A/N: Back in Chicago...
Lu looked around the empty apartment, making one last check that they had gotten everything out of there. Satisfied that they had gotten it all, she turned to leave the room that had been Sophie's and ran right into Old Jake.
"Jesus, Jake! Don't sneak up on me like that. I don't think I need anymore surprises for a while."
Old Jake shrugged. "Didn't mean to surprise you. You talk to Jacob this morning?"
She nodded slowly. The old man wasn't gonna like what she had to say. She cocked an ear to make sure it was just the two of them. When she was satisfied they were alone, she turned back to her old man's father.
"There was an incident last night. Apparently someone decided to take a shot at Clay Morrow and missed, hitting one of the Irishmen they do business with." She could see the scowl on Old Jake's face already. "Dennis took care of it, but Jules and Jax had to go get something from Dr. Knowles." She stopped and took a deep breath. When Jake had told her what happened last night, she nearly booked a flight to California on the spot. "When Jax and Jules were getting ready to leave because Tara wasn't answering the door, they heard a gunshot and Jules twisted her knee badly getting back to the house."
"What happened?" Old Jake looking very unhappy. She wasn't surprised; Jules was his favorite grandchild, being the only granddaughter Old Jake had.
She took a moment to collect herself. She was still mad as hell at what had happened at Tara's house. She knew she should have told Jake months ago about Josh Kohn stalking the young doctor.
"Tara shot her ex, who had been stalking her, after he had raped her." Feeling a little better seeing the look of pure disgust on Old Jake's face. "Apparently Jules cold-cocked Kohn and stayed with Tara at the house until the cops could get there. Then Jake met both girls at the hospital." She put up a hand. "Jules's knee is strained, nothing is torn." She shrugged. "They'll x-ray it again in a few days to make sure. The last I knew, Jake was heading over to Jax's house to check on the girls." Then gave the old man a wry grin. "Jake said he and the boys had figured out a few projects to keep them busy."
Old Jake nodded sharply. "Good." Looking down at his watch. "Grace and Slim went to go get some lunch and were going to bring it back to your place. Mercy's gonna meet us there so we can plan this trip." Glancing around at the empty apartment. "Everything packed?"
"Yeah." Sighing. "Truck is loaded and at the clubhouse." She stepped out into the empty living room. "But there are still some things we weren't comfortable putting in the truck. We'll have to split that between the other vehicles."
"We'll get it figured out when we get back to your place." Old Jake wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "Remember, the club will have a support van along, some stuff can go in there." He gave her another squeeze. "Let's get some lunch." Chuckling much like her old man. "I think better with a full stomach." Letting go of her and heading to the front door.
Taking another quick glance around at the empty space, she turned and followed Old Jake out the door.
Lunch was already in progress when the two of them entered her house. She could hear a choir of voices back in her kitchen. Following Old Jake and the din, her stomach growled a little when the smell of the hot beef sandwiches hit her nose.
Pushing the door to the kitchen open, Old Jake stepped through and then held it for her. There was a small buffet set up on her kitchen island and not only was the table full, there were a couple of people leaning against counters, shoveling sandwiches and pasta salad down.
Jake's older sister, Grace and her husband, Slim, who was President of the Nashville chapter of the Satan's Sons were sitting at the table with Mercy, Jake's younger sister and her wife, Jamie.
Grace, who was the spitting image of Jake's mother Dorothy, with one glaring exception. Like her father, her hair was already a brilliant white. While a lot of women would have colored it, Grace had embraced it.
Grace was taller than her father and brother, another thing she got from Jake's mother, along with a Grace Kelly kind of classic beauty.
Her husband Slim, whose nickname wasn't ironic in the least, was a couple of inches taller than his wife, with salt and pepper hair close cropped and a beard to match. Like his wife, he had warm brown eyes that saw everything. The two of them ran a very successful bar and grill in Nashville, along with their only child, Zach. Zach had stayed behind, knowing he'd probably be helping more by making sure that his parents weren't spending all their time worried about the bar.
Plus the fact that he and Dennis couldn't be together for more than five minutes without getting into some sort of mischief that would make both of their fathers crazy.
"Hey Dad, hey Lu." Mercy gestured to the island. "Help yourselves. Raf, grab your granddad a beer." Looking over her shoulder at the lanky eighteen-year-old. "There should be some Blue Moon in there." Eyeing the Killian's Red the rest of them were drinking.
Mercy and Jake looked like their father, dark blonde, blue-eyed. Neither one of them were taller than five-ten, but both gave the illusion of more height thanks to long limbs. Mercy was an obstetrics nurse and a licensed midwife.
"If I grab one for Granddad, can I have one?" Raf's voice trying for cool, but age showed the eagerness of his request.
Mercy's "No." overlapped Old Jake and Jamie's "Yes."
Mercy shot a look at her wife and father. Old Jake just waved her off, and Jamie just rolled her eyes. Jamie was a petite brunette with a pin-up figure. She was a stylist/barber with a large private client base. And even though she was in her mid forties, she still rocked a multi-colored long mohawk that was currently braided back. This month she was sporting blues and purples. As she said, "Hey, it's free advertising."
"For fuck's sake Mer. He's eighteen and it's not like we're throwing Jello shots down his throat. It's just one beer, with lunch." Then Jamie leaned over and gave Mercy a peck on the cheek. "And it's not like he has to drive to get home. We live four houses away."
Mercy shook her head and laughed. "Okay, good point." She leaned out of her chair and patted Raf on the arm. "Just one. You still have to work later."
"I know Mom." Raf's voice muffled by the fridge. Closing the fridge door, the kid handed his granddad a beer as he popped the top off his with the bottle opener sitting out on the counter. After taking a drink, Raf looked at his moms. "Since I'm not going, can I go out to the garage and work on my bike?"
Mercy nodded as she was taking a bite of her sandwich. After swallowing, she looked up at the son she had taken in as a foster ten years earlier. Raf had been Mer and Jamie's first and only foster kid. They'd fallen in love with the eight-year old Raf, and he'd been through so much that they didn't feel like they wanted to split their focus with another child.
"C'mon kiddo, I'll go help you out." Wild Bill, one of the Chicago patches who would be riding along to California, pushed himself away from the counter and threw his paper plate in the garbage. "They won't need me in here for any of this shit." Pushing Raf towards the back door of the house.
Old Jake looked over to Mercy. "Raf ain't comin' with us?"
"Couldn't get his work shifts covered." Then smiled over at her wife. "Plus, he said he didn't want to leave Jamie alone here."
Jamie laughed. "I think it has less to do with me than with a cute little skater girl that hangs out at the shop."
They all laughed. She turned to Grace and Slim. "Everything is out of the apartment, and the truck is back at the clubhouse all loaded and ready. We've just got to figure out the few things that I didn't trust to go in the truck and when we want to leave."
Grace got up from the table and poured herself a cup of coffee. "What stuff didn't you want to go in the truck?"
"Some of her larger glass pieces, like the vase with the glass bouquet. The sunflowers and daisies that were on Soph's walls. And I thought that her jewelry boxes should maybe be where we can keep an eye on them."
Old Jake nodded. "Good thinkin' Lu." Taking a drink of his beer. "We should be able to handle that between your Tahoe and Grace and Slim's Expedition, right?"
She nodded. "I think so." She shrugged. "If not the rest can go in the trail van, right?" Looking over to Walt, who was still leaning against the counter.
Walt, who was the Satan Son's club secretary, nodded. "Yeah. Since it's just Bill and Jase riding with you, there should be enough room for some extra stuff."
"Who's driving the van?" Old Jake asked. She had a feeling if he didn't like the answer, they would be replaced. There were enough guys who had been around when Old Jake sat at the head of the table, that his orders would still be followed.
"One of the prospects." Walt grinned at the old man. "Figured I'd let you choose, you picky bastard."
Old Jake just grinned. "Just give me one that can follow orders and not run his mouth the way you do."
Walt grinned and flipped Old Jake off. "I'll give you Vince, he barely talks. That should make you happy." Walt took a drink of his coffee. "He's a former SEAL. Butch sent him our way."
That would be good enough for Old Jake and they all knew it. Tell the man one of his grandkids suggested it, and he was in. Anyone who thought bikers were badass hooligans twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, needed to see Old Jake with any of his grandkids. The man became a besotted teen in seconds.
"When do we want to get under way?" Slim asked while taking the plates that he and Grace had used to the trash. "Unless we're waitin' on somethin' else, I don't see why we can't leave in a couple of hours."
As Old Jake went to answer his son-in-law, her cell phone rang. She excused herself and went into the dining room.
"Hey honey, how's it goin' out there?"
Her old man sounded tired. "Jules is sleepin'. Tara is coloring with Sophie. Eric and Den ran to get some stuff." The way he said 'stuff' indicated that maybe Jake had gone a little overboard.
"What kind of stuff Jake?" She smiled at Old Jake who came into the room. "Your dad is here, okay to put you on speaker?"
"Yeah." Jake didn't sound thrilled, but not too put upon. "Hey, Dad." Then Jake sighed. "Boys went to go get a swingset and some patio furniture. Jax may have owned this house, but it's pretty damn clear that he hasn't been livin' here." Then there was a bit of a weary chuckle. "Plus, it'll give us somethin' to do while we're waitin' for all of you to get out here."
Old Jake took over. "We're leavin' in a couple of hours. We'll stop in Omaha for the night and get started again early tomorrow. I figure, we can stop in Salt Lake tomorrow night and that should put us in California day after tomorrow, sometime in the evening."
"Sounds good, Dad." Jake replied. "I need to talk to Lu. I'll call you later."
"Make sure that you do." Old Jake nodded to her and went back to the kitchen.
Taking the phone off speaker, she put it to her ear. "What's going on, honey?"
"Tara." Jake sat silent for a minute. She knew he was trying to find the right words. Well, either that or trying to calm down.
"What about Tara, Jake?" She prodded him.
"I think you need to talk to her about coming back to Chicago." Jake spit out. "Get her away from…" Jake trailed off.
She understood. Her old man was a little upset that she hadn't come to him while Tara was still in Chicago. In his mind, this would have been avoided if she had. Kohn would have already been dealt with. And somehow Jake had, without anyone telling him, sussed out that Tara hadn't had much in the way of family in her life to turn to when the going got tough. She supposed the fact that Tara went back to Charming where SAMCRO ruled was a pretty big clue.
But, that didn't mean she disagreed. Other than the misstep with Kohn, she knew Tara had a full life here; friends, hobbies, a job that was tough and rewarding.
"I will, honey." She assured her old man.
"Good." He still sounded tired.
"Did you sleep at all last night, Jake?" She worried at him.
"A little." Jake sighed. "I'll crash early and hard tonight." He chuckled. "I gotta go, hon. Dennis is callin' Jules phone, because he can't reach me. Call me before you leave the clubhouse."
"Will do, honey. Love you."
"Love you too, Lu. Talk to you soon, hon." Jake hung up.
Sighing, she put her phone back in her pocket and went back to the kitchen to finalize plans for their trip to Charming.
A/N: Thanks so much for reading, I hope you're enjoying it! Please feel free to comment, I love hearing from you! Thanks to all who have favorited, followed, and reviewed!