Disclaimer: I'm just going to keep writing stories full of fictional beagles, then I will have an army of SOA beagles that I can call my own.
Lynn eyes fluttered open at the sound of her phone ringing. She clambered over Chibs to reach for it, settling across his chest she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and spied the caller ID, 'Amy'. Chibs groaned in protest at being woken at such an early hour. "Hello?" She said sleepily. "No, no. It's okay, I'm awake. What's up?" She smiled as her man put a pillow over his head to drown out the sound of the conversation. "Tomorrow shopping works better for me, we can go out to that outlet mall in Stockton, there's a new baby superstore there." She paused listening to her cousin's next request. "Maybe, what time? Wait, why don't you just ask him? Hold on a sec." She lifted the pillow off Chibs' head "Amy wants to talk to you, Baby." Again he groaned mumbling something that sounded like 'sleeping' and stubbornly refusing to take the phone. Lynn held the phone up to his ear. "Speak." She ordered.
"Good morning." He said groggily, taking the phone. He listened to Amy's request. "Today, uh, yeah. I don't have to work at the garage. I can stop by for a couple hours this afternoon and put together the baby furniture." Chibs listened again, Lynn laughed at the exasperated look that graced his face. "Oh, I have to pick it up too?" He attempted to sit up, but Lynn was still draped across him. "No, no, no it's all right. I'll be there at two." He sighed audibly, "It's really not a problem, you don't owe me anything….. alright, goodbye."
"Well, I'm awake now. Want to fool around a bit?" He smiled and winked at Lynn and shewed the snoring beagle off the bed.
"Hmmmm." Lynn said considering. "As much as I'd love to, I have some grooming appointments to get to this morning." She laughed at his exaggerated pout. They'd spent the last week making up for missed intimacy with gusto. "But I'm free this afternoon."
Chibs breathed out in frustration "If you recall, I was just called into servitude. Have some furniture to deliver and assemble."
She kissed him passionately. "Oh, my sweet man. How about I come with and help you?"
"Oh? I do know that manual labor gets you all hot and bothered." He smiled cheekily. "So what's the plan? You watch me assemble some furniture then jump my bones in front of Amy?" He poked her side, causing her to wriggle away from him. He continued his tickle assault causing her to squeal with laughter.
Between fits of giggles she gasped out. "Maybe it'll keep her from groping you again."
Chibs stopped his tickle attack. "Oh, come now, Lovely. You know that she probably meant nothing by it. She's harmless." He became more serious, staring meaningfully in her eyes. "Besides, I'd like to keep a good rapport with, Amy. If that baby is mine, I don't want things to be strained. It's why I'm helping her out remember? I'm not going to miss out on another one of my kids' childhood."
Lynn nodded stoically. There were two key topics of conversation that was hard for them to talk about. His marriage and his potential baby on the way. One was a distant complication, the other was an impending and very near possibility. Six weeks, they only had six more weeks until her due date. "I know." She agreed quietly. "But, I'll still come and help. Amy may drive me crazy sometimes, but she's still my family, very pregnant, and she could use my help too."
"I love you so much Lynn O'Bara, I don't know what I'd do without you." He climbed over her, kissing her passionately, ghosting his hand up her side.
"I love you too, Baby. But I have other dirty dogs that need to be taken care of." She gave him a peck on the lips before sliding out from under him to get her work day started.
**SOA**SOA**SOA**
Lynn and Chibs pulled up in front of Amy's house around two in the afternoon. They arrived in his fully restored 1970 Ford F100 that Chibs rarely drove. It spent weeks at a time in the shed out back, only driven in inclement weather and when he needed to haul things. Chibs pulled down the tailgate and hefted the heavy crib out of the bed. "Do me a favor and ring the bell, Lovely."
The door swung open revealing a grinning Amy. Her smile faltered and dropped a bit, but did not leave her face. "Lynn, what are you doing here?"
The poorly masked look of disappointment was not missed by Lynn. She hugged her pregnant cousin and said "I figured I'd tag along and help."
"Yeah, that's great. Thanks Cuz." Amy squeezed Lynn to emphasize the sentiment.
Chibs lumbered towards them carrying the large heavy box, he stopped in the doorway to receive a kiss on the cheek from Amy. "Hey Sweetheart, where do you want this?"
"Follow me, Hun." Amy led the way to what would be the baby's room.
Lynn frowned at the terms of endearment.
Chibs set the crib on the floor, happed to be relieved of the considerable weight. Immediately he jogged back out to grab the next few boxes. Lynn followed close behind. She began to drag a box out of the truck bed and balanced it on his shoulder. "Woah, you got that, Lovely?" She nodded in response. He was always amazed at how strong she was. But he shouldn't be surprised, she wrestled often with dogs of one hundred pounds plus. Chibs went to take another box, but stopped when something caught his eye.
"What's wrong, Baby?" Lynn leaned against the truck to help support the weight of the box.
Chibs looked across the street distractedly. "Uh, it's probably nothing." The biker continued to eye the strangely familiar sedan parked up the street. He could swear he'd seen that black car near his home, or at least one very similar recently. He decided to continue with the task at hand and unloaded the rest of the furniture.
Nearly two hours later, Chibs was on a step ladder adding the mobile to the top of the crib while Lynn and Amy busied themselves with arranging stuffed animals and other decorations around the room.
A ringing phone caused them all to pause. "It's mine!" Lynn called out. "Ugh, it's Mikey. Probably about his court date this week." She excused herself and walked out of the room.
Amy took the opportunity to sidle up to Chibs on the step ladder. "Chibs, thank you so much for doing this for me and the baby." She made a show of rubbing her rounded belly.
Concentrating on the twisting in the screws of the mobile Chibs simply said. "Isn't a problem."
Amy slid her hand up and down the railing of the crib. "You've been helping me so much, I don't know how to repay you."
He glanced down at her from his perch and gave her a smile. "I told you before you don't owe me anything." Chibs then returned his concentration to the tiny bits that held together the mobile.
"I want to show you how much I appreciate your help." Amy purred.
It took him a moment to register that Amy's hand snaked up his thigh then rubbed suggestively against his crotch. He scrambled so quickly down the step ladder that he nearly fell over, leaving the mobile hanging haphazardly. Regaining his footing he held out a hand stopping the pregnant woman from advancing. "No, no, no, no, no." He repeated. "Amy, this can't happen. This won't happen." He gestured between them. Damn, he thought, Lynn was right, this is not friendly groping. "I love Lynn, and I'm not going to screw it up."
Amy stamped her foot like a petulant child and crossed her arms and spoke in a harsh whisper. "You two haven't even been together a year and have already had a rough patch. You think this is going to last? We're having a baby together, Chibs! Think about our child's future."
Chibs felt his blood run cold and he looked out to see if Lynn was in earshot. "What?! You said you weren't sure who the father was!" He hissed.
"Be realistic, Chibs. We screwed around a lot. A hell of lot more than I did with Tig and Juice. Chances are pretty good that this baby is ours!" Amy shot back. "So you need to do the right thing. Give this baby boy a proper home, a proper family."
"If this baby is mine, I will be a father to him. But you and I, that will never happen. I need you to accept that. Lynn is my world." Chibs tried to calm her down. "Amy, you're family. Lynn's cousin, and that baby is SAMCRO. You'll both be taken care of. I just can't be want you want me to be."
"Chibs you're married and you have a child on the way by another woman." Amy spat. The revelation that Amy knew about Fiona felt like a punch to the gut. "How long do you think Lynn will be willing to play house with you when you have that kind of baggage?" Amy took a step back and rubbed a hand over her belly. "Just know that when she does leave, because she can't handle you or the club, that we will still be here. When I first set my sights on you, I knew what I was getting into. Lynn didn't."
Chibs couldn't help but fear that every word that Amy said was true. She managed to tap into some of his greatest insecurities about his relationship with Lynn. "Amy." He started to say but was at a loss for words. "I should probably finish up here and take Lynn home." He pointed to the mobile. Amy wiped the tears away that began to drip down her cheeks, then fled from the room. "Amy, I'm sorry, I just…" But she was gone before he could finish.
Lynn chose that moment to return from her phone call. "What was that all about?" She said as Amy quickly shuffled passed her cousin without a word, wiping away tears.
Chibs scratched the back of his head and thought about how he should preface his recap of the past several minutes. "Lovely, just remember that Amy is hormonal and emotional. She's also in a really tough situation."
Lynn narrowed her eyes. "Okaaaayyy." She drawled out.
Chibs conveyed the conversation and watched as Lynn's face grew red with anger. "Lovely, calm down. Don't get upset over it. Maybe we need a little space from her, yeah? Away from Charming." He held her face and gazed into her bright green eyes. "I can see if I can get a few days off from our favorite garage tyrant, maybe go spend a couple of days in San Francisco." Gently he kissed her forehead. Much to his relief she nodded her head in agreement.
"First I need to have a conversation with my cousin." She turned to find Amy, but Chibs caught her arm.
"Hold on, Lovely. Emotions are running high for both of you right now. Give it a day, put some things in perspective, then we can talk to her together, yeah?" Chibs plead with her. He didn't need an irreparable rift between them. "Let's just finish up and head home. We can finish what we started this morning, huh?" He waggled his eyebrows.
She playfully slapped his chest and agreed. "Okay."
**SOA**SOA**SOA**
As they crested the hill that lead to their home they noticed the plume of smoke that marred the horizon. Driving closer they were halted by the emergency vehicles that blocked the street. Two fire trucks and two Charming police cruisers. Lynn gasped when she saw her Zoomin' Groomin' van ablaze parked on the street in front of their home. She burst from the passenger seat and ran through the blockade screaming "Nooooo!"
Chibs chased after her grabbing her around the waist and preventing her from getting too close to the inferno. Several cars and bystanders littered the area gawking at the blaze. Just barely in the periphery, Chibs caught sight of the familiar black sedan driving away.
Author's Note: Okay readers… First, I will explain the mystery sedan I swear. Second, Amy's due date is coming up and I have outlined some alternate storylines depending on who the father is. However, I honestly have not decided who it is yet, so I'm looking for some opinions and here. Whoever it is kind of sends the story in a different direction.