Skeletons

"How's your face?" Falyn winced as she slid into one of the chairs at the kitchen table and Tara set a cup in front of her, filling it with coffee before sitting down in the chair across from her.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Tara asked, taking a sip of her own coffee.

Falyn gave her a smile as she poured some cream into her cup and stirred it. "I'm fine. My whole body is just sore. Really, really fucking sore." Tara just looked at her questioningly as if she wanted to say something but was holding back. "What?"

"Nothing," Tara replied, looking down at the cup in her hands. "I just-....I don't see how you can be so calm after what happened to you last night."

"Honestly, I don't know. I mean, this is unnatural, right? I should be traumatized. Anxious and nervous and scared."

Tara waited for a few moments, trying to decide what exactly to say, but then she just shook her head with a reassuring smile. "Some people just react differently."

"If you say so," she muttered, taking a sip of her coffee.

Jax entered the kitchen, pulling on his leather then picking up Tara's cup to drink from it. "How're you two feelin'?" Falyn and Tara exchanged looks before both of them shrugged.

"I'm fine. She's the one we need to be worried about," Tara said.

"No, you don't, really. I'm completely fine. Just sore."

"You sure?" Jax asked, concern lacing his voice.

"I'm sure."

"Alright well," he leaned down to plant a kiss on Tara's temple. "Duty calls." He left the kitchen and about two seconds later, the sound of the front door closing echoed through the room.

Tara got up from the table to put her empty cup into the dishwasher then turned back to Falyn, leaning against the counter and crossing her arms. "Any plans for today?"

"I need to go talk to Davey at some point. Chief said he's been out of it lately and thought it might help, which I doubt. But I said I would."

"Are you sure you're up to that? I mean, you're moving kinda slow."

"I'd love to just lay around all day, but I need to get out."

Tara shrugged. "Well, you're welcome to come visit me at work. Everyone else does."

"I'll keep that in mind," she replied with a grin.



"Sav, you can sit over there. I'll only be a minute, okay?" The young blonde nodded her head and made her way over to the group of gray chairs in the corner of the police station.

She gave Candy a small wave as she passed, but the woman was obviously in shock at the state of her face. She walked down to the end of the hallway where David's office was, the door standing ajar. She knocked gently, noticing him standing at his desk with his back to her. "Davey? You got a second?"

He muttered a "Yeah" automatically before shoving the papers he had been staring at into a large envelope and closing it. When he finally turned around to look at her, his eyes widened. "Jesus Christ, Falyn!"

"I'm not here officially," she began, motioning to her face where the aftermath of her little visit the night before was extremely noticeable.

He nodded slowly as she shut his office door and carefully sat down in the leather chair across from his desk. "What the hell happened to you?"

She let out a heavy sigh as she tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "Last night, four masked men came into my house and beat the shit out of me while my daughter was hiding upstairs. I didn't see their faces, but I'm about 99% sure I know who they are."

He eased himself down into his chair across from her, leaning forward as he rested his hands on his desk. "How can you be sure?"

"Besides Darby, the only people around here with swastika tattoos are those Aryan freaks your brother's so fond of. And Darby's never had a problem with me." While she wouldn't consider herself a friend of the white supremacicst drug dealer, Falyn had come into contact with Ernest Darby on occasion throughout her life and they had never been anything but polite to one another. She knew not to get on his bad side, and he respected that she stayed out of his way.

He stared right at her, taking in the stitches on her forehead and her still swollen, dark purple eye. "Zobelle's guys did this," he reiterated, mostly to himself.

"I don't think they were actually gonna kill me. I think this was more of a message."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the first thing they said to me after they broke down the door was 'Where's your kid?'." Her hand went up to run her fingers across the new stitches in her forehead and she immediately felt the stinging pain. "I'm pretty sure it was a message for SAMCRO. For Jax."

"Did you tell him that?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I didn't know what he'd do."

He nodded in understanding of what she meant and looked down from her face. "I guess it's not my place to say but.....maybe you should tell him."

"You think so?"

"Jax isn't as quick-tempered as Clay at least. If SAMCRO is the reason this happened to you, then maybe they should know about it."

She thought about it for a moment before slowly nodding her head. "Okay. Yeah, I guess you're right." She stood to her feet, gasping slightly at the pain in her side from moving, and pulled her bag gently onto her shoulder. "Thanks, Davey," she said softly before turning to walk out of the office.

Savannah rose to her feet when she saw her mother exiting the hallway and she walked over to the door as Falyn reached her. "What's next?" she asked her mother as they walked out of the station's front doors.

"I just need to stop by the clubhouse."

Savannah groaned. "Can we please get some food soon?"

"Right after, I promise."

The garage was still fairly busy when they arrived on the lot, but when they opened the door to the clubhouse, no one was inside. All the motorcycles were lined up outside and the chapel doors were shut, which meant that the guys were probably in church. Falyn made her way over to the bar and gently pulled herself up onto one of the barstools while Savannah did the same to wait for them to come out.

Only a short time later, the chapel door opened and Jax stepped out, lighting a cigarette as he did so. He immediately noticed them sitting there and he nodded at them in greeting as he walked over to the bar. "Still feelin' okay?"

"I feel fine. It's just a shame I look like shit."

He chuckled and shook his head as he slid onto the barstool next to hers. "Not you."

"Don't be a smartass," she warned him playfully.

Piney exited the chapel right after Jax and his eyes automatically focused on the stitches and the black eye on the woman sitting by the bar. "Jesus Christ, honey! What happened to you?"

"Some assholes broke into their house last night and roughed 'er up," Jax answered for her. Savannah frowned at the reminder of what had happened and Falyn took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

Piney leaned down to cautiously give the younger woman a hug and Falyn watched over his shoulder as Chibs and Opie went straight outside, followed closely by Tig and Juice. Piney followed slowly after them and once she was alone with her daughter and Jax again, she turned to him. "I need to talk to you about something later, okay?"

She very subtley nodded her head toward Savannah and Jax understood the hint that it shouldn't be in front of their daughter. "Yeah, okay. Tonight." He got up from the barstool and kissed the top of her head, then Savannah's. "I'll be right back."

No sooner than Jax had walked outside, Bobby was walking out of the chapel. His eyes landed on Falyn as he approached the bar and got himself a beer. "The fuck happened to you?"

"Some guys broke into the house last night. Gave me this nice busted up face."

"Holy Christ. Where's Craig?"

"Business trip to Dallas."

"You got a safe place to stay?"

"As badly as I hate to put them out, Jax and Tara insisted we stay with them."

Gemma entered the clubhouse and she looked around, presumably for her husband. Her eyes widened at the state of the woman sitting at the bar, but Falyn ignored the look. "If you're looking for Clay, I'm pretty sure he's still in there," she told her, nodding toward the chapel doors.

"Thanks, baby," she smiled, immediately heading over and pushing open the doors to let herself inside.

When she was gone, Falyn sighed and slid off of the barstool. "Alright, come on, Sav. See ya later, Bobby," she waved as they walked toward the door.

"See ya, kid."

Tara was sitting with Jax on the picnic table when they walked outside and she sat down in front of her, leaning her back against Tara's legs while Savannah sat in front of Jax. Falyn sighed and leaned her head back, closing her eyes. "Tired?" Tara asked with a grin.

"You have no idea. I feel like I've been beaten."

"That's not funny, Mom," Savannah frowned.

"Will you drive me home, Tara?"

Tara chuckled, ruffling the other woman's hair. "Of course I will."

Her eyes flew open when she heard Chibs yell something from across the lot and a split second later, a van that had been brought in for repairs exploded right in front of her eyes, sending the man flying through the air and landing hard on the back of his head.

All of the guys immediately raced to his side and Jax called for Tara as she ran toward the man lying on the concrete. Falyn held her scared daughter close to her side as she watched Tara check for a heartbeat and his breathing. She quickly pulled her cell phone out of her pocket to call an ambulance and within a few minutes, they had arrived on the scene and loaded the unconscious man onto a stretcher to take him back to the hospital.

The police were everywhere, the area roped off with bright yellow tape. Falyn watched silently as David walked over to Jax and the two men spoke quietly. David glanced directly at her a few times during their short conversation and she watched anxiously as they spoke. When it was over, he headed directly to her. "Did you tell him?"

"I didn't get a chance yet. Why?"

"This was Zobelle," he said, not very quietly. Savannah was too busy watching in stunned silence at what was going on around her to hear him anyway.

"Jesus, he really hates this Club, doesn't he?" she muttered.

"There's no way Clay won't retaliate now. This is about to get really dangerous really fast. Just-......Just be careful, Fal." He quickly walked away from her and back over to the other policemen who were on the scene.

"I'd forgotten how action-packed Charming can be," Falyn sighed to herself, looking around at all the flashing blue lights and people running about. "Alright kid, let's go," she said, throwing her arm around her daughter's shoulders.

On the way back to the car, Falyn stopped where Jax was standing and watching the madness around him. "Hey, Jax, we're gonna get outta here. We're just in the way."

"You got a key to the house?" Falyn shook her head and Jax dug into his pocket, handing her a small brass key. She thanked him and started to walk on toward the car after Savannah, but he called her name, causing her to turn back to him. "Here. Take this too," he said, grabbing the gun from the back of his jeans and putting it into her hands. "Since I won't be there," he added.

She nodded once, quickly putting it in the same place he had had it and walked over to the car where Savannah was waiting inside. "Alright," she said cheerfully in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. "Let's go get you some food."