I think I finally produced a successful cliffhanger. For the record this takes place about an hour after the end of the last chapter.
A big hug to my beta EmeraldJewelSparkle, and to the freak circle that kept me entertained while i agonized over this chapter. It truly did not want to be written, but i got past that block by pushing the parts i really didn't want to write into chapter 10. Clever huh?
Hope you enjoyed the replies to your reviews. It was late and i got rather goofy with them after a while. Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: I do not have the rights to SOA and make no profit off my writing. Anything you don't recognize from the show I have created.
Content Warning: This fanfiction is rated M. Please respect that warning and do not read this if you do not want to read M rated material.
2022
Age 30
Vivica practically dove for her phone when it rang. She didn't know the number but that didn't mean much, these guys went through prepays like toilet paper.
"Hello?" She held her breath waiting for her husband's voice to come through the line.
"Oh, umm, yes. This is she." Vivica sunk down into a chair and Gabby came over and squeezed her shoulder. "Oh my God!" Vivica gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.
Gabby sunk down into the seat next to her and grabbed her other hand. "Yes, yes okay. Yes I will." Vivica put her phone down on the table and looked at Gabby with a blank expression.
"Viv? Becky! Get the guys!" Gabby yelled at her friend who raced out of the kitchen and started banging on the chapel doors.
"WHAT?" Bull pulled the door open and Becky stepped back. Happy pulled Bull back with a glare.
"Vivica got a call." Was all Becky was able to get out before the men stampeded out of the room.
Vin and Lenard stepped into the kitchen first and froze; men piling up behind them. Vivica was sobbing in Gabby's arms at the kitchen table. Gabby looked at the men and shook her head. They all knew what it meant.
Chris was dead.
Gabby took the glass of water from Frankie and carefully handed it to Vivica. She took a small sip and set it down, not trusting herself to hold on to it. "They found him over the cliff, off route 41." They being the Fresno police department, but she had managed to get that part out through the sobs before Gabby calmed her down enough to talk. "The guard rail…some officer pulled over to check…he was down there, his bike, his helmet still on." She sobbed again and Gabby squeezed her hand tighter.
"I have to ID the body." Vivica managed and then hid her face in her hands. Gabby stayed close and rubbed her back soothing her as best she could.
The men were quiet, they all had questions but chances were Vivica didn't have answers, and if she did she wasn't up to giving them. Happy started pulling men out of the kitchen by their cuts, nodding his head in the direction of the chapel. Lenard noticed and helped him.
"Get us if she hears more." Frankie whispered to Becky who solemnly nodded.
"Call off the search, get everyone back." Lenard whispered to Vin. Vin nodded and pulled out his phone.
Bull poured shots, lining them up on the table for the men to each grab when they entered church. Each man in turn took his shot staring at the empty president's chair.
"Chair is yours." Frankie finally spoke, clapping Lenard on the back.
Lenard sighed deeply. He had never sought out to be president. He had been happy as the secretary for many years before the VP had been sent to prison for manslaughter. "For now." Lenard nodded his head. "After the funeral we'll vote." Lenard stared down at Frankie and Vin. None of the three remaining officers had aspirations of leading SAMFRES.
Gabby held Vivica's hand tightly. Even though Vivica had been asked to go to the morgue to ID her husband's body she didn't have to see the carnage. They gave her a polaroid, in profile, apparently the other side of Chris' face was disfigured, and pictures of several tattoos for her to make the formal identification by. He had already been identified through his fingerprints, plus his wallet had been on him. Gabby couldn't help but assume the fact that he was ID'd as a criminal was the reason Vivica got a phone call instead of the customary in person notification.
Harry and Frankie stayed at the morgue arranging details for the funeral. The wake would be at the clubhouse which meant the funeral home only had to transport, prepare the body, and bury it. Yet that always seemed to make things more complicated.
Gabby took Vivica on to the police station followed by Vin and Lenard on their bikes. The men led the way into the police station, no one in this precinct was on the SAMFRES payroll and therefore no one felt like being friendly or courteous to the bikers. Gabby finally shoved her way between the two large men and spoke to an older officer behind the desk.
"I have Vivica Locks here for officer Sanders, he's expecting her. Mrs. Locks husband's body was found this morning." Gabby said politely.
"I'll take you back to him, follow me." He paused as he came around the desk and placed a hand on Vivica's shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Vin grunted at the sudden change in mood but Gabby smiled at the officer for the comment and wrapped an arm around Vivica as the officer led them through a maze of cubicles.
"Sanders, Locks family for you." The helpful man said over the wall and left as Sanders stood up and ushered the women into the cubicle. Lenard and Vin stood behind the two women now sitting in chairs; neither man was that comfortable in the station.
"I'm sorry for your loss Mrs. Locks. You ID'd the body?" Sanders asked digging through a stack of file folders.
"She did." Gabby answered for Vivica and squeezed the woman's hand. "You said if we came by you would tell us what happened." Gabby reminded the officer moving the conversation along.
"Of course, yes. I in fact had the unfortunate chance of finding him. I pulled over this morning to check a damaged guard rail on route 41 just pass mile marker 38. Your husband had apparently gone over it. He was several yards down the embracement, he was DOA." Officer Sanders recited the information he had with little emotion. It was obvious to all that Chris was nothing more than extra paper work to this man.
Vivica inhaled deeply but did her best not to let out a sob. Her husband would want her to be a tough old lady, not a grieving window right now.
"Was there any indication of how or why he went off the road? He took route 41 home every day, knows it like the back of his hand." Vin pushed the officer.
"Nothing actually. Nothing was reported. There didn't appear to be any damage from any other vehicles. No tire marks on the road. The truth is unless a witness comes forward this will be reported as an accident, and we don't know that it wasn't."
"So you don't care that someone may have run him off the road?" Lenard snapped.
"There is no evidence of that. He may have simply lost control of the bike, swerved to avoid an animal in the road. He could have had a minor heart attack or been drowsy. There wasn't a full autopsy done because of the obvious injuries from the accident. But I can tell you that there were no bullet or stab wounds. I'm afraid if you can't produce a witness there will not be an investigation."
Gabby could feel the anger radiating off of the men behind her. "Thank you; you won't be closing the file though, right? In case someone comes forward with information?" Gabby spoke before Vin or Lenard got themselves arrested for assaulting a police officer.
"Of course, the file will stay open but we don't have the man power to keep it as an active investigation."
"Understood. Thank you officer Sanders for your time." Gabby stood and pulled Vivica up as well, glaring at the bikers to make them exit the building.
"What the hell was that?" Vin couldn't help but snap at Gabby as soon as they got clear of the building.
"That cop couldn't care less about a dead felon. He wasn't gonna help us and the last thing we need is either of you getting in trouble. The club has people on its payroll that can look into what happened, and you know once the Feds get whiff of this they're gonna be crawling around as well." Gabby calmly replied in a soft voice. "I'm gonna take Vivica back to the clubhouse, get her settled. As soon as Harry finishes the funeral arrangements I'm gonna be busy finding housing for all the incoming patches."
Vin nodded his head, Gabby was right, on all accounts. They had cops they could call to get the file and crime scene photos. Feds would be sniffing around for the culprit in preparation for a war, and hell she was even right to get himself and Lenard out of there before they ended up in cuffs. There really was no point in going in there and demand that asshole do his job.
"Hey love." Casper greeted his old lady as she came back into the club house from the dorms.
"Hey. Everything worked out?" Gabby took Casper's beer and sat down at the bar. The men had all been called into church upon their arrival at the lot. Gabby had spent the time calming Vivica down in one of the dorms. She didn't want the men seeing her continuously falling apart, but once Gabby had closed the door Vivica had sobbed herself into a near hysteria.
"Yeah, we're doing it all in one day, wake in the morning/afternoon, funeral in the evening. Friday, gives people more time to get here." It was now Wednesday, and the process of alerting charters had already started.
"Any idea on a number?"
"Lots, over a hundred, but not everyone will need a bed. Figure most will show up morning of, pass out at the party after the funeral and leave again in the morning."
Gabby nodded and swept her hair up in a ponytail. "Alright. I need to start making lists. Prospect busy?"
"He's all yours. I'm gonna pick up the kids, Becky offered to watch them tonight but if you need her here I can keep an eye on them at the shop." With three businesses work still had to be done. Tom Tom was on a construction site with Bull; Frankie had opened the garage and was expecting Casper soon. The only thing not in operation was the landscaping business, not that it was ever fully operational. Just a good way to wash money. Take in cash as payment for jobs and pay it back to the men clean and taxed.
"Shit. Umm, no, that's okay. I don't need her here." She did, but she didn't need her 2 year old running around an auto repair shop. What she wouldn't give for Charlene right now, even to just drop the kids off there till all this was done, or have a non-club ear to talk in. "We haven't told them yet Casper. We have to explain it to them; Kristen and Suzie are old enough to understand."
Casper blew out a breath and wiped a hand over his head. "You want me to do that?"
"You and Becky maybe?"
"Yeah, we can do that." He kissed his wife before walking away.
"Tony!"
"Yeah, umm, yes, ma'am, Gabby…"
"Stop Tony." Gabby warned, in no mood for the young man's nervousness. "I need you and the girls to start cleaning. All the dorms scrubbed down good, fresh sheets, piles of towels. Then the clubhouse. Scrub it down good, sparkling Tony. No joke. Kitchen too, clean it up, don't bother scrubbing, I'm gonna be cooking, you can give it a good once over afterwards." Tony nodded his head at the list, Gabby waved him off and grabbed paper to start an inventory of the bar.
"Hey." Gabby felt Shark squeeze her shoulder. "How you holding up?"
"Trying not to freak out over all the stuff to do. Haven't even thought about actually grieving yet." Gabby set the pad of paper down and leaned on the bar.
"Know what you mean." Shark nodded to a group of patches all with phones to their ears. "Too busy alerting everybody to really think about the fact that he's dead."
Gabby nodded her head. "Vivica's a mess; I'm really worried about her. Chris was her life. No kids, no pets, no career…"
"She'll come out of this alright. Chris was set up to retire soon. She's basically rich." Shark grabbed two beers and handed Gabby one.
"Not worried about her paying bills. I called her sister Vicky; she's on her way here."
"Vivica and Vicky?" Shark snorted out his beer and Gabby smacked his arm.
"They're twins." Shark got a smirk on his face thinking of his late president's younger days and what it would have been like going after twins.
"What can I do to help?" He finally offered once the light hearted mood had passed.
"Inventory the bar for me? I'm going to the store later. I need to check out the pantry."
"Sure." He swiped the top sheet off the pad of paper and took a pen out of his pocket.
Gabby started to walk away but turned back around. "Can you take Bull and Tom Tom? I want the dorms empty. Easier to house all the old ladies here than spread them out all over town."
"Yup. Prospect too, if you think he'll be sleeping."
"Probably not but I'll give him the illusion of it. Wish we had more than one."
"Use Lance."
"The hang around?"
"Yup. He's next on the list. Might as well start getting some use out of him. Don't say nothing though."
"I won't, thanks."
Gabby came home to a quiet, dark house and dragged herself to bed. The clubhouse and dorms were clean and empty. Tom Tom Bull and the prospect had lugged their stuff to Sharks house. She had stopped at Hap's and put clean sheets on the twin beds in the kids rooms there taking down Mathew's bed rail in case they were needed. Thankfully she didn't have to clean his apartment.
She checked things off her mental to do list and added more for Thursday. Vin had offered up his two spare rooms as had Lenard his one, but both houses would have to be cleaned. She would put the sweet butts and the prospect on that. She trusted Tony would keep them in line, and if she had to split them up Carol was her go to sweet butt, clean, around for a while, not a patch chaser, defiantly the head sweet butt. She shook her head at that. She tried to treat the sweet butts fairly, only one had a kid, a teen boy that definitely didn't belong to any of the brothers. She kept the druggies out and kept them in their place, but she certainly didn't treat them like Gemma had. Gabby still resented the woman after all these years, sometimes more than she resented Tig.
She shook the thought of sweet butts out of her head and focused on the work left to be done. Most of the shopping was done but she needed to work on food prep since there would be little time Friday. She would have liked to have arranged where everyone was sleeping but she had no idea how many men were bringing families and how many of those families would need rooms for a night. Vivica would have known. She wished she could at least ask her, she had never organized anything so big or anything at all without Vivica at least helping.
She groaned at the work she had left to do. She was grateful Vivica's sister had gotten in town, though she still felt bad. Gabby wanted to be there for Vivica, but not having to sit with her or check on her had freed up a lot of her time.
She climbed the stairs and peeked in to make sure the kids were asleep before sneaking into the bedroom. She stripped silently in the dark and attempted to crawl into bed without waking Casper, but she needn't have bothered. As soon as she settled on her side he rolled over and spooned her, giving her a kiss on the neck.
"I was starting to think you wouldn't come home." He whispered.
"Just trying to give myself a head start for tomorrow, who knows what might come up." She felt him nod against her. "How'd it go telling the kids? Are they okay?"
"Didn't tell Mathew, didn't see a point, he's only two." He pulled the hair band out of her hair she had forgotten about and shook her hair free before burying his face in it. "Kristen seems to get it, but she's not really sad, so I kinda think she doesn't really understand. She knows he died, that she won't see him again, but I don't know… Suzie cried. She understands, Becky's dad died last year so she's been to a funeral, understands death more than Kristen even though she's younger."
"Thank you for doing that." Gabby whispered and shifted closer to Casper.
"You don't have to thank me for that love." He kissed the back of her neck. "Go to sleep, I'll get the kids in the morning."
Gabby smiled. He hated when she thanked him for doing stuff with or for the kids. They were his kids too; he didn't buy into the mother doing everything. He was fully involved with his kids.
"Love you baby." She said instead.
"Love you Gabby."
"Gabby!" Becky came into the kitchen at the clubhouse as if she'd been looking everywhere for her. "I've got four hours till Suzie's out of preschool, what do you need done?"
"I thought you couldn't get bereavement leave for a non-blood relative." Gabby turned from her chopping.
"I can't. I took vacation days." Gabby started to say something but Becky put up a hand. "Don't argue with me, it's done. Today and tomorrow. You can't do this all on your own."
"Thanks Becky." Gabby just smiled at her friend and gave up her argument.
"What needs done?"
"I'm prepping food for tomorrow. Gonna be too many bodies here to do anything more than throw dishes in the oven."
"Got ya, all the cleaning done?"
"Finishing it now, clubhouse is done, got the girls at the guys' houses that have rooms to spare. Prospect is with the guys." Gabby nodded in the direction of the closed church doors.
"The prospect is in church?" Even Becky knew how rarely that happened. "Did they get news on the accident?"
"Vin and Hap talked to another officer." Gabby left out it was an officer on the club's payroll. "Whatever news they came back with they took right to church."
Becky nodded, noting but not questioning the incomplete information. She was used to being left slightly out of the loop. She took her place next to Gabby opening an array of canned soup and vegetables for the casseroles on the menu.
"You mind if I skip out and check on Vivica while you're here?" Gabby asked as she pushed aside the chicken breasts she had chopped and scrubbed her hands.
"No, that's fine, just leave me a list. Her sister is with her, right?"
"Yeah, I don't want to keep calling and bugging Vicky like I don't trust her. I thought if I just stopped in there once it would make me feel better." Gabby hated seeing Vivica go through this, hated seeing how much pain she was in. There were times living this life that an old lady worried her heart out about her old man and there were times you could almost forget about the club and be a normal couple. This had been one of those times. The club had no reason to be worried.
"He said the same thing Sanders said." Vin repeated for the third time.
"No tire marks, no other paint on the guard rail, nothing reported, no witnesses, no other bodily injuries than that explained by the motorcycle accident." Casper ticked off as he skimmed the copy of the report Vin had gotten.
Lenard rested his head in a large hand. He was still sitting in his old chair, the head of the table empty. "How are we on the enemy front?" The men were having a hard time swallowing that this may have been an accident.
"We're good with the Mayans. No problems in months. Talked to Jax, he talked to Alvarez; Mayans send their condolences but insist they had nothing to do with it." Hap spoke solemnly.
"What about the D-27?" Shark asked, arms crossed leaning on the table.
"Nothing. No new tags, no sightings, word on the street is they fled." Frankie shook his head.
"They had Fresno boys working for them, dealers, didn't they?" Lenard asked.
"Two of them...sir." The prospect spoke up a bit unsure, but he had had the most dealings with the group. "Salus and Viper. Salus is laying low, lost D-27 lost his supply, he's looking for new partners, he doesn't cook. Viper's off the raider completely, he may have left town with the rest."
"Do we know they really left town?" Vin asked finally sitting up straight himself.
"Dante and Ace were arrested in LA. Got in a bar fight with a couple of Diablos. They were probably trying to get back in. Red was with them, mentioned in the report but not in lock up. So there's three right there that went back to LA. One Fresno dealer for sure still here and the leader dead. There were eleven men in that house; if they're planning something that number is down to six." Casper spoke up and threw the report in the middle of the table for the other men to grab.
"Six men." Lenard cleared his throat and sat up straight meeting eyes with Vin. "You think they could have done this?"
"All evidence points to the contrary. We can ride around, ask questions, see if any of them stayed. If we find them still here I'd say probably." Vin huffed out a breath. "We gotta figure this out before tomorrow. Patches will be showing up, they're gonna want answers."
"At least we'll have plenty of backup if we do find these guys." Bull mumbled, Shark glared at him.
"I can keep searching online, we have the car tags. I'll look up family in the area too; get you some mothers and aunts to look in on." Casper offered up a better plan than blindly driving around.
The men dispersed quickly. Casper and Tom Tom went straight to the tech corner. Casper got his Ipad into the DUV site and handed it to Tom Tom with a list of license plate numbers and names. Casper opened one of many laptops and used one of his dummy profiles to access certified background checks.
"I'm back!" Gabby called before she even reached the kitchen. She was quickly tidying up the empty clubhouse as she walked through it.
"Just in time." Becky came out smiling. "How's Viv?"
"Alright. Sedated. Numbly going through boxes and boxes of pictures for tomorrow. I helped her set up a couple of collages."
Becky smiled sympathetically and shouldered her bag. "Guys came out of church hit the computers and then left in a hurry. Casper said they'd have Church again and it would be late." Gabby nodded her head as she threw chargers back on Casper's desk. "Frankie said you should be here tonight when they get out. And…that Vivica shouldn't be."
Gabby looked up then and froze for a second. She had plenty of work here to keep her busy bit it was a bit of an odd request to stay and keep Viv away. Especially from Frankie and not her old man or her father. She realized the implications and blew out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.
"Gabby?" Becky took a step closer. "I know I shouldn't ask…but…"
"Ask, if I can't answer I'll tell you." Gabby shrugged her shoulders.
"What happens now? With Chris dead…with Vivica?"
"It's complicated…." Gabby sat down on a seat with a plop. "Vivica will always be club. Unless one of the new officers has an old lady no one will question her place here. She's still queen. Always has been. Since Fresno got patched over." Gabby smiled. "Chris Vin Harry and Lenard used to ride around here, opened the construction company. Called themselves Sons of Zeus. SOA patched them over. Vivica had pictures from the patch over party. Frankie transferred here with Eggs from Vegas to keep the transition smooth. Vivica and Chris were already married. Vivica has always and will always be queen to these guys."
Becky smiled at the idea of a young Vivica. "Frankie doesn't want her here?"
"They're gonna vote on new officers. A new president. Not the kind of thing Vivica is gonna want to celebrate."
Becky nodded her head and sighed. "Days are gonna get tougher aren't they? I'll pack some stuff, pick up the kids and stay at your place. Live in nanny for a while."
Gabby stood up and hugged Becky. "You're not a nanny." She grabbed Becky's face in her hands and looked her in the eye. "You're a sister."
"Can we really sit here and say this was an accident? Tell all those men arriving that there is no one to blame, to go after?" Frankie asked the group of men. They all looked around the table at each other. No one liked it but it seemed to be the case.
"I think it's all we can offer them. Accidents happen. He's not the first to lay down a bike. Not the first to die from it either. We've exhausted all possible leads." Shark shook his head.
The men had spent all day as well as the majority of the evening driving around to the addresses Casper had pulled up. Those without a task had again gone street level to listen to any negative Son's chatter, but there wasn't any.
Lenard bowed his head and picked up the gavel. "Get home boys. Need you all here bright and early; sober and straight." He banged the gavel but the men didn't move.
"We have one more order of business Lenard." Frankie reminded him and Lenard put the gavel down. It had been moved to Lenard's seat to the left of the president's chair. All the men now turned to look at their fallen brother's vacant seat.
"After the funeral." Lenard chastised the secretary.
"Now, later, it's not gonna change our vote. Those men are gonna need to see that this club is whole without Chris." Vin assured his VP.
"All those in favor of Lenard being President." Frankie put on the table.
The men all answered Aye in near unison. Frankie took a new presidents patch out of his cut pocket and slid it to his brother.
"Elect your officers brother." Vin nodded at him from across the table.
The three men had talked in private and knew who would now hold what position. It was a delicate matter after something like this. The VP not wanting the chair. Anyone else taking it would have shown problems in the club, and that being said; neither of the other two officers wanted it either.
"Vin, be my VP." Vin nodded his head. "Frankie secretary." He clapped Frankie on the shoulder. "Happy." He called across the table and Hap looked from Frankie to him. "Be my Sergeant at Arms."
Happy looked at Lenard in shock for a moment. He had not been privy to the officers' decision and hadn't expected to be asked. Even though he was of the same generation as these men he had only been in Fresno six years.
"I will." He finally said with a firm nod to the head.
Lenard again banged the gavel and this time the men all rose and congratulated each other. Frankie passed out the other two patches at the door as the men left church.
Gabby had listened to the gavel banging and the chaos from the bar. She knew what it meant, the new officers had been voted on. She got off the stool and poured shots, lining the bar with them.
The men all burst through the door in a stampede and Gabby smiled at them all receiving kisses from Casper and Happy.
Happy set the patch down on the bar facing her and she smiled wider. She hopped over the bar and Happy pulled her into his chest for a tight hug.
Being an officer was an honor, the highest honor for a club man like Happy. But it also took up more time and put you and your family in greater danger.
Gabby was now the daughter of an officer as well as an old lady to an invaluable tech guy. That 4X1 inch patch Happy was once again clutching could literally be the death of her, and they both knew it.