Ana felt great being back in Charming. She could even ignore the catty ass gossip about her possible involvment with SAMCRO without getting angry. And talk they did, especially since Juice Ortiz had been hanging around more and more. They assumed that they were an item, and Ana didn't bother to correct them, no matter how wrong they were.

She immediately paid off the car. That nice little Miata was hers now. Of course this meant she had no valid reason to go to the garage regularly but she didn't care about that, either. She liked hanging around there. Ana liked seeing how they were with each other, like one large, loud, loving family.

Something else Ana did, that shocked Juice when she told him, was start the process to buy the house she'd been renting.

"You know that means putting down roots and shit, right?" he'd said the a week after the party. They were on the phone as Ana sat on the couch, going over the work she'd had to catch up on.

"I'm aware of that, JC. It's kind of my intention," Ana said, shaking her head at the substitute's letters. "These kids get a sub and all of a sudden it's like they lose all home training."

"I don't know about you, but I had a fucking blast with subs," Juice said lightly. "Gave them different names, told them we were studying something that we'd already covered...it was awesome."

Ana shook her head. Somehow she could see baby faced Juice playing innocent when he was really using that brilliant mind to play pranks on innocent people.

"You're incorrigible, dude," she said. "Ugh, I'm thinking about letting all this slide as extra credit and just grading the tests instead."

"You can do that?"

"Not really, but in a way, yes. If they did the work, they get a 100. If they didn't, they get a zero. The ones who took the time to do this have their grades go up, the lazies will go down."

Juice whistled. "And they say teaching is hard."

"It is," Ana said defensively. "I'm just too tired to do all this shit."

"It's because you're old."

"And you're not?" Ana shot back. "You have three, almost four years on me, Juan Carlos."

"I'm still a kid inside," he argued back,

Well, he had her there. The boy may have been thirty, but he's the only thirty year old she knew that would rather play Super Mario Brothers and eat Funions than to go out and pick up chicks.

"Meh," Ana said, tossing over the worksheets.

"Hey, you hear about Gemma?" Juice asked curiously.

"No, what's wrong?" Ana asked worriedly.

"Bad car accident happened the night of Bobby's party. She's okay, just banged up pretty bad. Caddy is toast, though," Juice said regretfully. "Can't even try to fix it again."

"Shit," Ana said.

"Gem's okay though. She's at home, you should probably drop by tomorrow to see her. She'll be happy that you're buying a house," Juice said. "What made that happen, anyway?"

Ana grinned.

"I don't know, Juicy. Just feels right."

Ana knocked on Gemma's door the next day, and Clay answered. He looked aggravated but quickly smiled a little as he saw her.

"Hey, Ana," he said affectionately. "Sorry we didn't get much time to talk the other night. How's the old man?"

"Just the way I like him. Dead," Ana said, making Clay laugh. "Gemma here?"

"Yeah, sweetheart, she's in there. Maybe you can lighten her up," he said. "I gotta get to the clubhouse."

Ana walked in as he left.

"Gemmmmmma? I have some news for you," she sing songed as she walked into the kitchen. She saw Gemma there, with butterfly bandages all over her face. "Aw, Gems."

"It's okay, sweetie. I'm fine," Gemma said hollowly.

"No, you're not," Ana replied back, sitting down. "You look like you got in a fight with a truck."

"Truck won," Gemma said, smirking a little. "What's this news you got for me?"

Ana observed Gemma carefully. Ana knew car accident injuries, and this wasn't a car accident. Gemma had been beaten pretty badly. She didn't think Clay did it. He'd been genuinely worried, not nervous or twitchy, so the car accident story Gemma fed him had to be for his and Jax's benefit. If she was saying it was a car accident for now, then Ana would play along.

"You know, one day I'm going to ask what really happened, Gemma," Ana said softly. "Not today, not tomorrow, but one day."

Gemma sniffed.

"Thank you," she said, squeezing Ana's hand. "So, news?"

Ana grinned.

"I'm buying that house I'm staying in," she said.

"Putting down some roots," Gemma replied. "Good for you sweetie. I take it you're feeling more at home?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ana said.

"That's good," Gemma said. "Look, I don't mean to run you off but I'm really tired and-"

Ana smiled but inside she knew wahtever happened, it was bad. Gemma didn't even chastise her for calling her ma'am.

"I know. I'll talk to you later," Ana said.

As she left, she looked back at Gemma, who hadn't moved. She knew something was up, but if she knew anything about Gemma, she knew that she wasn't one to be pushed. Ana just hoped that whatever it was that happened, Gemma wouldn't let it sit for long.

A few more days went by. Ana decided it was time she brought in the Miata for a tune-up, to see how much of a toll the Seattle trip had been on her baby.
Gemma was in the office with Tara, discussing something when she knocked on the door. Gemma looked like she was feeling better, but there was still something a bit off about her. Ana didn't know who Gemma thought she was fooling but she wasn't one of them.

"Am I interrupting?" she asked, curiously. Gemma waved her in as she noticed Tara glaring out the window toward the clubhouse. "What's up with her?"

"Nothing, sweetheart. Jax is just out there with a bitch who doesn't know her place yet," Gemma explained. Ana walked to Tara and looked out the window as well and laughed when she saw who it was.

"Oh God, that's the same bitch that tried to start shit with me over Juice at Bobby's party," Ana said with a grin.

Tara looked over at Ana with an amused smirk. "You're with Juice now?" she asked.

"Ew, no, we're friends," Ana said quickly. Too quickly for Tara and Gemma, it seemed, when Ana saw them look at each other amused. "What?"

Gemma chuckled.

"Ana, Juice is nuts over you. Has been for some time. And you can try to hide it from me all you'd like, Miss Thing, I know that you're a little into him, too," she said as she sat down.

"I think you'd make a good couple," Tara said. "And you'd definitely be a kick ass Old Lady."

"Yeah, I'm a regular badass chick," Ana said sarcastically. "Okay, Juice is pretty sexy, and he's a great guy, but did he tell you what happened last time I fell for a sexy great guy?"

Gemma nodded.

"So your last guy got killed and you found out you were a mistress instead of the head bitch in charge. I'm guessing that's when your attitude changed toward everyone. Are you seriously telling me you think Juice, the boy who was eligible for damn MIT but can't remember not to put dish soap in the diswasher, is just like that asshole?"

Ana knew he wasn't, and she knew she was shit at hiding how she felt about him. She should have known Gemma would have picked up on that shit faster than a dog picks up a dropped steak.

"I know he's not. I just don't feel good enough for him," Ana finally admitted.

Tara and Gemma laughed out loud at that.

"Juice will definitely say otherwise-"

"What am I saying?"

Ana flushed red as Tara and Gemma laughed again at the sight of Juice in the office.

"Nothing, Juice. We're talking about the dishwasher thing," Gemma finally said, calming down.

"Oh," he said with an embarrassed grin at Ana. "Well, Miata's done, Ana babes."

"Can it, bitches," Ana said, as Tara and Gemma erupted in laughs again. Smiling, she shook her head at Juice's confused face as she took the keys from him. She noticed how his fingers brushed against hers and blushed yet again.

"You getting a fever, Ana?" Juice asked, concerned as they walked out to her car. "You look a little flushed-"

"I don't know," Ana said. "It's probably nothing, it was hot in the office."

She glanced over at Juice, who was still looking at her with concern. Ana knew she could be with him easily. It wouldn't even be a problem. She knew he would treat her right, and do everything in his power to make her happy.

But the club may end up being an issue in the future, and she didn't know much about him. Sure, she knew his real name, and that's something that some people in the club didn't even know. She didn't know what made him tick, or his family. She didn't even know if he was actually 100% single. The crow eaters were enough to make her want to keep her distance, except for the fact that he really didn't pay them much mind. Not when she was around, anyway.

"You need a ride home?" Juice asked. "You're being all spacey and weird."

"I'm fine, JC. Just going through some shit," Ana said, shutting down as she always did, much to Juice's disappointment. "I'll see you guys later."

Juice collapsed on his bed in his dorm later that night. He couldn't get Ana out of his mind, especially that look she had in her eyes earlier. She had looked at him like she...wanted him. As much as he hated to compare Ana to the crow eaters, she looked at him like one today.

It was no secret that he wanted her. He didn't want to just get in her pants, but he wanted her to be his long term. He was thirty years old, and, despite how the club treated him, he wasn't an idiot all the time. He wanted what Jax and Clay had. What Opie had with Donna before she died. He knew Chibs had an old lady somewhere too. He wanted all of that, and he didn't even know he wanted it until Ana came into his life.

He'd heard Tig talking about how he wanted to see how she was, but Juice knew that he couldn't let that happen. Tig was his brother, but he wasn't about to let Ana be subjected to whatever fetish of the week the guy had going on. When he talked about that to Happy, the Tacoma killer had, after snorting about Juice coming to him about that gay shit again, told him that if he didn't want Tig going after Ana, to do something about it.

"You like her. She looks like she digs you. Fuck and get it over with."

Happy wasn't a romantic, but he had a point.

Juice went to sleep, wondering how he could go about making the beautiful Ana Lewis his.

Yes, after this chapter is when all the good shit starts to happen, finally.

It's going to be maybe later on today or Saturday when I update this. Tomorrow is Christmas shopping day.

So the convo with Ana and Gemma earlier was awkward. Mainly because Ana just isn't as close to Gemma as say Tara, and since Ana doesn't know what really happened, it's hard for her to talk to Gemma.

So some cool stuff for you guys. I saw another story on here where she did a character profile of her female protagonist, so I decided to do a bit of the same thing. Link is on the profile page. Also, I have a photo album where Ana's eventual crow is. That's also my profile picture. Links are on the profile, too.

You guys are awesome for following and reading, this story already has like 2,000 views which makes me feel awesome. Thank you all so much.

Peace and love,

Becca