It had been a quiet morning at the café. After the whole stuff with Jax she decided to throw herself into her work, giving herself as many shifts as possible. It meant that Dani had to work every day from open until close with hardly any time for herself.
The new employee Darren was beginning to get the hang of it, meaning Dani could trust him with making drinks and even baking stuff, as the guy had a real talent for that. Having a new employee gave Lana some time off, which she desperately needed since she was beginning with her finals for her master's degree.
Hearing Lana talk about school made her wish she had gone when she was younger. Returning now was not an option, she couldn't balance the café, school and Abel.
The little boy still managed to creep into her mind. The night before she found out Jax had cheated on her, she had told him how she could be his legal guardian. How quickly things could change.
"Are you Dani?" a voice spoke. Dani looked up from her work, staring at the woman who was standing before her.
"Yes?" she replied. The woman was tall and slender, with perfectly styled blonde hair. Dani had never seen her before which made her a little nervous. Harrison is gone, Dani. Let it go. But she couldn't help but feel a little suspicious.
"I'm Agent Stahl, ATF." She offered Dani her hand.
"I have a pot of freshly brewed coffee in just a minute," Dani spoke, already focusing on her work again.
"Oh, that's very kind of you, but I'm not here for that."
That got her attention. She raised her gaze to the agent, raising her eyebrows as she waited for her to speak again.
"I'm here to talk to you about the Sons of Anarchy."
Dani sighed, putting her pen down. Could she just have one hour of the day where she was not constantly reminded of anyone that had anything to do with the Sons?
"I'm not with Jax anymore so I don't think I'll be of much help."
Even after they split up, the law still managed to come after her. All these investigations into the club made her a little nervous that they would find out about Harrison, but the only thing Dani could do was to trust Jax on that part. Probably the only part she could trust him on.
"Oh, you never know. Maybe you still know some things," Stahl said with a half-smile. "Do you happen to know of any illegal activities the Sons might be embarking on?"
"Illegal activities?" Dani said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Nope, don't know anything."
"Come on, you must know something. You were Jax Teller's old lady."
"Nope, I got nothing. Jax didn't tell me much."
Did this agent think she was a complete idiot? Everyone knew what the Sons did, but never would she rat on them. Even though she kind of wanted to hurt Jax for what he had done to her, she would never jeopardize the entire club. Only saying one thing could send them all to prison.
"Very well then."
Stahl slid off the bar stool, heading towards the door to leave. She seemed to forget something as she quickly turned around and headed towards Dani again. From her pocket she retrieved a small piece of paper.
"If you happen do remember something, this is my number." Stahl placed her card on the counter. "Don't hesitate to call."
She tried to finish up as quickly as possible when the café closed. It never stopped surprising her of how much of a mess the guests could make, but Darren had helped her finish up the best he could. Dani was just in time to see Abel during the last visiting hour of the day.
The entire day she had spent thinking about the baby. Growing up without parents had been pretty difficult on her, she didn't want to see anyone suffering the same fate. Maybe she and Jax could keep it civil and she could still act as a guardian for the time Wendy needed to get sober. Breaking up with Jax was one thing, she couldn't just turn her back to the little boy.
The hospital was busy during this time. Her eyes fixed ahead of hers, Dani tried not to bump into anyone while navigating the hallways of the maternity ward. When she reached Abel's room, she abruptly stopped in her track.
Jax was leaning forward against the window of Abel's room, looking in. This was the last place Dani had expected him. Was this the first time he was visiting his son?
He turned his head to see who had been approaching, and when he noticed it was Dani, he stood up straight, rubbing his hands together. It looked like he was looking for the right words to speak, and Dani could honestly say that was the only time she had ever seen him speechless.
"Abel doing good?" Dani asked to break the very awkward silence. She moved closer to the window, standing next to Jax, her face towards the glass window. Dani made sure she kept some distance between them.
"Yeah, the nurses say he can come out soon."
Even though Dani had broken the silence between them, there was still a lot of tension in the room. This was the first time they had spoken since the thing, and Dani never would've thought she would find him here, leaving her a bit unprepared for the small talk.
"That's good," Dani said.
"How's everything going at the café?" Jax asked, his eyes fixed on Abel. Dani did the same.
"Busy. But I like that." She obviously omitted the part of a ATF agent visiting her. She needed to keep Jax out of her life as much as she could.
He suddenly turned his body towards her. Jax began speaking, "Dani, about the patch over, I - …"
"Jax, stop," Dani interrupted. "I'm not here to talk about that."
Truth was, she wasn't ready to talk about it. She didn't want to talk about it. This thing needed to rest for a few days so she could find her answers.
Dani was also scared for what Jax was going to say. She knew she still loved him very much, and if he'd say the right thing she would take him back right here and now, and she couldn't allow him to do that just yet.
Feeling a little bad about what had went down by the hospital, Dani decided to call Juice to ask him if Jax had told him anything about her. She also wanted to know if anything had happened at the party.
The phone rang a couple of time before he picked up.
"Hey," Dani said, smiling softly. There was something about Juice's voice that always made her happy. "I just called to ask you something, if you have the time?"
"Yeah, go ahead," Juice spoke. "Is it about Jax?"
"What else?" Dani laughed a little awkwardly.
"No, he did not sleep with Ima at the party," Juice started, a hint of amusement in his voice. "That's what you wanted to know, right?"
"Damn, Juice," Dani replied, surprised. "You know me too well. But seriously, did he maybe – talk – about me or anything?"
"Jax isn't really the talking-about-his-feelings guy, Dani."
Dani leaned back, scratching Bruce, who was sleeping beside her, behind his ears. Juice was right. But the fact he confirmed he hadn't slept with Ima made her feel hopeful things could go back the way they were. Maybe he did really regret his actions, maybe Jax could change.
"But he definitely didn't like you talking to that prospect," Juice added.
"Yeah, that was the plan," she replied.
"Your plan worked. He was pretty pissed off."
"I don't know how long I can keep this up, Juice."
"Keep up what?" he asked her.
She rubbed the side of her head. "Not talking to him, avoiding him."
"You don't have to do that," he replied. "You can try to be friends."
Dani laughed. "Friends? I don't think that's an option anymore."
How could she just ignore the fact that she was very much attracted to him? The fact that she loved him? They had been friends for the better part of their lives, but once they got involved it could never go back the way it was.
"Try and talk to him. Just give it time," Juice advised her.
But how was she supposed to do that? It was especially talking that was hard, as whenever she saw his lips moving the only thing she wanted to do was kiss him.
A/N: A little shorter than normal, but I've just come back from a trip to Maastricht with friends so I didn't have much time to write a lot. However, I still wanted to get this chapter out because I didn't want to keep you guys waiting for too long. Hopefully you liked it and please leave a review and until next time! :D