Gemma looked over to the passenger seat of her Caddy as they were heading to the Target in Lodi to go get Sophie her princess dress. Almost since she'd gotten in the car, Jules had been on her phone texting back and forth with someone. And whoever that someone was, they were aggravating the hell out of Jules. The girl was trying to hide it, but her mouth was the same hard line as Tig's when he was annoyed.
Looking in the rearview mirror, she could see Sophie in her car seat, her head going back and forth trying to take everything in. She also kept trying to twist around to get glimpses of Tig and Dennis Lyons who were riding behind them.
Jules shoved her phone back in her messenger bag like it had offended her. She raised an eyebrow to the young woman. "That phone do something to you?"
Jules shook her head of black curls, a look of pure aggravation on her face. "No." Then glanced back at Sophie. She waited for Jules to speak, knowing the she was trying to find a way to say what she wanted without having Sophie getting alerted to her high emotions.
Jules sighed. "I get that not everyone grieves the same way, and it's natural to lash out at people, but…" Jules looked out the window. "It's frustrating."
She nodded. She could understand that. "Give it a little time honey, they'll come around."
Jules shook her head. "No. They won't." She looked back at Sophie, who was making faces at Dennis, who had pulled alongside of them. She continued in a soft voice. "Will is having the memorial service day after tomorrow, and then will be back to New York a couple of days after that. He's just got to finish packing his things and the few things that Ray left to him and then he's giving the keys to Lu and walking the fuck away." Jules's mouth was a hard line. "Soph loses Ray and now Will takes a bunk without a second thought of her." Jules glanced back to Soph. "The only good thing is even if she called him Da Will, they weren't close. Kids make Will nervous."
"Then she won't miss him and will forget him soon, sweetheart." Thinking if things went the way they seemed to be, Sophie wouldn't be thinking of this Will person at all.
"Yeah." Jules sounded exhausted.
"My plan was to go to the hospital and visit Abel after shopping. If you want, I can drop you guys at the clubhouse before I go so you can get some rest."
Jules shook her head as she glanced back at Sophie who was all ears. "Nah, I'd like to meet the little dude." Then nodded towards Soph. "And I'm sure she would too." Jules laughed. "Loves babies, hates dolls." Jules smiled back at her daughter. "Gotta love it."
She nearly choked on her laughter. "Hates dolls? Is she just not into them or is it an actual phobia?" She turned into the Target parking lot.
Jules shrugged. "I'm not sure I'd call it a phobia, but there is intense dislike for them."
She nodded as she put the car in park and turned the car off. Stepping out of the car and looking at Jules over the roof after she grabbed Sophie, she grinned at the young woman. "You know, Tig has a doll phobia." She looked over to Tig and Dennis as they were getting off their bikes and stowing their helmets. "Like an intense phobia about them."
Tig rolled his eyes at her. "Telling them about my doll phobia? Really Gem?" As Dennis started to howl with laughter.
Jules looked at him with a wide smile. "Don't feel bad, you're in good company." She bounced Sophie in her arms. "Miss Thing hates 'em too."
Tig looked over to her with a smug look as he took Sophie from Jules arms. "See, it's not weird at all."
Jules looked at her and then back to Tig, the wide smile still on her face. "Oh, no. It's weird, no doubt. They're inanimate objects." She rolled her eyes. "They can't do a thing to you."
Dennis snickered and gave his sister a playful shove on the shoulder. "Says the woman who has a phobia about clowns."
Jules shoved him right back. "John Wayne Gacy was a clown." Jules flipped her brother off. "Case closed. Clowns are fucking evil."
She stood there for a minute as Dennis laughed, looking at Tig with Jules and Sophie. She was amazed at how much both girls took after Tig. Neither of the twins really did at all. And for the first time in a very long while, Tig looked almost sane. And Jules looked ready to drop. Sophie just looked impatient.
Smiling at the three of them. "Let's get going." Turning and walking towards the store. Dennis caught up with her not far from the entry.
"We were followed here." His voice low so Jules couldn't hear him. She glanced back at Tig, who gave her a very slight nod. "White dudes, in an old Cutlass." Dennis put a hand on her lower back to keep her moving. "They just pulled into the lot."
As the automatic doors opened, she looked back at Tig with his kid and grand-kid. Behind him she could see the Cutlass looking for a parking spot. Turning back to Dennis in a voice just as low. "Shouldn't we be calling Clay and the others?"
Dennis grabbed a cart and pushed it towards her. "Texted Pop. He said to go on about our business and keep our eyes open. This is probably intel gathering." Then grinned. "But was sending Chibs and Bobby our way."
Nodding she looked back at the Trager trio, smiling at Sophie. "You wanna ride in the cart darlin'?" Thinking that Tig should have both hands free.
Sophie nodded enthusiastically. "To get my princess dress?"
Jules started to chuckle as she grabbed her daughter from Tig's arms and placed her in the cart. "We are actually at the store and you still feel like ya gotta make sure, huh?" Jules gently grabbed her daughter's face in her hands and gave her big, exaggerated kisses on each cheek, making Sophie giggle. "Yes, Miss Thing; the time to get your princess dress has arrived." Then started pushing the cart into the heart of the store, Tig on their heels.
She hung back with Dennis Lyons, who was taking pictures of the two guys in the Cutlass. He looked over to her after a minute. "Sent those to Pop. He'll show them to Clay." The young man looked over to her. "You recognize them?"
"No." She studied them a little more. "They aren't Nords. Too clean cut for Darby and his crew." She looked over to see that Dennis was still fiddling with his phone. "What are you doing?"
Dennis barely glanced up. "How much do you know about computers?"
"I can barely get the one I have to do what I want, so next to nothin' darlin'." Letting out a sarcastic chuckle.
Dennis spared her a grin. "I can help with that." Then shook his head. "But, not right now and it's too complicated to really explain, but the short of it is I'm finding out who those dudes are."
She looked at the phone in his hand. "You can do that?" She scoffed. "From that phone."
Dennis looked over to her and let all façade drop and the level of intelligence in the young man's eyes was startling. "Yeah." He grinned. "I can." The man looked up and scoured the immediate vicinity for his sister and niece. Laying eyes on them, he relaxed a fraction and glanced back at her. "Spent seven years at M.I.T. got Master's in Computer and Electrical Engineering. I can make a computer do whatever the hell I want it to." Then grinned. "Except two things. Laundry and make my sister shut the hell up when I'm hungover. Other than that, pretty much anything. And right now, I'm telling mine to find out who those fuckers are."
She patted him on the shoulder. For a computer nerd, he was better than Juice. That boy was so awkward sometimes it was painful. "You know your sister doesn't shut up because she knows you're hung the fuck over and it amuses her, right?"
Dennis grinned again. "Of course." He chuckled. "It's in the sibling handbook. There's a whole chapter on drunk/hungover sibling etiquette." He made a face at his sister's back. "Too bad she doesn't really get drunk very often and if she does, there's no hangover to torture her through. Sucks balls." The young man shrugged with a smile. "Oh well, she usually makes me a badass breakfast, so I suppose it's forgivable."
She shook her head. Dennis, Jules and Sophie seemed to be quite the trio. "Good to know I can be a total bitch to you as long as I keep you fed."
Dennis's grin became wider. "Now, you're getting it." He subtly urged her to catch up with the others when they both noticed the guys from the Cutlass come in. Dennis leaned into her. "Why don't you go push the cart for a minute so I can fill Jules and Tig in."
She nodded as Dennis poked his sister in the back and jerked his head. Jules frowned at him for a second and the two of them had some sort of totally non-verbal conversation. Jules looked at Sophie. "Since this is you and Gemma's shopping date, I'm gonna let her push the cart. Okay honey?" Sophie nodded, not really caring who was pushing the cart so long as she got her dress.
When she took over, dark eyes looked up at her. "I gotta go potty." She glanced over to Tig, Jules, and Dennis who were talking.
She sighed. With God only knows who in the damn store already, she didn't want to take off without at least one of the guys with her and Sophie. She caught Jules's eye and nodded down towards Sophie and mouthed 'potty'.
Jules said something because Dennis turned and walked over. "Come on, I'll walk with you and Gemma to the bathrooms." Taking the cart and taking off. She looked back at Jules, who looked anything but okay.
"You okay, honey?"
Jules shook her head. "Not particularly, but that's been the case for days now, so I'm acclimating."
Tig looked like he'd like to kill any and everything making his kid's life suck at the moment. "Go with Sophie and Dennis, Gem. I'll stay with Jules." Giving her a look that was more SAMCRO SAA than she was comfortable with considering the situation.
She nodded and headed off towards the restrooms, catching up with Dennis and Sophie. She lifted Sophie out of the cart. "C'mon sweetheart, let's get you taken care of." Taking the toddler into the restroom.
After Sophie was done going potty and she was helping the little girl wash her hands, Sophie looked at her in the mirror. "Mommy kissed Jax."
She tried suppressing a smile, but it was a total failure. "Really?"
Sophie nodded while she was rinsing her hands off. "Unca Manny says Mommy and Jax wike each ofer."
"I think Uncle Manny is right." She grabbed a couple of paper towels and was drying Sophie's hands. "What do you think about that?" Pretty sure she already knew the answer.
Sophie smiled at her. "I wike Mommy and Jax too." Damn, well, close enough.
"Yeah, me too." She threw the paper towels away and picked the little girl up. "Let's go get your dress."
Leaving the restroom, she sat Sophie back in the cart as she glanced over to Dennis who was checking his phone. Looking back up at the two of them, he gave a slight smirk. "Jules is in the shampoo aisle." He shrugged. "We figured she could get things like that out here instead of dragging bottles of crap halfway across the country."
Seemed to make sense to her. She steered the cart towards the health and beauty section. As they made their way over, she looked over to Dennis with a smirk of her own. "So, I've been told Mommy kissed Jax because they like each other."
Dennis rolled his eyes and ruffled his niece's hair. "Blabbermouth." Sophie seemed to know what he meant because she stuck her tongue out at him. Dennis grinned at his niece and then turned to her.
"Think we're all aware of the little mating dance going on between my sister and your son." Wow, she'd not heard the man speak without a smirk in his voice. "As long as he treats them right, I'm fine with it." The smirk was back. "He doesn't, next thing he knows he's a transvestite hooker on the web. Or he gets put in small room with Butch and Eric." Dennis mock shuddered. "I know which one I'd go with."
She smirked right back. "Yeah, but you'd look better in a dress than my son." She lost the smirk, fast. "I've already warned him."
Dennis nodded, looking pleased. "Thought you might." Dennis looked ready to say something, but then they were to the shampoo aisle and his sister was in earshot, so he shut his mouth.
Jules looked over from the wall of shampoos for a second before grabbing a couple of bottles. "We'll have to go to the baby and toddler section to get hers." Nodding at Sophie as she set the two bottles she had grabbed along with what looked to be a bottle of body wash.
"The toy section is on the way, we'll get her dress and then grab the other stuff and go." Tig looked at his kid, serious as all hell. "Get back to Charming." Tig was eyeing the two guys from the Cutlass who seemed content just to shadow them.
She knew Tig wouldn't relax until they were back in Charming where SAMCRO ruled the roost. Seemed like Jules had figured that out too, because she nodded immediately. "Sounds like a plan." Turning and heading towards the toys.
Luckily there were princess dresses in the toy department. She had to admit it was pretty nice to see Sophie's eyes light up at all of the choices. The little girl looked at her Mommy, but Jules shook her head with a smile. "This is all you and Gemma, Miss Thing. The rest of us are along for the ride."
She started sifting through the rack, keeping an eye on Sophie's face. When she came to one that was a swirl of pinks and purples, with pink gossamer wings that were separate from the dress, Sophie's dark eyes got huge and her little mouth turned into a perfect 'o'. Bingo, they had a princess dress. She looked at the tag, the dress barely made a dent in what Jackson had given her.
She grabbed the dress and put it in the cart, to Sophie's delight. Then looked over to Jules and Dennis. "Did you bring her anything other than her dog and her computer?"
Dennis shook his head. "No, had to think of space." What she thought. She looked down at Sophie with a smile.
"Then we should probably get you some colors and coloring books too then, huh?" Smiling as Sophie squeaked a little.
"Then Other Papa can color wif me!" She looked over to Tig, trying to not laugh at the idea of the SAA sitting down and coloring with the little girl.
But Tig just kissed Sophie's forehead. "You bet, Baby Doll." Then looked at her. "You and Dennis help Soph pick out her colors and coloring books. I'll go with Jules to get the other things. We'll meet up front." Tig leaned into her. "I'm not fuckin' jokin' about gettin' back to Charming as soon as we fuckin' can." Tig's breath was hot on her neck. "They ain't interested in anything other than Jules. They'll leave you guys alone." Tig stood back up and grinned at his grand-daughter. "I can't wait to see what you pick out for us to color." Then turned to his daughter. "Let's go get that other stuff."
As the two of them walked off, she saw the guys from the Cutlass stay on Jules and Tig's trail. She turned to Dennis who was watching with jaw clenched. She put a reassuring hand on the young man's arm. "Hey." Dennis looked at her. "Nobody will even get close with Tig there with her."
Dennis took a deep breath and nodded, looking at his niece. "Let's go get you colors and all that fun stuff, Baby Princess." Taking control of the cart and looking around for the aisle that had what they were looking for.
After grabbing crayons, markers, glue, glitter, paper and coloring books, they made their way to the check-out stands, Jules and Tig waiting for them.
Jules separated out her purchases from what she was buying Sophie and set them on the conveyor belt. Then looking over at the gift cards, grabbed two one-hundred-dollar cards, throwing them on top of the shampoos, conditioners, and such.
When the young woman caught the confused look on her face, she showed her the 'thank you' that was printed on each card. "Thought I should do something for the Doc and Opie and his wife." The girl shrugged. "They did something for someone they didn't even know, that deserves a thank-you."
She liked Jules style. "You aren't wrong, sweetheart." She nodded at the cards. "Tara will probably be at the hospital when we get there." And wasn't that a show she was looking forward to. "And we're havin' everybody to the house tonight for a family dinner; you can give Ope and Donna theirs then." She smiled at both of Jake's kids. "Jake is stayin' at our place." She had made the offer to the President of the Satan's Sons, mostly to give Jax and Jules some space from the man, but also so Tig could spend some time with his kid and not have Jake Lyons glare daggers at him.
Jules nodded, looking like she was losing what little energy she had. "Cool." The girl gave Jules her total and the girl swiped her bank card. "Can I get cash back?" The cashier nodded.
"Up to a hundred dollars, ma'am." The cashier looked at Tig and Dennis a little nervously.
Jules nodded. "Then let's do that." Punching buttons on the pin pad and finishing up. She watched the girl shove the hundred in twenties she had been given into her wallet along with her card, sticking the wallet back in her bag. Jules looked over to her and Tig. "I understand the rush, but at some point, I need to stop at a grocery store." She looked down at Sophie. "I'm pretty sure the clubhouse pantry isn't really full of stuff for toddlers."
She shook her head. "We can stop at the market after the hospital." Dennis was laying the rest of the stuff from the cart onto the belt. After the princess dress was scanned, she looked at the cashier. "Can she hold onto it?" Nodding at Sophie, who was bouncing up and down in the cart.
Cashier shrugged like she could care less what they did with the dress. So, Dennis handed it to Sophie sans wings. Sophie looked at the wings in his hands.
Dennis shook his head. "You can have these later." Then smiled gently at her. "You don't want to break them before you can surprise Jax and Unca Red, do you?"
Sophie shook her head solemnly. "No, Unca Manny."
Dennis smiled at her again. "Then how 'bout if I carry them to the car for you?" As she was paying the cashier. Even with everything she had bought Sophie, she still had over a third of the money Jackson had given her left. She stuck it in her wallet, thinking since the girls were gonna be in Charming for a while, she'd have other opportunities to spend it on the girl.
As they were checking out, she noticed that the guys in the Cutlass had left the store when they got to the check-outs. Hopefully they'd be gone from the parking lot too, going back and telling who the fuck ever that coming after Jules was a lost cause and they'd just slink back into the woodwork.
When they got outside, Bobby and Chibs were leaning on their bikes, smoking. Bobby smiling at Sophie. "Looks like ya got your princess dress, sweetheart."
"I gonna be a fairy princess!" Sophie was all smiles as she pointed to the detachable wings in Dennis's hands.
Chibs and Bobby chuckled at the small girl. Chibs ruffling her curls. "That ye are lassie."
"We gonna go see da baby and then I gonna 'prise Jax and Unca Red wif my dress!" Sophie shaking the dress at the two of them as Jules was trying to wrangle her into the back of the Caddy.
Bobby stuck his head into the driver's side of the Caddy to grin at Sophie. "I'm sure they'll love it sweetie." Then in a lower voice only she could hear. "Cutlass sped off, we should be fine getting back."
She felt tension she didn't even realize she had leave her body. She nodded to Bobby. "Good." Then glanced over at Jules who was saying something to Dennis they couldn't hear. "She doesn't need any more drama today."
Bobby quirked an eyebrow. "And you're taking her to see Abel?" He gave her a wry smile. "Considering that's where Jax was headed too? Think there's more drama ahead Gem."
She patted the hand Bobby had resting on her open window. "Yeah, but that's going to be entertaining drama."
Bobby shook his head. "You're a menace, Gem." The man was smiling a little. "But it should be quite the show."
She nodded as Jules got into the car. "I'll fill you in later." Then looked over to Jules and Sophie. "You ready to go to St. Thomas?"
Jules nodded. "Yeah." She looked back to Sophie who was nearly hugging her dress. "You can put your princess dress on before we go in. It can go over your clothes." She put up a hand as soon as Sophie went to open her mouth. "Only if you have quiet time on the way back." Jules rubbed her neck. "Mommy's head hurts."
She smiled at the young woman as she watched Sophie close her mouth in the rearview mirror. "You need aspirin darlin'?"
Jules shook her head. "No, took some before we left." She stifled a yawn. "I need some sleep."
Patting the girl's leg, she smiled again. "Try to catch a cat nap in the car on the way back. I'll wake you when we get there."
Jules nodded and laid her head back and closed her eyes. "Yeah, wake me when we get there."
Pulling out of the parking lot, Tig and Dennis leading, Bobby and Chibs following; she headed for Charming. She wasn't necessarily proud of it, but she was looking forward to seeing the look on Tara's face when she realizes she's been replaced.