Chapter 3
It was the end of the day at Teller - Morrow, and Gemma was doing a bit of last minute filling before she headed over to the clubhouse to make sure the croweaters and sweetbutts had the place ready for that nights party. Just as she pushed the cabinet shut the phone on the desk started to ring. She seriously considered just ignoring it but as it was still quarter to five she made her way over and picked it up.
"Teller - Morrow Automotive, Gemma speaking how can I help?" she said as polite as she could, even though she wanted to tell however was on the other end what she thought of them calling so close to closing.
"Mrs Gemma Teller - Morrow? " a female voice on the other end asked her, making Gemma frown.
"This is she." she answered with a bad feeling building in the pit of her stomach.
"Mrs Teller - Morrow this is Nurse Faraday of the medical centre of Stockton correctional facility. I am getting in touch with you in regards to your son, Jackson Teller" Gemma felt her heart jump up into her throat and her legs get so shaky that she had to sit down on the chair by her desk, "who at roughly 16:00 Pm this afternoon received a soul mark bearing the name Harriet Potter. The mark is without colour and we have yet to be able to find a match yet. As his point of contact it is protocol that you be made aware of this development."
Gemma sat there in shock, only vaguely aware of one of the boys making their way into the office. "I'm sorry What?" she had to ask unsure she'd heard her right, also getting the attention of whoever had walked in. A quick glance told her it was Tig who took one look at her, saw how white her face was and walked back to the door and called across the lot for Clay. Meanwhile the nurse repeated what she'd said before almost word for word and Gemma could do nothing but accept it as the truth. Clay walked in as she was asking "I'm due to visit him tomorrow . . . " she started to say only for the nurse to interrupt her.
"I'm sorry Mrs Teller - Morrow but as Mr Teller will be in the medical wing for the next couple of days for us to observe the mark to see if any colour come through he will be unavailable for visitation." she said, not sounding the least bit sorry, which stroked Gemma's temper.
"What do you mean I can't see him. He's my son . ." she raged only to be interrupted again.
"I'm sorry Mrs Teller - Morrow but until Mr teller leaves the medical wing he will be unavailable. It is prison protocol." The nurse then said her goodbyes and hung up without giving Gemma the chance to protest. She would blame it on the shock of the situation for letting the little bitch get the best of her. Putting the phone back on the hook she looked up to see she had an audience of Clay, Tig and the latest prospect Juice. Trying to get her thoughts in order it took Clay walking over to her and saying "Gem, what's going on?"
Swallowing thickly she said "That was a Nurse Faraday of Stockton correctional," Tig started cursing up a storm while Clay's lips thinned, but she ignored them and continued "Jax is in the medical wing." Looking up at Clay she saw a flash of worry cross his face before she could see his mind going through what enemies they may have pissed of for them to go after Jax inside. "Apparently at roughly four o'clock this afternoon Jax received a soul mark."
The three looks of shock on the men's faces told her that this news was as shocking to them as it was to her. Juice was the first to recover having never met Jax before and asked "Did they give a name?"
"Harriet Potter." She said, curling her lip slightly as she snarled out the name. She caught Clay hiding a smirk out of the corner of her eye and glared at him but he just chuckled and said "So Prince Charming has a Lady my Old Lady won't be able to scare of." Shooting up from her chair she marched toward the door, passing Juice who had the sense to back away. Pausing as she passed him she eyed the prospect remembering he had proven to be quite useful with computers and information gathering. Leaning in toward him she ordered him "I want you to find everything there is to know about this little tramp that believes herself to be good enough for my son" before storming of towards the clubhouse. None of the men left standing in her wake where brave enough to mention the fact that this Harriet Potter had as little say in this situation than any of them did. Turning towards Clay he said "Do you know how many Harriet Potters there are likely to be? How long this is going to take?"
Clay smirked at him and said "Best get to work then shithead. My Queens given you an order." Before trailing after his wife. Tig clapped him on the shoulder as he passed and said "On the bright side, at least you have a timeline to go with. A Harriet Potter turning eighteen on the 30th of July." Juice stared after Tig in shock, something smart had actually just come out of his mouth. Heaving a sigh he made his way towards the clubhouse himself forcing himself to walk past the starting's of the party and to his dorm room to start hunting down any information he could find.
Four hours later and nothing to show for it save for a list of all girls named Harriet Potter but none that fit the timing of Jax's Mark coming in. Deciding to take a break he made his way out into the bar to see the party in full swing hoping to avoid Gemma for a while.
Chibs brought his bike to a stop in the lot of the clubhouse and backed up into his spot ready for a good drink. It had been a long hard ride and he needed a drink, a shower and a good fuck. He wasn't particular in which order the last two went as long as there was a drink in his hand. Swinging his leg over his bike he untied his pack and made his way into the clubhouse to see a party in full swing. Croweaters and Sweetbutts in barely there clothes where spread out around the room catering to the various Sons needs. The Prospects and hang arounds picking up what the Sons where to busy to pay attention to. The door hadn't even shut fully behind him before he was spotted and a roar went up around the room as they all welcomed him home. Laughing as he was grabbed by a couple of girls near by he let himself be led towards the bar slipping his arms around there shoulders pulling them in close.
He spots the newest prospect almost hiding at the end of the bar and makes his way over "Juicey, how's it goin." he said clapping the young man on the shoulders while one of the girls under his arms slips behind the bar to get him a drink. Leaning his free arm on the bar he looks Juice over to see him look around the bar nervously as if waiting for someone to attack him. Juice opens his mouth to speak but then looks at the croweater under his arm and closes it again. Getting the hint Chibs tells her to make herself busy elsewhere for a few minutes and looks back at Juice when she's gone.
"Call came from Stockton Correctional this evening" His stomach fell, "Jackie? he asked worried.
Juice seeing he'd assumed the worst spoke up quickly "Nothing like that." he reassured "He received a soul mark, prison protocol meant they had to phone Gemma to let her know and that he was in the Medical wing and therefore unavailable for visitation." Chibs after getting over his shock at the soul mark news winced at how well he was sure Gemma took the fact she wouldn't be aloud to see her son. Didn't answer the question on why he was hiding out in the corner, and asked him as such. Looking around the bar again he said "Gemma has me looking in to whoever this girl is but I can't find her anywhere and I've been looking four hours."
Chibs held in his laugh at the fear in the poor bastards voice, Gemma's temper wasn't something you wanted to be on the wrong side of. Not to mention this involved her beloved Jax. "Does the lucky lass have a name?" he asked him
"Yeah Harriet Potter." Juice said, causing Chibs to freeze ever so slightly. Juice not noticing continued "Mark came in today at four o'clock." Chibs did some quick maths in his head and came up with an answer he wasn't sure he liked. A beer was then sat down in front of him and he picked it up and took a large swig before saying to Juice "I'm sure you'll track her down eventually, but I'm away for a shower. I've dust in places it has no business being." With that he lifted his beer and his bag from his feet and made his way to his dorm room. Locking the door behind him he looked at the clock did some more maths, 21:14 pm here meant 5:14 am there. To early but worth a try.
Making his way over to his bedside table he opened the bottom drawer and dug around in it before pulling out a mirror. There was only on person that would take his call that may in able to shine some light on this situation. Taking a deep breath he looked at the mirror and then clearly said "Oliver Wood."
After a minute of simply staring at the mirror he started to feel stupid and started to put it down but as he did the surface started to ripple before the face of his nephew became visible.
"Uncle Filip?" his nephew asked him, his tone of voice questioning.
"Hey kid. Sorry if I woke you." he said knowing it was still early there and chances where his nephew had been asleep.
"Nah, I was up getting ready for practice. Games are finally starting back up again after the war." Chibs could hear the excitement in his voice as he talked about his job as the keeper for his team, having been promoted shortly before the war kicked up into full steam. Eventually after they got over the polite greetings and idle chit chat Oliver seemed to remember that Chibs had called him, which he hardly ever did and asked "So what's wrong?"
"What can ya tell me about Harriet Potter?" Chibs could see the surprise on Oliver's face before a guarded look came over him.
"What has ya askin about Harri?" Chibs took note of the nickname, he did know her.
"One of ma brotha's received a soul mark this afternoon with the name Harriet Potter. Thought I recognised the name but wasn't sure until now. It wouldn't happen to be her birthday, would it?"
Oliver's eyes went wide in shock before he quietly replied "Yeah, her eighteenth. I'm heading to a party a friends mother is throwing for her this afternoon after practice." He then broke out into laughter "Harriet Potter never a dull moment." Looking back at Chibs he stared straight at him and asked "This fella, what's he like?"
"Jackie? A heart of gold, been through a ruff patch lately but incredible loyal." he hesitates slightly before going ahead and telling him "He's SAMCRO and not just any member, he's Jackson Teller, John Teller's boy. Doing four years in Stockton at the minute, only a year in." Chibs watches his nephew carefully. He knows what SAMCRO's involved in so will know what Jax was most likely put away for.
Oliver's laugh had a slight edge to it this time as he said "Not sure what to tell you on how Harri will take this. We're friends yes but mainly through the fact she was on my quidditch team in school. She's actually probably the main reason we ended up finally winning the quidditch cup. Not to mention the huge distance there is between them. Which one gives up there lives to move somewhere completely unknown? Does he even want anything to do with her?"
Chibs didn't have any answers for him." Will you speak to her today? Ask her if you can send me anything you can about her to give to Jax and if she wants I'll tell her anything she wants to know about him." He ended up saying.
"Yeah, I'll speak to her if I get her alone. She's very private. Won't want news of this getting around before she's ready." Nodding his acceptance they said there goodbyes and ended the call. Placing the mirror on his bedside table he drained the last of his beer before he headed for the bathroom.
Showered and dressed in fresh clothes Chibs made his way back out to the party stopping at the bar for a new beer. There was no sign of Juice and Chibs couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid. He was never going to find any proper information on Harriet Potter the way he was looking, at least not anything recent. Spotting Tig and Bobby he lifted his drink and made his way over, surprised both where still about and not face down in some croweater. Tig spotted him first and yelled a greeting over the music as he sat down at the table. Giving Bobby a side hug from where he was sitting beside him he looked up to see Tig almost bouncing in his seat with the need to spill whatever gossip he had, although he had a pretty good guess it was about Jax.
"So how come you two ladies are sitting over here all by you lonesome" he asked deciding to give Tig the opportunity he was waiting for before he exploded. Sure enough that was all the promoting Tig needed to launch into a over dramatic explanation of what went down that afternoon. When he seemed to be finished and was expecting some sort of reaction from Chibs he simply nodded his head and said "I know. Saw Juice when i came in. He was hiding from Gemma at the bar."
He heard Bobby chuckling beside him at the put out expression on Tig's face and smirked at him across the table. "Juice made himself scarce when Gemma walked through half an hour ago. She's away home now but I don't think we'll be seeing him again tonight. "
"Probably wise." he said grinning at Bobby. The three soon went there separate ways to enjoy the night, Chibs retiring to his room with one of his favourite girls while keeping his ear on the mirror on his bedside table. When 2AM came with no word from Oliver he let himself fall asleep hoping to have answers to his questions in the morning.
"Juice your wanted at the table with whatever information you have."
Juice jumped at the shout that came through his door and ran his hand through what little hair he had before rubbing his tired eyes. He'd been at it all night with very little to show for it. Just a list of every Harriet Potter born in July. There where fifty girls with the name, three of which had birthdays on the 30th however none off the three had just turned 18. He knew he was missing something but couldn't figure out what.
Lifting all his print outs and his laptop he made his way out of his room towards the room that was home to the table he one day hoped to sit at. He suspected however he was about to blow his chance before he even really got started. Spotting Gemma in the doorway of the kitchen he decided to skip the coffee he was originally going to get and rushed towards Church. If he caught Bobby and Tig smirking at him he reminded himself he was looking out for his own survival.
Waiting to sit till all the guys had taken their seats Juice sat in an empty chair by Bobby facing the doors. Clay didn't waste anytime in demanding to know what he had found. He explained how he couldn't find any girls with the name turning 18 on the 30th so he expanded the search to all of July.
"Is there any on the list that have recently turned 18?" Bobby asked.
Juice looked down at the list of names looking for any of the right age. "Five of them." he answered "but the dates are all wrong, and the closest date is the 31st."
"Where?" this time the question came from Chibs. Shuffling some of the papers he'd printed of around he came across the right one and looked it over. As he read he felt stupid for not realising sooner and gave out a sigh as he said "Great Britain. South Wales to be exact."
"Who are eight hours ahead making it the stroke of midnight there but 4 o'clock here." Chibs explained with a strange look on his face. Clay seemed to catch the look as well because he asked him about it
"I recognised the name and got in touch with my Nephew. He does have a friend by that name and he's attending her birthday celebration right now. He'll get back to me when he's confirmed my suspicions on her being out boy's soulmate."
"Your nephew? the one one in Belfast?" Clay asked him with a confused look on his face. Chibs seemed to debate something before shaking his head. "Nah, from my family back in Scotland. My wee sister's boy." From the looks on the faces of the guy's around the table this sister and nephew where news to them. When it became clear that Chibs wasn't going to say anymore Clay turned back to Juice and said "Look into that one, see what you can find while we wait to hear back from . . " he paused here and looked Chibs who seemed to understand what he wanted "Oliver "
Ah his nephew's name. Juice nodded glad to at least have a lead to start now.
"As for the rest of you shit heads, get to work." Clay said prompting them all to get out of their seats and rush for the door.
It was amazing luck that Juice managed to avoid Gemm again as he exited the room, having fixed her attention on Tig and cornered him for any information. Entering his room again he set to work looking into the Harriet Potter they'd narrowed it down to and hoped he found something about her before Gemma came knocking on his door.