A/N Sorry for the delay! I'm back and I have a clear, outlined vision for this story. I was struggling a bit, and then I had this thing called midterms, finals, and all that fun stuff that sucked the creativity away from me.

Reviews are great! I love the feedback and the comments!

Disclaimer : I don't own anything. I'm not Sutter I'm just a college girl with a weakness for SAMCRO.

Chapter Four

The smell of Tig's cigarette smoke woke Dixie up from a deep, luxurious sleep one Sunday afternoon. The skin on her back shivered as she rolled over and stretched underneath the tangled sheets of her bed. Tig was propped up against the head of the bed with a beer and a smoke. His blue eyes stared straight ahead until he noticed her awake.

"Been asleep all day. You feelin' alright, doll?" He asked, putting out his smoke.

Dixie yawned, feeling her body ache and buried her head into her pillow. "I don't know, baby." She mumbled.

The night before had been typical, nothing that would have upset her body. She rolled over again on her back and sighed softly. "I don't want to get up."

"Then don't."

"I have to work tonight." Dixie replied groggily. "It's…uh…seventies night. Bobby got extra disco balls from a Anniversary party he worked last week."

"Groovy." Tig drawled, chuckling a little.

Dixie forced herself and crawled over to him, she swung her legs over and straddled him sleepily.

"I gotta go handle something for the Club tonight. Someone owes us money." He informed, gripping her ass and squeezing. "Need anything you talk to Bobby."

She nodded. His blue eyes met hers and he grabbed her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. Tig tasted her mouth and rolled them over, laying on top of her and running his hands down her body possessively.

"You're all mine." He muttered underneath his breath, his words washing into her mind slowly. Dixie nudged closer to him and wrapped her arms and legs around him like a cat trying to reassure him.

"Everyone knows that. The patrons, the girls, and the whole damn town." She assured. "I'm Tig's woman and there isn't anyone who is gonna wanna mess with that. They're too afraid of my baby." She kissed his earlobe and trailed her mouth down his neck.

"Damn straight." He mumbled. Tig rolled off of her quickly and started pulling on clothes. "I'm late. There's coffee in the pot. Don't keep Bobby waiting. It's already four."

Dixie sighed and got up from their bed. As he rushed out of the house, she hopped into the shower. They're lives had settled into a pattern that they both seemed to like. But, each week he seemed less inclined about her job than he had been in the beginning. She wasn't sure what had changed in Tig. She wasn't sure why he was acting like that. They weren't that sort of couple to worry about that stuff. He trusted her, she trusted him. Her job was just money and she liked her job. She liked earning and being in charge of her life. He respected that, or so that's what Dixie thought. But lately, he had been more possessive around the Club and more intense in front of the patrons at work. Tig was always the one in charge. That's the way that Dixie liked it but she wasn't used to how…almost…needy he was about her body being only his.

Maybe this was how Lyla felt with Opie. Dixie didn't like sticking her nose into other people's drama but she had always wondered why Lyla hadn't just given up the life or found another way to earn. Would she give up her dancing for Tig, if that's what he needed to feel secure?

In one moment Dixie thought she could, if she could find another way to earn. And in the other she felt offended that she would have to for him. But he had never asked, and it wasn't that big of a deal to reassure him, and she wasn't going to go cry over milk that hadn't spilt yet.

Later on that night, while she was rubbing off the copious amount of glitter and peeling off her go-go boots he came into her dressing room.

"Hey baby." She greeted him, struggling to kick off her boots. The sweat from dancing had made it impossible for her to get them off.

He knelt down and helped her pull them off. "Thanks, baby."

Tig tossed them aside and waited as she pulled on the rest of her day clothes. He liked watching her get dressed, even taking off of her make-up after a nights work. It was a strange ritual that had perpetuated since before they were really together.

"Why do you like watching me?" She asked curiously.

He shrugged with non-commitment. "You're hot."

She raised her brow at him and struggled to not grin at him. "Really…what's the reason?"

Tig walked over to her and pushed her hair back over her neck. He stroked her fingers down the side of her neck with surprising finesse and squeezed her shoulder. "You're different when you're all dolled up and on stage. It's still you…but when you come back here you take all that off and you become yourself again…or something like that."

"So you like me better when I'm in cutoffs and a t-shirt?" She asked.

"Somethin' like that." He replied backing off a bit. "Get dressed, I wanna get home."

They went home and crashed for the night. It was all insanely routine much like most of their life. Had someone had told her a year ago that she'd be Tig's Old Lady, that they would have this kind of life…she would have never have believed it.

Later that week Dixie was at the market grabbing beer and coffee – the two things that she seemed to always need at her house – when she literally crashed into Gemma and her cart.

"Sorry, Gemma!" She apologized. She helped the other woman pick up the fallen groceries.

"How you doin', sweetheart?" Gemma asked. Her eyes shifted over Dixie with curious ease.

"It's going good." She replied to the older woman.

"Why don't you stop by for coffee sometime? That ol' house is rattling and makin' me nervous." She cocked her head and studied Dixie for a moment before continuing. "You've been makin' Tiggy real happy."

Dixie couldn't help but flush with a bit of pride. That was quite a compliment from the SAMCRO's Queen Regent.

"Yea, that sounds good."

"Friday, ten?" Gemma clarified and Dixie nodded.

That evening when she was at the her work she noticed out of the smoky corner of her eye that Tig and Happy were there watching. She winked at Tig who raised his beer in response. When she went to sashay down onto the floor Dixie was surprised by Bobby. Bobby waved her off the floor and sent in a replacement, a younger girl named Candy. Candy twirled and grinded across the floor while Dixie was escorted to Bobby's office. Dixie bit back the urge to complain about the tips that she was losing. She half wondered if she could be a little more vocal now that she was Old Lady but she wasn't going to test the waters. Not at work, anyway.

"I know you're probably pissed at losing tips tonight." Bobby drawled lighting a cigar. He eased back in his chair and rifled through his drawer. "But I have idea that you might be interested in."

"Is that so?" She said, sitting in the rickety plastic chair in front of his desk. It wobbled and she bit back the urge to glare at him.

Bobby handed her a small stack of papers and a couple of brochures. They were fancy and crisp – a large contrast from the dark and smoky office. The brochure was shiny and labeled clearly "Charming Community College – Accounting".

"Accounting?" She asked curiously. She had no idea what he was getting at. Dixie had been an okay student at best, and she hadn't given it a moment's notice since she was eighteen. Being smart was Tara's thing, even Gemma's probably – but not Dixie's.

"The Club has been looking for more legitimate ways of earning and have voted to establish ourselves in the porn business once again." He started. "I'm going to be taking on more responsibility with the new Cara-Cara." He took a puff of his cigar and looked at her with a friendly twinkle in his eye. "I figure you're good with the girls, you know more about the stripping business than the Club does – got more of a….level head for it - , and I had Rat pull up you're High School Transcript. You take the Accounting Program at Charming Community and be done by the time the new Cara-Cara is set up and filming. Then you can get off the stage and run this end of the business for SAMCRO."

Blank.

Dixie stared at him blankly for a long moment and looked blankly down at the papers and the brochures in her hand. Accounting? On top of the papers was a application for Financial Aid. Dixie felt her face flush, uncharacteristically, and she didn't mind at all. Dixie felt a small amount of deadly fear rumble through her mind and forced it down. Whatever this was, this was shining and brilliant and a opportunity.

An opportunity. Dixie didn't see those very often. For the most part opportunities for her, came extremely organic and naturally, so much so that she usually didn't understand what had happened until after the fact. But this opportunity was staring straight at her.

"I…I'd love to. I..mean…I'd love to try. I was never much good at school." She confessed slowly. She looked up at Bobby who still had that friendly twinkle in his eyes.

"Well…" He bobbed his head slightly. "You'll do fine. Saw your transcripts and you're a sensible girl. Just give it a try. If you find you don't have a head for numbers then we'll work something else out."

Dixie couldn't stop herself from smiling brightly.

When she went to bed that night, wrapped up around Tig's snoring body, she realized that a weight had been lifted off her mind. There was always a ticking clock in the back of mind. The only person she could truly rely on for a income was herself. There was no guarantee that relationships would last or that Tig wouldn't get arrested. Just a few years ago more than half the Club had been incarcerated. And her line of work had a expiration date stamped on her back, with age came less tips, and eventually retirement. Then what could she do? Many girls found a way out but Dixie had never had a solid chance to figure her contingency plan out until now. This was real, this was something that she could hope for, work for…Dixie wouldn't have to build herself so strong now. She wouldn't have to build up walls so she wouldn't crash into the abyss that swallowed many of the other women that had walked the same path before her.

But, with the tide of good things always came something else. A new challenge, or a new hardship. That knowledge was imbedded in her mind just as much as the weight had been. Dixie prayed quietly as she slowly fell asleep that it would wait a long time until it happened. Because, she just wanted to stay in the moments she was in right now. Happy, in love, and hopeful.