Disclaimer: I do not own ANYTHING at all from Sons of Anarchy.

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews, follows and favorites. They make me smile every time. I know updates on this have gotten slow, for that I apologize but RL has gotten in the way of everything but work lately. I promise to try my best to get them up quicker!

CHAPTER TWELVE

The house was quiet, quiet enough that Sarah had switched on music just for some background noise. Lately the house had been anything but quiet. Jax was over more often along with more of the other guys and honestly she loved it.

There was a notable change in the atmosphere of the house and in Opie since Jax had sat them down and shown them the words his father had wrote. Sarah knew that it was an olive branch and she accepted it. Once she and Jax had been friendly perhaps they could even get back to that again.

For the first time Sarah was starting to see a real happy future for them. It was a sharp relief to her earlier fears that one day Opie would wake up, realize he'd made a mistake and was still too in love with Donna to love her. He loved her. She loved him and they were going to make this work no matter what.

Sarah placed the trays of lasagne into the oven, glanced at the clock and decided wine was in order but before she could uncork the bottle she'd opened the night before there was a sharp knock on the door.

"Can I help you?" She opened the door with the chain still on to find a blonde woman standing there.

"Agent June Stahl," the woman flashed her badge. "And you are? Lyla? No, wait you must be Sarah. Lyla's a porn star, the girl next door kind."

"What can I do for you Agent?"

"We need to talk. Why don't you open the door, invite me inside?"

"No," Sarah had danced this dance a time or two with the Tacoma cops when they were looking for Kozik. She hadn't been intimidated then and she refused to be intimidated now even though the woman was a fed. "If you'll get to the point, I've got garlic bread to make."

"Isn't that domestic of you?" Stahl smiled and it was actually frightening. It was not the smile of someone who was well, not by a long shot. "Settling right in, aren't you? Looks like you're even Donna's size so I guess that your wardrobe just doubled. I am surprised your hair isn't darker though. Other than that, the resemblance is close."

"Make your point."

"My point is Donna Winston died because of the Sons of Anarchy, her husband and your current lover included. Do you really think it was random? Like it or not, you're in danger just by being here."

"And let me guess? You can help me. You want to help me. Thanks but no thanks, I don't need or want your help. We're done here. Come back with a warrant or fuck off." Sarah shut the door with a smile and the smile faded from her face. "Jesus Christ."

She wanted to call Opie but was now seriously paranoid about the house being watched, taps on the phones or devices to monitor their cells. It wasn't exactly a shocker that the feds would be interested in SAMCRO, especially the ATF because of the way the charter earned. SAMTAC had their finger in the pie as well but it was a much smaller piece. No wonder Jax was thinking so hard about a different direction for the club if Charming was that much on the radar.

"Fuck it," Sarah decided there was only one thing to do and that was drink her wine.

3

The last thing Opie expected to find jammed in the edge of the front door was an ATF business card. "Sarah?" He called out as he stepped inside.

"Kitchen," she called back. "Hey, can you grab me my slippers? I left them in the living room. We need to talk too but don't worry, I've got beer."

He got her slippers from the living room and walked into the kitchen. "Let me guess, we need to talk about a certain ATF agent."

"I guess you've had the pleasure of meeting her then," Sarah was completely shit faced, her words slurred. She was at the table, empty bottle of wine in the center and dinner was cooling on the stove.

"What did she say to you?"

"It was all bullshit. She wanted me to talk. Yeah, like that's going to happen." Sarah got up and grabbed a beer from the fridge. "Is she part of the reason why Jax wants things to change?"

"Yeah," Opie admitted, "she's part of it. Steer clear of her, she's a manipulative cunt."

"I didn't plan on inviting her over for tea and crumpets," she replied with a huff. "Dinner's ready but I'm too drunk to serve it to you."

Opie chuckled at that. "I can get it. You too drunk to eat?"

"No, I could eat. I can always eat. You should know that by now. It's why I need to start running again before I can't fit into my pants."

"Your pants fit just fine," he told her as he opened the cabinet to get out the plates.

"Thanks but they're feeling a little snug."

"That's what's great about them," he winked at her, watched as she blushed. "You could always go without pants, I wouldn't mind that."

Sarah let out a laugh. "I'm sure that the neighbors would."

"I'm sure they wouldn't. Old Mr. Henderson is a horn dog. I hear he was quite a player back in his day."

"That image is seriously disturbing, seriously." Sarah was smiling as she spoke. "You know that I'd never tell that bitch or anyone, anything."

"Of course I do," Opie began to fill plates with the food. "Next time she comes around, call me."

"I can handle her," Sarah informed him. "Enough about whatever the fuck her name is. How was your day Dear?"

"Work. Lots of work. Had a couple transmissions that needed replacing and a few tows we didn't even get the chance to look at. Lowell is MIA, again which makes it worse." Opie brought the plates over to the table. "What did you do today?"

"Jack and Shit. That's what I did today. It's what I do every day." Sarah grumbled the words as she reached for her fork. "There's only so much shopping I can stand and I've got everything I need."

Opie sat down across from her. "You been thinking about looking for a job?"

"Actually, I have."

He'd figured as much, he'd seen her on the computer looking at sights. Sarah had always worked, staying home must have been pretty boring to her. "What were you thinking?"

"Something in an office. I like office work."

"Call Oswald," Opie suggested. "I think he's looking for someone." And if he wasn't, he would be. He'd see to it.

3

"The bitch was at my house, Jax. At my house." Opie spoke in a low tone as they sat outside the club house on a bench.

"How'd Sarah handle it?"

"How do you think? She's all calm on the outside, inside I'm not sure. She's looking for a job. I said she should call Oswald."

"Gemma could find something for her to do here."

Opie let out a snort of laughter. "I even suggest that and I'm not getting laid for a long time Brother."

"I could ask Tara about something at the hospital," Jax offered. "We should try to go out one night, the four of us."

"Yeah, that would be good."

"Get away from shit for a while," Jax looked over at the club house, "we need to figure out how we're going to change things Op."

"What's going on with you?" Opie questioned. "Somethings up."

"I've just got a lot on my mind Op. Abel being home, being a father? Tara being back? It's just changing shit, changing me."

Opie nodded, he understood that. He'd felt the same way when his kids were born, it changed things. Fuck, he missed them. Really hated that they weren't with him, that they didn't want to be with him. It hurt but he couldn't blame them, he'd been a horrible father and lately been thinking that he really needed to make up for that. "I get it. I'm here though, you know that."

"Yeah, I do." Jax tossed his cigarette. "I'm going to go finish the brakes on that truck so I can get the hell out of here early. Tara's got the afternoon off."

Opie chuckled. "Yeah, you do that. I'm gone as soon as I hand in the write up for the minivan, gonna take Sarah for a ride."

"Sounds good, maybe I'll talk Tara into one. See you later Brother." Jax rose to his feet, stretched and walked away.

Opie pulled out his phone, dialed Sarah's number and listened to it ring through to voice mail. "Hey, it's me. I'll be home in twenty minutes." He shook his head and put his phone back in his pocket. Half the time Sarah didn't answer the phone, she liked to leave it in random places and then have to search to find it.

3

"Sarah!"

"Jesus Christ," Sarah sighed and turned to see Agent June Stahl striding towards her with a smirk on her face. "What do you want?"

"To talk," Stahl held up her hands, "just to talk. To tell you a few things."

"You mean to spew whatever lie suits you best at the moment," Sarah corrected. "Thanks but no thanks, I've got things to do."

"I'm not a liar Sarah. I don't need lies when I have the truth. The truth is much worse than a lie, much worse."

"I don't have time for this. Either arrest me or leave me alone."

"Why are you so scared to talk to me, Sarah?"

"I'm not scared to talk to you, I don't want to talk to you. There's a big difference."

"Donna was scared, scared of what would happen to her if word got out that she'd talked to me. Is that what's going on here because we can go somewhere more private?" Stahl's smile grew as Sarah felt herself frown. "Oh, did I forget to mention that Donna had plenty to say? She was going to sign the witness statement the night she died. I still can't figure out if it was the Sons who killed her or her Old Man. Considering you're here, I'm leaning towards Opie."

"Go to hell," Sarah was unable to control the anger in her voice. She wasn't going to listen to another second of Stahl and her lies. If she knew anything she knew that Opie wasn't capable of killing Donna, no way in hell.

As she pulled open the drugstore door she realized something else. While there was no doubt in her mind that Opie wouldn't harm Donna, she didn't feel the same way about SAMCRO especially if she was set to rat. Quickly Sarah grabbed what she'd come in the store for and checked out.

Stahl was no where to be seen when she left and Sarah was glad for that. The drive home was a blur. Her mind kept working over the fact that Donna had been a rat, that she'd been willing to sell out Opie and the club. The very night she was due to put everything in motion she'd been gunned down drive by style in quiet little Charming.

Was it SAMCRO? The mere though turned her stomach because she could see it clearly. The thing was, an order like that would have to come from the top which meant Clay would have had to make the call on ordering a hit on an Old Lady. Her head began to ache as she wondered who would have been the one to pull the trigger. And if she was right, if it had come from the top of SAMCRO, how much did Jax know? What wasn't he saying?

Opie's bike was in the driveway when she parked in front of the house. She found him in the living room, sitting up on the couch but fast asleep. He'd been working crazy hours lately between TM and club stuff so she couldn't bring herself to wake him, instead she kicked off her shoes and got on the couch with him. Sarah laid with her head in his lap, eyes shut and eventually slept despite the thoughts rolling around in her head.

She woke to the feeling of Opie's hand stroking her head, fingers sliding through her hair. Sarah felt herself smile. "Have a nice nap?"

"Sorry, guess I didn't realize how beat I was. Let me grab a quick shower and then we can head out like we were supposed to."

"I've got a better idea than going up the coast. Let's just ride to the cabin instead. It's got to be great up there in this weather. Besides, it's supposed to rain tomorrow and I'd rather be in the cabin in the rain than stuck in a hotel room. You sure that you can take the day tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm good with the cabin. You all packed?"

Sarah stretched and sat up. "I've just got to throw a more things in my bag and I'm good to go. I should tell you that I saw Stahl today, she confronted me outside of the drug store with more bullshit."

"You should have called me."

"My phone was in the car, I just drove back here. I told you, I can handle her." Sarah got off the couch, stretched her arms over her head. "I love you, Opie."

"I love you too Sarah. You sure that you're okay?"

"I'm great Baby, never better."

3

Rain poured down on the cabin roof, the sound was all that Sarah could hear. All she could feel was the warmth of Opie's arms around her. He was still asleep, she could tell by his breathing and she was glad. He didn't sleep a lot, not as much as he should at least.

He was happy with her, she knew that was true but there was a part of him that was still haunted by Donna's death and would always be. Sarah couldn't help but wonder what it would do to him to know if SAMCRO had a hand in her death?

Sarah thought back to when Kozik had told her about Donna's death. He'd been sketchy on the details of what happened except for the shocking fact that she'd been gunned down on one of the main streets of Charming. Opie hadn't added much to what she knew, when he spoke of Donna it was almost never about that night.

With everything that Stahl was saying to her, she needed to know what had happened that night or at least as much as anyone knew which meant only one thing. As much as she didn't like it, she was going to have to ask Opie about it and she wasn't quite sure how he was going to take that.

So she lay as close to him as possible, eyes closed until she felt him begin to stir next to her. It was fully dark outside of the windows, essentially they'd slept the day away and they were due to leave the following morning with so much going on at TM.

"Shit, what time is it?"

"Late," Sarah turned to face him.

"Should have woken me," he reached out and stroked his fingers over her arm.

"You were tired, you needed to sleep."

"What have you been doing?"

"I've been thinking," she replied. "And I wanted to ask you something but I don't want to upset you." Sarah shut her eyes as he shifted, sat with his back against the headboard. "You didn't have to get up."

"What do you want to talk about? Are you not..."

"No, it's nothing like that. It's just that Stahl has mentioned Donna a few times and I realized that I'm not even sure what happened that night."

"You want to ask me about the night that Donna died?"

"I know, I know it's hard to talk about and I shouldn't ask but I..." Sarah sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." Opie cleared his throat. "It was uh... it was the night of Abel's coming home party. It was a nice night. Everyone had a good time. We had a good time even though I knew that she was leaving when we went back home. Even though she was leaving she didn't want to get on Gemma's bad side. I was all set to let her take the kids home in the wagon but she wanted to stay and help with the dishes. I said I'd take the kids home."

Sarah sat up straight, processing the information that Donna was shot in Opie's truck while Opie drove the kids home in her car. It meant the truck was the target and Opie right along with it. "I can't even imagine that."

"I'd just got them in bed, opened a beer and then the phone rang and everything was different. She died because she needed to buy dish soap. It's pretty much all a blur once I got to the street and saw her. Fuck."

"I'm sorry that I brought this up, sorry that it makes you hurt. I probably wouldn't have but Stahl made me think about it."

"Quit saying that you're sorry Sarah. Look, we're going to have to talk about it. About everything. Not sure that I'm going to be great at it but we've got to give it a shot. What did Stahl say about Donna?"

"She used her as an example of what could happen to someone close to the club. I just tune her out every time that she opens her mouth, I don't need to hear her bullshit. She's dangerous though, I'm thinking pretty much a sociopath in a skirt."

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Enough about that gash, get over here. You want to go to town and get some take away? Or do you want to eat some of Piney's canned stuff?"

"Actually, there were some steaks in the freezer and I took them out earlier. There's rice and veggies so I figured that I would make us dinner." Sarah explained as she settled down next to him, her head on his chest.

She shut her eyes, listened to the sound of his heart beat and wondered if they were going to get through things whole. After all, secrets couldn't stay buried forever. If she was right one day Opie was going to know that the club he loved tried to take his life. Sarah had never hoped so much to be wrong but there was a cold pit in her stomach that she couldn't get rid of no matter how hard she tried.