Chapter 5
Charlotte turned down the main hallway of St Thomas when she saw Tig and Clay pass in front of her, headed down an intersecting hallway. She jogged slightly to catch up, turning the corner they had just taken, and yelled out. "Hey Asshole!" Both men turned perplexed until she got closer and pointed to Tig. "You, why are you going around to the doctors lounge showing your ass?"
"How'd you know it was me?"
"Oh, I don't know…maybe because they said it was some guy with crazy black hair, cold blue eyes. What gives, what's wrong with your ass they said it looked bad?"
"Dog bit me, it's fine."
"Jesus, come on, I'll get you cleaned up."
Clay moved closer to Charlotte and gave her a kiss on the cheek "Thanks sweetheart, Tiggy behave yourself."
Charlotte grabbed a wound cleaning kit and led Tig to an empty room. "Alright pants down, and lay face down on the bed."
"That's not the first time I've heard that. Usually in a different setting." Tig said as he started unbuckling his pants.
"Christ Tig!" Charlotte exclaimed when she removed the bandage. "Why didn't you reach out when this happened?"
"Didn't think it was that bad."
"Well, it's not infected but you need a stitch or two. I'm going to numb it up first."
"Nah I'm good just do it. Make it hurt good baby."
"Is everything sexual to you?" Charlotte asked getting to work on cleaning the bite out.
"You want me to roll over so you can see how hard I am?" Tig said with a chuckle that turned into a cackle as Charlotte set her first stitch.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Charlotte asked, starting to laugh herself.
Tig continued his laughter at the pain of the stitches. "My mom didn't love me enough."
Charlotte cleaned up the room after Tig had left, giving her a thanks and a wink goodbye. Done with her shift, she showered and changed into her normal clothes, she headed towards the NICU to see Abel. She passed by one of the quite rooms meant for doctors and nurses to unwind, maybe catch a nap alone. The blinds to the room were cracked, Charlotte could see Tara and Jax engaged in an intense conversation. Charlotte watched as Jax put a comforting hand on Tara's knee before she broke her stare into the room. Not wanting to get caught spying she moved along to Abel's room. She stood outside of Abel's room watching the nurses change out some of the many tubes still attached to Abel when Jax came up beside her. She turned to face him and said, "Saw you talking with Tara."
"Is there a question in their Charlotte?" he asked, turning to face her, leaning his side up against the glass window looking into Abel's room.
"Yeah, what were you talking about looked serious?"
"Nothing" he said shrugging off her question.
Charlotte looked up straight into his eyes asking, "Are you fucking her?"
"No!" Jax shouted loud enough that the two nurses looked their way. Jax grabbed her gently by the arm and led them around the corner away from prying eyes. "No Charlotte, listen some guy she knew in Chicago is harassing her. It's not my business to tell I'm just helping her."
"So, then she came to you, her knight in shining leather." she said sarcastically.
"Fuck, Charlotte! You're the one that doesn't want to be with me in a real relationship. You don't get to dictate what I do."
"Me not wanting to be your old lady or girlfriend or whatever doesn't mean you get to have a relationship with your ex. It means you can fuck an occasional crow eater." She went to continue when Jax's phone went off. She let out a sigh as he answered spouting off yeses and nos and a quick yeah before he hung up.
"I gotta go, we'll continue this later." He gave her a rushed kiss on the cheek before walking away leaving her alone.
Charlotte left St Thomas leaving her car in the parking lot instead choosing the walk home to clear her head. Her small condo was only a mile away. The bright afternoon sun quickly dried her previously wet curls. With her natural wavy hair people said she always looked more like Wendy, when she let it dry naturally instead of her usual style of meticulously straightening every strand or putting it up. She hated looking in the mirror and seeing her sister. When she got home, she busied herself straightening up. Heading into the spare bedroom after Wendy's short stay in the room it now housed mostly charlottes childhood memories that she'd kept when she sold her parents' home. She started going through boxes making piles of keep or get rid of. Eventually this room would become her baby's room, she'd had let the excitement of her pregnancy enter her mind briefly at times but tried to squash that hopefulness and joy. She knew what carnage life could bring within seconds. Her parents had been alive one second and the next they were gone. Last week she'd felt tiny flutters in her womb she'd had almost woke Jax up to tell him, but she kept that to herself, better to not get him or herself attached to this baby, she brushed it off as just gas, even though in the back of her mind she knew it was the baby.
It was well into the night when Jax finally came to her house. She came out from around the kitchen seeing him limp as he came in the door. "What happened?" she asked with concern momentarily forgetting their earlier argument. "Did you roll your bike?"
Jax took off his kutte, laying it on the back of her couch. "Nah, that guy that was harassing Tara, got into it with him at Floyd's, bastard stabbed me with some scissors."
Charlotte pursed her lips not sure how to respond yet "Did Tara look at it?"
"No, I'm fine I cleaned it up and bandaged it."
"We'll, sit down and let me take a look." She said motioning to her dining room table and chairs. Charlotte went out to her car and grabbed her emergency medical bag. Most nurses carried them it was packed full of medical supplies to render aid in the field if needed. When she came back into the kitchen, Jax had pulled out one of the cushioned wooden chairs that sat around her small round oak dining room table. She set the red bag on the table and pulled out a chair to sit across from him. Jax had stripped down to his t shirt and boxers. She gently started to remove the bandage he had applied. "What'd you do to the guy?"
"Threw him through a window."
"I'm sure Floyd is happy about that."
"Club will take care of him."
They sat in silence while Charlotte tended to his wound. "Well at least it didn't go all the way through. But still need to get you on some antibiotics puncture wounds are notorious for getting infected. Come by St Thomas tomorrow when I'm working, and I'll get you some." She said as she continued cleaning the wound.
"Thanks Charlotte, do you want to finish our talk from earlier."
"What's there to say Jax, my mind hasn't changed about us. But I'm also jealous as hell when I see you with Tara. I don't like that; I think the lines of our friendship are getting blurred. The jealousy I have, and you beating the hell out of some guy for Tara. And I think Tara means more to you than just some old friend. I mean Jesus, Jax I'm cleaning a stab wound in my kitchen at one in the morning this isn't normal. And where did you go after it happened? Floyd closed hours ago."
"I went to Tara's, tell her that she was safe now."
"Jax do you still have feelings for her." When he paused and didn't answer she looked up from his leg looking him in the eye. "Don't lie to me remember no lies, no drama, simpler life."
"Honestly, I don't know Charlotte. Seeing Tara brings up the past for me. I was so in love with her thought I'd spend the rest of my life with her. I lost it after she left and ended shacking up with Wendy to push down that hurt. And now that she's back that hurt is gone, and my mind goes to what I thought my future would be with her. I really don't know Charlotte and I don't know what to do here."
"I think you should explore those feelings."
"How, how do I do that. What about you, the baby, Abel?"
"Jax, you don't have an obligation to be with me, your obligation is to this baby not me directly. I expect you to treat me with respect and once you're out of my bed there isn't a coming back."
"Is that what you want?" He grabbed her hand in his.
"I want you, my friend, to be happy. Jax I just need you to be my fucking friend. The sex between us is great, amazing but I don't need it." She said as she squeezed his hand. "I don't want you with me because you think you have to."
"So, what we just break up and I see where shit goes with Tara?"
Charlotte stood up leaned down and kissed him on the cheek "It's not a breakup if we weren't ever together." She stood up and went to her sink to wash up. "But you are going to have to tell her about our baby. She needs full disclosure on this, not sure if she won't just hightail it out of Charming though. You with one kid already, soon to be junkie ex-wife, and another baby on the way." She turned to him and let out a laugh "God you really aren't helping the white trash biker stereotype."
He got up from the chair coming to her, pulling her into his arms "Yeah, and you having your sisters' ex-husband's baby, doesn't help you either. Jesus Abel is going to be this kid's older brother and cousin." He said, starting to laugh with her.
"Well let's just hope when Abel's in school they don't ever do a family tree project."
