Chapter 7:

Tig POV

As I walk down the stairs to the bar, I see Happy standing there. I thought he was up north somewhere. He's got some kind of file in his hands and I'm wondering what this is all about. I look around and don't see Jax yet so I walk up to him and say "Happy, what's goin' on?" I'm thinkin' he's not here on SAMCRO business….

"What you got there, man?" Opie says from behind me.

Happy looks at us with his smirk. "Just a little more intel on your lady. Called in a few favors. Figured you'd want more than one video to go off of…"

The "called in a few favors" part worried me. I really didn't want it out there that a daughter of SAMCRO is just livin' her life, especially unprotected.

Happy saw my face. "Give me some credit dipshit, I know how to get what I need without raisin' red flags. Here" he says, shoving the envelope in my hands "it's good readin'. You better be prepared boys, this is one fuckin' smart chick. Don't be surprised if she knows you're comin…" He looks at me square in the eye when he's sayin' this and I got no idea what to make by it. It almost sounded like a threat. I turn to Opie and he looks just as confused as me.

Happy rolls his eyes and says "You gotta plan to get out there?"

"Yeah, we're goin' with Gemma. Leavin' our club shit here." Opie says.

Happy nods. "Good idea. At least you seem to be thinkin' this all out." He really is an ass.

I'm still chewin' on what he said a few minutes ago and I say "What'd ya mean when you said 'don't be surprised if she knows we're comin…"? Is this some kinda game?

"Look, Tig, you know she's brilliant, right, like certifiably brilliant?" He asks

I nod my head still not getting' what he's going on.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she knows who's seen that video of hers and once she saw you guys saw it, she started to think that you might show up. I'm not sayin' it's a definite or not, but you know this girl. How many times can you remember actually being able to surprise her with anything…?" I thought about that. Part of me actually hopes she's knowin' we're comin', and what Happy says makes sense. I got no idea how she'd be able to do that but, then again, I got no idea half the shit she's able to do.

"Last thing I'll say is that our girl has some big guns, like BIG, guns in her corner…" Happy says vaguely.

He's such a fuckin' pain in the ass. "What the fuck does that mean, Hap? I mean, seriously, why you talkin' in code for fuck's sake?" I ask.

He chuckles, of course. "I mean that she's smart enough to be wanted by some legitimately powerful people, like The Federal Fuckin' Government, okay boys? That", he points to the file in my hands "shows that she's helped them out in a lotta ways. You get her back here? I can guarantee you our ATF bullshit goes bye bye…" Jesus. What the fuck is in this fuckin' file? I'm glad Clay's not here to hear this because he'd just use her for it. Me? I just wanna see her. Opie? Jax? Same. Still…. I gotta read this and figure out what the fuck we're walkin' into…

I look at Happy and say "Thanks, man. Dunno why you felt like you had do all this, but, sounds like SAMCRO could benefit from her comin' home and that'll help. So, yeah, thanks.."

"That's why I'm here, brother. You keep me informed on all this, you hear? You don't gotta worry. I'm not gonna go runnin' to Clay… This girl matters to me too." He says. The look on his face is enough to let me know not to fuck him over on this.

I nod and Opie extends his arm to shake Happy's hand. "Thanks, man. Really."

Happy says "Make sure you show Gemma and Jax that, too. I'll see ya on the flip side brothers." And then walks out the door to God knows where.

I'm still holding onto the file and trying to just process what just happened. I look at Opie who seems like he's in the same state as I'm in.

"Let's wait to dig into that til we're in the car, dude." He says.

I nod but am barely able to restrain myself from findin' out what the fuck is in this file. I also can't shake the way Happy seemed to almost warn us about seein' Jess again, like she knows that we're around. No longer being able to hold it in, I say to Opie

"You think she knows we're coming?"

He scoffs. "Sounds like it."

"What do you make of that?" I ask him.

There's a pause and he finally says "I got no fuckin' clue, dude. This shit is just too fuckin' weird. Jess changin' her name. Your son. This weird fuckin' shit about the Feds I feel like I'm gettin' sucked into some fuckin' movie, man." He's right.

I sigh. I put the folder into my bag as I hear Jax and Gemma walk in. "You boys ready?"

No. I'm not. At all. "Let's go get our girl." I say with as much confidence as I can muster.

Jax POV:

I could tell Tig and Opie were on edge about something when we came to get them.

I saw Happy ridin' out when we were pullin' in and I bet that he had more intel to share with them. I'm tryin' to trust they'll tell us if we're walking into a bigger shit storm than just a family tryin' to find each other, but I just gotta ride it out.

"Your SAMCRO gear's all still here, right?" I remind Tig and Opie. I felt weird just wearin' normal clothes, but, knew it'd be safer.

"Yeah, we're good." Opie said. He had his beanie on but other than that, just a t-shirt, jeans and his boots. Tig had a ball cap, a button up, his jeans and boots. I chuckled. All of us still have our biker boots on. Well, we're tryin'.

I nodded and said "well, then let's go." We walk out to Gemma's truck. I grab shot gun, with Tig and Opie in the back.

Gemma gets in and says "You boys ready for this?" How many times we gonna ask ourselves this question, man.

Without a beat, Tig says "Not even a little bit, mama. But, fuckin' can't sit here and do nothin'…"

She nods. "It'll be alright, baby."

She pulls out of SAMCRO and we slowly start our trip East. It's quiet in the car but I can still sense that Opie and Tig have something on their minds they want to share.

Because I don't want to play any games, I say "What'd Happy have to say?"

I see Tig and Opie look at each other through the rear-view mirror. Tig sighs. "A lot. As always." He opens his duffle and pulls out a folder and puts it on his lap. "This is everything he could find on Jess. He gave it to me an Opie. Haven't looked at it yet but he had a lot to say and don't know what to make of any of it." He shook his head.

I looked back at him confused. "What do you mean, you don't know what to make of it?"

"Jesse's got connections, apparently, with the Feds…." Tig says. Fuck. What? What the fuck does that mean?

"What the fuck does that mean?" I say immediately.

"We don't know, man. Alright? Happy just fuckin' dropped this" Tig said, pointing at the file in his lap "and then was his dick self about warning us to be careful. It was weird. He also basically said that if she comes back with us, our ATF problems will go away. It doesn't make any fuckin' sense but there ya go…"

I say what's been on my mind since seein' the file, well, "What the fuck is in it? We got a lotta hours to kill…."

I look to my mom who's been quiet through this whole thing. I'm wonderin' what she's thinkin' about all of this when she says "Just open it already, you pussies." Glad to have her with us.

Opie looks to Tig and says, "Here, I'll do it…"

I'm hoping some of my 10 million questions about my sister can get answered now….