Jensen let out a long sigh as she flipped through another trashy magazine before tossing it in the pile with the others. She grabbed for the beer Leo had placed on the unused filing cabinet in the office. After taking a large gulp she decided to state her argument again. She glanced over at Gemma and took a deep breath.
"I can answer phones, I'm not an invalid." She griped as her hand inched toward the phone. "I promise I won't move my arm. I'll just sit here and work." Griping turned to pleading. "I can't take it any more! I have to do something."
"You were shot yesterday and have been sitting here for all of three hours. You are lucky I let you stay here. I thought your brother put you on bed rest. If you aren't going to do that the next best thing I can do is make sure you don't move from the couch." Gemma glared as she slapped Jensen's hand away from the phone. "Cate is doing your work, just relax."
"That's the problem! I can't relax doing nothing, and I really am doing nothing. Leo follows me everywhere! Last night he wouldn't leave my room because he thought I might move my arm while I was sleeping. They didn't let me drive to work or make myself breakfast. The last time I was shot they couldn't even be bothered to pick up the damn phone!"
"When were you shot before? Where?" Gemma laughed as she looked at her work. "Wong place, wrong time?" She shook her head.
"You know people have said that to me and I keep trying to find a right time and place, so far no dice. My stint in Reno was an exciting time. I was working with this guy hustling people out of their money at cards. One time we conned the wrong man and as we were running away he fires a few warning shots at us. Ricky got away just fine, I on the other hand got a bullet in the ass. It left an amazing scar." She retold the story with a smile. "That was my sign to leave Reno. Ricky and I haven't spoken since. I'm an open book, but if you fuck me over it will be like I never existed."
"This your sign to leave Charming? Did we fuck you over?" Gemma asked not quite hiding her curiosity.
"It should be. I should get out now, if I were smart I would. I don't know maybe I'm not as smart as I think I am, or maybe I just like being stupid, but I'm gonna stick around and see what the hell I got shot for. You haven't fucked me anywhere, trust me if you do you'll know it." She smiled in a way that should have landed her ass in the loony bin.
"Do you think this is a game? Those guys all but declared war on our family." Gemma's voice became serious.
"Hey, that's not what I meant and you know it." Jensen raised her uninjured hand. "My family is in danger too. All I'm trying to say is now I have a vested interest and I'm not going to just walk away. I care about Jax, and that means caring about his family. So I'm here and I'm going to stay here, and while I'm here I'm going to do everything in my power to help. I'm even going to answer the damn phones!" She took in a breath and hid her wince as her shoulder twitched.
"Hand off the phone or I'm going to give you a bullet in the other shoulder." Gemma warned. "Paint your nails again or something. Let Cate handle it for a day, she's actually pretty good at it." Gemma pointed out the window at Cate, who was bouncing around from mechanic to mechanic in the shop passing out sandwiches. Leo trotted behind her handing out beers.
"She's trying to say sorry." Jensen rolled her eyes. "But not to me."
"Who is she trying to say sorry to then? It seems you're the only one she owes an apology to." Gemma frowned. "Not me! Why is she trying to say sorry to me?"
"Apparently she was pretty rude to you when she first got here. After that dinner she's coming around to the idea that we are going to be here for a while. She's trying to prove that she's worth you keeping around."
"What makes her think I have that kind of power?" Gemma questioned.
"I may have told her that the only way she was going to get put back on a job was if she learned some respect. I suggested she start with you. Liam let her slide with too much and I'm just trying to correct any of that." She shook her head with a smirk.
Jensen took out a cigarette and lit it just before Cate walked into the room.
"What are you doing?" Cate demanded with a glare at Jensen before she ripped the smoke away from her. "Liam told you that smoking would slow the healing. Do you want to be a cripple forever?" She put the cigarette in her own mouth before turning to Gemma and smiling. "Lunch is served, I'm going to get started on that paperwork now."
"Better hop to it." Gemma stated with a small smirk. "I'm headed out for a few hours. Make sure our girl doesn't do something stupid." She pointed at Jensen as she walked out of the office
Hank came trotting in the open door that Gemma had left. He hopped up on the threadbare couch next to Jensen and nestled himself on her lap before sneaking his head up through her shirt and started licking at her bandages.
"Gross." Cate muttered with a roll of her eyes. "You and that dog have some serious issues. Do you think she would mind if I sat at her desk while she was gone?"
"He's just looking out for his Mama." She pulled the dog's head out of her top and scratched under his chin. "Aren't ya, baby? Mama loves you! Yes, she does, yes she does!" She cooed, laying it on extra thick for Cate's benefit.
"Gross," She repeated before resuming talking to herself. "I better not risk it." Cate took a seat on the floor next to Jensen. "So this paperwork, I've been trying to make heads or tails of it since I first got here. But a lot of this just doesn't add up, I mean why is there a receipt here for oil barrels? They're empty and weighed, and they weigh a ton, how does that make sense? They even have a price; I've never seen prices this high for oil drums. That's, what, almost ten dollars a gallon, right? That's if there was any oil in them." She held up a pink slip of paper for Jensen to see.
"Well," Jensen paused, having a fairly clear idea on what was in the barrels. "That's pretty standard equipment for a repair shop." She lied as she handed the paper back. "It looks like they have been getting those shipments for the past few years, no real schedule to it." She pulled out the file they had been putting those slips in. "Just put it in chronological order with the rest of them."
"No, no, these are smart men. They wouldn't stand to get taken like this and it's not random! Look at this; deliveries are six months and then three months then six again. Going back for years, look at this one, this is 1983. Look at who signed off on it. Does that name look familiar to you?" Cate held up an older piece of paper. "Someone's a hoarder."
"It's, uh, it's Jax's father's name. At least I think it is. Look, just stop digging, it's not worth it." She insisted. Liam and Jensen might be in on the secret but Russell and Cate weren't ready just yet. "It's probably nothing, don't ask too many questions."
"Why don't you want me poking around in this if it really is nothing? Who cares if one little office girl sees it?" She chuckled as she moved out of Jensen's reach.
"That's not funny, Cate, cut it out. Put the slip back where it belongs and let it rest." Jensen demanded.
"No, because according to this they have another delivery coming in the next couple of days. I don't know about you but I'm more than a little curious about this deal." Cate waggled her eyebrows.
"It's not our place to wonder about those kinds of things." Jensen warned as she tilted her head.
"Who are you and what have you done with my sister? 'Not our place?' Jensen we used to thrive on 'not our place'! When did you go all squishy on me?" She yelled.
"Ouch! That's not fair! I'm trying to help you here but if you don't want to listen, fine." Jensen shouted back.
"Jen, what does that mean?" Cate raised an eyebrow.
"It means if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I am so going to regret this." She tossed her head back. "Leo!" She called after she emptied the remainder of her beer.
"Yeah, Jen?" The little boy stuck his head in through the door.
"I'm going to need another." She waved the empty bottle.
The day continued in mostly silence, Cate occasionally asked where something should be filed but other than that knew enough not to strike up random conversation. If Gemma noticed the girl's behavior she said nothing except quirk an eyebrow at their eagerness to leave.
"Have you had too much of us already? This was a light day." She joked as she helped a slightly inebriated Jensen into the passenger seat.
"Today is the first day we are all going to be together as a family for dinner in four years." Cate lied. "I think we are all just a little excited."
"What about last night?"
"Do you want to tell her what happened?" Cate glared at Jensen. "She ripped open one of her stitches and go blood all over the table." She didn't wait for Jensen to answer.
"To be fair, it was unavoidable." Jensen let her head droop back on the seat.
"Or you could have just let Leo hand over the mashed potatoes instead of insisting that you were fine. You ruined all of my hard work!" Cate scolded. "Not tonight though, tonight we are all going to sit at the table and have a nice meal if it kills us!" Cate declared with a small shake of her head.
"You let her cook one meal and suddenly she's a Stepford Wife. Get in baby." She smiled at Leo as he walked up to the car.
"I am not a baby." He demanded with a scowl.
"You will always be my baby." Jensen stated as she rolled her eyes as the car started to roll away and she gave a final wave. "Laying it on a little thick there, don't ya think?" She asked Cate.
"We needed to seem like we aren't on to them." Cate stated with a shrug. "Don't act like I'm the crazy one! I've seen enough Law and Order to know how this works."
"The way this works is we sit out in the car and we see what happens. We don't go in, we don't try to solve the mystery; we keep our heads down and just look." Jensen warned.
"What are you looking at?" Leo asked from the back seat as he played some game with his fingers.
"Nothing." The pair responded in unison. Jensen looked like she had a headache and rubbed her eyes while Cate sat in the drivers seat with a Cheshire cat grin on her face.
"Don't sound so happy about it." Jensen grumbled.
The two days ticked by slowly, Jensen had nothing to do and it made her more anxious to find out what the Sons were up to. She was mid thought at about two in the afternoon, watching Cate try to pry open a filing cabinet that had been sealed shut due to the extraordinary amount of paperwork that had been shoved in it, when she heard the familiar rumble of motorcycles. Cate stopped what she was doing and looked out of the window.
"They're back." She smiled wildly. "Jax is headed over here. He looks, damn, is he smiling? He has a great smile." She nearly swooned just talking about it.
Jax swaggered in with his customary smirk before he shoved his hands into his pockets and looked over at Jensen appraisingly.
"There you are. Not dead yet." He smirked, ignoring Cate stumbling over a greeting.
"Knucklebones, is that blood on your shirt?" Jensen hauled herself up and walked closer to him. "Blood and cheap perfume," she leaned up on his chest. "Smells like you had a good time. Most girls don't find it a huge turn on to smell another woman's stink." She turned away still smiling.
"But I came back to you, one piece, and as disease free as when I left." He chuckled.
"Not really setting the gold standard there." Jensen plopped down on the couch again. "So what does it say about me that I still want to jump your bones?"
"You must really like me."
"I thought getting shot for your club kind of summed that part up." Jensen's voice was calm even as she felt the tension between them rise. "So what do you say? Want to work out some of kinks in our relationship?"
"You don't have work?" He walked closer even as he asked the question.
"No, your mother has decided to put me on bed rest." Jensen smirked. "She even took my phone. No distractions." She put on her best mom voice and shook her finger intimidatingly.
"I'm not a distraction?" He was so close she could feel his breath on her lips.
"I'm not a doctor, but I think they call you sexual healing." She whispered as she felt his arms wrap around her waist forcing her back to arch.
She let out an involuntary hiss as her shoulder jostled slightly. The sound caused Jax to take a step back and look at her with concern. "I'm fine, you just have to be a little gentle with me."
Jax didn't say anything as he picked her up, nudging her legs to wrap around him. His hands firmly pressed into her ass. Jensen's injured arm cradled between their bodies her other wrapped around his neck. He captured Jensen's lips with his own, sucking on her bottom lip. Jensen let out a small moan causing Jax to break away and smirk.
"Let's go." He whispered. "It's been a long couple of days."
"I thought you would never ask." Jensen smiled as she moved to kiss his neck.
Jax walked them out of the office. He smirked and waggled his eyebrows at everyone still on the yard. Jensen was too caught up in Jax to even notice. She did hear her sister's screams.
"Can I say something about you banging the biker now?" Cate called through the office door.
Jensen couldn't be bothered to respond with words and instead shot her sister the bird without looking up. She vaguely recognized her sister's laugh. Jax started walking and pushed open the door to the clubhouse with a kick before walking down a hallway and kicking open another door. He placed Jensen on the bed and moved far enough away for her to look around.
"Where are we?" She finally asked trying to cover up her disgust at the state of the room as Jax kissed along her neck and down to her chest.
"This is my room." Jax's response was muffled as he had his head buried between Jensen's breasts.
"Babe, stop." Jensen managed to pant out as his hands skimmed the hem of her shirt. "No seriously, stop." She pushed him away with her good arm.
"What's wrong?" He questioned as he tore himself away from her. "What is it?" He looked confused.
"I'm not going to fuck you in here." She explained.
"Why not?"
"Because it reeks, and that's someone's thong on the knob there, and because I'm laying on these." She fished a pair of well-worn yellow boxers from under her back. "And they smell like a hooker." She scrunched her nose and tossed them into a pile of other dirty clothes. "Jax, either clean up or take me someplace I'm not going to get an STD by just looking."
"Just imagine we are somewhere nice." He finally shrugged after looking around. "A beach, or a lake, or something."
"Oh baby," she moaned. "So romantic, you just know exactly how to turn a girl to putty." Her sarcasm was lost as he returned his attention to her chest. "Fine, if we aren't going to find somewhere cleaner we had better make it quick. Get back up here." She smirked as she yanked on his hair with her one hand.
They had been at it for twenty minutes before a booming voice was calling for Jax.
"Jax! Church!" The heavily accented voice called, impossibly louder.
"Your family has amazing timing." She groaned as Jax pealed his body away from hers. "Be late." She playfully grabbed at his arm as he walked to the door. "Come have fun with me." She knew he was going to go but wanted to stall just a little.
"My commitment to this club comes first. Sorry, babe, but I'll make it quick." He chuckled as he pulled her out of bed.
"That's what you said about this and now I still have to work it out on my own. You on the other hand, had me working it out for you." Jensen teased as she slipped her panties back on. "Hang on, help me with my pants, I can't do it with one hand." She called him back before he could get a chance to open the door. Jax's hands skimmed up her thighs as he pulled her pants to her hips.
"Jackie-Boy! I'm coming in!" Chibs warned as the door knob twisted open. "Jesus Christ!" He yelled. Jax's hands moved to cover Jensen's chest.
"I'll be there in a minute." Jax smirked at the slack-jawed expression on Chibs' face.
"I'm going to give you a scar to match if you don't shut your eyes and turn out that door." Jensen demanded as soon as she recovered from her embarrassment. Chibs just laughed as Jensen glowered. "Go talk to Happy about what I can do with a knife and see if you're laughing then."
"Happy's been talking about you nonstop since Sunday to anyone that will listen, and he doesn't talk about anyone." Chibs kept laughing as he explained. "Jax, church in five." Chibs cocked his head down the hall before turning and closing the door.
"Why isn't he scared of me?" She demanded as she gently adjusted her shirt, gritting her teeth together as she tried to hide the pain she was in. "I've killed people and he treats me like porcelain."
"He likes you." Jax shrugged as he opened the door. "So am I coming by your place tonight?"
"Yeah, a welcome home feast for my man. I just wish my man wouldn't sleep with every woman he meets on the road." She sighed and faked hurt only to compensate for the actual hurt she was feeling.
Jax strut back into the room and placed both hands on her hips, pulling her in close.
"I didn't fuck them." He whispered so close to her ear it sent a shiver down Jensen's spine.
"Then it will be an extra special welcome home feast. I'll have Leo make a banner." She joked. She watched as he walked down the hall, she rested on the doorstop before calling out to him. "And Jax, good." She paused looking at his confused face. "Because I didn't fuck anybody while you were gone either." She smirked and winked before going back in the room to look for her bra.
With the nails of her fingers she plucked the thong off the doorknob and threw it into an overflowing trashcan. She replaced it with her own bra and smiled at her work.
As she walked into the office again she saw a petrified looking Cate sitting on the couch while Gemma looked furious.
"Where were you?" Gemma demanded.
"Making sure I still had a boyfriend." Jensen shrugged, unused to this sort of behavior.
"When I say you need to sit there and not put any stress on your arm, that was what I meant." Gemma lectured.
"What?" Jensen's face contorted. "Excuse me Gemma, you are my employer and my friend, but you are not my parole officer."
Gemma snort of snorted at this.
"I'm old enough to be your mother."
"My mother is an alcoholic living with her meth head boyfriend in Arizona and I bank-role their addictions. So really you aren't my mother, trust me I don't need another one." She yelled. "I'll be in the car, it's six. Cate, grab your things and Leo and let's get out of here." She stormed out of the office and whistled for Hank.
Once they were all in the car there was a tense silence that even Hank seemed to pick up on.
"So, tomorrow." Cate broke the silence finally.
"Nine o'clock, be there or be square." Jensen sighed. She had a feeling she knew what they were going to find but was starting to feel like that wasn't such a bad thing. "Leo I have a project for you when we get home."
Two hours later Jensen could hear the familiar rumble of the motorcycle in the driveway and walked out to meet him. Jensen held out her hand with a smile and led him inside. Jax let out a chuckle as he saw the living room.
"You really had that boy make me a sign?" He asked.
"Sure I did. He didn't know what he was congratulating you for but was happy to do it none the less." She pointed at the large butcher paper sign that read 'Congratulations Jax!' in a large childlike font. "I even made you dinner. Well Cate made you dinner but I directed."
"And just where is the welcome wagon?" Jax laughed and looked around.
"I sent them with Nate. Mini-golfing, or at least that was the plan." She walked up to him. "We have the whole house to ourselves, what are we going to do with it?"
Jensen woke up sometime in the middle of the night to the sound of a car door slamming. She lifted herself off the bed and slipped her underwear back on, grabbing Jax's shirt on her way out of the room. She walked to the window in the living room that looked out onto the driveway and say Cate climbing out of the driver's side before throwing her hands on her hips and pointing towards the house. Nate, Liam, and Russell tumbled out of the car with drunken expressions on their faces. Leo got out on the passenger side looking exhausted. Jensen looked at the clock and sighed, it was a little past three in the morning, she walked to open the door and let them all in.
"What in the world happened to mini-golf?" She demanded.
"We went, I won, we celebrated." Liam boasted as he held out a small plastic trophy. "Found a bar, drinks were on Nate because he was the big looser!" Jensen shot Liam a look to shut up as Leo zombie walked to his room without saying anything.
"What were you drinking? You smell like a bar back's rag." She made a face.
"Drink of Champions! Boilermakers! I am the king." Liam didn't lower his voice.
"Shut up before I shut you up!" Jensen demanded.
"Liam, Nate and Russell made me designated driver. I'm sober enough to get them to their rooms" Cate rolled her eyes. "Made the ride home a living hell."
"Give Nate some pillows and he can sleep it off here, no point in him walking back to his deathtrap of a car." Jensen nodded. "I'm going back to bed."
As she climbed back into bed she felt Jax's arms wrap around her waist.
"What was it?" He asked sleepily.
"Nothing, my brothers had a fun night, that's all. Go back to bed." She whispered.
"Alright." He breathed into her hair before falling back asleep.
In the morning Jensen walked out to the living room, brushing the sleep out of her eyes, when her foot caught on Nate's lower back. Nate couldn't be bothered to even open his eyes. He just let out a muffled groan and pulled another pillow over his head.
"What are you doing on the floor? We have a couch you could have used!" She yelled as she moved to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.
"Not big enough." He mumbled. "Stop yelling."
"I WANT EVERYONE UP AND READY TO GO IN ONE HOUR!" Jensen roared in Nate's ear.
"I hate you!" Nate roared back without opening his eyes.
"I'm okay with that." Jensen shrugged as she turned away.
