"I'm trying to figure out what your history is with the Sons of Anarchy."

"I don't have one."

Jane Stahl sat back in her chair. The person she was interviewing was largely a mystery to her and she didn't like it. Stahl always had leverage when she talked to someone, and if she didn't have it outright she was almost always able to suck it out while talking to them. Not so with this girl. They had been talking for the better part of an hour and she knew nothing that she hadn't already known when they had started.

The girl was simple, or seemed so. Single-sentence answers. Wide innocent eyes, complete with baby-doll eyelashes. Clueless shrug and expression mastered to perfection. She had been talking to Jackson Teller because she was looking for Tara Knowles. She was looking for Tara Knowles because she needed to find Joshua Kohn. She needed to find Joshua Kohn because he'd promised to help her through school.

"So you had nothing to do with the Sons before you came to Charming."

A shake of her head. The girl's dark hair was so shiny it gleamed crazily under the lights when she moved. Stahl found herself wondering what it would feel like to touch it, and shook her head to clear it. The girl who seemed cute and innocent appeared to be exactly what she seemed. Everything they could dig up on her checked out. Then why the hell did it feel so - so not right?

"Can I help?"

The sound of the quiet voice made Juice turn. He gaped.

"You? What the hell you doing here?" It was the girl from the other day in front of Jax's house. And she had just caught him in an extremely compromising position with the unconscious Irishman, bloody sheets and towels all around them from trying to get two bullets out of his behind. Wonderful.

"Waiting for Jackson Teller. His mom told me he'd be here in a bit."

"Gemma let you in?"

"If you mean the lady in the front office, yeah. She said 'come in and wait, cookie'."

"Cookie?" That was so surprising coming from Gemma that it almost made him forget his compromising situation. Almost.

The girl shrugged and then said again "Can I help?"

"No! I mean what are you doin' here? You need to leave!" Juice looked around wildly, unable to move to go shut the door or anything. The girl ignored him, just walked closer and peered curiously at the Irishman, her hands in her pockets.

"You have your finger up his ass," she observed.

"No, no!" Juice hesitated. "Well technically, yes - but my finger's not jammed up his ass cause you know that would be gay - it's jammed in his ass..." he trailed off and sighed." ...which I guess is still kind of gay."

Sara nodded understandingly. She peered closer at the wound. "Wow that's a mess," she said, her voice mild. She could have been talking about her lunch. "Are you plugging the femoral ?"

Juice frowned. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Basic anatomy. Required for paramedics."

"You're a paramedic? You don't even look old enough to be out of high school."

She ignored his last comment and said: "If you have a clamp somewhere I can clamp that for you. That way you can take your finger out of his ass."

Jucie blinked at her.

She held up her hands. "Unless you like being gay - I mean you can carry on by all means. You're doing fine stopping the bleeding."

Juice gaped. "What? Hell, no ! I mean, yes, of course I want you to clamp it!"

Sara nodded. "Okay. You have any supplies?"

"Here comes Jax with them now."

Jax walked into the room carrying a sack of medical supplies he'd gotten from Tara. His expression was indescribable. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you," replied the girl, unfazed. "Do you have a clamp in that bag?"

"What?"

Sara took the bag from him and began to rummage through it.

Juice grinned at Jax. "She's going to clamp the artery so I can get my finger out of here. She's a paramedic."

"What? Her? A paramedic?"

Sara sighed, shook her head a bit. "Clap if you believe in fairies!" she muttered, rummaged some more and came up with a bottle of pills. She held it up, read the label. "Vancomycin. Cool. This'll kill anything." She tossed it to Jax. "Give him two now, then one every four hours."

"No, not just yet," she said as Jax moved to wake the man."Better to do this when he's out." She rummaged in the bag again. "No clamps."

"What do we do?"

Sara thought a moment. "You think your mom might have any paper clips in her office? Not the little ones - those big bulky ones - what are they called, bulldog clips?"

Jax left and returned with a couple of them. Sara picked out the newest looking one, doused it with betadine from the bag and slipped on a pair of gloves. "Okay," she said to Juice. "On three pull your finger out. One, two - three!"

Juice pulled his finger out of the bullet hole and blood, bright red, vital arterial blood, immediately spurted like a fountain. Unperturbed, the girl slipped her small hand into the wound and suddenly the geyser stopped, just like a faucet had been turned off.

"Holy shit!," Juice swore, openmouthed. "Great job, uh, er-"

"Sara," she replied. "You, too, …?"

"Juice."

"Juice. You saved his life you know."

Jucie grinned from ear to ear and went off to wash. Sara turned to Jax.

"That clamp will hold a long time," she said to him. "But it's just first aid. You need to get a real doctor to patch him up or he might lose a leg."

Jax nodded but Sara read the expression on his face very clearly. She looked away for a moment. "I'm going to need to talk to you at some point, but I'll leave before Tara Knowles gets here if that'll make you feel any better."

Jax hesitated and then nodded again. "I'll take you home. Or wherever it is you're staying."

"No need to give me a ride. But I do need to talk to you. Soon."

"I'll take you home."

He walked out to give Tara a call on his cell. She was finishing up her shift and would come right away. Just enough time for him to ship the girl off and come back. He couldn't let her stay or ask any of the others to give her a ride – the risk of the girl opening her mouth about Kohn was too high. Better to talk to her like she wanted, personally throw her off track. Threaten if needed.

And then, hopefully, get on with their lives.

The motel she stayed in was like every other dingy motel he'd ever seen: weathered paint, tacky signage, questionable clientele moving in and out. Why it seemed more ominous than most he didn't know. As soon as he stopped the girl who had been riding pillion behind him slipped off his bike and faced him with that disturbing, too-calm gaze of hers.

"Thanks for saving the Irishman," he said to her, trying to sound gracious.

"I helped out, that's all." She shrugged. "The saving part will fall to your doctor friend." In that particular angle of light her eyes were pure, clear gold, their gaze so steady he found himself barely able to meet them.

"Will you come inside for a second? Since you're already here there's something you should see."

Jax said nothing but Sara saw his expression change and she rolled her eyes heavenwards. "It's not myself I want to show you if that's what you're afraid of," she added drily.

He sighed and followed her indoors, waiting for a moment as she rummaged through a rucksack on the floor beside the bed. Soon enough she straightened and turned, and then tossed an object onto the bed.

Jax stared. Broke into a sudden, cold sweat.

It was his father's half-burned manuscript.

author's note: am having to borrow scenes from the show as i go along, trying to keep the season one storyline going and the character in it. i hope you're all enjoying this so far, some "mysteries" will be cleared up soon. thanks for reading and i hope you let me know what you think!