Tara gasped when she saw the mess in the living room of Kayla's house. Blood was all over the creme colored carpet where the blonde lay in her own pool of blood. Her dead eyes staring right at Tara making the doctor shiver. She had seen a lot of dead people, which was unavoidable with her job, but she had never seen anything like this.

“What the fuck, Happy? You called us for what exactly? This shitshow ain't none of our business”, Jax snarled in the background and grabbed Tara's arm to turn her around, making her look in a different direction. This shit was exactly what he always wanted to keep away from her so as not to make his lifestyle seem even more dangerous to her. That would be just another reason for her to give him shit about and start an argument on how this isn't a life the kids should know.

“You're my Pres, but you better be careful with your words”, Happy's tone was calm but demanding. He had lots of respect for Jax, yet he wouldn't let him talk to him like this. “It's your Old Lady's business, that's why you're here.”

Jax sighed, nodding to himself. His tone towards Happy wasn't okay, he should support his brother and first find out what was going on. But the tension whenever Tara was around caused him to be in a bad mood most of the time, which he sometimes took out on the wrong people.

“Sorry man, I just don't want her to see shit like that. You know her”, Jax told him after Tara turned back around. “But how is this my Old Lady's business?”

“Ask her yourself. And then you better get her out of Cassie's and my sight for a while”, Happy grunted before he pulled a still pale Cassie into his side, his arm finding it's way around her shoulders.

Confusion was written all over Jax face. With wary eyes he studied the brunette who leaned against Happy, the look in her eyes dull and exhausted.

“What are they talking about, Tara?”, Jax inquired sternly after he turned around to watch the brunette doctor go on her knees and put two fingers against the blondes' neck.

“She..she's actually dead”, was all Tara muttered.

“No shit, doctor”, Cassie scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Get back on your feet and explain your husband why she's dead.”

All eyes were on Tara now. The doctor felt constrained, condemned already, even though she hadn't even had a chance to explain herself. But if Kayla had told everything, no wonder Happy and Cassie were furious. With a deep sigh, she got back on her feet and wiped her sweaty hands together.

“Kayla's plan was to ruin James' family. Drugging Cassie was her first plan, a plan I was involved with”, Tara admitted meekly, not able to look Jax in the eyes as she spoke. “We shared the same opinion about the club and somehow that brought us closer together. I finally felt understood. I knew I probably wouldn't be able to escape this life, so at least I wanted to help her. But when the time came, I realized how twisted Kayla and her plan were. I asked Kyle not to seriously hurt Cassie, which luckily he didn't. When I noticed how nice Cassie actually is and never did anything bad to me, I told Kayla that I wouldn't play her games anymore. I realized that we are no better with our plan and just as criminal as, well, you guys are.”

Jax plopped down on the couch and ran a hand over his face and through his beard afterwards, shaking his head while he thought about an answer. Was there even a right answer for something like this? Probably not. He got tired of her bullshit and the hate towards his club and lifestyle. But with this she had gone too far.

“Okay, so let me set this straight. You helped someone drug an innocent woman so a guy could take advantage of her helpless state just to hurt her brother?”, Jax asked through gritted teeth, his eyes back on Tara who stood there like a small child that got scolded for doing something bad.

“Yes”, Tara muttered with her head lowered, plagued with guilt. “I know how wrong this was and I'm truly sorry about everything that happened, but I can't turn back time.”

“No, you can't”, Jax stated with a shrug and let out a humourless laugh. “If you hate my club so much, why don't you just leave? Was it really necessary to harm innocent people? You feel better now?”

“No Jax, I feel like shit! Why do you think I'm still here trying to make up for the mistake I made?” Tara swallowed as her eyes filled with tears. “I realized something in the last few days. Something I should've realized way earlier. I'm not sure if I'll ever fit into this life, but I want to try.”

“A little late, don't you think?”, Jax frowned.

“Jax, please. I really regret what I did”, Tara clarified quickly and sat down next to him. Cautiously, she reached out to grab his hands. “Let me show you that this time I mean it.”

“Lying bitch.” Happy shook his head before he placed a fresh toothpick between his lips. If there was one thing he didn't like, it was lying. And that's exactly what Tara did⸺ again.

“Excuse me?”, Tara raised a brow at the man in the back.

“You heard me”, Happy shrugged, his gruff voice sounding unbothered by her arrogance. “If you were serious, you would stop hiding half the truth from him.”

“I'm not hiding anything”, she spat at him, feeling offended by his accusation that she supposedly didn't mean it.

“So you wanna tell me you didn't know about Kayla's other plan? The plan to hurt herself and Lily and blame it on James?” Cassie stared holes into Tara, her clenched fists hidden behind her crossed arms.

Tara's lips curled into a thin line, torn between telling the truth or not. If she didn't, Happy would be right about what he said.

“I knew but I told her right away what a sick plan this was and that I wouldn't help her with that. I would never help someone hurt a child”, Tara said firmly.

“But you did help her! You knew about it and yet you didn't stop her. You were so afraid that your web of lies would fall apart that you would rather put up with a small child being seriously injured”, Cassie yelled at the other brunette, a single tear rolled down her face as she felt her throat closing up. “Go on, take a look, she's in her room. Look at what Kayla has done to her own child⸺ what you allowed to happen!”

Tara lost all will and strength to argue. Simply because Cassie was right. She could've prevented it if she wouldn't have been so scared of her web of lies falling apart. It was also her fault that Lily got seriously injured and a part of her never wanted to see the injuries Kayla had inflicted on her daughter.

“Please don't tell me you were actually part of this whole plan”, Jax spoke up again, the disappointment in his tone hard to dismiss. “What the hell is wrong with you, Tara? What if anyone would've done this to Abel, or Thomas? How could you let that happen and still sleep peacefully?”

He wasn't one to judge. Hell, he had no right to judge anyone with the kind of life he led. But letting a small child, or a child in general, get hurt by their own parents was something he would never let happen if he had the chance to put a stop to it. Looking at Tara now he felt like looking at a person he didn't even know⸺ like a stranger sat next to him and not his wife.

Tara took a deep breath before she let her eyes wander around the room, giving everyone a quick look. “What happens now?”, she asked after a moment of silence. “You're going to kill me, too?”

“I would”, Happy said dryly. “But you can consider yourself lucky that my Old Lady still has something of a conscience.”

Jax was quiet, it felt like he had no right at all to say anything to that now. His own Old Lady caused a lot of pain and trouble and if he wouldn't love her that much, he would take care of her himself.

“Means what exactly?”, Tara questioned cautiously.

“Means that we don't kill you because we still need you⸺ and because you're the Pres' Old Lady. But don't think we'll forget what you did. I could have gotten hurt and Lily was seriously hurt. I will never forgive you for the latter”, Cassie said coldly, yet her voice trembled.

Once again, just like with Kyle, she trusted a person that she shouldn't have trusted. Again she hadn't seen the red flags and blindly trusted them. Something Happy had always warned her about. But unlike him, she was an open-minded person who liked to make new friends, which couldn't work if you didn't trust anyone. But now in hindsight she regretted it to have been so nice and to have placed her trust in everyone.

“What do you need me for?” Tara's eyes dropped when she heard the disappointment in Cassie's voice. It was no wonder and Tara couldn't blame the younger brunette either. Cassie, like everyone else, had every right to be angry and disappointed.

“We need to make this look like a suicide. We had Kayla write a letter explaining that she hurt herself and Lily to blame James because he left her and wanted a divorce. She couldn't live with hurting her child, so she decided to end her life. Now you come into play. We can't just leave Lily here and hope that the neighbors will pay attention and notice that something is wrong. That could take days. If we take Lily with us though, it might raise weird questions. So you have to go to the cops in the morning and explain that Kayla came to your house the night before and asked you to take care of Lily, to which of course you said yes. However, you also noticed that Kayla seemed confused and depressed and that you are concerned. So they have to check on her, which leads to them finding Kayla dead and also the letter that proves James' innocence. So, James should be back home by tomorrow evening at the latest and can keep Lily with him”, Cassie explained.

“She'll do it”, Jax answered before Tara could. “That sounds like a good plan.”

Tara hated how Jax answered this for her, yet she kept her mouth shut and didn't dare to argue with him⸺ not after all of this. She was lucky they let her live.

“She has no other choice”, Happy grunted.

“I know”, Jax nodded with a deep sigh and gave Cassie an apologetic look. “I'm sorry for all of this, especially that you and Lily got hurt.”

“It's not you who has to feel bad about this”, Cassie assured him with a weak smile, appreciative of his support. She snuggled closer to Happy, whose arm was still protectively around her waist, holding her close. She just needed to be with someone she felt safe with, and that was Happy.

Happy's lips pressed a soft kiss on Cassie's shoulder as he noticed she was seeking more closeness. He wasn't good at showing feelings and all that shit but he knew Cassie needed him right now, which made him feel good. It was a great feeling to be needed, to be wanted⸺ he couldn't deny that.

Looking at Tara's pouty face infuriated him, and he was very keen to inflict the same pain on his President's Old Lady that she had allowed Cassie and Lily to be inflicted on. But he knew that Jax was the one who had to see to it that Tara suffered the consequences.

Tara's lips grew thin and firm. “I'll go to the police station tomorrow morning and do this. I'll also tell them that I let Lily stay with you because she didn't feel comfortable around me in her current state and that she'd asked for her dad, aunt and uncle.”

The muscles in Cassie's jaw tensed as she watched Tara get up from the couch and walk towards her. “Good, because if you don't I'll make sure you end up like her”, she nodded towards Kayla.

“And you have every right to do so”, Tara mumbled, nervously fiddling with her hands. “I'm sorry about all of this, Cassie. If there's anything else I can do to prove that I wanna make things right just let me know.”

“Just stay out of my way”, Cassie shrugged nonchalantly.

Small, quick footsteps echoed down the hall and Cassie reacted immediately, rushing towards the little girl before she could get into the living room. She didn't want Lily to be further traumatized by finding her mother dead on the carpet.

Lily immediately snuggled up to Cassie and rubbed her eyes wearily, a soft whine escaping her lips and her face was twisted with pain as she rubbed the black eye. Cassie teared up once again as she saw in how much pain her niece was.

Tara took slow steps towards them and immediately a wave of sadness and regret washed over her. Pressing a hand against her chest, she let out a shaky breath as she studied all the bruises Lily had.

“Oh my god”, she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

“Jesus Christ, that's insane.” Jax's eyes widened when he appeared next to Tara, eyeing the toddler with shock written all over his face.

“That's on you, too, doc.” Happy glared at the doctor earning a silent nod in return from Tara. He then ran a hand over Lily's head as he took in all the bruises. Even he had to swallow at the sight that was given to him. “Take her home. I'll call a prospect to pick you up, okay?”

Cassie nodded slightly. “Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Don't you need help around here?”

“I'll help him”, Jax assured the brunette with a sympathetic smile. “Drive home with Lily, she shouldn't be here.”

“Thank you”, Cassie smiled weakly and closed her eyes for a second when Happy kissed her forehead. “Will you come to my house later or are you gonna sleep at the clubhouse?”

She hoped for the first, yet she would accept if he wanted to crash at the clubhouse for the rest of the night. One of her fears was becoming too pushy. If she really liked someone she could be clingy, but not in an uncomfortable way. She just enjoyed spending time with the people she loved and right now she felt better when Happy was around.

“I have to pick up Opie, then I'll crash at your house tonight and the next few days”, he told her earning a grateful smile from her.

“See you later then.” She kissed him quickly and wrapped her denim jacket over Lily so she wouldn't get cold on their way home before she made her way out of the house without wasting another look at Tara.

Happy made sure to call a prospect and make him hurry up before Jax sent Tara home and helped Happy clean up most of the mess. They made sure to wipe everything down to remove their fingerprints. The only thing they left was Kayla in her own pool of blood and the letter. Everything else was spotless.