Silver Lining

'I won't get left behind

when the walls come tumbling in

I'll keep climbing,

I'll keep climbing'

Bad Call

It had been a hard day, damn it had been a hard two weeks. But for tonight Jackson Teller was more than happy to indulge in some beers, laughs and maybe the odd fight with his bothers and of course a little pussy before the shit really hit the fan and he would have to learn the true meaning of what it meant to be Samcros VP.

He felt a familiar urge brew inside him as the brunette trailed wet kisses down his neck, her hand wondering up his leg towards his crotch. This girl was defiantly providing the distraction that he needed and he had every intention on taking her back to his dorm, well that was until the ringing of his cell interrupted them.

"Ignore it baby." She whispered into his ear before nibbling on his earlobe.

"Wish I could Darlin." Reluctantly he snagged his phone from the inside of his cut and answered the call.

"Hello..." The line on the other end was quiet so he tried again. "Hello."

When he finally got an answer he was more than a little shocked by who it was. And it was because of his shock that he was now sitting outside the small B&B 20 minutes outside of Charming.

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Liv had made an escape to the local store. She wasn't mad at Jessica not completely anyway, Jess wasn't a bad person, not a bad bone in her tiny body and that's how Liv knew that Jessica telling Happy where she lived was not done in malice or some sort of spite, she would have only done it if she truly thought it was the right thing to do, and it was that thought that had Liv making some bullshit excuse that landed her in the local store.

Herself and Happy hadn't spoken two words since that day in her apartment, even though it took her two months to finally file the divorce papers he had not contacted her either through a lawyer or personally which meant if he had gone to Jessica, which was totally unlike him to search for help from an outsider, then something was wrong, really wrong. And nothing good came from that.

As she strolled down the isles of the store mindlessly picking up items and placing them in her basket she thought about her current situation with Jessica and Happy.

She had to help her end of, and that meant doing whatever she had to, and with Happy being around he was the obvious choice to go to for help and she knew that's exactly what he'd do, but taking a second to look at the bigger picture she knew that involving him would be the start of something disastrous.

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Her mind was still working overtime as she pulled her truck into the parking lot of the B&B. It wasn't until she stepped out of her truck, grabbing her purchases from the passenger seat that she noticed the bike parked a couple of bays down.

Her first thought of course as it always was whenever she saw a Harley, Happy. But as she took a closer look she realised it wasn't his but that didn't mean that the tightness in her chest eased any more.

"What the hell is going on?" Liv stepped into the room and saw Jessica sitting on the edge of the bed with Jax kneeling in front of her, his hand cupping her cheek until they both turned to look at her.

"Liv..." Jessica started as she shot to her feet, forcing Jax on to his. Liv let her eyes fall to Jess for a spilt second before returning to Jax who was staring at her, intensely.

"You need to leave." Liv snapped as she dropped the brown paper bag onto the dresser near the door before her eyes fell back onto the blonde biker who had one of the most cockiest grins on his face that she had ever seen.

"Really." He replied as he stepped in front of Jessica.

"Yeah, this isn't your problem, this doesn't concern you."

"Well she seems to think so." He said as he cocked his head in the direction of Jessica who was nervously standing behind him.

"Well she's wrong I've got this."

Jax had to admit when he had given Jessica his number all those months ago he always hoped she'd call but he wasn't going to hold his breath. The bruises that tarnished her skin hadn't gone unnoticed by him or his brothers . Even though he had made numerous gestures letting her know that he was so much better than her abusive boyfriend and he would never lay hands on her he still knew that it was a tough choice for her because in that sort of relationship even though the victim knows that it's all types of wrong it's still hard to find the courage and confidence to leave them. Which is why even though he was surprised to hear from her he wasn't surprised to find her black and blue and crying out for help, but what did surprise him was to find the mysterious Blonde stripper that had some how manged to twist up not only Happy but the president of the Tacoma charter Tally and a few of his other Tacoma brothers.

"Liv I know I shouldn't have called him b..." Jessica muttered feebly before Liv cut of her, finally loosing her patience.

"No..You shouldn't have. This does not involve him or any Son for that matter."

"But I was..."

"Just trying to help, yeah I get that Jess, but I told you I had this..." Liv snapped before she could stop herself.

"HEY..." Jax shouted as he stepped closer to Liv, blocking Jessica from her view as he approached her. "This is not her fault."

"I know that. But you have no idea what you're getting yourself into here."

"Why don't you explain it to me then." Jax watched her eyes fall over his shoulder onto Jessica before meeting his again. "This happened within Charming boarders so that makes it Sons business whether you think so or not." She shook her head and he could tell that she didn't agree. "Plus she called me. Let me help." He watched her eyes fall to the floor, she was obviously contemplating her next move and when she looked back up at him he thought she was finally going to agree but she didn't.

"No." Liv whispered horsely as she tried to fight back her emotions.

"Liv." Jessica called as she watched her best friend walk out of the room.

"I've got this." Jax told her as he lightly grabbed her wrist as she went to rush past him.

"But.." He cut her off by pressing a finger against her lips.

"I'll handle it."

When he stepped outside he saw Liv sitting on the curb trying to light her cigarette, as she cursed the failing lighter under her breath. Pulling out his own lighter he took the few steps that lay between them and sat down beside her.

"Here." Liv looked at him and stared at him for a moment or two before reluctantly taking the lighter he was offering.

They sat in silence for a little while both smoking their cigarettes. Without a doubt he wanted to help Jessica but he'd be lying if he didn't have ulterior motives. He wanted to know who the girl beside him was.

"Do you even know who her boyfriend is, the one who did that to her?" Liv asked interrupting Jax from his thoughts. When Jax shook his head she continued. "Danny Jenkins."

"Darby's right hand?"

"The one and only." She turned her head to the side so she could see his reaction, and when she watched him run a hand over his face she knew that he finally understood the seriousness of the situation, well until he started speaking then she realised something else, Happy had never told his brothers.

"Doesn't matter. I'll protect her, the club will protect her. The pricks been pushing beyond his means for a while now..."

"You still don't get it do you?" She took a deep drag of her cigarette. "This isn't just about Jess. When Danny realises she's missing he's gonna know I'm the one who's taken her." Taking another long drag as she tried to psyche herself up for what she was about to do. "Do you know who I am?" Jax laughed and again Liv noticed the cocky grin return to his face.

"That is a question I've been trying to figure out since you somehow managed to get my brother all twisted up resultin in us getting thrown our of Darby's." Jax returned her stare. "I know it's got somethin to do with Hap, right?"

"Yeah. He's also the reason why I don't want the Sons involved in this." She took a deep breath. "This goes no further."

"Not sure I can promise you that." He replied cautiously. As much as he wanted to know who she was he wasn't about to make a deal to keep shit from his club, his brothers and more importantly Happy.

"Fine. But just remember this if he hasn't told any of you, it's probably because he doesn't want you knowing." Jax again laughed.

"True."

"I'm his wife."

"Shit..." She could see the disbelief written all over his face. His cocky grin a thing of the past. "I didn't even know he had an Old Lady...shit..."

"Not many people do. We kind of fell apart 9 years ago."

"So that's why you don't want him here..."

"No." She shook her head. "We've kind of dealt with that. The reason I don't want him involved in this is because..." She stared off into the distance unsure whether or not she should continue.

"Because what?"

"Because 6 months he got me out, got me and my brother away from Darby and that creep. Now if you know Happy as well as I do, then you realise that, that sort of situation wouldn't have ended without some blood being shed." Jax nodded. He completely agreed with her in fact he remembered that around that time the club had been informed that Danny had been shot, but the details were vague well until now. "It's not gonna take long for Danny to put two and two together and realise that I'm the one who's kidnapped his girlfriend. And I'm pretty sure after his run in with Happy he'll love nothing more than to exact a little revenge. If Hap gets involved it will...

"Cause a war." Jax added as he took the last drag of his cigarette.

"Exactly."

"Okay."

"Okay?" She questioned cocking an eyebrow at him.

"I'll keep her safe and at the same time keep you out of this but you have to promise me something."

"What?"

"If Hap rings you after this answer him, tell him your okay."

"Promise." Jax nodded and got to his feet extending his hand out to her. She looked up at him and accepted his help as he pulled her back onto her feet.

"Oh, one more thing." He said still holding onto her hand.

"What?"

"No way is Jess gonna be able to ride on the back of my bike." Liv instantly knew what he was asking and hated the whole idea of it.

"Can't you call someone else?"

"Not unless you want half of Samcro here. We're kind of in the middle of something right now and I shouldn't be here especially alone."

"What about a cab?"

"You really want to dump her in a cab with some stranger." Liv shook her head. "Didn't think so." He placed his other hand on her shoulder. "Look you just have to drop her at the gate, you won't even have to go inside. Scouts honer." Liv pulled away from his hold and folded her arms across her chest and looked him up and down.

"Somehow I find it a little hard to believe you were in the scouts." Jax grinned before throwing her a wink and walking back inside knowing full well that he had won her over.

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"Shit." Clay threw his cell onto the Redwood table. To say that call had pissed him off was an understatement. He had stupidly let himself believe that they might have been making some head way in this whole mess but that call had just put pay to that thought. The were back up shit creek.

"That didn't sound like it went well." Clay looked up to see his sergeant of arms leaning against the Chapel doors.

"It didn't." He bluntly replied as he picked up his phone pocketing it in his cut as he got to his feet. "That was Unser. Jax is at the station giving a statement."

"What..why?" Tig stuttered.

"Some sort of road accident."

"Shit man." Tig ran his hand through his wild black curls."Where?" Clay shrugged. Unser had been pretty vague with the details, just that Jax was unhurt but not everyone had been so lucky. "He alone?"

"No." Tig knew by the expression on Clay's face that this was not good. "Form what Unser told me which wasn't much by the way." Tig didn't miss the pissed off tone in Clay's voice. "Gunshots were fired and there was collateral damage."

"Fuck." Murder in this town only meant one thing. "Sheriffs are gonna be all over this Clay."

"Just what we need right?" Clay asked rhetorically. Looking away from Tig he saw Happy walk in with some of the Tacoma charter. Leaving Tig's side he went over to greet his brothers.

They exchanged a mixture of hugs, handshakes and slaps on the back before Lorca tried to lure the Charter President towards the bar.

"Maybe later right now I have a VP to pick up." Although none of them said anything Clay could see the interest in their eyes, so after a quick check that there was no outside ears around he continued to explain. "There was an accident."

"Accident?" Kozik uttered as he took a seat at the bar.

"Think the Bandits might have had a little hand in it." Clay informed them.

"Shit Jax alright?" Lorca asked before lighting a cigarette.

"He's fine. But their was a fatality." Tig threw in.

"Jax manage to ID them?" Clay looked over at Happy.

"Not sure. I'm heading to the station now. We'll figure this shit out."

"You want us there?" Lip asked causing all attention to land on him. Both Happy and Kozik couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride towards the kid who they had both sponsored. Offering his goods to the Mother Charter president, showed he had balls.

"Sure" Clay agreed. Although Lip wasn't exactly new he was the youngest amongst them yet he still felt confident enough to throw himself into the conversation. And Clay admired that. "You two get settled, unwind a little." Clay told Lorca and Kozik. "Hap, Tig follow me."