Disclaimer: I own nothing SOA related.

A/N: Thank you all for your support of this story. I'm really excited for this chapter so without further rambling from me here it is! Caution: Contains scenes of violence within the scope of what you've come to expect from watching SOA.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Quinn strode through the cabin door with a look in his eyes that made Eden take two steps back, hell she wanted to hide behind Kozik but he was all the way across the room from where he'd answered the door. Jerry was tied to a straight back chair in the center of the room, gagged and looking extremely pissed at his current predicament. The contents of his cut and his prepaid were on the table, his phone showed a history of calls to both Lee's prepaid and Carmen's registered phone.

Quinn stopped in front of his man, crouched down so that they would be eye to eye. "You wanna tell me what the fuck is going on here?" he demanded, "you went against my direct order about not hurting her and I stopped him from killing you." He motioned to Kozik who was standing only a few feet away, the look in his eye could only be described as murderous. "Now I find out that you've been talking to the one Brother you know you shouldn't be given our current situation. I'm assuming that he knows everything you do?"

It was then that Eden realized Jerry must have known everything that they did. Most likely she shouldn't have even been in the room or the cabin for this but she couldn't move. It was like she was paralyzed.

Quinn pulled a knife from his belt, brought it to Jerry's face. The blade was most obviously sharp the light of the lamps seemed to dance off of it. Eden winced as Quinn roughly cut away the handkerchief that had been tied over his mouth, the blade nicked the side of Jerry's face and blood sprouted out.

"Baby, go in the bedroom," Kozik's voice was cold and hard.

"No," Quinn rose to his full height, "let her stay." He wiped the knife off on the handkerchief that he'd cut. "Figure she's as invested in this as we are, she should see it through. Not like she's got no blood on those hands."

"I want to stay," Eden replied, except that she really didn't. She wanted to go into the bedroom and block out the entire fucking world but that wasn't an option. Quinn was right, she was invested in this. Lee had... he'd broken something inside of her that had already been so fragile, picking up the pieces was going to be nearly impossible.

"I ain't going to tell you shit," Jerry spoke for the first time since the gag was removed.

"Yeah, you are going to Jerry. Going to tell me everything that I want to know." A grim smile crossed the Nomad President's face. "You know how you're shit scared of Happy? Well, I should mention he's real fucking fond of that one." Quinn motioned to Eden. "And ask you if you know who taught Happy a whole lot of what he knows?" Jerry's face went pale and Quinn just began to laugh.
"Help me get this piece of shit into the bathroom Koz."

21 21 21

"We're just going to sit in here with the bodies right downstairs?" Juice questioned.

"Not like they're going to wake up and eat us," Happy replied as he took a sip from the single beer that he'd allow himself as they sat in Kozik's living room and waited for word from Charming."

"He should almost be in Charming now," Juice tapped his foot against the floor.

"Stop that shit," Happy told him, "smoke some weed and chill the fuck out."

"Got a fucked up feeling Man, something is... there were two other graves out there. Who the fuck was in them?"

"Doesn't matter."

Juice let out a sigh, he should have known better than to try and vent to Happy. He pulled a bag of weed and pack of papers from his pocket and began to roll. "You smoking?"

"One of us needs to stay awake," Happy told him, "knock yourself out."

The room was filled with a haze of smoke only moments later and Juice finally went quiet. Happy was glad for the silence, he listened to the house settle. No one had any reason to think that they were there, they just had to wait out the call from Charming.

Part of him was disappointed that he wouldn't be in on the final judgment if Lee met Mr. Mayhem. He'd trusted the man, considered him a Brother. He'd killed on his orders and if there was one thing he couldn't abide by it was betrayal. Lee had betrayed him, betrayed the club and that couldn't be swept under the rug or forgotten. A price needed to be paid, an example needed to be set.

"Hey Hap, you hear that?" Juice dropped the nearly gone joint in the ashtray, his eyes were nearly closed. Fuck, he was high.

"You're hallucinating shit head," Happy replied but he listened anyway, "shit." He put down his beer and reached for his gun. "I've got the front, you take the back. You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

They both rose from the couch but before either could reached the door an explosion rocked the house. "The fuck?" Happy growled.

"Holy Shit, grenade launcher. The sounds in Call of Duty are really realistic. Fuck!"

"I'll take the front, you take the back. We're going to kill them and get that launcher. You got it?"

"Got it."

21 21 21

There was blood all over the bathroom, Eden could only imagine that she'd need gallons of bleach to get it all out. Hell, the tiles might even need to be pulled up and replaced.

It was amazing to her how much the human body could take without giving out. Quinn had been working on Jerry for over an hour, it seemed like an eternity, and the man had less appendages than he had to begin with. Still, he remained quiet. He wouldn't tell them what they wanted to know. She was starting to wonder if he ever would.

Kozik was in front of her, she'd crammed herself into the farthest corner of the small room but still there was blood on her. The warmth of it had surprised her at first and the smell had made her want to vomit but she'd held it in and watched.

She knew that it was the right thing to do by the way Quinn would glance over at her now and then, especially when he used his knife to remove a tattoo from the man's chest.

What was happening to Jerry was nearly everything that she'd feared happening to her after what Lee said. Lee's words had been a lie. She'd fallen for a lie. It dawned on her that by believing Lee she'd brought herself closer to being in Jerry's position. If Kozik was a different man... she didn't want to even think about it but she couldn't stop. How had she believed it? How? Kozik might have forgiven her but she was pretty sure that she'd never forgive herself and something told her that some of his Brother's weren't going to be as accepting of it either. Eden reached out and put her hand on his back, he turned his head.

"You okay?" He spoke in a low tone but she was certain that Quinn had heard.

"Yeah," Eden pressed her lips together, "I'm sorry."

"If you'd rather get mushy than see this through, take it outside." Quinn told them. "But I am getting a little tired here, maybe you want to take a shot Koz. After all, he's the one to thank for that cut on Eden's face. Look at his ring."

Time seemed to still as Kozik stepped forward, he took the knife Quinn offered with a grim expression on his face. Before he could do or say anything the sound of a phone ringing filled the air and Jerry began to laugh.

"What the fuck is so funny?"

"The bodies are gone, hell the whole house is including your two men that were in it," he replied, "that ring tone is the signal. Also means that Lee is on his way out of Tacoma and there isn't anything that you can do about it."

"You're fucking lying." Kozik lashed out with the knife, blood poured from the cut over Jerry's chest. The wounded man didn't even blink an eye at the wound, he must have been beyond the pain because he just kept laughing.

Quinn exited the bathroom, Eden heard his footsteps move away. He was probably trying to get a signal on his phone to call Tacoma. She couldn't move, couldn't tear her eyes away from how Kozik had transformed. She'd never seen him like this before.

The footsteps came back towards the bathroom door. Quinn stormed in, anger all over his face. "Tex and Mouse are half an hour out of Tacoma, they're going as fast as they can."

"I can call the alarm company," Eden cleared her throat, "the fire alarm will have gone off even if the security system wasn't turned on."

"Make the call," Quinn handed her a cell phone, "might have to go outside to get a signal."

21 21 21

Juice was down, Happy had heard the shots and heard the Intelligence Officer scream and then nothing which meant that he was probably about to face someone out the front door.

He made a judgment call, went up the stairs even though they were burning around him because from the second floor he'd have a better chance at getting some shots off and doing some damage.

The fire crackled and raged, it shouldn't be burning so fast and hot without something to accelerate it but he didn't have time to think about what was fueling the blaze. No, he needed to kill and once he was sure that they were all dead or mostly dead he needed to check on Juice.

Fuck, this had all went sideways way too quick. There was no time to call back to Charming and let them know what was going down and no one in Tacoma that he could trust enough to call. He was on his own.

The window in Eden and Kozik's bedroom had the best view of the yard, there were three men that he could see. They were all armed and he immediately recognized Lee. Happy opened the window as wide as it would go, none were looking in his direction. He leaned out a bit, lined up a shot that would take Lee's head right off of his shoulders but before he could pull the trigger another explosion rocked the house. It registered in his brain that the gas line of the stove must have blown as the floor gave way beneath him.

21 21

"Thank you," Eden felt numb inside as she hung up the phone with the security company. The woman she'd spoken to, who knew what her name was, had informed her that they had indeed received a report of a fire at her home and had sent out a request for the Fire Department to respond. "The house is burning," she looked over to Kozik, "they're sending people." She handed Quinn his phone back.

"Kill him," Quinn told Kozik. Eden didn't even blink as Kozik drew the knife over Jerry's throat and ended his life. "Grab your shit, we're heading up to Tacoma. I got to call Clay." The large man ran a hand over his face. "Tex and Mouse should be calling any minute, we'll leave once we hear from them."

"Have him send someone to take care of this piece of shit," Kozik glared down at the body and dropped the knife to the floor.

Eden wasn't sure what to do when he just turned and walked out of the bathroom. She looked over at Quinn who just stared right back at her. "Kozik." She went in search of him, found him in the bedroom putting things in a bag. "Koz."

"Not right now Eden," He continued to shove things in the bag.

"Happy's tough, I'm sure that..."

"I'm sure that if you'd have just called me after Lee left the fucking house that night none of this would be happening," he turned to face her, "they're probably dead. Two of my friends dead and it didn't have to fucking go down like this. What's going to happen to Hap's mother now? She's sick, fucking dying and I'm going to have to tell her that something happened to her son."

"I never thought that..."

"You didn't think, you just..." he trailed off, shook his head, "I don't have fucking time for th is now. Jesus, this is a cluster fuck." Kozik threw the bag he had just packed across the room.

Eden moved over and sat down on the bed, sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. Guilt was washing over her in waves. He was right, if only she'd thought that night really thought then this all could have been avoided.

"Fuck," Kozik crossed over to the bed, "Baby..." He sat down next to her, ran his hand over her back.

"It's okay, you're right. You are absolutely right. I'm sorry, not that it changes anything."

"You were scared, I know that you were scared."

"That's not an excuse, not a good enough one anyway." She leaned her head against his chest. "And what you said earlier is also true, you don't have time for this now. You need to be focused on getting back to Tacoma."

"I hope that you're ready for the ride, it's going to be long and we're not going to be making many pit stops."

"You want me to go with you?"

"Baby, you're not going out of my sight as long as Lee is still breathing. Get your stuff together, all of it." He leaned over and pressed his lips to her hair. "I love you."

"I love you too," she rose to her feet slowly and the room swam, "shit."

"Eden? Fuck." Kozik managed to catch her before she fell. "Talk to me."

"I just got up too fast and got dizzy, I'm probably still fucked up from whatever that asshole gave me," she assured him.

"I'd kill him again if I could." Kozik kept a grip on her. She'd damn near fallen flat on her face, if she got dizzy again on his bike and lost her hold on him. He still remembered when Tig had lost his Old Lady that way, it had been brutal. It wasn't an option to leave her in Charming, not when they had no idea where Lee was.

The door opened and Quinn walked in, he slid his phone in his pocket. "Tex and Mouse are there, got close thanks to an EMT who's friendly with the club. Juice is dead. Happy is bad off, they airlifted him to a hospital with a burn unit."

"Fuck."

"Clay's sending Jax and Opie to Tacoma with us, we're leaving now and we're keeping it quiet."

Kozik nodded, keeping things quiet made sense because there was no telling who else was working with Lee. He didn't want to think anyone else would but what the fuck did he know? "Eden can't ride, we need a cage."

"I can ride," she spoke up. "I just need a Red Bull or a Rock Star and I'll be fine. Let's not waste time, I'll grab one at the first gas stop."

21 21 21

Eden regretted saying that she would be fine. She loved to ride, loved to be all but wrapped around Kozik with the bike beneath them but after six hours she was ready to be back on solid ground. They were making good time, only had another five or so hours to go. She could do this, she had to do this.

Still the next gas stop was a relief. "I've got to use the bathroom," she told Kozik, "I'll be quick."

"Go inside and grab something to eat," Kozik moved to begin to pump the gas.

"We don't have the time for that," she told him, "I'm not even hungry."

"You're shaky, I can tell. Adjusted your grip on me too many times. Get something to eat." His tone made it clear that he wasn't making a suggestion.

"Fine, I'll grab a protein bar. You want something?"

"Grab some coffee, couple of cups. No more caffeine for you," he didn't want her getting any shakier than she already was. When they got to Tacoma and the hospital where Happy was being kept she was getting checked out in the ER, she just didn't know it yet.

"I'll be right back," she stretched her arms over her head, her entire body was tight from holding on to him.

"You got cash?"

"I do, just like the last time that we stopped." Eden walked over to him, leaned in and kissed him lightly. "I love you."

Kozik deepened the kiss knowing full well that it was their first real kiss since before he'd left to Charming, before everything had gone to hell. He hadn't wanted to push her but after six hours of her thighs pressed against his he was tired of not pushing, she was his Old Lady for fuck's sake.

Eden never stiffened, never resisted. She gave control over to him immediately with her hands against his back to bring him closer. He nipped down on her bottom lip and she moaned. "Fuck," Kozik broke the kiss and pressed his forehead against hers, "If we had more time we'd be in that bathroom right now."

"But we don't have time," she pointed out. "I'll be quick and won't forget your coffee and something for me to eat."

"Coffee for me too," Quinn called out as Eden walked away. "I just got an update from Tex. Hap's still breathing, doctors say that he's doing better than they expected. Doesn't surprise me, he's a stubborn fuck. She okay?"

"Yeah, just a long ride for her but she can handle it. Any sign of Lee?" Kozik questioned. He couldn't wait to find that man and end him, end him in the most brutal ways imaginable not only for what he'd done to the club or to Eden but for the life he'd taken, Juice was a good guy and he deserved better. Happy might have been holding his own but they had no idea how badly he was injured.

"Mouse went to the house, it was empty. He checked around, looks like they packed before they left. Carmen's truck was gone," Quinn lit a cigarette, "but there's no place that they can hide. We'll find them."

"Damn right we will," Jax spoke as he and Opie walked over. The two Charming members looked as road weary as Quinn and Kozik did. "Just talked to Clay, he's got our proxies and is going to take a vote to the Charming table about how to deal with Lee. Hate to say it but he's pulling rank, doesn't want to give Tacoma the vote because he's not sure who he can trust."

Kozik knew that was the reason why Clay had kept Lorca, Bowie, Lump and Wash in Charming so that he could try and figure out where their true loyalties were. He didn't doubt Lorca and Bowie's commitment but kept coming back to the fact that Lee had insisted for him to take Wash with him.

Betrayal like this was unheard of in the history of the Sons, the vote would set a precedent and send a clear message that wavering from ones commitment to the club would not be accepted. Personal shit, no matter what it was, took a backseat to the good of the club.

"Smart," Quin commented, "I think we all know how that vote is going to go. Did Juice have any family?"

"A mother back East and a sister I think," Opie scratched at his beard, "Clay's making the call to tell her. They haven't talked in a very long time so we'll keep him here. Piney will make the arrangements."

"Anyone talk to Eve?"

"Tig went to her," Jax replied. "He'll stay with her until we know more. She's too weak to make the trip to Tacoma."

Eden juggled the coffee cups, her chocolate snack cake and a small container of milk as she came out of the small attached store. She didn't want to eat the cake or drink the milk but it was really the only thing that had appealed to her even slightly. "Here you go," she handed a cup to Kozik and then passed the rest out to his brothers.

"Hap's holding his own." Kozik told her. "Eat that cake fast Baby, we've got to get back on the road."

She was tempted to just toss the cake but instead broke it in half, took a bite and noticed Opie looking at her. A blush crossed her cheeks, she hated people watching her when she ate. "Do you want some?"

"Nah," a smile crossed his lips, "but once all this shit is settled I'll take some of those pancakes that you made us when we stayed at the house."

"It's a deal," Eden replied and then remembered that she didn't have a kitchen to cook in anymore. Her house was gone and that was the least of her worries. Life shouldn't be this interesting. She quickly finished the other half of her cake, downed her milk and was ready to get back on the bike and continue the long journey north.