"You smoke, lass?"

"No... and it's probably a little late to start."

Denise refused a cigarette from Fiona with a weak laugh as the women performed a final check of themselves, armed and prepared to get into a couple of the cars left on the Teller-Morrow lot. As the two remaining women among those who had stayed to fight, it had been decided that Fiona would follow the riders to the northernmost entrance to Charming and Denise would follow Jax, Juice, and their contingent to the eastern entrance to the town. The intention was for the cars to store a backup stockpile of firepower, but Denise felt a nagging sense that even two cars full would not be enough.

"We made a choice, lass," Fiona said, shifting so that she was standing in front of Denise, helping her adjust the holster she was trying to fasten around her thigh - Fiona realized that Denise's hands were trembling, and she reached out, squeezing them gently. "Our men need us," she began with a gentle tilt of her head. "And our little girls need us not to fail. You and I both, we're going to war for the people we love. If God is for us, who can be against us?"

"A shit ton of Niners, that's who," Denise said with a weak smile, but the softening of her expression and the slowing of her trembling signaled that at the very least, Fiona's reassurance had managed some level of comfort. Denise slowly withdrew her hands from Fiona's and glanced back over her shoulder at the old tan Impala she had decided to take - Fiona would be in Gemma's Escalade, which Denise had refused to come near.

"I think it's about time," Fiona said, following the younger woman's gaze to the vehicles that could very well be those which took them on their final ride. Then, in an unusually motherly way, Fiona leaned over and kissed Denise on the forehead. "Go dté tú slán," she spoke in smooth Gaelic, squeezing Denise's shoulders. "Go safely."

"Y-you too," Denise stammered, unable to explain why this sending off from a woman she barely knew was bringing tears to her eyes. She inhaled deeply and wiped at her face before reaching into her pockets and fishing out the keys to the Impala. Denise waited for Fiona to pull out in the Escalade through the back gate of the Teller Morrow Automotive lot before doing the same herself and hitting the main road in time to see the sea of bikes parting in two separate directions.

There was a moment of hesitation, watching everyone pull away, where Denise wondered what she was doing - how she had ended up here. A couple of years ago, she was just a girl in college, trying to get by as normally as possible, and now she was faced with the possibility of this being the end - of dying in Charming of all places. The possibility was real, and was something that could no longer be changed. She finally laid into the gas pedal and pulled up to follow the bikes as they roared toward the edge of Charming. As the hit the curve of the rocky hills marking Charming's border, they were met with the sight in the distance of the dark Cadillacs pulling up, no doubt carrying the throng of Niners and their allies. Denise stopped behind the coalition of Mayans, Niners, and Sons. She grasped the Glock she'd placed at the ready on the passenger seat and steeled her resolve - she caught sight of Juice, a ways ahead of her, briefly looking back towards her and raising his hand to sign, "I love you."

Shakily, Denise reciprocated with her free hand, knowing that this might be the last time they might be able to say this to one another. It was a sorry substitute, and she wished they could have reasonably hoped for better.

It felt like there was a window of time where Denise's mind closed out where she was and what was happening – it was as though in one moment, she was sitting in the car preparing for the onslaught and then, in the blink of an eye, she was in the midst of it all. The old Impala rammed into two of the Niners who had rushed forward on foot. She then threw the car into reverse while Jax zoomed past her on his bike, firing shots forward at their assailants as he went. As the area grew congested and more like a warzone, moving in the Impala was becoming nearly impossible. Denise inhaled rapidly and threw open the car door, dropping to the ground in a near-crawl. The remnants of an old abandoned gas station were the only available cover, and in the din, Denise made a break for it.

The skeletal remains of the old convenience store attached to the old JiffyQuick gas station were riddled in dust, wood planks, and graffiti, but they provided Denise with a moment's pause, as the fighting had not spread to it yet. She peered around the side of the shelf she was hiding behind and saw the way the Sons and the others were rallying, how strong they were – how there was a chance, however small, that they might come out of this alive.

The brief, bright moment of encouragement was tainted however by a prickle at the back of her neck and a sense that someone was nearby. However, when she turned in the direction dictated by her intuition, there was the sound of a gunshot, the Niner who had been approaching her fell dead to the ground with a gunshot to the head, but no one else to be found. Denise froze, her eyes darting around – she backed further into the corner where she was hiding with her jaw clenched. Someone was here, and they had saved her.

She was again yanked from a place mentally where she could worry about it when the door again burst open, now accompanied by loud bangs and crashes – she crouched into the corner and peered around to see Juice tackling a Niner through the door to the ground, then scrambling to his feet and firing off two fatal shots. Denise then got to her feet – Juice first reflexively raised his gun, but froze when he realized who he was seeing. He was covered in splatters of blood, though by the look of him, none of it belonged to him save for the trickle coming from a gash across his cheekbone.

Juice and Denise both knew that they could spare no moment even for one another to seek comfort in the midst of what was happening around them, but the brief moment of eye contact was enough to give them a renewed sense of determination and clarity. They ran out of the doors, back outside together into the fight.

Though it was far too soon to tell, the tables seemed to be slowly turning – SAMCRO and its allies seemed to have the Niners on the defensive, and were slowly driving them away. And, Denise realized as she scanned the scene, that Jax was at the forefront – not manipulating people like pawns, or sending others forward in his stead. He was the Jax Teller that once was – the Jax Teller who was a husband and a father and a man of principle. He stood and delivered as a leader that Denise finally felt like she could in good conscience follow. He stood, surrounded by felled Niners, and for a moment Denise could see how badly he wanted victory, not for his own sake, but for the sake of everyone else.

As quickly as the vision appeared, however, it was ripped away when one of the men tackled Jax from behind and knocked him to the ground. He scrambled to his feet as everyone rushed forward to his aid, only to be met by another surge of Niners. Distracted and fighting off their own assailants, it forced the nearby allies to leave Jax on his own. The volleys of shots continued, and from a sidelong glance, Denise was able to see Jax fighting one of the men hand-to-hand – their guns had been knocked aside.

One by one, the other Niners fell and they turned to come to Jax's aid – he managed to deal a glancing blow to the man in front of him, sending him falling to the ground, but the victory had come at a price. Nearly spent, Jax could not help but drop to a knee.

The next few moments, however, were outside of the realm of expectation – so much so that they appeared to happen in slow motion. From a short distance away, one of the Niners who appeared earlier to have fallen rose to his feet and raised his weapon to fire at the now weakened leader of SAMCRO. Jax looked up at the opportune moment, his eyebrows rising gently, then falling as though in resignation to his fate. He had done what he could. He had tried. The others could finish what he started…

Then, as the risen Niner's arm jolted at the sound of the firing gun burst out over the din, another figure burst onto the scene, throwing themselves in front of Jax just as the shot was fired.

The events of the moment rushed back into real time as they realized that it was Gemma who had taken the bullet for Jax – she locked eyes with him for a moment and fell to the ground, blood blossoming from the entry wound in her back.

A/N

First of all, sorry for the long delay in updates! For those who aren't linked to any of my other stories, I'll just explain myself by saying that I've been gobbled up by grad school and work, but haven't forgotten about you! I know this is a short chapter, but I have more written and will hopefully be posting relatively soon with the next chapter. i want to thank my guest reviewer from earlier today for being the final nudge I needed to get this chapter done.

There are only two chapters left in this story (unless I make a decision to divide things up differently) but I also have ideas for a sequel to round this out into a trilogy. I don't want to commit to anything right now because I have so much taking up my time, but just know that it is very much a possibility that there will be more to come out of this story after this installment is over.

The next chapter will see how the battle rounds itself out. There will be more blood shed before it is over, but we're gonna get through this together! Until next time, cheers!