Thank you for all of the reviews! It means so much that I was welcomed back with open arms :) I'm glad you all welcomed Dru back too. Anyways, here's the new chapter.

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Fallon: End of an Era

Chapter Two

She had overheard his conversation with Chibs. Apparently Tig had disappeared off the face of the Earth and told no one where he was going. It was one hell of a way to keep a secret. But to be honest, she'd had no intention of keeping her freedom quiet.

"Why didn't you just tell him where you were going? You obviously had prior commitments before I called you."

"Yeah, why did you call me anyways? I figured you would've called Chibs or Bobby. You and I have never been particularly close."

Dru rolled her eyes. "But I knew that you would be the one to not ask questions. Chibs and Bobby, on the other hand, would be giving me the Spanish Inquisition, and to tell you the truth, I'm not up for it right now."

Tig shrugged. "Understandable."

"So, what did you miss?"

"Just a manhunt. No big deal."

"No big deal? Usually when you all are looking for someone it's quite a big deal. You want to try again?"

Tig rolled his eyes. "The Grim Bastards. We owe them. One of their guys is dead and two in critical condition after being ran off the road."

Dru nodded. "And you're trying to find out who the driver was. Any beef with other gangs or clubs?"

"Not that we know of," Tig told her.

"Well, I'm not looking. That doesn't concern me."

"I didn't think you would. But what does concern you, Red?"

"Jackson," Dru replied without pause. "Are you going to let me know what's been going on the past ten days?"

"Gemma has visited you."

Dru scoffed. "You and I both know that Gemma didn't tell me everything cause she didn't want me to worry. After all, what can I do if I'm behind bars? But I'm not behind bars now, Tiggy. Now, cough up everything you know. I'm not going in blind."

Tig didn't have to tell her much. What Gemma hadn't said, Tig filled in the blanks. But what neither of them knew was that she had eyes and ears everywhere. She might've only been gone ten days, but a lot can happen during that time, and it had.

Dru had already received word that Jax could be looking at an acquittal. After all, there had been nothing left at the crime scene except for the bodies of Tara Knowles-Teller and Sheriff Eli Roosevelt. There would be no sufficient evidence and certainly no suspects. It hadn't been a surprise when Rat called Tig to let him know that Jax had just been escorted out of the local jail. She smiled with glee. Dru wondered what kind of homecoming there would be.

Tig pulled up to Scoops and quickly parked the van. "Are you sure you're ready to face everyone?"

"Why wouldn't I be? Am I going to face the wrath of the Sons?" she joked.

"No wrath from us," Tig told her. "But you got to know that Jax was pretty pissed when you turned yourself in for something you didn't do."

She rolled her eyes. "I did it to protect him and the club. If I hadn't have done that, Jax was going to. I was not about to allow that to happen."

"I understand that. But you know how Jax is."

"Yes, I know how Jackson is. I know better than anyone," she said. "Let's go and get this over with."

Whenever Tig walked into Scoops he found that everyone had already made their way upstairs to the meeting room. He looked out the windows to signal Dru to come on ahead in. He couldn't quite believe he had just picked Dru up from prison. It had been meant for her to spend the next thirty years in prison. He wondered what sort of power that Dru had that had bailed her out so easily, and without consequence. There had been no fight at the prison. She had walked out as calmly as you please.

It was quite scary just how much juice that Dru was exhibiting. The Sons had known from the beginning when she had returned that she had enormous pull in certain areas. It had also been a shock to the system when Galen had revealed her participation in the IRA, and her skills in killing people. But what had been even more alarming was how they had made her become the assassin she was now. They had shown her no mercy. The IRA had stripped the very humanity from her soul. The only time that Dru was even remotely human was when she was with Jax.

Tig knocked on the door and was greeted by Rat on the other side. Tig walked in and could already tell that he had missed church.

"Where the hell have you been, Tiggy?" Chibs questioned him immediately.

"Yeah, you were supposed to be with us earlier. You missed us dragging ole' cripple down the street," Happy told him.

"I had an errand to run, assholes, and you'll be glad I did," Tig replied. "Come on in!"

Dru stepped around the corner and made her appearance in the doorway. She smiled as the jaws of the men dropped in disbelief. She had certainly made the entrance of the century.

"Pick your jaws up. It's not that surprising that I'm out, is it?"

"What the fuck, Dru?" Chibs reacted as he stood up from his chair and practically ran to her and picked her up in a hug.

Eventually every member had gotten up and hugged her. There was only one person who hadn't touched her yet. When everyone stepped away Dru got her first good look at Jax. Sure, it had only been ten days, but it felt like it'd been a lifetime. The separation had been more agonizing than the four years before. But it was different this time. Dru had actually felt Jax's lips on hers now. She had heard his confession of love. It had been nothing short of a miracle.

"Hi," she softly spoke.

Jax stood up from his seat at last. Dru watched as he swaggered his way towards her. 'God, he's so sexy,' she thought. He had walked to where there was barely a foot separating them. Dru suddenly found herself in a lip lock with the one and only Jackson Teller. It felt good to be home.

It seemed that it meant more to everyone that Dru was home instead of Jax. Dru didn't quite understand how that could be considering he was their leader. He was the one that had been leading them to absolution and hopefully would continue that path. But something told Dru that it wasn't going to play out that way. Even though Jax was more than ecstatic that she was out, Dru could tell there was something desolate inside of him now.

Jax grabbed Dru's hand and drug her out of the meeting room behind him as the rest followed. At the bottom of the stairs they found Nero sitting at the bar being served coffee by Chuck. Dru stopped in her tracks. She didn't quite trust Nero anymore. She quickly untangled her fingers from Jax's and stood back. Jax glanced at her and furrowed his brow. He had been caught off guard by her disconnecting from him.

"Hey. Good to see you, man," Nero said as he hugged Jax. "Glad you're out."

"Me too," Jax muttered.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"What did he want?" Dru asked him whenever he came back into Scoops.

"He's setting up a meeting with the Mayans and the Chinese."

She did a double take. "And you're participating in this meeting as well?"

"I have to," Jax nodded. "I have to deal with the repercussions that have taken place since I gave the gun trade to the blacks."

"That was good for business. It got you out of running guns. It got you away from the IRA."

"Yes, it did. But there will be blowback from it, and I have to deal with it. There has to be peace even if it's just a little bit."

"I might have been in prison for ten days, but even I know that's a pipe dream. There's a war brewing in Oakland. We knew that was a possibility when we made that deal. And even with his connections, August isn't going to be able to stop it," Dru explained. "The Sons shouldn't have to deal with repercussions at this point."

"We're still in the middle of it, Dru," Jax told her.

"No, you're in the middle of it. There's a difference. In ten days, you have changed your mind about going legit."

"I have to find Tara's murderer, Dru. Vengeance is the only thing I can think about. But not for me. For the boys."

Dru's heart stuttered. She knew the reason behind his new character, but she didn't have to like it.

"Vengeance isn't going to bring her back, Jackson."

"I know that. But I can't allow anyone to think that it's okay to touch the things that belong to me!" Jax snapped. "You had just turned yourself in as the gun distributor and connected yourself to the fucking IRA. I had just found you, and then you allowed yourself to be taken away from me! And then whenever you get drug away in handcuffs, I go home to find Tara's dead body on the kitchen floor! I had one hell of a night ten days ago!"

"I understand that, Jackson, but this isn't going to fix it. You're going to dig yourself into an even deeper hole than before, and you're not going to be able to get out of it. Darkness will drown you."

Jax shook his head. "I don't care," he muttered.

Terror liquidated itself over Dru's body.

Dru ended up going to the meet with Jax because he asked. But to be completely honest, she had no idea what she was doing there. After all, there was nothing she could do. Jax had already settled himself into the role of the most dangerous man in Charming.

"Nero expressed your condolences. I appreciate that," Jax told the Mayans and Chinese at the table.

"Awful thing losing family," Lin said.

"Yeah," Jax muttered as he lit his cigarette.

Nero sat up. "Okay, so let's figure out what we have to do to keep everyone moving forward. Pushing back on turf, blood for blood, we all know why we have to do it, but we also know how much it hurts business. You throw in the heat from the ATF, gang task force—we're just gonna end up choking each other out. No one wins. We have to be smarter than a loaded gun."

"I know us handing off the gun trade to Marks upset the balance. It's hard to explain. It was historical shit. I was so focused on moving us away from the IRA, I didn't give a shit about blowback. That was a mistake. For better or worse, I got a relationship with Barosky. You guy bump up against him at the port, I can help. Or at the very least, I got no trouble looking the other way.

We got tight with Connor Malone. He's the boots on the ground here for the Irish. I can't take back any of the business we gave to black, but I can get you access to the Irish guns you currently don't have. At the very least you can increase your business to your customers outside Sanwa," Jax explained.

"It's a start," Lin said.

"SAMCRO's throwing me a little homecoming bash tonight at our new adult entertainment facility," Jax told them.

"You talking about that shitty porn warehouse on the docks?" Alvarez questioned.

"When you say it like that, it kind of loses all its magic," Jax sarcastically remarked. "Why don't you join us? Bring your family, your crew. I'll invite Connor. You guys can have an easy, informal chat."

"No offense, but the last time my family entered a warehouse with the Irish and your crew, no one came out alive," Lin said.

"Bohai came at us for what the Irish did to you. We had no idea that retaliation was going down."

"Well, my uncle didn't handle things the way I would have. Old world shit."

"I understand your concern about walking into a trap, but my family's going to be there, friends, probably some kids. Nothing's going down on our end, except some Jack and beer," Jax assured them.

"Niners?" The Vice President of the Mayans asked.

"Apart from the Grim Bastards, there won't be any black to slam into," Jax replied.

"Hey, you all come by," Nero told them. "If it feels right, you stay. If not, we figure out another place and time."

"You're, uh, escorts…" Lin began. "They gonna be serving snacks?"

Nero looked at Jax. Jax simply shrugged. "Snacks, absolutely," Nero answered.

"I think maybe I can convince my guys to roll by."

"I'll make it work," Alvarez told him.

"Good," Jax nodded and began shaking hands. "We'll call you with a time."