Eventhough no physical injuries had been obtained, mentally the entire club had been rattled by the explosion the night before. Still, at the break of dawn each member had taken to the rubble trying to resurrect what could be saved of their second home. In a way, it also would serve to show Jimmy O'Phelan that he could never bring SAMCRO down, at least that's what Chibs was telling himself as he searched through the rubble that had once been the long bar that dominated the clubhouse. Planning to toss it into the large black garbage bag Ratboy had been following him around carrying, he picked up the scorched remains of a book of crossword puzzles in his gloved hands. A singed photograph fell out of the book, floating to the ground face up as if it had it's own mind and wanted to be seen.
Both him and Ratboy looked at the photo at the same time, Chibs immediately froze, but the younger man not yet noticing his actions remarked "they look happy."
The couple in the photo did indeed look quite happy, they were obviously newlywed. The man was wearing a suit that looked borrowed and the woman had wildflowers woven into her black curls.
Chibs looked at the photo for a few more seconds before storming out of the wreckage of the clubhouse.
"Is he crying?" Ratboy whispered to Juice as the two men approached the figure standing in the corner. Chibs was turned away from them and they were far enough across the lot that they couldn't hear him, but the shaking of the large biker's shoulders seemed to suggest that the answer to the prospect's question was yes.
"Well, the guy we're chasing right now...he's not supposed to be alive, and Chibs is pretty rattled by that." Juice whispered back.
"And his wife? Why haven't we met her?"
"I've met her." Juice immediately whispered back, "but their situation is complicated."
"But she's in danger, I heard him talking on the phone to her yesterday and he started crying and swearing."
The two men were now close enough to the older biker that he became aware of their presence. Chibs turned around to glare at them, his eyes obviously puffy and red as he hadn't bothered to try to hide what had happened. There had been too much stress put on him lately for him to even pretend everything was okay as long as he was in the presence of allies. However, that didn't mean he was happy to have company at that very moment.
"What?!" Chibs snarled as the other two men approached.
Ratboy remained silent as if he feared that speaking would cause his head to end up on a shiny platter. Juice however, immediately held out the singed photograph to his friend "You wanna talk? Rat was just heading back inside to help cleanup, but I'm totally free."
For a second Ratboy looked as if he wanted to stick around before deciding his head and potential club membership was top priority and turned to head back to the clubhouse.
Chibs looked as if he was going to push Juice away, possibly quite literally, but after glaring at the younger biker he seemed to almost deflate. He reached out to take the photo from Juice before speaking "He wants me to know he can get to her and I can't stop him."
"That's not true Chibs, Fiona is smart, and strong, I bet she could beat me up." Juice looked at the other man to find that he didn't seem calmed at all by his words, in fact there almost seemed to be something darker and if possible even more pained in his face.
"It's already too late Juice, she's not answering the home phone or her cellphone and I can't reach Kerri either."
Juice paused trying to think of something else to say in comfort. "What if it's just a coincidence?" his tone of voice showed that even he didn't believe what he was trying to say. When Chibs continued to glare at him with the same saddened and pained look he added "I can call Trinity and get her to check on them so you at least know what happened. Rat Boy can take you back to your house to rest, I'll explain everything to Jax and I'm sure he'll understand."
Chibs shook his head, "Jax hates me...didn't you hear, I apparently schemed with that bastard to keep him alive."
Juice stepped back and looked at his friend as if he couldn't believe what he was saying. "But why would you do that?"
Despite his continued grief, Chibs' expression changed to a narrow eyed look disbelief at the other man's ignorance.
Juice immediately read his face, "Jax is paranoid, you'd never do that. It doesn't even make sense that you would do that. Why would Jax think that it would make sense?"
"Juice..." the older man snapped, not in the mood to hear his friend's ramblings.
Trying to return to a serious comforting tone, Juice stopped his rambling adding "I'll drive you home and then I'll call Trinity and ask her to check in on them. Jax can find out later, he's not important right now."
