A Kiss To Send Us Off

Chapter 1

I'm sure the beginning of this looks familiar to some of you! ;-)

--

"Mr. Ortiz, good morning."

Juice blinked open his eyes, the pain already cutting through him before he could even see clearly, and groaned. The voice was to his left but he kept his blurry eyes on the ceiling. "At least I'm not dead."

"Yes, but barely. They just missed your vitals. You're very lucky. I'm your nurse; you'll be in the infirmary under my care for a while. How are you feeling?"

He groaned. "You know, like I just got stabbed."

The nurse smiled to herself and scribbled a few things down on his chart. "I can request some more pain meds for you, if you want them of course." He nodded. "Tanya, can you track down the doc for me?"

The door shut loudly and the nurse hurried over to Juice's bedside. "God, I was so scared." She pressed a kiss to his lips. "Are you okay?"

"I feel like shit, Meels." He attempted to reach up and touch her but the cuffs pulled and jingled reminding him of his current situation. "I'm okay though."

"What happened?"

"It's a long story." He smiled, looking up at her. "We don't have time to talk about it."

Just then, the door unlocked and the doctor entered with a stern look. "Is it really that bad?" He asked, disgust and disapproval all over his face. "Big bad con can't take the pain."

Juice closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, looks like I'm just a pussy, huh doc?"

"Classy." First scanning the file Amelia handed him, the doctor wrote the order for pain medication and smiled at her. "I don't know why we do it, Miss."

"I like to help people." She said matter-of-factly. "I thought that was why you became a doctor."

With a condescending look, he turned and left the room. Amelia flipped her middle finger in his direction and scowled. Juice grinned at her, his little spitfire. "Give me one more." He puckered his lips.

"These meds are good, they'll knock you out." She kissed him, deeper and slower than before. "I gotta grab them, I'll be right back."

Amelia scurried away to grab the meds hoping to milk whatever time she could get with Juice. It was terrifying to hear her been hurt but even worse after not seeing him for weeks. Juice, Jax, Opie, Tig and Bobby were taken to Charming's lock up and moved to county a few weeks later. Amelia couldn't visit, it would be too obvious and she'd lose her job. Everyone agreed, except for Juice, it was better to have her inside than out.

"Hey." She leaned against the door for a minute before heading back to his bedside. "I hate this. We're supposed to be on some beach somewhere getting drunk."

"We will." He grimaced. "How are you, baby?"

"I'm good." She lied. "Chibs is great, he's really helping me, same with Tara."

"Good." His eyes drifted to the medication in her hand. "Think you could give that to me now?"

"Oh shit, I'm sorry." She injected the medication into the port in his hand and disposed of the needle. "You'll be here for a few days, I'll make sure you're safe."

"That's not what my girl is supposed to be doing. I'm supposed to protect you."

"Good thing I'm not your girl, huh?"

Opening only one eye he looked at her. "You're not my girl?"

"I'm your woman, your old lady, whatever, but I'm not your girl. I'm not helpless. We help each other."

Juice didn't say anything, he didn't know what to say, this was all so foreign to him. He never saw himself finding a woman to fit so well into his life.

"Kiss me."

"Then I have to go." She whispered before kissing him hard. "Feel better. I'll be back soon."

--

After work Amelia slipped back into her car and almost instantly began to cry. Juice saw her as strong and coping but really she was ripping apart and just too good at hiding it in front of him. Instead of going home she took the ride to Chibs'.

When Amelia knocked Chibs was just ending a call with Desiree. He was furious and annoyed as he swung open the door to find Amelia standing there in tears.

"What's happened?" He asked, pulling her into the house, and gave her a huge hug.

"Nothing new." She mumbled. "I saw him though. I was able to treat him so that's good. I'll be with him a lot during the next few days."

"I was talking to Lowen earlier. The DA is dragging her feet with sharing the damn evidence."

"It's been weeks!" Amelia said as her little feet stomped on the floor. "This is why they're in county. Someone is fucking with them."

Chibs nodded. It was a sweet to see that revelation dawn on her. Amelia really thought they'd be treated fairly and not have more than just the DA after them.

"Aye, but we'll find out who, love."