Being a Son

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N: Sorry this one is so late. It has been crazy. Then it got to be so long since my last update that this chapter had to be spectacular. Talk about pressure.

I keep wanting to get to the wedding, but there's so much to go through before then that it keeps getting pushed back and pushed back.

Chapter 7: Healing

Tig trailed his finger down the side of Edie's face. The previous night had been amazing. He didn't remember the last time he had had that much fun without actually having sex. It had to have been because it was with Edie. She sighed and cracked open her eyes. Tig was smiling down at her, his eyes crinkled at the corners, betraying his age. "Time to get up girl. Let's go get you that tat." Edie smiled at him and jumped up to kiss him.

An hour later they pulled into the TM parking lot. They were just in time to watch the croweater walk of shame. It seemed like everyone had woken up at the same time as the girls filed out that morning in perfect synchronization, one after the other. Edie hated seeing them. They reminded her that even though Tig was hers in Charming, when he was on a run, he would be another woman's lover. This thought caused her stomach to drop and Tig, seeing her expression, thought she was upset over the thought that he had screwed one of the women currently vacating the SOA clubhouse. He put his arm around her and led her into the bar, "I aint done anyone since you've been back, Edes. No one but you baby." That didn't make her feel better but she just nodded. Today was a special day- she was getting Tig's crow and in a week they would be married.

"You head back to the back room. Hap already set everything up. I'll go see if he's up." Tig disappeared down the hall. A girl came out a second later and spotted Edie. "So," she said, "You're Tig's girl." Edie turned around and nodded. "You must have done something pretty kinky to keep his attention. He aint touched me since you showed up. I used to be his favorite, you know. He'd do things to me that I still can't believe. You must do things most guys could only do to farm animals."

"That's enough, Trish. Just get out," Tig ordered, coming out of the hall with a shirtless Happy behind him. Trish just smirked at Edie and turned on her heal, leaving. She paused and turned back when she reached the door, "Thanks for last night, Hap." Edie looked to Happy in disbelief. But his face was hard and he held a murderous look in his eyes. Trish's cackling laughter could be heard long after the door closed behind her. Edie looked to Tig who was studying her, judging her reaction.

Happy stepped around Tig and pulled Edie into a hug, "Long time, no see, little girl. How you holdin' up?"

"Good." Edie had always liked Happy, he was always nice to her, even before she and Tig were out in the open. But he scared her, probably more than Tig because she knew that at least Tig had some type of compassion in him. Happy seemed more of the 'kill then party' machine type than actual human being.

He looked down at her, "Ready to do this?"

Edie looked to Tig and smiled gently, "Yeah." Tig smiled at her, a little relieved.

Tig had described the tat to Happy weeks ago. Edie hopped up on the table. "Where are we puttin' it?" Happy asked, pulling out the ink and filling the small wells. Edie looked at Tig, a little nervous that he would pick an intimate place.

"Just under her collar bone."

Happy nodded, "Alright, you shave her while I get this shit set up." He handed Tig a razor and a small can of shaving cream.

Tig was gentle, as he almost always was with Edie. Not one nick.

Happy turned to the couple, his rubber gloves snapping as he put them on. Edie was up on a table, laying back with her legs hanging over the end. "Ready?" Edie looked up at Tig and took his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"Yes."

The whole process didn't take very long. It didn't hurt that bad- it mostly burned. When they were done, Happy had her stand and look at it in the mirror across the room.

"It's perfect." It was a small crow in flight with a dagger clutched in one of it's feet.

Tig shook Happy's hand while Edie stood transfixed at the mirror. She couldn't believe it- she was officially and forever Tig's girl. All those little croweater bitches would answer to her now. She was no longer just a member's daughter; she was an old lady. By that very definition she commanded respect and power among all SOA women.

"You ready to go babe?" Tig came up behind her.

"Yeah..." she barely answered.

"C'mon, let Hap bandage you up and let's go."

They were back home, sitting on the back porch, watching the sun set beyond their dilapidated back fence. There was one lounge chair, so Tig was leaning back, legs parted and hanging on either side while Edie was snuggled up to his chest.

"I can't believe it's finally happened. I had lost hope that I would ever be here again."

"Believe it, babe." Tig took a big swig of his beer and set his nose against her hair. "Edes, I want you to go to a therapist." Edie went still and silent. The hand she had been petting his arm hair with was now paused over his wrist.

"You get me someone to go to, and I'll go."

"Bobby got me the name of one of his ex's shrinks. Apparently she's pretty good- got his second ex to drop the spousal support demand."

"You give me the number and I'll set it up."

"I know you don't think I hear it Edes, but it kills me every time I wake up and you're crying in the shower."

Edie resumed rubbing his arm, "I don't want to burden you with my shit. I know you're after those guys and you're doing all you can. I don't want my emotional crap to get on you."

"I don't think you get what that tat means to me, Edes. I ain't one of those guys who let their old ladies deal with their own shit. I wanna help anyway I can. And if you need to cry, cry- don't hide it from me. I don't want a cold lady like Gemma- I want my Edie. My little, soft, squishy Edie."

"Okay."

Tig craned his neck to look at her face. "No more hiding?"

"No more hiding."

Edie called the therapist the next day and was able to get a same day appointment. One of her patients had canceled.

She went to the receptionist, "Hi, I'm Edie Walker. I have an appointment for 3 o'clock."

"Okay, have a seat and fill out these forms. I'll let her know you're here." Edie took the clip board and pen and sat on a sofa. It was a standard form- name, birthdate, address, phone number, etc. No insurance, Tig told her to pay in cash.

"Edie? You can go in now." She gave the clip board to the receptionist and went through the door to the right of her desk.

In the office she found a small woman sitting behind a desk. She had brown hair with wisps of grey, which was pulled back into a bun. She looked up and smiled at Edie. She stood up from behind the desk and held out her hand.

"Hello Edie, I'm Dr. Strauss." Edie took her hand, which was soft and warm. Already this woman felt familiar. She made Edie comfortable, like she would be talking with her own mother. "Please, have a seat on the couch."

Edie sat on a plush couch similar in color to the one in the waiting room. Dr. Strauss sat in an arm chair across from her.

"So, Edie, tell me a little bit about yourself."

"Like what?"

"Well, where do you work? Do you go to school?"

"No. I work over at Teller-Morrow in the office."

"Oh, full time or part time?"

"It depends really. Lately I've been working about thirty hours a week."

"I see... What about your social life? Friends? A boyfriend?"

"I'm engaged, actually. We're getting married next week. He's actually why I'm here. He wanted me to come in, atleast once."

"Oh? And why is that? Is there something wrong?"

"Not now. There was... About six weeks ago." Edie looked down at her folded hands as she said this. How much could she say without revealing anything about the club?

"Edie?" Dr. Strauss got her attention. Edie looked up to the therapist. "Do you want to talk to me about it?"

"Honestly, I just want to forget it ever happened. Tig has told me a lot that he doesn't look at me any different. I just want to move on."

"Well, Edie, talking about it is a very good step on the path to moving on. You can express all of the emotions you're suppressing and begin to heal. I assume that Tig is your fiance?" Dr. Strauss asked, raising an eyebrow over the wire frame of her glasses.

"Yes."

"Edie, we don't have to talk about what happened right now. But I do think that since the feeling that I'm getting from you is that it was very serious, you should talk about it with someone. Maybe not me, since you don't seem to be the most comfortable with me knowing, but someone you trust. Tig, perhaps?"

"I really don't want him to know every detail. For one thing, it would hurt him too much to know the details and I never want to do that."

"Do you have anyone you can talk to about what you're going through?"

Edie thought for a moment, "A family friend. She's been like a mother to me for as long as I can remember. My real mother left when I was just a baby and Gemma's been there for me through everything."

"Do you think you can be completely open and honest with her without judgement?"

Edie nodded, "Of course. Gemma'd never judge me for anything like what happened."

"Well, Edie, I think then we've come to a conclusion. I think within the next few weeks you should open up to Gemma about what happened to you. I would like to see you in three weeks to check up on how you're feeling about things. Would that be alright?"

"Sure."

"Alright," Dr. Strauss leaned over and wrote something on a card then handed it to Edie, "give this to my receptionist and she'll schedule you for three weeks from today."

Edie would tell the doc she'd come back, but she wouldn't. This had been the biggest waste of her time.

"We got a call from Laroy. The two assholes are in town and he's keepin' them entertained for now. He's willing to deliver them for a modest finder's fee- two grand," Clay said.

"We can swing that," Bobby said from the far end of the table.

"When do we do this?" Tig was eager.

Clay tapped some ash into the ashtray on the table, "We'll pick them up at seven and take 'em out of Charming. You bring Edie out to us. She can get her final say in what we do to 'em before we kill 'em."

Tig got a sadistic look in his eyes, "Sounds good. Call me when you've got 'em. We'll meet you out at the old park."

When Tig got home that night the lights were on and he could hear music coming through the closed front windows. He opened the front door and ACDC nearly blasted him back out onto the lawn. He made his way through the living room and small dining room to the kitchen where he found Edie dancing around and stirring something. He smiled and watched her for a minute before sneaking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her. She jumped a little but settled almost immediately.

Edie turned the heat down on the stove and turned around in Tig's arms to stretch up and kiss him hello. She pulled away and made a gesture telling him that dinner would be done in a minute.

Tig turned around and grabbed a beer out of the fridge then went into the living room to turn the stereo down. When he went back into the dining room Edie was there setting a couple plates down. Tig sat in front of his plate. Dinner was sloppy joes. Edie knew that he hated vegetables, so she gave him two while she had one with a salad. Tig made a face at her dinner and then dug into his own.

After a few bites, the edge was taken off his hunger and he asked her "So how did the shrink go today?"

"Biggest waste of a hundred and fifty bucks," she replied before taking a sip of her light beer. Tig hated the stuff to the point where he was embarrassed to even have it in his house. But what ever it took to make the old lady happy...

Edie stabbed at her salad and elaborated, "Didn't even get into anything. I told her I just wanted to move on and she told me to find someone I trusted to talk to about it."

"You want to talk to me about it?" Tig both wanted and didn't want to hear about what happened to her.

"No." Ouch. "I trust you baby, but..." It hurt, but he knew why she wouldn't tell him.

"Who?"

"Gemma. I called her and invited her breakfast tomorrow. She'll be here at eight thirty."

"You want me gone by then?" Tig asked, taking another bite.

"I'm not gonna kick you out babe. I just don't want you to have to hear..."

Tig nodded in understanding. "We got those bastards. You and me gonna take a ride to the abandoned park outside of town and meet the guys." Tig's eyes were still on his food, but he heard Edie's fork drop.

"I don't want to see them."

"Baby, it'll only be for a minute, just to make sure they're the right assholes. Then Juice is gonna bring you home and sit with you until I get back. That's it." Tig looked up at her and Edie nodded. "It'll all be over soon, baby. I promise."

Edie was so scared on the way there that Tig could feel her shaking through numerous layers of leather. They pulled into the small park and saw everyone waiting there. The two assholes had their hands bound behind their backs and were kneeling on the ground. Happy and Chibs were calmly holding guns to their heads. Clay, Jax, Bobby, Opie, Piney, and Juice all stood like a receiving line at a wedding. Tig got off first and hung his helmet on one of the handles. He helped Edie off and stood behind her. She wrapped her arms around herself as tight as she could.

"These the assholes sweetheart?" Clay asked quietly.

"There's another one."

Everyone was a little dumbfounded.

"Whatchu mean, baby?" Tig asked, wanting to hold her, but knowing she needed to hold her own without him.

"These two just hit me. The other one... He was the one..." Edie turned around to Tig and clenched her eyes shut, willing the tears to stay in so she could appear strong, like a good old lady.

"What'd he look like, sweetheart?" Clay asked.

"He wore a mask all the time. But he had this tattoo on his arm- a celtic cross." She turned when she heard a grunt. Chibs looked murderous.

"Did he talk to you, sweetheart? Did he have an accent?" Chibs asked.

"No, he never said a word. But he was white. The only mark I ever saw was that tattoo."

Clay stepped forward, "Okay baby, that's enough. That's all we need. Juice?" Juice came forward to help Edie into one of the trucks. Clay gave her a kiss on the forehead, "Thank you for coming sweetheart. I know it wasn't easy."

Edie turned to Tig. He looked down at her face, her eyes wet with unshed tears. She was being strong for him. She knew what he had to do and she was holding herself up so he could do it. "I'll be home soon, baby," he said to her. Edie nodded and followed Juice to the awaiting truck and climbed in. He shut her door and ran around to the other side, jumping in and starting it. Everyone watched as they pulled out and turned the corner.

They all turned back to the two dark men kneeling in the dirt. Chibs poked one in the back of the head with his gun, "The asshole you were working for, what was his name?"

"I don't know. We never got no name. Just cash. He ordered us to watch the bitch and he supplied us with pussy and green."

"Accent?" Chibs punctuated the question with another poke of his gun.

"Yeah- Irish or some shit like that." The guy tried turning his head but the gun nestled snugly against his skull made it difficult. "You gonna let us go now? We never touched her man. That sick twisted dick is the one that cut her up."

"But you let it happen," Chibs told him and looked up at Tig, "You want to do the honors brother?"

Tig was staring hard at the two men on the ground. He shook his head, "I'm saving it all for that piece of shit O'Phelan."

Both Chibs and Happy looked to Clay who just nodded. Two shots echoed in the night air.