"You heard from your brother?" Gemma asked, wringing her hands nervously as she and her daughter stood on the front porch. Frankie, distracted by the compulsion to pick at the dress her mother had forced her to wear, looked up and blinked in confusion.

"Uh - Jax never calls me," she said with her brow furrowed. "Why would he -"

"Your dad's gonna be back any minute now," Gemma interrupted, clearly flustered from her rushed preparation for Clay's return. It had only been a matter of months, it could have been far worse. "C'mon. He'll be happy to know you got into that school down south."

"UCLA, Mom," Frankie said through gritted teeth. She always referred to it as that school, as though it was some far-off school that no one had ever heard of. She was still on the fence about her only daughter moving far away, a far cry from Clay's take on it. He wanted her far away from the club - at least for a while. Before getting taken to county, he'd warned them about watching who they talked to, that there was a fed by the name of Agent Stahl - a start-up in the agency trying to get her big break of a case - poking around for information on SAMCRO South. Clay was sure the woman had something to do with his arrest - she was probably silly enough to think a little bit of jailtime was enough to get him to give up any kind of dirt on the club.

It would've been cute if it hadn't been so inconvenient.

The sound of distant whooping and hollering from down the block, however, cut off any of their back-and-forth as it heralded the roar of Harley engines coming up the residential road - the town was welcoming Clay back as he rode in, like some kind kind of hero. And why not? In their small suburb of Fresno, the kind of money SAMCRO South brought in paired with Gemma's affinity for throwing elaborate picnics and fundraisers made the Morrows big time philanthropists in town.

Clay Morrow pulled up in front of his house right in front of Tig. He pulled off his helmet oreveal his close-cropped graying hair and immediately strode over and gave Gemma a sound kiss on the mouth, much to the neighbors' glee.

"Welcome home, baby," Gemma grinned, running her hands over his face. He had grown a little thinner, a little more worn the way men always did when they did time, but she looked him over with the same fondness she always had. Their gaze remained locked on one another for a few seconds before Clay flung out his other arm and gestured for Frankie to come over.

"There's my princess," he beamed as she walked over and nestled into his other side - he kissed her curly blonde hair and took very visible pride in the fact that she was kempt and wearing a dress. "Your Ma says you got some news -"

"She's gonna tell everyone at your welcome back party, Clay -"

"Bull shit," he chuckled. "What's the good news, baby?"

"I - I got accepted to UCLA," Frankie said, the statement rapid and timid. Clay's toothy beam widened and he immediately turned to the neighbors, his arms raised out wide as though he'd just won a boxing match.

"You hear that?" he said loudly, and Frankie's face immediately went red from the act. "My baby girl's goin' off to Los Angeles. UCLA. We're celebratin' that tonight at Rusty's on First Street, everythin' on SAMCRO's tab!"

"I don't know if I wanna go," Frankie mumbled so that only her parents could hear. While Gemma's expression remained neutral, Clay turned to her with raised eyebrows.

"What are you talkin' about, baby?" he asked, leaning close to her and shaking his head. "I just told the whole block that you're goin', what'sa matter?"

"It's so far," she mumbled, looking down at the ground. "I was - I was just thinkin' it'd be better if -"

But what she thought would be better, Clay wouldn't yet hear. The roar of another bike pulling up in front of the house signaled that Jax Teller had finally decided to show up. After dismounting from his bike in the driveway, he walked over, and he and Clay shared a one-armed embrace.

"Good to see you back on the outside, Clay," Jax nodded, reaching out and clapping a hand on Clay's shoulder. Gemma almost was able to breathe a sigh of relief at how well her son and her husband were getting along until he reached into the pocket of his kutte and pulled out a slightly rumpled envelope, glancing between the three Morrow's. "Wedding invitation."

"Shit, Jackson," Gemma said, raising her eyebrows in surprise. "Are you and that Tara girl -"

"Not me," Jax chuckled, shaking his head. "Opie and Donna."

Now, it was Frankie who bore the expression of surprise. For a brief moment, her usually stoic facade melted into a pale look of surprise - almost a sick-looking expression as though she was about to throw up. Jax glanced at her only for a moment, but still gave a lopsided grin. "I'm the best man. Had to talk him into proposing to her, but hey - if a guy's got a good thing, right?" he shrugged.

Clay and Gemma both noticed the strange expression on Frankie's face in the moments before she bolted inexplicably away to the garden gate on the side of the house, and Clay looked at his daughter in confusion until Gemma leaned over and whispered something in his ear. One of his fists clenched momentarily at his side - whatever Gemma had told him had again firmly cemented his dislike for Opie Winston.

"Can't make it, but tell them that SAMCRO South says 'mazel tov'," Clay said gruffly, his smile now no longer wide and toothy but instead, tight-lipped and forced. "Come on inside."

Gemma ushered her son towards the front door while Clay went around back to where he knew he'd find Frankie where she always was when she was unhappy - as much as she considered herself blank and hard to read, she had a few obvious tells, and right now, the fact that she was sitting on the tire swing they'd set up for her as a kid was one of her biggest ones.

Clay Morrow, many times, was far from a good man - but no one would ever accuse him of not being fiercely protective of what he considered his. He was protective of his club. He was protective of his town. Most importantly, he was protective of his wife and daughter. He reached over and gently stopped the swaying of the tire swing by resting his hand on the chain so that his daughter was forced to look up at him when his shadow loomed over her.

"Your Ma tells me that you maybe felt a little somethin' for Opie," he said, raising his eyebrows. Frankie's jaw clenched, and she looked down at her feet, shrugging insincerely. Clay gave a brief, sad chuckle before leaning over and kissing the side of her head. "She says he might've said or done a couple things to make you think maybe it wasn't a one-way street -"

"I don't know what you're talkin' about, Daddy -"

"Those True North fuckers are bad news," Clay said, leaning so that his face was directly in front of Frankie's. "Got heads filled with poison because of JT. Care a whole lot about big ideas, but they don't care about people like we do. All talk. That's why they look like the good guys, because they don't do shit. They don't change shit," Clay explained - and for the first time, Frankie looked at least slightly convinced by her father's slander against True North. They had all lied to her. JT had lied about being her father for eight years. Jax lied about always being there to protect her. Now, Opie...

"Daddy," Frankie said sadly, the first sign of a tear leaking from the corner of one eye. Clay leaned over and wrapped an arm around the young woman. She couldn't see the brief glimmer of a triumphant smile that spread onto his features when he saw that he had her convinced.

"That's why you're goin' to LA," Clay said, rubbing her back and pulling her closer to him. "As much as I don't want my princess bein' so far, I know - you're too good to have your heart broken by some club thug. You got that? You're goin' off the to big city because you can. I know your brothers - Tommy's gone. Jax has nothin' else," Clay shrugged. "But you're my princess. And you're gonna get outta the line of fire because things are gonna get messy."

"What?" Frankie asked, pulling away suddenly, looking up at her father with a stunned expression. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, the Feds have us on their radar. Our family. Our club," Clay said, raising an eyebrow. "Lady by the name of Agent Stahl has been pokin' her nose where it don't belong, and if anythin' goes south, I want you to be far away while we fix everythin'."

"But Dad -"

"No buts," Clay said, shaking his head. "You're goin' out to LA. You sign those papers and tell them you'll be there. Your ma and I, we'll set you up with a nice place. We'll send someone to check up on you every week, you can always come see us back here -"

"You're sending me to LA with a tail?" Frankie snapped back, her old spark suddenly ignited again by the suggestion. While Clay was never a fan of talking back, he gave a small chuckle. At least his daughter was acting a little more like herself and not fixated on the fact that she'd just had her little seventeen-year-old heart broken for the first time. "But Dad -"

"We got a new prospect from Queens - really into that technology shit," Clay shrugged. "Gotta give the little shit somethin' to do."

"But Dad -"

"He's out front, c'mon," Clay said with a chuckle. "Humor the guy and let him earn his top rocker. He's useful and I wanna keep him around, just gotta keep him busy until his year's up."

Frankie's face contorted into a scowl, and she rolled her eyes in disdain, but Clay knew the fact that she didn't vocalize any more complaints meant that she was at least going to give in for now - there were times, she had come to learn as she grew up, that when it came to the club, she just had to suck it up and deal. He grinned, squeezing his daughter around the shoulders.

"I'll go get him. Introduce you two," he nodded. "Wait here."

Frankie felt a weight settle on her shoulders, almost like being put in chains, as Clay left the backyard and headed back out front, returning in less than two minutes with a figure that Frankie hadn't yet met, though she admitted she may have seen him hanging around the clubhouse without knowing that he was in fact the knew prospect, as the patch on his chest indicated.

Frankie glanced him over - he was tanned, fit, probably a little older than her but a little younger than Jax, which put him at about nineteen or twenty. She blinked skeptically at the short mohawk clipped close to his head, framed by tribal tattoos.

"Juice," he said with a lopsided grin, gesturing to himself with an awkward chuckle that in spite of herself, Frankie couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter at. "So you're the Princess of SAMCRO."

"Maybe I am. If you call me that again, I'll shoot your nuts off," she said, raising an eyebrow and eliciting a chuckle from her father before she extended her hand amiably. "Frankie Rose."

"That's quite a handshake you've got there, Frankie Rose," he chuckled. "So I guess I'm gonna be your -"

"Babysitter," Frankie supplied with a succinct nod. "I've heard."

"You're gonna check up on my baby girl in the fall, make sure she's hittin' the books and not drag racin' on I-5," Clay said, only half in jest. Frankie gave a tight-lipped smile. If Clay thought some prospect was going to stop her, then he was in for a surprise indeed.

Frankie, however, was now set on moving to Los Angeles and getting away in whatever way she could - She just needed to get through the next few months. SAMCRO, True North or South, wasn't a place for loyalty. She didn't belong in Charming. She didn't belong in Fresno. Maybe she could belong somewhere new.

A/N's

So Juice made his way into this story as well, but he's going to play a much smaller role (obviously) in this story than in my others as long as things go to plan. I'm writing this one as I go, and I have a vision for where I want it to go. I hope you guys stick around, and your ideas and suggestions are welcome while I build this and hopefully get the same warm reception as my other stuff!

I should be updating "Lay Me Down" soon as well, so if you're following both, fear not! This one is just a little bit more light than those and I have a lot of big things going on in real life right now. Good things, but big things! I just got accepted to a grad school program and need to do some important decision-making. So, all of your feedback will be a welcome break from all of that.

Anyway, getting back to work on more chapters! Until next time, cheers!