I just recently started watching Sons (I know completely late to the party). But now I'm about three seasons in and couldn't help but be drawn to the character of David Hale. Hated to see him go and wanted to explore the character a bit in an AU. Plan to incorporate more of the story line of the show in later chapters.
I tried not to focus on the sign as I drove by it, trying to convince myself that I hadn't been played. This is what you want, I thought, unable to ignore the welcome I received as I crossed the town line "Charming – Our Name Says It All". A total and complete load of bullshit if you asked me, but as usual no one did. Nothing about this place had changed, I glanced around as I drove through town. My drive down from Washington had taken longer than expected thanks to bumper to bumper traffic on I-5 out of Seattle, and glancing quickly at my watch it looked like I would be right on time to my interview if I went straight there. I cursed aloud, I had left with time to drop my bag and change. I was a planner, a perfectionist, a control freak, and arriving a mere five minutes early in the same clothes I had been wearing my whole drive went against everything I stood for. Taking a deep breath I tried to calm myself down, it wasn't like this interview even mattered. It was just for show, my father had all but told me that when he first told me about the job.
He had called me about a month ago, I was a week from graduating the academy. I had lived in Washington for five years, moving there to pursue a degree in Criminal Justice at Washington State University. After graduating moving back to Charming still wasn't an option, but joining the Seattle Police Department was.
Charming was a small California town that most would overlook when driving through. To the naked eye the town held no interest, but the reality was it housed a motorcycle club that had called the shots in this town as long as I could remember. Law and order was maintained at a minimum, and the Sons of Anarchy (the name of that motorcycle group) got away with just about anything. In my mind moving to Seattle wasn't far enough away. I had always been a by the books, straight laced kind of person. The chaos that ensued with the Sons was bad for that town, and I didn't want to be there when it completely took over. So, I moved away and put the drama in Charming on the back burner. Didn't even talk to my family, which wasn't a hard feat to do. My father was busy with his work and my older brother was busy with my father's work. They had each other and they were quite a pair. Always focused on the dollar and padding their pockets, something else that held no interest to me. I made enough to live comfortably off of, enough to keep a six pack in the fridge and the electricity and cable on. Which is why that night when my cell phone rang as I was sitting with my feet kicked up, a beer in my hand and a Mariners game on, I never expected to see my father's name on the caller I.D.
"Davy!" I could picture his let's do business smile plastered across his face and had my guard up from the beginning.
"Hey Dad, is everything ok?" A call out of the blue after months of not speaking could only mean something was wrong.
"Everything's just fine son. I just wanted to call and see how things were going, you should be just about ready to complete your training, right?" Small talk, which meant he needed something. Years of dealing with him had me fluent in understanding the underlying meaning of everything he said. Nothing Jacob Hale said should ever be taken at face value.
"A week left." I gave him information to answer the questions he asked, but nothing else. "Dad, I'd love to sit here and beat around the bush with you for hours until you finally come out and say what you need, but I'd rather be watching the game and drinking my beer that's getting warm." I heard a chuckle from him.
"Jake, there's no getting by your baby brother." Dad had pulled the phone away from his mouth, but I could still hear him talking to my brother. He cleared his throat before he started to speak again. "Davy, Charming's in a bad way son. It's that motorcycle gang, got all of the citizens fearing for their safety." I sighed and took a swig of my beer.
"Well then I would say you need to direct this to Chief Unser. That would be a concern for the Charming Police Department." What Dad was saying was no news to me, and nothing new to Charming. I wasn't quite sure why he was bringing it up.
"That is just it, SAMCRO has Unser in their pocket. He's working for them, getting them out of just about everything. The police are crooked and that doesn't help the people of Charming one bit." I could read between the lines and I didn't like where this was going one bit. "We need proper law enforcement here Davy." I laughed.
"Then hire the proper people, Dad. Get Unser out and new blood in. I'm sure between Jake and yourself you have enough people in your own pocket to make shit happen." I shook my head thinking about just how political my family could always make things. With their skills in getting their way through the proper channels, it surprised me Unser wasn't already a thing of the past.
"The town would never go for that kind of takeover son, you should know that. Unser is a staple in this town. His successor has to come from within." I sipped my beer, trying to figure out how I factored into this scheme that was obviously brewing. "Unser has agreed to hire you on as Deputy Chief." Beer shot out of my nose and mouth as the shock of his statement hit me.
"Do what?" I coughed
and got to my feet heading to the kitchen for a towel to clean up the mess I had just made.
"I have already lined up an interview for you, its protocol, but you have the job. The interview is next month, by then you would have completed your training and have time to make the transition. As soon as that interview is done you start work Deputy Chief and we just wait for you to take the reins from Unser. Then we can finally run Clay Morrow and his trash out of this town and have a sense of calm and security back to Charming. No one wants to move here if there's a band of outlaws calling the shots, son."
My dad's last sentence should have stood out more to me at that point, but somehow I managed to not catch it. It came as no surprise though that Jacob Hale Sr. and Jr. had their own agenda, and I had played right into their game.
Pulling into a parking spot outside of the police station I couldn't miss the row of motorcycles in front of the building. Lined up perfectly, there had to be at least ten staged there. Taking a deep breath I got out of my Jeep, my graduation present from my father. He gave it to me the day I graduated and the very next day it got me out of this town and into Washington. I brushed the crumbs of my grab and go lunch off my polo, made sure it was tucked and ran a hand over my buzzed hair. I still couldn't believe I was about to do this, that I had already committed to it. I had taken two steps across the parking lot when I saw Chief Unser come out of the door. The old man hadn't changed in the years I had been gone, his hair was a little more nonexistent up top. He looked like someone's grandfather not the Chief of Police. He gave me a goofy smile as I walked towards the door.
"Davy Hale!" He welcomed me with the name my family had used for as long as I could remember.
"It's David." I spoke shortly. "Nice to see you Chief Unser." I extended my hand to shake his and he did it quickly. I noted the loose grip and sighed, this was why SAMCRO so easily took the reins in this town. This old man lacked a backbone, and easy push over. I tried to put a smile on my face when I saw Unser looking at me but failed.
"Lighten up kid," Unser spoke quietly. "Both you and I know you're good to go. No need to be nervous." I chuckled and Unser smiled. What was anger and disappointment on my part came across as nervousness to him, it was that easy.
"Whatever you say, Chief." I said and followed him to his office, closing the door behind me.
"Congratulations on completing the academy and college, both great accomplishments." Unser settled behind his desk and looked at me with a smile on his face. "I hear you were top of the class, surprised you decided to come back to Charming."
"Not as surprised as me…" I muttered to myself as I looked around at the framed accolades he had hanging on the wall.
"What was that?" He had heard my mutter. I smiled at him.
"Wouldn't have had it any other way. Plenty to keep me busy here." I kept my eyes on him and watched as he coughed and looked away.
"Charming's pretty cut and dry. It's a small enough town that not much happens here. I'm afraid you might be disappointed David."
"I assumed that Clay Morrow and his crew kept you fairly busy, Chief. I know when I was in high school they had a habit of bringing trouble within the city limits." Unser waved a hand at me.
"That's old news, doesn't happen anymore. Clay and his boys do fine by this town, put a lot of effort into helping Charming out." I snickered which resulted in Unser setting a glare in my direction.
"Regular do-gooders, huh?" I stood, realizing this conversation was not going to go very far. "Well I'll let you know Chief that regardless of what has happened here prior to my arrival, I will not turn a blind eye to any law breaking. We're here to uphold the law and keep order in Charming, and that's what I intend on doing. I didn't go through all of that schooling and the academy to be some Barney Fife." I started for the door. Leaving him gapping at me. "See you first thing in the morning." As I stepped out of the office I ran straight into someone wearing a leather vest. "Excuse me." I said as I started around the human road block, not wanting Unser to catch up to me.
"Watch it Abercrombie." The response caught me slightly off guard, the voice familiar, as was the nickname. "When did you get back?" I turned to come face to face with Jax Teller.
"Just about an hour ago." I said, noting his Sons apparel and the five others dressed just like him that stood close enough to hear our exchange.
"First stop was the police station, looks like you're taking a page out of my book." I also noted the officer standing right to his side, a hand on his shoulder. I gave Teller a smile and patted his other arm.
"But unlike you, I'm walking out of here without bail." I shook my head as I left, nothing had changed, nothing at all.