A/N - Love a good SAMCRO meeting... Thank you for all joining me over here! Lovely to see some familiar names joining our ranks! More Jax scheming on the way, I promise! ;-)
It irritated Chibs to no end that Tig didn't say a word about his guest at the house. He bounced out of the kitchen, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and smoked a swift cigarette as he headed to his Harley, fuelled entirely by his happy morning. The two of them took off towards the club to discuss the events of the previous night with the others. Not that either particularly looked forward to it, dead Niners were going to prove difficult to explain to SAMCRO, let alone Pope and his deputies.
Chibs was sure he had never seen Tig move with so much life in him. Part of him wondered what had happened, surely something must have occurred between him and Nina if she was staying over like that. He was literally itching to ask, but he threw himself down in his seat at the table and looked around at the others.
"We've got a problem, gents," he started. Clay furrowed his eyebrows at the far end of the table, things had been running smoothly for a while now. He had already lined up a few hiccups of his own, and he hated a curve ball.
"What kind of problem?"
"A black-and-tan cocktail kinda problem," Chibs muttered. "Nero in St Thomas and two dead Niners, one by our hands." He looked expectantly at Tig to explain. Tig was staring dreamily at the wall, and he received a sharp kick in the shin from Happy to bring him back to the room.
"Sorry." He gave them all a wonky kind of smile. "Nina Padilla, kind of turned up last night for Nero. Brought my little girl with her."
The words surprised everybody, Chibs in particular, but Clay was the first to slap his hand on the table supportively. "Cigars and the good whisky tonight, boys," he said, drumming his hands. Bobby chuckled and joined him, as did Happy and Juice, all supporting Tig's news. Tig beamed, excited, and waved his hands for them to stop.
"Thanks brothers. But business, let's focus on the business," he said, calming them. "Biz Lats have had some worries over that ground, Alvarez asked that we keep an eye. Couple of Niner prospects were out there last night, testing hardware. Our hardware," he reminded them. The Niners were clients, after all. "Nero turned up to confront them. Shot one of them dead."
"What was Nero doing there?" Jax asked, pulling at the long hairs on his beard. It was a good question, not one that Chibs had contemplated yet. Tig shrugged.
"He's tied in with the Lats, that's no secret."
"He was scouting for Alvarez, more like," Clay suggested. Jax nodded, already sure of it. Marcus Alvarez was protecting ground from both sides, the Biz Lats and Mayans had been making big steps together and Alvarez was pulling Nero in to protect their territory.
"I don't know." Chibs spoke frankly. "None of us do, not for sure, this is all supposition. We have to talk to Nero."
Jax waved his hand dismissively. "We're wasting time. We go straight to Pope, tell him he talks the Niners into backing down or the drug running's off."
Chibs chuckled as he looked at Jax, he was still an anxious little boy yapping at his heels, desperate for him to make a mistake. "Aye, I bet you'd love that conversation, Jackieboy," he muttered dismissively. "I'll talk to Nero."
Tig raised his hand for attention. "I may have been the one to shoot him in the back of the knee," he admitted with a mixed sense of pride and shame. "Sorry boss." Chibs rolled his eyes.
"Maybe you can tell your kid why Grandpa's got a limp, huh?" he laughed darkly. Tig swallowed, he could tell Chibs was annoyed at his house guest. Chibs brought down the gavel and everybody filtered out, except Tig, who stayed firmly seated. Chibs was about to stand when he saw Tig still hadn't moved.
"You okay with this?"
Chibs was the absolute opposite. He was far, far from okay with her being in town, with knowing Nina was there and he couldn't talk to her. He pursed his lips and tried to act nonchalant.
"You fucking her?"
Tig frowned and drew his neck in sharply, shaking his head. "What? Nina? No, no way." It didn't mean he didn't want to but right now, he wouldn't risk anything that might make her take Emily away. "She just stayed over... Is that what you're worried about?"
Chibs pulled a face. "Had a bit of a surprise this morning. Her, in her nightclothes at your door." He ran his hand along his jaw and tried to relax a little. "What was I meant to think? History and all that."
"I didn't touch her, Prez, I swear." Tig looked at Chibs with a fixed gaze, it was a lie he'd told before but now it was almost completely true. "I just want to spend time with Em, that's it."
Chibs could feel his envy welling up within him. He remembered when Kerrianne was young, all he had had were photographs and messages. He would have done anything to be there with her, see her grow up. Knowing that Tig was getting that chance killed him. "Aye," he muttered. "And Nina?"
Tig grimaced. "You left your shit with her the way you left it," he ventured with a shrug. "What can I do, Prez? You kicked her out of here. She's staying with me because she has nowhere else to go. You're the only one who can fix that, if she'll take it."
That was what Chibs was most worried about, that she wouldn't accept his apology. He would beg her on his knees for forgiveness, hell, he'd kill someone for another chance without hesitation. Tig could see the distress on his face and he stood up, leaning across the table.
"I got one aim here, boss," he said softly and he patted Chibs' shoulder. "I'm just trying to take care of my family, that's all. I've got a chance here and I want to do it right. You tell me what you need, but you have to trust me. I just want to spend as long as I can with Emily, that's my only MO here."
Chibs secretly hoped that Nina would be at St Thomas' when he arrived, so he was crushingly disappointed to only find a bored-looking Nero kicking about in his hospital room, fidgeting his feet in annoyance at being laid up. Nero smiled as he looked up at Chibs, grateful for some company, and motioned to his stomach.
"One of your 'friends,' mano," he said, his usual jovial smirk on his lips. Chibs gave him a laugh as he shook his hand.
"Aye, funny what friends do when they don't think you're looking," he muttered, still smarting from Tig keeping Nina at his place overnight without a word about it. "What did they do?"
Nero motioned to his raised leg. "Back of the knee, like a coward," he said. "Then in the stomach. Missed my major organs by this much." He shook his head. "I've been doing this for years, I've never been in this position." He seemed forlorn. "Little off my game, I guess."
"Why were you even there?" Chibs asked, pulling over the seat closer to the bed. He sat down and Nero shrugged.
"Just checking on some business." Chibs looked at him expectantly. "Come on, you know the Biz Lats are my crew. That's their space, I was just going to give those assholes a friendly 'get out of here'. Obviously too fresh to know who I am."
Chibs felt that way sometimes too. Too old for this, like maybe he should know better. His lip twitched. "As long as you're alright." Nero nodded.
"I got Gemma bringing me chicken soup," he shrugged. "Better than nothing."
He looked up as he heard a gentle knock on the door and saw it open. Emily came pelting into the room followed by Nina, looking frustrated and too hot in a pair of skinny jeans and a faded band tee. Even in her tempestuous-looking state, Chibs couldn't hide the fact that he was still completely in love with her.
"Grandpa!"
Emily was scrabbling up the metal holders of the bed when Nina scooped her off and picked her up. Nero's face was full of joy to see them and Nina leaned over to give him a kiss before allowing Emily the same privilege.
"Hi Daddy," she murmured. "That goddamn nurse on reception hates me, kept saying I couldn't come in."
"That was my fault," Chibs said apologetically. "I asked that we weren't disturbed."
Nero wasn't even listening, he was entirely focused on Emily as she made her way to the emptier side of the bed, settled herself beside him and started to babble and chatter next to him, waving around the rabbit as she did. Nina smiled, glad to see her father was okay, and she started to relax a little.
"Can I talk to you?" Chibs ventured after an awkward moment of silence. Nina looked at him with a frown.
"I'm not really sure what you have to say." Her expression grew darker. "If you're here to hassle me, I don't think you guys own the hospital too, that's not very fair."
Chibs put his hand on her wrist and gave her a tug towards the door, he could see Nero watching them carefully and it irked him to feel he was being babysat. Nina snatched her hand away as she walked into the corridor.
"Don't you touch me like that," she said firmly. "You have no right to touch me any more."
Chibs swallowed, raising his hands instantly. "I'm sorry." He looked at her, staring at her face. Two years away looked good on her, she had a couple of cute lines around her eyes now but she still looked the same, beautiful and strong in his gaze. Her jaw was tight as she looked at him, she didn't want to smile at him. She didn't want him to think things were just easy. "Did I hurt you? I didn't mean to."
"Well you did." It was unclear if she meant now or before, but she was certainly hurting. She crossed her arms over herself, shielding her body from him. "What do you want, Filip?"
He wanted to tell her he loved her, he still loved her, with every inch of his being. "I wanted to apologise," he said softly. "The last time we saw each other..."
"You mean when you threatened me and my baby?" She looked at him challengingly, and Chibs shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "When you kicked me out of your boys' club and humiliated me in front of all of your friends?"
Chibs grimaced. "Yeah. Then." He could see her walking away. "Nina, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I tried to find you a few days later but you left, your Da said you'd gone."
Nina held her head high. "I wasn't going to stick around for your abuse, thanks," she said with confidence. "I deserve better than that." He smiled.
"Aye, you do. You deserve the moon on a goddamn stick." Hoping he could soften her, he moved closer and ran his hand along her arm. Nina pulled herself away but when he tried a second time, she didn't move. His hand sent shivers through her body, she hadn't felt like that in too long. Her eyes blinked closed, just for a second, and she breathed in softly. "That's her, in there? Your daughter?"
"Emily. Padilla," she added abruptly, before Chibs questioned anything. Chibs smiled.
"She looks just like you," he said, glimpsing through the glass panel of the door. "Stunning."
"She has his eyes," Nina whispered, more to herself than to Chibs. "Fierce, like him. Sometimes she scares me." It was almost like a confession she had never been able to say because nobody would understand. Chibs knew where it came from: while the fear she had once had of Tig had now mostly subsided, it still sat somewhere deep in her heart. He wanted to crush her to him and make it all go away but she was still hesitant about his presence.
"Let me leave you with your family," Chibs said, hearing Emily giggling as Nero played with the rabbit, walking it along one of his wires like a tightrope. Nina nodded and started towards the room as he added, "I would really like to make things right. When you're ready."
She wrinkled her nose. "I don't think that will happen, Filip," she replied. "I'm sorry."
"Then I'll wait," he called as she went inside. "As long as I have to, I'll wait."