A/N - Here we go, hope you're all having lovely weekend and I'm not about to ruin it...
Tig waited gleefully as he watched Nina find herself a coffee shop and settle herself down for some much needed filter. Whatever Juice had done sent her scarpering out of the building at full tilt, straight into her car. She had driven erratically away from the clinic and stopped at the first diner on the way back, needing to calm her head down. Tig followed her, of course, and smiled as he saw her fiddling with her phone.
When she didn't call him like he expected she might, he took it upon himself to be her final sign. He kissed the handles of his bike lovingly as he grabbed the knife from his belt and slashed the back tire. He swore loudly, mourning his Harley as he saw the back sink down, the air hissing out.
"I'm sorry. I swear, I only hurt you because I love you."
Walking it a hundred yards down, he pulled it up outside the diner and paced in. He went straight to the counter and smiled at the girl on the till.
"Hey baby, you got a phone I can use?"
The sound of him made Nina look up in surprise, drawn away from her coffee, and she called out to him. Tig turned and laughed as he looked at her, shaking his head.
"Fancy seeing you here," he said. He smiled, trying to play it fast. "I wanted to come stop you but I got a flat," he said, motioning out towards the front. He swallowed. "Guess it's done now?"
"You got a flat?" She couldn't ignore all this, there were too many signs. Tig nodded and slipped into the seat opposite her. Nina's hands were shivering as she poured sugar into her cup, too much sugar, and took a long slurp.
"Yeah, should have checked it before I came out. Too hot, you know?" He shrugged like she'd understand. "So... does it hurt? Is it, like, an injection? Or a pill?"
Nina shook her head. "I... I don't know." She finally ventured a look up. "I'm keeping it. I have to, someone upstairs does not want me to let it go. I'm thinking I can give it away, let it be adopted, something like that." She shrugged. "I don't know, it's kind of a plan in progress as of, like, ten minutes ago."
Tig was a flawless actor. His eyes widened. "You're keeping it?" Nina nodded.
"Well," she clarified. "I'm bringing it to term. Which is different." She smiled. "The rest I'm going to work out. Eventually."
Tig reached across the table for her hand. "I'm here every step of the way," he said. "Anything you need. Anything, Nina, honestly. This is just meant to happen."
"I want to tell Chibs," she said. She could see Tig was about to object and shook her head. "Non-negotiable, he has to know."
Tig knew he'd get another beat down for it. He whined. "If you have to," he groaned. "He'll just trash me again." Nina grimaced but he shook his head, trying to forget it. "Probably deserve it, it'll be fine. I'll see what your old man can do," he added playfully. Nina smiled, happy they had reached a medium.
"Thank you," she nodded, squeezing his hand. "It's just what we have to do. No more secrets. It's all got to come out tonight."
Tig nodded. "What made you change your mind?" Nina shivered.
"Some anti-abortion nutter came screaming through the goddamn building with a gun," she murmured. "I just got out of there. Guy must have been crazy."
It was strange, the solace the two found in each other. They sat and chatted quietly between themselves in the diner while Tig waited for a tow from someone at Teller Morrow. On an unexpectedly busy afternoon, Tig was relatively low priority. Not that he minded, any extra time alone with Nina worked for him.
When Rat eventually arrived with the truck, he hauled the bike up and looked expectantly at Tig to ride in the front. Nina shook her head.
"He can drive back with me," she offered. "If that's okay."
Tig nodded, pleased. "Sure, thanks."
The two sat quietly in the car, following behind the truck without really saying very much. Eventually Nina whispered,
"Do you think he'll be mad?"
Tig laughed. "He'll be furious. But at me, not at you," he added, patting her knee. "Don't you worry." He pursed his lips for a moment as he looked at her and leaned back on the headrest. "What would you call it?"
Nina smiled shyly as she drove. "I don't know," she murmured. "We shouldn't think about that."
"My girls were Dawn and Fawn," Tig replied goofily. "You want a girl or a boy?"
"I want healthy, with ten fingers and ten toes."
"Separate toes," Tig said quickly. "Slept with a girl once with webbed feet. New meaning to the phrase 'fuck a duck'."
Nina giggled and glanced over to him to see if he was serious. Seeing how adoringly he was staring at her, she said,
"Emily. I'd want her to be called Emily."
He beamed. "Bet she'll be beautiful." He leaned back, content as he thought about it. "Dark hair, blue eyes. She'll even sound like you," he added with a smile. "I love it."
"And a boy?" They were both falling for the idea harder as they talked about it. Tig smiled.
"Something cool, strong. Julian, maybe." Nina's eyes lit up.
"I love that. But for now it's just..."
Tig grinned. "The bump," he said, patting her stomach gently.
They chatted away in the car, happy and relaxed. The more they talked, the more this became a very real thing for the two of them. By the time they got to the lot, Nina was almost over her nerves and ready to face Chibs with the truth.
"Let him have one drink before you tell him," Tig whispered. "More than that and he'll get really mad." Nina cautiously took his hand as they walked in, readying herself, preparing the words in her mouth.
The second Chibs saw them standing there, together, holding hands, every little thing Gemma had said was compounded and crushed into an almighty mess in his head. He had already had a few extra drinks over the afternoon and now, just the sight of them made his whole stomach turn.
"You piece of shite."
Before Tig had even parsed it, Chibs slammed his body into him and hard. Nina was flung back against the wall and yelped as she found her footing, but Tig was on the floor beneath Chibs in a second.
"Jesus," Bobby said, moving to pry them apart but Jax held him back with a concealed smile.
"Let them sort it out," he muttered. Tig picked himself up and waited for the next blow, which came with an ominous yell and a snarl as Chibs grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and slammed him against the wall.
"You fucked her." The words were so full of hate, the entire room fell silent. Nina cowered, embarrassed. "In that place, you fucked her like a whore."
Tig felt himself tensing at Chibs' accusation. "I was taking care of her. She needed it, Chibs," he said, trying to assure him. Chibs laughed.
"You liar, you just couldn't help yourself. Again." He shook his head as his knuckles slammed into Tig's nose, breaking it clean. "You just can't let me have her, can you?"
"It wasn't like that," Tig said as Chibs pummelled his body. He tried to steady his breath but it was too hard, Chibs was furious and taking every second of it out in him. "She needed me."
"Nobody needs you," Chibs spat. "She was my old lady."
"You were fucking around with Fiona!" Tig snapped. "I was doing what I had to to get her home, get it through your damn skull! It wasn't like that."
"You were just getting your damn dick wet. It's all you ever do!" Chibs slammed his elbow into Tig's ribs, making him choke blood onto the floor. Nina was sure he was going to kill him and launched between the two of them, grabbing onto Chibs in a bid to pull them apart.
"Filip, please," she begged, pulling at him. "It was an accident, it was never meant to be like this."
"Don't you start with me!" he snarled, shoving her away. "And what? Did you enjoy it?" She was silent as she stared at him, relieved that he hadn't raised his hand against her. "You should have told me. What, you want to keep this little bastard? Because of him?" He looked at Tig as he wiped the blood away from his mouth and rolled his eyes. "That pathetic animal, you want to protect whatever little murderous psychopath he put in your body? For what? So it can beat and rape someone else?"
Nina thumped her fist into his arm, irate. "Stop it!" she demanded. The second her hand connected with him, Chibs grabbed her wrist and held her tightly. His grip was painful and he saw her expression change, filling with fear.
"You get out of my club," he muttered. "You step foot in here again, I'll beat that little monster out of your body, and then I'll move on to you." He let her go with a push towards the door before he turned to Tig. "And as for you, you're on shitework until I'm done with you. Now get out, both of you."
"You're not going to talk to me like that," Nina said firmly, standing up to him. Jax could see Chibs' demeanour changing and it scared him. Shoving past Bobby, he went to Nina and pushed her towards the door.
"I'm sorry, you have to go," he said. "Please. Don't make this worse than it is."
Nina almost laughed as he said it. She stared at him for a moment, looking him over before she spat in his face. Her saliva dripped over his face as she muttered,
"He might not realise, but I know this is on you." She sneered at him in distaste and walked out. She wasn't going to stay where she wasn't welcome, that was for sure.