A/N: This story hit 10,000 views with the last chapter. Thank you to everyone who has read, followed, favorited, and especially reviewed my story! I can't tell you how much I appreciate you all! If you haven't yet, please take a moment to let me know what you think of the story so far, I'd love to hear from you. And now for the regularly scheduled shoutout to my reviewers since my last post:

Ghostwriter- Thank you! So glad you liked the ball game and the interactions wit Jax and Opie. I promise to have more coming soon!

Occasional-episode- Thank you! So glad you liked the chapter and Alice. I think she's pretty cool myself, lol.

Guest- I know, it was weird writing about the big crowds too, but then I reminded myself, this takes place at/before the start of the show, so there is no pandemic to worry about. It was a good thing that Dani overheard Agent Green, but did he really stand there and talk knowing she was there? Is Agent Green that clever? I don't know, but we'll find out lol.

MollyGirl- Thank you for your review! Im so happy you're loving this story! There is so much more to come!

Khyharah- Yes, I was glad to bring Alice for a visit. The ballgame was fun,, even if it was a bit of a disaster. There is currently no waiting for exposure therapy with Jax or Chibs, take your pick, lol! You're right, we will be seeing more of the federal agents. Glad you loved it!

Lets read on!

Chapter 23

Dani smiled as she came out of the building and, spotting Opie, hurried in his direction. Opie took one last drag of the of the cigarette he was smoking before he put it out as she approached.

"Well?" he asked.

Dani held out her hand. "Keys please." She said.

"Not so fast. Let me see it, woman." Opie said, holding out his own hand. Dani placed the plastic card in his hand for Opie to inspect her newly minted driver's license.

She had wanted to get it the previous day when they left the courthouse, but Opie had dropped her off at the house, telling her they had to handle some club business and was gone all day, not coming back until late.

"I didn't know a license picture could look so damn pretty." Opie scooped her up in a hug, lifting her feet off the ground. "Good job, babe," he said, capturing her lips in a kiss as he set her back on the ground.

Dani smiled as he released her. "Thank you. Now hand over those keys."

Opie grabbed her hand and they walked towards her truck. "Sorry babe, I'm driving."

"But it's my truck." Dani argued. "I can finally drive again, and I want to drive my truck."

"And it's all yours once we get to TM." He said as he opened the passenger door for her.

Dani just stood there. "Is this some sort of macho guy thing? Cause I'm not sure I like it," she said, irritated.

"That's part of it. If I'm not bleeding, I'm driving. But I'm also old fashioned. I like driving my girl around, I like opening doors for you, doing things for you," Opie told her.

Dani's irritation softened slightly. "You're not going to win this argument every time with that old-fashioned chivalry routine," she said begrudgingly.

"Today I will," he replied with a smirk as he helped her into the truck. He leaned in and kissed her softly. "Besides, you have to admit it, you like it when I do things for you."

"I do, but that doesn't mean you're going to get to drive all the time," she told him as he closed the door.

"We'll see." He got in on the other side and started the truck. They had been driving in silence for a few minutes when Opie asked, "You aren't mad are you?"

"No," Dani shook her head. "Just thinking about something. I want to ask you something, but I don't want you to take it the wrong way."

"What's on your mind?" He asked.

"When you asked me to stay with you, I know it was because I couldn't sign a lease, and I was Jax's sister, and we were sort of friends. I could sign a lease if I had to, and with us being…more than friends, I don't want it to be awkward for you to have me there or think I'm taking advantage of your offer to stay. I'm not saying that I want to leave, because I don't. I really like staying with you and seeing you every day, I just don't—"

"Baby, take a breath." Opie interjected. "If you're asking if I want you to move out, the answer is no. I want you to stay. I like coming home to you. I like waking up with you. I don't want you going anywhere."

"Really?" Dani asked.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I want you as close as I can get you?"

"It's just not something we've talked about before. I was pretty sure, but I didn't want to assume."

Opie reached over and took her hand. "Start assuming, babe. You're my girl. I'm your guy. Got it?"

Dani smiled and squeezed his hand. "Got it."

They spent the rest of the ride in a comfortable silence. When they arrived at Teller-Morrow and he had parked the car, Opie pulled Dani across the seat and crushed his mouth to hers in a searing kiss. As his mouth moved against hers, his hands moved up to cup her face. "Better?" He asked when he finally ended the kiss.

Dani shook her head. "Better."

"Good." Opie said, and he opened the door and stepped out of the truck. Dani slid across the bench into the driver seat. "Where you off to today?" He asked turning to face her.

"Nothing crazy, thought I'd check with the animal shelter to see if they need any volunteers, stop by the bookstore, pick up a few groceries." Dani told him. "I'll be back to pick you up later." She told him.

Opie leaned in for one last kiss before he stepped back and closed the door. Dani put the car in the reverse to back out of the space, and, with a wave, drove off.

Dani found her way to the animal shelter, only making one wrong turn. Dani went inside and introduced herself to the woman behind the desk. She had a nametag that read Susan. She asked about volunteering and signed up to volunteer two afternoons a week starting next week.

She then went to the bookstore and picked up a couple new novels and a few GED study guides. She checked out and was walking to her truck when she felt someone watching her. She glanced around but didn't see anyone, so she brushed it off. People had been stealing glances at her since that article came out, she figured that must be what she was sensing.

She climbed in the truck and drove herself to the grocery store. She grabbed a shopping cart and began working her way through the aisles, starting in produce and working her way to the deli. She was getting that feeling again, like she was being watched, but again she didn't see anyone looking at her. She was sure she was being ridiculous, but she pulled out her phone and called Opie.

"Hey babe, what's up? Miss me already?" Opie asked.

"I need you to tell me I'm being crazy." She said, feeling sheepish already

"Why? What's going on?" He asked, immediately sounding alert.

"I'm sure its probably nothing, this is the first time I've been out on my own in public and I just—"

"What is it?" Opie asked again.

"I keep feeling like someone is watching me. I don't see anyone, but I can't shake the feeling since I left the bookstore. I know I'm being silly but I just can't shake that feeling." She told him.

"Where are you now?" Opie questioned.

"The grocery store." Dani replied.

"Hang on a second." He said, and she could hear him talking in the background. "Stay where you are. Jax and Chibs are on their way to you, and they're going to follow you back here." Opie said

"Are you sure that's necessary? I'm sure I'm just being paranoid." Dani said.

"Maybe, but we're not taking chances. Stay inside until they get there and stay on the phone. Finish your shopping." Opie instructed her; his tone serious.

Dani started to turn her cart to head down an aisle. "Ok, while we're talking is there an—" Dany cut herself off with a yelp as she bumped into another cart. She dropped her phone and fumbled to catch it. "I'm so sorry," she said as she maneuvered her cart back. "I wasn't watching where I… Agent Johnson?" She asked as she finally looked up to see whose cart she had run into. Instinctively she glanced down to see that the call was still live, but she didn't bring the phone back up to her ear. "What are you doing here?"

Agent Johnson grinned at her, but even his grin gave her the creeps. "Miss Teller, funny running into you here," he said.

"Is it? I was just thinking that it felt like someone was following me. I'm surprised you're still on town, since I've already refused to speak with you twice now." Dani said coldly.

"I may not be involved with any…direct interviewing of certain witnesses, but my superiors at the ATF and FBI have agreed that I still have value to add to this case." Agent Johnson sneered. He took a step closer to her. "I don't think you understand what you're doing, getting involved with the Sons. I can help you."

"Help me by getting me to give you information on my friends and family? Or help me by leaking my personal information to the press, complete with photos? Because I don't see how either of those things are helpful to me." Dani countered, taking a step back to try and keep some distance between them, but she had nowhere else to go as her back hit the shelving and she had a shopping cart on either side of her. "You should just give up now and leave me alone. I'm never going to talk with you about anything, especially my family."

"You need to watch out, little girl, before you wind up in a world of trouble," the agent growled, grabbing her arm with bruising strength, taking another step forward. He was close enough that the fabric of his shirt made contact with the fabric of hers and she could feel the angry heat radiating off his body. She flinched and tried to pull away, but Agent Johnson's grip held firm. Dani's fist on her free arm clenched into a fist instinctively, preparing to strike if necessary.

"Are you threatening me?" Dani asked. She glared at him. "You need to let me go and back off before I scream, or better yet, before some of my biker family that you are so interested show up and see you manhandling me. I'm sure that would go over really well."

"You need to watch your back." Agent Johnson warned before he released her and left the store, abandoning his cart.

Dani stood there reminding herself to breathe for a moment when she heard her name being called. It sounded close, but far away at the same time, and that was when she remembered she was clutching her phone with Opie on the line. She pulled it up to her ear. "—re you there?" She heard.

"Opie? Did you hear all that?" she asked.

"Yeah, I heard." She could hear the anger in his tone, though it shifted to concern as he continued. "Are you ok? Did he touch you?" he questioned.

"I'm ok. He grabbed my arm, but I'm ok. I'm upset but ok…or I'm trying to be, anyway." Dani said. She was shaking slightly, but she knew she had to stay in control.

"The guys should be almost there." Opie assured her. "Are you going to be ok to drive?" He asked.

"I'll be ok," she told him. She started pushing her cart down the aisles, tossing random items in the cart. Opie kept talking to her as she finished shopping and made her way to the front of the store to check out.

She was starting to load the groceries onto the conveyor belt when she saw Jax and Chibs enter and she told Opie they had arrived as they came her way. Opie asked to talk to Jax, so once Jax had reached her and pulled her into a hug, but Dani shrugged him off, and she handed over the phone. She could see Jax's jaw clench as he spoke with his friend. His eyes canned over Dani zeroing in on a red mark on her arm from where agent Johnson had grabbed her, a mark that Dani was just now noticing as well. He barked out a short "Yeah," before ending the call.

He handed her phone back to her and took her arm in his hands to closer inspect the mark. "Are you ok?" He asked her.

"I'm fine, Jax," Dani replied as she withdrew her arm. She turned to continue loading the groceries on the conveyor to be rung up, but Chibs had taken over while Jax had been on the phone and everything was unloaded and waiting to be rung up. The cashier finished scanning her items and Dani paid before quickly being escorted to her truck. They quickly loaded her groceries into the truck bed.

"Dani, tell me what happened." Jax said.

Dani recounted the conversation and she could see both Jax and Chibs getting angry. "I really wanted to hit him," she confessed, "especially when he grabbed me. I swear, I almost did, but I could just see that jerk trying to arrest me for assaulting a federal agent or some crazy shit, even if it was in self-defense."

"Sounds like ye handled yerself just fine, lass." Chibs said.

"No, I didn't. Can we just get out of here?" She asked.

They agreed and were on the way to the garage, Jax on his bike in front of her and Chibs behind her. They pulled into the lot at TM and she had no sooner put the truck in park that the door was jerked open and Opie was there, pulling her into his arms. "I'm ok," she told him, as she brought her hands up to his shoulders and applied pressure, slowly pushing him away.

Opie released as his eyes travelled down her arm, locking in on the clearly visible handprint that was starting to bruise. "You're not."

"It's nothing, it barely hurts. I'm not going to break down, I'm not going to cry. I'm shaken up, but I'm more angry than anything. I just want to go home," she told him.

"Ok," Opie replied. "Give me just a few minutes." Dani stood leaning against the truck, waiting while Jax and Opie spoke. She felt her frustration growing at the situation. He came back a moment later and opened the door. Dani climbed in the truck and slid over to make room for Opie to get in behind the wheel. He tried to reach for her hand, but she didn't reciprocate. Opie glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, but returned his hand to the wheel. When they got home, Opie helped Dani bring the bags in from the truck, and Dani started putting the groceries away. Opie tried to help but Dani shot him down, so he stepped back and leaned against the doorway watching her.

Dani pulled the groceries out of the bags, setting them on the counter. "I don't know why I bought half of this," she commented as she pulled on the cabinet handle.

"Dani, wha—" Opie started but Dani cut him off.

"No. I don't want to talk. I want to be angry." She placed the can she was holding in the cabinet forcefully and slammed the cabinet door shut.

She gripped the edge of the countertop as she stared down at the surface, she sighed and shook her head. "He put his hands on me. I am so sick of people—men, putting their hands on me. Is there a fucking sign above my head? Almost my whole life, men have been putting their hands on me whenever and however they wanted. I finally get to a point where I'm starting to get ok with random touches from people I know and then that asshole puts his hands on me. He put his hands on me."

"Baby—" Opie tried again, but Dani kept continued talking.

"When Jax got to the store, and he hugged me and looked at my arm, I couldn't stand it. When you hugged me, it was the same when you hugged me. I know you were both trying to comfort me, to take care of me but all I could feel was his hands, other people's hands." Dani finally turned to look at him. He was looking at her with concern, but she could also see the hurt in his eyes at her words.

"I'm sorry." Opie told her.

"Don't be. You didn't know. It's not your fault. I'm the one who is sorry. I don't know how to deal with this when all I want to do right now is peel my skin off. When I'm done with that, I want to scream, I want to break things, I want to hit someone. I want… I want to have you hold me but I'm scared with the way I feel right now I'll flinch away from you, even if I want you to touch me, and I don't want to flinch away from you." Dani looked at him helplessly. "I don't know what to do."

"Can I make a suggestion?" Opie asked. Dani nodded. "Take a deep breath and scream."

"What?"

"You want to scream, then scream." Opie looked at her expectantly.

Dani looked back at him, but she could tell he was serious. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and screamed as loud as she could. She channeled as much of her anger and frustration into the scream to try and rid herself of the negative emotions. She opened her eyes and saw Opie, still watching her, but with a small smile on his face this time.

"Did it help?" He asked.

Dani thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think it did," she told him.

"You still want to break something?" Opie asked her.

"I don't want to break any of our stuff."

"What about hitting someone?"

"There's no one I want to hit here."

"OK, my next suggestion is to go take a hot shower or a bath or something. Don't try and peel your skin off or scrub it off. When you're done, if you want, I have an idea. You said you want me to hold you but you don't want to flinch when I touch you, so if you want me around, you take control. I'll sit and wait for you wherever you'll feel the most comfortable. You want me to hold you, you put my arms around you, where you want them. You want to us to just sit there; we'll just sit there. You want me to leave you alone for the rest of the day, then I will."

Dani nodded. She thought about it for a minute. "Wait for me in the living room?" she asked.

Opie nodded. "Take your time."

Dani retreated into her room. Going into her bathroom, she shed her clothes, turned on the water as hot as she could stand and stepped into the shower. She picked up het loofah, squeezed a large amount of soap on it and began scrubbing at her skin, building up a lather. Dani forced herself to stop after a few minutes to keep herself from scrubbing her skin raw, but she stood under the hot stream of water until her skin was bright red.

She turned off the water, stepped out of the shower and dried off. She dressed in her coziest pair of pajamas. She walked into the living room and saw Opie sitting on the chaise part of the sofa, legs stretched out in front of him. Dani sat next to Opie. She carefully leaned her head on his shoulder. "Why do people keep grabbing me, hurting me? What's wrong with me?"

"I don't know, babe. But there is nothing wrong with you. He won't touch you again." Opie told her.

Dani didn't say anything, but she crawled into Opie's lap and grabbed his arms, wrapping them around her, instructing him to hold her tighter. She closed her eyed and rested her head on his chest.

"Opie?" She said after a while.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"I don't know how you put up with me." She said after a while.

"I told you. I'm yours. You're mine." He told her.

She snuggled further into Opie's arms and closed her eyes as they sat there.

"Opie? This doesn't feel right. You can stop being a giant posable action figure and just hold me."

Opie's arms shifted slightly, and his hand started moving in comforting, small circular motions across her back. "Better?" he asked.

"Better." Dani said.