Disclaimer: I do not own Sons of Anarchy. I do, however, own Jolene and any other OCs that appear in the Jaxene Universe.
Opie muttered a curse under his breath as he struggled to make an adjustment to the Corolla's engine. It was pretty much dead on the lot, but that was mainly because Opie had decided to start his work day earlier than usual. Lately, it seemed much easier to work his frustrations out at the garage then it was dealing with the disconnect between him and his children that was at the root of his frustrations.
And he really had no one to blame but himself.
Although Mary and the kids seemed to be glad that he was back home, it was hard to deny that there was an emotional wall between him and Ellie. Opie loved the twins equally, but even he would be the first to admit that Ellie was his baby. Before his walkabout, it was safe to say that Ellie definitely relished her role as daddy's little girl. Since his return, however, it was clear that there was a breach between father and daughter, almost like the young girl was walking on eggshells around him, making it difficult for the two of them to really connect.
Reconnecting with his son had been a little easier. Although Kenny was extremely glad just to have his old man back home, Jax had been right about the young boy losing his mind over the beat up Panhead. His son's genuinely enthusiastic response brought a smile to Opie's face. It had almost felt like Christmas morning when Kenny had laid eyes on the bike for the first time, literally chomping at the bit and eager to get to work on it. Father and son had already made plans to start the rebuild this Saturday afternoon, with Jax and Abel coming over to lend a hand and make a day of it.
But Ellie wasn't a tomboy. She had zero interest in bikes or cars. The young girl loved the same things her mother had, like clothes and shopping and a bunch of other girly shit that Opie had absolutely no clue about whatsoever.
Coming to the realization that the mind of a prepubescent girl was way out of his wheelhouse—even if it was his own daughter—Opie decided that maybe he needed to talk to Jolene and see what she could come up with. His sister-from-another-mister had been a fierce tomboy, but had grown into a girly-girl seemingly overnight.
Maybe Jo can help me get a handle on Ellie. Only if we can get a handle on our own shit first.
Opie knew that he was still in the shithouse with Jolene for leaving Charming without a word to his kids—or her for that matter. The fact that he had so far avoided taking his lumps from Jo had probably pissed her off as well. He couldn't really blame her, but he knew he wasn't ready to have that particular sit-down just yet. Knowing Jolene, Opie probably had Jax to thank for reining her in, but if he wanted to salvage his relationship with Ellie, he was going to have to make peace with the young Queen of Charming sooner rather than later.
Hearing someone pull into the lot, Opie's experienced ear told him that the car they were driving had a pretty serious flat and that the rim was probably busted all to shit as well. Tossing his tools aside, Opie walked towards the white Prius that had finally hobbled to a stop in the middle of the lot. As the driver's side door opened, Opie's eyes widened in surprise at the blond riotous mop of curls that exited the car.
Lyla.
He hadn't seen her around the Clubhouse since they first met over a week ago. Opie had been surprised that he had managed to let himself have good time with her. Together they had polished off the bottle of Jack he had scored from the bar as they talked on the couch. By the time they were done, both he and Lyla were just a little passed being piss drunk.
With him unable to ride and Lyla too drunk to drive, Opie had invited her to make use of his dorm. Having shown her to his room, Opie had intended to return to the Main Room in search for a spot to pass out in when Lyla reached for and grabbed his hand. Stronger than such a little thing had the right to be, Lyla had managed to topple his drunk ass on the bed next to her.
"Stay with me." She cooed. Further enticing him by biting her pretty pink lips, Opie had no choice but to comply and they had spent an enjoyable night together. Next morning, he had woken up to a roaring headache and an empty bed. That was the last time he had seen Lyla Dean.
Until now.
"Hey," She greeted him with a smile. "How are you doing?"
"I'm okay. And you?"
"I have had better days."
Seeing that she wasn't going to revisit what had happened between them the first time they had met, Opie took his cue from her and focused on the problem at hand.
"I can see that." Opie strolled around and eyed her front right tire, wincing at the mangled rim. "Looks like you have a flat." He said tongue-in-cheek.
"Yeah," Lyla shrugged her shoulders as he crossed his arms. "It blew out on me on the I-22."
"And you rode on it like this all the way from the highway?" Opie shook his head slightly.
She nodded. "It's bad, isn't it?"
Opie squatted to get a better look. "The rim's shot, which means the alignment is probably out of whack too."
"Will it take long to fix?" Lyla hooked her thumbs through the belt loops of her low-riding jeans.
Opie ran a hand over his beanie. "We don't stock hybrids, so it will take a few hours. I should have it ready for you this afternoon."
"Shit." Lyla groaned. "Can you get me a number for a cab?"
"You going to the studio?" Opie asked.
"Yeah, but I have to get him to school first." Lyla made a small gesture over her shoulder.
"Him?" Opie questioned and then finally noticed the small blond-headed boy sitting in the passenger seat.
"Yeah, that's my son Piper."
She's got a kid. Huh, well that's a surprise.
"I can get Dog to give you a lift in the tow truck if you don't mind it." Opie offered, still reeling from his discovery that Porn Star It-Girl Lyla Dean had a son about Ellie's age.
"Really? That would be great." She smiled at him, her bright blue eyes sparkling.
Lyla gathered her son and his belongings out of the car as Opie gave a loud whistle to get Dog's attention. Leaning against the hybrid, Opie watched as the mechanic escorted Lyla and her son to the tow truck. Getting into Lyla's car after she had left the lot to park it in one of the empty bays, Opie looked down at the mess of action figures on the floor of the passenger seat of the car.
And at the two small coke vials lying in the midst of the junk.
Damn.
Gemma sat in the office going through invoices when she heard a knock on the door. Looking up, cigarette dangling out of her mouth, she eyed the pretty young blonde wearing a cropped tank top and tight jeans standing in the doorway.
"Can I help you?" Gemma asked with a perfectly arched eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, I'm Lyla Dean. I got a call that my car was ready for pick up."
"The white Prius?" Gemma asked and Lyla nodded. "Sure, hon. Just give me a sec." Gemma fiddled through her papers until she found the correct paperwork. "How do you want to settle the bill? Cash, check or charge?"
"Cash."
"Okay. Just sign right here." Gemma pointed to the paperwork and got up to retrieve the keys.
"Thanks very much."
After she paid the bill, Gemma watched as the young woman headed towards her car. She was about to return to her desk when she saw a certain red-headed patch walk over to intercept the blonde by her car.
Gemma's eyes narrowed. "And what the fuck is this?"
Having seen Lyla enter and then leave the office, Opie wasn't sure what he was doing running after the woman, but he suddenly found himself standing by her car.
"I think you'll find that everything's good." He said, causing the woman to jump.
"Shit! For such a big guy you're sure kinda quiet." Lyla whirled around to face him.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare the crap out of you." Opie smiled, not knowing why the hell he was smiling.
But Lyla was smiling back. "That's okay. I'm glad you came over."
"You and uh, Piper, make it on time?"
"Yeah, we did and thanks for arranging the lift." Lyla replied. "It's just me and my son, so it's up to me to get shit done. His dad's not in the picture."
"Sorry to hear that. Must be tough being a single mom."
"No tougher than being a single dad."
Opie's eyes shot up at her comment. "You know about—"
"Yeah, I heard about what had happened a few months back, but I had no idea that it was you. I'm very sorry about your loss." Lyla said softly and sincerely.
"Thanks."
A long moment of silence passed between them before someone saw fit to speak again.
"Well, I better get going." Lyla announced. "I have to pick up dinner before grabbing Piper from the sitter's."
Opie nodded and turned to head back to the garage when Lyla called out to him. Stopping, Opie waited for her to walk up to him. "I had a really great time the other night. This might be inappropriate of me, but here." She pulled a piece of paper from the pocket of her jeans and, reaching up, tucked it into the pocket of Opie's T-M work shirt. "Maybe, sometime, you might want to give me a call." She was about to turn and head back to her car when she stopped and looked Opie in the eyes.
"You know, sometimes seeking and getting a little comfort helps to keep the pain at bay."
The moment Opie had walked into his house he knew that a somewhat good day was about to go down the shitter at warp speed.
"You obviously have no clue how to take care of a home! How can I possibly expect you to know how to take care of my grandchildren?!" Helen Lerner said in a scathingly loud voice. "I truly don't know why I was expecting any different from the likes of you. Lord knows you certainly weren't much of a mother to your own son."
"You know what?" Mary Winston charged. "I am sick and tired of trying to rationalize the outrageousness that comes out of your mouth. That's not your grief talking. You're just a mean-spirited, pathetic, and uptight middle-class bitch! And if you don't stop talking crazy to me, you're gonna find out the hard way just what the likes of me are capable of!"
"Grand, Nana, please stop fighting!" Ellie implored, standing between both women.
"Let 'em at it, Elle." Kenny retorted casually from the couch, his sneakered feet on the coffee table. "My money's on Grand Mary."
Seeing Donna's mother bullying his nearly-invalid mother Mary lit a fire in Opie's belly. "What the hell is going on here?" Opie asked angrily, but calmly, as his daughter ran to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.
Whirling around, Helen Lerner almost smiled as she set eyes on a new target for her venom in the form of the son-in-law she had last seen at her daughter's funeral.
Finally, the bastard has come home.
Helen's grief had not abated one iota since the death of her daughter. Instead, it had grown exponentially since the day she learned that her son-in-law had left Charming, abandoning her daughter's children, and leaving them in the none-too-capable hands of his mother.
Refusing to adhere to her husband's advice by giving herself time to properly mourn her daughter and reflect on what would have been her wishes, Helen had wasted no time in trying to become the dominate force in the lives of her grandchildren, only to find herself constantly thwarted by Mary Winston. Helen had woefully underestimated the woman. Mary was like a mother bear protecting her cubs, and even though Opie had been home for over a week, Mary had done her best to keep Helen away from the man who had been the leading cause of the death of her daughter.
Now that he was home, Helen was going to have her say. She was going to assert hers and Bob's rights as grandparents and demand access to their grandchildren on a regular basis. Bringing them closer was the only chance her grandchildren had of growing up to become decent people and not dirty bikers.
"Well, if it's not the prodigal son. Finally remembered the two children you'd abandoned?" The petite woman stretched herself to her full height of 5'4 and glared up at her son-in-law. "I'm surprised you even bothered and I'd be lying if I said that I hoped you would."
"You see, Ope?" Mary started. "This is what I've had to put up with. I need you to deal with this woman because I can't, CAN'T any longer."
"Dad, please just make them stop fighting." Ellie whispered up to her father.
"It's okay, baby." Opie dropped a kiss on Ellie's head before beckoning his son over. "Kenny, I want you and your sister to go to the backyard while I have a talk with your grandmothers."
"Are you sure, Dad?" Kenny asked apprehensively.
Opie crossed his arms. "I'm sure."
Kenny heard the quiet and calm voice of his father and gave a sigh of relief. His father was, generally speaking, always pretty calm and rational. It was only on rare occasions that he would completely lose his shit. Realizing that there would be no need to get rid of the bodies of either of his grandmothers, Kenny grabbed his sister by her hand and headed towards the doors leading out to the backyard.
"You need to go home, Helen." Opie said quietly.
"You haven't seen me since the day we put my daughter in the ground and that's all you have to say to me?" Helen asked, the contempt dripping from her icy voice.
"That's right. From what I heard when I came in the front door, you've been running roughshod over my mother for months. It stops now." Opie replied adamantly. "I left my children in her care because I know she loves them and would do her best by them. Just like I know that you love them too, but enough is enough. I'm done making excuses for your vile behavior for my children's sake. They're grown enough to understand where that hatefulness in your heart comes from and it's not just grief. Whether or not you're happy that I'm back home with Kenny and Ellie where I belong is not important to me. Making my family whole again is and, if you can't get behind that, then maybe you shouldn't come around until you can." Opie scolded the stunned woman.
Turning, Opie opened the front door. "Good night, Helen."
Sitting in the armchair in the corner of his and Donna's bedroom, Opie held his head in his large hands.
That went really well, Opie thought bitterly. At the very least he wouldn't be bailing his mother out of jail tonight for the attempted murder of a meddling old biddy.
It had taken Opie the better part of an hour to calm his mother down once Helen had stormed out of the house. Listening to everything Mary had to put up with while he had been out of town made Opie feel even worse. Although he never really had an overly close relationship with Mary, who was by no stretch of the imagination an ideal mother, he had always known that she had tried to do her best by him. Opie knew that Mary had very little love for the Club and more than likely, under different circumstances, she and Helen Lerner would probably have more in common in that respect than not.
After what had seemed like a lifetime being married to a hard-living, even harder-drinking womanizing outlaw biker, Mary had grown tired of living the Life. It was shortly after Piney had been released from doing short-time in prison that Mary decided to leave her husband. She had wanted to spare her only son the same fate as his father, but Opie had loved and admired his father too much. Instead of embracing the opportunity to create a new life for himself with his mother in Galt, at 16, Opie had run back to his father and ultimately his destiny as a member of SAMCRO.
Tonight's episode with Helen had not been the first time Opie had gone a round with the woman and probably wouldn't be the last. They had a long history of discord, which was why Donna had practically cut herself off from her family after they had gotten married. Even after the mother and daughter had reconciled, Donna had always been a buffer between him and the mother-in-law who hated him with a passion. But having to deal with Helen on his own just as he felt himself about to turn the corner on his near-paralyzing grief, the painful memories the bitter woman invoked of his old lady just made the pain of losing Donna all the more fresh.
Suddenly, an errant thought popped into Opie's head.
Sometimes seeking and getting a little comfort helps to keep the pain at bay.
Opie found himself thinking about Lyla. She had managed to give him a measure of comfort and release and it had felt good. Opie certainly wasn't one to judge anyone by what they chose to do for a living, especially since Lyla seemed to be a nice woman and her son looked well-cared for.
Thinking idly of the empty coke vials in her car and in plain view of her son gave Opie pause, but right now he was feeling too miserable and aggravated as a result of his confrontation with Helen Lerner and needed a little distraction. Shoving his hands into the pocket of his jeans, Opie pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, unraveling it to reveal Lyla's number.
Looking at the number for a long while, Opie reached into his kutte and finally pulled out his prepay.
A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews and private messages. They really go a long way in keeping me motivated.
This chapter was a little on the short side, but don't worry, there will be another chapter coming at you real soon!
Do you think Opie will ever cave in and take his beating from Jolene like an outlaw biker? Do you think its s good idea for Opie to get involved with Lyla despite the evidence that she may use drugs? How do you feel Opie handled his mother-in-law? Now that Opie has laid down the law, do you believe that Helen's attitude will change for the better?