A big thank you to the freak circle, and my beta EmeraldJewelSparkle!

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

The men all slowly filtered into the clubhouse after work. Vin had called Lenard first to get the go ahead to take care of the situation before calling the rest of the men for church.

"I need a fucking shower." Shark walked in a step behind Lenard.

"Will you shut up already?" Bull snapped, coming in last.

"I would, but someone hit a waterline." Shark growled at him. Both men were completely covered in a thin layer of now dried and crusty mud. Bull had hit and ruptured a water mane and the men had both gotten hit by the high powered stream of water, and thus mud.

"Hey!" Bull shoved Shark into Lenard.

"STOP." Lenard turned around and yelled, making both men freeze. "Shut the fuck up and go change. Church in 10." Bull nodded first and scurried away. Shark watched him go, a glare plastered on his face.

"Need to let me beat his ass." He mumbled to Lenard.

Lenard shook his head and Shark patted him on the shoulder before grabbing clothes from his locker and heading to one of the empty dorms.

"Casper." Vin called him over to the tech corner. He handed the younger man the slip of paper Gabby had brought earlier. "Get on this, it's a kitchen. Woman owns it, three men, speaking Spanish, moved in, started cooking."

Casper looked down at the paper and instantly recognized his wife's handwriting. "Gabby was here?" He hadn't heard from her all day. She had avoided him all morning, focusing on getting herself and the kids ready to leave the house.

"Yeah." Vin looked Casper over, he obviously was trying not to ask someone else how his wife was.

"You're still in the doghouse." Vin assured him and strode across the room to Lenard.

Casper took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair before settling in front of his computer. Happy grabbed two beers and arrived at his side, perching on the corner of his desk. He handed Casper a beer silently.

Casper looked him over as he took it. Happy very, very, rarely asked Casper how Gabby was. He didn't like having a go-between between him and his daughter. He only asked when Gabby was extremely mad.

"Still mad." Casper offered up, not making the proud old man ask. Happy nodded his head and took a pull from his beer as Casper turned and started typing on his computer. "Really mad." Casper mumbled. Happy paused putting his beer down and waited. "Slept in the den mad."

Happy sighed and got up from his perch. He patted Casper on the back and walked away, over to Vin and Lenard who were filling in Frankie. He preferred to get caught up on new information before church. Always had, but now as an officer he had the right.

"Nothing?" Shark asked for the second time and Casper rolled his eyes. The guys always seemed shocked when he came up with nothing, but hacking wasn't an exact fucking science.

"Nothing useful." Casper clarified his earlier statement. "The woman has no known ties to anyone with a record except her sister. Which I'm assuming is how Gabby got this info. The sister was picked up for prostitution and drug possession. She did a short stint and got put in Gabby's rehab center. She didn't have any clear ties to a particular dealer. There's no other family listed. No one else has been living in the house. Woman's never been married. Has one kid of her own, dad's straight up, paying child support, working in a warehouse in Santa Barbara. I can't tell you who these guys might be. We either camp out and keep watch or go in blind."

"I'm not a big fan of going in blind." Frankie put in his two cents.

"I'm not a big fan of letting those kids stay in a kitchen either." Vin spoke up.

Lenard folded his hands on the table. "Hap?" He turned to his newest officer.

"We let D-27 sit too long. They got comfortable, and cocky. We need to nip this in the bud. Now." Shark and Tom Tom both nodded their heads.

"Didn't work out too well for us last time. What if we just call the cops, tip them off. Let someone else handle shit till we get back on our feet." Bull put out his own solution.

All the men at the table turned to look at him.

"You want to call the cops?" Casper asked, not believing what he heard.

"We ARE back on our feet." Vin said sternly.

"Time for pussy footing around is over boys." Harry spoke, commanding attention, from the end of the table. "You youngens have had it easy. We all have. You can't handle what we have in front of us now; turn in your cuts at the door. I'm not having this conversation again."

"This conversation WON'T happen again." Lenard assured the table. "You need to explain yourself Bull."

Bull puffed out his chest and stared down his new president. "I'm not talking about the coward's way out. I'm talking about brains before bullets." He pointed to the sign behind Lenard's head.

"By calling the cops?" Casper scoffed. "When have the cops done shit? This is our town! We control it. If we turn this shit over to the cops we turn over all of our control."

"No cops." Happy stated, backing up his son in law.

"Fine, no cops. But I still think we should be smart about this." Bull continued to defend himself.

"We are being smart about it. This is what we do Bull." Frankie snapped and looked at Lenard.

Lenard nodded his head and picked up his gavel. "We go to the house. Put a stop to this. Roll out tomorrow at 9 a.m." He slammed his gavel down and pushed up out of his seat. He eyed his officers before looking to the rest of the group. "Get out!" He said forcefully and the non-officers all quickly left chapel.

"I'm done with him." Lenard said simply once Hap had closed the doors.

Vin ran a hand over his face. "Man's turned into a regular pain in the ass."

"A coward's more like it." Happy growled.

"Chris dying really shook him up." Frankie leaned back and crossed his arms.

"No, this shit started before Chris. He wants to be an outlaw, he ain't got the will. Ain't got the heart." Vin summed up his take on the man.

"What'll it take to get rid of him?" Lenard asked his officers.

"We can't drum him out for questioning you." Frankie shot down the idea he knew was on everyone mind.

"He's settled here. Living in the dorms for free. Getting paid for a job he couldn't get on his own. Drinking on our dime, pushing the sweet butts around…"

"I don't trust him to have my back." Happy interrupted Vin's rant.

"I'm starting to question that too. Don't think he's willing to put his ass on the line for any of us." Lenard agreed. "But how do we get rid of him?"

Happy cracked his knuckles. "We make it not worth his while."

Casper sat at the bar nursing a beer after church, Tom Tom next to him. Shark clapped them both on the back and nodded to the new girl behind the bar for a drink.

"Thanks hun." He winked at her and took a sip, sitting on the other side of Casper. "Would it be weird of me to give her flowers? I feel like this is a flowers kind of fight. I'd say jewelry, but she ain't my girl, so flowers…" Shark shrugged, knowing without asking that Gabby was still mad at him.

Casper looked forward and ignored him. "What's her favorite flower? Oh, wait… chocolate and wine. Would chocolate and wine be going too far?"

"What he do this time?" Tom Tom asked Casper.

"He crossed a line."

"I was trying to help." Shark got defensive.

"You didn't help." Casper got up and started outside to his bike. As much as he wanted to hide in the clubhouse he knew he'd catch hell if he didn't come home before dinner.

He rolled his eyes as he recognized the foot steps behind him as Shark.

"I'm sorry." Shark offered. Casper turned around and faced him.

"You're sorry? You turned my wife into a hysterical basket case, and you're sorry? Like it or not, you aren't a part of my family. There are things going on in my house that are none of your business, things you have no idea about. You need to stop inserting yourself into everything."

"I was just…"

"You were just trying to help. I know. I get it. But you didn't help. I don't need you to help me with my wife." With that Casper got on his bike and rode off the lot.

Shark stood and watched him go. He heard rather than saw Tom Tom exit the clubhouse and mount his bike as well.

"You ain't sticking around?" Shark called out.

"Got shit to do."

"Like what?" Shark asked skeptically.

Tom Tom grinned. "None of your business." He dug into Shark further and peeled out of the lot.

"None of my business." Shark muttered to himself going back into the clubhouse.

"Hey!" He called to the girl behind the bar. "Kaye, right?" He asked and she beamed, nodding her head and running over to him.

"How about making me your business tonight Kaye." He wrapped his arm around her and walked her to the pool table. He'd rather hang out with a whore than Bull.

Casper parked his bike in the garage and took a deep breath. He had no way of knowing how mad Gabby still was at him. The whole thing frustrated him. He had no part in bringing Tig here last night. All he had done was try to be supportive. And he ended up being the one she was the most mad at.

Well, maybe not the most mad at. Jesus, she had literally shoved Shark out of the house. Shoved him! And that was after she had stabbed him with a fork.

He wiped a hand over his face and slowly walked to the door. He opened it as quietly as he could so that he could stand and listen. He could hear both kids running around. Kristen was screaming at Mathew for taking something of hers. The running stopped with a loud thud and his two year old son started to wail loudly.

"Kristen!" Gabby yelled harshly and threw something metal into the sink.

"I didn't hit him, he fell!" Kristen yelled back as Casper came through the door and swooped up his sobbing son.

"You're okay little man." Casper kissed him and wiped his tears away.

"Daddy!" Kristen screamed and tried to jump on him, pulling on his arms for attention.

"How was school sweetie?"

"It was good daddy, we had art today. I painted a picture for Grandpa."

"I bet he'll love it." Casper smiled at his daughter as he walked to the kitchen. Gabby stared at him a moment while wiping her hands on a towel. She threw it down and walked towards him.

"Watch your brother sweetie. Be nice to him." Casper warned, setting his son on the floor.

"Garage. Now." Gabby whispered as she walked past him.

Casper turned around and watched her go before slowly following his angry wife to the garage.

She had buzzed the garage door closed and stood facing him in the semi darkness. He started to turn the overhead lights on but stopped and simply walked towards her. If she had wanted them on she would have turned them on.

"Anything you need to tell me?" Gabby asked, arms crossed.

Casper took the last few steps toward her and rested his hands on her hips. "I'm sorry. I love you." He whispered.

"Fuck you." Gabby spat out and pushed his hands off of her. "Something you should have told me WEEKS ago!"

Casper opened and closed his mouth a few times. He had no idea what Gabby was talking about.

"Love…I…" He sighed and threw his hands in the air shaking his head. He had no idea, not even a good guess.

"Kristen! Our daughter Casper! Kristen asking questions about Emily!"

"Oh Shit." Casper whispered.

"Oh shit? That's all you have to say? How could you not tell me?"

"I…I didn't think you needed to know okay? Hap and I answered her questions. I didn't want to upset you!"

"You didn't want to upset me?" He sighed inwardly, it was a stupid thing to say, he knew it was wrong the second it passed through his lips.

"Gabby…"

"Did you know about the pictures?"

"What pictures? OH...oh god…" He stepped towards her again and tried to touch her but she shoved his hands away and stepped back.

"You knew?" She swallowed back a sob. "You knew Jax was sending pictures? You didn't think maybe you should tell me? Warn me? Before I see my dead mother's face for the first time in 12 years?! Jesus Casper I burned those pictures for a fucking reason!" She held back her sobs but tears started streaming down her face.

"Love…hey…come on…" He stepped to her again trying to hug her, hold her, but she continued to shove his hands away and step back to get away from him till she collided with his bike.

He took the opportunity and grabbed her, holding her firmly to his chest. "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry Gabby." He choked on his own tears trying to keep them at bay as she tried to pull away from him. "Please Love, I'm so sorry. Just tell me what to do. Tell me how to fix this. I'll do anything Gabby, please." She pulled away from him and he grabbed the sides of her head to force her to hear him out.

She slammed her fists into his chest. "You can't fix this! I opened that envelope and she was just there. And Kristen was so excited and I couldn't even say anything. I fell apart. And she just…" Gabby broke down and sobbed. Casper caught her as she collapsed and went down with her, collecting her in his lap. He stroked her hair and attempted to shush her. He wrapped his other arm around her as she continued to cry and push away from him.

"Gabby…"

"Stop."

"Gabby please Love…"

"Stop! Stop!" Gabby continued to sob and fight him and Casper finally let go of her. She crawled out of his lap and sat against Casper's car, drawing her knees up to her chest.

"Gabby." Casper knelt in front of her and rested his hands on her knees. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I should have told you. She stopped asking questions, and I swear I forgot about the pictures. I swear. I wouldn't put you through that on purpose. I'm so sorry Gabby. I love you. I love you so much."

"Just…just stop Casper. Stop. I don't care how many times you say you're sorry. Sorry won't fix this."

"Okay Gabby. What do you want me to do?" He kissed her knee and grabbed one of her hands, stroking it with his thumb.

"Just leave me alone."

"I'm not gonna do that Love."

"Please just go. Just…go inside, with the kids. I don't want them…to...to see this."

"Okay. Okay, hey, look at me." He grabbed her chin and caressed her face making her look him in the eye. "I'm gonna go inside. I'm gonna feed the kids. And then I'm gonna come back out here. And we are going to talk." He leaned over and kissed her briefly on the lips, she didn't respond and he sighed and stood up.

"I'll be right inside Gabby." He assured her and himself before going back inside.

Casper set up a movie for the kids to watch and went into the kitchen. He leaned his elbows on the counter and buried his head in his hands. He felt helpless and he hated it. He had no idea how to help his wife right now.

Any given day would have had her falling apart over pictures of her mother. But this happening now, after she had been so upset last night, after whatever had been said between her and Tig…he really didn't know if she was going to be okay.

His first instinct was to call Happy, but he couldn't do that. Gabby hated feeling like she was being ganged up on. That was probably why she had gotten so upset last night.

"Daddy!" Kristen ran in the kitchen and Mathew followed her. "We're hungry daddy! Are you making dinner?" She sounded slightly curious at the notion. Casper cooked plenty, but Gabby was halfway through preparing something already.

"Yeah sweetie, I'm cooking. Mom…has something else she needs to do." Casper squatted down to talk to his daughter.

"Is she getting me a frame for Grandma's picture?" Kristen asked. "She said I could put one in a frame in my room…"

"Is that really what you want to do?" Casper asked. He couldn't let her do that. Gabby would never be able to go in Kristen's room again.

"Yes. Do you want to see the pictures Uncle Jax sent me? They're in my room. I'll get them." Kristen ran off up the stairs and Casper caught Mathew before he followed.

"Stay with me little man." He stood up with his son on his hip and took in what Gabby had started for dinner.

"Here daddy!" Kristen ran back to the kitchen.

Casper set Mathew down and took the pictures. They were all of a young woman. Two of the four were obviously scanned out of old yearbooks. The other two were in club settings. They were carefully cropped and photo shopped to show only her face.

She couldn't be any more than 20 in any of the pictures. He couldn't tell if they were before or after Gabby was born. He could tell that Gabby took after Tig a lot more than Emily. The only thing his wife clearly had from her mother was her nose.

"Daddy?" Kristen peered over the photos at him. "Do you like them? I think Grandma was pretty. I want to frame this one." She pulled one of the club photos out of the stack. "I like her smile in this one."

Casper looked at her selection. He did enough photo shopping to know that her eyes had been changed. Though he couldn't tell if it was normal red eye that had been taken out or if she had been high. The shirt she appeared to be wearing wasn't original to the picture either, and the blob behind her that had been artificially blurred was a cut.

Jax had sent his daughter a picture of her stoned grandmother topless on a man's lap. That, a cropped photo that Emily had been in the background of behind the bar, and two yearbook photos. That was the best all of Charming had to offer of Emily Duncan.

Jesus Christ, he thought, were these the types of pictures Gabby had burned?

"Sweetie, why do you want to put your grandmother's picture in a frame?" Kristen shrugged.

"You never knew her. So it's not because you miss her. You don't have pictures of my parents in your room." Casper's mother had left when he was young. His father died when Casper was in college and Casper had no relationship with his stepmother. A lack of family was what had drawn him to the Sons in the first place, that and a place that he could use his hacking skills.

"But you have pictures of them."

"I do, but they aren't in frames. They're in photo albums. What do you think about starting your own photo album? You can use these pictures, and I'll get you copies of my parents' pictures, and we can find you pictures of Grandpa, and all your uncles. Okay?"

Kristen tipped her head and thought for a moment.

"That way all your pictures will be in one place, and you can look at them whenever you want. I'll help you. It can be a special project for just the two of us."

That made her beam and nod her head and Casper sighed with relief. One major crisis averted.

"Can you go put these in your room somewhere safe and we will go to the store this weekend and pick out a photo album." He handed her back the pictures.

"Okay daddy." Kristen ran up the stairs again and Mathew followed her. Casper didn't try to stop him this time, he had to focus on dinner. He struggled up from his squatted position and blew out a breath before restarting dinner.

Kaye was bent over the pool table, avidly listening to Shark's instructions that he was whispering in her ear. He was grinding his hard on against her ass, and as much as she was enjoying the game she couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't taking her to a room. Carol had made it seem like the guys only wanted the girls around for one reason, well, two if you counted being served liquor.

Shark stood up straight, running his hands along Kaye's sides, when the chapel door opened and the officers walked out. Frankie didn't look happy. Lenard and Vin walked side by side, they had become considerably closer since Chris' passing. Happy walked with a determined step up to Bull who was with another sweet butt on one of the sofas.

"Ring." Happy said simply and lifted Bull clear off the sofa by just his upper arm. Hap dropped him on the floor and waited for him to clamor up.

"Got no beef with you brother." Bull put up his arms in surrender.

"I got one with you, Brother." Hap spat in his face with a snarl in his voice and stalked out of the clubhouse.

Bull glanced at Shark for help but the slightly older patch simply smiled and bent the startled sweet butt back over the pool table to line up her shot again.

Bull looked to the other officers, but they were all simply standing, staring at him, and waiting. Bull let out a heavy sigh and pushed through the clubhouse doors.

"Go for it darling." Shark whispered encouragement in her ear and she took her shot. She missed by a fraction and he smacked her ass.

"Bad girl Kaye, now I gotta start from the beginning."

Tom Tom leaned against the apartment door waiting for Becky and Suzie. The pizza in his hands was making his stomach growl. He had taken the tow truck here, yet again, so that he could bring dinner, and maybe take the girls out for ice cream. Kids love ice cream. And the forethought to bring the truck would hopefully earn him some brownie points.

"Chicken nuggets." He heard Suzie say as she must have been jumping up the stairs, or at least that is what it sounded like to him.

"No chicken nuggets." Becky sounded exhausted. Perhaps he should have called before showing up, but he had said last night that he would be coming back.

"Waffles!" Suzie made another suggestion, more excited about this one.

"Waffles are breakfast food, and we don't have any."

"Lasagna."

"Only if you buy all the stuff and do all the work." Becky answered and Tom Tom grinned.

"Tom Tom!" Suzie saw him as soon as they reached the landing and ran to him. "Tom Tom came back!" Suzie yelled over her shoulder to her mother who was still standing at the end of the hall. "Ohh pizza, what kind of pizza? Mommy doesn't want to cook dinner."

"Suzie!" Becky cringed with embarrassment and Tom Tom looked up at her and grinned as Suzie dragged him down to her level.

"It's mushroom and black olive pizza." Tom Tom informed Suzie. It was Becky's favorite, and he knew Suzie would eat it too although she preferred peperoni, and it was a healthier choice, another brownie point inspired idea.

"That's mommy's favorite kind of pizza."

"I know." Tom Tom said to Becky instead of Suzie as he stood back up. "Hey Becky."

"Tom Tom." She greeted him and rolled her eyes at how stupid she thought she sounded as she unlocked the door.

"Thought I'd bring dinner." He shrugged as Becky held the door open for him and Suzie.

"Thanks I…wasn't sure if you'd be by tonight." She hung her purse on a hook next to the door and immediately turned the air on. The apartment was already a lot cooler to start with than it had been last night.

"Told you I'd come by and fix Suzie's window." This got the young girls attention and she started jumping up and down.

"Is it gonna open?"

"Yup." Tom Tom walked into the kitchen and set the pizza down on the counter.

"Come on Tom Tom!" Suzie grabbed his hand and did her best to pull him towards her bedroom. Tom Tom looked down at her, standing still, watching her pull with all her might.

"How about after dinner." Tom Tom tried to calm her down and Becky raised her eyebrows at him, she crossed her arms and watched him attempt to parent her child. He swallowed nervously. "We gotta eat the pizza while it's hot. But then you can help me fix your window."

Suzie let go of his hand so quickly she stumbled back and he grabbed her hand back to steady her. "You need me to help you?" Suzie's eyes got wide and she grinned from ear to ear. "Really? I can help you?"

"Yeah…I need your little hands to hold all the tiny screws." He regretted it the moment he said it, afraid she would lose the screws but the proud look on her face assured him it would be worth the aggravation. There was no way he could make Suzie that happy and not prove himself to Becky.

Casper finished feeding the kids and set them back in front of the abandoned movie from earlier. He took a deep breath before opening the door to the garage. He was really hoping Gabby had calmed down, he was also terrified he was gonna find her in a sobbing heap on the floor.

"Gabby." He said her name out loud when he didn't immediately see her in the garage and quickly jogged down the steps. He walked in front of the two cars looking between them and inside of them. "Gabby!" He yelled out a little more panicked and started a thorough search of the garage.

He stopped and banged his head against the wall. What was he doing? She wasn't gonna be hiding in a fucking cupboard. He buzzed the garage open and stopped himself from running around the house in a panic. He walked calmly, looking everywhere, hoping to see her in the driveway, or on the front porch.

She wasn't there.

He went to the backyard, opened the gate and walked through to the other side. She wasn't there. She wasn't sitting on the lawn furniture or by the swing set. He went through the other gate and back around to the front of the house. He took a deep breath and thought when he reached the garage.

She hadn't waited for him in the garage. She wasn't outside. But both the cars and his bike were here. It was entirely possible she had snuck back into the house while he was cooking, or while he was feeding the kids.

He buzzed the garage closed again and went inside the house. He checked the basement first, searched it thoroughly, came up empty. He came back up and checked on the kids. They were content, and alone. He walked around the kitchen island just to assure himself she wasn't there and checked the bathroom and the den.

He opened the door to the coat closet and rolled his eyes at himself. She wasn't playing a game of hide and go seek with the kids. She was probably curled up in a ball in their bed. Or worse yet, Jesus. She was in Kristen's room with the pictures.

He forced himself to go up the stairs silently instead of bonding up them like his brain, and heart were screaming for him to do.

He took a deep breath before twisting Kristen's door knob and pushing the door open.

"Love?" He called out and stepped in the room. She wasn't there. He walked all the way through the room, spinning in a circle. The pictures were sitting on Kristen's dresser on top of the envelope they must have come in. She hadn't taken them.

He walked through the adjoining bathroom into Mathew's room and then back out into the hall. His heart was racing now. Every room he entered that she wasn't in made his stomach clench just a little more.

He pushed the last door in the house open and entered the master bedroom. "Gabby, love?" He raced to the bed but the lump he wished was his wife was only the unmade bed he had left after waking alone this morning. He walked into the bathroom and chocked back a sob.

"Gabby…Gabby…" He walked back out of the bathroom and sat on the bed. "Jesus Gabby where the fuck are you?!"

He grabbed his cellphone out of his jeans pocket and hit number one on his speed dial. He let the phone ring and ring as he hurried back out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and into the garage.

He hung up the phone when the voicemail picked up. He had no fucking idea what to say to her. He dialed the number again, bouncing on his heels. He eyed the garage as his phone rang, looking for anything out of place.

He walked over to his bike when he saw one of his saddle bags unbuckled. He lifted the flap as the voicemail picked up again. He pressed end and looked in the bag.

His gun was gone.

His breath caught in his throat, his pulse quickened, he looked back at his phone as if it was a foreign object before snapping out of it and moving to the next number on his speed dial. It rang four long times.

"Yeah?"

"I need you." He managed in a shaky voice.

Thanks for reading!

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