A/N: Let me take a moment to grovel for your forgiveness. It has been too long since I posted an update. Life has been... challenging lately. Also it was really cold for a while and I didn't want to do much besides cuddle up under the warm blankets, lol. This chapter is a little shorter than I wanted it to be, but I wanted to get you an update as soon as I could now that my booty is back in gear. I'm hoping to have another one for you very soon.

That being said, I want to thank my reviewers. Special thank you to Eowyn628 for your reviews of some of my older chapters, hope you've gotten caught up to present my now and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the new chapter!

To Ghostwriter- Thank you, as always, I appreciate your feedback and hearing from you on just about every chapter. :)

To avfangirl98- Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying it. I can't say that there is a smack down coming Clay's way anytime soon. I'm glad you are enjoying the dynamic between Dani and Chibs, as Dani heals from her past mroe I hope to include more moments of her with members of the club, including Happy. :)

To KaitTheAnonGuest- Thank you! As someone who has done her share of binge reading fanfiction, I'm flattered when I hear my story has captured someone's attention that way. I've tried really hard to make this story feel like something that would really fit in the SOA world and to write an OC that can carry the emotional core of the story and seem realistic. To know that you are appreciating what I've been working so hard towards makes me super excited! Thank you and I hope you like the new chapter. I'll do my best not to keep you waiting so long for the next one.

Ok guys It's time to let you read the next chapter. I'm kind of nervous about this one. There's not a ton of action but some good discussions and this chapter sets us up for some things that I've been working towards for a long time now. Let me know what you think!

Chapter 34

Dani woke to Opie murmuring softly in her ear. She yawned as she lifted her head to look up at Opie as she blinked the sleep out of her eyes.

"Good morning," he told her, kissing her softly on her forehead. "It's time to get up. We're gonna be leaving soon to head home."

"Ok," Dani mumbled as she buried her face back into Opie's chest.

Opie chuckled and rubbed her back. "Come on, babe. I know it was a long, hard day yesterday, let's get you home where you'll be more comfortable, and you can try and relax."

Dani sighed, but reluctantly sat up and moved away from the warmth of Opie's body. She climbed out of bed, rummaged through her bag for a change of clothes, and moved into the bathroom to wash up and change. When she came back out, she found Opie changed and packing up their bag. Dani went to him and added her clothes from the previous day to the bag and Opie zipped it up and then turned to her and held out an arm to her. She took it and willingly let him pull her into an embrace, practically gluing herself to his side and wrapping her arms tightly around her middle.

"How are you doing?" He asked her.

Dani shrugged. "I don't know. I feel…I just… I don't know. I want to be relieved that it's over, but I just feel…numb, I guess."

Opie's hand rubbed soothingly over her back. "It's done baby. Let's get you home. Everyone is waiting when you're ready."

Dani pulled back slightly and looked up at Opie. "Can I ride with you?" she asked.

"You're exhausted," Opie told her in a soft, yet serious tone. "I know you didn't sleep well last night and it's a long ride home. I don't want you to be so tired thar you start to nod off on the back of my bike and get hurt. You'll be more comfortable in the car with Gemma."

Dani sighed and looked down but nodded. She felt Opie's hand under her chin, encouraging her to look up at him. When her eyes finally met his again, he spoke.

"Hey, I love you. You know that right?" Dani nodded and Opie continued. "Let's go home, yeah?" Dani nodded again, and with one arm around Dani, Opie grabbed their things and led them from the room.

It was about a week later and Dani and Opie were home for the day. Opie was in the garage and Dani was in the kitchen feeling as mixed up as the cake batter she was working on. As she was scraping the batter into a cake pan, Dani wished she could sort out her problems as easily as she could blend the ingredients together and make them into something new, something better. She sighed and put the pan in the oven to bake, poured herself a cup of coffee, and made her way into the living room to curl up on the sofa and watch some TV. She remembered grabbing the remote and flipping through the channels trying to find something to watch, but she must have dozed off because the next thing she knew, she was waking up the blare of the smoke detector going off, the smell of burning cake was strong in the air and she could see the hazy wisps of smoke drifting through the air.

As she was scrambling to her feet, Opie rushed in from the garage, clearly having heard the alarm and glanced at her before rushing into the kitchen and Dani hurried to follow.

"Get the door," Opie said as he rushed to the oved and peered inside before opening it. Dani pulled open the sliding door to the backyard and turned to watch as Opie grabbed a towel to pull out the burning cake. Turning quickly, he dropped it in the sink and yanked on the handle of the faucet, sending the cool water splashing onto the pan, sizzling as it made contact. He then opened the window at the sink, grabbed the towel, and began fanning it at the smoke detector until it finally ceased its' beeping.

He turned to her to as if she was ok, but before he could open his mouth Dani began to speak. "I'm sorry. Shit—I didn't set a timer and I must have fallen asleep. Are you ok? Did you burn yourself? Christ, Opie, I am so sorr—"

"It's ok, babe, I'm fine." As he spoke, he moved to where she was standing and put one arm around her and cupped her face with his other hand. "I'm worried. You're exhausted. You aren't sleeping," Dani started to interject, but Opie pushed on. "We both know you aren't. You're getting an hour…maybe two, before you wake up screaming bloody murder. That's if I can get you to come to bed at all. You're not talking about what happened, not to me, not to your brother, not to anyone. You don't want to be alone, but when you come with me to TM, you don't let anyone near you besides me, Jax, and sometimes Chibs."

"That's not on me. They're walking on eggshells around me, like I'm going to freak out at any moment. Granted, with my track record, I suppose I can't blame them. I do have a history of freaking out at TM, but I'm not going to freak out. I just need… some… time," Dani countered, exasperated.

"You need to talk to someone. It doesn't have to be me, but you do need to talk to someone. Instead of talking, though, you're baking. Don't get me wrong, it's delicious—all of it. The cookies, brownies, muffins, that fucking cobbler. But right now, all your baking is doing is two things; making me fat and honing your avoidance skills."

"You know it shuts my mind off, helps me not think about things. I just need some time before I can even think about talking about things. And I'm used to functioning on little sleep. I'll be fine," Dani said quietly.

"You aren't fine," Opie replies softly. "You aren't functioning. You falling asleep and burning a cake may not seem like a big deal, but what if the smoke detector didn't go off? What if I wasn't home and you were so exhausted that the smoke didn't wake you and something happened to you? If you need some time to deal with all of this, I get that. But until you are ready to deal with this, we need to figure something else out. Maybe start another journal. Writing seemed to help before."

Dani shrugged. "Maybe…"

Opie was about to say more when there was a knock on the door. He let the hand on her face trail down her neck to rest on her shoulder for a moment, giving it a squeeze before stepping away to answer the door. Dani leaned and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was tired, both physically and emotionally. She knew Opie was right—she was avoiding dealing with her issues. She had just been dealing with one intense situation after another for so long that she just couldn't deal with anything more right now. She needed a break and desperately wanted to feel some peace before she had to delve into one more loaded issue, but she knew that ignoring her feelings and the resurfaced memories wasn't working and it wasn't healthy. There he a way for her to process without overwhelming her but make it possible to function as at least a semi-normal adult. Maybe journaling would help. Maybe it was time that she looked for a new therapist to talk to, someone who would actually listen to her.

As she was going through all this in her mind, she was listening to Opie's low rumbling tones as he spoke to whoever was at the door, noting that he didn't seem very pleased with whoever he was talking to, and was a little startled when he called out to her. "Babe, can you come here for a minute?"

Dani pushed herself off the wall and made her way over to the door. As she reached Opie's side she was surprised and instantly a little irritated to see Agents Johnson and Green. They had a knack for showing up at the worst time. She plastered a fake smile on her face and mentally steeled herself.

"Oh, um, hello…Agents. Is that the right way to address more than one agent at the same time? I don't know. Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought any further questions were supposed to go through our attorney and there weren't going to be any more unexpected visits like this." Dani felt Opie's arm come around her, giving het a squeeze on support.

Agent Johnson just stared at her coldly, and it freaked Dani out more than his usual aggressive behavior and questioning of her. Agent Green gave her an apologetic smile as he stepped forward.

"My apologies, Miss Teller. We have received some new information on your case and wanted to give you an update, maybe ask a couple follow up questions. We happened to be in the area and thought you might want to know as soon as possible," Green explained.

"An update? What did you find? Were you able to get a lead from my journal?" Dani asked anxiously, knowing that what they were going to tell her likely had to do with what had happened on their trip, but was hoping for that tiny chance that they were just following up on her journal.

Dani's tiny flicker of hope was crushed quickly. Agent Green briefed them on a kidnapped girl from Oregon who had mysteriously turned up at a fire station near where she lived. The information she had given to police was very similar to the information Dani had given them. He went on to explain that the same day there was an explosion in Washington and a photography studio was destroyed. Remnants of what appeared to be child pornography were found in the rubble of the building, and while they were unable to locate the owner of the photography studio, the child that had been recovered had identified his photograph as the man who had been keeping her.

"This man also bears a strong resemblance to one of the sketches in your journal," Agent Green surmised. "We'd like to show you some pictures and see if you can identify this man as one of your captors."

Dani glanced up at Opie for a second before looking back to Agent Green and nodding. With a slightly shaking hand, Dani reached out and took the paper that the agent was holding out for her. She pulled it closer and though there were images of six different men, her eyes zeroed in on one. Despite knowing he was gone, or maybe because she knew, her breath caught in her throat. She swallowed several times, unable to speak at the sight of her eyes boring back at her through the small two by three photograph, eyes that were taunting her with his words and actions of the past, eyes that stared at her with the accusation of having his blood on her hands. Shit, she could not lose it now, not in front of these federal agents. Dani swallowed one more time. "That's him," she confirmed, pointing to his picture, covering his face with her finger so she wouldn't have to see those evil eyes looking back at her anymore. She wondered if she should have lied, should have said she couldn't identify anyone, but she had sketched him so clearly, that it would have looked suspicious if she didn't identify him.

"Thank you." Agent Green said while Agent Johnson continued to glower. "Now I do need to ask your whereabouts for last weekend for both of you," Agent Green continued.

Dani's eyebrows rose. "Our whereabouts?"

"It's just a matter of protocol. We need to verify the alibi of for any involved parties."

She looked up at Opie and he nodded. "We were in Tacoma, for a club celebration," Dani explained.

"That's interesting," Agent Johnson finally spoke, scorn evident in his voice. "Can't help but notice that puts you in relatively close distance to both the site the child was recovered from and the location of the explosion."

At his remark Opie finally interjected. "You implying something?"

"No one is implying anything," Agent Green said. "We are just asking some questions."

"It feels like you are doing more than that." Dani said.

"We just have to ask. Can anyone corroborate your alibi?"

"My entire club, the Tacoma charter, all of our families, friends," Opie said. "so that's about fifty, sixty people. Now we're done here. Any further questions can go through our attorney."

Neither agent moved right away, but after a moment Agent Green nodded and stepped away. Agent Johnson opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say more, but was stopped when Agent Green grabbed his arm, gave it a surprisingly harsh jerk as he pulled on it, and tugged on it as he walked away.

Opie shut and locked the door before turning to Dani. "Are you ok?" he asked.

Dani shook her head. "Not really. Shit keeps piling on. You're right, I'm not dealing with this ok. I need to figure my shit out. I'm not being fair to you, depending on you so much and shutting you out at the same time. I'll figure something out. I'll… I'll find someone to talk to. But what about this?" She asked gesturing to the door. "Do we need to worry about this? Do you think they actually know something?" She brought her hands up and gripped Opie's biceps.

"No baby, we don't need to worry." Opie shook his head as he looked down at her, wrapping his arms around her to rest at the small of her back. "They don't know anything, they're just grasping at straws."

"Are you sure?" Dani asked. "I don't want anythi—"

"Nothing is going to happen." Opie reassured her. "Don't worry about them. There's nothing to worry about. You just focus on you, on what you need, and if you need something from me, you tell me, ok?" Dani nodded. "Good. For right now though, why don't we sit down, relax, and maybe you can try and get some rest, ok?"

"Ok," Dani agreed, letting her head fall onto Opie's chest as she burrowed into him, taking comfort in her embrace and relaxing for the first time. She knew she hadn't actually taken any steps yet, but admitting that she wasn't dealing with things, that she did need help, lifted her spirits. She knew she should probably be more concerned about the visit from Agents Johnson and Green, but she trusted Opie, she was choosing to give that over to him, to let him handle that burden. So many of the things that troubled her were things that she had to handle herself, face herself, address herself, but this worry, this trouble she did not have to take on herself. This wasn't a demon in her mind, this was something real, even if it was unlikely to actually become a problem. She could find a way to deal with her demons, deal with her past, and with Opie by her side find peace and hope for their future.

Another week had gone by and Dani was feeling better. She still wasn't sleeping much, but she was sleeping more than she had been since their trip. She had an appointment scheduled for the following week to meet with a new therapist and hopefully begin working through what was going in in her head.

Today though was a little strange, and she didn't really know what was going on. Last night Opie had gotten a phone call and from what she overheard there was some sort of fire, but when she asked him about it, he told her it was club business and not to worry about it. She had taken her truck and followed him to work that day and was helping out in the office. Gemma had to go and run some errands, so Dani was there by herself when she looked up and gasped at the sight. The back end of a deer was sticking out of the windshield of a car. It was bloody, and Dani couldn't help but stare at such an unusual sight, right until she saw her brother give Kip a chainsaw and instruct him how to remove the animal from the car. She quickly averted her eyes and got back to work.

A little after noon, Jax walked into the office. He reached out and ruffled her hair as he sat on the edge of the desk, grinning as he watched her smooth her hair back down as she mock glared at her brother.

"I'm going to check out the storage unit today to see if I can fins some stuff for the kid. We made plans to go a couple times, but shit keeps getting in the way. Want to come with me now?" He asked her.

"Sure, but what about the office?" Dani asked.

"It'll be fine," Jax told her. "The guys can keep an eye on things. We can find your old things and you can help me figure out what might be useful to take for the kid."

"I guess it's a good thing I brought my truck today." Dani said, grilling up at him as she grabbed her keys. She was excited to see what belongings of hers they could find, hoping they would bring back some good memories from her childhood. As she grabbed her bag and pulled out her keys she remembered talking about the stuffed bear she named Opie and smiled. She looked at her brother and stood up, looking at him. "Ok, let's go."

She really hoped she would find that bear.