"I don't know about you, but I feel like I just spent the last month hitting my head on a wall." Jax groaned as he dropped into the chair beside Jerry.

Jerry lifted his head from the table. "How can they not see what is really going on? I don't get it. As soon as something bad happens, they automatically assume that the other side did it. They don't even bother to find out what really happened."

"They didn't listen to you either." Jax stated the obvious.

"No matter how much evidence I bring to the table proving that it was Alcazar started every one of these feuds, they refuse to listen. The throw everything I say aside as if it was irrelevant. I don't know Jax. Maybe Skye was right. These two sides hate each other so much; they will never work together. It may take a miracle."

"That may be the point."

"That they need a miracle?"

"That it's irrelevant who started what. So much has happened since each of these incidents. Everything they did in the name of retaliation was much worse than anything Alcazar did to get them started. Neither side may have started it, but that doesn't change everything they did afterwards. Both sides have some legitimate reasons to despise each other."

"And as long as they refuse to work together, that leaves us..."

"*&%$ out of luck." Jax finished.

"No. We've put in to much time and trouble to simply give up."

"I have no intention of giving up. We just need to find another strategy."

"We haven't even been able to find the bastard." Jerry pointed out.

"Skye is getting close to her due date."

"I know. We will find her Jax."

Jax and Jerry looked up as someone approached the table. "Ah, My Australian friends, why do you look so gloomy?"

"Not now, Allec. We really aren't in the mood."

"I don't know why not. It's a lovely day. The weather is warm. The wine is excellent. We are all sitting here in neutral territory alive and well. That my friends is something to celebrate." Allec looked at the gloomy faces of his friends. "Ok maybe for you it is not such a wonderful day. You accomplished something absolutely marvelous."

"We accomplished nothing Allec." Jax stated shaking his head. "We have been here three damn months and we haven't gotten one step closer to getting them to work together."

"No, no, no, my friends. You have been spending so much time looking at the big picture that you have failed to see what you have accomplished." Allec commented as he reached for the bottle of wine, poured some in Jax and Jerry's glasses, and then took a drink directly from the bottle.

"What exactly would that be? For running around in pointless circles. For being told to go to hell on one side and being kicked out of everyone's houses on the other."

"For getting two side to listen to a point of view that differs from their own without them killing the messenger. For going back and forth between their enemies' houses and not being shot or accused of being a spy. You my friends have done something absolutely amazing. You have gotten them to talk to each other."

"They hate each other. That isn't going to change anytime soon."

"Did you really thing it would? They have been at each other's throats for over a century. Besides for what you need, they don't need to like each other. They just need a common goal and sufficient motivation to form a truce long enough to carry it out."

"What do you think that we have been trying to do? Every time we think that we have found some common ground, some little thing happens and they are trying to kill each other again. We will never get them to talk reasonably to each other."

"Not true my friends." Allec said with a smug look on his face.

Jerry looked speculatively at Allec. "You know something."

Allec went to take another swallow from the bottle, only to find it empty. "Keeping track of all these interesting events has left me very thirsty."

Jax ordered another bottle and asked for another glass. When everyone's glass was full, Allec continued. "I happen to know that a certain daughter of a certain important family in Russia is planing to run away with a certain son of their family's enemy."

"What? Oh no, those two teenagers they separated during that meeting last month."

"It has been going on for months."

"I fail to see how this helps us."

"Their go between is one of Alcazar's men."

"Oh God," Jerry said as he sat up.

"They're being set up." Jax commented.

Allec nodded. "If Alcazar acts in the same manner as the past, the second they are out from under their families protective sphere. He will kill them and blame the other families, thus renewing the conflict between the two once again."

"How accurate is your information. Can you find out the when and where in time to stop it?"

"It is quite accurate. For a price, I can find out anything."