Chibs checked his phone obsessively all morning, waiting for an answer from Aoife. As soon as he'd gotten out of bed, he'd texted her, asking if he could come over and talk to her today. He was elbows deep in a minivan engine, looking for the source of the reported clunking noise, when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. It took every ounce of his self-control to finish what he was doing and wipe off the worst of the grease before pulling his phone out and flipping it open. Her response was a guarded, "ok. I'll be expecting you," but at least she hadn't said no, hadn't told him to forget everything because she couldn't handle this.

Chibs parked his motorcycle and walked into the coffee shop by 2 pm. Aoife shot him a strange look and bustled over to him, a carafe of coffee in one hand. "I can't talk to you until after I close," she hissed.

Chibs cupped her cheek with his hand, grateful that she didn't flinch or pull away. "I know, lass. I came early so that I could help you clean up. I'll just go back in the kitchen and start on the dishes."

A mist formed in Aoife's eyes, and the thin walls she had erected against him started to crumble. "I don't care what label you want to put on it, Filip Telford, you're a sweet man. Thank you." Chibs caressed her soft cheek with his calloused thumb, biting his lip to keep from kissing her and ruining the progress they were making, and he gave her one of his lopsided grins.

He and Aoife met at the back door as he returned from heaving the last bag of trash into the dumpster. She was fingering the cross she wore around her neck and was watching him intently. He stuffed his hands in his back pockets. They sized one another up before he cleared his throat. "I'd like to take you somewhere quiet we can talk. Will ye ride with me?"

Aoife considered the offer while Chibs chewed on his lip nervously. "Let me grab a sweatshirt," she finally said. When she returned to the back door, he recognized the black hoodie she had pulled over her head as one of his that he had left there some time before. He reached for her hand. "Wait, Chibs, I can't just ride off with you until I know. Is this the 'we're better off as friends' talk we're about to have?" Chibs read the pain written on her face, and he couldn't stop himself from pulling her into an embrace.

"No, lass. This is the apology talk followed by the explanation talk and then 'I'm in love with you and don't want to live without you.'" Throwing caution to the wind, he crushed his lips to hers, and Aoife melted in his arms. When the kiss was done, he pressed his forehead to hers, his heart racing from the confirmation that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. They were going to fix this.

"Is this going to take a while?" she whispered. Chibs picked his head up enough to look at her and cocked his head to the side in confusion. "I just thought it might be good to take a picnic."

"Aye," Chibs agreed, delighted at how quickly things were returning to normal. She came back to the door a moment later with the same soft-sided cooler he had seen her take to the hospital.

"Come here, I have a surprise for you," Chibs tugged Aoife into a little wooded area and they emerged in a Japanese garden.

"Oh, it's lovely," she cried, and he put a finger to her lips.

"Shh, love. We ain't exactly supposed to be here. The garden closes at 2 pm on weekdays to allow for weddings, but Juicey checked for me and there isn't one scheduled for today. We have the whole place to ourselves. We can eat your picnic next to the koi pond." Aoife laid out the picnic on the stone bench overlooking the water.

Chibs waited for her to settle and start nibbling before he spoke. "If I do better at letting you know what's going on, are you sure you want to do this? Once I tell you these things, it's not like I can take them back. You'll always know them. You in this for the long haul?"

"You mean, do I want to be your old lady?" Aoife asked. Chibs' mouth dropped. "Luann and Gemma talked to me the other night about being an old lady."

"Of course they did," Chibs muttered, not sure how he felt about this turn of events. Well, that ship had sailed, and he might as well forge ahead. "And how did you feel about that, about being an old lady?" He held in a hopeful breath.

"A little nervous," Aoife admitted. "It's a big commitment. But I want to be with you. I didn't want to send you away the other day, but I need to keep my sanity. I want this to work. I want to be your old lady."

Chibs wanted to let out a whoop of joy. He reached over the picnic and took Aoife's hands in his. "Aye, I want that, too. But I won't hold you to that answer until you hear what I have to say today. You put your life in my hands when you told me about your brother. I'm doing the same thing today because I know you can hold your tongue. All I ask is that your hear me out, all the way through, and then tell me if you still feel the same." Chibs took a deep breath. If his predictions were wrong and Aoife couldn't handle this and went to the cops, he was as good as dead.

"I won't betray you," Aoife assured him as she squeezed his hands. Chibs sketched out for her the basics of the current club business and the work he actually did. He didn't go into the past before he'd met her, but he explained what had gone down since she first flirted with him. She flinched a little when he revealed that the club ran guns for the IRA, but other than that, her reassuring hold on his hands never wavered. Chibs spoke in low, measured tones, his eyes never leaving hers for more than a second. When he finished speaking, he searched her eyes for fear or disgust and found none.

"Aoife?" he whispered hesitantly. She nodded. "'S alright, lass?"

"Are you worried that the blood on your hands will frighten me away?" Aoife asked. "You think I don't have blood on mine? You think my entire family's hands aren't stained red?" She leaned closer, holding Chibs' gaze. "We transport things for the IRA in our company trucks, mostly guns and bombs. You know what Rois did before she had to come to the states? She made bombs. Do you know what one of my earliest memories of her is? I was sitting on her lap, helping her untangle jumbled wires. Those wires went into bombs that blew up and hurt people. Neither one of us has clean hands, Filip. And that's okay, because I love you and you love me." She leaned forward and captured his lips with hers. "I am so glad you saw this through and talked to me," she whispered between kisses.

"Aye, I am, too, lass."