The Scottish Thistle and The English Rose by HaylsValo

Chapter 13: All That Glitters

As soon as he was able to compose himself the Sergeant at Arms was on his bike speeding towards St Thomas as fast as his bike would let him. He didn't care that he was doing more than twice the speed limit; all he cared about was getting to Boo. Besides if he got pulled over then Unser would let him go as soon as he knew what was going on – Tig was certain off it. Getting to the hospital in record time, Tig ran flat out to the ward where Chibs said Boo was. He found the Scotsman looking a little worse for wear in the waiting room. He seemed lost in his own little world; he stared out into nothingness, a vague look about him, tears still in his eyes, a hipflask of whiskey clutched loosely in his hand.

"Chibs?" Tig said as he approached Chibs. The Scotsman didn't look up; in fact he gave no indication that he was aware of Tig's presence. Tig took the seat next to him and snatched the hipflask from the Scotsman's hand. Chibs turned his head, his eyes on Tig, eyes that seemed to stare right through him. Tig shuddered at that, wondered if maybe there had been news... bad news... was Boo dead? Was she going to die? Was there something seriously wrong with her? Tig hated to think... "Chibs? Have you heard anything man?" he asked before taking a swing of Chibs whiskey. Whatever was inside the hipflask was strong, it burned Tig's throat going down and gave warmth to the horrid chill in his bones that had been there since Chibs had informed him that Boo was in the hospital so close to death she'd already been there and back again.

"Aye... it was crank..." The Scotsman nodded dimly, still staring straight through Tig. Through him to the door that Boo lay behind, surrounded by doctors trying to save her life. No noise came from the room, not even the slightest sound, giving Chibs no indication of what was going on inside. In some ways it was worse than knowing what was going on, for while it allowed his mind to hope, it also allowed him to be swamped with images and thoughts of the worst possible kind. The Scotsman couldn't get it out of his mind that Boo might be dead. "She..." he muttered, voice catching in his throat before he was able to say the awful words. It had been hard enough explaining everything to Tig over the phone, but now they were fact to face and he'd have to sit there and watch Tig react to the news, he'd have to watch the grief, pain and inevitable anger mare Tig's face. Snatching back his whiskey and taking a swig for courage, Chibs ploughed on before the will to speak left him. "She died when I got her here, her heart just stopped..." he explained, despite the fact that Tig already knew that. He had little new news to bring however, so Tig would have to make do with hearing the same news again. Another swig of whiskey burned Chibs throat before he spoke again. "They brought her back but... it doesn't look good Tiggy, they don't think she'll make it." And that was all Chibs knew. A doctor had spoken to him only to confirm that Boo had taken crank and to confirm that they'd managed to get her heart starting again but that Boo's chances of survival fell well below 10%. Tig nodded dimly, accepting the whiskey that Chibs passed him. While it was good to know that Boo was alive – for the moment at least – he hated to think of her chances being so bad. In some ways it made things harder for would it not have been easier on her to have died straight away, that prolong her agony, prolong her pain trying to prevent the inevitable? Deciding to steer the conversation elsewhere before his emotions got the better of him, Tig talked of Wendy and what had come to pass at Jackson's house.

"I talked to Wendy; she reckons she had nothing to do with it." He said grimly, scowling venomously as he spoke, fingers tight on the hipflask in his hand as he fought the urge to slam it into the wall. "Jax is on her side." He added before Chibs could ask. The Scotsman's mouth hung open. Jax was on Wendy's side? His VP was choosing the word of his still fairly new Ol' Lady over his lifelong friend and the sister that had been in his life for over 3 and a half years now?

"Yeh've got teh be kiddin' me?" Chibs spat, disgusted by Jackson. He'd always believed that to Jax, family was the most important thing – over the club and most certainly over pussy. Clearly this wasn't the case.