Hi guys! Sorry about the delay in this chapter! This story has been giving me a bit of a headache, but no need to worry! The update is here, and more is coming soon, I promise.

Please enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Tess groaned as she climbed off the back of Kozik's bike. She wasn't sure what on earth she had been thinking when she had agreed to ride in with him rather than taking her own car. Actually, she knew exactly what she had been thinking. She had been thinking of being pressed close to him, arms wrapped tightly around him, holding him close as they sped through town. It had seemed like a good prospect, but when still nursing a hangover, she really should have known better.

"You okay, Tess?" Kozik asked, instantly concerned by the way she was stumbled off the bike and groped around to steady herself.

"Shut up. I hate you," she replied, clenching her eyes closed and taking deep breaths to soothe the nausea. He immediately prepared to reply, but she cut him off. "I'm sorry. I don't hate you. Of course I don't. But please, really do shut up."

"Alright, so maybe we take the car to get around for awhile," he suggested, glad that she couldn't see the smirk that he wasn't quite managing to hide. "You've had a long few days. You probably weren't ready for the bike."

"Probably," she agreed, standing up once she felt ready and placing her helmet on the bike seat. "Water. I think I need water."

"Might be a good idea," he agreed, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, leaning close. "You know we keep water in the office fridge. But to get there, you have to go…"

"Through the garage," she sighed, knowing it was inevitable.

"Yep," he grinned. "Think you can handle that? Without throwing up?"

"I think I am gonna have to, at some point. Might as well get it over with now," Tess nodded. She knew that the guys would have more than a bit to say, knew that they would tease her. But she also knew that it would come from a place of love, and besides, she was well aware that eventually they would get it out of their systems and at the end of the day, she would get to go home with him, and to Tess, that was worth all the teasing. She surprised him by turning her lips to meet his in a heated kiss. "What? Figured I would at least give them something decent to talk about."

"I wasn't complaining," he told her, as they both headed towards the cat call coming from the garage. Kozik gave their admirers a one finger salute, his eyes never leaving hers.

"You better not," she advised him, squeezing him tightly, before turning her attention to Opie and Chibs, who had emerged from their bays with shit eating grins plastered across their faces. She nodded at them. "Boys."

"What, no kisses for us?" Opie asked, before turning to Chibs. "I'm feeling a little bit cheated. How about you?"

"I'm smart enough to not answer that one, brother," Chibs said, lighting himself a cigarette. "But I gotta say, Tess, I thought you had better taste than that."

"Here we go," Kozik rolled his eyes, while Tess giggled.

"All the upstanding men in our fine town here, and you go for this idjit?" Chibs shook his head. "It's a damn shame. Piney's going to be heartbroken."

Opie couldn't contain his laughter at that prospect, but the humor soon died down when Fiona stuck her head out of the office. "Filip Gideon Telford, you leave that poor girl alone."

"Dude," Kozik raised an eyebrow. "Your middle name is Gideon?"

"Fuck off, Herman," Chibs replied, much more audibly than he intended.

"All of you fuck off back to work," Fiona told them, coming fully out of the office and wrapping Tess in a hug. "You have cars lining up, and more than enough work to keep you busy. You can give each other shite later. I am taking this lass with me, so we can all get something accomplished."

"Thank you," Tess whispered as the guys quickly headed back to their cars own bays to work, knowing full well that it was wise to wait until Fiona was gone to continue teasing. "I owe you one."

"It was my pleasure," Fiona shook her head and linked her arm through Tess's. "Somebody's got to keep them in line. Now let's go. Tara is in the office. We've been waiting for you."

Tess should have anticipated that if she got off easily with the guys, she would not be so lucky with the women. They would want details and gossip, but it occurred to Tess that maybe she didn't mind giving them that. These women were her friends, and didn't every woman want to dish about her new boyfriend to her friends? She could be much worse off, and she knew that.

"Give me a moment," Fiona smiled as she took a minor detour leaving Tess behind. The shop girl watched Fiona approach her husband and offer him a sweet kiss before standing on her toes and telling him firmly, "I love you, sweet boy."

Tess looked down, and pretended not to her his reply. It felt like she was intruding on something private. There was a time when the open display between her friends would have made Tess so jealous of the affection they clearly shared for one another, but she was thrilled to realize that it didn't make her envious at all. She had just kissed her guy in front of the whole crowd, so what did she have to be jealous of?

Tess headed towards the office again, figuring she would give her friends a couple of moments of privacy. She found Tara in the office, not working away at a stack of papers, but sitting on the couch, sipping coffee with one hand while gently rocking baby Rory in his carseat with the other.

"Hey," Tara grinned up at her. "I thought that was you. Fiona and I were going to draw straws to decide who would come out and rescue you, but because I'm pregnant and it's much easier for her to get up off the sofa, she just volunteered."

"I think she might have had ulterior motives," Tess divulged, tossing her bag back behind the desk and leaning down to grab a water from the mini-fridge. "She's out there making out with Chibs. Right after she yelled at them all to get back to work."

Tara laughed. "Yeah, but he's earned a little leeway. He bought her flowers."

"Flowers? Seriously?" Tess raised an eyebrow, her mouth forming a disbelieving 'o' at the sight of the lilacs. "That's just…"

"Surprising? Unexpected?" Tara suggested. "Totally not fair?"

"All of those things," Tess laughed. "I didn't think biker mechanics were the flower buying type."

"Most of them aren't," Fiona explained as she walked in, as though she had been privy to the entire conversation. "But mine is. Sometimes."

"So what did he do?" Tess asked, sinking into the desk chair opposite of Tara. "Must have been something bad, if you are getting lilacs at work."

Fiona shook her head. "He didn't do anything. He really is just….uncommonly sweet sometimes, though he would deny it if you ever called him on it. I suspect the lilacs have something to do with our anniversary. It's coming up next week." She nodded to the lilacs. "I carried those in our wedding."

"Awwwww," Tess and Tara cooed in unison, before Tara continued alone. "Now we definitely have to go lingerie shopping."

Fiona blushed. "Aye, well, why don't we wait until the IRA has come and gone before we worry about my underwear, yeah? Besides," she turned her attention to Tess. "We aren't here to talk about me and my man."

"What?" Tess asked, squirming under the gazes for Fiona and Tara. "I thought we had work to get done-"

"We already did it," Tara cut in. "We wanted to make sure you had plenty of time to tell us allllllll about your weekend."

Tess moaned as she lay her head back against the chair. Fiona smirked at her. "That your way of telling us you did a lot of moaning this weekend?"

"NO!" Tess insisted, sitting right up. "No. I was….well, I was pretty sick and hungover, actually."

"That can happen when you drink ⅔ of a bottle on your own," Fiona pointed out. "But judging from your show that night, and out there just now, it seems that something good came out of it."

"Oh, was there more kissing?" Tara asked, suddenly wishing she had gone outside to see.

"Of course there was," Fiona reported. "I think it's becoming her signature."

"It's not," Tess insisted. "There isn't really much to tell. I just stayed home, recovering."

"Yeah, but Kozik stayed home with you," Tara pointed out. "All weekend."

"Yes, he did," Tess smiled a bit to herself. "He fed me and brought me water and tea and took care of me. All weekend. It was great."

Now, it was Fiona and Tara's turn to "awwww" in unison.

"Right, so yeah," Tess continued. "I threw up a lot, and wore pajamas for two days straight, and we watched stupid movies, and I slept. Everything was good."

"Oh, you're not getting off that easily," Tara looked at her skeptically. "When did the puking stop and the sex start?"

"We...we didn't…" Tess sputtered. "I was just….I didn't feel well. We didn't…"

"I don't think they had sex, Tara dear," Fiona kindly interpreted.

"No, um," Tess shook her head, her face neon red. "We didn't. I don't...I don't think we're there yet. Well, I don't think I'm there yet. I'm sure he is."

"Ah," Fiona squeezed her hand, sympathetically. "You'll get there, darlin. You will. Trust me."

"You think so? He says that he'll wait until I am ready, but..." Tess asked, unsure. These women knew where she was, and they knew Kozik. They were the best people she could turn for advice.

"I do," Tara said firmly. "He is crazy about you. He'd do anything you asked, without question."

The reassurance from Tara meant more than Tess wanted to admit. She wasn't generally somebody who relied on others to reassure her, but this circumstance was different for her. She needed this. "You really, really think so?"

"Yes," Fiona and Tara replied at once.

"Okay then," Tess muttered, managing a small laugh himself. "I like him. A lot."

"Of course you do," Fiona nodded. "And he likes you."

"You two are adorable," Tara added. "And someday, hopefully soon, you will have sex and give me all the details so that I can live vicariously through you, because I fucking hate that Jax is in prison during this pregnancy hormone shit storm."

Tess tried to stop it, she really did. She loved Tara, and in no way did she want to hurt her feelings. It didn't matter, because the laughter was coming, and there was no way she could stop it. As soon as Tess's giggles started, Fiona's erupted as well, and before long, Tara joined in. The laughter felt good, it felt real, and it felt like exactly what Tess needed. Sadly, it was interrupted before long, by the appearance of Gemma.

"I have no idea what's so funny," the Queen spoke up, looking at them all like they were crazy. "But maybe you could laugh it up inside. We have some Irish folks coming for dinner, so we had best get the corned beef and cabbage started. Grab the baby, let's get cooking."

Thankfully, Gemma had only been joking in regards to cooking corned beef and cabbage. Not only would it have been incredibly offensive to their Irish guests, as Fiona pointed out several times, but corned beef was highly disgusting and very likely to make Tess vomit. Instead, they feasted on the always delicious roast beef that Gemma was famous for. Overall, dinner had gone remarkably well, considering the fact that they were entertaining several dangerous, international wanted men.

After dinner, the men disappeared into chapel. The IRA delegation would be leaving shortly, and they needed to finalize some things. The deal with the Russians was still very new, and the Sons were still a bit uncertain that the arrangement could be trusted. The Irish were confident with the agreement.

"They won't give you any problems. They made this deal with us, and the Russians may by ignorant morons, but they know better than to cross the IRA. They should not give you a problem," McCormick insisted.

"We hope not," Opie nodded. "But what are you prepared to do if they do give us problems?"

"We will handle our business," one of the other IRA shot callers insisted, his voice sharp. "Don't you worry about that, boy."

"Enough," McCormick calmed everybody with a word. "We have made arrangements with the Russians for the next meet. We will have some of our local men at the meet with you, and it might benefit you to have some other charter members there. The meet will be quick, and I think…you will come away happy."

"I don't suppose you would want to tell us anything about whatever secret arrangements you have made with the Russians, would you?" Chibs, who had remained quite quiet throughout the meeting, finally spoke up.

"Oh, I really can't," McCormick sent his former student a smile. "I think that you just need to have a bit of trust in me. You will enjoy how that turns out, I promise."

"Seems like we don't have much of a choice," Kozik pointed out. "So I guess we just make the best of it."

"Sounds like a plan, boys," McCormick smiled, standing up. "Now, do you think that perhaps Gemma would allow us to use some of that delicious roast beef to make some sandwiches for the trip? It was delicious!"

Before long, it really was time for the Irish delegation to make their exit. Most of the Club members and friends were occupying themselves off to the side, making polite conversation and giving the Telford family some much needed space. Maeve was traveling back to Ireland with McCormick and the rest, and she was leaving her son behind in Charming, with his family. As much as she had tried to pretend differently, this was a very difficult thing for her to do.

"You'll tell him about me, won't you?" she asked nervously as she held the small boy. He was fussing, had been since Fiona handed him over to the young woman who had given birth to him.

"Of course we will," Fiona assured her.

"We'll tell him all about you, and about Paddy," Filip told her firmly. "He'll know who you are."

"Thank you," Maeve looked up, her eyes wet despite her internal vow to not cry. "I am so glad that I came here. I know that you weren't expecting this, and maybe you didn't want it at first. I am not sure how, but I know that he belongs with you guys. I know you will take good care of him, and give him the family I can't give him."

"We will," Fiona promised, her own eyes damp. "We love our wee boy. He is going to have a wonderful life."

"I know he will," she nodded firmly, pressing a kiss to the baby head. "He has you both for parents, and Kerrianne for a sister. He is going to have the best life."

She hastily handed the baby over to his father before she began talking again. "I have to go. We are leaving and, um, I have to go."

"Maeve," Kerrianne spoke up, stopping the young woman in her tracks and hugging her tightly. "You take care of yourself. We'll see you again, okay? This isn't forever."

"I really hope not," Maeve offered a watery smile, wiping her eyes on her shirtsleeves. "Until then."

The small family held each other tightly as they watched the Irish convoy load into their SUVs and head out; mother, father, teenage daughter, and tiny son all knowing that they were losing something, but it was nothing at all compared to what they had gained.