Bri ended up sitting at the bar with most of the girls, and they all talked about the group of people currently in church. Cherry spoke up with "Well, who else noticed Jax disappear last night?" All the girls chuckled. "Yeah. Anyone see who the lucky girl was?" Anna asked. Brianna stayed quiet. As did all the other girls. "Guess not." Gemma said, thankful that no one noticed him going into Ariel's room. Tara laughed. "It was probably Ariel's room. Those two are not shy about their...relationship and how they conduct it." Bri heard the bitter note underneath the teasing tone, and Jo spoke up. "What's wrong Tara? Upset he didn't go into your room last night?" She just shot her a look. "Look, who cares who Jackson sleeps with, even if it was Ariel? I mean really. You guys are worse than anyone I know for gossip." Jo shook her head. "I just really wish Ariel and Dean would iron out whatever is between them. The tension is killing me." Brianna laughed at the dramatics, causing Jo to look up and smirk at her. "Ariel won't iron anything out with Dean if she can help it. He gets under her skin, which is not easy to do."
Brianna thought back to the night before. "They really don't seem to like each other." Jo shook her head. "I actually think it's the opposite. I think Dean really likes her, but for some odd reason, has his head jammed so far up his ass that he doesn't know how to approach her." Brianna laughed, as did everyone else. Meg threw back the rest of her coffee before turning to Bri. "So, what's going with you and the VP?" Brianna just looked at her while the rest of the girls' faces showed everything from shock to amusement that someone had asked. "Nothing. I like him; I think he likes me, but nothing." Lisa and Ruby just looked at her, while Cherry and Tara laughed. "What?" She asked, looking over at Jo, who seemed to be her lifeline with this crazy ass group of people. "Sam spends a lot of time with you, and he normally doesn't spend that much time with a woman who isn't Sparky. They have a really close friendship, and everyone knows it, so we never really question how much time those two spend together. Everyone knows nothing is going on with them. But lately, he spends more time with you than even her, and THAT, my gorgeous friend, is not like him." Jo kept eye contact with Brianna, and Bri decided to confide, but right as she opened her mouth, the doors of the church burst open, and Dean and Jax fell through, Dean having tackled Jax, and they were throwing punches. Ariel hopped over the table instead of going around, and even though everyone was yelling, her voice rang out loudest. "Jackson Teller! Dean Winchester! Can we please act our ages?!" When she didn't get a response, she walked over to the bar, nodding at the group of shocked females before reaching over and grabbing the bucket of ice water from Gemma.
Without hesitating, she strode back over the men on the floor, and threw the water on them, stunning them long enough that Chibs, Juice, and Cas grabbed Dean while Sam, Tig and Half sack grabbed Jax. Ariel threw the bucket down, and stepped between them, trying not to slip in her heeled boots in the puddle of water. "What the hell is wrong with you two? Have you lost your fucking minds?" She swung to Dean. "Who throws a punch in the middle of church?" Then she whipped to Jax, who had a smug look on his face when she started yelling at Dean. "You don't fool me either, Teller. I know you're not innocent in all this." The females were starting to understand why Ariel was appointed the position of club peace-keeper. She was in charge of keeping the guys in line, and she wielded that power with no problem right now. "If you want to act like you're in high school, fine. But take it up in the boxing ring like every other member of this fucking club! You DO NOT hash out your problems in church! Am I understood?" The boys just looked at her. She turned and looked at Jax, who held her gaze, and they seemed to have a whole silent conversation before he nodded and said "Sure Sparky. I'm sorry." Ariel nodded her recognition of the apology, and motioned for the guys to release him. Then she spun to Dean, stepping into his personal space, since he couldn't pull back. "You have been nothing but a thorn in my side since day one, Winchester. You have issues, and unless you get them under control, I'm going to strip you of your title and ban you from church for a while. Are we clear?" At his reluctant nod, she stepped back and the guys let go of him. She stepped right back into his space. "Handle. Your. Shit. Got it?" And with that, she stalked back into church, followed by Sam, and they shut themselves in.
All the guys knew why Dean had thrown that punch. Everyone pretty much knew that Jax had stayed in Ariel's room the night before, and Dean had been unable to deal with it. Cas and Juice pulled him aside. "Dude, you need to handle all this repressed shit about Ariel." Juice said, while Cas nodded and added "She will strip you of your title. She's done it before." Dean just shook his head, spun on his heel and walked out. Opie walked up to them. "What is wrong with him?" Cas, who knew him the best besides Sam, spoke up. "He isn't used to having such strong feelings for someone. He usually keeps everyone at arm's length, and I can guarantee you she snuck into both his head and his heart, and he can't get her out." Opie winced, remembering when he went through that with Donna. "Poor guy. If he doesn't handle that, it's going to fester." They all fell silent, remembering Opie's destructive streak before he finally pulled his head out of his ass and told Donna how he felt. Cas shook his head again, looking at the closed doors to church, and everyone knew that Ariel was beating herself up for being the cause of a fight between club brothers.
Sure enough, inside the room, Ariel was fighting back tears. Sam walked up behind her, and put his hand on her shoulder. "This wasn't your fault." She spun around and looked at him, and he saw the self loathing and regret in her eyes. "Yes it is. I know it, you know it. Hell, they all know it." She said, gesturing to the clubhouse. He shook his head and pulled her into a chair. "Hey, you made a choice, and it is not your fault that my brother can't handle his emotions." She scoffed, tilting back in the chair. "Jackson wasn't helping either. I know him. He had to be taunting Dean. Your brother was not happy when we walked in, and he knew that. I just hate the fact that this wouldn't have happened two months ago." He chuckled at her tone. "Welcome to the club, baby girl. Remember how we used to talk about how you used to wonder what it was like for the girls who had two guys who wanted them? Now you know." She pushed him, and he laughed again.
"It's not a bad thing, Sparkplug. You just need to figure out how to prevent it from going any further. I know you hate the feeling of all the attention being on you, so all you have to do is talk to them." She shook her head and sighed. "Jax, no problem. I can talk to him about it, and I know he'll listen to me. Your brother?" She slanted him a sideway look."Not as easy." She seemed to think for a minute before sighing again. "He's reminding me of Opie, when he was strung up on Donna, but didn't want to tell her and look like a pussy." Sam nodded. He had been wondering how long it was going to take her to figure that out. "Yeah, Dean and Opie are a lot alike. I, uh- I don't really know what you want me to say about that, though." She shook her head, dropping it onto her folded arms on the table. "Nothing, nothing at all. I don't want to hear it." Sam stood up, dropping a kiss to the back of her head. "Not wanting to hear it and needing to hear are usually synonymous." And with that parting statement, Sam opened the door and walked out.
Dean was out in the garage working on a car when Sam came walking in. "Don't start, ok? I just heard it from Cas, and Juice and Opie. I don't need to hear it from you too." Sam just leaned against the toolbox. "I wasn't gonna say anything. But since you brought it up-" Dean groaned, and Sam acted like he didn't hear it. "What did you hear from Cas and them?" Dean finished the wrenching he was working on before throwing it into the toolbox, and turning to his brother. "About how I need to figure out my head when it comes to her." Sam smiled at the fact that he didn't have to say her name; they both knew exactly which "her" was being discussed. "Would she really strip my rank?" Sam nodded. "She did it to Tig right before you came back. She's a ball buster, and she doesn't mess around. You do something wrong, you face a consequence. That's how it works in her book." Sam walked around the car while he was talking, taking it in. "1967 Chevy Impala. Damn that's a nice car." Dean nodded. "Just like dads. I just needed to work on something. I hope whoever is doing the rebuild on her doesn't mind that I'm doing some work." Sam shrugged. "That would be Ariel." Dean's jaw hit the floor. "She's rebuilding this car?" He nodded. "She loves this car, and I remember asking her why she was rebuilding a car when she's attached at the hip to her Harley, but she just shook her head. I think she just needed something to do." Dean sighed, grabbing his rag to try and clean up a bit. "I royally fucked this one up, didn't I, Sammy?" He just looked at him, and Dean nodded. "I just don't know how to make this better. She's definitely not like the women I'm used to." Sam chuckled. "Of course she's not. You couldn't charm your way out of her anger, and now you don't know what to do. Well, I'll let you think on it a bit." Sam walked towards the clubhouse, but before he left, he turned back to his brother. "One piece of advice? Don't try and bullshit her. She's a straight shooter, and trying to bullshit your way out of her anger is not the right choice. Also, punching Jax, and messing up his pretty face? Also not a good choice. She's kind of attached to him." He turned and walked out with that statement, hearing Dean throw something in the garage behind him.
