"Bailey? What are ye doing here?" Bailey frowned at his question.
"What do you mean? You left me that voice mail. I had to see you." Instead of smiling, he was frowning also.
"Ye shouldn't have come." Filip made to close the door and Bailey put out a hand stopping him.
"Don't you dare shut me out Filip. For almost a year I thought you were dead until out of the blue I get a voice mail from you. You didn't call or anything after you disappeared." Filip's shoulders sank as he listened to her words.
"I'm sorry lass. I couldn't contact ye." Sorrow had filled his eyes and Bailey's heart sunk a bit.
"Why not?" She was furious now. They had become friends from the moment he had set foot in the animal hospital with that cat and now he was pushing her away.
"I didn't exactly leave on my own. Jimmy O gave me these scars." Filip took a minute to outline the scars on his face that Bailey hadn't even noticed. "I left so he would think I was dead. I did not want him to go after all I loved."
"I don't even know who Jimmy O is Filip. You never told me much about your life except for Kerrianne and Fiona." Filip almost smacked himself on the forehead as he realized that Bailey didn't know the dangers of Jimmy O and that was his entire fault.
"I'm sorry lass. All ye need to know is that Jimmy O is dangerous. I left to protect ye. If he had ever found ye…" Filip trailed off as disturbing thoughts entered his mind. He knew what Jimmy O could do.
"Well I'm here now, so do you really want me to leave or can I stay for a while?" Filip opened the door wider and Bailey took that as an invitation to walk into the house.
"How long did ye plan on staying for?" Bailey turned and looked at Filip as he asked the question. It was then that she noticed he was wearing a kutte. She had only seen a resemblance of one the first day they met and she never asked about it because he never brought it up himself.
"Not sure yet, I missed you after you left you know." Bailey felt a tear making it to the edge of her eye. She had told herself on the drive over that she would not cry in front of him and now her emotions were betraying her.
"I know ye did lass. Aren't ye curious about the kutte?" Bailey's head snapped up at his question. Of course she was curious, but she would not let herself press him for information.
"Well of course, but if you don't want to tell me you don't have to."
"I'm part of the Sons of Anarchy lass. I was before I met you and they are my brothas and my life."
"I've heard of them. From what I've heard you guys aren't into legal business."
"We are nothing but motorcycle enthusiasts and friends lass. Whatever ye hear is false." Filip practically snarled at her and Bailey took a step back.
"Okay." She couldn't think of anything to say to him. She had traveled all this way because she had thought he was dead up until a couple of weeks ago. He had brought up the kutte and the club and here he was being somewhat nasty.
"So can I stay or not?"
"Ye can stay. I still don't understand why ye came to Charming though."
"I came to Charming because I missed you. I fell apart when you left. I had to see you again."
"I'll show ye to your room lass." Filip took Bailey's bag and led her down the hallway towards the guest bedroom. He always had the bed made with clean sheets in case one of his brothers stopped by for the night. Most of the time that was only when some of the guys from the other charters were in Charming and the club house couldn't fit everyone.
"Thank you Filip."
"You're welcome lass. Get some sleep we can talk more tomorrow." He turned to leave and Bailey caught his arm quick.
"Wait. I need to tell you something before I chicken out. When you left me that voice mail.. Well you have no idea how happy it made me. I had come to realize when I thought you were dead that I had always wanted something more than friendship between us. Well here goes nothing." Bailey murmured the last part more to herself.
"I love you Filip." After Bailey had spoken the words she finally looked up to meet Filip's gaze.
"Bailey…" He trailed off, at a loss for words. Did he love her? He knew part of him did. But there was still a part that would not let him forget Fiona. After he had met Bailey the first time he knew pursuing a friendship with her would be a challenge. She had been so nice and caring when he had brought that cat. He had known from that moment if he had gotten to know here he would fall for her.
Tears had started to well up in Bailey's eyes as she watched him stand there just staring off into space. She had read and heard enough about these types of motorcycle clubs to know that whenever he was away from her he had the choice to be faithful to her or not and she still loved him. The rumors that had gone around about the members of the Sons of Anarchy were disturbing and upon finding out that he was part of that club she didn't run. And yet he couldn't say anything back to her.
"Just go Filip. I'll leave in the morning. It was stupid of me to come here." Bailey turned and walked towards the bed, sitting on the edge. She let a couple of tears escape before wiping them away with the back of her hand.
"Lass, it's not that I don't love ye. It's complicated."
Bailey held up her hand. She didn't want to hear his excuses. In her opinion love wasn't complicated. If you loved someone you were with them. You stayed by them through thick and thin and didn't give up no matter what problems arose.
"It's fine Filip. You don't have to explain it to me. I always knew deep down you were still in love with Fiona. I always knew I would never compare to her." Filip stood looking at the red head sitting on the bed.
"How did you know that's what I was going to tell ye? That I was still in love with Fiona." Filip moved and sat down next to her.
"I knew from the first time we met. I had always hoped after getting to know me you would give me a chance to make you happy. If Fiona had wanted to stay with you she would have Filip. I'm not trying to be mean because you just shot me down. I'm pointing out a truth. If you love someone you try to make things work. You don't just up and leave because you're unhappy. You work at it first." Bailey let another tear slide out of her eye. This had hurt worse than she thought it would.
"Lass, it's not that you don't compare to Fiona, it's just she was my first love. She's the mother teh me daughter. I just can't let her go at the drop of a dime."
"You'll never let her go because you're holding onto something that is never coming back. You keep hoping that she will return to you." Bailey moved to lie down on the bed, wanting to bury her face and tears into the pillow when Filip caught her arm.
"I do love ye lass. There were so many times when we were together in Belfast that I wanted to know what you're lips felt like. Remember the time we got thrown out of our favorite pub?" Bailey started to laugh at the memory.
"It was your fault Filip. If you hadn't of gotten into that fight with the guy that was trying to dance with me we wouldn't have been kicked out."
"To tell ye the truth lass, I was jealous that he was getting to touch ye the way I wanted to." Bailey felt her heart skip a beat at his words.
"Then why didn't you? Why not give me a chance?"
"Because I didn't want Jimmy O to take you away from me like he did Fiona and Kerrianne."