A/N-Thanks again for all the reviews, alerts, and favorites. Also...I have to mention the reviewers who are leaving me several paragraphs of feedback-I've written plenty of stories on here before (under a different penname) and I've never gotten such lengthy feedback before. It really means a lot that you've taken the time to do that and it also lets me know that I must be doing something right-thanks again!

This chapter is a little shorter than I would've liked but it's been way too long since I updated. So here is where it really starts to hit the fan (and the ten steps back that I was talking about). Hope you enjoy!

LOVE SONG

Chapter Six

"Alright, boys," the guard yelled out gruffly. "Two more minutes and it's back inside."

Carson Cooper shook his head from where he sat, trying to beat some old man with an eye patch at poker. He would've won too if he had at least another half hour to rack up the cigarettes they were betting with but prison just didn't allow for that kind of luxury.

"The way they talk to us, you'd think we were caged animals or something." He muttered to the old man across from him.

When the man didn't respond, he just shrugged. He'd gotten used to 'prison manners' over the year he'd spent there and was accustomed to his fellow inmates' sporadic if not erratic behavior. Everyone, on some level, was the same guy outside as they were in the pen. It was just that their normal behavior, their normal tendencies were magnified by about a thousand. And most of the time it was only about survival. Still, a rat outside was still going to be a rat inside. A gang member on the outside was still a gang member inside. A good man on the outside was still a good man inside; at least most of the time. Prison still had a way of bringing out the worst in anyone regardless of their nature.

If he had learned anything during his year spent in the pen, it was that prison was nothing but a game. Get in with the right guards, get in with the right inmates and you were golden. Trouble was, it was difficult to figure out just which guards and inmates were the right ones and which ones were the wrong ones. So with some trial and error, he had managed to make some friends in the right places. Friends that were watching out for him. He had their backs and they had his. He only had four more years until he could try for parole and he was pretty confident he could make it through his tenure here with only a few scrapes.

He reached into his front pocket and ran a hand lightly over his only remaining picture of her; it was even more precious to him because of the lengths he'd had to go to smuggle the picture into prison with him. Just touching it set him at ease, made him calm. He hadn't looked at her face in a few hours so he snuck the picture from his pocket and stared at it from underneath the table. Damn, she was beautiful. He had almost made her his forever, almost gotten everything he'd been working and prepping for. Too many damn interruptions and that god damn dog. He was going to have fun torturing and killing that dog.

"Whatta you got there?" The man across the table asked roughly, throwing him from his thoughts.

"What…oh nothing, it's just a picture of my girl. She's waiting for me to get out you know." He smiled at the thought of her working at the store, putting books on the shelves, making him lunch, making his day when she smiled at him for the first time.

"Can I see it?"

He looked up in a moment of alarm; he had never shared her with anyone before and he wasn't necessarily about to do it now, especially not for this old man who would probably just use her image later that night to jack himself off senseless. She was that beautiful. But there was something in the old man's functioning eye that told him not to refuse, that he didn't want this man as an enemy. He vaguely remembered seeing the man around the yard, sometimes in the library, and if he remembered correctly, the old man was usually visited by a younger looking guy with longer blonde hair…must be his son or something. The old man eyed warily, still waiting impatiently and he knew he couldn't delay any longer.

He gingerly pushed the picture across the table and felt a low, dull ache in the pit of his stomach as the other man took in his beloved. For a moment, neither said anything.

"Well, she sure is a beauty," the old man finally uttered hoarsely. "When was this taken? It doesn't seem like a usual picture."

"Yeah, well…she didn't exactly know her picture was being taken. I think I captured her smile perfectly though, don't you think? She has the most beautiful laugh too…I wish there was a way I could've recorded that…I think it would help me sleep better at night."

The old man nodded slightly and ran a thumb gently over her face. That was about all he could handle.

"Can I have my picture back now, please?" He asked as politely as he could, given the circumstances.

"Sure, sure…you said she was waiting for you?"

He smiled proudly and nodded. "Yeah, she sure is."

"But she doesn't visit you?"

His smile dropped into a frown. "No…how would you know that?"

The right side of the old man's face curled up into a menacing grin. "Nobody visits you but your mother. You know…I think I read something about you in the paper a while back, I knew your name sounded familiar, I just couldn't place it before. You're the guy who broke into that bookstore and beat the shit out of the owner…you almost raped her too, didn't you? Come on, man, that's gotta be you. Shit…is this the same girl? You're carrying around her picture too?"

He couldn't say anything. His throat felt dry and tight and he couldn't make words come out even if he wanted to.

"That's some sick shit, man." The old man laughed and tossed the picture back at him. "Guy like you will probably get what's coming to him."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The old man folded both hands on top of the table and was staring at him, a kind of wild look in his eyes. What had he ever done to this old man to make him treat him this way? He had just been minding his own business anyways when he'd asked him to play a game of poker. He was started to seriously regret that decision.

"It means that scumbags like you, the kind of guys that hurt women, will always get it back to them, threefold at least. I'd watch your back if I were you…the wrong guy finds out about what you did, the kind of guy with a daughter himself and the kind of guy who gets sick just at the thought of guys like you, and he might just decide to use you as a pincushion."

He grabbed his picture from the table and fumbled his way off the chair, desperate to get away from this man. "Well…it was nice, um, playing poker with you. See you around, man."

He scurried away from this terrifying man and headed straight for the yard exit, wanting to get as close to a nearby guard as possible.

A few hours later, he was working his usual job, mopping floors. It was a tedious job but it gave him the time to think about who was waiting for him on the other side, even if she didn't know it yet. And even if she was waiting for him, he would most definitely be waiting for her when the time was right. When he was finally out of this pen and could finally hold her in his arms, smell her hair, and taste her again. It had been such a tease, getting so close yet so far away from what he'd fantasized about for so long. But in a few short years, he would be able to touch her soft skin and smell her sweet flowery perfume again. And tear that dog apart limb by limb.

He pushed the mop bucket a little further ahead of him and continued pushing and pulling the mop back and forth. He thought he heard a low creak behind him and shifted on his heel to survey the space behind him. There was nothing there. He went back to his job, humming softly under his breath but there it was again, the creaking behind him, and now it sounded more like shuffling, like someone was coming up behind him.

In a split second, he felt his legs going out from under him and his back was slamming against the floor. A cold hand came down over his mouth and the man's face finally came into the light. His eyes widened with fear and shock as he realized his assailant was the man he had played poker with earlier that day. He started to struggle but to no avail; the man had him planted firmly onto the floor.

"I bet you're wondering who I am," the man whispered lowly into his ear, making him shiver. "I bet you're wondering what I would ever have against you. Hell, we barely know each other, right? What could you have possibly done that would set me off, make me want to kill you slowly and painfully…"

He was whimpering now, trembling underneath the man's iron-tight grip. He struggled again but the man just pushed his weight further down on top of him, causing him to panic. He knew what was going to happen now, knew that he was going to die. He just didn't know why.

"I'm that girl's father," the man whispered. "You stalked her, tied her up, violated her. You did unspeakable things to her body that night; so now, I'm doing to do unspeakable things to you."

His eyes widened and the man's hand muffled out a scream. The man shifted his weight and took out a knife from his pocket. He ran the cold blade lightly down Carson Cooper's face and grinned with a menacing glint in his eye.

"Remember what I said about using you as a pincushion?"

Kate jogged over to the door, unlocked it and flipped on the open sign. She sighed as she surveyed the clear skies and tried to imagine what that warm breeze might feel like on her skin. The only time she ever really got to relax and enjoy the warm California sun was on Sundays, and even then, she was too concerned about catching up on lost sleep than anything else. Jake was lucky if he got a walk…and she couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten to work out. She used to love running; it took her away from everything, made her forget what she was running from, literally and figuratively. Now life had gotten in the way and she just didn't have time for getaways, even if it was only for a short period.

"It's pretty nice outside today, huh?" Jax said softly from behind her.

She jumped a little at the sound of his voice. She turned to face him and for a fleeting moment, realized that his eyes were almost exactly the same color as the sky she'd just been watching. He always seemed to sense what she was thinking, what she was feeling and as she found herself looking into his sapphire sky eyes, she was having a difficult time remembering what she'd been thinking about in the first place.

"Uh…yeah. Too bad we're stuck in here, right?"

A sly grin slid onto his face and he cocked an eyebrow at her. "We don't have to be."

She just rolled her eyes and tossed a pack of inventory sheets at him. "When you're done with that inventory, maybe I'll let you out…maybe."

She heard him laughing all the way to the end of the store and shook her head with a small smile. She took a quick sip from her coffee cup as she watched him move purposefully from one shelf to another, carefully checking the inventory print-out every few seconds, and occasionally making a few notes. Her lips turned up slightly at the crunched-up expression of concentration on his face and had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep her lips from widening to a full-blown grin. He had taken her orders for the last few days in complete stride without any objection and had made no further mention of her breakdown since the night they'd went out for drinks. That was the thing with Jax—he knew they had both said everything they'd needed to say that day and now there was no need to bring it up again. They didn't have to speak to understand each other and she was very aware how rare that was, especially in her life.

After an hour of watching him complete several inventories and not doing much else herself, Kate was beginning to feel guilty. She hadn't intended to let him do all the work but she'd gotten a little side-tracked. That was happening a lot when he was around.

"Hey," she called out. "It's about time for you to take a break. Do you want to test out my latest creation?"

His head immediately popped up from over a shelf, his eyes wide with hunger and anticipation. A split second later, she saw his blonde head walking up the aisle and straight for the café.

"I guess I don't have to ask you twice." She laughed.

"Darlin'," he replied with a grin. "You didn't even have to ask me the first time."

She just shook her head and set the warm plate in front of him. "So I'm thinking of adding this to the menu pretty soon…let me know what you think. It's a tuna melt with pepper-jack and tomato."

He hardly let her finish speaking before he was already snatching a half off the plate and shoving it into his mouth. He moaned a little as he started chewing and closed his eyes, giving her a thumbs up with his free hand.

"Wow," he murmured in between bites. "This is…oh god…"

"I'll take that as a 'yes, Kate; put it on the menu'." She laughed, sliding a few napkins over to him.

"I mean...I've had tuna melts before, my mom makes a pretty good one too but this is just…this sandwich is tits. Don't tell her I said that. Please. She just might kill me."

"Don't worry…I won't. Well, since it was a hit with you, I'm assuming it'll be a hit with the customers too. I suppose I should get it on the menu pretty soon then."

He nodded, too busy eating to really answer her. She laughed again and set a soda on the table for him.

"I'm going to run outside to grab the mail and the paper. Be right back…come on Jake."

"Sure, you'll let him out…" came the muffled response.

She turned back and grinned at him, then headed for the front door, Jake following closely behind her. When she got outside, she stood there on the steps for a moment, taking in the warm sun. A light breeze blew into her hair and she closed her eyes. It felt so good to be outside, to have a few moments to just breathe and relax a little. The warmth seemed to envelope her and she looked up, smiling at the sapphire sky, knowing the person whose eyes matched was mostly responsible for her ability to step out and enjoy the sunlight.

While this was no where near an ideal situation, it wasn't nearly as bad as she'd originally thought it would be, she thought as she jogged to the mailbox. She had some help and some free time for once. And having Jax around wasn't all that bad. It was nice to have someone around to talk to who wasn't on four legs. She supposed there were worse things in the world than having to put up with the presence of a shaggy-haired, protective, chiseled, attractive, albeit slightly greasy, a little rough around the edges, biker outlaw. Yeah…things could be worse.

She flipped through the mail and tucked a few bills under her arm for later. She grabbed the paper and absentmindedly scanned the front page for anything interesting. When she turned over the page, her eyes fell to the local section and felt the air leave her lungs as her eyes found these words:

"An inmate at Clarke County Prison was found brutally dismembered with multiple stab wounds late Thursday evening. The inmate, Carson Cooper, had been serving a five-year sentence for breaking and entering, aggravated assault, and attempted rape. County officials have released a statement indicating their intent to investigate the circumstances surrounding Cooper's death…"

She didn't need to read anymore to know who'd been responsible for her attacker's death. She stood there just staring at the page, willing the words to change. Her vision blurred as the words began to swim and swerve around on the page. She took a wobbly step closer to the front door and felt her heart clench in her chest. Shock and horror was slowly giving way to unbridled rage. Scarlet sparks clouded her vision as she grabbed tight hold of the door and viciously swung it open to come face to face with the real culprit behind her rage.

"Hey, Kate—where is the—"

She cut him off by thrusting the paper into his face. "What the fuck is this, Jax?"

"Whoa…what's going on, Kate?"

"The paper…don't tell me you didn't know." She venomously spat out.

Before she even finished speaking, he snatched the paper from her shaking hands and skimmed it for whatever she was talking about. When he finally landed on the story that had set her fuming, he swallowed nervously before casting a queasy glance in her direction.

"I…I don't know what to tell you, Kate. I didn't know he was going to…"

"Don't fucking lie to me, Jax. You knew exactly what he was going to do when he found out. There was only one way he could have found out in the first place because the only member of Samcro I shared that information with was you."

She paused for dramatic effect and smiled ruefully when he, again, swallowed nervously under her blazing glare. His discomfort now was only a small victory but it was a victory nonetheless. He was going to be in for whole lot of discomfort by the time she was through with him. She'd barely had time to make sense of the tornado of emotions she was whirling through. She might have been silently rejoicing at her attacker's grisly demise had it been at the hands of anyone other than her father, or a member of Samcro for that matter. A fight with another inmate was one thing; that would be karma—justifiable karma. This was something else entirely.

"Well, I…" Jax stammered. "I thought you might have been…a little happy about this, regardless of how it happened…that guy was a psycho and he hurt you. You and I both know he would've done it again."

"I can't argue with that; you're right, he was psycho and he hurt me. But the club had no right taking the law into its own hands, not like this, and not because of me."

"We were protecting you. Otto had a right to know…"

"It wasn't your story to tell Jax."

"But it's done now; it's over, Kate. You don't have worry about him ever hurting you again…" He trailed off when he saw the look in her eye.

She began to shake her head furiously, ripping the paper out of his hands and throwing it to the floor in disgust. "It was over before that, Jax. He was arrested, he had a trial, the jury fucking found him guilty of everything he did to me. It was over. He was in jail. Do you know how many hours of therapy it took for me to just get to sleep at night? To not have nightmares? To be able to be in the store without thinking that every customer was coming into the store to drag me back to the bathroom? There's a god damn reason why I close the store at seven, Jax. But it was behind me; I was figuring it out and he was in jail where he belonged. It was done. If I really wanted some sort of sick, demented revenge, don't you think I would have went to Samcro right after it happened or even after the trial? I knew he was in the same prison as my dad but I didn't care because all I really cared about was the fact that he was in jail. And I told you all of that, all of the shit that happened to me, because…because I thought I could trust you, Jax."

He shifted anxiously at her words, again swallowing the lump that had risen to his throat. He couldn't look her in the eye, not after everything she'd said. On some level, she was right. She was totally right. But she didn't understand his reasons. What the hell could he do or say to make her understand? She was too pissed off right now to think straight anyways.

"He was going to be out in four years, Kate." He whispered hoarsely, finally meeting her eyes for the first time.

"I don't care. It was none of your business. You had no right to get involved, especially since there was nothing to get involved with."

"I was just trying to look out for you…to make sure he wouldn't come after you again…"

"Bullshit," her eyes burned into him as she spoke. "Here I thought you were actually on my side."

"I am on your side, Kate." He pleaded. "I've always been on your side."

"You weren't doing anything but protecting the club's investment with the store. That's all this has ever been about—you're just Clay's little bitch, aren't you? Doing all his dirty work…"

He shook his head and reached out to touch her arm before stopping himself. They were right back where they had started.

"I don't know what I can say." He murmured simply, shrugging his shoulders in defeat. "All I've been trying to do is keep you safe. I guess I fucked up…I didn't mean to."

She was silent for a moment as she struggled to gain control over her conflicting emotions. On one hand, she wanted to kick, scream, scratch anything she could get her hands on. She had never been so enraged, so incensed, so livid in her entire life and that was really saying something given all the shit life had already put her through. And on the other hand, she wanted nothing more than to curl up into a tiny little ball and sob.

"I just…I didn't think you would…I just didn't think you would tell anyone. It's not like I'm trying to keep it a secret but the last thing I wanted to do was get dragged through everything again. I've worked really hard to put it behind me, to forget about it, and when he got out, I was going to deal with it then and take all the necessary precautions so he couldn't get to me again. Couldn't you have just…asked…me if it was alright to tell the club? I'm not sure what I would have said but maybe I wouldn't feel so disappointed right now."

"I'm sorry, Kate." His eyes pleaded with her to understand, to find a way to accept that he really hadn't meant to hurt her, that his actions were about more than just the club and that the absolute last thing he wanted to do was disappoint her but she just couldn't.

"I am too." She replied softly. After a moment's thought, she stepped around him to grab her purse from behind the counter and called for Jake. Before Jax could register what was happening, she switched the open sign off and locked the front door.

"What are you doing?"

She sighed and met his stormy blue eyes, racked with guilt and desperation. For a moment, she almost believed him. Almost believed that his actions had more to do with her than about the club. But she would be an idiot to believe that. He was the vice-president after all and his priorities were very clear. She'd trusted him, confided in him with something so deeply personal and he just turned around and reported it to Clay like a soldier doing re-con. Just business. That was it. Well, as far as she was concerned, she had had enough with doing business with Samcro. They'd interfered too much with her life, with her freedom, with her sanity, and now had crossed the line. Consequences be damned; she was going to end this once and for all.

"I'm done, Jax."

"What?"

"I'm done with this, with all this. I'm going to see Clay. I don't care if you follow me or don't follow me into Charming but I'm going." She answered calmly, with steely reserve. Then, she turned on her heel and headed towards the back door where her Rav-4 was waiting for her with Jake right behind her.

It only took Jax a moment to realize the depth of what she'd said.

"Oh shit." He muttered under his breath. He took off down the aisle and raced to the door to stop her, to talk some sense into her, to make her realize that she was about to test fate—and very soon be at the mercy of Clay, especially if she did what he thought she was going to. And if she did…then there would be very little he could do to save her from Clay's wrath.

But by the time he flung the door open, she was already gone.

A/N-Ok, so I wasn't going to write in Otto's revenge...but I got enough requests for it so I couldn't help myself. I hope you liked it!

So things are about to go from bad to worse now. Jax is really the least of her worries with this whole situation, even if he's the one who has really hurt her the most...and she doesn't even know that he saw the pictures yet! Clay is a whole other animal that, in her emotional state right now, she hasn't taken the time to stop and think about what confronting him might mean for her. We all know what Clay is capable of when his club and way of life is threatened and this will be no exception. She's completely going to be gambling with more than just her business in the next chapter...and maybe she'll start to understand how and why Jax has been protecting her...something to look forward to for the next chapter, right?

Ok, so you all know how much I love those reviews so please keep them coming! I'll try my best to get the next chapter up as quickly as possible and lots of reviews will only motivate me! R/R!