Skeletons

"I'm stayin' in Charming," was the first thing out of his mouth as soon as she opened the door to him.

She smiled, sighing in relief as she moved aside to let Jax into the house and he stepped past her, moving straight through the living room and into the kitchen where Craig was sitting at the table drinking his morning coffee. "How are ya, Jackson?" the older man greeted cheerfully, but Jax was too preoccupied by his thoughts to respond as he leaned against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. Falyn exchanged confused looks with her father and he shrugged his shoulders silently as he stood from his chair, picking up his black mug and the morning paper as he walked past them to leave the kitchen. "I think I'll go enjoy my coffee on the front porch."

Once Craig was gone, she turned her attention back to Jax, watching him closely as he raked his hands through his long blond hair, obviously frustrated. "Are you gonna tell me what's wrong?" she finally asked him, sliding into the chair previously occupied by her father and folding her hands in front of her on the table top.

He exhaled heavily and walked over to the table, throwing himself into the chair across from her and propping his elbows on the table, putting his head in his hands. "Gemma."

"Gemma?" she repeated, confused. "What's wrong with Gemma?"

"Me and Clay bein' at each other's throats lately, I guess I didn't even notice any differences with her. She sat us both down last night. Told us-....." He cut himself off, taking in a shaky breath as she shook his head. "That night of Bobby's party, she got jumped out on 18. They took her to some utility house and raped her. Three of them. Part of Zobelle's crew."

"Oh my God," she whispered, her hand going up to cover her mouth. "I can't-.....I'm sorry, Jax." Her mind swirled with all sorts of thoughts and feelings. It was Zobelle's men who had broken into her house and beaten her not too long ago and now she had just found out that those same men had attacked Gemma as well. The thought made her feel sick to her stomach and she looked down at her hands on the table between them, clenching her fists tightly in an attempt to stop them shaking but to no avail. Instead, she dropped them to her lap but not before he noticed.

"You okay?" he asked, his brow furrowing as his eyes flickered from the now empty table top to her face.

"Yeah, fine. Um, just low blood sugar or something. I haven't eaten breakfast yet." Her gaze flitted to various objects around the room, unable to focus on any of them, especially the man sitting in front of her. It dawned on her that she never did get around to telling him that it was Zobelle's men who had roughed her up and she was suddenly feeling overheated and short of breath, tugging weakly at the collar of her shirt before her hand slipped up to rub the skin at the base of her burning throat.

"Falyn," he pressed, giving her an imploring look. "Tell me."

"I'm fine, Jax. It's nothing. I, um, was just-....thinking about Gemma. I-it's terrible, what happened." The reality was that she was thinking about the night of the break in and if she had been home by herself or if Savannah hadn't been able to find a phone or if Jax hadn't picked up the call or if he couldn't get there as fast as he did. There was a very real possibility that she could have ended up more like Gemma had, instead of just the cracked ribs and a few stitches on the forehead. She licked over her lips, glancing at the door as she telepathically begged either of her two family members to come walking through it in the next few seconds of silence that followed but she had no such luck.

"You're lying," he muttered lowly.

She shook her head and and closed her eyes, pressing her trembling hands to her temples as she took a few deep breaths while he just watched her. He already knew that something was wrong by the way she had so stupidly acted and he wasn't the type to just let things go. Maybe now was an alright time to tell him. It wasn't like he could be any angrier at Zobelle considering what he'd already learned had been done to his own mother. He and Clay were already planning on revenge anyway; it wouldn't hurt to fill him in.

"I guess I'm just...." She paused, dropping her hands and glancing at him only briefly before she swallowed hard and fixed her gaze on the swirl patterns in the wood surface separating them. "I'm just thanking my lucky stars that Sav was able to call you the night of the break in. And that you came."

His forehead wrinkled as he stared at her somewhat confused but she didn't meet his eyes.

"If you hadn't gotten here when you did, there's-.....there's no telling what they might have done. After what they did to Gemma......"

"You said you didn't know who they were," he stated slowly after the pieces clicked together in his head. She could tell he was trying very hard to stay calm and she didn't even have to look at him straight on to see that his jaw was clenched and his eyes were practically red with pure rage.

"I didn't want you to do something stupid."

"So you just kept this all to yourself? Zobelle's guys beat the shit out of you- could've raped you just like they did Gemma! Goddamn it, Falyn!"

"Do you think I don't know that, Jax? That that wasn't the first thing that went through my mind as soon as you told me?"

"You shouldn't have fuckin' kept that from me."

"I was gonna tell you the next day but then the whole thing with Filip happened and after that, I knew you guys would be fucking enraged. I didn't want to add to the burden."

The shrill ring of his prepaid cell phone interrupted them and he sighed heavily, digging into the pocket of his cut to retrieve it. She stayed silent as he pressed it to his ear, listening to the deep voice on the other end before muttering his agreement and hanging up. He pushed himself out of his chair and walked around the table to her, carefully pulling her to her feet before sliding his arms around her in a hug. She was surprised and confused by his action, but relieved that his anger had seemed to mostly die down.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely when he pulled away to look down at her. "You're family, Falyn, and I don't ever want you to think you can't come to me when somethin' bad happens. It doesn't matter what kind of shit the Club is in. I'm there."

She nodded weakly, her eyes focusing on the Vice President patch that had recently been ripped off and sewn back on. "Thanks, Jax."

"I gotta go," he told her, dropping his hand from her waist, and he kissed the top of her head before turning to leave. He stopped just before he reached the door and glanced back at her where she hadn't moved a single muscle, still frozen in her spot. "Hey maybe talk to Gemma or something. Might help both of you."

"Yeah," she agreed half-heartedly, and she waited until she heard the front door close behind him before she sank back into her chair and laid her forehead against the cool wooden table top.

It was almost half an hour before the sound of bare feet on the wooden stairs hit her ears shortly followed by a way too cheerful "Mom?"

"Kitchen," she called back, but her throat felt dry and it came out as more of a croak. The door swung open and Savannah strolled into the room, immediately heading toward the cupboard for her Lucky Charms before retrieving the milk from the fridge. She slid into the seat Jax had been sitting in once she had gotten herself a bowl and a spoon and she poured herself some cereal, taking two bites before she ever looked up at her mother.

Her brows knitted together in much the same way as her father's did and she set her spoon down against the rim of the bowl. "Everything okay?"

Falyn looked up at her daughter, the widened eyes of concern and the small frown on her angelic face. "Nothing for you to worry about, baby." Savannah looked skeptical despite her mother's answer, but she went back to eating her cereal, glancing over at her every so often for the next twenty minutes.

The old telephone secured on the wall by the pantry began to ring and she slid out of her chair, going over to answer it while Savannah put her empty bowl in the sink and went upstairs to get dressed for the day. "Hey Fal, it's me."

"Jax? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, we, uh, just had church and we're tryin' to get stuff together but since some of the shit went down and the feds are on our asses we're not gettin' our shipment and we're a little short on guns. You think your dad would be willing?"

"Can he get in trouble if you get caught?"

Jax paused, thinking over her question for a moment. "Does he have any unregistered ones?"

"A few," she replied. "I'll ask him, but no guarantees."

"If he agrees, bring 'em to the clubhouse. A few of us ought to be around."

Once she hung up the phone with him, she went out onto the front porch where her father was still sitting in the rocking chair reading the newspaper. She walked over to the swing on the end of the porch and sat down, pushing off her feet and she started to sway back and forth gently. Craig put the paper down in his lap, looking over his reading glasses at her. "Did you know Gill Grayson died this week? I've known that bastard all my life and I didn't even know he fell out from a heart attack. Fifty-three years old."

"Dad, the Club needs a favor."

"What kind of favor?" he asked warily.

"Any unregistered guns."

"What the fuck do they want my guns for?"

"It's a long story, but since the feds are all over their shit, they can't get their shipments in and they're about to act out some retaliation."

"Retaliation," he repeated and she nodded.

"The guys that broke in here and beat the shit out of me, the same ones who planted a bomb in that car and almost killed Filip....last night Clay and Jax learned that those guys raped Gemma."

Craig shook his head as an appalled look took over his face. Gemma was a childhood friend of his and even though he was disgusted to hear what had happened to her, Falyn had him as soon as she said it was retaliation against the men who had attacked her. "I'll just go get 'em," he finally said after a moment, and he got up from his chair, storming back into the house. Savannah came outside dressed for the day and joined her on the swing and when Craig returned with a black duffel bag, she sent her daughter in for the car keys. "These are the only ones that aren't registered, but tell 'em I hope they help."

"I will. Thanks, Dad." Savannah pulled the front door closed behind her as she came back outside, handing her the keys and they left Craig to his rocking chair as they walked out to the car. Falyn put the bag into the trunk before climbing into the driver's seat and Savannah hopped into the passenger seat, turning the radio station as soon as her mother started the car.

The drive to the clubhouse was a short one and when they pulled onto the lot, she noticed that most of the bikes were parked in the row, meaning that most of the guys were there. She climbed out of the car, telling Savannah to stay put as she'd only be a minute, and she retrieved the bag from the trunk before walking over to the clubhouse door.

Piney and Bobby were sitting at the bar when she walked in, both their heads turning toward the sound of the opening door. She walked over to them and she held up the bag with a small smile, holding it out to Bobby. "Craig says he hopes they help."

"Thank him for us," Bobby replied, taking it from her hand and handing them off to Clay who had just walked out into the main room from the chapel.

Clay nodded his head to her in silent thanks and she placed her hand on his shoulder comfortingly for a moment before he took the bag back to the room he'd just come out of where they must have been keeping them all. "How's he doing?" she asked once he was out of earshot. She could still see him through the open door as he unzipped the bag and looked inside, but he was far enough away that he couldn't hear them talking.

"He's pissed. We all are."

She nodded, letting out a heavy sigh as she checked her watch for the time. "Well I should get going. Sav's waiting for me in the car."

"I'll walk you out," he said, motioning for her to go ahead of him.

"Such a gentleman," she chuckled, shaking her head as she walked back to the door, Bobby following behind her as they walked outside. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Opie over in the corner of the lot, working on his motorcycle while Tig leaned against the Teller-Morrow tow truck, talking to him. Falyn frowned automatically at the sight. She'd always thought Tig was okay, but after she'd learned that it was him who killed Donna, she hated him. The fact that he was standing there talking to the man he meant to murder instead of her best friend made her nervous and a little bit angry.

It was almost as soon as she had those thoughts that Opie jumped up from his crouched position and punched Tig right in the face, causing him to fall over. The first thing she noticed was that Tig was just letting Opie hit him, not fighting back at all. "Uh oh," she muttered as Opie grabbed him by his cut and pulled him up, punching him again. "That can't be good."

Jax pulled onto the lot as she and Bobby were hurrying over to the conflict and Clay and Piney were right behind them. Jax jumped off his bike, pulling off his helmet as he jogged over as well, but by the time they all got there, Opie was pushing past them to get to his truck, jumping in and peeling out of the lot as fast as he possibly could.

Tig leaned heavily against the tow truck, his breathing labored as streaks of red covered his cheeks and poured from his nose. Juice joined the rest of them and Jax immediately sent him back to the office to call Tara. "What happened?" Clay asked his oldest friend. "What the hell did you say to him?"

"I had to tell him," Tig replied, shaking his head.

Bobby and Piney looked confused, but Falyn had a feeling she knew what Tig was talking about and that made her very nervous. "Tell him what?" Bobby asked.

"That I killed Donna." He answered it so simply and Falyn suddenly felt like she shouldn't be standing there listening to that conversation as Bobby stared at the man in disbelief. This was definitely a Club issue and it could get very ugly very fast.

She turned quickly on her heel and walked back toward the car, but she could still hear Tig saying over and over that it was all Stahl's fault. She heard Jax curse loudly as she climbed back into the driver's seat and she took a deep breath while Savannah watched her curiously. Jax jumped on his bike and sped out of the lot in front of them and Falyn immediately knew that he was probably going after Opie in fear that he might do something stupid.

She just silently prayed he wouldn't.