Lucto et Emergo

A/N I do not own any of the SOA Characters, only the O.C's are mine.

It had not taken them long to out distance their pursuers and as soon as they were able to they pulled up at a roadside gas station. Getting off the bike Juice stumbled away from the rider while he tried to get control of his breathing and emotions. The past 24 hours were beginning to take their toll and his state of mind was not so good. All Juice wanted to do was find somewhere quiet and close his eyes for a few minutes but he knew that until he was back on familiar turf and safe he would not be able to do that.

"Are you doing alright Juice?"

Juice turned to the speaker and saw that she had removed her helmet and was shaking out her hair. When he had escaped from where he had been held captive the last person he had expecte to come to his rescue was the young woman standing in front of him now asking him if he was alright. The last time he had seen her had been at the hospital a few days before when he had been waiting to see Angel, prior to that he had seen her around the TM lot and club a few times, she had even beenat the party the week before. She had been the one who had asked him if she could sit at the table and he recalled that he had told her it was a free country and she could do what ever she wanted.

"Juice?"

Looking up at her enquiring face again he nodded that he was fine.

"OK, I need to go and get some gas, is there anything you need?"

"Thanks but no," he said shaking his head again.

Happy and Chibs had stopped their bikes outside the small complex where they knew Juice owned an apartement on the outskirts of Charming. They were hoping that they would find him here but were not holding out much hope, Juice whenever he needed to get away sometimes came here. Using the spare set of keys that Chibs had they let themselves in the front door. Neither had been here before they knew about it because Juice had mentioned it a few times but he had never brought anyone here, sweetbutt or otherwise. It seemed as though he had always wanted to keep a part of his life seperate from the club and this apartment was where he did that.

Upon entering the apartment they found themselves immediately in an open plane sitting room, painted in neutral colours with ver little furniture, just an oversized couch in the centre of the room and a coffee table. By the window was an entertainment unit with various electronics on it, Television, Hi-fi, Games console, etc. With shelving underneath that was loaded up with computer games, dvd's, CD's and other paraphanelia. It looked as though Juice had not been there for a long time but they decided to check all the rooms before leaving and checking out any of the other haunts that they thought Juice might have disappeared to.

Chibs headed for the back of Juices apartment, he opened a door and walked into Juice's bedroom seeing the bed was unmade and it looked as though it had not been slept in, he then slipped next door into Juice's bathroom. Again it looked as though Juice hadn't been there and he was about to leave when he noticed something on the floor near the bath. Bending down he noticed that it looked like some sort of 'chip', as he picked it up he saw other bits and realised that he was looking at the remains of a smashed phone. It looked like the prepay that Juice used for club business, calling out to Happy he left the bathroom and went looking for him.

Meanwhile somewhere up the highway from Charming, Rita had finished filling her petrol tank up on her bike when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, pulling it out she saw that it was her fellow agent. Making sure where Juice was, she answered her phone.

"Yeah, Rita speaking."

She listened for a few moments on the phone as the agent who was posing as a 'prospect' explained to her what was going on at the club and that he had just received new orders from their bosses. He informed her that Agent Stahl had just been suspended from duty pending the outcome of the inquiry and that the SONS lawyer had just informed Clay that Juice would have to take the stand and give evidence at Stahl hearing. Their new orders were to make sure that Juice did not get to the hearing and they were to take him to a safe house in the area and keep him there. He was leaving the clubhouse and would be with her as soon as possible to help keep Juice away from the hearing. When he finished speaking, Rita snapped the phone shut and put it back in her pocket.

Turning she looked for Juice who she found coming out of the gas station, a bottle of water in his hand.

"I've paid for the gas."

He told her. As he got to where she was standing by her bike.

"Thanks...um...I don't know if you want to go back to the club yet...but...I um...promised my gran that I would pop in and see her while I was this way. That was her on the phone. Will only take an hour, if you don't mind."

"No that's fine, I'm not really eager to get back to the Clubhouse just yet."

"Great." Rita smiled at Juice. She got on the bike, placing her helmet back on her head and patted the seat behind her.

"Hop on." She told him.

A/N. Will Juice get to the hearing or will the agents stop him and if they do how are they planning to make sure he doesn't get there? Will Happy and Chibs find him in time? Find out in the next chapter.