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 35

"I thought you wanted to go meet the new girls?" What was with Joss tonight? She was sort of stuck to him, went where he went, looked where he looked, didn't speak at all unless he spoke to her, or one of his brothers, like Clay, that she knew very well, spoke to her. But she wasn't her usual self who had some catching up to do with everyone, and was barely able to wait for his approval before she began to speak to someone…which was always everyone…Joss could work a room. But tonight, nope, she was just standing back here against the wall with him, closed up and closed off to everything around her. She'd seemed maybe like she wasn't feeling her best when he'd gone back to the house to pick her up after 'church' and return to the clubhouse with her for the party. He'd waited outside on the bike, having revved the throttle to let her know he was there, but Joss hadn't come out. That had worried him, and pissed him off a little, and he'd gone into the house, shouting her name like they were late for something, which they were, only to find her laying on the couch under a blanket, looking lethargic and distressed.

"What the hell are you doing?" It wasn't the most sensitive of questions asked in the most sensitive of ways, despite Joss's oddly reticent demeanor, but Tig wanted to get back to the clubhouse, with her.

"I fell asleep." She'd answered, sitting up and pulling her boots on, and she seemed like she was moving at half the pace she usually did with everything. And she wasn't dressed right either…well, when compared to how she usually dressed for a party. Not that she didn't look good, because Joss looked good in everything, but skinny jeans and a SAMCRO t-shirt was so ordinary, nothing about that stood out…except for her make-up of course, and her hair…and the girl's tits were always prominent in whatever she wore, but still…Tig had expected more. She liked "dressing up" for these things…so why didn't she?

"You sick?" He was concerned about that, didn't want her to be feeling badly in anyway, but Tig could only manage to ask that question in a more accusatory way than a troubled one.

"No," she'd sort of whined irritably at him. "It's just working all day during the week, and fucking you all night, and still having the house and the laundry and the cooking and the shopping…and now there's the party."

"Joss, don't!" There was just something about that tone of voice when a woman took it and started complaining about the stuff Joss had started to complain about. It just irked him to no end, made the hair bristle on the back of his neck…his marriage…talk like that had been the very first sign of trouble. "You mean a hell of a lot to me, baby, but if you wanna talk that shit, take it to Jax's doctor bitch, because you're going to drive me fucking insane, you get me?"

"Yes!" Joss didn't yell, or raise her voice that much, but she did roll her eyes at him as she nodded her head.

That's when he should have belted her…any other man, who was a man, would have…the bottom had just dropped right out of her attitude…but once again, Tig failed to step up the way he was supposed to with her. But he knew why he hadn't, and even before the "L" word had escaped within the confines of his head, he'd always known he'd never hit Joss. Besides, by the time they'd gotten out of the house and climbed onto his bike, she was laying her head on his back and telling him she was sorry, sounding so sad and so ashamed. What the fuck? He knew she wasn't PMS-ing, Joss couldn't do that, and that had also been one of the biggest selling points of this relationship. But something was with her tonight…she'd gone from being mysteriously bitchy to being mysteriously clingy…only without touching him, because she knew he hated that, particularly around large groups.

She stood beside him now looking over at where Juice stood with his arm around his Lauren, talking with Happy and his Lauren whom he'd also pulled close to him, Joss watching the two couples, laughing and smiling, looking on in a way that Tig knew Joss really wanted to go over there and make some new friends…but she didn't move to ask him if she could, only took a gander around the clubhouse at everyone who was in there. "They look busy." She said to him instead.

He'd been on the verge of ordering her to go over to Lauren and Lauren now and make her introduce herself and start talking with them, because Tig knew she wanted to, she'd helped Happy plan a whole evening with his Lauren, down to flowers and cologne he should wear, which turned Tig's stomach so much he'd gotten up and walked away. But when he'd returned to the table, Joss was at Happy for other details about his woman…what did she like to do? Oh, she had tattoos, of what? She worked a winery? She was part Native American? Wow, what tribe? Where did she like to shop? Have lunch? What kind of movies did she like? It was as if Joss already had some 'girl date' planned with someone she'd yet to even meet.

And then the next day, all she'd talked about at lunch with Juice was did his Lauren ride western or english, what kind of horses did she have, did she show them…if not for how excited and happy it made Joss to even talk about these things, Tig would have been on her to shut the fuck up…but he'd let her go, knowing the idea of having girlfriends to hang with was something she'd never been allowed before, and when it came to horses…well, he let her be lost in a world he hadn't realized she'd missed so much until then. But then, how could he have not figured that out? He knew she liked to ride, he knew she was pretty damn good at it too, there was a whole wall of her former bedroom with nothing but pictures of her on horses, along with ribbons and trophies, and in everyone of those pictures of her, on the myriad of horses she was sitting atop of, Joss had the biggest, most honest smile on her face…horses had made her happy, despite the shithole father she had and the secrets she lived with. No wonder the girl didn't eat meat and didn't like to think of an animal having to die to provide it; it was likely that deep seeded connection she had with horses.

Tig had thought about connecting with horses a time or two himself, but not quite the same way…okay, no horses…he didn't need another cow situation tonight on top of everything Joss was going through for whatever reason she was going through it. Mooooo! Fuck! Cows! Go away cows…why the hell didn't they just stay in Capistrano? It wasn't some unbreakable attraction to them on his part that kept letting them slip back into and take over his thoughts, but it was more the fact that he'd gotten caught with them…and arrested…like the cows somehow got even on him…and Tig just couldn't get over that…after all the shit he'd done and gotten away with, a farm animal took him down! E, I, E, I, Ohhh fuck no! Damn! Too bad that beef jerky in the garage vending machine was actually ostrich…because he'd have been eatin' the hell out of that tonight!

But then beside him Joss suddenly sighed forlornly and laid her head against his arm, the cows, and the hold they had over him, dissipating. She was looking over at the Laurens again…man, she really did want to go over there, but something just wouldn't let her. She'd been a little shy and short tempered ever since Thursday afternoon, and even at work today it was like she didn't want to be alone in the office, and she'd come out into the garage, looking for him, to just stand there next to him for what seemed like no reason…and then she'd ask him to walk back to the office with her…he wasn't sure what was wrong with her then, or now, but it was the same thing, whatever it was. His concern for her was growing more and more, and it was making him anxious to think that his Joss, his sweet, dark, perfect little angel, was suffering something that she wasn't telling him about, and it was all twisting around inside him and beginning to turn to anger. He should just fucking order to go over there and start introducing herself to the Laurens, but what if something really was wrong with her? He held off on that order, trying to feel her out instead. "Okay, Joss. What's wrong? And don't say 'nothing,' because I know something is!"

But Joss wasn't herself, if she was, she'd have never have narrowed her eyes at him. "You have days when you don't want to talk to anybody, or be around anyone, why can't I?" She'd quickly asked him, scowling a bit more, but not for very long when she remembered they were in public, and certain things were more than just expected of her.

But that was it though, he hadn't busted her up for that first little retort of hers tonight, but now…Tig moved in front of her, and almost in the same motion, he'd slammed her into the wall behind her, using only one hand, not wanting to do more than startle her, and remind her of what his prerogative truly was when she mouthed off like that, but he didn't really want to hurt her…he'd never hurt her. It had worked though, Joss gasping even before her back hit the wall, fear in her eyes after she did, nearly falling over, and would have if not for Tig grabbing her by her patch and yanking her back onto her feet again. He leaned over her, "Now stop it!" He yelled against the noise of voices and loud music. Jesus fucking Christ…what was going on? They'd been so good together the past few days, a lot of…emotional stuff going both ways between them…even though it all still did give Tig chills to think about. But, they'd been so…close…what had happened to that? And how did he get it back? He'd much rather have been showing her off and making a demonstration of the way she trusted him then he wanted to be shoving her into walls and yelling at her.

His patience and tolerance may have both been a little less tonight to begin with…the club was getting closer and closer to ending this whole Mayan/ATF cooperation thing, and that would be going down soon…a check on some of the immigration status on a few Mayans had revealed that the records had been mysteriously sealed by ATF, and Juice's hacking skills were able to get those records sent to ICE…it was all coming together…digging a hole for the Mayans and creating intergovernmental dysfunction. It wouldn't be long now…Stahl would be stalled…and Tig was anxious, dying to just start beating the shit out of someone…this "sit and wait" shit never having been something he was good at…he was cagey, which made dealing with Joss's snippiness nearly impossible without being reactive and combative. But fuck…taking it out on her wasn't what he'd wanted to do either…"Joss—" but she spoke before he could finish, maybe because he'd scared her so badly that now she was ready to tell him everything.

"I'm sorry," she said for a second time in less than an hour, only this time he could tell it had really gotten to her, that she'd realized how much she'd screwed up and how lenient he was actually being given not only that she was his property, but also that Tig was who he was. One more time he watched her start from one corner of the clubhouse and do some kind of scan of the crowd like she was hoping to not see someone. "I just don't want to be alone here tonight, okay?"

Fuck! Now it all made sense! Jax! She didn't want to end up having to talk to or even see Jax! Jesus fucking Christ…Tig knew he could be such a clueless asshole sometimes, the proof of that had been laid before him many times and in many ways…some ways much more tragic and hurtful than others...and Tig had been on his way there again…just not as grand a scale, but getting frustrated with Joss, slamming her into a wall without trying to make sense of what she was doing, why she might be doing it…why he'd left his cell in the pocket of his cut on the back of his bike…why the driver of that pick-up truck hadn't been savvy enough to look back when a gangster SUV pulled up behind him so close…No! Holy fucking God…it wasn't too long ago that Tig had finally been able to get through the day without those thoughts slamming him up against a wall…it wasn't that he'd forgotten what had happened, what he'd done, he never would, never…but why was it back like this all of sudden?

Joss…hurting her scorched his soul even more than…what he'd done that night, and it was hard to believe that anything could. Joss…dark and sweet and perfect…his angel…she'd been the only reason he hadn't put a gun in his mouth, even though at the time, he'd never imagined that one day she'd be wearing his patch; he knew he loved her even then, it was just buried a lot deeper than it was now. She still had no idea just what she'd gotten him through, or how she'd been there for him, that having been the only time Tig had gone searching for her, restless and depressed and unstable until he'd found her…stole her away from "The Free Souls," held her "captive" in a cabin in the mountains that he'd broken into, spending two nights with her instead of just some quick alleyway fuck. He didn't understand why she'd been such a source of comfort then, but he did now. But if he wasn't careful, and didn't learn some God damn fucking thing from that gruesome night of the most monstrous of mistakes, he was going to end up doing it all over again…only this time, Joss would be driving that pick-up truck. Jesus, wasn't that dream about hitting her with the crescent wrench warning enough to him? Just how fucking close to hurting her did he have to come before he realized what was happening here?

And then he realized that he was hugging Joss to him, more than tightly, pressing her into him like he somehow meant to tuck her inside his chest and keep her safe there forever. "It's okay, baby," he was whispering to her, his hand on the back of her head, fingers grasping desperately at her silken, black tresses. "You remember what I told you yesterday about not letting anyone hurt you?" He felt Joss nod against his chest, not able to talk because of the way he was holding her to him, but he wasn't about to let go of her. "That means me too."

Chapter 35; Part 2

Tig wasn't much on new people, Joss knew he'd much rather stand over there and be the "dark one" in the corner that people talked about instead of to. And that's just what was happening now, her standing in between the two Laurens, Happy and Juice on either side of their respective girl, all of them talking and laughing, Joss able to do so now thanks to Tig, who kept her under his watchful eye as he drank a beer with Clay and Bobby. The slam into the wall had actually been a good thing, it had lead to some more awesome words from Tig. He wouldn't let anything happen to her, she knew that, he loved her, and she knew that too. And Opie…well…yeah, he was here, but he was on the other side of the room with Jax and Chibs and a bunch of half dressed women that Joss hoped would interest him more than she for some reason did.

Opie…those crackers had made her last hour of work on Thursday hell, and did the same for her on Friday…and then she knew she'd be coming here tonight, where once again, she'd have to be on the lookout. There was no roaring engine of a flatbed warning her as to his whereabouts in here tonight...that scared her, so afraid she'd turn a corner, and there he'd be, another one hundred calorie pack of snack crackers in his hand for her. It made no sense, none of it…Opie wasn't doing anything that was "anything" offensive…nothing…a bottle of water, a band-aid, an admiring glance, and a pack of crackers. That in its own way was actually less than what Tig's other brothers did and said to her…Jax mussing up her hair and calling her "Living Dead Girl," Chibs at the ready to put himself between her and an angry customer on the phone, Bobby trying to physically keep her from going after Tig the morning he'd gone a little further off the deep end than usual…on paper, what Opie was doing didn't even compare. But it didn't feel that way…those crackers scared the shit out of her! It was such a stupid thing to be afraid of, or to have made her really not want to come tonight…but she hadn't wanted to come, didn't want to be here now really, but…she did believe Tig when he'd said he wouldn't let anyone hurt her…but if she opened her mouth about the various Opie antics…Tig would end up killing Opie over a pack of crackers, and that wouldn't sit well with the club…or end well for Tig. Nope, she was going to have to suck it up, enjoy the party, and figure this out herself.

"I was at this concert at a bike rally," Happy's Lauren was saying, in response to Joss's question about how they met one another. She looked so thrilled to be standing there with Happy, his arm around her waist… she looked like she worked out, her frame was solid in all the right places, not at all too big or fat, but not the emaciated model look that Gemma sometimes hinted Joss was in danger of sporting, if she "didn't eat more,"…hmm, did Gemma know she was vegetarian? Maybe she and Lauren could work out together? Lauren wasn't at first glance the kind of girl that Joss would have imagined being with Happy, she had a sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks, with a cute mop of dark curls and bronze skin, but something about the way she smiled made it clear why Happy couldn't resist her, and why they looked so natural together. But Joss envied her eyes the most…as blue as Tig's, wow, were they related? Only Lauren's eyes were almond shaped, and that sexy, exotic contour of them was natural! Joss had to layer on metallic black eyeliner, pulling it out into wings at the outer corners of her eyes, and then let lash extending mascara complete the look in order to replicate that cat-like look. Some things in life just weren't fair!

It was obvious that Happy thought Lauren was a real prize too, looking down at her as she told this story, hanging on every word, smiling, nodding his head, couldn't have been more tuned into her. It made Joss smile; she had that with Tig too, around certain people anyway, only it was much harder to win that attention from him. But Lauren's happy, bubbly personality was too hard to ignore, and Joss too was tuned into her story. "And I saw this big, shaved headed guy, with 'tough' written all over him…except for a few little smiley faces…" she giggled, pointing to Happy's tattoos as they giggled together now. "And he was a little drunk, but getting a tattoo, but he was telling the guy he wanted the head of this roaring, snarling, about to bite your face off, grizzly bear. Only, he wanted it the same size as the little smiley faces, and the guy was all like, 'I can't do that, man,' and Happy was all, 'just fuckin' do it' and so I stepped up to him and said, 'Hey, you make that grizzly bear the size you're asking for, and it's going to look like an angry gerbil!'"

Everyone began to laugh, Happy a little less so than everyone else, but Joss hadn't expected anything different from him. He just pulled his Lauren even closer and kissed her on the top of her curly, dark hair. "You gotta love a girl who stops you from gettin' a bad tattoo!" He said proudly, rubbing her back with his hand now. Lauren looked up at him with that vivacious smile of hers, making Happy kiss her then and there. "That's what a good woman does," he said, looking at Juice and Joss, and then a little at Juice's Lauren. "Keeps our asses in line, no matter how much we're going to bitch at you about it."

"Isn't that the truth," Joss sighed, comically as she glanced over towards Tig, and everyone laughed again. She turned to Juice's Lauren, the one with the horses, whom she was eager to get to know better, despite that this Lauren seemed like, and was, more new to the whole MC culture. When Joss had finally approached this little group of couples, she'd greeted Happy and Juice with a hug, and then introduced herself to their Laurens in the manner she was supposed to, saying, "Hi, I'm Tig's, my name is Joss." Happy's Lauren hadn't completely understood what that meant, but she'd nodded and shook Joss's hand, but Juice's Lauren had furrowed her brow in confusion that it seemed that Joss had just said she'd had two names, "Tiggs" and then "Joss."

That Lauren had looked over at Juice, who smiled at her sweetly and then pointed across the room to Tig. "No, gorgeous," he'd laughed. "That's Tig over there, he owns Joss. On the back of that vest she's got on, is his patch, it means she's his, that she's special enough to him that he's put his mark on her."

The way Juice had explained it made Joss smile, though she could still see that his Lauren was surprised by words like "owns" and "mark." Hmm…maybe she, being property, Joss wasn't the best "first" person for Juice's Lauren to meet…being patched was everything to Joss, but she was an outsider once herself, and she understood how shocking this all likely sounded to someone new. She sighed though, looked at Juice's girl and prayed that she wouldn't turn out to be another Tara. Tara…what was she going to do about that situation? But, she couldn't think about that now, there was way too much to watch out for tonight. Besides, Tara wasn't even here with Jax tonight…big surprise. She looked at Juice's Lauren again, the way he stood there, smiling at her like he couldn't imagine being with a more beautiful girl, his arm around her shoulders and rubbing her upper arm softly. Again Joss smiled, she had that with Tig too, and he was surprisingly getting better about showing affection for her around other people.

"So Juice says you ride?" Said the girl Juice had his arm around, looking at Joss excitedly, which gave her so much hope that perhaps Lauren was looking for a riding buddy. Lauren must have looked good on a horse; she just had that kind of build to her. Joss had never felt overly tall at five foot seven, but Lauren was barely more than five feet, could have benefitted from a higher heel than what was on her cowboy boots to boost her up a little, but damn, it was always those short girls that had the most natural and balanced seat in the saddle! It seemed that any time Joss felt herself landing on an angle from a jump, and sliding out of the saddle and onto the ground, there was some short girl, still on her horse, looking down at her saying, "Oh my God, are you okay? What happened? I took that fence the same way and it felt great!"

All jealousy aside, Joss smiled broadly at Lauren and nodded her head. "Yes!" She'd nearly shouted then toned it down. "Well, I used to…kinda haven't been able to in the last two years, but you know, in my mind, I will always ride." There…that hadn't sounded like a desperate plea for an invitation, had it?

"You should come over!" Lauren instantly smiled, and Joss had to stop the little kid in her from going wild. "I've got lots of trails around the farm! You can take my old guy, he's twenty-six, but still flashy." Lauren laughed, then turned towards Juice, smiling up at him as she gently traced the lightning bolt on the side of his head. "I'm sure you can't do worse than 'Flash' here did!" She laughed, making Juice sigh that beaten down, but happy kind of sigh Joss had come to associate with him.

"Aww! Juice, you go riding together?" Joss asked him, part of her not wanting to even imagine Tig around horses…

Juice smiled, bent down and brushed Lauren's dark brown hair behind her ear, then kissed her, but careful not to smudge her impossibly perfect make-up, so perfect, it was surprising to think of her being around barns and horses. "Go ahead, I know you want to tell her how that went…" Juice sighed again, the same way as before.

"Well," Lauren looked up at him smiling, then back at Joss. "It's kind of like this: nothing makes him laugh harder than me trying to start his bike, and nothing makes me laugh harder than him on a horse!" She laughed, and so did Joss. "He can't steer…and it's so funny…" Lauren was laughing, with Juice. "I tried to teach him, to tell him to use his outside leg and inside rein, but…Juice is like dyslexic or something! We never got out of the arena ring, him on my old guy and me on my big Dutch gelding, Markus. Markus and I were just walking along in front of him, and I keep hearing Juice going, 'no, go that way…c'mon, please…look, go over there!'" Juice was really laughing now, so was Lauren. "I looked back, and he's actually pointing out to the horse which way he wants him to go!"

Wow, Lauren had a Dutch gelding? Oh yeah! She wasn't a weekend trail rider! She rode big time! That thought had occurred to her in a split second before she burst out laughing too, smiling at Juice because he was so adorable, without trying to be. "Don't be too hard on him," she smiled at Juice, then Lauren. "I mean, I can't even tell Tig he's putting his shirt on backwards without him growling it's my fault for being the biggest distraction ever in his life." Joss laughed, and could just imagine how well having to teach Tig anything might go over. She looked over at her man, wishing he'd come over so she could introduce him, but no, that wasn't happening…but that was okay, because Joss knew if she needed him, he'd be there in a heartbeat…she only hoped it wouldn't end in tragedy. She looked back at Lauren, both of them; well, she'd done it, she'd made two new girlfriends! Wow, it was a good thing Tig had made her come tonight, she'd have hated to miss out on this! And she soon realized with maybe more joy than she really deserved to feel, that among the three of them, she was the one with SAMCRO life seniority! "So," she said to both Laurens. "Has anyone shown you where the good lady's room is?"

Chapter 35; Part 3

Tig must have been so relieved that she was feeling better and back to being her gregarious self that he didn't have any opposition to her leading a parade over to the garage to show the new girls where the "good" bathroom was. Besides, it was still light out, and he and Clay had seemed to be having some in depth discussion about where to hide…something Joss was going to pretend she didn't hear anything about. Clay had given her the key and Tig had made her double check that she had her cellphone on her, told she knew what to do if "anything came up" and then kissed her quickly on the mouth. Joss had smiled, and kissed him back one more time the same way, but held it for a little longer…damn she loved that man, and she'd wanted her two new friends to see that too. It wasn't such a bad night after all…and then…

They'd gotten as far as the fence between the clubhouse and the garage, none of them in the mood to climb over it, so Joss showed them the place where the chain link had come unpinned from the vertical posts, holding open a little 'doorway' for them to crawl through the rusted, peeled up sections of the fence. Joss had glanced back to say something to Happy's Lauren, and immediately felt eyes on her. Opie stood only about ten feet away, walking casually after them, hardly at any kind of malicious or pursuit pace, but he was looking at Joss, and only Joss, giving her a smile and then a nod. All of a sudden, he began to run towards her, standing beside her in no time, and grabbing the section of chain link fence Joss had been holding for Happy's Lauren to crawl through.

"Let me get that for you," he smiled, but Joss only stood there, looking back at him, knowing that it was too late to call Tig…and that even if she did…where would it go? She wouldn't be doing her man any favors, and that was for sure. This was her problem, she was on her own.

It was odd, but standing here, face to face with Opie who had been causing her such fear and anxiety, Joss wasn't struck with the feeling of blood draining from her face and surging through her veins, making her dizzy and weak and terrified. No, she was angry…very angry. He'd put her in some more than difficult situations, gladly took a savage beating that Tig now had no right to repeat, therefore paralyzing the only protection he knew she'd have against his onslaught of inappropriate benevolence. He'd turned her into a prisoner at the garage on her very last day of work, and tonight, he'd been the reason for the attitude that had made Tig shove her into the wall. If Opie kept up this shit, he was going to drive her and Tig apart…but "property" was only cast off in one way. Joss wouldn't lose Tig, and it didn't matter how, she wouldn't be without him whether or not it was by Tig executing Opie over menial things, that would lead to his own eventual execution, or because Tig was suddenly faced with no other option but to kill her. Tig was hers, she loved him more than anything, and she'd fight for him. What she had with him was nowhere near perfect, or normal, but how fucking dare Opie try to destroy it! She'd had enough, and there was no one who could make this stop except for her!

She turned to the Laurens, giving Happy's Lauren the lady's room key. "Go on, I'll be over in a sec." She said, knowing that neither of her two new friends were versed enough in MC life to understand how wrong Joss staying back to talk to Opie was, but it was…it was! The girls, who thought nothing of it, said their "okays" and went on their way, leaving Joss alone with Opie…to make him stop what he was doing, or make him follow through with it!