When Denise Ortiz's car came puttering back into town with a U-Haul trailer hitched onto the back, the buzz around Charming was fierce. Just weeks after Wayne Unser's passing, which admittedly shook the town, the rich city girl that had shacked up with Juice came back from a long disappearance, and that in and of itself was gossip-worthy. What made matters even more worthy of discussion was the fact that SAMCRO had all showed up to the Ortiz household to help her move in. Two of the old SAMBAY prospects had decided to stick around and continue prospecting for SAMCRO - Denise knew them only as Flick and Brucey. Being the new kids on the block, they were given the none-too-coveted task of assembling the crib and setting up the nursery, which was being set up in the spare room.
Juice, in particular, seemed to pop up every time Denise moved to try and pick up so much as a desk lamp or a diaper bag. She seemed slightly jarred by the idea of people having to help her with things, having been doing them on her own for so long.
"You just stay there and look pretty, Chinadoll," Tig said to her with a snide smirk, earning him an only half-joking sock on the shoulder. Hard-headed as ever, Denise moved to pick up a canary-yellow backpack containing most of Sofia's clothes, only to find a strong, calloused hand reaching out to take it from her. Denise shifted Sofia in her arms and turned to find Happy pulling the bag away, slinging it over his own shoulder. The contrast of the baby-yellow bag with chubby cartoon ducks on it, slung over the shoulder of the Tacoma Killa, was enough to elicit a snort of laughter from the woman.
"That's a good look on you and all, Hap, but I've really got it -"
"You let the men be gentlemen, Chinita. Doesn't happen often, so you might as well make the most of it."
At the sound of the nickname that only one person used for her, Denise turned again to see Nero, carrying a small box under one arm that contained a lot of Denise's camera accessories. He gave a lopsided grin and slung his free arm around Denise's shoulder in a brief hug. Nero Padilla, like Gemma, had always had a bit of a soft spot for the girl - but Nero's reasoning was very different indeed. Despite the rocky nature of his opinion of Juice, Nero's attitude toward Mrs. Ortiz had developed into a certain kind of fondness. There was a sort of innocence to her, he observed, and a sense of principle and honor that he knew very well was difficult to maintain in a place like Charming. He placed the box down for the time being and crossed his arms, looking at Baby Sofia with a certain fondness that one simply could tell came only from someone who loved and appreciated babies - appreciated innocence, more than anything.
"I think sitting around and watching everyone move my stuff for me is a even more tiring than doing it myself," Denise admitted with a laugh as Nero nodded to a clear spot away from the bustle of the men moving Denise's things back into Juice's house. Nero chuckled as well as he reached out to gently ruffle Sofia's hair.
"Well, it's not often we have two pretty ladies move into town like this," he grinned. "You know, the guys have always had a - a woman's touch to balance things out. It's been rough on everyone, not havin' any proper old ladies. Closest they've had is Wendy, and -"
"And Jax keeps her at arm's length, I know," Denise supplied. "It's a shame, though."
"You shouldn't touch that one, Chinita," Nero chuckled. "She does what she can. But ain't nothin' the same as havin' a real ol' lady around. A real Mama."
Denise sensed the weight of Nero's words when he spoke, and she tilted her head, raising an eyebrow gently. She glanced around, making sure everyone was at a safe distance before she leaned towards Nero and spoke in a low voice that he only barely heard.
"She's staying at the motel near Lumpy's - room 19," Denise said quietly with a knowing smile. "I think she could use a little more help - I've got plenty of hands on deck here."
Nero laughed quietly, shaking his head in slight disbelief before looking at Denise with a questioning expression. "You're back in town for five minutes and already, you're tryin' to fix things," he chuckled. "You sure you're good here?"
"Yeah," Denise said with a smile, bouncing Sofia slightly as she started to get slightly squirmy. "We're good here. She's gonna need somebody too. Knock twice, then knock four times. She'll open the door then."
Nero leaned over and placed a kiss on both Denise and Sofia's foreheads before walking back towards his car, leaving Denise with a knowing grin on her face. Maybe it was true, she pondered, that people who were supposed to be together always found their way back to each other in the end.
"All done!"
Denise looked back over her shoulder at the sound of a voice and saw that the guys had indeed managed to take all of her things out of the U-Haul trailer and put them inside of the the Ortiz house. Her house. She inhaled deeply and started walking towards the house again when Juice emerged ahead of the others, looking at her with a grin.
"Welcome home, Dee."
Denise gave a watery smile and was surprised that for whatever reason, she felt pressure welling up behind her eyes, just as the others came up behind Juice so that they all were gathered and squeezed onto the porch.
"See?" Tig smirked. "Things happen quick when you let the men do their job."
"Yeah, until she needs to bail one of our ugly mugs outta jail," Chibs supplied throatily, and for the first time, Denise actually smiled at something he said. It brought a broad grin to Juice's face, and he inhaled with a deep, chest-heaving breath as he crossed his arms.
"How 'bout we leave you to get settled back in?" Jax said, reaching over and clapping a hand on Denise's shoulder. "Is it okay if Wendy brings the boys by later? Abel's been wantin' to see those pictures you took of him, kid's startin' to be a real ham."
"Sure," Denise and Juice both answered, unintentionally in unison. They glanced at one another and, after a moment of tentative silence, laughed somewhat nervously.
"Aight," Jax chuckled, glancing between the two of them. "You crazy kids stay outta trouble."
Denise soon realized, however, that being in the same space with Juice like this again was going to be more strange than even she had expected. Once they were alone in the house, unpacking some of the miscellaneous boxes while Sofia was down for a nap, Denise paused from her own unpacking when she noticed Juice pause first, staring at the contents one box in particular that was labeled, "Fifi's room" - Sofia, of course, never actually stayed in her own room because Denise was so attached to her, but she had always had a room for her things, regardless. Denise walked over and realized that Juice was staring into the box at the framed collage of photos that had always hung in Sofia's room. Apart from the obligatory baby photos and scrapbook-esque decorations, was an entire cluster of photos from Juice and Denise's wedding. Denise froze, and let out a small gasp that broke Juice out of his daze.
"I, uh..." Denise said carefully. "Well, I told you she knew your face already, didn't I?"
Juice straightened up and grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets. It caused a sense of warmth to pass through him, realizing that Denise hadn't forgotten him during all that time, because he had most assuredly never forgotten her. "Thanks, Dee," he said, shuffling his feet.
"For what?"
"For... I don't know," Juice laughed, slightly embarrassed. "For coming back. For making sure I wasn't a stranger to my own daughter. I never wanted to be that kind of father, you know? I never wanted to be that guy whose kid didn't even know him."
"I know."
That smile, Juice thought as he looked at Denise's face, was probably the most encouraging thing he had seen in a long time.
Knock two times, then knock four times.
The instructions seemed strange, but Nero Padilla was never one to judge - it wasn't as though he'd never seen anything stranger. He reached the room that Denise had specified to him at the motel, tapped his knuckles on the door twice, paused, then tapped four times. For a few suspenseful moments, there was no response and he worried he had perhaps misheard Denise when the door creaked open, and a woman's voice preceded her appearance in the doorway.
"Jesus, babydoll, I gave you a key -"
Gemma Teller-Morrow froze in surprise at the sight of Nero Padilla - he had used Denise's signature knock, but he certainly was a far cry from the scrawny, dark-haired waif Gemma had been expecting.
"Hey, you."
"Hey," Nero said carefully. "Just came by to say welcome to the neighborhood. Chinita said you could use a hand."
Gemma shrugged noncommittally. "Got a couple boxes thrown into the SUV, but nothin' that can't wait. You wanna come inside?"
"Sure."
The stilted, stiff nature of the exchange as Nero followed Gemma into her motel room was punctuated by the sadness that washed over him when it really hit him that she was staying here. She was in Charming, but not with her family, and he knew perhaps better than anyone how torturous that had to be for her.
"You don't have to stay here, Mama," he said suddenly, his brow furrowing. "Shit - this is no place for you. Why don't you just take your stuff and -"
"Stay with you?" she asked, turning around and raising an eyebrow gently. "Nero, baby - this is me doing penance. This is what I gotta do. After all I've fucked up, I'm lucky that Dee took me as I was, but Jax isn't gonna let things go so easy."
"You shouldn't be in a place like this," Nero insisted, unable to help himself as he reached over, placing his hands on Gemma's shoulders, gripping slightly more tightly than he had probably meant to. "You spent a year away from those boys - that was torture, Mama. That was exile."
"I'm lucky that Jax is even letting me back in this town," Gemma said, her face showing the weariness that Nero already knew that she felt in her situation. "I deserve this, baby. I deserve to be -"
"You say you deserve to be alone, and I swear to God, Mama," he said, shaking his head. "Nobody deserves that."
Nero wrapped his arms around the woman in front of him and simply held her - nothing more. The single gesture, however, coming from someone besides Denise, who had been the only one to show Gemma any warmth whatsoever in the past year, was overwhelming. Gemma found herself crumbling into Nero's embrace, crying into his shoulder and leaning on him for support.
"Shh," he said, planting a kiss on the woman's temple. "You ain't alone, Mama. Never will be."
A/N's
So, in case you were wondering where the updates have been - I had some of my stuff stolen over the long holiday weekend, including the USB with my chapters on it. I've had to put aside a little extra time to rewrite about 8 chapters, and I've been a little bummed and discouraged so it's been a slow process. I'm hoping to get back to where I was soon, and I'm trying to be optimistic and use this as a chance to make the chapters even better. I wanted to get this update out to you before tonight's episode, and also to make sure you guys knew that I was still alive and haven't forgotten about you!
Chapter 8 or 9 in particular, I might have to take a little time with because I was really happy about the way it was written. Some good stuff is crammed into the next chapter, so I want to be sure to get it right! Any pep talks from you all would be much appreciated while I try to bounce back from this (and also try to regenerate some of the work stuff that was on that same USB). Wish me luck!
Anyway, Nero/Gemma is indeed going to come into play in this story a little more, as well as another pairing mentioned in this chapter, though that will still be considerably later on. As events get bigger, more of the gang will get pulled in and have some time to shine in the story. So, I will leave you all with this for now. The next chapter will have some new revelations, and cause a big shift in momentum in the story. The relative quiet in the story right now is just the calm before the storm. Anyway, Happy Teller Tuesday and enjoy tonight's episode! Cheers!