Chapter Ten: Simple Man

"Oh take your time, don't live too fast
Troubles will come and they will pass
You'll find a woman and you'll find love
And don't forget son, there is someone up above"
~ Simple Man – Lynyrd Skynyrd ~

"What're you doing for your birthday?" Michael questioned. We were sat in the sun on the lawn out back of the school during lunch break. He was playing with my hair and I was… tolerating it. Well, honestly, it was kind of nice, but this question was one I'd known was coming the second Dana slipped up about it being my birthday this weekend in front of him.

"Nothing," I lied. I couldn't exactly invite him to the clubhouse. For one, it wasn't just about my birthday on Friday night- it was about Juice patching in. For another, aside from the fact Jax was far from ecstatic I was dating and Clay being a little on the fence about Michael, average high school boys like Michael Quinn did not exactly gel well with bikers.

"We should do something. Hang out, go somewhere nice," He said. I felt instantly bad.

"I can't," I sighed, "I said I'd spend it with Gemma. Girls night, you know..." I mumbled. Gemma was about the last person on the planet who believed in 'girl time' but I didn't want to tell him I had a party to attend that he was not invited to. It made me feel like a bitch. Michael frowned, obviously disappointed.

"Oh. We can do something on Saturday, right?" Michael added, ever the optimist.

"Sure." He kissed me. It was still weird to me that he'd just… do that. I supposed I had to get used to it.

Michael and I had obviously only been 'together' for a little over a week, but I was quickly realising just how hard it actually was going to be to keep the two halves of my life separate- but also how vital that was. Still, we were the talk of the school. A lot of girls had been approaching me telling me how lucky I was, and how he was practically the hottest and most popular boy, but I didn't understand why that mattered or why anyone else cared so much. I certainly didn't pay any mind to the jealous skanks who muttered things like 'biker whore' when I passed them in hallways. It actually amused me to think of them saying something like that in front of one of the actual bikers.

I was pondering this conversation later on after school. I was at TM, waiting for Gemma to get done and just hanging out on the picnic benches in the sun when a car pulled up. I was a little surprised to see it was Donna climbing out of it. She was looking rather pregnant by now, glowing in the cheeks, her blue eyes sparkling, but I rarely saw her around TM or the clubhouse. I waved at her and she ambled over to me.

"Hey, have you seen Ope?" She asked me, "He told me to meet him here."

"No, the guys aren't back yet," I answered honestly. According to Gemma, who was sorting things in the office right then, the guys had all had club shit to attend to that afternoon. Donna sighed tiredly and sat beside me.

"Jesus. Don't ever get pregnant, it's exhausting," She advised me, and I laughed, looking curiously at her baby bump.

"You seem happy," I noted. I really liked Donna. At school, Dana was my main and only girl friend, and we had fun together, but on the occasions I got to talk to Donna I always felt like she was more on my level. Maybe because she was older, knew the world I lived in even if she didn't associate with it more than she had to being engaged to Opie.

"Oh, I am," She replied easily. "I'm getting married in a month, my little girl will be with us in three, and I'll have a little family of my own." Donna was obviously one of those girls where that had been all she ever wanted. I did relate, even if I wasn't sure- not to mention, too young to know- about kids. I nodded, smiling. She looked at me with perceptive blue eyes. "Are you happy, Eliza? I mean, you seem to have settled right in here, but..." She gestured and I understood what she meant. I shrugged.

"I am. I mean, I like Charming. I like the guys. I have a family and friends and all of that stuff."

"A boyfriend too," Donna added with a smirk, "Is he the same cute guy I saw you at that party with?"

"Yeah..." I trailed off.

"If you're not that into him you don't have to date him, you know," She said suddenly, and bluntly. "It might seem harsh now but it won't be the end of the world." It was like she was reading my mind. I looked at her, a little shocked. She laughed. "I'm not stupid enough to think everybody is lucky enough to meet their soulmate at school. It happened for me and Opie, but that's an anomaly. It's a small town. If you're not happy, don't just sit and wait for it to get worse." It was almost the exact same thing that Bobby had said to me, too. That it was okay if I didn't want to date or any of this stuff….Was I that transparent?

"I am happy," I insisted, "I just..." I wasn't sure I was ready, that was the truth. But it was what everybody else my age was doing. Donna nodded, and I knew she understood.

"Live your life for you. Not him and not anyone else. Okay?" She stood up with a little difficulty and patted me on the arm. "There's Ope. I probably won't see you before then so…. Happy birthday for Friday," She told me. I nodded, smiling at her.

"Thank you."

Clay's P.O.V.

"WELCOME TO THE CLUB YOUNG BROTHER!" Came the uproarious yell as the chapel doors burst open. We all spilled out, Juice in the lead with his top rocker in hand, grin bright enough to blind. Outside, friends and family awaited. At the forefront were Gemma and Eliza, my girls. I went over and kissed Gemma on the cheek before hugging Eliza.

"Happy birthday, baby," I wished her. I was proud as hell of my little girl. Seeing her finally looking healthy, and happy, and being under the same roof as me after all these years.

I was far from a model father but my relative absence over her young life was more due to circumstance than it was because I didn't want to be there. In the very early days, when she was tiny, Ellen had been clean and sorting her shit out. I'd even helped them get set up in Prothero, away from the utter madness of Charming. It was around the time Eliza was around five that I became President. JT had been ghosting behind the eyes for a while before he ghosted for real. I was trying to keep us afloat in guns. And all the while, there had been Mayan war. A bad time for me to have a baby girl around. And then Ellen had fallen off the wagon, but by the time I figured out what was going on, I was with Gemma and Jax was still at home and it was less than ideal. And it seemed every time I'd thought about finally getting shit together, pulling Eliza out of her shitty home-life once and for all, shit was less than ideal. Until eventually, Ellen finally croaked and ideals be damned, Eliza was coming to live with us. Her real family. I didn't really live for regrets, didn't have time for them- but the fact it'd taken so long would be one I'd always carry with me.

She hugged me when I wished her a happy birthday.

"Thanks Pop," She said cheerfully, kissing me on the cheek. She flew by me to hug Juice. "Congratulations!" She said, and I saw him hug her back. At seventeen years old, nothing her old man had to say was all that interesting. I got that. But I tapped her on the shoulder.

"Don't you want your present?" I saw genuine surprise cross her face and more regret flashed through me. I glanced at Gemma, who smiled. "C'mon," I put my arm around my daughter, steering her outside the clubhouse. It was sunset, but we'd planned this little routine all day. Gemma walked ahead of us, and Jax came up on her other side, his arm going around her too. He grinned at her.

"Happy birthday, sis," He added, kissing her on the cheek as we all exited. I saw Gemma glance back and sighed. Wendy and Jax were, as usual, having problems. Out of nowhere, Gemma had gotten this idea that maybe Jax and Eliza would continue the legacy one day. She said she'd rather that than Tara. And maybe they would've worked out, once Ellie grew up a little and Jax and Wendy inevitably ended… but to me, it was so obvious that the two didn't regard each other that way. For which I could only say, thank god, because I'd have to hang Jackson up by his ball sack if he ever looked twice at Eliza in that way. Kyle Hobart had had that threat more than once.

"What's my present?" Eliza asked a little blankly when we came to a stop outside. The lot was filling up- people arriving for the party. A few brothers from other charters were around- even a couple had come over from New Jersey and Illinois, riding right across the country on a sort of pilgrimage to the mother charter, so they were all there too by synchronicity, more bikes in the lot than normal.

"There's your present, honey." She blinked blankly at the car I'd had Jax park up closer to the clubhouse so she would see it. It was a decent Honda Civic, a joint gift from me, Gemma and Jax. Eliza could already drive, she'd had a few lessons back when she lived with her mother which I'd made sure gotten paid for, and taken the rest of her hours here, passed her test and everything. She definitely needed her own transport.

"Dad..." Eliza turned to me, and I saw tears filling up the brown eyes which were the only feature she'd inherited from her mother. She looked even less like me.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." I told her, hugging her tight. It was the most anyone had ever given her. When she let go of me, I saw she'd controlled her tears. She didn't cry much, if ever, and hadn't even when she was a kid. It was a trait I knew Gemma encouraged and was probably for the best in this life. She hugged Gemma next, and then Jax.

"Don't mention it, kid," Jax said, letting her go with a grin. "Come on. I owe you and Juice drinks for today." He steered her back towards the clubhouse. After Hale had picked tipsy Eliza up that one time, he'd made a comment to me about condoning my daughter drinking underage. It might seem like shitty parenting, but Eliza had learned her lesson at that stupid party and since then had only drank around the clubhouse, which was fine with me because there were a hundred eyes on her here and she was safe. She'd seen a lot worse in her young life than a few drunk bikers- her mother's cold, dead, drug-filled body for one.

Gemma walked up beside me and put her arm through mine. "You having a little moment with yourself, Pop?" She teased. I looked around at her.

"Just thinking. She should've had all her birthdays here." Gemma kissed me on the cheek.

"She's here now, she's happy and she's healthy. That's all we want for our kids." I nodded. She was right.

"Yeah…. let's get in there, let loose. Show the kids how it's done," I put my arm around her and began to steer her in. My wife chuckled.

"Have a feeling they'll be showing us before long."

"...A car from Dad, Gemma and Jax. A couple of smaller presents from Dad and Gemma, clothes and shit. Jax and Wendy also got me SATNAV. Vouchers from Opie and Donna. Money from Piney and Kyle… Bobby found a really old photo of me, him and Otto when I was a baby and framed it," I was listing for Juice, who'd asked what I'd gotten for my birthday. Both of us were getting pretty hammered at this point and the young biker's arm was around my shoulders as we chatted by the bar, while I also sewed his top rocker onto his kutte. "…Luann got me lingerie, which I don't really understand..."

"No Chibs or Tig?" Juice chuckled. "Damn. Least it's not just me who gets slighted..." I nudged him. They'd been ribbing him since he got patched in, telling him they'd come close to voting nay. Juice took it a little too personally.

"They're just kidding around. No, Chibs gave me a sketchbook and pencils. Think Gemma told him what to get," I laughed. "Tig… nothing."

"Lies," His booming voice made both of us jump and I looked around to see Tig had come up on my other side. "Just haven't given it to you yet. Happy birthday, Kitten." He handed me a small box wrapped in gold paper as he kissed me on the cheek. I fought the urge to blush.

"You never get me shit, man," Juice complained loudly.

"You don't deserve shit. Put a few years in at the club then we'll see… but I doubt it," Tig added somewhat menacingly. I chuckled, unwrapping the present. Inside the box was a small, yellow porcelain nightlight with cat-face shaped cut outs, not much bigger than my hand. I looked at Tig with a little confusion. "For next time you can't sleep, Kitten," Came his explanation, emphasising his pet name for me so I'd understand the cats. "I know it's dumb, but I don't know what to get a seventeen year old girl," He shrugged a little awkwardly.

"I love it," I assured him with a grin. I liked that he'd put a little thought into the present. I took the brave step of kissing his cheek this time. Tig grinned and winked one of his bright blue eyes at me.

"So now the only one who didn't get her a present is you," Tig pointed out to Juice, who frowned.

"Shit. I could get you a drink?" He asked me, looking guilty. I laughed.

"It's good enough for me, Juicy," I picked up the needle, nearly done sewing that patch onto his kutte. He took his arm from around me and headed further down the bar to where the croweater that was serving was. Tig raised an eyebrow at me.

"You his old lady now, doll? 'Cause no offence, but if he's making his old lady sew his shit on at her own birthday party..." He jested.

"I don't mind. It might be my birthday but it doesn't make me wanna watch Bobby drown between Suzette's thighs any more than any other day." Suzette was one of the nice croweaters but that didn't mean I liked being a spectator. Tig laughed at me.

"Don't blame you. Speaking of thighs, though- Lindsay has a nice pair. Enjoy your night, Kitten," He headed off in the direction of the aforementioned woman. It was a couple of minutes before Juice returned with our drinks, by which time I'd finished sewing the top rocker on. He set the beer down in front of me and took his kutte happily, heaving the leather back onto his shoulders. I realised he was accompanied by someone I'd never met.

"Thanks, Eliza," Juice grinned. "This is Fleet. Member of the Chicago charter." Fleet was young- he didn't look a whole lot older than me, which said something. But he sort of looked the part, with dark wavy hair cut edgily, very dark eyes and thick eyelashes, just the smallest suggestion of stubble around his jawline.

"You're patched in young," I commented as I took the hand he offered me, shaking it.

"My uncle is First 9. Lenny the Pimp?" Fleet added, and I glanced towards the wall where the various members' mugshots hung. Lenny was on there, and I'd heard Dad and Jax mention him before. He was currently in Stockton, imprisoned for supposedly killing three ATF agents. "I'm nineteen. Just patched in a little over a month ago." So he was only about two years older than me- made sense. About the same age that Jax and Opie had patched in, too.

"Eliza is Clay's daughter," Juice explained. I saw recognition shoot across Fleet's face.

"Ah, the birthday girl. Well, it's nice to meet you. Thanks for letting us gatecrash your birthday party." I had noticed a few other charters floating around, from further afield than the ones that commonly visited.

"The more the merrier," I shrugged.

"Yeah… little pilgrimage to where it all began," Fleet told me. "Ride when my uncle can't, you know? Anyway…" He raised his glass to me. "Happy birthday." He drank and then winked, disappearing off into the party. I watched him go, a little baffled, looking to Juice. He was smirking. I frowned at him.

"What?" I demanded.

"He asked me to introduce you," Juice informed me, sniggering. I rolled my eyes. "Fleetwood Janowitz. More of a ring to it than… what's your boyfriend's name?"

"Michael Quinn. What are you, a teenage girl?" I added, indicating he needed to stop that kind of talk. Juice just laughed.

"Nah, that's you. Come on. Let's go dance." I was even more surprised by that suggestion but then Juice was tugging me towards the area of the bar that'd become a dancefloor, his kutte now sitting securely over his shoulders.

A/N: So, Eliza's birthday is finally here, and Juice is finally a patched member! It seems like both Bobby and Donna have picked up on Eliza's reluctance to commit herself to Michael properly. Is it just that she's not ready for a relationship, or is it that she just doesn't want one with him? And who is this Fleet guy, where does he factor in? It's all questions. What did you guys think of Tiggy's gift? I thought it was a sweet little reference to their late night conversation that time. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, feedback is always welcome! Also, sorry for the wait, I've gotten unexpectedly busy lately.