Author's Note
Welcome, welcome, welcome! Thank you so much for popping into Children of the Sun, my newest fanfic!
A few of you will be following me over from my previous fics (Family Ties / It Was Always You / Finally Found You) but you don't have to read ANY of those to join us for this one - unless you want to, which would be rather nice of you, but don't feel obliged. It's quite a long trek! But to summarise:
Nina Padilla is Nero's daughter. After a complex history in Charming, she now has two daughters, Emily (by Tig) and Natasha (by Chibs). The end of FFY saw Nina sent to Belfast with Tig, who was given the task of IRA liaison, and ten years have now passed since that fateful day.
This story is more focused on the two daughters, Emily and Natasha, as they come across the club and the life. Nina/Tig/Chibs fans - never fear, there is all sorts of mess pending! - but there will be some new love in Charming for some of our SAMCRO boys, including a grown-up, nineteen-year-old Thomas!
To those of you who are following me over - thank you so much for your unending love and support, you have no idea how much it means to me. I hope you'll favourite and follow this one too! And for you new readers, please enjoy! You should be able to slip straight into it but if you have any questions, do let me know and I'll help you out! :)
As ever, thank you for reading, reviewing, favouriting and following - and, with that - ENJOY! :)
Sara x
Emily Padilla was a proud sort of girl. Maybe it was her upbringing, a couple of years living without her mother before being uprooted and deposited in an entirely different country had surely made her a complicated kind of woman. She groaned as she sat at her dresser, turning her phone over and over in her hands as she debated whether it was worth the ass-kicking she'd get if she snuck out again. The thing buzzed again in her palm and she flicked it open.
Come out, I want you tonight.
She smiled to herself as she crossed her legs, squeezing them tightly. It was getting harder to say no to the guys from SAMBEL, they were always begging her to come to their club, have a few drinks. Tig had told her too many times that all they wanted to do was fuck her and it wasn't going to happen, but no matter how many times he cornered and threatened their president, Seamus Ryan, there were a couple of them always begging for her attention.
Emily trussed her hair beneath her hand as she glanced in the mirror. The dark curls sat around her slender face in a wild mane, and those piercing blue eyes gazed back at her contemptuously. She was sick of being kept in this high tower. She rolled her eyes as she glanced out of the window to see a couple of Irish guards camped out, smoking and chatting as they sat on the brick wall at the end of the driveway. How was this a life? Nineteen and locked in her own home. It was for her own good, that was what she had been told her whole existence.
She pulled open the dresser drawer and reached to the back to find her secret packet of cigarettes. She frowned as she shook out just one - Christ, Natasha had got through the whole damn pack. That was it, she'd have to move her hiding place for them if that little twit was going to burn through them. Tash barely knew how to smoke a cigarette, she just liked to hold it between her fingers at college and look cool. The boys loved her for it, she was a little rebel at the Catholic monstrosity Nina had her attending.
Another buzz. Emily looked at the screen again. You're a prick teasing bitch. Like your Ma. She swallowed at that, her nose wrinkling in an instant. Frustrated, she snapped the thing shut and hurled it at the door, watched as it dented the white paint again and clattered to the floor like it usually did. Emily grunted, she knew all too well that she'd only have to count to five and Natasha would be there.
One. Two. Three. Four-
There it was, that little knock. She didn't have to say anything, Natasha opened the door and peeked her head in the gap, looking curiously for her sister. "You okay?" she ventured shyly, giving Emily a sympathetic smile. Emily shrugged and took a drag of her cigarette, flicking the ash into the dregs of a cold cup of tea.
"Friday night, isn't it?" She let out a sigh, one of annoyance and frustration. She hated this, she hated being stuck here in Belfast. Every weekend passed like this but this one seemed to be bothering her more than usual. "They downstairs?"
Natasha's nostrils flared a little and she blushed. "Lounge. Shagging." Emily glared up to the ceiling dramatically, those two were like animals. "It's gross."
Emily snorted. "Yeah. It is. And they're not even your parents." It was always when she was feeling so low that she took a little dig at Natasha. It was easy, really, to take advantage of her gentle nature. Natasha shifted on her feet awkwardly, looking at the floor.
"Tig's like my Da," she said stalwartly, trying not to let the words sway her, even though it was clear to see that the cruel jibe hurt her. Emily could see the little pout on her sister's face and she sighed, feeling bad. Tapping the space on the bed beside her, she gestured for Natasha to come in and offered her the cigarette for a drag. Natasha barely put it to her lips but just held the thing between her fingers, letting it burn out for a moment. Emily snorted and took it back.
"Don't waste it." She took another thick drag and blew the smoke up into the air. "Sorry. Didn't mean to be shitty. I know you miss your Da, I just-"
"I don't really remember him." Natasha looked down at her bare feet, her toes were perfectly painted and she wiggled them as she dragged them through the carpet. Her gentle brown hair fell in waves down over her shoulders as she tugged her cardigan around her. "It's been a long time. Ma, she shows me pictures sometimes. When Tig's not here, she's always going through them. Photos. But I don't remember him. His voice, his smell." She shook her head. "I don't get it."
Emily laughed as she kicked up her feet onto the dresser. "They all smell like gasoline, leather and beer," she shrugged with a soft smile as she remembered the days in Charming. Growing up around the club had made it easy for the life to be engrained in her mind, Natasha had never been around long enough to know it. "Like the SAMBEL guys, but… oilier."
Natasha chewed on her finger as she thought about it. "I'd like to meet him. Now I'm older, now I understand." She gave Emily a lopsided smile. "He's handsome, my Da. Ma used to love him."
Emily shrugged. "She's been married to Daddy too long to care any more," she muttered callously. "Don't go getting all dreamy, Tash, we go back to Charming, it'll be different now. It's been too long, they're grown ups now." They both winced as they heard a squeal from downstairs followed by the sound of Tig laughing uproariously. "Everything's changed."
The phone on the floor buzzed and Natasha quickly shot up, reaching across to grab it. She lifted it up and scowled as she read it. One last chance, come and play. She handed the phone back to Emily and watched as the older girl coloured as she read it, furious at what she was missing out on. Outraged, Emily stomped out of the room and down the stairs towards the living room, giving it a heavy thud with her boot before she shoved the door open and watched as Nina pulled the blanket from the back of the couch over her body quickly.
"Jesus, Em, you could knock," she frowned, fashioning it into a sort of makeshift dress as she stood up and went to get herself a drink.
"You could, you know, fuck in your own room," Emily spat, irritated. Tig had managed to pull his pants back on and was chuckling as he sat back with a joint, clearly relaxed in the sanctity of his own home. He looked at his daughter with distaste at her language and glanced across at Nina to see if she would take it in hand or he'd have to. When she didn't, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"That's enough," he said. "You want to watch TV or something? It's all yours, we're going to have a beer, go to bed. You kids can have this to yourselves."
Emily crossed her arms, putting her foot down firmly. "No." Nina glanced over at her.
"No?"
Natasha was leaning shyly against the frame of the door now, watching the conversation unfold as Emily grew more and more angry as she stood there.
"No," Emily said furiously. "This is bullshit. Being stuck in here, nothing to do but listen to you two fucking each other like a couple of goddamn teenagers while we just have to what? Rot?" Nina coloured at her language, but Tig was too spaced out to object to it. He was amused by his daughter's fierce little confrontation. "We should be allowed to go out, with our friends, have fun. It's Friday night, we should be allowed to go party."
Tig smiled at that. "Party?" He glanced at Nina with a wry smile. "And what? You want to drink? Smoke? Hook up with boys? Lose your virginity to some shifty idiot around the back of their clubhouse, huh?" He smirked. "Do you even know who you are? What you're worth in this town?"
Emily crossed her arms. "I know if we were still in Charming, we'd be okay."
The back of Tig's neck prickled as she said that word and he sat bolt upright. "Charming? Where have you been getting thoughts about Charming from, hey?" He looked accusingly across at Nina. "You been putting this shit in her head?"
"I haven't said a word!" Nina objected instanatly, flipping him off in annoyance. Even hearing the word made her heart skip a beat. "Emmy, calm down-"
"I'm sick of this," Emily spat. "Being boxed up here, in this house. We're escorted to school, to work, to the goddamn shops for a packet of fags and a bottle of Jack. I'm sick of being locked up like this, I just, I want a normal life. I want to go home." She had never really felt it before, let alone said it, but as soon as the words came out of her mouth, she could see Nina's face softening to the idea. Emily's voice broke just a little as she said it again. "I want to go home."
Tig finally stood up and crossed to her, holding his hand against the back of her head as he leaned her forward and kissed her forehead. "This is home, baby. We get paid to stay. We got a nice life here, haven't we?" he asked, gesturing around. "Nice house, clothes, money, drivers, whatever you want."
Emily could feel her eyes watering as she looked up at him. "I want my freedom, Daddy," she pleaded. "I want to be able to go out, I want to be free to have a life. You can't just make me wait here in this house until you marry me off to someone Uncle Galen likes for me." She could see that Nina's resolve was breaking with every word and she pressed the heel of her palm to her chest. "I'm going to go back to Charming, whether you let me or not." When neither responded, she suddenly reached for Natasha's hand and dragged her into the fray. "And Tash is coming too. She wants to go back. We both do."
"You're not going anywhere, it's not safe," Tig said, his voice a low growl as he said it but Emily stood up to him, fierce as Nina had ever been.
"I'm an adult and I can. And I'll be her guardian, and she can do whatever the hell she wants," she said, indicating Natasha as she held her wrist tightly, not letting her wriggle away. "We're going back, now or on your next trip, whatever it takes but we're going."
Tig blew the air out of his cheeks as he looked at the resolute look in her eyes. Emily wasn't backing down, he could see that, she was as stubborn as her two parents combined - hell, that was exactly what she was. He looked exasperatedly at Nina, this was never a conversation that had arisen but they both knew all too well that it would come, one day. Nina was standing against the bookcase, sipping from a glass of whisky quietly as she chewed over the whole thing. She looked at her two girls, both fully grown now, and she sighed, running her hand through her hair, exposing the glints of silver that kissed her temples now as she did.
After a moment, she put her glass down on the table and crossed to Emily. Putting her arms around her, she pressed a kiss onto her cheek gently and nodded before turning to Tig with the same look in her eyes.
"They should go and see Charming," she murmured softly. "They should go and meet their family." Tig was about to interrupt but Nina shook her head. "You go back all the time, Tig, you're there every three months. None of us have seem them in over a decade. It's time we went back, just for a few days." She padded gently towards him, resting her hand on the buckle of his belt as her thumb ran along the trail of hair from his belly button down towards his groin. She watched as Tig shivered beneath her touch. "What harm could it do, to let them just have a few days of freedom in Nor Cal?"
Tig pursed his lips. "Galen won't like it." Nina smiled at that as she stroked his chin, tickling it a little like a cat and watching as Tig proudly raised his head up.
"I think you've earned your stripes with Galen now," she suggested, curling his hair on her fingertip. "Please, Tig. Let's take them back, just for a while."
Maybe it was the way she was touching him, maybe it was the buzz but Tig groaned out loud and nodded. He looked at Emily accusingly, pointing at her. "Fine. But you keep your legs crossed, you don't let any of those fuckers near you. You think SAMBEL are bad, SAMCRO are worse and I ain't having any of those shitheads touch you, you understand?" Emily wasn't listening, she was already spinning Natasha around and around in circles, excited for the opportunity to get out of Belfast, get out of this shitty little town and see something more. Nina nodded and pushed a kiss onto Tig's lips, grateful, and he gave her ass a slap before motioning upstairs. "And you, Mrs Trager, you can put that pretty mouth to use upstairs when I get back, okay?"
Nina winked as she tossed his shirt at him and motioned for the girls to thank him. Both Natasha and Emily gambolled straight into him, wrapping their arms around him in a hug before Tig waved them off with a laugh.
"Hey, he's got to say yes first," he murmured. "Go pack your shit, I'll sort it out. We can head out tomorrow night, I'll let the boys know we're coming." He watched after Nina with a dark expression as she retreated upstairs as he mused, "I bet they'll just kill to see you."