Disclaimer: I don't own Sons of Anarchy or any of the characters. All belongs to Kurt Sutter and FX.

I'm really, really sorry for the wait. The last week before the vacation always sucks and I've been working my ass off. Whenever I've had the energy to write I've just been writing what I felt like and lately that had been on the Grace-story. So at least that one is well on its way so you won't have to wait for it when I'm done with this. Vacation time is also a bother with traveling and lack of Internet-connection, but I'll do my best to get the next chapter up soon.

As always: Thank you for your response to this story, I'm overwhelmed and extremely grateful. So thank you for reviews, favs and alerts, all just pouring in. I love it!

Chapter 23: I'm not doing any talking tomorrow

Ava had a busy day ahead of her so she went home and found Clark and Grace in the middle of the packing. She had hardly had time to say hello to Clark when Tara called. He met her in the hallway and gave her another hug.

"How's my baby sister?"

"I'm fine." She put her bag on the floor. "Some problems with a friend and her... boyfriend, I guess would be the proper word. Or 'Old Man'."

"I like that you have friend, I'm sorry about the problems thought."

"She'll be fine." She walked towards the kitchen. "Coffee?"

"Yeah." He followed her. "I heard you got a tattoo. A crow."

Ava smiled at him, he had a teasing smile on his lips. "Just get it off your chest."

"So you're an Old Lady now?"

"Yes."

"He'll take care of you." Then he pointed towards Grace's. "Both of you."

"I know."

When they sat down at the table.

"I'll come to New York in a couple of days, maybe three."

"Picking up the file?" Clay knew about all of that, what she had planned, he had helped her with some of it.

"Yes. I'm leaving Grace there and if you could come with her when I'm rid of them it would be great." She said while stirring in her cup. Clark hand that face again. "It's not your fault. And they won't get her."

"I know they won't get her."

"You need to let it go, you've helped me more than anyone." Ava took his hand. "You can't beat yourself up about this forever."

Clark squeezed her hand. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing very well." She smiled.

"You seem well."

Grace came skipping into the kitchen. "Will I meet guys from the club there?"

"Yes."

"Good." Grace said and climbed into Clark's lap.

"You and I are going to have a great time. And when mom comes we're going to the zoo. Do you remember last time we were there?"

Grace nodded and looked at Ava, then she jumped down and went over to Ava's lap. "I'm going to miss you."

"Honey, I'll miss you too."

"You'll be all alone. Since Happy is going away as well."

"I'll be fine." She hugged Grace. "I'll take care of everything. You know that, right?"

"I know." Grace nodded. "You always do."

-o0o-

Happy was on the lot and they were all trying to get ready for the trip to Ireland. He went to find Piney to make sure things would run smoothly while he was away. He trusted Ava, but he wanted to make sure someone was keeping an eye on her in case she needed help. She would never ask for help. He hadn't been able to get that out of her yet, she just wasn't used to have people around her.

"Hey." He said when he found Piney.

"Hi Hap, what's up?"

"Ava's got some problems, it's with Jonah's parents."

"Giving her trouble?" Piney said and sat down on a bench and pulled out the bottle.

"Yeah, just keep an eye on her. Let me know if she needs anything."

"I'll help her." He nodded. "Don't worry about it."

"She's sending Grace with Clark to New York."

"I'll give Waldo a call. Make sure she'll be ok."

"Thanks."

Piney looked at him for a few seconds then he got up from the bench again. "She'll be fine, they both will be, I'll make sure of it."

"Thanks." Happy gave him a hug and patted his back. Piney was definitely growing on him.

Ava's car pulled in on the lot and Grace came running from it with Clark just behind her.

"Happy, I've got something for you." Grace yelled and he picked her up. She handed him something and he looked down at it. It was a picture of her and Ava. "I thought you might want it." She looked embarrassed.

"It's perfect, Sugar. I'll keep it in my pocked."

"Like Big Al?"

"Like Bit Al." He gave her a kiss. "You be good and make sure the New York boys are behaving."

"I will." She put her arms around his neck and hugged him really hard. "I love you."

"I love you too, honey." He drew in her smell. Ava better make this good, because he was running out of time and if she hadn't sorted this shit out before he came home, he would kill those fucks, not matter who the fuck they were.

"Find Abel." Grace said and gave him one more hug.

"We will."

"I'm going to miss you, very very very much." She whispered in his ear.

"Give me your phone." He said and she gave it to him. With her still on his arm he programmed a number on it. "This is Piney's number, you call him if there's anything wrong, ok? Here or in New York."

"I will."She gave him a kiss. "Thank you."

He hugged her hard one last time before putting her down. He shook Clark's hand. "If there's anything, call Piney."

Clark nodded. "She'll be fine. Ava will take care of this."

He watched them going back to the car. He still didn't like Clark that much, but at least he helped Ava when she asked him to.

-o0o-

When Gemma came walking towards them, Happy shook his head. Crazy bitch. She kissed his cheek.

"Gives Ally Lowen time to take care of those grandparents." Happy raised his eyebrows. "Oh come on, that girl already have two grandparents, no room for anyone else."

He gave her a hug. "Who told you?" He wasn't sure who had told Gemma about him calling her Grace's grandma, but he had a feeling it wasn't Ava.

"Grace."

"You talked to Grace?" Was there no-one who wasn't on this woman's information-list?

"Sure. Made sure Tara gave her my number." She smiled at him. "And she told me that you said I was kind of like her grandma'." She stepped really close to him, glaring slightly during the last part of the sentence.

Happy couldn't remember the last time he was that fucking close to blushing and Clay laughed behind Gemma. He tried to clear his throat. "Just trying' to cheer her up."

Gemma gave him a firm look, put her nose in the air and took a deep breath. "I kind of like it." Then she strode right past him towards the airplane.

Clay shook his head and squeezed Happy's shoulder as he passed by. "Like I said, the trouble that surely will follow them."

Happy laughed and walked behind him. "I hope mine's easier than yours."

"Wouldn't bet on it lasting, Gemma's got a way to shape the other Old Ladies."

"I've noticed."

-o0o-

Ava was in the empty apartment and found herself wandering from room to room. She finally sighed and picked up her phone.

"I'm panicking here. Wanna come over and keep me company?"

"Got any coffee?"

"I even got wine."

"Coffee's better."

Twenty minutes later the door rang and she opened it for Tara. "Since when is coffee better?" She took a closer look at Tara's face. "Ohhh." She was pregnant?

"I don't want to talk about it. I've already had the Gemma-speach about looking into Abel's eyes."

It had been a really long time since Ava had a real friend, another woman to talk to about stuff. The 'keeping the baby or not'-talk had come a bit earlier than she had expected though.

"Not going to give you that speech."

"I mean; he's going to jail and I just find him in bed with a fucking porn star. How can I have a baby with a man like that."

Ava laughed. "It could be a lot worse."

"Fuck, I'm sorry I didn't mean... I'm sorry, I just don't think before I open my big mouth sometimes."

"It's not the same thing. I ran, as far away as I could from her dad. You don't want to run away and that makes your situation different." They walked into the kitchen and the coffee Ava had made was waiting on the table.

Ava sat down and Tara got down in front of her, leaning her head in her hands and looked extremely tired.

"Things are just shit right now and this just ads to it. And that's not what it should feel like, I should be happy about this not feel like it's another pile of dump on a huge mountain of it."

"Maybe you should wait for a while anyway. If you're not sure and you can't think straight you should probably give it a couple of weeks at least."

Tara finally looked at her and gave her a tired smile. "Gemma knows."

"Oh." Ava took a sip of coffee. "That changes things. Think she'll tell Jax?"

"She promised she wouldn't, but if she needs to, she'll tell him. Gemma deals with information like the Corleone deals with favors." Tara shook her head and took another sip from her cup. "Let's not... talk about this right now. They talked about nonsense for a while and then suddenly Tara smiled. "Doesn't he ever scare you?"

Ava laughed. "No, not since the first time he came here."

"He scares the shit outta me." Tara emptied her cup. "Only time he doesn't do it is when he's with Grace."

"Is he that different with her?"

"No, I just don't think he'd kill anyone in front of her." She leaned her head in her hand and looked at Ava "About Jonah's parents; shouldn't you get a lawyer?"

"Are you kidding me? I can't afford a lawyer."

"Darlin', this club is your family."

Ava was in the middle of a yawn and started laughing. "Was that supposed to be an impression of Gemma or is she just rubbing off on you?"

"Oh God! I heard it myself, I hoped you wouldn't notice." Tara shook her head. "Anyway, not saying they'd pay for anyone's lawyer, but the'll want to make sure Grace stays here."

"She will. I'm not worried. I've been trying to explain to everyone that I've prepared for this."

"Ok. You should still have a lawyer with you when you meet them. Cause they will."

She had to admit that Tara was right, they were going to lawyer up, so she should probably do that as well. There was a small problem with paying the lawyer though. She thought about it for a while and finally remembered what Happy had said.

"Fine! I'll talk to Piney tomorrow."

"I should get home."

"You should do this more often. Or I can come and see you."

"We really should. There's just so much testosterone flying around the others, including Gemma." That comment made Ava laugh. "We need girl-time as well."

They hugged each other and then she was alone. She cleared the kitchen, did the dishes and crawled into bed. It was huge. It took her a while but she finally fell asleep.

-o0o-

Ava was standing at the police station, waiting for Tig. Tara had called and asked for her help.

"Awh, Ava. Thanks." He said and gave her a hug when he saw her.

"Not a problem. I'm taking some personal days so I've got nothing better to do than bailing your ass out of jail."

"Might not be the last time you bail one of us out." He said and put his arm around her shoulder and started to walk outside to the reception. "How did you get the money?"

"Had to work on my knees at the trucker café all night."

"Not sure Hap would like that." He said and then he laughed. "Seriously, you used to blush when someone mentioned sex and now you're making joked about it. What's the old man doin' to ya?"

"All of it" She smiled and then realized that Unser was watching them with a displeased face. "Seriously though, I got the money from Tara, she had to work so she sent me instead."

"Aww, you girls are the best." Tig smiled and put his arm around her shoulders.

"You're going to have to get someone else to pick up that towtruck at the impound."

"What?" Tig exclaimed.

"You're license had been suspended for two years."

Ava lost focus for a second after that since she noticed Stahl leaving the office, smirking at her.

"Any chance you can give me a lift?" Tig asked a few seconds later, he seemed upset and she assumed that it was because of the license. She didn't know exactly what it was about but she knew it had something to do with Gemma escaping.

"Sure. I'll call Piney about the truck."

She hadn't been surprised about Gemma's escape, that women would do what was needed to get Abel back. Ava couldn't blame her, if someone took Grace, there was no way in hell she'd sit back and let someone else take care of it.

"Tow-truck."

She moved her focus from Stahl and her thoughts about loosing Grace, back to Tig. "What?"

"Nothin'." He said and Ava picked up her phone. She talked to Piney and he told her to keep Tig company and that he'd pick him up in a while.

"Change of plans." She said to Tig. "I'm keeping you company until Piney gets here. I hope you have smokes cause I'm all out."

They sat down outside and he handed her a cigarette.

"How's Sunshine?"

"In New York. Talked to her earlier and she's doing fine." She looked at him. "Got some friends already, some guy named Waldo."

"The Prez. He's a good guy." Tig nodded. "Heard anything from the grandparents?"

"Yeah, meeting them and their lawyer tomorrow."

"Who's your lawyer?"

"I don't have one." She inhaled deeply and she felt Tig looking at her. "I'll talk to Piney later."

"You fucking do that. We're not going to send you in there without a lawyer."

"I'm not doing any talking tomorrow. Just listening."

"Should still have a lawyer and we're getting you one."

"I know. I'll talk to Piney." She patted his hand. "Tara has already been on me about this. And like I told her; I'm prepared for this."

Tig drilled his blue eyes into her and for a second she thought of Jonah but shoved the thought aside. Just then the truck with Kozic pulled up and she could see Tig's expression change.

"Great." He said and got up.

"I'll come by later to talk to Piney."

"Thanks again, darlin'."

"No problem."

He started to walk towards the truck and suddenly he turned around. "Hey, Ava!"

"Yeah?"

He almost ran towards her. "I just need to make sure and don't you fucking lie to me; are you running?"

"What?"

"That's what you usually do and if Hap asks me later I wanna be able to tell him that I at least fucking asked you about it." He looked pissed.

"No! No, I'm not running." He stared at her for a few seconds. "Tig, I'm not running. I promise. And he already asked me about it."

"Good."

"I'm not running from him. I would never do that. I know that you could help me if I needed it, it's just that I've planned for this and you're occupied with Abel, you need to stay focused on that. He's much more important right now."

"Ok, I believe you." He started walking towards the tow-truck again. "I'll see you later."

-o0o-

A few hours later she came to the garage just in time to see Tig and Kozic having a fight. She went over to the office and saw Chucky and Tara, still in her work clothes, watching the two of them go at it.

"Hey, have you seen Piney?"

They pointed towards the clubhouse and she went inside.

"How are you doing?" Piney said when he saw her.

"All good." She sat down and he poured her a cup of coffee. "Not sure your attempts on making those two friends is going to well." She was referring to Tig and Kozic.

"They just need to get it out of their system." He said and poured some tequila into his coffee and when he waved the bottle in her direction with a questioning face she shook her head.

"I need to talk to you about this thing with Jonah's parents."

Piney nodded. "Happy mentioned that."

"I'm meeting them tomorrow and they'll probably have a fanchy smanchy lawyer."

"You should probably have one too. I'll sort that out for you."

"Thing is..." she sighed, she was going to have to fill him in. "I'm not sure exactly what they're after. They probably want Grace to be able to show off their amazing little family in political campaigns."

Piney laughed. "Wonder how Happy fits into that?"

"Or me, they hate my guts. So that's probably not all." She looked into her cup. "I think they want to know what happened to Jonah. And I think they might try to take custody of Grace completely."

"Can they do that?"

"Even if they can't get her for themselves they could raise questions about my abilities to take care of her if they try" She sighed.

"That would be bullshit." He said and took her hand.

"I know. I've been reviewed before. It's just; I don't want to deal with all this shit at all. I never wanted to." She squeezed his hand before letting go and took a sip of the coffee. It wasn't as good as when Bobby had done it. "It used to be since I didn't want to be stuck in a town and his parents knowing where. Now I just want to be rid of them, I want all of that behind me."

"Sounds reasonable." Piney nodded. "What's the plan?"

"I want to hear them out tomorrow. What they have planed, they'll tell me more that they should, Mary's a moron and she can never keep her mouth shut."

"Then?"

"I have... evidence, in a safety deposit box in New York."

"Evidence?"

"Of everything, signed testimonies, pictures, all that shit. I'll go there and pick it up."

Piney nodded. "Will that help you? What their kid did to you."

"Trust me, It'll help." She emptied the cup. "So, I don't want you to pay for a lawyer that I don't need tomorrow. I'm just hearing them out."

"You're not going there alone. I'll explain to her that she just has to sit there and listen, that nothing of importance will be said and that she doesn't need to prepare in any special way." He emptied his cup as well and then he took out the bottle and drank directly from it. He was referring to the lawyer as 'she', so he probably had someone in mind. "We'll take care of you, love."

"Thank you. I need to get going." She got up. "Thanks for the coffee."

"No worries, not half as good as when Bobby does it, even with Tequila in it."

"Don't know about the tequila but I agree to the rest of your statement."

She got out just in time to see Lyla get into her car and she walked up to Tara.

"Any chance you can keep me company tonight as well?"

"Sure." Tara smiled. "Should I bring some needle-work?"

Ava laughed. "No, but if there's any chance we can be at your place and I could borrow your washing machine I'd be a happy girl."

"Ah, wash date." Tara nodded. "I'll call you later."

-o0o-

Happy was watching Jax getting ready for a fight with O'Neil and he noticed Clay waving at him so he walked over to see what he wanted.

"Got a message to you, from Piney."

"Ok."

"Told me to tell you that you're Old Lady is all over this shit and you've got nothing to worry about."

"Thanks."

"Got a lawyer for the meet tomorrow."

"Good. Thanks Prez."

"She's family, we take care of our family." Clay gave him a hug.

A few minutes later he noticed Clay slipping away with Gemma and then the fight started.

When they played poker a couple of hours later, just the SAMCRO-guys, Clay was definitely in a better mood.

Between the deals he sent a text to Ava, 'Think of me when you cum'. He felt the phone vibrate a few seconds later and he flipped it open. 'Already did.'

He laughed.

"What?" Ope asked.

"Nothin'."

"Crazy chick?" Juice smiled.

"Keeping my mood up." He answered.

"Ohhh, is she sendin' you dirty messages?" Chibs said. "Nice touch. Any news on the Sunshine-situation."

"According to Piney, she's all over it. Got it all figured out. And according to Tig it doesn't include running." Clay said.

Happy looked up at Clay with and smiled. "I know she's not running." He wasn't worried about that at all.

Jax got back with the news that The Army wanted Jimmy in return for Abel. Completely fucked up people and Happy thought when he went to bed. It all felt fucked up to him. First people were targeting their women and now they were after their kids. At least it couldn't get much worse.