Overexposed

Ch. 11 Hope

Angela woke up from her drug induced slumber at the feel of Evie patting her cheek, shouting her name despite Juice telling her to be quieter. She smiled, slowly opening her eyes to see her daughter's big brown ones staring back at her. Her eyes were light like Juice's, beautiful and expressive. "Hi Mama!" she exclaimed, smiling brightly at her. She touched the little tube in her nose. "You got a tube like Nana Lena! You sick, Mama? You need medicine?"

She laughed lightly, slowly moving her hand to muss Evie's hair. "No, baby girl. I got a little hurt, but I'm gonna be okay. Sure could use some cuddles though," she assured her, her heart warming as Evie snuggled into the side opposite her chest tube. She looked over at Juice while playing with Evie's soft hair, noticing how tense he was, his eyes fixed to a point on the wall as if he was lost in his own head. "You okay, baby?"

Juice blinked for a moment, shaking himself out of his thoughts. Reaching over, he grabbed her hand and leaned in to kiss her lips quickly. " 'm fine."

"Daddy talked to the bad man Scar," Evie said, propping her feet up on Juice's thigh. "He scary."

Angela's felt her heart beat kick up a notch. "Bad man Scar" could only be one person, Chibs. The machines around her started beeping a little louder, as her heartrate elevated. "Chibs?" she asked him in disbelief. "Juice..."

"Hey, hey, calm down, Angel," he said, squeezing her hand tighter. "Nothing happened."

Evie covered her ears as she sat up, a panicked look on her face. "Mama? Why so many beeps?"

"Because Mama's angry at Daddy because he did something really, really stupid," she said, soothing Evie as she took a deep breath, trying her best to slow her heartbeat. Closing her eyes, she focused on her breathing for a moment while she gathered herself. Opening her eyes again, she continued more calmly, the beeping slowing and fading to its normal rhythm again. "See? All better. No more loud beeps."

Evie looked appeased and relaxed again into her mother's side. "That was a little scary," she admitted, snuggling her face into Angela's side. "I don't like it."

"It's all good, Evie-doll. I'm okay," Angela murmured, kissing the top of her head. She looked up at Juice, shaking her head at him. "Explain. Now."

She watched Juice's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed hard, his thumb rubbing over her wedding and engagement rings. He'd helped her put them on as soon as she was conscious, not liking her to be without them for too long. "Tig told Chibs what they did. How they let me go. Brought it to the table. No Mayhem for me."

"Tig told him? Is Tig okay?" she asked, clenching her fist as she tried to keep calm. "Is Hap?"

Juice furrowed his brows together in confusion before nodding. "Yeah. They're fine."

A wave of relief rushed over her. "Jesus Christ. You scared the shit out of me," she murmured, relaxing back against her pillows.

"You didn't seem to have a problem with it earlier," he pointed out, leaning over to her side table and grabbing the Jell-O cup off of it, making sure the cup part was covered so Evie couldn't see what color it was.

Evie's eyes lit up, her hands clapping excitedly. "Jell-O! It green, Daddy?"

"I was high off pain meds! That doesn't count," Angela replied incredulously.

"Daddy!" Evie insisted getting up and kneeling closer as Juice popped the top off. "Daddy, what color?"

"It counts. I know it does. Huh, Monk?" he shot back, holding the cup away from her, taking pleasure in teasing her a little.

Evie reached for it, nodding her head in response to the question, willing to say anything for the Jell-O in Juice's hand. Angela smiled at the two, loving watching them mess around. She knew Juice was trying to distract both of them, and while she played along, she wasn't about to let it go either. After Evie got her Jell-O, Angela was going to get right back to it. "Evie-doll, do you think it's the color of bananas?" she asked, trying to make it a learning moment since they had just started teaching her colors.