"Hey! Hey, Ling Ling, quit wanderin' around and get your ass over here!"

Sometimes, Tig thought with annoyance, this little Chinese girl was more trouble than she was worth. Granted, the event at the park today had been a raging success, but the fact that she had disappeared during clean-up left him grumbling about how the little rich girl would probably never get used to doing her own chores.

When they had realized that no one knew where she was, however - not even Juice, or Nero, who was still watching Sofia - everyone's mind had jumped to the worst possible conclusion. Marks had been there. Charles Kwan had been there. In a crowd that size, it would be easy to nab a pint-sized little Chinese waif like Dee and stuff her in a duffel bag or something, so people had set out in separate directions to find her, knowing she could very well be anywhere by now.

It just so happened that Tig was the one who had the privilege of finding her walking down the side of a road, halfway to downtown.

"What the fuck you think you're doin', huh?" he called out when she didn't even acknowledge him, still just wandering along slowly. "Don't make me -"

But when she finally turned to face him and he saw her face, puffy and red from crying, he shut his mouth.

He was half-surprised that she didn't bolt when he parked his bike on the side of the road and half-jogged over to her, his forehead wrinkled. "What's the big idea, huh, Potsticker?"

"Dunno," she said, her voice low and quiet, her gaze averted. She didn't even give him the routine smack in the arm for his nicknames for her, which for Tig, was the most unusual thing of all. "Just needed to take a walk -"

"Downtown, alone, after pissing off August Marks?" Tig asked incredulously, glancing her over to see if she'd maybe hit her head, or if her eyes were glazed over at all. She had to be high. She had be tripping on something. "You're a smart kid, you think now's the time for a nice little stroll all alone?"

"Sorry."

"Now you don't feel like being chatty?" Tig pressed. "You spend half the day with a on a stage with a bullhorn with plenty to say, but now -"

"I just wanted to be alone," Denise said, her jaw clenching in annoyance. "After what I saw today, all I want is -"

"Whaddaya mean, what you saw?" Tig interrupted, holding up his hand to silence her. "It was a fuckin' picnic, Ling Ling. What could you possibly have seen that gave you this brilliant idea?" He paused, and started to joke with a smirk, "If it's just because someone broke the news to you that hot dogs ain't made outta real dog, then I hate to see what happens when you find out -"

"Did you know?" she asked, her face contorted in a suddenly paranoid rage. "Did you know about them? Am I the last person to know about this too, just like the run to Lodi, and the -"

"Sweetheart, sweetheart," Tig said, groaning slightly as he reached out and placed his hands on Denise's shoulders to try to calm her down, the rapid firing of words swirling too quickly around his head for him to pick up that she really, genuinely upset. What was it with women? "Did I know about what?"

"About Wendy playing tonsil hockey with my fucking husband!"

Tig recoiled upon hearing it, his mouth hanging open slightly while he took a step back, wiping a gloved hand over his mouth in disbelief. Juice? And Wendy? The guy had been off for weeks now, and he knew that it probably had to do with his wife, but this wasn't the revelation he'd been expecting.

"Nah," he said, shaking his head. "I didn't know nothin', sweetheart. Nothin'. Lemme take you somewhere."

But now, Denise had become a tearful mess, sobbing and shaking so that Tig felt compelled to - however awkwardly - put an arm around her shoulders and give her a gentle squeeze. "The kid's an idiot," he said. "I'll bring you over to Jax's, a'right?"

"Juice? And Wendy?" Jax asked incredulously when Tig showed up on his front porch. The first question out of his mouth was to make sure that Wendy wasn't around - probably for the best, Tig pointed out. That was why he'd told Denise to hang back by his bike, to avoid any run-ins with the woman she'd just seen locking lips with her husband. "Jesus Christ..."

"She's just cryin' and snifflin' and not makin' two shits of sense," Tig explained, dumbfounded by the sight of the girl in this state. Why was he always the one who had to find her after shit happened? "I didn't know where else to bring her."

"Here's fine," Jax said with a curt nod before jogging down the front steps to go get Denise, who stood at Tig's bike, holding her jacket tightly around herself. He put an arm around her shoulders and brought her inside, nodding to Tig that it was alright for him to get going. Denise sat silently on the sofa for a few moments, looking down at her hands while Jax shut the door behind her and struggled for a way to even begin this conversation. "Deedee," he began unsurely. "I'm sorry -"

"Don't be," Denise interrupted weakly. "You and Wendy aren't - aren't anything, right? It's not like you can control what she does."

"You don't needa keep your head on straight about this, Deedee," he said sternly. "You can be pissed. I know more than anybody what you've put into what you have with Juice. I don't believe your 'I'm okay' bullshit for one second -"

"Well, I do. I believe it," Denise said, lifting her head and finally making eye contact with Jax, her gaze fierce and determined. "Because if I don't believe that I'm okay, then what? I lose my shit completely? I didn't come back to this fucking town for this." Her voice cracked wearily, and she drew a shuddering breath. "All I wanted was to shut Marks down and get some peace with my family and now all of a sudden, my husband is kissing your ex-wife while I'm throwing myself into Marks's crosshairs and I don't fucking know why anymore."

All of the words tumbled out of Denise's mouth before she could control them, and by the time they had all been spoken, a dam seemed to have burst and her chest heaved with a sob as she covered her head in her hands. Jax reached his arm around her shoulders and patted her back slowly.

"Well, she ain't here. The boys are sleepin' at her place tonight -"

"When you say 'the boys', does that include my husband?" Denise interrupted bitterly, revealing her now blotchy, tear-stained face. She let out a pained, humorless laugh, pulling away from Jax and getting to her feet. "I - I should go home."

"Lemme give you a ride," Jax said, nodding towards the window where his bike was visibly parked. Denise hesitated momentarily - she hated riding on bikes. But her car was at home, and the only alternative was walking, which she honestly didn't have the energy to do. She shrugged in resignation.

Admittedly, the cold sting of the evening wind against her face did her a little good - she no longer felt like she was on fire in her anger, and her tears at least had dried by the time they pulled up back in front of her house, though as she got off the bike and realized that Juice's bike was in the driveway too, she halted in her tracks and inhaled sharply.

"You don't need to do this right now, Dee," Jax said, taking off his helmet. Admittedly, he cared abut Deedee. She was one of the nearest and dearest to him, and she had done more than her share to earn that distinction. He knew that going in there, seeing Juice right now, would just hurt her. After she had put so much on the line for the club, for Charming...

"Don't take this the wrong way, Dee," he said, his jaw clenched slightly, "But I'm tired of seein' you hurt. You don't need to face him -"

"Go home, Jax," Denise said in a tired, defeated voice. "Just let me deal with my family this time. You deal with yours."

The phrase seemed to hit Jax hard, and Denise could see in his expression that beneath his forced mask of smug, rough calm, the news about Juice and Wendy was taking a toll on his too. He cleared his throat and nodded succinctly before driving off. Denise, on the other hand, slowly walked up the steps - she already saw Juice rushing to the door to meet her, but when she opened the front door to step inside, she held up her hand to stop him from immediately reaching out to try and embrace her.

"Don't," she said quietly, taking a step forward and shutting the door behind her, all the while pushing Juice backwards and farther away from her, despite all of his efforts to get closer to her. "Don't you dare -"

"Baby, please," Juice pleaded again. "I don't love her, I love you. What you saw was a mistake. All of this was one huge mistake," he rambled, shaking his head desperately. "Wendy was just out of her fuckin' mind, she was upset that Jax is keepin' her on the backburner, and I was pissed that we couldn't get a moment to ourselves away from him and the club and - and I told her! I told her, what happened that night at the bar was a -"

"That night at the bar?" Denise repeated incredulously, her face contorted in confusion, which slowly morphed into understanding... and hurt. That night when Juice had left Sofia at Lyla's place, when he had come home late and rushed into the shower. "You slept with her," Denise said, her voice high and just barely making it out of her throat in her shock.

This was so much more than Denise had even known. It wasn't just a kiss. It wasn't just this once, today. She'd had a sneaking suspicion, of course, but without confirmation, without a confession, those suspicions could be dismissed. Now, though?

Denise's breath caught in her chest, and she felt suddenly smothered - the familiar feeling of being unable to breath, of being here in this living room of her own home just like she'd been when Gemma had attacked her, sent her pulse racing even faster. This was worse. This felt so much worse. They'd been lying to her for weeks. Juice hung his head in shame, and when he didn't deny the accusation, Denise clapped a hand over her mouth, walking past him in the doorway and sitting down on the couch. Now, finally, Juice knelt in front of her with tears streaming down his own face, shaking his head.

"It was a mistake, and I told her it wasn't ever gonna happen again," Juice said, reaching out and grabbing so tight a hold on her hands that both of their knuckles went white. "Baby, come on. Say something - be mad at me. Anything -"

"I don't know what to say to you right now," she interrupted, her voice blank and defeated. "I really don't."

"It's just - you've been sharing everything with Jax," Juice said, the pain in his voice evident as he tried desperately to explain himself. "You've been telling him everything, doing everything -"

"So this is my fault?" Denise replied, suddenly feeling her anger gain a second wind. "I never fucked him, Juice! You crossed that line. I didn't. I've always been strong for you. Always, Juice - and now the one time, the one fucking time I need to you be strong for me while I do what I gotta do, and you cave. You go off and -"

"I'm sorry," Juice said, his voice piteous as he struggled to keep a hold of her hands, while she tried her best to pull them away. "Baby, I never meant for any of this to happen -"

"I trusted you. I trusted both of you," Denise said, her jaw clenched as she tried to keep herself composed, to not cry in front of him. "And you - you betrayed me."

The words hit Juice hard, harder even than any physical she might have thought to deal him, and he quickly recoiled, looking at his wife with something that looked like fear in his eyes. You betrayed me. The last time he'd heard those words, when they had come from Jax Teller, they had torn his life apart. This, Juice realized, would be worse. It was going to be so much worse.

But if it was going to be worse, Juice wanted to know it now. He wanted to know if he was losing his wife, because it was better than waiting. "Are you - are you leavin' me? Dee?" he asked, his expression hopeless. For a few seconds, Denise simply locked eyes with him, opening her mouth a few times attempting to answer but not finding the words. Finally, she gave a sad laugh, tears finally returning to her eyes.

"I should be able to answer that, huh?" she asked. "I should be able to look you in the eye and say, 'yes, I'm leaving and I'm taking our daughter and never fucking coming back'," she said, shaking her head. "But - I can't answer that. I can't deal with this shit right now," Denise said, getting back to her feet. Juice looked on in terror as she started towards the front door again and he hurried to try and stop her.

"Where you goin'?" he asked abruptly. "Dee-"

"I'm going to Nero's to pick up our daughter," she said blankly, shoving past him and walking out the door.

The drive to Nero's was quiet, and she had to open all of the car's windows to get enough air to keep her from passing out. Her face was red in anger and shame and loathing - but she didn't want her daughter to see her like this. She was hardly in any better shape, however, when she showed up at Nero's, and immediately upon opening the door, he knew something was amiss.

"Fifi's sleepin'," he said, turning the baby in his arms to face her mom. "What's goin' on, Chinita?"

"Daddy messed up," Denise said simply - Nero couldn't help but appreciate the fact that the woman spoke in euphemism, even when her baby was sleeping. "With Wendy."

Nero's mouth fell open in shock upon hearing the revelation, and he stepped back slightly, nodding for Denise to come inside, an invitation which she gladly accepted. She sat down on his couch and assumed the now all too familiar position of bowing her head into her hands. She let out a sigh, feeling completely exhausted by the day's events. It was supposed to be a simple plan, a simple event in the park to make a statement to Marks. Instead, it had snowballed into this.

"I don't even know if I blame him anymore," Denise admitted miserably, shaking her head. "Maybe he's - maybe he's right. Maybe I was the one who fell short. Maybe I deserved it -"

"You didn't do nothin' to deserve that," Nero interrupted. "Maybe you made a mistake. Makin' a mistake doesn't mean you deserve to lose the things you love."

"Well," Denise said with a sad laugh, realizing that some part of Nero wasn't only talking about Denise - he was talking about someone else, someone very dear to him who'd made her own mistakes as well. "I guess people don't always get what they deserve, then."

"Stay here for the night, mami," Nero said, shaking his head in disappointment. "Heard you had a long day. You don't need to go back to all that right now -"

"No," Denise said with a heaving sigh. The last thing she needed was someone to give her permission not to go home, when she was doing her best to force herself to. First Jax, now Nero. "I do. I do need to go back. I can't let this rip apart my family - at least for Fifi's sake," she said, her sad gaze drifting over to rest on her sleeping daughter. "I don't know what happens now," she shrugged honestly. "I just - I'm not going to take Sofia's daddy away from her just because my feelings are hurt."

"You're a good mama," Nero said, his brow furrowing as he looked down at Denise. "But you need space, chinita. You need to do this for you."

"If I start thinking about me, things fall to pieces," Denise said tiredly. "I can't think about me right now because - because thinking about me means thinking about how messed up everything is. And I don't wanna go there."

She just had to keep going, Denise told herself, even if only for the fact that she had a daughter to raise and a mission to accomplish. Bringing down Marks and saving Charming had cost her so much already - there was no point in turning back now. Nero sighed again, seeing just how broken, how tired the woman in front of him had become. When he'd first met her, she'd been young and hopeful. This was what Charming did to you. It chewed you up, and it spit you out when it was done with you.

But she was determined. Denise was determined to go back home, home to face the person who had hurt her like she had never thought possible. And it was a decision Nero both disagreed with and respected. It was noble, and choosing noble was perhaps sometimes right, but always painful.

A/N's

Thank you for your reviews, first of all! They were a huge motivator for me to sit down and put aside time to work on this update. The Denise/Juice/Wendy/Jax fiasco still has a bit of a way to go before it starts looking "resolved", so stay tuned for more from them. But just like in real-life, other issues don't just up and disappear to make room for them to deal with it. So, there's still more in store for everyone involved. And - I was surprised to receive a review and a couple of Tumblr messages that possibly shipped Jax/Denise. Interesting...

My next review might be over the weekend, since I have a long weekend. But again, don't be angry with me if it takes a bit longer! Until then, cheers!