𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 - 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝘼𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙮

Fifty-Seven

At TM, Chucky brings Gemma cigarettes and lets her know he'll listen if she needs to talk. She heads outside when Nero pulls up. He tells her it's time for him to make a decision about what's right. An uncle of his will sell him his farm for $150,000 down. He wants Jax to buy him out of Diosa and he'll take his son with him. He wants Gemma to come with him, but she says she can't leave with everything going on. He asks her to think about it. "Take into consideration all the bad that's happened here. We deserve something better, Gemma," He says.

Rat and Happy pull up to TM and tell Gemma that Jax wants her to come with them to the cabin, "Where's Jax?"

"Oakland. He wants you to come with us."

"Where?"

"The cabin. Club business."

"I need to talk to Jax."

"He said, he'll call you."

"I got-- I got a lot of shit to do in here. And I just can't." Gemma grows nervous, resistant, afraid she'd been caught.

"It's a mother son thing. Family problem needs your help. That's all we can tell you. He was clear, Gem. Gotta come with us."

"And if I said no?"

"You can say whatever you want, mom. Just gotta do it up at the cabin." Happy says.

"For how long?"

"Not sure."

"Just gotta pick up a few things at my house."

Gemma goes to her house, where Jax dropped the boys off (for Nero and Wendy to babysit), after Ellie went to school to turn in her work for the week. Wendy picked up Abel from school early after he got sent home from a shoving match with a first grader.

Gemma picks up Thomas in the bedroom, "My precious Thomas. Hey, baby. I love you. I miss you so much. I have to tell him. But you're the only one, sweetheart. You're the only one who really needs to know. I was trying to be a good grandma. To help my family. I love my family. But accidents, you know, sometimes, sweetheart, accidents just happen. They-- They happen for love. Yes. They happen for reasons we don't understand. Hurting your mommy was an accident. It was such an awful accident. I didn't wanna hurt her. I didn't mean it. I love your mommy so much. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

Abel stands in the doorway and hears it all. He watches as his grandma sobs.

~ SOA ~ ~ SOA ~

"Abel hit the kid with a metal lunchbox and put a gash in his head. It was unprovoked."

"Nothing is unprovoked, sweetheart. Look, Abel's a good kid."

"We all know that. But clearly knowing his mom is hurt has affected him deeply."

"I don't need a shrink to tell me that."

"Mrs. Teller, we all want Abel to succeed."

"Know what I want? I want teachers and shrinks and pompous assholes to stop judging my grandson."

"That's the sort of aggression he learns to imitate."

"Good. Next time I'll make sure you're the one he slams with a lunchbox."

~ SOA ~ ~ SOA ~

Ellie's quiet, angry to be at Gemma's house, sitting at the table next to her brother. Gemma sits down across from them, admiring Abel's coloring, "What you making there, sweetheart? You wanna tell Grandma what happened today? Why'd you hit that kid?"

"I don't like him."

"Did he hit you? Tease you?"

"I don't know."

"You know, you hurt him real bad, Abel. Did you know that?"

"It was an accident."

"Do you understand what an accident is?"

"Do you?" Abel asks her and Gemma gets up from the table.

"Abel?" Ellie looks at her brother, confused, "You okay?"

"I want to go home again." He tells her.

"Sorry, buddy. Daddy won't let us anymore. I tried." She pulls him onto her lap and hugs him. Abel wraps his arms around her neck, "I love you, sissy."

"I love you more, bubba."

~ SOA ~ ~ SOA ~

It was late, and visiting hours were almost over, when Jax finally visited Tara at the hospital. He made his way through the hospital and found his way to the ICU. It felt wrong coming here to see Tara. His wife wasn't supposed to be here, clinging to life, look as lifeless as she does. After Ellie's breakdown, he felt guilty. He snuck away from the guys and found himself riding here. He stands at the end of Tara's bed, his hands on the bed railing, as tears blur his vision. He wants his wife to open her eyes, to smile at him, to say she's okay, but he knows that's not going to happen. Whoever did this to her hurt her very badly. Seeing her here now was a clear indicator that they wanted her dead. He has a rage inside him since they night she was attacked. Tara was finally happy, the kids were finally happy, they were gonna get out of this life and it was all taken away in the matter of minutes. Everyday that goes by, he suppresses the feeling and need of pure bloodlust. He wants to explode with violence and find out who did this. Deep down, he knows it will only make matters worse.

The most unnerving thing about all this is that the club had no beef, no need for revenge or retaliation with anyone. He trusted Nero when he said his guys had no motive in this. Chibs, Tig, and Nero sat down with Jax most days and talked. They tried to help him find his suspect, but everything was a dead end. The more days that went by that Jax didn't have any blood on his hands, the more anxious he grew. His mom said it was the chinese, but he didn't know. There was a chance she could've identified someone wrong in the heat of the moment. To top it all off, Juice was missing too and he heard from several people that he was sneaking around Charming.

Jax leaves his thoughts and angrily rubs away the tears that threaten to fall from his eyes. All of the monitors and machines that Tara's hooked up to blink and make little noises as Jax pulls up a chair at her bedside. He stares at her face, examining her bruises, and gently holds one of her hands. He feels so much guilt with all of the horrible desicions he's made as a husband and wonders if this is all some kind of sick punishment from the universe for his actions. When Ellie came back into his life, he thought his faith was restored. Now, he wasn't so sure. Jax rubs his thumb over the back of her hand, leaning down to kiss her knuckles, feeling the sadness just spill out of him, "I'm so sorry, babe."

"I'm so sorry," He repeats. His chest is tight with emotion and his throat hurts as he struggles to keep himself together. He gently strokes the huge bandage around her head as he stands up. He leans down and presses a soft kiss to the top of her head.

"I'm gonna make this right, Tara. You just get stronger and focus on your recovery. I'll take care of the kids. Okay?" He stares down at her, letting go of her hand, "I love you so much, baby. I'm gonna go home now, go see the kids. I'll come see you again soon, I promise."