The school year was over, and Ana was packing her items when the principal and a member of the school board walked in, their faces grim.

"Ms. Lewis," Mr. Williams said.

"Mr. Williams," she said, confused. "Is something wrong?"

The official cleared his throat.

"Yes, I'm afraid there is. There's been..ah...complaints at the school board about you being a teacher here," he said.

Mr. Williams shook his head when Ana looked at him in disbelief.

"I want it known that I fully disagree, and that I have received no complaints from the parents or students about Ms. Lewis's competency as a teacher," he said firmly.

"Neither have I," Ana said, confused. "No one has come to me, so why is the first time I'm hearing about this from the school board?"

"Be that as it may, David," the official said, completely ignoring Ana, "the complaints from your teachers and the parents that the board has received is a completely different matter."

"What complaints?" Ana asked. "One hundred percent of my students have passed, all the parents that I have talked to have not complained once, and- oh my Lord. This isn't about me,"Ana said, shaking with rage once she figured out what it was really about. "This is about SAMCRO?"

"No," the official said. "We had a complaint, the teachers fear for their safety. Their claims are justified in our eyes."

"Yeah, sure, how much did Jacob Hale pay you and the board for your votes, Mr. School Board man?" Ana shot back. "So what? I'm friends with people this town doesn't like but how's the crime rate inside of Charming when they're around? I moved here because Charming's been virtually crime free in five years. I can handle catty gossip about who I hang out with but never did I think it would cost me my job."

"If you can assu cre us that you'll be choosing your friends a bit more carefully," the official said, ignoring her rant completely, "then of course you would be more than welcome to come back next year. We can't ignore your excellent first year."

Ana scoffed.

"You realize this is discrimination, right? You can't hold a job over someone's head because of who their friends are," she said.

"I can when the safety of the school is in jeopardy," he said. "We need an answer today."

"Okay," Ana said. "You want an answer? You want me to choose between the closest thing I have to a family, and a school where people are judgmental assholes? Fine. Fuck you and your school board."

She took her box and strode out the door, ignoring both men calling after her.

"Way to go, jackass," Mr. Williams told the official. "Thanks to Jacob Hale, we just lost one of our best teachers."

Ana pulled into the garage's parking lot, tires squealing. She slammed her car door shut and strode into the office, slamming that door as she ignored Half Sack asking what was going on.

"They fucking fired me, Gemma," Ana said, sobbing in the older woman's arms as soon as she entered the office.

"Hey, calm down," Gemma said soothingly. "It's okay."

"No it's not," Ana replied. "That was my dream job. Now I'm going to have to crack into that stupid money the sperm donor left me."

Gemma laughed at Ana's reply.

"Girl, stop. You know that you still have plenty of your mom's money, too."

"They fired me because of the club" Ana said, talking more to herself than to Gemma. Regardless, Gemma still got pissed.

"What do you mean?" she asked evenly.

"The fucking teachers, Gem. I knew that they had been talking shit about me since Donna, but I didn't care. Apparently that substitute, Polly or someone, had a weird last name, she had spread even more rumors while I was in Seattle. So they complained to the school board about me. Said parents complained too, safety concerns or some shit" Ana said. "Told me that if I found a new group of friends, I'd be allowed to have my job back next year."

Gemma rolled her eyes.

"Fucking pricks," she said. "I take it you declined their offer?"

"With a side of go fuck yourself," Ana replied bitterly.

"Ana, do you really think we're worth your job? If it means that much to you-"

"You know what? They fired me over the club but it's their fault. I'm not working around a bunch of judgemental assholes," Ana replied angrily, but then her face fell. "God, he was fucking right."

Gemma was disturbed by the sudden change.

"Who was?" she asked Ana.

Ana looked up at Gemma, who was shocked to see legitimately sad tears in her eyes.

"My dad."

Gemma sighed and saw a tow truck pull in with a van hooked to it. "Why do these assholes always got to do this right before closing?" she said. "Go outside, we're still talking," she said to Ana.

Ana nodded and walked to a picnic table where she could be alone with her thoughts. She did a quick glance and saw Juice going through some tools. He looked up and saw her. He waved and looked at her questioningly. She shrugged and shook her head, looking at the ground as she walked to the table. She didn't want to bring him down with her bullshit right now.

Once there, she drew her knees up to her chest, the June evening unseasonably chilly. Ana thought about the day's events and sighed. She was now unemployed, kicked from the job she'd always wanted. She wiped away a few tears and hated herself for shedding them.

She hadn't felt this way since before her dad died. Now she felt just as worthless as she had when she lived with him. Even though he was dead, the memories of his scathing voice still rang in her mind.

Gemma saw Juice and waved him over.

"What's up with her?" he asked. "Sack said she was crying?"

"Yeah," Gemma said. "Girl lost her job. School board said she's a safety hazard."

Juice's eyes narrowed.

"Because of us."

"Jacob Hale has that council on his damn payroll," Gemma spat. "Even the principal didn't like the way she was let go. Now she's talking crazy shit, saying her dad was right or something."

"Fuck,"

Juice said. "You need me for anything?"

Gemma snorted and shot him a small grin.

"Gems, don't," he said. "She's really upset. Do you need me for anything?"

"Go," Gemma said, pleasantly surprised at his serious tone, and without a second glance, Juice headed to where Ana was. Gemma watched sadly. "At least some good could come out this shit," she whispered.

Juice grabbed Ana a drink out of the cooler on the way over. He saw Chibs talking to her, and she shrugged and nodded as he walked away.

"Lady's real upset, lad," Chibs said as he passed Juice. "Just staring at the ground, like it offended her mother or something. You know why?"

"Ask Gemma," Juice said. "I'm going to see about cheering her up."

"Yeah, you're good at that, Juicy. I'm going to get this van and then I'm headed home."

Juice nodded, his eyes still on Ana. He hated seeing her like that. Ana was normally sassy and confident, always had some smile on her face. Now she looked like a sad child as she sat on top of the picnic table.

"Hey," he said, sitting next to her her, and handing her the drink.

"Thanks," she said, still reeling from the fact that she'd lost her job.

"Listen," Juice said, putting his arm around her shoulder. He felt horrible for her, and he hated seeing her look so down. "Them firing you? Total bullshit. I'm sorry that happened, and I know it's the club's fault."

"No, Juice," Ana said flatly. "They fired me because of who my friends are. It's nobody's fault but theirs for being judgemental bitches."

"Wait, you don't blame us?" Juice asked, confused. "You were pissed earlier, talking to Gemma about them being the reason and I thought-"

Ana laughed, and Juice was grateful for see some life come to her face.

"Juan, don't be like that," she said reassuringly.

His stomach flipped, as it always did when she called him Juan and not Juice. "So who were you talking about?" he asked hestiantly.

"I was talking about the school board. You guys, you're the only thing I have that's close to a family. I'd say friends but it feels more than that around here," she said. "Why would I want to work around those assholes who treat my family like they're the scum of the fucking earth?"

Juice smiled as she leaned her head against his shoulder, and he stroked her arm lightly.

"What about us, Ana?" he said softly.

"What about us?"

"You and me," Juice said, nudging her up where he could look at her. "What does that feel like to you?"

Ana looked up in his eyes and shook her head.

"I don't know."

"I think you do," he said. "I think that you're feeling the same shit I'm feeling, and if you're not, then that's okay. And if you are and just don't want to say it, then that's okay too."

"Juice, I-"

Juice held up his hand.

"Let me finish, okay? I like you, Ana. And when I say like, I'm not talking about friends, and I don't mean I want to get in your pants, either. Although it'd be nice, I bet."

"Juan Carlos Ortiz!" Ana said, smacking his arm playfully.

"Sorry, sorry!" he said, laughing, but then he got serious again. "I want something more out of this, Ana, because ever since I met you, I've been wondering what it'd be like to have what Jax and Tara or Gemma and Clay has."

"There's so many girls here to try to have that with," Ana said, confused.

"And I told you a long ass time ago, I'm not interested to be someone those bitches are settling for. They'd hop on any member's dick if they had a chance to be their old lady. I want someone who wants me, who wants Juan Carlos and Juice, not one or the other."

"And you think that's me?" Ana said.

"I know it's you. There's no thinking about it. But I'm also a really patient guy," he said.

Ana's eyes drifted down to his mouth then back to his eyes.

"Are you?" she asked. "You know I got depression, right? Not 'oh I feel sad' depression. There are days I just want to stay in bed and not feel a fucking thing. Feeling hurts too much on those days. All I hear is my dad telling me I'm worthless. I hear the police officer telling me that Gavin's wife had already been notified, that he'd listed me as his fucking sister in his phone. I hear everyone calling me a homewrecking whore and all it does is drag me down."

Juice squeezed her hand. He knew exactly what it felt like to be that way. That was every day for him until he found the club, and even then, sometimes the bullshit just got him down.

"I don't care about all of that, Ana," he said. "I'm a little fucked up, too. But I'm going to tell you this now: you're not a whore, and you're not worthless, and if you need me to, I'll stay in the bed with you on those days, making sure you know none of that shit is true."

Ana knew he was telling the truth. She wanted to be with him so badly, and he'd given her plenty of reasons to do so, and no reasons to tell him no. Juice could be exactly what she was looking for. He wasn't married, he treated her nice, he was definitely easy on the eyes, and she knew that he would always look out for her.

What could it hurt? Why shouldn't she just give in to what she was feeling and see where it led?

She noticed Juice leaning toward her and she closed her eyes, waiting for his lips to touch hers. But before they did, Juice and Ana heard Chibs say "Oh shit!"

Juice looked up and saw Chibs running out of a van. Everything in Juice's mind clicked right before it exploded.

He didn't even think. Juice just wrapped his arms around Ana and quickly brought her to the ground, covering her body with his as the explosion rocked the air around them.

"CHIBS!" Ana heard Jax say.

"Shit!" Juice said. He looked down at Ana. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, her eyes wide with fear. He helped her up and they ran over to the crowd of people surrounding Chibs.

"Shit, Chibs!" Juice said again, his voice broken and full of pain. He ran his hands behind his head, distraught. Ana grabbed him by the arm, steadying herself against what she was seeing.

Chibs was laying on the ground, blood pooling from the back of his head. The explosion had thrown him and he landed on the back of his head on the concrete.

"Oh my God," she whispered, not being able to take her eyes off of the Scotsman who had just been trying to cheer her up not even ten minutes ago.

What the fuck just happened?

I know, that explosion was a real buzzkill.

I had Ana lose her job because of plot reasons, plus there's only so much bullshit someone can take before they snap. We get more Juice and club action next chapter, you know, before they get arrested. Anyone who's wishing that I would hurry up and get them together is going to have to wait quite a few more chapters. It's coming, and now it's just a matter of bad timing. They will be together by the end of Season 2, I promise. This story goes through to the end of Season 3, so there's plenty of time for their relationship to develop.

I'm going to work on this some more today. I'm feeling like crap so I've got Christmas movies on the TV for the kid, and I'm just going to write.

You guys make me smile, for real! Thanks to new reviewers TheIrishShipperholic and Love Ink for the love, and to the new followers I've gotten. You guys are awesome. Pie for all (just not cherry).