Fighting Back
Chapter 8
Nicole headed over to Teller/Morrow, after she left the Hospital. She really hoped that Unser kept to his word and didn't tell Clay or Jax about her decision. She knew they would find out eventually but she needed to get her story straight before they started asking questions, because Unser was right they were not going to be happy.
Stepping out of the car she went to head inside the clubhouse, but was stopped when her phone started ringing. She rummaged in her bag for her cell. Finally she found it.
"Hello."
"Hey baby."
"Aunt Gemma. God it's good to hear your voice." Nicole took a seat on top of the picnic bench in front of the clubhouse.
"Yours to. How doing Darlin? Clay told me bout Hale. I know you two got on."
"I'm okay."
"No your not."
"How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Hold it together all the time."
"Years of experience. Something else bothering you?"Gemma knew her niece and hearing her voice wavering on the phone, she knew something was bothering her and it wasn't just to do with Hale.
"No everything's fine. Just didn't much sleep last night. So how's your dad doing, Clay said you went to visit him."
"Not good."
"Sorry."
"Yeah. Don't think I didn't notice you changing the subject by the way."
"I'm fine seriously, nothing a hot bath and glass of wine won't solve."
"Okay, I'll buy it for now. Will you tell that Uncle of yours to call me later."
"Will do."
"Love you baby."
"Love you to."
Nicole rubbed her hand over the back of her neck, she was exhausted. She could feel her body starting to shut down. But she knew she couldn't give into it she had to be strong.
"Hey."
Nicole looked up and saw a familiar face looking down at her. She felt a warm sensation spread through her body with the sight of him. He was exactly what she needed right now. Nicole got to her feet and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
"Carl." She whispered in his ear as he hugged her back, making sure he didn't squeeze her to tightly. After a hug that probably lasted a little to long than it should have, Nicole pulled away.
"How you doing?" Nicole just shrugged. "I was going to come and see you, but I um kinda got told it was patches only."
"By who?" Carl looked over his shoulder back at the workshop. Nicole looked in the direction Carl was looking and saw Happy.
"Don't think he likes me much."
"I wouldn't take it personally, Hap doesn't like many people." She told him as she looked back at him.
"He likes you."
"That's because he's known me since I was a kid."
"Yeah I'm sure that's the only reason." Nicole gave him a confused look, she didn't really understand his answer. "Not to be rude but your not looking so hot, you sure you should be out and about?"
"Physically I'm fine, mentally not so good." She admitted as sat back down on the bench.
"You wanna talk about it?" He asked as he took a seat next to her.
"I wouldn't know where to start."
"The beginning maybe." He placed his hand on er knee, she turned to look at him, giving him an appreciative smile. Her attention was taken from Carl when she heard the door to the Clubhouse open.
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Juice downed his second shot as Happy's words replayed in his head.
"She doesn't need your shit. Grow a pair and man the fuck up. You pull this shit again and me and you are gonna have major issues."
Juice was already ashamed of his actions last night, but having Happy pull him up on it showed him how much of a dick he had been last night. He should never have left her by herself.
He was gonna down another shot for courage before he went to find Nicole and apologise but as he reached for the bottle he got a call from Clay, telling him to meet himself and the others.
Jax, Clay, Chibs, Opie and Bobby had gone to the hospital to see if they could get anything out of the guy Jax had beaten up. But unfortunately Jax had done the guy over pretty badly, so the guy was actually unable to speak, but they did however find some Tatts that linked him to the Calaveras Tribe in Lodi.
So they wanted to go and pay the Calaveras President a little visit. But first they were going to meet with Jimmy and Clay wanted numbers at the meet.
Juice hung up, before heading outside. As he pushed open the clubhouse door, he stopped with the sight that greeted him. Nicole was sitting on the picnic bench with Carl who's hand was resting on her knee. Juice felt his chest tighten.
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Happy was making his way over to his bike after receiving a call from Jax telling him that he needed his help. As he got closer to his bike he saw Juice exit the clubhouse, he'd obviously had the same call. But Happy noticed that Juice stopped as something caught his eye.
Tilting his head to the side so that he could see what had caught his brothers attention, he saw Nicole sitting with that dumbass Carl, Happy also noticed his hand on Nicole's leg, he knew that was what had really caught Juice's attention. Happy shook his head and quickening his pace.
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"Juice." Nicole stood to her feet.
"You know I was just in there." He pointed back to the clubhouse. "Thinking about what a dick I was last night, but then your here already moving on."
"Hey man it's not like that." Carl added as he stood next to Nicole. Juice turned his attention onto Carl.
"Really, you getting into my business." Juice barked.
"Carl, I think you should go." Nicole turned to look at Carl, and that's when she saw Happy marching towards them. "You should probably..." But it was too late Happy was already there.
"Everything good here?" Happy questioned, looking between the three of them.
"Yeah fucking great." Juice snapped.
"Leave." Happy ordered pointing to Carl. Carl looked back at Nicole as she smiled at him apologetically. Once Carl was out of earshot. Happy focused his attention back onto Nicole and a very pissed off Juice.
"Juice..." Juice looked up at Happy knowing that he was quietly reminding him about their earlier conversation.
"Yeah I know. We've gotta go." Juice said as he headed to his bike.
"I'll catch up." Happy told him.
Nicole looked between the two of them a little confused by what was going on between them. Once Juice had left them Nicole turned her full attention onto Happy.
"What was that?" She asked.
"Could ask you the same thing."
"It was nothing. Carl is just a friend."
"Yeah well don't let your 'friend' push up on ya in front of your man. That shit aint cool. Fucks with a guys head."
"Yeah and what about my fucking head Hap." He just looked at her giving her a look that told her he didn't appreciate her outburst. "Look sorry I don't mean to snap at you, I'm just tired." Hap knew that wasn't true. He'd sat up watching her sleep she had more than 7 hours no way she could be tired, something else was bothering her. "Where you going anyway?"
"Meeting with Jimmy. And Clay has a lead bout the shooting."
"That's good."
"Yeah. I better go."
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Jimmy O sat opposite Clay and Jax. They had just told him that Gemma wasn't responsible for Killing Edmond, and that his murder was on the hands of Agent Stahl.
"Shit."
"Yeah so you can tell Hayes that he directed his vengeance at the wrong people." Jax spat.
"We know Hayes got a fake passport and we think he's used to go back to Belfast." Clay added.
"Nah, I'd know. Nothing like that would happen without me knowing about it. Hayes ain't in Belfast, he's still here." But Jimmy wasn't telling the truth. The truth was Cameron was in Belfast and he had Abel with him, but Jimmy couldn't say anything. He had rules to follow to.
"I'm going back to Ireland in a few days, Luke is going to take over. If I hear any whispers about your boy Jax, I'll let you know." Jimmy stretched out his hand, Clay accepted it, Jax did the same.
The rest of the guys followed them out of the bar. Once again they had gotten nowhere. A day ago this would have crushed Jax even more, sent him back inside himself, but not now, nothing was going to get in his way of finding his son.
"Bobby your ex still with that bounty hunter?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Why you want to put him on Cameron?" Clay asked overhearing Jax's question.
"Might be all we can do. Cops aren't doing shit, were getting nowhere."
"I don't know man, I'm currently at an impasse with Precious."
"How much?" Clay questioned.
"6 months alimony, 2 months child support." Jax gave him a look, telling him he really didn't give a shit. "Fine, lets go visit the crazy bitch."
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After her little run in with Juice and Happy Nicole decided she needed to take her mind off everything, so she locked herself away in the workshop office and busied herself with the paper work that had piled up over the past few days.
She was sitting on the floor papers scattered around her in piles. A cigarette in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other staring at the disorganised mess that surrounded her.
Nicole looked up when she heard the office door open. Tara was looking down at her, her eyes roaming over the papers.
"Sorry, am I interrupting?"
"Yes thank god." Nicole stood up and walked over to the coffee machine. "Coffee?"
"Sure." Tara answered as she carefully tiptoed around the paperwork to take a seat in front of the desk. Nicole placed the mug in front of Tara, before taking the other seat behind the desk.
"So is this a social visit or can I help you with something?" Nicole asked taking a drag of her cigarette, as she rested her elbows on top of the desk.
"You heard from Jax?" Nicole smiled to herself, seemed like the perfect couple weren't so perfect at the moment.
"Yeah, spoke to him about 20 minutes ago." She took a sip of coffee, she could feel Tara watching her waiting for her to elaborate, but Nicole kept her hanging for the information a little longer, while she typed some numbers into the computer.
"So what did he say?" Tara was growing tired of waiting for her to continue, so decided to give her some encouragement.
"That they;ve just visited Precious. God I would have loved to have been there for that." Nicole laughed to herself with the thought of Bobby and his ex.
"Precious?"
"Bobby's ex-wife, well one of them. A crazy bitch is our Precious. Anyway said they went there to talk to her boyfriend he's a bounty hunter. Gonna see if he can find anything on Cameron and Abel."
"You think it will help?"
"Worth a shot. Got to try everything right?" Nicole's underlying statement, didn't go unnoticed. She knew what Nicole was saying, if not straight out, that Tara should have done more to try and save Abel.
"Where are they now?" Tara asked deciding to avoid Nicole's sly shot.
"To see a jumped up little shit who's got a little to cocky for his own good."
"What?" Nicole finally looked from the computer screen to Tara.
"The little shit is Hector president of some bullshit club called the Calaveras Tribe. Now we done with this because in case you haven't noticed I've got work to do." Nicole got to her feet. "And I'm sure you have to be at work."
"Actually, I don't."
"Night off, lucky you."
"Actually I've asked for a leave of absence." Tara answered avoiding Nicole, who she could feel staring at her.
"You've what?"
"I need a break."
"You need a break right..."
"You don't understand. I knew I shouldn't have told you." Tara remarked getting to her feet. Before heading for the door, this time not caring about the papers littered on the ground.
"You know Jay is going to lose his shit when he finds out, what happened to no drama?"
"He doesn't need to know." Tara replied keeping her back to Nicole.
"I'm not keeping this shit from him." This time Tara turned back to look at her.
Tara was angry, angry that Nicole was standing in front of her lecturing her about not keeping her shit contained, when Nicole was guilty of doing the same thing.
"Okay, then maybe I should tell him about you visiting Ryan today."
"You don't know what you're talking about." Nicole turned her back on Tara as she subbed out her cigarette.
"Yes I do. I saw you leaving his room. What the hell are you doing Nic?"
"Gemma really has trained you well." Nicole remarked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"What?"
"You win. I'll keep your secret as long as you keep mine."
"Nic I didn't mean it as a threat. I'm...I'm just worried, I don't want you to get hurt."
"You know what Tara you can't blackmail me one second and then another second tell me that your worried about me. It's bullshit."
"I'm not trying to blac..."
"Yes you are. You're threatening to tell my secret, if I tell Jay yours, that's blackmail T."
"Nic..."
"Tara if I were you I would walk the fuck out of that door, before I really start to lose my shit."
"Fine." Tara snapped slamming the office door behind her.
As Tara stormed from the office to her car, her cell started ringing. "Yes." She barked down the line, her temper flaring.
"Tara?"
"Gemma?"
"Yeah baby it's me. You okay?"
"Yeah just having a bad day."
"Tell me about it."
"What's wrong?"
"I need your help."
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Jax arrived home after what could only be explained as a bitch of a day. He wanted nothing more than to jump in a hot shower, drain a couple of beers if not more and hopefully Tara would help release some of his tension. But when he walked into the kitchen and saw Tara packing her medical bag he knew his plans weren't going to happen.
"Where you going?"
"Gemma called something happened with your Grandad, she wants me up there." She answered as she continued to pack her bag.
"No." Tara stopped what she was doing and looked at Jax. "If you get caught with my Mom, that's aiding and abetting. Federal Crime."
"Well what do you want me to tell here?"
"Tell her no."
"She your Mom..."
"Exactly she's myMom, which mean her shit is my business it doesn't concern you. If she needs help I'll get her some help. I'm not having you get dragged into this shit."
"You know what I am so sick of this. You and your cousin may not respect me, may not trust me enough to let me into your world fully, but Gemma does and I'm not going to let her down."
"What are you talking about?" Jax knew something had obviously gone on between Nicole and Tara and that was the underlying issue of Tara's anger. But at the same time he wasn't just about let this slide.
"You all tell Nicole everything."
"She knows the club, understands it."
"And I don't?"
Jax was about to answer when his phone started ringing. "Yeah." He said as he answered his phone.
"You've gotta come to the clubhouse we've got something your gonna want to see." The voice on the other end said.
"Okay I'm on my way." He looks back to Tara. "I've gotta go, I'll be back in a little while. We'll finish this conversation when I get back." Jax stalked out the door not giving her a second glance.
Tara couldn't believe he had just spoke to her like that, like he owned her. She'd heard how some of the guys spoke to their Old Ladies like a piece of shit but Jax had never, well until now. Still angered from her run in with Nicole, Tara wasn't willing to take anymore. She zipped up her bags and headed to her car.
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Jax pulled into Teller/Morrow. He was heading for the Clubhouse when he saw the light on in the Office. He thought about going to have a look, since his Mom had gone he'd rarely seen the office occupied at such a late hour, but then he remembered the reason why he was here. And with that thought he went inside.
Jax walked into the Chapel where all the guys were sitting. He turned to Juice who was standing at the head of the Redwood table.
"What is it?"
"Sergio found this." Juice handed him a photograph. "It was taken three days ago at the Amtrak station in Rocklin. Timothy Odell and infant bought a one way ticket to Vancouver." Jax breathed a sigh of relief as he inspected the photocopy of Cameron and his son.
"My Kid." Clay placed his hand on his step sons shoulder.
"Abel is fine and is heading up north. We'll find him."
"Yeah."
They all headed to the bar, everybody in need of a stiff drink. After sharing a couple of shots with his brothers, Jax went outside for some air. As he lit his cigarette he saw Happy sitting on the picnic bench, his own cigarette in hand. Jax walked over to him.
"Hey."
"Hey man. Good news bout your kid."
"Yeah." Jax answered as he watched Happy gaze leave him and focus on the office that was still a lit. "Who's in the office?"
"Your cousin. Think she's hiding out in there." Happy replied looking back at Jax.
"Why she hiding?"
"Her and Juice got into it today."
"Shit what about now?"
"The pretty boy mechanic."
"Great."
"Don't want get up in your family shit bro, but don't think the little Princess is coping to well."
"I'll have word with Juice, see if I can get him to leave off her for a bit. And as for Nic, guess I'll deal with her now." Jax rolled his eyes causing a smirk to appear on Happy's lips.
"Good luck Bro." Happy laughed patting Jax on his back before going back into the clubhouse.
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Nicole had finished her paper work over and ago, but instead of going home she kept herself locked in the office.
She lay back on the old broken couch, in the office, blowing circles with the smoke from her cigarette, as her mind mulled over the days events.
"Hey." Nicole jumped at the sound of Jax's voice. She turned to look at him. He didn't look impressed. "Think we need to talk."
"Fuck" Nicole thought to herself. Tara had ratted in her.