Special thanks to the freak circle and my beta EmeraldJewelSparkle both of which kept me at least half sane while writing this and trying to redeem Gabby in all of your eyes.
There will Not be an update next week. Updates will continue the week after and continue uninterrupted until I finish the story. Thanks for your patients.
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 bikes pulled out and surrounded the van on the way back to the clubhouse. As soon as everyone was inside the lot Lenard cut his engine and locked the front gate. He left the bike where it was and jogged over to the rest of the men.
The men were already opening the van and helping the wounded out. "Listen up!" Lenard yelled to get their attention. "We're going on lockdown. I want Vivica, Gabby, Becky and the kids escorted here. And call in the rest of the girls, and the hang arounds. Hap, you and Vin handle the shit in the van. Do it quickly, get what you can and finish it. Someone get Harry here. No one rides alone."
Lenard put an arm around Frankie and helped him inside. Casper grabbed Bull's uninjured arm and did the same. Vin went around to drive the van and Happy took the place of Tom Tom in the back with the prisoner.
"Wait." Casper jogged back, grabbing his chest with a wince as he did so. "The one you killed is Tiago. The other one is Sling. He's the cook."
"You got him to talk?" Hap asked in surprise.
"No, recognized him from research the last time. He's got a brother, Luce, unaccounted for, that was with them last time."
Happy nodded his head impressed, that information would be very helpful.
"If there cooking they're probably selling. There's probably more than just the one that got away." Casper added.
Happy turned to the bound and gagged man in the van who was staring at his dead friend. "I'll get what we need from him."
Happy got in the van and Casper slammed the door shut. He followed them and unlocked and locked the gate once more before heading back into the clubhouse.
Fresno had no doctor, Shark had field medical training but didn't know much more than how to stop the bleeding and wait for an actual medic. None the less he was already digging the bullet out of Bull's arm.
Tom Tom was on the phone carefully explaining to Harry the situation without actually disclosing anything. Casper walked past him to Frankie; Carol was closing up the gash on his head.
"Where's Lenard?" Casper asked the group of brothers.
"Chapel." Shark muttered and triumphantly pulled the bullet out of Bull's arm and dropped it on the table.
"I'm gonna grab Tom Tom and start collecting the women. When the prospect gets back take him and get supplies. Call Viv, ask her to make you a list and tell her we're on the way." Casper surprisingly took charge.
"You gonna call Gabby?" Shark asked, stepping away from Bull, ignoring the fact that the man was still clutching gauze to his bleeding arm.
"No, I need to tell her this in person."
Vivica was the easiest of the old ladies. By the time Casper and Tom Tom got to her place she was waiting in the garage, SUV packed with supplies as well as her overnight bag. Food, toiletries, and everything remotely close to a first aid supply she had in her home was neatly bagged in the trunk.
"Are we picking up the rest?" She asked Casper instead of saying hello, as Casper walked towards her.
"Taking you to the clubhouse first Viv, making separate trips." Casper gave her a reassuring smile and walked back to his bike parked next to Tom Tom who was on the phone with Becky.
Separate trips for each of the women was maybe a bit of an overreaction, but it still served a dual purpose. Bringing them in one at a time made them a smaller target, also hopefully made them look a little less obvious than a train of cars and bikes going through town.
It also meant he could pick up Gabby last. She wasn't gonna be happy about this. A lockdown is the absolute last thing she needed right now. He wanted to draw out telling her as long as possible.
Shark was waiting at the gate and let Vivica's SUV through. He flagged down Casper who hadn't planned on staying.
"Tony's back. Do you need help?"
"We're gonna get Becky and Suzie. We'll be back." Casper brushed over his offer.
Shark got the point. Casper had no idea how to tell Gabby what was going on.
"Lenard called Charming. Tig and Juice are on their way here." Shark mentioned, seemingly off hand, but still a warning.
"Shit…" Casper swore. He wasn't too thrilled with anyone from Charming right now. There was nothing he could do though. They needed help, the Nomads weren't available. Casper could use Juice, but Tig? Fuck. Tig was the last person Gabby needed to see right now.
"I'll talk to him. He'll probably beat you here. They already left."
"Talk to him and tell him what Shark?" Casper snapped but Shark wasn't offended. His friend was stressed to the max, had been even before his near death experience this morning.
"I'll tell him Gabby's sick, alright? She can stay in a dorm, sleep, stay out of the shit going on." Shark paused and looked at Casper dead on. "She doesn't need to know what happened to you this morning."
"It's not just what happened to me Shark. She gave us that house. She's gonna blame herself for all of this and she does NOT need this shit right now."
"HEY!" Tom Tom pulled around. "We need to go, cut the chat, huh?"
Casper sighed once more and Shark nodded them both off. He was gonna make it his own personal fucking mission to not stress Gabby out during this lockdown, even if it killed him.
Tom Tom and Casper escorted Becky from work to her apartment. She climbed out of her car and Tom Tom got off his bike this time to walk her upstairs.
"Can you please tell me what's going on now?" Becky begged as they made their way up the stairs. Tom Tom didn't say a word. He followed her into the apartment and locked the door behind them.
"Tom Tom." Becky said more forcefully and Tom Tom grabbed her and kissed her deeply. She kissed him back, her hands clutching the soft leather of his cut. His hands roamed over her as he walked her backwards to the nearest wall and pinned her against it.
He would have loved nothing more than to strip her and devour her completely, but he knew now wasn't the right time. Not this soon, not with Casper waiting downstairs. But he still couldn't help but need her right now; he needed the comfort of her. The firefight this morning had his life flashing before his eyes. Seeing Casper go down like that, Jesus. If it hadn't been for the vest the man would be dead. Bull had taken a bullet, Frankie had nearly had his brains blown out.
He pulled back from her finally as the violent images filled his head.
"Tom Tom?" Becky questioned, placing her hand on his chest in concern and confusion.
"Something happened this morning. Everyone's okay, but Lenard wants everyone at the clubhouse for a few days till we fix this shit." He attempted to explain without really explaining anything. Becky wasn't his old lady. She wasn't even really his girlfriend. Even if she was, Tom Tom had never thought about how much he would ever disclose to an old lady if he ever had one. He didn't want to explain everything; he didn't want to scare her. He just needed her safe. So did Lenard, he realized as Becky dropped her hand from his chest. Lenard had been the one to order her brought in with an escort. The rest of the girls were coming of their own accord. Did Lenard consider Becky Tom Tom's old lady already or just higher up on the ladder than the sweet butts?
"Tom Tom, what happened? Are you guys being threatened?"
Tom Tom sighed and brought Becky over to the couch. "How much do you know about what's been going on? What has Gabby told you?"
"Not much. Tom Tom, you said last night that it was okay to be out…now you want us to stay at the clubhouse…"
"We were okay last night." Tom Tom assured her. "Do you know who D-27 is?"
"A new gang, drug dealers. Gabby said they weren't following the club's rules."
"It's bigger than that now. We hurt them. And they may have been the ones to kill Chris. We hurt them again this morning. Lenard doesn't want to give them any opportunities to hurt us again. He wants everyone safe in the clubhouse while we resolve this."
Becky sat in silence for a moment absorbing the information. She didn't think the club killed people. As much as she had been told by Gabby and heard around town the Sons kept the drug trade under control by charging fines, making life difficult for dealers, and when needed, roughing people up. But now Chris was dead, and Lenard was calling everybody to stay in the clubhouse. Stay for days; there's no way all that would be happening in response to the club roughing up the wrong person.
"How many days should I pack for?" She finally asked.
Tom Tom squeezed her hand. "Pack for a week, shouldn't take that long though. I'm gonna clean out your fridge. I'll stock it again when we get out. Grab first aid supplies, just in case."
Becky nodded her head slowly. She got up off the couch and went to the kitchen. "Becky?" Tom Tom followed her, "I'll do this."
"I know." She squatted down and pulled her reusable shopping bags out of a cupboard and stood back up, pressing them into Tom Tom's chest till he took them. "What were you gonna do? Juggle all my food down the stairs?" She teased and walked out of the kitchen to the bedrooms.
Tom Tom smiled, relieved. She was taking this a lot better than he thought she might.
By the time Becky checked Suzie out of daycare and got to the clubhouse sweet butts and hang arounds were starting to filter in. Becky parked, fished Suzie out of the backseat and picked her up. The lot was too busy to let her four year old walk around on her own. Tom Tom whistled at a group of hang arounds and two of them came over and grabbed all the bags out of the trunk and headed inside with a nod from Tom Tom.
He took a key off his ring and handed it to Becky. "Get settled in my room. It's gonna be hectic inside."
"You're not coming in?" Becky asked.
"We gotta go back out for Gabby."
"Gabby's not here yet? You…you brought me here before Gabby?" Becky asked in utter shock.
"Casper's orders. Go in, get settled, help Viv." Becky nodded and carried Suzie inside the clubhouse.
"Where you want your bags ma'am?" One of the hang arounds was waiting inside for her with their duffle bags, the food already off to the kitchen she supposed.
"Oh, umm, I'll take them." She held out her free arm, the man looked hesitant but he hung them both carefully on her shoulder and walked away.
Becky set her daughter down at the bottom of the stairs and took her hand for the way up. Suzie seemed to be taking everything in stride. She hadn't at all minded being picked up early from daycare and had been over joyed to hear they were going to the clubhouse. Becky had told her there would be a lot of people there and she had to be on her best behavior and not get in anyone's way or ask any questions. Suzie hadn't even asked her mother why, she had just nodded her head.
And now as they reached the top of the stairs Suzie went right to the dorm the toys were in, across the hall from Tom Tom's room, ready to be left to her own devices and wait for Kristen.
Becky was torn on letting her go in. She still had Tom Tom's key in her pocket, but she saw no reason not to use the room she normally did. Well, not normally, she'd never spent the night here before, nor had she spent the night with Tom Tom. And she didn't want the first time they were in bed together to be awkward and sexless, which it certainly would be with Suzie in the room. But she also didn't want to offend Tom Tom. She rolled her eyes at herself. She was over thinking this.
She left Suzie in her normal dorm and dumped their overnight bags out of the way in a corner of Tom Tom's surprisingly clean dorm, and went back downstairs.
She wondered around the organized mess looking for Vivica but came up empty. "Carol?" She called from the doorway to the kitchen. Carol and another younger looking sweet butt were putting away the random assortment of food from Becky's kitchen.
"Can I get you something baby?" Carol asked nicely. Becky smiled back. She was stuck in an odd spot in the club. Not a sweet butt, not an old lady. She appreciated the bit of respect she got from Carol, as the other girls simply ignored her or glared at her, but it also made her feel awkward.
"Do you know where Viv is? Her SUV is out there but I can't find her."
"She's in the office. Headed right there after she dropped off her bags. Do you know if anyone is going out for more supplies?"
"No idea, I'm sure the guys will if we need something." Becky shrugged.
"Ask Viv who to send, we need meat, and more milk for the kids."
"Will do." Becky assured her and headed out to the office. Hopefully Vivica would give her a task. Becky always preferred having a task at the clubhouse versus just hanging around.
Becky knocked on the half open office door, "Viv?" She called before walking in.
Vivica looked up and closed a file folder. "What is it sweetie?"
"Just wondering what needs done. And Carol wants to know who to give a grocery list too."
"Ask Gabby." Vivica brushed her off.
"Gabby's not here yet Viv."
Vivica sighed. She hadn't been through a lockdown in over 20 years. Not since the Mayan's came back to Fresno and found her husband's small club, Sons of Zeus, patched over by Sons of Anarchy and had taken control of the city. Back then there had been no sweet butts, and no kids. Just her, Lenard's second wife, and Egg's old lady. They had each taken a room, and stayed till the chaos had ended.
"Shark is at the store. Text him what you need. There are no other tasks. Old Lady's get beds, everyone else will have to make do, just find something to keep yourself busy. I have phone calls to make."
"Alright, sorry." Becky apologized for interrupting and closed the office door. It struck Becky on the way back to the clubhouse that this was the first time Vivica had been to the clubhouse since Chris's funeral. The dinner at Gabby's two nights ago was the first thing close to a club event Vivica had attended since then as well. Vivica wasn't being rude, she had to be dying with the thought of being locked in here.
Becky walked back through the clubhouse as something else from her conversation with Viv stuck her; only old ladies got beds. Tom Tom had given her his bed. Was that because he considered her his old lady or because he knew she wouldn't get one and he didn't want her just making do?
What does the term old lady even really mean? Becky only knew two old ladies, Gabby and Vivica. They were both married. Becky had always assumed 'old lady' just meant wife; like 'the old ball and chain.' Even the out of town old ladies she had met at Chris's funeral, like Tara, had been married.
"Becky?" Carol asked, interrupting her thoughts and Becky realized she had made her way all the way back to the kitchen.
"Shark is getting supplies. You can text him specifics. Viv said hold tight till Gabby gets here." Becky quickly covered for herself, coming up with something to say. She started to offer help, but bit her lip. The old lady subject, and it's meaning, was still spinning around her head. Would an old lady offer help, or just help, or dictate jobs, was she an old lady? She certainly wasn't a sweet butt. Was she technically in charge of Carol? Did she answer to Carol?
"Thanks for taking care of this Carol."
"No problem, but I mean, I'm just putting supplies away. Got no idea what a lockdown is. Haven't heard that term thrown around here since Gabby's lockdown. But that wasn't all this," she waved her hand around the crowd in the main bar, "just her."
"What do you mean?" Becky asked quietly.
"10 or so years back. Gabby showed up in the middle of the night. Happy left her here. She stayed a week, the guys were protecting her. She wasn't allowed out and no one but patches and a couple trusted girls were allowed in."
"I've never heard about that." Becky thought back to whether or not it had ever been mentioned.
"I don't know much about it either. I was new then. Spent most of my time dodging June. Thank god she left."
"June?"
"Eggs' old lady. Eggs had just been locked up a few months before, she was a bear to deal with. She divorced him pretty soon after that so…no more June."
"Huh…" Becky huffed out and headed up the stairs to check on her daughter. She'd heard the name Eggs thrown around. She knew the guys occasionally visited him in prison, and his mug shot was still on the wall in the clubhouse. But she'd never heard of June.
Did June stop coming around voluntarily after she divorced Eggs or was she no longer welcome because she left her old man? If Becky left Tom Tom would she no longer be welcome? If Gabby ever left Casper would she no longer be welcome? Or would she still be welcome as Happy's daughter? Would Becky be welcome as Gabby's friend if she wasn't with Tom Tom, just as she'd always been?
Becky was getting rather sick of all the questions rattling around in her head.
Casper and Tom Tom parked outside Gabby's rehab clinic. Casper hadn't given Gabby any kind of a heads up about him stopping in, or the lockdown, or anything else. And he really didn't want to tell her about it now, either. Especially after her confession this morning about needing a break from the guys. This lockdown was not going to go well.
"You want me to go in with you?" Tom Tom teased as Casper continued to sit. Casper rolled his eyes and climbed of his bike.
He dug in his wallet on his way inside for his access card and swiped it at the door instead of buzzing and waiting for someone to let him in. He stepped inside the first set of doors and up to a window. Casper slipped the card through a slot to a security guard. He was usually annoyed by the high security of this place, but today he was thankful for it. Only staff got free reign through the building. Patients had different cards that didn't allow them out, or in, the building without an escort. Casper had an access card because his son was in the daycare here. Happy had one too, Shark didn't, and was always quite upset over that fact.
The security guard slid back the card with a visitor's sticker. Casper, from experience, stuck the sticker on his shirt immediately; the guard wouldn't open the second door until he did so.
The guard buzzed him through and Casper quickly made his way to his wife's office. He knocked on the door tentatively and waited for Gabby to yell 'come in' before opening the door.
"Hey Love." He greeted, stepping in and immediately closing the door again behind him.
Gabby's head snapped up from her ipad at the sound of her husband's voice. "Hey. What's going on?" Surprise visits from Casper were rare, and usually not a good thing.
"We need to talk." Casper said calmly and took a step forward. Gabby stood up from her desk and walked around it, meeting him in front of the couch.
"First off, everyone is okay." He put his hands out in a subconscious defensive posture as he reassured his wife.
Her arms immediately crossed over her chest and her eyes scanned him for any evidence of a fight, but found none.
"We took that kitchen this morning. But…it didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped."
The look on Gabby's face turned from curiosity and worry into guilt. Casper had been afraid of exactly that.
"The three men…they weren't what we thought…who we thought." He paused and took a breath. "They were left over members of D-27."
The guilt on Gabby's face deepened and was paired with panic. "Shit Casper…" She started.
"We got two of them." He cut her off. "But one got away, and we don't know who it was. Lenard called for a lockdown. I gotta bring you and the kids in." He paused a minutes, debating, and decided to throw it all at her at once. "Lenard called for backup from Charming. Tig and Juice are on the way down."
Gabby sat down numbly on the couch, processing the information. She had sent the club to that house. Casper assured her that everyone was okay, that meant that someone had, or had come very close to getting extremely hurt. And they 'got' two of the men. Which meant those two men were either dead, or would be soon. And there was one on the run. One that could be running to others. Fuck.
"Gabby?" Casper asked and sat down next to her, taking her hand in his.
"This is all my fault." Gabby mumbled.
"No. No it's not." Casper assured her.
"Yes it is." She tore her hand out of his and stood back up. "I sent you to that house."
"We were looking for those guys anyway. We would have found them eventually. And better we find them now before they start recruiting more men."
"But if you had found them yourselves you would have gone in differently. You would have been better prepared."
"That's not on you. We could have sat on that address you gave us, waited to see who those men were. We didn't. That's not on you."
"It's all on me Casper! I sent you there! Everything that happened is on me!" Gabby snapped and slapped Casper in the chest. It wasn't hard but she hit his newly bruised and cracked sternum and he couldn't help but flinch and step back.
Gabby looked at him sharply. "Everyone's okay?" She repeated his words back to him. "What the fuck happened to you?"
"Nothing Gabby." She raised her eyebrows at him and went to slap his chest again. He grabbed her wrist but she used her other hand to drag up his shirt instead.
"Jesus Christ." She whispered in shock and he let go of her wrist.
"I'm fine Gabby."
"YOU GOT SHOT!" She yelled back.
"I didn't get shot. If I'd been shot in the chest I'd be dead." Stupid stupid thing to say; he was mentally kicking himself as Gabby's eyes flared a shade of blue he'd never seen before.
"Do I look stupid to you?" She snapped back. "I know what a fucking bullet wound looks like."
"And this isn't one. I was wearing a vest!" He grabbed her hand and pulled it away so his shirt would fall and hide the evidence.
"You got shot point blank in the chest Casper. At a house I sent you to. What if you'd been shot in the head?" Gabby stepped back, Casper watched as she started to go pale.
"I wasn't." Casper walked her back over to the couch and sat her down.
"I nearly got you killed." Gabby said quietly.
"You didn't." He squatted down and held her chin in his hand. "This isn't on you Gabby. Don't even think it." Gabby shook her head and he let go of it. "Love, you didn't do this. No one is blaming you. You did what we couldn't do. We've been searching the city for these guys. You found them."
Gabby sat for another moment in silence before looking at Casper finally. "Is the family in danger? The boy? The aunt and his cousin?"
"No." Casper said definitely but put that thought to the side for church. "These guys knew we were looking for them. It was just a matter of time before we showed up there. The family won't be targeted."
Gabby took a few deep breaths. She was fighting her instincts, to clam up and not deal, or to leave and avoid the whole mess. The middle of the day in her office was not the best time and place for her to try and work through everything she was feeling.
"Who else was hurt?" She asked finally.
Casper sighed, she was gonna find out as soon as she stepped into the clubhouse, there was no reason to lie. "Frankie cut his head open. Bull took one in the arm." Gabby's eyes flared again as he paused. "He's fine, got hit due to his own stupidity. AND he let the third guy get away. And technically Happy cut Frankie's head open when he pushed him down."
Gabby nodded her head. She sat silent, Casper sat next to her, holding her hand.
"We already pulled Viv and Becky in. Time for you and the kids to join in the fun." Casper moved the conversation along as best he could. Gabby was stalled; he needed to push her without upsetting her further.
"I can't." Gabby said immediately.
"Gabby." Casper nearly snapped at her but caught himself. "You don't have a choice. Lockdown. Everyone in." Casper reminded her.
Gabby stood up and stared down her husband. "I know what a fucking lockdown means. I've been through more god damn lockdowns than anyone in this charter." She stabbed him in the chest with her index finger. She was careful not to hit his bruise and Casper took that as a win. "I can't go with you right now. I have a meeting with Adam in two hours. AKA the boy that found the gang for you. I have to be there to mediate between him and his mother. Besides," she cut off Casper as he started to interrupt. "He may know more about the gang. Something could come out in the meeting."
"You're not gonna interrogate an eight year old boy." Casper said emphatically, he knew she never would, her reasoning was a lie.
"I don't know what he might say. He might tell her about where he's living now. Do you know why the gang chose that house? He might. His mom might." Gabby defended her choice to stay. "Even if it doesn't come up, I'm not bailing on him."
"Gabby, we don't know who got away. We don't know what they might do. These guys KILLED Chris on their first shot back at us. I'm not leaving you here."
"You don't know they killed Chris. That hasn't been confirmed. Besides, this place is as safe, if not safer, than the clubhouse. Come back and get me at two." She defiantly walked back to her desk and sat down.
Casper could only stare at her. He was floored. This was not his wife. His wife was stubborn, but his wife was also pure club. She had never gone against him when it came to club issues.
"Fine. If you're staying here I'm staying here." Casper crossed his arms and sat back down on the couch. Gabby didn't say a word, she simply rolled her eyes and picked up her ipad.
"I can do this all day Gabby." He egged her on.
"You only need to do it till two." She looked up at him and addressed him as she would Kristen. "Or you could take my SUV, pack us up some bags, and get Mathew and Kristen back to the clubhouse. Since you're so worried about everyone's safety."
Casper stared at her a moment trying to come up with a retort, but couldn't think of one. He finally huffed and stood up. "I'll be here at two. On the DOT. Be ready, and for god's sake wait inside."
He slammed her office door closed and she flinched slightly but returned to her ipad and slouched back in her chair. She had nearly gotten her husband killed. Her husband that she threatened to leave last night. Jesus what was she thinking? She loved Casper more than she thought she could stand. She didn't think she deserved him. The thought of him nearly dying this morning made her sick to her stomach.
She thought they had forgiven each other last night, they had been fine this morning. But he was obviously still angry at her. He didn't understand. The things she was dealing with were things he couldn't help her with. She didn't want him to know how much pain she was in. She didn't want him to worry. Obviously she had failed in that attempt.
She took a deep breath and set her ipad back down, cradling her head in a hand. She couldn't deal with a lockdown right now. She couldn't walk into the clubhouse and look those men in the eye knowing how much danger SHE had put them in. Even if no one had voiced it, a few of the men must be thinking it. She gave them that address. They took her word on the men inside. This was her fault.
Thanks for reading :D