A/N I do not own SOA, just the other characters here in the story. If you have not read the first story, An Unlikely Ally please go to my profile and read it. As always, I appreciate feedback.

Chapter 1

2 years. 24 short months. A lot can happen in that amount of time. You can have it all, suffer an immense tragedy, fall in love, start a life, gain an instant family, build a house, grow a business. Add any two of these together and you are doing a lot in that short amount of time. Put them all in the mix, and well, it is a good thing you are a bit of an obsessive compulsive person who is ultra organized.

Angie Maroney had done a lot in the last 24 months. For a time frame that had started out so black, things had certainly turned around. Angie thought about that day, 2 years ago, when she stood there, alone. No one should have to put that many people to rest at one time. They had spent the day at the memorial service. Angie alone, the stoic one. Hundreds of people came, and Angie had greeted each and every one. Her sisters-in-law were a mess. They had never understood what it meant to BE a Maroney. They were good wives, loving mothers, but they just hadn't developed into good Maroneys. Not yet. Now they weren't going to have to.

When it came time to bury them, it was family only. Angie and the other women had followed the coffins up to the small family cemetery on the ranch. There were a few hands from the ranch around, to help with things, but other than that, it was just the women. It had been raining for several days, but on that day it was like God knew he needed to give them a break. After the bodies of her 3 brothers and her father had been laid to rest, the other women had left, all weeping. Angie however had stayed at the cemetery until deep in the night. She didn't cry, she simply stood there, as if she were getting her resolve.

The next day, Angie was in charge. Angie had taken a leave of absence from the Law firm about 3 months before to help with several projects with the family business. Now it looked like that leave was going to need to be permanent. She had so much to do. Her brothers had each had a part of the family business to run, and her father had run the farming and ranching, and overseen everything. Now she had to do it all.

It hadn't taken her long to get a grip on the business part, that was easy for her. She was in her element and she thrived on the pace and the adrenalin. She had had to make some key moves in personnel to help her, particularly Peter at MT Technologies and Steve at Maroney Mining. The banks were easy, just some internal promotions, and then there was the Ranch. Taggert had been the foreman for years, it was time he was promoted.

She had called Jax the night of the funerals. He had offered to come. Even with his life in chaos, he had offered. Abel had been born just 3 weeks before, and he wasn't even out of the NICU. She had told him maybe later, when the shock wore off, and he had agreed, although somewhat reluctantly. When she had called 6 months later, she had every intention of cashing in that offer, to meet him somewhere and just have him wipe away all the bad shit for a couple of days. And the truth, she had been thinking about a drink. Something that hadn't happened in almost 13 years. Jax had been there for her back then, when she had first gotten sober, and she knew he would be again.

Little did she know how that phone call would change everything. Here she sat now, an upstanding resident of Charming, CA. She had expanded the Maroney business interests, and had moved some of the operations out to California. The 24,000 acres were developing nicely, and the farm about 50 miles from Charming was turning out to be a very lucrative venture.

There had been some improvements on the personal life too. Angie smiled. She and Jax. They lived together in the new house they had built just outside of Charming. It wasn't over the top, but it was just a bit bigger than the small house Jax was living in when Angie had arrived in Charming, like 3000 square feet bigger. They had lived in the small house while they built their home in the country. And they still owned the house in town, although it was occupied with a renter. Happy rented the house in town, for a $1 a month. Angie explained to Jax and Happy why there had to be that, great to have a lawyer around.

Abel was walking, and talking. A lot. Angie worked from home 2 mornings a week to spend time with him. He was her son in every way that counted. She also had a somewhat ok relationship with Wendy. Yes, Wendy. Wendy had shown back up, when Abel was a year old. She was clean, but she just couldn't get the rest of it together. Although Angie and Wendy had different drugs of choice, Angie better than anyone understood what Wendy was going through. Wendy had agreed to sign over her parental rights to Abel, and Angie and Jax had agreed to keep her informed about how he grew up. Angie would check in on Wendy every now and then. She was doing okay for the moment.

Jax. Well Jax was still Jax. Passionate and devoted. Things at Samcro were better. Clay had stepped down as President about 8 months ago. An accident on his bike made him realize he couldn't ride anymore. Jax and the members had struggled to take Samcro in a different direction. If Angie were a betting woman, she would say 70% of Samcro's activities were legitimate. There were still run ins with the law, but they weren't running guns as the primary source of income. That had taken most of the heat off them. But there was always someone wanting to make a name for themselves and what better way than take down Samcro.

Angie had been reminiscing about all this as she sat on her Harley. She went for a ride by herself more often than most realized. It was her way of clearing her head. She sat on her bike, overlooking the valley. Things all in all were pretty good. Most people would give their right arm for a life like Angie's.

Angie was brought from her thoughts as her Blackberry rang. She recognized the tone, it was Taggert. He didn't call often. The ranch ran itself for the most part, so if he was calling it was probably important. Angie answered the call still content from her reflection about how her life had developed. "How's Colorado?" she said as a greeting to her friend.

"Colorado is good, but there have been some developments. I thought you might want to know this." Taggert said.

"What's up?" Angie asked.

"The Sherriff was just here. They have a lead on who blew up the feed mill." Taggert said.

"Would you repeat that?" Angie said.

"Angie, they have a lead on who killed your dad and your brothers." Taggert said.

"Thanks." Angie said almost in a monotone. "Keep me posted." With that she hung up.

Angie had waited for this day for 2 years. But she had spent most of that time living in a different world. Seeing the person or persons put in jail wasn't going to be enough. She wanted the people responsible dead. And she wanted to do it herself.

Angie pressed 1 on her phone and speed dialed. When the caller answered her words were simple, "How do you feel about a road trip?"