Juice watched the party around him. Everywhere he looked, there were men and women and liquor. He wasn't hurting for the liquor – he was on to his sixth beer now – but none of these women enticed him. Three nights before, even Rachel still would have been a distraction. Now that he'd had Grace again, though, nothing else would suffice.

Jax took a seat next to Juice with his own drink. "Come on, man. Don't sit over here and mope. Go get yourself some pussy, take your mind off shit."

"Nah," Juice said, taking a gulp of his beer. "None of these bitches are worth it."

"Worth it?" Jax scoffed. "Juice, I get that you're hung up on this girl, but she ain't your old lady. Get some while you can."

Juice ran a hand over his face. "We both know you're not gonna hit it tonight, Jax, so why don't you just go find a quiet bed to drink yourself to sleep in?"

Jax held back his anger at Juice's tone and reminded himself of the days and weeks before Austin gave into him. "I've been where you're at, and recently. Austin had a shit-ton of baggage when she pulled onto the garage lot, Juice. I love the girl, but let's face it – she should have been towing a U-Haul behind that Charger for all the shit that came with her. I'd never hold that against her, but we all know it's true. Grace is working for Luann. She shows up from Miami out of nowhere. You haven't seen her in eight years –"

"How do you know all this shit?" Juice frowned.

"Austin may not be too girly, but my girl talks to me about all of this," Jax smirked. "All I'm saying is, from what I've heard about Grace, I'm betting she should have packed her emotional baggage in a fucking eighteen-wheeler."

Jax finished off his beer, ordered up another one from the prospect behind the bar, and gave Juice one last meaningful glance before walking off to find that quiet bed to drink himself to sleep.

That was just before all hell broke loose.

.:.

June Stahl strode into the cell Juice was sitting in and slapped down a file at the foot of the cot he was reclined on.

"You're not going to ask me what this is?" she prompted.

Juice kept his lips sealed and just continued to stare at the ATF agent. He knew who this bitch was – just a few months before, she had Austin in an interrogation room, questioning her about murder. June Stahl was digging for anything and everything she could find to bring down the Sons of Anarchy, but Juice sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to help her out.

"Fair enough. I'll do you a favor and save you the breath. This, Juan Carlos 'Juice' Ortiz, is your ATF file. I have one of these on every bitch and bastard tied to SAMCRO. That includes the SAMTAC and SAMBEL. That new chapter in Nevada? Don't worry, I'll have their information soon enough." She stopped to feel out his facial expression, then continued. "Let me talk to you about what's in this file, okay? Your club doesn't have a problem doing business with blacks, but how would they feel knowing that one of their members has a black father?"

Now she had Juice's attention. For all the club knew, he was Puerto Rican – his mother was Puerto Rican. He'd never mentioned about his father's background because his father never mattered to him – the deadbeat had never been in Juice's life. Besides doing business with the Niners, Juice had never known the Sons of Anarchy to have anything to do with anyone of black descent. They certainly wouldn't be interested in having one in their club – and there was only one way out of the Sons.

"We've got options for you, of course," Stahl told him, presenting it like he was checking into a hotel and had his pick of room amenities. "First option, the club finds out. I can tell them or you can tell them, I imagine the outcome will be the same. You'll be out. The ink comes off, you're ex-communicated, blah, blah, blah. Second option, this stays our little secret in exchange for information on the gun running. SAMCRO never finds out that there's a black man in their club, and that'll be that."

Juice still didn't say anything. He didn't trust Stahl for shit, but she had something on him. She could turn the entire club on him. She was being optimistic in her prediction of what would happen if the club found out. If they knew that his father was black, they wouldn't just cut Juice off. He lied to them. The penalty for that was so much worse.

"I'll give you some time to think it over. Not too much time though," Stahl warned. "This is a ticking time bomb, Juice. It could go in your favor or it could destroy you. You decide."

She told the guard at the cell door to let everyone sit for a couple of days before letting them go while she verified some evidence. Juice knew it was bullshit; she pulled everyone in so that she could talk to him without suspicion. Now she was going to let him sit and think on it.

As Juice sat back against the wall, his mind wandered back to Grace. Fathers had been a sticky subject for both of them. He remembered the day he had finally told Grace about his own father, and she in turn opened up about hers.

"I still miss him sometimes," Grace admitted. "I wonder if he ever thinks about me. I dream about going back to Attleboro to find him."

"Would you go stay with him if you knew where he was?" Carlos asked.

Grace shrugged. " I really don't know. Guess it would depend if he wanted me or not."

"Let's find him then," Carlos told her, nearly running for the computer. He fired it up and waited impatiently for the dial-up service to connect.

"This isn't necessary, really," Grace assured him. "If Eddie wanted to find me, he would have done it by now."

Carlos ignored her and put his hacking skills to what he considered good use. Grace had known her father for the first ten years of her life – that was certainly long enough to know how she felt about him and how he felt about her. He wasn't sure what had happened in the last six years that Eddie hadn't tried to find Grace, but maybe they could find out.

"Here, is this him?" Carlos asked, pointing to the screen.

Grace's eyes darted to the screen and she steadied herself against the back of his computer chair. Her eyes filled with tears and one hand went to her mouth. She just nodded; yes, that was him. That was her father. Backing up slowly so as not to fall, she let herself drop to the bed.

"Read it all to me. Please."

Carlos took a deep breath. "Let's see … he still lives in Attleboro. Works for a construction company. He's … he's married now, to a loan officer for a small bank."

If it was possible for Grace's face to fall any further, it did just then. "Do they have kids?"

Carlos scrolled down a little further and read the information. Grace had asked for. It was then that he realized he was faced with a choice: he could tell her everything listed on the website and chance losing his best friend, or he could protect her from a potential heartbreak and a whole lot of confusion.

"Two boys and a girl."

The tears fell from Grace's eyes. "I've been so stupid, Carlos. I honestly thought he'd come one day. Instead he went and got a whole new family!"

He put his arms around her, pulling her against his chest. "Listen to me, Grace. If he doesn't want you, he's crazy, all right? He doesn't deserve you. Kind of like my dad – they're both losers. We're better off here together."

Grace nodded, and Carlos let her cry it out. He would forever feel guilty for lying to her, and if her father ever did get in touch with her, he was going to have some explaining to do. Until then, he would keep her close and protect her as best he could.

Maybe he should have looked up his father, too. Juice knew that man would never look for him or come to find him or anything – and that was just fine. Juice didn't want or need answers from him. Shaking his head and laying back on the cot, Juice decided he would do what he would always done – he would figure all of this out on his own. He would get out of the Stahl predicament and he would make Grace see that they belonged together. It wouldn't take long and everything would be back to normal, except better.

.:.

The garage was hitting a slow patch, so Austin had taken to helping Gemma between tune ups. She was running a couple of errands and picking up lunch when she spotted Grace on the corner talking to one of Darby's guys. Austin had only seen them once in all the time she'd been here, when she was in town with Chibs. He'd sent the guy packing right away and then explained things to Austin; Darby and his guys were only good for drug deals. It seemed like a very hush-hush kind of conversation – Austin didn't like it at all. She sat in the Charger until Darby disappeared, then caught up with Grace quick. She pulled the other girl by the arm back to the Charger.

"What the hell, Austin?" Grace exclaimed, wrenching her arm away. "You almost pulled my arm out of the socket!"

"The fuck are you doing talking to one of Darby's guys?" Austin demanded.

Grace puffed out her chest. "None of your business." She tried to walk away but Austin's grip immediately took her arm again.

"I explained to you why it is my business."

Grace sighed and looked away. She pulled her arm away again and dug a small bag out of her pocket. "I just needed some stuff."

Austin's jaw dropped a little. She composed herself quickly and opened the passenger side door. "Get in."

"Why?"

"Just get in. I've got to pick up lunch for me and Gemma, then we'll back to the lot and handle this."

Grace's eyes grew wide as she buckled herself in. "I'll go on one condition."

Austin raised her brow, daring Grace to challenge anything she'd say. "What's that?"

"You can't tell Juice. Please. It's bad enough to him that I'm stripping. If he knew anything else …"

Austin knew about keeping secrets. "Fine. But you get this shit handled."

Grace nodded, and Austin drove them on their way. It was just over thirty minutes later they were pulling onto the Teller-Morrow lot.

"Gemma," Austin said, leading Grace into the office. "We need to talk to you."

The older woman was on the phone and she motioned for Austin to wait. Austin pointed to a chair while she put the food bags on Gemma's desk.

"All right, be careful coming back. No more trouble. … Love you, too." Gemma hung up the phone and shook her head. "Those bastards are on their way back. They've been sitting in a jail cell in Tacoma for the last few days, didn't even bother to call and let me know."

Austin's eyes grew. "Are they all right?"

"Far as I can tell," Gemma answered. "Clay said he just wanted us to know they're fine and that they'll be back tomorrow."

"I'm going to call Jax. Grace, you can come with me."

"I thought you said you needed to talk."

"This isn't the time," Austin shrugged. "Let's figure out what the guys were in jail for, then we'll sweat the small stuff. I'll be right back."

Grace followed Austin to her room in the clubhouse and dropped down to the bed. "She'd be pretty pissed if she found out now, wouldn't she?"

"She's going to be pissed either way," Austin corrected. "Look, my suggestion is that you talk to Luann first. Maybe she can get you some help."

"I just got here, Austin. I can't have Luann turn me out now."

"Gemma's much more likely to turn you out than Luann. Luann is alone and I'm sure she enjoys having someone else in the house. Talk to her, Grace. You have two weeks, then I'm telling Gemma – and Juice."

Grace looked like a perturbed teenager as she rolled her eyes and nodded. "Fine. Can you take me back home?"

"Sure. Wait out at the bar, I'll be out after I talk to Jax."

"All right." Grace stood, but turned back at the doorway. "Hey, will you do me a favor? Make sure Juice is all right? I know that I hurt him the other day, but it doesn't mean I don't care."

Austin nodded. "Yeah, I'll make sure."

.:.

"Yeah, darlin', I'm fine. Ready to get back on the road and get home," Jax assured Austin. "We're getting ready to leave the Tacoma clubhouse now. I'll check in with you from the road, okay? … Yeah, he's fine. We talked a little. I'll tell you about it when I'm home. All right, babe. Love you, too, Aus." He disconnected his phone and turned to Juice. "Your girl asked Austin if you were all right. Told Austin you were fine."

Juice nodded. "Thanks, man."

Jax looked around to make sure no one else was listening to them. "I had to push to break Austin down to open up to me, and she was every bit worth it. I want you to remember though, Juice, the shit I went through to get where Austin and I are today. I almost died just trying to save her. I want you to decide if Grace is really worth your life before you push anything with her – and I want you to think about how she is today. Not the Grace you knew back when."

Juice cleared his throat. "Yeah, brother. I'll think about it."

They stopped the conversation there as everyone else gathered around them at the bikes. Motors revved and dust swirled as they pulled away from the Tacoma clubhouse; Juice was ready for it. Between Grace and Stahl, he just had too much on his mind. He needed the open road to clear his mind before he got back to Charming, otherwise he just wasn't going to be able to deal – and all too often, that led to doing things he knew he'd regret.

A/N: I didn't realize that I don't have anonymous reviews enabled, but they are now! I appreciate all the reviews and alerts - please keep them coming. Hope everyone's having a fun safe weekend, and thanks for reading!