𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 - 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝘼𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙮

Fifty-Five

Unser reports to Sheriff Jarry with an angle on Tara's possible suspects. He lays out the Chinese premise that Jax and the Sons are operating under. Jarry wants to know who his source is, but Unser politely declines to tell her.

~ SOA ~ ~ SOA ~

Gemma's looking over papers to sign Abel up for school. Ellie sees what she's doing and grabs the papers from her grandmother, "What are you doing? Mom's gonna do this-"

"Ellie, your mom-"

"No!" Ellie exclaims, "Stop acting like my mom's dead! She's not! She's gonna get better!" Ellie repeats herself, becoming a sobbing mess, like the more she says it.. the better of a chance she has for it to come true.

"Okay." Gemma nods, "Okay. Let's just-"

"Ellie?" Jax shows up, hurrying inside when he hears screaming, "What happened?"

"Ellie-" Gemma tries to explain, but Ellie yells, "Shut up!"

"Ellie," Jax tries to calm her down, walking closer to her, "Honey-"

"I told you this would happen!" Ellie snaps, throwing the papers down, and shoving her dad away from her harshly, "Mom knew too! We knew something bad would happen! Someone tried to fucking kill her, dad! Still don't wanna get out?!"

"Ellie-" Jax talks to her calmly.

"No! You keep leaving and fucking around like mom's not at the hospital! I wanna see her! I wanna see her!" Ellie screams at the top of her lungs, tears running down her face, "You don't even care! You care more about the fucking club than mom!"

Gemma stands back, covering her hand with her mouth, tearing up herself.

"Ellie," Jax tries to shush her, but she's in a rage. She slaps him across the face and shoves him before throwing stuff on the ground.

Eventually, Jax is able to grab her. He wraps his arms around her and restrains her, "Shhh, baby. Shhh."

"I wanna go home!" Ellie cries, "I wanna go home and I wanna see my mom! Let go of me! Let go!"

Nero shows up and sees the living room is a mess. Ellie's sobbing loudly, thrashing in her father's arms, "I want mom! I want mom!"

Ellie sinks to the floor as she sobs loudly, so beyond fed up and hurt, as Jax closes his eyes and feels himself crying. He tries to bring her some type of comfort, but knows he can't and there's nothing he could say to make her feel better. Ellie whispers, "I want mom," over and over again.

Nero walks over to them and makes eye contact with Jax, and gets on his knees, "Ellie? Everyone in this room wants to help you."

Jax is at loss for what to do. Nero places a hand on her back, looking at Gemma and him, "You wanna see your mom? I'll take you."

"Nero-" Jax chokes out.

"No, Jax. Go. I got it." Jax is hesitant to leave her, but Nero reassures him, "She'll be okay. She'll be okay."

Gemma feels bad as she starts to pick things up. Jax leaves. Nero wraps his arms under Ellie's and lifts her up off the floor. He lets her cry, noticing Gemma's curious staring, "Wanna go see your mom?"

Ellie looks up at him and Nero's heart breaks, "We can? Right now?"

"Yeah." Nero nods, "Let's go."

He leads her out to his truck and helps her get in. She's quiet as they get in the car and he starts driving.

~ SOA ~ ~ SOA ~

No words are exchanged between Ellie and Nero as they stand in Tara's room at the hospital. Ellie can't see well, due to the tears blurring her vision, as she stares at her mother who's covered in tubes and wires. She has a huge bandage wrapped around her head and a breathing tube down her throat. Ellie takes a step forward, eyes glued to the cuts and bruises on her mom's face. Nero takes a step back, giving Ellie a little privacy.

"Mommy," Ellie whispers lowly, taking her hand and leaning down to kiss it, "I'm so sorry this happened to you."

Ellie sits on a chair beside her bed, holding her hand between hers, leaning down to rest her face on her mom's side, "I'm taking care of Abel and Thomas. I'm trying to watch over dad, but he's lost. H- he doesn't know what to do. Noone does. We all miss you... so much. You just- you heal, get better, I'll take care of everything."

She kisses her mother's cheek, "Whoever did this to you, they'll pay, mom. God, I-... we were so close. So goddamn close."

"When you're better, we're getting out. I promise, on my life. We're gonna go to Oregon, where ever you want... with or without, Dad. I don't even care anymore. I'll be with you."

Ellie kisses her cheek, "I love you, Mommy."

She stands up and rubs her hands over her face. She doesn't say anything as she walks passed Nero and they head out to his truck in the parking lot. Nero's quiet as he drives Ellie home.