A/N: Sorry for the delay with this chapter but please enjoy it! Thanks for all of the great reviews! Someone asked about Sara's ex-boyfriend. That will resurface in a later chapter :)

A couple of hours later, Tig sat around the redwood table listening to Clay and Jax lay out their plan for taking out the Nords and Darby. Juice had finally found some usable intel about three of Darby's new cook shops. They were located strategically around Charming and Pope so that Darby could start flooding the area with his junk.

Tig had his doubts about whether or not Jax's plan would satisfy his bloodlust, but he was pleasantly surprised that Jax's plan was both brutal and effective. They would send all three cook shops out in a blaze of glory and if there were causalities then all the better.

The club's response had to be brutal and unrelenting. The Nords had gone after the girlfriend of a club member at his house. That sent up red flags for all of the guys. The women of the club had been through too much already especially Gemma and Tara. With the plan being set Tig knew that there would be death in the Valley tonight, and he couldn't be happier.

Tig was brought out of his thoughts hearing Clay hit the gavel against the table. Tig hung around watching the other brothers file out of the room each with their own task to do. Opie and Bobby had arguably the most important pieces to the puzzle they were off to make up three firecrackers that would really light up the night sky. A crooked smile floated over Tig's face at that thought.

Clay was still seated at the head of the table puffing on a cigar. He turned so that he was looking at Tig. The older man quirked an eyebrow at his right-hand man and asked, "There a reason you still sitting here?"

Tig was snapped out of his thoughts and nodded. "Yeah, I needed to talk to you about something. We need to set up a meet with T.O. about what happened today."

Jax got up to walk out of the room. Tig looked at Jax. "You're the V.P. you should probably stay for this."

Jax nodded curiously and closed the door to the chapel. He walked back over to his seat. "What is this about?"

Clay sat up more in his chair and asked, "Why? The Nords aren't going to make a move on the Grim Bastards. They are just looking to piss in our cheerios. Besides, Darby isn't going to try to move his shit into Lodi because then he'd have to contend with us and the Mayans. They wouldn't take kindly to anything new hitting the market."

Tig shook his head slightly and said, "No. Lola is T.O.'s niece. He should know... I know I'd want to know. She's out of her mind right now on whatever Tara gave her for the pain. But when she wakes up she is probably going to want to talk to her uncle. He is the only close family she has."

Clay felt his jaw clench involuntarily as he asked, "There a reason why you kept this shit to yourself?"

Clay felt his blood boil as he thought about the possible ways this could play out. The Grim Bastards were their only true allies in the area. They had problems over the years but they had never been enemies. On the other hand right now they had an uneasy partnership with the Mayans. But that partnership could go south at anytime. The Sons and the Mayans hated one another across the board. Getting the niece of the President of another MC shot was just bad form.

"How long have you known?" asked Clay.

Tig knew why he kept it to himself. He knew it was a bad fucking idea from the moment that Juice told him. Logically he knew that he should have nipped this relationship in the bud right there and then and sent Lola on her way. But he hadn't and he hadn't told Clay because he knew that would be his advice. Seeing T.O.'s niece was bad news... getting her shot was just asking for trouble.

"I fucked up," acquiesced Tig. He didn't know how else to say it. Tig ran a frustrated hand over the back of his neck and said, "I've known for about a month."

"You fucked up?" asked Clay raising his voice. "I've got to set up a meet to tell T.O. that his 25 year old niece just got winged this afternoon in a hit on Juice's house."

Clay sat there a minute thinking about what to do. He got up and said, "Don't do anything until I get back here... think you can handle that?"

Then Clay stalked out of the room.

Jax shook his head and said, "This isn't the first time your dick has put us in a fucked up situation, Brother. Remember the Mexican workers that you were banging."

Tig shook his head knowing that Jax was right. He didn't have an excuse. He didn't have a witty comeback.

He shrugged and said, "I like having her around." He sat there in silence for awhile with Jax before saying. "I am going to go check on Lola. Tell Clay that is where I am when he makes it back."

Clay called T.O. after some thought on what to say to the man.

T.O. answered the phone after a couple of rings recognizing Clay's pre-pay cell number. He answered it.

"How's it going, Clay?" asked T.O. There were already rumors swirling about a shooting going down in Charming.

"Are all of you whole?" asked T.O.

Clay said "Yeah, everyone is whole. A couple of the guys' girlfriends had a run in with the Nords. Do you think you could make the trip to Charming for a sit down this evening?"

T.O. was a little surprised that Clay wanted to have a sit down about the Nords. The Sons usually cleaned up their own backyard. But T.O. was always willing to at least listen to what Clay was bringing to the table. The Sons had done him a solid arranging revenge for the murder of one of his brothers. "Sure, I can be there in about an hour."

Clay said "Good, I'll see you then T.O." Clay hung up and walked back into the club. He headed to the chapel but heard Jax's voice from across the room.

Jax said, "Tig is back in his room."

Clay nodded at Jax and walked back to Tig's dorm room.

The door opened before Clay could knock. Tara nearly ran into him. "Sorry Clay."

Clay shook his head and said, "Its fine sweetheart. How is she doing?"

"She is resting well right now. I came in to give Tig instructions about the pain medicine and antibiotics that she needs to take whenever she wakes up." said Tara.

Clay nodded and said "Thanks Doc." Then he walked into Tig's room.

Tig was sitting on the side of the bed watching Lola sleep.

Clay cleared his throat.

Tig stood up from the bed making sure that Lola was settled before following Clay out of his dorm room. He closed the door behind him and asked, "You talked to T.O.?"

Clay nodded. "He'll be here in an hour."

Tig said, "I am going to take Lola home. I'll be back before he gets here..."

Tig walked into the main part of the club and spotted Juice and Sara sitting together on the couch. Tig walked over to the two of them and said, "Lola is knocked out for awhile. She isn't feeling any pain. Now might be a good time to take her home."

Sara said, "Okay. I'll go pull my car up. Are we taking her to your house or her apartment?"

Tig thought about it briefly but said, "Her apartment would probably be better."

Sara nodded and collected her purse. "I'll be waiting in the car." She headed outside.

Juice asked, "Are you okay, man?"

"Clay called T.O., he'll be here in an hour so I can tell him I got his niece shot." said Tig shaking his head.

He wasn't really concerned about that. He'd take his lumps. He was more worried that Lola had been shot. He walked down the hall to his room and retrieved Lola carrying her outside to Sara' waiting car. Tig got her settled in the backseat without waking her up. He closed the door.

Juice leaned in through the window and kissed Sara. "I'll follow you over there."

Sara said, "Okay."

She waited until Juice and Tig were on their motorcycles and then took off toward Lola's apartment. Periodically, she looked in the backseat to make sure that Lola was still okay. She was still trying to wrap her mind around today's events. Sure she had come away unscathed but her best friend was seriously injured.

Juice and Tig followed Sara as she made her way through Charming and into the apartment complex that Lola was staying in. Once they arrived Tig climbed off his bike. He took a set of keys out of his pocket and handed them off to Sara so that she could unlock the door. Tig lifted Lola out of the car and carried her into the apartment and back to her bedroom. He got her settled as best as he could. She was still out of it.

Tig walked out of the bedroom. "I am going to head back to the club. Sara, do you mind staying here with her while I am gone?"

Sara said, "I wouldn't be anywhere else right now. Besides, I am not excited about going back to Juice's house right now." She wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered involuntarily.

Juice could understand her apprehension but that didn't really make him happy. He wondered if she'd ever really be ready to go back to his house after what happened there today. Lola's blood had soaked into the carpet in the closet and into their bedspread. There was blood in the hallway from the two guys they had shot. The more he thought about it the more Juice realized that his house looked like a horror show right now.

Juice said "I am going to stay here with her. I'll keep an eye on your girl, Tig."

Tig said, "Thanks..." He didn't always respect Juice because he was sometimes a goof, but the kid was really starting to grow up in Tig's eyes.

Tig walked back out of the apartment, climbed onto his motorcycle, and took off heading back to the club. The last thing he wanted to do was be late. His name was already mud at the moment.

Tig arrived at the club and saw Clay sitting outside smoking a cigar. He walked over to the picnic bench and had a seat on top of it.

"How did you find out?" asked Clay looking over at Tig.

"I found out because she went to T.O. to find out about the club for Sara after the drive-by. Juice told me about it up at the cabin. Lola and I have talked about it since. T.O. is her mother's older brother. She took a job out here in California to be closer to her uncle after her mother died a couple of years back."

Clay was quiet a moment before saying, "What the hell were you thinking?"

Tig shook his head. "I was thinking I could break it off before anyone really needed to find out about it. I figured she'd stay around until my leg was better and then we'd go our separate ways."

Clay didn't really believe him but gave him the benefit of the doubt. "So, why didn't that happen?"

"I realized that I liked having her around. I mean... yeah, for the obvious reasons... it's nice to have a 25 year old to fuck every night. Hell, that is reason alone to keep her around. But then I found other reasons, too. I liked coming home to her at night. I mean, she's fucking crazy... beautiful... and fucking crazy." Tig chuckled slightly and lit a cigarette.

Clay quirked an eyebrow at Tig's explanation. He shook his head. He chuckled and said, "Of all the women you decide to take a more than purely physical interest in, and it has to be this one? So this is serious... the two of you?"

"For most people?" asked Tig. He shook his head no. "For me... yeah. I've only been fucking her."

Clay nodded. He knew that was pretty serious for Tig. Tig usually looked at the world as his own personal pussy platter. He mixed and matched like he was at a buffet.

Tig looked up hearing the roar of motorcycles approaching the lot.

Jax walked outside having heard the motorcycles as well. He leaned against the wall of the club wondering just how this was going to go down.

T.O., Coop, and BullDog parked their bikes and walked over to the guys. Coop was vice president for the Grim Bastards and BullDog was their Sgt-at-arms.

All of the guys greeted one another with a variation of handshakes and hugs.

Clay said, "Glad that you could make it here on such short notice. But this really couldn't wait. I told you over the phone that two of my guys' girlfriends had a run-in with the Nords this afternoon. One of the girls took a bullet to the arm. I found out about an hour ago that the girl is your niece, Lola. But she is fine. The doc says that she is going to make a full recovery."

T.O.'s jovial smile fell from his face when he heard that his niece caught a bullet meant for a Son. He didn't know who the hell to be angrier with. His niece that had been lying to is face for weeks... or whatever son of a bitch she was dating.

"Who?" asked T.O. angrily. "Juice?" asked T.O. figuring that Lola had been lying all along and that she had been the one seeing Juice.

Coop put a hand on T.O.'s shoulder knowing his emotions was getting the better of him. The big man knew how much T.O. loved his niece. She was his only niece.

Tig spoke up and said "I started seeing Lola after she called off her wedding."

It started to make sense to T.O. "You are how her fiancé Jared fell off of a second story balcony?"

After Lola told T.O. about the wedding being canceled he had his guys track down Jared and found out about a hospital visit after being found unconscious in his car. T.O. had always figured that it was the work of Jared's bookies. The punk had a gambling habit that he didn't care for.

Tig shook his head and said, "No, Juice is the one that tossed him over after Jared kicked in Lola's hotel room door. I am just the guy that made sure he landed far away from Charming and Lola. And the one that has been keeping him at bay since then."

Clay said, "What happened this afternoon will be taken care. It will not go unanswered."

T.O. shook his head and asked, "Where is Lola now? At the hospital?"

Tig said, "No, she is back at her apartment resting. I can take you over there if you want."

Clay suggested, "Why don't we all head over there?" He didn't really know how to gauge T.O.'s reaction.

All six men climbed onto their respective bikes and took off following Tig's lead over to the apartment complex. When they arrived Tig unlocked the apartment door much to the chagrin of T.O. He wasn't pleased knowing Tig was so familiar with his niece that he had a key to her apartment.

T.O. walked into the apartment with the rest of the girls. He saw Sara and walked over. "Are you okay?"

Sara nodded and said, "I am okay. Lola is in her room asleep."

Tig said, "I'll take you back there to see her."

Tig walked with T.O. to Lola's room and opened the door. Lola was asleep in the bed with a sling on her arm.

T.O. walked into the room shaking his head looking at his niece laying there.

"This is my kid sister's daughter. I told her before she died that I'd look after Lola. Keep her safe." T.O. ran a hand over his bald head. "I saw her a couple of days ago and she lied to my face...said she was just sticking around to keep Sara company. I am guessing that she is sticking around for you."

"Lola is a great girl. She knew that you wouldn't approve... so..." said Tig.

"Approve?" scoffed T.O.

"I'll stop seeing her," offered Tig not sure what else to do in this situation.

"And have her blame me?" asked T.O. "She's stubborn like her mother. She'll just go out and do something stupid and reckless to punish me for meddling in her life. She hates it when I butt in. When I objected to her marrying Jared, she moved her wedding from December of this year to May. When she was in college I told her I didn't want her going to Mexico for Spring Break... not only did she go, but she went cliff diving to spite me."

Tig chuckled and said, "Yeah she told me about cliff diving off of La Quebrada."

"She's a pain in my ass, but I love her. And I don't want anything happening to her. But she's an adult, and I can't tell her who to see or she'll just pick someone worse. No offense. But I want you to understand one thing. SAMCRO or not... if you hurt my niece. Ain't nothing going to protect you from me. Whenever she wakes up tell her to call me," T.O. Threatened as he walked out of the bedroom and nodded to Coop and BullDog that he was ready to go.

Clay walked out with T.O. "We cool?" asked Clay.

"We will be once I know that the son of a bitch that shot Lola is no longer with us," said T.O.

Clay said, "That is one thing you don't have to worry about."

The two men hugged and T.O. and his guys took off.