Disclaimer: I do not own Sons of Anarchy. I do, however, own Jolene and any other OCs that appear in the Jaxene Universe.

A/N: It was bound to happen. I've been expecting it for a while now, but I still wasn't prepared.

I'VE BEEN FLAMED!

Actually, I was torched. Burned to bits and then those crispy, scorched bits were stomped on mercilessly.

Yeah, I'm being a little melodramatic, but I was really floored when I read the anonymous review I received this afternoon as I was working on this latest installment of Beauty and the Charming Outlaw.

Since the review was done anonymously, I considered—during a moment of weakness—deleting it. After all, Fan Fic has given writers the option of moderating anonymous reviews to prevent such acts of flaming, but I quickly changed my mind. As a frustrated writer and a lover of literature, I despise censorship and deleting that review would have made me a hypocrite. So I'm sucking it up and, after posting this chapter, I will accept the negative review so everyone can read it. (I only wish that the person had signed in so I could respond and try to help them see my point of view.)

That being said, I want to thank everyone for your last round of reviews. Like I've said before, detailed reviews really help me know how you guys are relating to the story and the characters.

I may be understating it, but it seems that Fawn has inspired a wide range of emotions among readers. Those of you who like Jolene may find Fawn a hard pill to swallow, while others find her to be a hoot. That's great! As much as I'm overprotective of Jolene, all I ask is that you give Fawn a chance. Not only is she new to the MC lifestyle, but she is Tig's daughter. She will be blunt, crass, and sometimes downright unlikeable. After all, like father, like daughter. Eventually, however, the SAMCRO Queens will come to realize that, in spite of the differences in their backgrounds, all three women are more alike than not.

The next two chapters will be dealing with the relationships between Fawn and Tig, as well as Fawn and Jolene. I hope you guys will open your minds to all three characters and how their own personalities, issues and idiosyncrasies have an impact on the people they have become and the relationships they have with one another.

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.


It had been about an hour since the sun had set. With the full moon hanging in a midnight blue sky, there was a beautiful slivery light falling on the large tree sitting outside of Tig's bedroom window. For probably the first time since his arrival from the hospital, the Trager house was quiet and peaceful.

But more than likely it won't be for much longer, Fawn thought.

Although it was only a couple of days since the Tragers had secluded themselves as Tig recovered from his injuries, father and daughter had managed to find ways to get on each other's nerves and at each other's throats.

Tig had not been a happy camper when he discovered that his brothers were being denied access into his home. Even though he had kept the house as his own private sanctuary for years, the fact remained that he missed being around his SAMCRO family. Even considering how tired he would get, Tig had thoroughly enjoyed the visits his Club brothers and their old ladies had made while he was in the hospital. He should have known that his snarky little turd of a kid had been deadly serious when she downright kicked Jax, Opie, and Tiki out of his house on his first day back.

Although he should have guessed that Fawn was keeping pussy at bay as well, Tig had suffered something akin to a seizure when he found out that Jolene Teller had the door slammed in her face when she had stopped by to check on him. Even though Jolene wasn't his pussy—and he would be picking parts of his colon from his teeth if Jax ever heard him refer to Doll Face as pussy—she was still nice to look at. Tig would never make this admission to anyone, least of all Jax, but Jolene was the one dame whose company he genuinely enjoyed, even if she wasn't there to suck his dick.

He had been home barely a day before Tig had his first blowout with Fawn. He appreciated that she had basically put her life on hold to take care of him here in Charming, but this was the Club she was disrespecting and he was determined to set his kid straight.

"Shit, Fawn. You cannot go throwing your weight around, kicking brothers out of my house and slamming doors in the faces of old ladies, especially that one! What? You gotta death wish?" Tig had raged. "In this house, I'm the king and what I fuckin' says goes!"

But Fawn wasn't going for it. "That's where you're wrong, shithead. Consider this a siege of your precious castle and, until I say otherwise, your ass is on lockdown."

To further exert her authority over his care and well-being, Fawn had taken his prepay and removed the land line from his bedroom. She had laid down the law, knowing that he would probably kick her out if he could. For the next two weeks, she was calling the shots. If he didn't want her to go all Misery on his ass, he was going to do exactly what he was told.

"You may already be an invalid, but I have no problem hobbling you further." Fawn threatened. She had almost laughed out loud seeing the genuine shock reflected in her father's eyes.

"You don't have the balls!" Tig nearly growled.

"You sure you wanna take your chances on believing that, Sparky?" Fawn gave him a maniacal grin as she moved her intertwined hands from her shoulder and out in front of her like she was swinging a bat. "I already bought the sledgehammer and it has your name written all over it." She announced with such conviction that Tig wasn't sure if she was kidding or not.

Deciding to err on the side of caution for the sake of his ankles, Tig kept his mouth shut all the while staring daggers at his bat-shit crazy kid. With a triumphant smirk, Fawn turned around to leave his room when Tig's universal remote suddenly flew past her head, landing on the carpeted hallway floor.

Bending over, Fawn picked it up. "Thanks. Saves me the trouble of taking this away from you, too."

"BITCH!"

"Damn straight! And only because my daddy made me that way." She flashed her father a sweet smile before exiting the room with his remote.

Round 1 goes to Fawn Trager, she thought proudly.

The victory, however, was short-lived because after an hour of coaxing, begging, and threatening, Tig had managed to get Rocco to retrieve the remote for him.

"Damn dog has no fuckin' loyalty!" She had groused loudly as Rocco pranced by her proudly, remote in mouth, as he headed towards Tig's room.

The following day brought the next round of the Trager family smack down when Tig requested a beer with his lunch. Fawn had to break the bad news that she had completely cleared out his stash of booze and weed. Upon further reflection, she had Tiki retrieve from the Clubhouse storage room one carton of cigarettes.

After all, there was no need to actively court a death sentence, Fawn reasoned with herself. Tig had been patient enough to teach Rocco to retrieve a damn remote in a day. She wouldn't put it past him to train her own dog to kill her in her sleep.

Regarding the fact that Tig was now residing in a sober house, his reaction had been about as extreme as she had expected it would be.

"I want my shit back! Just because you're on the fuckin' wagon doesn't mean that I have to be too!"

"Guess what? This is not a democracy and you don't get a vote." Fawn retorted snidely. "Like it or not, there's always plenty of room on my wagon, old man. I'm sure you're a hell of a lot easier to deal with when you're drunk and high, but as long as you're on doctor-prescribed pain meds, all other mood altering substances are banned."

"Those fuckin' pills make me woozy," Tig almost whined. "I can control my pain way better with some weed and a little Jack and still stay alert."

"Alert for what, Rambo? You need to be resting. That's the whole point." Fawn replied. "Besides, I hate to break it to you, but I raided your bar and got rid of all of your friends—Jack, Jameson, Johnny, Jose, Gordon, Jim. The whole fuckin' lot went down the drain." She lied with a straight face.

Tig ferociously bared his teeth at her. "When I get out of this bed," He said quietly. "I'm gonna fuckin' kill ya."

"I don't have to wait until you get better. I can take you out right now with a butter knife and Rocco can dig a pretty big hole in the backyard." Fawn retorted. "You've been warned."

"What about my weed?" Tig grabbed fistfuls of his own hair. "Please tell me you didn't flush it."

Fawn winced. "Sorry, I can't. That would be lying."

"FUCK!"

Needless to say, Round 2 had gone to Fawn as well. But even though it had been a couple of tense days between the SAA and his headstrong daughter, Fawn wasn't completely heartless.

Despite taking away some of his favorite toys, she set about making sure that he had everything else he needed. With a 40" flat screen TV on the wall in his bedroom, satellite television and a DVD player, he had plenty to keep him entertained. It also helped that, despite his grumbling to the contrary, he had a soft spot for Rocco. The feeling was apparently mutual as the lovable dog chose to spend a lot of time in her father's room at the foot of his bed.

Short of returning his booze and weed, Fawn assured him that whatever he needed or wanted, she was at his beck and call. She hadn't expected, however, that Tig would ask her to go through his massive porn collection, both print and film, in order to pull out some of his all-time favorites.

No child ever, ever wants to confront a parent's sex life in such a head-on manner and she was no exception to the rule. Fawn, who thought she had seen and heard everything, couldn't help but cringe, getting a whole new education as she went through her father's magazine collection. It skeeved her immensely and had almost been too much for her to take, but just as she was considering throwing in the towel by loosening her outsider ban, it dawned on her.

The asshole is torturing me on purpose!

With her game face on, Fawn handed a gleeful Tig all of the requested magazines and, without being asked to, loaded his multi-disc player with a vast assortment of DVDs. Almost panicking as Tig picked up his remote, Fawn quickly, but calmly headed out of his room and closed the door firmly behind her. Hoping to keep whatever sounds that were bound to escape from Tig's bedroom from reaching her ears, Fawn decided that it was the perfect time to run the vacuum cleaner in the living room before starting on dinner.

Fawn prided herself on being something of a self-taught gourmet. Unlike a lot of her rail thin co-workers at the salon, who existed on a strict diet of undressed lettuce leaves and non-fat, extra skinny lattes, Fawn wasn't. She was a tall gal with the kind of curves that men, not boys, liked to play with. As much as she was all about eating healthy and organic, the point was she liked to eat. And much like being a hairstylist let her exercise her creative side, the same could be said about cooking.

Fawn smiled to herself when she remembered how her father had nearly drooled all over himself on his first night home when she brought him his dinner. Knowing how he barely touched his food while in the hospital, Fawn had cooked him up a feast of roasted lemon and thyme chicken with red new potatoes, fresh corn on the cob and roasted broccoli with garlic and butter sauce. Everything had been organic, including the expensive free-range chicken. Although working with only one hand, Tig had managed to eat it all and nearly wiped the plate clean with his tongue.

"That was some pretty good shit, Fawnzy. Even that green stuff."

"It's called broccoli, Dad." She said wryly.

"Uh huh. Still good shit, though."

Over the next few days, as Fawn got into the swing of things in between their constant bickering, she continued to feed the seemingly starving man. But now, with a planned Round Three about to go down, Fawn decided that it was time to pull out the big guns.

Tonight would be the first official session of Trager Family Therapy.

Wheeling a small serving cart carrying two covered plates into the bedroom, Fawn grinned as she saw her father's eyes widen in appreciation. Rocco, who was stretched out in his now-usual spot at the foot of Tig's bed, barked a welcome.

"You know I could get used to this shit." Tig snarked. "You've been torturing my ass all afternoon with the smells coming from that kitchen. I'm gonna have to do a shitload of working out after I get this cast taken off. You're turning me into a fat bastard."

"Actually, you'd be surprised by how healthy you've been eating. And not to bring up a sore subject, but by cutting out all that excess booze, I'm sure you've dropped a few pounds." Fawn explained. "But tonight, I thought you deserved something special, something nice and homey." She placed a large platter on a tray over his lap and whipped off the cover with great flourish.

"Hot damn! Meatloaf!" Tig exclaimed.

"And mashed potatoes with gravy and not a green thing in sight. Eat up." Fawn smiled at the childlike gleam in his eyes.

Tig let out a long, hearty moan as he swallowed a mouthful. "Shit, Fawnzy. I think this is better than Gemma's." He marveled as he scooped another bite into his mouth.

You know despite wanting to kill her, living with my kid might not turn out too bad.

Even considering their differences, Tig was enjoying his time with Fawn. Not being able to watch her grow up first hand and having lost touch over the last couple of years, Tig was only now getting the chance to see how she had turned out. In spite of a not-so-stellar upbringing and being chased by her demons as a teenager, Tig figured that, as far as bitches went, Fawn had her head screwed on pretty straight. Remembering how serious she had been as a little girl, it should have come as no real surprise to him anyway.

It suddenly dawned on Tig that, even though he loved both his girls and would willingly give up his own life for them without question, he hardly knew them. The last time he had lived with his girls, Fawn had been 6 and Dawn 8. Times were different back then and it had been easier to relate to them as kids.

Although his house was his private retreat, Tig knew that being in it by himself with Fawn was going to be a little awkward, to say the least, which was why he had practically begged Jax to send some of his brothers over to act as a buffer. He wasn't used to having bitches around, with the exception of Gemma, who had been invited, and Jolene, who had barged her way in. But since he had willingly handed over the reins to his daughter as caregiver, he found that he and Fawn were doing all right.

Unfortunately, things were about to take a sharp left and the SAA hadn't seen it coming.

"That was great, Fawnzy." Tig laid his fork down and let out a loud belch.

"I guess I should be happy with that, huh?" Fawn, who had already finished her grilled chicken salad and baked potato swimming in fresh organic butter and chives, got up to remove the dirty dishes.

"Well, you know me, sweetheart." Tig shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not much good at flattery and compliments."

"Unless I'm a hot babe," Fawn muttered under her breath. "Then you'd be dropping lines like nobody's business."

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing, Dad. I'll be right back."

Depositing the dirty dishes into the dishwasher, Fawn inhaled a deep breath and then picked up the large canvas bag that was sitting on the kitchen table before heading back to her father's bedroom.

Tig had the TV remote in his hand when Fawn entered his room and as quick as a snake, snatched it away from him.

"Hey!" Tig exclaimed. "It's my turn to choose tonight and I ain't watching no chick flicks." They had spent the last couple of nights watching TV after dinner until late. "There's going to be an epic cage fight on pay-per-view. Since I can't watch my brothers killing it in the ring at the Clubhouse, I gotta get my thrills on somehow."

Placing the TV remote on the dresser along with the bag next to the vase of blue delphiniums, Fawn turned around to face her father. With her arms crossed and a gimlet look in her eye, Tig realized that the shit was about to hit the fan.

"You can watch grown men beating the chum out of each other some other time, Dad. We have some of our own shit to work out and now is as good as time as any." Fawn announced.

Alexander Trager was not a stupid man. A man doesn't survive over 30 years as a one-percenter without some smarts. He had seen this moment coming down the pike, but had been hoping to put it off for a while longer because anyone who knew the crazy blue-eyed SAA knew that Tig was not a touchy-feely kind of patch. While Bobby was known to be the conscience and unofficial counselor of the Club, Tig was known for two things: fuckin' and killing shit, his two favorite pastimes. So hearing the "We need to work shit out" line come out of the mouth of a broad made his colon clench.

Although Tig would not admit it to anyone, hearing his daughter jerking his President around as he came out of his coma had been the most beautiful sound in the world. Even better than the roar of his Harley's engine. Not only was he alive, but his kid, who he hadn't seen in two years, was at his bedside.

His relationship with Fawn had been somewhat rocky throughout the years and Tig knew he had no one to blame but himself. He couldn't even place the blame on Colleen with a straight face. Sure his estranged wife had taken the kids and moved to Oregon, but that only made staying in touch with them hard, not impossible. Years of random phone calls here and there and increasingly rarer visits had not endeared Tig to his children. Dawn only sought him out when she was in a bind and needed something.

Fawn, on the other hand, had always made the effort to stay in touch, but with the frequency with which he changed burners that was almost impossible. She had all but resigned herself to waiting for him to call, but even that changed after her crazy older sister's last visit. Since then, Fawn had refused to have anything to do with him. The last time he called, Tig had been greeted with a resounding "FUCK OFF!", before she hung up on him.

In spite of the guilt he felt (or because of it) or the fact that he was essentially trapped in his own home with her, there was no way that Tig was going down Memory Lane unless he was dragged kicking and screaming.

Putting on his best Grr-face, he tried to get out of it. "I ain't playing Fawnzy. Hand over that remote."

"Or what, Tigger? You gonna shit the bed because that's just about all you're capable of now." Fawn challenged.

Eyeing the resolute expression on her face, Tig had to resort to taking a page from the good ol' fuckin' Man Handbook. Tucking his good arm behind his head, he leaned back against his pillows, his deep blue eyes staring off into space.

"Do you believe this shit, Rocco?" Fawn addressed her dog as he cocked his head to the side, his floppy ears perking up. "He's giving me the silent treatment. Is the big bad biker too scared of having a heart-to-heart with me? Or is he just being an asshole as usual?"

Turning to burn a hole through Fawn, Tig grimaced. "I ain't afraid of shit, little girl."

Fawn's equally icy deep blue eyes widened in mock shock. "Really? Is that so?" Let's find out, shall we? Get off the bed, Rocco." She ordered and Rocco complied as she marched over to the dresser. Digging her hands into the canvas bag, Fawn pulled out its contents and slammed two objects at the foot of the bed, just out of her father's reach.

As Tig looked down, the ex-Marine and SAA of the mother chapter first cringed and then shuddered throwing his arm over his face to hide the horrific sight from his eyes.

"You are one twisted little bitch!" Tig growled. "Get those fuckin' freaks off my damn bed!" He yelled, referring to the two life-like infant baby dolls sitting at his feet, their bright blue human-like eyes staring eerily at him.

Tempted to leave the dolls right where they were and walking out of the room, Fawn's mouth curled at the corner into a very Tig-like grin. "Now we're gonna talk some shit out, old man."


Finally giving in to Tig's almost-begged request to remove her secret weapons from his line of sight, Fawn dropped them back into the canvas bag before settling down at the foot of her father's bed.

"Look, babe. If this is about your sister—" Tig started.

"Yeah," Fawn nodded. "Some of it is about Dawn, but that shit can wait a minute."

Fawn took a deep breath. After years of trying to deal with what Tina called her daddy issues, Fawn was finally sitting across from the man she loved like no other. Unfortunately, her father had the innate ability to inspire her hate with an equal amount of fervor. She was suddenly feeling very pissy as so many thoughts rolled around her head, making it hard to focus on just one. Tired of trying to put the talking points she had come up with earlier in any coherent order, Fawn finally blurted out the first thing that came to mind, the thing that was ultimately at the heart of everything that was wrong with their relationship.

"Why did you leave us, Dad?"

"Aw shit." Tig groaned as he ran his ringed hand over his face. In spite of the tense set of his daughter's shoulders and her hands with electric blue polish on her nails clenched into tight fists, her demeanor was seemingly calm. Only when he looked into her eyes could he see the anger and the sadness reflected in them. That was a look he was familiar with. He had seen it reflected back at him at least the million and one times he had looked in the mirror and thought about his girls. "Honey, I left Tacoma. I didn't leave you."

"That's not how I see it. And I only ever heard one side of the story, Dad. Did you really think Mom would go out of her way to paint you in a good light?" Fawn's voice shook with emotion. "All I was told was that you left us behind to come to Charming and that you didn't try to stop Mom from taking us to Oregon. I don't know about you, but that to me seems like you abandoned your family for a fuckin' motorcycle club. I was six, Dad. How do you think that made me feel?"

Tig wasn't about to defend himself. He knew she had every right to feel the way she did. "You must have felt like shit." He replied honestly, leaning forward and reaching for her hand, which Fawn pulled out of his grasp. "Fawnzy, I left Tacoma, but I never left you or your sister. Like you said, sweetheart, you only ever heard one side of the story. I'm not saying that I don't bear any fault in this shit, but maybe you want to hear my side first before you set me out to pasture as the worst deadbeat father in the history of fucked up men like me."

Pinching the bridge of her nose as she squeezed her eyes tight, Fawn had her doubts that any good could really come from the 22 years of pain she was feeling weighing down on her again. She was considering telling Tig to forget she had brought it up. They could go back to the routine she had set out for them these past few days and when Tig was back on his feet, she would go back home to Seattle and forget about him and their non-existent relationship.

Opening her mouth to tell him just that, Fawn was surprised when she heard herself say something else instead. "I'm listening, Dad."

Tig sighed. This was not going to be easy. "Coming to Charming was absolutely, 100% my decision. You may not understand this, Fawn, but the Club is more than just a brotherhood. It's my livelihood, the only thing I have ever been any good at. Making the move to the mother charter was not only a good move for me when it came to my standing in the Club, but it was going to be a good move for our family. I'm not gonna get into the specifics of Club business, but earning in Tacoma wasn't easy. When I first hooked up with your mother, we were living in a shitty trailer park near the highway. I had promised her a real home where we would raise our family in, but the best I could eventually do was a small apartment over a storefront. SAMTAC may have been the bigger charter, but they were cash poor.

"So when SAMCRO reached out and asked me to take over as the new SAA, I jumped. Not only was it a chance for me to earn more, but Charming has a homey vibe and with the Club running the show, I knew it would be a safe place for all of my girls, your mom included, but she didn't see it that way. She gave me shit about moving, leaving behind her friends and the big city life. I had to make the move quick or I was gonna lose out big, so I patched into SAMCRO. I figured Colleen would eventually toe the line and come with, but a few weeks before the move some bug crawled up her ass." Tig said a little sheepishly.

"Bug, huh?" Fawn smirked. "I think it was more like a dead cat that crawled up Mom's ass, don't you?" She shuddered a little at the memory.

"Yeah, my bad. That shit was kinda twisted and totally on me." Tig replied, recalling how a former girlfriend had shown up out of the blue and tossed her dead cat, which he had accidently killed, on the Trager's welcome home mat outside their apartment. Five-year old Fawn had the misfortune of opening the door and making the horrible discovery.

"I guess that shit kinda pushed your Mom over the edge. She was so pissed that at the time I thought it was a good idea for her to take you and Dawn to see your grandparents. It would give me a chance to get shit settled in Charming and your mom a minute to calm down. A few weeks became a month and before I knew it, two months of unreturned phone calls had gone by before I realized that she had a serious beef. I hauled ass to Oregon as soon as I could, but she told me to fuck off and that she was staying put. With things going a little sideways for the Club back in Charming, I figured I'd let her cool her heels. Shit always had a way of sorting itself out between Colleen and me.

"But by the time things settled down in Charming, your mother had gone back to school, determined to do shit without me. That's when I fucked up. I should have dragged her ass down here with you kids when I had the chance, but I didn't. She said some truly horrible things," She went so far as threatening to kill you kids and herself if I forced her to make the move, Tig thought, but would never say out loud. He had lost his shit and had smacked Colleen around for saying such evil things to him. "After that, not even this house would have changed her mind."

"This house?" Fawn queried.

Tig nodded. "I bought this place for my girls. I was making money hand over fist once I made the move to SAMCRO. Between working at T-M and the Club, I had earned enough for a big down payment. This baby's been paid off for years."

Fawn blinked her eyes in shock. "Why the hell didn't Mom tell us?"

"She didn't know." Tig shrugged his shoulders as his daughter stared at him in anger. "Colleen's life back then was all about going back to school. She was tired of being an old lady and all the shit that came with it. This house sat empty for a long time before I let Gemma off her chain and she turned it into a retreat for me. I've added shit to it over the years, but it was strictly a place for me to just chill out. Living here full-time without you guys just didn't feel right to me."

"Shit!" Fawn muttered. "You realize that both you and Mom are a pair of pig-headed assholes! Oregon was really shitty for us, Dad. Maybe if you had told Mom about the house and how much you wanted your family back she would have caved. We could have been together as a family."

Knowing that this whole situation was more his fault than anyone else's, Tig took Colleen's side. "Look, Fawnzy, don't blame your mother for this. Truth is, I was a shitty husband and father and had it coming. All I really want you to get out of me telling you all this is that you and your sister were never to blame for any of it. And I'm really sorry if you ever felt that you were."

Fawn ran both of her hands through her hair and yanked on it to relieve some of her internal pain and stress. Hearing her father's side had been enlightening to say the least, but it still didn't relieve all of her pain.

"Did it ever occur to you that if you had just kept your dick in your pants maybe Mom would have been more willing to work shit out?" She asked angrily.

"Sure, yeah," Tig shrugged. "Wasn't gonna happen, though." Fawn's eyes were flashing murderously at her father. "Hey, sweetheart, I'm just being honest here. I love pussy, but them bitches never meant shit to me. I thought Colleen understood that."

"Apparently, she didn't." Fawn replied.

"Apparently not." Tig agreed.

As father and daughter sat in virtual silence, Fawn contemplated all he had said. She had to admit that hearing his side of the story made her see things from a different perspective. Maybe, Fawn was willing to concede, Tig Trager wasn't such a tool after all. However, what Tig had just shared may explain what caused the break-up of their crazy-as-shit marriage, but it didn't answer why she saw her father only a handful of times while growing up.

"Okay, from what you've told me, you and Colleen had a fucked up relationship. I get that. But, Dad, regardless of what happened between you and Mom, Dawn and I were still your family. Coming to see us only once or twice a year? That shit's just wrong."

"I know, I know, but your mother was such a pain in the ass." Tig grumbled. "Besides, it was a lot easier when you were little girls. You and Dawn thought I was a rock star, acted like I hung the fuckin' moon. It kinda scared me a little that as you got older you wouldn't see me that way any more."

"Damn straight, but I would have preferred seeing you as you are rather than never seeing you at all." Fawn insisted, the tears she had been holding back finally springing from her eyes. "You don't have any clue what you not being around did to us, do you? What it did to me."

Looking at his beautiful daughter shed tears over him made Tig's heart clench in his chest. "No, I don't, sweetheart. Maybe you should tell me." He almost whispered.


The fact that Tig looked and sounded sincere when he said he wanted to hear her side was like opening a floodgate. Once Fawn started talking, she wasn't sure she could stop.

"I hated Oregon. Mom swore we were just going on a little vacation and I believed her. I was six and up until then, all I kept hearing about from you was this magical place called Charming. It's stupid, but it sounded like a fairytale place to me and I couldn't wait to get there." Fawn explained. "You have no idea how devastated I was when Mom told us we were staying in Eugene and that you wouldn't be coming with us. I couldn't understand why. I just kept waiting for you to show up one day and take us all back home. Instead, we spent the next three years living in a cramped hoarder's paradise with Grandma and Grandpa while Colleen went back to school. I am so proud of my mom for getting her nursing degree, but that only led to shit changing again. She graduated and we could finally move into a place of our own, but she was working long shifts at the hospital. Dawn and I may have had our issues with each other over the years, but she was 11 years old and stepped up to take care of me, her little sister, when she needed to be taken care of as well. We ended up taking care of each other because it felt like we had been abandoned by both our parents.

"Shit just got heavier to deal with the older I got. I don't know if you can understand just how fucked up shit can get for a teenage girl dealing with abandonment issues. I was looking for attention by doing all the wrong things, things no sixteen year old should have knowledge about. Hanging out led to partying, which led to drinking and smoking weed, which led to harder shit. I'd go to parties during school hours where heroin and coke were passed around like snacks." Looking her father in the eye, Fawn stopped and took a deep breath. "I lost my virginity to a 38 year old stoner with acne who still lived with his mommy, and all because he promised he would hook me up with his pot dealer. I ended up paying $120 for a quarter ounce of oregano. The truly sad and pathetic part was that I was so fucked up and strung out, I tried smoking it anyway." Stopping, Fawn ran her hands over her face.

For years, she hadn't let herself think about the douche bag that had conned her into letting him be her introduction to intimacy with men. Needless to say, that experience had been horrible and embarrassing, and unfortunately, had tainted every relationship she's had since. Fawn had known, however, that sorting out the Trager's dirty laundry was going to be harsh. She had worried about the impact that opening old wounds would have on her sobriety because honestly, for the first time in years Fawn felt like she needed a drink. Seeing her father watching her speak with a mixture of pain, anger, and self-loathing reflected on his face reminded her that she wasn't alone in all this. There was plenty of hurt to go around, but she wasn't looking to pass the buck.

Grabbing his hand, Fawn squeezed it between both of hers. "Dad, I'm not blaming you or Mom for all the bad decisions I made. No one forced me to smoke weed, get piss drunk, or shoot H. That's not what this is all about. After all these years, what I'm having trouble getting past is that it took me nearly OD'ing to get you two to realize that I was hurting. You were quick to rally around me then as a family, but once I was in recovery, it was like I stopped existing again. Do you have any idea what it's like to believe that you only matter to the people you love when you're knocking on death's door, like you were some sort of fuckin' obligation? To realize that no matter what I did—good or bad—that Dawn was and would always be the favorite one?" Fawn asked angrily.

Listening to his daughter pour her heart out, Tig was hard pressed not to shoot himself in the fucking head. It hurt realizing that a lot of Fawn's emotional baggage could be laid at his door and all because she believed that he didn't really love her.

"Come here."

Fawn looked at her father with wide eyes as she swiped away at the tears that she hadn't realized were falling down her face again. Fawn tried to convince herself that the last thing she wanted was to be comforted by the man who had caused her so much pain. She would prefer to wallow in her anguish and self-pity, but looking into eyes so similar to her own, moist with unshed tears, Fawn suddenly found herself crawling into her father's arms.

As Tig stroked the dark red hair of his sobbing daughter, he felt like a piece of shit.

Mopping at her face with the edge of his bed sheet, Tig bent over and kissed Fawn's forehead. "Fawnzy, baby, I'm so fuckin sorry, sweetheart. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that you're wrong feeling the way you do because you're not. I can't sit here and lie to you, either. Yeah, sometimes I did cater more to your sister, but it wasn't because I loved you less. Out of the two of you, she seemed the most like me." Tig explained as Fawn pulled away to look him in the eye as she rubbed the tears off her cheeks with the heel of her hand. "Don't get me wrong. Both you girls are crazy as fuck, but even as a little kid you had a better handle on shit than your older sister ever did. And from what I can tell, you still do. You just lost your way for a little bit, but you found yourself no thanks to me. I worry about Dawn in ways I never have to worry about you, kid. She hasn't found herself yet, so yeah, she only comes to me when she's in trouble. Dawn tries to work shit out for herself, but she fucks up royally. She's not like you, sweetheart. You tough shit out. Dawn needs someone to pick her up."

Fawn shook her head. "Last time she came to you, she was feeding you some bullshit story about me relapsing. And you believed her." The hurt in her eyes was ripping Tig's gut apart. "After 10 years of living clean, she shows up, feeding you a line about me needing to go back to rehab and, instead of picking up the phone and calling me, you take her word for it. You actually believed her and gave her $12,000 based on nothing more than a fuckin' lie!"

"Baby, I never believed that shit for a minute."

Looking into Tig's eyes, Fawn realized that what Tiki had told her was true. Her father was telling her the truth. "Dad, if you didn't believe it why did you give her the money?"

"She came to see me, sought me out. Dawn hardly does that." Tig explained. "I was able to keep her around for a couple of days before she split and it was nice. We talked about old times and reminisced, but I never believed her when she said you had relapsed, baby, you gotta believe that. Instead of calling her out on her bullshit story, I just enjoyed the time with her. But, hey," He started, wagging a finger at her. "This family shit's not one-sided, you know. You could pick up the phone and call your old man every once in a while too."

Fawn winced a little. He's got a point, she thought. "Guilty as charged, but still, you could have called and told me what she was up to. I could have saved you twelve thousand bucks."

Tig shook his head. "I didn't want you knowing that your sister was down here talking shit. The fact was, I was more than happy to remain clueless about the con she was pulling. Gemma, however, couldn't resist dropping her two cents in it and called your mother. Colleen told Gemma that you were fine and, in turn, I guess she told you what Dawn was up to."

"Yeah and it pissed me off on two points!" Fawn said angrily. "You didn't bother calling me and you went to Mom instead."

"Fuckin' hell, Fawn! Are you deaf?! I didn't do shit. I told you it was Gemma." Tig growled. "Besides, you still haven't acknowledged the fact you coulda called me. I would've given it to you straight, Fawnzy. As a matter of fact, I tried, but you fuckin' hung up on me."

"I think the fact that I drove like a fuckin' lunatic to get to your bedside before you fuckin' croaked on me counts for something." She argued petulantly.

"Why should it?" Tig asked with a furrowed brow. "It didn't count when I did it for you ten years ago. Yeah, I dropped the ball on you and your sister plenty of times, but I was there when you were in the hospital. I took you to rehab. I may have missed a birthday or two—"

"Or a hundred." Fawn said bitterly.

Tig glared at her. "A hundred? Really? How fuckin' old are you?"

"You know what I mean, asshole." Fawn rolled her eyes.

"The question is, do you know what I mean? I'm not good with words, sweetheart. I may not have been there for a lot of birthdays and shit, but I was there when it mattered." Tig's voice was soft, brimming with emotion. "I supported you through rehab, paid for beauty school, even set you up in your first apartment in Seattle."

Fawn stared at her father. Shit, I hate it when he's being rational, she thought, finally understanding what he was saying. She still had to bust his balls about it, though.

"I get it, Dad. You don't deal well with emotion and you don't know how to talk to a woman unless she's on her knees," She said sarcastically, but softened her tone for what she had to say next. "But you can't just throw money at me and Dawn—well, at me, anyway—and expect me to feel loved. I need to hear it now and again. I mean, we can talk and cry it out all we want, but nothing's gonna change the past. I wanna make a difference in the present. I need my father to love me."

Tig's eyes were wide and unmoving. He was afraid to blink and have his barely under control tears run down his face. "Baby girl, you know I do."

"Arrrgh! Damn it, Dad!" Fawn practically roared. "Three simple words and you can't even bring yourself to say them to me! What kind of fucked up shit did your parents do to you?!"

Tig's shock quickly turned to laughter. "Let's just say that growing up Trager is a pretty twisted experience."

"You think?" Fawn wanted to scowl at the curly-haired freak she was blessed with as a father, but laughed instead.

Sobering up, Tig said, "I love you, Fawn. Always have. Don't ever doubt that."

Wiping a sudden stream of tears, Fawn smiled. "I know, Dad."

Tig snapped his head back like he'd been slapped. "You know?! What the fuck you been busting my balls for then?!"

Fawn raised her hands. "Calm the fuck down! Sometimes a girl needs to hear that shit, a'ight?!" She smirked.

Tig shook his head. "I can't deal with you when I'm sober." He smiled. "We good?"

Fawn shrugged her shoulders. "For now."

It was definitely a good start. Airing out their dirty laundry and shedding a few tears in the process had liberated something within her. It took Fawn a minute to figure out what it was until she realized that she wasn't angry anymore. She felt light and hopeful. It would take some time for them to find the right balance as father and daughter, but now Fawn was confident that things would get better.

All in all, I think Round 3 was a draw.


After the Tragers first "therapy session", Fawn was worn out mentally and emotionally. For years she had known only Colleen's interpretation of the events that had shaped the lives of the Trager girls. Finally getting to see how shit looked from the other side of the fence had been an eye-popping experience.

There was no way around it, however. Both of her parents had acted like immature teenagers playing house and not fully-grown adults in a situation of their own making. Ultimately, it had been Fawn and her sister who paid the price for their parents' dysfunctional behavior.

The past would always remain the past, but at least now Fawn had a markedly better view of Tig's failings as a parent after hearing his side of the story. Good or bad, Tig Trager was the only father she'd ever have, so she had to do what she could to make their relationship better. That and she loved the asshole. Fawn hadn't said so out loud, but in her eyes, her father would always be a rock star. She had gone too long without him in her life and she was finally coming to terms with the fact that she couldn't live like that anymore.

Fawn hoped that what she had planned for this evening's entertainment would jump start the re-bonding process between them.

After cleaning up after dinner, Fawn made her way into Tig's bedroom and snatched up the remote that was lying on his bed. Seeing the now-all too familiar resolve in her eyes, Tig braced himself for another therapy session. Over the course of the past week they had shared many talks, some of which had been reasonable and calm while others had bordered on mayhem with them screaming at each other at the top of their lungs. Tig wasn't sure what he was in for tonight, but he was determined to see it through, no longer resistant to getting in touch with his "girly" emotions.

At least Fawn doesn't have those creepy dolls to bully me around with anymore, Tig smirked to himself. He had been serious when he said he wanted them out of his house. If she wasn't gonna listen, then maybe she shouldn't have left my guns in the nightstand.

"So what's up now, Fawnzy? Is this another part of some 12-step program shit?" Tig shuffled around in bed making himself comfortable.

"Nope. Tonight I thought we could do something fun for a change." Tossing a tablet into his lap, Fawn walked around to the other side of the bed and sat next to him.

"What's this shit?" Tig carelessly waved the tablet around.

"Hey, hey, be careful. You're gonna drop it and its fuckin' priceless." She grabbed it from him and turned it on. "It's full of fond Trager family moments."

"Huh?"

"Look." Fawn double-tapped an icon that opened up into a series of photos. Choosing one, she opened it so that it filled the entire screen. "Remember this?"

"Oh shit," Tig breathed as he saw the picture of him with his two girls in happier times, all three of them wearing giant Uncle Sam hats for the Fourth of July. He had his arms around them both, one hand shoving the red, white and blue hat down over Fawn's head as the other squeezed Dawn's shoulder. "That was the time we went to the fair. How'd you get these on here? This pic had to be pre-digital, right?"

Fawn grinned. "I got dragooned into cleaning out Gram's house after Grandpa passed away. I found a box of pictures and the negatives Mom must have left behind. I had them converted into digital photos. Look," She said as she dragged her finger across the screen revealing more pictures.

For the next half hour the two of them laughed and reminisced about the good times they had as a family—pictures of him arm wrestling five-year old Fawn, another pushing seven-year old Dawn on a swing.

Things were going pretty well until they got to a picture of Colleen Trager sitting behind Tig on his bike, which was parked in a long row of other bikes. It was the one photo of her mother that had always puzzled Fawn. Both her parents looked very young, her mother especially so. As far as Fawn could remember, Colleen had always claimed to have very little to do with Tig's Club. What was even more peculiar was the way her mother was dressed.

"Dad, when was this taken?"

"That shit was taken a lifetime ago. That's the Tacoma Clubhouse." Tig replied as he ran his ringed hand over the hair on his chin. "You look just like her, you know."

"Really? Mom doesn't look much more than a teenager there. I thought you two meet after she had dropped out of college in her second year."

Tig smiled a rakish grin. "Nah, Colleen was barely 18 when we met. Shit, that bitch was fuckin' hot. To this day I don't think I ever again banged a red-haired sweetbutt as good as your mother."

Fawn's blue eyes nearly doubled in size. "What the fuck did you just say?!"

Tig cringed as ran his good hand through his hair. Getting shot four times is gonna feel like a blowjob if the old lady finds out I dropped this fuckin' dime. She just might make good on her promise to cut my dick off.

"What? I don't know what you talkin' about. I didn't say shit, honey." He feigned extreme and over-the-top interest in the next photo of his former in-laws.

Fawn sat straight up, pulling herself away from Tig's arm that had been wrapped around her shoulders. "Don't. Just don't. I'm not a moron, Dad. Are you saying that Mom was a sweetbutt? That she was one of those Club whores she was always going on about?"

There was no help for it now. He was in the shit and saw no point in lying about it. Tig shrugged his shoulders. "You make it sound like that was a bad thing."

Fawn's mouth fell open. "Bloody hell, Dad! You better start talking or I'm picking up the phone and I'll ask Mom myself."

Tig was rubbing his brow with his thumb massaging his temple. "Oh, hell's no, baby. Only the good die young, but for me, your mother will make an exception." Peeking through his fingers, he could see that Fawn wasn't budging. "Shit, Fawn!" He sighed. "Alright, already, but you have to promise me that you won't' mention the conversation we are about to have to your mother or your sister."

"You don't have to worry about that. I have no intention of talking to Dawn and Mom is treading on thin ice already, so spill it." Fawn ordered, hunkering down to listen to what she was sure was some life-altering shit.

"I met your Mom in some dive bar in Tacoma when she was about 18 and I was a few years older. She was working as a cocktail waitress and some douche bag customer was pressing up on her hardcore, annoying the shit out of her. I helped her out." In reality, Tig had beat the snot out of the man nearly 30 years older than Colleen before locking his ass in the trunk of his own car.

"A cocktail waitress? Mom said she was going to nursing school in Tacoma when she met you."

"She did, for a while and then she dropped out. Beforeshe met me." It was clear to Tig that his and Colleen's version of how they met were light years apart. Deciding he had already said a lot, Tig failed to mention just how Colleen had thanked him for his help during her break. "Anyway, I was still at the bar when she finished her shift. She was waiting at a bus stop when I pulled up on my ride and offered her a lift. When she saw my ride, she really perked up and asked me if I would take her to a party. We ended up at the SAMTAC Clubhouse. I knew about the Sons and had passed by their Clubhouse a few times. Everybody knew that SAMTAC was where to party, but I didn't have the stones back then to just walk up in there. Colleen was a regular at the Clubhouse and said she could get me in, so we went. Once we got there, I kinda of lost your mom in the crowd." Tig lied. No need to tell Fawn that the then Tacoma VP had scooped her mother up over his shoulder and carried her off to his dorm the moment she set foot inside. "But I ended up hanging out all night, talking to some patches, who later gave me an open invite to party with them. Me and Colleen would hook up—"

"When she wasn't busy hooking up with the Club members?" Fawn asked with just the slightest edge in her voice.

"Uh, sumptin' like that, but she couldn't stay away from the heat I'm packin'." Tig grinned cockily. "She wanted something serious and exclusive between us, but that shit wasn't gonna happen with half of SAMTAC running a train on her. Of course, I had no choice but to put a ring on it after I knocked her ass up four months later."

"How did you end up finally joining the Club?" Fawn asked, curious. "Weren't you a Marine by the time Dawn was born?"

"Yeah, I was. I patched in after getting discharged." Tig said offhandedly. A psych discharge thanks to that damn noisy goat.

"When I came back, I was all kinds of messed up. I started hanging out at the Clubhouse again, just to blow off some steam. Your mother didn't give me too much shit about it at first until Lorca offered to sponsor me. I think she knew my crazy ass needed an outlet, but conveniently forgot what it was like in the Clubhouse—all the available pussy and shit."

"I'd think I'd want to forget that shit, too." Fawn groused. Especially if I had been on the menu once myself.

"Yeah, well. She needed to contain that shit. It's not my fault she couldn't deal with the fact that, well, the blue eyes gets 'em wet." Tig wriggled his eyebrows as his daughter rolled her eyes. "What? I thought we are supposed to be all honest and open in our relationship."

"I didn't think I had to point this out, but there are some things I really don't need to know, Dad. Going through your porn collection has already scarred me for life, thank you." Fawn sighed as she looked down at her mother's picture again. "I can't believe this shit. Does explain the hot pants and fishnet stockings, though." She blew her breath between her teeth making a whistling sound. "Damn, I really do look like her."

"Yeah, you do." Tig smiled. "And I know I'm your dad and all, but you are totally fuckable."

Fawn put her hand up as an official sign of protest. "Okay, stop! That's gross."

Tig lit a cigarette one-handed and blew out a trail of blue smoke. "Hey, I told you I don't know my ass from my elbow when it comes to handling this father-daughter shit, especially with a grown woman that looks like you."

"Why, because women are either saints or whores?" Fawn scoffed.

"Well, yeah." Tig replied as if he was talking to an idiot.

"Well, here's a news flash for ya, you freak. We aren't. You really need to broaden your horizons and maybe adjust your attitude a little. Women are allowed to vote now, you know." She replied sarcastically.

"I like my attitude the way it is, and just about everybody I know feels the same, so here's a little advice for you—keep your ass away from my brothers. I love them, but I don't want to have to kill any one of them because of you." Tig declared.

"Why? If you love them so damn much, me hooking up with one of them shouldn't be a problem, right?" Fawn teased.

Oh, you mean like Opie Winston, her inner voice snarked.

Shut up, Fawn retorted.

Tig eyed his daughter. "Look, all joking aside, Fawnzy. I'm deadly serious about this. I'm not living alone in the fucked-in-the-head department. Some of my brothers are right there with me. You already have a shitty father; you don't need a shitty old man as well."

"Old man?!" Fawn squeaked. "Who's talking about getting an old man?"

"Hey, I already said that your fuckable, right? That shit can also translate into old lady material. With a body like yours, you could find yourself shacked up with one of my asshole brothers before you knew what the fuck happened. I can't take any credit for that shit, but you carry yourself well, sweetheart. I know that some of my brothers are looking. You don't have to draw me a picture, but what's going on between you and Opie?"

Fawn nearly swallowed her tongue. "Me and Opie? That fuckin' Redwood tree? He's a pain in my ass."

"Well, I've seen him checking out said ass. Can't blame him, but as long as he's just looking, I ain't gonna say shit about it. I'm just saying that Opie is not the one for you."

"And why not?" Fawn challenged.

Finally, I think I'm going to find out whether Opie was responsible for Dad getting shot.

However, Fawn was completely and utterly floored when her father replied. "Because I'm the reason his old lady's dead."


A/N: Wow, I don't know about you, but this chapter nearly wore me out! Writing about the emotional baggage separating the two Tragers was pretty intense. I know you guys are probably missing Opie, but Tig and his kid had some serious issues they needed to get through. Don't worry, though. Our two fighting love birds will be back real soon.

Anyway, I hope you guys will stay plugged in for the next chapter when Fawn finally lets Tig out of therapy hell to have some fun with his brothers, the sparks fly between Opie and Fawn, a new matchmaker is on the scene, and there is an epic meeting of the minds between Fawn and the newest Queen of Charming.

Harlee