A/N - Hi team! Apologies for not being around yesterday, but hope this extremely long one makes up for it. All terror is about to break loose...

"Busy?"

Tig smacked his head on the hood of the car as he looked up at Nina's voice. His lips curled into a grin as he saw her, he rubbed the sore spot, smearing grease across his forehead. Nina gave him a sympathetic smile as she tugged the cloth from his belt and wiped it away. Tig felt a shiver run through him as her finger stroked against his cheek absently. Nina had been avoiding the lot and all of the club, buried away at Diosa, for far too long - or so he thought.

"Never busy for you, baby," Tig murmured. He slammed the hood down and sat on the edge. "What do you need?"

She glanced about the lot, there were a few pairs of eyes on her but she knew better than to have this conversation with an audience. She motioned to the swings, it was far enough away that they could talk undisturbed but still be seen. The last thing she needed was him losing it on her.

Taking a few ginger steps ahead of him, she sat down on the seat. Why it made her feel nervous, she couldn't remember, but she wrapped her fingers around the chain and started to swing. Tig came up behind her and gave her a push gently. He was about to reach for a cigarette when it dawned on him he couldn't smoke around a pregnant woman, so he just bit the damn thing between his teeth and whistled softly.

"How is it?" he asked. "The bump, I mean."

Nina laughed, she hadn't thought of it like that before. She nodded. "It's still there," she said, holding her hand against her stomach. Tig watched her and let his hands rest on her shoulders for a second. Nina blushed and shrugged him off, planting her feet down in the dirt and twisting around to see him. "For now."

Tig tilted his head to the side as he looked at her, examining her. "What does that mean?" he asked. He had a horrible feeling he already knew, and the gentle way her lips usually curled upward had straightened out as she readied herself to stay it.

"I can't do this." She grimaced as she saw the colour draining from him. "It's not you, it's me. This. Us. What happened, it wasn't... it should never have gone that way."

Tig felt like the whole world was crashing down on his head. He had been keeping a careful eye on Nina, a couple of the girls from Diosa had kept feeding him information about the fact that she was still pregnant so he had kept a little distance but now, now she was going to make it all go away.

"Sometimes beautiful things happen when you don't expect them to," he said stalwartly. He was staring at her stomach, unable to break the gaze away from the little creature growing inside her, knowing that it was part of him and she wanted it dead was making him weak. "You can't, you'll kill it."

"Don't say that," she murmured, shaking her head. He could see her lip twitching. "It's just a bunch of cells, it's not a person."

"It's a baby," Tig said firmly. "Our baby, Nina."

"It's a mistake," she replied, her tone a little sharper now. She knew he would try and convince her, she just didn't realise she would feel like she could be swayed so easily. "I'm sorry. I've spent so long, waiting for a sign and..." She knew the words would crush him but she had to be honest. "Me and Chibs got back together."

This was just going from bad to worse. "What?" Tig's blue eyes went from lost to icy cold as he stared at her. "When?" She shook her head.

"That doesn't matter. I've been waiting for God to tell me what to do because I was too scared to make a decision and..." She could see he was barely listening. "Tig, I have to do this. For me."

"For him," Tig huffed, irritated. Nina shook her head and put her hand on him.

"For me," she murmured, trying to get him to calm again. She put her palm on his cheek. "I have to go, my appointment is in half an hour. I'm sorry." She tiptoed up and kissed his jaw gently. "This was never meant to happen."

She pushed a kiss onto his cheek and walked away. Tig could barely even bring himself to look up as he listened to her start her car and set off. He felt distraught. His chance, his one chance. He felt his heart flutter, it hurt as it did, his chest growing tight. The idea that he had fallen so in love with was disappearing.

"You okay, man?"

He didn't even realise Juice had come over. Tig felt his teeth grinding and he nodded, resting his hands on his hips as he stared out into the distance. "Huh? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He turned his attention back to Juice and his lip twitched. "You know that little favour you owe me?" he asked with a sudden smile. He motioned to the Harleys. "Today's the day, I need you to come with me."

Gemma sauntered into the clubhouse in her tightest leather pants and smiled at Chibs with a wicked grin. "Hey sweetheart," she said, walking over and giving him a hug. Chibs smiled and rubbed her back gently with his palm.

"Hey you," he said. "I'm sorry about dinner last week. I had something come up."

Gemma's mouth twitched, she was so desperate to come out with her little bit of knowledge but it could be with so much better than just that. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh yes. You and Fiona... gravitating?" Jax had already told her everything there was to know, between the two of them they had the perfect plan.

"Oh, no, nothing like that. " Chibs smiled a little. "I was with Nina, actually."

"Padilla?" Gemma couldn't contain it, she had wanted it to be so much more but Chibs had left himself wide open. "Isn't she, you know?" She made a round motion over her stomach and Chibs chuckled a little.

"Yeah." He looked at his feet. "I'm going to talk to her about that tonight. Think I'm beginning to get my head around it. It's just a baby, it could be my baby. Probably be a damn sight better a father than the loser who knocked her up." He put his hands in his pockets and rocked up on his toes. "I think I could be a good Da. I just want to be with her and if it means having a little kid... a wee one about the place could be good."

He looked around at the clubhouse and stroked his hand along the bar. Gemma could see him falling in love with the idea, and she felt her need to tell him suddenly surge. "Chibs, baby." She looked at him and lowered her voice. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" he asked with a shrug. "I love her. I trust her."

"You can't." Gemma said. "Chibs, I'm sorry, it's not my place but." She felt herself hesitate but shook it away, he needed to know, whatever her motives were. "That baby. The father. It's Tig."

Chibs laughed outright and shook his head. "No, it can't be. Dates don't work, it had to be someone from that place. What he did to her was terrible but it was a long time ago, Gem, she'd be much further along." Gemma didn't speak, her eyes fixed on him, betraying every confidence in an instant. "He wouldn't have been..."

His words suddenly slowed as Gemma finally looked down at the floor. He leaned heavily on the bar, his legs suddenly starting to shake beneath him. Tig had been with her when they'd found her. She'd been unconscious, naked, Chibs had relived it way too many times. Tig had immediately let Chibs go to her, he hadn't tried to stop him. It didn't make sense, he would have said something. Surely he would have said something. Nina would have too, surely.

"She would have told me."

Gemma tipped her head to one side. "Chibs, come on."

"She would have told me," he repeated furiously, slamming his bottle of beer down so hard on the bar that it smashed instantly. Gemma shivered, she could see it was beginning to sink in. "She would never lie to me, Gem."

Braving it, Gemma reached for him and ran her hand along his arm. "Just ask her, baby," she murmured, feeling him vibrating with a mixture of anger and fear. "That's all I'm asking you to do. Don't make a mistake, this club needs you."

"How are you feeling, Miss Padilla?"

The male nurse swung into the office and looked over the forms as Nina sat back in the seat. He smiled at her sweetly as he motioned for her to lift her arm, Nina obediently did as asked and closed her eyes.

"I'm okay," she murmured, not wanting to think about it. "I guess I feel a little sad."

"Lots of women feel that way here," he said, wrapping the strap on her bicep and pumping it tight. He watched the reading carefully and scribbled it down before releasing it and pulling open the velcro. "Big decision."

"I think it's the right one," she replied, not daring to look at him in case he had one of those sympathetic expressions that made her doubt herself. The nurse laughed. "I was waiting for some... spiritual guidance."

"God was leaving it a little late, I think. You're how far along?"

"Almost three months." Nina swallowed. "It was complicated."

He smiled as he stood. "It often is," he replied. "If you could just relax in here a few moments, the doctor will be through shortly. You need anything, you just give me a shout. My name's Alex."

Nina felt her heart skip a beat. Alex. Of all the goddamn names to hear right now, in this second. Right now wasn't the time to start second-guessing herself, she was here, she had made this decision, it was hers to make and she was determined to go home to Chibs that evening to tell him that they were clear, that they would give this a clean, proper go just like he wanted to. Her ears flushed with heat as she felt her head growing fuzzy as the nurse walked out of the room.

What she didn't see was Juice in the corridor, without his cut, slipping the nurse a few hundred dollars in cash. The nurse pocketed it quickly and looked at Juice carefully. "This is cruel." Juice rolled off another fifty and pushed it into the guy's mouth.

"This is for you to not have an opinion," he said with a dark expression. "Now that doctor won't be coming around for an hour or so, you tell her you don't know why there's a delay. The rest you just go along with, okay?"

If the money hadn't been quite as good, the nurse might have said no but he nodded and waited patiently for ten minutes or so. Juice waited against the wall as he kept a steady eye on the front for Tig. this was some messed up shit but he wasn't exactly in the right place to negotiate with him right now. Tig had him over hot coals with the Roosevelt meeting, he was convinced Juice was a rat and there was no doubt Tig's word held too much clout with the club.

A short, shrill whistle caught Juice's attention. He looked up to see Tig hovering by the fire alarm and he motioned for the nurse to go back in the room. The poor guy nodded and walked back in to see Nina again, with a pathetic mumbled excuse about why the doctor hadn't been around yet. Nina was about to ask whether somebody else might be able to see her when the shrill ringing of the alarm system echoed through the hall. Juice and Tig scarpered with glee, heading out to their bikes and speeding off just far enough away that they could watch without being seen.

"What is that?' Nina asked, glancing towards the doors, concerned by the wailing sound. The nurse crossed himself, already feeling bad and knowing that this had to have something to do with the two shady characters in the hall.

"It's an evacuation alarm, I'm sorry, we'll have to exit the building."

Nina frowned, her eyebrows furrowed. "Are you serious?" She could see from his expression that he was and she groaned. "This is crazy."

She trudged outside with him, following him through the corridor. A few awkward, uncomfortable women gathered out the front with a dozen doctors and nurses, the clinic was small but the number of people there made Nina panic. She felt her heart beating faster, it was fluttering in her chest as she looked at those assembled. The nurse tried to smile as he said,

"This is unlucky, isn't it?"

Nina didn't believe in luck, she believed in signs. Surely this was just one of those uncomfortable coincidences, right? She was about to answer when the sirens fell silent and someone came out, saying it was a false alarm. Knowing that her nerves were already fraying, she looked at the nurse.

"Let's get this done now, please."

Tig watched as she stalked back into the clinic. He grunted, annoyed, he was sure that that should have been enough of her one of her goddamn holy reasons to get the hell out of there. He looked at Juice who shrugged, unsure of what to do. After a second, Tig ruffled in his bag and pulled out a balaclava. He tossed it towards Juice.

"Go in there with a gun."

"Are you crazy?" Juice stared at him with wide eyes. It was clear he was, Tig was determined to not let her go through with it.

"Just go in there, shoot the nurse dead, she'll run. No way that's not a sign." He grinned when he could see Juice wasn't sure. "Jesus, you pussy, I'll do it. Then I'll go home and have a chat with your little black friend at the cop shop."

Fearful that Tig's choice of words betrayed something he might know, Juice swallowed and snatched up the balaclava. "Okay, I'll do it." He swallowed. "Do I have to kill the guy?"

Tig chuckled. "You can improvise. Just get her the hell out of there."