"Suspended? Mayor Bollinger, you have to be -"

"I told you to do a clean job, and you didn't," Bollinger said, coming around to the other side of his desk and rounding on Jarry. He hadn't seen the point of being evasive with the news that the jig was up, and that she was taking the fall. She had to. "Highway Patrol caught wind of what your little boyfriend's club was pullin' on Highway 4 - someone's gotta fry, and it's not going to be me."

"Mayor -"

"You should be glad it's only a suspension," Bollinger hissed, coming in close to Althea's face. He had been happy to humor her - he'd done so for an entire year. He'd let her run her beat the way she wanted, associate with her biker beau's outlaw friends, as long as she ran her business in a manner that aligned with his goals, his needs for the town of Charming. But they'd been found out. The jig was up, and he, certainly, couldn't take responsibility for this lady sheriff's indiscretions when he was putting so much effort into hiding his own. "Lay low, Jarry. Stay under the radar until this is all cleared up. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good," Bollinger said, reaching into his desk drawer and pulling out a cigar. "Now get the hell out of my office."

Jarry stopped and stared incredulously at the man's nerve, turning on her when it became convenient. They'd had a deal - that he was going to take her with him to the top, that they'd get the Charming PD reinstated, and Jarry would be allowed to call the shots. And it had all been a lie. She inhaled sharply through her nostrils, turning on her heel and striding proudly out the door to Mayor Bollinger's makeshift office at the police station, but she froze when, just as she was leaving, she saw someone being dragged into the precinct in cuffs.

Chibs. He was not resisting the officers - it appeared he had come quietly. When he caught sight of Althea, however, it was as though a spark ignited in his eyes as he immediately began thrashing against the cuffs, with two officers being the only thing holding him back from lashing out at the woman who betrayed him.

"You and I are through, you opportunistic leech - you bitch!" he seethed, his eyes narrowed in rage. "Never let me see your face again, Althea," he sneered as they yanked him over to the detention cell. "Never. Mark my words, you bitch. Never let me see you again."

"What the hell are we gonna do about Chibs?" Tig asked, knocking his fist repeatedly on the table. At present, it was just him, Quinn, and Juice at the usual table at the Dirty Head, and Juice, for one, looked like he was about to be sick. It was only barely a relief that their five prospects weren't around for this, especially for Juice, because with Chibs incapacitated, that left him in charge. Vice President was one thing, but calling the shots like this? He could hardly choose what he was going to eat for dinner without everyone putting money on him getting food poisoning.

"Jarry was playing us the whole time," Juice said in disbelief. When the news had first reached him, his immediate impulse had been to feel sick -overwhelmingly, gut-wrenchingly sick. Hadn't Denise said that Jarry wasn't worth trusting? Juice had always hated fighting with Denise, but he hated it even more when she turned out to be right, and when it came to reading other people, that had always been the majority of times. "Fuck, man... fuck."

"What about your ol' lady?" Quinn asked, swiping his hand over his forehead. "Juice, man, didn't you say you were still in good with her? Sendin' emails and shit? You two seem pretty cozy."

"Yeah, so?" Juice asked, his brow furrowing. "What does Denise -"

"What the hell can we possibly want from the guy's ex-wife? I know he knocked her up but I doubt the dick is that good," Tig snapped. "Jesus Christ -"

"Wife," Juice snapped, feeling strangely offended at the small error. "Not ex-wife."

"Exactly. And she's still on good terms with Jax," Quinn said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "If anyone's got the kinda pull with Jax to get us patched back into SAMCRO -"

"You want us to ask the girl?" Tig asked. "Fuck, I'm pretty sure she made it clear she wanted nothin' to do with club shit when she disappeared off the face of the -"

But before Tig could finish his statement, Juice had already pulled out his phone, eliciting a groan from Tig. It wasn't that he didn't think well of Denise - hell, the girl had some of the brassiest balls he knew of, and it would've been dumb not to respect that. He'd been the one to find her on the side of the interstate when her brother had beaten her half to death and left her there, and he knew she was tougher than she looked. It wasn't Denise he questioned. It was Juice. He'd patched into SAMBAY because he'd lost faith in Jax's ability to take care of his own, but if someone had told him a few years ago that one day, he'd be taking orders from Juice Ortiz, the fuck-up prospect, he would've never believed it.

"You have the girl's number again? You two doing that phone sex shit?" Tig commented snidely. "Whipped, kid. You are completely whipped."

Juice simply shrugged in response. He'd asked for Denise to send him a photo of Sofia for him to use as his wallpaper, and she'd sent him one - he immediately had saved her new phone number. He could have honestly easily traced her from there, but he decided he wouldn't - that everything that was happening was a good sign, and that if he waited it out, she would come closer if she was ever ready. But now, things were different. They needed her help. Tig groaned slightly, expecting nothing promising from the call. Juice, however, appeared nervous as he put his phone on speaker.

"Hello?" Denise's voice came on the other line. "Hello? Juice? Did you sit on your phone again? Is this a buttdial? Because Fifi's getting into my camera stuff right now and-"

"No - no, I'm here. Hi," Juice stammered. "Listen, something happened. Chibs got picked up by the CHP on a run - Jarry's been using us and -"

"How much do you need?" Denise asked, her voice sounding urgent, but somewhat annoyed. Juice knew the tone well - he knew it meant, 'I told you so, but I'll rub it in later'. "I said," Denise urged after Juice was quiet for a few moments, "how much to get him out?"

"I don't know, haven't heard about it yet," Juice recovered quickly. "That's not why I called. It's not about the money -"

"Well, that's a first," Denise interrupted, only half-joking. Juice winced, but knew that it wasn't entirely uncalled for.

"I - I need to ask a favor from you."

"Shoot."

"I..." Juice took a breath and looked back and forth between Tig and Quinn. "I need you to talk to Jax for me."

Jax had been surprised that Denise had asked him to meet up with her at a diner in Truckee, but had obliged because the woman whom he considered a friend said it was urgent. In any case, he appreciated that Denise didn't ask him to come out to her cabin, where he knew Gemma was staying with her. It was one thing knowing where the woman was. Having to see her was another story entirely.

The surprise of being asked for a meeting, however, was nothing compared to the news she wasted no time in springing on him.

SAMBAY wanted back in.

"You playin' the messenger for them now?" Jax asked incredulously. "I thought you wanted nothin' to do with our shit, Deedee."

"I don't," she said honestly. "But Juice called me a few days ago."

"That's real cute," Jax said with a snide grin. "But I don't really need to know what you and your husband had a heart-to-heart about."

"Chibs got taken in, I footed them some money to get him out. Jarry played them," Denise said honestly. Her bluntness, Jax found, was something that he learned to appreciate. It made everything much easier - but he would've been lying if he said that her particular brand of bluntness didn't stress him out from time to time. "She got into Chibs' head, and they want to clean this up. Get right with you. Juice asked me if I could set something up between you and Chibs -"

"What makes them think I want them back in my charter?" Jax sneered. "I don't need to ride alongside any of those traitors." Denise sighed, shaking her head.

"You need this, don't you?" Denise asked. "You need the numbers."

"Maybe I don't," Jax insisted. "Marks and your brother have left us alone for months."

"Because they think you're not a threat anymore - I don't know what the fuck is happening," Denise said, her eyebrows leaping. "But if you think that their beef with you is over, you're kidding yourself, Jax. You and I both know that's not how they operate."

The pair sat in the booth of the diner, and Jax stared Denise down as though he expected her to take back what she'd said - but he knew better. Denise Ortiz never went back on her word, and she certainly never took it back. But most importantly, he knew how much she valued her daughter - Denise would never stick her neck out like this and risk leaving her daughter for something she didn't truly believe needed to be done. Denise Ortiz was quite likely one of his best friends at this point, and she had a way with those doll-eyes of her of talking him into things, of convincing him that whatever she wanted was the best choice... and admittedly, it often was.

"Alright," he said, his voice barely audible. "You and Juice set something up, since I know you're talkin' again. Tell me when and where - but make sure Chibs knows that if he wants back in, he needs to get right with me. He needs to get right with me for each body he took from my club. Got that?"

And within the week, much to the relief of everyone in SAMBAY, Denise found herself back in Charming at the old hall - the same place where she and Juice had their wedding reception - armed and standing outside of the locked door with Juice like some kind of bouncer; she had been given explicit directions by Jax to make sure his meeting with Chibs had no interruptions.

"Thank you," Juice said, his arms crossed over himself. "For setting this up, I mean."

"Yeah, of course," Denise nodded, taking off her jacket and dropping it into the hood of her car with a soft thud, then lifting herself to take a seat on it. "I mean, I hoped you'd all get right with each other soon." She drew her legs up so that her feet rested on her front bumper, giving a slightly sigh.

"How's Sofia?" Juice asked eagerly. At this, Denise's face finally broke into a smile as it often did whenever the opportunity arose for her to talk about her daughter.

"She's great," Denise beamed. "Just had her try her first veggies this week. Spinach," she said, making a slight grimace. "She loves it - I think she gets that from you. But it's such a mess, it gets everywhere. I wanted to start her on something that doesn't stain. Apples or bananas or something. But you know, they say you always start the babies with a veggie, or they'll start liking sweets too much -"

"Could I feed her?" Juice interrupted, catching Denise by surprise. "I - I was at Wal-Mart. I bought one of those Magic Bullet gadgets that makes baby food because I figured if she ever comes over, I could make her somethin'."

Denise paused, and Juice worried for a moment that she was going to say no until she slowly nodded. "Yeah. Maybe she could... spend a weekend or something?" Denise suggested. She couldn't help but smile in response to the elated expression that glazed over Juice's face at the suggestion that his daughter could spend a whole weekend with him, and he ran his hands over the sides of his head before clasping them behind his neck and letting out a breath.

"Shit - really?" he asked excitedly. "I - you have no idea how much I'd like that, Dee."

"I think I do," she laughed, shaking her head. "Anyway, I want her to spend some time with you. Get to know you. Sometime soon."

There was a brief silence, and Juice reverted to an array of awkward tics - clearing his throat, shuffling his feet, cracking his knuckles - until Denise let out a small gasp and shifted so she could reach into the pocket of the jacket she was sitting on and hold something out to Juice.

"I figured I'd be seeing you today, so I brought you something," she said, holding out a keychain in his direction. He plucked it from her hand and glanced it over, realize that it was a picture of a footprint in a plastic case with a name printed across the bottom: Sofia Xiu Kwan Ortiz.

"From the hospital, when Fifi was born," Denise said with a lopsided grin, pulling out her own keys to reveal that she had one too. "Mommy gets right foot, daddy gets left foot. I thought it was cute. It's corny, though -"

"Nah, no way, I love you -" Juice interrupted, realizing only too late that he had slipped in his response when he saw the surprised expression on Denise's face. "It. I love it," he corrected, going somewhat red in the face. There was another silence until finally both of them managed to laugh nervously, shaking their heads at one another.

Was this really Juice? Denise wondered. It felt like ages ago, but she remembered very well that once upon a time, she had been able to talk to him about anything, to tell him anything. She opened her mouth to try and say something to alleviate the awkward tension that seemed to bubble over in every silence despite all of their best attempts, but, sparing her the futile effort, the door to the hall burst open.

Juice winced at the sight of Chibs, sporting a bloody, bruised face, emerging from the room, but the fact that he and Jax walked out side-by-side and the President's patch was ripped off of Chibs' kutte seemed to be a good sign. Jax, on the other hand, walked straight to Denise, reaching out and clapping a hand on her shoulder. He knew from the expression on her face that she was slightly queasy, that this was the part she would likely never get used to.

"Thanks for this, Dee," he said simply, kissing the side of her head - despite the fact that Jax did this with practically everyone he considered a close friend, which Denise had no doubt become in the past months, Juice felt a swell of envy, and he fought back the involuntarily curling of his upper lip, instead turning to Chibs and eyeing the wounds on his face.

"You good, then?" he asked Chibs.

"Yeah, we're good," Jax supplied for him, still standing by Denise at her car. "Round up your boys, we're goin' to church, a-sap. We got plenty to talk about." Jax waited until Juice nodded in comprehension before looking back towards Denise, crossing his arms. "Listen, Wendy's busy tonight and I know Lyla can only watch the kids until six. Do you mind swoopin' the boys for a few hours when you pick up Fifi? I'm not stickin' them with some croweater if Aunt Deedee's in town."

"Yeah, of course -"

"You mean, Sofia's here?" Juice spoke up suddenly, his face brightening despite the fact that he was helping Chibs get cleaned up from what had to have been a fairly brutal beatdown. "Do you think you could..." his voice trailed off, and he scratched his neck when Denise arched an eyebrow gently. He cleared his throat before continuing. "Maybe you could bring her by the house once church is done - before you leave town again? I can make dinner."

There was a pause, and Denise inhaled with a short sniff that only Jax could hear, concealing a smile before answering, "Okay."

Juice and Chibs went off to get a head start so Chibs could get himself cleaned up first, and Jax sent a call out to his guys to let them know to be at the clubhouse as soon as they could - once he was off the phone, he glanced over at Denise with a questioning expression. "So, you and Juice. You two seem friendly again - do I wanna touch that one?"

"Not with a ten-foot pole," Denise smirked. Jax chuckled, shaking his head.

"Dee. You're the best friend I've got outside of the club. You know that I keep it one-hundred with you - always," Jax began, raising his eyebrows. "You've been there for my boys, for me, for everybody - and I would never say anything that I thought would mess that up."

"Uh oh," she sighed. "Am I in trouble?"

"I'm serious, Dee. Bad blood aside, I give the guy credit, you know - not hunting you down. I know Juice wanted to," Jax said, his expression uncharacteristically soft. "Every single time I was in the same place as the guy, it's like he was looking around to see if you might be close by. But he took it to heart when you said being VP of SAMBAY was no good for your baby. Stepped back because it was the right thing to do. I respect that."

Denise gave a sad smile and nodded vaguely. "I do too."

A/N's

Looks like things are starting to fall back into place in Charming. I suggest you enjoy the slow burn of Juice and Denise warming up to one another again, because it's not always going to be this calm for them. Fear not, though. I still have plenty of fluff to keep you going for a while. Thank you, as always, to my amazing reviewers!

The next chapter contains one event in particular that I was really on the fence about including - but just trust that it's something vital to the progression of the storyline, and that it'll help make the story better. I'm making small changes to the storyline as I go, so updates might be a little slower while I tweak bits and pieces, but I strive for consistency! Cheers!