Disclaimer: Kurt Sutter and FX own any and all recognizable SOA characters and story lines.

Chapter 1:

"Take those boots off the shelf

Wipe that dust of yourself

Even if you've been through hell; you're back

It's time to separate the men from the boys

And the women from the girls

And the tools from the toys

Even if you're freaking out: just relax

Hey, before it gets too late

Before the night is over, before the world's awake

Everything will change

Hey, I feel it coming on

Starting like a fire, tonight you lit the flame

Now everything will change"

-Gavin Degraw "Everything Will Change"

Stella stood silently at the airport terminal. Her plane had landed early, but she didn't want her mom to have to change her plans to come get her early. She just decided to relax and wait the extra hour. She certainly had plenty of racing thoughts to keep her preoccupied.

Inspecting a perfectly manicured French-tipped nail, she wondered how her family would view her. She certainly wasn't the same person she had been when she had left. Of the four years she spent at NYU before graduating with degrees in Business and Marketing, she hadn't returned home on break for the last 2. She had, instead, chosen to take extra classes and complete a double major. Her parents hadn't been pleased with her absence, but they were proud nonetheless.

When Gemma had dropped her at the airport that last time before her Junior year of college, she had left a scrawny 20 year old with messy hair wearing baggy jeans and a baseball jersey. Despite growing up with Gemma, she had managed to become a tom boy. She did everything Jax and Opie did—played baseball, fixed cars, rode bicycles through Gemma's flowerbed. But she wasn't that person anymore—Scott had changed her.

Stella remembered the first time she laid eyes on him. She had been shy and cowering behind a copy of All Quiet on the Western Front in the courtyard outside of her co-ed dorm. He had the greenest eyes she had ever seen. His beach blonde hair was a sculpted mess on top of his head. He looked like he had stepped out of an American Eagle ad—low slung jeans and a fitted polo shirt that highlighted his abs. She was entranced. He was nothing like the guys she had grown up with—nothing like anyone she had ever thought she wanted—but she wanted him.

She figured she would never catch his attention as she was. So she used the money she had been saving since she was 13 to buy a whole new wardrobe and get herself fixed-up properly. All the money her parents had given her over the years to buy clothes and knick knacks amassed to an impressive bank account considering she had previously only used a few bucks at the local thrift shop to cover herself. And of course her parents were more than happy to dote on her. They sent her much more money than she actually needed to live on campus. Which came in handy one Stella realized how much she liked shopping—not that she overdid it, she was smart about her finances and kept it tight.

Stella looked at her watch—10 minutes to 2pm. Gemma would be waiting outside at any moment. Stella picked up her purse and wielded it into her elbow and grabbed the handle of her Louis Vuitton luggage to roll it behind her. The rest of her stuff had surely made it to the small fixer-upper house her parent's had bought her by now. She just had her essentials with her. She made her way to the exit doors and saw Gemma's shiny black Escalade waiting on the curb with the lady-in-waiting leaning against the vehicle.

Gemma's brow creased as she lowered her shades to just below her eye sockets. "I'll be damned." She smiled, "My baby grew up." She took the two steps and wrapped Stella in a tight hug.

Stepping back, she took her smiling daughter in. Stella wore tight, dark wash skinny jeans with a thin cuff at the bottom. She had on killer black, peep-toe pumps. She wore a tight, gray racer-back tank top that met the waist band of her jeans, but bared a bit of her supple cleavage, and pared it with a black, fitted blazer that was rolled-up to her elbows, showcasing a chevron lining inside the sleeves. Her hair was straight and silky, falling in layers just past her shoulders. She wore eyeliner and mascara with chapsticked lips.

Stella smiled warmly at her mom, "I'm still your Stella Girl," she emphasized Gem's nickname for her. Touching her mom's cheek, "I missed you too, Ma."

Gemma kissed her cheek, "Come on, baby. You gotta go knock some leather boots off a few bikers. They ain't gonna know what hit 'em." Stella chuckled with her mom as she climbed into the SUV.

She could feel the change in the air—it was good to be home.

AN: Here we go again, readers! I'm super excited about this one.