Special thanks to the freak circle and especially my wonderful 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
Gabby closed the door on her napping son and headed to the kitchen to see what she could pull together to feed the large horde of people currently taking up every chair, couch cushion, and stool of the clubhouse.
Lenard hadn't made any type of announcement before the men had started church. Juice and Tony had been dismissed early, printed out some information, and left. Frankie and Tig had left shortly after they got out of church as well, but came back quickly. Casper and Tom Tom were both hitting the computers hard. Well, more like Tom Tom was scanning and searching through whatever Casper was pulling up. Tom Tom made a decent nerd, but Casper was the hacker. Casper had barely acknowledged Kristen and Mathew, let alone Gabby. He went out of his way to not even sit facing her as he worked on his laptop.
The rest of the men were simply sitting around. Gabby could tell they were getting antsy, thus Gabby's idea to get food going. She peaked into the bar on her way to the kitchen, the situation had not changed. Kristen and Suzie were watching a movie on an ipad, sharing head phones. God bless ipads. Gabby wasn't a big fan of sitting her kids in front of electronics to keep them busy, but in the clubhouse they were very handy.
She entered the kitchen and immediately started checking out the food situation. It was actually a lot more organized than she was expecting. She pulled several pounds of ground meat out and debated making hamburgers.
"Too much work." She mumbled out loud and grabbed spaghetti noodles and a few jars of sauce out of the pantry. Spaghetti with meat sauce was certainly easier for such a large group of people and there were enough assorted greens to serve it with a salad.
"Knock knock." Carol said as well as knocking on the door frame. "Can I help?"
Gabby shrugged. "Sure, not much work to do though."
Carol nodded her head and washed her hands. She took in the ingredients on the counter and grabbed a large skillet to start browning the meat.
"So…" Carol started. She sliced the first package of meat open and dropped it into the skillet. Gabby opened the lid of the garbage so Carol could toss the empty packages in.
"So…" Gabby said back, staring at the red juice in the bottom of a package. She swallowed down bile and closed the lid. The juice reminding her of blood, the blood reminding her of Casper's bruised chest, and near death.
"So Lenard didn't announce anything before church; or after." Carol reminded her.
Gabby sighed as she filled a large pot up to start boiling water. "Right, yeah. I noticed that." She put the pot on the stove and went back to the fridge, pulling out salad makings.
"Some of the girls want to know if they have to stay. We've got jobs." Carol said a little annoyed. "I've got a shift tomorrow; I can't afford to call off 'less I have too."
"Okay." Gabby set down what she was holding and sighed. "I'll talk to Lenard." Carol stood staring at her. "Now." Gabby added. She was really wishing Vivica hadn't put her in charge at the moment.
"Thanks Gabby."
"Mm hmm." Gabby hummed as she walked out of the kitchen. Carol had a good point, it was Thursday, she had told her boss she would miss tomorrow, but could Kristen go to school? Maybe Monday? She didn't expect to be told the plan, but an estimated timeline would certainly help.
She looked around the clubhouse. Becky looked up at her from the book she was reading next to the kids, but Gabby waved her off.
Lenard was sitting on a couch in the back with Happy; great. Gabby took a deep breath and walked over to Lenard.
"Lenard, can I talk to you a minute?" Gabby asked. She wasn't afraid of Lenard, the man was a teddy bear, but her guilt about this morning had yet to dissipate, she was still in fact bracing to get yelled at.
"Of course hun. What is it?" He put his beer on the floor next to the couch. Happy sat up straighter as well, curious.
"Can we talk privately?" Gabby rephrased her question.
Lenard looked to Happy slightly shocked. Happy looked back at him and then turned to Gabby. He had been made aware that Gabby hadn't come straight here with Casper. He knew something was going on, but he still couldn't tell what, and he wasn't gonna wait much longer for Gabby to come to him.
Happy looked back at Lenard and swept his hand out in an 'oh well' fashion and Lenard stood up. He looked around the room. Taking Gabby into the chapel would draw a lot of attention. He walked Gabby out of the bar instead, past the kitchen, to the storage room.
"This about you and Casper?" He asked as soon as he shut the door.
Gabby gasped slightly in surprise. "Casper and I are fine." Gabby said firmly.
"No hun, you aren't." Lenard crossed his arms and leaned against the door. He wasn't purposely cutting off her exit, the door was the only flat surface in the room, the other walls all covered in shelves.
Gabby pushed her hair off her shoulders. What was with these guys and butting into her and Casper's personal life? "Carol and the other girls haven't been told what's going on. They need to know when they can go to work, if they can leave."
Lenard blew out a breath and wiped a hand over his face. "Where's Vivica?"
"Holed up in the office. Becky said she didn't want to be disturbed. I'm in charge apparently. I don't want to tell the girls anything until I clear it with you. I was waiting for you to make some kind of announcement." Gabby said as cautiously and tactfully as she could.
"An announcement?" Lenard asked, confused.
"Some kind of short speech. Tell everyone this won't take long and it's all for their own safety." Gabby explained.
Lenard sighed. "Guess you've been through this a bit more than I have."
"Maybe just more recently." Gabby comforted him.
Lenard sighed again deeply and shook his head. He broke eye contact with Gabby. "I don't want this Gabby." Lenard confessed. His hands dropped to his sides, his lean turned into more of a sag.
"Don't want the lockdown? I thought you called it."
"No, I don't want the club."
Gabby took a step back in shock. "Lenard…"
"No, no, I want the club. I don't want to be in charge. I don't want all this shit on me. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm still grieving my friend."
Gabby nodded her head. She wanted to scream 'why are you telling me this?' But she knew the answer. "And if you tell the guys you don't want to be president?" Gabby led him on.
Lenard stood silent.
Gabby took a deep breath. "Guess that wouldn't go over to well." She looked at him carefully, and finally, she couldn't help but to ask. "Lenard, all due respect, why are you telling me all this?"
"I don't know what I'm doing. I need you." Lenard said simply.
"Lenard…" Gabby looked at him blankly. "I know what you're thinking, but I didn't grow up in the club. I don't know as much as you think I do. I spent most of my time avoiding the clubhouse. Avoiding the old ladies, avoiding everything. I'm not the born and bred club girl you guys think I am."
"You know the behind the scenes deal. You keep the woman under control. You take care of the guys. You know the politics."
"There are no politics in Fresno. That's why I like it here. There's no clicks or secrets or feuds. There are no fine lines to navigate around. We're a family here."
"We are. And families help each other."
Gabby sighed. "What do you want me to do?"
"What needs done?" Lenard asked, he wasn't being rhetorical, he didn't know.
"The girls need the lockdown explained to them. Are the girls in danger? Are you just being cautious? And it's only Thursday. Can Kristen go to school tomorrow? Can I and the other girls go to work?"
"We're being cautious. This shouldn't take long. I want the kids here. I'm not standing over a three foot long coffin. The girls will get escorts to work and back if they must go in. Other than that they can leave at their own risk."
Gabby nodded her head and absently rubbed her left temple. "Fair enough."
"Gabby." Lenard stood up straight and took a step toward her. "What's going on with you?"
Gabby sighed heavily. "What do you say you and I grab the kids and hit the road? Go far away. India."
"Gabby…"
"Okay, India is negotiable, but for the record a lot of people there speak English."
"Gabby…"
"Mexico?"
Lenard chuckled. "You know, you talk a lot more than Happy, but I think you say even less than him."
Gabby smiled, she knew it wasn't an insult. She was certainly friendlier than her father, but perhaps due to his influence, she didn't speak much about her personal life.
"Yeah well, just another episode of 'emotionally stunted wife versus possessive worry wart husband.' We'll be fine. Not the first time things have been strained."
"Strained is how most of my marriages ended." Lenard chastised.
"Only most?" Gabby teased, but Lenard was serious. "You have to work through the bad times. It takes two people to fight; no one person is ever entirely to blame."
Lenard huffed. "My second wife told me the same thing. Turns out she was skimming my bank accounts and cheating on me."
"Not that you're bitter or anything."
"Nah." Lenard smiled. "Just don't let this shit make anything worse."
"I won't be a distraction." Gabby assured him.
"Not what I meant. Three men got hurt this morning. And I want you to know even with all the anger and frustration in church, not one of those men even attempted to blame you. I know you Gabby. Known you for years now; don't carry this on your shoulders."
Gabby nodded her head. "Trying not to. Dinner should be ready soon. I'm gonna help Carol. I'll talk to the girls after we clean up."
"Thanks Gabby." Lenard opened the door for her before following her out. He thought better of heading straight back to Happy and grabbed a stool from Lance who was more than eager to give it up for him.
Carol was straining the noodles, nearly ready to serve dinner, when Gabby got back to the kitchen. She washed her hands once more and quickly started pulling the salad together.
"So?" Carol once again started the conversation. She dumped the noodles into the pot of sauce and rinsed the colander out for Gabby to fill with lettuce.
"If you need to work you'll get an escort." Gabby filled her in as she shredded lettuce into the colander for Carol to rinse. "I'll talk to the girls after dinner. Speaking of which, where are the other girls?"
"I needed a break from them." Carol confessed with a half chuckle.
Gabby smiled and laughed as she chopped vegetables. She understood. She felt bad for Carol sometimes. She would have made a great old lady if the men who were so enthralled with her now had been ready to settle down when she first arrived on the scene. Now she was still appealing, but she was used, shared, and therefore not old lady material. If only the younger girls would actually learn from Carol and not spread their legs for every guy in a patch hoping for one to claim them.
Carol handed back the now clean and dry lettuce and Gabby dumped it into the bowl she was slowly filling, mixing everything together.
"Buffet style?" Carol asked.
"Gabby!" Both women turned around at the sound of Casper's voice.
"Get the girls to help you serve." Gabby threw over her shoulder as she walked toward her old man. She locked eyes with him then walked past him back into the storage room, he followed.
"What the fuck Gabby?" He said as soon as he closed the doors.
This time both of Gabby's hands made their way to her temples. "I need more than that." She said a little more sarcastically than she should have.
Casper rammed his fist against the closed door. "We JUST talked about this."
Gabby took a deep breath. This time she had no idea what he was mad at. Did they talk about being nice to sweet butts? When was the last time she made spaghetti?
"What the hell did you talk to Lenard about that you couldn't talk to me about?" He spat out at her silence.
Oh shit, was all Gabby could think. He was mad because she was pouring her heart out to someone other than her husband, who apparently owned her according to his rant last night. She had been almost sorry for her over reaction and subsequent threat of leaving him last night, but now he was being downright childish. What, was she not allowed to talk to any other men now? Had she suddenly lost the right to vote and own property as well?
"You seriously came over to yell at me for talking to one of your brothers? News flash Casper. I don't want to be here. I'm here because of you. Because of your club. I will gladly go home if you don't like the way I'm behaving."
"Don't make this worse." He warned, pointing his index finger.
"Oh that wasn't making it worse, you want it worse I'll fucking make it worse." Gabby stepped up to him, staring at him, not caring that he was looming over her. "What the fuck do you think we talked about? You think I walked right up to him, bypassing everyone else so I could bare my deepest darkest secrets to him? Or maybe you think we're having some sort of affair. Maybe that's why I've been closing you off."
"How the hell am I supposed to know what you're talking about if you won't say ANYTHING to me?" He screamed.
Gabby took a deep breath. She was usually the one to lose her temper when they fought; Casper stayed calm and calmed her down. She wasn't sure if she had pushed him too far, or nearly dying this morning was making things worse, but she suddenly found herself needing to be the one to stay calm.
"I was talking to Lenard on behalf of the girls. They had questions. NOW I have answers for them. Answers like whether or not they can go home, or go to work. If I had asked you those questions would you have been able to answer me or would you have had to consult Lenard?" She didn't wait for an answer; she pulled the door open and slammed it closed behind her.
Shark was in the doorway of the kitchen holding two glasses of milk for the girls. They locked eyes as Gabby walked by him, taking the glasses from him, until she passed him completely and walked into the bar.
Casper opened the door a moment later. He spotted Shark immediately. "DON'T." He warned and walked by Shark as well.
Happy sat down next to Gabby and slid a full plate in front of her. She had sat down to feed the kids after coming into the room and hadn't eaten yet herself.
She looked down at it and he caught her hiding a grimace. "Thanks dad." She leaned her head on his shoulder and he cradled it in his large hand and kissed the top of her head.
"You wanna tell me what's wrong sweetheart?"
Gabby didn't say anything, she just settled more comfortably against him. Happy dropped his hand from her head onto her shoulder and hugged her close.
"I love you sweetheart." He whispered and kissed her temple.
"Love you too dad."
"I love you too." Kristen hopped off her chair and climbed into Happy's lap. He laughed and held Kristen with his other arm.
"I love you too sweetie." Happy kissed the top of her head as she settled into his lap.
"Mommy where's auntie Vivica?"
"She's in the office sweetie. She's busy."
"Is she sad because Uncle Chris isn't here and everyone else is?" Kristen asked.
"Yeah sweetie, she misses Uncle Chris."
"I miss Uncle Chris too." Kristen spoke quietly.
"I do too sweetie." Gabby sat up and kissed Kristen's cheek. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Kristen shook her head and Happy kissed the top of her head again. "If you ever do you can talk to any of us, you don't have to wait for us to offer." He assured her.
Kristen nodded her head and traced the lettering on one of Hap's patches.
"I should bring Viv some food. You got her for a sec?" Gabby asked, sitting up.
Happy let his hand fall from her shoulder. "Yeah, 'course I got her." He smiled and hugged Kristen close.
Gabby smiled as she got up from the table, Happy would keep Kristen all night if he could, especially after what he had done to the cooker this morning. Only thing that could brighten him up after doing what he'd done was his family.
Happy watched Gabby pick up the plate he had brought her and slip through the clubhouse door. Casper saw as well and followed her with his eyes till she left, then turned back to Happy. Hap nodded to him and Casper turned back to his laptop with a scowl on his face.
"Hey Viv." Gabby called out as she pushed the cracked door open. Vivica was sitting at the desk, her head cradled in her hand, elbow on the desk. She was looking at the computer monitor but Gabby could tell she wasn't really seeing anything on the screen.
"Viv?" She tried again.
Vivica raised her head in surprise. "Hey Gabby." She sat up straighter and closed out whatever had been on the monitor.
"Brought you some dinner." Gabby held up the plate before setting it on a clear spot on the desk.
"I'm sorry, I should have helped you cook." Vivica looked down at the plate.
"Carol helped." Gabby took the liberty of sitting across the desk from her. "You want some company for a bit?"
Vivica looked at her plate and then back at Gabby. "Honestly, I just kinda want to wallow alone for a bit longer. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize." Gabby cut her off and stood up. "I understand. This place, this club, is full of all kinds of memories. Inescapable ones. I will never blame you for trying to avoid them. Just know I'm here for you if you ever want company."
"Thank you baby." Vivica smiled and Gabby leaned over the desk and kissed her cheek.
As soon as Juice and Tony got back the men stood without being summoned and headed directly into the chapel. All the men were anxious for something to actually do.
There was no hesitation this time by the men. "What did you find?" Lenard asked as soon as everyone sat down. Casper had already looked into the routes online and knew the answer, but Lenard was old school, he liked things done in person whenever possible.
"No 7-eleven stores on the main routes for any of their normal stops. There's one, if you take a long way around from the older kids school to the rehab clinic, but there's easier ways to get there, and I don't know if they even make that trip." Juice rambled.
"So then we have a lead?" Tom Tom smiled smugly and leaned back in his chair.
"Not quite, hot shot." Casper grinned at him across the table. "There's 17 7-eleven's in Fresno. Only 12 of us."
"Just need to narrow it down. And YOU'VE been working on THAT all day, haven't ya." Tom Tom shot back.
The banter was entirely friendly; even so, Lenard needed things to start moving faster. "Have you, in fact, narrowed it down?" He asked.
"Yeah." Casper shrugged. "We haven't seen any activity, and these guys obviously have a will to live, so I highly doubt they are operating in Sons territory. That leaves only five stores."
"That took all day?" Bull mumbled.
"No it didn't." Casper heard him and glared. "I spent the rest of the day pulling up every detail on Luce, Viper, and Xavier. Viper is a Fresno dealer. Of the men left in town he's the only one that knows the city and the law here. He has customers, look outs, and his own defined territory. Looked into his background, his record, family, all his known associates, based on what I got, I can narrow that five down to three."
"Three stores in manageable, but we've got no time frame on delivery. We need to move now." Hap said, determined to end this war before it hurt anyone else.
"Agreed. But what are we doing if they show up?" Shark brought up. "I mean, grab them or follow them? And does that change based on who shows up?"
"Lay out the scenarios." Lenard challenged his men.
"Viper or Luce show up and there is no drop." Frankie stated.
"We follow 'em back to the other if we can, if not, we grab him 'fore we lose 'em." Tig took the liberty of answering. "If they both show up to the drop we grab them."
"What are the chances Xavier will show up?" Lenard asked.
The table remained silent.
"Why would he?" Lenard rephrased the question, "and if he does, what do we do?" He asked rhetorically, trying to at least start dialogue.
"If he shows up we grab him." Happy stated plainly.
"What if he shows up and only one of the other two shows up? We could miss out on the opportunity to get the third." Vin warned.
"I'll get that out of 'em." Happy grinned.
"We need to decide on every scenario now, before it happens. We're gonna be split up. Time it takes to make a call could be the time it takes to lose these guys." Lenard reined in the men.
"Luce or Viper show up we follow him to the other. They both show up we grab them. Either way we give Xavier a chance to show up, and if he does, we take him down. He is the target, the other two can walk if that's what it takes, we'll track them down later." Vin answered his president.
"How sure are you on these three stores?" Lenard turned back to Casper.
"I'm sure. Viper follows a pretty set pattern. He hasn't had enough time to set up anything new."
"But Xavier is a loose cannon. He may not follow Viper's advice." Shark cut off his best friend.
"If we don't follow Tom Tom's lead we're back to nothing." Frankie reminded the group.
"We're following the lead, my question was the locations. Best I can tell this will be our only shot at catching these guys the easy way." Lenard made the final decision.
"This is the easy way?" Bull murmured under his breath.
"No dip shit. The easy way was you not cowering in the corner and catching this gangster wanna be the first time." Harry snapped at Bull.
Juice smirked, hiding it with his hand. Tig elbowed him. It wasn't their place to be amused by the problems in this charter.
Vin cleared his throat. "Sling made it sound like there was no communication what so ever. The dealers won't know anything's happened till their load don't show up. Once that happens they probably won't come back. Viper and Luce are probably acting independently and had a set time and place for the drops. X might show up to get them, escape together or at least get some backup, protection. But chances are X is hiding, or running, and these two dealers have no idea what happened."
"There's a chance X already contacted them, and they're together and we missed our shot." Bull followed Vin up. He apparently wasn't understanding the vibe coming off of every man at the table to shut the fuck up.
"And if that's the case we've wasted an evening. But there's no point wasting a lead. So I ask again, Casper." Lenard specified. "Are you sure on these three shops of should we spread out to all five?"
"I'm saying it'll be one of the three. And we don't know what time this shit will go down so we need to move fast."
"We're gonna need teams at all three locations. Bikes hidden, we only got one van, we're gonna need other vehicles that can hold these guys." Vin started breaking down what needed done.
"We got Gabby and Viv's SUV's. Biggest vehicles at our disposal, lot more low profile than a van anyway." Lenard solved that problem immediately. "Three locations, three teams. Hap take Bull, Harry, and Tom Tom. Vin, you got Shark Tony and Casper. I'll take Frankie and you Charming fellows." Lenard immediately broke up the men. "Casper'll dole out the locations. Each team gets three in the cage, one on a bike."
"Hold up." Harry cut him off. Lenard looked across the table at him. "I ain't going." Harry shook his head as he said it.
"Harry…" Lenard tried to plead.
"No Lenard. I'm too old for cat and mouse games. 'Sides you need someone here to keep order. What if these men assume you're gonna stake out their drop and strike here instead?"
"Not gonna happen." Lenard shook his head.
"I ain't hoping for it, but none the less I ain't going."
"He's right Lenard." Vin murmured. "We can't leave this place without a patch, and we got Lance."
"You wanna throw a cut on his back and take him right out?" Lenard shook his head. "Alright." He ran a hand down his face. "Tony! Get Lance in here."
Tony looked at Lenard as if the man had just kicked him like a dog; but he dutifully walked out of the chapel and waved Lance over.
Lance and Tony walked back into the chapel together. "Did I tell you to come back in prospect?" Lenard yelled. The men all looked to the table to hide their grins.
Tony slowly backed out of the chapel and shut the doors to avoid being told to do so.
Lance stood at attention, the army vet he was, and waited for someone, anyone, to speak to him. All the men sat silent however until Lance started to squirm. His hands finally dropped down to his sides and his eyes wondered around the table.
"Dues are $75. First of the month." Frankie finally spoke.
"Don't be late." Happy growled.
"Prospect period is a Minimum of one year." Vin pronounced clearly.
Lenard stood up and tossed him a black leather cut. "Don't get yourself killed."
Lance smiled wide and shrugged on the cut.
"Wipe the fucking smile off your face." Shark snapped.
"Go wait by the van." Casper ordered and pointed at the door.
Lance barely stepped through the door when all the men yelled, "SHUT THE DOOR!"
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