In the chaos of all the back-slapping and congratulations that were going on in the clubhouse, Jax felt Clay grab his shoulder. "Can I talk to you in the chapel for a second, son?"
He nodded and gave both Jules and Sophie quick kisses before following Clay into the chapel. After Clay closed the door, he turned to his step-father. "What'd ya need?"
Clay just grinned. "Thought you might like a minute to breathe." The grin stayed in place. "Daddy."
He sat down in his chair at the table, and lit a cigarette. He shrugged. "I'm good." And he was. He felt perfectly at ease with the spur-of-the-moment life decision he just made.
Clay raised an eyebrow. "You do realize this makes Tig your father-in-law on some levels, right?"
He paused for a second, that really hadn't entered his head. Then shrugged again, this time with a grin. "I think Jules and Soph can keep him in line."
Clay laughed as he lit a cigar. "True." His step-father grew serious. "I'm happy for you, son." Clay glanced towards the clubhouse beyond the closed doors of the chapel. "And if it means anything, I think you made the right choice."
"Thanks." His cell phone went off in his pocket. Pulling it out, he grinned at Clay. "Guess the biker grapevine is alive and well." As he flipped his phone open. "Hey, Ope." Seeing Clay's grin out of the corner of his eye.
Clay stood up and clapped him on the shoulder agian and wandered back out to what was turning into a breakfast celebration.
"So, a few minutes ago, my phone rings with Chibs calling, and Pop is calling the house phone, and Donna and I find out that you basically gained a wife and daughter in a five minute span." Ope's laughter was coloring every fucking word out of his friend's mouth. "Thought I should call and make sure those two weren't already drunk this morning."
"I don't think they are." He replied. "Granted, with Piney, you never know. But, Chibs seemed pretty sober this morning."
"Seriously, that's the answer you're givin' me." Ope's voice droll. "Never fucking mind. Me and Donna will be there in a few." Then his best friend laughed. "Chibs and Pop have already been informed no toasts until we get there. See you soon." Ope hung up on him.
He sat his phone on the table, as the weight of what he had just done hit him. He still felt good about his decision, and was still sure that he was doing the right thing; it's just the enormity of it was coming into focus.
Jules and Sophie were going to uproot their entire lives to be here with him and Abel, and that was going to entail some shit. He wasn't sure how they would manage to get all of this taken care of; getting their stuff out here, getting them settled into the house, finding out what Jules wanted to do since he knew she had been trying to go back to school for something, and probably other stuff that wasn't even on his radar yet.
The chapel door opened and Eric Lyons slipped in, closing it behind him. He glanced up at his counterpart. "Yeah?"
Eric grinned. "Finally realized you bit off a whole lot more than you thought you did?"
"No, more like trying to figure out all of the logistics of all of this." He grinned back. "I already know they're a handful."
Eric sat across from him. "They can be." The smile went away and he could see the Marine peeking out. "Just sayin' this once. You hurt them, you're dead. And it will be slow, painful, and you will beg to die." There was no joke in Eric's voice or on his face. Eric was deadly serious.
"I know. Your Dad already warned me."
"And you'll probably get it from Dennis, and eventually Butch, too." Eric smirked at him.
He shrugged. "I'd almost be disappointed if I didn't." He was still thinking of all the things that needed to be done to fully move the girls out here, and how it would actually happen. Things around SAMCRO were too screwy right now for him to be able to leave for any period of time; and with Abel comin' home soon, his Mom wouldn't be able to leave either.
He blinked when fingers snapped in front of his face. He looked back at Eric. "Sorry, man."
Eric waved it off. "No worries." Then, Eric pulled out his cell phone, and held it up to him. "I'm going to set this thing to vibrate." Eric grinned brightly. "It's been on silent since Soph asked if she could ask you a question." Eric thumbed at the side of it, and a steady vibration came from the thing.
He simply raised an eyebrow at Eric Lyons.
Eric grinned. "Dennis texted the video of all this to Lu. Lu has already disseminated it to, well, nearly everyone who matters." Eric shook the phone. "This is constantly going off right now because there are about ten people making arrangements to get most of the girls' stuff out here."
Eric stood up and started to pace a little while looking at his phone. After a minute, Eric shook his head with a laugh, thumbed the side, and the phone went silent again. Eric leaned against the closed door of the chapel. "Jules will have to come back to officially withdraw from school and some other legal stuff, but that can wait a little while and it would only be for a few days." The taller man sighed with amusement. "Dude, the Lyons virtual coffee klatch has been making plans for the last twelve hours. Den has been emailing back and forth with Mercy and Lu since about four this morning." Eric's amusement went away. "You guys have serious shit to deal with. Let us handle moving the girls. You focus on getting things around SAMCRO settled back down."
He shoved his chair back and stood up. He put a hand out. "Sounds like a plan, brother."
Eric grinned as he returned the handshake. "Good." Eric jerked his head back towards the rising noise of the clubhouse. Apparently Opie and Donna had arrived. "Because I think people are gonna start lookin' for you soon. Don't want them to think you ran off already."
He grinned back. "Not a chance. They're stuck with me."
/
When Clay took Jax to the chapel, Gemma took advantage, making her way over to Jules and Sophie. Getting close, she saw Dennis hand off a phone to Jules with a grin a mile wide on his face.
"Don't worry sis, it's all saved for posterity and already sent to Lu." Dennis chuckled as Jules' phone started to vibrate.
"Great." Jules groaned, with a small laugh. "Thanks, Manny."
Dennis laughed as he got up from his chair. "Oh, it was my pleasure." He flicked his sister's ear. "I'm gonna go warn Pop."
"Yeah, okay." Jules also handed off her mug to Dennis. "Can you get me some more coffee, please?" Then Jules looked up at her, her smile not fading, but her eyes far more serious. "And please, never do that again." Jules sighed as Sophie jumped down to run over to Tig. "It worked out, but what if it hadn't?" Jules shook her head. "If Jax..."
She sat down at the table with the young woman who was basically her daughter-in-law, now. "If I wasn't 99.9 percent sure of what Jax's answer was going to be, I wouldn't have let that happen." She looked over to where Jake was huddled with his middle son and their cell phones and chuckled just a little. "And it was actually Jake who told her to ask." She smirked at the young woman. "I just agreed."
Jules shook her head with a laugh. "Why do you think Dennis can drive him nuts in no time flat? Pop had the Marines tamp those instincts down. Dennis did not." Jules laughed again, while pulling her own phone out, sighing at it before she started to type away. At least it was a good-natured sigh.
"Everything alright, sweetheart?" She looked over to Bobby, who had joined them bearing Jules's coffee.
Jules sat her phone down. "Yeah." Rolling her eyes just a little. "Dennis has managed to already text the video of this to Lu." Jules laughed. "Lu has sent it to the rest of the clan; so everyone is already making plans and well, this is gonna go on for a bit. I was just texting that for the moment, Dennis was the one to bother with logistics."
"You sure you want him in charge, sweetheart?" She laughed until she noticed Jules bristle a little. "I'm just joking, darlin'." She nodded her head towards Dennis and Jake. "You two are their baby girls. They'd move heaven and earth for the both of you."
Bobby nodded his agreement as Jules relaxed and smiled. "Yeah. I'd do the same for them."
Jules turned to her. "So, me and Sophie are still going to go do something this morning. She might be a little too wired for yoga, so we might just go run around at the park or something. But later, we should probably go over to Jax's and take a look at..."
She smiled, she knew exactly what Jules meant. "There is a room we can fix up for Sophie. It's a small bedroom, so it wouldn't take long to do something basic with it. And sweetheart, you do whatever you want." She looked over her shoulder as Opie and Donna came into the clubhouse, then back to Jules. "Jax won't give a rat's ass about what's in the house or not." She gave the girl a little smirk. "And I'd wager you have better taste than either my son or his crank whore ex-wife."
Bobby snorted as he got up. "Ever the diplomat, Gemma." Bobby leaned over and gave Jules a quick peck to the top of her head. "Welcome to the SAMCRO family, sweetheart."
"Thanks." Jules patted Bobby's arm as he passed by on his way over to where Clay and Tig were talking. Sophie was trundling across the clubhouse back to her Mama.
Jules looked back to her, as she scooped her daughter up and plopped her down on her lap. "Jax said something about a rental car?"
"I'll get a car over here after breakfast." She nodded to Donna as she joined her, Jules and Sophie. "Any plans other than trying to run off some energy out of Sophie? And heading over to Jax's after lunch?"
Jules looked over to Donna. "Hey, do you have anything going on until your kids get out of school?"
Donna shook her head. "Just the boring daily stuff. Why?"
Jules grinned. "You know Charming." Her dark curls shaking some as she chuckled. "And I obviously don't." Jules' smile grew even wider as Jax and Opie were coming towards the table.
Sophie jumped off Jules' lap with a squeal, "Daddy!" Running towards Jax and Opie, who was still looking a little bemused at the entirety of the situation.
Jules turned back to Donna. "Thought maybe you could show me and Miss Thing around, maybe do the mani-pedi thing, get her to sit still for more than a minute." Jules laughed.
Jake, who was closer to the table than Jax and Opie, leaned over and pulled a few hundred-dollar bills out of his money clip and threw them on the table in front of Jules. "That should cover you girls..." Indicating Jules, Sophie, and Donna in his tone. "For the morning and lunch." His tone also indicating that he wanted the girls gone from the clubhouse for that time.
She was surprised when Donna didn't throw a fit about 'charity', like she did just a month or so ago like Donna had when she tried to help with groceries. Instead, Donna just smiled at Jake. "Thanks."
She'd have to ask Jules what she said to Donna the night before, because, damn, it was like the five years Opie did hadn't happened, and Donna was back to the way she had been before, part of the family.
"You're welcome." Jake patted Jules shoulder.
Jules grinned up at him. "Yeah, thanks Pop! It's always more fun to spend your money than my own." She looked down at the bills. "And this is a nice start to repay me after this morning's stunt." Giving Jake a bit of a look.
Jake just grinned. "That boy did everything but explicitly ask my permission yesterday afternoon." Jake squeezed his daughter's shoulder. "I'd say it worked out rather well for you, Princess. Baby Princess, too."
Jules looked over to where Jax was holding Sophie while talking with Ope and Chibs. "It did." Grinning back at her dad.
Jake looked over to her. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure." She nodded to both girls as she got up from the table and led Jake outside. There were a few people out at the picnic tables, so she took him into her office.
Turning around to face him, she gave him a small smile. "What do you need?"
"You're going to take the girls over to Jax's later?" Jake's eyes were serious.
"Jules wants to figure out what she wants to have brought out and what would be put in storage." She replied. "And I have shit to do around here that will keep me busy until after lunch. Why?"
"I would really like them out of the clubhouse in the next day or two." Jake grinned. "Let the guys get back to normal. Kind of hard to keep a clubhouse PG for any extended period of time." Jake chuckled.
She laughed along with him. "You aren't wrong there, darlin'." She sighed. "I was plannin' on doing something with the room that'll be Sophie's. It's pretty plain right now."
Jake nodded. "After this morning, I think me and the boys will be able to help. Get some paint up." Jake shrugged. "The rest will be taken care of when everyone from home gets here."
"Everyone?" How many people did it take to move some stuff for two people? "How many people should I be expecting?"
Jake shrugged, with a slightly embarrassed smile. "No idea, yet." The man rolled his eyes, just the slightest. "My father, sister, and brother-in-law are on their way to Chicago as we speak. I know they'll be coming with Lu, my other sister Mercy, and Mercy's partner, Jamie." Jake sighed again. "And probably a few of my guys." This time the eye roll was heavy. "Last I knew, they were resorting to drawing straws."
She laughed. "Losers have to come help?"
"No, the winners." Jake smirked back. Then the smirk died, and was replaced by a hardness she hadn't seen from Jake Lyons. She suddenly understood how the Satan Son's could get away with not having a one-percent patch and still be feared. "My girls are beloved by my club, and our family. They all want to make sure that they're in the right hands." His blue eyes bored into hers. "You understand?"
She smiled placidly. "I do." If she were in Lyons' family shoes, she would absolutely be doing the same goddamned thing.
Jake relaxed. "Good. Like I said, unless Clay needs our help, which I don't think he will after Den tells us what he's found out, me and the boys can help with any work that has to be done at Jax's to get it ready."
"That should certainly speed things up." She was doing some calculating in her head. "The walls are plain white already, so we can just paint over. If we got the first coat up by the end of the day..." She did some quick math in her head. "We could have the girls in Jax's within two, three days at the outside."
"Let's shoot for two." Jake nodded towards the clubhouse. "We should get back. I don't know about you, but I could use some more coffee and something to eat."
"Neither could hurt, darlin'." She chuckled as she followed Jake back to the clubhouse.
/
After breakfast, Tig huddled with Gemma for a minute about the rental Gemma was getting for Jules and Soph. He'd made the offer to pay for it, but Gem informed him that Jax was footing the bill.
As much as he'd like to go tell Jax that he'd take care of it, he understood where Jax was comin' from. He was pretty sure that Sophie had just beaten Jax to the punch when it came to the Daddy question.
He filed away Jules' delight at the silver, sporty Caddy, not dissimilar to the one Gem drove. There probably wouldn't be too much of a price difference after he traded the Beemer in. He made a note to have Gem ask the dealership about it.
Going into the chapel, he lit a smoke, nodding at the others as he took his seat. Once everyone was seated, Clay nodded towards Jake. "Jake, you said Dennis had some intel on the guys who were following the girls in Lodi?"
Jake nodded at Dennis. "This is his show. Den, what did you find out?"
Dennis rolled his eyes. "More fucking Nazi's is what I found." Dennis turned to Jake. "Seriously, how did Rip not know Cheryl was..."
He laughed inwardly as Eric reached around his father to cuff his brother on the back of the head. "Focus, fuckwit." SAMCRO laughed, Jake Lyons rolled his eyes.
Dennis flipped his brother off, but continued. "These dudes aren't affiliated with a 'gang', so to speak." Another eye-roll. "They're linked to an organization called LOAN, or League of American Nationalists." A look of distaste crossed the young man's face. "As long as you're a white American Nationalist."
The look of distaste didn't surprise him. It was another way the Satan's Sons had always been a little different than the rest of the MC world. Their club had never had any race limits, they had been inclusive from jump street.
Dennis passed a sheet of paper around. "This is their leader, Ethan Zobelle." He looked at the paper and saw a middle-aged man in a suit.
"He's also just purchased property here in Charming. Looks like he's opening a cigar shop." Dennis looked at Clay, who was puffing on one of his stogies. Clay just raised an amused eyebrow.
"I've looked into other cities where Zobelle has previously set up shop." Dennis gave the SAMCRO guys a grim look. "And strange enough, every single city had an MC that was busted right before or right after Zobelle leaves town."
"Who's he informing to?" He nodded his head at Jax's question. Jax might be a little soft, but he wasn't stupid.
Dennis gave Jax a grim smile. "FBI." The grim smile vanished. "Charming will be the fifth town he's been in."
"What have the other MC's been busted for?" Clay had set his cigar down.
"Drugs." Dennis replied, then put up a hand to forestall anything further. "And I know you guys aren't into that, but how far would you go to keep that shit out of Charming?" Dennis Lyons was finally showing why he could get away with acting like he did ninety percent of the time and still be respected. "And this will put you even more at odds with the Mayan's. And the Nords. You guys will go down first because you'll be on the offensive trying to protect your town. Then the Mayan's and Nords after." Dennis shrugged. "At least that's my guess."
His guess was probably pretty accurate. Zobelle would rattle SAMCRO's cage before anyone else's because you always take out the strongest opponent first.
Dennis continued on, seemingly enjoying the new looks he was getting from SAMCRO. Eric Lyons caught his eye and gave him an 'I told you so' look. He ignored it.
"But here's the thing; as far as I can tell, The local chapter of LOAN has no real idea of what Zobelle is up to. They just think he's one of them, another Nazi looking to keep America white." Dennis shook his head. "Ethan Zobelle is about Ethan Zobelle. The local LOAN guys won't and don't know shit about Zobelle looking to the Mayan's for a heroin partnership. Only the guys he's brought with him know any of that."
Dennis leaned back in his chair. "If you ask me, you set a meeting with the Mayan's. I'll give you copies of everything to back you up." Dennis cracked his neck. "If you and the Mayan's get on the same page; Zobelle, LOAN and the NORDS will tear themselves apart trying to start a war between the two of you." Dennis grinned this time. "From what I've read, Zobelle's cooperation is keeping him out of prison. If he can't deliver you guys or the Mayan's, he's in a cell."
Clay nodded as he looked over to Jax. Jax was studying the printouts that Dennis had handed over. "What do you think, VP?"
Jax lit a cigarette and shook his head ruefully. "I think Dennis is right." Flipping the bird to a preening Dennis Lyons. "I think if you show this to Marcus, we can probably figure out something that gets white hate out of everyone's hair and keeps all of us out of jail."
Clay thought for a moment. "We'll set that meet after we meet tonight with the Irish." Clay shook his head. "One problem at a time." Then the President of SAMCRO smiled wide at both Jax and then Ope at the other end of the table.
"Dennis, do you want to tell everyone what you found out about Stahl?" He was glad Clay was having Dennis tell everyone what that bitch and the ATF were trying to do to them.
Dennis had another look of distaste on his face. "She has permission to make it look like Opie turned rat." Looking as upset as the members of SAMCRO did. Dennis shook her head. "Oh, she was supposed to actually try and turn him, but..."
"I'm not a fucking rat." Ope finished for him.
"Exactly." Dennis grinned at Ope. "And at least Stahl is aware enough to know that, so she's gaslighting you all." The grin faded as he looked at Clay. "You kill Ope because he's a rat and SAMCRO falls because that would start a war between you and Jax." Dennis' voice was as grave as what he was saying. "And then they get a real shot at the Irish Kings because they'll be looking for a new middle man." Dennis paused for a second. "Actually, they get a bonanza, because a lot of other groups will be looking for new avenues to get guns." Dennis shook his head. "Oh, that's kind of clever."
It kind of was. He had to admit, bringing down SAMCRO could bring down a lot of others in it's wake.
He looked over to Clay. Clay was just looking at Dennis like he'd just come in from another dimension.
Jake laughed at Clay. "You get used to it." The rest of the guys joining in as Dennis just flipped them all off.
Clay shook his head with a smile. "Guess we'll find out." Clay nodded to Piney. "You wanted to say somethin', old man."
Piney slowly stood from his spot opposite Clay. Piney nodded towards Jax and then back to the seats that held Jake, Eric, and Dennis Lyons, then back to Jax.
"Again, son, I look at you and see your father." Piney's voice sincere and serious. Old age and emphysema making Piney sentimental. "And I know he'd be the first to tell you you're doing the right thing."
Then Piney looked over to the Lyons. "And as one of the First Nine, and first VP of SAMCRO, you have my word that your girls will be safe and cared for here." Extending a hand to Jake Lyons amid all the cheers in the room.
Jake nodded, with a slight smile, as he shook Piney's hand. Jake avoided his eyes as the man looked around the room at the various SAMCRO members, then back to Piney with a smirk. "Better remember that speech, old man." The smirk grew. "You'll want to give it again when Dad gets here."
He winced internally. Old Jake Lyons was a legend in his neighborhood in Chicago. The elder Jake Lyons been called Old Jake since he'd been a small boy. The man's hair had gone completely white before Old Jake had even turned forty. He had been one of the first Air Force pilots, transferring in from the Navy. He was known to be tough, but fair. And to have very high standards where his kids were involved.
So, the fact that Old Jake was on his way, was a little worrying. He knew, through Rip, that Old Jake had implored Marina a number of times to get him to sign off on letting Jake adopt Jules. Thank God, Marina held firm, although there was never any chance in hell that he would have ever signed away his kid.
Jax's laughter brought him back to the room. "We'll write it down for him." Laughing harder at the glare Piney was giving him. "I just know I personally have already seen you do half a dozen shots this morning."
He laughed along with everyone else. When everyone was back under control, Clay took back over. "So, we're agreed?" Looking at SAMCRO. "Set a meet with the Mayan's after Jax and I meet with the Irish tonight, fill them in on Zobelle and that shit, see if we can broker some sort of agreement. Figure out a way that gets rid of Zobelle and the FBI, and keeps us intact."
He and the others voiced their 'yea' votes and Clay dropped the gavel. Before Clay dismissed the meeting, he cleared his throat. "We'll be having visitors in about..." Clay looked to Jake Lyons, who looked at Dennis.
Dennis pulled out his phone, and looked at it for a moment. Then typed for a minute, bopping his head to an internal melody as he waited for a reply. "Three- four days." Dennis grinned. "That's according to Gramps."
Eric Lyons was snickering as Dennis went on. "According to Mercy and Lu? Five days at the earliest." Dennis grinned at everyone. "So, anyone's guess at this point. Depends on how stubborn Lu and Mercy are feeling and how obnoxious Gramps gets." Dennis shrugged. "I would actually land closer to that five day mark." His tone a touch more serious. "Jules has some things she needs to decide before they can even leave." Then the humor was back as he looked at Jax and Clay. "But I think Gemma is gonna give her a kick in the ass in regards to that, here after lunch. I'm sure that will speed things up." Dennis grinned.
Clay snorted out a laugh. "Oh, you have no idea." Then looked at the rest of them. "Meeting over. I'm sure there are plenty of things that need to be done in the garage." Clay looked at Ope. "We need to get you a new T-M shirt?"
Ope looked at Jax, who was grinning at his best friend. One day, sooner rather than later, with the way Clay's hands were; Jax was going to be President. He really couldn't see anyone other than Ope being Jax's VP. The two knew each other as well as they knew themselves. Their brotherhood went beyond the kutte, it was as deep as any blood tie could be.
"Nah." Ope shrugged, and smirked at Jax's falling face. "Still got my old one."
Jax's grin belied the flipped middle finger he waved at Ope.
After the meeting broke up, he made his way to Gemma's office. Gemma looked up when he came in the door. "What can I do for you, Tig?"
"Couple of things." He grinned at her as he sat in the wooden chair opposite her desk. "Could you find out from the dealership what it would take besides the trade in for the Beemer for Jules to keep the Caddy she's drivin' today? She seemed to like it."
Gem nodded. "Sure, sweetheart. And the other thing?"
He sighed. "When was the last time you heard from Carolyn or the girls?" Knowing that half the time they went to Gemma first to find out how things were around the club before they even thought of calling him. Well, at least the girls. Carolyn still just called to complain about him.
"Not for a few months." Gemma rolled her eyes. "Carolyn stopped a couple of years ago." Gemma smirked. "I think she was tired of being hung up on." Gemma looked at him with concern. "You worried about how they'll deal with all this?"
"Well, yeah." He looked at her with surprise. "And you aren't?"
Gemma shrugged. "Jules can hold her own against the imps of Satan, I'm sure." Her face softened as she looked back to him. "And Jules won't let them affect what you two are building." Gemma gave a decisive nod. "That I would take to the bank."
He felt his spine relax. He didn't think the twins could mess with Jules and get far, but he felt better knowing Gem felt the same way. "Yeah." He stood up from the chair and leaned over and kissed Gem on the cheek. "Thanks, Gem."
"You're welcome, Tig." Gem nodded to the door, with a warm smile. "Now, go get to work."
"Yes, ma'am." He grinned over his shoulder as he was leaving the office. "Let me know what you find out about the car. Get that taken care of as soon as possible."
"Will do." He heard her say as he was closing the office door.
/
It was mid-afternoon by the time Jules made it back to the clubhouse, and put Sophie down for a nap, and made a few phone calls. When she was finished talking to Lu and Mercy, grabbing the baby monitor to take with her, she made her way outside and joined her brothers at a picnic table.
"Pop and Gemma went back to get the paint. Should be ready to go get the first layer of paint up in about half an hour, or so." She informed her brothers as she sat down. Then looked to where the two of them were staring. "Why is there an ambulance in the garage with the door closed?"
Eric raised an eyebrow as Dennis choked on a laugh. "Their Prospect stole it."
"What?!" She blinked, trying to wrap her head around that level of stupidity. "Why?!"
Eric shrugged as Dennis continued to laugh. "I don't think even the Prospect knows why he did it." Eric stood up. "I'm going to go get the stuff we bought that can stay over at Jax's until you two can be over there." He looked at her. "What room is Sophie in?"
"Jax's." She smiled. "So, you're good to go for getting the bed and that stuff. It should fit in the trunk of the rental." She tossed the keys to him. "Thanks."
Eric just waved as he walked off, heading into the clubhouse.
She glanced at Dennis briefly, with a bit of an eye-roll. "So, Pop and Eric have already given Jax their versions of the 'shovel speech'." She lit a smoke. "You got yours together yet?"
Dennis just laughed. "Mine's simple." He gave a mock-serious look. "Hurt them and I hurt you in ways you can't even conceive."
She nodded. "Not bad." Then grinned. "Although, I'd make sure not to do it in front of Miss Thing, you may lose your 'favorite dude' title."
"Yeah, that's gone already." Dennis replied with a laugh. "All I got now is favorite uncle." Then looked over to the T-M garages at the various SAMCRO members. "Although there's new competition, I'm confident in my ability to retain the title." He grinned at her.
"So, you're good with this?" Eric and Butch were her brothers, and she loved them both deeply and could say she enjoyed hanging out with them at times; Dennis was her friend as much as he was her brother, especially after she came home from Stanford, and while he couldn't really boss her around the way Eric could, his opinion mattered to her greatly.
"Hell, no!" He laughed. "I'm losing a free place to live, someone to cook for me, do my laundry..." She punched him in the arm. "Ouch! Well, I certainly won't miss that." He grumbled.
He straightened and looked at her. "Yeah, I'm okay with this." He narrowed his eye while studying her. "You know that Pop moved you and Ma in less than twenty-four hours after they met?" He shrugged. "And they met at a party. Not as dramatic as the circumstance you met Jax, but same result." He shrugged again. "I figure if the others haven't thrown a fit yet, they're seein' the same thing I am." Her brother rolled his eyes. "You two are already gag worthy."
She flipped him off with a grin. "Thanks, Den." Leaning into him, she elbowed him in the ribs. "It'll be weird not having you mess my house up." She would miss him fiercely, but knew he wouldn't leave Chicago or the club. Pop might not have really understood, but this was Dennis' way of keeping Pop and Eric safe, having their backs. There were few people who had the skill sets her middle brother held, and he needed to use them to help his family.
He elbowed her back. Hard. Great. Another bruise she'd have to explain to Jax. "Don't worry, I'll come visit and remind you how much you hate it." He grinned.
"Awesome." She rolled her eyes in jest. "We'll put you up here." She grinned at one of the sweetbutts walking by. "They can pick up after you."
Her cell phone chimed at her. Pulling it from her bag, she looked at the text. "Pop says they're on their way to Jax's and the four of us are to meet them there." They both stood up. "You wanna go help Eric get that stuff and I'll get Miss Thing and let Jax know where we're heading."
"Sure." Dennis booked off towards the clubhouse, while she walked over to where Jax was talking with Clay.
"Sorry to interrupt, but can I talk to Jax for a second?" She looked at Clay. Their faces had been serious, so she assumed she was interrupting club talk and it behooved her to ask Clay before taking his VP away for a few minutes.
"Sure, darlin'." Clay leaned over and kissed her cheek. "We can finish up later." He looked at Jax.
"Yeah." Jax waited until Clay had walked away to turn to her. "What do you need, babe?"
"Just wanted to let you know that me, Soph, and the boys are heading to your place to paint that room for Sophie." She grinned at him. "Get ready for eye-melting yellow."
Jax raised an eyebrow. "Will I need sunglasses on to go in there?" A smile in his tone.
She shrugged. "Not after our stuff gets here. There will be enough covered to mute the effect." She laughed. "Until then, proceed with caution. We should only be gone a couple of hours."
"Okay." He leaned in a kissed her, the two of them choosing to ignore the catcalls from the garage. "Sorry, they're barely house trained." He shook his head at the guys loitering around the garage.
"No worries. Have a pack of my own back home." She looked over to the group. "Mine are about as well-behaved. I mean, look at Dennis." She laughed as Dennis was trying to flip her off with his hands full.
"Yeah, yeah. Get it all in while you can, sis." He chimed in while passing them.
Jax shook his head with amusement. "I should be around for dinner, but me, Clay, and Tig gotta go out for a while later, shouldn't be too late. You should still be awake." He looked over to where Eric was carrying a still sleeping Miss Thing. "Although, she'll be asleep." Jax sounded a little worried.
"If you guys leave after seven-thirty, you'll still be able to say good-night to her. She's gonna wake up the second the car starts, so it'll be the second day in a row with little or no nap. She'll crash early and hard tonight." She wasn't as concerned as Jax seemed to be. "And if you don't, if she wakes up for five minutes so you can give her a good-night kiss, it's not the end of the world." Grinning at him. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to let you know when you've fucked up."
"No doubts about that, at all, babe." Jax grinned back at her. "You should go, I know Gemma doesn't like to be kept waiting."
"Neither does Pop." Giving him a quick kiss. "Does it concern you as much as it does me that they seem to be in cahoots?"
Jax laughed at her. "No." He looked off towards the garage. "It's usually Tig, so I'm already used to one of your dads being dragged into her schemes."
She blinked, hard. "Oh, Jesus. What did my kid get us into?!" Giving Jax a sassy grin.
Jax laughed. "Oh, babe." He pulled her into his arms, still laughing his ass off. "You'll find out, soon enough."
She pinched him in the side. "Laugh all you want. You haven't met all the crazy we entail." Jerking her head towards Dennis and Eric. She gave him another quick kiss. "See you later!" Hustling away before he could retaliate.
She watched him shake his head with amusement, as she closed her car door. She was glad Dennis and Eric were already to their bikes so they couldn't see the ridiculous smile on her face.
Although huge, life-altering things had happened over the course of the last five days, not all of them good; today was shaping up to be an excellent day.