A/N: This one is a bit long, but breaking it into two would really lose the flow. Lots happening here.

Band is Kyuss.


Chapter 7: Demon Cleaner

Alex had been sitting on her car for a few minutes now. She wrote down the time and day on her notepad and next to it: Zobelle, police station. She looked up at the station and Zobelle's Mercedes parked in the parking lot. Her Jeep was across the street, a few feet down from the station. She chewed her gum slowly, twisting it in her tongue as she watched patiently.

"Think I should go in?" she asked Sid by her side, then looked at the station again. "Yeah, maybe not, not yet."

She was, of course, still completely ignoring that the integrity of her piece was heavily tainted by her involvement with Jax Teller. She still hadn't told Jimmy, and she had slept with Teller several nights in a row now. The chemistry only grew stronger as the days passed; she had told him about her life in England, and that both her parents had died of cancer within years of each other. How she believed it was sadness that caused her father's cancer because he had never been the same after her mother's passing. She told him about Jimmy and Richie and how they were family friends that looked out for her, and were at least partially responsible for her decision to go to California.

Teller searched for her the second night with the same intent as the one before, and continued this was all the other nights. He'd go check on Abel, then would make his way to Alex. In a way, trying to stay away from Abel as he sorted it all.

He continued to see in her a lifeline that he wasn't entirely capable to express to her what it was like. He enjoyed immensely when she'd tell him stories about her life, or the places she'd been for work and the people she'd met. He savored every moment of it because he had never known anything besides Charming and his club. In one way it made him terrified to be this fascinated by it, but on the other it just made him see things clearer.

On his end of course, Teller shared as much as he could without compromising her safety. The fact that this was even something he had to dance around was another screaming reason that he had to change things. He had told her about Cara Cara, she had laughed, unbothered but asked if that was really what he had in mind for "better things", and he explained it had to be one step at a time.

He didn't tell her what Cara Cara was supposed to replace, but her investigating the League and even her small outsider knowledge on the dealings of the War Boys for her piece, he knew she had a pretty good idea. She didn't seem bothered that he didn't share many details, but offered a perspective that perhaps could've been different if he told her a little more. It didn't matter yet though.

Alex shifted in her seat, her thoughts from Teller focused on the present again. She watched intently as Zobelle left the station and walked to his car, and started hers. She then grabed her phone and dialed for Jax.

"Hey," Jax answered on the other line.

"Zobelle was at your police station," Alex said right away, right to business. Jax let out a smile on the other side of the line, amused at her complete lack of touch, direct to the point. "Who should I be looking into here?"

They had an understanding now, whatever she found on the League she would feed to him. In return he steered her in the right direction. It was risky, for both of them, but there was something both thrilling and actually extremely right in that partnership.

"Hard to say," Jax told her sincerely. He knew it couldn't be Unser, but Hale? In bed with white power? It just didn't make sense. "I heard they met with Jacob Jr and David Hale when they got in Charming. David is the Deputy, but honestly I would be surprised to know he was in on this."

"Still worth it to take a look?" she asked, she had waited for Zobelle to start moving and be a safe distance away to start tailing him.

"Can't hurt."

"Alright," she nodded to herself as she tailed Zobelle.

"Listen, I will be a little late tonight, probably," he said. "But is it alright if I come by?"

"Hm, that depends," she smiled, but her tone was serious.

"On what?"

"Will you be too tired?" she joked and heard him chuckle on the other side of the line.

"For you? For that? Never."

"I think it's a fair price, don't sound so indignant."

"Never have I ever signed up for a recurring payment so fast," he replied, she was the one to chuckle this time.

"Right, I will see you later, Teller."

"You be careful."

"Always," she continued smiling as she hung up, then quickly searched for Mark Mills' number. She parked on Main, and watched as Zobelle entered his shop.

"Fire starter!" Mark Mills answered on the other side of the line.

"Marky Mark," Alex replied again with a smile. "Got a couple of other names for you."

"Allie, Allie," Mark said on the other line. "What are you getting yourself into?"

"The usual," she said jokingly. "This one should be easy though. One is David Hale, Deputy Chief in Charming, California. Second one is his brother, Jacob Hale. Afraid don't know what's up with the brother, though."

"Assuming this has something to do with that League thing?"

"You got it." she lit a cigarette and continued to watch the movement in Zobelle's shop.

"These guys are a piece of work," Mark made conversation on the other line as he searched. She could hear him typing. "A lot of the files on this Zobelle guy looked weirdly pristine, something is up."

"You don't say?" Alex raised her eyebrows as she let out the smoke.

"Yeah, I don't know, it's just speculation and please, absolutely off the record but," he stopped the typing for a second and lowered his voice, Alex perked up. "But when names are missing and people who are involved in domestic terrorism groups like this are suspiciously pristine, that usually means a deal somewhere."

"What? Like CI stuff?" Alex sat straight on her seat, cigarette in hand.

"Yeah, I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised," Mark resumed his typing. "But my dick is not nearly big enough to be able to find that out on my end. So, I'm sorry. It's really just my word here."

"You've done enough, that's a good point," Alex grabbed her notepad and started scribbling. "I will try to look into it."

"Ah, here," he said after a pause. He let out a breath after mumbling as he read. "Don't know, Allie, your David Hale guy is as clean as it gets. His bother too."

"What does Jacob do?"

"Businessman, investor. Their family goes way back in Charming. Father was a judge." he said. "Sorry, not much to go on."

"That's absolutely fine," Alex scribbled more. "Thank you, Marky, I owe you a pint when I'm back in town."

[xxx]

Jax hung up from talking to Alex just in time to be called into the garage to join the others for a meeting Juice called. He had asked Juice to run stuff on the League and Zobelle; Juice had told him he was already asked by Clay, but it didn't seem important. He had finally come up with something. Jax had Alex's own research in his hand by then; he wouldn't give them all, but he'd give them enough.

"Zobelle is a goddamn saint," Juice lost no time as soon as the garage door closed. He dropped his file on the mechanic table. "He owns five cigar shops. Deacon at his Church. Widower, one kid."

"Yeah, but look at this," Jax intervened and pulled a printed version of the article Alex had shared with him on San Bernardino. "Last place the League put down roots was San Bernardino. Six months later, War Boys MC crumbled," he ran his eyes through all his brothers.

"Entire crew went away for aggravated assault, attacked Zobelle's cigar shop," he added.

"And how did you find that out?" Clay cut through the thinking heads immediately. Jax sighed, and kept his cool.

"Does it matter?" he asked. "War Boys ran guns."

"Why would Zobelle care about guns?" Half-Sack asked, confused, breaking the shooting looks between both Jax and Clay.

"Because these dickheads are prepping for the great race war." Clay said simply.

From what Jax and Alex had discussed he knew there was more to it than that though, yet he said nothing, he didn't have much to go on without implicating her or having them at the very least suspect something.

"Zobelle came at us hard." Tig said. "Cocky threat, no fear."

"He wanted to incite you," Jax said. Goddamn, that redhead was smart. Suddenly he was even more attracted to her.

"So what?" Chibs shrugged. "We own the law in Charming."

"Unser, not Hale." Tig replied, and searched for Clay's eyes.

"He's definitely been meeting with Hale," Jax was the one to chime in again. "David and Jacob."

"Has he actually gotten Hale, though?" Opie asked, doubtful.

"If Hale could be bought, we'd have him, but I don't know." Jax said, although according to what Alex told him about this morning, he wasn't so sure.

Sure, people had all kinds of reasons to go to a police station, but Zobelle? Given everything, he wasn't sure. Yet it was hard to believe Hale would be involved in this.

"Maybe we never offered him the right pay off," Clay cut the conversation on the League short. Just like that, Jax sighed, but said nothing. "Let's stick with the devil we know."

"Darby's Lodi cook shops are all shuttered up." Opie shared. "Maybe he's gone mobile."

"Let's find those meth labs, ok? And now." Clay ordered and gestured for them to open the garage gate.

"Ima called," Gemma heard the garage door opening announcing the meeting was over and made her way from the office entrance. "Miss Double Penetration is ready for you."

The others chuckled and whistled. Jax groaned, but started to walk his way out. Sure, Ima was a hot piece of ass, but that was all there was. And he was decidedly not in the right mind for that now, he had promised Luann to play along though. So, he sighed, and went his way.

"I'll be right back. I gotta give her a safe ride."

"Yeah, a producer's work is never done, huh?" Clay needled as he was already a foot out the door. Jax stopped, he could feel the eyes of the others go from one to the other.

"You should've given me a heads up about Bobby taking over Luann's books," he turned back and stared at Clay. He could feel the tension boiling again, but tried to keep civil. "I brought this to the club, it's my action."

"Bobby needs it!" Clay snapped, but didn't move. "He did two months on the inside for us. Maybe it's time you start thinking about something other than yourself."

Jax paused for a moment with an indignant smile. He licked his lips and caught a pleading Chibs by the corner of his eyes.

"Yeah," he replied, restraining himself. He turned around and started to walk out.

"Juice, have a minute?" he called already walking out. Juice exchanged an unsure look with Clay before following him outside.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I need you to run a name for me." Jax continued as he walked to his bike. "Scott Davis, San Francisco. Was arrested last week for violating a protection order. Get me an address."

"This stays between you and I for now," he added as he got on his bike, Juice nodded.

[xxx]

Alex figured nothing was coming out of Zobelle for a while, growing tired of watching skinheads carrying boxes, with no sign of even AJ Weston, she grabbed a quick bite at the diner, took Sid for a walk and hopped back in her car, making her way to the police station. She got in for a brief moment, playing lost and asked for directions.

She observed the wall with officers' pictures and names, she saw Chief Unser, the man who was with Teller the day they met, and landed on the one next to him: Deputy Chief David Hale. She quickly looked around looking for him as a nice blonde officer explained to her how to get to Lodi Lake. She didn't see him around.

She grabbed the map the nice female officer given her and thanked her, making her way outside and back to her car. She sat and waited. She observed soon after as Hale arrived and entered the station, then a mere few minutes after he left again. She tailed him from afar, as she had done the others.

Her phone buzzed in her console and she glanced down briefly. Scott had called another two times that morning, and she ignored it. Keeping busy and the thoughts of Jax Teller that filled her mind now and then helped her deal with it. This time though, it was No Caller ID. That had to be Teller, she answered.

"Hey, sorry, can't talk right now," she said, keeping eyes on Hale's car. "Following your Deputy, actually."

"Don't do that," Jax said at once. Goddamn, she was fucking quick. "Turn back."

"What? Why?" she narrowed her look.

"He's going to meet with some backyard white hate scumbags," he told her. "I set it up, want to see if he's bought."

"Great!" she replied excitedly. "We will know first-hand."

"No, listen," his tone got serious. "This is in the outskirts. These guys... Don't do it."

"It's my job, Jax." she was the serious one now. She didn't really had gotten to calling him Jax, but actually called him Teller. Mostly because he had let it out that he loved the way she pronounced it. Not this time though.

"I get it," he said after a pause. Trying to be tactful. "It's just very dang-"

"I can't deal with that," she cut him. A familiar feeling filled her stomach. "I am not about to have you controlling me too. Not going to happen."

"Not trying to control you, darling, I promise," he said sincerely. He knew this was about to happen. She had told him Scott controlled her, and no doubt the asshole used concern tactics. He knew those types, for a moment he felt his blood boil.

"I am just worried." he added. Somehow, he knew it wouldn't matter.

"Don't be, I am fine. I've got to go." she didn't wait for him to answer and hung up. She took a deep breath trying to control herself.

Maybe it was just worry, but this is how it all started, and she had no time for it. She followed as Hale made his way and slowed down as much as she could, she observed as he entered a side road and passed, slowing down after passing.

The road Hale went in was surrounded by unkempt landscaping. Tall trees blocked all the views. Through the trees she saw he had stopped by a red house. She had pulled on the side of the road, and pondered to think if she should get out. While she could see Hale checking the house out from behind all the trees and in her car, it was difficult to piece or hear anything. She heard Teller's voice in her head "Don't do it".

"Damn it, Teller," she whispered to herself and waited in her car instead of stepping out. She caressed Sid's ear and tried to watch from afar.

[xxx]

Jax was at the shop, anxiously waiting for what would become of the tip on Darby's lab to Hale for more reasons than one. For one this was his way of evading falling exactly into the hands of the League, it couldn't be that Clay and the others didn't see this is exactly what they wanted. He had tried to make his case again in church, and it took a lot of convincing Clay to let Hale handle it. The angle to see if he was bought was the best one he could find. He was sure that the meth making its way into Charming was no coincidence, but Clay was hell bent in contradicting everything he said.

For another he couldn't stop thinking about Alex. If shit went in any way sour at Darby's, she'd be in imminent danger. He thought about saying fuck it and just going there, but at the same time he knew exactly why the redhead had snapped at him; she told him with so many words that this is exactly the type of shit her ex pulled off to control her. So, he sat at the garage, lost in thought.

His phone finally rang, he shifted and looked down at it: it was Hale. His heart felt heavy, he wished it was Alex first.

"Hale," he announced to Opie, Tig and Clay scattered at the garage, they all stopped to listen.

"That info on the lab, that's bogus," Hale said on the other side of the line as soon as he answered. "There's nothing out there." he hung up at once.

Jax's heart sank again. Really? Hale? In bed with White Power? Unfuckingbelievable. He stayed silent for a few seconds and exchanged a look with the others.

"Get the boom," he said simply. And got up. He couldn't fucking believe it.

[xxx]

Alex had followed Hale back to Charming, and wouldn't you know it, he stopped right by Zobelle's shop. Nothing seemed to happen at the red house, all she had to go on was that this was a set up by Jax to see if Hale had been bought. She had no idea what was in the house, but the fact that she had just followed Hale to Zobelle's shop wasn't a good sign.

This time she parked by the diner and made her way inside, Sid by her; the owners had gotten to know her and the dog by now and had no problem with him there. She made her way to a table by the window after briefly greeting the waitress and watched.

Hale and Zobelle seemed to be having a heated discussion. It was brief, but tense. She watched as the Deputy left, but not before making a quick phone call. She sighed, and noted all the steps on her notepad before ordering her food.

[xxx]

"I got that address you asked for," Juice approached Jax and spoke lowly as they prepared to leave for Darby's lab. Jax pulled him away from the others.

"Well, a couple, first is a home address and the second one is a work address, his studio" Juice continued and handed him a piece of paper. Jax looked down at the addresses and folded it again, putting in his pocket.

"Dude's an award-winning tattoo artist," Juice continued when Jax said nothing and was already making his way back to the van. "Looking to get something done? Going all the way to SF for that?"

"You could say that." Jax said, cutting the conversation short as they approached the others again. "Thanks."

[xxx]

Jax zipped through the CA-12 on his Harley. From the moment he left Water St after Opie pulled yet another death wish stint at the lab explosion; he knew the whole thing was a mistake. He could feel the blood through his veins as he went, the cool autumn air touched his face and helped, but inside he was seething.

He wasn't entirely sure if his rage was directed at one particular thing at the moment, but fact remained that at this point he was about to break. First it was the catalyst for all of this: finding his father's manifesto for SAMCRO. Then it was all that happened following or around it: Abel's birth, the ATF investigation, Donna's death, Clay lying to him and their ongoing conflict since. Then this League stuff, and Clay undermining his every move to try to steer them away from the path the War Boys so blindly went.

In midst of it all, he had Alex. But did he, really? He couldn't even entertain the idea that one day Alex might be part of his life. All of his life. Not as it stands today. He still saw in her a vision of what it could be, and their connection and chemistry was undeniable at this point. He wondered if part of it was because he had placed in her an idealism that seemed so incredibly out of reach for him. She was there, they were spending a lot of time together, yet her and everything that she represented seemed so out of reach. He hated that. And he hated even more that this afternoon he had acted in a way that reminded her of the very thing that had pushed her into Charming: the scumbag ex.

By the time he had fully comprehended his decision to make his way to San Francisco he was already halfway there. The studio address Juice had given him was the easiest to find, at the Mission District, in the heart of the city. He had been to San Francisco only a couple of times and in better circumstances he likely would've taken his time to take in everything. Tonight though, was not that night.

He parked across the street from where he saw the sign for the tattoo shop. It was on the bottom floor of an old heritage house turned retail space, around many shops around it had shuttered much earlier. The neighborhood was a mix of industrial and heritage all around. This block in particular was more of the former; with only a couple of heritage houses turned into hipster shops sprinkled here and there, with "SD Art & Studio" being the only lit up at that hour.

Jax took off his helmet and observed from afar, still on his bike as it appeared only one client remained. He could see (what he believed to be) Scott's silhouette hunched over another man, tattooing his leg. Jax waited patiently, he tried Alex but she didn't answer. He knew she was fine because otherwise he would've heard the bad news already, but she was still clearly pissed. He'd go to her later tonight.

But first things first.

Jax shifted in his seat as he watched from the main front window as Scott and his client made their way to the front door. Scott was a tall dude, likely as tall as he was, he had jet black hair and his very much in shape body seemed absolutely covered with tattoos, as was Alex's. And like the redhead he seemed to only not have his face done, even his neck appeared to have a piece.

Jax observed patiently as the client got in a car, he could see his leg partially wrapped peaking from where his shorts stopped, and once he had turned the corner, Jax got up. He left his helmet on his bike. He was not wearing his leather since he had come directly from the hit at Darby's. He entered the shop and scanned quickly, no cameras, no one else.

Scott had his back to him, cleaning his workstation. He glanced back deftly without taking a better look at the man who entered.

"Sorry man, we're closed, it's also appointments only." Scott said without looking back again.

"Yeah," Jax smiled to himself and pulled down his hoodie. That had to be him, he could hear the cockiness of a woman beater even in these short sentences.

"Hey, Scott?" he called, just to make sure.

Scott turned back at his name, curious. He put his tools down and walked towards Jax, unable to recognize him.

"Do I know-"

Jax clocked him in the face with his forearm before he could finish. The tattoo artist stumbled backwards falling against a metal chest of drawers. Jax knew instantly that he had broken his nose, and smiled triumphantly to himself.

It took Scott a moment to figure out what the fuck was going on, but before he was able to take a second step, he was hit again on the face. And again. As he stumbled forward feeling his face swell up almost instantly, the blood running from his nose and mouth at this point, he got hit on the ribs several times. He fell on the floor and continued to get hit repeatedly.

Jax paused for a moment, but the man in front of him didn't move properly, just grunted. Fucking pussy, he slams Alex's head and chokes her, but here nothing, he thought. As Scott fell on the floor he knocked down several things with him; the chest of drawers, stools, tables.

Jax didn't give him any more chances and kneeled, putting one knee on the man's back grabbing him by the hair. He slammed his face on the floor once, then twice, then three times. When he glanced at the man, he could barely recognize the cocky smile that greeted him earlier. With his free hand, Jax grabbed a tattoo gun from the floor and as he pressed Scott's face to the floor, he brought the tattoo gun to the man's swollen right eye. He leaned forward, his weight fully on Scott's back. Scott grunted in pain, feeling his broken ribs with Jax's weight, he could barely breathe, blood filling his mouth.

"Do not call Alex again, don't go after her, do not fucking even think about her." Jax said through gritted teeth. "Or I'm going to find you and I'm going to fucking stab you to death with one of these. Do you understand?"

Scott didn't respond. Jax wasn't sure he could, but he slammed his head against the floor again. Scott managed a mumble of understanding before Jax let go of him at once and got up, throwing the tattoo gun on the floor and stepping away. He looked around for a brief moment and saw pictures of Scott and Alex on the wall, clearly at conventions. He took a deep breath and looked at the man agonizing on the floor and not moving.

He had discounted every single ounce of anger that had been boiling inside him in Scott at that moment. He had been there to make sure he'd stay away from Alex, but the severe part of the beating he couldn't lie and say it wasn't for all the other reasons as well. Yet, he felt nothing but relief.

"Piece of shit." Jax muttered under his breath before he turned around and left.

[xxx]

Alex was in bed, transferring the notes from her numerous pieces of paper to her Word doc on her laptop. She glanced at the clock on the top right of her screen; 3:13 AM. She sighed and continued her work. She was wearing an old oversized tshirt and underwear, her freshly washed and dried hair fell down on her shoulders and back. She had one knee bent up, where she rested her elbow as she typed, the laptop in front of her.

The TV was on, it played some Simpsons re-run, the volume was low, it was only some white noise. The room was dimly lit only by the television and a warm lamp by the bathroom door. Sid was lying comfortably on the floor, watching the TV. But suddenly his ears perked up, Alex observed the movement and right after she heard the familiar sound of the Harley revving approaching, closer and closer.

She thought he wouldn't come. He called earlier, but she didn't pick up. She felt like they needed to have that conversation in person. She also was too proud to pick it up. Maybe she had overreacted, she had had the time to rationalize that now. He was probably right, it was dangerous. But nothing really happened there.

She was just wounded; the doctor she saw on the Friday had told her that PTSD sometimes shows up much later, and it's very hard to see it coming. It can be for big things such being touched again by the person who hurt her, or simply anything that would remind her of it. She didn't want to think she was sick though.

Alex lifted her head from the screen and watched the door. Sid got up as he smelled Jax, he had gotten used to it and made his way to the door; no barking. Jax knocked and she got up, closing the laptop. Instinctively she checked to see it was him before opening, even though she knew Sid would've lost it already if he hadn't recognized the scent.

When she opened, Jax was lying against the frame, his weight on one of his arms, he looked at her with a mix of relief and guilt. She stood where she was, when she didn't yell at him and simply smiled faintly, he reached for her at once and kissed her. She was taken aback but only for a split second, then walked backwards pulling him inside as they kissed.

"I'm sorry about earlier," he broke the kiss and held her face with both of his hands, as she waved the door close behind him. He spoke faster than usual. Like he had rehearsed the entire thing, but she didn't see insincerity in his eyes. She saw hurt, desperation almost.

It was clear he had had a long day. She brought her own hands to his and continued to walk backwards pulling him with her, she noticed his knuckles were raw, like he'd been in a fight. Not unusual, obviously, but she wondered if it had something to do with how agitated he looked.

"I really don't mean to control you," he continued, and she listened intently as always. "This is just some really serious stuff. That innocent person who died? The wife of a club member. Wrong place, wrong time. I don't want this to spill on you. I don't want it to happen to you."

He stopped and took a deep breath, as if this had been absolutely consuming him inside. She nodded, carefully, and reached one of her hands to his face, caressing it gently.

"I've done more dangerous things than this," she assured, truthfully, with a smile. "But it's fine, maybe I was projecting, too. It's how it's started, with him. He'd feign concern, then it just escalated. Next thing I knew I was afraid to let him know the barista who served my tea was nice to me."

He nodded back again, and pulled her in for a tight hug. He could smell a nice fresh flower scent coming from her hair. She always smelled of something flowery and cigarettes at the same time, a combination that he had become fond of, even missed when not around. They hugged in silence for a minute, but her phone rang loudly by the bedside table.

That startled her. This was unusual, even for Scott, it was very late. She let go of the embrace and leaned to grab the phone and look at the screen. She read "San Francisco General Hospital" and felt a cold in her stomach. Did something happen to Jimmy or Richie?

"Him again?" Jax asked when he saw the look of concern in the redhead. Son of a bitch, didn't he learn?

"No," she said lowly. "But I should take this." she said quickly and answered.

"Hello."

"Hi, is this Alexandra Williams?" a female voice said on the other side.

"Speaking."

"Hi Ms Williams, I'm sorry to bother you at this time," the voice continued professionally. "You are listed as the emergency contact for one Scott Davis. We're calling to let you know he's been victim of an assault is hospitalized at San Francisco General. His condition is slightly critical, but he's stable and making a quick recovery. We were wondering if you could come by?"

Alex swallowed dryly and looked at Jax. Their eyes met and he seemed calm now that he had spoken. Her eyes landed on his hands for a minute, and she stepped away from him at once, phone still in her ear. Fear consumed her at once.