Fate Misunderstood

With Ryan's shoulder as her pillow, she stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep as she dwelled on the news she'd been given earlier in the day. Kip was gone; he was gone because of the Club. She still hadn't gotten over the news of her nephew being kidnapped, but this just made things worse.

Ryan turned onto his side, his face now mere centimeters from hers. She could feel his warm breath on her skin and his eyes boring into the side of her face, and she knew that he was expecting some kind of answer for not only her behavior, but also for everything that was going on.

Her eyes closed and she let out a heavy sigh. "My best friend from home was killed a few days ago. We've been friends since I was seventeen. He was injured serving in Iraq, but he was able to recover and come home. Now he's gone because somebody at home stabbed him."

Ryan kissed her temple. "I'm so sorry, babe."

"He died trying to protect my nephew, which I guess is one of the most honorable ways to go."

"Nephew?"

"Yeah, Abel, my brother's baby."

"I didn't even know you had a brother," he muttered bitterly.

"Because I don't like talking about my family," she sighed, propping herself up on her elbow to reach into the drawer of the nightstand. She pulled out a large picture frame and handed it to him.

Ryan stared at the tall blonde man in the photo, a relaxed grin on his scruffy face and his large arm slung over the shoulders of a sixteen year old Juliette. He couldn't help but notice how happy his girlfriend seemed in the picture compared to the present. "Well, he looks.....scary."

And he's not even wearing his cut, she thought to herself as she took the photo from his hands and looked at it herself. She could only imagine how Ryan would react if he knew her personal Club ties. She shook her head as she replaced the picture in the drawer and closed it.

"When are you going to tell me about the scar on your shoulder?"

Of course Ryan knew that it was the result of a bullet wound; he was a doctor after all and he had seen plenty of them when he was on emergency room duty. He had always wondered what Juliette could have possibly been involved in where she would have been shot, but now that there were a couple of criminal bikers lounging in her living room, he was starting to get some ideas.

"I'm not," she answered simply, rolling onto her side so that her back was to him. She wasn't about to tell him what had happened to her that earned her the scar. He sighed heavily, knowing that she was done with the conversation and wouldn't be saying anything else on the subject. He rolled over onto his other side and went to sleep, giving up on trying to get any more information.

Juliette, Ryan, and Christina all had the same shift starting at 8 the next morning so they all woke up early and got ready very quietly. Once it was time to leave, they crept through the living room and out the door, hoping not to wake the three sleeping bikers.

The walk to work was mostly silent between the three. Ryan and Chrisitna still hadn't full learned how to not be awkward when they were both with Juliette, considering the giant secret they were keeping from her. She didn't seem to notice their behavior though, since she was so absorbed in her own thoughts. When they arrived at Seattle General, Christina headed to the fourth floor for surgery while Ryan went to meet with the other interns and Juliette headed to the emergency room.

It wasn't very busy at eight thirty in the morning so Juliette kept herself occupied by working on the charts of the three patients she did have. One of the other nurses, Amy, noticed the unusual mood she was in but she said nothing as she sat at her computer, instead exchanging worried looks with another nurse.

She closed the file and ran her hands down her face as Amy answered the ringing phone. After a brief moment, she hung up and stood from her desk to reach a new file. "Julie, there's a nine year old boy who's five minutes out. High fever, really weak, just had a seizure during breakfast."

"Alright, I'll get two set up." When she turned on her heel to head down the hallway to room two, she froze at the figure standing directly in front of the desk and sighed deeply. "Would you mind?"

Amy glanced between the two and quickly nodded her head, disappearing down the hall. The other nurses standing around looked at Tig nervously but he wasn't paying attention to any of them. Instead, he stared straight at her. She rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm, pulling him down the hallway to an empty room. "You can't just show up at my work, Tig."

"Well, somebody left their apartment this morning without telling anyone."

"Somebody has a job that they actually have to go to no matter what kind of Club shit is going on at the time."

"You think we woulda drove all the way up here if this 'Club shit' didn't have an effect on you?"

She rolled her eyes, ignoring his last remarks. "I'm busy, Tig. What do you want?"

He chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest as he slouched down in one of the chairs. "You're just like your fuckin' mother, you know that?"

Juliette shook her head. "I'm nothing like her. That's why she hates me so much."

"Gemma doesn't hate you. She just....doesn't understand you."

"Tig, I specifically remember her saying when I was a teenager that she should have smothered me as a baby. That doesn't exactly scream love."

"She's got trouble relating to you, but she's your mother; she loves you."

"Tig," she groaned, desperately wanting to leave the conversation. "I have work to do. I have patients to attend to."

"Look, I know you're tryin' to push us away because you're upset. You just found out last night that your best friend got killed." Juliette's eyes teared up just at the mention of it and she shook her head, reliving the moment that Tig broke the news to her the night before. "What'd you tell that boyfriend'a yours?"

"The truth mostly."

"You tell him all about your family and your past too?"

She swallowed hard and shook her head. There was no way she'd be able to talk about those things with Ryan, because he just wouldn't understand.

"Well, why not?" he asked, his blue eyes staring right through her. When she didn't answer him, he continued. "Afraid the good doctor boy would leave ya if he found out?" he mocked. It was obvious he didn't like Ryan and he wasn't afraid to make that known.

"I know he would."

"See, that's your problem. Always tryna go for the 'nice' ones. That honor's student athlete kid, a fuckin' doctor. They ain't cut out for a girl like you. You were born into the life, Jules. 'Cause you can handle it. You're meant to be somebody's old lady."

She shook her head furiously as tears began to sting her eyes. "No. No fucking way. I'm not gonna be somebody's old lady. I can't be somebody's old lady. Tig, I never wanted the life! I just wanted to get out!" She sighed, running her hands down her face. "And I have. I can't go back to it."

"Jules, you'll be safe at home."

She laughed humorlessly and shook her head. "Because the Club did such a great job at protecting me the last time?" She knew it was a low blow to the very thing that he had dedicated his entire life to but she didn't care. The fact that he was insinuating that the Club was capable of protecting her from some unknown bad guy was laughable in her eyes.

Tig sat up straighter in his chair and his jaw clenched for a moment before he looked back at her calmly. "Look, kid, you know I love you like I love my own daughters, right? Probably more sometimes."

She knew where this was going and she cut him off quickly. "Tig, I can't. I can't go back to Charming."

"But-"

"Julie, we need you in two!" someone shouted from the hallway, cutting him off.

Juliette glanced back at him once more, muttering an apology as she hurried out of the room to get back to work. She was so preoccupied that she didn't even notice Ryan standing just down the hall where he had quickly hurried to when he heard her coming.

Tig followed her out of the room and he immediately spotted Juliette's boyfriend pretending to be busy reading charts at the nurses' station. Ryan glanced up at him nervously as Tig walked down the hall toward him and Tig knew that he had been eavesdropping. He decided to let it go for the moment, but Ryan knew by the look on his face that he hadn't gone unnoticed.