Disclaimer: Kurt Sutter and FX own any and all SOA characters.

Chapter 10:

"I can take so much

'Til I've had enough

Cause I'm only human

And I bleed when I fall down

I'm only human

And I crash and I break down

Your words in my head, knives in my heart

You build me up and then I fall apart

'Cause I'm only human"

-Christina Perri "Human"

Chaos—that was the state of the garage. It was an organized chaos though. All of the club members shuffled throughout the building moving equipment to the storage pods located in the lot. They were hustling to be done with the cleanout. The contractors would be in sometime in the afternoon to give a walkthrough of how the shop would look when finished, where the showroom would be located and such. The guys were buzzing on excitement.

Stella was anxious. She wanted everything to go smoothly with this venture—her boys deserved it. It felt so good to be able to do something for the men that had helped raise her and protected her with their very lives. She had made memories with every one of them.

Stella made her way through the building, checking out the progress. She turned her back to the far wall of the garage to observe. Happy noticed her pensive look and walked to her. He grabbed her around the waist and wrapped his arms around her. "You look way too serious. How about I take you to a dark room somewhere and loosen you up a bit?"

Stella smirked and gave him a look. He nipped at her neck and she bit back a moan. "I'm in business mode. But I might be in for a quickie later." She winked at him and kissed him deeply before walking back to the front of the building.

At 3pm the contractors showed up. The plans for the place were magnificent. The entire garage would be stripped to the bare bones. More square footage would be added to encase a showroom. The showroom itself would be 3 walls of windows and a black, leather covered half wall in the back. The building space would be done in dark wood and chrome with leather accents. The paint area would be a sterile white with racing stripes painted around the room.

Tig whistled at the drawn-up pictures. "That's mint."

The rest of the guys quickly agreed. Jax chimed in, "I guess in the mean time we can work on building a couple of bikes for the showroom."

"You can feel free to use my garage. My back yard is big enough to store the storage pods and you can work in my garage," Stella said.

Heads nodded around the room. It was settled. Stella decided it was time for her to head home after the contractors had taken off. Tear down and construction was to be started immediately the next day, and she wanted to be there bright and early. She bid her family farewell and headed home. Hap said he would be there after some club stuff was settled.

Stella parked her car and headed to the door. She stopped suddenly as she saw the small envelope on her doorstep. Growing up in an outlaw MC, she knew to proceed in unknown situations cautiously. Stella reached into her waistband for the gun she had resting there. She kept her hand in that position as she reached for the envelope. Once she had verified that the premises was safe, she went into her house and secured all of the doors and checked all of the rooms. It seemed like overkill but, again, she was raised to be precautious.

Feeling safe since the house and yard were clear, Stella kicked off her shoes and changed into a gray pair of capris sweatpants and a white camisole. She took her time changing and pulling her hair into a messy bun before she made her way to the kitchen and checked on the beef stew she had put in the crockpot that morning.

She lifted the envelope and pulled out a Polaroid picture. It was face down, but had a message on the back, say hi to daddy. Her brow scrunched with confusion until she turned the picture over. Stella put a hand over her mouth and let a sob choke out of her throat. It was a picture of her as she sat on her apartment stoop in shock, just seconds after the crash. She could clearly see her hands cupping her ears and her eyes closed from the very moment she was trying to pretend it wasn't real. This was her moment of dread, and someone had intentionally known she would be there.

Stella felt her gut wretch. She ran to make it to the toilet and emptied her stomach. After she was sure she had vomited her entire organ system into the toilet, she sat against the tub and held her head in her hands. She knew what that picture meant—Scott's death was no accident. And if she read into the message correctly, it was likely backfire form the Sons of Anarchy's beef with someone. She didn't know who, but if she ever found out, she would personally skin them alive and feed them their flesh.

Stella heard Happy open the front door and kick off his boots. She didn't have to see him to know he would pull off his kutte and place it on the table in the small foyer. She heard his soft foot falls as he walked into the kitchen and, no doubt, found the picture. He immediately jumped into action, searching the small house for her.

Happy found her in the bathroom, brushing the vomit taste from her mouth. As she rinsed and looked up at the mirror at him, he could clearly see the red-rim of her eyes. He pulled her close as she started to cry into his shoulder.

"It's okay, babe. I got you. We'll get the fucker." No other communication was needed.

AN: Sorry for the wait, guys. This has been an insane week at work, but I'm back to writing. Thanks for the reviews.