Skeletons

Falyn stood outside the door, tapping her fingernails against the glass vase of flowers in her hands. She'd been standing outside Filip's room for almost five minutes, deciding on whether she should go in or not. Since he was in the ICU, technically only immediate family was supposed to be there but she had a feeling Tara would let her slide.

She peeked through the glass pane on the door that led into his room, seeing him propped up by pillows as he stared up at the ceiling. She sighed heavily before opening the door and she walked inside, his eyes immediately fixating on her. "Brought you some flowers," she told him with a small smile as she set them down on the table by the foot of the bed he was lying in. He said nothing, simply watching her as she sat down in the white chair next to his bed. "How are you?"

"Been better," he replied gruffly, the sides of his mouth curling upward into a grin. She smiled in return, shaking her head at his response. She honestly hadn't thought about what she was going to say to the man when she finally went and visited him and now she wished she had. She must have spend a long few minutes thinking about it because when she looked up again, he was staring.

"What is it?" she asked unsure.

"Nothin'. Y' look good."

She laughed. "Okay, time to tell Tara to cut back on your pain meds."

"How ya doin'? Heard ya got the shit beat outta ya."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I guess Tara told you?" He gave her a small nod. "I'm better now. I just had some cracked ribs and this fucking gash in my head." Her hand went up to brush her hair out of the way and touch the wound, which was still sensitive from Tara taking out the stitches the day before.

"Glad you're alright," he muttered, his voice still scratchy.

She chuckled. "I'm glad you're alright too, Filip."

The door to his room opened and a woman Falyn had never seen before stood there in the doorway staring her down. Falyn looked from her to Chibs, but he said nothing, all his attention focused on the woman by the door. "Fiona," the woman said, finally introducing herself. Falyn thought she detected an accent similar to the one Chibs had, but the woman continued, confirming it. "I'm his wife."

"Oh!" she exclaimed, unable to hide her surprise. "Nice to meet you. I'm Falyn....a friend." She glanced at Chibs but he was still staring silently between the two of them. She quickly stood up from the chair and smoothed out her dress. "I'll just get going then. Give you two some time."

She grabbed her bag from the table next to the flowers and quickly made her exit, leaning back against the wall when she made it into the hallway. She let her head fall back, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Everything alright?" Tara asked as she walked by her to the nurses' station.

Falyn followed on her heels and she propped her elbows up on the counter, looking at her friend with widened eyes. "Filip has a wife."

"Yeah, I just met her a few minutes ago. Scary, isn't she?"

"I think I'm more scared of her than I am of Gemma."

"Excuse me?" a voice called from down the hall a few feet.

Falyn turned to look over her shoulder as one of the women she was talking about walked toward the nurse's station where she was standing. "Don't worry, Momma Gemma. I'm still scared of you too," she smirked.

"You better be. Little bit of fear is healthy." Falyn shook her head the older woman, who nudged her with her elbow. "Listen, there's a family dinner at my house tonight. I want you and the kid to come. Be there around 7."

"Sure you don't want me to come early? Help cook or something?"

Gemma looked surprised at her offer to help but she nodded once, giving the younger woman a smile. 'Yeah. That'd be good, baby. I'll see you tonight."

Once she had turned on her three inch heels and walked away, Falyn looked down at her watch and exhaled loudly. "Guess I should get going. Sav wants to go to the bookstore this afternoon. I swear, I don't know where that kid got her love of reading."

"Not from her parents," Tara laughed.

"Seriously." Falyn adjusted her bag on her shoulder and ran a hand through her hair. "Alright, well, see you tonight I guess?"

Tara rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'll most likely be there."

Once Falyn had left St. Thomas, she drove home to pick up Savannah before going into town to the local bookstore. She took a seat near the front with the newspaper, letting her daughter browse the sections of books. Savannah could spend all day in a bookstore or libary, which was a trait she had not inherited from either her mother or her father. After about an hour, she returned to her mother with three books in her arms and a grin on her face. "Can I get all of them? Please?"

Falyn chuckled as she folded the newspaper and rose to her feet, throwing her purse onto her shoulder. "I guess so. Try not to read them all in one day this time."

"I make no promises."

It was nearing five by the time they left town so Falyn decided to go ahead and make her way over to Gemma's to help her get started cooking. When she and Savannah arrived, Gemma and Neeta were the only ones in the house. Savannah went into the living room with one of her books while Falyn went into the kitchen to do whatever the older women needed her to do. Other old ladies started to pour in one or two at the time but she wasn't sure who any of them were. They were new to her, considering she hadn't been around since 1996.

When Tara came in, she went to say hi but then she noticed the angry glare on her face. Tara pulled Gemma into the dining room, and she was speaking lowly at first, but got loud. "The club is the club, but my life is my life. Stay out of it!"

A tall blonde woman walked in the door behind Opie's kids, a casserole dish in her hands and a confused look on her face. Tara scoffed, rolling her eyes when she saw the woman. "Perfect. Serving handjobs for dessert?"

Falyn's mouth dropped at Tara's words and she gathered that the blonde must have been one of Luann's girls from Caracara. "That's real nice in front of the kids," the woman responded, dropping the dish down on the table carelessly and storming out.

Falyn quickly dried her hands with a dish towel and went over to Opie and Donna's kids where they were standing awkardly by the door, unsure of what to do. "Kenny, Ellie, why don't you come with me to the living room? Savannah's in there and I bet she'll find something for you to watch on tv." She quickly ushered the children into the next room, away from the adults, to where Savannah was sitting curled up in the chair with her book. Falyn was thankful that she hadn't been in the room to see and hear the spat that had just occurred.

Once the kids were settled, she left the living room to go back to the kitchen, but the blonde woman Tara had insulted grabbed her arm, stopping her in the foyer. "I'm sorry, you don't know me, but I'm Lyla," she said, rushing through her words as she thrust her hand forward. Falyn shook her head, introducing herself and Lyla smiled. "I know who you are. Ope talks about you all the time. Look, I know you and Tara are friends, but I just wanted to introduce myself to you before she talked to you about me and made you hate me too."

"I wouldn't hate you just because someone told me to. And obviously Ope likes you or you wouldn't be here, especially with his kids." Lyla blinked in surprise but then she nodded and smiled. "I gotta get back into the kitchen. Loosen up, yeah? You're welcome here."

Falyn left the blonde in the foyer and went back into the kitchen where Jax, Bobby, and Opie had just arrived. Jax was muttering something lowly to Tara, who had a scowl on her face and she noticed Lyla walk over to Opie, who wrapped one arm around her and pulled her into a hug.

"Come on, everybody. Let's sit down," Gemma called out as she walked to the table with the huge roast she had cooked for dinner. Everyone came walking into the dining room, Savannah standing directly beside her mother as Kenny and Ellie stood behind Lyla at the table. Clay stormed in though the kitchen door with Happy, Tig, and the prospect on his heels, immediately questioning Jax on where he had been.

"What are you talking about?" Jax replied, annoyed.

"I got two guys in hospital beds and the rest of you decide not to pick up your goddamn phone." Falyn cringed at the venom in his tone and she slipped her arm around Savannah's shoulders.

"We were neck deep in our own pile of shit," Bobby put in, defending the rest of the guys.

Tig rolled his eyes. "Well we almost got killed trying to take back our guns, man."

Bobby glanced at the children in the room as Falyn grip on her daughter tightened a little, keeping her arm around her shoulders. "Club business. Not here, asshole."

Tig shoved him hard and Bobby immediately reacted, lunging back at him while Opie, the prospect, and Happy tried to break it up. Falyn glanced over at Tara and Gemma, who were both watching in surprise. They successfully pulled the two men away from each other but they were still spitting out venomous words to each other until Deputy Hale walked through the still open kitchen door, catching some of the action himself.

"Excuse me," he said, announcing himself as he stepped further into the house. His eyes went to Falyn and he looked surprised, even though he knew he shouldn't be. Not after she'd left right after they slept together to go welcome Jax and the boys home from county. "Sorry to interrupt. I figured I should tell you this in person."

Everyone just looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to say what he had to say. Falyn could tell it was something bad just by the way his voice changed from regular Davey to sympathetic police officer delivering bad news. "We just found Luann Delaney off County 18. Beaten to death. There's no other details right now."

"Oh my God," Falyn whispered, her eyes immediately prickling with tears. She had known Luann since she was a little girl. She glanced over at Gemma, who looked horrified at the news. Luann had been her best friend for years. David muttered an apology before ducking his head and walking out, leaving the house.

The room was dead silent for a few moments as all the men just looked at each other in shock. Savannah noticed the change in her mother's breathing as she looked up at her, and she wrapped her arm around her back to hug her.

"Did you cause this?" Clay asked calmly, leaning in to give Jax a stern look.

Jax narrowed his eyes, not liking what his stepfather was insinuating. "What are you talking about?"

"Payback at Caracara."

The other men chimed in, all taking the blame for what happened to Luann but Clay didn't accept that. He seemed hell bent on blaming Jax. Tig and Bobby ended up lunging at each other again and then they were all yelling, some in anger and some trying to calm everyone down.

Over all the others, Clay and Jax could be heard shouting at each other and getting in each other's faces. "The blind guy's in jail with no wife cause you just got her killed!"

"I'm not the one murdering women!" Jax growled back, getting right in his face and shoving him hard. Falyn's mouth dropped open in shock at his words and she automatically glanced over at Opie, who was still preoccupied trying to break up the fight.

Gemma picked up the heavy glass tray that the roast was sitting on and slammed it down on the table, causing it to shatter everywhere and make everyone else in the room jump in surprise and look over at her. She was breathing heavily like she was trying not to cry, which didn't happen very often.

Falyn squeezed her daughter tighter into her side, waiting for someone to say something, but no one ever did. They all just looked around at each other, like they wanted to go back to fighting but didn't dare for Gemma's sake. Falyn sighed, pressing one hand to her temple. David had told her that Jax and Clay were at each other's throats over Donna's murder, but she never thought it would come to a head at a family dinner.

If she had, she wouldn't have dared to bring her daughter into the mess.