When Angelica and Abel got back to SAMVEN's clubhouse, it was late at night. Angelica was too wound up to go to the bike show and Abel didn't want to be around so many people after what happened at the Riviera. Though they had 40 grand in a bag, the mood was grim. All the two of them wanted was some peace and quiet.
In order to deal with the anxieties inside her, Angelica decided to hit the gym hard. She did barbell presses, butterfly spreads, chin ups, abdominal crunches and free weights, Abel watched in awe as sweat fell from her body as though it were a waterfall. He could almost see her muscles growing stronger with each exercise. She even worked her leg muscles, which did not go unnoticed by Abel. Letting out one final moan as she did her last repetition, Angelica put down the weights and sat down on the bench, trying to catch her breath and steady her heart.
Abel walked over to her with a fresh towel and some water, which was gratefully accepted by Angelica. "Why did that woman treat you like that?"
"I don't know but I can see why my dad hates California so much. In New York, you knew where you stood with people. At least I knew where I stood. Those who were true friends and family stuck around. The others did not." Angelica said as she and Abel walked out to the kitchen where she fixed herself a big plate of meats, potatoes and leafy vegetables.
"There was a police chief who said something like that about Charming once." Abel said, thinking of his dead grandmother, parents and Uncle Touchy (Wayne Unser). He missed them and wondered why they all had gone away.
Knowing what she did and having learned what she did, Angelica could see how Abel was wondering why he and his brother were left alone in the world. Wiping her hands and mouth with a napkin, Angelica saw the expression on Abel's face and pulled him close to her. Though she smelt of sweat and barbecue food, Angelica wrapped her arms around Abel, holding him close to her heart. It was the first hug Abel ever had from a woman in a long time.
He allowed himself to be engulfed by Angelica's embrace. For that time, the rest of the world fell away and it was just the two of them.
"Come with me to my room. Until SAMCRO gets back, I am not going to let you out of my sight." Realizing how that sounded and seeing the look on Abel's face, Angelica added, "Don't get any ideas though."
"No ideas in my head." Abel said, though he now had the mental image of Angelica naked burned into his subconscious.
By the time they got to her room, Abel was already half asleep. Once she tucked him in for the night, Angelica walked into the bathroom and completely disrobed until she was naked. Within a few minutes, the shower was running. She left the bathroom door open so she could hear what was happening in the bedroom. As she bathed, Angelica relished in the feel of water cascading down her body, creating a small pond of water in her cleavage. She washed her hair and scrubbed her body with soap, massaging her breasts serenely before she finished her shower with a final rise. Getting out and drying herself off, Angelica wrapped a towel around herself and walked out to the dorm room where Abel was sleeping in her bed.
When Angelica got into a pair of sweat pants and a white v-neck shirt, she noticed the results of her intense work out caused her to completely fill up her shirt with her huge chest and muscles while showing off her six abs.
Angelica crept under the covers and slept next to him.
Waking up early in the morning without disturbing Abel, Angelica got out of bed and almost fell backwards in shock when she saw Tig sat in a chair next to the door, looking right at her and Abel.
"You been keeping an eye on Abel last night?" Tig asked. Angelica nodded silently.
"That's nice. I hope there ain't some deep bond shit between you two. Cause it'll break his heart when you ship off to basic."
Angelica looked at Abel and stroked his hair gently. Though Tig found the scene in front of him rather touching, he had to lay down the hard facts. "You care for him. Nothing wrong with that. Do you feel anything else other that I ought to know about?"
"No." Angelica said. "I'm not doing anything I ought to not be doing."
"Chibs, Hap and I talked with the Hell Cats. All of them. They rode back to Bakersfield. You're not going to be bothered by any members of the Hell Cats MC." Tig was told by Happy everything Sonora tried to do to Angelica. Two years after Cricket became a widow and moved out to New York, Sonora became unstable. For some unknown reason, she remained capable enough to perform her duties as VP in Bakersfield. Psychological torture and warfare turned from battlefield tactics into her own personal amusement. "Coyote never cheated or messed around. Sonora just wanted to watch you squirm."
When he looked at Angelica's eyes, Tig figured that after she left for Basic training, it would take nothing less than a miracle to bring her anywhere near Nevada let alone the West Coast.
"Go get some chow for yourself and Abel. Good food can go a long way in flushing out the hate and grief Sonora put in you. Don't worry about Abel. I'm here. Nothing will get to him."
When Angelica left the room, Tig looked to the bed in time to see Abel turn his head. He was awake the whole time Tig was talking with Angelica. "Is she going away?"
"Not for good. She just went to get some breakfast for you and her." Tig said. "How much did you hear?"
"Enough." Abel said. "That old woman got her pretty wound up, didn't she?"
"Never call Sonora that to her face 'cause that 'old woman' is on the same level as Happy." Tig said, knowing that was both a bold statement and a horrifying historical fact. In an effort to save Abel from the pain of saying goodbye in the near future, Tig laid down some advice as best he could.
"Enjoy the time with Angelica. Have fun with her while you can but don't do anything I'd do with her because there is a lot that I would do without a second thought."
"OK, Tig. I got it." Abel said with his hands up defensively. "I don't want to lose my appetite thinking about what you would do."
At that moment, Angelica returned with a big tray of food and drink. "Abel, breakfast is on."
Abel smiled as she sat down on the bed with him and they shared a breakfast together. Tig left them alone but with the door open. Sitting down at the bar, Tig poured himself a cup of coffee alongside the whiskey chaser he had on the side as he glanced over at Jax and Tara who were at his right and left. They did not say one word but neither one were smiling.
"Don't bother tellin' me about it. I'm not going to be Parent of the Year any more than either of you. Anyway, you both can stop worrying about anything happening between Abel and Angelica. So let me have my coffee without the two of you annoyin' me. Screw!" Tig growled, pouring a very large shot of whiskey into his coffee and downing the whole thing in one shot. Letting out a guttural roar, Tig was all alone at the bar and glad for it.
That relief lasted about a minute.
"I heard once about saloons in the Northwest back in the day that had pissing troughs installed underneath the bar so patrons wouldn't waste time running to the outhouse. Those places used to smell of piss, vomit and liquor." Tig looked up to see the young boy he saw with Kitty and her Nomad Hell Cats. "The Hell are you doin' here, kid?"
Jonas sat down at the bar next to Tig. "What Sonora did to Angelica did not sit right with me. It's been on my mind all night and I wanted to see how she and the Teller kid are holding up? Heard from my aunt Kitty that they holed up here."
"I'm surprised it took you this long to say or do anything about that. Your grandfather would not have let that stand for one minute."
"I'm not Rane Quinn."
"You're damn right you're not him. I know what happened and what you did not do." Tig said as he downed another shot of whiskey-flavored coffee. "You are nothing that resembles the man who lead the Nomad charter for the Sons of Anarchy."
"There were 15 armed Hell Cats with guns. What did you expect me to do?"
"As far as both the Sons and the Hell Cats go, you are an outsider. As far as the Marines go, you have a long way to go before you can stand next to me as one."
Jonas threw a fist at Tig onto to end up face first on the bar after his legs were kicked out from under him. In the time it took for all that to happen, Tig drew his sidearm and put the barrel against the younger man's temple. "In the Corps, there is no such thing as an old Marine. Only Marines who survived everything that killed young Marines."
When he was let up, Jonas gathered what was left of his dignity and backed up from Tig. "Just because I'm not with either club does not make you better than me."
"The lowest-level shit stain Prospect on his worst day stands better than you on your best day."
That was it. Jonas had enough. In the time Tig turned back to his drink, Jonas charged at him with a spin kick to his side, sandwiching Tig between his leg and the bar. What he didn't expect was that, while he took a major hit, Tig also grabbed his leg and put a haymaker straight to the thigh.
Despite the pain searing in his leg, Jonas threw a right hook at Tig's face. Once freed from the older man's grip, he grabbed the bottle of whiskey and swung at Tig only to have him catch his forearm, squeeze and pop the bottle out of his hands. Slamming Jonas' face back into the bar, Tig laid down some heavy punches to the young man's ribs and kidneys.
Turning Jonas around, Tig threw a left cross that split a cheek wide open and a right hook that darkened an eye. Jonas fell to the floor in a heap, spitting a glob of blood from his split lip while he bled from one side of his face. The impact of his body hitting the floor and the bottom part of the bar made him feel every punch Tig dealt him.
Angelica, having just finished her breakfast with Abel, had just walked into the Rec Room when Tig and Jonas went at it like a pair of rabid dogs. Angelica stood still for a moment before walking to the kitchen, putting together a makeshift ice bag, returning to the Rec Room and handing it to Tig. "Still the rabid Marine, aren't you, Tig?" She asked while pulling a cold beer from behind the bar.
Tig looked at her with a sly grin as she put the beer in front of him and said, "Oorah."
"When you are ready to go, let Abel and I know." Angelica said. Looking over the bar, she saw the crumpled form of Jonas. "I hope I turn out a better Marine than he did."
"Next to him, you're going to turn out alright." Tig replied loud enough for Jonas to hear.
Angelica, deciding to reach out a helping hand to someone who needed it, displayed the results of her heavy workouts and weight lifting by picking Jonas up off the floor and setting him on a bar stool without breaking a sweat. When he saw who had effortlessly picked him up off the floor, he almost chuckled before his ribs made him groan. "What did I do to deserve that?"
"My first guess would be: a lot." Angelica said as she tended to his wounds. "I do wonder though what you last name is. I heard Rane only had a daughter. She would have had to change her last name when she got married, right? So what is your last name, Jonas?"
"Lennox. My name is Jonas Lennox." Jonas replied with a sigh filled with resignation. Apart from a slight family resemblance, he had nothing of Rane Quinn inside him.
"Well, Jonas Lennox, you ought to take what Tig dealt you as his way of motivating you."
"That was motivation?" Jonas exclaimed incredulously before wincing in pain.
"Yeah. That was his motivation to a hard headed Marine." Angelica said as she walked behind the bar to wash her hands in the small sink. Once she was clean, Angelica dried her hands with a dry towel.
"I have to head back to New York tomorrow if I'm going to get on that bus to Parris Island in time for Basic."
"What are you going to do when you get there?" Jonas asked, not expecting anything from her.
"Did you notice how I was able to lift your ass up off the floor and not even strain myself?" Jonas nodded. "Well, I am going to become smarter, stronger, tougher and bigger than I am now."
"I bet your dad was a soldier and this was to make him proud, huh?" Jonas said, inadvertently putting his foot in his mouth.
Angelica turned his head so he had no choice but to look at her face to face. "When my dad was a young man, he drove a cab all over New York for years before he ran the cab company he worked at. He's also a patched officer in the New York charter of the Sons of Anarchy and I'm very proud of him. As for the Marines, I didn't enlist for his pride or to earn his love. I have had it since the day I was conceived in my mother's womb. I enlisted for me."
Tig grinned at how Angelica verbally put Jonas in his place before walking towards the gym. Abel, having watched everything happen, chose to go with Angelica to the gym, leaving the two Marines at the bar.
"Damn it, Tig. The Vegas boys just cleaned the floor last night." Chibs said as he looked at the devastation.
"Small price to pay for putting a young man in line." Tig said, pointing over at Jonas who got up with a wince and tried to leave as fast as he could only to have Chibs halt him with only a hand on his shoulder.
"Until the day you Prospect or patch in, do not ever step into an SoA clubhouse." Chibs said.
"Then this is the last time you'll ever see me in a clubhouse, I guess." Jonas said, jerking his shoulder out of Chibs' grip, walked outside to his Victory High Ball and rode off across the sand-scorched roads of Nevada to Bakersfield.
A/n: I'm already working on another SoA story. It's an AU where Tara lived and ran off with Abel and Thomas while Jax went to federal prison. I'm still working out how it would play out but it might lean to a runaway angle.