Here's the next part guys! Sorry for the delay. November has been a bit crazy and I have been traveling a lot. Nevertheless, here is your new chapter and I hope that you enjoy it!

It's officially December, and you guys should channel your inner Christmas spirit and turn it into reviews! 3

Opie rapped sharply on the wooden door, waiting impatiently for a response. He had been outside knocking for at least two minutes, and he really couldn't understand what was taking so long. Granted, it was not even eight in the morning and Chibs was still pretty much stuck in the wrong time zone, but Opie was not really interested in waiting outside in the cold. As uch as he hated to admit it, he needed some advice, and since his best friend was in prison and his dad was on a drunken bender, Chibs was his best available option.

Opie raised his hand, ready to knock again, when the door flew open. He was suddenly face to face with a very rumpled and angry looking Chibs. He should have felt sorrier than he did, and he definitely should not have laughed, but good sense seemed to abandon him. Chibs definitely did not seem appreciative of Opie's laughter and looked like he was considering throwing punches. Opie quickly raised his hands in surrender.

"What do you want?" the Scotsman growled, not at all excited to be awake, especially in light of the fact that he had only drifted off a few hours ago.

"I come in peace," Opie insisted, still not able to completely stop smirking.

"You come about four fucking hours too early," Chibs corrected as he turned and stomped back into the house, Opie following in his wake. "Why are you here? Don't you have a home of your own you should be at?"

Opie followed Chibs through the house, towards the kitchen. As they passed through the living room, he took note of the organized book shelf and the neatly folded blanket over the back of the couch. The scent of lemon hung in the air and the place was pristine. It always managed to surprise Opie that the place was so clean and orderly. Outwardly, nobody would ever guess that Chibs was a bit of a neat freak. Opie had asked him about it once, and he had once reasoned that, growing up in squalor with next to nothing, one tended to take care of what he had. That made sense, though Opie suspected the fact that Chibs' family would arrive in a couple of weeks time had a bit to do with the cleanliness as well.

Chibs rustled around the pantry, pulling out all the necessary makings of coffee. Opie was glad that his friend was occupied, giving him a moment to think before answering. His home was not where he wanted to be this minute. The house still reminded him so much of Donna, and on top of that, he had spent his entire sleepless night there and just needed a change of scenery. He and Lila had spent last night putting the kids to bed, laughing at what an idiot Kozik was, and having plenty of sex. When she had drifted off around 2 AM, she had mentioned that she needed Opie to take the kids to school, because she had to work. She had fallen quickly asleep, but that one comment had kept Opie up the entire night thinking about how much he hated Lila's damned job.

"Op?" Chibs asked, bringing him back to the present moment. Clearly, he had missed something while lost in his thoughts. "I asked you if you wanted coffee?"

"Yeah, coffee would be great," Opie told him honestly. Anything that would keep him awake would be great. "Thanks brother."

"Don't mention it. You clearly need it just as badly as I do," Chibs told him, and Opie could see that he wasn't mad about having been so rudely woken anymore.

"Yeah, sorry for waking you up. I know it's early," Opie muttered as he stirred a spoon of sugar into the coffee Chibs passed him.

Chibs looked his friend over, taking note of his tired appearance and the dark circles under his eyes. It was almost like looking in the mirror.

"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you, brother?" Chibs asked as casually as possible. Opie's eyes shot up.

"What makes you think something is bothering me?" he quickly responded.

Chibs rolled his eyes. "You show up at my house at the crack of dawn looking like a lost puppy? Of course something is wrong."

"Eh," Opie shrugged. "Nothing is wrong, really. Just have a lot on my mind."

"Like what?" Chibs asked, taking a swig from his own cup before putting it down. "Club stuff?"

"Yeah, a bit. I think we need to patch Kozik in," Opie shrugged, glad that he didn't have to jump right into his own issues.

"You won't hear any arguments from me," Chibs replied instantly, not allowing Opie to distract him from whatever was wrong. "Now what is really on your mind?"

Opie sighed. "Lila is a porn star."

"I know," Chibs said, not getting the issue.

"Yeah, and her being a porn star has been fine in the past, when she was just somebody I was hanging around with, but now she is going to be my wife, the stepmother of my kids. That's different. I can't have my wife fucking other guys," Opie explained, trying his best not to sound like an asshole.

"So what, you expect her to go from a porn star to a housewife?" Chibs questioned disbelievingly. "I don't know if that will work out, brother. She has been in the business for a long time and she probably makes pretty decent money."

"We don't need the money," Opie bristled, and now it was Chibs turn to hold up his hands proclaiming his innocence. Opie continued, "I don't know how to bring it up with her. What am I supposed to do here?"

Chibs actually laughed. "Are you asking me for marital advice?"

"Yeah, I guess I am," Opie shrugged.

"Have you noticed that my wife doesn't even live on the same continent as me?" Chibs said, laughing again. "Don't know if I am the right person to be giving that sort of advice."

"You and Fiona are crazy about each other, and even if you two aren't together all the time, you probably still have the best relationship of all my friends, so you're it, unless you think I should ask Gemma, which I refuse to do," Opie insisted firmly.

"That's sad," Chibs commented, but he was grinning like he was absurdly pleased. "Why don't you just ask her about it, brother?"

"Because she'll say no," Opie came right back. "She likes working. It makes her feel useful."

"Maybe that's true," Chibs agreed. "But maybe not. Especially if you frame it the right way. Tell her that you are worried about her and her safety and you don't want her to have to kill herself working. Or, you could just be honest and tell her that you don't want her to be with other men."

"You think that'll work?" Opie asked hopefully.

"I don't know, but it might, and at least she will know where you stand," Chibs shrugged. "It will be fine, Opie."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Opie agreed, wishing he was as sure about that fact as Chibs was.

"Of course I am," Chibs insisted nonchalantly. "Now, come on. You woke me up at an ungodly hour and made me talk about girly shit. The least you could do is buy me breakfast."

Life was funny sometimes. Just last night, Tess had thought that her world was collapsing around her. She had literally lost her best friend, embarrassed herself beyond belief by screaming at him during a dinner party, and ended the fiasco by throwing silverware around somebody else's home. She had presumably lost her job and then vomited in her bosses rose bushes. Overall, it had been a pretty shitty night.

But then, she had gone to the corner store for some ice cream to distract her and had ended up with a bigger distraction. A distraction that had taken her for coffee and spent hours talking and laughing with her. A distraction who was the very definition of tall, dark, handsome and charming. A distraction who had kissed her goodnight and had already called this morning. A distraction named Lex. Lex was the reason why she was smiling, despite the fact that yesterday she was certain her life was over. If she had known her funk could end with a simple cup of coffee, she would have tried it days ago.

Tess quickly wiped the smile off her face as she approached the front steps of the house, trying not to look at the doomed bushes. As giddy as she was over her impromptu date last night (and the second date that was planned for tonight) she could not afford to look anything but completely somber and serious. She plastered what she hoped was a sincere and apologetic look on her face and shifted the muffins she had frantically baked this morning. and raised her hand to knock on the door.

It took a minute before she heard footsteps approaching, the sharp tap-tap-tap of Gemma's heels prominent even through the thick front door. Tess couldn't for the life of her understand why the woman wore heels, alone in her own damned house, but it really wasn't for her to question. She quickly stood up straight and looked as ashamed as she could manage.

The door swung open to reveal Gemma Teller, in all her tight jean, high heeled boots glory. The older woman leaned against the door frame, arms crossed over her chest, eyebrow raised, but the look on her face wasn't harsh. Tess took this as a good sign.

Gemma glanced down at her watch and said, "I expected you to come around a lot earlier than this, Darlin. I have been waiting for my apology since 7 this morning, and you still have a lot of dishes to do." She nodded at the box in Tess's arms. "Did you bring more silverware to throw?"

Tess smiled sheepishly, "No, I made muffins. Super apology, please forgive me muffins. That's why I am late. And I should have know you wouldn't forget the dishes."

"Not on your life," Gemma replied. "Come on in. We probably have time for coffee before you start washing. And then you had better get to the garage. I doubt the phones are going to answer themselves."

Tess stopped in her tracks, not quite believing what she was hearing. Yes, of course, she had come to apologize and beg for her job back, but Gemma hadn't even given her the chance. Tess was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but she had to make sure.

"Gemma," she said quietly, causing the older woman to turn around again. "Are you saying that I still have a job? I can still work at the garage?"

Gemma looked at the girl in front of her, sizing her up, before nodding shortly, "Yeah, if you think you can handle it."

"I can!" Tess quickly assured her. "It's a good job and I need it."

Gemma shook her head, "But honey, what I mean is, can you handle working day in and day out with Kozik? He is an idiot, and we have had words, but he will be there day in and day out, probably with a wide assortment of skanks, and you can't throw shit at him every time you see him. We'd run out of shit to throw pretty quick."

Tess listened to her, to everything she said, carefully. If asked this question last night, Tess would have probably thrown a fit or started crying or any variety of useless things. Today, however, was a little different. Yes, she was still hurting, and it would be awhile before she got over the sting that he had inflicted, but the pain wasn't as raw and potent as it had been last night. When she answered, she answered confidently.

"Yes, I can handle it Gemma. What happened with Kozik was a mistake, but it is a mistake that is in the past. There is no reason for me to react how I reacted. It won't happen again. I promise."

Gemma narrowed her eyes, almost as if she was trying to decide whether or not she believed the girl in front of her. Tess wasn't sure what Gemma saw, but it must have been what she needed to see, because she nodded and said, "Good. Now come on, the sooner the coffee is ready, the sooner I can have a muffin, and the sooner you can get to work."

A hundred miles away in Stockton prison, the hours passed as they usually did. Juice was surrounded by shades of grey and blue at all times, and there seemed to be nothing different about how today was shaping up. He was alone in his cell, stretched as best as he could be over the cramped twin size bed. He promised himself for the thousandth time that as soon as he got out of prison, he was going to buy himself a king sized bed.

The rest of the guys were in the common area, playing cards or checkers or just sitting around shooting the shit, but Juice had isolated himself for a specific purpose. In his hands, he held an old, battered textbook that would supposedly teach him everything he needed to know about Physics. He had begun his GED classes at 8:00 AM with a basic science refresher, and judging from the fact that he had understood maybe forty percent of what the teacher had said, he figured that studying would be in his best interest.

Of course, he could have taken his books out into the common area and sat more comfortably, but that was basically never going to happen. His brothers had learned this morning that he was prepping for his GED, and none of them had said anything or given him shit about it yet, but he wasn't about to tempt them. He loved the guys, but not all of them were like Chibs. He could picture how eager and gleeful Tig would be if he was presented with an opportunity to antagonize.

Juice was not willing to give him that opportunity, so instead, he just read in his cell. The textbook was pretty rough, and wasn't doing much to help him understand. It was very technical and was almost the most boring thing Juice had ever tried to read. He wished for about the twelfth time that he could just Google these terms and figure out the difference between reflection and refraction. He grabbed his notebook and made a note to himself to do exactly that the next time he got computer time. Taking the GED class allowed him an extra hour each week, which Juice was more than grateful for.

Juice dropped the book on his chest and ran a hand over his face, wishing more than anything for a damned RedBull. He was interrupted by a clanging sound on his cell. He raised his head from the pillow and saw Derek, the man assigned to mail duty, banging his fist against the bars of his cell.

"Mail call, Ortiz," Derek shouted, far more loudly than necessary. Juice hauled himself off the bed, tossing the book to the mattress with a smile on his face. There was only one person who would have sent him a letter, and it kind of made him stupid happy. He took the envelope from Derek, thanking him with a nod, but waited until the other man walked off before he lanced at the envelope. Sure enough, there was his name in neat, girly scrawl across the front of the envelope and post marks from Ireland. Kerrianne had written him.

He sat on the edge of the mattress and carefully pulled the paper from the envelope. She always wrote him on purple scented stationery, and as much as Juice rolled his eyes about that fact, it was so perfectly her that he couldn't complain too much. He unfolded the note and read carefully.

Dear Juan,

Hello from Ireland! I could take up a lot of time and space telling you about how the weather is (cold) and what I have been up to (school), but I really won't. Instead, I will get right to the good news! My Ma and I are coming to visit! We have both been kind of missing Da like crazy, and so we looked at my school schedule, and I have a midterm break coming up. Ma is going to try to convince the headmaster to let me take a few extra days, but she says that we are coming whether or not he says yes. She has been going a little bit crazy since Da left last time, and I think she just needs to be near him again, which is fine with me!

It will be a few weeks before we leave, but I am already so excited! I have never been anywhere before, except for small trips to the country and we went to London once when I was younger, but other than that, I haven't left Ireland. Ireland is great, but maybe California will be great to! I still can't believe that in a few weeks I am going to be on a super long flight to America, and even if I am a little nervous about flying, I think that it will be worth it.

You will have to tell me all about Charming. I know that you said it isn't big or exciting, but I think it will be great. I don't really need or want big and exciting; Belfast covers that relatively well for sure. Mostly, I want to see where Da lives and works. Tell me more about the Clubhouse where you guys hang out! Do you think Da will take me there? Even Ma says that she has never been, but some of the SAMBEL guys say that it is pretty impressive. I don't know; are these stupid things to be excited about? I guess maybe I just want to feel like I know more about him and his life.

I am definitely going to try my very best to convince him to bring me to visit you! I am sure that he will argue that it's inappropriate and that prison is no place for his daughter, but I think that if I beg and give him the big puppy dog eyes, he will cave. I am sure that if I promise to go to bed early several nights while we are there, Ma will be on my side, too. Work on him from your end too, yeah? I would really like to see you while I am there.

Alright, well I want to put this in the post before school, so I am going to end here. I hope that you are doing well and taking care of yourself. Make sure you are eating right and don't do anything overly stupid, okay? Hopefully I will see you soon!

Love,

Kerrianne

Juice grinned as he tucked the letter back in the envelop and stored it in the shoebox, along with the rest of them. Things were falling into place with very little effort. Chibs had asked him to talk to Kerrianne, and she had answered that request before he had even made it. He loved it when things worked out with such little effort on his part.

He picked up his to-do list and added "email Kerrianne" to the top, above the whole Google physics thing. School was important to him, but not more important than his friends. Once he was done, he picked his Physics book up and started to read again, this time with a much better disposition.