With the worst headache, Cleo slipped into Dawn's car and stared out of the window, her head leaning against the cool windowpane, sobbing quietly to herself. Her best friend's hand rested on her thigh, trying to give her some comfort on their way to her apartment.

Dawn had been honest with her after she was released from the hospital and told her about the short conversation she had with Jax and that she tried to stop him from doing something stupid. And now here she sat, in her friend's car, not knowing where her boyfriend was and if he'd ever come back to her.

As much as she wanted Gemma gone, Cleo hoped Jax and Happy wouldn't find her. The brunette wasn't religious by any means, but she prayed to God that Jax would come back home to her and their kids. Even if she seemed strong most of the time, which she was, yet she wouldn't survive losing the love of her life.

They had been through so much shit already and still stuck together while other couples would have broken up long ago if they had been in their shoes. But every stone thrown in their way had only made their relationship stronger and brought the two closer together. In good and in bad times. This is exactly the promise they wanted to give each other in a few weeks.

She didn't care about the fact that she had seen her father getting shot after he had threatened her daughter and tried to lure her with drugs. He didn't deserve anything else after what he had done. Secretly, it hurt her bad that money was more important to him than her and his granddaughter, that he would seriously have killed her for a few hundred thousand dollars, but right now she didn't have time to think about her daddy issues.

It was much more important to make her statement so that they would release Enrico and then find Jax. That was all that mattered. Her kids were taken care of by Lyla, who herself was impatiently awaiting any sign of life from Happy.

"He'll come back home, Cleo", Dawn spoke softly after she parked her car in the parking lot of the police station.

"If he killed her then..then he w-won't come back", she chocked out between lots of heart-wrenching sobs as she buried her face in her hands, feeling broken like she never did before. The uncertainty was the worst part.

All she felt was pain. Also physical pain, yes, but it was the emotional pain, the fear, the sorrow that caused her heart to shatter. Jax was gone since hours, he wasn't answering his phone and neither did Happy. Those weren't good signs.

"Cleo, come on." Full of concern, Dawn unbuckled herself and then Cleo before pulling her into a hug. It wasn't the most comfortable position they were in but the Trager woman couldn't care less. She really understood the anger Jax felt towards his mother and the revenge he wanted to get, but right now she wanted to slap him across the face for worrying her best friend so much that she was afraid the brunette would faint in her arms. "We get Enrico out of there and then we're gonna get you home. Well, to our apartment."

She gently pushed the brunette away from her so she could cup Cleo's tear-streaked face into her hands. Her make up was everywhere and so was the blood. The staff in the hospital has only cleaned her face in the area where the big laceration was which, by the way, was covered with a large band-aid.

Dawn just shook her head and muttered something under her breath. They really could've cleaned up her face better. Getting out a bag of wet wipes out of the glove box in her car, she made sure to clean up her friend's face. The tears didn't seem to stop falling anytime soon and Dawn had no idea anymore how to calm her down.

"I-I'm sorry", the slightly younger one sniffled, her voice scratchy and hoarse from her dry throat and all the sobbing.

"Don't be. It would be weird if you wouldn't be upset, baby", Dawn assured her with a sad smile and tugged strands of Cleo's hair, glued and matted with blood and sweat, behind her ear. She'd definitely help her get a shower once they were at her and Enrico's apartment. "Are you sure you can do this? I want Enrico out of there but I understand if you can't do it right now."

Cleo sniffed a few more times and rubbed the tip of her red nose, her burning eyes looking out the window again. "No, we need him out here. I can do this."

"If it gets too much, we can always leave", Dawn told her before slipping out of her car to help Cleo out, knowing her best friend was still weak from the much blood she had lost. But the doctors said it was safe for her to go home if she would get enough rest.

⸺

Eli Roosevelt was the one taking Cleo's statement. This case was big and he wanted to know everything. They've been trying to get Carlos behind bars since month after they found out he had killed two teenage girls after they tried to run away before he could sell them to old, rich men. Carlos Hernandez was known for prostitution and drugs. Yet they never had enough proof to lock him up.

The Sheriff studied the young woman who sat in the chair on the other side of the table, staring at his desk the whole time she talked. It was obvious how traumatized she was and Eli couldn't blame her one bit.

The relationship he had with the Sons didn't count right now. The woman in front of him had seen things he wouldn't wish on anyone. The worst in his eyes was seeing her daughter being threatened with a gun. If Jax was smart, he'd finally take his family and get the hell out of this town. This was the only way the young woman would ever get over all these events, at least that's what Eli thought.

He handed her a pack with tissues, which the brunette took absently and wiped her tears away with shaky hands, which were immediately replaced with new ones. Eli didn't reckon that her apathetic state wasn't related to her father's death, but to something completely different.

"If there's anything I can do for you, just come down here and I'll see what I can do", Eli offered the upset women and gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Just let my brother go, please", she hardly whispered, her eyes still narrowed at the brown desk.

"Don't worry about that, he's free to got. I believe what you're saying. For months we've been trying to arrest Carlos Hernandez, he was a wanted man. We know he's unscrupulous, after all he killed two girls who weren't even eighteen. Although we would have liked to have him alive, your brother did the right thing", the man explained, his hands folded on top of his desk. "You're free to go too, Miss."

Cleo's face twisted in disgust, hatred filling her as images played in her mind of her father killing two young girls. Her stomach turned and she felt nausea rise up her throat. She needed to get out of here and get some fresh air before she actually threw up.

"Thank you", was all she could say before she practically jumped up and rushed out of the room, earning a lot of weird looks from other people. Well, a young person covered in blood from head to toe wasn't something you saw everyday.

Dawn was already waiting and let out a relived sigh once she saw her friend coming out of the room. Roosevelt couldn't allow anyone else to come into the room except for Cleo.

"Hey, you did good, okay?" Dawn gave her friend a encouraging smile.

"Yeah, uh, they'll let Enrico go. They believed me", she informed Dawn with a weak smile.

They watched Eli Roosevelt coming out of his office, waving over someone who worked for him. The two men chatted for a moment before the young one disappeared in the back of the building and came back a minute later with Enrico following behind.

The Mayan wasted no time and walked over to where the women where, engulfing his fiancee in a long hug. Relief was written all over Dawn's face while she was held by her boyfriend, whispering something into his ear that made him smile weakly.

After they broke apart, Enrico made sure to study his sister from head to toe to make sure she was fine. He was so afraid that she would hate him for killing their father, but Carlos had asked for it. The Latino carefully ran his thumb over the adhesive tape on Cleo's temple and swallowed hard, serious concern in his eyes as he saw how broken and devastated his sister looked. Like a glass figure that could fall apart into a thousand pieces with just a little pressure.

Enrico knew wise words wasn't what she needed right now. So he kept his mouth shut and wrapped his arms around her trembling body, pressing a kiss on the top of her head while holding her. He let her cry in his arms, one hand of his always rubbing her back up and down. This wasn't just about Carlos, there had to be something else why she was so upset. Hopefully Dawn or her would let him know what was going on once they were out of this horrible, depressing building.

"I'm sorry you were dragged into this", she mumbled against his chest, her tears soaking his shirt. "And thank you for saving my daughter and me."

"I'd do it all over again, cariño", he whispered in her ear, tightening his arms around her to make her feel safe. For his sister, he would kill and die. Same for his niece.

⸺

For a moment her heart stopped when Jax walked into Dawn's and Enrico's apartment. The brunette jumped to her feet and ran over to where Jax was, throwing her arms around his neck and let out the most relieved sob. Before he could wrap his arms around her, she let go of him and slapped him across the face, rubbing the tip of her nose afterwards.

"Don't ever fucking scare me like that again", she breathed out, her chest heaving.

Jax dropped his eyes, nodding slightly. He couldn't even look at her with all the guilt he felt towards her. After Happy shot Gemma they had to make sure to wipe down the place and get rid of the body. His phone battery was dead so he never got a call or message from Cleo or he would've picked up.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he lifted his head and took in what was shown to him. Cleo had taken a shower and was wearing fresh clothes that Dawn had lent her, her hair still wet. Still, his girlfriend looked terrible. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen, the hue of her nose matched the red of her eyes.

The large band-aid covered half of her forehead and you could see that the wound was still oozing some blood. She had bruises on her arms, probably from the fight with her father. Also, her wrist and her hand were bandaged. Her eyes were empty and at the same time filled with so much emotion that he couldn't even guess what she was feeling. But he could understand that she was angry.

"I'm so sorry, babe", he said with a shrug, tears brimming in his eyes, his shoulders and chest feeling heavy. Weight had been lifted off his shoulders after his mother left this earth and took her last breath, yet he wasn't sure if Cleo would be able to forgive him for not taking care of his mother earlier.

"You scared the shit out of me, Jax", she muttered, her lips trembling. "Is she gone?"

Jax lowered his head again, bringing a hand up to his face as he nodded. The brunette was already afraid of the answer to her next question. She almost didn't dare to ask, but she had to know. She had to know what was going to happen next, what she had to be prepared for.

She gulped, her whole body tensing up. "Did you do it?"

The blonde wiped at his eyes, sniffling. The relief of not having done it washed over him and he couldn't help but pull Cleo into his arms, whether she wanted it or not. He needed to feel her close, feel that she was still here with him.

"No, I couldn't", he admitted, his voice was low but filled with relief. "But she's gone anyway. She can't hurt us anymore."

Cleo's anger washed away when she heard he hadn't done it himself. He had put his happiness and the happiness of his family first and hadn't given Gemma the power over him that she always wanted.

To feel him, to know that he was here and standing in front of her, that she could hug him, was all she wanted. They could finally start over and put all the shit that happened to them behind them. There was no one else left that had ever tried to sabotage their relationship.

"I'm proud of you, Jax", she whispered lovingly, still clinging to him. She wouldn't let go of him anytime soon.

Jax shook his head, in his eyes he didn't deserve people being proud of him. His family had brought so much suffering to his own little family, and yet Cleo continued to stand behind him, support him. But at the moment he didn't want to argue, he just wanted to have his Old Lady with him and take her home. Well, to the clubhouse. He wouldn't make her go back to their house.

"I love you, babe", he mumbled into her hair, allowing his eyes to get some rest as he shut them and kept inhaling her scent. He already knew his next plans, he just had to implement them. But he would definitely turn his back on Charming.

"I love you too, Jackson", she whispered back.