10 years ago, Piney Winston and Mary were happily married with their 16 year old son Opie, and their 14 year old daughter Lacey. The Sons were a small time club, still reeling from the death of their founder,John Teller, even though years had passed. Aside from the 'biker outlaw' thing, they were the picture of a happy family.
Things changed one spring day when Lacey, who every day took the bus home and waited for Opie, who was spending his after school hours working at Teller-Morrow, Piney or Mary to get there, wasn't there. The bus driver confirmed dropping her at the end of the block, but there was no sign of her ever being in the house. It was if she had just vanished.
The media latched onto the story almost immediately, and the FBI was called in. The story of the pretty sandy haired girl disappearing was media gold, but produced no leads. The Sons held their own search, going through their, at the time, short list of enemies but came to the conclusion that this had nothing to with Piney being a Son. It was a horrible tragedy, and there was nothing the Sons could do to fix it.
Eventually, Lacey became old news. The media moved on to exploit the next tragedy for profit, the FBI agents left town promising to call with any updates, and Lacey Winston was just another name on the Missing and Exploited Children list.
Opie and Mary's marriage quickly fell apart. She started viewing the Sons as a threat to her already fractured family, and insisted Piney leave the club, or she would leave him. She now believed her daughter to be dead; it was something she had come to peace with.
Piney and Opie never believed it, for years they saw her. The girl in the drugstore, the teenager at the mall, the young woman walking down Main Street, but, it was never her. They didn't talk about her to anyone but each other, not even confiding in Jax or Clay about the emptiness inside them.
Piney still woke up every morning and looked at the picture of his daughter at her eleventh birthday sitting on his nightstand. He still held onto a shred of hope that he would see her. He had no idea how close she really was.
TACOMA, WA
Celia DuClaw sat behind the counter of her small bridal shop, flipping through a magazine, mentally planning the party at the clubhouse that weekend. As the old lady of the President of SAMTAC it was her responsibility to make sure the patches bellies were full, their beers were cold, and their primal needs were attended to. Her bridal shop was a dream of hers from when she was a little girl, a dream her husband, Gordon, (Gordo to the club) made a reality for her when they had gotten married 20 years ago.
She looked up from her magazine, plastering a smile on her face as the bell above the front door jingled, but faded for a split second when she vaguely recognized the face on the young woman in front of her.
Ten years ago, Sons of Anarchy only had a few charters on the west coast, Tacoma being one of them. Piney Winston would occasionally bring his two kids with him when he'd come visit the Tacoma charter, and his daughter Lacey spent many a day in the bridal store, helping Celia and playing dress up. When Lacey was taken, Celia was almost as devastated as the family when she had heard the news, remembering all the times the little girl would run around the shop with a bouquet in her hands and veil on her head.
The man with her was in his 40s or 50s, the brown hair on his head starting to streak with grey. He had blue eyes, but they weren't bright and lively like Lacey's, they instead looked like two pieces of marble, hard and cold. He was tall, almost 6 and a half feet, and in exquisite shape, judging by the muscles in his arm. Even though he had a smile on his face, Celia shivered inwardly. Something about him set her on edge.
Now, Celia was positive the bright blues eyes staring at her with a plea behind them belonged to Lacey, but judging by the older man gripping Lacey's hand like a vice, she would be wise to not say anything. "How can I help you two?" She asked instead with a smile.
"My fiancée and I are getting married tomorrow, and she would like a dress for the ceremony, something simple." The man told Celia. "She saw the shop on our way into town, and we decided to come here."
Celia turned her attention to the young woman. "Well I'm glad you did, since the big day is tomorrow, we'll have to see what we have in stock." She told her with a smile, putting a hand on her back and leading her to a rack of dresses. She had hoped the man would leave the two alone, but was right next to Lacey the entire time. The girl still hadn't spoken, so Celia decided to do some detective work.
"Are you two from the area?" She asked her, as she pulled dresses off the rack.
The older man answered for them once again. "Oh no, we're from Maine, but my darling here begged to get married on the West Coast, so here we are."
"I grew up on the West Coast." Lacey added quickly, staring into Celia's eyes, but her face giving away nothing.
"Oh that's so nice." Celia told the couple as she reached the end of the rack. "Well let's get these on you." She ushered the couple towards the dressing room. "You can wait out here; groom shouldn't see the bride in her dress right?"
"I'll help her, we aren't very traditional." He told her with a wink and a smile, pushing past her and into the dressing room.
Celia debated her next move while the two were in the dressing room, finally deciding to call Gordon, and in hushed whispers telling him to get down there right now. She hung up the phone and jumped as the two came out of the dressing room. "You two startled me!" She told them with a small sheepish smile.
"We'll take this one." The man told her, handing her a dress and pulling a credit card out of his wallet.
Celia took her time wrapping the dress up, stalling for time as long as possible. "Where are you two tying the knot?"
"Just outside of town." He told her noncommittally. "Nice little place in the woods."
"The Lodges at Rice Creek." Lacey added with a smile. To an observer, she would look like an elated bride to be. To Celia she looked terrified. Celia couldn't stall any longer; she noted the name on the card and asked to see his ID, to make sure the two matched. "Scott Callaghan." She muttered as she looked at the two. "That's it. You two have a nice day." She said glancing out the window for her husband.
The couple walked out of the shop, and Lacey looked over her shoulder at Celia, who nodded at her. Lacey nodded back quickly and tears started welling up in her eyes as she walked away from the only shred of family she had seen in the past ten years.
CHARMING, CA
The Sons sat in the chapel, wondering why Clay had called an emergency meeting of church. Clay sat down at the head of the table staring at the men in front of him.
Clay sighed before looking directly at Piney. "I got some news from SAMTAC today... it's about Lacey. His old lady said she spotted her at her shop today."
The Sons started muttering to each other in surprise, before Piney spoke over all of them. "Are they sure it's her?"
Clay shrugged. "Celia's pretty damn sure, said Lacey was dropping hints. I don't want you to get your hopes up though brother." He turned to the club, telling all of them, "We gotta go quick, who's in?"
Piney and Opie left the table to grab their bags, answering Clay's question. Tig, Jax and Chibs threw their hands up and Clay adjourned the meeting, letting them know they were leaving in 20 minutes.
TACOMA, WA
Lacey paced back and forth in the hotel room nervously; fiddling with the fabric of the white dress she was wearing. It was stupid to take him to Celia's. If he had caught on, if he had grown suspicious… she would hope he would kill her quickly. When he told her they would go wherever she wanted for their wedding and honeymoon, she had to try to take a chance. Scott didn't know her father was in the Sons of Anarchy, much less that there was a charter in Tacoma, all he knew was her father was in a motorcycle club. She had to try one last time to get away. The past ten years, it had been drilled into her head that she was to be his wife. He had handpicked her; she was going to grow into his perfect woman. And now, on her 24th birthday, she was his perfect woman. He had never touched her sexually; he told her he was saving her for their wedding night.
Instead he molded her into his dream woman. He told her what to wear, what to eat, what to cook, and how to behave. Every facet of her life was planned by him, including her exercise and diet. He kept her under lock and key, his princess in the tower. The only she had been given was the oppourtunity to decorate the home they lived in however she wanted. Scott admitted he had no eye for such things, and would bring her catalogs to order new furniture, paint, window treatments, accessories, and whatever else she needed. When he first took her, she was locked up every hour of the day; he would even chain her to the floor when she would cook dinner. She'd tried to escape, the first two years, any opening she had she would take, but could never get far. The house they lived in was in the woods, miles from an actual road. The few times she'd made it out the door, she had ended up so horribly lost, she was actually happy when he finally found her.
Anytime she did something to make Scott angry, his true temper would show. He had beaten her, more times than she could count, and after the escape attempt that resulted in her being lost in the woods for days, he had branded her hip with his initials, like ranchers branded their cattle in case they got separated from the herd. It was humiliating, and recounting the incident, Lacey put her hand over the brand feeling the heat and pain she had felt. It was one of many scars, physical and emotional that she had acquired during her 'training'.
Lacey finally decide to stop trying to leave when Scott finally insured he would never lose her. After trying to sneak out a downstairs window, and failing miserably, Scott didn't yell, didn't hit her, didn't even speak to her. He had even made dinner for the two of them that night, waiting on Lacey hand and foot. After dinner, she began to feel woozy and dizzy, and remembered trying to stand up and hitting the floor.
The next morning, she woke to a throbbing pain in the back of her neck, and a bandage on the wound. "I put a tracking chip in you, like a GPS in a car, that way if you ever leave me, I'll find you." Scott promised.
Lacey's trip down memory lane was over when Scott walked into the room. He looked her over adoringly as Lacey finished pinning up her long blond hair on top of her head. "You look beautiful." He told her, kissing her forehead. "Are you ready?"
"Yes." She told him blankly. He opened the hotel door and ushered her out to the gazebo where they would say their vows.
They stood in front of the minister, who was reciting a bible verse before the vows, when the rumble of motorcycles began. Scott knitted his eyebrows together at the noise that was getting louder and louder. The noises stopped as the bikes parked, and the minister went back to his Bible, when a group of leather clad men ran into the courtyard. Scott's eyes widened with realization, this was no accident, this was the day he'd been dreading for ten years.
"How could you?" He hissed at Lacey, who was staring, stunned at the men crossing the grass towards them. When she looked over at Scott he was already gone, running off into the woods surrounding the hotel. A few Sons broke off from the pack to chase after him while the rest approached Lacey slowly, like a wounded animal.
Piney caught up to the group pushing through his brothers to stand next to his son in front his daughter. Celia had been right, even after ten years, there was no way it would have been anyone else but her.
Lacey stared back at the men, assessing them. Her father had aged terribly in the past ten years, and her brother looked like a mountain man, but at that moment, they were the two most beautiful things she had ever seen. Finally she spoke to them.
"Hi."
