Baby, It's You

Edited Author's Note: So, just in case anyone re-reads this, I have to apologize for the first upload. I don't know how it happened, but for some reason an un-edited version was saved, and I accidentally posted it last night, so...it was like, a really, really rough draft. I'm sorry for that (It was really embarrassing when I checked this morning and noticed it wasn't corrected). Anyway, other than that, it's mostly the same, and I want to thank Roman Lizzy who did the Beta read. It helped, for sure! Otherwise, carry on.


Chapter 7: Eventuality

"Do you think Abel would like the sports car or the firetruck?"

"Sweetheart, he's an infant. I think he'll like whatever ya get him so long as it makes noise."

"Suppose you're right." Claire looked between the two singing plush Fisher-Price toys in her hands once more, weighing the pros and cons between the two ridiculously adorable adaptions of machinery. "I'll get him the firetruck," She decided, with no further input needed from Chibs, setting the sports car back on the shelf. "I feel like it's more encouraging."

"Encouraging to what?"

"I don't know. Not be an asshole who drives a sports car I guess." Claire shrugged, glancing over her shoulder at Chibs, who had been making it very difficult to concentrate on buying children's toys. His hands cupped over her hips and constantly rocking her back against his groin, making sure she knew he was thinking more of getting her home than anything else. She swore the man had the stamina of a tri-athlete and the patience of a saint; a truly fearsome combination. He would get her rip-roaring to go, and then take all damn night relieving the aching fire he lit, obviously reveling in the fact it was slow torture to her when he took his time. If she didn't love it quite so much, she would accuse Chibs of being a sadist.

"If he grows up to be an asshole, which I seriously doubt," Chibs replied to her earlier statement, "-he'll be an asshole who rides a Harley."

She laughed lightly, Chibs burying his face in the side of her neck, likely bored near to tears from shopping. Even if they had only been at it for half an hour, he'd made his distaste for the activity clear. "If you keep that up people are going to think we're making a baby rather than shopping for one."

"Let 'em. They can all be jealous."

"You're a sex-addict."

"I know," He responded, apparently thinking it wasn't an issue, tongue trailing up the side of her neck, sending chills down her spine and blood up to her face, darkened by the fact there was a group of young mothers less than an aisle away who could turn to see them any minute now. "And I'm especially addicted to sex with my smokin' hot librarian."

"Your hot librarian?" Claire questioned, squirming out of his grasp. "Come on, Chibs. Behave for like, five more minutes, please?"

Chibs gave an overly-dramatic a sigh, before taking a very purposeful step back. "There's something I gotta go pick up anyway. Y'mind if I meet ya by the car?"

"Uh, sure. What do you need?"

"It's a secret." He gave her a cheeky wink before tugging her close enough for a positively toe-curling kiss, and so he could get a good grab of her ass; his possessive hands over the back pockets of her jeans, seemingly unfazed by the plush toy between them -still clutched absently in Claire's hands- as well as the gasping mothers at the end of the aisle. Claire, however, was not.

"Chibs, that's definitely not what I meant when I said to behave." She pushed him off with a hand firmly in the center of his chest, knowing he had been trying to make her blush, and hating that he was succeeding with so little effort. One would think she'd be used to it by now.

"Sure it was." He grinned, giving her a peck on the lips and heading for the door, leaving her with a sneaking suspicion he just hadn't wanted to be seen buying kid stuff.

Claire smiled as she watched him go, Chibs giving a cheerful wave to the three women and their kids, all of whom promptly turned on their heels and tried to pretend like they hadn't been watching.

She could tell he was being extra-flirtatious today, probably trying to make up for vanishing on her last night. Over the past few days, it had become almost normal to wake up with him, which was why she thought it strange he hadn't been at her house last night.

She assumed that the reason was club-related, something he wouldn't tell her about, especially considering, as far as SAMCRO went, things were going completely pear-shaped these days. She'd heard about Bobby and Opie's arrests, and from the look of things, the law was going to get to keep Bobby. Opie on the other hand had returned to Charming yesterday, and she assumed that Chibs had been at the clubhouse, doing whatever they did in such a situation. Still, a phone call would have been nice. Especially since he'd shown up on her doorstep this morning, the only day of the week she had off from the library, seemingly halfway between drunk and hungover. He didn't talk to her about whatever had gone down, which she supposed was only fair, as she had asked him not to involve her, but...she had been really worried. More so when she noticed he smelled like another woman's perfume. He'd been quick to remedy that with a shower, claiming an overly-affectionate drunk who happened to be female was the explanation. She wasn't entirely sure she believed that, but she didn't want to believe he was lying either.

Claire carried the toy she had selected toward the register, wondering if Jax even knew she was going to be at Abel's homecoming party. As far as she had been told, Chibs was the only one aware that he had invited her, which made the invitation itself a bit of a moot gesture. Still, it couldn't hurt to turn up and drop off a gift, a good-will gesture or something along those lines. Purchasing the firetruck, along with a bright blue bag and tissue paper, Claire headed for the parking lot, where she found Chibs leaning up against the side of the Jetta with his own gift bag, this one orange and black, dangling from his fingers.

"I thought you already bought Abel a gift," Claire said, curiously nodding to the bag.

"This one's not for Abel," Chibs answered with a conspiratorial smile, before holding it out to her. "It's yers."

"What is it?"

"A present." She could hear the 'duh' lurking in his voice.

"I know that. But what's in it?"

"Defeats the purpose of wrapping it if I tell ya sweetheart." He persistently held it out to her. "C'mon, humor me."

"You want me to open it right now?"

"Yeah, go on," He urged, shaking the bag at her in what she supposed was meant to be a tempting fashion.

"Okay, hang on a second." Somewhat awkwardly, Claire opened the back door of the car, placing what she had bought on the back seat, before taking the gift bag from Chibs and sitting on the seat. The bag was heavy, but not overly-much. She gave it a shake, trying to decide what it was, and got a pointed throat-clearing from Chibs.

"Just open it, will ya?"

"Sorry. I don't really like surprises..." She offered. In her experiences, surprises were very rarely a good thing. But, appreciating the random gesture of affection, Claire tugged the top few layers of tissue paper off and met a smooth, black, curved surface. A few more wisps of paper later, and she discovered it was a motorcycle helmet, which looked to be just her size, with a small decal that matched the tattoo on her chest almost perfectly done on the back. She could only stare at it at first, then glanced up at Chibs, who, for the first time since she had met him, looked like he felt awkward, rubbing the back of his neck with his eyes on a far corner of the parking lot.

"Ya like it? I just figured, ya know, this way when ya ride with me ya don't hafta borrow mine. If ya want to ride with me. Er...I just thought ya might like to have yer own, y'know? I kept the receipt, case ya don't want it-"

She nearly took Chibs off his feet as she more or less jumped at him, flinging her arms around his neck and kissing him fervently.

"I think this may be the best gift I've ever gotten," She told him honestly.

"Well, that's a relief." Chibs grinned, his arms sliding around her easily, pulling her flush against him. Claire smiled and snuggled in, feeling like another bridge had been made between them with that simple gesture.

It wasn't just because the gift was thoughtful that made her so grateful. It was the permanence it seemed to offer. Things had been touch-and-go before, and still sort of were, but this...offering her the helmet seemed like he was inviting her to be a part of his life on a more permanent basis. Or at least, a basis where she rode with him often enough to need her own gear.

But then, maybe she was reading too much into it, and he only wanted her to be safe.

It didn't matter, she was happy.

"Still wanna take a shower before we go to Jackie-boy's?" Chibs asked in her ear, as though he liked hugging her too much to bother letting go.

"Yeah. That way we can switch rides too." Claire nodded.

"Why do ya wanna switch?"

"Well, I'll look silly wearing a motorcycle helmet and driving my car, won't I?"

"Good point." His smile seemed appreciative as he released her from his grip, "Let's get a move on then. Gemma'll cut my cock off if we're late."

"Can't let that happen, I use that." She grinned back at him and pecked him on the cheek, clambering into the Jetta before Chibs got any wily ideas about having her in the parking lot.

Not that it helped, seeing as she was the one with the lusty thoughts.

Claire drove them back to the house in record time. She hadn't really noticed it until recently, but she had been driving faster, maybe even more recklessly, the last few weeks. Perhaps Chibs was rubbing off on her? Maybe he made her feel more daring than she had been before, even in such a small way. She wondered about it as she pulled in next to his bike, parking the car in the same place as always. It seemed so natural to see it sitting there, like it belonged.

"Give me about thirty minutes to get ready?"

"Sweetheart, I'd give ya all the time in the world, but I'm not the one ya gotta be worried about." Chibs smiled, climbing out of the car and promptly lighting a cigarette. "Go on, get that pretty li'l tail in the shower before I start grabbing ya again."

"Ehm...you could always take one with me..." Well, so much for keeping her naughty thoughts to herself. He looked surprised and slightly amused by her offer, but Chibs only smiled a little wider and planted himself firmly next to his bike.

"C'mon now, don't do that to me. We'll never make it in time if we end up naked together."

"Guess you're right." Claire tried to offer a smile, but it was hard to keep the disappointment out of her voice. She had really wanted to try and tempt him for a change. She'd gotten a little spoiled being with Chibs. She was always content to follow his lead and she had never had to put much effort in, he was obviously comfortable taking charge, but had thought maybe it wouldn't hurt her to take the initiative once in a while. Then again, she wouldn't want to risk facing Gemma's wrath either.

Claire wandered to the bathroom and tossed her clothes in the hamper, turning the water to nearly scalding, just the way she liked it. She figured her desire to make the first move would likely last until they got back from Abel's party. There were very few hours of the day where she honestly stopped wanting Chibs, and she'd had more sex in the previous week than she had ever dreamed possible.

She was only vaguely aware of the door opening, but didn't think much of it, as she had gotten pretty accustomed to sharing her space, especially with Chibs. What she hadn't been expecting was for the shower curtain to be thrown back, and a warm body to press up against her back, his arms boxing her in against the tile.

"I thought we decided this was a bad idea?" She questioned, her voice already breathy with anticipation, her legs going wobbly, and her inner thighs damp with something besides the shower water. He turned her on zero-to-sixty without even trying.

"Changed my mind," Chibs answered, kissing the back of her neck. "Ya left me out there thinkin' of all the things I could be doing, and it was fucking torture." His teeth sank lightly into the long tendon at the side of her neck.

"Gemma's going to kill us."

"She'd kill me anyway if I showed up to her grandson's homecoming with a hard-on. I figure at least this way I can die happy." His hand slid down the wall, her eyes following attentively as it left the tile, sliding down her arm, across her stomach, fingers teasing between her legs. Claire practically melted instantly, drooping back against him, whatever she had been about to say getting caught in her throat. "'Sides, doesn't look like ya wanna put up too much of a fight." She could feel him grinning against her skin.

This must be why she never took the initiative. Twenty seconds with Chibs and she was limp as a boned fish. She found her feet long enough to twist around, her back pressed into the tiles instead of his chest, looking up at Chibs through the steam of the shower. He smiled down at her, something about it seeming gentle, more affection than lust. It wasn't the first time she wondered what Chibs felt for her beyond the bedroom, just like it wasn't the first time she pushed it to the back of her mind. It wasn't something that could be easily brought up, at least, not without her own feelings being prodded out into the mix.

How would he react if he knew she was in love with him?

She didn't think about it further, his lips lowering over hers, tongue invading her mouth without hesitation. He was right, she wasn't putting up a much of a fight. His hands gathered her ass, lifting her up until her damp center was pressing against him, slow torture for both of them. Claire moaned low in her throat, his fingers digging into her skin as he cradled her close, the tiles slippery and cold against her back, though she doubted that was the explanation for the goosebumps on her skin. She had long ago given up trying to control her verbal reactions to him, since Chibs seemed to enjoy them anyway, but she still often surprised herself with just how much of a range she had. She had always been too busy trying to muffle them for fear of embarrassment to notice, and she loved that Chibs encouraged her to let loose. One of the many things she supposed.

Claire struggled momentarily in the small confines of the shower to get her arms and legs caught up with her, wrapping them around Chibs and clinging on for dear life.

"Am I too heavy?"

"Sweetheart, yer perfect." His voice was a groan, his lips sealing tightly over her nipple, breasts now within reach of his mouth. "I need ya so fuckin' bad..." He nestled his face against her chest.

"You've got me." Finding the strength that had left her legs moments ago and sliding herself up against the shower wall a bit, she reached a hand between them to circle lightly around him, guiding his cock to slide into her waiting channel, everything already clenching, anxious to have Chibs back inside her. Her chest heaved with ready gasps, Chibs moving against her inner walls like hot silk, his mouth capturing hers, swallowing the little keening cries that had been echoing off the bathroom walls.

He moved his waist in a slow circle, loosened her legs a little to give him room, thrusting against her hard enough that she felt the grout between the shower tiles scrape along her skin, not that she gave a damn, nothing could possibly distract her from the tightly coiled pressure in her lower stomach. Chibs moved her delicately, guiding her to match his pace, though she couldn't figure how he still had the coordination or the strength when she was practically coming undone in his arms and around him. Somehow, she fit him like a perfect glove, he hit every sensitive spot within her each time he pulled out and buried himself back in. Sex with Chibs was like one extensive, infinite orgasm. Nothing about it didn't feel amazing, and, ever the gentleman, he always made sure she got off at least once before he did.

But this time, just as she was about to go flying off the handle, her core was suddenly empty, Chibs' vacating her completely. She whimpered at the feeling of loss and incompleteness.

"Filip-"

"No condom sweetheart," He groaned, his fingers replacing his cock almost instantly, tweaking her clit lightly. With a jolt, she realized he was right. She'd totally forgotten.

Chibs was the first person, the only person, she had ever let fuck her without rubber. How had she let that slip by her? The realization, the near frightening shock of her carelessness was almost enough to cool her down. It would have been if Chibs hadn't been determined to make her come, with or without the assistance of his dick.

Her fingers shaking ever so slightly, but wanting desperately to satisfy Chibs as well, Claire reached out, finishing him off with a few delicate pumps and strokes of her fingers, the same time he coaxed her sex to explode, his name reverberating off the walls while she shook and nearly collapsed. She was honestly quite surprised with her success, she had never given a hand-job before, and hadn't been sure she would be any good at it. Then again, he hadn't needed too much attention. They stood there panting for a long moment, Claire hanging off Chibs like a rag doll, parts of her still aching to be touched, even though she had hit her climax just seconds ago.

"I'm sorry, lovely. Didn't think that one through all that well," Chibs mumbled against her shoulder, reaching down a hand to gingerly rub away a bit of white clinging to her hip.

"I'm on the pill. It probably would have been okay," She offered, sliding her limbs off him to move under the shower head a little more. She felt weird hearing him apologize for something that was equally her responsibility.

"Ya willing to risk that?" He asked, though not in a scornful fashion, moving close again to join her under the shower spray, the water starting to go a little lukewarm.

Claire looked away. For a moment there, she had been. Looking back now, she realized how rash and borderline foolish that had been. She had always had a policy of better safe than sorry, and even if she did feel strongly about Chibs, that didn't make throwing out all her rules acceptable. Even if this seemed to have moved beyond a simple physical fling for him as well. "No, you're right. Thanks for...for you know. Finishing."

"Same to ya, sweetheart." He pulled her to him for a quick kiss. "We'll fuck properly when we get back. In the meantime, we just killed twenty minutes of the half an hour ya had to get ready."

"Shit!" She nearly jumped out of the shower, realizing he was right, searching fervently for a towel before realizing Chibs had set one out for her, along with the clothes she had picked out for the party that morning. "You're the greatest, Filip."

"I do my best to impress ya." He grinned, shutting the water off.

"It works." She smiled back.


Though they rushed -Claire barely having time to put on make-up- and Chibs drove like a bat out of hell, they still only managed to beat Gemma by about three minutes, some of which Chibs used to congratulate himself on guessing the perfect fit of her new helmet. They had just barely gotten situated on a couch when she and Jax burst through the door, announcing Abel was officially home.

Chibs noticed Claire hung back, observing the baby from a distance rather than squishing forward with everyone else, but he supposed she just felt awkward, despite everyone's friendly treatment of her. His little minx was so shy, and it was terribly endearing. Still, he hated for her to think his friends weren't her friends, and slung an arm around her to sweep her into the crowd.

Her face lit up when Abel gurgled up at her from Jax's arms.

"Aw! Jax, he's such a cutie! He's definitely got your baby blues." Chibs smiled at her attitude change, leaning his chin on her shoulder to look over at Abel as well. She was right about his eyes.

"You wanna hold him?" Gemma asked from a few feet away, smiling at Claire, who was cooing back at Abel as though she thought they were actually communicating.

"Oh, that's alright. I'm uh...I'm not so good with kids."

"Bullshit. He loves ya," Chibs pointed out, reaching around her so Abel could clutch at his fingers. "Go on, ya can't be much worse than Jackie-boy."

"Hey, watch it," Jax warned, though he was smiling.

"No really, it's okay-" She didn't get to finish her protest, Jax shuffling the infant into her arms. Her expression went through a rapid succession of changes, starting with fear, moving to nervousness, before a gentle smile spread over her lips, her eyes shining with what Chibs could almost swear was longing. Chibs gazed at her clutching the baby close, and got a strange floating feeling in his chest. She would be a good mother, someday. Most likely not with him, and definitely not with Ben, Chibs thought he'd like to see her with her own child someday; the idea warmed him.

"Okay, if you've got him for a minute, I'm gonna go get a beer real fast. Keep an eye on him," Jax announced, giving his son's belly a rub as he passed them to the kitchen.

"Jax-"

"Yer fine sweetheart. If yer worried that much, sit down." He nudged her to the couch they had been on earlier, and Claire settled back down gingerly, as though worried jostling Abel would have him screaming. So far, he seemed pretty content in her arms though; she had a little more maternal warmth than she gave herself credit for. "He likes ya."

"I guess." She looked down at Abel, the baby grabbing a handful of her tunic-style black tank-top, and cooing up at her in a demanding fashion. "Then again, I think he might just be hungry." She smiled and gave him her finger to grab at, which Abel promptly put in his mouth. She didn't seem to mind. "So...is Tara Abel's mom?"

"Er...no. Jax's ex is Abel's mother."

"Really? I thought for sure Tara and Jax were together, so I just sort of assumed he was theirs."

"I think most of us woulda preferred it that way."

"Why?"

"I'll tell ya about it later." Chibs dodged the subject, seeing Wendy nearby, watching Claire like a hawk. If only she'd been that caring when she was pregnant. "Ya ever think of having kids?" He asked, watching Abel squirm around in her arms. He was so energetic it was hard to believe a few weeks ago they hadn't even known for sure he was going to make it out of the hospital.

She blinked at him, looking surprised. "What?"

"Kids. Ya want any?"

"No." She said it so quickly, he was almost shocked. She hadn't even hesitated.

"Any reason? Yer pretty good with Abel."

"Like I said. I'm no good with kids. Abel's just a sweetie." She looked down at him again, with that same look in her eyes, the one he couldn't describe, but he knew longing was definitely part of it. There was more to the story than that, he was certain, but he would bring it up again later. Gemma would murder him if he started any drama tonight, when there was already so much going on.

The night went well, despite Claire never truly seeming comfortable, and Tara walking out for a reason no one wanted to ask about. Chibs was really starting to think that everything might finally go back to being normal.

This was, of course, before murder was reported in Charming.

He knew then that all hell was about to break loose.


Claire sat by a window, Gemma and Jax's ex, Wendy, she remembered Chibs telling her, stood in the kitchen, talking quietly. Everyone had left for home, save for the three of them, and the Club members had all gone to the scene, some to investigate, many to offer support to Opie. Murder, Chibs had told her simply, before asking her to wait here for him. Murder like he had seen it many times before.

Donna had been killed and no one knew why.

Claire wrapped her bare arms around her middle, feeling cold all over. She hadn't known Donna all that well, but she had considered the other woman a friend. And no matter how she sliced it, she had never been any closer to a murder than the newspaper and the imaginative ones on crime shows. It hit way closer to home than she had ever expected it to.

"You okay baby?" She jolted, not realizing Gemma had walked in. The older woman offered her coffee, sitting in the chair near her.

"Yeah, I...I don't know," She confessed, taking the hot mug of coffee, staring at her own reflection in the dark liquid.

"It hit us all hard." Gemma soothed. She had trouble believing it with the Mama Bear. She seemed so untouchable, unbreakable. She probably had to be, for the people like Claire who didn't even know where to begin when it came to dealing with things like this.

"I just...I can't stop thinking about her kids. How is Opie going to explain it to them?"

"He's a good father, he'll be able to handle it. And they have us. We're a family Claire, all of us. We'll all pitch in to take care of them."

Claire met eyes with Gemma's, but looked away again a moment later. Family wasn't a subject she was so good with.

"Why Donna?" She asked the question aloud, but she wasn't sure who she expected to answer, or if she even wanted one.

"Because somebody fucked up, big time." The words were a low growl from Gemma's throat. But she softened again in seconds. "Did this...scare you?"

"I don't know. I guess. You barely even here about fist fights in Charming." Claire shrugged, sipping her coffee.

"That's not what I mean. Are you and Chibs going to stay together?"

"Uhm...I don't know if we're really together enough for me to make that decision," She mumbled, setting the ceramic mug on the side table.

"But you care about him, right?"

"Yes, of course I do. A lot. I just...I don't really know what that means."

Liar. She silently berated herself. She knew exactly what it meant. But she wasn't sure she wanted to get into the depth of her feelings at this moment.

"Listen, I'm just going to give this to you straight, sweetheart. Every once in awhile, the Club gets into some serious shit, and sometimes it blows back on us and the people we love. I'm not saying we're the reason for this, and I'm not saying murder is always how things play out. But, you stuck with him through the ATF shit, and I want to know whether you can handle something serious. Something like this."

"How am I supposed to say I can cope with murder?"

"You don't. I'm not asking you to cope. But...you know you'd break his heart if you left now, right?"

"What?"

"He's not the type to fall for just any girl the way he did with you, so you must have something special. And tonight, he's going to need you. You can work things out later, you can even stop seeing him if you really want. But, at least for the rest of the night, I want to ask you to be there for him."

Claire looked at her hands, her fingers clenched so tightly together that her knuckles were starting to turn white. This had been the kind of thing she would have preferred to hear from Chibs, though Gemma seemed pretty earnest. Even if she hadn't been, it didn't matter to Claire.

"You don't have to ask me to do that," She told Gemma, relaxing her hands with a conscious effort. Even if Chibs never felt the same way, it was alright. He'd made such a huge difference in her life these last few weeks, she could probably always love him just out of gratitude.

"I'm glad to hear it. I can rest a little easier if you'll be looking after him. Jax just called, they'll be back in a half-hour or so." Gemma leaned over and pressed a kiss on Claire's cheek, before standing and walking back into the kitchen. Claire's eyes returned to the window, thinking about the other things Gemma had said.

Deep down, she couldn't suppress dark thoughts of the future. Was this what it meant to be with Chibs? Was this what it would cost her? Losing friends, maybe her own life? Could she honestly willingly risk that?

After forty more minutes of staring out the window and wondering if she maybe should have driven herself, Claire heard a pair of twin engines and saw the lights pulling into the driveway. Knowing it was time she stopped imposing on Jax, she stood to slip into her coat and locate her helmet, meeting Jax in the foyer.

"Chibs is waiting for you."

"Okay. Uhm...thanks for having me here. And...I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry." The apology barely made it past her lips. Sorry wouldn't make it better, she knew that, but she had no clue what would.

"I am too. Goodnight."

"Night." She slid past him to the open door, wondering if she could at least offer him a hug or something. She settled for touching his shoulder, feeling a hug might be too personal, considering his ex-wife was in the next room, and Jax clearly didn't need any more shit on his plate.

Chibs waited on the still-running bike, looking distracted and distant, and she couldn't blame him. As soon as she was near enough, his arms bolted around her tightly, pulling her in close without a word, her knees pressing against the side of the motorcycle. She couldn't tell if he was trying to comfort her, or seeking comfort himself, and it didn't matter. They clung to each other, and for several long seconds neither of them could find the strength to let go.

"I need a drink. Ya mind staying at the Clubhouse tonight?"

"No. I think I could use one too." She gave a weak head-shake against his shoulder.

A short ride later, they joined Juice at the bar, and, none of them able to muster a topic for conversation, they silently went through a bottle of alcohol. By the time she started to wonder what the stuff was, she was too drunk to comprehend the label. She leaned on Chibs, her head on his shoulder. He was solid, and he was safe, even in the midst of all this. Just like Gemma, he was stronger than her.

She didn't ask whose bed they climbed into in the wee hours of the morning, and it didn't really matter. All they did was curl up on the blankets, wrap themselves in each others' arms, and quietly try to fall asleep.

"Claire?"

"Hm?" She mumbled into his chest.

"Don't ever leave Charming."

The phrase took a moment to sink in. Even when it did, she wasn't sure she had heard right. "Leave?"

"I donno what I'd do if ya left. Just stay here...stay with me, okay?"

"I'm not going anywhere." Her hands tightened around his shirt. "I'd rather be here than anywhere else in the world."

The romantic inside her had always wanted to hear those words, had always wanted someone to need her.

And she was glad it was Chibs who did.