Chapter One: Stage IV

"I'm sorry," Tara whispered after she told Piney his recent treatment had zero effect and his cancer had metastasized to his liver.

Piney looked down at his hands as the rest of the Club present lapse into respective silence.

"Piney?" Gemma whispered as she laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly.

Clay walked towards them as Piney raised a hand and patted Gemma's from where it rested, strong in its silent comfort and groaned as he rose to his feet. "I just need a few minutes," Piney reiterated with a second pat to the top of Gemma's hand and slowly shuffled to his room and closed the door quietly behind him.

Piney could feel the concern wash over him from the eyes on his retreating form, he couldn't dial Mary fast enough, anxious for the comfort from a place of genuine love despite their lives breaking apart and going their separate ways.

"What can we expect?" Clay asked Tara after Piney closed himself away.

Everyone in the room heard Tara describe the process of the cancer as it spread and devoured Piney's healthy tissue and stole his life.

Happy rubbed at his eyes as Tara explained that with the secondary liver cancer diagnosis, that Piney would likely begin to rapidly lose weight and not have much of an appetite.

Juice put his hands on his hips and cleared his throat as Tara added that she'd prescribe a good pain control pharmaceutical regime for the imminent belly pain, internal pressure and swelling.

Gemma and Bobby openly cried as Tara said that many medical interventions were off the table due to the multiple diagnoses and advanced stages of Piney's cancer.

Opie squeezed his arm around Lyla's shoulder, a spark of false hope when Tara explained that there were certain immunotherapy treatments that could improve the health of Piney's noncancerous tissue.

Jax crossed the room and grasped Tara's hand as she said she'd be heading to St. Thomas's to talk with the head of Hospice and Palliative Care services.

Clay nodded his thankfulness, not trusting the strength of his voice as Tara said she could have a hospice nurse and rotating staff there as needed within a few days.

At the back of the room, Tig crossed his arms over his chest as Tara sadly stated that Piney could be gone from this world before the end of the year. He clenched his teeth so hard his jaw popped and danced his fingertips along the edge of the pool table to pluck a bottle of whiskey from the top of the bar.

He quickly took three large gulps, anxious for the alcohol to spread its warmth throughout his chest and belly.

Tig glanced over at Kozik who was perched on a barstool at the end of the bar and took another drink before pouring out a tall glass for the man he pretty much hated and despised.

Jax eventually walked Tara to her Cutlass and watched her drive away to St. Thomas's.

The mood in the Club was subdued and the music was a low murmur in the background as everyone was lost in their own thoughts.

As Tara met with the Palliative Care Director Olivia Collins, Piney eventually emerged from his room and joined the others.

The next few days a heavy sadness shrouded the shop and infiltrated every part of SAMCRO, everyone was affected by Piney's diagnosis and bleak finite future.

Clay and Tig were hunched over in conversation about the click emitting from a twin cam 103 valve engine when a grey SUV pulled to a stop near the office.

Bobby nudged Juice as the woman in sapphire blue medical scrubs slipped from behind the wheel and zipped up her dark grey sweatshirt with the brisk touch of the breeze. The back of her zippered hoodie boasted a rhinestone pair of wings from the Really Pretty in Pink lingerie boutique.

Tig happened to look up the moment Helena, the hospice nurse from St. Thomas was pulling her auburn hair up into a loose bun.

He lost his train of thought as Helena squinted against the bright sun overhead, not seeing him in the rear of the shop, allowing him to openly move his eyes over her.

Tig memorized her cheekbones that could cut glass and her full lips that pulled into a warm smile when Gemma came out of the office to meet her.

Clay snapped his fingers in front of Tig's face as he continued to stare at the spot where Helena had been standing until she followed Gemma into the office.

"I'll be back in a minute," Tig mumbled and walked like a man in a hypnotic trance to the office.

He pushed open the door and found Gemma passing the newly arrived female a heavily lightened coffee in a foam cup.

Gemma looked up and concealed her smirk as she watched Tig's eyes find Helena like a man stumbling through the desert towards a life-saving oasis.

"Tig, this is Helena Onassis. She's from St. Thomas."

Helena stood and switched her coffee to her left hand before extending her right hand towards him. "Hi, nice to meet you," she said cordially and offered a small smile.

Tig felt himself tip forward into the swirling depths of her jade green and fiery chestnut brown irises.

"Hey, you're a nurse," he said lamely as he wiped his grease-stained hand on the leg of his jeans before grasping her smaller hand in his. His rough skin was a stark contrast to her smooth flesh enclosed in his larger hand.

Helena tilted her head slightly at the timbre in his voice before she resumed sitting, nodding as she sipped the near-scalding French roast. "Yes, from St. Thomas's Palliative Care unit."

Gemma settled behind the desk and crossed her arms over her full, round breasts as she watched Tig struggle to find his words. "Thanks for being here," he finally said, ignoring Gemma's wide smile and her bright eyes that danced with suppressed amusement as she watched the man who had no boundaries and felt no fear of sticking his cock in any kind of mammal's wet orifice stumbled over his words.

Gemma decided to save Tig from drowning and rapped her knuckles against the desk before rising to her full height, enhanced by her boots that fit better since she had lapsed back into cutting her heart medication in half or accidentally forgetting to take it.

"Piney's out in the shop, I'll introduce you," Gemma said.

Tig's gratitude was clear to Gemma's eyes as she led Helena through the other door to the office that led to where Piney was sitting on a low stool watching Opie work on repairing a faulty shifter shaft seal.

Tig leaned against the door jamb as he watched Helena follow Gemma and heard their voices all mixing and overlapping as introductions were made. He couldn't tear himself from the doorway, he had been turned into a pillar of salt as he watched the goddess who had tumbled down from the clouds and landed in his line of sight.

Tig watched her shake Piney's hand again before Gemma walked her back to her dark grey compact SUV.

Helena glanced over at him and caught him staring. Tig felt his mitral valve flutter as it dilated under her sudden attention and she gave him a small smile before turning back to Gemma when she spoke. His heart pounded erratically in its opaque pericardial sac deep within his chest, long after she drove away.

"Take a breath Tigger," Gemma said with a chuckle as she squeezed past him in the doorway and answered the ringing phone.