DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sons of Anarchy or any of its characters or ideas, sadly they belong to the brilliant mind of Kurt Sutter, but I wouldn't mind sharing ;) I only own my original character Rayne and anything that seems out of place. Reviews are appreciated, but I will warn you that I don't take kindly to being attacked, I will be a bitch. Thank you for taking the time to read my story and I hope you like it.

Thank you to NicoNepenthe, undrcvrfngrl, DarylzDarlin, Nikita98, slash95, paullover85, willyfiddle and Robin.D for choosing to follow and favorite this story!

Also thank you to bookworm4life0812, DarylzDarlin, beth626, Robin.D and SOAxLover01 for the reviews of chapter 52!

I do apologize for the long time in between chapters, I have been swamped at work and I have a little one that started school.

Please send me a review, it gives me the will to go on :)


The next morning Rayne heads over to Jax's house, she wanted to say goodbye to them before they headed out for their trip. Rayne was the only one Jax had told that he was taking Tara and the boys up to Oregon, and about his plan to get out of the MC, he knew she wouldn't tell anyone.

She pulled up on her bike shrugging off her leather jacket with her cut inside, she was still on release and the last thing she needed was for an officer to see her wearing the patch. Knocking once she opened the door and walked into the house, Jax greeted her with a kiss on her forehead.

"Morning, Ray."

"Morning, Jax."

"Auntie Rayne!" Abel whooped as he ran down the hallway and launched into her arms.

Rayne laughed as she wrapped her arms around him and lifted him up into her embrace. "Hey, kiddo. You ready for your trip?"

"Yep, all packed up. I'ma miss you, Auntie."

"Aww, I'm gonna miss you too sweet pea. But I'll see you when you get back, maybe we'll go get some ice cream."

"Yay!"

Rayne set him down and smiled at Tara as she walked into the kitchen, the women exchanging a kiss on the cheek. "Well, look who's getting so big?" Rayne said softly as she leaned in to kiss Thomas' cheek.

Tara grinned as Thomas wrapped his little fingers in Rayne's hair, she handed him over to the biker, the baby cooing as Rayne held him. She didn't miss the light in Rayne's eyes as she held the baby, and it made Tara's heart clench knowing that Rayne would never be able to experience this part of her life the way most women did.

But Rayne was getting used to what had happened to her, she had comes to terms with it mostly. Even if she was able to have kids, Rayne was positive it would never happen while she was in the club, it was far too dangerous, hence her understanding of why Jax wanted out. So, she kept herself occupied with taking care of her nephews, that was enough for her right now. But hey, there might be adoption in her future some day.

The group smiled as Gemma came through the front door, Jax noticing her first, "Hey, Mom. What are you doing here?"

"Well, you're taking my grandkids on a one-way trip to Oregon. You think I'm not going to stop and say good-bye?"

"It's just four or five days." Tara reminded her, even though Jax and her had talked about not coming back.

"Where's Elyda?"

"I'm actually going to take up Tara and the boys. Turn it into a little family vacation." Jax admitted.

"Out of state? You're on release." Gemma reminded him as she leaned against the counter.

"No, we're, we're staying in-state. The conference is just a few hours over the border." Tara told her.

"And I'll have Rogue River keep an eye on them up in Oregon." Jax said with a nod.

"Does Clay know?"

"He will after you tell him." Jax smirks to his mother. "We got stuff with the Irish. I'll be back day after tomorrow."

"What about the Mexicans?" Gemma asked, and Rayne could tell by the look on her face that she knew something the Jax didn't.

Jax shrugged, "Nothing for us to do. It's an internal beef. We've been told to stay out of it."

"Say goodbye to Grandma." Rayne said as she handed Thomas to Gemma.

"Aw. Hello, baby."


Riding through this world All alone God takes your soul You're on your own The crow flies straight A perfect line On the devil's bed Until you die Gotta look this life In the eye


Rayne headed back to the clubhouse afterward following Gemma, she knew there was something bugging her and she was determined to find out what it was.

Clay came into the lot after them, parking his bike and dismounting from it.

"You handle that Mexican thing?" Gemma sked him.

"That's not your concern. Where's Jax?"

"Went up to Oregon with Tara and the kids. Family outing."

Rayne noticed the shift in Clay's facial features, even though she couldn't see his eyes. He was shocked, clearly there was something about this information that set Clay on edge.

"Guess that explains why he didn't show, huh?" And with that said he disappeared into the clubhouse.

Rayne followed Gemma into the office, "Momma, what's going on? I know there's something bothering you. Tell me what's going on?"


After hearing what Gemma suspected Rayne headed over to the picnic table where the group of Sons were gathered, just as Clay walked out of the clubhouse doors looking to her. "Need you to track down Jax. He's on his way to Oregon with Tara. Bad time to be traveling. I want him back now."

"Got it." Rayne said as she pulled out her phone to ring Jax, she had an inkling why he wanted Jax back here and it had nothing to do with traveling.

"Hey, Clay." Chibs says concerned. "There's something up with Juice. Nobody's heard from him, no phone calls, and he's not been home."

Clay looks over to Rayne and she holds up her hands, no one noticing that she didn't have her engagement ring on. "Hey, Juice is the last thing I'm concerned with right now."

"It's got to be Roosevelt." Clay says.

"Well, we would've heard something from Lowen if he got picked up." Bobby says.

"Go check, will you?" Clay asks Chibs.

"I'm going to head up to the cabin. Check with my old man." Opie says as he turns heading for his bike.

"Uh, you should stick around." Clay says quickly. "With Kozik still up north and Happy over at Oswald's, gonna need bodies around. Just in case we got to deal with this, uh, Lobo shit."

"Yeah, okay."


Jax is at the gas station filling up the car while Tara takes Abel inside to get some snacks. He goes to answer a phone call from Rayne, but stops and panics as a police officer on a motorcycle rides up and parks, coming over to speak to him.

"How you like it?"

"Excuse me?"

The officer motions to the car they're driving, "My daughter wants one."

"Oh, uh- My old lady loves it. It's hers." Jax says, then nods over to the officer's bike. "How fast is that 1150?"

"Fast enough. You ride?"

Jax smirks, "Yeah. You miss the Defender?"

"Ah, I miss the power. Beamer's more comfortable. Got a shitty back."

"Maybe it's time to trade it in for a cage, huh?"

"When I'm dead." The officer chuckles.

"Amen to that."

"Hey, little guy." The officer says as he shakes Thomas' hand through the open back window. "How you doing? All right. You gentlemen have a good day."

"Yeah." Jax nods as the officer walks inside, it felt good to be a regular person for once, and he really liked it.


Back in Charming Rayne heads into the chapel to tell Clay that she can't get ahold of Jax. "Clay. Clay, I can't get ahold of Jax, man. He's not picking up his cell. Tara either. I've got the name of the hotel. I'll have Rogue River waiting. You want me and Tiggy up there?"

"No." He says without turning to look at her. "Keep calling."

Rayne sighs shaking her head at his attitude as she walks back to the bar to try and call again.

Chibs steps into talk to Clay next, "Uh, Roosevelt picked up Juice yesterday. Another piss test. Released him last night, but, uh, he hasn't been seen since."

"Call his old girlfriend." Gemma says quietly so as not to let Rayne hear her. "Tends to crawl back there when he's wounded."

"Well, Precious stays in touch with her. I'll give her a call." Bobby says.


Up in Oregon at a park Tara is buckling Abel into his car seat, while Jax takes a few bags to the trash can, they had stopped to have a picnic for lunch. Jax hears Tara screaming as she drug into a van by two men, he pulls his gun from his ankle holder as he runs over first checking on the boys then pursuing the van. He fires off four rapid shots, causing the van to pitch and jerk to avoid the bullets.

Inside the van Tara manages to fight off her attackers, biting one of the men on the hand. She gets up grabbing onto the open door frame, but a quick pitch of the van sends the sliding door slamming into her right hand, crushing it. She screams as she falls back clutching her bleeding appendage to her chest.

The van slams to a halt and Tara scrambles out to safety, one of the men tries to grab her but he's interceded by Jax who runs up and punches him in the face forcing him to release Tara. The driver holds out a gun and Jax immediately pulls Tara behind him, shielding her with his body. Instead of firing at them both, the men in the van take off, the car peeling out of the parking lot.

Jax turns around grabbing Tara as she cries, holding him against his chest in comfort. "You're okay. Okay. Shit."


When the cops and paramedics arrive they place Tara onto a stretcher and load her into the ambulance. "You have to take me to St. Thomas."

"Can't do that, ma'am. Out of our jurisdiction. We'll take you to Memorial, they can transfer you from there." The paramedic tells her.

"She's a surgeon at St. Thomas. You can't take her?" Jax asks.

The police officer from the gas station happens to be the one to respond to the call, he walks up and nods to the paramedic. "Take her to Charming. I'll talk to your dispatcher. All right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you."

"You're on federal release, Mr. Teller. Folks nearby heard a lot of gunshots. Hope you weren't the one firing the weapon."

"No, sir. They did all the shooting. Look, I got to get my boys home. Can we do this at the hospital? Please?"

"We'll follow you there." The officer says handing Jax his license back.

"Thank you." He turns to Tara who is waiting in the ambulance, he blows her a kiss before he walks over to the car and gets in.


Back in Charming Rayne rushes to the hospital to meet up with Jax, they're standing outside of the emergency doors as the doctor's wheel Tara towards surgery. "Hey." Jax says as he takes her free hand in his.

"The boys."

"They're fine. They're at the house with Elyda." Rayne tells her giving her friend a smile hoping to alleviate some of her worry.

"It's okay, babe. You're gonna be fine." Jax tells her. "They're taking you to X-ray. Dr. Balian will be down there to look at the hand, okay? I love you." Jax says kissing her hand before they wheel her into the operating room.

"Are you okay, baby?" Gemma asks her son, she had come down to the hospital with Rayne.

"I'm fine."

"Where they taking her?"

"To X-ray. I got to talk to the cops, Mom."

"What happened, Jax?" Gemma whispers.

"Someone attacked Tara. Tried to abduct her."

"Let's talk, Mr. Teller." The cop says sternly before he leads Jax outside to take his statement.


The reason no one could seem to find Juice was the fact that he wasn't released as Roosevelt had told Chibs earlier, instead he had been taken to an ATF holding cell until he decided to cooperate with the investigation. He was watching cartoons on the TV when Potter came into the cell.

"I'm a Hanna Barbara fan myself. Quick Draw McGraw was always my favorite."

Juice sighs shutting off the TV, he was not in a mood to make small talk with the irritating man that was surely going to get him killed by his own club.

Potter holds out a folder with a paper on top and a pen, "My promise. When we take down the Irish at this meet, we'll need to prosecute the club members present. But that's where it stops. I will not use RICO to dismantle the Sons. It's all there. Just awaiting my signature."

"I don't know anything about a meet."

"Then go and find out."

"You're just gonna let me out?"

"Yes. Here's the deal, Juice. We give you a cell phone, acts as a monitoring device. We know where you are 24/7. You check in every four hours. You don't check in, I get wind you exposed us… we rip this up, we come crashing in. I settle for the Mexicans and the Sons. SAMCRO and all its charters will fall to RICO." He picks up the remote and turns the cartoons back on. "I'll give you until after The Jetsons to decide. Then it's off the table."


Rayne is standing in the waiting room with Gemma and Wayne, leaning back against the wall with her arms crossed, when Clay and the others walked into the room.

"What happened?"

"Someone tried to take Tara. They hurt her real bad." Gemma tells him.

"Jesus. We know who did it?"

"No."


Once he's finished talking to the cops Jax comes back inside to tell them all his account of what had happened. "They were speaking Spanish. It had to be Lobo retaliation."

"I got a call into Romeo; I haven't heard back yet." Clay tells him.

Jax nods, "Let's find Laroy. He knows how to get in touch with Lobo."

"Absolutely." Clay quickly agrees.

"All right, we got V-Lin at your house with the nanny." Tig says. "We'll keep Phil and Rat here with Tara."

"Call Alvarez. We might need him." Jax says as he leads the group towards the doors.

"Where you going, baby?" Gemma asks as the group passes her.

"Stay with Tara. Keep me posted."

"Okay." She says with a sigh.


Inside her private room Tara is being shown her X-rays by Doctor Balian, Margaret is standing by her bedside for support. "Jesus. Three broken metacarpals. Median nerve?"

"Yes. There's damage from the trauma. We should get in there right away."

"Okay."

"I'll schedule it." Margaret says.

"We're gonna do everything we can." The doctor assures Tara.

She nods replying numbly, "I know. Thank you."


Jax leads the way down to Oaktown to see Laroy, the crew meeting up with Alvarez and his VP at the bar Laroy owned. They walk inside clearly showing who they are with their cuts and patches. Before they can ask where Laroy is, a man walks out of the office, sees Alvarez and immediately pulls out a gun and starts firing.

"Shit! Shit! Down! Down! Down!" Rayne yells as she watches a bullet penetrate the forehead of Alvarez' VP, his body dropping to the floor beside her as she ducks down beside Marcus.

"Laroy. Laroy, get out here!" Clay yells.

Laroy walks out of the office not looking as though he was apologetic for what had just happened.

"What the hell, Laroy?!" Jax snaps as he stands up from underneath the bar top.

"You tell me!"

"We just walked in, your crew starts shooting at us."

"Thought you were the damn cartel."

"Do we look like a goddamn cartel?!" Rayne snaps motioning to their cuts and patches clearly visible to be seen.

"Your Mexicans do!" The one that shot Ruiz snaps.

"Put 'em down!" Laroy orders. "Lobo took out three of my men this morning. We're all a little skittish."

Rayne stands beside Marcus as he raises his gun and fires a bullet into the head of the man that killed Ruiz. She holds up her gun at Laroy's men, backing him up as they point theirs at Alvarez just after.

"You just killed one of my best soldiers, ese." Alvarez states.

"Don't do it, Laroy." Clay warns him.

"It's like that? This wetback bitch over me?"

"Hey, you both lost a guy, you're even." Jax cautions Laroy knowing he'll be the one with the most to lose over this.

"No, we ain't. Get out!"

"I need your contact info for Lobo Sonora."

"You need to get out before this place is crawling with purple, and I kill everything— brown and white."

"Come on, Jax. Come on." Rayne says as she moves both him and Marcus out the door.


They head back to their bikes as Clay finishes up a phone call, "That was Romeo. He's just finishing up a meet in Rio Vista."

"All right, let's go." Jax says moving for his bike.

"You're too amped up."

"What the hell do you expect?!" Jax screams.

"You're gonna go back to Charming. You're gonna be with Tara, all right? I'll get the intel from Romeo."

"I am talking to these guys!"

"Come on." Opie tells his best friend.

"What?"

"He's right."

"Let Clay handle it, Jackie." Chibs tells his VP.

"Hey, we're going to find out who did this to Tara and we're gonna hurt 'em. I promise. You go be with your family, all right?"

"Bobby and me, we're gonna ride with you." Tig says.

"You stay with Jax." Clay says waving them off.

"No, can't ride alone. Not today." Bobby states.

Clay sighs, "All right, let's go."


Rayne heads back to the clubhouse with Chibs and Opie, she sees Juice sitting on the concrete wall waiting for them. She parks her bike and removes her helmet, climbing off of her bike and standing to face him.

"Where the fuck have you been?" She snaps.

"Sorry. Roosevelt picked me up." He replied casually, not seeing a reason for her anger.

"Yeah, we know. Then what?" Chibs said.

"Had to clear my head. Took a ride out to Yosemite. Should have checked in. I'm okay."

"Clear your head?" Rayne said with a scoff. "Did you manage to pull it out of your ass too?" He didn't say anything and Rayne threw up her hands. "You know, I don't know what's gotten into you. I mean, I don't even know who you are anymore, Juice. You are not the man I fell in love with." She pulls the ring off of her finger and hands it to him. "I'm sorry, Juice, but I can't marry someone I don't know."

Juice looks down at the ring, he doesn't know what to say, he can't tell her what's been going on even though he wants to.

"Are you gonna say anything?" She asks softly.

Juice looks around at the crowd that's gathered around the front doors watching them, he knows there's nothing that he can say that's going to make this any easier. He doesn't want Rayne caught up in the middle of this RICO case, so he decides it's best to just push her away for now. "What do you want me to say, Rayne?"

"Anything!" She yells throwing her hands up. "Tell me what's going on. Tell me what's wrong with you. Tell me what the fuck I did to push you away? Say something, anything, that'll show me you still give a damn about me!"

Juice glances up into her tear filled eyes, he can't hold her gaze, the guilt eating a hole in his stomach as he says, "I can't say anything."

Rayne feels her heart plummet to her feet, she knew that falling for Juice was gonna end with a broken heart and it just had. Rayne gave a dry laugh and in that instant, the ice princess returned to the surface. She took off the necklace holding Juice's crow, "Well, then I'll say something for both of us." She chucked the necklace to the ground at Juice's feet, "We're done. Permanently."

Juice watched her walk away, his body numb with her words giving him the appearance like he didn't give a damn, when in reality his whole world had just ended with her words. He picked up the necklace and shoved it into his pocket along with her ring, turning casually to face Opie and Chibs, both of whom were giving him a glare of anger.

"Probably should have stayed in Yosemite." Opie said with a scowl. "Clearly, shit's hit the fan all the way around, brother. Lobo tried to take Tara this morning."

"Jesus Christ."

"Come on." Chibs said looping an arm around Juice's neck and leading him into the clubhouse.


Rayne is outside pummeling the punching bag with her bare fists when she gets a call from Jax, they've just received the bad news about Tara's hand. He asks her if she'll go to house and help Elyda take care of the boys, he's gonna stay at the hospital with Tara.

"Of course, Jax. Give Tara my love, please."

She hangs up the phone and heads inside, washing the blood from her hands and wrapping them in gauze. She shrugs on her cut and jacket before riding over to Jax's house, Abel jumping for joy when he sees her walk through the front door.


At the hospital Jax walks out the back way after having Tara scream at him to leave, he misses the rest of the Sons coming in from the front, happening to bump into the Sheriff on their way.

"Oh, Christ." Chibs scoffs.

"I see you found your lost friend."

"Aye. No thanks to you."

"Give me a minute?" Roosevelt asks.

"Back off." Tig snaps.

"It's cool." Juice tells them knowing he had no choice but to talk to the man. "I'll be right there."

The group walks off as Juice follows Roosevelt to the hallway making sure they were gone before they started talking.

"What do you want?"

"I want to apologize. I'm getting tossed around by this DA just as much as you are. The way I've conducted myself— I'm sorry."

"Little late for that now."

"I know. It doesn't mean that I can't man up and tell you I was wrong."

"Yeah, okay."

"I know what happened to Tara. If you need anything, you let me know, okay?"

"Thanks."


Juice catches up with the guys in the waiting room where they found Jax sitting, a cup of coffee in his hand, his face sullen.

"Yo. How's Tara?" Opie asks him.

"She's okay. She's resting."

"How you doing?"

"I'm all right. Where's Clay?"

"Oh, he went home." Tig said, "He said he was going to check in with you later, all right?"

"He met with Romeo. They're going to find the Lobos who did it." Bobby informs him.

"Good." Jax nods, his attention turning to Juice, he had no idea what had transpired earlier between him and Rayne, if he had known, Juice would've been in the hospital as well. "Where were you?"

"I had to think."

"Yeah? I get it." Jax says with a nod.

"Hey, thanks for being here." Jax says to them all, it was nice to know that no matter what, his brother's had his back.

"Come on. Absolutely, brother. Come on." Tig says hugging him.

"I'm going to hang. I'm going to stay with Tara, but you guys should head back."

"We'll leave the prospects. Need anything?" Bobby asks.

"I'm good." He says hugging Chibs. "Ope. Can I talk to you a minute?"

The other guys file out and Opie hangs back, "Yeah. What's up brother?"

"I've been lying to you, Ope. The deal I made with Clay about the cartel, it was to get me out, too."

"Uh what do you mean?"

"I'm leaving SAMCRO, Ope. I was going to jump when Clay retired, but now… I'm out when we get done with this deal with the Irish."

"After my five-year stretch, I wanted out, too."

"I know."

"You talked me into staying."

"Yeah, I did. I love you, Ope. You're my best friend."

"I need you in this club."

"My family needs me more. You were right, man. I should have let you get out. Donna would probably still be alive. I'm so sorry, bro. You gotta fix things with your wife. Go talk to your old man. You hold on to that shit, Ope."


As it turns out, everyone was having a bad night in SAMCRO. Juice had taken the deal from Potter as he stepped outside the clubhouse to check in.


Wayne ended up over at Gemma's after she had called him, as he walked into the kitchen he found her sitting at the table. Once he got a clear look at her he flipped out, she was bruised and bloody all over her face.

"Oh, Jesus. Holy shit, Gemma. Clay did this. Goddamn him."

"Sit down." Gemma said gently.

"Sit, hell! Got to get you to the hospital!"

"No. No. Noth-nothing's broken. Just sit. Please."

Wayne took a seat in front of her, "What do you need, sweetheart? - Just tell me what I can do."

"Nothing else to do. It's done, Wayne. Clay can't be saved."

"Okay. I'll point Piney's murder at him. We'll put him away."

"No. He's not going down by law." Gemma stated as she looked him in the eye. "He's going to die by the hand of a Son."