Seize Control

Juliette sat curled up in the black leather chair, her laptop perched atop her thighs as she typed away on the word document. Her art history paper was due by midnight but being busy taking care of Juice had caused her to put it on hold. She was nearly five pages in when she caught movement in her peripheral vision. She looked up just as Juice opened his eyes, immediately finding her in the corner of the room. He looked extremely surprised to find her sitting by his bedside, considering the last conversation they'd had.

She quickly saved the document and shut her laptop, pushing it off her lap and jumping up to move closer to where he was resting in the bed. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I got shot," he responded with a slight grin.

"That's appropriate," she said, shaking her head and gently sitting on the edge of the bed. "You've been unconscious since they brought you back after you were shot yesterday. Chibs got the bullet out of your stomach," she told him, pulling the sheet down off his bare chest to reveal the bright white bandage that covered the wound. "And after I got you cleaned up, we put you in here."

"You cleaned me up?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

Juliette fought the blush that crept onto her pale cheeks at the memory of the night before and cleared her throat. "None of the guys would do it."

"Why did you?"

She paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. "Because regardless of whether or not you consider me a friend, I consider you one."

A guilty look took over his features and he sighed. "Look, Jules, I was an idiot."

She shook her head and grabbed his warm hand in her small, cold ones. "Let's not worry about it right now. Just....focus on healing, okay?" she whispered.

His eyes dropped momentarily to their intertwined hands before they found her face again and he nodded weakly. "Yeah."

"You must be starving," she said, letting go of his hand and rising to her feet. "I'll go see if there's anything worth eating in the kitchen." Before he could even say thank you, she was out the door and in the hallway, walking back toward the main area.

The fridge in the kitchen was practically empty. There was nothing left but a carton of long expired milk and a half of a block of moldy cheese. Juliette rolled her eyes and ventured through the empty common area to the picnic tables outside. Jax and Chibs were sitting on top of the table, both of them smoking. "Well, Juice is awake," she announced quietly.

They both turned their heads to look at her where she stood in front of the clubhouse door with her arms crossed over her chest. Jax tossed his cigarette onto the ground and got up from the table. "Good. We need some things cleared up."

"I'm gonna go to the store and pick up some groceries. Make some dinner for the guys tonight."

Jax nodded. "Chibs, go with her."

"I don't need a babysitter, Jax."

"Juice was shot yesterday, Julie! You know what? No. You don't even need to go at all. Make a list of what you need and I'll get someone else to go to the store."

"Jax-"

"End of discussion," he demanded, cutting her off. He stepped around her to go into the clubhouse and she sighed as she followed behind him. He and Chibs went to talk to Juice while she took a seat at the bar to make a grocery list.

By the time the two men emerged from the hallway, they both looked extremely pissed off. Juliette didn't want to just make them angrier so she just silently handed Jax the list as he walked by before scurrying away from him, over to the couches. She pulled her feet up under her body and curled into a ball, folding her arms under her head and closing her eyes.

The next thing she knew, she was being shaken. Her eyes flew open and she found herself inches away from the face of Bobby Elvis. "Your bags are in the kitchen," he informed her.

She sat up from the couch, looking down at the black watch on her wrist. "Okay. Thanks, Bobby. You can tell the guys dinner will be ready around 7:30."

Once Bobby had left her alone in the clubhouse, she got up and made her way down the hallway to the room Juice was in. It was already almost 6, which meant that she should have already changed his bandages. She slowly pushed the door open and peaked inside. He was asleep, but his face still held a grimace and his fists were clenched tight by his sides.

Juliette tip-toed quietly through the room to the corner where she had stored the clean bandages and other supplies she needed. Once she'd picked up everything she needed, she went silently over to the bed, setting the supplies down in front of her and pulling down the thin sheet that covered him to the upper torso. His eyes flew open and he tried to sit up but he immediately backed down, hissing in pain. "Oh, it's you," he affirmed, relieved.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I just have to change your bandage."

"Oh. Yeah. Sure."

She was extremely aware of how low on his abdomen the wound was and she tried desperately to avoid the area as she peeled the bloody bandage off. He winced as the tape pulled his skin but continued to watch her carefully. She picked up the wet cloth and cleaned the wound of any dry blood that had accumulated there before drying the skin and putting on a new bandage. She bit down hard on her bottom lip as she ran her fingers over the tape to smooth out any wrinkles and make sure it stuck to his skin properly.

"All done," she told him as she stood up straight and pulled the sheet back up over his stomach.

"Thanks."

She picked up the old bandage and the cloths she'd used and tossed them into the trash bin before putting the rest of the supplies back into the corner of the room. She went into the adjoining bathroom to wash her hands before coming back into the room where he was. "Anything else I can do for you?"

"No, I think I'm good."

"Okay, well as I suspected, there was nothing in the fridge here so I had to send someone to the store for me. Now I can officially get started on dinner. You gonna be alright?"

"Yeah, 'course."

She picked up the small black flip phone from the table and set it next to his hand on the bed. "If you do need something, just text me. I have mine with me. Other than that, I guess I'll see you in a little while."

"Alright. Thanks."

"No problem."

She turned to leave the room, but as she opened the door to go out, she heard him call her. "Hey, Jules?"

"Yeah?" she asked, turning back to him.

"You're gonna make a really good nurse."

She stared at him for a moment, surprised that he'd actually remembered what she wanted to do with her life once she graduated high school. She couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face.

"Thanks, Juice."