Once Dad got back from his business trip, I finally broke down and told him the truth about not being able to go back to my house. The thought of walking past the spot where I had stabbed someone to death caused me to have the worst stomach pains imaginable, I was afraid what would happen if I actually saw the spot again. Not to mention the anxiety I felt when I thought about returning to the place where I had almost been murdered and my face nearly mutilated. For some reason I didn't feel that way about the garage at all, so I could work without any issues. Prior to admitting that to my dad, JC had been the only person I had told about those feelings. His theory was that the attack at my home was more traumatic because it was so meticulously planned and it happened at my home. If ever there was a place where you are supposed to feel safe and comfortable, it's at home. I don't know if he was right or not, but his theory was better than anything I could come up with, so I just went with it.

That meant that JC helped me move everything back to my dad's place and I had pretty much settled in back there by the time Dad was done with his negotiations. I made a huge breakfast for him and JC that we all ate together before they headed into the new clubhouse. I was still avoiding the garage until I got my stitches removed. But I was doing some work on flyers and coupons with the new business logo on them now that Jax and Gemma had put in for the name change, so I was keeping busy. Plus, I only had a couple more days until I should be able to have them removed and then I would be back to business as usual and working at the garage full time.

"So? Juice being in my house when I woke up?" Dad asked as I started clearing our plates. "Does that mean that you two got your heads our of your asses finally?"

JC sputtered out a laugh and choked on his coffee. I patted him on the back a couple of times as I made my way back to the table. I paused to kiss my dad's head as I refreshed his mug of coffee and then replied, "Very colorful visual, Dad. But yes, JC accepted my apology and took me back."

"He accepted YOUR apology?"

As I added more coffee to JC's mug, I placed a soft kiss on his lips to keep him from answering my dad. Once I was seated beside my boyfriend again, I answered, "I told you the break up was my idea, therefore I was the one who had to make it right with him."

Dad raised an eyebrow and gave JC a questioning look to which he replied, "Despite her obvious insanity, I've let her take me back."

"Good to hear." Dad smiled as he watched me stand up and walk behind JC. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed one of his head tattoos. Dad suppressed a grin behind his mug until his eyes landed on the clock on the microwave. "And as much as I'm relieved to see this reunion, we need to get going, Brother."

JC tried to twist around to check the clock, so I released his neck and said, "He's right. You should get going."

Dad had started to pull on his cut and paused to ask, "You aren't coming with us?"

"No, Daddy. I have some calls to make and it'll be easier if I do them from here." I walked over to kiss his cheek and added, "You don't have to worry, Daddy. For the first time in weeks I'm not feeling anxious about being left alone. I'll be fine."

Dad ran the back of his fingers over my left cheek bone, just above my stitches, and quietly stated, "I actually believe you this time."

That almost brought me to tears because I felt the same way. For the longest time I had been telling everyone that I was okay or that I'd be alright, even though I was barely able to keep a straight face most of the time. But my acting skills seems to be worthy of an Oscar because most days I was able to fool everyone, even Gemma, into thinking that I wasn't about to crumble at any second. Of course, I hadn't fooled my dad at all and now that I allowed myself to really look at JC for the first time in weeks, I could tell that just like Dad, I hadn't been able to convince him of the lie either.

"Juice… I'll meet you outside." JC remained frozen in his spot as he just nodded. Dad then stepped up to my side and kissed my head. "Don't keep him too long. I love you, Baby Girl."

I hugged him tight saying, "I love you too, Daddy." After I released him, I kissed his cheek and whispered, "I promise, I'll make it a quick good bye."

Dad just nodded then turned and made his way to the front door. JC hadn't made any attempts to move, so I picked up his cut from off the back of his chair and eased it up his arms. He allowed me to continue to dress him until I was standing in front of him and had half of his buttons done up.

After he caught my hands in one of his, JC lifted my chin up with his other hand so that he could kiss me. "Sounds like Happy is okay with this… us."

I smiled softly and pulled him into another hug. "He likes us together. He especially likes how you take care of me and are willing to drop everything to watch over me at the hospital. And how you still love me even though…"

"If you say something about your stitches making you to hideous to be loves, I will go out there and tell Happy you need to be committed."

I playfully glared at him and replied, "No, Mr. Know It All, I was going to say even though I was stupid enough break up with you."

"Oh… well… that was just you proving you were smarter than me. But before we get into that back and forth again, I should get going. You're still planning on coming to the new clubhouse later today, right?"

"Absolutely. Tell Chucky I'll be by once I get the answers he asked about."

"Answers?"

I almost laughed at then genuine concern in his voice. "Just some suppliers for the food and beer. Really, it's nothing too exciting."

"He knows we're not actually running an ice cream shop, right?"

I paused before opening the front door to quickly kiss JC. "He like the idea of having candy for when the guys bring their kids by. It's sweet, so don't be mean."

He leaned down to steal another kiss. "Me be mean? Never. See you later."

"Later. Ride safe." I waved at Dad and watched from the doorway as they drove away.

Since I wasn't working at the garage, I spent most of my time at the ice cream parlor helping Chucky get everything organized. The guys had spearheaded decorating the new clubhouse upstairs, but Chucky wanted to get them proper, more comfortable chairs, as well as establishing proper distributors for beer, coffee and candy. Not exactly the usual combination you would hear, but it was Chucky and you would be disappointed if you were expecting normal from him.

I can't say that I was surprised to see the San Joaquin County Sheriff's vehicles when pulled up in front of Scoops later that day. Gideon was sitting in his car with a Deputy I didn't know while Eli was by the shop talking with Jax. The guys appeared to be leaving Jax and Eli to talk, so I figured it wasn't anything too exciting, so I bundled up my notebooks and made my way across the street.

"Holy shit," I whispered to myself when I noticed that one of the windows at the front of the shop had been smashed out. Well, Eli being here makes more sense now.

"Fellas." Eli concluded his conversation with Jax and made his way back to his truck. He nodded at me as we passed each other and said 'Mia' to my 'LT'.

Dad was slipping his cut onto his shoulders, so I detoured to his side. He hugged me then kissed my head. I kept my left arm wrapped around his waist while his right arm remained draped over my shoulder.

"Did anyone get hurt?"

Jax shook his head answering, "Thankfully we're just dealing with property damage."

"Good to hear."

Jax straightened up then and turned to give everyone their marching orders. He turned to Tig saying, "You and Juice, find the girl"

Chibs nodded quietly agreeing, "Yeah."

He then turned to Bobby. "And let's go see Dirty Charlie. Hap, come with us."

Dad gave me one last squeeze quietly asking, "Baby Girl? Did you want to come with us?"

I tried not to look as disgusted as I felt because I hated the thought of going to Diosa. I gently shook my head answering, "I have a few things to go over with Chucky. Plus, I can call a Glazier to get to work here while you guys take care of everything else."

"Glazier?" Bobby asked sounding like I had spontaneously started speaking gibberish.

"Yes, a Glazier," I replied with a large smile. When the three of them just stared at me blankly I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "You guys are not that dense. Glazier… he who repairs glass. Geez."

"Thank you for dumbing it down for us, Beautiful," Bobby replied before blowing a kiss in my direction.

I continued to shake my head as I called out, "Have a safe ride."

When I got to the open door of the shop, Chibs kissed my cheek then said, "Thank you for helping Chucky, Mia-Luv."

"I'm always happy to help."

"Lucky for us," Tig commented before he kissed my left cheek. He then gently traced my stitches with a feather-light touch. He always got a proud look on his face whenever he touched the left side of my face. He was the only person whose expression never changed when he was looking at me. He never got angry nod did his eyes fill with sadness and pity. To Tig scars were a badge of honor and he told me only the lucky few get to wear them on prominent display. I was still struggling to understand that statement enough to believe it. Maybe when that day came it would mean that I had finally processed everything that had happened to me.

Once could only hope that day would come soon.

Tig smiled at the look I was wearing then kissed my forehead. "Than you for all you're doing, Mia-Baby. We'd be lost without you."

"I don't know about that. I'm sure you guys would manage, but… I'm glad I'm here too."

He then moved to join Chibs by the front door. They started to move through it, but they both paused when they noticed JC standing in front of me. He smoothed my hair down with his right hand until he was holding the left side of my head. I opened my mouth to speak, but he kissed me before I could say a word.

It was just a quick pec, but it still managed to make me sound breathless when I said, "JC?"

"Everyone else was kissing you, so I figured it was a new club ritual. You know, paying respect to one of the biggest badasses that we all know."

I huffed out a laugh that remained evident in my voice when I said, "But those were only on the cheek or forehead. No one stole a real kiss."

He smiled wide enough for his cheeks to dimple, "My mistake."

He then let his hand fall to my neck so that he could press a kiss to my left eyebrow. A surprised gasp passed over my lips when I felt his tongue quickly trace over the length of the scar through my eyebrow. I felt my heart beat start to race as I took in a couple of quick shallow breaths. I don't know why, but that kiss felt more intimate and sensual than any kiss he had pressed to my lips.

After his quick kiss to my brow, JC rested his forehead against mine and said, "Call if you need me… us to come back."

"I will."

He squeezed my hand one more time and then turned to join his brothers. Chibs' eyebrows were so far up on his forehead in surprise that they almost got lost in his hair. I could feel my cheeks get hot, but he thankfully didn't say anything, so I remained silent as well. At the door JC turned and gave me a disarming smile, I waved at the three of them and whispered, "Good luck."

When they finally left, I turned to find Chucky standing uncomfortably close to me. As he raised a hand towards my face, I stared him down and said, "If you try to kiss me, your hands won't be the only thing you'll need to replace." He instantly dropped his hands to his sides and looked completely devastated, so I took a step forward with my arms out saying, "We're the type of friends that hug."

He wrapped his arms around my torso and relaxed in my arms replying, "I accept that."

XXXXXX

"Wow. Beer too? I never could have done all this."

I looked up then said to Chucky, "Sure you could. Thank you for giving me a project. I think I would have been going stir crazy by now if you didn't."

"I'm sorry you…"

"Don't… please don't apologize. There's only one person who's at fault and he's… he's dead. Now, why don't you finish cleaning up the glass while I tackle my next project?"

"Next project?"

I pulled out a box from the bag sitting between us and showed him one of the boxes of colored chalk I had bought. "That chalk board is just begging for a drawing. What do you think? A sundae or a banana split?"

He looked around like he was giving my question some deep thought before he answered with the kazoo in his mouth, "You choose."

XXXXXXX

While I waited for the blackboard to dry, I sketched out a couple of ideas for it. Chucky started working on boarding up the broken window and I got to work drawing.

I sat on the end of the counter while I put chalk to board with my back facing the door. I wasn't worried about anyone sneaking up on me because I had Chucky inside the store with me.

In the end I decided to do a sundae and a banana split since my canvass was so large. After I got them done, I was going to add a banner that said "SAMCRO". Chucky still had the stupid kazoo in his mouth and he would make an appreciative noise every once in a while. I wanted nothing more than to rip that stupid thing out of his mouth and snap it in half, but I forced myself to just block out the noise instead. I was guessing that the shit between Gemma and Tara had him feeling nervous and that was his way of dealing with it. I tried to just focus on the music playing over the speakers and just ignore him as much as possible.

"Come on baby… don't fear the reaper…" I sang quietly as I sat up on my knees to put some finishing touches on my drawings.

The sundae turned into a stylized skull shaped ice cream scoop with a cherry on top. I added some red syrup that could either be strawberry syrup or blood depending on how you wanted to look at it. To finish it off, I tucked the Grim Reaper's scythe into the side of its glass dish instead of a spoon.

The banana split looked like a more traditional ice cream treat than the sundae. One large ball of ice cream was flanked by two smaller ones in between two slices of banana. The more I looked at the middle ball, the more it reminded me of the sphere the Reaper was holding in the Sons of Anarchy logo. Naturally, I decided that adding the Anarchist's A to the middle of it would help to finish the picture off perfectly.

I very carefully ran my finger over the center of the sphere with a wet cloth over it. As I had hoped it would, the use of negative space for the symbol made it look more like a tattoo than a regular drawing. It also fit in perfectly to make this look more like a clubhouse and not just an average ice cream parlor.

"Half of two is one… Here but now… What the fuck!?" I shrieked when I felt two hands encircle my waist and pull me off the counter top.

It happened so fast that I barely had a chance to react. Lucky for them my hands were off the chalk board, so they hadn't wrecked my drawing. That might grant them some leniency.

Then again, it probably wouldn't.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" I growled out as he maneuvered me in his arms. Once I was settled and practically being held like a baby I gasped out, "Daddy?"

He carried me over to the counter and sat me down on it answering, "Sorry, Baby Girl, but it looked like you were going to fall."

"We both know that's a load of bullshit," I countered with a playful glare.

He didn't take his eyes off me as he called out, "Chucky, I need a minute alone with my daughter.'

Chucky nodded quickly then saluted towards Dad. He gave a brief bow in my direction before he nearly ran upstairs.

Dad brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen out of my bun, but he remained silent otherwise. "Daddy? What's going on?"

"Maria… Mia… Baby Girl…" He started as his hands pet my head and stroked my cheeks nervously. "I need you to make me a promise."

I slowly pulled his hands off my cheeks to hold them in front of us as I answered, "Of course, Daddy, anything."

"Maria, what have I told you about agreeing to something without knowing the terms?"

I pulled him closer to me so I could massage away the frown lines in his forehead with my thumbs saying, "I know I'm safe with you, Papi."

"That you are, Nena."

He gently removed my hands from his face and placed them in my lap. I stayed sitting on the counter with my legs hanging over the edge while I watched him start to pace. Shit. Whatever he needed to talk to me about must have him truly freaked out if he was allowing his nervousness to show this much when we weren't at home.

"Daddy…?"

He paused mid-step to turn and stare me down. "Maria, you HAVE to promise me that if… if you EVER want out, you talk to me first."

"What? I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

"I mean… Baby Girl, if you decide this life isn't for you… if you want out of the MC or being Juice's Old Lady… I want you to promise me, here and now, that you'll come to me to help you leave. And I'll promise you that I'll do everything in my power to help you be free of us, no strings attached."

"Daddy?" I jumped off the counter so that I could hug him. "Where is all this coming from?"

"Baby Girl, I… I…" He took in a stuttered breath then. If he was anyone else, I would be tempted to call it a sob. "Please, promise me."

I pulled him into a tight hug again as I answered, "I promise you, Daddy. I promise I will always be honest with you, especially if I ever want to leave Charming."