*Mild Smut Warning for later in the chapter.

99 North to 80 East - clear through Reno, all the way into Pershing County. Denise had given Juice clear enough directions to follow on his bike in case they got separated on the road, but at one A.M. on a Monday, it was highly unlikely. Juice admittedly got off on the fact that he was back on his bike - that it had actually been given back to him. The feeling of being back in his element, back in a zone that was welcome and familiar, was likely the reason that he was able to keep up with any speed that Denise settled on. And he knew how that woman drove.

Over the course of the drive, Juice felt comfortable enough on the lonely road to pull up next to Denise's car and grin as he spied her singing out loud through her open window. He would laugh at her for a while before she sped off ahead of him again.

They stopped at a dated-looking Safeway grocery store in Lovelock, where Denise bought an ice chest, a hot plate, and a limited assortment of groceries with a wad of cash out of her pocket. Something about how shady it looked - on top of the fact that Juice had been suckered out of a proper honeymoon with the woman who was now legally and properly his wife - caused him to bite his lip in slight anticipation as he waited outside for her. She shoved the groceries in her trunk before walking over to him, cocking her head to one side and glancing him over. Juice was still wearing his helmet and riding glasses, and though he was clearly minus a kutte and clad in a zippered hoodie instead, Denise could just imagine - this was Juice before they'd met. She gave a lopsided grin and looked down at herself in ripped, slightly baggy jeans, a tanktop, and a zipped-up hoodie of her own. Her hair was a mess, falling in unkempt waves over her shoulders as it had been twisted and pinned up all day. He ran his hand gently over it on one side and chuckled at the slight crunchy sensation of copious amounts of hairspray - definitely Lyla's doing. There was something strange and refreshing about, for the first time, being truly real - seeing the person that the other had always been and still being ass-over-elbows for them.

"You good, babe?" Denise asked before leaning up and briefly pressing her lips to his. Unsatisfied, he pulled her back in by the crook of the arm and kissed her more deeply before replying.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"We've been driving for four hours and my ass is starting to hurt," Denise chuckled, crossing her arms over herself. "But it's not far from here. Once we get there, I just need to let Jax know we got here safe," she shrugged, patting her pocket where she'd tucked away the burner Jax had handed her before they took off. "And then..."

"And then what, Mrs. Ortiz?" Juice asked with an anticipatory smirk. Denise mirrored the expression briefly before reaching out and tracing a fingertip over the side of his cheek.

"And then you'll just have to wait and see, Mr. Ortiz," she grinned devilishly before turning on her heel and retreating back to the car.

Juice, of course, didn't want to have to wait too long to see - if he'd known the way himself to their destination, he was sure he could've cut the drive time in half out of sheer anticipation. When Denise had been putting away the groceries, he'd done his best not to get ideas from the fact that she was bent over the trunk, arranging things so they wouldn't fall. But when he caught a brief glimpse of white lace when her baggy jeans shifted slightly, he was confident that there was indeed something to be anticipating, and he most definitely wanted to cut short the transition between anticipation and action.

They passed speedily through the rest of the sleepy town of Lovelock, out into the expanse of flatland on its outskirts. It was a short while before he saw Denise make an abrupt turn onto a side road that made the tires of the old brown Pinto with Colorado plates that they'd given her squeal. At the end of the unpaved road was a cabin - not a tiny shack like Juice had admittedly been expecting, but one that, despite being unlit from disuse, looked large and well-kept even in the distance.

He followed and hung back after stopping his bike by a wooden fence when he saw Denise park and step out of the car, pulling the old potato of a phone from her pocket. "It's Dee," she said abruptly, holding the burner close to her ear. "Just calling to say we made it. Keep me updated."

The instant she hung up, she was met by Juice picking her up from behind and scooping her into his arms, almost effortlessly carrying her down the dirt driveway towards the house. She laughed, squirming slightly to reach the keys in her pocket. When they reached the patio and Juice sidestepped his way up the slightly creaking front steps, Denise had to lean over and unlock the door, turning the knob so it was slightly ajar and Juice could do the honors of kicking it completely open to carry her over the threshold. He gave her a slight spin before placing her down on her feet and kissing her soundly on the mouth.

"Have I told you that you're fuckin' gorgeous?" he said with a lopsided grin. Denise flushed slightly and attempted to play it off, socking him playfully in the shoulder.

"I went into the trouble of putting on that goddamn dress and those heels all day, and you're getting off on this? These jeans are awful," she asked incredulously, looking down at herself and kicking off her shoes, which were already only halfway on to begin with. She knew the clothes were awful, and a couple months ago, that was what she liked about them - they were awful and drove people away. A couple of months ago, that was precisely what she wanted. "God, Juice," she continued, laughing and shaking her head. "You make me question your taste."

"It's not the jeans I'm getting off on," he chuckled - he hooked the index finger of one hand through the beltloop of her oversized jeans, tugged slightly, and took an exaggerated peek, confirming his earlier observation. There was definitely lace under there. Very little lace, and nothing more. Denise's expression shifted to a wan smile as she gently swatted his hand away, putting her arms gently around his shoulders and pulling him closer so their faces were again inches away from one another.

"Well," she grinned coyly, "if the jeans aren't doing anything for you, then maybe we should just…"

Juice clenched his jaw to keep it from dropping - he was unable to hold back an audible gulp as Denise reached down with one hand to unbutton her jeans, shimmying them down and kicking them off. She calmly removed her other hand from Juice's shoulder and pulled off the sweatshirt and tanktop so she was standing in front of him in a lacy set of white lingerie.

"...get rid of them."

Juice remained stunned by her sudden state of undress for only a few brief seconds before he launched forward, removing his own hoodie and kicking off his jeans so that he was only in his boxers. He let out a low growl, lifting her up in one fluid motion so that her legs were wrapped around his waist, easily supported on his hipbones. Feeling his own knees grow slightly weaker when Denise let out a whimper and rocked her hips against his, he maneuvered a few steps so he had her backed against the nearest wall, rather than risking dropping her.

"Hold on tight. Safety first, baby," he chuckled with a lopsided grin, breaking the airtight seal of their kiss only momentarily before claiming her mouth with his again. It felt like it had been years since he'd had her like this, since they'd been alone with free reign to just go at it. Ever since coming to Charming and being limited to the bedroom while Jax's family was still holed up in their living room, Juice had admittedly been missing the feeling of having their own place in Stockton where they could throw caution to the wind - but now, it was different. Now, she was really his. His hands dug into the gentle curves of her waist, and he moved his mouth to rake his teeth over the pale skin of her neck.

"Goddamit, Juice," Denise moaned breathlessly. The feeling of fingernails digging into his shoulders was finally enough to drive him over the edge. He reached one hand down to move aside the delicate white lace - he couldn't be bothered to break contact long enough to take it off of her, nor could he separate from her long enough to remove his own boxers - and plunged his length into her. She gave another groan and buried her head into his shoulder, digging her teeth gently into the skin of his chest just above one of his tattoos.

"Baby," he said with a throaty laugh, breathless and unable to relent in his rhythmic movement, grinding himself against her. "We're not in Charming anymore, you don't needa be quiet."

"You… haven't given me reason not to be… yet…" Denise said, looking up and flipping a wisp of hair out of her face with a troublemaker's smirk plastered across her face. Juice reluctantly paused, resting his forehead against hers and raising his eyebrow challengingly. He had paused, still deeply embedded inside of her, pressing her back against the wall and freeing up one hand to tilt her chin. He gently bit her full lower lip, eliciting a delectably vulnerable moan from her before she closed her mouth tightly. Juice felt himself throb inside of her - the idea that she was so determined to remain in control drove him out of his head.

"Are you sure?" he asked, rolling his hips against hers before thrusting again, pushing her slightly higher up the wall. "No reason?"

"Still waiting, Mr. Ortiz," she panted, her eyes hooded and lustful despite the devilish expression that played upon her lips.

"Well, then I intend to change that real quick… Mrs. Ortiz," he smirked.

Hours later, Juice and Denise sat half-clad on the living room floor, attempting to heat up water on the electric hot plate to make hot cocoa with. When they finally managed to get it hot enough and poured into the cheap melamine mugs from the store, they briefly tapped the mugs together.

"To us?"

"To us."

Peering out the window, Denise noticed that the pitch blackness was beginning to lighten to a deep, inky blue. A small smile settled onto her face as she got to her feet, nodding for Juice to do the same.

He followed her up the staircase, through the upstairs halls, and watched as she expertly jumped up and flicked a latch on the ceiling. Another brief hop and she had tapped open a skylight with her fist.

"C'mon," she said with an almost childlike look of excitement. Juice stepped forward to help her up, only to find that she was very much capable of getting through on her own, pulling herself over the ledge with her hands.

Juice followed her lead when she lay down on her back on the roof, looking up at the sky. It was then that he realized that it was so quiet - no one and nothing around, no sounds of cars and bikes flying down the roads. In the distance, he could just barely make out the lights of the nearest businesses like tiny Lite Brite pegs.

"I used to come out here all the time when we took trips out here. It was always just me, Papa, and Grandpa," she said, her voice lower and slightly raspy with her growing sleepiness. Juice was only now realizing that they had been up for nearly an entire day straight. "This was my favorite place..."

"It seems a little lonely," Juice observed. Denise laugh quietly and sat back up, leaning comfortably against him. She was wearing his hoodie, unzipped with the sleeves rolled up, and looked so tiny that Juice again felt himself swell with protectiveness over his new bride.

"It wasn't lonely," Denise shrugged. "It was nice... for a teenage girl who didn't have many friends and didn't really belong anywhere. Because you sit up here and you just see all this - all this space with nobody in it. You realize that the world is this huge place. So huge that you realize that somewhere, there's gotta be a place for you in it."

"What about us? Where's ours?" Juice asked abruptly, prompting her to turn her head to look back at him. She paused, looking slightly downwards, and Juice braced himself for an answer that would knock down the sense of contentment he'd slowly been breeding in the past few hours. What if there was no right place for them? It wasn't Charming. It wasn't Stockton. What if it was nowhere?

Instead, however, she gave a small sigh and a serene smile settled onto her lips as she nestled into him even closer. Resting her head back against his shoulder, they both relaxed as the first glimmers of pink and violet bled into the horizon. "Anywhere you are. Anywhere I am," she said peacefully, drawing her knees up to her chest. "We'll land somewhere, but for now - it's okay with me if my place is wherever you are."

Juice paused, holding Denise more tightly to him. "I can dig it," he said with a throaty laugh, earning a playful jab of her elbow in his stomach. He hoped she was right. He hoped that maybe having a place didn't have to be a city or a house. It didn't mean turf and territory.

It just meant belonging.

A/N's

And finally, we get a chapter that's properly just Juice/Denise. Things are going to get a lot messier soon - in some parts, a lot bloodier and heavier. So, they definitely needed the calm before the storm. The next chapter is going to have little to no Juice/Denise fluff and is instead going to contain more club business, with some guest appearances and a long-awaited moment of truth. I'm in for another long weekend of getting settled in the new place, so I don't estimate the next update coming up until Monday or Tuesday, but we'll see which way the wind blows. I have quite a bit already written, so my posting speed is mostly dependent on how much time I have to sit down and edit.

And if you're reading, a personal thank you to Love Ink for sharing my joy at the Giants' World Series win! Even year magic, baby! And of course, to the ever loyal wabi-sabi1090 and stordec23 - you guys and your reviews always brighten up my day!

So anyway, for now until the next update, I hope to hear from all of you out there reading! From here on out, the real fun begins! Cheers!