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General trigger warnings for this story: Language, smut, mentions of rape, abuse, drug use/overdose, violence/death.

CHAPTER 24: FEAR FACTOR

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"I'm fucking starving." Sydney groaned as she hopped out of the van once they were parked on the compound, bounding towards the clubhouse kitchen for something to soothe her rumbling stomach with Half-Sack following close behind.

"Hmmm..." She scanned the well-stocked fridge, trying to figure out what she could make that would satisfy both the carnivores and the vegetarians. "Kip, what's your favorite meal in the whole wide world?" She asked as she swung the fridge door back and forth.

"Burritos." He answered easily.

"How the fuck d'you make burritos with no meat?" She scowled, still unable to understand how someone could choose to not indulge in the deliciousness of beef.

"Rice and beans." He shrugged, watching as she pursed her lips while contemplating his answer before shrugging back in acceptance, pulling the cupboard open to find the fixings for his request. "Syd, no, you don't have to." He immediately began shaking his head. "It's not your job, I'm just a prospect and all." He didn't want her - or anyone else - to think that he'd expected her to go out of her way to cook a separate meal just for him.

She sighed as she turned around, taking a step closer to him, then another, and another - backing him against the cupboards where her Louboutins put them at a much more comparable height. "You sayin that if you had a full patch, it would be my job?" She questioned menacingly.

"What?" He trembled. "No! Of course not, you're not just some club whore-" He stopped his babbling once he finally caught the playful curl of her lips. "You're such an asshole." He groaned, nudging her as they both laughed.

"One day, Kippy... One day you'll learn." She smiled over her shoulder as she headed to the bar to find out who had stuck around for dinner.

"You hungry, Alexander?" Tig winced at the sound of his real name as Sydney ran her hand over his shoulder where he sat at the bar - a name that still sounded so foreign to him no matter how good it rolled off of her honeyed tongue in the seductive drawl.

"You know." He squinted, spinning around in his stool to face her. "People get their asses kicked for callin me that." He raised a brow in warning.

"I'm countin on it." She nodded with a dirty smirk.

"Oh yeah?" He grinned, setting his beer down and finding the back of her knee where he pulled her into his lap. "Think that'll teach ya?"

"It's a good place to start." She nodded slowly, trailing his jaw with her finger.

"God, count me out." Bobby winced.

"Yeah... I'm not so hungry anymore." Juice agreed from the pool table where he'd set up his laptop.

Sydney jumped when she heard the other voices, feeling her cheeks flush as she looked around the room - realizing that Tig had completely distracted her from the fact that there were other people around, which was the whole reason that she'd made the trip in the first place.

"What's on the menu?" The Sergeant recaptured her attention, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh now you're hungry for what I got to offer?" She scoffed.

"I'm always hungry for you, babydoll." He growled with authority, skimming his hands over her waist and letting his eyes consume her. "Just gotta keep you on your toes since I got all this competition." His mouth was hot on her neck as he rasped the words against her skin.

"How about I make you dinner, and then you can have me for dessert." She whispered with baited breath, her tongue tracing his ear as her hands roamed his chest.

"Now there's an offer that I can't refuse..." His grip tightened around her, rubbing over the smoothness of her exposed skin as he kissed her one last time before lifting her off of his lap and back onto the ground where he swatted her butt with a playful wink.

She bit her lip bashfully, feeling another flush coming to her face as she tried to ignore the cocky smirk that told her that he knew exactly how hot and bothered she was right now. She returned to the kitchen where she got to work cooking up enough burritos for everybody anyways - knowing that their appetites would return as soon as they smelled the food.

Once everything was ready, she made up a plate for the Vice President who had retired to his dorm for the evening, strutting down the hallway and lifting her arm to knock on his door - stopping when she heard the rowdy voices coming from behind it. "You bet, bad boy." She snickered as her fist hovered above the wood, wondering if this was how ridiculous her and Tig sounded to everybody.

Jax's entire body jolted with shock when he was startled by a pounding on his door, the little blonde girl beneath him squeaking in surprise. "It's okay, darlin." He smirked, patting her knee as he lifted himself from between her legs. "I'll keep you safe." He winked at the meek young woman whose name he'd already forgotten. Sally? Suzy? Something with an 'S', he pondered as he made his way to the door.

"Hey, bad boy." Sydney said in her most exaggerated sultry voice as she leant her hip against the door frame with an arm propped up in a playfully seductive pose. "Dinner's ready." She cocked a brow as she presented him with the plate of food, scoffing as the little girl with bangs scrambled to cover herself.

"We're uh- We're kinda in the middle of somethin..." He looked through his eyelashes with a bashful smile.

"Looks more like you're kinda at the end of somethin." She smiled sarcastically as Jax's whore pushed past her and ran down the hallway - tripping over her own feet.

"Come on, Syd…" He whined playfully. "She's never gonna come back-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there." She silenced him with her freshly manicured index finger. "Because I know that would've been the worst blowjob that you've gotten since the ninth grade, hands down. So really, you should be thanking me." She cocked her head.

Jax just bit his lip with a smirk - knowing that there would be no reasoning with the maniac of a woman standing before him with a home cooked peace offering. "Thanks." He accepted the plate with a chuckle.

"You're welcome." She replied cheerfully.

"I meant for the food." He clarified with a knowing look.

"Sure you did." She smiled playfully. "So I guess I can tell Gemma that she has nothing to worry about with Tara…" She raised a brow.

"She's worried about Tara?" Jax scowled. He'd only barely begun speaking to Tara again, let alone trying for anything more - not that he hadn't thought about it, but she'd made it very clear that it was a ball that was in her court for the time being.

"I think she's been worried about Tara since the day that you brought her home." She snorted.

"You're probably right about that one." He backed over to the bed where he set the plate down with a friendly smile.

"Ever regret that one?" Sydney's brow raised slightly.

Jax pondered the question that had taken him completely off guard - the question that he had been asking himself for over a decade. "Nah." He finally decided, looking at the carpet beneath his shoes as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Sydney could tell that she'd struck a nerve with the personal question about his clearly complicated past and even more complicated future with the brunette doctor. "How's Abel doing?" She diverted towards the much more exposed and much less private nerve - taking advantage of the rare opportunity to bond further with the blonde man while she wasn't fantasizing about ripping his head off.

"Oh, he's good!" His cheerful mood returned instantly at the mention of his son.

"That's great." Sydney smiled, taking this as a good sign - entering the room where she leant against the dresser by the door. "What about the junkie?"

Jax rolled his eyes at her use of the derogatory term, but he didn't correct her - he knew her history with junkies, and he wasn't about to initiate an ethics argument while they were getting along.

"You and my mom really have been talkin, huh?" He joked.

"It's only a matter of time now before poppin IV lines makes its way onto my resume." Jax blinked and shook his head - stunned by the demonic words that had just come from such an angelic face. "What?" Her brow creased. "Don't think that I know about that?"

"No… Just didn't expect you to say it." He choked out.

"Where do you land on that?" She raised a brow, knowing that it surely hadn't been a decision that Jax had been privy to until after the fact.

Jax tightened his jaw thinking about what his mom had done to Wendy - drugging her in the hospital right after Abel had been delivered. Even if the act itself didn't mess with his moral compass nearly as much as it probably should have - he hated that she continued to meddle with his relationships, his business; the shit that he should handle, not her.

"She's goin off to rehab… Won't have to worry about custody shit now." He forced himself to look at the positive outcome rather than the grim reality of what had been done to get there.

"You think it's gonna work?" Sydney had seen her fair share of rehab failures, but she wondered what Wendy being clean could mean for her VP…

"I hope so…" He nodded genuinely. "But it definitely aint the first time for her, either…"

"You guys split because of it?" She asked, still trying to figure out if he had really wanted her as his old lady, or if she had just been a rebound from Tara.

"Me and Wendy... That was a mistake." He shook his head, still unable to believe that he'd actually married her.

"A Gemma-fueled mistake?" She probed with a playful smirk.

"With a full tank." He chuckled. "She was driving the wedding train… hard. Wanted grandkids..."

"You hate her for that?" She raised a brow. "You know, pushing you into something irreversible with the wrong person? Potentially pushing you away from the right person..." She asked the question casually, but it was pointed and she let her eyes show it.

"Nah... My choices are on me - even the wrong ones." He chuckled, knowing just how many of those Sydney thought that he had under his belt.

"A heavy weight to carry, I'm sure..." She joked back, shaking her head with a playful smile as she turned to leave - deciding that she'd gotten enough out of this conversation and it was time to leave before he pissed her off or tried to flip the script.

"Almost as heavy as the weight of a 200k debt." He fired back with a wink.

Sydney looked over her shoulder with an intrigued grin, nodding in approval of his clever comeback. "Looks like SAMCRO is gonna have to do a little fundraising, I'm sure you boys can get creative." She winked back.

"Hey, can I ask you somethin?" He called after her as she approached the door after pondering whether or not it was a good idea - making the decision to go for it when he saw his window of opportunity about to close.

Sydney turned around expectantly, welcoming the question with open arms. "San Bern." He started. "How'd they feel about outlaw?" He nodded.

"Most of them enjoy it, but I don't think there would be any love lost if they went legit." She answered with an honest shrug - knowing that this question was anything but random. "Why?"

"Ah, just wondering." He brushed it off. "Went through some of my dad's old shit - just seems like his original vision for the club was somethin simpler." He nodded earnestly. "He called it a 'Harley commune' - real hippie shit." He chuckled.

"What's your vision for the club?" She cut right to the chase - instantly remembering the conversation that she'd had with him about feeling like Clay wasn't carrying on his father's legacy.

"I don't know yet." He shook his head, still trying to sort out how he felt - not how his family felt.

"I think it'd be more trouble than it's worth - convincing some of these guys to go straight..." She swayed as she held onto the door frame, the depth behind her stare telling him that there was much to her cryptic words as all the pieces of the puzzle were starting to form a much clearer picture in her mind.

"Aight, well thanks for the food." He picked up his burrito with a smile. He didn't take her response personally - from what he knew of the Cali Queen, the table of a legitimate club was the exact opposite of the table that she'd spent her entire life fighting for a seat at.

"Don't thank me yet." She laughed to herself on her way out the door, hearing him beginning to cough violently as she descended the hallway.

She made her way out to the bar after a stop in the kitchen for the giant plate of burritos and just as she expected - everyone rushed over. She rounded the bar, leaning overtop of it with a smirk as she watched in anticipation.

Bobby was the first to start the chain reaction, coughing until his face went red and sweat began to pool across his forehead, Tig and Juice following close behind while Half-Sack began gagging from the pool table.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Juice?" She exclaimed with a hand thrusted into the air in disappointment with the hispanic man.

"I grew up in Queens!" He choked out while she continued to shake her head in disappointment.

"What the hell did you put in here?" Tig winced as he poured the remainder of his beer down his throat to try and help soothe the burn.

"What?" She asked innocently before taking a bite. "I grew up with Latinas." She shrugged, a smirk tugging at her lips as the men watched her chomp on the monstrously spicy food in shock.

Tig raised an eyebrow at her challenge, his ego fueling him to take another bite where he tried to withhold his outburst with his face red and his eyes pooled with tears.

Juice winced before taking another bite, funneling as much air as possible through his mouth as he did so. "This is like Fear Factor." He choked out.

"We should play!" Sydney perked up.

"For fucks sake, Juice." Bobby groaned at the younger man for giving her the idea.

"I'm in." Tig slammed his fist down on the bartop after successfully getting through his second bite - needing the opportunity to redeem himself.

Sydney grinned evilly, scarfing down her food before gathering the materials for her game while everybody struggled to finish their meals.

Once everything was ready, Sydney returned to the bar where the men all sat with their empty plates and red faces - thanks to her use of spices. "Pussies." She scoffed as she waltzed past them, down the hallway to retrieve the VP.

"Jax!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, not bothering with the pleasantries of asking for his participation - there was no way that she was going to let him miss out on a chance to be humiliated.

Jax came barrelling down the hall a few seconds later. "What's wrong?" He asked as he looked around the room in a panic while pulling his shirt down over his head.

"We're playing Fear Factor." Sydney smiled.

"You called me out for that?" He scowled.

"Sure did." Her smile stretched into a grin.

"That meal wasn't enough?" He raised a brow.

"It was only but a taste, Jacky Boy." She mused with a theatrical smirk. "Everyone ready?" Tig grinned while the rest of the group gave a half-hearted nod, knowing that bowing out of whatever further torture she had planned for them was not an option. "Great, okay." She nodded with no regard for the fact that nobody shared in her enthusiasm. "Fear Factor meets Jackass." She explained. "First round: shred the bike rail on a skateboard, if you don't make it at least halfway - you take a shot of this." She grinned wickedly as she presented the glass jar that once held habanero peppers but now only contained the juice - thanks to her overuse of the fiery food in tonight's meal.

"Oh come on!" Bobby groaned.

"We already did that!" Juice thrusted his hand into the air.

"You should be a pro then." She shrugged with a sweet smile, ignoring their protests and making her way outside, skateboard in hand. "Okay!" She cooed once everybody had begrudgingly gathered at the rail which was usually lined with gleaming Harleys. "Who's first?"

"Prospect!" Tig clapped Half-Sack on the shoulder and shoved him forward.

"Oh no, come on..." The poor kid groaned.

"Come on, Sack! You can do it." Sydney encouraged.

"Fuck!" He yelled as he dove in head first - a tactic that had served him well during his short time in the army - ripping the skateboard from Sydney's hands as he began his running start before jumping up onto the board. He wobbled the whole way - flailing his arms about but somehow managing to keep his balance all the way to the end. "Holy shit!" He cheered once he landed, reveling in the applause that roared behind him.

"I fucking told you that you could do it!" Sydney hollered as she ran up and high fived him, forcing him to take a victory lap. "Juice, let's go!" She wasted no time in selecting her next victim.

Juice jumped up and down a few times, readying his body with a newfound confidence after watching the uncoordinated prospect stick the landing. He began running, picking up good speed but fumbling when the top of his foot clipped the edge of the skateboard which sent his entire body forward and brought his head crashing down onto the metal railing, rebounding with a clang before he hit the pavement.

Sydney stood wide-eyed with her hands over her mouth in shock while Tig and Bobby doubled over in hysterics, and Half-Sack and Jax jogged over - shaking in laughter, albeit - to check on their Puerto Rican brother.

"I'm good, guys - really." Juice tried to brush off the cavalry while the stars could practically be seen circling his head as his eyes rolled back.

"I don't think so, we gotta get you to the ER." Bobby insisted a little too strongly, helping Juice off of the ground and propping him up with his shoulder and began walking him towards the van.

"You just wanna get out of it, huh, old man?" Tig teased.

"You each owe me a shot!" Sydney called after them. "Jax you're up!"

"I'm gonna just go with that shot, Princess." He shook his head with a grimace.

Sydney turned her attention to Tig. "Oh, yeah me too." He shrugged with a devious grin.

She rolled her eyes, slipping off her heels with a smile on her face. She took off, successfully jumping up onto the skateboard that Half-Sack was holding steady and stabilizing herself as it teetered on the metal rail, squealing as she tried to keep her balance. Somewhere along the way of willing herself not to fall backwards, she leant too far forwards. Feeling gravity working against her, she made the decision to leap off of the skateboard and skip along the rail quickly enough that she was able to make it to the end. "More than halfway!" She yelled across the lot to Tig and Jax who were shaking their heads.

"You only picked this one because you have good balance." Jax teased, nudging her playfully as she approached with the skateboard under her arm.

"I ain't gonna let years of gymnastics go to waste."

"You did gymnastics?" He scoffed in response.

"Til I was old enough to realize that it's for pussies." She chuckled.

"That explains... So much." Tig shook his head dreamily.

"Old habits die hard." She winked.

"Jesus, get me that fucking pepper juice." Jax winced, shaking his head as he opted for a burning throat rather than burning eyes and ears.

Sydney poured the two shot glasses as full as she could, sliding them across the bar to their dread-filled owners. "Bottoms up." She smiled with wild eyes.

Jax looked to Tig with a grimace as the older man looked back at him with terro before picking up the shot and slamming it back, keeping his head tilted toward the ceiling as he tried to force the offensive substance down his throat.

The reaction of the Sergeant did not help Jax's case in the slightest as he hesitated, lifting the shot off of the bartop and setting it back down multiple times. "Jesus christ… You hesitate with this just like you hesitate pulling the fucking trigger." Sydney grimaced. "You sure you deserve that VP flash?" She asked with a raised brow.

Tig barked out a laugh, immediately beginning to cough and gasp for air as he ran behind the bar, guzzling water straight from the tap and gathering ice cubes to stuff into his cheeks.

Her words did the trick. Jax's lips formed a straight line as he grit his teeth, pouring the shot into his mouth and swallowing in one fluid motion. "Fuck you." He choked out as his face turned as red as Sydney was sure his temper was.

She bursted out laughing as she watched the grown men struggling, basking in the glory of her victory as they frantically ran around in search of objects to soothe their pain. "So... No round two then?" She asked with an evil grin.

;

The aftermath of Sydney's game had her lying on Tig's lap on one of the couches in the clubhouse while he iced his burning mouth. "I fucking hate you." He shook his head.

"You fucking love me." She snorted, not turning her attention from the game of tetris that she was playing on her phone.

"That love's gonna kill me." He patted her propped up leg with a chuckle. "You stayin?"

"Nah, I'm gonna head home." She said as she sat up, leaving him with a disappointed look on his face. "Maybe you'll sleep better alone..." She added softly - the sincerity not quite reaching her eyes as they flicked down to the black leather of the couch and avoided his.

Tig didn't expect her comment to sting as badly as it did. He had done his best to hide the nightmare in the back of his mind, but she ripped it right back out. "Okay." He nodded regrettably, knowing that fighting it would only cause his mind to blow things out of proportion when he had to think about it alone in bed later on. He got to his feet with her, placing his hand on the small of her back as he walked her to her car. "I love you, I'll see you tomorrow." His words were flat as he pressed a kiss to her cheek, opening the car door and ushering her inside. He knew that now was the right time to show her how he was truly feeling - show her that there was nothing for her to worry about, let her know that for the one nightmare that she'd helped bring on, there were countless that she had chased away. But he couldn't - the effective coping mechanism of icing out his emotions was too deeply embedded in his psyche at this age.

"I love you too." Sydney replied softly as she got into the car, wishing that she would've just bitten her damn tongue. She hadn't meant for her comment to be petty, but she hadn't realized just how bitter she was until the words had already left her lips. She took a deep breath as she watched him walk away, telling herself that it wasn't worth getting worked up over and that things would be fine tomorrow.

Unfortunately, Tig could not say the same about his level of relief as he sat hunched over the bar with a half-empty bottle of Jim Beam. He'd already been worried enough about having to sleep and re-live another nightmare as it was - but now without Sydney to comfort him he'd had to seek out another source of comfort, taking one final swig before passing out over the bar.

;

Gemma rolled onto the compound at the crack of dawn, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor of the bar as she sauntered into the dimly lit room at the early hour - rolling her eyes and shaking her head and she saw Tig sprawled out across the bar next to the empty bottle. But a scowl worked its way onto her face as she looked at the familiar sight that for some reason felt foreign - this wasn't unlike Tig, but it was unlike Tig since Sydney had come into his life.

Sydney groaned as the vibrating of her phone woke her from a sleep that had been less than peaceful to begin with. "What?" She answered groggily when she saw that it was Gemma calling at the offending hour of 7:16 a.m.

"Can you come in early? Emergency backlog."

"Yup." She confirmed flatly before the line went dead.

Less than an hour later, Gemma heard the rumbling exhaust of Sydney's Challenger as she pulled into the parking lot.

"Well, shit." The older woman scoffed as she lowered her glasses and leant back in her chair, taking in the sight of the gorgeous woman standing before her. "It doesn't even look like I dragged your ass out of bed." She smirked as her eyes roamed Sydney's perfectly put together appearance - a black cropped hoodie with light-washed denim shorts, combat boots, straight hair, and a daisy fresh face.

"That's the goal." She replied as she removed her dark aviators, looking around the office for the source of the so-called emergency. "What's the backlog?" The confusion was evident in her tone.

"There is no backlog. What happened to Tig?" Her tone told Sydney that she wasn't playing games.

"Of course there isn't." She scoffed, walking over to the couch and tossing her purse onto it before taking a seat. "Gemma, if you're gonna worry every time that one of us flies off the handle, you're gonna have to quit your job - cause it is a full time gig."

"Worrying about all you guys is already my full time gig." She argued.

"Speaking of worrying..." Sydney drew the attention elsewhere while she had the chance. "I talked to Jax last night… Found out some shit about why he's been acting the way he has been..."

"Really? What'd you find out?" Gemma perked up.

"He asked me how SAMDINO would feel about going straight… When I asked why and he said that he read some shit his dad wrote. Sound familiar?"

"He say what it was that he read?"

"No, but it sounds to me like it was some dying confession from a broken heart..." She raised a brow.

"I wouldn't put it past John…" Gemma shook her head. "Now tell me why Tig is passed out, drunk, in the middle of the clubhouse."

Sydney scowled at first but quickly realized the rationale to his thinking, because it was a rationale that she had used many times before to block out her own nightmares. "He had a dream in Santa Cruz about some girl… Jules?"

Gemma stiffened when she heard the forbidden name. To say that she was shocked would be an understatement - Tig hadn't spoken of her in well over a decade, maybe more. "Juliet." She corrected with a slow nod. "He really does love you." She spoke with a small smile, knowing that if Juliet was being brought out of his subconscious - it was because he was having the same feelings for Sydney that he did for her all of those years ago.

"I guess he didn't want to risk dreaming about her again..." Sydney shrugged as she fiddled with her necklace as a comfortable silence fell over the two before Gemma was the one to finally break it.

"You gonna ask?"

"No." Sydney answered easily with a shake of her head. "I want him to tell me… When he's ready."

"You are good for him baby." Gemma nodded, her smokey voice full of sincerity as she leant forward. "You will be the perfect old lady." She squeezed her hand.

"I hope so." She smiled.

;

"Alexander!" Sydney yelled as she stormed into the clubhouse, seeing Tig laying on the bar with his eyes cracked open, barely awake.

"You look like a goddamn angel." His eyes loomed over her as a lazy grin spread across his face, not moving from where his head laid upon the polished wood as her beauty captivated him so strongly that he hadn't even detected her use of his first name.

"And you look like satan ass fucked you all night." She nudged him out of the barstool. "Go shower, you have work."

"Come on, baby." He groaned, grimacing as he stood - feeling the soreness spreading through his body from the unconventional sleeping position.

"Don't you 'come on baby' me, go." She pushed him towards the hallway.

He turned around with a grin, stumbling backwards to his dorm. "I might need you to help me clean up." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Get going." She grit her teeth theatrically, the two smiling as she followed him to his dorm.

Sydney tidied around the dorm as he showered extremely slowly, paying extra attention to the bed where she made an effort to make it look extra comfortable in hopes that it would entice him to sleep properly tonight.

"Awe babe, you don't gotta do that." Tig remarked when he emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, kissing her on the cheek as he walked over to his dresser to grab clean boxers.

"That's what old ladies do, isn't it?" She looked up from her crouched position by the laundry basket with a smile.

"It's also what croweaters do." He smirked.

"Well, it's a good thing that I'm your own personal croweater." She purred in a sultry voice as she walked over and draped her arms over his shoulders.

"Hell yeah you are, dollface." His hands rested on her ass while a smug smile sat comfortably on his face.

"I know something else that croweaters do..." She whispered against his neck, pressing a chaste kiss to the sensitive spot as she looked up at him through her eyelashes before slowly descending his body - dragging her lips across his skin without breaking eye contact. The closer that she got to his dick, the more his eyes began to flutter - and as soon as she could no longer see the beautiful crystal blue, she stopped.

"Work." She ordered, getting to her feet quickly and pressing a peck to his lips before turning and strutting towards the door.

With the early hour and the hangover, Sydney definitely hadn't expected such a reaction out of Tig - a gasp of surprise leaving her throat as she was spun around and shoved up against the oak door, her face instantly flushing as a smile of excitement spread across her face.

"You know, I seem to remember you owe me somethin from last night..." He purred with a smirk as he hovered over her like a predator over its prey.

"Was more like it's something that you owe me." She challenged.

Tig chuckled cockily as he moved his hands up her body from her hips - one wrapping around her throat and the other gathering her hands above her head. "That how it's working now, baby?"

"It is when you act like a jackass." She spit the words at him. Of course she wasn't actually mad, but she knew that part of being a good old lady meant keeping her man in line - and if she could use it to her advantage in the bedroom, she would.

"Oh we're gonna have fun, kitten." His eyes glimmered deviantly - dipping down to press his lips to hers.

;

Even though Tig knew that he'd brought it on himself - it didn't stop him from sulking as he slowly pulled on his clothes and lugged his sorry ass to the garage to begin his shift.

"See!" He held up his time card to Gemma in a grand display. "Not even late."

Gemma smiled across the office to Sydney as she worked through the days service sheets, nodding in approval when finally the unmistakable roar of Harley engines took over the sound of Tig's floor-scuffing footsteps as her employees filed in for the day's work.

;

"Hey, Ma." Jax greeted cheerfully as he swung in the door frame to the office as lunch break rolled in.

"Mornin, baby."

"Church." He nodded to Sydney.

"How's your throat doin?" Sydney nudged him with a playful smile as they made their way out of the office and towards the clubhouse.

Jax looked behind him to see Tig looking less than pleased as he watched the two young blondes walk side by side. "Better than yours is gonna be doin." He smirked, making Sydney smile once again at his unexpected cleverness - wishing that she was able to see the playful side of the VP more often.

Sydney took her seat at the table, biting her lip to suppress her laughter when she saw Juice sitting across from her with his head wrapped in bandages.

"What the hell did you do?" Clay sighed, dramatically swinging his head in Sydney's direction - knowing by her expression that this was her doing.

"Just havin a little fun… It's not my fault that they can't take the heat." She replied innocently with a small smirk - able to tell that there was a hint of amusement in his tone.

Clay responded with a chuckle before turning his attention to Jax. "Got a call from Jury." The VP nodded. "Mayans are pressing them to pay a vig to keep running pussy out of Nevada." Jury was one of his dad's oldest friends and newest brothers under the reaper after the recent patch over, and he felt horrible that the former Devil's Tribe President was now struggling with a beef that belonged to the Sons. But the deep scowl on Clay's face told him that he cared just a little about the new charter as he had when he'd manipulated them into joining. "Look, man… They need back up - let the Mayans know that we're around."

"Part of asking for the vig is about shittin on us." Bobby argued. "They knew that Jury would call, they're gonna be watchin."

"We got a 200k deficit hangin over our heads." Tig added loudly.

"We're not wasting man power." Clay answered with finality, refusing to even entertain the request that came from the bleeding heart of his VP.

"That's what I'm sayin… Just me and Bobby go - low profile."

"No. That's a risky ride brother… Northern Nevada is Mayan territory, and they're still lookin to settle the score from our little raid." Sydney was surprised to hear Juice speaking up so valiantly, figuring that the concussion was surely the result of his sudden display of courage.

"You think we could convince him to buy some guns?" Sydney proposed. "Make the trip worth our while… We scratch their backs, they scratch ours." She shrugged. "You guys go up, fly under the radar, we get them some guns the same way and then they've got protection for the next time that the Mayans wanna blow smoke.

"Yeah, maybe." Jax nodded eagerly in response to her clever idea - the two blondes looking to Clay.

"You think you could get Jury on board?" He asked tentatively. Normally the President would've been grateful to see the reaper royalty getting along - especially if it meant money in his pocket, but regardless of the result, he knew that this play was just another display of Jax's weakness.

"My dad saved his ass in Tay Nihn - he owes the Tellers a chit." He responded smugly but Clay's hardened expression didn't let up. "Look, man - we're not gonna go cowboy. I promise."

"Promise." Bobby crossed his heart sarcastically.

"Low profile. I don't want no wetbacks knowing that we crossed into NV." He scolded. "They pull this off, I want you and Juice driving the barrels as soon as possible." He ordered his Sergeant.

"Done." Tig nodded while Jax stood with a smirk, clapping Clay on the shoulder who still looked brutally unsure.

;

Jax and Bobby were gearing up to head out east as Tara pulled into the lot in her Cutlass. Sydney raised an eyebrow, alerting Gemma who quickly stood from her desk and scurried over to the window. "Stupid bitch." She mumbled. "I'm gonna head out early, you handle this?" A discerning smirk spread across Sydney's face as she began gathering her things, avoiding her knowing gaze.

Sydney watched the encounter from the drawn blinds, chuckling to herself as Tara attempted to turn down the ride home from Gemma when she learned that Jax wasn't available - knowing that one did not simply get by with refusing an offer from the queen. But her attention was stolen by something much more interesting to her than old drama - the way that Gemma's face fell in disapproval when Jax presented her with the trip he was about to take. Her forehead creased as she wondered what the significance was, her scowl getting deeper when she saw the placement of Jax's hand on Tara's waist as he bid her goodbye - turning back to her work with a smirk. This old drama was about to be very new.

Gemma ushered Tara into her car as she frantically searched the compound for her husband, spotting him in the garage by the bikes where she stomped over. "You sent him into Nevada?" The judgment was strong in her tone.

"It was his idea." Clay defended, trying to reason with mama bear as he walked her back to her car. "It's club business."

"He has a two week old kid." She shook her head. "He is distracted. You have to protect him - not send him out to do the protecting."

"Protect him? From what?" Clay scowled. Gemma had been hassling him with this bullshit for weeks and even if he had started thinking the same thing - his idea of how to solve the problem was quite the opposite of that of his wife.

"Himself." She widened her eyes.

"He's fine, relax." The President draped his arm over his worried old lady.

Gemma sighed, doing as she always did - giving him his peace of mind in thinking that he'd managed to calm her down before she could solve the problem herself. "Now, this one..." She turned her gaze to the brunette who was chatting with Lowell.

"What's she doin here?" Clay scowled again.

"Anything she can to get close to Jax." Gemma spit out bitterly.

Clay smirked, turning to face her. "Maybe she just needs a tune up." He winked.

Gemma stopped, shaking her head with a playful roll of her eyes. "Didn't trust her then, don't trust her now." She pressed a kiss to his lips.

;

Not long later, Jax and Bobby were sitting in silence on the side of the road in front of JT's memorial along the stretch of remote highway between California and Nevada.

"You think you and Jury are gonna get into it?" Bobby asked as he puffed on a cigar while Jax lit a cigarette.

"Yeah." Jax shook his head dreadfully. "He didn't see the patch over comin - the old man's struggling to hang the reaper on his back." He nodded regretfully. "None of this shit feels good to me, Bobby. Clay's makin a mistake - the Tribe wasn't SOA material."

Bobby stared at his VP with worry as each doubtful word passed through his lips, watching every twitch in his body. "You alright, brother?"

"Yeah." Jax looked up, meeting his skeptical eyes. "Why?"

"Just checkin in. You been through a lot of shit in the last couple of weeks - baby, junkie... Maybe all that noise in your head's got you turned around a bit." He suggested lightly.

Jax knew that his brothers were starting to pick up on his change of thinking, but Bobby was the first one to properly confront him about it. "Noise in my head?" He smiled, casually brushing off his stipulations. "You got somethin to say man, just say it." He shrugged.

The older man raised an eyebrow. "You've been second guessin Clay ever since your boy was born. Club's pickin up on it, you gotta get right with that." He nodded.

Jax nodded back, unsure of what to say as he stamped out his cigarette butt and restrapped his helmet.

;

Jax's engine roared as he and Bobby approached the diner off of the highway just across the Nevada border that Jury had told him about - where the Mayans clubhouse was. "Gotta take a piss!" He hollered to his companion who nodded, the pair pulling into the dirt lot. "I'll be right back." Jax nodded to Bobby before he rounded the back of the establishment to see exactly what he was in search of: a row of ape-hangered Harleys.

;

Clay pulled his ringing phone from the pocket of his kutte as he leant against the bar in the clubhouse with Tig and Half-Sack.

"Looks like Jury's gonna have some backup after all." Jax's voice came over the line where the rumbling of exhaust almost drowned him out.

"What the hell are you talkin about?" Clay scowled.

"I'm on my way back, and I'm not alone." Jax ended the call, kicking over the first bike in the row, creating a domino effect as the others toppled over after it before he ran over to his bike which he'd parked right in front of the diner door, revving his engine until the Mayans ran out - seeing exactly who the culprit of the assault on their bikes was as they ran to pick them up and initiate the game of cat and mouse.

Bobby scowled when he saw Jax racing out from behind the building. "Mayans, go!" He heard from his VP, scrambling to get his bike into gear as the pair took off with the Mayans not far behind.

"Shit." Clay slammed his phone shut.

"What?" Tig jumped up.

"Mayans. Pack of em trailing Jax. I knew this was a bad idea!" He yelled, whipping his phone against the back wall behind the bar when he realized that he'd been right all along with not having enough manpower to spare because now he didn't even have enough manpower for an escort with Happy and Chibs out of town, Juice out of commission, and Half-Sack without a bike.

"Sydney!" Clay yelled from the lot as the small group made to take off with whatever weapons they had on them.

Sydney jumped when she heard Clay calling her by her name instead of a nickname - anxiety filling her when she detected anger in his tone as she grabbed her purse and ran out to her President.

"What's going on?"

"Mayans after Jax and Bobby."

"Fuck…" She looked around the compound. "Okay, Kip, you take Juice's bike - I'll meet you on the highway."

"Vest." Tig ordered as he tossed her the smallest bulletproof vest that he could find, shocked when she stripped down right then and there in the middle of the crowded compound - slipping the vest over her bra and pulling her cropped hoodie back over top.

"It's nothin you aint seen before." She rolled her eyes when she looked back up to see three blank stares. "Now go!" She yelled before taking off towards her Challenger, slamming the door shut and peeling out of the lot where she raced home in record time - thanks to the handy network of alleyways and shortcuts that she'd found - when she was faced with the worst case scenario: the blaring of sirens behind her, directing her to pull to the side of the road.

;

Ok but I actually love the Syd/Jax moment :/ Also editing this made me realize how much I made it sound like Sydney poisoned them 😅 (I wouldn't put it past her)