My hand paused midair before I could touch the eyeshadow brush to my eye lid when I heard a knock at the door. My hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail so that I could more easily apply my make up. While I was in the shower my cosmetic bag had magically appeared on the dresser beside where Gemma had hung up my dress and a light weight robe had been hung just outside of the bathroom door.

Since I was covered in the robe while I tried to use makeup to make myself look more alive and human, I had no qualms of calling out "Come in" without trying to find out who was on the other side of the door.

I had returned my previous task, so I didn't get a chance to see JC's face as he exclaimed, "Wow! Mia, you look beautiful."

I opened my eyes and found his reflection in the mirror. When our eyes met, I just smiled brightly before I continued putting on my face.

"Thanks, JC. I don't usually were this much makeup, but Gemma said that tonight was a bit of a special occasion, so I thought I would step it up and put in a bit more effort."

He walked up behind me and noticed my favorite necklace sitting on the dresser beside all of the cosmetics. He picked up the sterling silver chain with a plain sterling silver cross pendant on it and put it around my neck saying, "Although I for one truly appreciate the effort, you look absolutely stunning even when you're covered in grease from head to toe."

"JC," I countered in a chiding tone. "You're already guaranteed to get laid tonight if we can manage to sneak away without anyone noticing, so you really don't need to flatter me with lies."

"It's the God's honest truth, Mia. That night I helped you wash out your hair… You can't honestly tell me that you didn't see me watching you work on that car."

"What? No! I didn't. Wait! Are you saying that you were stalking me and I rewarded you being a huge creeper by going home with you that night?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."

"Huh… Well, then…" I stood up and turned around to face him with my hands on my hips. After playfully glaring at him, I threw my hands up and gave up that fight. "Come here and kiss me before I put on my lipstick and we ruin all of my hard work."

He tried to laugh at what he thought was just me being playful, but I really wasn't kidding about that. Since he didn't make any moves to comply with my request, I wrapped my right hand around the back of his neck and pulled his face down to mine. I swallowed his gasp of surprise and chuckled into his mouth. I amazed me that my forwardness still surprised him so much sometimes.

I kissed him until I could tell that I had taken his breath away. After a couple more soft pecks against his warm, soft lips, I released him from my grasp. His hands remained resting on either side of my waist, so I twisted out of his hold and walked over to the dresser again.

After I picked up my crimson red colored lipstick, I turned towards the mirror to put it on. I once again found JC's reflection staring back at me. I almost laughed at the confused look on his face, but I managed to hold that all in.

I then help us the lipstick to show it to him and said to his reflection, "See? I don't really think that this is your color. And I sort of figured you were here to retrieve me to head to Gemma's dinner, so let me just quickly finish up and I'll be ready to go."

"No, actually Gemma said that as her Guest of Honor, you're allowed to take as much time as you want or need to get ready. I just wanted to check in with you and see if I can help you with anything."

I finished a couple of quick touch ups on my makeup after putting on my lipstick, then I moved to pull my dress off the hanger answering, "Thanks for the offer, but I'm almost done. Plus, I'm pretty sure anything you and I would really like to do together would severely hinder me leaving this room any time soon."

I let my light weight robe slip off my shoulders and fall to the floor and heard JC let out a strangled groan. Since I had my back turned to him, I had to picture the look on his face that I was certain went along with such an unhappy sound I also made no attempts to turn around and look at him because I knew that my will power wasn't strong enough to face him when I was only wearing my bra and panties (even if they were my plain cotton ones that I wore to work and not to look sexy).

As I slipped the dress over my head, JC finally said, "Oh… right… I brought you this to wear."

Without turning around or trying to look at him, I countered, "If it's a tiara, you can tell Gemma I told you to shove it somewhere REALLY uncomfortable."

"It's not a tiara, but now that you mention it…"

"JC…" I practically growled out as a warning over the rest of his teasing comment.

I was still smoothing out my dress and trying to make sure that everything was in its proper place with my back still turned to JC, so I still hadn't seen his face. That also meant that I didn't notice him moving deeper into the room. I even jumped slightly when I felt him wrap his arms around me.

"It's not a tiara, mi abejita, but I thought you might be more comfortable in the clubhouse wearing this," he explained softly into my ear.

My arms wrapped themselves around his forearms so that we were both hugging the sapphire blue shawl he had placed around my torso. He rested his chin on my shoulder so that we could see each other perfectly and easily in the mirror.

"Thank you, mi osito. You're right, I think I will be. Plus, it should help to keep Dad from feeling like he has to hurt anyone."

JC turned his face so that he could gently kiss my cheek. "You look absolutely beautiful. Are you ready to head out?"

"Almost," I answered as I moved over to my backpack after I slipped on a pain of black strappy heels.

JC practically shadowed my every step until I was across the room. When he saw me pull out one of my prescription bottles, he asked, "I thought you said that your T3s made you feel gross and groggy?"

I took out one little pink pill from the bottle and replaced the cap without acknowledging his questions. I waited until I had pulled out my bottle of Advil before I explained, "That's still true, which is why I've switched to Advil for pain relief." JC opened his mouth to ask another question, but I didn't let him utter a sound. "I have to take my antibiotics twice a day. Since they're supposed to be taken with food, I've been taking them at breakfast and dinner Is that alright with you, Padre?"

He had the good grace to look embarrassed about his false assumption about what I was doing. His cheeks even got some pink coloring to them as he replied, "I'm sorry, Mia. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that. Hey... Who-what are you doing? I thought you said you didn't want to do anything that would ruin your makeup or delay you from getting out to dinner."

"I don't," I answered as I pulled my hand out of his front right pocked. "But I can't take those until I have food in my stomach and as much as I love this dress, it does have one minor design flaw... no pockets. You don't mind carrying those for me until I've had something to eat, do you, mi osito?"

"Not at all, mi abejita." He leaned down to kiss my cheek then offered me his bent left arm asking, "Ready to join the party?"

My shawl pooled into the crook of my elbows as I hooked my right arm around his left. "Lead the way, Handsome."

There as music playing in the clubhouse, loud enough for anyone who wanted to dance to do so, but not so loud that you couldn't carry on a conversation. Not that that really mattered because everyone appeared to become completely frozen in their spot and all conversation ceased mid-sentence (or so it seemed) when JC and I appeared in the doorway.

JC started to gently stroke my arm when he felt me tense up at his side when I noticed everyone's reaction to us. I appreciated his attempts to comfort me, but it really didn't do anything to ease my mounting anxiety. I knew that Gemma had wanted me to be the Guest of Honor tonight and that really didn't sound all that bad... in theory. Now that I was standing here dressed in my sexiest dress, I was starting to feel like a freak put out for everyone to gawk at for their amusement.

We all just stood there staring at each other for so long that the song that had been playing when we first entered the room had ended. Okay, that was a bit of a lie. JC and I were watching everyone and scanning the crowd while they all stared at me. Talk about feeling like you've been put in the spotlight.

As a new song started to play, Dad finally came out of his trance-like state. He briefly shook his head and then he walked up to where I was starting to squirm in my spot next to JC.

Dad pulled my shawl back up to my shoulders and straightened it out so that it covered the entire top half of my dress. I think I managed not to roll my eyes when I noticed that he had made sure that every inch of my cleavage was completely concealed. Now I was starting to wonder if JC had brought the shawl to me to be thoughtful because he was concerned I might get cold during dinner or if he had actually been sent to the room with very clear instructions (read orders from my dad) that I was supposed to be wearing it when I came out to the dining room.

I was well on my way to getting annoyed and angry at that thought when Dad's expression shifted to one of pure adoration and love. He gently ran his finger over my injured eyebrow and then down my cheek saying, "Mia, you look beautiful."

There was a slight hitch in his voice that instantly choked me up. I sniffled in a breath then whispered, "Thanks, Daddy."

Hearing my unshed tears creep into my tone made my dad's eyes tear up. Since he had a tough guy person that he had to uphold, he couldn't let his Brothers see him cry. Well, at least not at something like this. Birth, death, wedding or graduation, those were some of the acceptable events do become a blubbering mess, but not some random dinner at the clubhouse.

Dad quickly turned his eyes to JC's face and clapped him on the right shoulder with an open hand.

"Why don't you escort Mia to the table? I'm sure she's probably hungry by now."

Normally I would get incensed at Dad and JC for talking about me like I wasn't standing there or that I couldn't hear them, but I didn't this time because I knew why Dad was doing it. He was trying to give us a moment to compose ourselves and annoying me like that definitely worked at chasing my tears away.

"Sure thing, Hap," JC answered as dad took a couple of steps past us to give him more time with his back facing the rest of the room. "Are you ready, Mia?"

I shifted my shoulders back and forth softly until my shawl pooled in my elbows once again. If Dad thought he could out stubborn me, he was sorely mistaken. When I heard him growl out an annoyed noise, I couldn't help but smile as I thought, Two can play at this game, Papi.

I then turned my bright, smiling face to my boyfriend and finally answered, "Absolutely. You lead the way."

As we made our way through the room to the table, we got stopped periodically. First, it was Jax who quietly asked, "Feeling better?"

I smiled more broadly and answered, "Much. You were right, sleep made a world of difference."

"Good. I'm glad that it helped."

Next to stop us was Bobby. He kissed one of my cheeks then said, "You look beautiful. I hope that means you're feeling better."

"Thank you, I really am."

He then patted JC on the back and commented to him just over a whisper, "You lucky dog."

We barely took a step forward before Tig was in front of me and lifting me off my feet in an exuberant hug. I hate to admit it, but I know I let out a lame little girl scream when my feet left the ground. That, of course, made him laugh loudly.

Once I was back on my feet, Tig captured my face under his hands so that he could place a hard kiss on my forehead. "Mia, you are a goddess. If you ever decide to trade up from a little boy to a real man, you give me a call, Baby Girl."

I kissed the tip of his nose and giggled when I noticed the bright red lipstick that I had left behind on his skin. I then leaned in and quietly replied, "You keep lavishing me with compliments like that and I might just consider adopting a poly lifestyle."

He seemed to be surprised by my comment for a second and then he patted Juice on the behind commenting in a pensive voice, "Mmm… yeah, we might be able to work something out with that."

JC jumped away from Tig's caressing touch nearly shouting, "She said SHE would be poly. She didn't say anything about me, you pervert."

'Hey… I'm just saying that if you two have to be a package deal, then I would be more than happy to accommodate."

Just as JC was about to mount another argument, I was silenced by my dad gripping my left arm so tightly I was sure to have bruises and steering me away from Tig's groping hand. Luckily, Tig had only been groping JC's ass, so Dad didn't feel the need to break any of his fingers or maim him in any other way.

I was forced to quicken my steps to keep up with my dad's large strides so that I could try to keep the bruising on my arm to a minimum and to keep from tripping. Dad only had eyes on our destination, so he nearly ran Chibs over when the Scot stepped into our path.

Dad stopped abruptly and practically snarled at his Brother. Chibs held his hands up and took a step back apologetically saying, "Oi. I didn't mean to startle you. But Brother… May I?"

Chibs jutted his chin in my direction with the back of his fingers still touching his shoulders. Dad moved between looking at me and then Chibs looking like he was trying to make up his mind. I could tell that he was giving whatever Chibs was wanting some very serious thought. I was really hoping that Chibs would win this 'argument' because that would mean that he had successfully gotten my dad to pay attention to something other than my ill-timed teasing and playful flirting.

Dad released his bruising grip on my arm with a resolute nod and replied, "Sure. But don't take too long. She really does need to eat so that she can take her meds."

Chibs nodded his understanding and then he took a couple of steps forward to approach me. I stood there just staring at him as I waited to find out what it was that he wanted to say to me.

Chibs placed a gentle hind on each of my shoulders so that it was easier for him to make very direct eye contact with me. Once our gazes were locked, Chibs gave me a disarming smile and then he leaned in to place a soft embrace on each of my cheeks.

"Mia, you are an absolute vision of beauty. Please allow me to escort you to your seat."

I nodded then moved to wrap my arm around his bent right arm, but something impeded that motion. What I had neglected to notice was that while Chibs was talking to me, either my dad or Chibs had once again moved the silk fabric of my shawl back up to my shoulders to cover up the majority of my torso once again. Chibs helped to liberate my left arm and wrapped it around his right to take me the last couple of steps to the table.

Gemma was waiting there for us with a warm smile on her face and she pulled my chair out for me. After he had guided me into my seat, Chibs kissed my injured eyebrow and quietly said something I didn't understand in a very reverent tone. After he moved away, Gemma claimed his spot and teasingly commented, "Now I see why you were so surprised about the dress. You are absolutely stunning, but I think you're right it's probably a little too much for this crowd."

I gave her a half-smile as I confessed, "Uncle Terry said something like that the last time I wore it. Except he was a lot less polite. Maybe… maybe you can take me shopping for something more appropriate for the next family dinner?"

Gemma seemed to be shocked by that request. But thankfully it only seemed to last a minute or two. She gave me a smile I had only ever seen on my dad's face back after we had buried my mother and I finished up our business with the funeral director. It was one of quiet pride and mild admiration. Like I had done something unexpected, but that they were proud that I had done it without needing any guidance or prompting from them.

"Of course, we can definitely do that, Sweetheart."

She kissed my head then the hurried over to her seat at one end of the table. Dad and JC quickly found a seat on either side of me while everyone else settled in their seats. Jax sat at the head of the table with Tara on his left-hand side. Everyone else seemed to just sit down at the seat closest to where they had been standing. Bobby sat down to Tara's right side, next was Rat, Phil and then Nero so that he was sitting at Gemma's right hand side. Tig sat to Juice's right, while Chibs settled in to Dads left. I'm not sure where Unser was right then and no one mentioned him, so I didn't ask. Clay and the three nomads were also absent, but I didn't consider them family, so I didn't spare any thoughts about them. Chucky was lingering around the table with a bottle of wine in his hands, but he looked like he was going to be playing the role of a server instead of dinner guest tonight.

Once everyone was seated, Chucky hurriedly moved around the table to fill wine glasses in front of myself, Gemma and Tara. All of the men appeared to have had an open bottle of beet at each of their place settings, so once the three wine glasses were filled, Chucky left the wine bottle by Gemma's spot and then he disappeared into the kitchen.

Jax did a quick survey of everyone around the table before he picked up his empty water glass and gently tapped his knife against it to get everyone to focus their attention on him. Once the soft murmur of voices and random conversations had been silenced, he exchanged his water glass for his bottle of beer and raised it saying, "I'd like to raise a toast to our hostess. Thank you, Mom, for putting all of this together for us tonight so quickly. I agree, it's been too long since we've had a family dinner and I am so glad that we could all gather here tonight. To Mom."

Everyone raised their glasses or bottles and echoed, "To Mom." I too raised my glass, but I didn't echo his words. Instead, I quietly said, "To Gemma." Most everyone who was a member of SAMCRO or worked at TM called Gemma 'Mom' and they seemed perfectly comfortable with it, but I just couldn't bring myself to follow suit. After I had started to settle in with everyone at TM, they all told me on multiple occasions to call Gemma 'Mom', even though I hadn't been dumb enough to call her 'Ma'am' at all. But 'Mom' was a name I hadn't uttered to anyone in nearly a decade because of some very painful memories, so I couldn't bring myself to use it for her now. Since it appeared to be an accepted norm within the club, I had taken some time to sit down with her and explain why I couldn't and wouldn't be able to call her that name. Although she understood and accepted my reasoning, it all seemed to sadden her somewhat. It also made her more protective of me and soon enough I was calling her 'Momma Bear'. Sometimes it was in jest, but more often than not it was in earnest.

"Mom? Did you have something you wanted to say?" Jax asked before he took another drink from his bottle and sat down.

Gemma stood up at her place with a hearty laugh issuing from her lips. "Jackson, you know I always have something to say. The question I always have is if anyone is actually listening to me." She paused there while we all laughed politely at her self-deprecating humor. "But tonight, isn't about me. Well, it isn't just all about me. After everything we've all been though lately: good, bad and ugly, I thought we were past due on welcoming the most recent addition to our family. Mia, you have become one of our most valuable employees, but more importantly, you've found a perfect place within our family. Even if you weren't Happy's little girl, you have fit in so comfortably and I don't think you'll find anyone around this table who would try to argue that fact in any way." She had to pause again while the man raised their bottles while nearly shouting, "Here! Here!" She nodded her approval of their exclamation and then she continued, "You have proven your strength and loyalty in what some might call a gruesome way, but you managed it with a poise that not many can pull off. I'm beyond proud to call you a member of our… my family. I look forward to watching you grow because I know you are going to have a bright future." She raised her wine glass with a final, 'To Mia', to which everyone mirrored her gesture with their drinks and echoed, 'To Mia'.

I expected that to be the end of the toasts and speeches, but the look on Gemma's face told me that I was wrong. Dad must have noticed it too because he leaned over and said just over a whisper, "You don't have to stand up and say anything."

I placed my righthand over his that was gripping my arm softly and replied, "I know I don't have to, but… well… I kind of want to."

"Only if you really do, Nena."

"I really do, Papi." He then relaxed and sat back in his seat, but he seemed to be very reluctant of letting go of my arm. JC reached for my right hand under the table, but he kept his support to that simple, silent gesture. I was by no means ambidextrous, but I managed to pick up my wine glass with my left hand and raised it up as I said, "And I would like to thank all of you for welcoming into you family with open arms. I'm sorry that Dad and I felt that we had to hide our true relationship from all of you." I gestured towards my injury then added, "We were hoping to avoid something like this, but I guess the universe had a very different idea." Everyone laughed at that, which gave me a moment to collect myself so that I could speak without letting the tears that wanted to form to be heard. "Thank you, Momma Bear, for putting all of this together tonight. I look forward to celebrating more good times with everyone for many years to come. Here's to the first of many great dinners together."

After everyone raised their drinks and they took a sip from it. Jax then kept his bottle in the air and loudly declared, "Let's eat!"