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 26

"Is everything okay with you?" Gemma asked, looking at Joss from across the long dining room table where she and Tara all sat together, drinking coffee and playing a half serious game of poker for M&M's, Star Bursts and mini MilkyWays.

She shrugged, knew she had to answer Gemma before Gemma knew she wasn't completely okay. "I miss Tig," she said, and she did…oh God did she miss Tig! And he'd only been gone for about ten hours! How was she going to last until he returned? How was she going to sleep tonight without anyone next to her complaining, "C'mon, roll over, I hate it when you look at me while you're sleeping!" or deciding that he wanted something slightly more intimate than just laying next to her, but not too intimate, and grabbing her ankle and bending her leg up behind her, her heel against her buttocks as he awkwardly held her foot in his hand, then fell peacefully asleep. It was ridiculous, but it was Tig, and she didn't know what life was without it or him anymore.

Gemma smiled dryly as Tara arched an eyebrow and arranged her cards. "Oh honey," Gemma smirked. "Trust me, there's going to come a day when he's going to leave on a run, and that run won't seem long enough!" She laughed.

Joss nodded, unwrapped a MilkyWay and dropped it into her coffee. "So, what do I do until that day?"

"This." Tara smiled, looking a little sad herself as she glanced around at the candy, the cards and the three of them. "We're here for each other, Joss. That's how it works."

"And," Gemma sighed, looking over her own cards. "When they come back, I expect both of you and yours to be sitting down to dinner at this table with me and mine, too."

"Really?" Joss asked, not that she didn't believe Gemma, but she just couldn't quite imagine she and Tig sitting down to dinner with Tara and Jax…Jax and Tig were so far apart on the spectrum of…everything, and Tara just wasn't sure about Tig. She never said it, but she never had to.

But Tara was nodding about dinner. "Yeah, it's kind of a 'family tradition' I guess you'd say." She smiled. "Usually it's only me, Gemma, Jax, Clay and the baby, but Gemma's right, you and Tig should be there."

"Oh," Joss couldn't help but smile now, even though she could just see Tig sitting here at this table beside her, like a lion on a leash, making Tara uncomfortable and making faces at whatever Jax said. "That's something to look forward to! Thank you, Gemma!"

"Don't mention it," she smiled, "Just make sure Tigger wears pants," she smirked, looking at her cards again and then scowling. "Okay, look, since we're all family, I'm just going to be straight up with you; my hand sucks, but I really want a MilkyWay!" Gemma laughed, then took one from the pile in front of an empty chair that was the "dealer." Tara and Joss laughed, but then the sound of Gemma's cellphone quieted them down, Gemma looking on both sides of her but not finding it. "Now where the hell'd I leave my damn phone?"

"You had it in the kitchen, when you were getting the coffee." Said Tara and Gemma got to her feet, remembering immediately, and disappearing into the kitchen. "It's Clay," Tara knowingly said to Joss. "Letting her know that the guys made it to Indio."

Joss sighed, relief and a stronger feeling of separation anxiety clashing inside her. "Good, I was hoping Tig would call or something to let me know he made it without any problems on that long drive."

Just then Gemma was yelling from the kitchen as she spoke to Clay. "Girls, no trouble getting to Indio, and both your boys say 'hi.'"

Tara and Joss both smiled, yelling their "hellos" back via Gemma, but Joss couldn't help but feel a little bit sad; it would have been nice to talk Tig…but he was likely busy, she understood. But she missed him…and then there was that other thing, that was just plain eating at her, but she knew she couldn't talk about that, no matter how much "family" she had here at this table. All night long she'd been remembering how Opie had nodded at her then thumped his chest twice with his fist as he'd passed her. The gesture had obviously been for her, but what did it mean? And what did she tell Tig? Tig had already done more than what was really necessary to put Opie down for the whole ordeal in the office of the garage, and she thought it was over…so why wasn't it? Reporting this fist to chest thing to Tig wasn't going to end well, and that in turn could possibly not end well for Tig himself. Clay had been majorly pissed that Tig went after a brother like that when Opie hadn't made threats to hurt her, or actually had hurt her, or held her down and had his way with her, or even tried to. But Joss knew Tig; if she told him that Opie was still…doing whatever he was doing, Tig wouldn't stop if he got his hands on Opie a second time…and if Tig killed Opie, in what would be "cold blood" in the eyes of the club, then her man would be tried and punished by SAMCRO, and there were only two possible sentences: death, or being ousted. The first one would kill him immediately, but the second would kill him too…just a lot slower and much more painfully. She couldn't lose Tig, she'd waited so long to be with him, and she was so happy, though things were far from perfect, or even normal; she loved Tig, he was every breath she drew.

And again Joss found herself going around and around in the same confused circle…what if that whole thing Opie did was nothing? But if it was nothing, then why'd he do it? Maybe Opie was sorry for causing the trouble for her that he had at Friday night's party; maybe he was defiantly showing her that he wasn't? Maybe he was just trying to tell her that he was okay, despite Tig's beating, so she didn't have to feel guilty? But why did Opie care if she felt guilty? He didn't even know her. Or was it something more literal that Joss was too afraid to think about…he'd touched his heart…no…no…

"Joss," Tara's voice startled her back to here and now. "Are you okay? I mean you really did just space out there for a second."

"Oh yeah," Joss quickly kicked herself in the ass and tried to seem untroubled, but she knew she couldn't really pull that off, and she did miss Tig…oh God, when was he coming home? "It's just…I wish Tig had called instead of sending a message through Clay like that." That wasn't it completely, she did understand that her man was likely in charge of something, and he only had time to ask Clay to rely his message to her…Jax hadn't called Tara either, so she knew it was just "work."

Tara smiled again, but had a funny look on her face. "You really love him, don't you?"

Joss laughed that time; yeah, poor Tara, she'd never understand. "Well," Joss sighed, "To know Tig is to love Tig."

Tara laughed a bit herself then abruptly stopped, maybe feeling that she'd stepped over some line a little too much. "I just don't know how you do it," she said, shaking her head, and stealing a MilkyWay herself. "I mean, I think it's great that you can, you both seem to get along really well, but…how do you do it?"

Hmm…how did she do it? It was never something Joss had to think about, she just did it, and in some fucked up way, it worked. But, she should probably give Tara some kind of answer, because she had a sneaking suspicion that both Tara and Jax had visions of Joss spending every night chained to a wall in the basement and tortured into being something that Tig could live with. "I don't know, I mean, how do any of us do it?" she asked, taking a drink of her coffee, the MilkyWay thoroughly dissolved and tasting so good…maybe Tig would like his coffee this way in the mornings…hmm…maybe not. "He's Tig, and I just let him be Tig."

"Yeah, but at the same time he's—" Tara went quiet the moment she realized what she'd almost said, but Joss started to laugh, knowing what Tara was going to say, and what she meant. Tara laughed a little as well, and then finished her sentence. "Tig."

"Tara," Joss said, collecting herself and hoping what she was about to say might help her friend be a little more at ease around her man. "What you really need to grasp about Tig is that, despite being a lot of oddball things…a lot of oddball things, he treats people the way they treat themselves." She glanced towards Gemma, who was still on the phone with Clay in the kitchen. "If you have respect for yourself, and feel empowered and have presence, then that's what he'll respect you as." She looked back at Tara. "But if your strength is in trying to hide yourself from him, or telling yourself to be afraid of him, then he's just going to keep being scary." Joss sighed, reached for another MilkyWay herself, hoping she hadn't sounded too much like a therapist. "I'm not saying he's a prince, not by a long shot," she admitted. "But that is one of the most decent qualities he has, and it's one of the main reasons I love him."

Chapter 26; Part 2

It was after two in the morning; Joss lay wide awake in bed on her back, her head directly against the mattress, all the pillows aligned next to her where Tig usually slept, mimicking the form of his body. But the pillows didn't complain when she tossed and turned and ended up right up against them, the pillows didn't reach across unexpectedly in the middle of the night and start groping her crotch either. They just lay there, like Tig did sometimes, only he would usually be laying there, staring eerily up at the ceiling. Joss sighed…she wasn't going to sleep until Tig came back…which was odd, given how difficult it was to sleep when he was laying over there where those pillows were stacked. She really should just get up, go downstairs and watch some TV, maybe she'd fall asleep on the couch? But she was so afraid that if she left the bedroom, this room where she couldn't belong more to Tig than she did, her defense against worrying herself over Opie's gesture would crumble. And so she remained laying awake in the dark…telling herself that she wasn't going to get up and go over to the dresser and smell all of Tig's clothes again. What was she? A puppy?

And then a cricket chirped beside her. Joss smiled, sat up and grabbed her cellphone; she had a text message, from Tig! She flipped her phone open, more excited than a kid handed a Christmas present, pressing the "select" button and trembled with anticipation over what he may have said to her as the phone did its thing to display the message. It was only a second or two, but Joss's heart was pounding so much that it made it seem like forever. And then finally, there it was; Tig's text.

"Hey"

She liked to think that a lesser woman would have been disappointed, who sent a text message after two in the morning that just said, "Hey?" But Joss was laughing out loud, hurriedly texting him back…"Hey."

In no time he answered…it was so exciting for some reason…Tig, "typing" to her from four hundred eighty miles away…and then she realized, he'd never texted her before! She pressed "select" again, his reply appearing:

"u r still awake?"

"No-sleep texting U."

"wtf? u ok?"

"Yes!LOL But I miss U!"

"I know."

"Call. Please?"

"Can't."

"Why?"

"Can't tell u"

Joss rolled her eyes, she'd wanted to hear his voice so much, but at least there was hope that if Tig and the guys were at work so quickly, maybe they'd finish up and be heading home soon. "Sorry 2 ask"

"np—wish I was with u"

"Me 2" there were tears in her eyes; she hadn't expected that…she'd save that text forever!

"U luv me?"

She sighed…no, she swooned. "More than I can say here."

":-)"

And now Joss cackled with laughter, a smiley face? From Tig? "U R funny."

"u can go 2 sleep ok now?"

"No—U R not here."

"Restless hearts sleep alone 2nite"

"What?" Really, did someone take the phone away from him? That didn't sound like her Tig.

"Right down the line it's been u n me"

"Tig?"

"Being apart ain't ez on this…this affair"

Wait a minute…this was familiar…his Journey CD! He was texting her the lyrics from "Faithfully!" Again, Joss burst out laughing, bouncing on the bed as she sat upon it; Tig…he was so…Tig! "2 strangers learn 2 fall in 'this' again?"

"I get the joy of rediscovering u, oh girl, u stand by me…..u know the next part"

Joss was laughing hysterically now, particularly at what Tig wouldn't say, not even in a text message. "Yeah—2 u 2!"

":-)"

Again Joss laughed. Wow, a two smiley night! But before she could even think of a reply, the cricket chirped again with another message from Tig, this one reading: "oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh oh" And just when Joss didn't think she could laugh any harder, she was. Who else but Tig would text her amended lyrics to a love song, including Steve Perry's crooning coda, that fell a little flat in a text message? Tig! Her Tig! "Faithfully!" she replied, and wiped at a tear in her eye, not brought on by laughter alone.