The ill-begotten hope that leaving Gemma at Nero's could just be the end of it may have been shaky at best, but it was what gave Denise some semblance of peace of mind on her way home. However, a sense of terror struck her when she walked in the front door and realized that she was alone in the house - Juice and Sofia weren't there. Perhaps under any other circumstances, it wouldn't have instilled such a sense of terror, but as she sat alone on the couch, wringing her hands until she heard the sound of the doorknob turning. She turned quickly and saw Juice walking through the door, his eyebrows leaping in surprise when he caught sight of her.

"You're home," he said chuckling and shaking his head before he walked over and leaned towards Denise, kissing her briefly on the lips before straightening up and throwing his arms wide. "You're... early. I just brought Fifi over to Lyla's , Ellie was really excited to play babysitter. Left enough stuff in the baby bag to be good until morning," he nodded. "I - I thought maybe you and me, we could have a nice dinner somewhere."

"Mm," Denise said with a stiff smile, nodding and getting to her feet. Did she really deserve this after what she'd done? She swore she felt her chest tighten in apprehension. "Lemme go get changed."

Just the act of getting ready for a date felt clumsy and unusual for Denise as she rifled through the hangers in her closet, picking out a dress. She was in front of the mirror in the bathroom, swiping eyeliner and eyeshadow over her eyes, lipstick onto her lips, and realized that this simply wasn't something she did. Denise didn't do things like this before Juice, either. Then, Sofia had been born, and she'd stopped again because there had simply been no need, no opportunity. Her brow furrowed as she looked at herself and realized that she was still pretty. She was still somewhat the same girl she'd been when she and Juice had first gotten together, wasn't she?

Juice, on the other hand, grinned broadly to himself as he got ready in the guest bathroom. On his part, he had nothing left to hide, nothing left to burden him and his marriage with Denise. He was going out to dinner with his beautiful wife. He had a family, a home, and no more secrets. He glanced himself over in the mirror, straightening the ironed collar of his shirt. Once he was sure that he looked good enough, he walked over to the door of the bedroom and rapped his knuckles on the doorjamb. "Babe?" he asked. "You ready to go?"

"Just a sec!"

Juice blinked upon hearing a couple of dull thuds, followed by a short string of mumbled curses, and he chuckled slightly thinking that she'd probably tripped in whatever torture-trap shoes she had tried to put on. Then door opened, and Denise appeared, slightly out of breath. When she straightened up, however, Juice had to grin again at the sight of her with her long dark hair in loose curls over her shoulders. She was wearing a dress - a short little black dress and black heels. He ran a hand over his lips, passing it over his mouth so that his broad grin shifted into a wry smirk.

"All dressed up," he quipped.

"Only for you," Denise retorted, and the pair shared a brief, mischievous glance that felt so much like old times that it was nearly disorienting. Denise broke eye contact first and walked past Juice to the coat closet in the living room for her jacket. "So, what'd you have in mind, Mister Ortiz?"

"You just gotta trust me," he shrugged casually, walking to the kitchen counter and plucking the car keys up, twirling the keyring deftly around his finger.

Denise was relegated to the passenger seat and watched out the window as Juice made his way to who-knew-where. They seemed to luck out, avoiding traffic as they headed west. Denise looked over at Juice in surprise as they passed a sign heralding their arrival in San Jose.

"We're in San Jose?" Denise asked, her brow furrowing. "Where are we -"

"You're gonna ruin the surprise," Juice chuckled, waving one hand dismissively. Once they finally exited and pulled into the side streets, Denise cocked her head to one side and rolled down her window for a better look when she saw Juice drawing near an area with a gathering of large, colorful trucks. Food trucks.

"You had me get all dressed up for food trucks?" Denise laughed, giving Juice's arm a playful swat before he took a wide turn into a parking space. "I thought you said a nice dinner!"

"Hey, I heard this stuff is pretty nice," he shrugged with a boyish grin, getting out of his side of the car and hurrying over to open the door for her. "Come on, before the lines get too long."

"Remind me to stop letting you pick out our date spots," Denise laughed. In fairness, however, once they got to the area and had their arms laden with the little cardboard tray of food from the various trucks, Juice relished in the fact that Denise seemed to be genuinely having fun, genuinely happy. It didn't matter that they were both chilly and overdressed - for once, for the first time in a long time, things simply felt the way they were supposed to. It didn't feel like they were in the middle of a mess, trying to hold things together. They were just two people, together, not giving a shit. As Denise was taking the last bite of an admittedly overpriced pulled pork taco, Juice got up from the folding plastic chair he'd pulled up and gently grabbed a hold of her hand.

"C'mon," he said, nodding toward the open area in front of the spot where a local band was playing. "How about a dance? I ate about five of those little taco things and you know me - that shit goes straight to my thighs," he joked. Denise laughed, rolling her eyes as she let Juice pull her to her feet. They were making their way towards where a few other people had already started dancing when a voice off to the side caught Juice's attention.

"You're a little far from home, mano."

Juice stiffened at the sight of Marcus Alvarez, standing near them with his arms crossed and his head coked to one side. Juice protectively shifted so that Denise was standing slightly behind him. "Alvarez," he said with an upward nod. "Listen, man, I ain't here on club business, just tryin' to have a night out with the wife -"

"Same here," Alvarez said, nodding back over his shoulder to where a woman was waiting in line at a shaved ice truck. "Just makin' sure we don't got a problem here. Your ol' lady's lookin' strong these days. Last I heard, she was still recoverin'."

"Yeah," Juice nodded with a stiff smile. "She's good. Aight - we cool here?"

"Mm," Alvarez nodded before turning away, back to his wife. Juice, in turn, turned back to Denise with a sigh of relief.

"So that's Alvarez," Denise said quietly, crossing her arms over herself and nodding, watching the man for only a few seconds as he walked away. "Surprisingly polite guy."

"Think so?" Juice asked with a smirk. There was something relieving about the reminder that for them, too, life didn't simply begin and end with club business. "I guess he oughta be, Mayans are just about the only friends we've got nowadays. Now... about that dance?"

Juice pulled Denise over to the open area and tugged her close, resting his other hand on her waist and swiftly pecking a kiss onto her lips before he started he started swaying to the moderate beat of the band's cover of 'Black Magic Woman'.

Just the ability to be close to Denise again was something Juice was thankful for, and the grin on his face as they moved only minimally to the music didn't evade Denise's notice.

"What's so funny?" she asked with a quiet laugh. "Do I still got somethin' on my face?"

"Nah," he smirked. "I'm just thinkin'. 'Bout how lucky I am to have another chance. We're gonna get it right this time."

Juice couldn't quite put his finger on what it was about the expression that crossed Denise's face, but it was a strange, secretive Mona Lisa smile that caused Juice to now be to one to cock his head questioningly.

"From here on out," Denise said in a quiet voice, resting her head against Juice's chest, "I want it to be... you and me, like it's supposed to be," she nodded. "No more putting everything else first, no more secrets, okay?"

Juice paused - as far as he knew, she was making a request of him. He didn't realize that it was a promise she was making to him, just as much as anything else. All he knew was that right now, she was holding onto him more tightly than she had in a long time, calmer than she'd been for a long time. He pulled her close and pressed a kiss into her soft, gently curled hair.

"Promise," he muttered, closing his eyes briefly. They went through almost the entire song, resting comfortably close to one another, when Juice finally spoke up again. "Do you wanna head home?" he asked, his whisper thick and slightly husky in her ear. Denise felt a warmth, a slight prickling sensation on the back of her neck as she looked up at Juice with slightly hooded eyes.

"Yeah," she said quietly. "I think that's a good idea."

Juice again tightly gripped Denise's hand and they made their way back to the car, where Denise gave a small, relieved groan at being able to sit down again and get off of her feet. For nearly the entire drive, Juice's hand stayed clasped onto Denise's, intermittently raising her hand up and brushing a kiss over her knuckles. Denise, on the other hand, dozed off for a large portion of the drive, waking up just in time to see the car roll past the large wooden sign that welcomed them back to Charming. As they drew closer and closer to home, Denise felt the warmth and the sense of prickling over her skin grow stronger, and Juice's hold on her hand grew tighter. By the time they pulled into the front driveway of their house, they were both hesitant with a sort of apprehension.

Denise followed Juice out of the car, up the front steps, and into the front door, gently shutting the door behind her. When she turned around to face Juice in the dark living room illumined only by the moonlight and the glow of the streetlamps from outside, he looked at her with a determined expression, gulping slowly. This was the first time they were going to be alone together in a long time, since long before the entire debacle with Wendy. Juice took a few slow, deliberate steps towards Denise before gently reaching out, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Listen, baby," Juice said, his brow furrowing. "If you're not ready for... for this, I get it -"

But before he could continue, Denise closed the space betwen them and placed her hands gently on either side of Juice's face. "I'm ready," she said quietly, pressing a warm but surprisingly chaste kiss to his lips. "I want to be with you. I want you."

Satisfied with the answer, there was a brief flash of a smile on his face before he wrapped his arms around his wife's waist and lifted her easily off of the ground, now enveloping her lips hungrily with his and carrying her over to the couch. He laid her down gently, his hands shaking slightly as they roamed over the clingy material of Denise's dress, hesitating when he reached the bottom hem of the dress and brushed the bottom of his hand on the skin of her thigh.

"It's okay," Denise whispered throatily, her warm breath brushing over Juice's ear and sending a shiver through him. She reached up and undid the first few buttons of his shirts, gently peppering kisses down his neck and collarbone. Juice groaned quietly, and the tips of his fingers dug gently into the soft skin on Denise's legs, his hips grinding against hers reflexively. He felt the short bursts of breath as she laughed, her lips still pressed close to his chest, and he slid his hand slowly, deliberately up her legs until they brushed over her hipbones, feeling a familiar sensation underneath his fingertips.

Lace.

Shit, she was wearing lace.

She was wearing lace for him.

His gaze met hers as she finished undoing the buttons of his shirt and he and found that little smile, that devilish little smirk that he had missed so much. That smirk, that eagerness meant that she had finally really come back to him. She slid her hands inside of his shirt and pushed it off over his shoulders, raking her nails gently over his skin and eliciting another guttural groan. Energized by the sensation of her hands on him again, Juice found his hands fumbling with zipper on the back of her dress and he claimed her mouth again with his and wrapped his arms around her waist, shifting so that he was sitting on the sofa with her on top of him, straddling his hips with her hair disheveled and her dress falling off over her shoulders. Juice gently kissed the side of her neck, the curve of her neck into her shoulder, and she tilted her head back with a slight gasp. Juice reached up and slipped her dress the rest of the way down over her shoulders.

He leaned forward and rained kisses over her neck again. "I'm never lettin' you go again, baby," he muttered breathily into her ear. Denise pulled back slowly, meeting her husband's gaze with dark, desirous eyes while her hair fell around them in a soft, dark curtain.

"I'm not going anywhere..."

Having downed a fair few drinks after his meeting with August Marks, Harvey tore through the streets to the home he shared with his fiancee - he knew that Melissa knew more than she did about Charming, about SAMCRO. She was still close to Denise, and Denise was as close to SAMCRO as he would be able to get. That was what he needed - an avenue for revenge.

It wasn't so much that Harvey was close to his brother, but Fabian's death was just one of many slights against him. SAMCRO had been the reason that Denise was out of his reach, which stung now more than ever, knowing the dollar value attached to her. Then, they had gotten Melissa in on that little fair in Charming. Fabian's murder was simply too personal, too much of a humiliation. Wasn't it bad enough that he was a failure, that he was mediocre, second-rate, engaged to a woman he wasn't even attracted to that upstaged him at every given opportunity.

He stormed in the door, and Melissa flinched, leaping up from her seat on the futon in their living room.

"Harvey?" the petite blonde woman asked hesitantly. "What's the matter? What's -"

"SAMCRO," Harvey hissed, storming over and seizing his fiancee by her forearm and shoving her hard back onto the seat. "SAMCRO is the reason I'm in this cramped fucking hole in the wall with you, SAMCRO is the reason my brother is dead -"

"I don't -"

"You shut up!"

The back of Harvey's hand collided with Melissa's face, and she cried out while he let out a string of curses, pacing around in front of her. "You," he sneered, shaking his head and pointing at Melissa without even looking at her. "And you - you helped them," he said in disgust, clearly coming unhinged, though Melissa was hard-pressed to figure out why. She held her hand to the side of her face where he had struck her and stared up at him questioningly.

"You know more about them, don't you?" Harvey said, his eyes unfocused and his tone completely paranoid. "What else do you have on them?"

"Nothing -"

"You useless little piece of shit," Harvey said, grabbing a hold of her hair and shoving her to the ground. "My brother was working for August Marks. He could've been filthy rich - we could have that if you just tell me what you know -"

"I don't know anything else, Denise doesn't tell me those things -"

"Liar!" Harvey said. He gave her another harsh shove, but this time, her head hit the edge of the coffee table, and she fell unconscious back onto the ground, the cut on her head bleeding. Harvey stood over her, breathing heavily but looking surprisingly unremorseful. "Look what you've done, Melissa," he said hoarsely, shaking his head and staring at her unconscious form. "You were lucky I settled for you, Mel. And you couldn't even do what I needed from you. Look what you've done..."

A/N's

So, Juice and Denise are back to a solid place, but Harvey has gone rogue, so to speak. Melissa isn't quite on the chopping block at the moment, but the next time we see her, she's not going to be in the best situation. So, be ready for that, and for much more. On a lighter note, I also was pretty excited for the opportunity to incorporate food trucks, even if only for the fact that I've had some really excellent food from them and thought it was worth sharing and mentioning.

The next chapters will be a roller coaster, and I'm struggling a little to get them the way I want them, but I'm hoping to get them done relatively quickly for you all. Until next time, cheers!