A/N - It's Tuesday! You know that means! :) Happy posting day to all of you, I'm absolutely delighted by the incredible and awesome feedback from everyone - you guys rock. Thank you so much, you don't even realise how much your words help shape the future of the story so... Well, enjoy!

Jax haunted around the corridor as he waited for Tara. He was furious and upset and confused, everything felt so piled on top of each other that he simply didn't know what to do about any of it. Tara would know, she was focused, she'd help him unravel it all.

Margaret stared him down in annoyance as he saw her still waiting. "Mr Teller," she said curtly. "The boys are in daycare and your wife is performing surgery. You can't just hang around here."

"I'd wait in her office but you wouldn't let me," Jax muttered with equal bitterness. "Sorry, I'm just dealing with the options I have."

Margaret frowned. Thankfully, the OR doors flew open and Tara came winging out with a smile as she rubbed antibacterial gel between her hands. She slowed as she saw Jax and started to turn around but he chased after her.

"I need you," he begged, holding her shoulders. Tara could see the look of panic in his eyes.

"Are the boys okay?" she asked quickly. He nodded.

"I need you."

She swallowed, saddened by his expression, and nodded, pointing towards her office. Margaret clicked her tongue in annoyance as the slipped in and she heard the bolt lock.

"What are you doing here, Jax?"

He looked so upset as he paced, his hands in his hair. He had no control, it was as if he could feel it slipping from his grip. Clay had told him he wasn't ready, maybe he was right.

"I gave them one goddamn instruction, Tara. One thing. Don't go near Nero Padilla's daughter."

Tara's eyebrows knotted into a dark scowl. "Why are you so interested?"

Jax scoffed as he dropped down to sit on the couch, crossing his fingers to interweave with each other. "In Nero's kid?" He laughed darkly. "To protect business. He wanted her kept out of it."

Tara would never understand the possessive nature of these men but eventually she nodded. "And...?" She looked at him expectantly, waiting for more. He sighed.

"Chibs slept with her." He felt like he was a complete failure, even the tamest Son had completely ignored his instruction. "And I think Tig attacked her."

Tara's eyes widened. "Attacked her?" Jax nodded.

"I think so." He didn't want to go into the specifics, he knew she would just walk out if he said what he suspected had truly happened. "Jesus, Tara. It's all falling apart." He could feel tears swelling in his eyes and he pushed them back. "And then you. Us." He shook his head, taking her hands lovingly. "Nothing happened with that girl, I swear, I was just taking care of her. Her back, it was all torn up, I was just trying to patch her."

He looked so upset that she believed him instantly. Wrapping her arms around him she pulled him to her, nesting her head in his shoulder. Jax murmured, comforted by her touch, and sighed.

"Jesus, Tara. It's all going to shit. Nero, he wants to pull us out of the Diosa trade. Clean money, a legitimate line of cash. It's all gone."

She leaned back, holding him firmly and catching his eyes. "Don't be stupid," she said, her voice strong. "You're the king of Charming, Jax, this is your club. You have the control here, nobody else."

He looked so hopeless, she felt truly sorry for him. What he did for the club was hard, it was isolating and it wasn't exactly an easy way of making friends.

"What do I do?" he asked softly. She smiled and ran her hand along his jaw, scratching her nails along his jaw.

"You go and you take the reins of that goddamn club," she said supportively. "You kick those assholes into shape and you lay down the law, your law." She kissed him and looked up at him proudly. "And then you come home to your old lady and I'll show you who's boss around here."

"What's going on?"

Juice looked around the mostly-full table and noticed Chibs' empty seat at Jax's left. Tig slunk to his place further up the table and dropped down, avoiding drawing any attention to himself as he did.

"We gotta sort some shit out," Jax muttered. He pointed to Chibs' place. "Someone called him?"

"I can go get him," Juice volunteered, bouncing up from his seat again. "I'll be fifteen minutes, tops."

He bombed out of church and jogged out to one of the loaners they'd managed to get hold of. It wasn't his bike, sure, but Juice still got the same rush of the road as he raced over to Chibs' place.

"Chibs?"

He knocked before using the little trick on the door Chibs had once taught him, for drunk, keyless emergencies. He elbowed the door and it flew back to reveal Chibs and Nina snuggled close on the sofa, sharing a bag of chips and watching a movie. Chibs didn't even look away from the television, he just pointed at the screen and laughed.

"I bloody love this bit."

"Hey man," Juice called out, trying to interrupt them without being obtrusive. "I've been calling you, about church."

Chibs paused and sighed, muting the television as he kissed Nina's temple and stood up. She drew her legs to her to let him pass her as Chibs motioned for Juice to join him in the kitchen.

"He wants to vote on a new Sergeant," Chibs said coolly. "Happy's the obvious choice, but proxy for me, anyone but me."

Juice's eyes dashed frantically across Chibs' face as he looked at him before he glanced back through the door towards Nina. She was watching them intently, but looked away when Juice caught her staring.

"You stepped down?"

"He asked me to," Chibs shrugged. "And I'm happy to. Hap's his only real option anyway, so. Tell them I'm taking some... personal leave for a week."

He looked back towards Nina to see she was trying to keep one eye on the television and one on him. He winked at her and beckoned her over, and she slipped in beneath his arm in a second.

"Oh." Juice looked between them. "So you guys are..." He swallowed. "So Jax is pissed?"

"Jax can suck on my beautiful Scottish ballsack," Chibs muttered. "He needs to man the fuck up and sort out his priorities."

Nina blushed at his fierce response, knowing it was over her. Juice, on the other hand, had no idea where the bile was coming from. He gave Chibs a pull and muttered, "You know her Dad smashed up the lot, right?"

Chibs laughed at that. "Aye, he did. I'd have done the same." He moved himself back to Nina's side supportively, she was probably fifteen years his junior but he didn't even care. Right now, she was the only thing he cared about.

"So... you're not coming?"

Chibs laughed as he led her back to the couch and plonked down beside her, kicking his legs up and stretching his arm around her. "Nope," he said cheerily. "Just watching some TV with ma girl Nina here."

Why saying that made her so excited, she didn't know. There was something about the way he was pulling him against her, it filled her with comfort and a feeling that he was really supporting her.

Juice hesitated but eventually nodded. He knew Chibs well enough to know that he wouldn't change his mind, he was a stubborn old man when he wanted to be. He left, and Nina moved to give Chibs a little space but he held her tight.

"You don't need to do this for me," she said quietly. He chuckled and cuddled her tight to him.

"Aye, I do," he said. "I'm a big softie really, I promised your Da I'd be there for you and I am. There for you," he added, like maybe it wasn't clear. Nina gave him the smile of a hopeless romantic and leaned up to kiss his cheek. Her finger ran over the scar to his lips before she kissed that too as she strayed to his mouth.

"I don't want you to lose your club because of me." She was already moving across him as their tongues connected, Chibs lifted her softly into his lap just to pull her closer to him.

"Don't you worry about any of that, love," he replied, tickling her gently as he leaned down to kiss along her neck. "I've told Jax I'm going to take care of you, he just needs to make a few adjustments to cope with that."