Dani hadn't slept that night. Her eyes had gone puffy from crying and thoughts kept running through her mind, keeping her from her sleep. Jax had told her Donna had been murdered, probably by the One-Niners, a gang she had never heard off before.

After hearing the news, tears started to flow down her cheek, both because she was shocked, and because she was scared. Donna had been a good friend to her, and no one deserved a death like this. Her mind wandered to the two children she would be leaving behind. Dani felt for them. She knew exactly what it was like to live without parents.

Yet she was scared also. If they came for Donna, they could also be coming for her. So far, Dani had been able to keep herself out of club business, but then again she did not remember Donna being involved in the club. She couldn't recall her coming to any of the SAMCRO parties she had attended herself.

Dani knew Jax had not slept that night either. He wasn't tossing and turning in his sleep like he normally would. Instead, his body had remained still the entire night, only the sound of his soft breathing filling the room.

Jax promised to keep her safe from violence like that. But could he? Donna's attack was a surprise attack. Was she safe? Was anyone safe, for that matter?

Even though she wanted to stay in bed all day, cuddling with her dog, work had to be done. Dani pushed herself up from the bed, looking at the empty side where Jax always slept. He had been gone for at least an hour already, telling her he was going on a ride to clear his head.

Gemma would be coming over in an hour to take over Abel so she could go to work. The baby was the only one who had slept well that night, only waking up once to be fed. Dani wished she could be that oblivious to everything that was happening around her in the world.

"Hey, little man," Dani whispered softly when she approached his crib. Seeing him made her mood a little better. She reached forward to pick him up, seeing he was already awake.

"Let's get you some milk," she spoke, making sure Abel was safely in her arms before she took him with her to the kitchen.

While warming up the milk, Dani had placed him in his crib that she had put in the corner of the room. Before she fed it to him, she made sure the milk was not too hot by putting some on her hand to feel the temperature.

There was a knock on the door, Dani heard a lock turning and slowly the door opened. Gemma appeared. She was early, but what else would she have expected?

"Hey," Dani smiled faintly, hoping her puffy eyes wouldn't be that noticeable.

"Hi, sweetheart," Gemma said, moving closer to her before giving her a kiss on her cheek. "Did he sleep well?"

"Yeah," Dani nodded. "He slept great. The same can't be said over Jax and I, though."

"I know, baby." Gemma sat down on the kitchen chair opposite from her. "How are you feeling about that?"

"Scared," Dani admitted honestly. "I never expected something like that to happen, especially not to someone so close to me."

"Shit like this rarely happens," Gemma spoke. Her eyes shifted from the baby to her, and back again. "Jax will make sure it will never happen to you."

"I know he will," she replied. "But what if he can't."

Gemma sighed. "You have to trust him that he will."

Dani nodded slowly, putting the empty bottle on the table. "Can you take him, I need to get ready for work."

With the help of make-up, Dani managed to get rid of the redness surrounding her eyes. Jax hadn't returned before she had to leave, but assuming he was still on his ride, Dani decided not to call.

She had left Abel in the hands of Gemma, giving him a kiss on his soft head before she left. Gemma promised to stop by later that day and she was already counting down the minutes until she would she the baby again.

Dani arrived before one else and decided this was a perfect opportunity to quickly do the books for the week. She had set up her laptop on the bar, making herself a much needed cup of coffee to help her deal with this mess.

But what looked like a horrible morning, seemed to only get worse. When Dani finished counting the money of the day before twice, she came to the conclusion that again money was missing.

She shook her head and chugged her coffee down in one go. If this day would continue like this she was going to need something a lot stronger than coffee.

Dani pulled up the working schedule on her computer, seeing who had to work yesterday as with all the commotions she couldn't remember who it was.

No, this can't be true, Dani thought when the file had loaded. But the facts did not lie. Could it be true? Her most trusted employee, the one who had been through everything with her. Did Lana steal the money?

Dani didn't want it to hurt so much, she wanted to pretend that she didn't care. But it just felt like she had been stabbed in the back by her best friend.

Luckily for Dani, Lana had been scheduled to work today. There was no way in hell she was going to let her get away with it, best friend or not.

What were really minutes felt like ages. Dani had opened up the café early, opening the door to let in the cold morning air. She sat down on one of the chairs, her eyes fixed on the door to confront her the minute she walked in.

When Lana finally appeared, Dani shot up. She raised her head high and breathed in slowly.

"Opened up already?" Lana remarked, as if nothing was wrong. "You're early."

Dani managed to force her lips into a smile before speaking. "Can I talk to you? In the kitchen?"

It would be better if half of Charming wouldn't see it. This was not going to be pretty. After weeks of speculation, Dani finally found her stealer. Justice needed to be served.

"Okay, sure?" Lana spoke a little uneasy.

Dani moved into the kitchens, waited until Lana was inside as well before closing the door behind her. The café could be unmanned for a few minutes, this wouldn't take long anyway.

While turning, Dani curled her hand into a fist and immediately let it collide with Lana's cheek as he came to face her. The blow hurt her knuckles, and she hoped it hurt Lana's face as well.

"What the fuck?!" Lana exclaimed, immediately placing her hand on her face which was beginning to swell up and turn red.

"Why did you steal that money?" Dani said, anger clearly taking over. "WHY?!"

Lana's eyes grew wide, and that was when Dani knew she had the right one.

"I was in trouble, okay? I needed it to pay off my loan for my tuition money, I'm sorry I – …"

Dani shook her head, not really in the mood to hear excuses. She stole the money, period. Even if she had the best excuse there was, this could never be ignored and forgotten.

"You could've asked to borrow it, Lana. I can't believe you did this to me."

It was getting harder and harder to contain herself. Dani wasn't sure what the sudden rush of anger was, but she figured what happened last night had something to do with it. Her emotions were all over the place.

"I know, and I'm sorry, Dani," Lana tried to say.

"I want you out."

"What?" she asked in disbelief. "I've been working here for 5 years! You can't throw me out!"

"Do I really look like I care?" Dani replied. "I want you out now. This is not a joke."

"Can I at least get my stuff?" Lana asked her, realizing the fight had been lost.

Dani shook her head. "No. I'll put them out back later. I don't trust you near that cash register again."

Lana rolled her eyes before scoffing. "Are you serious right now?"

"Yeah," Dani said, wondering why she was being like that. Of course, she was serious.

"Whatever." Lana raised her hands, before turning to the back door. Before she was able to leave the turned her head again, "He has changed you."

"What do you mean?" Dani replied, rolling her eyes.

"Jax. You were never this aggressive before."

Her words hit her, and maybe Lana was right. A year before she was not this aggressive, no. But after everything that had happened to her, Dani had to defend herself. The attack on her café, the money getting stolen, Donna getting killed. These events had ignited a fire in her which she didn't want to put out. She had promised herself never to let anyone get to her. She had to keep that promise.

"Bye, Lana," Dani spoke, realizing this was probably the last time she would ever see her friend again.

Dani had almost forgotten about her troubles for a moment. She was laying on the couch, her head resting on Jax's chest, the baby sleeping softly in her arms. Nothing seemed to matter for a moment, until Jax started to speak.

"What happened to your hand?" he asked.

Her eyes moved from Abel to her knuckles. Scabs were forming on the place it had collided with Lana's face. Dani had almost forgotten about her doing that.

"Nothing special," she replied, wishing he hadn't brought it up.

"It looks like you hit someone," Jax continued. He extended her arm to take her hand, his fingers brushing over the red marks.

"I did hit someone," Dani replied emotionlessly.

"Who?"

"Lana."

Her eyes were focusing on the baby again.

"As in, your best friend Lana?" Jax replied, confused.

"Not my best friend anymore," Dani said. "She stole the money."

"Shit. You sure?"

"Positive," Dani nodded. "I fired her, obviously."

"At least you now know who did it."

"Yeah…," she replied.

Lana stealing the money had hurt her. Her best friend had turned against her and stolen the money she herself needed so much. Dani would never forgive her for this.

"Any news on Donna?" she then asked, wanting to bring up the subject all evening. Dani couldn't deny she was not worried anymore. It felt like she was living under a constant threat.

"Funeral will be in a few days," he replied. "Opie is having a lot of trouble with it."

"I can imagine…"

Dani wouldn't know what she would do if she were ever to lose Jax. She never really wanted to think about it. After her mother and father dying, she doubted she could handle anyone close to her dying. She could only take so much of death in her life, and she already had had her share of it.

"I can arrange the food for afterwards if that's necessary," Dani suggested. It was the least thing she could do.

"That would be great, thanks babe." Jax took her hand, lifted it to his face, pressing his lips softly against the tiny wounds on her knuckles.

"What are the chances of something like that happening to me?" Dani asked, referring to Donna. She needed to know if her life was in constant danger or not.

It took a moment for Jax to reply. "I can't make any promises. But I will try everything in my power to make sure it will never happen to you Dani. You know I will always protect you."

Dani nodded in silence.

"But reading my dad's manuscript, I have a feeling that's the direction to take the club. Less violence, less danger."

She slightly turned her head upwards to face him. "I don't want to change the life you live, Jax. I know the danger is a part of SAMCRO. It just scared me a little."

"No, babe, it's what I want as well. Especially now with Abel, I think it's time to take the club in another direction."

A/N: So I managed to write another chapter while studying for my finals :) We finally found out who stole the money, hopefully it was a little bit of a surprise. I thought it would be interesting to pick Lana instead of the usual suspect: Darren. I've been planning where I want the story to go for the next chapters and I must say I'm actually really excited about it. There are some plotlines that I think will be really fun to explore :)

I also have 2 ideas for new fics but I've told myself to finish this one first before starting another, haha. Plus, if I'm writing two SOA stories simultaneously (the other idea is a fic based on something different), it will get really complicated for me not to mix the stories up. But anyway, at least I know what I can write about after this fic!

So as always, please leave a review! I love reading them and I would really appreciate it if you left one. Bye!