✎ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 ━━━━━ 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒

WARNING ⚠️ ━━━━━ mention of assault

꧁♡︎꧂

ST. THOMAS WAS BECOMING TOO FAMILIAR FOR SHAY'S LIKING AS SHE SWIFTLY walked down the halls of the hospital with Ben following closely on her heels. The couple was enjoying a nice quiet night in — Gemma had taken Leela to Fun Town, allowing the couple a night to themselves. But their simple evening was abruptly put to an end when Gemma called in a somber tone, not saying much at all but asking Shay to get to St. Thomas as quickly as possible.

A million awful scenarios raced through the raven haired woman's mind as she walked down the brightly lit halls of St. Thomas. The fear of something happening to Leela or Abel instantly took a hold of her racing thoughts as she quickened her steps.

"Gemma!" Shay called out, a small sigh of relief leaving her lips as her blue eyes took noticed of Leela sleeping soundly in the older woman's arms. "What is going on?" She questioned, her forehead furrowing with confusion as she looked at the Samcro Queen.

Gemma let out a sigh, standing up from the hard plastic hospital chair and reluctantly placing a sleeping Leela into Ben's arms. "Sorry to interrupt date night," The older brunette said, though the sarcasm in her tone said otherwise. "Something happened at Fun Town." Gemma said lowly while eyeing Ben.

It was no secret that Gemma Teller-Morrow didn't trust or like Benjamin Costello. The Samcro Matriarch didn't trust anyone who wasn't her family, and Ben certainly wasn't family.

"What happened? Is everyone okay?" The questions rushed from Shay's lips as she looked at Gemma, waiting for a response.

Gemma remained silent as she crossed her arms over her chest. There was no fucking way in hell she was going to talk about what had happened at Fun Town in front of Ben. It was Samcro business and he did not need to be involved — at all.

A soft sigh left Shay's lips as Gemma stood there silently. Shay knew there was no way Gemma was going to talk about whatever had happened in front of Ben. Gemma didn't like Ben and she made that known loud and clear on the rare times Shay brought him around the club.

Shay turned towards Ben, scratching at her forehead as she gave him a small smile. "Could you —"

"Yeah." Ben nodded, cutting off Shay before she could finish her sentence. "I'll go grab a coffee or something." He said with a small smile, placing a kiss on Shay's lips before walking off down the hall with Leela in his arms.

"Okay, will you tell me what the fuck is going on now?" Shay asked, turning her attention back onto Gemma.

"Tristan Oswald got attacked tonight." Gemma said. "I need you to talk to her and find out who did it. Elliott wants the club to get the sick fuck who did it."

The feeling of nausea took over Shay's body at Gemma's words. She didn't want to believe the words coming from Gemma's mouth. They made her blood run cold.

"I can't just go barging into her room and demanding answers, Gemma." Shay shook her head while sitting down on chair that Gemma had previously occupied.

Gemma quickly sat down in the unoccupied seat next to Shay, placing a reassuring hand on the mother of her granddaughters leg. "Baby, the club needs you right now. I tried to talk to Tristan myself but she's scared and doesn't know me, but she knows you. It's not just the club needing you, Shay. It's Tristan. You can help her."

Gemma placed a kiss on Shay's forehead as the raven haired woman nodded at her words. While the older woman's tactic might have been manipulative they worked and that's all that mattered. Shay would get the information needed while Gemma made sure to keep an eye out for Karen Oswald.

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A DEEP SIGH LEFT SHAY'S LIPS AS SHE STOOD OUTSIDE OF Tristan Oswald's hospital room door. Shay's hand rested on the cold metal doorknob for a moment before she slowly opened the door, poking her head through the doorway.

A sad smile found it's way onto Shay's face as Tristan's eyes connected with hers. The Oswald girls face had a few cuts and bruises across it and she looked so small and broken sitting there in the hospital bed. Shay's heart was completely broken for the young teenager.

"Hi, Tristan." Shay's voice was soft as she walked slowly into the room. "I heard what happened."

"Oh. My mom told you?" Tristan questioned with surprise clear in her voice as her eyes exhausted and broken blue eyes stared into Shay's own blue ones.

Shay nodded, "Yeah." The lie left The Miller woman's lips swiftly and without missing a beat.

For reasons unknown even to herself Karen Oswald looked down on Samcro and anyone associated with them except for Shay.

"I have to text my mom." Tristan announced suddenly, reaching for her phone. "She told me to text her if anyone tried to talk to me." The Oswald girl added as she focused her attention onto the phone in her hand.

"Oh, it's okay. You're mom was the one who told me to come in here." The lies kept coming easily out of Shay's mouth. It made her feel like Gemma with how easy it was for the lies to form and slip from her lips.

"I'm sorry this happened to you, Tristan. I'm sorry some sick person thought it was their right to do this to you. You're brave, Tristan. You might not think that right now, but you're braver than most people I know. Do you want to know why?"

Shay sat down at the end of the bed, waiting for Tristan to speak. She didn't want to push the young girl to talk. She had already been through so much and it was bad enough that she lied to her.

"Because you fought and you survived. You are a survivor."

Shay stood up from the bed with a small smile on her face, leaving Tristan with those words of what she hoped would help the girl before making her exit out of the room.

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"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"

Karen Oswald's angry voice hit Shay's ears the second she stepped out into the hallway. The Miller woman let out a sigh before quickly making her way towards the loud voice of Karen.

"Look sweetheart, I'm just trying to help." Gemma spoke, frustration clear in her voice as she stood with her arms across her chest, staring down the red haired Oswald woman. "I'm trying to help your daughter." Gemma added, her voice growing soft with sympathy.

"We don't need your help!" Karen spat as though accepting help from Gemma was like accepting help from the wicked witch.

"Karen." Shay said softly as she approached the arguing women.

Shay could feel everyone's attention turn onto her. Ben, who was standing close to Gemma and Karen, willing to interfere in case something physical broke out between the two women looked more than relieved to see Shay.

"Shay?" Karen's forehead furrowed in confusion as she stared at The Miller woman. The confusion quickly dropped from her face and was replaced with a mix of anger and sadness as she quickly realized the direction Shay had come from.

"Karen, you need to let the club help. Tristan will never heal if you make her keep it all inside. It will eat her up inside day after day, month after month, and year after year. Who did it?" Shay asked the Oswald woman, watching as tears built up in the red haired woman's eyes

"The clown." Karen said as tears fell from her eyes.

Gemma quickly walked away from the small group — no doubt in Shay's mind to inform the club, leaving Shay, Karen, and Ben standing there in the hallway in silence.

"Karen," Shay said softly.

The Oswald woman shook her head and quickly hurried off down the hall towards her daughters room. A sigh left Shay's mouth as she watched Karen walk away. There was so much more that she wanted to say to The Oswald woman, but it would have to wait.

"Shay?" Ben's deep voice questioned as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Please Ben, not now. I just want to go home." The exhaustion clear in her voice as she scratched at her forehead.

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BEN HAD SOMETHING ON HIS MIND. Shay could tell by the way he kept tossing and turning in bed as the couple tried to get sleep after everything that had happened at St. Thomas.

"Ben either say what's on your mind or don't." Shay stated with a huff. "Because I'm trying to get some sleep." The raven haired woman said as she turned onto her side to face her restless boyfriend.

A deep sigh left Ben's mouth, "I'm just trying to wrap my head around tonight."

Ben was no stranger to Samcro and how they practically ran Charming. He was well aware of Shay's relationship with the club and with Jax Teller, but it was nights like these that made he question just how far would Shay go for the club. What was she willing to do for them? It was obvious she would do practically anything for them — to her they were family.

The Costello man stayed out of Shay's relationship with Samcro and Jax. He knew questioning her about it would only push her away from him. Ben was completely in love with Shay and he wanted to protect her from all the bad in the world — Samcro included.

"What is there to wrap your head around?" Shay questioned with genuine curiosity in her voice.

"Shay, the club had you question a victim of an open assault case. If Hale found that out you could of been charged with tampering." He said, his brown eyes staring into Shay's intense blue eyes. He didn't even bother to mention Unser's name. He knew the Chief was in Samcro's pocket.

"Ben," A sigh fell from Shay's lips. She knew Ben meant well but she did not want to talk about this. Frankly, it wasn't Ben's business. Their relationship was separate from Samcro — or at least that's what Shay liked to tell herself.

"It's fine." Ben said quickly. "Forget I even said anything." He placed a kiss on Shay's lips before turning his back towards her.

Shay looked up at the dark ceiling for a moment before turning over onto her side, closing her exhausted eyes, allowing much needed sleep to take over her body.

She could only hope tomorrow would bring a better day.

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A/N: This chapter is trash.