A Matter of Vengeance

Chapter 8

Chibs had Juice and the prospect take him to a dorm room to recover. She felt like her whole body was shaking as she dried her hands then went to have a seat at the bar. The prospects were already cleaning off the pool table from the blood that had spilled. She hoped she had done good and that the guy was going to recover with no problems. Tig walked over and leaned against the bar.

"You did good, Doll." He told her.

"I'm just a student, I've never had to do anything like that before." She stared at the pool table.

"Yeh did great, lass." Chibs told her.

She swallowed, "Thanks."

"You ok?" Tig quietly asked.

"I don't know." She continued to stare at the pool table, "I've never had to do that before. I'm not a doctor. I'm going to school to be a nurse. If he... (she swallowed) ...it'll be on my hands... and..." She exclaimed.

"Hey! Quinn's going to be fine. He's a tough fucker. You did amazing, ok?" Tig stated before leaning over and kissing her temple.

"If you say so." She stated as Jax waved his SAA over.

Tig told her to have a drink and calm down and that Jax needed to speak with him. He kissed her temple again before walking over to where Bobby and Jax were sitting. He sat down and waved for the prospect to bring him a beer.

"How's she doing?" Bobby nodded towards their hostage.

"Freaked out." Tig chuckled, "She's going to be a nurse, not a doctor. I think this just...she's worried about things, I think."

"She got the bullet out, fixed why he was bleeding so badly, and stitched him up. That's good in my books." Bobby stated.

"Real world experience fer tha first time is always scary." Chibs exclaimed as he pulled up a chair.

"How do you think she did, Chibs? You've got the medical training." Jax asked.

"She did amazing. Especially fer only being a nurse. She knew wha' she was doing an' was professional tha whole time." He explained, "She might've been nervous but she did amazing."

"Good enough for me." Jax stated before taking a sip of his beer.

She took Tig's advice and ordered herself a shot of Vodka. Seeing the blood drying on the bottle that the prospect poured from reminded her of what she'd just done. Helping an outlaw motorcycle gang find her cousin was one thing. Helping patch them up was another. Did that make her...no, she hadn't done anything wrong. It would have been wrong if she'd refused to help. Nurses had a code of conduct just like doctors did. A man was wounded and she could help. It was the right thing to do.

Jax decided they'd head back to her house in the hopes it would make her feel a little more at ease with things. Some of the Tacoma charter were on their way to help keep an eye on the clubhouse and some of the Nomads offered to come help too. Jax, Tig, Chibs, and Happy got ready to roll back out to her house. She grabbed her backpack and slid each strap onto her shoulders before following Tig to his bike. Jax watched as she mindlessly climbed onto his back. Taking out that bullet had really unnerved her. Would she be able to hack it as a nurse?

She leaned against Tig with her arms wrapped firm around his waist as they rode back to her house. Her eyes were closed and her mind replayed the surgery she had performed with no medical license. If anyone found out what she'd done, she wouldn't be able to practice medicine even as a nurse. She couldn't allow that to happen. Tig gave her hand a squeeze when he felt her sigh for the millionth time. He suddenly wanted to make her feel better.

"What do you want for dinner?" She asked as she climbed off his bike.

"How about spaghetti? You told me one night you make the best garlic bread." Tig pulled her into his arms.

"Ok."

Her dispirited disposition made him worry about her. After throwing her book bag on her bed, she walked into the kitchen to start on dinner. Chibs turned the TV on and slipped out of his boots. Jax found a seat and kept looking into the kitchen. 'Poor girl seems traumatized.' he thought with a sigh, 'Maybe we asked too much of her.' Happy eyed her as she moved around her kitchen working on dinner. Jax decided to go talk to her.

"Hey Aria. How are you doing?" Jax softly asked.

"I'm fine." She quickly retorted, "I hope your friend can rest comfortably in his room. He needs bedrest for at least a week. Should be on an antibiotic. Pain meds would do him some good too."

"You sure you're going to just be a nurse and not a doctor?" Jax chuckled making her shrug, "Listen, I just wanted to thank you again. I never thought how tough that might have been for you."

"It's ok. Like doctors, I have a sworn duty to help if I can. A man was injured and I did what I could." She stated.

"But?" Jax asked.

"But...I could get into serious trouble for practicing medicine with no license. No one can know what I did for you guys." She explained, not realizing Happy had moved to stand just outside the kitchen and was listening in.

"Don't worry about that, Darlin'. It'll be our little secret." Jax told her.

"Thanks." She said, "I mean, I don't mind helping. But I'm not a registered nurse yet. What I did could cause the board to deny my license."

"It's ok, really. I justwanted to thank you for what you did. You saved his life." Jax stated beforemoving to get himself a beer out of the fridge.

Happy moved into the kitchen earning a nod from Jax as he went to grab himself a beer. The Tacoma Killah took his beer and headed back into the living room. Everyone was just lounging around waiting on dinner to be prepared. It gave her something to focus on instead of what she had done and what complications could happen to the man she'd worked on. There was an Italian loaf of bread she used for garlic bread and she made her own special garlic butter. It was a recipe she'd gotten from her mother who always made the best garlic bread she thought.

Tig's mind was too busy worrying about Aria and what was going to happen after they got her cousin. He wouldn't get to see her unless he made the long trip out there to see her specifically. Would she even want to see him after they dealt with her cousin? Would she want to see him because they dealt with her cousin? His mind raced trying to figure out how to make things work out for him but he couldn't see any way other than making trips out there specifically to see her.

He might be able to use the guise of making sure she wasn't talking about what she knew but he figured Happy wouldn't go for that excuse. She went about dinner preparation trying not to think about the long-haired blond. Then her mind turned to the bikers in her living room. Would Tig want to see her after they dealt with Evan? Did she want to see him once all this was over? Sure, he was good in bed but that wasn't a foundation for a long-term relationship. Sighing, she stirred the sauce as it simmered on the stove.

With the sauce slowly simmering, she began spreading her garlic spread on the Italian bread slices so she could get the bread in the oven on time. 'On one hand he's great in bed and keeps reassuring me they won't kill me. On the other hand, we don't really know one another and he lives quite a distance away. It'll never work. I need to cut my losses now!' she thought as she spread the garlic spread with another sigh. Yes, the best thing she could do was cut her losses and save herself from any heartache he might bring.

A/N: Think Tig can work things out with Aria?

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