Jax had to bite his tongue. He was sure looks of disapproval and disgust were written all over his face but he didn't care. This was exactly the kind of thing he expected to happen and there was nothing to say. He didn't need to validate what he'd been thinking or saying the past month. This was proof and it was obvious.

"You have a lot of enemies," Dmitry said in his Russian accent. He was wearing one of his usual grey suits, his two bodyguards with him heavily armed. "Why would we do this? This is our investment too."

"Where were the men who were supposed to be guarding the fucking doors?" Clay yelled. This was the last thing he or the club needed right now. He could feel Jax watching him, likely a smug look on his face.

Dmitry shrugged. "They should have been there and they will pay when I find them. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all of this."

Jax spat and then walked away. He'd heard the excuses and lies before Clay had arrived. He looked on at the half-burned warehouse. This was the third warehouse they'd gone through in a few short years. They wouldn't even be getting the insurance off this one since the Russians owned it. The mob had been friendly enough to loan it out as a place to assemble their AKs in exchange for a percentage of the profits. In exchange for their hospitality, the Sons were providing a pipeline of high-powered, heavy military weapons from the Real IRA.

It had taken some time to iron out the logistics of their agreement but for over a month, things had been going okay. Everyone was getting their guns and money. But now this huge road bump. Someone had robbed their warehouse and burned it down. In Jax's mind, it had to be the Russians. They had the most to gain from all this. They got the guns they bought, all the ones belonging to the Sons and they even got the insurance money from the destroyed warehouse. Who else would intervene? SAMCRO had business relationships with almost all the local gangs, the Niners, Mayans, Lin and the Italians. Besides that, the warehouse was on private land that no one knew about.

Jax knew it was these Russian fucks in his gut. He lit a cigarette and walked over to Bobby who was surveying the damage. Clay was still ripping into Dmitry in the distance.

"What do you think, brother?" Bobby asked.

"You already know what I think," Jax replied, a dark look in his eyes. "Tell me that something about this doesn't feel right, and not just because we got fucked."

Bobby nodded. "No, it doesn't. The Russians have enemies too, though. We'll get to the bottom of this and we'll make whoever did this pay."

"We're going to take a huge cut. No one's getting any product this week." They had had two shipments ready to go, one for the Mayans and one for the Niners, which was now missing. No one getting guns and no one getting paid.

Jax looked over at Clay. Dmitry had gone and now the president was talking to Tig, still seething. He wondered if Clay was questioning his choices. More likely he was now determined to prove it was some outside group. Jax had already planted the seed of doubt into most of the Sons by not trusting the Russians and this had just caused that seed to sprout. Clay had to do something, anything, to keep from being undermined.

"It's not his fault," Bobby said, putting a hand on Jax's shoulder. "He's been doing his best to keep this club whole. Let him try and clean this up before you do anything stupid."

The VP took a long drag on his cigarette before tossing it on the ground and going to rejoin his brothers standing around Clay. He could do that. He could let his step-father clean up this mess but when the next one happened and they ended up worse off, he was sure he'd have the club behind him wanting to pull out. What he needed right now was something solid that everyone could get behind, something legitimate so they could ease away from guns and away from shit like this.

The thought hit him like lightning, a memory that seemed so long ago. They didn't need to get away from guns, just these kinds of guns.

Jax was alternating knocking on the solid wood door with ringing the doorbell. He was at Kit and Rachel's but no one was answering. Kit's car was in the driveway so he was pretty sure she was home. Did she see him out on the porch and decide to ignore him? It was a pretty good possibility considering everything. They didn't end on bad terms but she didn't express any desire to get back together really. Neither of them did at their last meeting.

"For god's sakes, I'm in the backyard!" Jax heard Kit call from a distance. Checking there had briefly crossed his mind but since he wanted a favor from her, he thought it might come across as creepy and invasive.

Jax walked around the house and reached his hand over the gate to open the latch. He saw Kit immediately, lying in a hammock tied between the two large trees. She was wearing nothing but a bikini and sunglasses, a cocktail on a little table beside her. As he walked over, he remembered every curve in her body, every scar, every mark. And he wanted it all.

"Don't you answer your door?" he asked to start, unable to keep from smiling at her.

She lifted her sunglasses. "If it's important they always come back. Besides, have you ever tried to get out of a hammock? Not an easy thing on a Saturday as beautiful as this one," she told him grinning. "What can I do for you, Jax?"

Since Kit apologized, she felt so much better toward him. The ball was still in his court regarding getting back together but when she missed him now, she didn't feel guilty or like the worst person in the world anymore. Seeing him right now made her hopeful, actually. He hadn't called but come to see her in person. It was a good sign.

"I'll just cut to the chase so you can get back to relaxing. It's about something you said once. You had a family friend who was selling his gun shop in Stockton. Is that still on the table?" he asked, hopeful.

She nodded and took a sip from her cocktail. It looked like a mojito. "It's still up for grabs. Lee still hasn't found someone he's willing to sell to. I can take you over there today if you're free."

Jax nodded. "When do you want to l-

"But before we go, you have to do something." She had a mischievous look in her eyes. He looked at her expectantly. "Something has obviously spurred this interest on. Lie down with me and tell me what's on your mind, Jackson. You'll feel better for it and I'm curious." Her eyes sparkled with anticipation.

He smirked, accepting her challenge, and moved into the hammock beside her. The thing was pretty big, supporting both of them well. He totally understood what she meant about getting out of it though. It would require effort. Kit naturally leaned into him and his arm went around her. This was mostly for physical comfort but it felt really nice to lie like this again. This close, he could smell her familiar scent of lemons and vanilla in her hair.

"When did you get a hammock?" Jax asked her, looking down at her face. He fought the urge to kiss her pink lips.

"I was looking for something in the basement and I found it in a box. I never even knew we had it but we put it up last week. It's pretty amazing, isn't it?"

"It is," he replied.

"So tell me what's up? You're all tense and shit."

Jax launched into the story about the Russians, not really leaving anything out. He probably shouldn't have because she wasn't with him anymore and even then, it was always risky sharing club business. But she was easy to talk to and none of it fazed her so far. He recalled what his old man had written in his memoir about old ladies. You either tell them everything or nothing, otherwise it all falls apart.

"That's a lot to take in. I would definitely be careful, Jax. You don't have proof this was them yet. I know it looks like everything fits together but maybe it's because you want it to," she told him, tracing circles onto his chest with her fingers absentmindedly. "I'm not saying you're wrong, just that there are a million other viable explanations and these don't sound like guys you want to fuck around with and start pointing fingers."

"That was the general consensus," he said, thinking back on church this morning. "I just know it was them. I don't even know how we can trust them. We killed everyone in their regime out here and now we have a clean slate? It's just too good to be true."

"I don't feel right about it either but let it play out a bit more. See what they have to say when the dust finally settles."

Jax knew she was right and he didn't know why, but he felt a bit better when she said to hold off than when his brothers had. Maybe it was just because she was an unbiased third party. Or that she was logical and brilliant. Or more importantly, that it was Kit and he valued her opinion.

They lay together while the sun beamed down on them. He briefly wondered if this was what it was like to have a normal life. Just to be a normal mechanic who could just spend the day lounging with a beautiful woman in the backyard. He could even imagine Abel running around. Alas, that wasn't his life.

"When do you want to leave?"

She moved, leaning on his chest so she could face him. "I don't really," she said, a look of longing in her eyes. "Just let me get some clothes on and we can go."

Kit started to get out of the hammock but Jax pulled her close and pressed her lips to his in a motion so fast it took her a few seconds to process. Once he started, she didn't want him to stop. For the first time in a long time, she felt happy and excited. And for once, she didn't feel guilty about any of these feelings. Her hands were tangled in his hair and his were on her waist, holding her to him.

"We should really get going," Jax said between kisses. It was his brain, sneaking some words in. The rest of him wanted to pick her up and bring her inside where they could take this further. He didn't even care about the gun shop anymore. It could wait. Everything could wait for this.

"We should." As he kissed her neck, she found herself laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"This. I really missed you Jax." Kit kissed him quickly on the lips and got out of the hammock. "I have to get dressed."

"You don't have to."

She gave him a cheeky smile and walked back toward the house. Her head was spinning. Kit could barely believe that just happened. She didn't want to stop him from touching her or kissing her but it was all too fast. She wanted to be sure and wanted him to be sure about them before they had sex. But as she walked up to her bedroom, she couldn't stop smiling. Jax still wanted her and trusted her enough to discuss things about the club. It wasn't over and there was still a chance they could make it back to where they were once.

"Just a preface, I'm like Lee's surrogate daughter so he might hassle you a bit," Kit told Jax as they walked up to Cooper Arms.

He had his arm around her waist, not wanting to let her go. He couldn't believe how much he missed her until he was simply talking to her. He could almost forget all the bullshit of the past. It still nagged at him that he wasn't sure she could be involved with SAMCRO but he was willing to let it slide for now. Kit could learn to become strong, like Gemma. She could adapt.

"Taking me to meet your sort-of dad? Kind of big step, don't you think?" Jax teased.

"You should feel honored. I've never taken any boy to meet dear old, Lee," she told him as she pushed open the door. She saw Lee with a customer across the room. It was a small shop with ammo and accessories lining the four short aisles and guns lining the walls, secured behind locked metal cages. The register was by the door and a back office at the far end.

"Be with you in a sec, Kit," Lee called, shooting her a toothy grin.

Lee was a short man in his sixties. He had grey hair that was balding, hidden under a worn Oakland A's baseball cap. He was unremarkable really, just an old man, but he'd taught Kit almost everything she knew about guns. She used to come by a lot when she first got into arms. When she moved to Stockton after high school, Lee had given her a part-time job here and even helped her find an apartment nearby. She really missed being so close to this place and talking to him when she moved back to Lodi. Whenever she walked through the doors, it felt a little like coming home.

"It's a decent size," Jax said, looking at some hunting rifles on the wall. "Manageable for now."

"The shooting range is a minute down the road. Most of the people that go there shop here and Lee has great relationships with a lot of them. It's just a prime location," Kit told him. She picked a box of bullets off a shelf. She didn't really need them yet but she always liked to buy something when she was here.

"A built-in client base is always a good thing."

Lee came over after a few minutes. He hugged Kit hello and gave a friendly smile to Jax. "You must be the young man Kit's been telling me about. She never mentioned you were one of the Sons of Anarchy."

"Jax Teller," he said, sticking out his hand.

"Well come on back to the office. I'll give you the run-down on this place if you're interested in buying. If Kit's vouching for you, that means a lot."

Lee led Jax back to the small office in the back, Kit remaining out front to watch the store. The office was sizeable but old, with big filing cabinets on one wall and an old fridge in the corner. The men sat across from each other, the big solid wood desk between them. Lee gave Jax a binder of information and they went through all the standard things about the business, how old it was, profitability, costs, etc. All in all, it took about half an hour.

"I'll have to take it to the club but I think this will be a good fit for us," Jax said, closing the binder. Lee had a very organized and systematic business. He didn't just sell to anyone and had the right to refuse customers, and he did.

Lee leaned back in his chair. "Now, I know your intentions about my business. What are they regarding my family? Kit isn't someone who you should toy with and not just because she's the sharpest shooter in these parts." His tone turned very fatherly and protective.

"I would never do that," Jax told him honestly.

"How'd you meet her?"

Jax shrugged. "Mutual friend. She came by the clubhouse one night and we got talking. She's really something, different from the women who filter through there. I care about her a lot."

"Good, because she loves you, Jax. I don't know if she's told you but I know her and she don't love easy. If you break her heart, I might have to kill you."

"That's only fair."

"Good man." Lee got up and shook the biker's hand. His face turned serious. "Take care of her, Jax. She's like my daughter. I've watched her grow up. She was so damaged when I first met her. I don't want to ever see her like that again."

Jax nodded. "I won't let anything bad happen to her, you have my word. I love her too," he said, knowing it to be true as the words tumbled out of his mouth.

He and Kit had never exchanged those three little words but Jax knew he loved her. It was the resurgence of her presence in his life today that shook the truth out of him but he had always known it. Even after all the shit they'd already been through, the words just felt right, like he had known them all along. The cloud of doubt lifted. They could figure the rest out.

As they walked back into the store, Jax spotted Kit sitting behind the register flipping through a catalogue. She was wearing a plain white t-shirt, worn-in jeans and not much makeup, her long, dark hair cascading down her back. It was so simple but Jax loved that. She was beautiful and just real. She looked up as the two men approached, smiling brightly.

"I hope you didn't give him too much of a hard time, Lee," Kit said, closing the magazine.

"Just the right amount," Jax answered.

"Mike's coming down from Oregon next weekend. You should come over for dinner, Kit. I know Marie would love to have you. You could bring Jax if you like," Lee offered. "Or Rachel. We haven't seen her in ages," he rushed, realizing that he might be imposing.

Kit nodded and hugged the old man. "I'll call and let you know next week. Thanks for everything, Lee." She turned to Jax, "We better go before I start ordering things I don't need out of that catalogue."

Jax said his goodbyes and walked out with Kit under his arm. The sun hung low in the sky and he remembered that he agreed to pick up Abel this evening. Kit had never met his son. Like any parent, he didn't want to introduce his kid to anyone unless he was sure about them. It would just confuse him.

"I've got Abel tonight," he told Kit as she was getting her helmet on.

"Oh, well I can get Rach to pick me up from the clubhouse or something," she said, keeping her voice neutral. She wasn't offended. Kids were tricky. "You don't have to drop me all the way to Lodi."

"You should stay for dinner and meet him. I know he'd like you."

Kit kissed Jax without hesitation, happiness washing over her. She had stopped trying to figure out exactly what they were doing. She didn't care about the future anymore, just right now. "This is just a day of big steps, isn't it?"

A/N: hope you enjoyed. feed my curiosity and let me know what you thought about it. xo Alexa