A/N: Ok, so the last chapter wasn't exactly light, but it wasn't as heavy as the previous chapters. This chapter, however, will feature bikers making smores, and I don't think you can get any lighter than that, lol. Thank you so much to everyone who has read, followed, and/or favorited my story. My appreciation for you grows every day! This story has gotten over 5,000 views! Plus fun fact- people in 27 different countries have checked out this story. Is your mind blown? Because mine is! If you haven't already done so, please leave me a review, or even send me a PM if you'd prefer. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story. And for those who have reviewed, once again thank you, please continue to share your thoughts with me!

Kisses N' Cyanide- Thank you again for reviewing! It is good to see Dani opening up to Opie, isn't it? It is the only way for their relationship to grow, after all. How will she do around the other guys? Let's find out! Lol.

Ghostwriter- Thank you! I love that term, slow burn. It definitely applies to Dani and Opie, and I'm glad you're loving it as much as I am. Dani's freak out was understandable for sure, but she is getting better about dealing with those freak outs.

Khyharah- I've missed your reviews as I've been writing these last few chapters, glad you could catch up lol! Yes, Gemma was absolutely misbehaving, but we know quite a bit more about Dani's life. It was very brave of Dani to share her escape and injuries with Jax and Opie. And yes! That kiss was perfectly sweet. And yes, exactly! It was understandable for Dani to freak a little, but she put on her big girl pants and talked to Opie about it. She's getting better about that. I'm so glad you are loving the story, can't wait to share some more of it with you!

Stacy73- I'm glad you found my story and are enjoying it! I really appreciate your kind words. I'm so glad you are feeling the connections Dani is forming with Jax and with Opie. I hope you continue to enjoy the story and look forward to hearing what you think of the rest of it!

Guest ks- I'm glad you enjoyed the imagery of Dani's dream. I'm glad that called out to you, because it will come back to play in later chapters. As always, thank you for sharing your thoughts!

BekaRoo- Thank you for another review! I love that Dani is building trust with Opie as well. It's important for her relationship with him to grow. Working on the next chapter right now! Hope you like it!

Now enjoy the next chapter!

Chapter 14

Dani was smiling brightly as they pulled back into the driveway later that morning. She climbed off the bike and removed her helmet, handing it to Opie who wrapped his arms around her and led her into the house.

"Thank you for taking me for a ride." Dani said, wrapping her arms around him.

Opie chuckled, returning her hug. "Anytime." He kissed the top of her head. "It seems to help you relax, and you seem to like it."

"I do like it. I feel like I can just let go of everything and just…be, you know." She told him.

"Yeah, I get it," he said, tilting his head down to give her a quick kiss. "I'm going to give the guys a call, and we can go to the store, pick up supplies for tonight."

Dani nodded. "I'll go check and see what we may need."

"Gonna make another list?" he teased.

"If I do, I promise this one will be less than two pages," she joked back and headed to the kitchen to check the contents of the fridge.

Dani kept herself busy while Opie went in his room and made some calls. She made a mental list of some things to pick up and started cleaning up around the house. Dani was struggling to get the vacuum out of the utility closet; it was stuck on something she could not see. She could hear Opie finishing up a call as he came out of his room and she gave him a pouting face as she looked between him and the vacuum. Opie ended his call and lifted the vacuum out of the closet, dislodging it from the cords it was catching on.

"Don't worry about that now," he told her, setting the vacuum aside. "You ready to go to the store?"

Dani nodded, grabbed her bag and she let Opie guide her out the door and to his truck.

Opie started the vehicle and pulled out of the driveway. Once they were on their way, their hands instinctively found their way to each other. They were driving to the store when a thought occurred to Dani. "Um what are we doing tonight? About you and me, I mean. Should we avoid… this…" she gestured to their hands, "or is it ok that they know that we are doing whatever it is that we are doing? And what about Jax?"

"That's up to you," Opie told her. "I'm fine if the guys know that we're together. Jax is coming over early to help with a few things. I was going to say something to him then."

"He's going to have a field day with this. He's been teasing me about you ever since that night they came to get you and we were asleep on the sofa." She groaned at the thought of Jax's torturing her with this new information.

"You don't think he's going to have a problem with this do you?" Opie asked her, misinterpreting her concern.

"No, I'm just thinking of the teasing I will have to endure." She began to blush a little. "I know he won't have a problem with this. I, uh kind of asked him about it already, in a hypothetical kind of way, and he didn't seem to mind."

"You did?" he asked. She could hear both the humor and surprise in his tone. "When was this?"

"Sometime between then and now." She said rolling her eyes at him. "He might be a little surprised at how soon this is coming about, but I think he will be ok."

The last few minutes of the drive were quiet but when Opie pulled the truck into a space and parked, he pulled her across the seat and kissed her. When she pulled away a few moments later, she breathlessly asked "What was that for?"

"Because before you even thought you were ready, you were talking to Jax about me and you still don't see how strong you are. Also, because that I like that you like me that much." He told her, opening the door and pulling her out of the truck with him. He slung an arm over her shoulder as they walked into the store.

They grabbed a cart and made a quick stop in the produce section to get a few fresh tomatoes while she asked Opie to grab some lettuce. He returned a moment later tossing a head of iceberg lettuce in the cart. She made a face and she explained that to her, iceberg lettuce was nothing but crunchy water, and she could not stand it. She traded it for the greener, leafier, romaine lettuce, telling him it not only tasted better but was better for them as well. Opie just laughed and led them over to the deli where they picked up a couple large containers of potato salad. Opie assured her that potato salad and some chips were plenty for sides, they were not doing a sit-down meal, that everyone would likely be standing around the backyard with paper plates while they ate their food. He conceded that she could make some dessert, but not to go too crazy as they were making smores.

Dani felt like they were getting some weird looks at the deli department and again at the meat department when they were loading up on ground beef, hot dogs and bratwursts. Dani felt people eyeing them warily, some of them giving her sympathetic looks. She brushed it off as they were getting hot dog and hamburger buns and various flavors of chips and dip, then stocking up on marshmallows, chocolate bars and graham crackers. They stopped at the liquor department before checking out, Opie grabbed a couple of cases of beer, and when Dani expressed that she did not think she would like beer, he grabbed a smaller case of hard cider that he thought she might like so she wouldn't be left out if she wanted a drink.

She again felt like they were getting weird looks from the girl at the checkout counter. This was not like the last time they went shopping where people gave them a natural berth because of Opie's size and intimidation factor, it was like people were actively staring and judging. Opie paid the grocery bill and they pushed the cart out As they were loading everything into the bed of the truck, she asked Opie if he had noticed the strange way people had looked at them.

Opie sighed before speaking. "They probably saw this," he brought his hand up to brush the side of her face, reminding her that Gemma had struck her the previous day and it had left a mark. "They likely thought that either you came to the club for protection against the asshole who hit you, or they thought that I was the asshole who hit you."

Dani gasped. She kept forgetting the mark was there. "They didn't—but you would never—and they just—" she spluttered and turned to look at him.

"You're right, I would never. You knowing that is all that matters. Who gives a fuck what some random assholes think?" He asked, then leaned down to press a ghost of a kiss on the side of her face where the bruising was.

Dani smiled at him but couldn't help but feel bad that people might have assumed that Opie was at fault for her injury and had half a mind to go back into that store and demand to know what was wrong with them. Instead she got in the truck and closed the door, Opie pushed the cart towards the cart corral, and got in as well. As they started heading for home, Dani pulled down the sun visor to look at her reflection in the mirror. The skin underneath her eye and along the side of her face were varying shades of blue and purple. "Damnit Gemma," she murmured to herself. "I'm sorry," she said to Opie.

"You didn't do anything wrong. Nothing to apologize for." He told her and offered his hand out to her. Instead of accepting, Dani scooted over so she was sitting in the middle of the truck, right next to Opie, leaned he head on his shoulder and then pulled his hand into her lap before entwining his hand within her own. They stayed that way in a comfortable silence the rest of the way home. They carried in the groceries together, then Opie left her alone to put the beer in the garage fridge to get cold and clean to grill. Dani make quick work of putting the groceries away, leaving out the hamburger and grabbing an onion. She transferred all the ground beef into a large bowl and began dicing up the onion. When she had cut up enough, she tossed it in the bowl with the ground beef and started adding several different seasonings. When she had added enough, she pushed her sleeves up past he elbows and shoved her hands into the bowl to begin combining ingredients. She hated touching raw meat, but it was a necessary evil, and as Alice had taught her, it was the quickest way to blend the seasonings and onion in with the meat.

When everything was well mixed, Dani began forming patties, and placing them on a platter that she had pulled out. When she had covered the platter with a layer of burger patties she covered them in wax paper, and stated forming another layer of patties, continuing in this way until she had finished, She managed to squeeze the platter into the fridge and washed her hands thoroughly. She then grabbed the vacuum that had been set aside earlier and vacuumed the living room and hallways. When she was finished, she returned the vacuum to the closet and returned to the kitchen, washing up once again, and began to prepare a double batch of brownies, preheating the oven.

Once she had those baking, she started on creating chocolate chip cookie dough, though instead of forming individual cookies, she pressed the dough into the baking sheet, making one giant cooked that she would cut up into bars. She filled three baking sheets this way and set them aside. She had a few minutes before the brownies would need to be pulled out.

She was thinking about what she would need to do next when she heard a knock at the door as she heard it open and Jax called out a hello. She went to greet her brother with a hug. When she released him, he grabbed her face gently and turned it to look at the damage. "Damn, she got you good, didn't she?"

"This? It's just a love tap, I'm sure," Dani replied sarcastically. "Opie's out back, I think he may need some help." She told him as the timer went off and she hurried into the kitchen. To pull out the brownies. She checked that they were done before adjusting the temperature for the cookies. She turned in time to see Jax head out the sliding door. She started washing the dishes she had dirtied, not only because they needed to be done, but because it allowed her to look out the window above the sink to see out in the yard in an effort to spy on her two favorite guys. She couldn't hear anything of course, and all she could see was them embrace in a bro hug and start working. Giving up, she loaded all the dishes in the dishwasher and started it up, then slid the cookie trays into the oven.

She pulled out the fresh tomatoes and sliced them in thin, even slices. She washed the lettuce and chopped the top part off, effectively making pieces that would fit nicely on a burger. When the timer went off again, she removed the cookie sheets from the oven and set them aside to cool. She turned off the oven, cut the brownies into squares before transferring them into a container, then doing the same with the cookie bars.

Finding herself once again with a sink full of dishes she quickly scrubbed the pans before drying them and putting them away. While she had been working, she had gotten flour on her sweater so she removed it, leaving her again in her black racerback top from that morning.

She put the sweater in the laundry basket in her room and went outside to see if the guys needed any help. She could see the grill had been set up and could smell the burning charcoal. A long folding table was set up near the grill waiting for food to be added to it. The shed was open, and the guys had pulled out a bunch of lawn chairs and put then in a haphazard circle around the firepit, which and been filled with logs, and was waiting to be lit, a stack of wood sitting off to the side ready to be added as the fire burned down. There were several long metal poles that she later learned were for roasting the marshmallows. Jax and Opie were sitting in two of the chairs that had been set out, drinking a beer when she walked up and sat down with them, next to Opie.

"Everything's ready to go with the food, whenever you're ready to start grilling," she told them.

"Great, thanks," Opie told her. "I just want to move the stereo in the garage to the deck, and we should be all set here. I'll start grilling as soon as the guys start showing up." He held out his beer to her offering her a sip to see if she might want one of her own. Dani took a tentative sip and immediately handing it back to him, wrinkling her nose and shaking her head. "Want to try a cider?"

"Sure." Dani shrugged. "I'm going to start bringing out the food." She said as they both stood up. "Come help me?" she asked Jax.

"Bring out a few CD's." Opie called.

Jax and Dani headed in through the deck. She started to the living room when Jax caught her hand.

"What?" She asked him.

"You sure about this? You and Ope?" Jax asked.

Dani nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"Like a week ago, you said you weren't ready. What changed?"

"I can't really explain. We talked. I know it won't be easy, that I still have a lot of shit to work through, but Opie knows that. He says he's ok with letting me do what I need to, and I just want to be with him while I can."

"While you can? What does that mean?"

"Just my way of bracing myself in case he decides he doesn't want to wait any more for me to get where in need to be." Dani confessed. Jax started to speak but Dani cut him off. "I know, I know. Its just how I think. It's going to take time for me to not prepare for the worst. Now help me get this stuff outside before everybody gets here."

Jax gave her a look but just said "Ok, Dani," and let her grab the CD's from the top of the stereo. She had him take out a plastic bag that had paper plates, napkins and plastic silverware, along with several bags of chips. She placed the CD's on top of the container of brownies, grabbed the last two bags of chips and was about to head outside when there was a knock at the door.

Dani was halfway to answering the door when she remembered she was not wearing her sweater, and her shoulders and a good chunk of her shoulder blades were on display, complete with scars. She hesitated for a moment before deciding she was ok, she could be strong, most of her scars were covered. She took a deep breath and closed the distance to the door and opened it.

"Hey Tig," she greeted, holding the door open wide and inviting him in. Holding on to the feeling of bravery she had summoned, she leaned forward and gave him a peck on the cheek in welcome as he came inside. "Opie and Jax are out in the back yard, I was just taking this stuff out, she told him.

"Hey baby girl," Tig greeted her back. "Here, let me help with this." He said taking the containers and chips from her.

"Thanks," she said leading him through the house. "So Tig, I don't think we have really talked much since I've been home. Why is that?" she asked, opening the back door for him.

"Dani, I think I'm mostly a good guy, but I'm also… a bit unusual." Tig started.

"By that he means he's a freak." She heard Jax call and she looked to see him and Opie connecting the stereo as they continued over to the food table.

"It's true," Tig said. "I'm pretty much guaranteed to say something that might make you uncomfortable."

"Well now that I know that I can take anything you say with a grain of salt. And if you do manage to say something that I find upsetting today, I'll just light a marshmallow on fire and throw it at you? OK?" she said, humor evident in her voice.

"Deal," Tig agreed. "you need a hand with anything else?"

"No thanks, I'm fine," she told him.

"You certainly are sweetheart."

"Starting already?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "There's beer in the fridge in the garage, help yourself." She grabbed the stack of CD's and returned to Opie and Jax. She set them on the railing next to the stereo, as Opie handed her a bottle of Angry Orchard hard cider. She took a sip, the bittersweet combination hit her just right. "This is much better, thank you. Should I head inside in case someone else shows up?" she asked Opie.

Opie shook his head. "We can just open the garage door, they'll know to head straight back." Jax told him he would take care of it and headed for the garage. "Help me grab the meat for the grill?" He asked, and took her hand leading her inside. "You ok with everything?" he asked her pulling her close for a minute. Dani nuzzled into his chest for a moment before looking up at him.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Why?" she asked him.

"Us." He said, and then with a ghosting touch trailed his hand up her arm and traced the scar that wrapped around her shoulder. Dani forgot how to breathe for a moment. "This. It's a lot to handle at once. Just checking in."

"Well we have one guest and I've already considered covering up, but I don't want to do that. I'm not sure how I will deal if someone asks about the scars or stares at them too much. I'm ready to be me, though, and stop hiding. Tell me the truth though. Does it look that bad? Most of it's covered, right?"

Opie nodded. "Most of its covered, don't worry. And the other part? Us? You still ok with that coming out?"

"I'm completely sure about that."

"Good, cause I don't want to go all night without doing this," he said and captured her lips with his own. He released her a moment later and they grabbed the food for the grill. Dani finished organizing the food table and checked back in with Jax, Opie and Tig.

When she asked if they needed anything, Jax and Tig declined, but Opie asked if she would mind grabbing him a beer and she nodded.

While she was in the garage, she heard a couple more bikes pull up, and walked to the front of the garage to see Bobby and Chibs walking towards her. She greeted them both then turned her attention to Bobby who was holding out a guitar case.

"This is on loan, but I thought you might like to check it out and see if you like the guitar. You wanted to learn an instrument, right?" he asked her.

Dani nodded and before she could think, she gave Bobby a hug. "Thank you! Will you show me how to play?" she asked pulling back and Bobby said he would show her a few things.

"Hey, lass, where's my sugar?" Chibs complained.

"You didn't bring me a present." She told him but gave him a hug as well anyway. "We're out back, you guys want a beer?" she asked as she led the way to the back of the garage. She stopped at the fridge and handed them each a beer, grabbing a third for Opie before they made their way to the back yard.

She led the way to where the men were congregating around the grill. She watched as the guys greeted each other before she handed Opie his beer. "Bobby's going to teach me the guitar." She said.

"Hey that's great." He gave her a big smile at seeing her excitement. Dani took the guitar case and practically pulled Bobby over to the lawn chairs so he could begin teaching her. Bobby taught her a few chords, and while she was able to play them successfully, she felt clumsy as she played. He told her if she kept up playing she would develop calluses on her fingers that would make it easier to play. After a while she gave Bobby back the guitar and asked him to play something. He began playing Can't help Falling in Love. She knew the song well; it was one of Alice's favorites. She picked out a simple harmony and began to sing along. Bobby looked up and nodded in approval. When they were finished, applause rang out across the yard. Dani blushed and shrugged off their compliments. She had noticed that Juice had arrived and so had the younger guy who had been behind the bar the other night so she excused herself from Bobby for a moment and went to say hello.

When he was introduced as Half-Sack, and as the name was explained she shook her head. "Yeah I'm not calling you that, what else you got?" He told her he was also called Kip. "That's better. It's nice to meet you, she said as she shook his hand. She gave Juice a quick hug before returning to Bobby to listen to him play some more. At his encouragement when she knew a song she would sing along a little.

Opie called out that the food was ready, and she jumped up, making sure everyone got what they needed and all had something to drink before fixing herself a plate and grabbing a second hard cider.

All the chairs were taken as there were not enough to go around, so she walked up to Opie and gestured to his lap before looking back at him. Understanding, Opie shifted his plate out of the way, and she perched herself in his lap and gave him a quick kiss. The action was noticed by the rest of the group, who immediately began teasing them, Dani flushed red and brushed them off as Opie's arm came around her. After a few good-natured ribs, the conversation moved on.

They all sat there eating, drinking and talking as the sun started to set. Opie said it was about time to start the fire.

"Smores?" She asked excitedly. When he nodded, she jumped up excitedly and hurried in the house to get the marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers. On her way back to the fire pit she stopped and threw a few brownies and cookies onto a plate and grabbed another cider for her and another beer for Opie.

The fire was roaring by the time she returned, and Bobby was strumming on the guitar. Opie handed her one of the rods for the marshmallows and stabbed one on the end for her. A few of the other guys started doing the same, each of them giving her different advice on how to perfectly roast the marshmallow. She ignored them all and stuck the marshmallow directly into the flame. She lifted it from the fire to see the marshmallow still flaming. She was about to bring it closer to blow out the flames when Tig began telling a crude story. "Flaming marshmallow!" She yelled out waiving the stick in his direction. She did not anticipate that the marshmallow would fly off the stick and land directly in the middle of Tig's kutte. She froze as everyone fell silent for a moment. Suddenly they all burst out in laughter and she relaxed, laughing along as she apologized to Tig and passed him a napkin.

Opie took the rod from her. "I'm revoking your marshmallow roasting privileges." He put two marshmallows on the stick that time and roasted them for her himself. When they were done, he showed her how to put together the smores and they both bit into one.

It was just as Dani thought it would be. Amazing. She smiled brightly at Opie so he would know she liked it. As she ate her smore she couldn't help but giggle to herself at the sight of all these big tough guys in leather eating smores.

The night wore on and they all had more smores and the conversations flowed freely. Dani thought herself a genius when she used her chocolate chip cookie bars to make a smore, and the others agreed when they too followed suite.

Eventually the chocolate ran out and the fire was running low and when Chibs said he was going to head out the others all followed his lead. Dani and Opie walked everyone out front and waved as their engines roared to life and they rode off into the night. Dani wrapped her arms around Opie as they walked inside, and she smiled as she pulled the door closed behind her at having had such a good night.