Vanessa's heart clenched with an unmistakable feeling, one that she had experienced a lot in her lifetime, sadness. It has been just over two weeks since her best friend was brutally murdered by the club. The same club that she was expected to trust and accept with open arms.

It just truly hit her that she will never see her best friend again. She will never speak to her again. She will never be able to tell her all the things that she has hid from everyone since leaving Charming. She will never be able to tell her the real reason why she had to leave Charming, and it hurt her immensely.

The guilt and the despair weighed heavily in Vanessa's chest as she felt as though she lost the one true connection to her past life. She missed out on all those years of Donna's life after she left Charming, and now she will never get to be a part of her life again. Donna was gone.

It feels like I'm destined to lose everyone I care about. She thought to herself as she continued walking to work. The two-mile trek wasn't exactly fun for her, especially with her thoughts looming on Donna and her family, on Jax, on the people she missed and couldn't get back.

As she walked in, the smell of cheap, overpowering cologne and bitter alcohol swarmed her nostrils, filling her with an amount of discomfort that she wished she didn't have to deal with nearly every day.

"Vanessa, we need you on stage tonight. Mandy called out." The man behind the bar yelled over to her. Who calls out on a Friday night? Vanessa thought and rolled her eyes, wanting nothing more than to go back home and drown herself in a few bottles of cheap wine. But she knew she had to work if she wanted to keep that home. "There's an extra costume backstage for you. Sorry, kid."

"Alright, Mikey." She groaned out, really not wanting to dance tonight. It wasn't even what she applied to do, all she wanted was to serve drinks to the creepy men that practically inhabited the club, not dance for them.

As she went backstage to get dressed into the lace costume, that didn't cover as much as she wished it did, she looked into the mirror, wondering how exactly her life came to this point. She applied a little bit of makeup and fluffed her hair a little bit, trying to give herself the confidence to go out and actually work the stage. At least I'll get some better tips tonight. Hopefully.

For much of the night, Vanessa slowly and seductively danced for the men whose eyes were locked on her body, as they threw dollar bills into the cage that she was dancing in. She looked around the crowd, noticing that there were many eyes on her, it should have made her nervous, but she really didn't care anymore. Until she saw a pair of familiar, grieving eyes laying on her.

His hair was longer than the last time she saw him, his eyes a little emptier, and his body just slightly skinnier. She wanted to puke, seeing him staring at her. She could see the recognition in his vacant eyes and that made her stomach jump with shame. As the song came to an end, she knew it was time for her to sexily take the money from her cage and the crowd, then switch out for the other dancers and she had never felt more relieved.

Vanessa practically ran backstage to change and grab her shit to leave, trying to avoid the familiar eyes from landing on her again. Maybe he didn't actually notice me.

Her thoughts proved false as she finally left through the employee exit of the club called Leather & Lace. She saw him sitting out on his bike and lighting up a cigarette, he quickly got up when he heard the door shut and walked over to her.

"Vanessa!" He called out to her, she continued to walk pretending not to hear him. "Vanessa, hold up!" She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, wrapping her leather jacket tighter around her body.

"H-hey Ope." She stuttered out nervously. This was the first time she would be speaking to him since she left Charming seven years ago. She couldn't help the guilt and anxiousness that flowed through her, knowing that his brothers could have been the ones responsible for his wife's death.

"Thought I recognized you. You okay?" He asked, genuinely concerned for his old friend.

"I'm fine. Look, uh, I gotta get home. It was good seeing you again." She quickly spoke as she began walking away from him, wondering where she could move to now that all of Charming was going to know exactly where she is. Opie caught up to her and gently grabbed her arm, trying to keep her attention.

"I can give you a ride. It-it would be good to catch up with you."

"You don't need to do that Ope." She muttered and continued walking. Opie sighed and his next words just stumbled out.

"D-Donna. She's dead." Vanessa stopped in her path and looked back at him, seeing the tears beginning to form in his eyes. It was the first time she had ever seen him cry, other than the night of his wife's death.

"I know." Her voice cracked.

"You know?" His face was twisted into a confused look but continued on. "Please let me give you a ride home, Donna would be pissed if she found out that I let you walk home this late by yourself."

She stopped for a second, stared at him and then nodded her head as she began to walk back to him. They finally got to his motorcycle and she stared nervously at it, like it was her first time. He looked at her again and smiled the faintest of smiles.

"You remember how to ride bitch?" He chuckles, wiping at his cheek to catch the tear that had fallen as she rolled her eyes. "How long has it been since you been on one of these?"

"It's been a while." She hummed as she tightened his helmet on her head. Vanessa navigated him to the apartment complex that she lived in.

They arrived at the apartment complex and she could see his eyes widening as he looked around. She knew that it wasn't in a good area, in fact it was in one of the worst areas in Reno, but it was all she could afford. He looked over at the guy who was tweaking out on the side of the building and was instantly concerned for her.

"Guess you never became that big doctor you wanted to become before you left?" He smiled sadly at her.

"How could you tell?" She laughed back at him.

"If the dancing didn't give it away, the apartment definitely did the job." He joked with her, pushing her shoulder slightly as they walked up to the second floor where she lived. As she unlocked the door, she held it open for him and raised her eyebrow, silently asking if he wanted to come in. His loud boots echoed over the wooden floorboards that creaked as he made his way inside, looking at the tiny apartment.

"Can't believe you, a Hale, is actually living in this piece of shit." He mutters out.

"Hey! This is home now. But yeah it is a piece of shit, isn't it?" She says with a grin. He just nods. "You want a beer?" He nodded again. He always was the silent type. She thought to herself.

"How'd you find out?" He asked quietly as he popped the cap off the bottle. She knew exactly what he was talking about.

"I-I just heard about it. Uh, David told me." She lied, she couldn't face the fact that he might just blame her for what happened to Donna, even if she knew it wasn't all her fault. He nodded again. "What are you doing out in Reno?"

"I just needed to get away from all the shit in Charming. But I could ask you the same thing." He looks at her with questioning eyes.

"I just needed to get away from all the shit in Charming." She throws back at him with a small smirk.

"Still full of all that sarcasm, I see." They both smile at each other and she just shrugs. "You leaving, it really tore him up."

Her eyes filled with regret and hurt at the mention of him. "How is he?"

"You hear about his kid?" She nods. "He's got a lot of shit going on too."

"There's always a lot of shit going on in Charming." She sighs and takes a long swig of her beer. "How are you, Opie?"

"I'm fine." He looked away from her prying eyes.

"Opie, it's okay to not be okay. It doesn't make you weak to admit it."

"I said I'm fine." He growls out quietly, but then looks at her and instantly feels bad for getting angry at her concern. "Sorry. I just… I don't want to talk about this shit."

"Yeah, okay."

"Where you been all these years, Nes? Here in Reno?"

"I've been here and there. Lived in New York for a little while, moved here a few months back. I needed a change."

"Is that why you left all of us? Jax? You needed a change?" His tone was a little bitter and had some malice behind it, but she didn't take it to heart. She knew that Opie and Jax were protective over each other, and she knew that she probably hurt Jax. Hell, she hurt herself having to leaving him.

"I guess."

"You guess?"

"Look, you don't wanna talk about Donna and I don't wanna talk about my past." They both nod at each other.

"You're strippin' now? Never thought you would do something like that."

"And why not?"

"Other than the fact that you used to be a little goody two-shoes?"

"Hey, that goody two-shoes lifestyle passed once I started getting involved with you and Jax. You guys corrupted me."

"Yeah, I guess we did, huh? Your dad really fucking hated us. Still does, except now he's got your two brothers on our asses too."

"Sorry about them." She hummed out. "And I'm not stripping. I usually just bartend, but they needed a dancer tonight, so I had to fill in."

"What happened to your doctor dreams?"

"I, uh, I actually went to nursing school in New York. Got my BSN. But when I moved out here, I guess I didn't plan ahead and ended up not finding a job in any hospitals here. I had to do something for money, so I started bartending."

He nods again and it's silent for a few moments before she clears her throat.

"Opie, can I tell you something?" She asks nervously, and he just nods his head, his eyes practically staring into her soul. "I was at the funeral. I-uh, I was gonna come see you, but it felt wrong."

"Why?"

"I was scared." He just looks at her and takes a sip of his beer. "How long have you been away from Charming?"

"Not as long as you." He tries to joke, but it just sounds sad. "Since the funeral. I left that night."

"You gonna go back to your kids soon? They need their dad."

"I still need time away."

"Opie, your kids need you." She sighs out with an exasperated breath.

"You don't know my fucking kids, Vanessa. You left before you even got to know them, so I don't think you know what my kids need." She nods. "My kids are fine. Mary is with them."

"I just… Donna wouldn't want you to be away from them for too long."

"Donna's dead." He chokes out and lights a cigarette. "It hurts to see them, y'know? I did five years in Chino. My kids barely fuckin' know me. How am I supposed to be there for them?" She knew that he was hurting. His heart was hurting without Donna.

"I know, Opie. But they're your kids. You get to know them; you be there for them. Especially now when they need you the most. I know that you lost her, but you have to remember that they lost her too. It'll fucking hurt, but they're the last pieces you have left of her, so you need to cherish them and love them, no matter how much it hurts." She can see the tears in his eyes starting to form.

He gets off the couch and puts the bottle onto the coffee table in front of them. He takes her hand and pulls her up off the couch, wrapping his long arms around her body. It's the most comfort and safety that she felt in quite some time.

"You take whatever time you need to get your head out of your ass, and then you go back to your kids and you be a dad."

"You sound like Piney." He laughs, wiping the tear that fell down his cheek.

"Wise old man." She laughs, the silence fills the room again. She can tell that he's ready to leave, and she thinks that it's one of the longest conversations she's ever had with him. "You think you can keep it to yourself that I'm in Reno?"

"You really don't want anyone to know you're here?" Opie asked her, hinting at wanting to tell Jax where she was. "Why not?"

"I still need time to get my head out of my ass." She whispered. "Please, Ope?"

"I can do that, on one condition." He says as he hands his phone to her and she looks questioningly at him. "I change numbers a lot, y'know with the club, but someone's gotta look out for you. Make sure there's no tweakers tryin' to break your door down and shit."

She types out her cell phone number into his phone and hands it back to him.

"I'll call you every once in a while, make sure you're okay. Gotta look out for my best friend's ex old lady."

"Jesus, I never got to the old lady stage, you know that."

"You know you would have been, if you didn't 'need a change'." He rolls his eyes as he says her reason for leaving all those years ago.

As he opens the door of her apartment to leave, she's nervous that this is the last time she will see someone from her old life. From the life she so desperately wished she could go back to. "Hey Ope," she calls out and he turns to look at her. "I really hope you find whatever it is you're looking for."

"You too, Nes."