Kozik felt the harsh sting of glass shards at the right hand corner of his forehead, which stemmed downward in a crescent shaped pattern to the bottom of his jaw. He also picked up a few loose shards in his lower right arm when he fell down. A couple of stray, crimson drops of blood began to trickle down his forehead as he watched Allison run out of the compound, and turn left on the sidewalk.

His brain was screaming at him to pick his ass up off of the pavement and chase after her. So, Kozik propped both of his elbows behind him, and he tried to force his disorientated body to stand up.

His body however, had a very different idea because he fell back down onto his ass - which consequentially was right on top of the pile glass.

"Holy motherfucking Christ!" Kozik screeched like an alley cat from the shock of the intense pain which radiated from his ass cheeks. He immediately rolled off of the glass and onto his left side.

He closed his eyes for a moment to try and focus on steadying his laboured breathing. This stinging pain he felt in the various spots of his body, combined with shock and shame he felt about how Allison had reacted to him - made him feel sick to his stomach.

There wasn't anything in the world he wanted more at that moment, than to shoot his veins full of heroin. It would take away all of the unadulterated pain and shame that was wreaking havoc on his body and mind.

The heroin would free him from the concrete blocks attached to his feet, allowing him fly up into the stratosphere and escape into an awesome euphoria. The only substantial feeling of consequence would be the warm, tingling sensation pulsating throughout his nervous system.

Kozik stopped his train of thought when remembered that heroin can only cause more pain – not solve it.

He groaned as he felt the acidic content of his stomach quickly work its way up his esophagus. Ignoring the pain, he repositioned himself onto all fours knowing that if he remained on his side; he could choke on his own vomit. That was definitely not the way he wanted to be remembered.

Herman Kozik – ex-Marine, member of the Sons of Anarchy, passed away from choking on vomit after he got clocked in the head with a beer bottle by a woman… Not exactly a flattering eulogy.

His body lurched violently as he regurgitated what little food and liquid that held in his stomach. After the last heave, there was no more fight left in his body, and he collapsed face down into his own puke.

Kozik suddenly felt two strong arms wrap underneath his shoulders, and flip him onto his left side so that he was in the recovery position.

A gruff voice which belonged to none other than Piney, spoke up, "I take it that's Allison."

Kozik let out a strangulated sigh. This was without a doubt the longest day of his life...

"What the hell happened? What was all of that screaming about?" Gemma shouted as she ran out of her office towards the spot where Piney was standing.

When she reached the scene, her eyes widened at the sight of the injured blonde. Scrunching her nose in revulsion at the metallic smell of Kozik's puke, she demanded, "That mouthy gash is responsible for this, isn't she?"

"Fuck, just help me up Gemma," Kozik moaned, unsure as to whether the painful throbbing was worse in his ass, arm, or his head.

Gemma growled in frustration at Kozik dodging her question. None the less, she took her cue alongside Piney and helped the blonde to stand up.

The only reason Kozik managed to stay somewhat balanced on his feet was because Gemma and Piney, were supporting him underneath either of his shoulders.

"We need to get him to the emergency room," Gemma stated, ignoring the fact that a small crowd of gawkers were gathering around them.

"Eh' what the hell is happened?" Chibs' voice boomed out as he jogged up to the scene. Seeing that the Gemma was struggling to hold up the 190 pound blonde up, he quickly took over for Gemma.

"That crazy redheaded bitch smashed a beer bottle across Kozik's skull! What the fuck else do you think happened?" Gemma snapped back as she switched off with Chibs.

"Allison did that?" Chibs gaped, not entirely believing that Allison was capable of such violence.

Gemma crossed her arms and gasped in furious astonishment, "Are you fucking deaf? That's what I just fucking said!"

"Argue about this later. We've got to get him to emergency now, in case he has a concussion or some glass fragments in his eyes." Piney exclaimed in a highly annoyed tone.

"No," Kozik cut frantically, "I don't need to go to the hospital. They'll just ask what happened and I don't want Allie getting into any trouble."

Gemma's jaw dropped at the notion. That bitch was responsible for the glass sticking out of his body in multiple areas, like some perverse version of bird feathers; and he didn't want to get her in trouble.

Gemma wanted to refute Kozik's wishes, however - she along with Piney and Chibs knew that by the conviction in Kozik's tone he was dead serious.

"Shit, I'll call Tara to get her ass over here," Gemma huffed before she walked briskly away toward her office.

"Come on, Kozy. We're gonna get ya' patched up as good as new," Chibs said as he and Piney began to lead Kozik into the clubhouse.

Chibs fought back the urge to spew out all of the questions that were on the tip his tongue.

How did Kozik know Allison? Why the hell did she crack a bottle across his skull? Did he try to physically hurt her, and that was just her way of protecting herself?

Chibs really hoped that the last scenario wasn't the case, if so – he would crack more than just a beer bottle across his blonde's head…

Judging by how adamant Kozik about not getting Allison in trouble, Chibs knew he wasn't going to get any of these answers from him, anytime soon.

Chibs would have to go to the source of the problem – Allison.

Allison ran for about five blocks, until she could no longer see the SAMCRO compound behind her when she glanced over her shoulder.

When she stopped running, Allison took a few moments to catch her breath. She leaned her back against some a random brick building and closed her eyes.

Her heart was beating rapidly, as sweat oozed out of her forehead and underarms. It took Allison a few moments to comprehend that her cheeks were not damp from perspiration, but from tears.

As she tried to compose herself, Allison felt unrest in her stomach. It wasn't from physical overexertion, but from a powerful feeling of shame.

For the last seven years she had cursed the existence of Herman Kozik.

After she went inside, Allison was reminded of some sort of ugly, deleterious, monster every time Kozik popped into her mind. The thought of Kozik's promises about how he would protect her from Paul and his family when it came time to do so, made her feel completely worthless.

Like really, how could she be so gullible to fall his lies?

If he had really loved her, he wouldn't have skipped giving his testimony about how Paul manipulated her through threatening Briella. Kozik's knowledge about what really happened the night of Allison's car accident would have ensured that the first degree murder charge would have been dropped.

Despite Allison's black feelings about Kozik - she felt a revitalizing pang in her heart when she looked into Kozik's eyes back at TM. For a brief moment, it was as if they none of the horrible shit had gone down, and they were still head over heels in love.

Allison's eyelids quickly flung open. Was she high on crack or something?

There was no chance in hell she would ever allow herself to fall Herman Kozik, ever again.

When she began to feel a bit better, Allison stood up straight and readjusted the purse strap on her shoulder. She walked a few steps towards the curb of the sidewalk, and looked up to see what kind of business it was she had been leaning against.

An amused huff escaped her lips when she saw that plain green and black lettered tin sign read,

"Sam's Liquor Store"

"What a noble idea," Allison remarked dryly to herself.

Allison sat on the couch in Juice's living room, staring at the T.V. screen, not paying any attention to whatever game show as on the screen.

In one hand she held strong Jack and coke. In the other, she held her cellphone.

As much as she wanted to call up Rachel to tell her about her day from hell; Allison just couldn't find it in her to dial her number.

She knew that Rachel would flip her lid when she heard that Kozik was no longer SAMTAC, and was now patched as a member of SAMCRO.

Growing up, Rachel had witnessed her biological Father as well as her two step-Fathers; abuse her Mother in every way imaginable. Instead of turning to substance abuse like most children in those situations do, Rachel used her anger and fear to motivate her to become a criminal defense lawyer.

She specialized in representing women who've been indicted due to domestic violence. So naturally when Allison's case was plopped onto her desk, she snatched it up in a heartbeat.

For her entire journey, Rachel was there to support Allison in any way possible. She witnessed just how much Kozik's betrayal had hurt Allison. It was probably the hardest moment of her career when she sat across from Allison, and told her that Kozik did not show up to give his testimony. Allison immediately broke out in heart wrenching sobs, making it all the more harder to explain that the D.A. would push for first degree murder and child endangerment charges.

Allison lost completely after that. She began to band her fists into the stainless steel picnic table, and shriek about how much she wanted to kill Kozik with her bare hands.

Rachel sat there in complete horror as she watched the guards rush up to Allison in full riot gear – and strap her into a chair that half way resembled a straitjacket. It was at that point she vowed in her power as Allison's attorney to ensure that Allison would receive justice.

The week before Kozik was to testify in court, Rachel had driven up to Tacoma to inform him that his testimony was the only real chance that Allison had at gaining her freedom. Otherwise, Allison was looking at life without parole - or even the death penalty.

He had sworn up and down, that he would be show up and share his knowledge. When he did not show up Rachel felt like driving up to Tacoma and putting a bullet through the blonde's head.

Rachel despised Kozik so much after that day; she could not even begin to fathom how much Allison loathed him.

Allison eventually decided against calling Rachel, and walked into the kitchen and set it down on the table.

Up until this day, Allison figured she would be okay living in Charming. Sure she had anxieties but she would deal with them, just like she had done her entire life.

However, knowing that she would be living in the same town - let alone the same state as Kozik - had completely crippled confidence she had about starting her new life.

The look in Kozik's eyes right before she ran away, was shocked her down to the core. It made her question in the back of her mind that if Kozik not testifying was actually as malicious in intent as she had brought herself to believe.

When you really sit down and analyze the issue, it wasn't just Allison's and Kozik's future at stakes. There was also the fate of the MC, and the Italian Mafia in California and in Chicago to consider.

Before her thoughts on the new notion could go any further, a sharp series of knocks rang out from the front door. Not wanting to dealing with whomever it was, Allison simply decided to ignore them.

After three more knocks, the person outside spoke up, "open up this door right now!"

Allison cringed at the sound of Gemma's voice. She closed her eyes and hung her head for a moment before setting her drink down onto the coffee table, and slowly walked towards the door.

After she had unlocked the door and aggressively flung it open, she asserted "what happened between Kozik and I, is none of your concern - just like the rest of my life. You are not going to get any answer out of me, and I highly doubt Manny will tell you anything either. Now get the fuck off of this property."

Gemma could not believe the attitude of this ungrateful bitch. First she shows up out of the blue, claiming to be some long lost companion of Juice. Then she has Chibs looking at her like she is the best thing to happen since sliced bread. Finally she nearly kills another club member for no apparent reason.

Gemma really needed to put Allison in her place. She wanted to spew insult after insult out at Allison like machine gun fire, but found herself tongue-tied. She was too distracted by the ungodly appearance of the lower half of Allison's body.

Without realizing it, Allison had opened the door wearing only a black ribbed tank top, and a pair of purple denim shorts.

Starting about two inches above her ankles, Allison's skin was riddled in scars. The scars varied in size, shape and length. In coordinating patches, there were also sections of skin that were discoloured and shrivelled from being burnt. Just above the knee, on the backside Allison's left leg; there was a substantial chunk of tissue missing where her vastus medialis muscle should be.

"Holy Fuck! You are one gimped up bitch," Gemma blurted out. The filter in her brain was not working, as per usual.

Allison felt like her stomach dropped down into her feet. Her eyes grew wide, and her cheeks grew a sizzling shade of crimson. Acting on instinct, Allison swiftly slammed the door shut in Gemma's face.

She stood paralyzed in mortification behind the closed door. She stayed still until she heard Gemma footsteps leave the porch and heard her SUV pull out of the driveway.

After a few seconds of silence, Allison let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in. Out of nowhere, she went from feeling nothing but emotional and alcohol induced numbness, to a full on panic attack.

She turned around so that her back was resting against the door. Her legs began to tremble and without warning, gave out beneath her.

For the second time that day, tears flowed uncontrollably from her eyes. Allison could only imagine how Gemma, was going to run her mouth off about Allison's appearance. At that given moment, Allison was sure that Gemma was in Kozik's face, asking why the hell "the psycho gash was so gimped up".

It infuriated Allison to know that Gemma was most likely going to use her biggest insecurity to get "the truth".

If Kozik did give Gemma the satisfaction of an answer, hopefully he would just stick to their story that Allison got hurt in a car crash. He knew just as well as Allison did, that the real truth would set off a chain of events and reopen a very ugly can of worms.

"Hey Lieutenant?" Deputy Cane said as he knocked on the doorframe to Sheriff Roosevelt's office, "I think I got something you might want to see. It's about that MVA on Main Street this afternoon."

Roosevelt looked up from his paperwork, "what's up?"

"Well the owner of the Dodge that got t-boned, Allison Lowrance, put on her accident repot that her address is 2219 Vermilion Avenue. Now I recognized that address from somewhere, so I looked it up. The house belongs to a local Sons of Anarchy member, Juan Carlos Ortiz," Cane replied stepped into the office.

"Ortiz is Stockton. Probably just one of his squeezes looking after his pad until his time is up," Roosevelt responded a bit irked. He didn't see why Cane was bothering to tell him this information.

"Yeah that's what I thought too, but then Ms. Lowrance's face looked really familiar to me. As you know before I came here, I was working for the Susanville Police Department, up in Lassen County. My third day on the job after graduating the academy my training officer and I, responded to our first homicide. A physical domestic dispute got out of hand and the wife ended up killing the husband by smashing in his face with a small frying pan. The dude's face was so caved in – matching his fingerprints with what we had in the system was the only way the coroner's office could identify him. Anyways, when Martinez and I were driving back to the station after responding to the MVA, it hit me – Ms. Lowrance was the wife. I just looked her up in the data base and found that I was right. All of her charges got appealed eight days ago, and now the only charge on her record of consequence will be one count of imperfect self defense. I called up the CDC, and by nine o'clock tomorrow morning her record will be up to date. She was released from Chowchilla seven days ago."

"Okay so what's the problem? Why should this woman be on our radar? What does her living at Ortiz place have to do with anything?" Roosevelt asked. "You know that profiling for past offenses won't get us brownie points with the D.A."

"I remember most of the details from that case… it was pretty brutal. Ms. Lowrance had a daughter with her late ex-husband, Paul Maganoli. At the time of the attack, Paul and Allison were newly separated. According to the several testimonies Ms. Lowrance gave throughout the years; the physical violence began because Paul broke into her home and began to beat on his daughter – the situation escalated rapidly from there. Paul Maganoli was a member of the Tacoma charter of the Sons of Anarchy."

"Uh huh," Roosevelt sighed, finally understanding why Cane was bending his ear.

Gangs by nature are highly misogynistic. Old ladies are usually safe as long as they do not overstep the boundaries set out by their partner. The members usually don't give a rat's ass about the other member's old ladies, unless the old ladies cause some sort of trouble that interferes with the gang business.

Allison murdering her husband was on the taboo end of the old lady spectrum of the, "not to do" list. Roosevelt knew that Allison was lucky that she wasn't murdered for retaliation by the MC.

"Did get back to you with the MVA Perp's toxicology report, yet?"

"Yes sir," Cane answered as he handed Roosevelt a small bundle of papers, "the Perp, Mr. Frank Edwardson, was way over the legal blood alcohol limit at the time of the accident."

"Alright, I'll think I'll go personally update Ms. Lowrance about the situation."

"Yes sir," Cane replied smiling. He knew that Roosevelt had finally caught on to why he just lectured him about a homicide that happened several years ago.

If Allison would willingly affiliate herself with a patched member of the MC again - there was a good chance she hadn't learned her lesson the first time around.

Roosevelt knew from his experience with gangs that Old ladies usually, do not pose a threat. However, if they were felons, it was a good idea to keep an eye on them. In Allison's case; his watchful eye would be for her own safety…

Allison was slumped up against the front door with her knees curled up to her chest, sobbing profusely. When Sheriff Roosevelt knocked on the door, Allison was very reluctant to answer it. She was still very shaken up by her encounter with Gemma.

"Fuck off whoever you are!" Allison managed to holler out.

On the opposite side of the door, Roosevelt could hear Allison crying. Alarmed by the shaky tone of her voice he spoke up, "Ma'am its Sheriff Roosevelt, with the San Joaquin Sheriff Department – are you alright in there? I have an update for you about the MVA."

Allison suddenly felt even more embarrassed. She had assumed that it was some member of SAMCRO on the porch, ready to yell at her for nearly killing one of their brothers and for disrespecting their Queen. er FrFr

She really wouldn't have cared if she had told some Uni to fuck off, but a telling a Sheriff to fuck off was a whole other scenario. Allison hated law enforcement for obvious reasons, but higher ups like Roosevelt required a bit more tact. Otherwise, a person might find themselves thrown into a County cell overnight, if they aren't careful.

"Uh just a second," Allison replied as she stood up. She quickly ran into the spare bedroom and ripped apart her shopping bags until she found the fuzzy floor length, bright purple bathrobe she had purchased at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

When she opened the door, she hated to see the scrutinizing looked on Roosevelt's face. Allison had spent enough time dancing around the law to know that a Lieutenant wouldn't make a house call for a menial MVA; unless there was another motive behind it

"What do you want Sheriff?" Allison inquired in a very unwelcoming tone.

"I am just here to inform you that Mr. Edwardson, the man who was driving the SUV which hit your car today; was severely over the legal blood alcohol limit at the time of the accident. He is being held for observation over night at the hospital, so I am here to give you his insurance information in his stead," Roosevelt addressed while silently wondered whether or not, the time was right to prod about her relationship with Juice.

Allison snatched the papers out of Roosevelt's hand and in a hasty fashion replied, "Yeah thanks. I am still having my car assessed, so I don't know if it's a write off yet or not."

"Alright, well you have a good night Ms. Lowrance. I you need anything don't hesitate to call the department," Roosevelt responded with a nod, before he turned around, walked down the porch steps, and got back into his cruiser.

From Allison's taut expression and her calculated speech; Roosevelt concluded that it defiantly was not a good time to bring up the topic of the MC.

Besides, all he could really do was hope that no trouble erupted between SAMCRO and Allison.

Tara was highly irritated when Gemma called her at the hospital, yelling at her to come with her kit to the clubhouse ASAP, and hung up without any further explanation.

When she arrived at the clubhouse, Gemma quickly ushered her into Chapel. Gemma immediately left Tara alone with Chibs, muttering something about, "setting a dumb bitch straight".

She wasn't really surprised to see that it was Kozik, who was lying on his stomach waiting for her help. Since Kozik had arrived in Charming several months ago, Tara had noticed that the blonde biker had a tendency to get roughed up.

She didn't dare ask Chibs or Kozik, about what had happened. It was safe to say that neither of the men was themselves.

Chibs had a baffled, puppy-dog expression plastered across his face. On top of that, he was really distracted and needed a lot of guidance - which was completely unlike the Scotsman. Usually, he fully invested himself into aiding Tara anytime she was treating somebody.

The second Tara announced that she was finished, Chibs bolted out of the chapel like there was a vicious dog chasing him or something.

Kozik had a thousand yard stare in his eyes the entire time Tara treated him. He barely spoke a word to Tara. The only time he did, was when he was pulling up his pants and mumbled, "Thanks Doc."

Tara figured that Kozik was just really embarrassed by the whole ordeal, so she skipped her usual spiel about how he really should have gone to the emergency room. However, she did lecture him on signs of infection he should watch out for, and how often to change his dressing. She was pretty sure that he didn't hear a word she said, but quickly scribbled out a prescription for some antibiotics none the less.

Kozik grabbed the prescription and proceeded to limp out of the Chapel. He passed through the main lounging area and down the hallway until he reached his dorm room, feeling several eyes on him.

He knew that they all wanted an explanation, but he could not have cared less. Just like back in Tacoma – his and Allison's relationship was nobody's business but their own.

"Hey I'm all done with Kozik," Tara announced her presence as she stepped into Gemma's office. "Do you want to tell me what that was all about? He was pretty withdrawn into himself, and Chibs seemed pretty freaked out."

Tara knew Gemma well enough that the frown on her face meant that shit was going down, and Gemma could do nothing to control it.

"Gimpy must have her claws dugs further into Chibs than I thought," Gemma murmured to herself.

"Who?" Tara proclaimed with raised eyebrows.

Gemma was still very astonished by the deformity of Allison's legs. She wasn't going to forget about it anytime soon – so, Gimpy seemed like an appropriate nickname for Allison.

Gemma sighed realizing that Tara knew nothing about the whole Allison scenario, "This gash named Allison is apparently an old friend of Juice's. Anyways, she just got out of the big house and convinced Chibs to give her the keys to Juice's place. She's going to be living there until Juice gets out. Meanwhile, she apparently likes to lead on lonely Scotsmen, and abuse middle aged surfer dudes with Coors Light bottles."

"Uh huh," Tara really didn't know what to say about the mystery woman, "well Kozik is going to be okay. He was really fortunate that he didn't get any glass in his eyes."

"That's good," Gemma stated before changing subjects, "I went to Juice's place after you got here. I was going to talk some sense into Gimpy, but she just slammed the door in my face. This bitch seriously needs a reality check."

Gemma purposely left of the detail of Allison's legs. When the time was right, Gemma bring it as a curveball the next time her and Allison got into it.

"Well let me know if I can help out. This chick must really have a screw loose to attack somebody the way she did to Kozik," Tara said while shaking her head.

"Thank I think I'm going to need all the help I can get with this one," Gemma replied.

Life as an Old Lady rarely involved a dull moment, that's for sure.

The false sense of peace which Allison had gotten from her fifth of Jack Daniels was completely shattered after Roosevelt's visit.

They must have run her name through the system, and seen her un-modified record. It was the only real explanation as to why the Sheriff bothered to make a house call which happened to be way below his pay grade.

Rachel had said it could take the CDC up to two weeks, to wipe everything clean.

Allison walked away from the front door and into the kitchen. She stared her cellphone sitting in the center of kitchen table, like it was some ominous centerpiece.

The small screen on the front of her plain silver flip phone had a two missed calls, one voicemail, and four text messages.

Allison wanted to see who the hell was blowing up her phone but after a moment of thought; she ultimately decided against it. It was probably Chibs about her truck, or that crazy bitch Gemma, wanting to get her to account for previous actions.

She had no idea of what she was going to do about the entire situation – it felt like she had been pulled into a biker style version of the Twilight Zone.

She knew that the responsible thing would be to sit down, and try to figure how to find the answers to all of the questions running through her mind. Also she should formulate a plan about how she was going to deal with the Kozik issue - but Allison was tired of thinking.

Since Allison had given birth to Briella; it seemed as if her life revolved around scheming and executing plans to achieve some sort of happy ending. The happy ending never worked out, and she was simply sick and tired of it.

"Fuck it," Allison said to herself as picked up the bottle of whiskey on the table.

She walked over towards the fridge and pulled out bottle of coke. She was rummaging through the cupboards looking for a really large tumbler, when she heard the sound of a motorcycle pulling into the driveway.

"Motherless, fucking cunts!" Allison roared before she turned around, and picked up the whiskey off of the table.

She took three large swigs from the bottle and she walked towards the door.

Did this house have a ginormous sign outside that read Please Disturb, or something? Just because she was staying at a club member's house, doesn't mean that the other members and associates could just stop by anytime they felt like it.

The next time she went up to Stockton, she was going to have one hell of a strong word with Juice about his nosy comrades.

Allison growled from the burn of the whiskey, before she placed her hand on the gold doorknob and flung open the door.

She was prepared to launch a sailor style bombardment of curses at whoever dared to bother her, but stopped when she saw who it was.

Chibs stood in front of her, looking a little bit like a lost dog. His shoulders weren't pushed up and out, in the masculine, confident, way they were the other times Allison had seen him. Instead, his posture was slightly stooped, which hinted towards a lack of confidence.

His small framed sunglasses which sat at the tip of his nose highlighted his dark brown eyes. His eyes reflected an expression of worry.

Allison could help but to drool a bit, as she let her eyes wander up and down Chibs' body. His dark wash jeans nicely accentuated his well sculpted behind. She also appreciated the worn looking, brown leather jacket which he wore underneath his kutte – she was a sucker for a man in leather.

"I uh –" Chibs spoke up, but got interrupted when Allison snapped out of her little lustful fog.

"What the hell do you want? Because if you are here to lecture me on how I redecorated that blonde's0 piece of shit face today – don't. If you think what I did to him was bad, you have no idea what I can do with this!" Allison exclaimed, referring to the bottle in her hand.

Chibs found himself in a conundrum. On one hand he found himself totally turned on by Allison's aggressiveness, but on the other hand he was actually terrified of what she might do.

"I just wanted to make sure that ya' were okay," Chibs replied rather calmly, despite his palpitating heart.

Allison noticed the bottle of Jameson whiskey in his right hand, and the bag brown bag of what she assumed was some greasy fast food in the other hand.

"What's that all about?" Allison asked curtly, referring to the items.

Chibs's eyebrows went up in shock at her comment. Maybe she wasn't going to bash his nuts after all…?

"I just thought that ya' would want some food, seeing as that yer' shopping got disrupted this afternoon," Chibs answered in a tentative tone.

Allison took a sharp breath in through her nose, and twitched her mouth side to side.

Her intuition told her that Chibs' intentions were genuine. If he really wanted to bitch at her about respecting club members and so forth; he would have done so the moment she had opened the door.

She sensed that he wasn't the sheepish type when it came to defending the honour of the club.

Based upon all of their interactions over the past few days, she could tell that Chibs really wanted to get to know her better. Although at that given moment, Allison really couldn't find it in herself to give two flying fucks - she was simply done with the day.

Moreover, she was done dealing with men. The drunk driver, the police, Kozik, and Chibs' attention were just too much. After spending so many years secluded from reality behind bars, she had slightly forgotten about the selfishness of the opposite sex.

If there was one lesson Allison had taken from the day; it was that whatever God lived up the stratosphere was warning her to stay away from bikers.

"I'll take that and that," Allison replied as she snatched the bag of fast food and bottle of liquor out of Chibs' hands, "but you can get the hell of this porch. I have had a really rotten day, and the last thing I want to do is spend time with a fucking Son of Anarchy. Thanks for the concern, but you and your gash of a Queen can go fuck yourselves."

Having spoken her mind, Allison slammed the door in the baffled Scotsman's face without a second thought.

Chibs stood still for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. Compared to all of his other interactions with Allison, this one was definitely unexpected. The bottle of Jack Daniels in her hand probably had something to do with her straightforwardness, though.

Maybe Juice was right when he warned him to stay away from her?

There was one thing Chibs did know - he was going to have one-hundred and one questions for Kozik tomorrow. The same thing would also be true the next time he visited Juice.

But until then, Allison certainly wouldn't be leaving his thoughts.

As Kozik lay on his bed, he listened to the usual nighttime sounds of people scurrying about the clubhouse. He hoped nobody would pop in and try to see if he was "okay", because the truth was that he was far from it.

He wasn't surprised in the least that Allison wasn't happy to see him. He didn't really blame her for decking him either. He actually would have been kind of worried if Allison hadn't.

What Kozik was surprised about though – was the fact that she physically trembling in fear, at the sight of him. The awestruck look he saw in her eyes was the very same look she used to get, when she would confide in him about how much Paul's temper scared her.

How the hell did he get himself to this point?

Allison, the person whose opinion Kozik valued the most - now regarded his character as being no better than Paul's.

Paul Maganoli had to have been one of the lowest, most vile pieces of shit to ever walk the face of the planet. Kozik had no idea how he never shot the bastard's head off for so many years, knowing how he treated his family.

To sum up Kozik's opinion of the Paul – he wished Allison wouldn't have stopped with smashing in Paul's face. She should have first chopped off his dick while he was still alive and stuck it in his mouth, between his fat Italian lips. Then she should have drenched him in gasoline and flicked a packet of lit matches on him.

No wait - Kozik should have been the one to kill Paul.

What kind of a man places his wife, not to mention an innocent child, between two criminal organizations to use as some sort of perverse, peace broker?

Allison had no choice but to try and run away from Paul.

If she had spoken up and told the MC about what Paul's real intentions within MC – Paul's family in Chicago would have pinned her as a rat greenlit her. The MC also would have probably also greenlit Allison themselves. After all, her not speaking up about how the Italian Mafia was ripping them off lost them thousands of dollars.

To survive Allison needed to grab her daughter and go far, far away. But Allison also needed someone to protect her and love her; which is obviously where Kozik came in.

Briella also needed to have a male figure in her life. No wait scratch that – Kozik was her Dad in every which way, except biologically. In his off time, he took her to the park, bought her ice cream and generally treated her like royalty.

Her little smile, laugh, and overall innocence brought an indescribable joy to Kozik's life. He had never thought of himself as a family type man before - but it wasn't long until he was yearning to start his own family with Allison.

If he would have told the club to go fuck themselves, and went away to California when Allison and Briella did - none of the shit probably would have gone down.

Kozik's train of thought was disrupted when he saw the steel doorknob begin to twist. The person on the other side of the door tried to jiggle the door when they realized that the door was locked.

He was so depressed and physically tired that he could not even manage the strength to tell the person to go fuck off.

"You can stop hiding now. Literally everybody has left the compound," Piney called out in a matter of fact tone.

Kozik growled in pain as he pulled his sore body, up off of his bed.

"For real? Cause' I'm in no mood for any bullshit, old man," Kozik answered as he limped towards bedroom door.

"For Christ sake yes!" Piney replied, getting irritated having to address Kozik through a thick piece of steel and wood, "I got a big fat bottle of Jim Beam's finest sitting on freshly opened the bar. I know how much you like your whiskey son."

Kozik let out a sigh. He had sworn off booze for a while after his escapade last week, but a few stiff belts would help to dull the burning throb he felt in his face, arm, and ass cheeks.

When Kozik unlocked the door, it brought a smile to his face to see that in his right hand, Piney held his sterling silver flask. Piney's left arm was wrapped around a ratty looking, cardboard banker's file box, which probably dated back to the 1960's. What was inside the box however, was priceless trove of treasure.

"Let's go," Kozik said as his bit his bottom lip the way he always does.

As he limped down the hallway towards the main area of the clubhouse, Piney made an effort to match his slow pace. As they staggered along Piney talked, "That shit outside was rough today. There's nothing worse than having a bunch of groveling shitheads hovering around you, while you're at rock bottom."

"Ain't that the truth," Kozik replied with a sheepish laugh. He was surprised and embarrassed to feel his cheeks getting warm.

Piney could see the rosy color on the blonde's cheeks through the corner of his eyes. He could help but to laugh, "Don't be so damn bashful. Being taken down by a woman isn't the end of the world."

Kozik looked at Piney, shocked that the old man read his mind for the second time that day.

Piney snorted and took a swig of tequila before he explained with a devil grin, "there was this time – back in 79' I think – Mary and I were still married. Anyways, she had stopped by the garage to pick up Opie, who I was supposed to be watching for the day. He was inside the clubhouse watching T.V, while I had my face buried in some sweet, blonde bush, which was sitting on top of the 67' Cadillac I was supposed to be fixing up."

"What'd Mary do? I'm sure she was pissed."

"Took the lug wrench laying on top of my tool box and whacked aside the head so hard – I fell unconscious right on top of the bimbo's snatch," Piney laughed.

Kozik laughed right alongside Piney. Sometimes he wished that he could have met Piney when he was in his heyday. He was sure that Piney would have put even Bobby or Tig's partying to shame.

By that point, the duo's slow pace had finally brought them out into the main area of the clubhouse.

Kozik grabbed the promised bottle of whiskey off of the bar, and then lay down on the large leather couch by the pool table.

Piney however, diverted his path and went behind the bar.

He tucked his flask into his kutte's breast pocket, set down the box on the counter, crouched down on his knees, and opened the cabinet which contained the stereo equipment for the entire clubhouse. He let out a grunt of disgust as he shut off the electronic stereo which was playing some sort of modern day, heavy metal crap.

Piney had nothing against rock and roll music. In fact some of his favorite music came out of the 60's and 70's rock era.

Most of the shit that gets produced today though, wasn't even worthy of being put on a radio; let alone released on a CD. He didn't know if it was because he was old, but the quality of musicianship in his day was leaps and bounds above the current music being produced.

Tonight wasn't the right time to listen to songs about drugs or broads, however. What Kozik needed was some old fashioned, honkytonk style, heartbreak songs.

Piney was one of the few people who knew about the blonde's secret love for country music.

Kozik kept it secret because it really just wouldn't look good for a big tough biker, to roll up on his Harley blasting Keith Whitley or Marty Stuart.

Piney could get away with it though, because he was old enough that people wouldn't care about what kind of music some half dead geezer listened to.

After Piney had lifted the dusty plastic cover up of the record player, he stood up and flipped through his box of records until he found the one he was looking for – a George Jones greatest hits album.

The arrangement of the tracks was just perfect. Nothing but powerful, cry your heart out, whiskey drinking, love songs.

When Piney flicked the switch, and the needle touched down – it only took a few second before the hollow sounding grooves turned into the Possum's velvety, yet raw voice.

Back over on the couch, Kozik closed his eyes and rested his backwards as he listened to the personally haunting, true words of "A Picture of Me Without You".

Imagine a world where no music was playing
then think of a church where nobody's praying
if you've ever looked up at a sky with no blue
then you've seen a picture of me without you

Have you walked in a garden where nothing was growing
or stood by a river where nothing was flowing
if you've seen a red rose un-kissed by the dew
then you've seen a picture of me without you

Can you picture Heaven with no angels singing
or a quiet Sunday morning with no church bells ringing
if you've watched as the heart of a child's breaks in two
then you've seen a picture of me without you...

A/N: Well I know it has been several weeks since I have update! Sorry!

I felt bad for taking so long to update so that why this chapter is nice and long!

Excuse #1 is that my school has been domineering my life like crazy… Excuse #2 I had finished watching the entire series of the Shield (the show Kurt Sutter worked on before SOA). I was so enraged by the ending of the series that I had to write a one shot about it haha. Check out my profile if you are interested in reading it ;)

I know the past between Kozik and Allison seems really grey, or sketchy right now – but you will understand it all in due time!

If you guys have any thoughts or input, I am curious to know what you think thus far: Who do you think will get with Allison, Chibs or Kozik? (This is listed as a romance so at the end of the day so somebody will!) Do you think her reaction to Chibs fit character? Also I am wondering what you guys think of how I am writing Piney. He is such a multi-layered character, I don't want to screw it up!

Thank for reading, and if you have any sort of opinion about my story please review!