A/N: So I'm working on this story along with "Grace Under Fire" and it's going to be a bit different! I hope everyone enjoys it and enjoys my little brain child.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sons of Anarchy. Everything you recognize is owned by Kurt Sutter and the FX gang.

Summary: "She often said Charming looked its best in her rear-view mirror, but when a personal problem brings her home, will she get sucked back in?"

Afterthoughts of past storms weathered before
Battle scars, some are seen and some are not
Oh no! Oh no! I watched the clouds roll in
Oh no! Oh no! It's happening again
I'll be watching, waiting, dreadful shaking
Will the storm pass over us today?
Will the lightning strike our sins away?

Atreyu — Storm To Pass

There wasn't much to be said about Charming, California. It was a dust bowl town stuck in the old days and everything looked the same, save for a fresh coat of paint on the exterior of a few businesses. The stoplight on Main Street still malfunctioned, yet a traffic cam sat proudly mounted at the top. It was still in the 90's with no sign of cooling down, despite the late September weather.

Her fingers gripped the worn leather steering wheel, her thumbs drumming out the beat to the country song crooning through the stereo. The perks of Charming never changing was that Rhiannon could find her way through the small town if she was blind. The smell of French fry grease filled the air as she turned the corner. Hanna's Diner. If she went a few blocks down and looked to her left, she'd see Teller-Morrow before finding her Uncle Emmett's house next road over.

Rhiannon still wasn't prepared to see the now-empty house. She wasn't ready to pack up all his possessions, sell his old truck and Mercedes, and read his will to their family. She wasn't ready to set foot through that threshold and smell old books and dryer sheets or to face the silence instead of hearing the croon of the Rat Pack. Rhiannon and her siblings had slept over when her mother was too exhausted from working fourteen hours a day as a nurse to support five kids or her deadbeat father was on a bender and couldn't hold down a job as a fry cook or janitor. A heart attack left her without the man she'd hoped would walk her down the aisle on her wedding day.

She was still the only Westmoreland in her generation to go to college, let alone actually have a career. Her older brother Jude and sister Lucy scattered throughout the county after barely squeaking by in high school. Her younger brother Max dropped out after impregnating his high school girlfriend and now worked ten hours a day at the lumber yard. Her younger sister Diane had gotten hooked up with the wrong crowd and ended up in her third round of rehab. It was startling to see what kind of life Rhiannon could have led if she'd stayed in Charming. Accessory to a crime as a minor was bad enough. Her file was now clean, but she still worried that someone could unseal her juvenile record and see Known affiliates: Sons of Anarchy on her ledger.

The sound of grinding coming from the front of her car caught her attention and Rhiannon threw the truck in park. She gathered her chestnut hair off the back of her neck into a high, albeit messy ponytail and cut the engine to give it a chance to cool down.

I'll change my water pump when I get back to SF, she had continuously told herself. It'll be fine. It'll last me.

Procrastination was the devil. And now it was likely she had to shell out five hundred dollars for a replacement part without factoring in the cost of labor. The question was, did she want to get to her uncle's or face down SAMCRO? The last time she had seen her ex-boyfriend, she'd told him she was leaving Charming and never looking back and for the most part, she'd kept that promise. Charming was Jax's lifeblood.

And Teller-Morrow was likely where he still worked.

Did she want to avoid her ex-boyfriend's family more than she wanted to avoid her late uncle's house? The decision was seemingly made for her when she heard a knock on the window and she looked up to see some scruffy-looking kid standing on the sidewalk. Rhiannon pushed the window button to lower it a few inches.

"Hey, sorry. I'm trying to..." Wow, she couldn't even lie. "Sorry. I'll move." Her gaze dropped to the Teller-Morrow patch on his coveralls and briefly, she was taken back to high school.

"I was gonna see if you needed any help pushing this anywhere. If it's acting up, you might not want to drive it. I work just there," he offered, pointing to the Teller-Morrow driveway. Rhiannon stifled a chuckle at his words.

Baby, I grew up here, she wanted to say, but he wouldn't know her. Instead, she put the car in neutral and pulled herself out.

For once, she thanked God she hadn't opted for her more professional wear, instead opting for jeans and sneakers. "Want me to help push or steer?" she asked, shrugging out of the sapphire-blue flannel to tie it around her slim waist. With the hot weather of Charming, it had been idiotic to wear a flannel shirt. She swiped her hand along her forehead to wipe the sweat off.

"Steer. I mean, you're a girl and I can't let you...push," the kid stammered. "I mean, you're like...sixteen. Where are your parents?"

"My daddy's probably passed out, sleeping off a bender and my mom's probably at her third or fourth shift. I'm also way older than sixteen, but you just might be my new favorite person." With that, she perched carefully in the driver's seat.

Between the warehouse blowing up, the repossessions, the law breathing down his neck, and now Wendy's overdose, Jax couldn't catch a goddamn break. To make matters worse, the goddamn prospect was missing in action. He swore under his breath as he recognized Emmett Westmoreland's old Ram parked in one of the bays. "Hey, Juice. Where the hell is Half-Sack?"

The death of Emmett Westmoreland was one Charming took hard. The old man had been Charming's legacy; he took in his deadbeat brother's kids and anyone else who came along. If it hadn't been for him, it was likely all five kids would have ended up as bad off as their addict of a father.

"He's trying to mount Emmett's niece. Water pump on the Ram went to shit and he's trying to get a bone thrown his way."

Lucy was in Lodi. Diane was in rehab in Oakland. That only left Rhiannon.

"Jesus Christ," Jax muttered under his breath. The last thing he needed on top of it was seeing Rhiannon Westmoreland. On a good day, the last thing he needed to see was Rhiannon. He should have figured Emmett's death would bring her back to town. Yet the last thing Jax wanted to see was the proof that Charming meant nothing to her.

Fuck it. He needed to deal with her before someone else did.

"Where are they, Juice?"