Charming the Charming

Tara stood in her hospital whites with her hands on her hips facing Juice, Gemma and Jax. Gemma’s hand sat on Juice’s back. “How bad is she?”

“Well,” Tara took a breath, “Helen has fractures to her ribs which have been reset again. There is damage to her nose and jaw bone which I have scheduled her in for surgery this afternoon. But it’s really not as bad as it first looked. Otherwise superficial bruises and cuts.” Her hands ran through her hair as her stomach began to jitter with anger. “I also took a rape kit...”

Juice met her eyes as Tara nodded her head. He felt his heart sink to the pits of his stomach and tears prickle his eyes before turning his back. "I am going to kill him! I am going to kill that mother fucker!" Juice growled causing people around them to glance up.

“Oh baby, come here.” Gemma cooed forcing Juice into a hug.

Jax put a hand on Tara’s shoulder as she pushed back her own tears. “Once surgery is over you can come back and see her. Until then I suggest you both go home and get some rest.”

Tara watched as the three walked down the hallway away from the hospital and turned her heel.

“If you hadn’t stopped me last night I would have torn that prick limb from limb.” Juice spat over a tumbler of Whiskey at the Club House bar.

Jax downed his shot. “If I didn’t stop you Juice, you would be in lock up right now instead of waiting to see Helen.”

He shook he head and threw the drink down his neck. "Son of a bitch is going to pay.”

“I don’t doubt that, brother.”

Late afternoon broke over Charming as Helen pressed down on the button for another shot of morphine to dull the ache in her face. Trying to ignore the fact she was helpless in a hospital of all places when all she wanted was to be back in Juice’s bed. She rolled her eyes and pushed those thoughts from her mind.

A soft knock tapped at her door before it opened. “Hey baby.” Gemma poked her head in.

“Hey Gemma.” Helen looked over to the seat beside her bed nodding slightly.

Gemma boots tapped over the hospital floor, coming to a stop as she sat. “How you feeling?”

Helen sucked back air, “Like I was thrown into the boot of a car, beaten and raped.”

Gemma’s eye softened.

“You don’t have to say anything, really.” Helen replied to the Queen’s silence.

“Yeah, well you have a pretty anxious visitor out there.”

And as if her words were as good as ‘open sesame’ Juice shuffled in with a concerned look over is face. “Sorry, I couldn’t wait.”

Gemma huffed a smile in return.“It’s ok, I will drop by tomorrow,” she rose and placed a gentle kiss on Helen’s forehead. “You get better sweetheart.”

The door clicked shut behind her as Juice took the chair next to Helen finding he wasn’t sure what to say to her. A number of things had run through his mind out in the waiting room but none of them seemed any good to say right now so for the moment he settled with silence.

“If you had a penny for every time I said thank you...thank you.” Helen’s bruised eyes met Juice’s.

“Don’t,” he ran a hand over his mohawk, “Don’t thank me. I don’t deserve it from you.”

Her hands moved to her sides. “If you hadn’t been there when you were I doubt I would have made it out alive.”

Juice shook his head. “If I had taken better care of you, you wouldn’t be here in hospital. Jax told me why you left the party,” Juice rested his hands on the edge of the bed where Helen slid one of her hands over his.

“Let’s not talk about that, yeah?”

He nodded, “Do you think you’ll be coming back to my place?”

Helen took a moment to answer. “I don’t know.”

His face dropped. Another great thing he had ruined.

“Do you want me to?” she asked, fingers lacing into his. Helen was over trying not to think of Juice like that, it was a fruitless endeavour to begin with.

“If you want to?”

Her heart pace fired up as his fingers squeezed hers, “Tell me you want me to.”

His eyes met hers again, finding some sense of peace and solace in them behind the bruises, “I want you to.”

She found her fingers tugging on his, urging him to lean over and just kiss her, letting her know everything was going to be okay again. Helen needed to know everything was going to be okay. It had to be okay.

Sensing her sudden rush of panic Juice did as she was hoping and brushed his lips against her. “I swear you will never know pain like this again,” his fingers gently stroked the side of her face before pressing his lips against hers again.

The drive home the next week after Helen’s release seemed so long. Not a single word passed between her and Juice as he drove her car. Helen’s gaze focused on the trees whizzing past them and the perfectly lined mailboxes outside of every house. She wondered what it was like to have a normal life free from harm and fear.

Juice had cut the engine before she knew they had pulled into the garage. “Somewhere better?” he asked with a small smile acknowledging her absence on the drive.

She looked over and returned the smile, letting her eyes linger over him. “I am somewhere better.”

Juice rubbed her thigh and felt warmth bloom in his stomach, a kind of feeling he couldn’t remember feeling amongst all the bad he did in his day to day life.

Helen’s arm rested over his shoulders as they slowly walked into the house, Juice dropping her bag just inside the door as his foot kicked it shut again.

“Couch,” she whimpered at the lashing fire that pulled through her broken mid section.

“Hold on.” Juice gently lifted her into both his arms and carried her over, setting Helen down like she was a fragile porcelain doll. “Better?”

She nodded, winching as she leaned back into the sinking and hugging couch back rest, realising just how much she had missed sitting here on the days where she had nothing left to do but watch television.

“Have you eaten?” she asked listening as Juice grabbed her bag back up and stored it in it’s place beside her half of his bed.

“Nope and don’t even think about stepping one toe in that kitchen,” he fumbled for his phone, “That’s what door to door take away is for.”

Her eyes widened, “Oh god yes. I have been dying for real food. That hospital rot is just not right.”

Juice punched in the numbers and held the phone to his ear waiting for an answer. “I missed you, Helen.”

“I missed you too.”

Helen’s back pressed against Juice’s shirtless chest as the television blared late night black and white horror movies while they picked at the left over Chinese takeout boxes when her phone’s alarm went off letting them know it was time for her dosage of painkillers and anti-biotics.

“I’ll get them,” Juice said shifting from behind her and placing a kiss on top of her head.

“Thanks,” she watched as his tanned skin worked over muscles that flexed at the slightest of movements as Juice tipped pills into his hand and filled a glass with water.

“What?” he asked with a light laugh handing her the pills and water.

“Nothing,” she smiled with a smile that told him it wasn’t just as easy as 'nothing'.

“Ha, alright if you say so, but, once you down those pills it’ll be time to get you into bed.”

Her nose crinkled, “But I’m not tired.”

He looked to the clock on the wall, “You will be in about five minutes.”

“Fine,” she gulped the last of the water as he came around to her front and scooped her up into his arms.

“You’re going to end up with bigger muscles if you keep carrying me around the place,” Helen mentioned as she slipped an arm around his neck.

“Small price to pay,” was Juice’s response while sitting her on the edge of the bed before grabbing a pair of his sweats and shirt for her, “Do you need anything else?”

She shook her head feeling that wave of sleep that Juice had told her would come soon enough, “Alright, I will be in the lounge. If you need me just call out, I will leave the bedroom door open.”

“Night, Juice,” she pecked him on the cheek, sneaking another quick look as he left the bedroom.

Shifting his weight over the couch, Juice lay wide awake as he so often did when Helen slept in his bed with thoughts about his life dancing about his mind. Mostly he wondered how he was going to get through life or if he would even see an age old enough to worry about having nothing but club history with him.

The life expectancy of a Son wasn’t all that long ending in either a violent death or an execution sentence settled by the courts. But as the past few months came crashing into his life he found himself wondering about another life. Sometimes all he would think about was Helen and if she was something more permanent. He hoped that she was going to be.

His eyes shifted to the lounge window and the sun slowly beginning to rise, waking a slumbering Charming to another day. Juice rose from the couch and quietly padded down the hallway to his bedroom. Stopping for a moment he let himself watch Helen as she dozed with her arms wrapped around the pillow from his side of the bed.
And as if their happy routine had never been interrupted by evil acts, Juice slipped into his bed next to Helen, placing his hand on its usual spot on her hip and her hand sleepily covering his and shifting closer into him.