A/N: don't own don't sue

Lyrics at the beginning are from 'Witness' by Daughtry

Set around Season One, before Abel is kidnapped and Gemma is raped and Jax turns into a jerk and the whole club hates each other. Generally back when the show had fun and all the coolest characters were still alive. Because I can, it's called artistic license.

I couldn't find any mention of Chibs's birthday when I searched so I made one up, don't complain at me if it's the wrong time of year :)

Learn My Lesson

Chapter Twenty Nine

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?
Hollowed out and feeling uninspired
The question I keep asking is
What, will it take to ease your worried mind
Now you're letting your confusion take control
And lead you down a dark and lonely road
Even that won't last forever
Just look around and see you're not alone
If you ain't finding love but you're still not giving up
Can I get a witness?
If you're down and out but you still wanna live it up
Can I get a witness?
And if the weight of the world is on you now
But you know you can turn it all around again
Can I get a witness?
Does it feel like you're just wasting time
Here without a reason or a rhyme
The answer you've been looking for
Is standing right before your weary eyes
Your weary eyes

Whatever the raid and arrest had been about, it had made the entire club tense and twitchy. Chibs was pricklier than he'd ever been, disappearing a lot on 'club business' and closing himself off from her when it came to whatever was going on. She could live with that, as long as he didn't start avoiding her again. She had plans though. She had managed to wheedle Juice into checking Chibs's record because she had a feeling which had proved correct. It was his birthday coming up.

She waited until Half-Sack was alone before working her magic.

"Kiiiiip." She trilled sweetly, popping up behind him and almost making him drop the box he was carrying.

When he'd regained his balance, he eyed her warily. That tone of voice usually came with a request that was bound to get him in trouble. She gave him her most innocent smile which instantly had him suspicious.

"Can you get me Lolita's number?"

He squinted at her. She knew Lolita had taken a liking to him before the whole Cherry episode, and Kip was too sweet to fuck and run.

"Why?" He asked suspiciously.

She shrugged, batting her lashes at him but he held his ground.

"I want her to get something for me, she's the only woman I know here apart from Gemma."

He still looked doubtful.

"Kip, come on. Gemma is busy and this isn't something I can ask a man to get for me."

He goggled at her and she could almost see the ideas running through his head, pondering what she could possibly want that he wasn't allowed to get for her.

"Alright." He finally sighed, caving as she knew he would.

He handed over his phone and she copied the number into her throwaway happily.

"You are wonderful." She gushed, pressing a brief chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth that had him stammering in embarrassment.

It took a lot of convincing for Lolita to help her, and she basically had to beg, but eventually she agreed to get what she needed. Then she had to tell Juice that she needed a few extra things picking up from the store without making him suspicious, the man couldn't keep a secret to save his life. The hardest part was going to be convincing them to let her out for the night. There was no reason on this earth she could offer Clay that would make him allow her to go and book a hotel room for a night, especially after the shooting. So she tried the next best thing.

"Um, Mrs Teller-Morrow?"

Gemma glanced up at her over the rims of her glasses irritably and Naomi shrank back.

"I'm sorry to interrupt."

Gemma went back to scribbling on some paperwork while she hovered in the doorway, unsure of her welcome.

"Don't hover, baby. Sit down."

She forced herself into the office and slid into the chair opposite the desk, clenching her hands in her lap nervously. She knew how to get what she wanted from the guys, they were easy, but this was going to be far more difficult.

"I… I had a request, Mrs Teller-Morrow."

Gemma snorted, signing her name on the page before her and shoving the paper to one side.

"Don't call me that. It makes me feel old."

Naomi flushed, this wasn't going well.

"Why aren't you going to Clay with your… request?"

Naomi shifted in her seat uncomfortably, she hadn't expected to be asked that question. In the end, she decided the truth would have to do.

"I'm going to be honest." She said and Gemma finally looked up to look her in the eye.

"Always a good place to start." She said mockingly.

Naomi laughed, rubbing her sweating palms on her thighs nervously.

"I didn't go to Mr Morrow, because he'll say no."

Gemma's lips twitched at the 'Mr Morrow' part, lifting her eyebrows at the rest.

"But you think I'll say yes?"

Naomi sighed, she just had to ask and if it was a no, then she'd have to change her plans.

"I hope so." She smiled awkwardly. "It's Chibs's birthday and I want to do something for him."

Gemma cocked her head, but if she was surprised at the knowledge she didn't say so.

"Like a party?"

Naomi shook her head, reaching up nervously and tugging on the end of her braid.

"No… I mean yeah sure, we could do that. But with Bobby being gone, I didn't think it would be right." Gemma gave her a long level look, her interest piqued. "I wanted to plan something more… private."

She felt her cheeks flush bright red at the look on Gemma's face. This was far more embarrassing than she'd expected.

"I wanted to book a hotel for the night." She blurted out, deciding that this couldn't possibly get any more painful so she better just get it over with. "For some privacy and to get away."

She didn't need to clarify that she wanted to get him away from the tension, it was like a physical presence in the clubhouse at the moment with Bobby's arrest, Opie gone AWOL and ATF still sniffing around.

"You're right." Gemma said flatly, tossing her pen down on the desk. "Clay would definitely say no."

Naomi chewed on her lip and stared at her imploringly. She knew Gemma had a soft spot for Chibs and was hoping it was going to work in her favour.

"One night?" She clarified, leaning back in her chair and studying Naomi closely.

"Just one." Naomi confirmed quickly, hardly daring to breathe. "We'd be close enough to come straight back if we need to."

Gemma considered for a long time, her unnervingly sharp gaze fixed unwaveringly on her. Eventually, she leaned over the desk towards her, linking her fingers together and resting her chin on them.

"One night, and someone has to know exactly where you are."

Naomi let out the breath she'd been holding, hardly daring to believe her ears.

"Oh thank you, Mrs… uh, Gemma." She flushed even brighter in embarrassment.

"Let's be clear, this is for Chibs." Gemma said and Naomi nodded shyly. "Get Juice to book the room for you, have him pull one of the IDs we use."

"Of course." Naomi wanted to hug the older woman, but she didn't dare. "What about-"

Gemma leaned back again, a small smirk playing over her lips.

"Leave Clay to me."

When Naomi didn't leave, she raised her eyebrows again questioningly.

"It's silly." Naomi's face was so hot she was sure Gemma could feel the heat from across the desk, this was so humiliating. "I wanted it to be a surprise."

Gemma grinned, giving her a wink as confirmation.


"Not that one."

Juice wrinkled his brow in confusion, squinting at the hotel on the computer screen. He didn't see anything wrong with it.

"It has hourly rates, Juice." She protested, as if she'd read his mind. "I want something nice."

Nice and isolated, she amended silently, remembering the bullets whipping past her in broad daylight in the middle of the nice area of town.

Juice scowled, exiting out of the page and scrolling onto the next option.

"Would help if you told me what this is for." He grumbled.

Naomi was leaning over his shoulder as they studied the available hotels, pointing at the ones she wanted to take a closer look at. He was already on edge from having her breasts squashed pleasantly against his shoulder every five minutes.

"It's Gemma's orders, do you want to take your complaint up with her?" She responded sweetly, her mouth almost brushing his ear she was so close to him.

He grumbled under his breath but didn't complain again, obediently clicking on the link she pointed at. This one didn't meet her standards either.

"It would be a lot faster, if you let me look myself." She pointed out, fed up with his whining.

He broke out into a rant about how it was his equipment and nobody else used it but she ignored him, pointing at the next one she wanted to look at.

"Is there a tub?" She asked, her skin tingling at the memory of their romp in the bathtub last week.

Juice let out a martyred sigh but obediently scoured the page for that information for her. They checked the room she wanted was available when she wanted it and, as Juice dutifully tapped in the details of the ID to book it, she threw her arms around him from behind and squeezed.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." She gushed, pressing kisses all over his head until he squirmed to get away.

"What's this?"

Naomi whirled around to find Chibs standing behind them with a thoroughly amused looking Jax. She flushed and stepped in front of Juice to hide the screen. She hadn't told Juice to keep the hotel a secret from Chibs yet.

"Nothing special." She smiled at him innocently but he clearly didn't buy it.

He gave her a gentle push to move her aside. Luckily Juice had completed the booking and moved onto the research he was doing for Bobby's case. Chibs eyed her suspiciously but she stared right back at him. She had learned a hell of a lot during her time with the Sons, the least of which was how to lie like a pro. Jax leaned over Juice's shoulder and when Naomi heard Opie's name, she stepped away. She didn't know what was going on with poor Opie, and she didn't want to know.

"What was Juice doing for you?"

Naomi glanced at Chibs, his face was dark.

"Just helping me with my brother."

He knew she was lying and his eyes blackened angrily. This was the second time this week that he'd found her whispering with Juice. He knew Juice had always had a thing for her, knew she had a soft spot for the young lad. He still had his suspicions about what had gone on in her room the night of their argument. He had never asked her about it after they had made up, not wanting to dig too deep into something so dangerous. Now his misgivings were surfacing and he wanted someone to take his frustration out on.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

He scowled at her, inexplicable fury pounding in his head. He walked away from her before he could say something he would certainly regret.


Something was going on. He knew it.

Every time he entered a room, Naomi was whispering with Juice or Half-Sack. And every time he looked at them suspiciously, she fed him some bullshit with a nervous look on her face. It was putting him in a perpetual bad mood. For the last two days he hadn't even been able to get it up, much to his shame. He had blamed it on the booze, the stress, even his age. But he knew most of it was because he feared she was going to leave his haggard old ass for something younger.

He kept catching her scribbling too. She always hid the pages from him and told him it was none of his business, which was technically true. His paranoid brain was convinced they were love letters to someone else. He knew her and she was exactly the sort of person who would write love letters. She had never written any to him, he thought angrily.

He had just spent another long day slogging in the garage on next to no sleep due to club business. He was already pissed off because he'd wanted to try again with her this morning but she hadn't woken up before he had to leave for his shift. Who knows, maybe it would have worked. So when he shoved open the door to her room irritably, and found her sitting at the desk scribbling away, he was already prepared to blow up.

"What is that?" He snarled immediately, stalking across the room towards her after slamming the door.

She was so startled by his sudden violent appearance that she didn't have time to hide the pages and he snatched them from the desk.

"Hey, those are private!"

He ignored her, scanning the page in his hand. It was addressed to Juice and his stomach fell out of his ass. He shook the pages at her.

"What the fuck is this?"

She shook her head mutely, her eyes huge and accusing. Ha! Accusing of him?! When she was the one writing little love notes to his brother!

"You have no right." She said quietly, her mouth trembling. "Those are private."

"I bet they are." He sneered, throwing the pages back onto the desk. "I knew something was going on."

She furrowed her brow in confusion, staring at him as he paced the room like a caged tiger.

"What are you talking about?"

He gestured wildly at the papers, his face contorted with anger.

"You writing poems, are you? To Juice? Who else in this clubhouse you got wrapped around your finger desperate to get inside you?"

She gaped at him with her mouth open for a moment, then her face flushed an ugly red and her eyes turned icy. He remembered that look well from the last time they'd argued, but this time he refused to feel guilty.

"There would be no point whatsoever writing a poem to Juice." She said calmly, turning to the desk and rifling through the pages. "Here, read it."

Chibs eyed her mistrustfully, but took the page. It made his blood boil just seeing Juice's name in her neat handwriting. His frown got deeper and deeper as he read, alternating between reading a paragraph and glancing at her. She had turned away from him.

"What is this?" He asked again, his voice calmer but thoroughly confused.

She glared at him and he felt some of the anger in his belly shift.

"It's a goodbye letter." She said sharply, holding out her hand to take it back from him.

"A goodbye letter." He repeated in confusion, her words starting to filter through the paranoia and rage.

"Yes. A goodbye letter, for when I have to say goodbye." Her eyes were hard and her mouth was trembling again. "I was writing one for all the guys."

Chibs was dumbfounded. The letter he had read to Juice was not romantic in any way, it had spoken of her affection for him and her hope that he lived the best life he could.

"See." She held up the letters one after the other, each of them was addressed to one of the Sons that she was close to.

Juice's, Half-Sack's and Happy's were the longest. He desperately wanted to see the one for Happy, but he thought it best not to ask.

"You gave me the idea." She said, stacking the letters into a neat pile. "I just thought, what if I have to leave suddenly and I can't say goodbye to everyone."

She was talking calmly but he knew she was upset at the accusation. He went and sat on the end of the bed, putting his head in his hands. Had he really thought she was having an affair? Had he really believed she was capable of that? He didn't think so. He was losing his mind, everything was going to shit. He realised he hadn't seen his name in the pile of pages.

"Did you write me one?"

She shot him a reproachful look and he bit his lip and looked back down at his feet.

"You can't see it. Not until it's finished."

He nodded, knowing better than to push her. He should apologise, he seemed to need to do that a lot lately. This is why he never bothered with relationships. Deciding to take pity on him, she crossed the room and knelt on the floor before him.

"I would never do that to you." She took his hands in hers. "You know that."

He nodded. He did know that. He had let the stress of the club cloud his judgement. He was so glad she hadn't started an argument with him, even though he deserved it, he didn't think his tired brain could take it.

"You're not getting enough sleep." She chastised, letting go of his hands to unlace his boots for him.

He opened his mouth to say something saucy, then remembered he hadn't exactly been performing lately and snapped it shut again.

"Is this what you've been worried about? Me having a fling with Juice?" She asked, the very tone of her voice making the idea sound ridiculous.

"Ah, lass. I'm not short of worries." He laughed tiredly, pushing his hands into her hair which she'd left loose to dry after her shower.

"Well that's one worry you can throw away." She said firmly, kneeling up to place a teasing kiss on his mouth. "Off."

She tugged on the hem of his dirty oil-stained shirt and he obediently dragged it over his head and tossed it in the direction of the laundry basket. It missed, story of his life recently.

"Now." She nipped on his lower lip, sucking it lightly. "Let's see if we can work on another one."

He eyed her warily. He very much wanted to try, but he was so bone-tired he wasn't sure he'd be able to. She pressed light kisses down his jawline, the length of his neck and the planes of his chest, unbuttoning the overalls tied around his waist as she went.

"Relax." She ordered, feeling his tense muscles beneath her hands. "Don't think of anything."

She could taste sweat and oil on his skin and it made her ache pleasantly. He lifted his hips obediently so she could pull the overalls from his body, still doubtful that anything was going to happen. Even knowing she wasn't cheating on him, he'd lost his confidence the last few days. Maybe he really was getting too old.

"You're frowning." She tsked, tracing the wrinkle between his brows that he always had when he frowned with her fingertip. "Close your eyes."

He gave her a look but she had a determined set to her mouth and he was too tired to argue. He could feel her peppering kisses along his inner thighs, drawing her fingernails down the outside of them in contrast and he shuddered. Much to his relief, he felt himself stirring as she continued her ministrations.

"Good boy." She purred and his mind immediately shot back to that night.

He was getting harder by the second and she smiled happily. She'd known something was on his mind, she'd never imagined what it was, but she could forgive him. She knew the club was going through something. She had definitely missed this, though. She blew lightly on his tip and he twitched. She cupped him in her hand and he grunted, his eyes flying open. He stared at her. She was kneeling before him, her hair wild over her shoulders and the vest top she slept in barely keeping her chest contained. She had a wicked look in her eyes and her mouth was pursed in a satisfied smile. Keeping her gaze firmly locked on his, she took him right into her mouth and he let out a guttural groan of sheer pleasure.

He was petrified he would lose his erection again, but there was no way when he had her kneeling wantonly between his thighs and her tongue twisting around his dick. He finally let himself relax, pushing all worries about the club out of his head as he concentrated only on the sensations she was causing. He wrapped his hands back into her hair but she shot him a look that clearly said there was to be no assisting, so he tugged lightly on her hair instead. She groaned and her mouth vibrated around him, making his head tilt back with pleasure. She dug her nails into his thighs until they twitched, gazing at him from under her lashes. Whatever she was doing with her mouth and tongue, her hands massaging his thighs, he was sure it was that look that sent him over the edge.

When he'd recovered slightly, she ushered him onto the bed and lay down beside him.

"Christ, lass." He groaned, feeling his entire body relax from his orgasm.

She pressed a kiss to his neck, running her tongue over the faint marks that still remained there.

"Better than a croweater?" She asked smugly, snuggling into his side.

"No contest." He yawned, holding her against him.

He grinned as she lazily reached over to switch the lamp off, neither of them having the energy to climb under the covers. Looks like his dry spell was over.