Chibs awoke with a start. He was cold without Aoife's warm body snuggled against him. He rolled over, sucking in his breath as he accidentally put pressure on his road rash. He expected to see light shining from under the bathroom door, but the door was open and the little room was dark. He glanced at the clock – 4:30 am. Then he heard a crash in the kitchen. He flung open the bedside table drawer and pulled out his gun, mentally noting that Aoife's was missing. He moved as swiftly and quietly as he could, his heart pounding in his ears. Then he reached the end of the hall and heaved a giant sigh of relief. Aoife was sweeping up shards of glass with her back to him. Chibs put the gun on the dining room table, his hand trembling, and he grasped the back of the chair while he leaned and stretched, still coming down from the adrenaline.

Aoife turned with the dust pan, heading for the trash. "I didn't mean to wake you, a ghra. I just couldn't fall back to sleep so I was making myself some tea. I knocked over the vase." She dumped the pan in the plastic wastebin. She crossed the distance between them. She glanced between Chibs and the firearm.

"I heard the crash and got scared when you weren't in bed with me," he explained. "I was afraid someone was here to hurt you after everything that's happened lately." He let go of the chair to wrap her in his arms, and they held each other for a long minute.

"How did a big tough biker like you get to be so sweet?" Aoife whispered into his chest.

"I ain't sweet," he retorted, smiling down at her. "I'm protective. Nobody's going to hurt my lass."

She shook her head. "Not mutually exclusive things, Filip. Besides, I wouldn't let anyone hurt my Scotsman." She inclined her head to indicate where her gun sat on the counter. The tea kettle whistled. She kissed the tip of his nose and stepped to the stove. "You want tea?"

"Aye." He looked down. "Probably should put something on before I pick up a hot mug."

As she poured the tea, Aoife glanced at him with a smile. "I don't mind the view, but that's a smart idea. Take a look at the hook on my bedroom door." Chibs obeyed, confused. Hanging from the hook was a black bathrobe with a skull and cross bones applique on the back. He pulled it on and walked back to the kitchen. "I found that on clearance when I was out shopping for Mum and Aunt Rois, and I thought of you. Now you can be a badass in your underwear, too, aye?" She teased.

"I thought you considered me a badass no matter what I was or wasn't wearing," he retorted with a wink, and Aoife rewarded him with a bigger smile. Thank you, lass," he said, taking the offered mug of tea. Aoife moved to sit at the table and he caught her arm gently. "No, let's sit on the sofa." He sat down and pulled her next to him. "Now you want to tell me why you're up making tea at four fucking thirty?"

Aoife stared into her mug of tea. "I told you, I couldn't sleep." Chibs turned her chin towards his and looked at the dark circles under her eyes.

"Talk to me, lass."

She took a sip of her tea. "Someone tried to kill you tonight. I can't sleep because every time I think about that fact, I get absolutely incandescent with rage." Chibs hid a grimace of discomfort as Aoife's right hand squeezed his so hard he heard his knuckles crack. "I want to find the bastard in that fucking SUV and rip his heart out." Fire flashed in her eyes, and then she looked down at her tea cup like all the answers could be found in the drink. "My mother always told me that my temper frightened her."

"Doesn't frighten me, a chiusle," Chibs whispered back. "I have a right temper myself, in case you've forgotten. Just promise me one thing: don't try to go find this guy on your own."

Aoife frowned and looked into his eyes. "Only if you promise me the exact same thing."

Chibs searched her eyes. He saw the same mixture of anger and worry that was boiling in his heart. He gritted his teeth, because he knew full well that if the opportunity presented itself, he would go after the bastard armed with only his bare hands, but he could promise not to go looking for the man on his own. "Aye. I will promise you that."

"Then I promise, too."

"You are carrying all the time now, aye?" he asked, gesturing towards the firearm she'd left on the kitchen counter.

"I've got a gun in my purse and one in the pocket of my coat."

Chibs shook his head before she even finished speaking. "No, I want it on you, even when you're in the shop. I'll get you a concealed carry holster later this morning and bring it to you." Aoife nodded and then snuggled against his right side. Chibs put his arm around her. "You coping alright, my love?" he asked.

Aoife tried to nod again but then shook her head. "No, I'm not. This isn't the first time I've dealt with a threat like this, but it's so different here. At home, there was always family or a neighbor or a friend of the family looking out for me. But here, I'm so much more alone. There's you and your boys but most of the time I'm surrounded by strangers, people whose loyalties I don't know. I'm scared, Filip. I've never been so scared in my life."

Chibs' heart skipped. Fiona had uttered those last two sentences to him, sitting on their sofa in Belfast while drinking tea in the middle of the night, more than a decade ago, just nights before Jimmy had taken her. He opened his mouth to promise that he would keep Aoife safe, but the words died in his throat. That night, he had pulled Fiona to him and sworn on his life that he would always protect her. He kissed the top of Aoife's head, trying to hide the tears that burned in his eyes.

"Filip?" Aoife pulled back and cupped his cheek with her hand. "What's wrong?" Tears rolled down Chibs' weathered cheeks, and his throat constricted around any words he might want to speak. "Talk to me, my sweet." He shook his head and swallowed hard, wondering what he could say. His lass was frightened, and confessing how he had failed to protect his wife and daughter would do nothing to assuage her worries. Aoife caressed the scars that gave his face a perpetual ghoulish smile, and he snapped back to the moment. She loved him. For reasons he would never fathom, the universe had seen fit to grant him a second chance to love and be loved. He wouldn't fail this time. Chibs inhaled deeply and squared his shoulders.

"When I was a younger man, I let someone take everything that was dear to me. I remember what that felt like. Every time I look at myself in a mirror, I see the scars on my face to match the ones on my heart. You are never going to know that feeling as long as I draw breath." The words fell from his lips, and he silently prayed that he could keep these vows.

Half-Sack glanced up from the broom at Chibs, and then looked down again as soon as the Scotsman made eye contact. Chibs paused in his path to the kitchen. "Morning, Prospect," he greeted. "You hungry?" He held up the bag of muffins and gestured for Sack to come with him.

The prospect followed. While Chibs was buttering his muffin, Half-Sack finally spoke. "Chibs, man, I'm really sorry about losing that SUV last night."

Chibs finished with the knife and tossed it in the dishwasher. He examined the prospect carefully before speaking. "You stopped to make sure Juice was okay after the bastard ran him off the fucking road, aye?"

"Aye. I mean, yes," the prospect replied nervously.

"You did the right thing. You stopped to make sure your brother was ok. You don't have to apologize for that."

Sack gave one of his weak little smiles. "Thanks, Chibs."

"Don't let it go to your head. Get your ass back to work," Chibs growled, but he smiled as he said it. He found Juice sitting in the clubhouse with his laptop. "Yo, Juicey-boy!" Chibs greeted him. "Jax," Chibs nodded at the V.P. sprawled on a nearby couch.

"Chibs," Juice bobbed his head in acknowledgment without looking up from the screen.

"Chibs," Jax also said, with a little salute. "Juice was filling me in on what happened last night and what he's found so far. How's your leg?"

The Scotsman gave a little shrug. "Going to take a while to heal. Good thing my old lady is on some kickass painkillers right now. She patched me up this morning before I came in."

"She doing ok?" Jax asked at the same time Juice inquired as to Aoife's health.

"Still bruised and sore and a little scared, but she's planning to at least go down and work on the shop books today, so she's feeling a bit better. I can't wait to get my hands around the throat of the fucker that did this so she won't have to be so frightened." Chibs dropped on the third couch in the horseshoe. "So what've you got on our SUV last night?"

"Ran the plates." Juice frowned and shook his head. "It didn't help as much as we hoped. One of Darby's guys reported it stolen late last night. Claimed he was on a bender for the last few days and has no idea exactly when it disappeared."

"Well, some of the Nords do have a hard time keeping track of their vehicles," Jax smirked. Chibs returned the bemused look, but then began to stroke his goatee.

"One of Darby's guys?" he confirmed.

"Yeah. So the way I see it, there's two options. Either it's fucking dumb luck that someone who's after Aoife happened to steal a vehicle from a bunch of drug-dealing Nazi shitheads that have a beef with the Sons. Or the Nords just went after one of our club's old ladies and two of our brothers." Jax lit up a cigarette and concluded his analysis with, "We don't have enough intel yet to act. If we go after the Nords right now, we're stirring things up with the Mayans, too. We gotta be more sure. I'm sorry, brother."

"Shit," Chibs swore. "Bloody fucking hell."