Still creeping along...don't worry, by the end of chapter 3 the ah ha moment will hit and it'll start to speed up. If not, oh well, it's still gonna be a fun ass ride. I think. MKAngelus

OLODL CH3

Opie looked up from the paperwork at his best friend and his sons. He'd seen Jax at the very worst in his life, and Jax had been there for his worst as well, he knew without thinking at all about it that he would take a bullet for this man and do whatever he needed, no questions asked. This was just a small bump in the road and Jax would come out on top, he always did. Sparing no thought for Wendy was easy, she was a junkie when they all met and Jax was looking for his place in the world, she wasn't the answer, but at the time she was all that he saw. Opie folded the paperwork back up and stood, he used his boot to scoot the toys back into the sand box and lit a cigarette, "Well man, let's shut this place down, I have to go get the kids from school, why don't you bring the boys over? There's no sense in you going home."

Jax shifted the boys in his arms as best he could, Wyatt was squirming around and Abel was half asleep so it was more challenging than it should have been he grinned up at Opie. "Sure, this place is dead anyway, I'll just go tell Chuck we're shuttin' it down and follow you." The two men and boys left the playground and Opie went over to the garage, telling Dog to knock it off for the day.

"Thanks Man!" Dog's gravelly voice echoed in the empty garage bay.

Opie nodded and locked up the office, grabbing Wyatt's bag and his own jacket. He headed over to the clubhouse after Jax.

"Chuck!" Jax hollered as he maneuvered into the door with the two boys still in his arms. "Hey Chuckie!"

"Jackson?" Chuck answered popping up from behind the bar where he'd been doing inventory. "What's up?"

"Hey man, we're pullin' out of here early today, we got no new orders and the prospects' are workin' the repos. Opie's shut down the garage; I just wanted to remind you to lock the gate after they drop the cars and leave."

Chuck nodded, "Alright man, you take care and I'll see you in the morning." Professional as much as a two fingered con could be Chuck was an invaluable asset to the club. Although not really part of the MC or of Teller Morrow he was still an important person to have around and Jax appreciated the little weirdo staying here.

"See ya man." Jax grabbed Abel's bag and shifted both the now sleeping boys again, seeing that he wasn't going to be able to open the door, Chuck came around and helped him, "Need any help getting them into the truck?" he asked.

"Nah, Ope's there. Thanks."

Chuck walked the man walk over to where his truck was parked and thought about how life sure take's some funny turns. He'd never expected to be a part of this group of people after the whole thing with Lin and his people had gone down, and he'd certainly never expected to feel like a part of something bigger than the MC, he felt like part of the family. He was there when Wyatt was born, well sort of, he's the one that called Gemma when Tara's water broke and the prospect had thrown up. Shutting the door, he went back into the cool air of the clubhouse to continue the inventory. There was going to be a big party when Clay and the others got back and he was in charge of making sure that no one went without.

Opie started his bike and drove through the gate, and Jax followed. Just as they turned out of the parking lot, Jax's phone rang. Looking down at the display he grinned, almost four hours, this was the longest she'd gone so far in not calling to check in.

"Hello Mom, the boys are fine." He answered, his eyes automatically flicking from one car seat in the rear to the other and then completely around his vehicle via mirror, totally aware of his surroundings. Yeah, he was a young father to two boys, he was also the VP of the Sons of Anarchy and leaving his compound wasn't always a walk in the park with members of various Charming gangs wishing to make their mark with their own clubs. He was a perfect target.

"Shithead." She said with a grin.

"Is that the reason you called? To call me a shithead?" He asked. His relationship with his mom was so different than many mother son dynamics. She was more than his mom, she was the queen of his MC; she was as restless as the tide and yet as strong as steel.

"I called to tell you that it was time for you to bring my grandsons' home, I'm sure you're tired of playing 'daddy', I'm making a roast, come home and eat and then leave my boys' with me." So matter of fact, he smiled around his cigarette.

"Not today Mom, I'm headin' over to Ope's, we're gonna hang out with the kids there, closed up the garage early, thanks for the offer, but save the roast for when the girls get back, we'll all come over then."

Shocked silence greeted him, "Are you in trouble Jax?" She asked as if he'd been speaking in code. He loved his sons' but had never offered to keep them this long and overnight without her help before. She wasn't sure how she liked this arrangement. He was a grown ass man and their father, but he wasn't ready for this in her opinion.

"No Mom, why do you think that? I want to hang out with my kids tonight. Believe it or not, you and Tara and Neeta aren't the only ones that can take care of them, I'm a big boy and I've got it covered. I'll call you tomorrow. K?"

Not ready to relinquish the reins quite yet she said, "Speaking of Tara have you heard from her?"

Jax rolled his eyes he was always going to be a kid as far as his mom was concerned. "Yeah, I talked to her this morning, the conference is almost over, sometime this afternoon in fact and then she and Lila will be heading back on Friday."

"Friday is two days away."

"Don't worry, Max and Rick know where they're staying and they've been to the clubhouse in Vegas before, Tara said that she and Lila are well protected and they're having a great time. She hasn't had any time since Wyatt was born to get away and she needed a couple of extra days after the conference to unwind, they'll be fine. Lila's got some friends there too, so I'm sure they'll be fine."

"I bet; they'll be pole dancing before the end of the night if Lila's friends are from her former profession." Gemma said skeptically.

Jax snorted into the phone, "Well, that'll just give us one more thing to enjoy in the bedroom. Good bye mom." He palmed the phone and dropped it onto the seat next to him.

"Little shit." She said into the dead phone as she lit her own cigarette.

Jax looked up again into the rearview mirror and then around as he pulled into the driveway next to Opie's Dodge pickup. The two of them each grabbed a kid and went inside, neither of them noticing the blue pickup cruise slowly by in front of the house before making its way to the end of the block. Opie left and went to pick up the other three kids from school and told Jax to order some take out.

Wendy looked at the two men as they took the boys into the house, turning to the man driving the truck she said, "Maybe I shouldn't have tried this. Jax isn't going to let me see Abel without a fight, I don't know if I'm strong enough."

The man looked over at her, "Don't worry babe, you've got all the rights and I ain't afraid of Jackson Teller. He may think he walks on water, but he doesn't. None of those MC pussies do. Come on; let's go to the 'Dog."

The two of them got out of the truck outside of the Hair of The Dog bar where most of her old acquaintances still hung out. Although clean she wasn't able to make the complete break from this group. Walking into the dimly lit bar she made out a few of the guys and girls, one in particular. A new old lady to the group, Ima had impressed less with her brains and more with her skill and eagerness to use it. Wendy thought she was just another piece of cheap ass but the Nords had taken a real shine to her. Wendy made her way to a table across from the pool table and Ima came to join her.

"So, how'd it go?" She asked, taking a hit from a joint and a drink from her beer as she sat. "How did Jax look?"

Ima had set her sights on Jax herself and thought that after the night they'd spent together it wouldn't be long before she'd be on the pedestal next to him, but he'd gone crawling back to that goody goody doctor bitch he was hung up on. Then she'd gone and had a baby. That was something Ima was so not gonna do, she just wanted to be at the top, her rightful place.

"I had to give him the papers, so now I guess we just wait." Wendy said morosely wondering how her life had come to this.

"That's crap, why don't you just go over to his house and make him show you the kid; I mean he's your kid right?" Ima said, not really caring one way or the other.

"Yeah, he's my kid, but I can't just go make Jax let me see him. He's got a hell of a lot of muscle behind him for one thing and for another I don't want to see Abel get hurt. I know I've done a lot of terrible things to him, but he doesn't need any more in his life." She'd been filled in by her man and Ima about the Ireland trip, and some of it was almost true. She'd never fully understood just how much danger Abel had been in of never coming home.

"I say you just go wait until you see him at the park or something, when that black bitch has her back turned dealing with the other one and grab him." Ima said, more than halfway drunk. By now, Wendy had started on her own beer. Quitting the heroin was one thing; she wasn't a fuckin' saint after all. "Yeah, I just walk up and pick him up? That's how I'll die. Gemma will gut me and leave me to die on the ground if I tried something like that."

"Fuck Gemma, I know how to make sure she never knows and she'll never be able to stop you." Ima slurred. Wendy looked over at her, how had this porn bimbo gotten to the point where she was talking about knocking off the queen of the Son's? "Really, you think you have what it takes to take out Gemma?"

"Her and that doctor bitch too." Ima said and smiled, she tapped her glass on Wendy's and leaned over, "Listen here, we'll get your son and hell, maybe Jax too."