Perfect Life chapter 7
Chapter title: Feed the Machines
A/N: Hey everyone, hope your all doing well. Idk why but the beginning of this chapter is slightly darkish, I think I was half asleep when I wrote it but it fits so I left it as it is. Oh and you even get a little bit of Chase's backstory in this chapter. Enjoy!
Numb, angry, vengeful. Those were probably the best words to describe Chase right now. This whole thing seemed like a horribly, vivid nightmare, but she wasn't so lucky, it was all true, everything had happened. She loved all of her brothers deeply but some were different, Chibs was different. She still remembers the first day she met him, she was just 14 years old, a fragile and shut off teenager, hiding away from everything that could be a threat, but he was there at the garage, the first day he saw her he knew exactly what she was going through at home, with one look he understood everything that had happened, and that one look let her know that this complete stranger may be one of the only people she could ever trust.
Even from that first day, he never showed her any pity, he never judged her, no, he helped her, he moulded her into who she was today, she wouldn't have gotten this far in her life if it wasn't for Chibs, he welcomed her with open arms and she's never looked back since. Even when she had to move from town to town, he kept in touch, the odd letter here and there. He was always supporting her and he was right there again when she came back to Charming, those same open arms waiting.
Don't get her wrong, she wasn't stupid, she knew that the lives they all lived came with a constant threat. But, until something actually happens it's just so easy to push away the danger and live in the moment with those you care about. She never regrets taking Chibs and Happy up on their offer work at the garage, she never regrets the day she first put on her cut and she never regrets the choices she and her family have made along the way.
But it's at times like these when those thoughts in your head start to get loud, everything your thinking turns from pushed away whispers to shouts at the front of your mind. These thoughts, they find ways to get you lost in your own head, they find ways to blame you for things you had nothing to do with. These thoughts, they contradict each other, they wage a battle within your head which leaves you trapped and the exit, it moves further and further away from your grasp.
The girl shook her head, now was not the time to let her old demons come back and consume her, no she's fought them too hard and too long to let them take over now. This wasn't even about her, this was about Chibs and staying strong for the man she cared about dearly.
The club stood at the back of the ambulance and watched as it drove off, their brother inside being carried away to the hospital, they all prayed that the man was in good hands. She would've gone with him but he was going to be in surgery for hours plus she was needed here, with her brothers.
No one said anything after the ambulance left, they all just stood there. What could you say when one of your brothers almost got blown up? It still felt so surreal to them all. Even when Clay walked away to talk to Unser, the silence still hung in the air, the world around them forgotten as they tried to bring themselves back to the present.
Juice had his arm around Chase, she hadn't cried yet, but the thought of what happened still hurt her. Everyone knew that Juice, Chibs and Chase were extremely close with one another, as mentioned before, everyone in the club was close but some people had stronger bonds than others. Jax and Opie, Tig and Clay. It's just how it went, no one minds though, as long as you still take a bullet for anyone sitting with you around that table.
The silence was broken when Tara started explaining what they would have to do for Chibs to get him back to normal. If she was being honest, Chase didn't understand most of what the doctor was saying but she got the gist of it.
Next thing Jax also walks off and starts a conversation with Hale. This finally causes the group to disassemble and head into the club house for a drink, or five.
PERFECT LIFE…
Clay calls everyone to the table, they all knew what this was going to be about, now that someone else in the club had been targeted Clay was going to use it as an excuse to take immediate action and retaliate with utmost brutality. And the thing was, no one was going to argue, well except maybe Jax and Bobby, but the rest of the table, they were all going agree with Clay on this one, most people had originally but Juice and Chase, they had no choice, they couldn't let that happen again, they needed a release for all the anger that has built up over what happened, Chase more so than Juice. Big events like this, when she got angry, her anger easily clouded her judgement. She'd always had anger issues but stuff like this threatens her emotions beyond their capacity. But she refused to break, Chibs was going to be fine, eventually.
"Unser's getting his home address" Clay informs his crew
"You really think Zobelle is sitting in his Barcalounger waiting for us to swing by?" Bobby questions to them all
"Why should he hide?"
"Asshole thinks he's protected on every level." Clay explains to them
"He is." Juice and Chase say in unison
"Probably riding four deep. Weston, skinhead crew."
"then we ride five deep." Tig reasons
"yeah, and what's the plan? Roll up him in broad daylight, cut off his head?" Bobby asked, slightly annoyed with the sudden change in everyone, what happened hurt him too but he still knows what's right. Why can't anyone else see it?
"Okay" it's the first thing Happy has said at the table tonight and that's what he comes out with, they all turn to look at him for a moment, sure they loved the man but he had a weird obsession for torturous revenge, or just murder in general if they were being honest.
"You know, I Don't give a shit what the plan is. I am tired of sitting here playing "What happens if?" Zobelle tried to kill two of us in the last 12 hours. This charter doesn't wait any longer. We kill him!" the president shouts at them all, trying to make them see sense. He wasn't backing down on this anymore, he was going to kill Zobelle and Weston if it's the last thing he does.
Most people around the table nod, everyone except Bobby and Jax who still believed that they should wait, that this was all planned and that there is a trap waiting for them at the end of all this, and in the back of her mind, Chase thought the same thing, Jax was still right even after what just happened, but this just hit way too close to home and although the right thing to do was screaming at her, her anger still won out, she still craved revenge for what has happened to her club. They need to prove that they cannot be fucked with.
"Do I need to take a vote?" Clay asks whilst looking straight at Jax. No one says anything, they all knew that this had to happen and there was no way out of it. After a moment of Silence they all get up and leave the table, there was no need for the gavel, this wasn't a debate, the decision had been made before they even entered the room.
It was gone 2am and everyone just decided that there was no point in going home and that they should all just find somewhere to sleep at the club house. They had a lot of shit to deal with tomorrow.
PERFECT LIFE…
It was the next day and as the crew walked outside they spotted Eddie poking around the crime scene. "What's this mick bastard doing here?" Clay asked as they walked closer to the boy, Jax was climbing down the ladder behind them so he could join them to see what the hell was going on.
"Irish love a good car bomb." Tig stated, it was a joke but it wasn't one you were supposed to laugh at, none of them could really bring themselves to laugh right now at Tig's jokes, not after yesterday.
They finally reach the boy who had been walking over to them "Hey, you being here in broad daylight, it's not the smartest move." The president tells the kid who is all alone, he wasn't too fond of him in all honesty, he was a cocky little bastard who thought himself to be a lot more important than he actually was, he was just a pawn in the giant chess game they were in.
"My dad thought it'd be wise to find out what all the noise was last night."
"Accident" Clay replies a little too quickly, but Bobby's there to cover him
"Chibs rubbed some wrong wires together" the boy looks at them all with a little smirk on his face, prick.
"I grew up in South Armagh, boys. Sodium nitrate was the fragrance of my youth. Know it anywhere."
"we're dealing with the problem" Jax informs the boy, his face completely serious and ready for business. But little Edmond was having none of it
"The problem is the feds. This blast will bring 'em around."
"It ain't gonna get that far. Tell your old man we got it contained." The president tells the boy, with a slightly patronizing tone.
"Sure. I'll let the folks know there's nothing to worry about." There was sarcasm in his tone but the others couldn't care less. And with that, the boy left them to it.
Just after Eddie leaves, Unser walks over, information about Zobelle and Weston in hand. He passes it over to Clay who asks about the late forensics, as they are talking Jax excuses himself with a phone call. The president looks over at his stepson suspiciously whilst continuing talking to the sheriff, that boy was up to something.
After convincing Unser to make the coppers leave for a 'doughnut break' Clay turns to Chase and Juice "I want you two to power scrub the shit out of this place. I want it clueless for the C.S.U."
"Sparkle and shine." Juice replies, then he and Chase leave to go put their T-M gear on and clean up the crime scene.
PERFECT LIFE…
Everyone's left by the time the two of them get all the equipment together, it was impossible to find the cleaning solvent in that place. One of these days she was going to kill Tig for hiding everything in that bloody garage.
Juice hauls out the giant pressure hose and the cleaning stuff whilst Chase goes back to tidy the mess they made whilst rummaging through everything. "Oh shit" she hears Unser curse
"What's wrong?" the girl asks
"Forensics are here"
"shit" this wasn't good, Juice was in the middle of a crime scene with a fucking pressure washer! Unser runs inside to the toilets whilst Chase stands by the garage door, "Juice!" she shout-whispers at the man who was pulling his gloves on, he looks at her before someone else called out to him
"What the hell you doing? This is a crime scene" ugh, Chase drops her forehead against the wall of the workshop. Good luck trying to get outta this one is all she thought.
The man sighs before turning around "I'm sorry. I have O.C.D. and the mess was, like, freaking me out. I-" damn that boy can think fast under pressure. The other man speaks again
"Where's Charming P.D.?" Unser came running back out of the garage at that exact moment, Chase followed after the man.
"What the hell's going on here?" the sheriff asks, his hands moving about at his sides as he speaks.
Chase stood by the man's side, observing the situation to see where she can help.
"Juice, what have I told you? You can't keep doing this" the girl said to her brother in a patronizing tone.
"Oh, shit I thought you guys left, and you were—"
"Get the hell out of here. It's a goddamn crime scene. Idiot" Unser shouts at the Son, who continues to play along. Juice dropped his head, picked up his stuff and made his way out of the crime scene. Once he reaches the garage Chase swats him over the head before they head into the workshop and out of the way, they wait for Unser to come to them.
The two club members watched as the forensics continued to take samples of the car wreckage, they both continued to take sips of their drinks from nerves. How the hell were they gonna clean up the evidence? "What are we gonna do here?" Juice asks the sheriff who finally walks over, Unser just hands him his large drinking cup, which felt a little warm? "What's this?"
"Cancer drugs. Turns my waste radioactive." The man takes Juice's unfinished cola bottle from his hand whilst the boy stares at the cup in his hand before the realisation dawns on him.
"I'm holding a cup of your piss?" Chase chokes on her own drink from laughing. The older man starts mixing Juice's cola with the 'radioactive waste'
"Spill this on their lab kit, turns their results into a bad chemistry experiment." Juice and Chase look at each other, a plan already forming in the girls head. "Just need to figure a way it don't get me arrested for evidence tampering." Chase smirks, she had a plan. She taps Unser on the arm.
"Hey, go chat them up, and then take my lead. You and your piss" she chuckles at the end of her sentence and watches as Juice eagerly hands the cup back to the man, a strange look still on his face.
She pulls the Puerto Rican over to one of the cars they were working on in the parking lot, Chase jumps into the driver's seat whilst Juice sticks his head through the open car window "So, what's the plan?"
"I'm gonna scare them a bit, give Unser a chance to pour his piss on the evidence without them noticing, it'll just look like an accident that couldn't be helped" The man nods with a smile
"Not bad, but where do I come into this?"
"Just stand in front of the car and jump out of the way when I tell you to." He gives her a funny look, he wasn't too fond of his part in her little scheme "I'm not gonna run you over, I promise alright. Now suck it up and go stand in front of the car like a good boy" he huffs before giving in and moving casually to his position.
Chase fiddles with the key before finding the ignition and turning the car on. She gives Juice a countdown of three on her fingers, she puts the car into gear and takes down one of them, leaving two seconds remaining, next she moves her foot onto the gas pedal and takes another finger down, one more second. Finally she moves the other one down and stomps on the pedal, lurching the car forwards "Oh, shit!" Juice shouts before jumping to safety.
The girl speeds towards Unser and the two forensics before screeching to a stop just before them. She watches the three of them fall over and prays that she gave the cop enough time to ruin the evidence.
Juice comes running over just as Chase jumps out of the car seat. "Oh, my god" she looks down at the three men on the floor "oh, my—Holy shit. I am so sorry. I—Are you guys alright? I thought they'd changed out the brake drums. Damn I'm so sorry" The girl had a look of sincerity on her face as she stuttered and apologised to the men, the main forensic looked up at her, wiping his eyes
"Stupid bitch" Chase had to resist reacting to that, the boys taught her over the years to not take that kind of crap, but she knew better right now, it was all part of the act. The man who dished out the insult looks over to the sheriff whilst sniffing
"What the hell is that?" that's when she realised that Unser actually had fallen over and that he spilt his 'drink' on the man's face, Chase struggled not to smirk at that, karma really was a bitch.
"Uh, diet cola." He seemed to say it as more of a question than a statement but it worked all the same. "Tastes like piss, don't it?" Juice and Chase look at each other again, Chase runs her hand through her hair whilst Juice sighs with a look of defeat.
PERFECT LIFE…
After Juice and Chase had finished cleaning up, they hung their T-M shirts back up and began to walk back to the club house, that's when Happy pulled in and called the two of them over. "Hey, we found Weston's computer, password protected. Think you two can get into it?" Chase chuckles as Juice takes the laptop from the man
"Easy as taking candy from a Nazi baby" they both laugh at her before she and her computing companion head into their office.
Juice places the device down on the desk and searches for a compatible charger whilst Chase starts up her own laptop and waits for it to load, she takes a seat in one of their office chairs. "So how should we do this?" Juice plugs the computer in and takes a seat next to her whilst examining the lock screen.
"Just straight up hacking it is gonna take too long." He stares around the room before clicking his fingers in a eureka moment "Hey, you still got that decryption program you wrote a few months ago?" she nods
"Yeah course. But it wasn't designed for that, it was just a little project I did when I was bored." She is still looking at him with questioning eyes before it clicks and she realises what he's hinting at "oh! I can tweak a few things on it, get it to work for that operating system."
"exactly, it has all the ground work done, like you said, just tweak and add a few things then we can run it and we should be good to go" she nods and searches through her huge hard drive to find the file. This was how they do things, sure they were damn good on their own, but together it was so much easier. When one of them forgot something, the other would remind them. If there's something that needs a program to work, Chase will write it and Juice will run it. They were a team, and a pretty good one at that.
Chase's fingers flew across the familiar keyboard as she wrote line after line of code. She finished after about forty minutes and scrolled right to the top to check and re-check the code, as she was doing so, Juice came up behind her to triple check it. She thinks she's done when the man behind her points to the screen "You missed a bracket" she doesn't need to turn around, she can practically hear the grin on his face, idiot. She huffs and fills in the missing punctuation before saving the code to a memory stick and placing it into Weston's laptop, Juice takes his place in front of the screen and cracks his knuckles, once the screen turns black and Chase's code ran across the page in white, they knew they'd cracked it, they both unknowingly smiled in unison as the code slammed to a halt and asked for an entry, this is where Juice came in, he knew every shortcut there was in this world, he typed away and with the assistance of Chase's code they were into the man's computer within minutes. Juice stuck his hand up, his palm facing towards Chase who high-fived the man, this was the best part, the satisfaction when it all comes together, not many people understood it since they couldn't get past the daunting thought of the thousands of lines of code, but it was so worth it just for that feeling at the end. Juice ploughs through the man's files, emails etc. Looking for any clues that can help them.
PERFECT LIFE…
Happy came in after they'd cracked the lock on the computer, he watched as Juice and Chase sifted through the device and the information it held, he had no idea how they did it but he knew that asking would set the pair on some eight hour long computer rant that no one gave a crap about, and that none of them would ever understand.
Happy is pulled from his thoughts when Juice gives a shout of celebration, he turns around in his chair to look at the other two "I'm pretty sure I've found something" he unplugs the computer and the three of them rush out of the office and over to the bar.
They spot Clay, Bobby, Tig and Opie, Juice interrupts them since he knows they are going to want to hear this. "I think we got something. There's an appointment in Weston's calendar for tonight. He tagged it 'E.Z., M.C.C.'"
"Ethan Zobelle" Tig clarifies
"Morada Christian Centre, off Alhambra." Clay finishes the acronym puzzle. "Well boys, suit up, and let's kill this bastard" they all cheer and move to take their cuts off and grab their hoddies and guns.
Chase is stopped by a hand on her shoulder, she turns around to face Clay "Not you girl, I want you to stick around, keep an eye on things for me, go see Chibs or somethin'" the girl wasn't best pleased by the request
"Clay, I'm one of your best shots-"
"I'm not disputin' that but, you don't need this right now. Take a breather, I know what happened shook you up, your angry and I get that but I know you, you don't wanna do somethin' your gonna regret." She wanted to argue but she knew there was no point, the man had made his decision, but that didn't mean she had to be happy about it. She knows that he is just looking out for her but whenever stuff like that happened it always made her feel so small, she knows that they know she can handle herself, hell they toughened her up themselves but it always sucked to be pulled out of a job, especially one you felt you had to go on.
"alright, fine, whatever." She shrugs out of the man's grasp and leaves them to it.
PERFECT LIFE…
After they all left she still sat on one of the bar stools, a glass of whiskey in her hand. This was bullshit, she wasn't some fucking old lady who stays at home when she's told to. But she knew deep down that Clay was right, she wouldn't hold back if she went out there, she'd kill every last one of them.
Everything was pissing her off, Zobelle, the Aryans, Clay and Jax, Otto's eye, Chibs, Clay knowing her better than herself, her anger. It was all too fucking much. "Fuck!" the girl shouted as she launched her glass at the furthest wall, the smash that sounded as the glass shattered to a thousand pieces was enough to relieve some of the tension in her body, but she knew it was only temporary, she needed to sort herself out.
On her way to the hospital she stopped by the local florist to pick up something for Chibs, she decided that she needed to see the man. She also grabbed a chocolate bar because God knows the minute the man is allowed to eat he is going to start bitching about the hospital food, she chuckled at the thought.
She let herself get lost in that all-consuming wind as she drove towards the hospital, the moon and street lamps gave the red on her bike a soft glow, everything still felt surreal, she understood that everything had happened, she'd definitely come to terms with that, it was like… ugh, It was just hard to explain.
There it was, that all too familiar hospital smell, unless you work in one it's pretty sad if you can work your way through hospital halls like that back of your hand, all you needed was a room number.
Chase just stood there, outside Chibs's door, unsure about what to expect. Taking a deep breath she siked herself up and turned the door handle. She froze again, just standing in the door way she looked at the man, he had a bandage wrapped around his head, tubes coming out of him left, right and center. He was so pale, God this was harder than she thought, but she made up her mind and she was going to sit by his side and just spend some time with him, because if he is aware of what's going on around him, she wants him to know that he's not alone.
"Hey Chibs" she starts as she shakily puts the vase down on his bedside table "I'd ask how you are but you can't reply, plus I think I know the answer" she chuckles nervously to herself before taking a seat next to his bed. She sighed and dropped her head into her hands "shit, I don't really know what to say here. You probably can't hear me anyway" the only reply she had was the constant, steady beeping of the machines in the room.
She found a way to start talking, and once she did she couldn't stop, she talked about everything and nothing. There was no physical way to release her anger so she settled for talking it out, she always found it easy to talk to Chibs, but him not being able to reply might've been the best thing. She finished her rant and took a breath, she grabbed the man's hand "I don't know what I'd do without you Chibs, I honestly don't. So you better live up to your stubborn reputation and stick around for as long as possible" she smiled through her words but her vision turned cloudy, the water in her eyes caught her by surprise since she hadn't cried in a long, long time, but she pushed it away, she refused to break down.
By the time she pulled herself together it was half ten in the evening, she decided to head home and get some much needed rest. As she neared the reception someone called her name "Chase?" she recognised the accent
"Oh, hey Luca. Everything alright?" he smiled at her softly
"I have a feeling that's the question I should be asking you, I heard about what happened to Chibs, I'm so sorry." She'd ask how he knew his name but it was a pretty small town.
"Thanks, I'm alright I guess, that was why I'm here actually, thought I'd check up on the guy."
"I hope he's doing okay."
"Ah, he's tough as old boots, he'll pull through" the words were more for herself than for him but he smiled all the same. To him, the positivity was a nice change, but he sensed that the subject was still a sensitive one so he decided to change it.
"So, uh, none of your crew are here with you?"
"oh, yeah, no they had some stuff to deal with. Just me tonight"
"Ah, I see. How is your knee?" he pointed towards the support and she shrugged
"Could be worse I guess." He nodded and started playing with his hands nervously
"you know, this might be a bit forward and I know my timing probably couldn't be worse but if your not- I was wondering if—" he cut himself off and took a breath. "I'm just finishing my shift, if you haven't got any plans, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some coffee or something" ok wait a second, just hold up. A hot, smart and sweet guy in a medical career was asking her out? Ok that was something that needed a few seconds to process. She obviously took too long to reply because he started stuttering again "sorry I shouldn't ha-"
"hey, you know what? I think I'd like that" she smiled at him. She noticed he released a breath he'd been holding and mirrored her expression.
A/N: Hehe I loved the bit with the forensics. That was one of the scenes that made me fall in love with Juice. I really hope you guys are enjoying their friendship! Because it's fun as hell to write. Also oi oi, Chase just pulled! This was a bit of a shock for her because her lifestyle chases (no pun intended) most guys away. But here comes sweet innocent Luca who always seems to see the good in people. Anyway, happy Tuesday everyone!