A/N - Hey team! This one is must loving us on a little bit, putting Nina's situation in context with the club... Jarry and Chibs up in the next one!
Natasha squealed with excitement as Nero swung his car into the Teller Morrow at speed. For a little girl, she had been in her fair share of car chases and speed-driving but there was something she loved about Grandpa the gangster, and Nero loved to put on a show. He made the car bounce a little and looked at the delight on Tash's face.
"You are too cute," he chuckled. She beamed up at him and he sighed, how had he missed so much of this little girl's life? Nina's contact had been sparse, he knew it was difficult but he couldn't help feeling he had lost out.
"You are too!" she echoed chirpily, making his heart melt. "Are we going to see Emily?"
Nero laughed, she was so obsessed with Emily. "Yeah, she's here," he said, gesturing to the club. "Come on, we can go get her now, go see your uncle Lucius, maybe."
He swept Natasha up and tossed her on his shoulder as he got her out of the car and carried her through to the club. Emily was sitting cuddled close with Thomas on the couch while Tara told them both a story. Abel, disinterested, was wrestling with his Dad while Happy pointed out his mistakes to make him tighter. Nobody really looked up at Nero's presence and he put Tash down on her feet carefully.
"There you go," he said. He looked around for either Tig or Chibs but neither were there. "Where's your Dad?"
Natasha scowled. "He said he was going to see the lady from the ice cream shop," she muttered crossly. "I didn't like her, Grandpa, she was very mean. Kept touching Da in front of Ma and making Ma get mad."
Nero swallowed. "What lady, sweetheart?"
"The police officer," Tash replied. Emily had seen her and was waving while Thomas stared at her awkwardly. "She kept saying things about spending time with Da, was trying to ask me about Ireland. I didn't like it."
She slipped away to join Emily and Nero stood, his hand on his hip in annoyance. He frowned after her and pulled out his phone instantly, he was going to give Chibs a piece of his goddamn mind. When he didn't get an answer, he looked around for the nearest person he could take out his frustrations on and spotted Jax getting back up to his feet from Abel's choke hold.
"You." Nero pointed at him furiously. "Where's your Prez, mano?"
Jax felt the way Nero's eyes roamed over the 'prospect' badge on his cut and he tried to hold his own, knowing everyone in that room was watching his behaviour carefully. Tara extricated herself from the children to go over.
"Hey, Nero," she said, trying to soften him with her smile. Nero and Jax hadn't seen eye-to-eye for a long, long time but neither of them had been in the clubhouse together for a similarly long period. "How are you?"
Nero managed to hold his temper as Abel stared up at him from between his parents. He forced a smile, he hated them, all of them, but kept it together. Gemma always begged him to, now was a good chance to show he could.
"Fine," he said with an uneasy sort of calm. "Just need a word with the boss."
"What about?" Jax ventured but Nero shut him down with one withering look.
"None of your business. You keep out of my family business," he said. He heard Emily giggle and looked past Jax as Thomas pushed a kiss on her cheek in front of Natasha. His face grew dark and he moved across the room, scooping up his grandchild quickly and motioning for Tash to come with him. "Talk to your boy, huh? Padillas and Tellers, we don't mix no more, I don't want any of that shit, understand?"
Before Tara could object, he led the two girls outside back towards the car. As he did, Gemma happened to come out of the TM office and looked at him, waving for his attention.
"Hey Grandpa," she called with a teasing wink. "Can I come?"
Nero sighed as he looked at her, he could never be mad at Gemma, however much the rest of the Tellers repulsed him. "Ah, Grandma, I'm not sure. Just pulled our young lovers apart," he murmured, motioning to a sulky-looking Emily. Gemma bent around him to look at her.
"Come on," she said, resting her hand on his arm. "I want to get to know the new little one." She waved at Natasha who cheerfully waved back, trusting her grandfather's friend in an instant. Nero smiled, thinking she was making an effort.
"Okay," Nero nodded. "Just for a little while though. I have to get them back to Tig's for eight or Nina'll kill me."
Tig flung himself down onto the bench like a stroppy teenager and slumped down, his head against the wall as the officer slammed the metal gate shut. Nina was vibrating with anger as she stood, her hands wrapped around the bars, staring out at the hall and making the guard's balls shrink with just the expression in her eyes. The kid grimaced and edged out as far as he could, the woman in that cell was scary as hell. Seeing her tension, Tig whistled at her.
"Come here," he insisted, patting the seat beside him. "We're not going anywhere for a while."
When she didn't move, he groaned and dragged himself up to his feet, lumbering over to her and putting his arms around her. Nina snapped, swinging her fist at him in an absolute rage and hurling him at the wall in a bid to get him off her.
"Fuck you!" she barked, trying to hold herself together. "Fuck you, and fuck your asshole Prez, and fuck everything about this whole goddamn shithole of a town." She rattled the gate. "I need to call my daughter, you have to let me call her." She continued to shake the metal door but to no avail, she was simply ignored. Tig swallowed, he had never seen her like this, caged and on the edge of a breakdown.
"Hey," he said, wrinkling his nose to try and ease the pain. She didn't respond and he grabbed her hand, firmer now. "Hey." As he pulled her to him, she burst into tears as he crushed her head into his chest, supporting her weight as he felt her knees beginning to weaken beneath her. "Jesus, Nina, I'm sorry."
She didn't mean to cry. She didn't want to, either, she had spent a long time alone, crying, trying to keep herself and her family safe and in one piece by doing whatever was demanded of her. Tig's arms around made her feel protected but she couldn't help but feel torn to shreds by the whole damn situation.
"Maybe I romanticised it," she sobbed into him, her eyes closed as her tears leaked into the flannel of his shirt and soaked his skin. "I spent so long, Alex, so long out there on my own. I thought he loved me, I was so sure we were good. All that time, it was the thing that kept me going." Tig felt his grip tighten, it didn't seem fair that she felt so in love with someone so indifferent to her. What he wouldn't give to have the passion she felt for Chibs deflected to him.
"Don't think about him," Tig insisted. "We just gotta get out of here, that's all."
"I always knew you'd be okay with Emily," she murmured, her lips brushing his chest as she spoke. "I never even worried about that, I knew you'd be good with her. And then, shit, Tig, I was pregnant and on my own and I spent the whole damn six years in this fucking fantasy land I created for Tash and-" She flapped her hand in front of her eyes to try and stop herself from crying any more, but Tig simply stared at her, sure he'd never seen her look so damn beautiful as tears streaked down her face, running along the scar on her cheek in a channel.
"I didn't know," he said quietly. He couldn't even imagine how hard it had been, since the day he'd met her she had been tortured and isolated, partly at his own hand but now, he simply felt awful about all of it. "I didn't know about any of it. That bitch, she just turned up, just yesterday."
"And he spent the night with her. I didn't realise they even..." She laughed, shaking her head. All damn night she had been easing Tig's eager flirtations with the simple premise that she didn't want to hurt Chibs. "Guess you should have just had me last night after all."
He growled a little at that, his lip twitching into a smile. "Don't tease me like that, baby," he murmured. "You'll give me ideas."
She gave him another smack and he grinned as he pulled her close again, ploughing her with kisses all along her neck as she scrabbled against him. "Get off me," she said, keeping her tone as light as she could. Part of her just wanted to give in, just to spite Chibs, but the more sensible part of her eased him back. "I was joking."
"That bastard has no idea," he snarled, annoyed. Even now, even knowing Chibs was a cheating, lying asshole, she was still trying to keep some sort of respect for him. "What are you, stupid? Don't wait for him, he didn't wait for you."
She pressed her lips together furiously, suppressing the anger within her. "And what? You did?" She saw the shy way he looked down and rolled his eyes. "We weren't together when I left, Alex. We hadn't been together for a long time. I didn't expect you to wait for me, why would you? But him..." She shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I thought we were good."
That's what frustrated him, Tig had thought the same. Chibs had been so enormously excited to have her home, especially with Natasha, so why he'd do something so stupid was beyond him. He sat down again, arching his fingers as he stared at Nina's form as she leaned herself back against the bars, trying to get herself together again.
"Forget about him, he doesn't deserve you." God, what he wouldn't do to show her how he felt in that moment. Locked together, they hadn't been this isolated since she had been to visit him in Stockton. He smiled at the thought and stood up, taking her hand again. He rubbed his thumb over his ring on her finger. "I love you," he ventured. She opened her mouth to object and he waved his hand. "Not like that. Just, love you. Care about you." He stroked her cheek. "That guy is a cunt, straight up, moronic idiot cunt."
She giggled at that and he smoothed his hand against her cheek, pushing a sweet, platonic kiss on her lips as he leaned his forehead to hers.
"You don't need that shit, Nina. Nobody should treat you like that." He laughed at himself. "I mean, I know I did, once, but Jesus you have no idea how I regret it. But..." He stroked her hair back from her face. "At least we're friends now, right?" She nodded slowly and he gave her a playful poke. "And maybe fuckbuddies?" She laughed and gave him another thump and he grinned, letting go of her. "No?"
She rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot."
"But that doesn't matter," he assured her. "Because I love you, and you love me, and we love our kids, and that's the end of it all." Nina nodded, comforted by his assurances, and Tig grinned. "Irish'll be all over this shit, they're probably getting you out right now. You don't worry about a thing, the right people have got your back. And Chibs?" He shook his head. "Chibs has got what's coming to him. Syphilis, probably," he added with a wink. "So don't think about him any more, okay?"