Thank you to all of my reviewers. I really appreciate you taking the time to send me a message. I think it's hilarious that you are all slowly turning towards routing for Gabby and Shark to hook up.
BIG NEWS: 2 nights ago, I finished this story! There are officially 59 chapters. You have no idea how relieved I am to have this story done. I will continue to post once a week until the story is completed.
I have already completed another (much shorter) story that I will post after the end of this one. Right now I am working on 2 stories. 1 I have gone back to finish from quite a while ago, and one that I just started. It's so much nicer to write when nothing has been posted and I have no time constraints!
I usually only post one story at a time, so at the end of Heart of the Lioness I will post the first chapter of the next story and post the title in my author's note.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not have the rights to SOA and make no profit from my writing. Anything you don't recognize from the show I have created.
Content Warning: This fanfiction is rated M. Please respect that warning and do not read this if you do not want to read M rated material.
I no longer have a beta, so all mistakes are my own.
2034
Age 42
Gabby pulled up to the clubhouse on her way home from work. She had texted Matthew and told him she would be a little late. She went in and found Vin sitting at a table with some takeout.
"You know you could have a home cooked meal with a lot less sodium then that." She teased him.
"Hey sugar. Don't knock my dinner. It's good. What's up? You were just here yesterday."
"I've got a name for you." She sat down opposite him and handed over a piece of paper. "I had a boy in today for counseling. He said a new dealer has set up across the street from the middle school. Pulling some boys in to work for him. This kid got offered a job, turned it down."
Vin shook his head. "Dealing across from a school AND using kids to run the operation?" Vin whistled.
"When's the best time to find him?"
"After school for sure. Down the ally across from the practice field."
"Thanks sugar. Know anything else? Has he hurt anyone?"
Gabby got up from the table. "Not that I know of. It's all pretty new. Jason just got offered the job 2 days ago." She kissed Vin's cheek and looked down as her phone chimed. "I gotta go. I have a 14 year old boy starving to death."
Vin chuckled and pocketed the paper he was given. He would call church in the morning before shifts started.
Shark was sitting at the kitchen sipping a beer after dinner while Gabby marinated chicken for tomorrow's dinner. He liked being around for things like this. Normal family activities. Gabby had a song stuck in her head. She was singing it silently and he could see her lips moving.
"Hey mom?" Matthew got her attention as he came in and headed towards the fridge.
"Yeah?"
"Dad said he needs extra money in his commissary account this week. He said about $50."
Gabby's head snapped up and she stared at the back of her son's head.
"Dad's calling you directly now, huh?" She ground out.
"Yeah, I guess. He asked for my number. This is the last grape Gatorade." He held the bottle out to show his mom.
"There's more in the garage. Did your dad have anything else to say to me?" Gabby asked.
Matthew shrugged. "No, not really. He said not to bother making the drive to see him this weekend. Unless the club has news for him, then send one of the guys."
Gabby nodded her head as Matthew left the room.
"Casper calling Matthew a new thing?" Casper asked.
"Apparently he has nothing to say to me. Except that he wants money." Gabby threw the container of chicken in the fridge and walked out of the kitchen to the den. Shark finished his beer before following her.
"Gabs?" He asked at the door. He glanced at the monitor and saw she already had her bank page open to transfer money.
"Gabby?" He tried again and came in and sat on the couch behind her.
Gabby finished the banking and turned off the monitor. She stayed sitting, facing away from him.
"Honey?" He tried again. He reached over and pulled the computer chair in front of him, spinning her around.
"Is there any clearer way he could get across that he hates me?" She asked, tears welling up in her eyes.
"It's not you. He hates everything and everyone right now. He's alone in prison with Hap gone. Things got a lot tougher for him."
Gabby nodded her head. She didn't agree with him, but she didn't want to discuss it.
The men came up the alley by the school from front and back to cut off any retreat. Vin, Frankie, and Shark walked up to the man in charge, the rest of the men stayed by their bikes, surrounding him.
"You must be new." Vin started.
"I got nothing to do with you, man. Get out of my face." The dealer shot back.
"This town has rules. And you are breaking 3 very big ones." Shark responded, not deterred.
"ONE." Frankie counted off on his fingers as he spoke. "Dealing near a school. TWO using kids to do your dirty work. And THREE dealing to kids."
"And those are just the rules you're busting. Doesn't even begin to count the ways you messed up not getting approval from us." Vin finished.
"I don't need any fucking approval from you." The dealer was shifting his eyes from man to man. He only had one other adult for muscle with him. The rest of his crew were teenagers.
"Here's how it's gonna work. You're gonna move your operation. You're gonna up your age requirement for employment in your little business to 18. And you aren't gonna sell to kids. Anywhere." Shark continued as if the dealer hadn't talked.
"And you're gonna pay a fine for breaking each one of those rules. 3k a piece. And you're gonna pay us a weekly fee to let you work anywhere in this city." Vin finished.
"Fuck you. Fuck all of you." The dealer yelled.
Shark looked around. The operation was easy enough to interpret. "Hey kid, Yeah, you." He pointed to the money man. "how much you got there, pull it out."
The boy, no more than 14, pulled a wad of small bills out of his pocket. Shark grabbed it and handed it to Frankie to count.
"You all go home now. You no longer work for this gentleman. He comes back hassling you, you know where to find us." Shark called out to the crowd of boys.
"I didn't fucking tell you you could leave!" The dealer started to rant when the boys turned to go.
Shark quickly grabbed the man by the neck and pushed him up against the brick wall behind him. The dealer's muscle started to get up and Vin pulled a gun on him, keeping him down on the ground.
"You got 5k here. You owe us 4 more. When you pick out your new territory, we'll talk fees." Frankie said as he finished counting and stuffed the money in his inside pocket.
"I expect you, also, know where to find us." Shark whispered to the man pinned against the wall.
The man slowly nodded and Shark set him back on the ground.
"Glad we were able to keep this civil. I don't like fighting in front of impressionable youths." Vin turned back to his bike and the others followed, all roaring away in the directions they had come.
Gabby cursed as she left the clinic. She was getting out of work later and later these days. She hopped in her SUV and pulled out of the parking lot. She took the first turn of the winding side street and screeched to a halt.
There were 2 men in the street. One started firing at her while the other rushed up to the driver's side of her car.
She reached to the floor of the passenger seat where her purse sat with the gun at it and the windshield exploded. She felt hot metal fly through her extended arm. Her drivers side window also exploded, and a man was reaching in to unlock her door. She tried to push him back out the window and he grabbed a hold of her wrist and cracked it loudly.
Gabby pulled it back in pain and the man whipped the door open and sliced her seatbelt, pulling her out of the SUV. She landed on the street with a thud and he knelt over her.
"Biker bitch go running to the big wigs with names? Dumb fucking bitch, that's what you are. Tell the Sons of Anarchy they don't own this town." With that the man grabbed her hair and slammed the side of her head into the pavement. Before she went out completely, she felt the kicking of a boot into her ribcage.
Gabby woke up to beeping and raised her hand to her head. She felt a tug and opened her eyes, seeing the IV in the back of her hand.
"Gabby." Shark whispered and moved from the chair next to her to her side of the bed.
"Hey, doll." Tig stood up on her other side and stroked her hair gently.
"Hospital?" She asked.
"Yeah. Your coworker found you on the road, called 911. You've been out a few hours." Shark brought a Styrofoam cup with a straw to her lips and she drank greedily.
"Tell us what happened, doll." Tig whispered.
"Matthew?" Gabby asked instead.
"He's at the club house. So are all the girls and Suzie. Vin put the whole club on high alert. Tell us who did this to you honey." Shark assured her.
"2 guys. In the middle of the road. They shot at me." She paused and crinkled her forehead.
"You took a bullet to the bicep." Tig filled in for her.
"One of them broke the side window and unlocked the door. He pulled me out and slammed my head into the pavement. God…I hurt everywhere." Her hand with the IV in it was clutched tightly in Sharks hand. She tried to lift the other to her throbbing head and found it bound in a cast. She stared at it a solid 30 seconds before setting it back down.
"They broke it." Shark answered her non-question.
"What else did they do?"
Shark looked at Tig. He sighed and stroked her cheek. "They went after you with steel toed boots. Got in some good kicks. Busted some ribs, bruised a kidney. And the head slam gave you quite the concussion."
"Can you describe these guys? Do you know who they were? Did they say anything?" Shark questioned her.
"I didn't recognize them. The one who grabbed me. He was tall and lanky. Wore filthy jeans and a dark hoody. I didn't see the other one closely. He said…he called me a biker bitch. And he wanted me to tell you the club doesn't own this town." Gabby closed her eyes for a minute and then they shot open again. "Was he the dealer I gave to Vin yesterday?"
"It sounds like it. We confronted him this afternoon."
"Jason!"
"Who's Jason? The dealer?"
"No! No. Jason, the boy who told me about him. If they know I told you guys then they know he told me. You have to go pick him up. Oh my god. He trusted me!"
"Gabby-"
"He trusted me. What are they gonna do to him?" She looked desperately at Shark.
"I don't know Gabs. But we'll go check on him. Do you know his address?"
"In my briefcase, in my SUV."
"Okay, your vehicle is at Frankie's. I'll call him and get someone on this."
"Now! Shark, right now! Please!"
"Okay. Honey take a deep breath. Here's my phone, see?" He held it up, "I'm gonna step out and call right now. And I'll tell Mitch to get a nurse."
Gabby nodded her head and laid back down more calmly.
"You hurting, doll?" Tig asked.
Gabby nodded her head. "Does Matthew know what happened? Shark said there's a lockdown?"
"Yeah, you were attacked, we didn't know by who. We told Matthew you were in a car accident."
Gabby nodded her head. "Can I have your phone; I want to call him."
"Yeah, of course. But first…just one thing." Tig pulled out his phone and set it in Gabby's un-casted hand. "The cops are involved. They are gonna want to ask you what happened."
"Okay." Gabby nodded her head and started to scroll through Tig's numbers.
Tig stared at her.
"I help take kids away from druggie parents all the time, any one of them could go after me." She assured him and hit send on his phone.
Thanks for reading! Please leave any reviews, comments, questions, criticisms, or guesses to what the future holds in the box below. Or just give me a smiley face.
