Thanks for your lovely reviews. They really
help. Just to let you know that obviously Samcro
will be going to Belfast, and I will be including some
parts of what happens over there but my main focus
will be what happens to Nicole.
Hope you all enjoy.
Fighting Back
Chapter 22
Nicole stirred when she felt the weight next to her shift. Opening her eyes she saw Kozik picking up his cut of the floor, before slipping it on. Nicole smiled as she stretched out. Kozik stopped and looked at her.
"Morning." he said with a smile.
"Hey." She rubbed her eyes before sitting up. "What time is it?"
"8." Koz answered as he pulled on his boots.
"Right."
"Well I better head out, before some catches me."
"By someone you mean Tig right?" Kozik huffed. Tig really was the last person he wanted to bump into. "Thanks for last night, i guess i needed it more than i thought." Nicole said as Kozik made his way towards the door.
"No problem." He went for the door again, but again Nicole called out stopping him.
"Koz why...why are you being nice to me?" He ran his hand over his face as he walked back over to her.
"I told you drinking alone is pathetic." Nicole let out a little laugh. "Seriously though Nic, I know we've had our differences over the years but that doesn't mean I'm just going to stand by and let you destroy yourself." He was now standing next to the bed she was sitting in. "Look just promise me something okay."
"What?"
"That if you do feel like shit is getting too much that you won't try and deal with it yourself. Find someone, anyone, but don't try and get through it alone."
"I promise."
"Good." He gave her a wink before finally leaving.
##################
Nicole entered the bar sometime later after she had finished getting ready. Today she was dressed in a dark grey v neck t-shirt and black skinny jeans, her hair was down but instead of being straight like always today she had curled the ends.
When she walked into the bar she realised it was empty. Looking to the closed double doors to her right she knew where everybody was.
Taking advantage of the quiet, Nicole pulled out her cell. She dialled Tara's number but wasn't surprised when it went to voice mail, it had the past 4 times she had tried to call her. Tara was defiantly avoiding her.
Nicole went to pour herself a coffee before taking a seat at the bar. She felt weird, it always unnerved when the clubhouse was this quiet. Plus when it was this quiet it meant that all she could do was think, and that was never a good thing. She wasn't able to dwell in her thoughts for to long before she heard the Church doors open. Spinning around she saw all of Samara staring back at her. But her eyes only locked with two of them. First her eyes met Jax's, then they went to Happy before going back to Jax. She felt like the walls were closing in she needed to get out of there.
"Where you going?" Jax asked catching her wrist in his hand.
"To the office, if that's allowed."
"You okay?" Nicole couldn't help but look over his shoulder at Happy again, who was now staring at her with an unreadable look on his face. She would give anything to know what going inside that head of his. She hadn't spoken nor seen him since they were wrapped around one another in her cousins bed. Whatever it was that happened between them all she knew was that right now she wanted nothing more than to been tangled up in his safe embrace. "Nic."
"Like you care." She spat pulling her wrist free and storming outside. Jax went to follow her but was stopped by Bobby.
"Leave her be." He said placing his hand on the shoulder of the younger biker, who he thought of as a son. He guided him over to the bar.
"She hates me." He admitted. Bobby laughed.
"I know shit all about women, but when it comes to that woman, her I understand and trust me she doesn't hate you, she loves you." Jax scoffed. "Oh brother, you really don't get it do you?"
"What?"
"The reason she's acting like that isn't because she hates you it's because she loves you. Your probably the only person in the world she trusts with all her heart. She's been hurt a lot..."
"What are you saying Bobby?"
"The other night you hurt her." Jax threw a scornful look. Bobby held up his hands. "Don't get me wrong brother probably would have come to the same conclusion."
"Bobby she told me she's done with me." Bobby shook his head.
"And you think she means it, she's testing you man. She's wants you to fight for her, reassure her that no matter what shit she pulls you will always be there for her. She's pushing you away because she probably thinks you'll leave her anyway."
"I wouldn't do that."
"Then prove it."
"Thanks man." Jax went to go and find Nicole to do exactly what Bobby had just said.
"Jax." He turned back to face Bobby. "I'd still let her cool for a bit first."
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Nicole stormed into the garage office, slamming the door behind. She let out a frustrated scream as she ran her fingers through her hair. She walked behind the desk and took a seat. looking down at the mountain of paperwork that had piled up, it became clear that no one had touched it such the last time she had been here, god where was Gemma when you needed her.
She started sorting through the paper work when the door opened to the garage she looked up and saw Carl standing there.
"Hey." She said as a massive smile spread onto her face. She got to her feet and went over to hug him. She held on a little longer than normal.
"You okay?" He asked as he held her.
"Yes, no, I don't know." She answered honestly as she pulled away from him. His hand ran down her arm.
"Yeah I heard about Ryan, I'm sorry."
"Don't be it's not your fault." She said as she sat back down. Ryan took the seat on the other side of the desk.
"So how you handling it?"
"I'm just trying to keep myself busy, but since Clay has put me lock down it's a little hard, especially now."
"Whys that?"
"Nothing. Anyway I know this is a bit short notice and we'll probably have someone tagging along but wondered if you fancied going for a drink or something, I could really use it."
"Nic, I'd love to..."
"Great." She smiled.
"But I can't."
"OH." Carl could see the disappointment in her face but now he knew it was about to get worse.
"I'm leaving Nic. I got offered a job back in my home town. My Dads sick and I want to be closer to my Mom. I have tried to talk to you but..."
"But I've been to busy with my own shit."
"Nic..."
"No I've been to obsessed with my own shit." She got up from her seat and walked around to him. Carl got to his feet as Nicole grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry to hear about your Dad, I hope he'll be okay."
"Me to."
"When do you leave?"
"Tomorrow evening." Nicole nodded.
"So this is goodbye?"
"I guess." Nicole hugged him tightly.
"I'm gonna miss you."
"Me to."
"Come and see before you leave."
"Of course." The two stood silently hugging each other for a few more moments before he finally pulled away. "I better get back to work."
"Yeah from the stack of paper work over there I'm guessing it's pretty backed up in there." He kissed her cheek.
"I'll see you later."
"Yeah." Nicole watched as he headed back into the garage. Walking back around the desk she slumped into the chair.
She never expected to hear that Carl was leaving. He was probably her only friend around here that wasn't related to the club, she knew she took him for granted and was selfish with him but she couldn't help it she needed him.
##################
"All your vitals look good, your medication must be kicking in." Tara said as she filled in Gemma's chart.
"You sure about that?"
"Yes." Tara cocked her eyebrow.
"Maybe you should check again."
"Gemma what's going on?" Tara walked from the bottom of the bed towards Gemma who was sitting up.
"You spoke to Jackson?"
"About?"
"Belfast."
"He mentioned it."
"Their leaving tonight."
"Right..." Tara was worried where this was heading.
"I'm going to."
"What, Gemma that's impossible..."
"Not if you help me."
#####################
Nicole sat absently staring towards the garage as she sat alone with her thoughts. She was so deep in thought that she didn't even hear the office door open.
"Miss..excuse me Miss..." Nicole finally snapped out of it when she heard the deep voice. Spinning around quickly she saw a tall bald man standing in the doorway. He was dressed in a black suit with a matching black shirt. Nicole smirked to herself at how out of place this man looked. "Sorry to interrupt."
"You weren't." Nicole got to her feet. "Can I help you?"
"It's my car it's making a strange noise, wanted it checked before I leave town."
"Sure." Nicole grabbed a couple pieces of paper. "Here, just fill these out." The man accepted the paper and pen Nicole offered him. "I'll be right back." Nicole disappeared into the office.
When Nicole returned a few minutes later the man was standing by the desk waiting for her. When he saw her he handed her back the papers.
"Thanks." She did a quick scan of the paperwork before looking back at him. "Just spoke to the guys, bad news is we're not going to be able to fit you in today, but we can look at it tomorrow morning if that's okay Mr..." Nicole looked back at the paperwork. "Mr Williams."
"That's fine. And please call me Andy." The man offered his hand and Nicole accepted it, but as she went to pull away the man held onto her hand, making her feel uncomfortable. "Will you be here?" Nicole pulled her hand free.
"I guess."
"Well I'll look forward to it." He smiled smugly at her before leaving the office.
Nicole didn't know why but that man freaked her out. She felt her heart beat faster when he didn't let go of her hand, and couldn't help but think he was going to hurt her. But now she couldn't believe how stupid she was being. He was a nice, good looking, polite guy who may and may not of been flirting with he was not out to hurt her, she really needed to get over this.
##################
It was now 4 o'clock, it had gone way past dinner time and Nicole was starving. She was down to the last pile of paperwork and was determined to finish it despite the fact that her stomach was rumbling. But when she looked up after hearing the office door open, she saw Jax standing in the doorway. She sighed knowing that she was not going to finish this any time soon.
"Here." Jax dropped a bag in front of her. She looked at the bag and then at him. "Noticed you skipped lunch. Thought you might be hungry." Nicole was more than hungry and was sure she would demolish whatever was inside that bag, but Nicole was too stubborn to admit it.
"I'm fine." She told him as she went back to her paperwork. Jax nodded, so this was how she was going to play it. Jax took a seat. "Is there something else?"
"I'm sorry." Nicole looked up and him, leaning back in her chair.
"For what?"
"Acting like a complete dick. You were right, I shouldn't of aired your shit like that. What I did was outta line."
"Yeah it was." Jax wanted to bite back and tell her that she shouldn't have gone behind his back but Bobby's words rang in his head. Jax got to his feet and walked around the desk before kneeling in front of her. He took her hands in his.
"I love you, that will never change no matter what happens between us. I know I hurt you and you have no idea how much I hate myself for that. But we have two choices here. One we can carry on hating one another which only ends up hurting ourselves or two we can move past this, go back to the way it was before." Nicole just stared at him. Of course she was going to forgive him, she had spent seven years of her life without him and look how that had turned out. She knew not having him in her life was not an option. Although it didn't mean she wasn't still pissed at him.
"Okay." She said simply.
"Okay?"
"Okay." Jax was still confused, what was she agreeing to. But then he saw her lean over and grab the bag. He grinned at her, she had forgiven him.
Jax didn't speak, as he walked back to his seat, he just sat watching her eat the Ham and Cheese toasty he had brought her.
"Nic were leaving for Belfast at six."
"I know."
"We want to bring in some back up make sure you were protected while were gone."
"Why?"
"I'm sick of taking risks when it comes to you."
"So who's staying?"
"Kozik. Hopefully a few Nomads will come down. Nic I need you to promise me while I'm away that you're going let Koz do his job, let him look after you."
"Okay." Jax laughed. "What?"
"Well that was easy."
"I'm sick of all this, sick of Ryan controlling my life. I just want this to be over."
"It will be, we'll get him and I promise you we'll end this."
"Good."
"Right I've got a few things to do before we leave. You wanna come?"
"Nah I'm going finish up here."
"Okay I'll see you here." Jax walked over and pulled her out of her chair and into a hug. "I love you." He said.
"Love you to." Jax kissed the top of her head before leaving the office.
It took Nicole another 20 minutes to finish the paperwork but finally she was done. She got up deciding enough was enough, there was nothing more she could do.
Nicole made her way towards the clubhouse. As she crossed the parking lot she noticed that most of the bikes were gone, she figured they had all gone home to getting themselves sorted before they left for Belfast.
Nicole was once again met with the unsettling feeling. She hated seeing the Clubhouse house so empty it wasn't right, but considering most of Samcro were going to be leaving it was something she was going to have to get used to.
She was going to head to Jax's dorm room and take a shower to freshen herself up but she had one more stop to make before she did that.
#######################
Ryan couldn't believe when he saw Andy at Teller/Morrow. He knew that Zobelle's men were probably starting to put their plans into action, and he was no closer to stopping it. He'd been watching the clubhouse since Nicole had arrived, but now he realised that his chance off getting to her was becoming slim. It seemed that the protection of her had been stepped up, she hadn't left the clubhouse so unless he walked straight into Teller/Morrow, which would be signing his own death warrant, there was no way of getting to her. It was time for Plan B.