When they arrived at the hospital the paramedics immediately took Charlotte back leaving Katie to do nothing but cry in Angel's arms.
"She's gonna be fine," Angel assured her. "She strong, she's just like you."
"Then she's destined for suffering," Katie mumbled. "I have to call Jax."
"Happy text you back yet?"
Katie shook her head. "I'm not worried about him though. He's fine."
"Just sit," Angel said. He pressed his hands to her shoulders and forced her down into a waiting room chair. "I'll call around, see who can find him," Angel explained. "You don't have to worry about getting him here. I'll handle it."
While Angel was gone making calls, barely five minutes, the doctor had come out to speak with Katie and have her sign consent forms. While Charlotte was extremely lucky, she had a tear in her spleen which required surgery to repair as well as some minor cuts and bruises. Katie quickly signed everything they asked her to and sat again, this time alone, and waited for something or someone.
Angel returned to Katie with no new information and they sat in a tense silence for almost four hours before Charlotte's doctor reappeared.
"Mr and Mrs Lowman," he said with a subdued smile. "Charlotte is doing wonderfully." Neither Katie nor Angel corrected the doctor, it didn't matter at that moment. "We had to remove her entire spleen, though, so there will be a few precautions going forward but she can live normally without one."
"When can I see her?" Katie asked eagerly.
"She's in recovery now," the doctor told her, "But she should be settled in her own room within the hour. I want to keep her pretty well medicated, she's got some internal bruising that can be painful, so she'll be out of it for a while."
Katie and Angel nodded. "Thanks, doc," Angel said, offering the doctor his hand.
"Thank you," Katie said, skipping the handshake and hugging the doctor.
"It's my pleasure," he assured. "I'll be around before I leave for the day just to check up on her."
The doctor left them and Katie turned to Angel to hug him finding he was already waiting with his arms open for her. "I kept thinking she was going to die," Katie admitted. "Like, everything else has happened to me, this was the next tragedy."
"Shh," he hushed her, holding her tight. "She's gonna be fine."
"I would have lost my mind if you weren't here," she whispered. "Thank you."
--
Katie was woken up with a start by Coco who had come to the hospital for her and Angel. He gave her a shake, Angel too but his was much rougher, and tried to hurry them out of their slepy daze.
"What is it?" Katie asked, quickly checking that Charlotte was okay.
"She's fine," Coco said with a small smile. "Still sleeping."
"You fucking scared me," she said, giving him a shove before moving to hug him. "How are you?"
"I"m alright," he said sadly. "You should sit."
Katie drew her head back. "What is it?"
"We found Jax," Coco said mournfully. "He's down at Imperial, in ICU, again."
Katie's face went white and she dropped back into the chair she'd been sleeping in. "What happened?"
"Galindo," Coco explained. "Alvarez was able to talk him outta anything uhh, permanent, but his guys tuned him up real good."
"He back out of his deal?" Angel asked, less concerned with Jax's health than the why and how it could affect Katie, Charlotte and his club.
Coco turned and nodded. "Told him right out he didn't have the vote so he couldn't keep the deal. He was willing to take it to the table but Galindo was pissed. The deal is dead and Jax is close to it."
Katie looked at Charlotte. "Can we get him moved up here?"
"I don't know," Coco shrugged.
"Lemme call Bish, maybe Pena can throw some weight around and make someone do something."
Katie nodded. "Thank you," she said again.
"Stop," he shook his head. "You don't have to keep saying it."
He left the room and Katie hugged Coco again. "I've missed you guys."
"It's been different," he said, his way of admitting he missed her as well.
"She talks about you guys," Katie told him. "She'll be thrilled if you're still here when she wakes up."
"I'm not leaving," he said cryptically.
Katie cocked her head to the side. "What's that mean?"
"We don't think what happened to Charlie was an accident," he said quietly. "But we gotta keep that from Angel 'til we know."
"Why?" She looked at him wide-eyed. "Who? Tell me everything."
"I can't," he said apologetically. "But whoever went after Charlie has a hardline to Angel, we don't want him popping off, it'll make it more dangerous for everyone."
Katie covered her face and sat again just as Angel burst back into the room. "Katie," he said urgently. "Come with me."
"What?" She was up like a shot and following him out to the hallway. "Angel, what's going on?"
"It's Hap," he said somberly. "He's upstairs."
"Up...upstairs?" She asked, her voice wavering.
"He's critical, Kate," Angel told her.
She stopped mid-step. "What happened?"
"Galindo wanted him to turn on the club or Jax, or something. I don't know exactly. Sent a few of his guys up here, nabbed him when he was chasing the driver."
"I want to see him. Now."
Angel nodded and took her up a few floors to Happy's room. Nestor was standing outside the room, hands over his chest. "What are you doing here?" Angel growled, hand in his kutte ready to pull his gun.
"Just making sure everything is delivered properly," he said with a tiny smirk.
Katie lunged, slapping him across the face and went to attack again when Nestor grabbed her by the neck.
"Let her go," Angel warned him, actually pulling his gun now.
"She gets one," Nestor said to Angel before pushing her back at him.
"Get outta here," Angel snapped at Nestor as Katie hurried into Happy's room.
Angel heard her gasp and start to sob. Happy was unrecognizable, multiple IVs and tubes going into his body, and heavily bandaged. Looking away from the carnage, Angel helped Katie off the floor and into a chair and pushed her closer to the bed.
"I want to know what happened."
"Okay," Angel said quietly.
"Angel," she looked at him with intense eyes. "I want to know what they offered him, I want to know if Jax made this happen or Happy really refused something. I want to know everything."
--
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