Look at that for me a relatively quick update! Please don't hate me though after this chapter!

She couldn't sleep, that much was obvious. Laid in the large double bed Caoimhe's eyes remained wide open, every time they closed all she could see was death. A vision of Eddie laying on his face with bullet holes in his back, the image of a car exploding into pieces along with the screams of innocent people, the sweep of a priests robes as he carried an infant only further away from its family. Deciding that this was useless Caoimhe slowly pulled herself out of Jimmy's arms and slid out of the bed. Resolutely ignoring the fact that Jimmy was a slave to cliches and his sheets were made from inky black silk. Grabbing the knee length satin robe from its forgotten place on the floor she wrapped it around her naked body and glided across the room to curl up in the chair facing the full length window.

Jimmy's penthouse sat on the top floor of an exclusive block in the centre of Belfast. It was somewhere that he'd kept separate from the more seedy aspects of his business, for no deals were struck in the house. Only Jimmy came here, even Kerrianne and Fiona when they had been in Belfast were kept separately in a family house out of the centre of the city. Caoimhe though had always called the penthouse home, it was somewhere that Jimmy had started bringing her as soon as she turned 16, and the fully glass wall had been installed soon after when she'd complained that height without the view was making her feel sick. It was one of the only nice things Caoimhe could remember that Jimmy had ever done for her.

Right now the lights of the city were off, the inhabitants sleeping soundly in their own beds, it was where Caoimhe should have been, yet insomnia chased her soundlessly through the long hours of the night, she carefully pulled her legs up to her chest wrapping her arms around her knees as silent tears ran coursed down her cheeks. She ignored them, just as she ignored the footfalls of the man who had now crouched down beside her chair, his hand reaching out to gently brush away the tears from one side of her face "ye couldn't do anything about the bairn Caoimhe. Some battles even ye can't win"

Caoimhe turned her face down towards Jimmy. He was half in shadow half in light, giving him an even more demonic visage than usual "he's just a baby Jimmy. He deserves to be with his parents not lost in a system that does nothing fer children"

"ye can't save everyone Caoimhe" Jimmy insisted "sometimes innocents get hurt, trapped in the crossfire and ye have to let them go"

Caoimhe twisted away once more to stare out into the darkness. She felt Jimmy rise and sit on the arm of her chair "how many innocents have ye sent to the other side Jimmy? how many people ended up dead because they got in yer way?"

"More than I could count" Jimmy admitted seemingly unbothered by her accusations, his next words were surprising though "aye in most respects I suppose i'm the monster ye insist I am, but Caoimhe" he grabbed her face once more dragging it round so she was looking up at him, his fingers were steady but for once not holding enough to hurt or leave more bruises "i've never hurt a bairn, no child has ever been or will be hurt at my command and yer know that, its one of the things on that list of reasons why yer haven't killed me yet"

Caoimhe looked at him steadily, he was right unfortunately one of the only few things she liked about Jimmy O'Phelan was his inability to hurt, kill or traumatise children. taking a deep breath she nodded "aye I know that, fer all yer sins and theres plenty Jimmy, ye've never hurt anything that innocent"

Jimmy released her once more as Caoimhe let her head drop down, it was the truth, one of the only decent points of Jimmy's personality was that he hadn't ever hurt a child, he'd made plenty of them orphans but never ended a life that young. Some part of Caoimhe respected him for that, on one level at least he proved he did have a conscious. Without much choice left to her and with an acceptance that she didn't think she'd ever find Caoimhe leant into Jimmy's side, her head resting on his chest "i'm so tired Jimmy" she whispered "i don't know how much longer I can fight"

Jimmy snorted, his hand resting on her hair "well if ye'd stop fighting me yer wouldn't have so many bloody problems in the first place"

Caoimhe let herself smile slightly "aye yer probably right" shifting positions she got on her knees so her face was level with Jimmys. "ye've done nothing but hurt me all my life Jimmy, so why am I still here, still with ye? Am I really that much of a masochist?"

Jimmy shook his head "no Caoimhe, ye ain't. Ye just recognised a long time ago that what ye needed was something only I could give ye, even if ye couldn't accept it"

"stop hurting me Jimmy"

"stop making me" Jimmy countered.

Caoimhe laughed in horror as she dropped her head again to rest her forehead against his chest "Jaysus were fucking twisted Jimmy, this whole fucking relationship is screwed up"

Jimmy lifted her face to kiss her once "aye love yer right we are twisted, its what ye've got though, all ye've got left, so the sooner ye accept it the sooner it gets easier"

Caoimhe felt something break inside of her at his words. Getting in bed with the devil voluntarily was something she thought she'd never have the will to do. Walking into hell all those years ago and making a job agreement had been different, she'd been dancing with him fer years yet kidding herself that the dance had been forced and she'd never actually agreed to the evil rotting inside of her, seeing Abel Teller being taken away though had snapped the final piece of her that had any resistance left to the darkness. Getting up from the chair she took Jimmy's hand "take me back to bed" she whispered. His grin sliced through the dark as he pulled her back towards the bed "always Caoimhe, always"

It felt like she'd just signed away the last of her soul to Lucifer himself, but god help her when Jimmy wrapped her in his arms once more and pulled her body into his it didn't hurt quite so much anymore.

It wasn't quite so comfortable as the plane journey had been on the way to America but Kerrianne's feet were back on Irish soil, her face being hit by the wind of Ireland and god did it feel good. She hadn't realised just how much she had missed home until she had returned to it. Beside her Chibs was stood equally silent. It must be worse for her Da, he hadn't been back in Ireland for decades had been banished for something was wasn't his fault, loving her mum. His eyes if she weren't mistaken were actually filling with tears. Carefully she placed her hand on his arm "welcome home Da"

Chibs looked down at his daughter smiling weakly at her "didn't think i'd missed it quite this much"

"Ye never do think ye've missed home till yer back. Then it all comes running straight back"

Chibs laughed placing a hand on the back of her head "when'd ye get so smart little girl"

"When ye weren't looking old man" Kerrianne teased right back, a grin lighting up her own features. The small lasted until a growling Tig stalked past them face like thunder. The sergeant it turned out didn't have a strong stomach when it came to flying and he'd been grumpier than usual ever since getting off the transport. Especially when they'd realised that SAMBEL had been running slightly behind schedule and they'd have to wait for the van a bit longer to come pick them up before being able to reach the meeting point were bikes were waiting for them.

"He's like a bloody caged animal" Kerrianne whispered "he's gonna get us all killed"

Chibs scowled his eyes watching Tig carefully "he'll behave"

"how'd ye know?"

Chib's eyes switched to his daughter "he wants her back. Strangely enough in his own weird way he fell in love with Caoimhe, and he's never lost anything he wanted before"

Kerrianne scowled this time "we might not find a Caoimhe yer all gonna like"

"What'd ye mean lass?" Chibs asked his whole attention shifting back to Kerrianne who was looking pensive once more. Worry clouding her features. "Caoimhe always did have a screwed up relationship with Jimmy, she maintained that she stayed with him to keep me safe, but..."

Chibs finished off her sentence when Kerrianne couldn't do it "but ye've been questioning just how much ye believe that recently"

Kerrianne nodded "after Eddie left Belfast, she changed. She might have still been protecting me and keeping me away from Jimmy but she also stopped fighting him, in fact the only times she seemed to 'do' anything 'be' anything was when she was with Jimmy"

Chibs nodded "its amazing what the mind can rationalise when we need it to"

Kerrianne didn't answer because at that point the groaning sound of trucks finally rang out around the hanger as their rides pulled up. The son's crowded around exchanging what Kerrianne privately found hilarious, the so called man hug, that hug that involved just the right amount of hitting each other for it to no longer be thought of as girly. She allowed herself to be pulled into slightly less enthusiastic hugs from the SAMBEL driver and be bundled into the back of the truck. She found herself praying once more, praying that Caoimhe would manage to hold onto her sanity for just a few more days, until Kerrianne could get her back and remove the talons that Jimmy had driven into her brain all those years ago.

Caoimhe sat silently behind Jimmy on the edge of his desk in the warehouse that doubled for a club, a successful business in the harbour district of Belfast, the club was open to the public contributing a large part of Jimmy's substantial income. Right now however, it was the middle of the day and Jimmy's main concern seemed to be the long haired, middle aged son who was standing in front of him. Liam O'Neil must have been the informant that leaked Jimmy the knowledge about SAMCRO leaving Charming to come across the pond and descend on Ireland. Right now he looked decidedly uncomfortable and if Caoimhe was right which she was usually was scared. He was right to be scared, getting into deals with Jimmy normally wasn't healthy for the other party.

"Where are they now?" Jimmy asked, fake politeness oozing from his voice.

Liam bit at his lip before answering "At the SAMBEL clubhouse, waiting. Maureen talked to Gemma and Jax briefly there trying to get in touch with the priest"

Jimmy nodded "the good father won't hand back the baby without suitable compensation, his motives fer taking that child weren't purely selfless"

Caoimhe frowned "Jimmy?" she questioned making him turned to look at her "what haven't ye told me?"

"Lots of stuff love" Jimmy said grinning, but he answered her anyhow. "Father Ashby believes that having SAMCRO in Charming would give him an overwhelming advantage in getting rid of me. Using the Son's as his weapon"

Caoimhe slid off the desk to walk closer towards Liam "is this right?" she asked softly "are SAMBEL turning on us?"

Liam swallowed nervously his eyes flicking between Caoimhe and Jimmy trying to decide which one of them at that moment presented the greatest threat. It was a difficult choice but at Jimmy's silence he finally answered Caoimhe "there was mention of the two clubs banding together to remove Jimmy from the equation. If that happens Ashby controls the IRA practically on his own, everyone know's that he holds the council in his pocket, its only Jimmy's money and guns that keeps him from owning them all completely. With Jimmy out of the way Ashby would be unchallengeable"

Caoimhe nodded once, her brain working fast. Liam was right if Jimmy was taken out then Ashby would own the IRA and that in itself would not be a good thing, the man was a priest but his morals had been questionably for years. Standing beside Jimmy she shook her head at Jimmy's raised eyebrow and silently asked question. "if anyone's gonna kill ye its gonna be me, i've waited to long fer that opportunity fer it to be taken away by some jumped up priest"

"well yer flatter me Caoimhe" Jimmy teased leaning down to kiss the side of her head before turning back to Liam at her dark scowl. "SAMCRO needs to be gotten rid of, I can't be seen to have any direct involvement in it so yer gonna make yerself useful Liam"

"I can't" Liam insisted. "I can't take out the brothers. Ye can't ask me that"

Jimmy smiled pleasantly once more, that sickening smile that told Caoimhe that something bad was going to happen if not now then soon to Liam O'Neill. "Caoimhe" he said still seemingly polite "how many knives, guns or other assorted weapons do you have on you right this moment?"

"Seven" Caoimhe said instantly "not counting the varying weapons I could make from things around the room"

"and who taught ye to use those weapons"

Caoimhe smiled nastily at the sudden realisation of where Jimmy was going with this. "Cian McKenna" the trap snapped shut around Liam as at Cian's name he lost any remaining colour in his face and let his eyes drop to the floor. "What do ye want from me" his voice was hollow. Jimmy owned him fully, at that moment in time he would do anything asked of him.

"Much better" Jimmy purred "isn't it so much nicer when we all get along with everyone"

Liam didn't look to convinced but there was little to nothing he could say now to contradict Jimmy.

"Where's the next place there all going to be away from the clubhouse?" Caoimhe asked.

Liam thought for a minute before saying "a gun shipment warehouse, their meant to be protecting it"

Caoimhe looked over at Jimmy who shrugged at her "well..."

Caoimhe nodded "its possible, guns explode all the time, just a quick ignition to the powder and boom its gone up in flames"

Jimmy thought for a moment longer before smiling looking at Liam "get it done".

Kerrianne was sat in the clubhouse, fiddling absently with the top pull of a coke can, opposite from her was Trinity doing a similar thing with a can of sprite. The girls had been left behind when the sons had gone off that morning to guard some sort of weapon stash that Kerrianne wasn't meant to know about. The sudden roar of a truck engine in the lot had Kerrianne's head snapping round to stare at the door. That truck, she knew that noise. It had been adapted years ago by Caoimhe and Eddie when they'd wanted it to sound more powerful than it was, instead all they'd ended up doing was making it sound like something was permanently rattling in the engine.

Looking back at Trinity who shrugged and got up from the table, Kerrianne followed and pushed out into the yard of the clubhouse. Her heart jumped to her mouth when she saw the young woman in the yard. Caoimhe was stood there in front them both. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, long legs encased in skin tight blue jeans and a stretchy black tank top covering her top but paying no dues to the fact that Belfast was frigidly cold when compared to the heat of California.

When Kerrianne appeared she pushed the sunglasses she was wearing up onto the top of her head to fix her emerald green gaze on the teen "Kerri".

Kerrianne stumbled a few steps towards Caoimhe before managing to throw her arms around her. "Jaysus Caoimhe" Caoimhe awkwardly patted Kerrianne's back and alarm bells started to ring in Kerrianne's head. "Caoimhe?" she muttered pulling back "how are ye here? Where's Jimmy?"

"Jimmy trusts me" Caoimhe answered and with three words she confirmed everything that Kerrianne had been scared of. Caoimhe was gone, once more the woman stood in front of her was instead a robot, only emerging from her shell when she was being hurt, a masochist to the core, Caoimhe in this state reacted only to pain.

"I needed to be here" Caoimhe said "when the news came back, I needed to be here. To know, to confirm it"

Kerrianne frowned "what? Caoimhe what news?"

"The gun shipment the sons went to this morning" Caoimhe frowned before saying "its going to, maybe already has exploded"

Kerrianne reeled backwards "what?" she muttered not understanding "Ye knew that?"

"Yes"
"My da, Tig, Juice... they were all in that warehouse today Caoimhe, all of them"

If Caoimhe had any reaction to Kerrianne's words Kerrianne herself didn't see them as she simply stood motionless "I know"

Kerrianne was not going to cry, it might not have happened like Caoimhe had just said, there was no proof that all of the sons had perished. What there was proof of was that Caoimhe had known and done nothing to save them all. In fact from the vacant expression on her face Kerrianne's revolted stomach would guess that Caoimhe had been directly involved in setting the explosion in place. The question remained though why would Caoimhe suddenly decide that the sons needed to die. It didn't make sense. "ye want them all dead?"

Caoimhe shook he head "my wants aren't consequential"

"ye could have done something" Kerrianne suddenly screamed, her frustration breaking apart, accusation dripped from her voice.

Caoimhe's eyes narrowed dangerously as she took a step towards Kerrianne "I tried that method already, fer close to 10 years" she warned "all I got was death, pain, loss and a best friend who threw it all back in my face. I'm done playing on the losing side because its right. I'm gonna win and if that means a group of gun smuggling, drug taking alcoholic bikers have to die, then so be it"

Kerrianne stood as if frozen, she had never heard Caoimhe speak like that before. Had never known the woman had that much bitterness inside of her. Caoimhe had very carefully shown Kerrianne only what the girl needed to thrive while growing up and Kerrianne was starting to realise that there was many parts of Caoimhe's life and personality that she had kept secret and apart in the name of keeping Kerrianne safe, those parts of Caoimhe though were coming back to bite her on the ass, catching up with her after all the time she'd kept them smothered being something she wasn't.

"Its my Da Caoimhe, ye helped me find him, and Tig he meant something t' ye how have ye done this"

"men" Caoimhe sneered "they do nothing but take what they want and fuck over anyone else me own Da sold me to Jimmy when I was nothing but 13, and fuck if Tig didn't just want one thing from me. Men will never be anything but ruled by their cocks"

The roaring sounds of bikes cut off the rest of the conversation as the sons flew back into the lot. Caoimhe's expression never changed as she looked down at Kerrianne "looks like ye'll get to find out fer yerself"

The engines cut off and with one more glance at Caoimhe Kerrianne ran to her Da throwing herself into his arms "are ye alright?" she demanded checking him for cuts or wounds. Chibs grabbed hold of Kerrianne's hands "aye lass i'm alright" gently he kissed her forehead before getting off the bike and noticing what more like who was standing behind Kerrianne. He noticed at much the same time as the rest of the sons because a heavy string of curses rang out before Tig was storming forwards. Caoimhe held her ground not moving as the raging Sergeant approached, she didn't react even when he was reaching for her but Kerrianne saw her flinch and move backwards moments before Tig's hand could touch her skin.

"Ye meant to be dead" she whispered eyes flicking to and staying fixed to the floor.

Kerrianne reached Caoimhe as well "I guess Jimmy failed. So ye still loose"

Caoimhe's head jerked up fire in her eyes at Kerrianne's words. The sons just looked confused as Caoimhe raked her eyes up and down Kerrianne. Before she could speak though Chibs interrupted "you two know about the explosion. How?"

Caoimhe finally shifted her gaze to Tig, a strange smiled coming to her face as she met his eyes "guess?" she dared making Tig glare even harder.

This time he did touch her his hands reaching out and grabbing Caoimhe's upper arms dragging her forwards so her body was touching his. "what did you do irish?" he accused.

Kerrianne watched as Caoimhe's face went through some rapid shifts of emotion, more than she'd seen through the entire conversation. Finally Caoimhe yanked herself out of Tig's hold grabbing her sunglasses off the top of her head she shoved them back on her face before facing Kerrianne "I sold my soul to the devil" she said then turned and jumped back in the truck and was gone before anyone else could stop her.

"Whats going on Kerri?" Chibs asked spinning his daughter around to face him. "whats happened to her?" Tig demanded.

Kerrianne just smiled cynically "she already told ye" the sons frowned in confusion as Kerrianne stared after Caoimhe's truck "she sold her soul to the devil"