A/N: Okay I have absolutely no business starting a new story when I have three that desperately need my attention but this story would not leave me the hell alone. I guess the muse wants what it wants. I have twenty pages and four chapters of this story done already. I'm also halfway through a new chapter for Constant Craving and the outline for From Crayons to Cuts is finally done. Things I Never Needed is stalling a bit but I still have a few more weeks of vacation to hopefully get at least one story done.

This story is more A/U than most. I've taken the basic premise of Juice's struggle in Season Four and made them my own. Some things will be familiar but most of it will be taking a life of its on. I really hope you enjoy this. I'm really, really excited about this fic and where it could go. As always, reviews are welcomed, appreciated and desired.

She works on the clock

Punchin in & out for years

She'd like to take that double shift

And shift it down a gear

Go home and light a candle

Paint her toes a different color and just breathe

Well it may not sound like much

But that's the stuff that makes up a poor girls dream

If you've got a million you want two

If you ain't got nothin any little thing will do

"Get her off the ropes!"

"Damn it Ortiz! Stop potatoing the girl!"

"That's fucking it! Separate now." Harley jumped in the middle of the ring and pulled the newbie from his protégé and waved over the trainer to take a look at her shoulder which was on the verge of being dislocated. He turned to look at the aggressive, curvy brunette and noticed that her eyes seemed to be glazed over as if she was barely here. Harley grabbed her face in both of her hands and shook her back to the present.

"God damn it, Jolie. Stop acting like this is your first dance inside this ring. You've been doing this shit for close to three years now and you decide to forget the first rule. Don't ever intentionally try to hurt your opponent. If people start to think you are a loose cannon, no one will want to get in the ring with you." Jolie Ortiz yanked her head back from his tough grip and growled.

"I don't need this shit from you right now Harley." She stepped from in between the ropes and pushed her way back towards the locker room.

"Don't you fucking walk away from me." Jolie slammed the locker room door and headed towards her gym bag. She peeled her sweat filled tank off her body and was getting ready to take off her pants when Harley slammed his way in the room.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"Nothing. I have one bad day and you act like it's the end of the world?" Harley looked at Jolie and noticed the sheer exhaustion that seemed to be radiating off her body. He knew the girl had it tough, trying to hold down two jobs while training but she had always been able to separate her shit when she walked in between those ropes. Harley ran a hand over his graying hair and leaned against the locker.

"What is going on with you Jolie?" The young woman sighed as her anger seemed to deflate right in front of him.

"Jimmy got laid off again." Harley rolled his eyes. He had been training Jolie for three years now and two of those years she had spent with some deadbeat asshole that didn't deserve her. Three years ago, she had walked into his wrestling school with a check and a purpose. She wanted to train to be a professional wrestler. Harley was skeptical at first. She was gorgeous with long dark hair, expressive eyes and a fit body but he had seen many girls come and go in this industry and he was the toughest trainer in all of Texas.

He was not in the business of coddling some model that had seen the WWE Diva Search and was looking to using his passion as a way to pose for Playboy. He was going to dismiss her when she stopped him in his tracks. She started to rattle off statistics and knowledge better than most men that he knew. It was obvious that she had a true passion for the business and he took her in.

Jolie had been a natural in the ring and was perfecting her craft all over the independent circuit in the Southwest. She had gained quite the reputation for her looks, ability and promo skills. She was so good that she had been asked to participate at a competition in California in less than three months.

It was a two week long event where some of the head honchos from SHINE would be scouting new talent. SHINE was an all-female independent wrestling organization and Harley desperately wanted Jolie to get a contract with them. Not only did she deserve it, but Harley was hoping that she would finally get a break from all the shit that was going on in her life and gain some happiness.

Jolie glanced up at the clock and frowned. "I gotta get ready for work." She grabbed her towel and turned back towards the man who had become like a father to her over the years. "Harley, I'm sorry about earlier. It won't happen again."

"As your friend, I understand. But as your trainer, I'm telling you to get your shit together. You have three months before you have to really prove yourself. There are thousands of girls out there that want this more than anything. You need to remember that."

Jolie walked into the Hidden Reef bar five minutes before her shift was supposed to start. She quickly placed her purse behind the bar, grabbed her apron and cracked open a beer for one of the regulars. She dreaded working Friday nights but weekends equaled the best tips and she could take all the money she could make right about now. She hoped to stay a step ahead all night and be able to close the bar down by at least 3:30. It would give her enough time to load up on caffeine before her 5am shift at the diner.

"Hey sweetheart." Jolie turned and smiled at Arleen, her coworker and friend.

"Hey girlie. How you living?" She watched as Arleen set her tray down before moving closer and lowering her voice.

"Jimmy was in here during the lunch hour." Jolie rolled her eyes. Of course, her unemployed boyfriend would find a way to dig them even further in debt.

"How much this time?" The young Latina asked, knowing that Jimmy likely had ran up a tab with the promise that Jolie would pay once she came in for her shift.

"75, not including tip." Jolie reached in her purse and grabbed a hundred dollars before handing it to Arleen. Sometimes she really hated this small town shit where everyone knew your name and business. This small town country world she lived in now was a far cry from her childhood upbringing in Queens, New York.

Jolie grew up in Queens with her older brother and parents in a small row home. She watched as her mother ran herself in the ground trying to overcompensate for her father's shitty lifestyle. Her father only cared about three things: women, coke and poker. Unfortunately all of those things cost money and he was not above taking all of her mother's hard earned money to fuel his addictions. Jolie grew up resenting both of her parents: her father for being an asshole and her mother for being a push over. Who would have thought that she would end up being just like the damn woman?

Her brother, Juan Carlos always turned a blind eye to the shit that was going on inside their home. Jolie always felt as though it was because he wanted to keep some hero worship fantasy alive about their father. After all, they were the only kids in a three block radius who had both of their parents in the same home, no matter how dysfunctional it was. She and her brother were both latch key kids, taking care of themselves most of the time. Even though they were like night and day, there were as close as siblings could get.

Juan was always more of the computer genius wise ass. What he lacked in common sense, he made up for with his vast knowledge of hacking and various activities. He would do some work for the local mob to make some extra money and always dreamed of one day going to California, even though he didn't have the slightest clue what the hell he was going to do once he got there.

Jolie, on the other hand, was more of a hellcat rebel. She got her GED at 16 after one too many fights at school, she started bartending at 15 for some seedy speak easy in a basement and the only dream she ever had was to be able to pay her bills on time. When she was 17 and Juan was 19, their mother passed away from a brain aneurysm. Jolie always believed that the stress of trying to love a man who would never fully love her back is what killed her. In any event, five days after they buried their mother, both Jolie and Juan left to see what the rest of the world had to offer them. Juan ended up in a small town in California and became a member of some motorcycle club. He finally gained the sense of family and brotherhood that he had desperately been searching for all his life. Jolie worked her way down the East Coast and settled in Miami.

She quickly got involved with a man who introduced her to the fast money making lifestyle of drug dealing. Jolie took to it like a fish to water and quickly worked her way up the ranks. The money sure as shit beat what she was making taking on odd jobs doing everything from dog walking to being a shot girl at a strip club. Chris had been good to her at first, taught her a lot but he always had a wandering eye and a violent temper. After the third black eye, Jolie could no longer ignore what was going on so she took all the money she saved, hopped in her prized 1969 Dodge Charger and headed west.

She ended up working her way through Texas before settling down in the small town of Katy. She was able to rent a modest double wide and was ready to put down some roots. She quickly learned that all her street smarts didn't fit well into the 9-5 world and she ended up working where she knew best: as a waitress and bartender. After one fight at the Hidden Reef, her boss told her maybe she should look into a constructive way to deal with all her pent up anger. He knew that Jolie was a fan of professional wrestling and sent her to Harley. The rest had been history.

Jimmy was a construction worker who came into Debbie's Diner every day. He had come across as a respectful country boy with great biceps and pretty green eyes. She had avoided his advances for weeks before finally giving in and going out on a date with him. He had seemed great at first but the second he moved in, everything turned to shit. He lost his job and hadn't been able to find steady work since. Add that to his increasing alcohol problem and Jolie was on the verge of losing her damn mind. She had to laugh at the irony of it all. She vowed to never become like her mother but it seemed like heredity traits ran deeper than she thought.

She had fallen out of love with him months ago but had yet to break it off. Part of her said it was because she was too busy and the other part of her was hoping that she could just hold out until the SHINE event and hopefully leave this town for good. She was also excited to finally see her brother after five years.

They had kept in touch over the years as much as they could but Jolie suspected that both of them tried to downplay the negative aspects of each other's lives. Just like Jolie knew that Juice was always tracking her, Jolie had learned the basics of the internet and read all about the Sons of Anarchy. She knew that the motorcycle club was more dangerous than Juan had let on and he had just been released from doing fourteen months in Stockton. Jolie hoped that this club hadn't hardened her loveable brother too much.

She was pulled from her thoughts by some asshole banging on the bar trying to gain her attention. Jolie reached inside herself and tried to remember that she needed the money.

Nearly 13 hours later and Jolie was finally pulling her car in front of her home. She noticed that Jimmy's truck wasn't parked and she couldn't help but feel relieved. She was not in the mood to deal with his pity party bullshit right now. All she wanted to do was shit, shower and sleep before hitting the gym and going back to work.

Jolie unlocked her front door and her senses immediately went on full alert. Something was wrong and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. The living room and kitchen area was the normal mess but there was something else that was off. Jolie made her way back to the bedroom and gasped when she saw the state it was in. Dressers were pulled out and overturned, clothes were thrown every where and various items were broken.

Jolie looked around and noticed that most of Jimmy's stuff was gone. At first Jolie felt relieved that maybe he had finally decided to leave her before she had the chance to leave him but a lifetime of disappointments had taught her there was something more to this story. She glanced towards the closet and started to panic. Jolie dropped to her knees and reached in the back of the closet furiously searching for a metal box. Her fingers found the box and when she pulled back, she fought the urge to scream. All of the extra money that she had been saving over the years was gone. All that was left in the box was a note that said "I'm sorry."

Jolie threw the box towards the wall and blinked rapidly to stop herself from crying. As if her luck couldn't get any worse, she was now missing $11,000. That was the money she was saving up for California. Now all she had was fifteen hundred in the bank and the two hundred from tips that she made over the past twelve hours.

Jolie sat still on the floor and placed her head in her hands. She was normally used to dealing with the hand life dealt her but she was fucking on her last card and she needed something to change soon. Jolie heard the ringing of her cell phone coming from the living room and she ran to answer it in case it was someone saying that they found Jimmy on the side of the road and they had her damn money.

She glanced down at her phone and frowned at the unknown number that appeared to be blinking at her. Hitting the talk button, she prayed it wasn't a bill collector.

"Hello?"

"Is this Jolie?" A heavily accented man asked.

"It depends. Who the hell is this?"

"I'm calling about your brother."

Chibs had been sitting in his dorm room for over two hours, chain smoking and staring at a piece of paper. Ever since the Sons had gotten involved with the Cartel, everything was turning to shit. It all came to a head a few days ago when Chibs learned that his Juicy Boy tried to off himself with a chain and a tree.

Chibs had always reserved a soft spot in his heart for Juice. The loveable guy was trusting to a fault and always seemed to find a bright spot when it seemed impossible. It was a far cry from the Juice that was walking around lately. It was as if the boy stopped caring if he lived and he was going out of his way to make risky choices. After Koz died and Juice walked through the bomb filled area not giving a shit, Chibs knew something had to be done. He promised Jax he would look after his little brother and that's exactly what he planned on doing.

Chibs and Juice had spent a lot of time discussing their lives before Charming and that's how Chibs knew that Juice had a little sister that he adored who currently lived in Texas. After much internal debate, he waited until Juice jumped in the shower to go through his phone and find the young woman's number.

As he dialed the ten digits, Chibs hoped that this was the one person that was going to be able to save Juice before it was too late.