Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from SOA.

A/N: First of all, thank you for all the reads, reviews, follows, favorites and for just being awesome and taking this trip between Tacoma and Charming with me. This chapter is a little shorter than the normal length but some important stuff happens. So enough of me, on to the entertainment.

Chapter Seven

Sarah opened the door for Jeremy with determination. For the past few days he'd been the one avoiding her. She had the feeling that he sensed what was coming. The ring that he'd given her was back in a box, she had the key to his place off of her key chain and she'd changed her alarm code. She didn't need her key back, she'd be more comfortable with changing the locks entirely.

"Hey," he stepped inside.

"Hey," she replied as she shut the door. "Jeremy, we need to talk."

"I got a promotion at work, offered a new position in Los Angeles. The beaches, the sun. You're going to love it."

"That's great for you, really great." Sarah took a deep breath. It was time to say what she needed to say before he said anything else. "But it doesn't matter what I think of LA, because we need to talk."

"Don't say it Sarah. You don't mean it. You're scared Baby, I get that."

"Don't call me Baby," he knew that she didn't like to be called that. He just didn't care. He liked to say it. She cringed to hear it, the word reminded her of Opie and she'd loved it when he said it.

She could still hear his voice especially late at night when she was alone or even when she was next to Jeremy, she heard him and it made her a way that she had no right to. Some nights she missed him enough that she couldn't sleep and some days she missed him enough that she made it a point to go to the clubhouse so she could see the picture of him.

"Sarah, please Sarah. Just..."

"No," she shook her head. "I thought about it just like you asked. I care about you Jeremy but I don't love you. I don't love you the way that I should. I'm sorry, but I need to give you this back." Sarah reached for the ring box and handed it to him.

"I won't take it." Jeremy shook his head. "You just need more time."

"No," she had been afraid of this. "I don't need any more time Jeremy. It's not fair to either of us to keep this up. Please, take the box and then I'd like you to go. There's really nothing more to say."

"How long have you been fucking him?"

"Fucking who?" Sarah replied. "The only person that I've been with since we met is you."

"What about your precious Kozik?" Jeremy spoke with a venom that surprised Sarah. He was normally much more laid back even if he could get worked up over Kozik or the Sons. He hated the Sons with every fiber of his being.

"I am not fucking Kozik! Take the box and get out." For the first time she realized that maybe she should have told Jeremy in a public place. A very public place. His facial expression and body language reminded her of Mark. She couldn't go through that again. She wouldn't as long as there was breath in her body. "Out!"

"I'm not going anywhere," he took a step forward.

"I'll call the club, I'll call them right now." Sarah threatened because she knew that he had a fear of them. It was a last ditch effort. Her greatest fear was that he wouldn't back down but then he did.

Jeremy snatched the ring box from her hand, stalked out the door and slammed it behind him. Seconds later his car started and roared away from the curb. Sarah walked over and dead bolted the door. She slid the chain on and shut the blinds in case he came back.

3 3 3

Opie finished his coffee and picked up the last piece of toast. His stomach would be growling by ten am after the meager meal but he was used to that. It was time to talk to Jax and Clay, he was ready to earn again.

"We'll leave tonight," Donna said from near the counter where she was boxing up what she didn't want to leave behind in the kitchen, "after Abel's party."

Opie nodded his head. "It's your choice Donna."

"It's the only choice I have Opie, it doesn't make me happy but it's what's right for me and the kids," she closed the top of the box. "It's not like I won't let you see the kids. We'll work out a schedule once I'm settled."

"Alright," he stared down at his coffee as his wife left the kitchen. Except she wasn't really his wife any more. He'd signed the papers the night before when he'd come back from a long ride. He'd give her what she wanted being he apparently hadn't done so in a long time. There was a strange sense of peace about it.

On some level he'd know that it was coming even when he'd still been locked up. The signs were all there, glaring neon and impossible to miss but he'd done just that. He'd let himself believe that they could make things work even while he was sleeping on the couch.

The sound of the front door shutting behind Donna broke him out of his thoughts. Fuck it, he decided that he wasn't going to work at the fucking mill. Instead he headed to Teller-Morrow without a second thought.

3

Kozik used his key to walk into Sarah's house. "I've got Chinese," he called out. "Sarah, you forget to charge your phone again?"

"No, I just didn't answer." Her voice carried from the living room. "Sorry, just needed some quiet time."

He walked in the living room and found her sitting on the couch. There was a bottle open in front of her, tequila which wasn't a good sign. She never drank tequila. "What's up?"

"Ended it with Jeremy today, saying that he wasn't impressed is pretty much an understatement," she lifted the bottle to her lips and took a sip. "I know it was the right thing to do. I didn't love him the way that he loved me. I couldn't."

"So, what's the problem?" Kozik sat down, began to unpack the bag of food.

"It just got me thinking."

"Thinking about?" Kozik asked even though it was clear that Sarah would prefer if he just stopped talking. "Come on Sar, you know that you can talk to me."

"I started thinking about my future Kozik, about what I'm going to do. I'm not getting any younger."

"No shit, none of us are getting any younger. Cut the bullshit and just say what's on your mind."

"I don't think that I could love Jeremy the way that he wanted because I... because I'm still in love with Opie and that's ridiculous. Completely and totally ridiculous because we haven't been together in years. He's married with kids and nothing will ever change that. I'm going to end up old and alone because I can't let go of the past."

"There's nothing wrong with you Sarah," Kozik sat down next to her, "come here."

She moved willingly into his arms, laid her head against his chest. "What you and Opie had was special, really special if it's stayed alive for so long when you're not together. You're right, he's got a wife and kids and nothing will change that."

"How do I move on?"

"I don't know Sar, I've never felt anything like you feel for Opie. Fuck, I wish that I had." He stroked a hand over her hair. "I think that you should tell him how you feel Sarah, he deserves to know. Give him the chance to make a decision."

"I can't do that," she said with a sigh. "I can't be the one who breaks up his family. I won't be. Can we just not talk about this any more?"

"Of course," Kozik planted a kiss on the top of her head, "hey, how about this? If you don't get over Opie and move on and we're both single by the time you're thirty five we'll just suck it up and marry each other?"

Sarah managed a laugh. "That sounds just about perfect."

3 3

Another day and another set of hang up calls for a private number, in other words another set of calls from Jeremy. Sarah knew that it was him. He knew that she knew it was him but still he didn't stop. There was only one reason she didn't change her number as much as it shamed her to admit it. The house phone number was the one that Opie had. If he ever decided to call her, she wanted the call to be able to go through so she'd suck it up and deal with the calls.

She tossed a frozen pizza in the oven, pulled her hair back into a bun and turned the music up loud to motivate her as she tackled running the vaccum and the rug shampooer in the living room. It was her own fault she needed to shampoo the rug, she'd been careless with her wine glass the other night and dumped it all over the beige carpet. Who in their right mind used beige carpet? She could only guess it had been on sale when her landlord needed to redo the house.

The music was so loud that she didn't hear the timer for the pizza, only realized that it was time to take it out when the smell of burning dough filled the air. Sarah yanked it out of the oven, burned her hand and was sulking when she heard the front door open and close.

"Kozik?" Fear spiked inside of her, after all he was the only one with a key or should she say the only one who she knew had a key, lately she'd felt like someone had been in the house when she wasn't. The only possible suspect was Jeremy and she really hoped he hadn't had a spare key lying around. "Koz?"

He appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, spiky blonde hair standing up in a million different directions. "Sarah."

"What happened?" She leaned back against the counter to brace herself.

"Just got a call from Charming, there was a shooting."

"Oh God," Sarah lost control of her legs. She went down on the floor hard and Kozik was there in a second to help her up. "How bad?"

"It was Donna Sarah, she's gone."

"Oh my God." Her stomach churned and revolted. Certainly she had no love lost for the woman, hadn't even really liked her but that wasn't the point. The point was that Opie loved her. She made it to the trash can and heaved up the contents of her stomach.

"Easy," Kozik moved over to the sink and wet a paper towel. He placed it on the back of her neck. "Not to sure on what went down but it looks like a random drive by. She was leaving Abel's party to get dish soap."

Sarah sat back down on the floor, her head in her hands. Gunned down on the supposedly safe streets of Charming while on a mundane errand, Donna had deserved better than that. Certainly Opie and their kids deserved better. "Jesus Christ. Do you really think it was random?"

Kozik considered that for a moment. The truth was he didn't think it was random and was sure that no one else believed that either. Sarah wasn't stupid. She knew how things worked. "Club business," he said finally because nothing short of that would stop her.