Lou walked up to the garage, a slight swagger in her step, but her face devoid of emotion because she knew if she let it show, she would be a complete bundle of nerves, and these guys would never take her seriously. Her hand gripped the piece of paper inside her hoodie jacket, the honourable discharge with the full recommendation from CO, that all but stated that anyone would be a dumbass to not take her on. She'd only just moved to Charming, she couldn't go back to a big city, not with all the noise, she couldn't take that. The sun was beating down on the turf and but she was too busy admiring the line-up of Harleys to care all that much. Finally, she tore her eyes away to look for movement within the auto shop. After a moment, she noticed someone in the back, underneath one of the many cars, possibly the least impressive, working away. She stopped a few meters from him and cleared her throat awkwardly, his head came up and he hit it solidly against the metal, letting out a pained yell that melted into a moan. Lou's face became guilty and worried as he crawled out rubbing his head and she noticed almost immediately how ridiculously good-looking he was, if it wasn't for his big brown doe-eyes, he would have fit the biker aesthetic perfectly with his muscles and tattoos.
"I am so sorry." She told him, though it was muffled by her hands pressed worriedly to her mouth. He grinned up at her, staring at her, she had a heart-shaped face and curly brown-blonde hair and the prettiest hazel eyes he had ever seen, she dropped her hands from her mouth and reached for him before pulling back but he had noticed her lips, slightly plump and pink and elegantly bowed. A scar ran across the bridge of her nose but it did not detract from how beautiful he found her, nor did the imperfections that she focused on so often, in all he thought she was the most beautiful person he had ever seen.
"Nah, it's okay." He told her, pulling himself to his feet.
"Juice." He introduced, holding out his hand. She took it and shook and he immediately noticed the calluses and the strength of her grip.
"Louey." She replied, smiling at the cute nickname, well, what she assumed was a nickname.
"How can I help you?" he asked with a smile, it was big and sweet and she melted almost instantly.
"Um, I looking for the boss, and a job… are you sure your head's okay?" she asked worriedly, her compulsion was to reach out and touch it, to make sure it wasn't swelling or causing him too much pain.
"It's fine, really, I've taken harder hits to the head." He assured her, even though it hurt like hell, but she looked so worried and he didn't want to upset her. "Uh, come with me, I'll introduce you to Clay." He added, she followed him across the yard and into what appeared to be a large clubhouse with a grim reaper painted on the outside wall. They walked into a bar area and Juice started heading for a blond man and another man with a white beard and salt and pepper hair.
"Clay, Jax, this is Louey." He introduced. Jax and Clay looked between each other with matching grins. She stood up tall, just like she was trained to and handed the slightly scrunched paper she had held onto like a lifeline to the older man.
"Nice to meet you sir, I'm looking for a job." She told him, cutting out any potential for bullshit.
He scanned the letter, raising an eyebrow at the credentials.
"You're a little over-qualified for a small city auto shop, don't you think." He stated. She shrugged.
"I'm trained to fix vehicles; I like fixing vehicles and I'm good at it." She replied simply, her eyebrows raising a little, as if challenging him.
"Ten years in the army and all you did is fix vehicles?" Clay replied, humour evident in his voice. She cracked a grin and inclined her head.
"No sir, there was plenty of combat and plenty of nasty shit, but the mechanics was the best part." She replied, a slight shrug at the end.
"You know what, there's an old sportster out there in the garage, it's been sitting there for months, you can fix it, you've got a job Sarge." The old man told her. She pursed her lips and nodded, her smile widening at the familiar title
"I can do that." She replied, walking out without another word.
"I didn't tell her what was wrong." Clay stated, looking to Juice whose gaze had followed her the whole way out.
"I don't think you need to."
Hours later the girl showed back up in the clubhouse, only this time there were several more men and some scantily clad women and all looked up when she entered. Juice had spent the afternoon in the garage with her, talking to her every now and again, somewhat shyly, which she had found endearing, but he had left an hour earlier for "club business". She smiled brightly at him when she saw him and he returned it, admiring how cute she was with grease smeared on her face. In her hand, she held a plastic bag and her eyes left her new friend's and searched out Clay among the faces. She saw him and held it out to him, it was stained black and metal clinked together inside it.
"There's your problem." She told him. He looked between her and the bag and chuckled, shaking his head.
"Well damn Sarge, I guess I owe you a job." He told her. She smiled brightly.
"Nice." She responded.
"You got a place to stay?" the man questioned. She nodded in response then spoke again.
"Yeah, hotel just down the way for now, as soon as I have a job they're gonna approve me to rent an apartment." She replied.
"Good, well, welcome to the family Sarge." Juice came over to her with a bright smile lighting up his face and put a hand on her shoulder.
"You should come meet the guys." He told her. He introduced her to countless people, some names stuck with her, like Chibs and Tig and Opie, the others she lost after a moment but fought to remember them as they spoke to her, Happy, Bobby and Half-Sack. For some reason, none of them were using her real name, it was all Sarge, then she realized, it was some sort of acceptance, like how they used Juice instead of Juan (like she'd heard Chibs do when jokingly scolding the boy). Juice, he'd stayed at her side the whole, time, making sure she felt safe and comfortable and making sure none of the boys were getting to handsy or saying anything too crude, and she appreciated the hell out of him for it.