A/n So so so sorry its been so long. First we ended up moving houses down here and our new house doesn't have internet yet and then we had a group of almost twenty surgeons, doctors, nurses, OR people and other people associated with medical missions come down for a week to do operations for free in our clinic. Basically I've been running around like a mad woman. But here's an extra long chapter to make up for it.

Thank you everyone who's read and reviewd and favorited this story. I know this past week and a half I've missed thanking some people personally. So here's a big thank you to everyone!

Leah was having a shit night and she knew it. The bar was damn near empty- even for a Monday night- and she was off her game. She'd been working for two fucking hours and hadn't managed to land a single lap dance. Still she made at least fifty bucks off her stage sets. She knew the only reason she was getting tipped at all because she was on top dancing form. Every time she climbed on that god forsaken black stage she threw every bit of fear, anger and frustration at her fucking life into the music. She knew when she danced angry she danced hot but if she couldn't land a couple of lap dances she would hardly break even at all tonight much less get some to tuck aside. Her mind went to the envelope full of cash that was now sitting in her wall safe. There was enough in there to cover them for along time but Leah didn't want to depend on that. Something could always happen, Andrew could get sick, or the car could break down, something. She'd need the money then. Once this all died down and went away she'd put part of it in a CD, let it collect interest. The rest could sit in her very expensive fire proof safe. Just in case. Just in case Marcus ever came and she decided she wanted to disappear again.

After glancing at the clock for the hundredth time in five minutes Leah decided to give up for a bit. She glanced over at the table where Tig had parked himself. True to her request he hadn't so much as glanced at her twice. Ever so often he'd go tip a couple bucks at the stage and get some tits rubbed in his face. A couple of girls had tried to come chat him up but all of them ended up walking away after a few minutes with a disgusted look on their faces. Leah could only guess what the wired haired man said to them. Still he was the only semi-familiar face in the bar aside from her co-workers and she knew he wouldn't be trying to take her home for the night.

"Hey," She said as she slid into the barstool next to him.

"Thought I wasn't supposed to know you." Tig said to her as he watched one of the girls on stage.

"I kno, I'm pretending to chat you up." Leah told him as she fixed her flirting smile on her face and acted like there wasn't a place in the world she'd rather be. Anyone who looked over at them would see nothing more than a stripper trying to make her rent.

"How the fuck does she make any money?" Tig asked still staring at the stage. Leah glanced up to see who was dancing. An older woman, a few pounds over weight with tits that were starting to sag a bit danced on stage. She was clearly years past her prime and held the slightly jaded edge a stripper wore when she'd been in the business to long.

"Bianca has a very specific clientele." Leah said. Bianca was one of the few women Leah really enjoyed working with. A nurse by day the forty-year-old dancer had been working the pole for about twenty years, day job didn't support two kids of her own and three step kids. Sometimes the two of them tag teamed off each other. Some guys got off on watching the older seasoned stripper "teach" the brand new Delilah how to give a proper lap dance. Of course the gentlemen would pay each of them full price for the privilege.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Tig demanded still staring at Bianca as she flexed her pectoral muscles to make her tits bounce in circles.

"What's your favorite booze?" Leah asked.

"Tequila, why?" Tig asked finally turning his attention to her.

"Ok so say Mia over there is tequila, Bianca we'll label scotch. So you don't like scotch, you wont buy it. But you will buy tequila. Well look at that guy." Leah pointed to a younger man sitting captivated by the stage. "He really likes scotch and is willing to spend a lot of money on it. Everyone has their poison."

Tig nodded in agreement at the explanation.

"Some nights Bianca walks out of here with more money than I do." Leah commented off handedly. "Men are willing to pay a lot of money to scratch an itch that isn't deemed socially acceptable."

"Yeah, what's the freakiest you've gotten?" Tig asked interestedly.

"I had a guy that wanted to smell my armpits the whole time I danced on him for a lap dance. Paid me a lot extra to lick one. I made over three hundred off him that night." Leah told him while putting her hand on his arm and laughing a bit, keeping up with the charade.

"Armpits?" Tig asked.

"Yep armpits." Leah confirmed.

"What else?" Tig asked.

"I have one regular who will only dance with me if I haven't danced for anyone else. He doesn't like the smell of other men on me. Plus he wants me to act like I don't really know what I'm doing. He has a thing for younger girls, innocent and all." Leah said, "Plus you always have the foot fetishes, men who like a bitch, men who like a bimbo. Everybody has a poison." She shrugged, she'd been doing this damn job since she was nineteen. By now she'd seen damn near everything this industry had to offer. Shitty club owners who had weight requirements for dancers, to high-class clubs to little shit holes that were just a front for prostitutes. Frankly she was getting board with it all. Two more years and she could quit this damn job and get a "real job." She'd have her law degree and could do something more with her life.

"Just a means to an end. A fucking means to an end." She told herself when work got shitty.

"Huh, gonna have to talk to Sally." Tig commented.

"Who's Sally?" Leah asked unsure if she really wanted to know.

"Crow eater, she's adventurous." Tig explained. "Armpits?" He asked curiously.

"Huh uh…" Leah trailed off. "It's my turn on stage. I'll stop by later…" She let her sentence trail off into a question.

"Nah doll, do your thing. I want some stories later though." Tig told her.

"Alright, pinky swear." Leah said smiling. Tig still made her nervous, he still seemed more and more on edge to her but he didn't scare her as much now.

~o0o~

"Now listen closely. Your guys hurt two of my men tonight. They're not all too happy about that. But I'm willing to be forgiving about that, just tell me if your bosses have any more plans." Jax said to the three Lobo members tied to the chairs in a warehouse garage. Off to the side Tara did her best to sew up one of the Galindo men with her good hand while Chib's worked on Opie's side where a bullet grazed him.

Jax pulled off the gag of the Lobo man in the middle. "Well what have you got to say?" He asked.

"Vete a Diablo." The Lobo said.

"Wrong answer bitch." Jax told him a calm smile on his face. "See my wife over there?" Jax pointed at Tara. "She's a surgeon. She uses lots of sharp pointy things and she borrowed me a few of them. See that man over there?" Jax pointed at Happy. "He likes to use all those sharp pointy things. And now I'm not feeling so forgiving, so I'm going to let him." Jax turned his back to the tied men. "Tara, how's he doing?"

"He'll live. Might scar, these aren't exactly my best stitches." Tara called focused on her work. She put in the final stich as deftly as she could with her one good hand. The hand that had been crushed by the car door was still tightly braced keeping her out of the operating room but she could still help the Sons as needed.

"Good, I want you to go back home. Take care of the boys. I'll be back later." Jax told her.

Tara stood up from where she knelt next to the wounded Galindo man. She hated this. Every minute of it. She hated that she was here patching up a member of the gang that destroyed her and Jax's chance of leaving Charming. She hated that the bastard that tried to have her killed was sipping beers at the clubhouse every fucking Friday night. She hated that Gemma-one of the people who trapped her in this fucking life- was home with her boys while she watched her fiancé prepare to torture a man. Most of all she hated that she was trapped in this life by her love for the president of an MC and that there was nothing she could do about it. But she knew better than to voice any of that here. Instead she walked up to her Old Man and kissed him.

"Make sure you wash the blood off before you come in." She told him not sparing the Lobo men a glance. Those watching thought she didn't consider them worth her time. Truth was she didn't want to see the men she knew would soon very likely be dead. Tara made it all the way to her car before she started to cry. She allowed her self to cry for a few minutes before roughly wiping the tears away and driving back to her house. She wasted enough tears on her Old Man's life- her life- until SAMCRO was free from the feds and the cartel she had no other choice but to deal. Giving into self-pity now wouldn't help her family. She started her car and drove away. She'd get home, get rid of Gemma and tuck Able and Thomas into bed with her. It worked while Jax was locked up, made her feel less alone. Hopefully it'd work tonight. As she drove home she couldn't help but smile. Despite everything Jax called her his wife.

Jax walked the door close behind his Old Lady. He could see the subtle shifts of her body language. Tara was still pissed that they couldn't get out when they wanted to. But he couldn't leave the club, not now. Not with Clay and Pope and the god fucking cartel. Soon as that shit was clear they could go. Still that was the future. He had shit to clean up now in the present. He turned his attention back to the tied up Lobo.

"Happy now that my wife isn't here anymore why don't you see if our friend here would like to try talking." Jax said turning to Happy.

"Oh yes I will." Happy said walking toward the tray Tara had meticulously set up when she arrived. He ran his hand over the sharp instruments, not only deciding where to start but also to draw out the anticipation for the fucking idiots. He saw all three tied men follow his actions with their eyes. He let his hand pause over a bone saw first before pausing over several hypodermic needles and cauterization probes before selecting a sharp scalpel. He didn't speak to either of the tied men. Jax was there for that.

"Where do you want me to start?" He asked Jax.

"Don't really care just leave their tongues." The president commanded.

"Ok." Happy said. He approached the ungagged man in the middle twirling the scalpel in his hand. He set the scalpel down on the tied mans knee before stripping his kutte away.

"Alright boys, first question. What the fuck is Lobo doing in my back yard?" Jax asked. Happy emphasized the question with a slash to the guy in the middle's bicep.

The Lobo spit in the direction of the Sons even with the blood running down his arm.

"Alright, second question. Who else is working with you?" Jax asked ignoring the glob of saliva next to his right foot. Happy slashed again this time cutting the man's left bicep. The man winced as the scalpel bit into his flesh but he spit a second time.

"I'm going to leave you four alone for awhile. Be back soon." Jax said before turning and leaving. "Maybe you'll want to talk more when I come back."

Several hours later Happy's white tee shirt was splattered with blood from all three men and the smell of cauterized flesh filled the air. All three men were still breathing though, if barely. The middle fucker wasn't even identifiable by his ink anymore with the cuts, bruises and burns covering him. The two on the side fared a bit better. After seeing their compatriot tortured they were more willing to start talking.

"See talking isn't so hard." Jax told them. "In fact you all talked so much I'm inclined to not send you back to your boss with snitch tattooed on your forehead. In fact I may just let my men dump you out side a hospital a few towns away. I'm sure you can all remember that fall you took. Right before your car crash of course." Jax turned to the prospects who'd been called in, "Take out the trash. We'll deal with the rest of this shit tomorrow." Jax glanced up at the garage clock. One a.m. Tara was going to be fucking pissed. Again.

"Hey, Hap!" Jax called out as the Galindo's helped load the Lobos into the back of the van- already lined with plastic. "Want you to swing by Leah's place. Send Tig over, I want to talk to him. Let her know it should be over but we'll keep an eye on her for the week. I'll talk to her more tomorrow. For now just tell her we found the Lobo's in the area and they've been taken care of."

"Want me to stay the night there?" Happy asked.

"Yeah, I'll send Chibs sometime in the morning. Get some sleep tonight though. I might need you tomorrow. We still got this Pope shit to sort out." Jax said rubbing his forehead.

"Alright." Happy said putting the tools he used in water to soak. He'd finish cleaning them tomorrow. Only fucking useful thing Brad every taught him was a clean weapon is a useful weapon. Fucker used to make Happy sit and watch him clean his service piece every week from the time Brad married Happy's mother right to the day Happy beat the shit out of the no good piece of shit. Still Happy now had proper respect for cleaning his gun and knives. Dirty tools were useless in any line of work. Satisfied that the bleach solution would destroy any DNA or biological evidence morning Happy grabbed his still clean kutte and headed to his dorm. He quickly pulled on a clean shirt before heading back out to his bike.

~o0o~

Tara couldn't bring herself to drive straight home. Instead she found herself driving around town in endless circles just thinking. Finally over an hour later she pulled into her drive.

"Hey sorry I'm late." She said quietly to Gemma as she walked into the house. "Renato took a bit longer than I thought to sew up. Hand's still not working great." Tara said by way of an explanation.

"Bullshit." Gemma said walking past Tara out the front door and on to the steps to light up a smoke, "Jax called. Almost an hour ago. Said he'd be late, not to wait up. Also said you were on your way." Gemma slid her gaze over Tara with one eyebrow raised. "Traffic on the way home?"

"Yeah, traffic." Tara said suspiciously. Gemma had done her no favors lately. They currently lived in an uneasy cease-fire. A silent understanding that as long as Tara didn't try to take Jax and the boys away and Gemma didn't try to break their family apart the peace would last.

"Well I got an empty house and a full bottle of Tequila." Gemma started heading to her car. For the first time Tara noticed the slight slump in the former matriarch's shoulders, the fact that her four-inch heels didn't click quite as sharply.

"Hey Gemma," Tara called out, "I got a full bottle here."

Gemma turned back to the girl who was almost her daughter in law. She quirked her mouth to the side and looked Tara up and down. Gemma would never admit it aloud but Tara was the best choice to step up, hell Gemma always wanted her to. Ever since they started getting along again. Just didn't think it would be so damn soon.

"Alright. Got any limes?"

"Nah but I got a couple of straws." Tara smiled.

"That'll work."

~o0o~

"I'm safe?" Leah asked sitting on her couch stunned.

She hadn't made it to two-fifty by midnight so she ended up finishing the night out. She'd gotten home a bit after one, Tig following close behind her. Her last customer had been an ass so she'd gone down to grab her shit bout ten minutes before the one am bar close. She hadn't even bothered to chance, just threw her light jacket over her cloths before heading out the minute the clock flipped from 12:59 to 1am.

When she finally pulled in to her drive she barely took the time to show Tig where to grab a beer before stomping to the shower. Just like every crappy night the hot water seemed to wash away all the bull shit. Leah began to carefully take off her make up with the help of the box of makeup wipes she kept in the shower. She'd just rinsed her hair when she heard the front door open.

"Leah, company!" Tigs voice called out from the living room, "You wanna get out here."

Confused Leah shut off the shower and grabbed her robe off the hook by the shower. Pulling her wet hair off her back she walked into the living room to see Tig and Happy drinking beer on her couch.

"Is everything alright?" She asked worriedly standing in the hall door way.

"Tig, Jax wants to talk to you." Happy said not answering her, "He's still at the clubhouse. I'm staying here tonight."

"Alright. Best go see what the prince wants." Tig said sarcastically. Happy remained quiet. It wasn't cool to disrespect your president like that but Tig had been Clay's man. The former SAA didn't adapt well better to let the comment slide and give him time to figure shit was never going back. Tig slung back the last of his beer before heading out of the house. Leah stood in the hall doorframe silently listening as the sound of a Harley filled the air.

"Is everything alright?" She asked again as Tigs bike faded away.

"Should be. We found the Lobo's that were in town." Happy told her. Leah crossed the room before plopping herself on the couch.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" She asked staring straight ahead.

"We took care of them." Happy confirmed. Jax could give her whatever details he wanted to in the morning. Happy watched her closely waiting for her reaction. The white cotton rope she wore reached down to her knee's and her hair hung in wet ropes around her face- bare of any trace of makeup. Fuck if she didn't look any older than eighteen with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open slightly in surprise.

"Took care of them?" She asked again not sure if she could believe what she thought she was hearing. She turned to look at Happy and saw him nod his head. "I'm safe?" She whispered stunned.

Happy shrugged. Safety was relative in his mind anyway.

"We'll keep someone with you for the rest of the week to be sure. Jax wants to talk to you tomorrow." He told her. Leah just nodded mutely.

"But I'm safe? My son is safe?" She asked again not able to believe that it could be true.

"Yeah, should be." Happy told her. Leah sat in stunned silence for several minutes. Suddenly she threw herself to the other side of the couch hugging Happy. For his part Happy just sat there unsure of what to do.

"I'm sorry." Leah said straightening herself up, "It's just that I feel like a thousand pounds is off of me." She said by way of explanation tucking a string of hair behind her head. She shot up from the couch and went into the kitchen. She dug around in the top cupboard before grabbing two glasses. Happy watched her reach up, her robe inching up her thighs as she stretched to grab whatever it was from a top shelf. Her legs were still damp from her shower and seemed to shine in the kitchen light. She walked back into the living room carrying a bottle and two glasses.

"I've been saving this for San's birthday but I want to celebrate a bit." She said setting down a bottle of Macallan21 year old Fine Oak Scotch Whiskey on the coffee table. "A customer gave me this, along with a thousand bucks, for doing a private party for him." She explained.

"Must have been some party." Happy said, knowing that a bottle of that cost a bit over two hundred dollars a bottle.

"Rich bastard wanted to make is son's 18th birthday something to remember." Leah explained. "Original price was five hundred for the night but when Uncle Lenny tried to get a bit to handsy I tacked on another five hundred bucks and this bottle- for emotional distress you see." Leah smiled a bit at the memory. Uncle Lenny wanted more than was offered and ended up finding Mia's gun to his head. The state senator tripped over himself to make sure Leah wouldn't press charges or tell the press.

Happy watched her as she poured two glasses of whiskey into each glass where she'd already put three ice cubes. Her robe gapped open slightly at the neckline drawing his eyes straight to her tiny cleavage poking out.

"I got a better way to celebrate." He told her. Leah glanced up at him and saw where his eyes were pointing.

"Really now?" She asked setting the bottle down and picking up her glass filled with exactly three fingers of the amber liquid. "I'm open to any suggestions."

Happy picked up his glass and tossed back the expensive liquor in one swing enjoying the slow burn down his throat and into his stomach. Leah sipped hers more daintily at first before knocking it back quickly. She stood up and began to walk back toward the hall. Reaching the doorframe she glanced back over her shoulder in a way that Happy was beginning to recognize. The right side of her mouth quirked up in half a smile before she let her robe fall off her shoulder and pool at her feet. Happy set his empty glass down and followed her down the hall, he caught her half way and pressed her against the wall.

~o0o~

Jax sat in the clubhouse sipping a beer, waiting for Tig. One thing checked off his never ending to do list. He could understand why his father started writing shit down when shit hit the fan. Jax now found himself doing the same thing. In fact even now as he waited for Tig to show up he scratched away in a spiral notebook he'd found at home.

"You turn more and more into your father every day." Clay said walking into the bar from the dorms.

"At least I'm not turning into you." Jax said looking up at the man.

"Wouldn't be to sure about that." Clay said rubbing his hands. "This life has a way of turning you into what it needs you to be."

"I'm not you. I wont send a brother to be killed like you have. I wont kill an Old Lady like you did." Jax told him sharply.

"Boy by the time this is over you might not have a choice." Clay said quickly before grabbing a beer and heading back to the dorm he now lived in.

~o0o~

Half way through the bottle of tequila Gemma and Tara began to talk like they used to. Before Ireland, before Tara found Marueen Ashby's letters. Before Tara found out that Gemma murdered her first husband.

"Has Jax told you anything about the new gash?" Gemma asked the tequila loosening her up.

"Nothing really. Just that she's a stripper and she saved their asses." Tara said frustrated.

"You gotta find out more about this bitch. Keep her close." Gemma told her. "She's scared and new to this. We don't want her changing her mind about keeping quiet. Better to bring her close."

Tara nodded. Despite the problems between the two women as of late Tara still respected the older woman's knowledge.

"Keep that bitch close." Gemma repeated tossing back more tequila.