Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from "Sons of Anarchy." They are the property of Kurt Sutter and Fox Network. No money is changing hands in the writing, reading or distribution of this story.

Chapter 19

Just how this newest rapport Joss had with Jax had all started wasn't something Joss couldn't really pinpoint. It was just something that sparked one day, out of nowhere, in response to something his mother had said, or more accurately, how she'd said it, and it had grown from there. She'd met Jax for the first time when Tara brought him along one afternoon to visit her in her hospital room, and he'd been full of questions, but no less affable. The one thing she could immediately tell about him was that he was different from most of the bikers she'd been around. It was like this life was only something Jax did over the summer, and in the fall, he returned to teaching philosophy at UC Berkeley or something. He'd been one of her most frequent visitors both in the hospital and Clay and Gemma's house, and it was so easy to listen to him talk and hear his ideas on this or on that, and she blamed her teenage youth for allowing her too many to times just sit there and follow along, eager to hear the next theory Jax spouted. But before long, there always came a moment when she'd realize what Jax was saying couldn't have been anymore opposite from the way Tig lived his life within the confines of the MC. Maybe Jax had figured that he could "recruit" her into his way of thinking, her being young and naïve and all…or so he might have thought, and once she did embrace his words, there was always that chance that she'd turn disciple for him, and she could sway Tig his way too…Tig was muscle and mayhem, any MC wheel was hard pressed to turn without him behind it. She'd seen the clashes between old blood and new blood in several other clubs, it was never pretty, and if her man was old blood, then so was she, no questions. Gradually, Joss began taking quiet control of her relationship with Jax, smothering it until it had shrunken away from her fascinations with his "sermons," he wasn't some biker version of Jesus after all. And now all that remained was this playful, bickering type of fluff. She liked Jax, but it was much safer this way, for both of them. She loved Tig, and she'd always side with Tig.

But when Joss found herself at home with Clay and Gemma, trying to adjust to her new surroundings, she'd been happy to see Jax appear there in the doorway of the room she was assigned one day, he was familiar, and nothing else there had been. "Alright," he'd said looking in on her with a pissed off expression and shaking his head, but Joss could tell it was all just an act, something to make her laugh. "This is my room, so don't touch any of my stuff!"

Before Joss could really laugh, Gemma was yelling from the kitchen. "Jaxon! You leave Joss alone, she needs to rest!"

Something in the tone of Gemma's voice made them both realize the fun they were about to have with this whole situation, for a long time to come. That day had actually turned into them playing video games in Jax's room and eating grilled cheese that Gemma had made them for lunch…after she refused to make them Spaghetti O's. And so the tradition had continued on, this party being no exception.

"What the hell happened to you?" Jax had come over to the court his mother was currently holding on the couch, initially because Tara was part of it, but once he saw Joss, he started shaking his head.

"Jaxon!" Gemma sighed in a way that only a mother could, Tara seconding her sentiment, but Joss only smiled up at him. She'd gotten so used to how Jax treated her like a little kid, always teasing her, always antagonizing her, always talking to her like she needed everything about the big, bad world explained to her. At times, it did get annoying, but Joss tolerated it; Jax meant well, and she got a strong sense that he was looking out for her as much as he could too, but from what? That was the question.

"I changed some things." Joss sighed as she looked up at Jax. "What the hell happened to you?" She laughed.

"Me? I'm the normal one now!" Jax shook his head again, squatting down in front of her with a beer bottle in his hands, he attempted to sound comically serious and concerned, but there was more behind it than he could hide. "What the hell did Tig do to you, Joss? I'm going to start calling you LDG!"

Again she laughed, ignoring Jax's slight failure to sell his smirk that time. "Um, Tig's not real skilled when it comes to hair and make-up, this wasn't his doing." She clarified, but then laughed again, imagining the hair and make-up Tig would be capable of…or even a world where Tig could do hair and make-up! "And what's 'LDG?'"

Jax looked up at her with a furrowed brow and raised eyebrows, like he was about to gently break bad news. "Living Dead Girl." He said, and then had to quickly duck the couch pillow that Joss swung at him.

"Hey!" She laughed, this having gotten to be a normal kind of thing between them, but lately Joss could feel more and more that Jax was trying to pull her back from something, like trying to keep her on his side of some unseen fence. "Jerk! This is my party, you know! I could have you thrown out of here!" Joss threatened, but it was difficult to really sound tough when she was giggling the way she was. What had began to walk the line between funny and serious was now where it should have been, they were good. "We can't all pull off that scraggily blond look…maybe when it gets a little longer, you can braid it up like Willie Nelson!"

"And maybe you can transform into a bat and fly away!" Jax countered, smirking, but Gemma was soon in the middle of their silliness.

"How old are the two of you?" She looked first at Jax then at Joss, her expression making them both go quiet, but they still smiled and smirked at each other in silence. It was hard not to laugh, and it was evil to keep doing this perhaps, but Gemma just reacted so seriously to it all that neither Jax nor Joss could help themselves. "Jax, say you're sorry."

"What? Me?" He replied innocently, but gave Joss another smirk. "Mom, she started it, I swear! There has been a sharp decline in her manners lately." Joss was about to burst out laughing, Jax seeing it and adding, "I think it's that dirty biker she's banging…"

Joss smiled, made herself laugh, Jax had sold the line, she wouldn't give him any indication that she read anything between it.

"Jax!" Tara now nearly laughed so loudly that she had to cover her own mouth then she cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure, her hand shoving at Jax as she laughed, but Jax only pulled her close and kissed her. Tara smiled, but then looked to Gemma and Joss, shaking her head. "Why don't we all take a trip to the lady's room?" She suggested, knowing that Jax would likely just hang around and keep razzing Joss, because that is what Jax and Joss did best together.

"All of us?" Jax again looked at Joss, laughing as his finger revolved around the four of them. "Score!"

Gemma pursed her lips and was shaking her head, but Chibs stepped up into the conversation, preventing another scolding that Jax had been fishing for. "Jax, smoke out competition, you in, mate?"

"Yes, he is!" Said Tara, laughing a little as she looked up at Chibs then nodding for Jax to go and just let the girls get back to being the girls.

Jax nodded, stood up again, but couldn't resist one last parting shot. He looked at Chibs. "Yeah, I'm in, but have you met Elvira yet?" He pointed to Joss with his elbow, her eyes immediately rolling, and wondering what was expected of her next, feeling unsure about talking to anyone else that she didn't already know, or hadn't been formally introduced to without Tig standing beside her saying it was okay to speak to them. The Scotsman however must have not only known, but also respected the code of MC conduct when it came to patched old ladies, and unlike the one of Tig's brothers she'd encountered tonight, all Chibs did was give her an acknowledging shake of his head, but he said nothing that might have made Joss need to say something she wasn't permitted to say.

"Go, Jax!" Gemma ordered, but her expression softened. "I'll be out to watch in a minute."

"Me too." Said Tara, leaving Joss feeling a little left out, because when she'd looked over to where Tig was, knowing she had to ask him if she could go with Gemma and Tara to the contest in the parking lot, he was deep into some apparently hilarious conversation with Clay, Happy and Bobby, and she knew that interrupting him was out of the question. Jax and Chibs had departed, walking quickly outside to get their bikes. Joss wasn't in any rush to see one more bike burn its back tire against asphalt until so much black smoke was produced that no one could even breathe, let alone see, but she knew it was only a matter of time now before her two best friends, the best friends she'd ever had, would follow Jax and Chibs, leaving her alone. This was the downside of being property…but it hadn't been unexpected.

"Okay, I was actually serious about the lady's room!" Tara said, turning to Gemma and then Joss. "You coming with me, it's a long walk."

"It is?" Joss asked, confused now, for she'd gotten conflicting information from Tig concerning where the necessary was. "Isn't there a bathroom back in that hallway?"

Both Gemma and Tara just sucked in their breath like they were frightened and then groaned, shaking their heads. "No!" Said Gemma emphatically, "you don't want to go in there!"

"Really!" agreed Tara. "It's…pretty harsh." She said, laughing because of how truly awful what she'd seen must have been. "We usually walk over to the garage and use the public one over there. That one actually gets cleaned."

"Yeah," said Gemma, and her eyes fell on Tig, but not directly, they actually kind of hovered between Tig and Happy. "And no one's been jacking off in that one." She said, frowning with her disgust. "How it got on the ceiling I'll never know, and probably don't want to!"

Tara was nodding; the repulsion of it showing on her face too, but Joss now faced another problem. Tig was still talking to his brothers, and she couldn't just leave without asking him, not even if it was only for the lady's room, with Gemma. But then Gemma smiled and removed the obstacle Joss had in front of her. "Let me get the key to the 'Executive Wash Room' from Clay." She smiled, and so did Joss, Gemma could interrupt any conversation! And she did, walking over to Clay, placing her hand on his shoulder first, and indicating she wanted the key. The men all stopped talking; Clay reaching for the keys on his belt, and then Tig looked up, over at Joss, and beckoned to her with his finger. Her hopes fell a bit, he could be about to tell her she couldn't go, it was his right.

"Excuse me," she said to Tara, and got to her feet, hoping she didn't look disappointed already, it wasn't Tig's fault that her friends had decided to change the plans and were leaving the clubhouse after all.

"Hey," he said as she approached, extending one arm to her and laying it across the back of her shoulders as she stood next to him. "You okay?" He asked, the question seemingly generic, but once more Joss saw him searching the clubhouse for someone or something, he'd done it several times tonight.

"Yeah, I'm great." She smiled, wanting to ask what he was constantly scouting out, but also knowing he likely wouldn't tell her. "Is something wrong?"

All of a sudden he stopped the visual patrol then shook his head in a way that told Joss they were not going to be talking about it. "It's dark, be careful, and stay with Gemma." He told her, making sure her eyes were on his like it was important she listened to and obeyed every little thing he said. "I'll be over in five minutes to walk you back over here, but don't wait for me if Gemma and Tara are ready to leave before I get there, I can find you somewhere between there and here. I don't want you alone, okay?"

Chapter 19; Part 2

How quiet it was on the other side of the lot, around the garage, was a startling contrast to the noise in the clubhouse. So was the darkness, no fires burned in empty five gallon drums over here, the only light was the one Tig could see when the lady's room door had opened, Jax's doctor bitch coming out and Gemma going in. He'd been pretty sure he'd make it over here before the girls started back for the clubhouse, it was a single bathroom, and he figured they'd each have to take their turns…at least, he guessed, not really being an aficionado of what women did in the bathroom, or how they did it…he only knew what he did with women in bathrooms, and the girls were likely not doing that…ooooh, but what if they were? No! Not when it involved both Joss and Gemma, they were both on the consecrated list of divinity in his mind, so really, that only left Jax's doctor bitch to think about that way…and then she was all by herself…and she was…Jax's doctor bitch…not that she wasn't pretty, but if she was with Tig, she wouldn't have lived through an entire night before he had to snap her damn neck for saying some kind of shit. He'd been worried when he learned of the friendship that Joss and she had developed, but to Joss's amazing streak of credit, none of Tara's attitude was rubbing off on her. Wait a God damn minute! How'd Joss get on the consecrated list of divinity? Fuck! Damn that girl! She kept turning up in more and more places! Well, whatever…as long as Opie wasn't about to turn up in any places, out of the dark, armed to the teeth and hunting Tig's old lady.

He could hear Joss and Jax's doctor bitch talking as he approached, purposefully scuffing his boot and kicking a pebble across the lot to warn them of his advance, not wanting to startle them too badly. He saw Joss look up, and from this distance could tell she smiled too, it made him want to run to her, but he didn't…he'd looked silly enough for her tonight already.

"I'm really glad that you came tonight!" Joss was saying to Jax's doctor bitch, going back to their conversation, as Tig was still too far out to expect her attention to immediately become his, but in the still air, he could hear every word each of them said. "Gemma said that your work makes you miss a lot of the parties."

Tara kind of sighed, "It's not just my work that makes me miss the parties," she confessed, leaning up against the cinder block wall with Joss. "I never really know how I'm viewed around here, by the guys, I mean. I always feel so out of place." She smiled, but even Tig could see she looked kind of depressed. "I only came tonight because I knew it was for you." Tara paused a moment, maybe remembering who was approaching, rapidly. "And Tig."

Bitch! But then his perfect little Joss cocked her head, her peridot eyes full of sympathy for her friend. "Your place is with Jax," she smiled, putting her hand on Tara's arm. "And it only matters what he thinks."

Oh God, come on…she was killing him tonight! And to think that he'd been worried about the influence of Jax's doctor bitch rubbing off on Joss! Nope, it was the other way around! Joss was unbelievable! She was born to wear a property patch, HIS property patch, and she was so damn good at it that she was even counseling an un-patched old lady on how to handle herself around the club. Jesus, that girl…HIS girl! Joss had sent the death blow of elation through his heart this time, only instead of stopping him dead, it had Tig speeding up his steps, rushing to get to her, feeling this odd bolt of electricity shoot through him and kick his dick into the familiar spasms of semi-erectness. Tig was used to that feeling, but this time it had caught him off-guard, started in a place somewhere around inside his chest, like somebody shook up a beer bottle inside of him. What was that? He hadn't thought he could feel that there…but what was it that he was feeling? His body was on the verge of demanding that he nail Joss to that wall with what was coming to life against his thigh, but he didn't understand why…Joss wasn't standing over there naked, and she wasn't fingering herself, or fingering Tara, or anything else that should have turned on all his most reliable senses. Fuck, he wasn't drunk, he'd realized when he was on his fourth beer that he didn't live at the clubhouse any longer, and that he had to drive home tonight with Joss on the back of his bike, and he hadn't taken anything else either for the same reason…but it felt oddly like he was drunk, and like he had taken a whole lot of shit!

Damn, he should have probably been stone cold scared to death and running for the high ground, but shit, this just felt too damn good! If he could find something that made him feel like this every time he drank it, injected it or snorted it, then that's all he'd do in life! Joss! He just wanted to get over there to her and…what? What was he going to do? His body was pushing for one thing, but his mind was tangled in some kind of hazy, warm, mushy shit, and the two just couldn't coordinate an attack. The only thing he did know was that Opie was more dead in more ways than Aaron Butcher if he touched Joss; Butcher was just the warm up, they'd be finding parts of Opie for many miles and many years! All of a sudden Tig found himself standing in front of Joss, trying to catch his breath, too many things raging inside him to even name, and there was no more time to prepare a plan of action…he'd run the last few feet over to Joss, standing there looking at her, her looking at him, and everything else just fell the fuck away.

Chapter 19; Part 3

Joss was smiling excessively, Tig could tell because more than a few times when he'd kissed up her neck to her lips, it was actually her teeth his mouth was against, but she was always fast to drop her jaw enough for him to kiss her more deeply, her lips quickly over his, until it drove him so crazy he had to have total control again, and pulled away, gasped for air, and kissed her again, his hand on the back of her head, pressing her closer and holding her where he wanted her, his other arm locked around her waist and his body pinning hers against the bay doors of the garage.

He couldn't remember what he'd said to her when he'd realized he was standing in front of her by the lady's room door, it was something completely awkward like, "Wanna see where I work?" and then he'd just grabbed her hand and pulled her away from Jax's doctor bitch with no explanation at all. He wasn't even sure where he was taking her, or what he'd do when he got her there, but the first dark corner he came to seemed more than suited to whatever was about to happen, and now here he was, kissing her again and again, on her lips, her neck, her face, wherever he could reach on her chest, moving her silky, onyx hair to the side and trying to leave no part of her untouched by his mouth; it had been going on for some time now, this crazed, hot desire to have this moment with her, his lips and tongue on her skin, and hers on his, caressing, sucking, tasting, and...he wasn't even fucking her. What the hell?

But Tig couldn't stop himself, going at it like a starving man at a buffet, the one arm around her waist holding her tighter and tighter against him, he'd never noticed her waist felt so small or that her breasts were so full and firm against his thundering heart. No clothes had come off, but he could feel her like he'd never felt her before, not even when he was as deeply inside of her as he could force himself. Joss was good though, respected his wishes, one of her hands at his waist, but closer to his thigh than his back, and the other clutching his forearm tightly as she kissed him and sucked at his tongue, but her hand reached no further around him than the crook of his elbow. Still, she managed to be as close to him as he wanted and needed her to be, by letting him control it all. The tip of a needle probably wouldn't have fit between their bodies he held her so tightly, burying all his desires inside her with each flex of the biceps and forearm around her that pulled her closer and closer, but it stayed there, Tig unexplainably content to not go further than the astonishing intimacy they were currently sharing.

Intimacy? He kissed her again, feeling the beating of Joss's heart in her kiss it seemed, every breath she breathed one of his own; is that what this was? Intimacy? He moved against her, imagining that they were slowly morphing into the same, one thing, rolling themselves into a giant ball of whatever it was that defined them being together, no longer Tig and Joss, but something with one mind and one heart. Intimacy? How was it possible to feel what he felt? And even more importantly, how did he keep it? Opie, he'd fucking kill Opie! He kissed Joss again, a beautiful slow burn that twisted and twisted inside him but never extinguished. He'd fucking kill anyone that tried to take Joss away. His mouth was on her neck again; her smooth skin smelling faintly of vanilla and cinnamon as he softly sucked the taste of honey from it. He'd fucking rip the head off of whoever tried to hurt her. He felt her lips brush over his jaw line with light, slow kisses. He'd fucking turn inside out and shake the guts out of anyone who tried to separate him from what was his.

The sound of heavy breathing distracted him, but Tig soon realized he was looking at Joss now, and she was looking at him, both of them gasping, and seemed a little lost. What happened? Why was it over? Maybe they'd just run out of oxygen? Stupid fucking oxygen! But something else wasn't right, something felt very out of place and unnerving…Joss's arm, it had slipped between his elbow and waist and her hand was on the middle of his back. "Joss!" He couldn't help but pull back violently and suddenly, despite what had been coursing through him, let loose from its leash, not so very long ago.

"I'm sorry!" She ripped her hand from his back, whipping her arm from around him, realizing with a great anguish in her desire clouded eyes what she'd done. "I didn't mean it, you must have moved and…" she looked at him imploringly, like she couldn't believe she'd been what had ruined the incredible thing that had started between them. "I'm sorry, Tig. I didn't realize, and I didn't mean—"

"No," Tig sighed, he'd made way too much of feeling that her arm was around him, it hadn't killed him for shits-sake, it was just still…weird, and he'd panicked. "It's okay, you're right, I probably moved, you didn't do anything wrong." He closed the distance between them once again, brushing her hair out of her face. "It's okay," he whispered, then kissed her forehead. "I just can't take it when you go passed the…elbow zone."

Joss now smiled, like she was trying not to laugh, looking up at him in a way that made Tig laugh before she did. "Is that like the 'Twilight Zone?'" She asked, laughing.

He laughed again, shaking his head. "I don't know," he said, not even really sure what they were talking about, he just knew that there was no one else in the world that would put up with his crazy shit the way Joss did. He usually managed to unnerve the hangarounds that would throw themselves at him in the hopes of becoming his old lady, knowing his name would gain them instant status and respect, but Tig usually went out of his way to scare the life out of them with something he said, or did, or demanded…and he'd never kissed them…at least, not more than twice, he'd always had a hard and fast "two kiss maximum" and then he was taking what he wanted, one way or another…but just now, with Joss, he'd maxed out that maximum and then some! "Fuck!" He suddenly groaned, stepping back from her and grimacing as he threw a punch downwards in frustration of realizing he was doing things he hadn't done since he was a high school quarterback with a prom date. "Joss, did I just make out with you?"

She started to slowly nod, not really looking afraid or nervous, but he could tell she didn't really want to have to deliver this verdict. "Yeah, I think that's what that might have been."

"Shit!" he groaned again, and stood feeling so flustered he couldn't look at her, but not because he blamed her. He owned her, it was on him to stop or start whatever they did. But Joss, she was so perfect, and in no time, she had this latest insecurity of his sewn up and tucked away again.

She'd sighed, kicked some little rocks around on the ground, not looking at him either. "You were arrested in Oregon for indecent exposure in a livestock trailer, and you were the only human in there…" she said then looked up at him, a little. "How do you think I feel?"

It was the last thing he'd expected her to say, and after he was over the shock of her saying it, all Tig could do was laugh. But it wasn't so much because it was funny, although, it was fucking hilarious, but more that Joss had figured out the fucked up route to making him feel better…remind him of how awful he was! Who else would know to do that? Who else would understand that? Damn that girl…there was nothing better than her in his life, except maybe for the club, but honestly, Joss was pulling ahead at times.

"So, look," she started to say, and Tig could tell this had nothing to do with livestock trailers or making out. "That guy, with the water…I know you won't tell me everything, and I respect that, but, if I'm up against something, I just want to know what it is." She looked up at him now, her eyes steady with his. "I think that's fair, don't you?"

Tig nodded, but he didn't really want to discuss this with her. "I can't tell you anything, Joss, its club business." He said then sighed again, trying to find a way to explain a situation he didn't want to relive, or scare Joss with. He knew that Clay was probably right, Opie didn't really have the balls to…and even if he did, Tig would kill him…he'd fucking kill him…but Joss didn't have to know all of that. "I just want you to be careful, okay? Something doesn't seem right, you tell me, got it?"

"Okay," she nodded, looking like she'd hoped for more insight, even though she'd known not to expect it. But she smiled a little bit now, reaching out and wrapping both her hands around his forearms, casting a glance down at both his elbows and making them both laugh a little. "Can I ask you something else?"

Tig smirked, but let her pull him closer, her hands not moving out of the specified "zone" one little bit this time. "Yeah, but you know I don't have to answer it." He reminded her, his smile widening again and he chuckled when he saw Joss roll her eyes at him. The air was still again, a familiar energy on the rise, but this time more erotically hypnotic. "What is it, baby?"

She still smiled, but it was a little different now, her exotic Egyptian looking eyes half hooded as she looked up at him, lips just barely parted as she ran her fingertips up and down the tattoo on his forearm. "Will you take me home now," she leaned close and lightly, slowly, kissed his neck on both sides, infusing him with the little embers that hadn't quite burnt out from before, letting her words light the rest of the blaze. "And fuck me?"