Chapter One – Things Ain't Like What They Used To Be
Disclaimer: I do not own Sons of Anarchy or anything affiliated with the show. No infringement intended. No money is made from this.
Author Note: Reupload. Was never really happy with the other one. Don't review. It's the worst thing ever.
:****:
"Jesus fuckin' Christ, Charlie! Not this shit again!" Chibs exasperated, his volume bordering on shouting.
"Would it really kill you to turn your phone off once in a while? For us to go out?"
"We've been out every night this week," he reasoned.
"Been out? Going to the Clubhouse does not constitute as 'out'," she snorted.
"You knew," he threw over his shoulder as he walked through her living room, weaving his way through her many piles of stacked cardboard boxes she had yet to unpack since moving house. He kicked one box filled with kitchen utensils out of his way and scooped up his cut from the arm of her sofa, "You knew that it'd be like this!"
Their conflicting schedules made it hard for them to find time to spend together and when they did, he often had to leave for Club business. She wasn't asking for the world. She just wanted to spend time with him and not have him bailing on her. He was right; she knew it was going to be like this. But when the reality of it actually hit her, when she found herself alone in a quiet house most nights, chewing her fingernails and praying for safety, it was harder to digest than she first thought.
Charlotte took out the ribbon in her hair and ran her fingers through it, easing the tension in her head. She'd only intended to bring up the fact that she hardly ever saw him any more but it had escalated to something much heavier.
"Do you realise that I saw you more when we were sneaking around than I do now?"
She heard him sigh and saw his shoulders sag before he turned away from the front door to look at her.
He saw a flash a doubt cross her eyes before he saw longing. Longing for something he couldn't give to her with a click of his fingers, longing for an answer from him.
"I-" he threw his hands in the air, "What do you want me to do?"
Charlotte huffed and pushed past him. In her rush, her foot clipped the edge of an unpacked moving box and she stumbled. olding out her hand to steady herself she misjudged and whacked her forearm against a doorframe.
"Fuck it!" she hissed, immediately holding her wrist to her. She'd sprained it only days before after slipping out the shower and had been given a prescription of Percocet to help with the pain. Knocking it like she did flared it up gain and now her eyes were stinging with tears.
"You ok?" Chibs tentatively asked from behind her.
She only nodded and so he walked to her trying to take her arm in his hand to have a look.
"Don't!" She pulled away. "I have to get to work.. And I suppose you do to."
Her voice trailed off with a sadness to it, and she disappeared down the hallway into her bedroom.
"The fuck you lookin' at?" Chibs snarled at Madison who was staring at him gormlessly with her pink tongue hanging out, panting heavily. The dog looked down the corridor and whined.
"Yeah, I know she's upset. I don't need a fat, hairy dog to tell me that."
Madison whimpered and trotted away from him to the kitchen.
"Women."
He slammed the front door shut.
He was pissed off too, but him goingto her now would only make it worse and he would get his balls cut off.
In her bedroom Charlotte opened the cupboard under her vanity sink and bought out her bottle of Percocet, taking one for the pain in her wrist.
:*****:
Charlotte was late for work at Heather's Boutique, again. It was her second offense in 5 days and rightly so Heather gave her a stern look when she entered, almost an hour late for her shift.
"Charlotte, where were you?" Heather asked, guiding her into the store room at the back of the shop.
"Sorry, I had a -uh - family issue," Charlotte lied. Truth was the Percocet hit her harder than before and she felt dopey when she was getting dressed for work. After getting ready she didn't trust herself to drive and had crashed out on the sofa.
Heather pursed her lips.
"I understand you have family commitments, but if it gets in the way of you working here, then that's something we may need to look at. Next time, call me, okay? Now, go dress the window for the new collection."
Charlotte nodded and got to work straight away.
Standing in the window dressing the mannequins, she saw Sam Crow ride in formation down Main Street heading out of town. She didn't know for sure but she suspected they were going to their new warehouse in Caracara.
She sighed heavily, replaying that morning's argument with Chibs in her head, wondering what she could've said differently that wouldn't of given her this headache. Maybe she did over react, maybe he wasn't into this as much as she was, maybe they were better off as two seperate people...her head was swimming with maybe's.
:****:
Although the targets he was firing at were just paper, it felt good for Chibs to release the tension from earlier that morning. Charlotte had bought something up but then it'd been blown way out of proportion, and he wasn't honestly sure who was to blame for it.
He didn't know what Charlotte wanted exactly, so he couldn't give it to her. She wanted to spend time together, so they did. At the Clubhouse bar, or in his room, or at her house. Where was the problem in that? What more did she want?
He altered his stance, holding the gun with one hand and aimed steadily to unload nearly a full clip into the head of his paper target.
That felt better. It released some of his sexual tension too; the only sex act he'd indulged in in almost three weeks was one-to-one action with his right hand and an Aurora Snow DVD. The past few weeks the warehouse rebuild had suddenly gained vast momentum and without Bobby there for the financial help they'd all had to step in. He put in long days at the garage and long nights, working with the Prospect on both his boxing and his bike, too. When he wasn't beyond tired he'd ride over to Charlotte's to spend the night only to find her semi-passed out on the sofa after her own hard day at work. Neither of them could barely make it to the bedroom up the stairs, let alone doing anything once inside.
Tig, looking past Juice, glanced at Chibs from the corner of his eye. Cameron had given them 2 clips each to play with, and Chibs had just blown most of one of them on one poor target.
"Prospect, put 'em up," Tig ordered, looking at the poor shreds of paper that had once been Chibs' full target. He suspected something was off with his brother; he was normally much more controlled than that, shooting in short, sharp bursts. The way he had laid into that target had been about releasing something pent up inside.
Boy's not been getting' any from Charlie, he suddenly realised and masked his small smile by ducking his head and pretending to look at the gun in more detail. Just another reason for him to stick with banging hookers.
:*** *:
The one downside to Charlotte's new job at Heather's was that she missed out on the day to day shenanigans at Teller-Morrow automotive. On her lunch break one day she visited the garage to use the office printer.
"Hello baby boy!" Charlotte cooed, taking Abel out his pram as Gemma bought him into the office. "Everything okay?"
"He's great. Doc says we gotta beef him up though."
"Is he still fussy with the feedings?"
"Yeah."
"How about trying soy-based milk?"
Gemma stared at Charlotte.
"What? I read lots of magazines when Wendy was pregnant. Someone had to bone up on child care," Charlotte said in way of defence of the look she was getting off Gemma.
"Read any magazines lately? I don't want to be a Grandma again too soon, y'know."
Chibs had been walking to the office to grab some paperwork when he'd caught the last of Gemma's words. He raised his eyebrows and threw a worried look to Charlotte, who in turn glared at Gemma, who was watching the two of them with an equal mixture of interest and amusement.
"Come on handsome, let's go see Grandpa."
Gemma kissed Charlotte on the cheek then retreated with Abel into the Clubhouse.
"I gotta go."
"I gotta get some paperwork."
Charlotte and Chibs said at the same time, avoiding each other's eyes. She gathered her print outs hastily and headed to the door.
"I'll see you later, for Bobby's party," she smiled, looking forward to Bobby's release. The case was over weeks ago, and they'd all missed him. Especially his muffin runs.
"Want me to pick you up?" He asked, routing through Clay's piles of crap on the desk. If Gemma was playing Grandma and babysitter then they needed to hire an extra pair of hands to keep on top of the office. Paperwork, they had learnt, was not Juice's forte in life.
"Nah, it's ok, I'll drive and stay over."
:*** *:
Jax entered the Clubhouse glad to see everyone had turned up for Bobby, who was face down in some girl's crotch on the pool table. He walked to the bar and saw Charlotte sitting with Coco, an Oregon Sam Crow Ol' Lady with long, flame red hair and lips to match.
"What's up with you?" He asked Charlotte who was laughing so much she was crying.
"We're playing Chubby Bunny," Coco replied, around a mouthful of marsh mallows. Charlotte looked up, laughed, nearly choked and spat her marshmallows out onto the bar.
"You okay?" She asked, worried when Clay said he was out on his own. When she asked Chibs about it he just said that Jax wanted to do it on his own, and that he was more than capable of doing so.
Jax nodded.
"Where're the others?" He shouted above the music.
"Around. Haven't seen Clay in a while. Chibs is over there with his new toy."
New toy?, Jax pondered and looked over his shoulder to see Chibs and the Prospect engaged in some sort of wrestling game.
"A'ight, I'll catch you later," he replied kissing her forehead, noticing the slight scowl on her face.