. She thought Kit hated him. Maybe she was just using him. Rachel could always tell throughout the years how much Sam cared about his sister, no matter how much she pushed him away and avoided him. It was never clear exactly what went down between the siblings but at this point, she didn't care. She was just happy to be in a car with a cop, getting away from the club.

"Rach, it's going to be okay now," Kit said from the front seat. "We'll get back to Charming and everything will be fine."

"You shouldn't lie to her," Sam said. Kit hit him in the arm. "I know it's not the nicest thought but you think you're involved with saints. The Sons have enemies and things are going to get worse before they ever get better."

"Sam, shut up. You're not helping," Kit said, glaring.

"You know I'm right."

"Do you really think this is a good time?" she asked.

Sam looked away from the road for a moment, into his sister's eyes, the same as his, the same as their mother. "I just think now is perfect opportunity to evaluate your life choices."

Kit didn't look away from him. She could kill him in this moment and was regretting every second telling him what had happened inside the club. But Sam wouldn't leave unless she did. Rachel was already flustered and nervous. There was no need to scare her more.

"Let's not get started on life choices," she muttered to her brother before looking out the window.

They drove in silence for a long while. Rachel kept trying Juice on his phone. Kit gave up calling Jax in the club. They were probably riding right now but it seemed to be calming Rach a bit. She was clinging to hope with every ring. She wouldn't be okay until she was in the MC clubhouse and in Juice's arms.

"You know this could have easily been you, right?" Sam finally said, breaking the silence.

"Sam, what do you want me to do about it now? I've made my bed. I'm happy lying in it." Kit looked at Sam. He looked a little rough, but that may have been from being dragged out of bed at 2am. "I'm in love with him. Nothing is going to change that. And you won't ever understand. I'm not leaving no matter how bad things get."

Sam looked at his little sister. After all these years, she was still so stubborn, unwilling to listen to any advice he offered. A part of him admired her for sticking to her choices, through everything. And a part of him resented her for having this power over him. He needed her in his life. He had no other family and there was no loneliness in the world quite like that. It was part of the reason that drove him to jump at the opportunity to come here with Hunter when he suggested it. He had no idea how close he'd be with his sister, just that he'd at least be in the same state. And now, they were in the same car. It killed him that these stupid choices she made would get her hurt. He knew they would because he'd seen this kind of thing happen so many times.

Kit glanced over at him, their eyes locking. To Sam, it felt like she almost understood everything he thought with that one look.

"Watch out!" Rachel screamed before lights flooded the car and the sound of crunching metal was all that was all they could all hear.

Kit opened her eyes but even that was painful. Her entire body hurt and she couldn't figure out what happened. To her left, Sam was unconscious against the airbag. A car accident. Someone had crashed into them. A yell behind her caught Kit's attention. Rachel was screaming as someone pulled her out of the car. Kit tried to move but the pain was paralyzing. She decided to stop because even breathing was excruciating. At least Rachel was getting help.

Kit heard someone walking on broken glass near her. Their shadow was cast over her. "I thought I recognized this one. It's Jax Teller's old lady," the man called out. "We should take her too."

"Leave her. She's too banged up, probably won't make it anyway. She'll bleed out before long," another man said, from farther away. "Let's go before this gets any messier."

Kit tried to move again. She had to stop them from taking Rachel. If she was dying, she may as well die trying. The worst pain was emanating from her leg. It was probably broken. The other vehicle must have crashed right into her side. Her shoulder was also killing. She guessed the seatbelt broke her clavicle. "Help," she tried to call out but all that came out was a gasp. She managed to get the seatbelt off in time to watch the bright headlights pull away and the large vehicle they belonged to screech away with them. Then they were left in the darkness.

The sheer panic running through Jax's head was almost too much to handle. He replayed Kit's message in his head again. He'd heard it what felt like a hundred times while they tried to figure out a plan.

Hey Jax, I know you didn't want me to go out but surprise, I did. You can be mad at me later but I'm at Rach's club and there's some guys here watching her. I think they're with Zobelle. I think they're waiting for… I'll figure it out. I wish you were here. I'll get her back to the clubhouse in one piece. I love you. See you soon.

The thing was that neither of the girls had shown up at the clubhouse and were both completely unreachable. Then he got a call from Tara. He was already stressed and seeing your kid's mom number flashing at you at five in the morning just added to that. But she'd found Kit. She had rolled through the emergency room at the hospital and was pretty messed up apparently. There was no word on Rachel or anyone else she might have been with. Tara didn't know very much and Kit wasn't awake to ask. It was all they had and all he was holding onto as he rode to St. Thomas Hospital.

As Jax walked into the emergency room waiting room, the worst memories came flooding back to him. Everyone he loved ended up here. His mother, his father, his son, his brothers, and now his old lady. It just got harder every time. He gave Kit's name to the emergency secretary but saw a familiar face past the glass doors in a hospital bed. It was Sam. He pushed his way through, despite the secretary's protest, and walked straight up to him. He had stitches on his forehead and looked a little bruised up.

"Jax," Sam said, relief seeming to wash over him. "They took her to surgery. She's got a bunch of broken bones, may have punctured a lung."

Jax felt like he was going to be sick. He wasn't there for her. He should have been but he wasn't. "What about Rachel? Where's Rachel?" Juice wasn't far behind him and they had to know what happened to her too. There was no sign of her in the emergency room as he looked around.

"I don't know. No one's telling me anything. She was in the car with me and Kit but they say she didn't come in with us. Maybe they took her to a different hospital. The one in Lodi is bigger," Sam said, trying to hold onto every last shred of hope his cousin was okay.

"What happened Sam? What were you even doing with Kit?"

"She called me…there was something shady going down with Rachel at that club," Sam said, struggling to remember. His head was killing him and everything was going hazy. "We were driving and then the next thing I remember I was here and there were a ton of people around Kit as she was being wheeled out of here on a gurney."

Jax felt sick. "How long ago did they take her up?"

"I don't know, maybe an hour. You have to find Rachel, Jax. She was scared. I remember that much."

Jax had a really bad feeling about where she was. He knew that it wasn't at some other hospital. Between Kit's cryptic message and this mess, something really bad had happened to her and he knew it. He saw Tara talking to a nurse down the hallway. After promising Sam he'd keep him updated, he walked over to talk to her.

She hugged him tightly. "They're going to be working on her for a while. She had a lot of internal bleeding but they're optimistic, Jax."

"Thanks for calling me," he said.

"Of course. She's strong, she's going to pull through. Look, I know you and it's written all over you. It was an accident. You can't blame yourself for not being there. If you were, you'd be in the OR next to her."

Jax wanted to tell Tara everything, that she didn't know what she was talking about. This wasn't an accident. This was Zobelle. He was after blood and he'd just spilt some. But if he told her that, she would panic and that was the last thing he wanted. It could be the thing that made her leave Charming, taking Abel with her. She was already unhappy about the lockdown situation.

"I know, it's just hard. I was supposed to be there with her tonight but we had a run," he told her, a convenient half-truth. "I can't just wait around here doing nothing or I'll go crazy."

"I've got to be here anyway. If anything happens, I'll call you," Tara told him with a small smile.

"Thanks Tara." He gave her a hug and kissed her head before leaving. Juice and Opie were in the waiting room, Juice arguing with the receptionist. He eased off when he saw his brother.

"What's going on? She keeps saying Rachel's not here but Tara saw her, right?" he asked Jax, frustrated and stressed out. "How'd she look? Can I see her?"

Jax motioned for them to keep walking with him out of the hospital. They couldn't talk with the waiting room half-full. He hated being the one to tell Juice what he knew. He was so in love with Rachel and saying she was lost was a thousand times worse than telling her she was hurt in there.

"She's not in there." Juice gave him a blank look, confused. "They don't know where she is. I talked to Kit's brother and it sounds like she didn't come in with them."

"That doesn't make sense. Rachel said she was safe and in a car with both of them," Juice said, even though he knew exactly what Jax meant. "She's just gone? We have to find her. What are we going to...we have to track her down. If this is fucking Zobelle…"

Opie sighed. "We have to get back to the clubhouse and figure this shit out."

Everyone was on edge and the Sons had exhausted their all their options. Every channel had been used and every favor pulled. Rachel was a ghost. There was nothing, no word, no anything. Jax had done all he could and it still wasn't anywhere near good enough. As he stood on the roof, smoking, he watched Juice pace below. He was a second from exploding with rage. It had been hours, which was never a good sign.

He sighed and put out his cigarette that had burned down to the filter. Kit was doing well according to Tara but Jax knew that the second she was awake she'd be asking after her cousin. He couldn't go to her with nothing. He hoped he could tell that they had found her, and not her body. It was becoming more of a possibility with every passing second that Juice's old lady was dead. Where in the world are you, Rachel?

And just like that, it was like someone, somewhere had heard his thoughts. Juice got on his bike and drove off. Three other brothers followed him and the rest of the Sons went inside and Jax could hear everyone moving and talking. Something had happened. He got downstairs as fast as he could and walked over to Bobby at the bar.

"Roosevelt called." Jax had gone to the station earlier to see if he'd heard anything. "He got tipped off from someone in Lodi about a girl they'd found out there. Said she had no ID but was left behind a dumpster in rough shape. They took her to the hospital out there."

Jax's stomach sunk and he could feel his anger rise. Dumped like garbage. "They say what she look like?"

Bobby gave him a knowing look. That was their girl but he didn't want to say it out loud. "They're going to check it out. This has gone far enough. We need to take that motherfucker down. He's done too much. Any word on your old lady?"

"She should be out of surgery any minute. I'm going to go check up on her. Call me when you hear anything."

Jax fought off his worst thoughts on the short ride to the hospital. He tried not to imagine all the horrible things that could have happened to Rachel or what she might look like. One terrible thought crossed his mind, that Kit might have been lucky to have been left for dead in the car. Zobelle was into psychological trauma and he was glad Kit didn't have to go through another one of those, just a physical one.

He went up to the floor one of the nurses told him he might find Tara on. She could get him more info on Kit and it was comforting with her around. He felt like he could handle things in this place better with her by his side. Instead, he spotted Sam down the hall, standing with his IV pole, and talking to a tall, dark haired gentleman. He was in a suit and if Jax had to guess, he'd say lawyer over fed.

Sam waved him over. "Jax, you found her?" he asked anxiously.

He shook his head. "Nothing yet. We're looking into some leads."

"Give him the names, Will" Sam told the man. "He can do more than I can."

"That's not what we agreed," William said to Sam, eyeing Jax coldly.

"She's fucking up there, cut open, and hanging on for life and you can't get over your pride? Give him the goddamn names."

"What names?" Jax asked, really sizing up this man before him now. "How do you know my girl? What else do you know?" His temper was starting to flare. This stranger knew things that could get them closer to Zobelle and he could feel it. He wanted to smash this guy's face in but that would get him kicked out of here.

"I need guaranteed protection, first," William said, with a slight shake in his voice. "Just being here is probably enough…I'm probably already a dead man. I need to know that you'll have my back when shit hits the fan."

Jax pushed him into the wall hard, getting in his face. "If you don't start talking, you're going to need protection from me. This is the last time I'm going to ask you. So start fucking talking."

"Fine, fine, here," Will stammered, grabbing a piece of paper out of his pocket and shoving it into Jax's hand. "These were the guys that were at the club. I'm not working with them by choice, okay? I told Kit that last night."

Jax exhaled and glanced at the crumpled paper. They finally had a shred of a lead. He turned to Sam. "Is she out of surgery yet?"

He shook his head. "You're the first one I'll call." Sam wasn't one to abandon his morals and beliefs. He would never side with the MC or turn a blind eye to gang activity. But this was different. His entire family had taken a hit. His sister could die before they ever really reconciled. Rachel was still MIA and he knew that wasn't anywhere near a good thing. He needed someone to pay if he was going to make it through this. Maybe this was the moment he changed over to the guy he hated, the dirty cop who helped the MC.

Jax turned to leave. He had to get back to the clubhouse so they could get the ball rolling on killing these fucks. William trailed after him. "I don't need a shadow."

"You promised me protection."

The SAMCRO VP stopped and turned back to face him. "I didn't promise you shit."

"You think Kit's going to be happy when you leave me to fucking get chopped up and used as fishing bait?" William said, the panic starting to build up. He didn't want to overstep but Kit was his only card to play and she happened to be a wild one. Being her ex could hurt him but he did warn her last night. "Look, her and I have history and last night, I was the one who told her what was what. If I didn't, things would be a lot worse, trust me on that. She owes me, which means you owe me. At least until she wakes up and figures out what she wants to do with me."

Kit was so tangled up into his life it almost made Jax want to go back in time and decide to tell her nothing. He almost wished he'd made her one of those old ladies who was happy and living ignorant of club business. So many terrible things had happened to her because of him and she was caught in this cobweb of bad shit. And now he had to babysit this random person. Sure it was a fair trade, intel for protection, but it just further ingrained her into SAMCRO.

"If you want protection, you better keep talking. I know you've got a lot more dirt on these assholes besides their names. If we're going to protect you, you better make it worth our while."

William nodded, not having much choice.

"Good." Jax continued his walk down the hall to the elevator. "And I don't owe you jack. Remember that."

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