One shot- 22
River Johanna Teller beamed as she drove past the "Now Entering Charming" sign. She had had a long road to this homecoming. Her recovery had not been easy. Five years ago had changed her life forever. She looked in her rearview and smiled at her unwavering companions. They had gotten her through the most nightmarish days of the past five years. They had even saved her life. They had gotten her to this point. They had taken her from the brink of death to travelling with her to her first homecoming in five years. She looked in the rearview again, and her heart skipped a beat as she watched Happy and Kozik. Her admiration had taken a hard turn towards love. Like she was madly in love with both of them.
Turning onto the street where Gemma and Clay's house was she put the car in park along the crib and bounded for the door. She was so happy to be home. Happy she was alive to be home. Happy that she had been clean for two years. Happy that she had been forgiven for being such a fuck up. She laughed at this thought. She had fucked up. She had made horrible decisions based on the pain had been handed down to her. The attack had been one thing but the drugs, the drugs had been a choice. When Happy and Kozik found out they had been furious. But they had helped. They got Gemma to come up and see her and her friends and they all helped. It was a long road but it led to this moment.
Gemma opened the door and pulled her into a hug. River smiled and held onto her mother tightly, "I missed you, Mama."
"Missed you too, little girl." She said looking over my shoulder, "See SAMTAC gave you a personal escort of very handsome men." She smirked waving Happy and Kozik inside.
River nudged her mother in the side and gave her a look to not tease her. She didn't need them knowing about her crush or whatever you call what she was feeling outside of a high school context, "Could have been worse, I suppose." River said as she shut the door behind them.
River looked around the house. She smiled. Everything was the same. It made her feel like she had not missed five years of life with her family. She walked into the dining room where she heard people talking and stood at the entrance way watching the scene in front of her. It made her heart feel light as she watched her family talk. Jax looked up, "Little sister, you made it home."
"Finally, roadtripping with these two is a pain." She said laughing and going to give Jax a hug.
"Jax, hand over biker hipster Barbie." She heard a voice say from behind Jax.
River raised an eyebrow and pulled her brother to the side, "Who are you calling hipster Barbie, bitch?" She said, smile spreading across her face.
"Well, I mean if you had actually looked in the mirror this morning you might know what I meant, Princess Bitch," Kenna Munson said getting up to give her a hug, "I missed you big sister."
River held tightly to Kenna. This girl had helped save her life when she just wanted to die. Everything had gone so wrong. It was not what she had planned but it was what life had given her and she was learning to deal, "I missed you too Kenna."
"Alright, move it Princess, the other Princess wants to see her sister." Emmi's voice came from behind River
River laughed and turned around, "Hey Em," She said pulling her into a hug, "It's so good to see you."
Em held tightly to River, "How are you?" She whispered in River's ear, "Like really?"
"Never better, Em. Promise." River said smiling at the girl.
River turned away and scanned the rest of the table. Her whole family had come to see her. Opie and Donna, Tig, Bobby, Piney. She continued down the table until her eyes landed on Clay. He looked up at her, "Come here Princess."
River walked across the room and hugged Clay. River had been 14 when Gemma married Clay. She hated the idea at first as she thought that Clay wanted to replace her father. But Clay got through to her and they had a loving father/daughter relationship. It did hurt her dating prospects a little as everyone she knew from Vegas to Tacoma to Arizona was afraid of him. Everyone she knew was also in the life. She had learned early on never to trust or date outsiders, "Hey dad."
River looked behind her, "Koz, Killer, come on in, stay awhile and you can't say no because it's my birthday." She said sticking out her tongue and running to the kitchen for a beer.
She rejoined the party sitting on the couch with Em and Kenna, "Biker hipster Barbie, really? That was the best you had?"
They Laughed.
River, Em, and Kenna were in the garden drinking, talking and gossiping like 20 something girls do when Em yelled that she needed another drink. She got up took the empties and ran back in the house. Kenna turned towards River, "If you're coming by the clubhouse tomorrow you should probably brace yourself. Your ex is…"
"Banging every biker that walks through the door. Yeah, not surprised in the least. She was always into them. It's why she dated me."
"You told her about Keely?" Em said coming back with more beer. She passed them around and took her seat, "She thinks she's hot stuff."
"More like a hot mess." A voice said from behind them. The girls looked up to see Tig and Chibs standing behind them.
"You guys about to leave?" River asked getting up.
"We were and came out to ask if you guys wanted to continue this birthday celebration at the clubhouse?"
River looked at the girls. They all nodded at each other, "Sounds like a plan."
River, Em, and Kenna arrived at the clubhouse to be greeted by Kalin. They paid no attention to her and kept walking, "If it isn't the biker junkie whore of Tacoma." She said maliciously.
River stopped dead in her tracks. She could see her family waiting for her but the ghost of her past was standing behind her. She saw the figures before get up and start walking over to her, "Lin, I would get out of here if I were you and I wouldn't come back." She said tensely as she tried to keep her emotions in check. At one point in her life she had loved the woman standing behind her. They had gotten in trouble together, she had helped her through her breakup with Opie, she had been her person. But then everything had changed a few weeks before her attack. Lin had devastated her. Had made a fool out of her. And know having that person use your troubles against you was making River tremble with rage.
"Lin, walk away, don't come back." Em said trying to keep the situation from escalating. She tried to take River by the arm but River shook her off and turned around.
River took three steps and was in the face of Lin, "First off croweater, who the fuck are you calling biker whore? That would be you." River pushed Lin back. She felt someone reach for her arm. She looked back and saw Koz trying to stop her.
"One minute Koz, I'm straightening out my ex here." She said turning back to Lin, "Secondly," River said getting back in her face and lowering her voice, "if you don't leave now, I will bounce that pretty little nose job off the pavement." River turned around and tucked herself in Koz's arms.
Lin looked from River to Koz, "Fuck you whore. You're still a fucking bitch."
River smiled, "That's Princess bitch to you."
Koz turned River away and towards the clubhouse, "Your ex?"
"High school, after Ope. That is all I'm saying about it." River said, "I need tequila."
Sitting at the bar River looked around seeing her family enjoying time together. Her eyes landed on Happy and Kozik. She smiled. It could never happen of course. Koz and Hap were not relationship people, they were the hit it and quit it types and while River was always down to play she did not want to be that to them.
"Of course my little sister would go for the dangerous ones." Jax said from behind her.
Somehow River ended up between Happy and Kozik. They looked peaceful when they slept. They were intense when they were awake. Happy more than Kozik but still there was an intensity to both of them that attracted her like a moth to the flame. They were dangerous. Two of the most dangerous Sons around. She knew that either of them could kill her and not even bat an eye. She had been afraid of them at first. But they were there for her when she needed them the most. They had saved her each in their own way.
This current sleeping arrangement had happened several times on her road to being clean, on her road to facing her demons, on her road home. The first time had been when she had started to remember the full extent of what happened to her. She could feel the hands touching her skin, breath on her skin, the wetness soaking in her clothes. She had locked herself in the bathroom for what seemed like hours. She didn't even know what she was doing. When the door finally opened a set of strong arms pulled her close, "River, River, you're okay. No one is hurting you. It's okay."
"Please stop. Please." She cried. She hit back against the chest she was against. She screamed. She didn't even know it. All she was seeing was her attack. It was playing out in surround sound all around her.
"River? River, you're okay. You're okay. No one is going to hurt you again. I'm not going to hurt you."
She clawed at the person holding her. She hit and smacked and cried. When she was done she crumbled into the chest that was holding her and sobbed. Standing at the doorway a wall of leather was protecting her. Her family always there for her, "Why? Why did this happen to me?" River asked trembling.
River clung to the person holding her. He looked up and nodded to the closest brother, "Help me with her." The brother came forward and took the girl so he could stand. He reached out to take her but she grabbed on to the person holding her and grabbed his hand too. River looked up into the eyes of the man she just broke down on, "I'm sorry. I…"
"Don't you apologize to me. You did nothing wrong. We're all worried about you. What happened?"
"I remember." Was all she said before asking to go to bed. That night, Koz held her while she slept and Happy curled up on the end of the bed to protect his family.
River put a hand on Happy's cheek. Then turned and did the same to Kozik, "My protectors." She said as she got out of bed and walked out into the clubhouse.
"Good morning, Princess," Clay said as he came to give her a hug, "I see the Tacoma men took you hostage."
"Yeah, at least my captors were humane." River said laughing.
River smiled. She knew her "captors" were dangerous men. Their bodies told that story. They rippled danger but to her that is what made them the only people that she ever entrusted the full story of what happened to her until she was ready to make it common knowledge. Her trust in them was so complete that she knew that they would do anything to make her whole again. And they had. They made her whole, brought her home, and tomorrow when the time came they would head back up to Tacoma.
River walked back to the room and got back in bed, "I love you, my protectors." She bent kissed both of them on the cheek and closed her eyes.