Clay sighed as he got up from the table in the chapel. He walked to the doorway, seeing Tig on the couch, buried underneath a couple of croweaters. "Tig. Get your ass in here. Now."
He hid a smile behind his hand as Tig stood up, upending both the croweaters on his lap and stepping over them as he headed into the chapel. "Close the door Tig."
"Sure." Tig closed the door and sat down in his normal seat. "What's up?" He could see the manic light in his SAA's vivid blue eyes.
"Hap's about five minutes away with Marina Baroja's daughter Jules and her daughter Sophie." He studied Tig's reaction. Which at first was nothing.
Then Tig closed his eyes for a minute. When Tig opened them, he was a little surprised to see real grief in them. Which meant he knew. Knew and hadn't said anything in all the years Tig had been with SAMCRO. Tig looked at him. "Why?"
Clay sighed. "Guess Rip's son snatched her and the kid after killing the kid's dad. Wants what Rip left her in the safe deposit box he got for her here."
Tig looked at him. "You know what's in it?" He could have sworn that Tig wasn't asking out of curiosity, he was asking for verification.
Clay nodded. "A deed to a house here in her name and about a hundred grand in cash. Told me he told her this was a last resort kind of deal, if shit ever went bad she'd have a safe place to run. That's when he told me about her bein' your kid. Said she didn't know, all Marina told her was that she wanted a baby, not a man. That she hadn't told the kid shit about her real father."
Tig nodded. "That's what he wanted when he was here six months ago." Tig got up and started to pace a little, his hands in his curls. "Tying up loose ends before he died." He had a feeling there was a lot Tig wasn't saying. And he knew now was not the time to press the man on the matter.
He nodded. "Yeah. Since the club hadn't ended Dougie out of respect for Rip even though he was a yea vote, Rip was afraid the kid might come after her."
Tig nodded again. Then stopped pacing and looked at him. "Why's Hap drivin' them here?"
He looked at the table. This was the part he really wasn't looking forward to. "Guess Jax, Chibs, and Hap ran across them at the diner fifteen minutes east of here. Dougie was draggin' them across the parking lot. I guess she said something and Dougie went to backhand her, catching the kid instead. Split the kid's cheek, Jax has Tara comin' to stitch it up. Why Hap is drivin' them here, I have no idea. Jax just said Hap volunteered."
He watched as Tig began to seethe. Then Tig punched the wall. "Where is the son of a bitch?"
He put his hands up, placating his SAA. "Juice and Sack took the van so they could bring him back here. I want all croweaters and hang-arounds out of here. Gemma should be here in a little bit. She was at the hospital with Abel."
Tig nodded and headed out of the chapel, letting everyone who wasn't truly SAMCRO to get the fuck out. Now. He knew Tig was taking out some of his frustration on them, but since all he was doing was yelling and looking scary, he didn't stop the man.
Bobby sidled up to him. "What the fuck is going on?"
He glanced over at the club's Treasurer as the door opened. "Wait for the others to get back, by then I should have a better picture of the whole story. But the short version? Tig's about to meet his oldest daughter and granddaughter." Enjoying the look of shock on Bobby's face.
Chibs was first in the door, followed by a stunning black-haired beauty with Tig's curls and blue eyes. She was carrying a girl who looked to be two or three, who had the same dark curls as her mother but her eyes were dark. He could see Jules holding a piece of blood soaked cloth to the girl's cheek. Hap followed the two in.
Chibs led them over to a table. "Doc should be here any minute. But I'm gonna go get my kit and at least get the little one cleaned up a bit, yeah?"
Jules nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."
He walked over. "I'm Clay Morrow." He nodded at Tig. "That's Tig Trager." Then at Bobby. "Bobby Munson."
She nodded at them all. But he noticed her taking a special interest in Tig. "Jules Baroja." She continued to look at Tig. "You were at my Mom's funeral. And at the clubhouse afterwards."
Tig nodded, not saying a word. But then again what do you say?
The little girl looked up at Tig. "Papa showed me pictures."
Jules looked at her daughter. "What do you mean baby? Papa showed you pictures of Tig?" He nearly chuckled at the confusion in the young woman's voice.
The little girl nodded. "Papa say my other Papa." He wondered if this was part of what Tig meant when he referred to Rip 'tying up loose ends'. "Say it was a secret."
Before anyone could say anything else, Chibs had come back down with his bag. He pulled a chair close to the young woman and child. "Okay little lassie, let's take a look." When Jules pulled the cloth away, they could see that the split cheek had stopped bleeding profusely, but was still oozing blood.
He glanced over at Tig. The man had gone pale. But then again, he wasn't feeling the best himself. While bloody and broken bodies barely bothered him anymore, seeing a little kid like this made him a little sick.
He looked up as the clubhouse door opened. Tara came through it. Hap nodded at her and then to the table where Chibs was. Tara walked over. "I'm Dr. Knowles."
When Jules looked at her, Tara took a step back and then looked at the young woman again and then at Tig. He tried to shake his head at the good doctor to not say anything, but he was unsuccessful. "Jax didn't tell me I was stitching up Tig's granddaughter."
Jules looked at Tara. "Well, Jax didn't tell me I was Tig's daughter, so you're not the only one out of the loop." He was a little thankful for the tinge of dry humor in the young woman's voice.
Everyone looked at Hap when he barked out a short laugh. Hap shrugged at them when they all turned and looked at him. Well, all but Jules and Chibs who were focused on the little girl.
Tara went to the three of them and looked at the cheek. She looked at Jules. "I'll have to give her a few stitches."
Jules looked at her, blue eyes narrowing in assessment of the other woman. "Don't take this wrong, but what kind of doctor are you?"
Tara smiled. "Actually, I'm a pediatric surgeon." There was the little sneer to Tara's voice that was usually present around them.
Jules nodded. "Well, then get to it Doc. It's late and I'd like to find a hotel." He liked the fact that Jules seemed to take Tara with a grain of salt.
"You'll stay here." Everyone was surprised when Hap uttered those words.
"We'll see." The girl turned back towards Tara and her daughter. There was still a tinge of dry humor to her voice.
If looks could kill, Jules would be ice cold with the look Hap was giving her back. But she wasn't focusing on anything other than her kid.
Before Tara had gotten the little girl stitched up, Jax came in. He walked over to his step-son. "Juice and Sack back with the Nazi punk?"
Jax shook his head. "Not yet, they should be here soon. They're probably about ten minutes behind me." Jax lowered his voice. "How's Dad takin' it?" His step-son snickered.
He shrugged. "He's been fine. Jules didn't know until Tara pointed it out. Great way to learn someone is your Dad." He looked at Jax. "Speaking of crazy parents, your Mom should be here any minute." He gave his step-son a good-natured grin. "She was stoppin' by Ope and Donna's first. Hoping she had a few toddler clothes still around. And to bring Jules a few things, although I doubt any are gonna fit her being that tall and thin."
Jax nodded. "Where they gonna stay?"
He chuckled low. "According to Hap? Here."
His step-son gave him the same amazed look that they had all looked at Hap with when the NOMAD made the announcement. He shrugged. None of them had ever seen Hap give two shits about anyone who wasn't part of the Sons family other than his Mom and Aunt in Bakersfield. But then again, Hap knew that this girl was Tig's daughter, so maybe in the NOMAD's head, she was 'family', even if she didn't know it. Or it could be he just wanted to fuck her. One never knew with Hap.
His wife stepped into the clubhouse as Tara was putting a bandage over the stitches she had given the toddler. She came over and gave him a kiss. "Donna found a pair of pajamas and a couple pairs of pants and t-shirts for the little one. But I'm pretty positive I don't have a thing that'll fit her Mama. You didn't tell me she was a skinny amazon."
He shrugged. "Had no idea. We'll get that shit worked out in the morning."
When Tara was done, she packed up her kit and walked over to Jax. "I'm going to go home; I have an early shift at the hospital. You coming there later?"
His step-son looked at him, he gave the boy a shrug back. Jax looked at Tara. "No idea, gotta deal with the creep that did that to Sophie. I'll probably just crash here." His step-son gave the Doc a quick kiss on the cheek as she left. He had the feeling that the kid wasn't the only reason his step-son was looking forward to dealing with Dougie. He was pretty sure the Doc now had some serious competition.
He walked over to the table with Gemma. "Jules." The young woman turned around. "This is my wife Gemma."
Jules nodded. "Jules Baroja, and this is Sophie Perry."
Gem smiled at the two. "Got some clothes for Sophie. Just some pajamas and a couple pairs of pants and shirts. We can go get you two things in the morning, 'cause darlin' I'm positive nothin' I brought for you is gonna fit."
Jules nodded at his wife. "Thank you." The girl looked at the rest of them. "There are obviously a lot of things that we need to talk about, but I've just spent the last two and a half days in a car with a cranked up Nazi moron who has bad taste in music." She said the last part as if it were a mortal sin. "I would like to feed my daughter, get both of us bathed and sleep for about twelve hours. I don't care what you do to Dougie and all I can tell you is that he isn't the brains of the operation. I know he was giving someone updates on our progress."
He nodded. "We'll find you two a room. Why don't you both get cleaned up and then we'll get some food into you both. Then you can get some rest."
Before his wife could say or do anything, Hap grabbed the bag his wife had been holding and then tapped Jules on the shoulder. "Follow me." As he walked back to the dorms.
The girl shrugged like she was too tired to argue and got up with her daughter and followed Hap back to the dorms.
Gemma turned to him and the others. "What the fuck was that?"
The rest of them shrugged at his wife who was glaring at Tig. Tig looked at her. "What?"
His wife stalked over to his SAA. "Your kid and grandkid show up like this and you don't say shit to her? What the fuck is wrong with you? You're just gonna let Hap order her around?"
He was as surprised as everyone else when Tig didn't blow up at Gemma. Instead, Tig deflated. "What was I supposed to say Gem? Go to my room? You really think I want my kid and grandkid in there? Think I need a three-year-old askin' me about the handcuffs on the bed posts? God only knows what she'd find if she started to look." There was a slightly wounded tone to his SAA's voice.
That calmed his wife down and made sense all at the same time. "Good point."
Bobby looked at his wife. "C'mon Gem, let's go in the kitchen and see what we can find to make the girls." He nodded at Bobby gratefully as the man led his wife away.
He looked at the other three. "Why don't we go outside? Juice and Sack should be back by now. Once we get Dougie settled in and the girls down for the night, we'll come back and find out what the hell is going on." Then he sighed. "And I need to call Jake in Chicago and see what he wants to do."
The others nodded as they followed him out to the lot where Sack had just pulled in and Juice was parking Hap's bike.
A/N: Thanks for reading, I hope you guys are enjoying it! Thanks for all of the faves and follows, it means so much!