Full A/N at the end. Thank you to KS, Robin D., and Sevenwise for reviews. Sevenwise, I did make a few changes here during editing as a response to your feedback. Thank you again.
It doesn't take Chibs long to find Tara's drawer in Jax's old room. Although the experience would have been more comfortable if the dark-haired woman hadn't just stood there behind him watching everything he did in that unnerving way. The entire situation is odd. Is she a prisoner or a guest or protectee? He doesn't really know the answer and everything with the lads is so splintered Chibs feels like his best option is to just take the whole thing moment by moment and see what happens.
The woman, for her part, seems completely at peace with her unexplained status. He'd expected more anxiety or at least the activity of the night before when he'd approached her from across the clubhouse floor but instead she'd just followed him confidently as he'd led her down the hall to Jax's door. He'd fumbled with his keys until he found the master one and pushed on the door, holding it open with a motion for her to go first. Then she'd stood quietly while he'd dug through the drawers finally coming up with a t-shirt and jeans that looked like they might fit. They were women's clothes at least. Now she is just standing there holding the clothes he'd held out looking at him expectantly.
"Will those work for yeh lass?" He nods towards the clothes as he speaks. She looks down at the worn jeans and nods. "Do yeh need something else?"
Her eyebrows go up and she tilts her head to the side as though she's trying to understand. Finally, she lifts her good hand and waves at him in a dismissive way and it hits him. She wants him to leave so she can put them on. It's such a contrast from her lack of embarrassment the night before that he's shocked for a moment. He spends a second trying to decide if leaving her alone is a good idea and figures she can't really get into much. Maybe he's underestimating her but still.
"Yea." He nods as he moves away. He closes the door behind him quickly and leans against the wood letting out a deep breath. He barely has time to let any lingering embarrassment or second thoughts sink in before the door is opening again and she's standing there in the clothes. The jeans are a little big and they seem to be barely hanging on to her thin hips but the tank top is a good fit and she waves a hand down her body as though to say what do you think?
"Looks good darlin'." He nods as he speaks. "I can take another look at the fingers and ribs after yeh eat." She nods and this time she leads the way, still barefoot out into the main clubhouse.
The rest of the boys have cleared out while they were in the back and Chibs leads her over to the table from earlier motioning towards a pile of fresh muffins from Bobby. She doesn't need any encouragement and he lets out a huffed laugh when she shoves the first one into her mouth whole, already palming a second. Girl is an eater.
Chibs figures no one is going to complain if he's a bit late to work because of club business, technically he's supposed to guarding or hosting, or something, so he settles himself down at the table across from her. Glancing around he wonders what they're going to do with her while they work. Can't really leave an unknown woman to her own devices in their criminal clubhouse all day. He reaches out absently to pick up one of the fresh muffins and pulls his hand back shocked at the sudden smack to his fingers.
"What the fuck!" He snaps his head to look at her and she's got a smug look on her face. She pushes a note he hadn't noticed across the table and Chibs recognizes Bobby's messy writing.
This batch is for you girl. Don't let anyone steal them. -Bobby
"Oh, aye. Yeh've got a muffin supply then." Chibs shakes his head and slams the note back on the table. Clearly Bobby is fine being friendly with her.
She taps at his hand and when Chibs looks up she's miming writing and nodding towards the paper. He doesn't bother saying anything, just gets up and digs around behind the bar until he comes up with a pen and returns to the table holding it out to her. She takes it and clicks the top a few times before writing slowly under Bobby's messy scrawl, her bandaged fingers shaking a bit. She pushes it across the table to him and he looks up with a raised eyebrow before ducking his head to read.
What's your name?
Her writing is clear but wobbly and he bets when she's not hurting she's got wonderful penmanship.
For a moment, he considers answering out loud but if she's setting the communication precedent he may as well follow her lead so he holds his hand out for the pen and she nods eagerly as she hands it over.
Chibs.
He pushes the note back and watches her read it. She holds her hand out for the pen and he passes it over watching as she writes. There's a long pause where she stares down at her own words before she slips both pen and paper back to him.
Are you going to kill me?
He lets out a breath and looks up to see her watching him closely those dark eyes bright and trying to take in as much of him as they can. He shakes his head and then picks up the pen.
No.
He underscores the word a few times before passing the paper back to her and watches as she reads it and then looks back up to his face. He maintains eye contact as she studies him and he's never felt so exposed in his life. Chibs feels like an agreement has been reached and she seems to feel the same way because she finally nods and shoves another muffin in her mouth. He doesn't know that he's ever had someone take his word about their life or death at face value like this before. He looks away trying to find something else in the room to keep his mind busy.
He's pulled back to her when she waves her hand to get his attention. She waits until he's looking at her and then mimes a smoking a cigarette with her eyebrows up in that way he's starting to learn means she's asking a question. The laugh that escapes him is involuntary.
"Oh, it's like that is it? Yeh know you're not getting offed so it's time for a fag?" She makes a face at the word fag and he wonders if lip reading gets harder with slang. She mimes the cigarette again and he nods. "Yea, come on lass. I've got yeh covered."
The air outside has an October chill and Chibs ends up draping his hoodie around her shoulders as they settle at one of the old picnic tables outside the clubhouse. He lights both the smokes at once to spare her bad fingers on the lighter and hands one over watching interested as she takes it and inhales deeply before leaning back to exhale. The long stretch of her neck is pale in the morning light and when she ducks her head back to study him with those dark eyes the word sexy springs to his mind unbidden. He's drifting into dangerous territory.
He pushes the thought away and lets his own fag hang from the corner of his mouth as he scrawls a question on the small legal pad he'd snagged on their way out the door.
What's your name?
He pushes the pad to her.
River.
He stares down at the answer for a long moment and then shakes his head.
"Is that your name or your nickname?" He says this last part out loud and she shakes her head, using the pen to underline the name with a few messy marks. "Sure, sure. But is that your real name? The Christian one?" She rolls her eyes and pulls the pad back towards her. She writes more this time and he waits patiently.
That's need to know information.
He snorts at the answer and looks up to see a small smile on her face, head tilted to the side. She drags on her cigarette with confidence and then looks back rolling her eyes again. He decides to take a different tack.
"What does this mean?" He mimics her movement from the night before with the palm out, tucked thumb, movement near his head and she smiles.
Bobby.
She tilts the pad so he can see the answer.
"Doesn't look complicated enough for a full name darlin'." He smiles at her look of indignation and watches as she writes an answer.
Friends get special signs for their names.
She tilts the pad towards him and he smiles.
"Oh, and Bobby is your friend?" He asks and he can tell that even without sound she can feel his sarcastic tone. She shrugs.
He seems nicer than the rest. Muffins.
He's never heard Bobby Elvis described as having nice but who is he to judge.
"What's my sign then?" He's teasing her now and he can tell she knows because she takes a deep drag on her cigarette before she moves. He watches as she bends her injured right hand into a C shape and draws it down her right cheek from her ear to the corner of her mouth. He grimaces and he knows it's a dig at him for the one he took at her but it still stings a bit. "Not very nice." His voice is heavy and he knows she can't hear it but she ducks her head to scribble on the pad.
I could have mimed getting stabbed. That's a Chib right? Knife.
He reads the note and wonders where she picked up this piece of slang. "Yeh're very confident for someone who was just worried about getting killed." She's writing again.
You said you wouldn't kill me. You wouldn't look as dangerous without them.
He reads the words and looks up in time for her to motion to his scars with her cigarette.
There's a sincerity in her eyes he doesn't get to see too often with the company he keeps. He wants to use the moment to ask her more questions but before he can reply he sees Tig waving to him wildly from the garage. Focusing on his brother in the distance Chibs realizes the other man is pointing towards the front of the lot. Turning his head Chibs takes in the police lights flashing just outside the fence. He doesn't know the lass' entire story but he knows she can't get caught here. She hasn't moved at the sound of sirens so when he grabs her hand and yanks her off the bench her eyes go wide in surprise.
He ignores her tugging and pulls her with him ducking down the side of the clubhouse away from the open lot towards the back of the building for cover. He tucks her up against the back of the building blocking her from view with this body. She's watching him intently and he scans for a hiding place. The ladder to the roof is probably the best bet. He uses his fingers to tilt her chin so she has to look at him as he talks slowly and quietly.
"The sheriff is out front." Her eyes widen in fear and he wonders what reason she has to fear the police. "I need yeh to get to the roof and stay low. They won't see yeh. Understand?" She nods. "Do yeh understand, really?" She nods again quickly and her hands are pushing at him moving him off her as she turns for the ladder to their left.
He watches her start to climb and he can hear the hitch in her breath as she pulls herself up. He knows those ribs are probably killing her. Ducking his head around the corner he can see Sheriff Roosevelt talking to Clay near the line of bikes and he ducks back around the corner just in time to not be seen. She's cleared the last rung and hoping she can stay low he steps back into front the building coming around the corner of the ring just in time to follow Roosevelt and half the fucking fire department into the building.
A/N: Name signs in the deaf community have a lot of unofficial rules. Generally you cannot give a name sign to yourself as it is similar to a nickname. Also, a name sign is usually meant to be specific to something unique about your personality. In this instance River has provided name signs to two characters much faster. This is me taking some liberty with the conventions for the purposes of the story.
Also note, Chibs' name sign of the C sliding down the face is similar to the sign for cell phone or beginning of the word picture. In the word cell phone the hand forms a C and the fingertips touch the cheek, I imagined Chibs' sign being more the C facing the viewer and only the top index finger touching the face as it moves from ear to mouth.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you have the time please reviews. I'm editing when I can in between epic hours at the office and reviews definitely help!