Surviving Charming

Family Dinner

Juice walks up and down the aisles in the baby section, looking for a booster seat. Gemma didn't tell him how much he should spend, but he felt like if that was his sister or child, he would want her to be safe. He picks a pink one she will be able to use until she's 100lbs or so. He buys a strap to secure it on his bike, and heads back to the accident scene. Gemma laughs as he pulls up. " What took you so long? Did you get lost? " He grins and says "No, just wanted to get the perfect one for her. I hope she likes it." Gemma nods and opens the door. Gracie is still asleep, so Juice holds her as Gemma puts the booster seat in. Juice slowly puts Gracie in her new seat and straps her in. Jax yells " Hey mom, can you take the suitcases with you? She may need clothes." Gemma nods and Happy tosses them in the back of the Escalade. " I'll see you boys at my house. Dinner is ready. " She climbs in and drives off.

"Juice, follow my mom, makes sure she gets home alright." Jax turns to Piney " Why don't you drop the car off at TM and leave it on the flatbed so you are not late for dinner. It's already dark out." Piney says " Alright, I'll see you when I get there. Tell Opie it would be nice if he could join us." Jax shakes his head and shrugs" Donna wanted him to stay home tonight so..." Piney mumbles to himself, shaking his head as he climbs into the cab and takes off. Jax calls Tara but it goes to voicemail. " You ready Hap?" Happy just nods as he mounts his bike. " I don't know what came over me, I thought she was trying to hit me on purpose, I didn't mean to slap her. I just got angry." Jax mounts his bike, " Anyone in your position would've probably thought the same thing. But I'm sure if you explain to her later, she will understand. Let's get to mom's now, or she's the next one who's going to be slapping people."

Gemma parks in her driveway as Juice parks his bike and runs up to the suv. " I want to carry her in please." Gemma looks at him and says " She woke up. Started crying." Juice opens the door to a hysterical Gracie. " Where's sissy?" Juice reaches for her and Gracie cries harder. Chibs is outside smoking a cigarette. He hears the commotion and walks over to the suv. " Wha's goin on?" Juice explains about the car accident, and who the little girl is real fast. Gracie looks at Chibs, and reaches out her arms to him. He pulls her out of her seat, patting her back and cooing to her in Gaelic. She's comforted by his accent and low voice, and calms down. Gemma reaches to take her, but Gracie shakes her head and buried her face in Chib's neck. Chibs says " I' take er, mum." And walks into the house with her.

Everyone is gathered in the living room, chattering away. They quiet down and stare when Chibs walks in with a little girl holding onto his neck and staring around the room, wide eyed at everyone. He explains " Thi' lil lass is Gracie." Everyone is quiet, and stares at him. He tries to put Gracie down, but she tightens her grip. He chuckles and whispers" A'right lassie," and walks into the kitchen to get her some juice. Gemma walks through the door as Clay comes up and she holds her hand up " I'll explain later. For now, we have a little guest joining us, and looks like she likes Chibs." She walks into the dining room to make sure the table is set. Happy and Jax walk through the door shortly after, and 10 minutes later Piney joins the family. They sit around the table after the food is out, and Gracie is sitting on Chib's lap, giggling as he tickles her.

Jax stands and says " I know a lot of you were wondering where the little girl Chibs is holding came from. On our way home, her sister ran her car off the road and we told Unser we will keep an eye on her until her sister is out of the hospital. We don't know a lot of details yet. But we will let you know as soon as we do." His burner rings, he looks down, " It's Tara. She's on her way over from the Hospital, finishing up her shift when the driver got there. I need to take this." He steps away to wait out front. Clay says " In the meantime, let's eat." Chibs makes a small plate of food for Gracie as she chows down. She even feeds him bites of her food and giggles when he chomps down on the fork. Her laugh is infectious, and soon the whole table is watching the 2 goof around and they all start laughing.

Jax smokes a cigarette as he waits for Tara to get out of her suv. Just then, Unser pulls up as well. Tara waits to see what he wants, standing by Jax. Unser says " We did a search for Daniel Ryan. New resident, has only been here a few years. Rents a small house on Cooper street. No job, or friends, no house phone either. We knocked, no answer. Has 2 daughters, Hannah and Gracieanna. I'm assuming the driver is Hannah, since you have Gracie." Jax says " Yea, she hasn't talked, cried a lot but is calm with Chibs. She's in the house, eating dinner." Unser says " Well I don't want to keep you folks so I'll be quick because I'm trying to find out what's going on. I stopped by the hospital earlier and she was in rough shape. Stabbed in her right shoulder, the blade went right through, sprained left wrist, a black eye and fractured eye socket, as well bruises all over her body. After they patched her up, they did an mri to see if she had any internal injuries, found a few cracked ribs and her right kidney is bruised so there's blood in her urine. Someone beat her up pretty bad, so I'm assuming she was running from them and started to pass out behind the wheel when she was driving. She's 19. Gracie is 4."

Tara looks at Jax and says " I'll keep an eye on her. They gave her pain meds and she's sleeping right now. She hasn't woken up yet but Dr. Adams said he would call me when she does." Jax turns to her " Ok, why don't you go in and get something to eat. I'll be in shortly." Tara nods to Unser before walking away. " We need to find Daniel. I left my card in the door for him to call me so I can update him on his daughters. Or see if that's who Hannah was running from." Jax says " Ok, if you don't hear from him, what then? " Unser says " I think I'll get a warrant to search the house. I'll swing by TM tomorrow to pick up her keys and I want to take a look at the car, get your statements. I also want to take some photos of the car so don't let the guys do anything with it. Just leave it on the flatbed if you can until we figure out what's going on." Jax says " Will do. Keep me posted." " I know the little one may be traumatized, but maybe I can see if she will talk to me tomorrow. " Jax explains " Yea, we will bring her to the shop. Stop in whenever." Unser waves his hand " Have a good night, son."