Disclaimer: No, I don't own Sons of Anarchy, nor am I Kurt Sutter. Last time I checked, I was a girl :)

A/N: I sincerely apologize for it taking so long for me to update this story. I've just had a lot going on between work and getting ready for my college visit to the University of Alabama, which I'll be attending next fall. It's 1000 miles away from home so it's kind of a big deal to me. On top of that I had some personal issues I had to overcome and gave me a stint of writers block. The good news is I have a new muse and am pleased to present you with this third chapter. I hope you are not disappointed with it. Thank you to all who reviewed, favorite & alerted; you mean the world to me! And I promise I won't go 21 days without an update again.

Chapter Three: Pressure
Valerie's P.O.V.

At first, I thought I was seeing things; a ghost of my past to be more specific. The knot that formed in my stomach when I saw that it was not a ghost, but in fact a very much so alive Juice standing in front of me, was completely unbearable. My heart began to beat frantically as blood rushed through my veins. I shut my eyes and re-opened them. "You … you're alive," I said in a quiet voice.

He responded to my question with a smile first. Following the smile that I had fallen in love with so many years ago was something that was about to turn my life completely upside-down. "Yeah, I'm still breathing. I missed you too."

I looked up to meet his gaze but his eyes had drifted and fell upon my engagement ring. My left hand immediately felt like it weighed a ton. I went to open my mouth to speak but he had already beaten to the punch. "What the hell?" his voice was full of confusion which masked the sound of disappointment.

I tilted my head to the side and everyone standing near the nurse's station grew quiet. They knew that World War 3 was about to begin. "You're seriously the one standing here what the hell-ing me? Where the HELL have you been for the past year and a half Juan? Why did you just decided to come back out of the blue? You have many more questions to answer than I do so why don't you start explaining now. Okay?" I felt the anger pulsating throughout my body.

"Val, it's a long story," he said and I stood up straighter. Half of me wanted to embrace him in a hug, the other half of me wanted to knock his lights out. Right now I felt that it would be safer to channel the second part, rather than the first.

"Don't you dare Val me," you could hear the Gemma in my voice. After all, I am the daughter of Clay and her, so it's natural that I'm going to have a lot of fire and ice in my blood. "I can't believe you. You could have called or written. Somehow you could have let us all know you were alive," I spat out.

"What the hell are you all looking at? Go away," he motioned for the nurses that surrounded us to leave the vicinity. "Valerie, I can explain it all but I want you to answer my damn question. I asked you first," his voice was growing slightly more annoyed with each passing second.

"What the hell isn't a legitimate question Juice. There's no way for me to answer it if you're not being direct about it," I retorted.

"You KNOW what I'm talking about," he said, his eyes growing misty. My eyebrows raised; Juan Carlos Ortiz was about to cry. "I'm clearly talking about that ring on your finger. Who put it there?"

"Well if you want to get technical, I did after my shower this morning," I smirked. "But if you want to know who my fiancé is, that's a completely different story," I said in a more calm voice than before. I had spent so many years falling in love with Juice but it only took one second for us to shatter apart.

"Who is he?" Juice went from having a tense posture to a more inquisitive one.

"You're supposed to be dead Juice. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm really happy you're alive but it's not going to change anything …" my voice trailed off.

"Valerie, who are you getting married to?" Juice asked, taking a step closer to me.

I went to open my mouth and tell him but no sound came out. I choked up. I understood why it was difficult to tell him. My fiancé was … is … his friend. I kept reminding myself that Juice being alive won't change anything. I even told him that. Now I have to follow through with it. Before I could say anything, we both noticed Kozik approaching the area.

"I'm just going to let you two finish this alone …" Kozik said, before turning to go stand near Tara on the other side of the hallway.

"Kozik? He's your fiancé, isn't he?" Juice questioned his voice shaky.

"Yes. We're getting married in two weeks," I watched him began to back up so I inched closer, trying to make the gap smaller. "Let me explain. Please," I said, noticing anger surge through him. I know he didn't have a right to be angry but it still hurt that I was hurting him.

"No, there's nothing to explain. You're happy and I don't want to ruin that for you. All I could ever ask for is your happiness; especially after everything I've put you through Valerie. I should leave now," he turned and headed over towards the elevator.

"Juice wait!" I called out after him but it was too late. The doors opened and he stepped in and turned to face me. Tears began to roll down my face as he hit the button to shut door. "Please," I mouthed to him, not able to speak once more.

"See yah later Val," he said as the doors shut quickly and he vanished from my life once more. At least this time I knew it wasn't permanent.

I turned to face Tara and Kozik. I went to ask Kozik if he was ready to go home, but once again I was incapable of forming a sentence. "Ready to go home?" he asked, clearly able to read my mind. All I could do was nod as I handed the folders over to Tara. I think I was in a state of shock. Scratch that, I was definitely in a state of shock.