Chapter 43

Bella POV

It had been a few weeks since the boys had been hauled off the Stockton. Opie had come back that night, assuring me that I didn't have to worry about Jimmy any more. I felt relieved. The boys had quickly voted in Kozik as a member of SAMCRO. Tara was back at the hospital, with Gemma and Neeta alternating taking care of Abel as well as Kenny and Ellie. Sometimes Ellie would come help me but she said she'd rather help Gemma. Gemma was on house arrest so Lyla and I traded off with Tara checking in on her when we weren't working. It had become tiresome. Opie had been doing a good job running the club for the guys. We were hoping that things would be quite.

Today was special. It was the first time that we'd be allowed to visit the guys and I was excited. Ope was letting me tag along so that I could visit my dad. I was so happy. I missed him. Ope would be visiting Jax and Kozik was gonna visit with Hap. Kozik claimed he missed the guy. I think it was he just wanted to see Dad's face when he saw him there. Who knows?

I was sitting in the visitation room waiting on Dad. It didn't take long before a guard brought him out. I stood up and gave him a quick hug before we both sat down. "Hi Dad." I said, smiling at him.

"Hi pumpkin. It's good to see you." Dad said.

"You too dad. How you holding up?" I asked.

"Not bad. It's been kinda boring actually." Dad told me. "How's things on the outside?"

I shrugged. "Not bad, I guess. Mary's been around. We got the kids into this amazing summer day camp but between the garage and Gemma I've needed help getting them to and from, so she's been helping." I told him.

"That's good. How's the wedding planning coming?" He asked.

"Okay I think. Haven't really planned much. We did decide that we're waiting until you guys are home though. So we'll work on planning everything else and then once we know more accurately when you're coming home then we'll put everything in motion." I told him.

"Sounds good sweetheart. No trouble?" He asked me.

I shook my head. "It's been quiet." I told him and he nodded.

That night, when Opie and I had gotten the kids in bed, we were laying in our bed, with my head on his chest. I let out a sigh. "You okay, babe?" Ope asked me, running his fingers through my hair.

"I'm fine. I guess I'm just feeling weird. Mainly cause the guys are inside but also because of how quiet it's been." I told him.

"I know what you mean. I hope it'll stay like this for a while but I don't think that it will. But it's nice to enjoy it while we can." He said.

"Yeah. How was your visit with Jax?" I asked him.

"It was good. Their working on getting protection. The Russian are still upset that we gave them counterfeit cash for Jimmy." He said.

"Will they be okay?" I asked, suddenly feeling worried for my family.

"They'll work it out." He said and I nodded.

***6 Months Later***

I was sitting in the office at TM working. Gemma was finally off of house arrest and she was coming to help me this afternoon. I was pulled from my paperwork by the sound of screeching tires in the parking lot. I quickly made my way out to the parking lot just in time to see Tara and Gemma climb out of her SUV. "What's wrong?" I asked.

I looked at Tara and she was crying. "We have to get to St. Thomas. It's Jax." Gemma said.

I nod. I walk into the garage and quickly find Ope. I tell him what's going on and he tells me that he'll be there shortly. I grabbed my purse and headed out to Gemma's car. When we arrived at St. Thomas, we were told that Jax was in surgery and that someone would be out to get us as soon as they knew something. The three of us headed to the waiting room to sit. It was about half an hour later when Opie and Chibs came walking in. Not long after that, Lowen came in. "Stockton called me. Have you heard anything?" She asked us.

Gemma was the first to speak. "Not since we've been here." Gemma said.

Lowen nodded. "Okay. I have a few things I need to tend to but as soon as you get word, call me. You guys won't be allowed to see him without me." She said.

"We'll call." Gemma said.

Once Lowen had left, Gemma looked at Opie. "What happened?" She asked him.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. The guys have been put on lockdown. No visitation until further notice." He told us.

"So, what…we won't know anything until we can talk to Jax?" I asked him. He nodded. "This blows."

It was another couple of hours before a doctor came out to talk to us. "He was stabbed. Stockton did what they could but when he got here, we needed to go in an make sure that nothing was punctured. He'll make a full recovery but he's gonna be here for a while." The doctor told us.

"Thank you." Gemma told him.

Chibs had called Lowen while we were talking to the doctor so now we were waiting for her. It didn't take her long to get back down to the hospital. When she arrived, she led us to Jax's room when a guard from Stockton was waiting. Lowen talked to him for a few minutes before handing him a piece of paper. The guard looked it over before allowing us into the room. "The paper I handed his is a list of people permitted to see Jax. Everyone from the club, you three, plus myself are on the list. No one else will be allowed in." She told us. We all nodded our agreement.

Tara and Gemma each sat at Jax's side. Chibs and Lowen stood in a corner, while Ope sat in the other chair with me on his lap. The only thing we could do now was wait until Jax woke up. Then maybe we could get some answers.

It was about another hour before we saw Jax shifting in the bed. "What happened?" He asked groggily.

"You got shivved." Gemma said.

He opened his eyes, looking around the room. "Geez, you'd think that someone had died, with you lot sitting around." Jax said.

"Hardy har har." I said.

With Chibs' help Jax sat up in the hospital bed. "Do you remember what happened?" Ope asked him.

Jax nodded. "Yeah. It was the Russians. They cornered me. Told me it was payback for us taking Jimmy and giving them counterfeit cash." Jax told us.

"Damn. What do you wanna do about retaliation?" Ope asked. Normally they wouldn't have this conversation with me, Gem, Tara and Lowen in the room but we didn't have much choice at the moment.

"We wait for now. When I get back to Stockton, I'll talk with Clay and let you know." Jax said.

We sat with Jax for a little bit, before we started to leave. Tara was staying the night with Jax. Gemma was gonna keep Abel for the night. She even offered to keep Kenny and Ellie.

When we got back to the clubhouse, Ope and Chibs headed inside to update the others. I headed home to get Kenny and Ellie ready for their sleepover with Gemma and Abel.

***3 1/2 Months later…***

Tara had called me in the early morning hours. She'd gone into labor. She said that Abel was with Gemma. I'd quickly gotten dressed to head to pick her up to head to the hospital.

She was in labor for 16 hours. But in the end she'd given birth to a healthy baby boy. Fortunately, he had shown any signs of having CHD (the family flaw, Gemma called it). When Tara was ready for visitors, I had Ope bring my camera so I could take tons of pictures for Tara as well as some to take to Jax.

When Ope and I left the hospital, we swung by the pharmacy so I could get the pictures printed before heading to see Jax. It didn't take long for him to join us in the visitation room at Stockton. "It's good to see you guys. What's up?" He asked us as he sat down.

I slid the envelope of pictures across the table to him. "Thought you might like some pictures." I said.

"Well that was thoughtful, but I have pictures of Abel and Tara." Jax said.

"Just open it." I told him.

He opened the envelope, taking the pictures out. As he looked through each one, I could see a mirror of emotions. It was sweet. "When?" He asked me.

"This morning. 16 hours of labor." I told him.

He nodded. "CHD?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Perfectly healthy." I said.

Jax had the biggest smile on his face. "That's great. Did she pick a name?" He asked me.

I looked at him curiously for a second. "You don't know?" I asked him. He shook his head and Ope laughed. "His name is Thomas Teller." I told him.

Jax had tears in his eyes at the fact that Tara had named their son after his brother. "How are they? Are they good?" He asked me.

"Their perfect." I told him.

That night, Opie and I were laying in bed when I decided to broach a topic that we hadn't talked about since I'd had the miscarriage. "Ope?"

"Hmmm…" He mumbled.

"I wanna try again." I said.

"What?" He asked me.

"I wanna try again…to have a baby." I told him.

He sat up in our bed. "Bells…"

"Ope, come on."

"You know what the doctor said. Tara even agreed with it. They said that the chances of you carrying a baby full term were slim. I'm not gonna let you put your life at risk." Ope said. He stood up and walked out of the bedroom. I knew where he was going.

I followed Opie out of the bedroom and found him standing in the kitchen. "Nothing's going to happen to me." I told him.

He stood there in the kitchen drinking some Jack Daniels straight out of the bottle. "You don't know that. You can't guarantee that. I can't do…this without you." He said.

I slowly closed the distance between us and put a hand on his arm. "Ope…even if something happened to me, you would be fine. Plus, this baby would be a little piece of you and me." I told him.

Ope started shaking his head. "No. The answer is no, Bella." He said. "End of discussion."

"Fine." I said, before I turned around and headed back to bed.