Living with the Club

Small Tears

"Veronica?!" A man's voice called.
"Veronica!" He repeated.
She opened her eyes, seeing Hale in casual clothes.
She felt aches, pains, and dry blood.
He pulled up her pants, buttoning them for her.
"You're gonna be okay."
He picks her up.
"Gemma?"
"Uncer found her in the warehouse down the street."
"You can't tell the club."
"Juan Carlos?" He asks.
"Tell him, we we're in a car accident."
Veronica fell asleep again.

She woke up in a hospital. Tara hovered.
"How are you feeling?" She asks.
"Shitty and in a lot of pain."
"I'll increase your morphine drip."
"Am I..?"
"What?" Tara asks for clarification.
"Normal" she points down.
"Oh, those men went easier on you than with Gemma."
"What do you mean?"
"Condoms. All tests were negative for for transmitted diseases, you're lucky."
"I don't feel lucky."
"You'll be okay."
Veronica wanted to ask about Juice but she wasn't ready to see him.
"Juice is here," Tara told her.
"Tell him you're still running tests and stuff. Tell him, he doesn't need to wait around. Tell him that I'm fine."
Tara looked at Veronica, she didn't know what she had gone through. It was probably traumatizing. Tara wanted to help her and Gemma bith but what could do? She was not a psychologist and she was hardly a friend.
"Are you sure?" Tara finally asks.
"I don't want to see him!" She says frustrated.
"Why?" Tara asks, concerned.
"I feel dirty. I feel used. I know Juice loves me but I don't want him to treat me like I've been used and thrown away. I'm scared he will never look at me the same. I'm scared that he won't.. want to be around me."
"I've seen the way he looks at you, Veronica. Those eyes are not of a man that I could ever see doing any of those things to you."
Veronica doesn't respond just gives Tara a nod.

Tara comes in later to talk to Veronica.
"Juice went back to the clubhouse. He said he'd be back in a few hours."
"When can I be discharged?"
"We'd like to keep you overnight for observations."
"That's unnecessary," Veronica says in a firm voice.
"You can sign out against doctors orders," she suggests.
"Yeah, I'll do that now. Where are my clothes?"
"In that dresser. I'll grab the forms."
Tara left and Veronica smiled when she opened the bag of clothes. Juice had brought her, her favorite yoga pants and his Sons shirt. She slipped them on with some soreness but she was not in any pain because of the morphine she was given.
Tara returned and Veronica signed out.
"I called you a cab," Tara said.
"Thank you."
Veronica departed, telling the taxi driver where to go.
She was home in no time but she stood outside for a long time, staring at her white house.

Veronica gets a call from Jax.
She finally walks inside.
"Tara said you left the hospital. Should I tell Juice."
"Don't." She said, quickly.
"Don't bother him with it, I mean," she clarified before he could say anything.
"Okay.." he said, skeptically.
"Do you need anything?" He added.
"I'm okay, thanks though," Veronica replied.
They hung up and Veronica took the chance to get into the shower and scrub herself of the horrors she went through the night before. She scrub so hard that her skin was bright red in places. She finally broke down. She slid to the floor of the shower. Her tears were heavy for a long time. She wanted to scream but she didn't. She reached her arm up and switched off the shower.
She sat there for a long time.
She sat and sat until she heard the front door open.
"Veronica?" Juice called.
She quickly got out of the shower and slipped on clothes.
"Bathroom," she called back after a long pause.
She looked in the mirror and noticed she looked flushed but I was too late to put foundation on because Juice had walked in. She avoided eye contact.
"What's wrong?" He asked, noticing her flushed face immediately.
"Just sore," she said, rubbing her face uncomfortably.
Juice came and reached for her, but she slid away.
"Baby?" He asked, puzzled.
"Sorry, I'm just skiddish and I don't want to be touched right now," she said, trying to avoid lying to him.
"Okay, baby cakes. I brought Chinese home," he said.
"I'm hungry!" She exclaimed.
"Let's eat then," he laughed.
He gestures for her to go on ahead. She does, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. That was all she could handle for now.
Juice watched as she went, wondering if there was something more going on but he figured she would have told him if there was.

Veronica made herself stay up until Juice went to bed. She also made herself sleep on the couch although she hated it. She woke up many times from nightmares of the night.
One of the times she woke up, she found herself in her bed. She knew Juan must have noticed she was gone and brought her in here.
She kept glancing at the clock everytime she woke up and that was about an hour or so between each nightmare. She kept her mind wander to the concept of dreams and wondered if there was any sense of time in sleep. She wondered if time was faster or slower.
She finally slept through the night.

"Veronica!" Juice said, shaking her.
"What?" She mumbles.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah why?"
"You keep whimpering."
She rolls into him, allowing his embrace.
"Just nightmares, baby," she responds.
"About the accident?" He asks her, holding her closed.
She nods.
"You're safe, baby," he said, and she felt a little better even if he didn't know the truth.
She was safe in his arms and that was enough for now.