On the way from the club to Thea's house they were silent most of the time. Ellie was genuinely interested about Charming and Martinez decided to let her enjoy the ride, which was actually not so long as she supposed. But even that little time was enough for Ellie to realize that she's starting to fall for this quiet city. Gradually, but still.
The house was quite small, but light, cosy and totally perfect for someone who lives alone and put his work in the first place. There were only few photos on the wall and on some of them Ellie recognized Juice from the club. And absolutely didn't recognize Thea herself.

"You used to be a wild child, huh?" she smiled as Thea came back from her bedroom with big suitcase. Thea smirked and drew nearer to Ellie.

"Oh, you can only imagine. Back then I was still holding on my family ties. Being a daughter of the club member is…" She shook her head, smiling a bit sadly to herself, "Well, it left some marks. But I moved on and, unfortunately for myself, sometimes I really miss those times. Anyway, lets pick you something for the biker's wedding, it's going to be pretty unconventional," she smiled, quickly turning away from photos. Ellie walked after her and sat on the corner of the couch.

"But you decided to turn back home after all? I mean, some ties are still holding you?" Thea looked at her from behind of her suitcase.

"Not exactly. My father is a member of this club, but from another charter. There are some in different cities, mine is from Tacoma. And I better die than go back there ever again."

"Family issues?"

"Long story short? Father-jerk instead of a thousand words", Ellie grinned bitterly:

"I know that feeling."

"Okay, lets forget about those bastards who call themselves our fathers and try on this one," She smiled archly and offered Ellie a small black leather dress. Ellie raised her eyebrows, but Thea just shrugged her shoulders. "VP will definetely appreciate it," she said and laughed, while Ellie took a thing out of her hands.

"You know him, right? Jax, I mean," for some reason her voice sounded a bit weird. She was looking at the dress in her hands, avoiding crossing eyes with Thea.

"Partially. I'd better say I knew him before, but he didn't seem to change much," She shurred again. "So yes, I do know him. Why?"

"It's just… He really seems to be one of the good guys, but I'm not sure if I can judge correctly. All the good guys I've met ended up being finished assholes," she chuckled, finally looking up.

Thea tried to smile reassuringly, "No, you should't worry about it. These bikers, they only seem to be scary and rude, so that's why most people don't like them much. But I must say that some man with a reaper on his back might be more high-minded, for real, than stereotypes make us think."

"Reaper and bikes have nothing to do with what I'm trying to say. All this bikers stuff do not scare me, actually, I'm aware that first impression might be false. I was talking about more… You know, nevermind," Ellie smiled a little stiffly. "I better will try this dress on, before you changed your mind and decided that you don't want to share clothes with some stranger."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, absolutely."

As she disappeared in the room that Thea showed her as the one where she can change, Martinez sighed wearily and sat down on a coach. Finally, she had an opportunity to realize completely that now there was a chance that everything is going be okay. She wanted to believe Juice when he said that they'll figure out what to do, and both of them will be safe. Subconsciously she changed "them" on "him", because more than she cared about her own exposure, she worried that she might brought him troubles. Of course, his mistake in Queens was already in the past, a lot of time passed since than, but who knows how vindictive they were? "Shit," she thought. "Shit, shit, shit."

"I look like Frankenstein's bride," Ellie pulled her out of her gloomy thoughts. She stood in a doorway and shifted from one leg to another. "With all these bruises, only seams lacking. I should wear more something like a cerement."

"Drop it!" Thea's eyes popped out. She stood up and shook her head. "Nope, definetely not this one. Guess it's a little bit too short for someone who's not a crow eater," she smiled and immediately started to burrowing into suitcase. "Aha! Try this one, sweetie, oh, and, ah, this one too. They should be good together," she smiled and gave her another dress with leather jacket to boot. "It will hide everything. But you know, there's no need to be ashamed of your bruises. Let them make you stronger, not weaker." Ellie answered nothing and slipped away to the room with a shadow of a smile.

She felt like she needed to share her problems and dreadful experience. She was looking for someone to talk about all this crap for a very long time, 'cause keep it all inside became harder with every other day. Memories, unspoken words and horrible truth were boiling inside of her like a hellfire. There was no doubt that if she won't find somebody to open her heart to, sooner or later her nightmares will hunt her down.

There, in the club, was her first real revelation, and for the first time Ellie was almost proud of herself. She thought it will be more difficult, more like impossible, and yet she was deadly calmed when she was talking about her shitty father. It appeared to be easier to tell it to someone she barely knew. If only the other side of truth was that easy to tell too. The other one was burning inside, the other one made her shiver a bit every time Jax touched her. But who would care about some strange girl and her anticipations and hopes. She was exhausted, but somehow, appearance of SAMCRO guys in a very strange moment of her life was like a fucking gift, so she won't miss it.

Ellie put on Thea's dress and jacket, and must admit that this time she really enjoyed her look. When she walked out of the room, Thea was looking over some stuff. As she turned her head to the sound of the opening door, happy smile arised on her face. "Wow. You look gorgeous," she said, and Ellie smiled back a bit shyly.

"I guess, this one is really better."

"No doubts! So, you are equipped now. Ready to blow everyone's mind?" Thea deffinitely tried to cheer her up as she saw that Ellie wasn't very enthusiastic.

"Not quite sure if I want to, but why not," she glanced at her reflection in the mirror on a wardrobe once more. "At least, I don't look like a homeless beggar anymore. Thank you."

"Anytime," Thea waved her hand like it was nothing and then smirked, "I'm sure we'll figure out how you will pay me back."

"Oh, of course, I…"

"Kidding! Gosh, sweetheart, you really should relax a bit," she patted Ellie's shoulder. "However, I am terribly sorry, but I have some work to do before wedding, so, um… I'll call a taxi to get you to Teller-Morrow, okay?"

"It's not too far from here, isn't it? I mean, I could get there by myself. Clean my head on the way back," she looked like she liked this idea for real. Thea hesitated for a few seconds, before specify:

"Are you sure? Not afraid to get lost?"

"I'm already lost in some way," Ellie chuckled. "But, yes, I'm sure. Just tell me how to get there and I'll deal in the process."

"Yeah…" Martinez still was a bit unsure, but she decided not to argue.

After she sowed Ellie her way from the porch, she was about to go back inside to the house, but she noticed an unfamilliar car down on the road. It's black tinted windows for some reason didn't inspire confid ence and she felt restless shivers between shoulder blades. Back at the house, she turned the lock on an extra turn, as If it could help her if that car was exactly what she thought it was.

In the mean time, Ellie couldn't help herself, but on her way down on the road she missed a needed turn. She didn't even notice that, being absolutely captivated with this city. It lived up to its name though. Small dusty narrow streets, little shops with old signboards. In some way it reminded her about western movies, only the cowboys here didn't wear hats, they wore leather biker jackets.

She was considering Thea's words about Jax and other Sons, wondering if she should get involved in this, or the right thing would be to end it all as soon as possible. Sometimes she thought she was cursed or something, 'cause, you know, you gonna start to think about such things after another hundredth failure. And failures in her life were marked by painfully and bloody endings from time to time. Like with her dad. Or with that jackass, who he practically sold her to. Or even with her abusive ex. It felt like Ellie was just luring assholes and offering them to enjoy their stay in her life.

But Jax… Jesus, she didn't want him to become one of her shitty memories, she wanted him to break this line of permanent unluck, though she didn't decide for herself yet, if there could even be the chance for him to do that. But she needed someone near her now so badly. She needed approval, comfort, understanding. But she wasn't about to hurry, at least not so soon; she was just tired of scalding herself with delusive hopes.

While Ellie was enjoying her ramble down the city roads without giving a shit about time, Thea was getting more nervous with every single second. She couldn't focus on her work, constantly returning to the car with tinted windows in her thoughts. She wanted to believe that it was just a car of one of her neighbours, but somehow she knew it's a silly attempt to calm herself. Soon she picked up her phone and dialed the garage, which number was written down on one of stickers on the desktop. After she asked to call Juice to the phone, a few seconds of waiting were filled with nervous fingers tapping on the table.

"Yeah?" finally, she heard Ortiz's voice on the other side.

"Hi, it's T," She suddenly realized, that all the words that she had prepared were lost. "I just, uh… I wanted to warn you that you'll might need to pick me up from work," Thea wearily rubbed her nose, trying to sound unruffled. "I'm not sure if I'll finish everything at the time."

"No problem!" Juice made a short pause. "Is everything okay?"

"Totally!"

"Okay, then tell me where, and I'll come after you…"

After he wrote down an address and they've agreed about everything, Juice hurried to return to the club, where only Chibs, Tig and VP has left.

"What's up?" Jax was adjusting his collar, looking at reflection in the glass behind the bar.

"It was T, nothing important," Ortiz shrugged. "Anyway, I got the truck, so everything seems to be ready. Right?"

"Yes, Clay said that Putlova confirmed his presence. They'll be there and when it gets dark we go to chek the guns," Trager seemed to become a bit more serious as the wedding approached. But the impression was ruined when he continued, "And that's okay that I'm one of those who's responsible for this part, cause I will not be distructed by pussies."

"You are always distracted by them, bro," Chibs smirked.

"This evening nothing will distruct us," Teller turned around with a shadow of a smile. "Cause we got some shit to do."

"Yeah, right. Besides, you have lost your pussy somewhere," Tig clicked his tongue.

Juice caught himself, "Thea told me that Ellie's on her way."

"Alone?" asked Jax with a cigarette in his teeth as he tried to light it up. Understandably, he felt some kind of responsible for this girl.

"Aha, she said that she decided to walk alone by herself," for some reason, Ortiz felt a bit guilty. "Thea's house is not far from here."

"Okay," finally, breathing out a cloud of smoke, replied Jackson. "I'll ask Fil to wait for her. Come on, guys, let's celebrate Opie's official connection with the porn star."

As they went out of the club, he called Fil, who was hanging around the garage, and told him to wait for the girl he might saw earlier.

"When she'll be here, you both ride to the reservation, got it?"

"Sure, boss," immediately replied prospect.

"And, for God's sake, stop calling me that," despite actual discontent, Jax smiled.

Then he hurried to join the others on their bikes. He wasn't nervous about the upcoming case, but his scars started to burn insanely every time he was just simply thinking about Putlova and all that shit that he and his little Russian puppets brought him back in jail. The dirty walls of prison's infirmary, mixed smell of painkillers and his own blood were still awaiting for him from night to night, bringing another painful terror, full of the white knuckles and silent screams. So now he was just wondering if it's gonna stop with death of that bloody bastard. He never appreciated killings much, even if they were needed, but this one he enjoyed beforehand with terrible maniacal calmness.

As they arrived to the reservation, Jax gathered everyone and instructed them one last time.

"Everything shoud be done after the main part, closer to midnight. And remember, guys, this shit should not affect on Op and Lyla."

"Of course, brother. These dicks will not ruin anything, don't worry," said Bobby and patted his shoulder. Then everyone left their bikes and walked to help with last preparations. It wasn't surprise that Jax worried about this day like it was his own wedding. Make it perfect and special for his best friend was his primary task.

At the same time Juice was waiting for Thea, resting on his bike. It was still weird, because he wasn't sure about how he should act with her, with this whole new person, who's now by logic is standing right on the opposite side of the law. But was her job and way of living the main problem? He doubt that even himself. He couldn't understand what's going on inside his head and he hated that feeling. Things needed to be cleared as soon as possible, he decided. Then suddenly Thea appeared in front of him, hugging him tight and smiling softly.

"Sorry about this, didn't thought there will be so much paperwork," she said, taking a protective helmet from his hand and sitting behind him.

"You sure you're okay, T? I mean, everything's fine?" he asked, turning his head.

"Yeah, Juicy, just a little bit tired. Let's go," she answered and embraced her hands tighter around his torso. He nodded and started the engine.

While everyone started to gather at the reservation, Ellie just realized that she definitely missed some turn, or something, because she went farther and farther and haven't seen any sight of familliar places she might've seen on her way to Thea's house. After all, she decided to overstep herself and ask a passer-by.

"Uhm, excuse me?" She made a step towards some woman with a pocket of products. "Can you help me? I need to get to the car workshop…" She realized that she couldn't remember the name, so she tried to explain in other way, "Like, the one with the motorcycle club next to it?.."

"Teller-Morrow?" the woman obviously was not excited, but after a second of reflections, she replied with a sigh, "You've missed the turn on a crossroads."

In ten minutes Ellie was already on her right way to the garage, silently cursing herself for carelessness. Moreover, she felt irritation for the fact that Thea warned her, but she just waved it. Finally, she saw the signboard on the other side of a street and hurried to cross the road.

"Here you are!" It was the prospect she remembered from the clubhouse. "Jax told me to wait for you, they've already left for the wedding."

"Sorry, I got lost a bit," she srugged sheepishly.

"That's okay, we just need to hurry now. Hope, Jax won't knock my block off."

Unfortunately, when they finally got to the place of destination, Jax seemed to be close to that. Only his object wasn't Fil.

"How could you let her go alone? She doesn't know the city!" they heard Teller's voice even before they saw him, standing with Thea and Juice next to the rows of chairs.

"It wasn't that far, man…" Ortiz definitely tried to protect his friend, but then Fil hurried to interrupt them:

"Jax, I brought her!"

"Ellie!" It was Thea, who actually felt a little guilty. She approached her, "You're okay?"

Ellie nodded quickly, "Everything is fine! I just missed the turn, I'm terribly sorry…" She looked at Jackson and saw that he was really worried. It was kind of sweet of him, no matter that she still couldn't understood how the hell she deserved that much attention and kindness. She smiled at him, trying to said without words how impossibly grateful she is, and Jax without doubt got that.

"C'mon, El, take a place near Hap. Wish me luck," he said and hurried to the altar. Ellie took her place and almost immediately filled with this overall atmosphere of joy and happiness. On the other side was sitting Juice and Thea, who tried to make herself look less official. She took off her jacket and rolled up shirt's sleeves, so a few tattooes were now visible. Juice smiled and then wispered something to Thea and she began to smile too.

Everyone around were talking, joking and fidgeted on their chairs because of impatience. Ellie was just looking around and couldn't understand why that woman was so preconceived about this club. At some point she began to think that she might actually like to become a part of this little bikers' world, no matter how dangerous it might be from the other side. They were like family to each other, and that impressed her the most as a person, who barely knew what this concept means.

When Op came to the altar, Thea looked from behind Happy and said, "Hey, Ellie, don't miss a thing, it's starting", so Ellie nodded smiling. And then the wedding bagan.

As the music started to play, the bride appeared. She was amazingly beautiful in her small white dress, and looked a bit nervous, but totally happy. When the old man, who was Piney, brought her to the altar, she took Opie's hand almost with tears of joy in her eyes. After the standard part, it was time for the vows.

"You got the…got the rings?" asked Opie, turning to Jax.

"What?" he said with surprised face, but then laughed immediately and gave them two rings. Their vows were full of love and concern. Ellie might not knew them, but a simple look was enough to understant that this two love each other. They were happy, and somehow, in this very moment, Ellie was happy too.

"With this ring, I vow my love. I promise to always be a faithfull and loving wife… and old lady."

"With this ring, I vow my love. And I promise always to cherish and protect you."

"What else?" suddenly, somebody shouted behind Ellie's back. Opie rolled his eyes and continued with a smile. "And treat you as good as my leather and ride you as much as my harley," many guests shouted the last words in unison with him .

Thea laughed and gave Ellie a glance, like if she was saying "told ya". Ellie couldn't help herself, but was clapping loudly with everyone else and smiling widely, looking at Jax. He winked at her, before turning to Opie with his congratulations. After that they all moved to the tables and a small stage, where celebration was about to continue. The day flowed smoothly into the late evening.

"Why her, sweetheart?" Jax asked Lyla, looking at her bridesmaid in a short lilac dress, if anyone was able to call it so. "She's definitely not the one to invite to the wedding."

"I didn't have much choice, thought," the bride was looking a bit guilty. "It supposed to be… You know. Tara. And I don't have too much friends and options as well."

"Right…" Jax pursed his lips, obviously not excited because of the mention of Tara. "Anyway, let us hope that after couple glasses of champagne Gemma will refuse the idea to ruin your wedding with a good fight," He smirked and gave Lyla a kiss on the temple, before tapping approached Op on the shoulder and going to the table where Bobby and Chibs were sitting.

"Found your girl, aye, Jackie?" Telford saluted him with his bottle of beer.

"She's not mine," despite what was said, Jax was smiling. He fell down on one of the chairs, looking around and finding Clay with his mother on the dancefloor. "Nice. Is he ready?"

"Have any doubts? He was just drinking with Putlova. Wait a bit more till it's dark enough, and we're ready to go," Bobby nodded. "And before we do, I advice you to learn from our Pres and please the girl, unless someone took her."

"Yep, someone," Chibs's voice sounded notes of laughter. He nodded in the direction of Ellie, who was already actively processed by Tig.

"Jesus!"

"Go save the princess from the dragon, hero!" Heard Jax instead of farewell.

"You know, all this freedom and stuff, when you feel like the king of the road…" Trager was activly gesticulating and throwing a thoughtful look into the distance, while Ellie was looking at him with a smile. "This is our life, baby, kind of a wonderful dream…"

"Tiggy, finish your philosophy session," Jax finally approached them and put his hand on Tig's shoulder. "Don't you have anyone else to pull the wools over their eyes?"

"Come on, Jax, I just found a grateful listener! Tell him, Ellie!" he looked at her, searching for support.

"Everything is fine, Jax," She winked at Trager. "Tig was just telling me how exciting your life is," She couldn't help herself, but giggled.

"Good for you, but, unfortunatelly, I'm about to steal your listener," Jax grinned and looked at Ellie. "Don't you mind?"

She didn't, so she nodded with a smile and promised Tig she'll be back to him to hear the end of his amazing stories. Trager made the movement with his hands like he was blessing them and went away to Bobby, Chibs and Juice, who had escaped from dancefloor and left Thea to talk to Happy about Tacoma.

"I'm a terrible dancer, by the way" said Ellie, taking Jax's hand. He smiled and put his arm around her, leaning a little bit closer.

"So am I, babe". As they came to the stage, the music has changed to a slower one. The night was about to fall and soon he'll leave, but not without a dance, he decided. Ellie's smile was warm and soft. Smiles like this one could easily make you go crazy, and Jax has already started going in that direction. The moment was perfect, but Ima, who appeared behind Ellie's back, destroyed it as she always do. He gave her a deadly glance, like offering her to go straight to hell. Her presence here irritated him, and Ellie noticed that immediately.

"Who is that? Looks like you guys have a history", she smirked.

"Yeah, the one where I hate this stupid slut. Don't bother yourself with her, lass. Better tell me, did you enjoy the wedding?" he asked, putting his hands on her waist. Ellie pursed her lips and Jax caught himself that he kinda like the way she's doing it.

"Every single moment of it. Thanks God you convinced me to come," she replied, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"I assume you gonna stay with us for a while then, hm? 'Cause, you know, it'd be cool," Ellie looked him directly in the eyes and smiled shyly. God knows why this guy made her feel this strange and pleasant way at the same time, but deep inside she thought that she won't forgive herself if she'll refuse.

"As you said before, I don't have any other things to do." They continued to dance silently, enjoying the moment of peace and happiness in their life as the both of them didn't felt this way for a very long time. They wished this moment never end, but someone above apparently wasn't thinking the same way.

"Jesus, I guess I get why she annoys you", said Ellie with disgust in her voice. Jax followed her gaze and saw Ima flirting with Juice in a very persistent way. He rolled his eyes, mumbling something about whores and theirs holes, but then he noticed Thea.

"Oh, shit", he said, as Martinez passed from silent drinking and angry observing to actions. "Thea!"

But she obviously didn't hear him, marching straight to Juice and Ima, who was clapping her false eyelashes and leaning to him with, probably, seducive smile. It was hard to say if Ortiz followed her charms, but it definitely pissed Thea off, anyway. In couple of seconds she was already near them and in the next moment Ima's face met the table. "Ouch!" said someone between those who saw this little show. Fortunatelly, the rest of the guests seemed not to give a fuck.

"Keep your hole to yourself, bitch," Almost hissed Martinez, still holding Ima by the hair. Then she made a half step back and looked around, as if she realized what just happened only now.

"Jesus, T!" saying that Juice was shocked would be like saying nothing. He was staring at his friend with eyes wide open and holding his hands like he's giving up. "What got into you?!"

She looked at him, breathing heavily, "Nothing. Nothing got into me."

"Nuts!" it's Ima finally spoke up, slightly muffled due to nose bleeding, which she pinched with a napkin wrom the table.

"The hell?!" seemed like the bride saw what happened to her braidsmaid.

"Hey, Jax… Jesus Christ!" Chibs, who just approached Ellie and Jax, noticed dramatic staging. "What a wedding without a fight, huh?"

"I would call it a punishment," Teller smirked.

"That's for the best, good sign for the marriage," he chuckled, watching as Lyla was taking the victim away, trying not to stain her dress. Then he caught himself, "Um, sorry, lass, but I have to steal your cavalier. We gotta go, Jackie."

"Sure," he nodded and turned to Ellie. "Sorry. But I guess, you should find a company in the face of Thea, you know…"

"Of course, I'll talk to her," she replied with a smile, but stood still for a while, watching as he and Chibs are approaching one of the tables, where couple of other SAMCRO guys were talking with unfamilliar men in suits. Those people didn't inspire confidence and she suddenly felt weird, but waved it away and went to find Thea.

Martinez was shivering from head to feet with rage, being completely out of control. It was like a sudden fit of anger when she saw that bitch near Ortiz. And moreover, she hated to admit that it was not just an anger, but jealousy. And it was definitely stupid, wasn't it? So when Juice came closer to her, he just got under the hand.

"Damn it, Thea, what was that for?" He looked absolutely lost because of her actions, but there was coming another storm.

"Oh, sorry I interrupted your pussy-party. Next time warn me if you're about to fuck some slut", He tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but she just threw it away and punched him in return. "Fuck you, Ortiz. Go ahead, your club's shit is waiting for you, enjoy it", he wanted to say something and clear this up, but Tig took him away. When they were gone, Ellie came closer to Thea and hugged her unexpectedly.

"Hey, sweetheart, lets call a taxi and go home. I'm terribly tired, and you?" Thea nodded sadly and picked up her phone. She didn't felt so horrible even when she brought that news to Juice. She took Ellie by the hand with gratefulness in her eyes.

Meanwhile, Clay with Jax and Happy lead Putlova and his minions as far away as possible from the wedding's place. Tig, Juice and Chibbs were riding in the truck to the storage.

"Was it just me, or it was really hot when your lass in her business suit hit the slut's head on the table?" said Trager, imitating that moment with playful groans. Chibs smirked, saying that he's so upset to miss all the fun, but Juice didn't say a word. There could be only one proper explanation for that shitб but he refused to believe that like it was something impossible. During that time Clay and others got to their destination.

"Okay, gentlemen. I think here we can check this guns without scaring a shit out of the guests," said Clay with flattering voice. Putlova nodded and gave a command to his men in Russian. All this time Jax didn't stopped smiling strangely, feeling like his scars almost burning him alive. Clay took the gun from one of Putlova's guys and made one shot in the distance, as if really cheking it. "Nice," he nodded the moment before turning around and making second shot, this time right in the head of Russian. Jax and Happy took out their own guns with lightning speed and shot everyone else, except Putlova himself.

"He's all yours, son" said Clay to Jax.

Teller slowly loaded his gun and aimed it on Putlova.

"Just business," with the sound of a shot Jax could swear the pain was finally leaving him. At the very same time in the storage guys took care about the rest of Putlova's minions.

"Russian piece of shit," said Chibs as spat on the dead bodies. There was only one last thing to do. They put corpses in the truck and rode them directly to the Charming Heights, one of the problem SAMCRO faced after their return. And few dead Russians are about to spoil Hale's election campaign.