Abel had begun to fuss as the time for his next bottle grew closer and closer. Mae scooped him up to help keep him calm while Tara mixed his formula. With dreamy eyes she hushed the baby, her heart swelling as he looked up at her and began to wail.
"He's got a good set of lungs." Mae joked as she took the bottle from Tara. "Can I feed him?" It was a welcome break and Tara happily let her takeover. "Horrible, what happened with Jax's ex."
That was an understatement. Tara nodded and pulled a face, she didn't want to offend Mae, even if there was many glaring differences between her and Wendy. "Luckily he came through it, I'm glad I could help. Usually after surgery I don't see my patients again, it's been a thrill to watch him grow."
Mae smiled sadly and was finally able to tear her eyes away from the child. Looking at him filled her with such conflicting emotions but none more so than fear. "Past use, does that usually cause problems in pregnancy?"
"It can," Tara said with a nonchalant shrug. Mae hid her face as her heart fell, she'd been worried about that. "Depends on the damage done though, how the body handles the stress of pregnancy." With a little smirk she looked at Mae. "Are you and Ope talking about it?"
"Not at all, I don't know even know if he wants more kids." Mae laughed awkwardly hoping not to give anything away. "I was just wondering, really."
"Case by case but usually with proper care mom and baby can be perfectly healthy."
"Yeah," Mae chewed on her lip. "Can I talk to you about something?"
Before she could speak Tara reached for her phone as the screen lit up, "One second." Tara then answered with an apologetic look at Mae. "Hello?"
"Got your medical bag?"
"Yeah, always." She swallowed hard, hearing the panic in Jax's voice made her stomach turn. At least she knew he was okay. "Why?"
"Ope's hurt, I need you to meet us at the club, we're just coming off the interstate."
Tara's face fell as her eyes rolled up to look at Mae. "Yeah, I can. I'm at Ope's now, Jax."
"He's bleeding real bad Tara, make her stay there with the kids."
Tara agreed, she just wasn't sure how she'd make that happen. As they hung up Tara took a deep breath, she dreaded telling Mae. "They're on their way to the clubhouse. I have to go meet them and I need you to stay here and watch Abel for me."
Mae's heart stopped. "What happened?"
"I don't know. Opie's hurt, I need to go help them."
"Shit," Mae's eyes welled with tears. "I want to come." This was why she couldn't come, she'd be too emotional.
"Mae, I need you to stay with the kids for now. I'll call you as soon as possible." Tara was already slinging her purse over her shoulder. "I'm sorry." Tara left Mae in the living room cradling Abel and crying quietly. This was her life now, she had to handle it but she didn't know how.
--
Just as Tara finished setting up in chapel, clean towels and supplies from their kit and the hospital, the boys arrived. Jax, Tig and Chibs helped Opie out of the van and into the club. He was already woozy and dazed from loss of blood. With more help from Juice they were able to get him up onto the table.
"Hey Ope," Tara leaned over and smiled at him as she snapped on her gloves. "You alright?"
"I'm okay," he dropped his head down on the table with a thud. "I'm good. How's Mae?" He asked, his tongue felt heavy and sluggish.
Jax took a joint from Juice and held it to Opie's lips as Tig grabbed the whiskey. "She's fine, she's with the kids, don't worry about shit, bro."
"What the hell happened?" Tara asked as she set to work, cutting through Opie's jeans.
"Ambush at the Niner drop, whole thing turned to shite." Chibs was huddled with Tara, offering her an extra pair of skilled hands.
"It had to be the Mayans, man." Tig said as Clay and Gemma rushed into the room, both wide eyed. There was no way she wouldn't go, a Son was hurt, she had to be sure he was okay.
"Where's Mae?" She asked and leaned over to give Opie's forehead a little kiss.
"His place," Tara muttered. "She's got his kids and Abel."
Shaking her head Gemma was already on her way out. "I'll stay with them, she should be here."
Clay made little effort to keep her at the clubhouse; Gemma always did what she wanted. Although no one else seemed to notice, her ever-changing moods gave Tara whiplash. One moment she was deeply concerned for everyone, right then it was Opie and Mae, but she could just as quickly act ruthlessly to protect her own interests.
"There's no way it was anyone else." Jax added through gritted teeth, he was beyond angry. "This shit's gotta end." Taking another drag he held the joint to Opie's lips again. He groaned and hissed as Tara tried to be gentle but there was no way of not hurting him.
Tara focused on her work while the guys discussed what happened and their next move in the escalating war with the Mayans. It felt like they just couldn't get ahead, every step they made the Mayans came at them harder than before.
"We gotta retaliate," Tig snapped. "That's how we end this, take them wetbacks out."
"I don't want more blood." Jax argued. "I want it all to stop."
"Jackieboy, we're taking a beatin'." Chibs looked up from Opie's leg. "How else you suppose we settle it?"
"I don't know yet." Seeing the look on Tara's face Jax shuffled over to her. "Is it bad?"
"I won't know till I dig the slug out," she whispered. "If the bullet missed his artery, he'll be fine, if it didn't I'll have to find the bleed and fix that before I can deal with anything else."
He growled but held in the bubbling rage and leaned over to make eye contact with Opie. "Tara's gotta get the bullet out, it's not gonna be fun."
Opie's green eyes were sunken and his eyelids fluttered right before he passed out. "Fix him," Clay barked, pointing at Tara in a way that felt strangely threatening.
"Get off her back," Jax jumped to her defense. "Look, we need to end this shit. I'm tired of tit for goddamn tat."
Clay sneered and nodded. "And how do you suggest we do that, VP?"
With dark and ominous laugh, Jax rolled his jaw. "We don't make any more shitty decisions. We figure out what they want, what their endgame is and squash it. It's all we can do. Reacting is just getting members hurt." Jax bit his tongue, he was itching to bring up the innocent blood that had been shed. "Or worse," he added quickly to make his point.
When Clay charged toward Jax it took both Tig and Happy to keep the two apart and at a safe distance. They grappled to try to reach each other and shouted back and forth before finally Tara, of all people, silenced the room.
"He'll be more than hurt if you two don't stop," she hollered.
They froze, like schoolchildren chided by their teacher, and she returned to the task before her. It was nasty, even Chibs grimaced as she searched for the slug, blood seeping constantly. "I got it," she said to Chibs.
Gathering the gauze, he nodded for her to continue and prepared for the worst. When Tara slowly pulled the slug out blood spurted between them and splattered against the wall. "Shite." He shouted, whipping his head out of the way.
"It's alright." Tara was already back inside Opie's leg to find the artery and keep him from bleeding out in the middle of Chapel. "I think I got it." She said slowly and nimbly maneuvering the instruments in her hands.
They all watched anxiously, holding their breath as she worked, Jax had his hands in his hair while Juice looked away, he couldn't handle it. "Please Tara," Jax whispered.
Tara and Chibs made eye contact and both pulled their hands away at the same time. The profuse bleeding had stopped, the slow trickle was simply from the bullet wound that Tara quickly started to stitch.
The club nodded and finally exhaled. They wanted to cheer but, not wanting to disturb Tara as she finished the job, managed to keep remarkably quiet. It was disturbing that something that serious was the wakeup they all needed. It wasn't about retaliation anymore, it was about settling the issue for the last time.
Excusing herself Tara hurried away and into the apartment to clean up. "Thank you." Jax kissed her ardently as she washed her hands. "I was worried for a second."
"Jax," Tara turned to face him as she dried her hands. "JT's manuscript, it talks about this kind of stuff. I know what you said but don't let hate blind you to the bigger picture."
He nodded, changing was going to be much harder than he imagined. "That's why I keep you around," he tried to be light about it all. "You need to keep me in line."
"You need me in general, Teller." She grinned, his charming smile weakening her resolve. "You also need to help me get him home."
"Prognosis?"
"He'll be fine, he needs to stay off it for a while and watch for infection but no lasting damage."
"All right," he kissed her again. "Once he's up we'll get him home. Let Mae panic and obsess over him there."
"Do you blame her?" Tara said feeling defensive over the small crack, they didn't know how their women worried, they'd never understand. "I told her he was hurt and that she couldn't see him then left. If that was me I would be here, you're lucky she has all those kids to watch."
His hands shot up hearing her snappy tone. "Hey, hey, hey, I was kidding. I'm sorry." Chuckling he tugged on her arm and headed out of the apartment as Chibs walked in to wash up as Tara had just done.
"Good job, doc." He pressed a kiss on her cheek.
She smiled, grateful for the praise. "Thanks. I couldn't have done it without you."
Jax made some joke about flirting before he pulled her away and back to Chapel. Tig and Clay were having a secretive discussion in the corner by the safe while the prospect began trying to clean up the bloody mess around them.
"He was there man," Tig said. "First shot I heard he was already firing back. Didn't stop till he got hit, he's in it, head and heart, all the way."
"Good," Clay loved to hear it. Commitment was key; he needed to know each member wouldn't hesitate for anything. "Shooters?"
"Mexicans, didn't see cuts or colors but there's no one else it could have been."
"I should go back and get Abel. Just be really careful of the sutures when you guys take him home okay?" Tara snapped her fingers in Jax's face, he was staring at Clay obsessively. "Hey, are you listening?"
He blinked a few times before nodding and turning to her. "Yeah, we'll be careful, it's fine. Why don't you wait until Mae gets back though? She'll have a million questions and I don't have answers, you're the doctor."
Exhausted, Tara nodded, "I'm going to relax on the couch and wait for her."
Relax on the couch meant doze off almost the moment she sat down. Jax watched her for a moment before scooping her up and gently laid her down on the bed in the apartment. Hesitating, he decided he couldn't or at least didn't want to leave so he crawled in bed beside her.
When Mae arrived, clearly panicked, Jax and Tara were resting but Opie was starting to stir. Racing into the clubhouse she felt her stomach churn at the sight of him. Half-Sack was still cleaning but what he had already completed didn't seem to do much in calming Mae.
"Jesus," she hovered over him. "Is he okay?" She asked Half-Sack, other than Jax and Ope he was the one she felt most comfortable around after all the time spent protecting her.
"Yeah, Tara said he'll be fine." He looked around the room. "It looks worse than it was," he explained and continued cleaning.
Clay had been the one to get Jax, he wanted the mess cleared from the club and everyone to get the hell out so he could go home. It had been a disastrous few days and he was tired of it. Sleepy but feeling much better Tara, with Jax following close, came back into the room.
"He'll be fine," she assured Mae before she could even ask.
With a grin Jax lightly slapped Opie's face as his eyes slowly opened. "Come on, I'm not carrying your fat ass out of here unless you can help."
He looked down and smiled to see he was no longer bleeding. "Shit, thanks Tara." When he saw Mae beside her Opie beamed, still waking up. "Hey baby."
There were no words. Mae smiled and kissed him, grateful that he was alive and awake. She'd never get used to this, never. Fixated on him, she stroked his hair and tried to calm her racing, aching heart.
As he smoked in the far corner Chibs dug the slug out of his pocket. "It's beautiful." Nudging Mae he laughed and pressed it into her hand. "Too bad it's only one, could have made you some earrings."
How could they joke in such a situation? Mae smiled but found it far from humorous. Opie looked at it and actually laughed, still feeling dopey. "Have it set, you can wear it as a ring."
It could have been cute, utterly adorable, had Opie not being talking about a bullet that was just lodged in his body. Tara hid her smile and took Mae's hand. "He'll be fine, he just needs to stay off it for a little while."
"I'll keep him home," Mae assured them all, ignoring the ring comment. "Take care of him, make sure he heals, don't worry."