It was almost eight in the morning when Cade hit the outskirts of Lincoln, coming in from the southeast along Hwy 2. She looked over to her husband, who even while sleeping looked profoundly unhappy about what was going on. As much as she did not want to go back to her husband's hometown, she sure as hell wasn't going to let him go without her.
Even though her husband was shocked at what his mother had done, she wasn't. This was Gemma Teller-Morrow's way of having the last word. Granted, she hadn't really spent any real time with the woman, but she had cottoned that much about her.
Stopping at a red light, she lit a cigarette as her husband woke up. "We're in Lincoln?" He grabbed his shades from the dash. "You were supposed to wake me up a couple of hours ago." He didn't sound all that put out that she hadn't. He hadn't handed over driving duties until nearly five this morning.
"You were actually sleeping in Betty while she was moving for once." Cracking a window to let the smoke out, it was a fairly chilly late fall morning. "And if it will make you feel better, I'll let you drive most of the day."
Jax gave her a wry smile. "That's just so you can stuff your face with stuff from Stella's." She shrugged because well, he was right. He chuckled for a second. "You call Scott and Leah?"
When she shook her head, he pulled his phone out and made the call. "Hey, man."
She couldn't hear Scott on the other end, but her husband smiled. "Yeah, we're at…" He looked around. "Roughly Seventieth and Hwy Two." Then laughed a moment later. "Yeah man, we can stop and get coffee. Text Cade what you want. We'll be there in about half an hour." Disconnecting the call.
A moment later, her phone pinged with a text message. Knowing it was Scotty's coffee order, she didn't bother with it.
Jax reached over and squeezed her thigh. "You okay babe?" His tone too serious to be just asking about how tired she was.
Except, she wasn't sure if she was okay or not. She wanted to say yes, but her husband would see it for the lie it was. "I really don't know." She reached down and patted his hand. "I guess I'm not really sure how I feel about any of this."
"Me either." The tone of her husband's voice was a knife in her heart. Part of her wished that they had never had gotten that damned phone call. But she knows that if he'd have found out any other way it would probably be worse. He sighed. "I just don't want to get dragged into whatever shit is goin' on out there."
"That's why Sam and Dean are coming with us, sugar." At least one of them. She could think of a couple of others. As she was opening her mouth to go on, her husband's cel phone rang.
He grimaced a little as he answered it, putting it on speaker. "Bobby."
"Oh, so your cel isn't broken? You forget my number, boy?" Bobby sounded hung-over as fuck. And like a Jewish mother all at the same time. She was impressed.
She could also tell by the look on Jax's face that the phone call to Bobby had been something he was waiting to do when they got to Scott and Leah's and she was busy doin' something else. She wasn't upset, she understood that Bobby was the person her husband went to when he needed to sort things out in his head. She knew what Sam had told them last night was messing with her husband something fierce.
"Thought I'd wait 'til we got to Lincoln and I could get someplace where I could actually talk to you for more than three minutes without an interruption." Her husband gave her a sideways smirk. She flipped him off as she made a right turn onto 27th street. "I'll call you back in about half an hour or so."
"Hi Bobby! Bye Bobby!" In a sing-song voice from the driver's seat.
"Don't think I don't want to talk to you too, Missy." Bobby's Jewish mother mode still active. The man let out a huff. "I'll talk to you both in a little bit." Then hung up.
Grinning, she glanced over to her husband. "So, I'm an interruption, hmm?" Not being able to resist giving him shit.
"My favorite kind." Her husband grinned back at her, briefly. Then his expression went back to the mess of emotions it'd been since his damn cel phone rang the day before. Anger, grief, dread. "I really just didn't want to be stuck in the car and have to talk to Bobby."
She nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. Conversations with Bobby about serious things usually required pacing. Bobby wasn't one to sugar-coat, well, anything; and he made you think about shit you really didn't want to. "Yeah." She turned into the parking lot of the coffee shop. She was going to be doing her own pacing when she talked to Bobby.
She knew he was gonna harp on her once again about telling her husband what Chibs had done to her when Jax had taken her home back when they were both young enough to believe you could have it all.
At first, when she had told John and Dean, about six weeks after she and her husband had decided to throw their lot in with the hunters; while Jax was unconscious after a run in with a Wendigo; which was also her first experience with field surgery (she was a pro now, couldn't tell the difference between her stitches and a doctor's), her reasoning for not telling Jax had been she hadn't wanted her husband to go back and kill the man. And then be killed by the club. Now as the years had passed, it was less about her husband wanting to kill Chibs than it was her just really wanted to forget that Charming and its citizens even existed.
But now that they had to go back, she was going to have to tell him. She had wanted to wait until they met up with Sam and Dean, but she wasn't going to wait another minute. While Bobby wouldn't rat her out to Jax, she just wasn't up for arguing with him about it any longer.
Shutting the engine off, she turned to her husband. She wasn't worried that this would break them or anything like that, she just hated adding to his load. "Sugar, before we go in and get coffee, I have to tell you something."
"Okay." Her husband raising an eyebrow in question as he studied her face. "I'm not gonna like this, am I?"
"Probably not." She looked out into the parking lot. "But you've got to know before we get to Charming." She swallowed and licked her lips trying to figure out how to start. She looked back to Jax, who had relaxed back into the seat. He had a look on his face that told her she wasn't going to be telling him something he didn't already know. She was so punching Dean if he'd opened his big fat lips…
"Dean didn't tell me." Jax, reading her mind, reached over and grasped her hand, rubbing his thumb along her knuckles. "Remember right before Sammy graduated from high school, and John had broken two knuckles on his right hand?" Weird question, but yeah, she remembered.
"He'd hit them on a gravestone when he got thrown by a ghost somewhere in Oregon, if I remember right." She squeezed his hand. "Why?"
"There wasn't a gravestone. He broke them on Chibs." Her husband had a fierce smile on his face.
Her jaw dropped without her permission. "What?!"
With a slightly sad smile on his face, her husband reached over and closed her mouth. Then he covered it with his own, as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. She was once again, grateful for the bench seats in Betty. It made making out like teenagers so much easier.
When he had kissed the trepidation and her oxygen away, he pulled back and rested his forehead against hers. When they were both breathing normally, she looked into bright blue eyes looking back at her with such love, her throat went tight. "Tell me."
So, she did. She told him how Chibs had caught her alone. How the paneling of the hallway had been rough on her back. How at first Chibs had tried to sweet talk her, then how he had groped her when that hadn't worked; telling her she was a sweetbutt that just didn't know her place yet. That when she shoved the man away, he came back at her with a blade to face; asking her how she thought Jax would feel about her after she had a nice smile like his. That she had looked the bastard in the face while shaking like a leaf and told him that it wouldn't change one iota about how Jax felt about her because Jax loved all of her, not just what she had on the outside. She told him how SAMCRO's Bobby had unknowingly saved her by coming to look for Chibs for some reason.
Her husband held her through it; his grip tightening as she revealed each level of what had happened all those years ago, only relaxing when she had told him about standing her ground and her faith in him. When she finished, he kissed her breathless again. Breaking apart, her husband refused to let her go. "You should have told me." There was no anger; just hurt and a slight tinge of disappointment. "But John told me why you didn't…" A small, sad smile raced across his face before it disappeared. "So, I understand."
She blinked at him. "If you knew, why did you make me tell you?" She knew she sounded a little aggravated, but she really hadn't wanted to take that stroll down memory lane. She tried to pull away from him.
"All I knew is that Chibs had put hands on you in an inappropriate manner, to quote John." His grip tighter and his voice soft and serious in his ear. "Enough so that when by coincidence John and Bobby happened to run across Chibs and another SAMCRO member, that John felt the need to beat Chibs into the ER." He finally let go, and shrugged a little. "I needed the story from you, not some vague story from John. Or Bobby."
Again, with the jaw-dropping confessions. "What?!"
He held up his hands with a slight smirk on his face. "When we were at Bobby's and John told us how he had broken his knuckles, I noticed Bobby roll his eyes just a little, so I confronted Bobby. Bobby told me they beat down Chibs and my guess would be Tig from the description Bobby gave me, for the running me out on a rail shit…" Jax shook his head with a wry smile. "And even though it sounded plausible, I didn't believe him, so I asked John." The smile turned sad again. "I waited until John was pretty well in the bag before I asked. So, he rambled on for a while about the first time I was hurt bad on a hunt and that you were afraid I would do something stupid if I knew, so he did it for me, and how no one touches his daughter like that and gets away with it…" The sad smile widened just a fraction, "I think he realized what he said, because I was told not to tell you he'd done it so that you wouldn't get mad at him and Bobby." Her husband chuckled just a little. "Only person on the planet John ever worried about pissing off."
"Yeah, I seem to remember he had no problem with me being pissed at him when he told Sam not to come back when Sam went to Stanford." Watching Jax tense a little. None of them had good memories from that time. Her and John were pissed. John at Sam. She at John. Dean was devastated and drunk, and her poor husband getting it from every side.
Jax shrugged. "Yeah, but just a few months after you had your epic blow-up at him about it, he did start doing the same thing Dean was; sneaking out there and making sure Sam was okay and doing a little B & E to leave him some money. Plus, we're talking about John, the man makes Sam look not stubborn."
"True that." She leaned into her husband. "Sorry I didn't tell you sooner. At first it was just because I was so afraid that you'd go back and try to get some payback in my name and the club would kill you." She swallowed hard. For years that had been her worst nightmare. Not the monsters or demons or witches; but her husband dying at the hands of his family for her. "After a while, I just wanted to forget all about Charming and the people there."
She could feel her husband's arms tighten around her, his breath was warm on her neck. "I know, babe." There was the lightest brush of his lips on her neck. "Like I said before; I understand." He gave her another kiss, then let her go. "We should go get our coffee." He shot her a grin as the text notification on his phone went off. "Before Scotty goes into full-blown no coffee meltdown."
"Yeah." She grinned back as she grabbed her purse before getting out of Betty. Grabbing Jax's hand as the two of them started to cross the parking lot, she stopped him. "You know I'm not afraid of them anymore, right?" She needed him to know that; she didn't want him rolling into Charming with payback on his mind. He needed to focus on the present, not the past.
Turning to her, her husband wrapped her in another hug. "I know, babe." He pulled away and studied her for a minute, then sighed. "John got our pound of flesh." She held his eyes, relaxing when she finally received a minute eye-roll. "I won't pound him into the dirt unless I'm provoked."
Chuckling, she leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. "Thank you." Then started to walk towards the 'Lark. "Plus, I think if anyone should get to kick his ass, it's me." Laughing as she could feel Jax press up against her as they reached the coffee shop door.
"You know how much I love it when you go all badass bitch on someone." Lust coloring his laughter. The two of them had spent nearly every day of the last sixteen years together and that laugh could still make her want to drag her man to the nearest room with no one else in it and have her wicked way with him.
With a hand on the door handle, she turned and kissed him again. "Let's get the damn coffee so we can get to Scott and Leah's. I want to blow you boneless in the shower."
With an arched eyebrow and a twinkle in his eye, her husband opened the door to the coffee shop. "After you, babe." Another throaty laugh. "Let's get this show on the road."
/
As he was parking his bike along the curb in front of Tiggy's house, Chibs heard Hap's bike come around the corner. Stowing his helmet, he watched his SAA park.
Hap stepped over to him. "You know what this is about?" He liked that about Hap, the man cut through the shite to get right to the heart of things.
"Not really. Tiggy just said he got some intel on Jax Teller and wanted to tell us before we took it to the table." He shrugged.
Hap just nodded as the two of them walked to the house. By the time they reached the front step, Tig had the door open. "I got coffee." Then nodded back towards the kitchen. "Venus made some breakfast."
"Where is the lady of the house?" He heard Hap bite back a snicker. He really could care less about where Tiggy stuck his dick. He liked Venus, and she made Tig happy, so who was he to argue?
The solemnity of Tig's voice caught his ear. "She went to go get a key to Gem's so her and Lyla could go…" He closed his eyes to the look on Tig's face. The man had been close to Gem, and her betrayal of Tom and the club that had led to Tom putting a bullet in her, had rattled Tiggy. "She said Nero and Wendy were in no shape to do it."
"Aye." He and Hap followed Tig to the kitchen. Once the three of them were settled in with food and coffee, he looked to his VP. "What did ye find out?"
Tig sighed and pulled a micro-recorder out of his kutte. "I knew goin' in last night that I'd need to record this." Tiggy shook his head. "I still haven't decided if I believe Dale completely." Taking a drink of his coffee. "You guys listen, tell me what you think." Hitting play on the device.
As he listened to the tinny voices through the recorder, he stopped eating. He looked over the table to Tig, who was looking back at him, blue eyes full of a gravitas that Tig's eyes rarely held. Next to him, Hap continued to eat his breakfast, his facial expression only changing when Tiggy's friend mentioned that SAMCRO wasn't the only group paying attention to Jax Teller's return.
When the recording finished and Tig shut the thing off, his VP looked back to him. He wanted to laugh and tell Tiggy that the man had pulled a great fast one, but the look on Tig's face was as grim as the tone of his voice. "I hate to say it, but with the file of charges you got from Jarry; this makes sense." Then looked over to Hap. "And why the fuck don't you look as shocked about all of this as you fucking should be?"
"You see a lotta weird shit as a NOMAD, brotha." Hap shrugged. "We don't talk about it."
"Yer both fuckin' cracked." He scooted his chair back and lit a cigarette. "Yer pal's havin' ye on Tiggy." He scoffed. "Ghosts?! Vampires?! People who hunt them?! Sounds like a TV show to me, Tigger."
"No TV show, although Dad did do the whole 'Supernatural' book series. Although he left Jax and Cade out." There was a whole lot of snark in the voice behind him. "Never did understand that." He turned to see a short blonde man, who if he'd passed the bloke on the street wouldn't have thought twice of.
"Where did you come from? There's a reason I haven't fixed that screen door, so I can hear if someone comes in." Tig had a gun pointed at the intruder, as did Hap.
"Where did I come from?" The blonde grinned as he came into the kitchen, acting as if Tig had invited him in and was serving him tea. "Now there's a question for the ages." Waving a hand. "But I suppose you're being more literal rather than philosophical, so to answer your question; Nebraska."
"How did you get in my house?" Tiggy's voice was dangerous, but again, the blonde looked like he wasn't fussed about it in the least.
"I was in Nebraska, and then I was here." The blonde smiled. "I'm special that way."
Taking a drag of his smoke, he exhaled it towards the blonde. Even though he could feel tension creeping up his spine, he tried to look as relaxed as the blonde. "What are ye?"
Delight lit the blonde's eyes. "Oh, you are smarter than the average meatsuit aren't you?" The short man took a step back from the table and lifted his hands as if to say 'ta-da', as a set of wings; honest to fucking God, wings, appeared. "I'm Gabriel."
"Gabriel…What?!" It couldn't be. This was all a bad dream and he was gonna wake up in his bed. Simple as that. There was no way his lapsed Catholic arse was sitting in a kitchen with an Archangel of the Father himself.
"Oh, but you are Filip." He jumped as the blonde's voice was in his ear.
"Don't do that!" He stood up and walked over to stand by Tig and Hap. Even though he was at a level of freaked out he hadn't even believed existed, he forced himself to stay calm. "Ye just stay over there and we'll just have a little chat." He gestured towards the wings. "And those go away."
Gabriel barely twitched and the things disappeared. Tig leaned over. "Cracked, you say?"
"Not the time, Tiggy." He looked back over to the angel. "What do ye want? I'm assumin' this isn't a social call."
"No, you're quite right." Gabriel took a seat, gesturing at the recorder in the middle of the table. "Mostly I came just to quell any doubts you may have had about the information your friend here received." Gesturing at Tig. "I figured the wings would do the trick."
"And?" He was sure he wasn't gonna like what the angel had to say.
"And…nothing." Gabriel shrugged with a smart-arsed grin on his face. "I'm sure you'd like me to answer all sorts of questions for you." The angel shook his head with a chuckle. "But that would be too easy. It's going to be far more fun to watch your little band of bikers navigate this." Then the angel just... disappeared.
"We don't tell the others about this." Hap looked at him and Tig. "They won't fuckin' believe us."
"Can't say I'd blame 'em." Tig sat back down at the table and lit a smoke. "Fuck, I was here and I barely believe it."
The three of them sat drinking their coffee in silence. What in the hell did Jackie and his lass get pulled into? An archangel was just in Tig's kitchen. As much as he'd love to deny what he had just seen, he couldn't. He also was thinking about what Tig's friend had said, SAMCRO wasn't the only group interested in Jackie's return. Apparently at least one archangel was taking an interest. He looked over to Tig.
"Do ye think yer friend would know who else is interested in Jackie coming back?" He lit another smoke with an almost steady hand. "Other than us and at least one angel. Wonder why he's interested."
"Dale did say that Jax and the others had stopped the Apocalypse." Tig stubbed out his half-smoked cigarette. "And I'm pretty sure Dale told me everything he was going to." Tig shrugged. "But I'll try him again later today." Tig's tone suggesting it was already a lost cause.
He looked over to Hap. "I don't suppose there's anything you'd care to share about this whole clusterfuck, is there?"
"I've met some dudes like Tig's friend." Hap actually sounded respectful. "Wild and dangerous is a good description." Hap looked hard at both he and Tiggy. "We don't phase them at all. Far as they're concerned, we're a fucking sewing circle."
This just kept getting better and better. He was really starting to regret tracking Jackie down. He sighed. "Well, we've got about thirty-six hours before they're here." He stood up and made his way to the coffee maker. "And we have other shite to deal with in the meantime. We'll be on our best behavior and hopefully they will be too." Both Hap and Tiggy nodded their agreement. He smiled. "Good." Sitting back down, he took a drink of his coffee. "So, what all do we need to do today?"
The three of them spent the next hour figuring out the plan for the next few days. Making funeral arrangements and arrangements for the wake for Tom. Even though Tom had been stripped of his rank and patch before he'd taken off; SAMCRO would still honor him. The lad had been dealt a shite hand from a rigged deck as far as he was concerned, so fuck the other charters; Thomas Teller Sr. would be buried a Son.
A/N: First of all, no idea why the formatting is weird with this chapter. Tried to fix it to no avail. Secondly, thanks for reading, I hope you're enjoying it! Thanks to those that have followed, favorited, and reviewed! I truly appreciate it. I may repost this story to the SOA page so it doesn't get lost in the crossover limbo here at , because I really love this story and would like to see it reach a wider audience. -Kat