A/N: I'm re-rewatching the show (addicted much?), and I came up with this side of the story after watching S1, ep 2: Seeds. Some of the Sons witnessed a man getting an axe to the head, but the show didn't really deal with the aftermath, and the next day everything was just peachy, so I came up with this story as a possible explanation. For the first time, I didn't put in a romantic storyline, didn't feel like it fit, so this is like a 'day of the life' from an outsider's perspective. I tried to stay true to the original story line, but I made some alterations here and there. Hope you like it! Please review, constructive criticism always helps!
Wielding Axes
"Yes mother, I will be sure to get home safely." Cassandra told her mother once more, making sure that she kept her feelings of annoyance with her mother off of her face and out of her eyes. She finally made it inside her car, after her mother tried to postpone her departure for over 30 minutes, and pulled out of the driveway to start the ride home. As soon as she reached the town border, Cassandra grabbed her pack of cigarettes from the centre console and lit one up. With the first inhale she felt its effects immediately as she finally fixed the need her body had created; nicotine. Cassandra knew it was a bad habit to have, but with a family like hers, smoking seemed to be the best possible way to deal with it.
Cassandra, despite all of their differences, loved her family. Of course she did. But sometimes her overbearing mother and self-absorbed brother with his pretentious wife were too much to handle. Allowing herself another drag, Cassandra focused her eyes on the road in front of her. She had another 4 hours in front of her, and she was looking forward to the quiet.
Driving had always relaxed her, especially when she was alone. There was no one to talk to her, judge her on her wardrobe, or scold her for her decision to become a civil rights attorney. She cared about people, and she wanted to do a job that was meaningful. In this position, often taking pro-deo cases, allowed her to make a difference in the lives of people who were struggling to keep her head above water. She made a decent living for herself, and she had just bought her own little house in Bakersfield, a 3 bedroom house with a decent size kitchen and a lovely backyard.
Her mother of course, hadn't approved, like she didn't on so many of her daughter's decisions. Julia Macintyre was a politician's wife, always more concerned with the public image than her family's mental wellbeing. It didn't matter that her husband, James Macintyre, a previous senator to the state of California, had passed away 3 years ago from alcohol poisoning. The media had believed the much more esteemed death by heart failure, and that was all that mattered. Their son, James Macintyre Junior, was a businessman and CEO of his own company that was doing something with trade investments; Cassandra wasn't sure what exactly he was doing, but it sounded fancy. Daughter Cassandra Macintyre had made the family proud by getting accepted into Harvard Law, only to disappoint by revealing on her day of graduation that she was not becoming a criminal defense attorney like her parents had expected of her, but instead had altered the focus of her degree on civil rights, more precisely on constitutional rights and civil liberties.
Cassandra had moved back to California, but had started looking for jobs in San Francisco, rather than Sacramento, where her parents had retired. As long as she was not in within the border of the city her parents were in, anything would do, so San Francisco seemed as good a place as any.
A pang of sadness went through the woman in the 2007 Audi A4 when she thought about her father. The man had always been proud of her, as long as she was 'living up to her potential'. It was a sentence she got really tired of hearing throughout her teen years, but now that she was 38 she realized what he had meant with that credo, and it made her smile. Her father had been a wise man, and she was hoping she would gain that same level of wisdom at some point in her life.
It was pretty quiet on the road for a regular Tuesday. It was frustrating for Cassandra to say the least, because her mother would usually guilt trip her into coming. Julia was in her late sixties and her life of wealth and luxury had kept her in a physically fit shape. Unfortunately her mind wasn't able to withstand the test of time as gracefully, and Alzheimer's had popped up its nasty head. James and Cassandra had recently realized their mother had been hiding this from them for close to two years, but now that the secret was out, Julia held no reservations to use it to her advantage – or at least for as long as she could remember to do so.
So now, after a meal with three of the most infuriating people she knew, Cassandra was finally released of her familial duties for the rest of the week. Taking a deep breath, Cassandra allowed herself to relax some more. She had 4 hours all to herself, and she was planning to enjoy them in silence, as the road disappeared underneath her.
Cassandra decided to take the CA-99S rather than the I-5S, because it was a little more of a scenic route. It was only 8PM, so she would be able to enjoy at least 2.5 more hours of sunlight. Might as well make them count. When she reached Modesto, she noticed that her tank was only a couple of gallons away from running empty. Because she drove this road so much, she knew a small gas station south of the town that had pretty decent prices and was run by a friendly Pakistani man. She had often stopped there for coffee and made small talk with the man, who was trying to support his wife and kids, who were about to start middle school and high school at the end of the summer. She preferred to support those kind of smaller businesses, it felt rewarding to think that she played a small part in possibly allowing those kids to go to college or university.
When she pulled up, the pumps were empty and so she had free choice. After killing the Audi's quiet engine and popping open the gas cap, she easily followed the routine of being at a gas station. Not even a minute after she hooked up the pump to her car, a loud, tuned up, old school Chevrolet drove on the premise and parked at the pump next to hers. An obnoxious man stepped out, who looked around the area as if he owned the place. When Cassandra came into his view, he blew her a kiss, thinking the looks she was giving him were of the positive kind. Unimpressed, she just raised her eyebrow and went back to filling up her car.
The man walked inside and Cassandra was alone again. As soon as the tank was filled to the rim, Cassandra walked inside to the little shop. She noticed the man from before was in the back of the store, and she decided to hang back a little before she would grab herself a coffee, seeing that the coffee machine was so inconveniently located to where that man was hanging around. She got a bad vibe from him, so she made a small conversation with Khalid, the owner.
About a minute later, two men in leather kuttes came in and she recognized the name: Sons of Anarchy. The only reason Cassandra knew about them, because her father at one point in his career had tried to illegalize motorcycle clubs in California. The bill didn't pass of course, and he had almost lost his job because of the ridiculous proposition. Julia had been the instigator of that bill. She'd had a run in with some woman whose husband was apparently in one of those clubs, and to exert her revenge, she made her husband a fool in the public eye. Especially when Cassandra had taken it up on herself to proof that illegalizing clubs for motorcycle enthusiasts was unconstitutional.
It had taken her mother more than a year to forgive her daughter for making the family look a fool, but her father had secretly been proud. A grin or a wink had never been far away when they met for lunch without Julia knowing.
Of course Cassandra knew that MC's like the Sons of Anarchy had their criminal affairs, she wasn't an idiot. But fortunately for those clubs, the organizational structures were well thought out, allowing them to be motorcycle enthusiasts first, before being criminals.
The two man that had come in looked like trouble. Especially the blond man was looking like he wanted to draw blood. Not even 10 seconds later she could hear screams and punches being thrown as the biker started beating up the creepy man she had tried to avoid. Khalid excused himself to her when he ran to the back to break the two up. She noticed the grey haired man with the glasses taking out the tape from Khalid's security system, but she decided not to get involved in this mess.
"Hey! What are you doing? This is my shop!" Khalid yelled to the two fighting men. Cassandra found herself in the middle of the store, when the blond biker brushed past her on his way out. Khalid was running after him, still yelling in anger, while she could notice the smirk on the blond man's face. He was handsome and young, and she figured that with that kutte on his shoulders and a face like that, he was quite the heartthrob.
Khalid tried to stop the man from walking out and grabbed his arm. This was all happening a little too close for her comfort. She was looking at the three men in front of her who were struggling slightly, when suddenly the creep turned down their isle and raised a gun at them. "What are you calling me now, asshole?" He yelled, before firing a shot.
Cassandra couldn't help but scream at the loud sound. Khalid managed to drag her and pull her to the ground into the arms of the grey haired biker, while the blond one charged at the freak with the gun. While the two men struggled, Khalid went behind the counter to grab an axe he held there. Cassandra was freaking out, being held back by the older biker, she noticed that he too was armed with a gun, aiming it away from her at his companion and the man he was fighting. She had never been this terrified, all she wanted to do was get out of here, but the biker was strong and he refused to let go of her.
Cassandra didn't know how it happened, but the next thing she heard was Khalid screaming a primal scream, a soft 'thud' sound and then – quiet. When the opened her eyes was still wrapped tightly in the man's protective arms while next the axe was sticking out of the dead man's head. She was breathing loudly and tears were welling up her eyes. She had never before witnessed anything this violent in her life.
"You okay Jackie boy?" The man behind her asked, and she heard his strong accent. The blond man was once again standing and looked at the chaos that had followed them here. "Holy shit." He breathed. That summed up her thoughts quite exactly.
"You alright lass?" The man asked again, and it took a couple seconds for her to register that he was talking to her. She was still in his embrace, and was a little embarrassed to admit that is was quite comforting to be held right now. When he asked the question again, she softly nodded her head, afraid that if she opened her mouth to speak, only wails of sorrow would come out.
He slowly let her go, but she couldn't find the strength to get up, still traumatized by the events that had just unfolded right before her eyes. The man behind her moved away from her, needing to get up and deal with what just happened. Khalid noticed the Cassandra still frozen on the floor, not able to take her eyes off the dead body. He slowly moved towards her, but was unsure whether or not to proceed when she jerked her arm away as soon as he reached for it.
She had just seen a man get killed by an axe to the head. Finally her eyes moved away from the body and reached Khalid's. He moved in again, and this time she allowed him to help her up, but she was still shaking like a leaf. Khalid took her behind the counter, sat her down on the cashier's chair, and walked away to grab her a bottle of water. She noticed two more men in kuttes standing flabbergasted in the doorway of the gas station.
"What do we do now man?" The youngest looking one asked, not able to take his eyes off the axe plunged into the skull. Cassandra was hoping their answer would be to call the cops, but she doubted that these outlaws would even consider that option. If it ever got out that she was involved in the cover up of a self-defence murder, she could loose her whole career. Suddenly adrenaline washed over her, clearing her thoughts, and she decided to speak up. A brilliant plan had just come to her mind.
"You call the cops." Cassandra said calmly, gaining looks from all the men in the shop. Her mind was suddenly calm, and she could see how everything could work out perfectly. When the grey haired man who had protected her started to speak up, she quickly silenced him by continuing to speak. "I'm a lawyer, I cannot and will not be involved in the cover up of a death by self defense. I won't risk my career for you, not for any price. I personally need this to go the official way. But if you listen to me, I'll explain how we can all walk away from this and nobody will get charged." All of the men stayed quiet this time, and she took that as her cue to continue.
"This was self defense. He drew his gun and he would have killed you, maybe all of us, if you hadn't acted. He was out of control. He attacked first. We will testify that you, Blondie, did not instigate this in any way. My testimony will make sure that people belief the story." She paused for a second and then turned to the grey haired man. "You have the tape, destroy it. No tape, no evidence to suggest anything other than our stories."
"Khalid, you will explain how you were out of usable tapes or some bullshit excuse. You are just as upset over the lack of a tape as all of us, because it will not help you make your case with your insurance company. You four," she continued, "you put your weapons, except for your knifes, in the trunk of my car. Nobody will believe that you weren't carrying any weapons, so we'll need something to make it believable, but I have a feelings those guns aren't registered, so we need to make them disappear for now. The cops won't even consider touching my car, especially when I'm a crying mess. I promise you will get them back; you'll just have to trust me on that one. Now will somebody call the goddamn cops!" Cassandra forced out that last sentence, making sure that she left the men semi-speechless and not up to questioning her commands. "The sooner they get here, the better, because that will all work in our favour and make us look innocent." Then another idea popped into her head, and she turned back to Blondie. "If you want, I can testify that he was harassing me, and all you wanted was to make sure he left me alone. Everybody loves themselves a knight in leather armour." She finished speaking, a weak grin appearing on her face.
The four bikers were a little in awe of the woman who had managed to compose herself and was willing to give a false statement to the police. But she wasn't done yet. "This way, if we all stick to the plan, Khalid won't be charged with manslaughter and he will get the insurance money he needs to keep feeding his family, you boys will not need to worry about any illegal firearms charges that could come your way, and I won't have to worry about some old enemy trying to dig up dirt on me and actually finding something. We all benefit from this arrangement. Do you need any other arguments as to why this is the best way to go?"
The men shook their head, impressed with her rationale. Cassandra smiled lightly, feeling the adrenaline leaving her body. She was at her sharpest when that chemical was flowing through her, but as soon as it was gone, she was usually exhausted. It didn't happen very often that she had to think this quick on her feet, but she was glad that she still had what it took to do her type of job. She slowly walked out of the store and to her car. She needed a smoke, now.
It only took Modesto PD twenty minutes to arrive at the scene of the crime, at which point everybody was ready to do their part. The club's guns were safely in Cassandra's car, she was on the brink of tears, desperately smoking cigarette after cigarette, really selling the story of the man coming on to her and touching her unwantedly. Khalid was slowly coming to realize that he had killed a man, and tears were also found in his eyes. To the cops, this was a closed and shut case, and although they thought it was very convenient that the blond biker had been there to protect her, the gratitude she showed them was enough for them to stop questioning it. Another criminal dead. If anything, the police were relieved that there was one less bastard on the street.
There was a dead body, which meant that forensics had to be called in, and all of them had to leave their phone numbers behind in case of questioning, but, like Cassandra had promised them, they were all allowed to walk away that same night and go home. By the time 3AM came around, Cassandra just wanted to find the nearest motel and sleep, but she knew she had one more thing she needed to do.
When the police finally allowed her to go, she drove to the designated spot, about 15 minutes from the gas station. The cops were trying to hold the bikers for as long as possible, as if it would only take time to get something on the men. Cassandra waited impatiently, finishing her smoke. All this stress had made her loose track of how many she'd already smoked tonight, but she didn't care; she needed some form of relief.
After a considerable wait, the old suburban the men were driving, rolled into the abandoned parking lot. Nobody said a word as she popped open her trunk and they all stepped out of their cars.
"Thanks fer all that, lass. Din't have teh do that," the grey haired man spoke, taking a drag of his own cigarette. He pulled his guns and holsters from the boot of the car and strapped them around his shoulders, before putting his kutte back on. Cassandra shrugged. "No problem. Like I said, everybody benefits this way. Just trying to keep my own record clean." The man nodded, understanding she hadn't necessarily done it for them. "The name's Chibs. This hothead of a man in Jax, and these two idiots are Juice and the prospect." Pointing at all the men respectively, she nodded as Chibs told her their names. "Cassandra. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go. I hadn't planned on still being in Modesto at 3AM."
Despite the fact that these men had been kinder than she had initially expected, she needed to get away from them. "Do you need an escort home, darlin'? You've provided us with quite the service tonight." Jax asked, and Cassandra wondered why he would offer her something like that, when she realized that he was probably looking for a way to get in her pants. "No thanks Blondie, I'm going to Bakersfield, don't want to inconvenience you. Good night gentlemen, and honestly, I hope I'll never have to see you again."
Cassandra got back in her car and drove off into the night, leaving four bikers behind, one of them especially frustrated that a woman had just blown him off. Chibs snickered a laugh and patted Jax on the shoulder. Apparently there were some women who were immune to the biker charm. The four of them got back into the old car, and drove to Charming like they hadn't staged a murder in Lodi, or witnessed an actual murder right outside Modesto.