Fate Misunderstood

After finding out the news about Tara, Juliette didn't want to go home by herself so instead she made up some excuse to the guys for staying at the clubhouse. All three of them knew she was lying, knew that she was actually scared, but none of them called her on it, instead accepting her excuse and letting her retire to the dorm. Kozik waited a little while before he went down the hall after her, knocking softly on the door before pushing it open. She was lying upside down with her knees bent and head hanging off the foot of the bed, but she sat up and crossed her legs under her body when he came in, a worried look on her face. "What is it? Did you hear something else?"

"Not yet," he said, shaking his head and he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his cut as he sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. "Just wanted to check on you."

"Oh. Well I'm fine."

He shot her a look that told her he knew she was lying. "Jules, it's just me. You don't gotta do that."

"Do what?" she asked, playing dumb.

"Pretend you're fine. You're probably thinkin' about what happened when you got snatched and you're gettin' yourself all worked up about this Tara thing. Everything that happened to you was retaliation; those guys were doin' the worst shit they could think of just to hurt you, and hurt the Club. It's not like that with this guy that's got Tara. He just wants money. You don't gotta worry about the same shit happenin' to her."

Juliette felt her eyes welling up with tears but she blinked them back and nodded weakly.

"And you don't gotta act like you're fine when you're not."

"I'm not very good at it anyway," she mumbled, dropping her gaze to her lap. "Gemma's always set the standard for the women around here. Showing emotion in front of you guys is weakness, she taught me that. But I'm not my mom, Kozik. I'm not as strong as her....as resilient. That shit stays with me no matter how hard I try to forget it."

"Jules, nobody expects you to be Gemma."

"I wish that were true." She frowned and shook her head, feeling the hot threat of tears burning at the back of her throat. "There's a very real possibility that she's going to prison for the rest of her life. I'm gonna be expected to step up-- to take care of the office out there, take care of you guys. Especially if....something bad happens to Tara."

"Nothin' bad is gonna happen to Tara."

"You don't know that!"

Kozik sighed and slid over to be closer to her, throwing his arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his chest. She sniffled as she leaned into him and buried her face in the crook of his neck, letting him rub her back comfortingly. "Okay, I don't. But I do know we're doing everything we can to get 'er back and hopefully the others'll be home soon so we can go get 'er. And Tara's strong, just like Gemma is, and just like you are."

"Not me," she mumbled into the leather covering his chest.

"Hey," he said, pulling her back from him so that he could see her face. "I don't wanna hear that shit from you. Bein' upset over someone gettin' kidnapped doesn't mean you're weak. I could tell you a million times I saw strength so this whole 'weak' thing is just bullshit."

Juliette looked down from his eyes and shook her head but said nothing in response.

"Try and get some rest, kid. Maybe you'll feel better in the morning." He kissed her forehead before he released his hold on her shoulders and got up from the bed, glancing back at her one more time before he left the room and shut the door behind him.

--

Instead of all the trouble of going home to get new clothes for the day, Juliette rifled through the drawers in the dorm and found an old Harley tee shirt of someone's. It smelled clean so she stripped off the too large flannel she'd slept in and replaced it with the black shirt then pulled on her shorts from the day before. She tied her hair up into a topknot and slid her feet into her flip flops before she ventured out into the main room of the clubhouse.

Tig was on the phone when she walked in and she went over to sit at the bar next to Kozik, thanking Chucky for pouring her some coffee as Tig snapped his prepaid phone shut and sighed. "Alright. Bought us a few more hours."

"Dude, you were right about the cops." She glanced over at Kozik in confusion and he nodded toward the surveillance camera screens behind Chucky, where a police cruiser and another black sedan had just pulled onto the lot.

"Let's go," Tig told him and both he and Kozik got up from their seats and went out to meet their visitors.

Juliette stayed inside with Piney watching the video feed as Chief Unser walked up to the guys, along with the Fed she'd met at the hospital and another woman dressed in a suit, obviously another Fed. Piney told her it was probably nothing, but she kept her eyes glued to the screen until they came back inside with Unser trailing behind them. Chucky poured him a glass of scotch as he filled they guys in on what he knew about the attack on the old gym owner Lumpy-- that Jacob Hale had interests in some development plans of the town that would benefit greatly from Lumpy's death, and even though he couldn't prove it, he knew Jacob had been involved in the attack. Tig informed the Chief that it was Hector Salazar who had committed the act and Unser insisted that the man would be needed to prove that Hale was dirty.

Once he finished his drink, Unser left to tend to some sheriff business and Juliette turned to Tig, giving him a gentle tap on the leg with her foot. "What happened with the Feds?"

"Stahl says they're gonna help us out with the cash for Salazar."

"You trust them?"

"Not for a second. But we need money to get Tara back so we gotta do what we gotta do."

Juliette sighed and took another sip of her coffee. "I'll be so fucking glad when this is over."

"Me too, kid. Me too."

--

The rest of Juliette's day was spent not doing much of anything. Chucky was out in the office keeping up with all the paperwork in there so the only thing she had to do was keep the clubhouse cleaned up. The only thing was most of the guys were in Belfast, so there was a lot less mess. It didn't take her long to do the straightening up but when she finished it was almost noon so she decided to go grab some lunch and maybe stop at the grocery store to pick up something to cook for the guys for dinner later.

The judging looks and the whispering still hadn't died down since she'd been back but she pretended not to notice them as she ate her burger at the diner before she dropped some cash onto the counter and walked out, not even giving the gossipers a glance as she passed them. The cashier at the grocery store looked almost scared as Juliette put her items onto the conveyor belt but she was polite and the young girl gradually relaxed. She wondered if anyone in town would ever get used to her being back or start treating her like a normal person; sometimes she wished that no one knew who she was or who she was related to.

After leaving the grocery store, Juliette went straight back to the clubhouse and found that the guys were already back even though the money drop was supposed to happen at noon over in Emerson Park. She walked right past them into the kitchen and put the food away the food she'd bought while she listened to them sitting at the bar, raving about how the Feds had fucked it all up. She cleaned the small kitchen and decided to go ahead and start the vegetable soup she was making for dinner so that it could simmer for a few hours before they ate.

Once all the ingredients were in the large pot and stirred together, she put the lid on and went back into the main room to do some more intensive cleaning,since there wasn't really anything else for her to do. She mopped the floor, which was a disgusting feat because it hadn't been done in a very very long time, then wiped down the bar and all the tables before going to dust the chapel. It was almost five by the time she had finished up everything but there was still a little bit of time before the guys would be ready to eat so she went over to the pool table to play a game.

She was just about to take her first shot when the prepaid phone in the front pocket of her shorts let out a shrill ring, startling her. She set her pool cue on top of the table and dug the phone out of her pocket, pressing it to her ear without checking the screen. "Hello?"

"We got 'im."

Juliette's heart rate picked up and for a moment, she wasn't sure she heard Juice right. "You-....you guys got Abel? He's safe?"

"I'm lookin' at him in Jax's arms right now."

"Oh, thank God." She breathed a sigh of relief and sank down into the closest chair. "And everyone else?"

"We're all good. Just about to load up the truck actually. We'll be home tomorrow."

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that."

"Probably as happy as I am to say it."

She cracked a smile, but then she went right back to worrying like she always did. "Please be careful."

"We will, babe. Hey, I gotta go help Hap load up the truck but I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

"Yeah. See you tomorrow."

The door to the clubhouse opened just as she slid her phone back into her pocket and when she looked up, Tig and Kozik were walking in, shortly followed by Piney. "Salazar let Margaret go, but he's still got Tara," Kozik informed her as he leaned up against the pool table next to her.

"Did you talk to her and find out anything?"

"She went in to the PD and talked to Unser. Told us where he was keepin' them and shit but the place is empty now. Right now Tara's keeping Salazar's girl alive but Margaret said Tara cut her real bad and she didn't know if she'd make it."

"Well, I just got off the phone with Juice. They got Abel back," she told them, offering a brief smile before it faded back into a frown. "You have to let Jax know about Tara now."

The three of them exchanged looks before silently heading toward the chapel.