Stella stood at the bar waiting for them to get out of Church, it was nice to know that some things never changed. Friday night equals church always had been, always will be. She lent against the bar and had the feeling that she was being watched. Stella shook it off, told herself that she was being silly and got back to her drink. She was in fact right, there was someone watching her. Ima. It was Ima's first encounter with the sultry figure and haunting green eyes. Was she a crow eater? And the bigger question. Was she with Jax? Stella quietly stood at the bar and poured herself another drink. Suddenly she felt someone slap her backside as they walked past. She froze for a second. It was an uncommon thing for that to happen in this clubhouse and it shocked her , she didn't know what to do. Stella turned around to see one of the new prospects smirking at her. Her brain was slowly starting to catch up. She quickly grabbed his arm and swung him over to the bar, before slamming the side of his face on to the bar top. The prospect was twice her size and it was only the fact that he was in total shock that Stella could do what she had just done; otherwise she would have had no hope. She pressed his head down on the Bar top before asking
"You're new right?"
"Yeah"
"Let me give you a word of advice. You ever do that again, I will hurt you and if you're stupid enough to do that again in front of the guys, Tig will be the one to kill you. Understood?"
The prospect nodded his head, as much as he could "Yeah"
Stella released him just as the door opened and everybody filed out of church. Opie looked over at Stella and knew something had just gone down, he just didn't know what. He walked over to the bar and smiled at her
"What just happened?
"Oh it was nothing, I just smashed one of the prospects" she told him smiling, as Opie looked at her confused "He slapped my arse"
Opie looked at her shocked and then his face turned too pissed off, very quickly. He turned in the direction of the Prospect with a huge red mark on his face. "Hey, Prospect!"
"It's alright" she said patting Opie's arm "I took care of it"
"Did you use the yellow pages again?"
"Sadly no"
"Glad to have you back" he said hugging her tight. "You okay?"
"I'm getting there, babe. I'm getting there, still hurts"
All the guys filed out of the room and wondered who the hot red head that Opie was hugging actually was. She looked familiar but they all just couldn't place her. She turned around and loved to watch the realisation on all their faces as they figured it out one by one. Stella just smiled. Clay was the first one to see it. He barged past everyone else. He lifted her up in his arms and held her tight, he was glad to see her in one piece. Clay knew she was thirty but to him, Stella would always be that little girl braiding daisies into her hair.
"Glad to see you, Princess" he told her placing her back on the ground "He's a different guy when you're away"
Stella knew that it was Tig that he was talking about. There were many side to her Scarecrow, Stella had been fortunate enough to only seen the good and never the bad. Slowly one by one all the guys walked up to her and gave her a huge hug hello and for the first time in a long time she truly smiled.
She was standing there at the bar with Opie and wrapped in Jax's free arm, the other of course holding a beer. All talking, telling them both stories of her travels, Of course she didn't tell them the full story about her time in Dublin, she certainly left out the name Liam McBride. They didn't need to know about her brief love affair with her Dublin Darling and she hoped that Chibs wouldn't tell them. Some things and some people Stella liked to keep to herself, even from her Scarecrow. Suddenly Stella saw a skinny, blonde giving her a death stare to end all death stares. Stella wasn't sure who she was, but she was pretty sure what her occupation had to be.
"Why is the porn star giving me stink eye?"
Opie looked over his shoulder and smiled when he saw it was Ima. He looked back at Jax and tried not to laugh.
"I don't know. Jackson? What about you? Is there any reason that Ima would be giving Stella stink eye?"
Stella could read between the lines and it was Jax they were talking about. She looked at him in both disgusted and shock before shaking her head
"Dude, I hope you bathed in Dettol afterwards because that's really gross. Jackson, my god!"
Opie tried not to laugh. Jax had been told the truth in a way that only Stella could get away with.
"Dude" Jax said to Opie "You're with Lyla"
"No. No that's different. Lyla classy and that" Stella said pointing to Ima "Ewwww"
"This coming from the woman picks up guys in bars, these days"
"Jackson, your only requirement for sleeping with somebody is that they are wearing a skirt"
Opie couldn't contain himself any longer, he burst out laughing
"Not true" Jax told them
"Man, come on" Opie told Jax in between his laughter
"Jax" Stella told Jax "If you were Female, you'd be Ima"
Gemma looked on without them knowing it of course. She watched Opie and Stella making fun of her son, Jax taking it all in good humour. Suddenly Juice was byStella's side and handed her a pool cue and she just laughed. Suddenly Clay was by Gemma's side.
"What are you looking at?"
"The future"
They looked over to see Juice and Stella using their pool cue as swords against each other. They both laughed because no matter how old they were, someday they were still kids.
"Do you think she'll keep them in line?"
"Clay, she already does"
The game of pool got underway and clearly Juice hadn't gotten the memo that Stella had been working in a pool hall and a bar in Harlan because it was the first game she actually won. Gemma continued to watch all night Stella reminded Gemma so much of herself and she loved how closed Stella and Lyla seemed to be. It reminded Gemma of Luann. Could history really be repeating itself? Gemma hoped that there would be a happier ending the second time around.
Lyla and Stella were up and dancing to Burning down the House as Jax and Opie watched on. Opie looked over at Jax and saw something he never thought he would see. Jax was checking out Stella. Opie frowned and wondered What the Hell?
"Really?"
Jax looked over at him confused "What?"
"Could you let one woman go, Jax? Seriously!"
Jax considered lying about it about he knew that Opie would be able to see through the lies. Jax looked down at the ground, then back up it his friend
"It's not even like that. It's different Ope"
"Since when?" Opie asked protectively.
"Since before Kozik walked back into her life. To her everyone else was just second"
Opie looked over at Jax and then watched the girls for a second. Opie knew a truth that he wasn't sure that Jax had figured out yet. If anything was to happen between Stella and Jackson, he wouldn't be second. Jackson would in fact be third. Tig was always going to be first, no one even questioned that, it was just the way of the world. Kozik was always being to be second, he was always going to be in her heart and her mind. He took Stella's heart she never got it back. Any other man was lucky to come in third. That was the best Jax could do. Opie doubted if his knew that.
"You know that Stella thinks of you as a brother type, right?"
"Ope, I know that it may never happen but I can't ignore it. I've tried, it doesn't work"
They heard the girls laughing and it took them away from the conversation. It was good to see them both smile and too see Stella actually happy. She had come a long way since sitting at the bottom of that pool. They were both dancing around like fools and they didn't care, that what made it so much fun.
Stella woke up on the sofa in the clubhouse, smelling motorcycle grease and stale beer and she was positive that there was a hippo standing on her head and a trapeze act going on in her stomach. She was getting too old to party the way she did the night before.
"Morning" someone said .Stella looked up to see Bobby standing there smiling at her "How are you feeling?"
"Ouch"
"You want some breakfast. Bacon? Eggs?"
"Oh my god, Bobby. Please don't say eggs"
"Pancakes?" Stella smiled at him "Pancakes it is"
He helped her up off the sofa before she made her way over to the bar and sat back down, again. Stella rested her head on the bar top and closed her eyes again. The light didn't hurt as much when her eyes were close. Someone walked behind the bar and brushed her hair with their hand and started to make a drink. Stella didn't open her eyes, there was no need too, and she knew she was safe, she knew it was one of her guys.
"Drink up beautiful" Chibs said placing a glass in front of her. She looked up at the glass; it looked like it was full of fishing bait.
"What's in it?"
"You don't want to know but it will make you feel better"
Stella picked the glass up and tried not to think of how disgusting it looked. She held her nose and chugged it back, trying not to throw up in the process. Once she had finished Chibs past her a glass of water.
"That's gross, really gross"
"You're welcome" he said laughing as Stella rested her head on the bar again. Placing the cold glass of water on her temple and closing her eyes again. Clay walked into the clubhouse and laughed when he saw the state that Stella was in.
"I told you gin was the devils' drink" he called out. Stella sat up quickly, opened her eyes and looked at Clay surprised
"I drank gin, last night?"
"You don't remember? What was the last thing you remember drinking?"
"Scotch, beer and then white rum"
"Then you mainlined the tequila and finished with gin before passing out"
"Did I disgrace myself?"
"Nah!"
Stella still wasn't sure if she should believe him, last night was certainly cloudy. She was dreading what she had to do today, she was dreading were she had to go but she knew there was no escaping it. Stella just had to bite the bullet.
She knew she couldn't avoid it forever but even still when she parked in front of the house that use to be hers, still was hers. She couldn't help but feel a little on edge. There were too many memories between those walls, too many ghosts, but she had to face them sometime. She took a shaky breath before turning off the engine and hopping out of the car. Her heart was beating fast as she walked up the garden path and turned the key to open the door. The place didn't smell stuffy at all but when she saw the kitchen all stocked up with her favourites Stella knew that Gemma had been around. She was always taking care of Stella, without Stella knowing it. Gemma was kind her fairy god mother when it come it things like that. She tired to ignore the heaviness she felt on her shoulders, the past weighting down on her. She walked down the hallway and into the bedroom. She took another deep breath as he walked through the door and sat down on her side of the bed. She closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair, knowing that the hardest part was over. It could only get better from here, right? Suddenly something caught her eye, something shining in the sunlight on her dresser drawers. Something that Stella thought was lost to her. Something she had burnt a long time ago, her engagement ring. She picked it up like it was the most fragile thing in the world and tired to stop her right hand from shaking as she slipped it on her finger.
"I'll found it in the BBQ barrel, right at the bottom" Some ones voice said out in the hallway. Stella looked up to see Gemma walk in and sit next to her "Must have fallen in the right place or been shielded by the right thing because it survived. I had to soak it for a few days to get rid of the muck but I thought you might want it back someday. You always loved it, so much"
"Yeah, he did well"
"I get worried you're only going to remember the bad stuff. I don't want you to forget how much he loved you and Stella he really did"
"Gemma, he tried to kill your son"
"Yeah, he was an idiot but a sweet idiot and you still love him"
"God knows why"
Someone entered the house and called out hello. It was Jax, Stella quickly hide her engagement ring from him before he got into the room. It was clear that he had interrupted something between the girls and he didn't want to know what about.
"Hey" Stella said with a smile
"Got some bad news"
"Is it Alex?" she asked panicked.
"No he's fine. It's Trixie. We can't fix her"
"No Jax you have to fix her. I've had that car since I was sixteen. She's been my only car, you can fix her"
"Stella, how many times have you driven that car across the country?"
"Fair few"
"Exactly. She's dead" he tried not to laugh at her cuteness when frowned and pouted at him " Tig's looking into a Mustang for you. It's black and shiny"
"Don't patronise me because a girl" she told him laughing
"Fine, it has a really big engine and can do really good burn outs"
"Now we're talking" she said before throwing a pillow at him. Gemma watched the interaction between the two. Clearly Jax still had feeling for her, even though he refused to admit it to his mother, anymore. Stella still had no clue but then again she wouldn't know to look out for it either. She was in the dark and that's how Jax liked it. Stella was going to be shocked to her core, when she found out the truth
