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.

2042

Age 50

Shark walked in the front door of Gabby's house and took a deep breath. It smelled strongly of lemon. He had guessed right; she was nervous and cleaning. He peaked in the kitchen, which sparkled, and upon not finding her, went upstairs.

He leaned on the door jamb of Gabby's bedroom door. She was standing in front of a bed full of Casper's clothes, carefully folding his t shirts.

"I'm pretty sure those clothes were clean already."

Gabby jumped in surprise when Shark spoke.

"They were…musty. I'm just freshening everything up for him."

"MMhhmm." Shark answered and walked in the room. He moved a pile of boxers over and sat on the corner of the bed. "It's okay to be nervous, you know." He assured her.

"I'm not nervous. This is all I've wanted for 20 years. He wasn't supposed to serve his full 20 years. He's getting out Shark, he's coming home." She took a deep breath and put a pile of t shirts in one of the dresser drawers.

"Has he talked to you yet?" Shark asked, handing her another pile.

"What's he gonna do Shark, come home and stay in the dorms. I know Casper. He'll want to come home." She assured herself, and him.

"Yeah, you're probably right. You buy the roast yet?"

Gabby rolled her eyes. "And potatoes and carrots. I'm gonna cook it all up in the crockpot so it's ready when he gets here." She spoke of her husband's favorite meal.

Shark handed her a mountain of rolled up socks and stayed silent.

"I got him a new phone; it's charging." She nodded to his nightstand. "Already put all the numbers in it. I sent it some pictures, too."

"Nice." Shark commented.

"Kristen won't come." Gabby said, and sighed as she sat on the mostly empty bed next to Shark.

"I know, I tried talking to her too, and Matthew tried sibling guilt. She's not susceptible."

"He's gonna be heart broken." She shook her head.

"He'll be too happy to be heart broken."

"He's gonna be angry, and he's gonna blame me for not forcing her to come, just like he was angry at me for letting her leave in the first place."

Shark rubbed slow circles on Gabby's back to calm her down. "It's gonna take him some time to adjust, Gabby. But you're too strong to take his shit. Don't just roll over for him."

"Just tell me again that he's coming home."

"Casper is coming home Gabby. Tomorrow."


Matthew sat in the back of a diner with Suzie. He had asked her if they could talk. She knew what he must be upset over, and had readily agreed.

"It's a big change, Matthew." Suzie rested her hand on his. "For everyone. It's just gonna take some time. You should talk to your mom, I'm sure she's just as nervous as you are."

"She just, she wants the man she knew back. And I don't remember him, but I can tell you, he's not that man anymore."

"I know, Tom Tom has said the same thing to my mom. That prison changed him. But people change Matthew. And they still stay together."

"He hasn't talked to her in so long. He blames her. And she blames herself. And I mean, I think she got over it, mostly. But if he comes back and starts in on her about all the time he lost, she's gonna go back to being miserable."

"She has a lot of people on her side…if sides are taken."

"Yeah," he turned his hand over and squeezed hers tight. "Thanks. I just needed to talk to someone about it, and I didn't feel right talking to Shark."

"It's gonna be a big change for Shark, too." Suzie agreed.

"You should see them together, Suze. They smile and laugh and tease each other. They cuddle and they…you know, when I think of love, of a good healthy relationship, I think of them."

"Shark's a good man, he's a good man to look up to."

"Tig doesn't have very high hopes for my mom and dad to work things out. He says Casper's changed too much. He says Gabby's a good woman, and strong, for waiting for him, but he's not sure Casper is as strong."

"Tig is 70 something, and single." Suzie tried to lighten the mood. "He's divorced and his daughter doesn't talk to him. If you want someone to give you hope of a happily ever after, it's not Tig."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Did you hear Kristen's not coming home?"

"Yeah, we texted, I was all excited to see her after all these years, I just assumed she'd come. I guess I should have known better." Suzie pulled her hand away and took a sip of her drink. Losing her best friend had been especially hard on her.

"I'm sorry Suze, I shouldn't have brought that up." He apologized.

"No, it's okay." She assured him. "This is nice, you and me. We haven't done this much since your sister left. I don't know why."

Matthew couldn't help but smile. "I thought I was the annoying little brother always following you around."

Suzie laughed. "We tortured you enough for that when you were small. All is forgiven there. We should hang out more though, since Kristen left, I haven't had many close friends."

"We should." Matthew immediately agreed. "We should, that would be real cool." He tried to sound less excited the second time around.


Gabby sat between Becky and Lexi on a couch at the clubhouse. Every patch, Matthew with his top rocker included, were at the prison to escort Casper back. Mitch had driven the flatbed so Casper could have his bike for his freedom ride. Shark and Tom Tom had tuned it up and polished it themselves for him.

She bounced her leg nervously and Becky rested her hand on her knee. "Bouncing around isn't gonna make them ride any faster." She whispered to her friend.

"I know, I'm just…"

"Nervous, terrified, excited, happy, apprehensive?" Lexi listed off.

"All of the above and more." Gabby answered.

"You're a better wife than I am Gabby, I could never wait 20 years. Not when my husband won't even speak to me."

Becky cleared her throat at Lexi's remark.

"No Becky, she's right. He hasn't spoken to me in years. This whole day could end up horrible for me."

"It won't." Becky assured her friend. "I promise, Casper is going to go home with you."

The women heard the rumble of the bikes pulling in and went out into the lot to great their men. Gabby remembered doing this so many times when the kids were small. They would get passed around from biker to biker, Casper would bring them home presents from wherever his run had been. And he would always take her in his arms and kiss her senseless.

The men all climbed off their bikes and hugged Casper, she was sure not for the first time. The men were in good spirits, laughing and joking and patting each other on the backs. The hoard of men walked past the women. Casper never looked her way.

She waited with Becky and Lexi for a few minutes before wondering back into the clubhouse. Matthew was dolling out shots to all the men. They took them as one and then proceeded into the chapel. The doors shut the women out loudly.


Gabby sat back on the couch with her friends as church went on. She could hear the men drumming on the table and laughing. She never heard Casper laugh.

She was determined to stick today out, to convince her husband to come home with her. She wanted to make love, she wanted to touch him, feel him, know for sure that he was out, and he was HERE.

The men came out of church and went back to the bar. They settled around the room with beers and whiskeys. Shark came over to sit with Gabby with a cup of coffee for each of them.

"Yours is spiked." He said as he handed it over. He sat down in the spot Lexi had abandoned to sit with her old man.

"How is he?"

"Happy to be free. Maybe feels out of place a little." Shark shrugged. He didn't want to bring to attention the fact that Casper had still not even looked her way.

"What has he said?" She asked.

"Mostly the same, happ-"

"About me, Shark. Is he coming home?"

"I don't know, it didn't come up." He squeezed her hand and quickly let go where before he would have lingered. Another feeling built up in Gabby, one she had been trying to ignore for the past few days. She was going to lose her relationship with Shark.

She took a deep breath and pushed her tears back down. She had learned to do that quite well in the last 20 years.

She looked around the room and saw Lexi sitting on Mitch's lap. Becky was sitting in a chair and Tom Tom was standing behind her, rubbing her shoulders. Even Carol had come out from behind the bar and was sitting on another couch with Frankie.

Tig came over and sat on the other side of Gabby. "Every time I got home from lockup, I wanted meatloaf." He started the conversation.

"He liked pot roast. It's in the crock pot." Gabby answered him.

Tig nodded his head and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "He hasn't talked to you yet, has he?"

Shark cleared his throat and Gabby patted him on the knee. "No, he hasn't. But look at him, with his son. Both in black leather. He looks proud."

"I'm sure he is." Tig nodded his head. "Why don't you go over there and sit down?"

"No, not yet, I'll wait till the crowd thins out some. Less people to embarrass myself in front of."

"Oh Doll, no man wants to come home and sleep in a dorm. You just got to let him know home is still open to him."

"Why would he ever think otherwise?"

"It's been a long time. He hasn't talked to you. He doesn't know what you're doing with yourself."

"I'm sure Matthew keeps him up to date."

"Maybe." Tig gave in. "But he needs to hear it from you, hear that you still want him." He gave her shoulder a squeeze and got back up. He gave a nod to Shark, and then headed over to the table with the other older members of the club, Hammer, Vin, and Frankie, all in their 60's and 70's by now. They stuck together pretty tightly these days.

"He's right Gabs, you won't know until you try." Shark pulled on her pony tail and got up off the couch. The group of old men were making an exit, and Shark was going to push a few more of the men along.

Thanks to Shark and Tig the clubhouse quickly emptied out. Within 10 minutes it was only Gabby, Casper, Matthew, and Bull. Gabby slowly got up from the couch and walked across the room.

Matthew saw her and got up from the table. Casper stood to follow him.

"Hey." Gabby intercepted him. She grabbed onto his open cut. "Party's breaking up. How about coming home with me. You'll get lucky, get some good food, good water pressure, memory foam mattress." She tired to make her request light.

"Gabby…" Casper tried to peel her hands off of him and she put her head down.

She took a breath and looked back up at her husband. "Come home with me Casper. You're out. Let me show you how much I love you. Let me feed you, touch you, look at you. Let me be your wife." She begged.

"Alright." Casper stepped out of her grasp. "I'll follow you on the bike."

"Okay." She agreed and kissed his cheek. He didn't pull away and she thought that was good progress.

She led the way outside and saw Shark was dawdling at the picnic tables. Always the best friend, ready to step in if she got rejected.


A/N I know, I am so cruel. I make you wait this long for Casper to get home and you only get a few seconds of interaction. But Casper is home!

Plus, I added in a little Suzie/Matthew tidbit for you, since you all seemed so hyped about them!

Please leave reviews, comments, criticisms, questions, complaints, guesses, and requests in the box below. (actually, the story is finished, so you can request, but it probably won't happen).

We are at chapter 52 out of 59 chapters! Can you believe it!?