My life could have been seen as a joke when I woke up the following morning to the sound of multiple babies crying and my own stomach lurching as I rolled over on Tara's couch, I probably had slept a total of an hour last night my mind had been running a mile a minute thinking about the life of the people around me and my own shit show.

"Are you serious?" I could hear Tara and Vic hissing to each other in the kitchen and I gave up my dreams of going back to sleep as I followed their voice. Both women were sitting at the table holding their infants with a plate of food in front of them that instantly caused a bubbling in my stomach that I used to associate with too much alcohol.

"Serious about what?" I asked after I got control of my body, shaking my head like I could shake away the vomit I was sure was rising in my throat.

"Sit down," Vic kicked out an empty chair with her leg still holding Violet in her arms. "Dawn is gone, Pope burned her alive," Vic didn't have a gentile way of breaking things to people, especially in the morning, "Tig was there,"

"Where is he?" I didn't know what else to say, that gene that made death an unexpected surprise didn't run in any of our veins, the way we saw it everyone's head was on a chopping block constantly. The only thing you could do was be there for the people left behind. Dawn was many things, but she was one of us just a kid trying to find her way in the MC world, we were the first generation, the ones who had to figure out how to be the kids growing up in SAMCRO; taking the brunt of the mistakes so hopefully we didn't pass it on to the next generation. The babies that were sitting in the women's arms; that knowledge of when to run and when to lie, who would keep you safe and who not to trust we took those hard lessons and even harder consequences for them.

"They are at some whore house!" Tara had no feelings towards the death of Dawn, she had only known her as Margo with an X; the psychotic daughter of an even crazier club member. She hadn't been there to see Dawn struggle with who she was in Fawn's shadow; hadn't seen how losing the first love of her life had sent her on a spiral of drugs and random men that she was still floating on 11 years later. Would never meet Colleen's ass and known exactly why Dawn had fled out of that household at 17 leaving behind a high school education and a roof over her head.

"They are trying to find Fawn," Vic added, "Opie and Hap are with them,"

"We are going to head up there, meet up with Lowen," They would need a lot more than a lawyer to get themselves out of this one, Tara may still have faith in the law but Vic and I knew we were playing with an empty hand, they had done the crime, Pope had set up the witnesses, and their balls were in a vice. He was going to want way more revenge than Dawn, he was even but people like Pope didn't want to be even they wanted to be ahead.

"Have they got protection yet?"

"Not yet," Vic shook her head.

We rode in silence up to meet with the guys, after dropping off the kids at the club house, too many thoughts were running to be able to even make a straight sentence so the silence was a welcomed addition to the car. Once we got to the address Bobby had given Tara we pulled into the parking lot in the back and all of the guys were sitting on their bikes like they had been waiting on us. Moments after my feet hit the tar Tig was in my arms, sobbing on my shoulder as I ran my hand up and down his leather covered back hushing him. I made eye contact with Happy over my shoulder and he just nodded his head at me, as I held onto Tig tighter.

"She was saying my name," he mumbled into my neck, "she kept yelling for me," the thoughts of that happening brought back the sicking feeling I had when I had walked into the kitchen this morning.

"Fawn?" I whispered back, I didn't see her anywhere.

"Inside, safe," he trembled, as Vic came up behind him and he instantly leeched to her, telling her the same thing about Dawn, the girl we had first snuck out with, who had been there for our first beer, had been burned alive while she yelled out for her Father to save her.

"Hey Baby," Gemma came up to me but I kept moving past her till I got to the arms I had been missing since I left them. Happy gave me a soft but dominant kiss before pulling me into his arms.

"Sometimes I think she's lucky she went out when she did," I knew he wasn't talking about Dawn and my heart broke. Harper would never have to endure a life of crime and conflict, no one would ever burn her alive while her Daddy watched or shoot her in the back in a Mayan ambush. I knew exactly what he meant but the words still burned like hell and I could of sworn the bubbling in my gut from our new problem was a way of mocking the words that came out of his mouth. Instantly I dropped my arms from around him and backed up, not knowing how to reply to such an honest statement. "Bow.." he began knowing quickly that the words had done something to me. But I shook my head and followed the small group we were in into the building.

"Bowie!" I hadn't heard her voice in a long time, but I knew exactly who it was as I scanned for her. Fawn and Dawn weren't identical, Fawn had much more of Colleen in her and Dawn looked just like Tig but you would never doubt that they were related, "Did that asshole tell you?" her brown eyes were swollen and blood shot from crying and she crossed her arms when I stood in front of her and I only nodded my head in response. After a few moments she dropped her arms and wrapped them around me. "What the hell are they mixed in now?" you could tell by the waver in her voice she was trying not to cry again.

"I'm not sure," It wasn't my place to tell her.

"It is his fault," she looked over at where Tig was crying on Gemma's shoulder.

"Are you staying for a while?" I questioned her, truth be told it was our fault, for lying about what had happened to Clay causing Tig to seek revenge.

"Yeah, Gemma said I could crash with her," she informed me before Vic made her way over to Fawn throwing her arms around her and I felt myself pulled into strong arms.

"She okay?" Jax asked after we pulled apart.

"Her twin just died Jax," I muttered watching Fawn and Vic standing talking to each other. "She's pissed and scared! It would be like us loosing each other,"

"Nah, they aren't as close," he seemed confident about what he said; I wasn't sure if he was right or not. Fawn and Dawn hadn't been together in a long time, both were off doing their own thing. Jax and I had lived in the same town as each other in the same small group our whole life.

"What are you going to do Jax?" I turned so I could only see him, nothing else at that moment mattered. "Pope is going to kill you,"

"We'll get protection," he tried to assure me.

"This man set a girl on fire Jax!" I said through grit teeth, "He's not playing around,"

"Unser was attacked last night, home invasion," he changed the subject afraid to admit I was right.

It was a long day but somehow it kept getting longer, we had experienced a lot of lows and highs in the last 24 hours and now watching the guys be cuffed and dragged off to jail didn't seem like it could be real.

Right before they had put the cuffs on Jax he had given me a huge and it had felt so final like it was his way of saying goodbye. Part of me knew that is why he had married Tara only hours ago, he didn't know if he'd ever be back.

"What is he doing?" Vic grabbed my arm as Opie pulled up and started towards Roosevelt.

"No," I grabbed him as we walked by, his fist held up like he was going to hit the Sheriff, "Opie," I warned him holding onto him so he couldn't make his move.

"I need to go too," he tried to struggle against my hold on him but Roosevelt had already turned away from him watching as they loaded up Jax, Chibs and Tig.

"We need to be somewhere else," I whispered standing beside my brother as he watched the back of the truck shut, not knowing if we were ever going to see those faces again.

"Where?" He finally looked down at me.

"Romeo,"

It had taken us about an hour to track down the two faced Cartel member, then it took even longer to get him to agree to meet with us.

"I've done all I can do," Romeo didn't give us time to speak as he came into the warehouse with Luis close behind him.

"We know, keep the protection on him, and keep anyone from visiting him!" I moved in front of Opie, "Set up a meeting with Pope," I heard Opie hiss behind me, he hadn't known what exactly we were doing meeting up with Romeo.

"What?" the sides of him mouth rose as he thought about what I said, "What makes you think I can do that?"

"Oh come on, you're CIA!" I put my hands on my hips, feeling the ache in my armpits from my crutches. "You can find anyone,"

"And why would we help you?" he asked right back not missing a beat.

"Because, we know something about you,"

"Bowie," Opie warned behind me.

"If you don't set up a meeting with us and Pope then I swear to god! I will tell every back alley MC and gang just exactly who signs your paycheck," I stared him right in the deep brown eyes.

"Threats will get you no where!" Luis said from behind Romeo.

"It isn't one," I kept my eyes on Romeo.

"We'll kill you," the smile on his face fell.

"Without my family I'm dead anyways," Opie came up to stand beside me this time. We could threaten a few CIA members for them. "Besides, you made it pretty clear that day there is one person you don't want to piss off," I remembered them talking about getting good will with Happy. "You thought he was pissed that I was missing, I'll make sure my blood trail leads right back to you,"

"And if we do set up this meeting you think you are going to threaten Pope as well?" Luis asked again, he really had a thing against threats.

"I haven't made any threats," I held up my hands, "Only promises,"

"The protection I can do! I don't know if I can get a meeting set up," I just had made two enemies that I really didn't need.

"I have faith, tell him an hour,"

"You're going to have him find you?" Romeo questioned, "You think he will come to you?"

"Tell him to follow the smell of burning flesh," Both Opie and I moved past them and out to his truck in silence.

"Are you serious?" Opie slammed on the steering wheel the moment we started down the street, "What the fuck were you thinking?"

"Who else knows how to get a hold of Pope?"

"Pope wants us dead! And you are leading him right to us,"

"Then at least we tried!" I yelled right back at him, "Can you live with yourself if we do nothing and they die?"

"This isn't your fault," Opie narrowed his eyes on the road, "Tig killing that girl isn't on you,"

"It is on us all, we lied about Clay,"

"Clay needs to be alive," the words hurt him more than they hurt me. "It is the only way it will work," he was arguing but he was also driving right to where Dawn had been burned; he knew better than to set up a potential meeting with someone like Pope and not show up.

"We lied and a girl died,"

"What are you going to threaten Pope with?"

"I've got nothing," I shrugged, this was really the end of my plan.

"You know you've got a lot of balls, Bowie McKenney," he came with about 15 members of what I assumed was his security team, who checked us for weapons while he spoke through a smirk. "I assume you want to talk about members of your club who are now behind bars?"

"I'm not in the club," I assured the man, his smirk made me feel sick to my stomach. We all thought we had power with our SAMCRO connections but this man standing in front of me emphasizes power, sweats power.

"So tell me, what did you want to talk about,"

"I'm sorry about your daughter, I didn't know her," I began pulling words out of my ass not knowing what I was doing.

"Yes well, you should be sorry for her! I will get revenge for her, I care for my daughter very much,"

"Well I care for my family very much as well, yesterday you burned a girl I grew up with alive,"

"Yes, that was unfortunate, but certain things had to be done be glad I didn't burn them both," my mind shot to Fawn who I knew was now staying at Gemma's. "Don't forget I could get her if I wanted, keeping her in Charming won't save her," he knew a move we had made in the last 24 hours, he probably knew everything.

"You've got your revenge, daughter for daughter,"

"No," finally his smirk fell, "My daughter was so much more than the drug addict I burned last night," then his smirk returned, it was like looking right into the eyes of the thing you feared most, goosebumps raised over my body watching him.

"What do you want?" I shouldn't of been afraid to ask that question but I knew it was a big one.

"I want Trager in jail, for life," he didn't have to think about it, "I want a dead son for the cops, I will be speaking with Jackson Teller tomorrow to let him know,"

"That won't be happening," I felt Opie straighten up from beside me; so far he hadn't said anything.

"Excuse me?" Pope even though he was about my height stood up even taller some how, now it felt like he was towering Opie.

"You can't hurt them!"

"And why not?"

"Because.." I began not sure why, I didn't have any sort of ultimatum for the guy, I only knew a few things about him. "They'll make a deal with you, you are in the coke business right?" I knew he was in the drug business but I didn't know if it would be any help, I definitely knew I wasn't as confident as I had been speaking with Romeo.

"Bowie!" Opie finally spoke.

"Yes, as a matter of fact we are," both of us chose to ignore Ope. "I understand SAMCRO has quite a lucrative business with the Galindo Cartel," I nodded.

"No one dies.."

"And I get half of the in-take from the Cartel," Pope cut me off.

"Deal!"

"BOWIE!" Opie said again as I reached my arm out to him.

"I know how it works, you need a club vote," Pope looked down at my hand.

"I told you, I'm not in the club,"

"If they turn on me,"

"They won't," I kept my hand out.

"But if they do, I'm going to need blood for that," he put his hand out as well wrapping it around mine, "I like you Bowie, most wouldn't have the balls to come out here," he used his other hand to wave at around and guy I hadn't noticed come out all with guns in their hand, they had been ready to take us out the whole time. "I'm glad I decided not to take you instead of Dawn Trager,"

"And the dead cop?" I gulped, I hadn't thought about the fact that it could of very easily been Vic or I to burn instead of Dawn.

"I'll let you have that, but one day I might need your help Bowie," I nodded my head and Opie and I turned to leave. "What did you say?" Pope yelled in our direction.

"To what?" I asked and he didn't answer just turned around as well heading towards his shiny black car.

"You did what?" Bobby asked as Opie and I filled him in on what happened.

"It worked didn't it?" I asked, somehow I had ended up sitting in Jax's seat at the redwood.

"God Bowie!" Bobby pushed back his bushy hair, "What were you thinking?"

"That I can't live without my brother!" I raised my voice a bit, "That we couldn't trust Galindo, they are playing two sides of the same table!"

"So you went to Pope?" He plopped down in his chair, "Made a deal with him?"

"Yeah! To keep them alive!"

"It won't be that easy Bowie! The club won't take this well,"

"What loosing money? Is Jax, Chibs, and Tig not worth some fucking money?!" I stood up, "No one else was doing anything!"

I left both men standing in the chapel and headed out to my car wishing I was as confident in the deal I had made with Pope as I sounded when I spoke.

AN: Let me know what you think! Thank you to everyone who reviewed I love them!

What should happen next?

-Bailey