A/N: Thank you so much for the story alerts and review, I'm glad you all found the opening chapter interesting enough to want to read more, and hope you continue to enjoy. One thing I've changed in the SOA world - which of course belongs to Kurt Sutter and not me - is that in my story, Tara did not read the letters from JT to Maureen.

The next morning found Tara alone in the T-M offices. She wasn't sure how it happened, and she wasn't entirely pleased by the prospect. Of course she was willing to help; it would just have been nice to get some warning about it. She felt a little guilty about being so irritated because she knew the mechanics were really feeling pressure about the loss of six of their coworkers. Granted, not all of them were always constantly working. There was usually a fair amount of downtime at T-M, needed to be for whenever one of the SAMCRO patches needed to take care of club business instead. But being so short-handed meant not only was there no downtime, but that the guys were already getting stressed out about it. Not too mention that Tara was a little uncertain handling some of the calls, not being accustomed to figuring out how much time would be needed for most of the jobs. She was worried that the guys were going to be pissed at her, mad that she was creating backlogs for them when yet another person walked into the office.

'Hi, can I help you?' she tried to be friendly and positive.

'Hope so. Came out of my hotel room this morning to find a big puddle under my car. Think it's anti-freeze, but not sure or what caused the leak. How long until someone can take a look at it for me?'

Tara sighed. 'I'm just not sure. Probably a couple hours. Do you need to be leaving right away; you said you were staying in a hotel?'

'No, not really. Kinda drifting at the moment, looking for a new home. Which is difficult when you don't have a clue where you want to settle or what you want to do,' the pretty redhead confided with a laugh.

'I bet,' Tara found herself laughing a little too. 'Tell you what; why don't you leave the car here for now? I'll try to get one of the guys to look at it as soon as possible. In the meantime I can call you a cab if you want to go back to the hotel. Or if you have anywhere you need to be in the next hour or so?'

'I'm free and aimless. Had planned on finding a place to get some coffee and maybe snag some wi-fi so I could check out employment ads, and places to rent. You know, maybe answer the whole 'is this where I want to live and if so is there a job that will let me live here' dilemma. If I can have a cup of coffee and wi-fi I can settle in right here for now.'

'Sure you're welcome to coffee, help yourself to a donut or bagel too if you'd like. I think Juice has the place set up to enable wi-fi connections. What kind of job are you looking for?' I'm Tara, by the way.'

'Courtney, nice to meet you,' the redhead tossed a smile over her shoulder as she added two creams and a sugar to her coffee. 'Um, I don't know exactly; just have been stopping in random towns when I don't feel like driving anymore and comparing what jobs/salaries are available to the local cost of living. Not the best game plan, I know. I just had to make a change in my life and I'm trusting in the Universe that when I find the place to be, I'll know.'

Tara laughed softly. 'I actually kind of know what you mean. Hey, you don't happen to have any experience running a garage or any kind of business, do you? We're looking for an office manager. Probably not a permanent position, but a good 6 months at least, maybe longer. Pays not that great, benefits are worse, and the guys are all pretty crude. But it would be steady work. Minimum 40 hours a week, could be more than that if you want.'

'Yeah? I have office experience. Not for an auto repair shop though. But I've managed a couple businesses before. And no offense, but I'm pretty sure I could figure out a way to organize some of this paperwork that's floating around and have it filed away in within an hour.'

'Really? 'Cause Gemma's system might work for her but it drives me crazy. I can't stand the lack of order in this office.'

Courtney smiled. 'Ah, so you're just helping out? Not really your job?'

'No, I'm a pediatric surgeon at St. Thomas, the local hospital. My fiancé's Mother and step-father own Teller-Morrow. I'm just helping out.'

'Ah, so Gemma the soon-to-be evil step-mother?,' Courtney winked.

Tara's laugh rang out, causing Opie, Chibs, Kozik, and Piney all to take a brief look over to see who was making Jax's girl laugh like that. 'Sometimes. It's complicated.'

'Complicated,' the other woman sighed. 'I get complicated. Not your complicated probably, but complicated. Well, I guess maybe you should give me all the details of this office manager position.'

And so ten minutes later, Courtney found herself in the passenger seat of Tara's car. Being driven to Gemma Teller's house to interview for the position of Office Manager at Teller-Morrow. Because Gemma Teller was under house arrest for killing another woman in self-defense and then leaving the country and jumping bail, so therefore couldn't conduct an interview onsite. And Gemma's husband, and her son (Tara's fiancé), as well as 4 other men who worked as mechanics for Teller-Morrow had just been shipped off to Stockton prison to serve a 3 year (14 months with good behavior) sentence for some kind of federal gun charges. And they were all part of some kind of motorcycle club that had a clubhouse on Teller-Morrow property, but wasn't actually part of the garage, even though all the members of the club were employed by T-M. Although not all the mechanics were members of the club. Courtney was a little confused by the whole thing and wasn't even sure how it came to be that she was considering this job possibility. But she liked the brunette doctor from the moment she'd walked into the T-M office. And she had to believe there was some significance in the fact that she ended up randomly at some garage, talking about needing a job when there was a job she was qualified for available at that garage. Overqualified in some aspects. Underqualified in others. And both she and Tara figured that meant she was perfect for the position.

'Don't let Gemma sense fear. Be confident. Don't bullshit her. Gemma can smell nervousness like a shark smells blood. But if you can hold your own and not let her push you around, she'll respect that. T-M is almost like one of her babies. I don't think anyone else has ever really run the office before, it's always been Gemma, John before he died, and Clay. I did some work back in high school, over breaks and stuff. Piney and Chucky lend a hand these days, but it's really all Gemma the last 15 years or so. She's tough but if she likes you, you're gold.'

'It's just a job interview, right? I'm roaming the West coast, looking for where I'm supposed to be. If this doesn't work out, if Gemma and I don't click, I'll just be moving on to the next job interview; the next town.'

Tara nodded thoughtfully as the door opened. 'Hey Gemma, this is Courtney James. Courtney, this is Gemma Teller.'

'Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Teller.'

'Gemma.', she replied shaking the proffered hand briskly while looking over the woman casually dressed in beige linen slacks, an emerald green tank top, and a long-sleeve beige linen shirt. 'Tara, Abel needs a bath. Why don't you take care of him while I deal with Ms. James?'

'Sure thing, Gemma. How is he?'

'Fine. Slept through the night. Ate a big breakfast. He's a good boy.'

'Yes he is.'

'Courtney, have a seat and tell me why you think you could run Teller-Morrow garage while Clay, Jax, and I are unable to?'

And so began the interview. Gemma was her usual blunt self, trying to get a sense of the other woman's moral code and boundaries without really giving away anything about SAMCRO. Although the garage was a totally separate entity from the club, there was no way to be certain that ATF or some other law enforcement agency wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of the situation to plant a spy in the garage aspect of things. Gemma wanted to be suspicious of this young woman who happened to show up, needing a job, at exactly the right time, but the more she talked to Courtney the more she liked her and thought she'd be a perfect fit. Smart enough to be able to handle running the garage with a fairly easy transition. But ignorant enough about the MC life to not go poking around in the club's business. Hopefully. After twenty minutes, Gemma decided to offer the younger woman the job. It was a risk, the ad hadn't even been placed to run yet and a better candidate could show up. But if Courtney agreed, they could begin going over things immediately and hopefully have the office aspect running fairly smoothly within a few days. Courtney wanted a chance to think it over, and take a look at housing options before she made a final decision, so it was decided if she wanted the job she should return to Gemma's 24 hours later to begin her training. If she didn't show up, the ad would go live. Tara and Courtney headed back to the garage.

'What do you think? Sound like something you want to do?'

'I think maybe yes,' Courtney said thoughtfully. 'Need to check out a few things, like I told Gemma. But the job sounds like it would be interesting and a chance to learn a new business. Guess what I really need to find out is if the money Gemma offered would allow me to find a decent place to live and replenish my savings a bit after having lived off it the past month.'

'I have a house you could rent. I came back to Charming after my Dad died; to take care of his estate, including doing something with his house. And I haven't done anything with it really. Packed some shit and that's about it. I live at Jax's; I guess it's our place now. I've been trying to decide if I should rent or try to sell. I could have it emptied out by the weekend for you to move in; do you want to check it out? Nothing fancy. 2 bedrooms, 1 bath. Big living room; small dining room. Nice yard with a deck, fire pit, screened porch, garage. It's paid for; I'd just need enough rent to cover insurance and property tax really. Not looking to make money off it, especially from a friend, just want to break even. Not that we're friends, we just met, but I think we could be friends,' Tara ended awkwardly.

'Sounds great, I don't need a lot of space. Let's take a look. And if I stay in Charming, I could totally see us becoming friends. It's weird, but I feel like I've known you for a long time. Not to be a total cheese ball or anything…'

'Yeah, me too. Here we are,' Tara pulled into the driveway of her childhood home, the place where Kohn had died and she and Jax had rekindled their relationship.

'It's kinda cute,' Courtney responded. 'A few planters of flowers, maybe some solar lights and the yard would be amazing.'

Armed with the hourly wage Gemma was offering for working at T-M garage, and the layout of the Knowles' house along with the money Tara would want to charge for her to live there, Courtney was quiet on the drive back to the garage. She was running numbers in her mind, knowing that she would be unlikely to find such a great housing deal anywhere. Ever again. Not to mention that she felt the money being offered for the T-M position was decent for what the job seemed to entail. Of course she had a feeling the job was going to be much more complicated than what she was expecting. No matter how many times people spouted the 'motorcycle enthusiast' line at her, Courtney was pretty sure this was one of those Hell's Angels type clubs made of guys who would as soon kill her as look at her if she said or did the wrong thing. And some of them were the same guys who were T-M mechanics, the very same men she would be handing slips of paper telling them to change oil on some Ford or whatever. Courtney found herself torn between knowing this was a great opportunity for her to figure out what to do with her life, and fearing that getting involved with these people might be a very bad thing.

'Tara, I need to ask you something?'

'Go ahead,' Tara heard the hesitation in the other woman's voice.

'This motorcycle club the mechanics belong to, it's a little more than just a bunch of guys who like to ride and hang out together, isn't it? I mean, I get why everyone seems to be portraying it to me, someone who doesn't even live here as something…casual. But I have a little trouble believing that's all there is to it when there are all these other guys who are part of the club doing time in prison. And I am seriously wanting to accept this job and rent your house and make Charming my new home, but I'd also kind of like to know ahead of time if I'm getting into something that could get me arrested or killed.'

Tara was quiet for a minute then pulled into the diner's parking lot where she stopped the car and turned in her seat to face Courtney. 'I can't tell you much, I'm sorry. You're right, you're an outsider. And it doesn't have anything to do with not being from Charming, it has to do with being outside the club. Teller-Morrow is what it appears to be, it's an auto-repair business. All legal and not a front for anything else, just a garage that employees a bunch of men who are part of SAMCRO. Not all of them, but a lot of them. And SAMCRO is a bit more than a casual group. They're a family; they have their own rules and code of conduct. Some of it may be a bit outside the law, but I promise T-M isn't part of that world at all. If you take the job, I'm sure Gemma will fill you in on what she thinks you need to know but you're safe to work there. You seem like a really nice person, and I wouldn't have said anything to you about the job if I didn't think it was appropriate, but the guys really do work hard to keep T-M as straight as it can be. That's actually an important part of Gemma's job, making sure everything is up to code and licenses are current and all that legal stuff is taken care of. As far as your safety, the club works really hard to keep their shit out of Charming. And one thing about these guys, they will do anything to protect their own. You wouldn't be part of the club, but working for the shop would put you under the umbrella of SAMCRO protection if something would come down.'

It was Courtney's turn to sit quietly for a moment as she tried to make sense of what Tara was saying without saying. 'I'm not sure if you've made me feel better or worse. I somehow know more, yet less, than I did before. And gotta be honest; I don't think my imagination filling in the gaps is a good thing.'

'You know what, I don't care what Gemma thinks. If you were from Charming you'd know about SAMCRO. And if you live here, even if you don't take the job but find one somewhere else, you'll hear the stories. I'd rather you hear that from me. I won't tell you club secrets, but I'll tell you the stuff that's general knowledge. Why don't we grab some lunch and we'll go back to T-M and eat at one of the picnic tables, they're far enough away from anything we can have some privacy while I'm available if something comes up where I need to help out.'

'Yeah, okay. Sounds good, Tara. Thanks.'

Half an hour later, the two young women had their food spread out on the table farthest from the garage. The clubhouse was dead, with all the Sons, prospects, and hangarounds working hard there was no reason for croweaters to be hanging around in the daytime. Tara gave a succinct but detailed breakdown on the history of SAMCRO. She went all out, giving out as much information about recent misfortune that she knew had been in the papers. Kip's murder at Cameron Hayes' hand, Abel's kidnapping. The drive-by at Kip's wake, resulting in her friend, Deputy Chief David Hale's death. The kidnapping of herself and Margaret Murphy. The fact that she killed Luisa in self-defense while trying to escape. That Jax had killed the man who had kidnapped them, when Salazar attacked him with a fire ax. Gemma's legal woes, as well as the incident that had landed the boys in prison had already been covered by Gemma. All of this information was definitely public knowledge and well-documented. But Tara was able to tell more than the news told. She recounted her terror when Cammy Hayes, a man whose life she had saved only a couple months before, threatened her and Half-sack with first a gun then a knife. The fear that she was going to see Jax's son, a baby she had also helped save with her surgical skill, murdered in front of her. The brave prospect, a young man who had lost a testicle in service to his country fighting a war against terrorists in a sandy desert halfway across the world, who had given his life to save Abel, Tara, and her unborn baby. How guilty she felt for not doing more to stop Hayes from taking Abel. How the club had pulled together and risked everything to find Abel and bring him home. She talked about croweaters and sweetbutts. Luanne and the porn studio had to be mentioned.

It wasn't a pretty story, Tara knew that. She'd left Charming and SAMCRO 10 years earlier because it was the kind of stuff she feared happening, the life she thought she didn't want to lead. But Jax was in her blood, and she was now tied to him permanently. She'd made her final peace with being his old lady the moment she'd agreed to be the one to drive Jimmy O, tied up and in the trunk of her car, back to the clubhouse. She knew everything now, for her and Jax there were no more secrets. Hearing her own voice recount the horrible shit that had happened over the last year, Tara wondered once again how this had not only become her life, but actually sound almost normal. She fell silent, she'd told all she could and the rest was up to Courtney.

Courtney listened to Tara in growing disbelief. The history of the founding of SAMCRO, how the club kept getting larger and expanded into different charters was interesting. The structure of each charter was also interesting, with the idea of Presidents, VPs, Sergeant at Arms, Treasurers, and meetings that were required attendance. Votes that had to be unanimous among all patched members. How they considered themselves to be brothers, and although they were obviously closer to members of their own charter, anyone with a Reaper cut and SAMCRO rocker was instantly trusted family. She wasn't the smartest person on the planet, but Courtney had already figured out that the SAMCRO guys weren't the most respectable guys on the planet just based on the fact that six of them were doing time for gun possession. But hearing about murders and kidnappings, and kidnappings, and murders and drive-by shootings had her freaked out.

Courtney looked at Tara, her face as neutral as possible. 'No offense, but multiple murders, kidnappings, and a drive-by at a wake… that's keeping shit out of Charming? What would be happening if all the shit was going on here?'

'I know, it sounds really bad. It is really bad. Was really bad. There was this ATF agent, June Stahl,' Tara decided to go all in and for the first time tell someone the story she, Jax, Opie, and Koz (who Tara had recently discovered was a lot smarter than he was given credit for, generally content to be seen as brawn, quietly using his brains behind the scenes) had concocted to explain as much of the gun and kidnapping business as possible. 'Agent Stahl was trying to shut-down a gun smuggling operation funded by the True IRA. Cameron Hayes was working for a man named Jimmy O'Phelan, and they were part of this group. Stahl thought SAMCRO was working with the Irish because one of the founding nine, McGee, is from Belfast, although she had absolutely no evidence to prove her suspicions. Cameron and his son Edmund made a mistake though, and Stahl was able to get Eddie to turn rat on his Dad, Jimmy O, and the rest of the Irish. I'm still a little unclear of all the details, but somehow Gemma ended up at Haye's place where Eddie's girlfriend tried to shoot her. Gemma fired back, killing Polly before she was killed. Somewhere in all of this, Stahl's partner, Agent Tyler, was punched by Edmund and she shot and killed him as he was trying to escape. God knows why, but Tyler blamed both killings on Gemma, so when Stahl reported over the radio that Gemma had killed Eddie Hayes, Cameron heard and that's when he came to our house, killed the prospect, tied me up and took Abel. He fled to Belfast, where the Irish took him out for screwing things up with ATF, for killing Kip, and kidnapping Abel. That's why Gemma fled custody and left the country, she went with the guys to find Abel and bring him home. The truth came out about how Polly and Eddie were really killed, so all the murder charges were dropped, and so Gemma's only on house arrest for jumping bail or fleeing jurisdiction, I don't remember what they settled on. Jimmy O'Phelan came back to the US, the Irish wanted to kill him for his part in the whole situation with Hayes, the ATF, and getting SAMCRO mixed up in the investigation. He made a mistake and ATF arrested him. Somehow the True IRA got wind of it, set up an ambush and killed both Jimmy and Agent Stahl. Since then things have been quiet. And should stay that way. The IRA/ATF shit is all over with. SAMCRO can go back to fixing cars and making sure that drugs and violence stay out of Charming instead of getting involved in other peoples' crap.' And that was that. Either the story would scare Courtney out of town, or she'd know exactly what the club wanted her to know about that situation.

'I see. Seriously, a federal agent lied about shooting an informant and framed an innocent woman? Why would she do that?'

Tara shrugged, interested that this was the first bit of the story Courtney asked about. 'Not completely sure. Tyler was shot and died when Jax, Jacob Hale, and I were being rescued from Salazar. Gemma had already made a statement to the US Attorney as to what Tyler had done, and as Tyler was dying she confessed to Stahl that Gemma had told the truth, Tyler had lied trying to save the case Stahl was building against Cameron, Jimmy O. Turns out Agents Tyler and Stahl were in a relationship, and she was just trying to protect her lover's career or something.'

'Jesus. Wow. What a crazy story. I still don't understand your kidnapping though.'

'That's another long story. Short version; Salazar was trying to impress the leader of a big Mexican club so he and his crew decided to do a drive-by at the wake. And help smuggle Heroin through Charming from Lodi to Stockton. Both things were big mistakes, turned the Mayans against the guy instead of building up his cred. Found out Jax and most of the club was gone, decided to take out his anger on me since for whatever reason he decided to blame Jax for his own stupidity. I know, it all sounds so crazy and bad and violent. But like I said before, the garage is a separate entity from SAMCRO. Garage business is garage business. Club business goes to the clubhouse.'

'But how is that even completely possible if the mechanics are the club?'

'Work is work and club is club. If any of the guys are working and something comes up they need to do for club business, they leave the garage.'

Courtney sighed. 'I don't know, Tara. The more you tell me, the worse it all seems. You're a doctor, how are you so comfortable with all this? Especially after having your life in serious jeopardy two times because of it.'

Three times, Tara thought to herself, remembering the situation with Kohn that only she and Jax knew about. 'Work is work, club is club. Jax and I have been in love since we were kids. I left Charming after high school because I wanted more out of life than SAMCRO. I came back because there was a void in my life and I knew only Jax could help fill it. I still struggle with aspects of it. Being an old lady is hard. Being the VP's old lady is even harder. I hate the croweaters and sweetbutts and strippers and all that. I hate the mistrust and assumptions of evil that go along with the preconceived notions of being part of a motorcycle club. But I love Jax. I love Abel. I love our unborn baby. God help me, I've even come to love Gemma again,' Tara laughed.

'Yeah?' came the puzzled response.

'My mom died when I was eight. Jax and I became friends in like 4th grade, and Gemma kinda became my surrogate Mom. She hated me when I left town. Because not only did I leave town and break her baby's heart, but I tried to take him with me. When I came back, let's just say it took a long time to get back on her good side. Not dying to protect Abel from being kidnapped set us back a bit, but then when she realized I was pregnant and that's why I didn't fight Cameron, well that helped.'

'How far along are you?'

'About 9 weeks. Haven't really told many people yet. Wouldn't have told Gemma but she figured it out. Jax and Clay know. Lyla, Opie's girlfriend, she knows. I think Jax told Opie, but don't think the rest of the club knows.'

'Congratulations. I won't tell anyone, of course. Think we can find out what's going on with my car? I'd like to go back to the hotel and think things through a bit more.'

'Sure. Let me give you my cell number so you can call if you have any more questions', Tara said as they started walking to the garage. 'Hey Koz, you guys have a chance to work on Courtney's car yet?'

The handsome blond came jogging over, giving the pretty redhead his best smile. 'Yeah, I'm sorry the news isn't the best. You have a cracked head, need to get it replaced. I'm surprised it even got you here. We don't have the part in stock here, but I called over to Jimmy's in Lodi, and they actually have one available. If you want us to do the work, I'll head over there now and pick it up. Won't be back in time to get it done today, but should have it ready tomorrow afternoon. Sorry.'

'How much is this going to cost?'

'Probably around $1500. Haven't had a chance to work out an invoice on it yet, just finished looking it over when Tara called me over. Everything else looks great. You take good care of your vehicle, Courtney.'

'Thanks. $1500, huh? So much for a simple leaky radiator,' Courtney sighed.

'You take the job, employee discount'll knock it down to parts,' Tara offered.

Koz raised his eyebrows as Courtney snorted. 'Please tell me you didn't have him make up a more expensive problem to get me to say yes'.

'Job?' Koz asked. 'Are you a mechanic or something?'

'Or something,' Courtney laughed. 'Tara here is trying to talk me into taking over as Office Manager.'

'You should totally do it,' Koz instantly agreed. 'Piney and Chucky both have terrible handwriting, I mean I know Chucky can't help it and all, but figuring out their work orders takes longer than the damn repairs do.'

'How do you know my handwriting is any better?'

'You look like you would have nice penmanship. And you're definitely nicer to look at than either one of them. No offense Tara, you're really pretty but you're Jax's old lady so I can't really enjoy the view.'

Tara and Courtney exchanged looks before collapsing against each other in a fit of laughter. Once again, work at Teller-Morrow came to a standstill as the mechanics looked around to see what the laughter was all about. Koz folded his arms across his chest, watching them with a grin on his face, enjoying that both women were laughing completely uninhibited. Tara had been through so much, Koz still felt guilty he hadn't been able to free her and Margaret Murphy from Salazar any sooner, and it did him good to see her laugh and look happy. The new girl, Courtney, also had looked overly serious earlier, Koz had thought. He didn't know her, but it was nice to see her laughing too. She really was pretty in a totally natural and carefree way. Not all dyed hair, fake boobs, and plastered on makeup like the croweaters and sweetbutts. When they were all that was around, they looked good. But then you see a couple of real women like Tara and Courtney, and you realize how old and tired the other women looked.

'Way to scare her off with sexual harassment before she even takes the job, Kozik.'

'That was no sexual harassment, Doc. That was a statement of fact,' he winked. 'Can't blame a guy for noticing pretty girls. But I apologize if I made either of you feel uncomfortable.'

'Not a problem, and thank you for the compliment, Kozik. You're kinda pretty too. In a manly way, of course.'

This time, Koz's deeper laugh joined the women's. Piney watched closely. Tara already seemed close to this young woman, and Tara was Jax's old lady. If this Courtney and Tara became friends, and then Kozik was interested in her and they became a couple… Well then by the time the other Sons got out of prison, Koz would be closer to Jax, Opie, and their old ladies. Maybe even have an old lady who was their friend too. Then maybe that bastard Tig would finally get his punishment for killing Donna. Kozik may not be completely comfortable with having been voted in without Tig being able to keep him out, but Piney was going to make damn sure the blond stayed in the Charming charter no matter what happened in 14 months. Clay's hands would probably be unable to grip the throttle, unless he was allowed to get his cortisone shots while in prison. That would mean Clay would no longer be President, Jax would take over. And Opie would likely become his VP. Jax wouldn't be obligated to keep on Tig as Sergeant at Arms, and Tig would still be unable to ride or vote for another 10 months after getting out of Stockton. Koz had been Tacoma's Sergeant at Arms for almost 10 years. There was no reason why he couldn't keep that patch in Charming, serving under Jax. And if Tig Trager didn't like that, he could find a new charter to destroy as far as Piney was concerned. In normal times, he wasn't sure where Chibs would stand if it came down to Clay/Tig or Jax/Opie/Kozik. But he knew Chibs felt close to the young VP, and Piney was going to do everything in his power over the next 14 months to strengthen the bond between the Scot, his son, and Kozik so that if it came down to a vote, Chibs would side with them. Of course, the 6 on the inside would be bonding too. He was pretty sure Juice would vote with Clay and Tig, unless Tig pulled something behind bars that would make Juice want to vote against him. Bobby would do what he thought was best for the club, and if they returned to find Kozik solidly united with Opie, there was a chance he'd put his weight behind the two of them and Jax. Happy was a complete unknown. He was loyal to the club, and would probably do whatever the President wanted. It wouldn't matter to him much if that President was Clay or Jax, as long as one was clearly in charge. Happy and Koz had been very close in Tacoma, so Piney suspected that would give him a bit of an edge if there was any confusion or dissension about who was in charge. He'd wanted to kill Clay and Tig after finding out they were responsible for Donna's murder. He still wanted them dead. But he'd settle for Clay being stripped of his President's patch. And Tig stripped of his SaA patch, replaced by the man he hated, would probably be a better revenge than death, Piney decided as he made his way to the laughing trio.

'Hey, Kozik. I think there's still about 4 cars needing repair with your name on them, so think you can leave the tea party now? He bothering you, Sweetheart?'

The words 'tea party' sent the other three back into peals of laughter. Tara had tears running down her face. Courtney was doubled over, gasping for breath. Koz's belly laugh settled into chuckles as he read the speculative look in Piney's eyes. Koz wasn't exactly sure what had happened to make it so, but he was very aware the older man absolutely hated Tig. And he could tell there was coldness between him and Clay as well. Opie hid it better, but tension between him, Tig, and Clay was also obvious. And Kozik was well-aware Jax had been hours away from being a Nomad before Gemma broke the news about her rape and led him back into the Charming fold. He wasn't exactly sure what was going on in the old man's head right now, but it was obvious Piney's wheels were turning.

'Sorry Piney. I was just breaking the news to Courtney here that her head gasket needed replacing and I'd have to go to Lodi to get the part. And an estimate for the cost.'

Piney rolled his eyes. 'Right, that's what's got you all laughing like that. Don't know that we can afford to let you head to Lodi right now, kid. We're already so far behind we'll never get all these jobs done today. I'll send Miles instead. We can afford to lose him for a couple hours, but not you.'

'A'ight. Nice chatting with you, Courtney, Tara.'

'Nice meeting you, Kozik,' Courtney grinned. 'Sorry if I disrupted your work place, Piney.'

'Not a problem, really,' he replied gruffly. 'Good to hear some laughter, to be honest. Just gotta keep the kid on his toes, you know? So. You gonna save me from all this paperwork or what?'

'Not really sure yet,' Courtney answered as the three made their way to the office. 'I have a lot to think about before I make my decision. Gemma gave me until 10 tomorrow morning. I should probably get back to the hotel and figure things out.'

'Give me a few minutes to check things out and I'll give you a ride,' Tara offered.

'I think I'm going to walk. It's not that far, probably about a mile, right? But if I do decide to accept the offer, I might need a ride to Gemma's in the morning. Charming's a pretty small town, you guys even have cab service? Or a bus?'

'There's a cab. If you call now you should be able to reserve it for the morning. Or call here. Someone can run you over there, no problem.'

'I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, and I'll see you tomorrow. For my car if nothing else,' Courtney clarified.

'Bye Courtney.'

Piney waited until he was sure Courtney was out of ear shot. 'What do you think? She gonna take it? Seems pretty smart to me.'

'Yeah, I think Courtney is smart, and she'd be able to handle things pretty well. The office anyway. Had to tell her a bit about the troubles we've had with ATF, the Irish, Salazar. Told her the version Jax, Opie, Koz, and I came up with to tell people our side. That might keep her from taking the job.'

'Hell. Couldn't it have waited?'

'Maybe. But what if I'd lied when she asked me about the club? It's not like all the shit isn't in the papers or anything. Gemma's on house arrest and over half our mechanics are in prison because of gun charges, things she knows already. If I'd sugar-coated stuff too much, and she googled Charming…then even if she took the job she'd walk out, you know. Thankfully the garage has always been clean of club business, and no matter how much she searches the 'net, she's not going to find anything bad. Even if she starts asking questions in town, people might bad mouth SAMCRO, but most everyone still brings their vehicles to T-M because they know our mechanics are the best, and they'll get a fair bill for honest work.'

'Okay, I get it. Seems like you two are already friends. Was Koz hitting on her?'

'I like her. And yeah, there was definitely some flirting going on, but that's it. She's pretty. Koz is a nice-looking guy. He's a different person when Tig's not around.'

'Aren't we all, Sweetheart?'

Tara watched Piney walk outside, a thoughtful expression on her face. She didn't know what had happened to cause the rift between Piney, Clay, and Tig. Opie also had issues with Clay and Tig, he just hid it better. And Tara was pretty sure it was the same thing that had led to the tension between Jax and Clay, and Jax's decision to go Nomad. And now she couldn't help but think that with Tig tucked away in prison and Kozik back in the Charming charter, Piney was plotting a way to prevent Tig from returning to his SaA position in the club once he was released from prison. Tara knew it had been Piney pushing to rush the vote to get Kozik back in during Lorca's brief visit to Charming. The plan really had been for Lorca to sit down with Opie, Piney, Chibs, and Kozik to discuss options. Jury had planned on sending over a couple guys from Indian Wells, who were interested in seeing how things worked in the Mother Charter and they would have probably been voted in to make the quorum. Kozik was reluctant to go behind Tig's back for whatever reason, but somehow Piney had convinced Chibs it was the best play, which had led Opie to agree with the idea. Lorca put his weight behind them, and there was Kozik, now sporting Redwood Original and California patches in place of Tacoma. Tara, if anyone had asked, which they wouldn't, she personally preferred Kozik to Tig any day. She knew what kind of things a SAMCRO SaA had to do, even worse than the other guys, except maybe for Happy who was basically an assassin. But Tig was creepy. She had seen another side to him during the whole situation with Gemma's Dad and the dead caretaker, and even though he'd been helpful, the man still gave off the creepiest energy Tara had ever encountered. Kozik might be just as bad as Tig in some ways, but the guy was generally cheerful and upbeat. And he had a good head on his shoulders. If he'd stayed in the Army, he'd probably be rising through the ranks, Tara suspected. She found it interesting how many club members had spent time in the armed services. Then the phone started ringing, and her quiet time to think disappeared.