Today was the day. Diosa Norte was opening and looking at most of the men at Teller-Morrow Automotive, you would have thought that they had found the 'golden ticket'. But instead of visiting Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory, they had Nero Padilla and his endless supply of pussy. Don't worry I just threw up a little in my mouth too.

Don't get me wrong, I like Nero. He was a very kind person and I know he was good to his staff. And the girls were earning an honest wage, but it was all just… not my cup of tea. I hated listening to the guys brag about their conquests because they made the women sound more like objects than actual human beings.

But at the end of the day, I knew that deep down I hated it so much because it reminded me so much of my mother. After Liz passed away, I found her journals and had a very eye-opening experience. She had fallen head over heels in love with Theo, but he hadn't been looking to shack up with anyone or tie himself to an old lady. She knew the MC would shame (read 'force') him into settling down if they had a child together, so her new life's mission was to get pregnant. I honestly did throw up after reading some of her entries about all of the men she slept with prior to my conception; mostly because of how she described the encounters. She was so clinical about it and listed off the attributes each man had that she could use to 'prove' her baby was Theo's child. There was no love, just calculated planning to force the man she was infatuated with into a relationship he didn't necessarily want.

She had always been distant and aloof when I was growing up but reading how she really felt about me broke my teenage heart. Any party or celebration for me had been done out of obligation or expectation. The MC was very family oriented and children were cherished, so she had to put on a show for them. Once I read her true thoughts and feelings it amazed me because she truly had been a brilliant actress when she needed to be.

The most surprising fact that I had learned was about how Happy had become a part of my life. Theo had separated from Liz when I was two, so she had reached out to Happy. She had kept meticulous records of her sperm donors (her words, not mine) so that she could go after my biological father for child support if things didn't work out as planned with Theo. Happy had a paternity test done and when it showed that she was telling the truth, he stepped up to the plate and became as involved in my life as Liz would allow him to be. Turns out she had named me 'Maria' so that she could easily remind herself that Happy was my father.

So, I was that child she had conceived just to tie a man who didn't really love her to herself. Publicly she was a loving, attentive mother, but behind closed doors it was completely different. Thankfully we lived in my Uncle Terry's basement suite or I would have been left alone to fend for myself when I started elementary school because she had finally ensnared Theo into her web. Turns out he wasn't a 'kid' person, so they spent as much time away from our house as possible. That's how I ended up spending my free time with my uncle at his garage. He felt bad that his sister was neglecting his duties and took on a bigger role out of obligation.

I hate to admit it, but I really wasn't all that broken up after she died. I barely knew the woman and definitely hadn't bonded wither. Then I read her journals and any feelings I had for her disappeared. They say the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference and I almost believe that. I really hated her and resented what she had done for a few years. I rebelled and almost didn't finish high school, but Happy quickly put an end to that. He sat me down one day and explained that Liz was gone, so hating her and acting up didn't hurt her at all. All it was doing was ruining the relationships I had now. After that lecture, I buckled down and went to Lake Washington Institute of Technology as a scholarship student.

"MIA!"

I jumped in my spot when I heard Wade yell my name. I quickly turned around with the wrench I had pulled out of my toolbox held in a white knuckled grip as I asked, "Yes, Wade?"

He gave me a disbelieving look over the opened hood of the car we had been working on then answered, "Are you planning on bringing me that wrench any time today?"

"Oh… right…" I almost tripped over my feet as I rushed over to his side. "Sorry."

He took the tool from me with tight smile on his face. As he resumed his work, I heard him say, "Look, if Loverboy has you this distracted, why don't you go to Diosa and check up on him? Now that you've figured out the problem, I can fix it, so we won't lose any ground and I can cover for you."

"But JC isn't at Diosa," I countered almost sounding confused.

That comment made Wade pause and turn around to look at me to ask, "Well… then wat the fuck is wrong with you, Dude?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly.

"Is…?" He moved closer to me so that he could lower his voice to ask, "Is your head feeling okay? I know concussions can be tricky."

No, my head is fine. It's my heart. I thought to myself. But I couldn't tell him that.

I opened my mouth to answer when movement from the other bay caught my eye. JC was throwing his vest on as he hurried towards his bike. He seemed to be watching Clay walk to the clubhouse and looked like he didn't want the older man to see what he was doing.

Wade turned his head so that his gaze could follow mine. When his eyes found JC getting on his bike, he laughed then said, "Alright, so he isn't at Diosa. But Loverboy still has you distracted. Go, talk shit out with him. I'll tell Gemma I sent you home because you aren't feeling well."

"No, I…"

"Mia," he started in a very stern tone. "Go before you do something worse than slitting your wrist. We need you here, but you're no good to us like this. Please, just go while I finish these repairs."

I looked down at the bandage on my right wrist and laughed to myself. Yes, I had cut my wrist, but it had been a complete accident. I had been reaching into my toolbox while I was watching Jax and JC talk. I was too far away to overhear what they were saying, but I stupidly thought that if I watched them, I would suddenly be able to read their lips and figure it out. I was rudely awakened from that daydream when my arm ran over a razor-sharp chisel that effortlessly sliced through my flesh.

"Here. Go," Wade persisted as he passed me my keys.

I took them from him and stripped off my coveralls. As I ran to my truck, I called out a heartfelt, "Thanks man, I owe you one" over my shoulder.

By the time I made it to the street, JC was nowhere to be found. Since he had been covertly watching Clay as he left, I figured he was en route to the former president's house. It was a bit of a long shot, but if I didn't see him there, I could always head to his house next.

I reached Clay's house just in time to see the garage door close. I debated about parking further away from Clay's house, but my desire to catch up with JC negated my will to be stealthy. I did make sure that I wasn't parked directly across from Clay's place before I sprinted to his house and let myself in the back door.

I opened my mouth to call out to JC, but I wasn't able to utter a sound before I heard, "Mia? What are you doing here?"

I turned and found JC in the kitchen looking like he was putting something away in a cupboard. I took a step towards him replying in a calm tone, "I was going to ask you the exact same thing."

"Clay was supposed to have a delivery come today, so I told him I would help out with that. I figured I'd do some more unpacking while I waited."

Wow. How did Dr. Seuss word it? "He thought up a lie and he thought it up quick."

I laughed at my joke then said, "Bullshit."

"Excuse me?"

I gave him an unimpressed look at the disbelief I heard in his tone. "I said bullshit. You made sure Clay didn't see you leave TM. Why are you really here? Please, JC. Please don't lie to me, please?"

He stared at me as a flurry of emotions danced through his eyes. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he finally said, "Sorry Mia. I can't tell you."

"Why not?" He just shook his head and turned to walk away from me. I quickly caught his left arm and pleaded, "Why can't you tell me?"

He stared down at where my fingers were digging so deeply into his flesh that he was guaranteed to have bruises as he quietly answered, "Because he might hurt you. Or kill you…"

"Who? Clay?" I shook his arm tearfully saying, "Dad will kill him if he tries to lay a finger on me. Don't worry about him. Please, just tell me the truth."

JC's eyes moved up to my face as he coughed out a laugh. The fucker actually laughed at my distress. "Him being dead won't bring you back if he kills you first."

"Kills me? Why…?" I stopped there when a thought hit me. "I already know Frankie Diamonds hired the asshole who attacked me. Did Clay have something to do with that too?"

A look flashed on JC's face, but he quickly turned away and shook his head. "Like I told you before, it's club business. It's nothing for you to get involved in."

"Fuck that!" I shouted as tears poured down my cheeks. That got his attention and he turned back to look at me. "I got involved the second that asshole bashed my head into a car. His blood is on MY hands because Frankie hired him. If Clay had something to do with that, I have a right to know. I've earned the right to get my own vengeance."

"No, you don't," he countered as he forcefully pushed me towards the front door. "It's club business so WE'LL take care of it."

"Juice!" I cried out as I turned to face him and stand my ground. "Don't do that! Please tell me why Jax wants you here. Please tell what Clay has to do with all of this."

That caused him to freeze in his spot. "How did you…?" He quickly stopped himself there and shook his head. "Doesn't matter. You need to leave, Maria… NOW."

"Juice…"

He then picked me up and carried me to the door. He quickly threw it open and placed me on the front door step. I stared at the now closed door too stunned to properly react for a solid minute. Once my brain had caught up with everything, I raised my hand to pound on the door, but I stopped myself before my knuckles could connect. Instead, I just kicked the door once and then turned to walk over to my truck.

Now I had to figure out a punishment for him the at fit for this crime. It had to be severe and it had to be creative. But hen again, maybe he wouldn't care if I did anything to him. Maybe we were finally getting to the point where none of this really mattered anymore and we should just call it quits.

What was it that Jax had said? He knew things were messed up right now, but he was working to fix it? He wanted me to trust him and stick it out because he was working to make it better?

Well fuck that! I thought as I pressed down on the accelerator to get back to TM as quickly as possible. No guy gets to shit on me like that and expect to stay with me. I can't… I just… Fuck… Jax better be back by now.

But of course, he wasn't. When I noticed that one of the old junkers was missing after I did a thorough search of the garage and clubhouse, I then ran back towards my truck. I wasn't keen on driving out to Diosa Norte, but I was willing to suck up my pride to try to find Jax. I needed to hear again in his own words why it would be worth it to stick this bullshit out. Because from where I was standing now, I was having a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Mia?" I heard Gemma call out just as I reached for my truck's door handle. "Sweetheart? I thought you went home sick."

I turned around and took a couple of steps towards her. I could feel my throat tightening up, so I just shook my head in reply. She immediately noticed my distress and pulled me into a hug. That's when the dam broke and tears came spilling down my cheeks again.

"Sweetheart… What happened?"

"I… I don't even know, Gemma. Juice is being a colossal douchebag and barely spoken to me since they got back from Tahoe. I just… I don't know what I did. I don't know why he's hiding shit from me."

"Oh… Mia… I know it isn't anything you've done. There's some shit going down with the club and it has all of them on edge."

I pushed out of her embrace so that I could see her face when I asked, "Do you know what the big secret is? Do you know why JC is at Clay's house right now?"

"No, Baby, I don't… At least not anything I can tell you right now. But I swear it will all be worked out soon."

"But that isn't soon enough," I cried out as I let out a loud sob. "If… If he pushes me away any further, we'll never… never be us again."

"Sweetheart, please don't say that." She pulled me in again and crushed me in a tight embrace. "Please, just have a little faith."

"I can't, Gemma. I can't let myself do that again. I need to know why this is happening and when it will all be over. If I can't be guaranteed to get my JC back, then I'd rather just call it quits now and save myself the heartache."

"I get that, Baby. I do."

She then just held me and rocked me in her arms. There was something about just being held in her arms that I actually did find comforting. She would hum a song I didn't know and then shush me and somehow that managed to calm my tears. Dad had been the only person in my life who could calm me just by holding me. Well, he had been until I met Gemma Teller-Morrow and Juan Carlos Ortiz.

"What the…?"

I lifted my head and swiped my arm over my eyes to dry some of my lingering tears. "What's wrong?"

"Hopefully nothing," she answered as she jutted her chin in the direction o one of the entrances.

It didn't take long for my eyes to find the beaten-up station wagon that was slowly making its way into the parking lot. And 'beaten-up' was a kind description. It seriously looked like it had been driven through a war zone before being brought back here. And the way that it was wobbling, I wasn't sure how much further it was going to make it.

Not that it looked like its driver intended to go much further. I'm still not sure if the station wagon was parked or if it just died in its place at the end of the row of motorcycles. Practically all of its windows were smashed out. No, wait… Were those bullet holes in the sides of the car? And I'm not talking about those lame decals people stick on their vehicles to look cool. And the front bumper looked like it was about to fall off if you breathed on it too hard.

"Jesus Christ," I breathed out as Gemma corralled me towards the clubhouse. "Were there any survivors?"

"There better be." Gemma replied to my joke with a scary amount of severity in her tone.

Before I had a chance to question her, Jax and Chibs got out of the driver and passenger's seats. Gemma released me from her half hug embrace to rush to her son's side. I watched for a second before I turned to continue towards the clubhouse's door. But then I heard another car door slam shut and then another followed that sound. And then I heard Gemma call out a frantic, "HAPPY!"

That got me to turn around just in time to see Tig catch Dad beside the car. The whole right side of my dad's head and upper torso were covered in blood, but I know I wasn't able to see it at first. My brain was in too much shock to process that the dark glistening goop on the side of his head was his own blood.

I don't know how long I stood there staring at him before Chibs cupped my right cheek and kissed my left eyebrow. He waited until I turned my eyes to his face before he said, "Mia-Luv, he's going to be okay."

"But… there's… it's… so much blood."

"Tis a head wound, Luv. You know they bleed worse than anything. Mia? Luv?" He once again waited for me to reestablish eye contact with him. "Mia-Luv? Are you going to be alright? Because I need to go in and get me supplies together to fix your Dah up."

"Y-yeah…" He raised a brow at my stuttered response, so I grabbed his cheeks and pecked his lips. "Yes. I'll… I'm okay. Please, go and get the supplies ready. I'll be fine."

"Alright, Luv. See you in there."

He kissed my eyebrow again then turned to finish his way to the clubhouse. I turned back towards the trashed car to find my injured Dad again. But instead of seeing him, my field of vision was filled with Gemma helping Jax follow Chibs' path.

Before, he could say anything I said in a dead pan voice, "If you're going to ask me if I can revive that mess, let me remind you what I said about your bikes… I'm good, but I'm not a miracle worker." Jax huffed out a laugh then winced slightly. I lost any humor that had been building as I asked, "Shit! What the fuck happened? It looks like you took on Truckzilla."

"Nope, nothing that fun. Just a group of angry Mexicans."

I felt my eyes go wide as I asked, "A group of angry Mexicans? With guns?"

He shrugged then let Gemma usher him into the clubhouse. When I realized that he wasn't planning on answering me, I nearly shrieked out, "JAX!"

"Ouch. Hey, can you take it down a notch, Beautiful?" Tig asked sounding genuinely distressed.

I refocused my attention on Tig who was acting as a human crutch for Dad.

"DADDY!" Tig winced at that exclamation, so I took in a deep breath and forced myself to lower my voice. "Tig… here… why don't you let me help Dad inside? I'm sure Chibs could use your help."

"Are you…?"

I ignored Tig's polite objections and gripped my dad's face uncomfortably tight. "Dad… What the hell happened to you?"

He tried to brush me off and not answer. But my hold wouldn't relent, so he said, "I'm covered in blood. Doesn't that make you…? Squeamish?"

"You know I've never shied away from blood." He opened his mouth to say something stupid, so I stopped him by adding, "That wasn't my own blood. Plus…" I gave a pointed look at the station wagon. "I'm more than confident you guys haven't called Eli and his band of brothers. So, here…" I pressed my shoulder into his armpit saying, "Let me help you to the medic… You know it's useless to argue with me, so save you breath… and strength."

He must have been in a lot of pain because he stopped arguing and actually let me help him. His head was still bleeding, but not as badly as it had been previously. Thankfully, I wasn't getting any of it on me with the way I was holding him. Yes, I know I told him I wasn't squeamish and that was true. I WASN'T until I was covered in the blood of the man I had gutted. But one seemed to know that new fun fact about me, so I was more than content to use this experience to keep up the ruse.

By the time we got inside, Chibs had a station set up. He was putting on his gloves to stitch Dad's head, so Tig jumped up from a stool at the bar to help me get Dad to the chair. Once he was seated, the color started to return to Dad's face and I started to breathe a bit easier.

Gemma reentered the room with two pill bottles in her hands prompting call to call out, "We need to call Nero and have a little chat about the Byz Lats."

"Why? What happened with them?" Clay asked as he made himself comfortable.

"They told him they needed guns…" Jax motioned to Dad then then to the direction of where the busted-up station wagon died. "But as you can see, they appear to be packing a lot of heat."

I choked back the whiskey I had in my mouth then asked, "They really shot at you?"

"Mia…" Dad cautioned while Chibs worked at cleaning up his blood enough that he could see the wound better to stitch it.

"NO! Dad, you were LITERALLY shot in the head!"

"MARIA!" She shouted as he opened his eyes. "ENOUGH!"

"No, Dad. THIS is enough! They could have killed you."

"But this didn't."

"THIS TIME! Dad…"

"MARIA! ENOUGH!" Dad shouted, standing up and almost knocking Chibs over. "This is club business and you shouldn't be here to hear it."

I stared at him from where I was standing beside Tig. I felt myself blind slowly while my brain tried to process everything that happened today. First, JC shut me out because of 'club business' and now my dad was? What the fuck was happening?

I tried to come up with the prefect verbal retort, but none came to me. Instead, I picked up the tumbler of whiskey Tig had poured for me and threw it at my dad's head. Thankfully, he had sat down, and my aim was off because I was in such a state of rage, so it soared over his head. By the grace of God, Chibs wasn't standing behind him, so it just hit the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"MARIA! YOU…"

I was on my feet and out the door before Dad finished that thought. Fuck Jax and fuck waiting this shit out. I didn't need to know everything about the club and their businesses in which I wasn't involved, but I also didn't deserve to be treated like a child. Fine… the temper tantrum WAS childish, but you get what you give (or so I told myself).