Chapter 8:
"Forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is about letting go of another person's throat."
―Wm. Paul Young, The Shack

As of today, I was officially deemed Auntie Marceline and Jax said that if I could somehow manage to get Gemma to hand him over, I could babysit Abel whenever I wanted when he was stable enough to home. If Abel stayed on this blessed road to recovery, that would be really soon.

Jax told me about Wendy and how her addiction resulted in their baby being born way too early. I never pegged Jackson Teller as the type of guy to get married, but he and Wendy have been separated for a while now and assured me that the divorce papers were coming. I haven't even met the woman, but I wanted to give her a good kick in the teeth for being so irresponsibly selfish and I wondered if Gemma already beat me to it.

Jax gave me a moment of mercy to let my gut stop burning from laughter when he got a call and stepped out of the room to take it. It took us longer than it should've to get through a book because he was making me laugh with the weird, animated sound he provided. I knew Abel would love seeing the faces his goofy Dad could make and I hoped he'd have a happy upbringing. He deserved that much. I silently watched Abel for a few minutes and thought about how tough he was already.

There had to be a resilient trait in the Teller gene pool because I don't think most premature babies would've survived as long as Abel has. He was going to get bigger and stronger and he'd have skin as tough as his Dad's. I wondered if, when he was old enough to understand it, he'd join the Sons of Anarchy. Jax and Gemma probably wanted him to so the Teller family streak could continue within the club. Opie was in the club and so was his Dad, so I think it was expected of any son of a member to join. I couldn't help but wonder if little Abel grew up and decided he didn't want to be a Son. I couldn't imagine the turmoil that would brew within the family if that happened.

I was glad I put my Burner on vibrate before I came into the room because it was buzzing in my pocket, under Happy's consent form, now and I didn't want to disrupt Abel. I stepped out to answer it.

"Ow, fuck you!" Juice laughed and it sounded like he was running away from something. "Hey, Marci. Where'd you run off to, darlin'?"

"I'm at a hospital with Jax visiting Abel."

"She's at St. Thomas with Jax to see the kid...she sounds fine to me...I seriously doubt she's being held hostage." It sounded like Juice was telling Dad or Kip where I ran off to, but he started laughing again and it sounded like something was thrown at him, but missed.

"Juice, what the hell are you doing?"

"Marci, come back to the clubhouse...I already told her! She's gonna bite your head off!" With a final insane laugh, Juice hung up and I was left wondering what the hell those men were doing at the clubhouse.

I tucked my Burner back into my pocket and looked though the window at Abel. Jax was right, he was going to make it and I refused to believe otherwise. I went down the hall in search of the blond biker, but stopped at the corner to watch the scene playing out. Tara was talking to Jax and she was smiling at him. Jax jabbed his thumb over his shoulder and Tara nodded, turning to walk the opposite way, but Jax grabbed her hand. Gently, he pulled her in for a hug and I saw how her eyes shut with another smile as she returned the gesture.

Jax let go first and came strutting down the hall, smiling at me. I didn't say anything about what I just saw, just smiled, and asked him to take me back to the clubhouse because Juice was either tripping shit off Acid Tabs or about to get mauled by one of the Sons. He seemed to understand the situation better and after laughing, he led me out of St. Thomas.

When we arrived back at the lot, I saw that Tig and Clay were back because their bikes were lined in place with the others. One was missing though, the Electra Tri-Glide that I pegged as Piney's due to the age of the model. Jax and I were headed to the clubhouse and he held the door open for me. The first thing I noticed was Happy still lounging on the sofa and he looked better than when I saw him earlier. Across from him was Bobby and the secretary turned to look at us. He had his reading glasses on, a binder or book in his hand. He got one look at me and did a low, flat whistle, shaking his head.

"Tig!" Someone called from behind us and due to the deep tone, it was either Opie or Clay. When I looked, I was surprised to see Quinn coming in with a brown shoebox in his hands. Someone decided to show their face again. "I finally scraped it off the ground, what am I supposed to-"

Quinn stopped in his tracks when he saw me and stood a bit stiffly. I quirked an eyebrow, but whipped around again when I heard the clamoring of feet coming down the hall. Juice and Tig were fighting each other as they shoved one another into the walls and Juice tripped Tig to get ahead. Juice was smiling at me like he knew something was amiss and Tig looked bit nervous as he straightened up. Quinn quietly shuffled over to the mohawked man and nudged him in the arm.

"What's with the box?" I asked and Juice looked like he was about to explain, but he was yanked backwards and the box was plucked from Quinn's hands. Tig put the box behind him and it hurt me to see him force a smile on his face.

"Your Dad's got some good news for you. He's in his room."

"Quinn, what's in the box?" I turned to the tallest man in the room and crossed my arms over my chest, the sternest look on my face. They were acting like children and I felt like I had to treat them like babies. Quinn just stared at me with a deer-in-the-headlights look while Juice had an unbreakable face-splitting smile.

"Nut up and show her what you've done, Tig." Juice snickered and I glanced over my shoulder at Tig, seeing him mouth what I'm sure were death threats. When he noticed me looking, he stopped and pulled another one of those strained smiles.

Fed up with their games, I went to go around Tig to grab at the box, but he kept turning to prevent me from reaching his back. After our third or fourth go around, Tig tossed the box to Quinn and when he caught it, the lid of the box got knocked off a bit, but he re-positioned it before I could see what was inside. With his height, all Quinn had to do was raise his arms to keep the box out of my reach and I was tempted to climb the man like a Koala on a tree. That's exactly what I attempted to do, but he tossed the box and Jax caught it. Eyebrow arched in curiosity, he peeled the lid open to look inside and let out a groan of disgust, throwing the box to Juice.

"What is with everyone and stuffing dead shit in boxes?!" Jax coughed, probably regretting looking at whatever was inside that damned box. "First, that goddamn deer, now this?! Jesus!" Jax threw his hands up and made his way to the kitchen.

With the opportunity, I detached from Quinn and snatched the box from Juice before Tig did. I tore the lid off and finally got to see what the hell we've been playing Hot Potato with the past 10 minutes...but I really wished I didn't. As soon as I opened the box and realized what was sitting inside, I wanted to throw up and I felt the hot bile churning in my stomach.

Laying on her side with a slack mouth and opened green eyes was none other than my missing pet. Melinoë was stiffer than a ruler, but something was wrong. Other than her being dead, of course. She looked...flat. Deflated was a better word to describe how she looked. She looked like a furry, popped balloon and I noticed that some parts of her fur were missing, looking to be torn off, exposing reddish-pink flesh. I remembered what Quinn said then, that he scraped her off the ground.

Tears already filled my eyes to the brim and I shut the lid with trembling hands. I kept my head down and tried my damnedest not to cry in front of everyone, but Christ, my cat was dead. I've had Melinoë since she was a kitten and she's been my sole companion for a long time. She was all the company I could ask for and she gave me comfort when I needed it. I always thought she'd stick around until I was in my 30s, maybe longer, but I felt like my 4-year-old child just died.

"W-what..." I choked on the word and stopped myself, but I couldn't get the waterworks under control. "What happened?"

"Tig ran your cat over with the tow truck this morning." A sob slipped out when Quinn blurted out her cause of death and I looked at the Sergeant-At-Arms in sad disbelief.

"You killed my cat?" I asked, already knowing the answer, but wishing that it wasn't true. "Why would you...I know you didn't like her...but, Christ, did you have to squash her? I-Is that how you solve your problems, by killing them?"

"It was an honest accident, Marceline." Tig pleaded, but I found it hard to believe that the one man who absolutely loathed my cat accidentally ran her over with a goddamn truck. To add more insult to injury, this didn't just happen recently. He ran her over hours ago and probably had her sticking to the wheel while he went around Charming getting cars. "She was playing with that confetti ball and it rolled outside. She ran right in front of the truck."

"So, you stuffed her in a box and was gonna bury her and never tell me or make up some bullshit story about her running away, weren't you?!" I snapped and Tig winced, but he didn't argue against my assumption, so I was right. That was cold.

I heard Tig attempt to apologize, but it just made me cry and I shrugged away from him when he put his hand on my arm. Under my sobs, I could hear someone coming down the hall and I glanced up. Through my teary vision, I saw Dad and he looked pretty damn happy, but he deeply scowled when he saw me crying. He rushed over to me and took me in his arms, but I couldn't hug him back because of the makeshift coffin in my hand.

"S'matter, why ya' cryin'?" He asked and pulled back. I held the box up to him and he took it, but didn't look like he understood why I was sobbing like a newborn. Cautiously, he lifted the lid, cried out in surprise and shut it, sending a look of disappointment at Tig. "Tigger!"

"It was an accident!" He had the nerve to try to defend himself.

I could feel myself shaking from the inside and I stomped off to Dad's dorm, slamming the door behind me. I dived onto the bed and pulled the closest pillow under my face to bawl in it and muffle my cries. I don't know how long I was curled up on the bed and sobbing, but I knew I didn't stop until I couldn't feel the tears dampening the pillow anymore. Who knows how long that was.

With a sniffle, I propped myself up and put my head in my hands to rub away the leftover tears. The trembling calmed down, but I could still faintly feel the small tremors that were making me take little shaking gasps of breath every few seconds. When I managed to calm myself down, I could hear the faint whispering of someone on the other side of the door, but I couldn't pinpoint who it was. After more hushed arguing, there was a light knock and I shuffled over to the door to open it. Quinn, Juice and Dad were on the other side and Quinn quickly slid his cap off his head, holding it to his chest.

"It really was an accident." Juice broke the silence and unlike earlier, he looked sadly serious, but I said nothing. Juice looked at Dad and his eyes were screaming 'I told you so'. "Maybe you should come out with us and get some air. We're gonna meet up with Half-Sack, take a long drive. I'm sure it'll make you feel better."

"I'd feel better if my cat didn't get murdered." I muttered and all the men looked uncomfortable. Dad said they'd be waiting out in the bar and I shut the door, sighing against it. I'd kill for a cigarette right now.

I decided that I should give Jasmine a head's up on me not being able to hang out with her later, so I called and was relived to hear that she was going to be studying for an upcoming history test for the majority of the rest of the day. She promised we'd hang out soon. With her goodbye, she told me to tell Dreamboat that she asked about him and to tell Juice something that was unbelievably profane.

Coming out the hall, I saw that Juice, Bobby, Quinn and Happy were the only ones still inside and Juice stood when he saw me. Off instinct, I asked Happy if he was feeling better and he told me he was, that Gemma's been tending to his every need and making sure he was alright. I was a bit surprised when he didn't have an ounce of irritation in his voice, but I had a feeling it wasn't there to stay. I nodded and Juice led me outside. I thought we'd be getting on the bikes, but Juice led me out of the lot and to the curb where a 1973 Ford Country Squire was waiting for us. To call the station wagon vintage would be an understatement, the sedan was prehistoric.

"Is that thing even allowed to function in this century?" I asked when Juice got in and opened the door to me, smiling like the dope he was.

"Trust me, we need this."

Still unconvinced, I got in the car and strapped myself in because I'll be damned if I'm dying in this piece of crap. Juice honked twice and the taillights of the black Toyota 4Runner turned on. From the side mirror, I could see Jax in the passenger seat and he kept one arm hanging out of the window as we started driving. I didn't know where the hell we were going, but I was enjoying the warm breeze blowing in from the opened window. I felt like a dog because I had my head sticking out of it, but I was enjoying myself.

After about 2 hours or so of driving, Juice pulled into a goddamn cemetery and parked behind Dad's car. Everyone piled out and I was following behind Jax and Dad as they walked to a ditch that had a kutte draped over the headstone. It wasn't until I saw a chunk of dirt get thrown up into the air did I realize that someone was down there. A shovel was staked next to the heap of dirt and after hearing something crack open, I heard a groan from the ditch. Dad got on the ground on his stomach and went to the edge of the grave, poking head in it.

"Beware the zombie bikers!" Dad's ominous voice boomed and he laughed, but I heard a yelp. Jax was laughing down at whomever was in the hole, but extended his hand to help them out.

"Jesus Christ, you scared the piss outta me." I was snickering with Juice as Kip brushed the dirt of his clothes and when he saw me here, he gave me a little smile and waved; I did the same. Since he was only wearing a tank, I saw the red and black nautical star he had tattooed on his shoulder...and his strong arms.

"So, how we gettin' him out?" Dad asked, titling his head as he inspected what I'm sure was a dead body in the ditch. "I think we're gonna need a crane or somethin'."

"2 get in with the fat bastard and lift while the other 2 stay up here and pull King Lard Ass into the trunk. Simple enough." Jax explained and took a spot next to Dad. Both men looked at Kip and Juice, smiling.

The younger men sighed and Juice started to shrug his kutte off as did Jax and Dad. I offered to hold everyone's leather and Kip brought the station wagon to another edge of the hole. It took a half-hour and the fat man nearly killed Juice and Kip when Dad and Jax lost their grip on him, but the Sons managed to get the top half of the big man out. Jax and Dad were pulling at his arms while Juice and Kip were shoving his fat ass out of the ground. I was standing a few feet back because I wasn't open to getting a dead man's guts all over me if he was torn in half.

"Someone call Greenpeace, we're saving a Mexican whale." Jax groaned, but fell back into the trunk with Dad and the heavy load, making the car bounce.

While Jax and Dad were wrapping the big man in trash bags, Juice and Kip were climbing out of the ditch. After he dusted himself off, I gave Juice his kutte and he put Kip in charge of driving back. Dad and Jax came to get their kuttes and I was left holding Kip's. He had the most dirt on him and after he swiped himself down enough, I extended his leather to him. When he took it, a smile already on his gentle lips, our fingers brushed against each others and sent a shock through my body. I knew I was blushing and I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling like a fool.

Once everyone got back in their assigned cars, we were on the road again and Juice said he was going to take a nap. He was out in less than 5 minutes and that left me in the company of Kip. He casually sparked up a conversation with little jokes that got me giggling and I was happy to talk with him, but he went dead silent when I asked why he was digging up someone's grave. The look he gave me said that he wasn't going to talk about it, so I didn't even try to prod. I don't think I wanted to know why the Sons needed a fat man's carcass anyway.

Dad and Jax's car was ahead of us, but not by too much and I poked my head out of my window when I heard another car on the barren road. It was going too fast for me to see what model it was, but it looked like some kind of red muscle car and they just zipped past our station wagon, making Kip swerve a bit. The wild driver raced forward and cut off Jax and Dad's car, making them skew worse than Kip did, and I could hear Dad yelling from back here. Hell, he threw a beer bottle at the car, but it missed.

I looked back at Juice and he was still sleeping. He somehow managed to get comfortable using a dead man's bloated, jiggly stomach as a pillow and not suffocate himself with the trash bags the corpse was wrapped in.

"Since you won't tell me about King of the Pies back there," I started, turning back around to face front and setting my eyes on Kip. "Will you explain that kiss now?"

"I can't runaway this time, huh?" He glanced at me with a smile, letting me see the faint redness on his cheeks, then he put his eyes back on the road. "I thought...it seemed right at the time. I was having fun, you were having fun...and you just look so damn pretty when you smile and I just...I dunno, I felt like we had a moment and I just listened to my instincts...which was probably a stupid thing to do, but..."

Kip sighed and he didn't look at me this time. I was glad he didn't because I knew I was blushing again.

I've been smiling and laughing my ass off since I've been around him, because of him, and he thinks it's pretty. I don't think I've ever been complimented on my smile before, not genuinely. Guys would come up to me while I had the most annoyed look on my face and have the audacity to tell me I've got an angel's smile or some other stupid pickup-line they think would get me to like them. I knew Kip was being honest with me because he has been since I met him. I liked that about him.

"Do you hate me now?" Kip asked and his voice was guarded by an emotionless tone. "If you don't wanna talk to me anymore, I get it. I'm sorry for fucking up our...friendship, I guess."

Again, he didn't take his eyes off the road and I frowned at his pessimistic demeanor. He had to be in a mindset that revolved around our ages, but I didn't see a problem with it. I was 19, a legal adult, and I could do whatever I wanted with him. It wouldn't be wrong and nobody had to worry about jail-time. I don't even think there was a huge age gap between us, so it wasn't creepy or wrong. I was into older guys anyway, but not anywhere as old as Dad or Piney. With age comes grace, experience and maturity as Ms. Lavinia would say.

Since words failed me, I did the only thing I thought seemed right. After checking to make sure Juice was still sleeping, which he was, I inched my hand over to the one that Kip had resting on his leg. It was dangerously close to the crotch of his jeans, but I didn't care. I curled my fingers around his and I saw him look at me, but I kept my eyes forward. After a nerve-wracking second, I started to smile when I felt his fingers intertwine with mine and I sighed, at ease.

The drive continued, but I knew we weren't getting back to Charming before nightfall. The sun looked like it was going to set soon. Kip and I were still holding hands and he hasn't made any motion to let mine go. I sure as hell wasn't going to let his go. I always wanted someone to do little things like this with because it meant a lot to me. All the words we couldn't say because we were anxious of how the other would respond and the tiny sparks of feelings were all put out in the open just by connecting like this...well, that's how I felt. If Kip didn't know I liked him by now, I was half-prepared to write it on a goddamn billboard.

Kip's thumb rubbed over my knuckles and my heart tingled as I felt another smile coming. When I heard Juice yawn, I jerked my hand away and Kip put his on the steering wheel.

"I miss anything?" Juice asked and leaned forward to look out the window, rubbing his eyes.

"Some asshole tried to run us off the road a few miles back." Kip said, glancing in the rear-view mirror. His eyebrows furrowed and he started slowing the car down. Curious, I looked through the back window with Juice and my heart almost stopped at the sight of the police car behind us. Our car was stationary now and the 3 of us were waiting to see what the cop wanted, but the car went around us and straight behind Jax and Dad's car.

"Cops run those bogus plates, they're gonna search that SUV from top to bottom." Juice explained, intently watching as were Kip and I. "There's 2 dead bodies in there. Normal people don't ride around with dead bodies in their trunks."

"We gotta do something." I said and both men looked at me. "We can't let him search the car."

"What the hell are we supposed to do then, create a diversion?"

"That's exactly what we're gonna do." Smirking, I got out of the car and was walking up behind the officer that was heading to Dad and Jax's car.

Once the fuzz was close enough, I ran up to him and slapped his hat off his head. Of course, he ordered me to give it back and I told him to kiss my ass. I was laughing as the cop started to chase me around and I saw Dad and Jax moving their pair of bodies into the station wagon while Juice was inside the cop's car doing God knows what to the interior. Kip joined me in taunting the cop and he managed to snag the man's utility belt right off his waist. He took the walkie from one of the pockets and pretended to report a wild pig on the road. Kip and I were tossing the items in the cop's belt back and fourth over his head. The cop didn't know which one of us he wanted to pursue and I knew he was getting seriously pissed off, but it was too damn funny.

A whistle caught my attention. By now, I was on the hood of the cop's car, that had 4 deflated tires thanks to Juice, with his hat on and Kip was behind me on the ground, but the station wagon was driving by. The trunk was opened and Dad was in the back with Juice, waving us over. I jumped off the squad car, blinded the officer by tossing his hat in his face and went sprinting after them, Kip at my side.

"Come on, dovey!" Dad cheered and held his arm out. I missed the first time, but grabbed hold of him and he pulled me inside. I dived right next to Juice and was trying to catch my breath, but I was laughing too much. "Run, Prospect, run! Get in here already!"

I sat up just as Kip managed to get yanked into the trunk and he partially landed on me, but it didn't hurt. I was back to a fit of laughter and I noticed the whole car was laughing with me. We were all insane and I just had entirely too much fun. Our chortles were cut short when a shot was fired and the bullet hit the back of the car. Dad and Juice flipped the cop off and we were all yelling insults at him for being a buzzkill.

"Bye-bye, copper! See ya' later!" Dad pulled the trunk down and shut it, still laughing with the rest of us.

"Everyone still got all their fingers and toes?" Jax asked through a laugh from the driver's seat. "We good back there?"

With a hoot or 'Fuck, yeah', everyone expressed that they were okay and the laughter died down, the adrenaline of the moment leaving too. Juice and Dad crawled over the backseats, but I stayed laying in the trunk with Kip. He was next to me now, shoulders pressed against each others, and when I felt him grab my hand, I smiled again.

We were good, perfect even.