Disclaimer – The characters of this fanfiction, as well as the 'Sons of Anarchy' world belong to Kurt Sutter, with the exception of 'Boo' Trager, who is an original character created by me. I make no profit from this work.
Sorry for the delay in this chapter, kinda lost my muse for this one. Hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you so much for all the reviews on the last! Really, you don't know how much they mean to me!
After Tig returned from St. Thomas, where he got his broken nose patched up, he grabbed a fresh, cold beer from the fridge and went and stood in the doorway of what had been Boo's room as he drank it. The room seemed so large and empty without her in it, hollow. There was almost no trace of his little girl left in that room and the Sergeant at Arms wondered if she'd done this on purpose… stripped all trace of herself from the room so she could act like she'd never been there in the first place. Tig scowled at that thought, certain there was some truth to it, and downed the rest of his beer in one before throwing the empty bottle aside. He walked into Boo's room, perched on the end of what had been her bed and closed his eyes, allowed himself to be consumed by memories of his daughter, the fun time's they'd had when she'd lived with him. The pranks they'd pulled on one another, the way she crawled into his bed when she was sick or scared, their disastrous attempts at cooking and even their fights – which were few and far in-between. He smiled at each memory, allowed them to warm his cold and aching heart. The five years that Boo had lived with him had been wonderful, full of fun and had made him feel so very loved and needed. Now that she was gone, the loneliness was crippling, his life felt dark and dull, as empty as the room in which he now sat. Tig wanted his little girl back but knew that now, after all he'd done to her, this really wasn't much of a possibility. The Sergeant at Arms allowed the tears in his eyes to fall – after all there was no one around to see them – and curled up in Boo's former bed clutching the pillow that still smelled so much like her with his memories and the faint hope that maybe, he hadn't lost her quite yet.
SAMCRO
Mere hours after Tig had fallen asleep, his was awoken by a light knocking at his door. He groaned and hid his head under Boo's pillow but the knocking continued so he got to his feet with a disgruntled sigh. His nose exploded with pain, bringing back in an instance the bitter memory of Chibs attack, and his stomach contorted painfully, the need to vomit consumed him. He made it to the bathroom just in time and emptied the watery contents of his stomach into the sink. The knocking continued, even as he hastily rinsed his mouth out and wiped at the thin film of sweat that seemed to be covering his entire being.
"Tig? It's Gemma, open up." Came the Matriarchs stern and yet concerned voice. Tig knew then that he had to answer for Gemma would not go away until he did, so he stumbled through the mess of his apartment to the front door, noticing as he did so, that his body was shaking involuntarily. He knew what that meant, what the vomiting and sweating meant; his body was becoming physically dependant on alcohol once again and was going through withdrawals. He also knew that if he didn't have a drink, he'd feel like this for hours, maybe even days but that if he had a drink, the feeling would stop in an instance. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey off the side as he headed to the door and downed the last remaining trickle, feeling better for it at once. "Jesus Christ!" Gemma gasped as Tig opened the door. The Sergeant at Arms was filthy and reeked of alcohol, his clothes stained by blood and booze alike. His nose had obviously been broken as there was a metal cast holding it together and his eyes were black with bruises, bruises that spread right across his face, barely getting any lighter in colour. "Did Chibs do that?" she asked as she reached out to touch Tig's nose. He allowed her too, hissed in pain at the contact so she drew her fingers away.
"Yeah, yeah he did." Tig nodded, for why lie? The truth would come out eventually; Chibs had hit him, Chibs had broken his nose and threatened him. All three were things that Clay could punish him for, or rather were if Chibs had done them without good reason. But he had good reason, he'd done it all for Boo and to avenge the ghastly way in which Tig was treating her.
"Shit…" Gemma cursed, near unable to believe that the Scotsman had done something so brutal to his brother. Still, she'd seen him put a Nomad in hospital once simply for flirting with Boo so she knew she shouldn't have been that surprised by his actions. "You should tell Clay about this; if Chibs had a problem with you, he should have taken it to the table." Gemma said with a shake of her head, her eyes catching sight of the shithole that was Tig's apartment as she did so. She knew at once that he was heading back to that dark and dangerous place he had been when he'd lost Dawn and Fawn. He was going to destroy himself if he didn't change his ways soon.
"No." Tig snapped at once, determined and certain "No, I deserved this." He insisted as he shook his head, fingers gesturing to his broken nose as he spoke. He deserved worse too, for the way he'd been treating Boo. He'd hurt his little girl more than he ever thought he could… he deserved everything that Chibs could throw at him and then some.
"What'd you do her?" Gemma asked at once, a knowing glint in her eye, a scowl on her lips that informed Tig that she wasn't impressed with him at all. She knew he had to have done something pretty darn awful to Boo for Chibs to attack him like this. "Tig." Gemma added sternly when the Sergeant didn't give her an immediate answer.
"I er…. I shoved her." Tig admitted shamefully, ducking his head as he spoke, his still shaking fingers raking through his greasy curls as the memory of shoving Boo hit him full on and made him feel like the most awful person in the entire world. "And the night she left? I threw a glass bottle at her head…. I've been treating her like shit Gem, ever since we agreed she'd move out." He added nervously, unwillingly. He kept his eyes on the ground as he spoke, raked his fingers through his hair again and again. Of all the awful, terrible things he'd done in his life none made him feel as terrible as the way he'd been treating Boo did.
"Oh honey; you need to get this under control." Gemma sighed as she hugged Tig, tilting her head as she did so that the rank smell of Tig didn't fill her nostrils. "Don't you see, you're going to end up in the same place you were in after you lost Dawn and Fawn?" she said as she rubbed his back. Tig leaned into her, held her close and tight. She noted that he was shaking ever so slightly and feared that he was barreling down the path of alcohol addiction once again.
"I'm fine Gem; I've got this under control." Tig whispered, glad that Gemma couldn't see his face because he knew she'd be able to tell that he was lying if she did. In truth he had nothing under control; he didn't know how to act around Boo anymore, how to talk to her without getting angry, scared and violent.
"If you keep this up, you're going to really hurt her." Gemma informed Tig sternly, pulling away from him and giving his shoulders a firm shake as she spoke. Tig nodded his head at that, understanding. The fact that he could, and had, hurt Boo terrified him beyond belief. He was scared to be around her because he knew what he might do to her if he was. "More than you already have." Gemma added, forcing Tig to remember how much he'd already hurt the girl he considered his daughter. She hoped that this would be enough to force him to change his ways. "Do you want her to end up like that prospect you put in hospital?" she asked. She was referring of course to the prospect Tig had beaten black and bloody not long after he'd lost Dawn and Fawn. He'd been on a similar constant and destructive bender as he was now and had snapped at the prospect over virtually nothing and put him in hospital for more than week. Said prospect had left Charming as soon as he'd been released and the club still owed him a shit ton of favors.
"No." Tig said with a shake of his head, eyes watering at the very notion of Boo being in hospital because of him. For a brief moment he let himself believe that he would never go so far as to beat Boo to the point where she needed hospitalization but then he remembered that not so long ago he'd believed that he'd never hurt her, that he'd never lay a hand on her. Now he'd done both and he knew that he was also capable of putting her in hospital. "I know I'm hurting her Gem, I know it, and I can't stand it." Tig admitted tearfully. He stared at Gemma, looked her right in the eye and pleaded with her to help him. He couldn't stop the drinking alone, couldn't contain his anger around Boo. He needed help; he just wasn't man enough to admit it aloud.
"You need to stop drinking and hiding behind the booze." Gemma said, shaking Tig again. She could see that he was pleaded with her to help him without saying a word but knew he had it in him to sort out the mess that was his life and relationship with Boo himself. He just didn't know it yet. "Just man up, apologize to her and tell her that you miss her, that you're scared of losing her." Gemma added for that was all it would take for Tig to set things right. Boo loved him like he was her father and as much as he'd hurt her in the last few days, she'd soon forgive him if he did right by her and apologized.
"What if I've already lost her?" Tig asked fearfully, voice strained and barely audible, face paling as he spoke. He didn't think he'd be able to live with himself if he'd already pushed Boo away to the point where he'd lost her. He needed her, she was his little girl, the one person that saw past all the horrific things he'd done, saw past his disgusting and rather disturbing nature and saw the man that he really was underneath, loved the man he really was.
Tig was so terrified, so crippled by the fear that he might have lost Boo that he ignored Gemma's advice. He didn't go and apologize to Boo, didn't make things right with her. He continued to avoid and ignore her – barely going into work, only going to the clubhouse when his presence was needed – and worst of all, he continued to drink. Every day his drinking got worse, every day he drank more and more and every day, his body's dependency on alcohol heightened. Before long, he couldn't function without a drink in him, couldn't get out of bed or stop shaking violently until he'd had a beer or three.
SAMCRO
"Boo?" Chibs muttered as he nuzzled Boo's ear and gave her a firm little shake to help rouse her. Boo groaned softly and tried to scurry under the blanket, but Chibs pulled it away from her and rubbed his nose against hers. "Wake up darlin', it's here!" he drawled as he pushed a piece of paper into her hand. Boo sighed heavily at that, swatted Chibs away before rubbing the sleep from her tired eyes. He sat back on the bed and allowed her to awaken, to sit up herself and glance down at the paper in her hand.
"What's here?" Boo drawled tiredly as she unfolded the paper Chibs had pushed into her hand. She tried to read over it, but her eyes were still sore and heavy with sleep so the words were mostly just a blur. What little she could make out she didn't really understand as it comprised of a bunch of legal terms and jargon. To help her out, Chibs leaned forward and pointed out the one line that would help her to make sense of the whole thing.
"We officially own this apartment." Chibs beamed as he tapped at the paper with his fingertip. Some weeks previously, just days after Boo had moved into Chibs apartment, she had received a substantial royalty check from her publishers. It had been enough to pay off the apartment Chibs had been making payments towards for years. Boo decided to use the money to pay off the apartment so that both she and Chibs had paid towards it and therefore, owned it together. She'd tried to make it a surprise for him but Chibs had known she was keeping something from him and had got her to confess to the plan in her sleep. Boo hadn't been happy with him – he'd let on that he knew, making Boo realize that he'd discovered that she got all talkative and truthful in her sleep if she had a drink – as she'd wanted to surprise him but in the end, the fact that he knew about the plan made paying off the apartment a whole lot easier. "What, no smile? This is a big thing for us Hen." Chibs teased when Boo just continued to stare down at the paper, her expression unchanged. Just a month previously, Chibs had been living alone while Boo lived with her father, despite the fact they'd been together over three years. Now not only did they live together but they owned property together too; their relationship had taken many huge steps forward in recent weeks and despite this, Boo couldn't even raise a smile.
"I'm sorry, I am pleased, really!" Boo insisted at once, rambling quickly and forcing a smile onto her lips as she spoke. And she was pleased, elated even. Living with Chibs and owning an apartment with him just seemed to solidify their relationship, bind them even closer together than they already were. It was also however, proof that she no longer lived with Tig, that she'd walked away from the man who'd taken her in and cared for her for five long years. It had been a month now since she'd moved out, a month in which she'd not seen or talked to Tig and she missed him terribly. She'd tried in vain to contact and see him a few times but the stubborn bastard seemed hell-bent on avoiding her so she'd been unsuccessful. "I just… this makes me miss Tig is all." Boo admitted, shaking her head and chuckling softly to show she knew how pathetic she was being.
"So why don't yeh try talkin' to him again?" Chibs suggested as he took the paper from Boo's hands and tucked into the pocket of his cut. He was still very mad at Tig for the way he'd treated Boo, for the way he was ignoring her and he longed to intervene once again – clearly breaking the Sergeant at Arms nose hadn't been warning enough – but Clay had stopped him from doing so and so Chibs had to settle for merely glaring at Tig every time they crossed paths at work or in the clubhouse. Not that Tig showed up at either much these days. "It's been almost a month Hen." Chibs added. He found himself startled that Tig and Boo would willingly go so long without talking to one another but then they were both as stubborn as the other and so he knew neither was likely to back down any time soon.
"No!" Boo snapped at once, with such ferocity that Chibs near jumped out of his skin. Boo flashed him an apologetic smile before sighing heavily and tussling her sleep tangled hair. "Chibs I'm fed up of chasing after him, begging him to speak to me hell, to even so much as look at me." Boo insisted. She didn't feel as though she should be the one chasing after him any longer, after all she'd done no wrong in moving out so that she could live with the man she'd been with for over three years, but Tig had done wrong by attacking her and treating her like shit because of it. Especially since the decision had been his in the first place. "I look like a fool every time I do that." Boo added with a scowl, her cheeks flaming a soft pink as she spoke. Chasing after Tig, and so unsuccessfully so, made her feel like a clingy croweater that didn't seem to understand she'd never be more than a quick fuck in the corner of the clubhouse. "If he wants to speak to me, he can come to me." She said firmly, with resolve. As much as she wanted to go chasing after Tig, she wouldn't. He was the one in the wrong; he was the one acting like a child so he was the one that should man up and talk to her. "I'm done running around after him like a lost little puppy." She drawled with a shake of her head.
"Yeah. I understand that." Chibs nodded. If he was honest with himself he'd hated watching Boo chase after Tig, begging for his attention. He was glad she was finally taking a stand and waiting for Tig to talk to her. He'd wronged her in so many way's since she'd agreed to move out and as far as Chibs was concerned, Tig should be crawling to her on his hands and knees, begging for her forgiveness. "If he doesn't talk to yeh soon, do yeh want me to hit him again?" he asked with a cheeky smile, to which Boo tutted and rolled her eyes, chuckled softly.
"No, you don't need to do that." She said, sounding rather amused by Chibs' suggestion. Although if Tig went much longer without talking to her she might just take Chibs up on his suggestion! Her would-be father needed some serious sense knocked into him. "I still can't believe you broke his nose." She added, for although she'd not seen the damage Chibs had done to Tig's face, the news had traveled back to her via Gemma who was trying to fix the relationship between Boo and Tig with little success.
"Yer not still mad about that are yeh?" Chibs asked nervously, eyebrow arched. Boo had been livid with him when she'd discovered he'd broken Tig's nose and ordered him to sleep on the couch that night, Her anger however, had been short lived for within an hour of them both going to bed, she'd come into the living room to get him as she missed having him sleep at her side.
"I was never mad about that in the first place, not really; he deserved it." Boo admitted with a shrug of her shoulders. At first she'd been angry with Chibs, livid even – how dare he meddle in her business, how dare he break her fathers nose – but then she'd calmed down and realized he'd only done it because he cared about her, because he hated the way Tig was treating her and wanted to somehow put that right. "However I am still mad about the fact that you knew that I speak in my sleep after I've had a drink and that I get all truthful!" she scolded with a playful smile as she waved a finger in Chibs direction, for that was how the Scotsman had found out about Tig's horrid treatment of her. Boo however had long since forgiven him for this after he'd spent the day with the words 'I'm an asshole. I betrayed my girls trust' scrawled on the back of his work shirt.
"Would yeh have told me about what he'd done to you otherwise?" Chibs asked with a wry grin. He found it quite endearing how protective Boo was over her father, even after all he'd done to her and saw it as a sign that she'd be an amazing mother one day, should they ever be lucky enough to have children together. It was also a sign that she'd make and that she was, an astounding Ol' Lady that could more than handle the life Chibs had long ago wanted to keep her from. He knew she'd stand by his side no matter what, that she'd love him, protect him and comfort him until the end. "I know I was wrong teh do what I did but I needed to know that he'd done that to yeh; I couldn't let him get away with treatin' yeh like that." Chibs added, for he still felt guilty about betraying Boo's trust. The guilt was lessened somewhat by the fact Boo knew and understood that he'd only done it in order to do right by her. "Nobody treats my girl like dirt and gets away with it." Chibs growled as he reached out and cupped Boo's cheek in his hand, caressed her soft skin with his thumb. Boo beamed and closed her eyes, leaned into Chibs touch with a contented sigh. She knew he'd been just trying to protect her and couldn't be mad at him for that. "I've gotta get to work, don't want to be late." Chibs sighed when he spotted the time, leaning forward to press his lips to Boo before he jumped off the bed and started to pull on his boots.
"Okay. Love you." Boo grinned, pecking his cheek before snuggling up under the covers once again. She was hoping to spend a lazy few hours dozing in bed with a good book and a tasty breakfast, however within seconds of her head hitting the pillow, her cell phone rang. Boo groaned in annoyance and took the phone from Chibs when he handed it to her without bothering to look at the screen. "Hello?" she asked tiredly as Chibs chuckled in amusement.
"Hey Boo, it's Gemma." Gemma said. Boo sighed and sat up. The SAMCRO matriarch sounded stressed and Boo knew she wouldn't be calling her without good reason. "Listen, can you come in today?" Gemma added at once. Boo scowled at that, she'd not done a shift at the garage in more than a month, not since Tig had told her to move out. It wasn't that she didn't want the work, it was just that she wasn't needed, especially since she had her new novel to work on.
"I don't know Gem…" Boo sighed, although she was already clambering out of bed and trying to remember where she'd put her Teller-Morrow shirt. She planned to protest a little bit but then go into work in the hopes that maybe if she did so and ignored Tig, her guardian would cave in and try and talk to her.
"We really need you today sweetheart, we're really short staffed right now." Gemma admitted. Dog and Juice had both taken the day off because they were ill and Piney was on vacation with Donna and his grandchildren. And they weren't the only ones not working that day, Tig wasn't either and it was only because of his absence that Gemma was reaching out to Boo for help.
"What about Tig?" Boo asked as she found her Teller-Morrow shirt and dumped it on the bed along with a clean pair of black jeans. Chibs had worked out what was going on for he pulled a clean bra and a fresh pair of panties from Boo's underwear drawer and handed them over before looking in the closet for the pair of tatty converse she usually wore to work at the garage. "I don't think I can be there if he is." Boo sighed as she offered Chibs a smile of thanks. Chibs grinned and nodded his head, perched on the end of the bed. He was willing to wait for Boo and give her a lift to the garage, even if it made him a little late. This of course, had a lot to do with the fact that if he did, he got to watch her change.
"Yeah, well that's why I need you to work today." Gemma admitted, sighing in frustration as she spoke. She'd rather tell Boo the news face to face but knew it was unlikely Boo would come to the garage to fill in unless she knew the truth about what was going on so decided to tell her there and then. "Tig was taken to St. Thomas first thing this morning."
Cliffhanger! I'll try and update this soon so don't worry, you'll find out what happened to Tig soon enough Until then reviews would be loved, they are extremely motivational and make my writing more than worthwhile.