Colleen Trager nee Warren
Summary: Colleen deals with her drunk best friend, and maybe finds something she'd been looking for.

The party was obviously the party of the century, and it was rapidly becoming more and more so. It had taken weeks to plan it, and even longer to put it together. Colleen can't remember how many nights she stayed up with her best friends making snacks, or how many hours she sat with them on the phone - calling everyone on the Sons of Anarchy roster, and then some. But it had to be grandeur. It had to be absolutely perfect - there was no way that anyone would settle for anything less.

After all - it was the President's birthday.

Of course, Clay couldn't have known about it until the day came. No, Gemma was very adamant that the party remained a surprise. Clay hated for people to do things for him - it made him feel weak, she said. She had forced everyone into secrecy with a few favors and more than a few threats.

And all of their hard work paid off. When Clay had walked through the arch, and the literal hundred of Sons of Anarchy affiliates had jumped out of the shadows, yelling surprise at the top of their lungs - the look on his face had been absolutely worth it.

Now, the party was in full swing. Half-naked sweetbutts dance on the bar, moving their hips to the loud music and shaking their breasts in the faces of the drooling bikers. Hang arounds move through the crowd - for once, they're not sitting on their asses, drinking beers, and flirting with random whores - offering beers to anyone with an empty hand and making sure everyone knew that there was an abundance of food outside on the grill. Piney and a sleazy, younger guy by the name of Tig battle Gemma and Luann at a game of pool - although it's not much of a challenge. Piney and Tig are significantly more sober than the other girls, and definitely more about their wits.

Colleen watches fondly as Gemma knocks back another shot and goes to line up her cue. It's hilarious to witness the nineteen-year-old be so absolutely shit-faced, especially since she's trying to remain as serious and sober looking as possible.

Of course, Gemma misses the ball completely when she goes to take the shot. She's not angry about it either - she steps away from the pool table, giggling like a madman. Sighing, Colleen pushes off of the bar - where she'd been leaning and watching from afar - and heads over to where her friends are.

"Okay, Gem, let's go find Clay," she coos, taking the pool cue and handing it to Piney. The sleazy one, Tig, watches her with mild amusement as she wraps her arms around the girl's shoulder.

"N-no," Gemma stutters, clutching her best friends shirt. She pulls down on the neckline of Colleen's blouse - forcing the older girl to show much more cleavage than the shirt is intended - and sways unsteadily on her heels. "I'm good! I'm okay, let's do more shots."

"I think you should listen to your friend, sweetheart," Piney chuckles. "'Fore Tig here plays you into debt."

Gemma turns and sticks her tongue out at Piney, who rolls his eyes. Colleen groans and tries to remove her friends grasp on her blouse, but Gemma's grip is deadly.

"Go, Gem," Luann slurs. She's drunk, but not quite as messed up as their younger friend. She's still able to play coherently, which proves that she's better at holding her liquor. Colleen talks that up to years of porn premiere parties and simple teenage partying. "Go find Clay."

"Wha' 'bou tha game?" Gemma asks, gesturing wildly to the pool table. Now it's Luann's turn to roll her eyes, and she looks between Piney, Tig and her drunk best friend.

"Piney and I can play one-on-one," she announces. "Tig, you should go help Colleen find Clay."

Colleen groans loudly at the pornstar's words, not wanting anything to do with the sleazebag that was Alexander 'Tig' Trager. When she'd first arrived at the Clubhouse on the back of Piney's bike, he'd been a mega-douche to her - assuming that she was going to go around giving it up to any and everybody. It had almost been a year since, and he was still trying to get in her panties. She had never been so absolutely sick to her stomach when it came to a human being.

But, Tig is much stronger than her and can carry Gemma's weight much easier than she can. So, she'll have to make due.

Tig takes Gemma by the arm and slings her over his shoulder, muttering something about 'bitches who can't hold their whiskey'. Colleen glares hard at him, and he shrugs nonchalantly.

Gemma giggles wildly and squeals at the sudden motion, before going unnaturally quiet.

"I swear to god, Gemma. If you vomit on me, I will murder you," Tig growls, when he hears her gagging. Colleen punches the arm that isn't holding her best friend.

"You will do no such thing," she snaps. Now it's Tigs turn to glare at her. Rolling her eyes, Colleen looks around. The Clubhouse is packed - she doesn't spot the curly tendrils of Clay's blonde hair anywhere. "Where'd you last see him?"

"I dunno. Outside, I think. Yeah, he was talking to SAMYORK," Tig nods. "Let's hurry up and find him. I'm not getting puked on by his drunk girlfriend."

Colleen hates to admit it, but she agrees with Tig on that one. She loved Gemma to death, but if the freshly blonde-streaked brunette puked on her, she would have a cow. As much as Colleen hated to admit it, even though she was in-touch with her nature, she loathed to be dirty.

They push through the crowds of people as quickly as they can, and it's almost a breath of fresh air when they finally step outside. Inside it's stuffy and packed with bodies, so the heat was almost sweltering. But outside it's cooler and there's a lot less people.

Tig sets Gemma down as soon as they're outside, and his eyes scan the crowds for Clay. She spots him before Colleen or Tig do, and she quickly stumbles towards him. He's sitting at a table by the bikes, talking to a pretty young redheaded girl and what appears to be her boyfriend.

Colleen and Tig watch as Clay accepts Gemma into his lap. His arms wrap around her waist and his chin rests on his shoulders as she talks animatedly about something or another. It's extremely obvious that she's drunk and babbling unintelligibly, because the redhead and her boyfriend are staring at the couple weirdly, but Clay seems to understand everything leaving her mouth. He hangs onto every word, nodding along and adding input where required.

There's such obvious love in his eyes, too. And despite her inebriation, it's obvious that Gemma loves him too. From the way she leans comfortably into his embrace down to the way she smiles when he's talking.

It takes a long time for Colleen to realize that she's not the only one admiring their relationship.

When she finally snaps out of her awkward staring, she notices that Tig is looking too. Somewhere between where they stand and the pool table, he'd managed to snag a beer, but it's left untouched in his right fist - seeing as he seems to be stuck in some sort of trace. There's this weird faraway look in his blue eyes, and an expression that she doesn't see on his face very often - want.

For the nine months that Colleen had been around, she'd noticed that Tig got handed everything he ever wanted on a silver platter. Pussy? He got it. Money? There was never a shortage of it, between the gun running and the automotive repair shop. Status? He was the goddamned Sgt-at-Arms, of course he had status. He had an empire, and she'd never seen him want for anything.

But watching him watch the Queen and King of SAMCRO, she finally sees a little bit of humbling in him. He wanted someone to love, too. Someone that he could hold in his lap the way Clay held Gemma, and someone that he could kiss breathless the way Otto kissed Luann. He envied what his brothers had and wanted the romance that he hadn't been able to acquire.

And Colleen has to admit - she relates. There had been many a time where she, Gemma and Luann were doing something and one of the girls casually mentioned some cute thing their significant other did and it hurt. There had been an uncountable amount of times when one of the guys grabbed one of her best friends and pulled them in for some passionate kiss - a kiss that wasn't just about putting your lips against another person's, but was about love and a close emotional bond - and Colleen had forced herself to awkwardly look away.

She realizes that she wants what her friends have in the same way that Tig does, and it makes her actually pity him for once.

Sighing - and unable to believe that she was actually showing mercy on this sleazebag - Colleen nudges him with her elbow.

"You want that too, huh?" she asks, nodding in the direction of the couple. Tig stares at the duo for a bit longer before tearing his eyes away and glancing to her.

"It's all I ever want," he admits, toeing the dirt with the tip of his boot. It's the first time she's ever seen him be awkward, and it's - painstakingly yet admittedly - kind of cute. "It's all any solid member wants. A good old lady to cherish, and keep by their side. Someone to be their queen."

"Well, you don't know how to talk to women. You know how to talk to whores, sluts, sweetbutts, and croweaters, and you can't turn a hoe into a housewife," Colleen snorts. Tig chuckles and brings the beer to his mouth - taking a mouthful before quirking his eyebrow for her to continue. "Old ladies aren't called 'ladies' for no reason Tig. You can't talk to a lady the way you've been talking to them."

"So what do you say I do?" he asks. Colleen shrugs, a teasing smile on her lips as she takes the beer bottle from his fingers.

"Act like a man, think like a lady," she says, before sidling back into the Clubhouse.