A month later, Ana sat in the office waiting for Gemma to come and accept her payment.

Charming had definitely grown on Ana. She liked the small town, the people, and the way everyone seemed to actually care about you. She'd found a favorite eatery downtown, across the street from the barber shop. Everything screamed "small and loving it" and Ana couldn't have been more pleased with the place she'd chosen to call home.

"Hey sweetheart," Gemma said, coming in. This would be the first time since they'd met that Gemma had personally taken a payment from her. "Sorry, Juice is on an errand for my husband so I had to fuss with him about leaving my computer guy behind."

"It's no problem, Mrs. Morrow," Ana said, digging out her check for the payment.

"Please call me Gemma. Mrs. Morrow makes me sound like I should be pinching little kids' cheeks and calling everyone dear," Gemma said, pretending to be offended. "I don't do that shit."

"Okay, Gemma," Ana said, laughing a little and handing her the check.

"This isn't going to bounce on me, is it?" Gemma said warily. That was another thing she was pissed with Clay about. Juice was supposed to install the new card readers so she wouldn't have to deal with the check hassle. Clay had been his normal asshole self, and said no one else could have been spared to handle the Indian Hills cargo.

Ana shook her head. "No, I just checked the bank before I came here, it's good."

"Good," Gemma said, putting it in a deposit bag. "How are you liking Charming?"

"I love it. It's just the change of pace I needed," Ana said with a smile.

"City girl, huh?" Gemma observed. She knew as much from what Juice had told Clay, but she wanted to see how honest this girl was.

"Seattle, mostly. Moved to LA after graduating there, to get my masters in American History," Ana explained. Gemma nodded with approval.

"What brought you to Charming?" she asked, knowing this answer would be more complicated. Other than the assault arrest on her father, there was no other clues as to what really made her leave the city.

Ana shrugged.

"Honestly, the job. I was getting restless in LA, so I took it and didn't look back," she said quickly, much too quickly for Gemma's liking. There was definitely a story there, and Gemma wanted to know what it was. Not just to satisfy her nosy nature, but to make sure no danger was coming to her guys.

"You got family?" Gemma asked, curiously, and was shocked when Ana shook her head.

"I have a sperm donor, but no, no family," she said, fiddling with the ring again. Gemma noted the sadness in the girl's eyes and felt sorry for her.

"That's sad," she said. "You're a bright girl, someone out there has to be proud of you."

"I suppose my mom is, in wherever it is we go after this life," Ana replied.

They were silent for a moment.

"I heard about the chase. That guy still bothering you?" Gemma finally asked.

Ana smiled and shook her head.

"Nah. Juice and Chibs took care of that," she replied.

"They're good guys," Gemma said. "Juice is a bit of an idiot but he's a good kid. The guy is nuts over computers, was cleaning viruses off of ours for weeks."

Ana laughed.

"I saw him in a diaper downtown a few weeks ago, I decided to give him a lift home."

"That was you? Oh, he was so embarassed and now I know why. I think he's got a bit of a thing for you," Gemma teased.

Ana laughed again. She liked Gemma a lot, in the way a niece would like a favorite aunt. She felt comfortable around her, even if she did ask a lot of questions.

"Well, that should teach him not to do whatever it was that he did again," she said, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.

"That it should. I'll let you get going now, but call if there's anything you need."

"Will do," Ana said, heading back to her car.

She was just about to leave when she saw a good looking man with chin length blonde hair running towards her.

"You Ana?" he asked as she rolled down her window.

"Yeah, who's asking?" she asked, apprehensive. Good looks normally meant trouble with men like this.

The guy grinned.

"Jax Teller. I'm Gemma's son," he explained. "My mom forgot to ask you something so she asked me to stop you."

"What's that?" Ana asked, unfazed by his smile. Yeah, he was cute. But word around town was Jax Teller had a kid in the NICU and there was no way in fuck that she was about to jump into that cesspool of fuckery.

"She runs this thing, called the Taste of Charming. Helps with the kids in the schools and all that-"

"Yeah, I heard of it a couple days ago. Funds are going to my high school for the music department I think," Ana said, remembering.

"She wanted to know if you were going," Jax asked.

Ana nodded.

"Yeah, I'll go. Be a good way for me to get to know the town a little better," she said.

Jax grinned again.

"Alright. Be safe getting home," he said, tapping the roof of her car.

"Thanks," Ana said, giving him a quick smile back. His smile was contagious, not unlike Juice's. Who also had good looks, but for someone reason, seemed immune to most of the bullshit that came with being a good looking outlaw type. Sure, she knew there had to be something up, but the dude was so fucking happy all the time that it seemed unlikely anything could bring him down.

Ana shook her head, trying to get the Mohawked kid out of her mind. She pulled out of the garage, wondering what the town would think about her becoming friends with the matriarch of the club they feared, before she remembered that she didn't really give a shit.

Ana arrived at the Taste of Charming late, and while she was looking for Gemma, she ran into a man dressed like Elvis. As luck would have it, Gemma was with him, but that was where luck ran out. Gemma looked pissed with this Elvis guy, and that didn't bode well for Ana, either.

"You know how hard it is to fit this into a helmet?" he asked her, before noticing Ana.

"Help you?" he asked kindly. Ana shook her head.

"Nope, just came to alert Gemma of my presence," she said. "Nice costume."

"We don't call him Bobby Elvis for nothing," Gemma said, punching him in the ribs. "Get to the kids, you come with me," she said to Ana as Bobby headed to the Elvis tent.

"Okay? Where are we going?" Ana asked, a little worried.

"Oh, just introducing you to a couple of people," Gemma said.

Ana followed her to a tent where two other women were cooking something that smelled delicious.

"Luanne, Tara, this is Ana Lewis. New in town," Gemma said nonchalantly, rummaging in a bag for something.

"Crow eater?" Luanne asked.

Gemma glowered at her and the blonde backed down.

"Teacher at the high school and one of my customers," Gemma said. "Ana, you mind helping out here, or do you have anywhere else to be?"

Ana shook her head with a grin. She would rather be here than out roaming among a bunch of strange people she didn't know.

"I'll help here," she told Gemma, who tossed her an apron.

The brunette-Tara-caught it and handed it to Ana. "Tara Knowles. I'm a doctor at St. Thomas."

"Nice to meet you," Ana said, shaking it.

"This loudmouth is Luanne Delaney," Gemma said, grinning as Luanne shook Ana's hand. "Best porn director in Cali."

Ana raised an eyebrow, amused. Unlike a lot of women, she had no qualms against what people did to make a living, as long as it was legal.

"Girl's got to make a living, right?" she asked.

The women laughed.

"I like her," Luanne said. They spent some time asking Ana questions about her past. How Seattle and LA were. Why she decided to come to a town like Charming. Ana answered as honestly as she could, but of course left some parts out. She didn't want her troubles affecting them.

Gemma spotted someone across the way and swore.

"Dammit. Ana, hang out here for a minute. I have to talk to my son," she said, walking away without waiting for an answer.

"No problem," Ana said, shrugging. As she began serving bowls of chili to the hungry patrons, she noticed Tara glancing at a booth across the way with fear in her eyes.

"Tara? Something up?" she asked.

Tara shrugged and shook her head.

"No," she said.

Ana looked at where she had been glancing and saw an older man staring at Tara with those same eyes Casey had once given her. The possessive. longing, dangerous eyes. He caught Ana staring, and looked away for a moment before turning his gaze back on Tara.

"Is it something to do with that idiot over there?" she asked.

"I-I don't know-"

The look in Tara's eyes told Ana everything she needed to know. She looked back at the creeper and took a deep breath.

"HEY IDIOT! IF YOU DON'T PLAN ON GETTING CHILI I SUGGEST YOU GET BACK TO YOUR BUSINESS AND STOP STARING SO HARD!" Ana shouted, drawing attention to both her booth and the creep across the way, who turned as fast as his skin turned red.

Luanne stared at Ana, wide eyed.

"Whoa," she said.

"What? He was making me uncomfortable," Ana said, sneaking a glance at Tara, who looked at her in grateful awe.

"Thank you," she whispered where only Ana could hear.

"Don't mention it."

"Shouted him down, and nearly shouted us deaf..."

"Well, what do you expect from the MC booth? Kittens and knitting?"

Gemma groaned as news about what happened between Ana and some loser reached her ears. She left Jax and rushed back to her booth.

"What's the problem?" she asked the girls as she reached the booth that people were now either avoiding completely, or watching to see what would happen next.

"No problem here," Tara said. "There was a creep but Ana drove him off."

Ana continued to put chili in bowls as Tara said this, unaffected by the gossip.

"That what happened Luanne?" Gemma asked, her eyes on Ana's back.

"Yeah," Luanne said. "Nothing happened."

"Okay," Gemma said reluctantly, still not believing that was what really happened. "Good call, Ana."

"It was common sense. If he wasn't getting chili, he had no business here," Ana replied, handing Kyle Hobart's girlfriend a bowl.

Gemma couldn't help but admire the girl's nerve. She hoped Ana would be sticking around.

Juice had a problem.

A sweetbutt from Indian Hills had hitched a ride with him, and was supposed to get out at Bakersfield. But now she insisted on going to Charming.

He couldn't exactly kick her to the curb, but she had banged Clay while they were there, and one thing the sweetbutts didn't do was parade in front of the Old Lady of the man they screwed.

"You got an Old Lady, Juice?" Cherry asked.

"Nope," he said, intent on the road. "But I'm not fucking you, either."

Cherry scoffed.

"Wasn't asking. I got my mind on one man only."

"Clay?" Juice asked, completely disinterested no matter who she had her eye on.

"No. Fuck no. Kip."

"Kip?" Juice asked, racking his brain and coming up with nothing.

"Half Sack?"

Juice chuckled. "His name is Kip?"

"Yeah, so? I bet your real name sucks, too. What is it?" Cherry asked defensively.

Juice laughed.

"That's for me to know and for you to never find out," he said. No way was he telling this Indian Hills sweetbutt his real name. Not many people knew that information.

Cherry was silent for a while.

"Why don't you have an Old Lady?" she finally asked.

Juice shrugged.

"Why are you so focused on that?" he asked. getting a little irritated.

"Because, man. You're not exactly bad looking, and you're sweet as sweet can be. Any other guy from the club would have left me to rot but you didn't," Cherry said. She'd heard many of the crow eaters salivating over the possibility of being his, and they'd all complained when he didn't show any interest. "You could pick any of the crow eaters and they'd be your Old Lady in a minute."

Juice pondered that for a moment.

"I don't know. I mean, I could have any crow eater I wanted, but do I even want a crow eater? For real, why would I go that route, knowing that they would have had anyone who asked them first, you know? No offense, but when I have an Old Lady, it's got to be real, and not just some poor girl with daddy issues settling."

Cherry nodded. She didn't know why the guys thought he was simple. Get the guy talking, and he could let out some deep shit.

"You have a point. What's your idea of an Old Lady?" she asked.

"Why these deep personal questions?" Juice asked back, annoyed and tired.

"Because I'm bored and no one really knows shit about you. And I'm not going to be around that much, if Clay wants me gone, so who better to tell this shit to?" Cherry asked.

Juice groaned. She had a point, so he began to think.

"Smart," he said with a smile. "She has to be smart. Tough enough to handle the life. I want a cross between Gemma and Tara," Juice said. "But with her own flavor, of course. I want her to love the man behind Juice, as well as Juice. I don't want her to be a crow eater, or a sweet butt. I want her to be someone who..."

"Isn't there to raise in ranks or get somewhere in the club?"

"Exactly."

They rode the rest of the way in silence, and for some reason, when he described all of that to Cherry, someone's face popped in his mind. Someone who he knew was too good for him, and wouldn't even want to be near this life.

But Ana Lewis would indeed be a good Old Lady.