Charming, California
It broke Chibs' heart to see Catherine sitting across the bar. Four years ago, she was supposed to be on her way to Charming with those precious boys in tow. She made him believe she was desperate to put the Republican Army in her past. Instead, she turned into a version of Jimmy. She even carried the same arrogance. Chibs wondered how Patrick, Fiona, and most importantly his sister, could sit back and watch the transformation take place.
He prayed the change in her personality was all an act. And that the endearing little girl he remembered wasn't gone forever.
"We've got a major problem," Clay said, stopping to light a cigar. "The warehouse where we store and assemble our stock was targeted by the Mayans. They torched it."
Chibs casually kept his eye on his niece as he drank his beer. Watching as she nipped three-fingers of whiskey, he looked for signs of any remaining benevolence.
Catherine listened carefully to the banter between SAMCRO's president and the man under her command. When McKeavy asked how the destruction of their warehouse would affect business, her ears perked up. Clay's admission that it would be three months before they were back in commission seemed like a gift from God that had been dropped in her lap.
"Are you sayin' it'll be three months before ya buy any weapons from us?" she pried.
"We're taking a hit, too. This is just business...eventually, the numbers will get back on track."
Catherine shook her head. "This is far from just business for us, Clay. What ya need to understand is that True IRA isn't your friendly neighborhood supplier; we're soldiers, so we are. We can't wait for our money because this is how we fund the cause."
Chibs could only roll his eyes. No doubt she was regurgitating the propaganda Jimmy had been spoon-feeding her.
"If we can't sell 'em, that means we lose valuable time and the progress we've made." McKeavy was just as vexed as Catherine.
"Shite like this is life. We're not sayin' we won't be buyin' from ya anymore, we just need time to get back on our feet." Chibs couldn't bite his tongue any longer.
"We can't afford to wait," she snapped.
"What are you saying, O'Toole?" Clay asked.
Thick tension filled the room. Catherine made a snap decision that she was sure both Jimmy and the Irish Kings would back her on. "If you can't front us the cash, ya leave me no choice but to go elsewhere. It's nothin' personal...as you said, it's just business."
Clay, Jax, Bobby, Tig, and Chibs couldn't believe what they were hearing. After a long faithful relationship with the IRA, it confused them as to why now they would be so unwilling to work with them. Losing the Irish pipeline would tank SAMCRO's income as well.
Dropping his head, all Chibs could do was shake it. He couldn't even be mad at Catherine. Her interest was keeping the cause flush; not SAMCRO. It still didn't stop him from being disappointed over her choice to follow Jimmy's orders blindly, rather than help them out.
Clay decided that Catherine wasn't worth his time. He hardly knew her but knew her well enough to understand where her loyalty sat. At least with McKeavy, he had a chance. "Never once did we miss a payment or skimp out. When you guys decided to split from Adams and McGuinness, I stayed loyal while you were getting settled."
"Spare me the shite. Ya stayed because we offered a better deal and more hardware."
Catherine picked up the glass and tossed back the rest of the whiskey. "If you gentlemen would like to retain us as your supplier, I'm gonna need the three months cost upfront."
"You want 250k upfront?" said Bobby. "Every penny we have is tied up in the rebuild for the warehouse. We can't afford that."
When she briefly glanced at Chibs, he watched as her face softened. She ignored Jimmy's voice telling her to stand firm—that SOA was the one roadblock on her path to sitting on an army council. She knew Jax had a newborn son in the NICU, that Chibs relied on IRA weapons to pay his bills. The last thing she wanted was for Chibs to struggle the same way he struggled in Belfast.
Jimmy may not have a problem with leaving SOA high and dry, but Catherine didn't have it in her. Surely, there was another way to make it work.
The SAMCRO warehouse burning down was awful for business on both sides, but Catherine knew she had options if they couldn't come up with the money. And neither of those options involved her cutting off SOA. But, if she went back to Belfast with nothing to show for this shipment, it would be her ass on the line. She'd do whatever she could to keep the relationship alive, along with Jimmy and the Irish Kings off her back.
"I have two little boys back home who rely on me and I'm stuck here for the next week because of some issues up north. If Michael can get SAMCRO backup so I can catch an earlier flight back to Belfast, I'll drop the cost to 200k."
Dessie and the lads from south Armagh could easily move an additional fifty-thousand-dollars worth of illegal cigarettes and petrol through Northern Ireland to cover the deficit.
She could already hear Jimmy screaming at her, but she was more than willing to take the heat.
Clay clamped a cigar between his teeth and held out his hand to Catherine. She accepted it and smiled warmly.
When she reached for a lighter on the bar to light her cigarette, Catherine's shirt sleeve rode up. Chibs noticed the tattoo on her wrist.
"I love you, always." It read. "Xo Darragh."
And it was in Darragh's left-handed writing.
It clicked that Jimmy had little influence over her decision to rejoin the Ra. She was stuck in the anger phase of her grief, and all he wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and bring peace to her war-torn world.
So, when Clay asked who wanted to volunteer their time to accompany McKeavy up north, Chibs didn't hesitate. After six years, this would be his chance to get quality time with Catherine.
Oakland, California.
The trio checked into a cheap motel for the night. In the morning, Chibs and McKeavy would make their way to the docks, take possession of three more oil barrels and deliver their contents to a small-time street gang. A drop that Catherine was pleased to stay very far from. She would head back to Lodi, check-in on Eddie Hayes and then head back to Oakland where she would prepare for her meeting with Viktor Putlova the following afternoon. In three days, she was hoping to be back in Belfast with Eamonn and Sean.
Feeling the fatigue of a long day seep into his bones, all Chibs looked forward to was a hot shower and a cool bed. After he parked his Harley and rounded the stairs to head up to his room, he ducked on the landing when he overhead Catherine on the phone. Eves-dropping on other people's conversations wasn't his forte, but he couldn't help himself when he realized she had Jimmy on the other line.
"…it's in our best interest to give them at least a month. We were able to get those AK's at a deep discount since no one wanted 'em." Chibs heard her sniffle. Of course, the mother fucker made her cry. "We're not in any position do that right now. Besides, Dessie can move another shipment now that the guards have their attention focused on the fellas on their side of the border." Even he could hear Jimmy yelling from Belfast. "If it's that big of a fuckin' deal then, I'll head over to Boston to arrange the extra cargo and be there with the unit to see it gets safely to the farm."
That was the end of the conversation, Chibs assumed because all he heard next was the snap of Catherine's phone, a storm of Irish curses and the strike of her lighter.
He was caught by surprise when her next words were directed at him. "You can come up now."
Chibs held his breath for a moment, embarrassed that he had been caught. Slowly he made his way up the flight of stairs. On the top step, he found Catherine sitting. Her knees were pulled up to her chest as she puffed on a cigarette. Stress was written all over her face and it looked as though the conversation aged her by five years.
Not wanting to seem confrontational, Chibs eased down to sit on the step just below the one she occupied. Under the fluorescent light, he could see the physical evidence of her hard life back home.
Her face was a battlefield of deeply carved scars. One on her cheek from a UDA attack on a republican funeral when she had been just a wee girl. Another on her forehead thanks to the baton of a British soldier after she got between Patrick and the army during one of his numerous arrests.
The one that cut through her lower lip happened when Chibs tackled her to the ground, trying to stop her from throwing a petrol bomb at the RUC during an outbreak of violence after an Orange Order parade. On the long list of grieves that Chibs refused to forgive Jimmy for, him being the one who handed Catherine that Molotov cocktail was at the top.
Chibs never understood why Jimmy had chosen her to infect with the same hate and thirst for savagery that plagued him for most of his adult life. Liam had been just as impressionable, but she was an easy target, seriously angered by the maltreatment Patrick endured. She remembered visiting her father at the Kesh, his face often black and blue. Just as Darragh's had been during his time at Maghaberry.
"Everything okay?" he asked, breaking the taut silence.
Catherine only nodded. "Ya know how he gets."
He knew all too well.
A skirmish was the last thing he wanted, but after she decided all so suddenly to scrap her plans to come to Charming for good, Chibs needed to hear the truth. He feared she wouldn't give it to him. Lowering her inhibitions wasn't the most ethical thing to do, but he was a desperate uncle who wanted to be sure he wasn't sending her back to the lion's den.
Popping open the small front pocket of his kutte, Chibs pulled out a joint. He tucked it into the corner of his mouth and used her pink lighter to toke up. Taking a deep drag and holding the smoke in his chest, he handed it off.
Hesitantly, Catherine took the joint from him. As she held it between the index and middle fingers a cigarette had just sat, she examined it. The only time she had ever been high in her life was with Darragh. The fond memories of that night had flooded back to her and she smiled. Placing it between her lips, she took a drag and prayed she wouldn't cough like a rookie.
Thankfully, she didn't. She blew out a thick cloud of smoke and handed it back to Chibs. It was a surreal moment for both of them. They never imagined the day would come where they'd be sitting together, passing a joint.
"You know what happens when you get caught with this shite back home?" She swallowed hard, alleviating the burn in the back of her throat.
"Aye. A bullet in each knee courtesy of the Irish Republican Army."
An awkward silence fell upon them again. Neither was sure of what to say as too much tension had built between them over the last several years.
"We don't have to do this."
Chibs looked at her with confusion. "Do what?"
"Sit here and try to have a conversation like nothin' is wrong. I know you're mad at me-"
"Not mad. Mildly disappointed."
Catherine snorted. "Is it the Ra, or Jimmy?"
"Jimmy," he said honestly. "As for the Ra…you didn't stand a fuckin' chance."
It was true. Even though Brien never went down that road, he still fell into a crowd of outlaws. Leather and Harley's were more his style.
She could feel the burning shame of her past turning her cheeks a bright shade of red. Her life was never supposed to turn out this way and she'd wish she could take it all back. But that would mean her life would be without a sweet boy whom she loved more than life itself. Her relationship with Jimmy may have been the worst thing she ever did, though it was difficult for her to write it off completely as she considered Eamonn to be her saving grace.
"We haven't been, together, for a very long time. Ever since I went back to the cause, people think I am though. The worst part too is that they believe I only got to where I am by shaggin' him."
"Youse aren't together anymore?"
"Nope." She took another drag from the joint. "I saw who he is. And I refuse to allow myself to crawl back to him just because I can remember how he used to be. I tolerate the advances because he's my superior officer and Eamonn's father."
"Him bein' Eamonn's father doesn't mean shite, Catherine, and ya know that. Think about why ya wanted to leave Belfast in the first place. Because ya were sick of that life and ya didn't want to be around it anymore."
"Aye, but that all changed after Darragh died. If I hadn't left the cause, he would still be here. I owe it to him to finish what he started."
If Chibs rolled his eyes any harder, they would have been in the back of his head. He couldn't believe that she blaming herself for Darragh's demise. "What happened to Darragh happened because he was an IRA man. The same target he had his back, is now the same target you've got on yours."
"He only had that target because he was convicted of a murder he didn't commit."
"If that's the fuckin' case, then how would you not leavin' change anythin'?"
Catherine didn't want to say it, but she felt like she didn't have a choice. "Because of Jimmy; plain and simple. The six counties knew Jimmy and I were on the outs and that's why I left. If we weren't, the UVF never would'a dared layin' a goddamn finger on him. I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm Jimmy's pride and joy. Ya hurt me, in any way, you'll feel the whole wrath that is James O'Phelan. With me out of Jimmy's life, they knew they could finally get to Darragh without worryin' about brutal retaliation. My relationship with Jimmy was the only thing that kept Darragh alive. It's no different than why Fiona hasn't left Jimmy either. We've both backed ourselves into a corner with the devil and now we have to do what we can to survive."
Chibs didn't like her answer in the slightest.
"Ya had an opportunity to get out of that corner and ya just stayed there like a coward."
"What was I supposed to do? I was denied entry into the United States and I wouldn't have been able to get false documents without Jimmy or Darragh finding out. If I went to the Republic, I would have ended up fallin' in with the fellas of the Continuity army because I was half-broke and this is the only life I know."
Catherine was disheartened by Chibs' blatant hypocrisy. After he was excommunicated by the Republican Army, he had the opportunity to turn around and make an honest life for himself. Rather, he chose the Sons of Anarchy because the outlaw life was all he knew, too. She felt he was being unfair, chastising her for the decision she deemed to be right for herself and her sons. Whether Chibs liked it or not, both Catherine and Fiona were under Jimmy's thumb, and he kept them there, by providing for them. With the work Catherine did for Jimmy, she could afford a decent house, put food on the table and clothes on her boy's backs. And through his connections, she had been able to get Eamonn and Sean into a good school.
And what Chibs had wrong, was that being back on Jimmy's side meant there was no UVF or UDA target on her back. The only thing she had to fear was the PSNI and MI5, but even then she'd love to see them try to pin anything on her. As far as they were concerned, she was a broke single mom who got by as a bartender at one of Belfast's most profitable pubs.
"I know you say that Jimmy bein' Eamonn's father doesn't mean shite. But you, of all people, know what it's like grown' up without a da. When Jimmy's around Eamonn and Sean, even Kerrianne, he's a different person. Having those boys changed my life and Darragh's for the better…maybe having Eamonn around will change his, too."
"A man like Jimmy will never change."
"I will not defend anything he's done, but you don't know that. My da did horrific…unspeakable things when the three of us were grownin' up. He's still gettin' hauled in by the peelers, tryin' to get information outta him about the Disappeared. And let's not forget how many times he beat up on my Ma and brothers. But over the last decade or so, it's like he's a different person. I believe people can change for the better."
It was a blessing and a curse for Chibs to see that Catherine may be the same naive little girl he remembered. The love she felt for Jimmy still swallowed her and it was her soft heart that would eventually be her downfall.
"Your da's a drunk who can't control his anger. He changed because he quit nippin' the bottle."
"So it was the drink that made him torture and kill God knows how many people? Or was it his circumstances? The same circumstances that turned Jimmy into who he is."
"It sounds like you're defending him, Catherine."
She shook her head. Defending Jimmy wasn't her intention.
"Because of a bloody informer, I ended up gettin' arrested under the Terrorism Act which ruined any chance I had at leaving Northern Ireland for good. I have to live with that and do what I can to make life in Belfast work. And if that means bein' Jimmy's perfect little soldier and lettin' him be around Eamonn, then so be it. I'm not in Fiona's position so things could be a hell of a lot worse. How about this: when you decide to leave SAMCRO, I'll leave the Ra. Until that day, ya need to respect the decision I've made to protect my family. The only reason you're upset with me, is because you can't live with the guilt of leavin' Kerrianne, and ya thought brinin' me here would make up for it. I may be a coward for stayin', but you're a coward for leavin' your girls behind." Grabbing her cellphone and cigarettes, Catherine stood up. "Admit it, Filip, you're just as afraid of Jimmy O as the rest of us."
As she started walking down the pathway to her room, Chibs called out to her. "If you're so afraid of him, you could learn a lesson or two from Liam."
Catherine stopped in her tracks and turned around. "What?"
"Liam is the only one who isn't afraid of Jimmy."
"What…what are you talkin' about?"
Closing the distance between them, Chibs brought his mouth close to Catherine's ear and lowered his voice. "I guess you aren't as good of a commander as you think. If you opened your eyes and looked three-feet in front of you, you'd be amazed by what's been goin' on right under your nose."
