A/N: Sorry this update took so long to get out. I have been dealing with a fever and an ear infection, so it has been hard to focus on writing. So, the giant posable action figure line was a hit. It cracked me up too when it came to me. Thank you! You all are amazing, and I love you all for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting. If you have not reviewed, please let me know what you think. If you have not reviewed in a while, I would love to hear from you again. Love it? Let me know. Hate it? Let me know. Think it's kind of meh (dear god I hope not)? Let me know. And if you have reviewed recently, I am about to sing your praises:

Ghostwriter- I love that line too, so glad you liked it. Agent Johnson is a total dick, pun intended, lol. I will do my best to keep giving you chapters you will love!

KS- I thought that was you last chapter, because it would be odd not to hear your thoughts on a chapter at this point, but I didn't want to offend anyone if it turned out not to be you lol. Yeah it sucks that Dani had a setback, but it was inevitably going to happen at some point. Hopefully, she will bounce back soon!

BekaRoo- Great to hear from you again! Glad you have been enjoying the updates! It is fun to see Dani kicking some ass. I was sad that she had a setback last chapter, but she will be back and stronger than ever soon. Working hard to bring you another update as soon as possible.

Khyharah- Opie is about as awesome as they come. Glad you loved the interaction at the end. Ok, got you down for therapy with Chibs lol. This is currently pre-season one. Wendy is pregnant currently. There will be some story lines from the show that will show up at some point, soonish, but it will only loosely follow the plot from the show and will likely be a mix of the show and AU. Glad you liked the update.

Ok, enough of listening to me… lets read a chapter.

Chapter 24

Dani was laying on her back in a field of wildflowers. The sun shining down on her, warming her. White, fluffy clouds were rolling across the bright blue of the sky and she was picking shapes out of them.

Suddenly the scene shifted, and she was 6 years old and was in the pitch black of the closet. She was being punished for not wanting to see her 'uncle.' She was crying, and she was cold and hungry, and she ached from the beating she had received before being tossed in the closet.

The scene shifted again, and she was back in the field, with the sun and she could feel the warm breeze against her shin and smell the flowers and wild grass in the air.

Her dream shifted again, and she was laying on a mattress, wearing only a tank top and her underwear. She was seventeen and she was in the room that she would be trapped in until she escaped. She jumped off the mattress and started running for the door, but she was stopped by a tug on her ankle. She looked down to see a shackle around her ankle and a chain. The door opened and a man stood there, wearing black slacks and a button up shirt. He had dark hair and dark eyes, and as he spoke even his voice seemed dark. "You shouldn't have run from my men. It's going to make things more difficult for you here," he said and started towards her.

Her dream was shifting back to the field, the warmth of the sun washing over her when she heard her name being carried over the breeze from a distance. "Dani…Dani…"

"Dani…" she heard Opie saw as she opened her eyed and pulled herself from sleep.

"Opie?" Dani asked as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "What's going on?"

"You were dreaming. Seemed bad." He told her.

"It was and it wasn't. I was dreaming about a peaceful place, and the dream would start to shift and turn bad, but before it would get too bad, I would be back in that peaceful place. It just kept going back and forth like that," said Dani.

"That sounds unsettling," Opie commented.

"Yes and no. My bad dreams are always unsettling. But the good place I dream about—I only dream about it when I am with you. Even before you woke me up, I knew I was ok because I was with you." Dani brought her hand to the side of his face.

"Tell me about the good place."

"It's silly."

"Tell me."

"It's just a field… a field of grass and flowers. I'm lying in the field and looking at the sky and it's so blue, and I can feel the sun warmth of the sun. That's it. I told you it was silly."

"No, it's not. It sounds peaceful." Opie told her, running a hand up and down her arm. "You doing ok after yesterday?"

Dani shrugged. "I don't know. It's all so frustrating, and I feel like I don't know what to do with myself."

"Want to call Chibs? See if he can work with you today?" Opie asked.

Dani shrugged again. "Maybe."

"Want to go for a ride on the bike?" Opie suggested.

"That would be good. Wait, don't you have to work today?" Dani asked him.

"Not today. Today I'm all yours," he told her.

"It's been a few days; I should go running with Jax and I should work out with Chibs. But maybe we can do that later, because right now, I just want to be right here with you."

"Whatever you want." Opie said moving his hand from her arm to around her back and pulling her closer.

"Anything?" Dani asked brushing her nose against his in an eskimo kiss.

"Anything," confirmed Opie before capturing her lips with his.

Dani grumbled as she climbed into the ring. She had spent the morning in bed with Opie, cuddling and kissing. When they had finally gotten ready for the day, they took Opie's bike to the garage, where he dropped her off. Jax was working and the garage was too busy for him to join her on a run. Chibs, however was in the club house and quickly agreed to join her for a workout.

"Do we have to do this again?" Dani asked. "You know I hate this part."

"Aye, but it's the most important part." Chibs told her. "Ye wanted to learn to defend yerself, and ye can't do that by just hitting a punching bag."

"So, what are we doing today? Did you convince someone else to dress up in that crazy suit?" Dani asked.

"Just me and you lass," said Chibs. "Now walk me through what happened yesterday when Johnson grabbed you."

"I told you. He crashed his cart into mine, tried to manipulate me, I called him out on it, he backed me into the shelves and threatened me, I tried to leave and he grabbed my arm, I threatened to make a scene, he left."

"Why didn't you hit him? Stop him from grabbing you?" Chibs asked.

"I told you, he's a federal agent. I didn't want to risk the situation escalating. I didn't know he was going to grab me like that. I tried to pull my arm away, but he had a pretty damn good grip." Dani thrust her arm out to show him the hand shaped bruise on her forearm.

"How did you try to get out of his grasp?" Chibs grasped her arm gently but in the same hold as Agent Johnson and had her demonstrate how she tried to pull away. "Next time someone grabs you like that try this…" as he spoke, he demonstrated how to turn her arm in its grasp so the narrowest part was facing where his fingertips were overlapped, and which direction to pull from depending on how he was holding her arm. They practiced this for a while with several different holds. "Good. Now we need to talk about how ye let him back you into a wall to begin with."

"I was just trying to keep some space between us. He just kept pushing closer." Dani told him.

"Ye have to be more aware of your surroundings, ye can't let yerself get trapped like that. Stand your ground, put yer arm out as a barrier, push back if ye have to. Imagine this ring is a room. That's an exit," he said pointing to one corner, "and that's another," he pointed to the opposite corner. "You stay in the middle or get to one of the exits. Do not let me get you against the ropes or in one of the other corners, got it?" Dani nodded and they began. Chibs quickly had her against the ropes, just by walking quickly in her direction. Twice more she wound up against the ropes.

"Stand yer ground, fight back, or get to an exit." Chibs said. Dani did slightly better that time around, Chibs giving her pointers to help with the next round and the next, until she could hold her own for several minutes and even made it to one of the 'exits' a couple of times.

They stopped and wrapped Dani's hands and Dani pulled on her gloves as Chibs put on the hand targets. Dani began focusing her frustration onto her punches as Chibs directed her to still try and stay in the center of the ring. She punched and jabbed and ducked, and moved around the ring, doing her best to steer clear of the ropes.

She heard a whistle and turned to see Opie walking their way. She jumped out of the ring and threw her arms around Opie. "Where did you go?" she asked.

"You'll see. I'll show you now if you're done being Xena for today." Opie replied.

Dani laughed and turned to Chibs. "Are we done?"

"Aye lass, we are done." Chibs said. Dani removed her gloves and handed them to Chibs. "One last lesson for today. If something like yesterday ever happens again, ye do not threaten to make a scene, ye make a scene. Ye may not be given a chance to follow through with yer threat. Got it?"

"I got it." She told him, giving him a hug. "Thank you," she said before turning to Opie.

"Ok, Sasquatch, show me what you were off doing?"

Opie led her out to the lot, and she was surprised to see his truck there instead of the bike. She was about to ask about the bike when she saw it sitting in the bed of the truck. "Ok, what are we doing?" she asked. "Are we going somewhere?"

"Not far" Opie said as he opened the truck door for her. "Just needed more than we could carry on the bike."

"So why did you bring the bike?" Dani asked.

"Because I promised you a ride. Will you just get in the truck?" Opie gestured to the open door and Dani smiled and climbed in.

Opie walked around to the other side and got in, started the truck and took off. They drove for a little while before turning down a dirt road. He drove a little further, pulled into a clearing, and got out. He came around the truck, opened her door, took her hand and led her to the back of the truck.

Dani watched as Opie grabbed a box and carried it over to a large rock cluster a few feet away. He came back to the truck and handed her a pair of gloves and a flannel shirt of his. "Put these on," he told her.

"What for?" Dani asked, thoroughly confused, as Opie grabbed a second box and set it by the first.

"Safety." He said simply.

"Safety? Opie what are we doing here?"

"We're going to break some shit," he told her. When she just stared at him in bewilderment, he continued. "Yesterday, you angry enough that you wanted to break some shit, but not our shit. It's been a day, so I'm assuming there's still enough of that in you that breaking some shit would still feel pretty good, right?" Dani nodded slowly. "So, I got some stuff you can break. The long sleeves and gloves are to protect you from any flying shards. Oh, and these." He went back to the truck bed, opened the toolbox he kept there and pulled out some safety glasses and handed them to her.

"You're crazy, you know that? But this is kind of perfect." She said giving him a smile. She pulled on the shirt and gloves and slipped on the safety glasses, sure she looked ridiculous. She turned to see Opie had emptied about half the box on the large rock. There were plates and glasses, a chipped ceramic teapot and saucer, and several ugly figurines.

Opie came back to where she was standing. "Ok, you can throw things and break them that way, or we have a tire iron, a baseball bat, or a mallet you can use for smashing purposes." He gestured in the truck bed and Dani saw the items there as he listed them off. She decided on the baseball bat. She picked it up and held it in her hand as she got used to the weight of it.

She walked slowly towards the breakables, and closed her eyes, channeling her anger. She let the frustration she felt at the previous days' events bubble up, opened her eyes and swung. When she connected with the teapot, what she saw was Agent Johnson grabbing her arm, the ugly figurines became him backing her into the shelving, pressing against her, threatening her. And then it was every man who touched her, hurt her. When everything that had been set out was broken, she took more things out of the box, throwing some against the rocks and watching them shatter, hitting others with the bat. What she didn't expect was that with each swing, with every smash, she was able to let go of some of that anger. When all the glass and ceramic were shattered, she felt lighter. The energy she had been using on anger and trying to keep all her anger locked away in a neat little box was suddenly free. It felt easier to breathe, easier to feel, just…easier. That little box was broken, the glass and ceramic was broken. She wasn't broken. She had felt broken for so long, but despite everything she had been through, she wasn't in pieces like she thought, she was stronger than that.

She dropped the bat and removed her glasses and gloves, turned and walked the few steps to Opie, who had been watching her with an indecipherable expression, grabbed him by his kutte and pulled him down to meet her in a searing kiss.

Opie's arms wrapped around her, pulling her close as their tongues moved in tandem with each other. When they finally broke for air, Opie looked down at her. "I take it that helped?" he asked.

"You have no idea how cathartic that was. I was holding on to so much more than I realized. I don't think this is going to magically fix everything, but it did make me see something that you've tried to tell me, that everyone has been trying to tell me."

"And what's that?" Opie asked.

'That I am stronger than I thought I was." Dani told him. "I let the hurt and anger I feel at what I've been through made me think that I was broken, that I was defective, but I'm not."

Opie smiled and pulled her closer. "That's good, babe. I'm glad." He brought his hand up to cup her face. "I can tell, you don't look like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders anymore."

Dani leaned into his touch. "Thank you for this. I don't get why you brought your bike for this though."

"I thought we could stay at my pop's cabin. I packed us a bag, but I also promised you a ride on the bike. I can take my bike to work in the morning and you'll have the truck to take home."

"That sounds really good." Dani said.

"Let's go then." Opie took her arm and led her to the truck.

Dani closed her eyes as the wind ripped through her hair. Opie had driven her to the cabin, which was rustic and very peaceful. They had an early dinner and then went for a ride on Opie's bike. She had her arms wrapped around him and pressed against his back, she felt that electric pull that she felt each time they touched. She lifted her head from where it rested on his back and put her lips near his ear as she splayed her hands across his lower abdomen, tracing the lines of his muscles. "Let's go home," she said, just loud enough for him to hear over the engine. She knew he heard her when he gave a single nod, and his hand came to stop the movement of her own, giving it a squeeze before letting go.

Twenty minutes later, they were pulling back into the cabin. Dani pulled the helmet off her head as she climbed off the bike. Opie got off the bike and took the helmet from her before looking at her with a smoldering gaze. Dani looked back at him with desire and before she knew it, his lips were moving against hers. She let out a whimper as their tongues met. Opie's hands wrapped around her, moved his hands down her back to cup her ass and lifted. Dani gasped in surprise, but instinctively wrapped her legs around him and he carried her into the cabin and through to the bedroom.

Their kisses grew softer as they slowly undressed each other, taking time to caress each new bit of skin as it was exposed. As Opie reached behind her to unclasp her bra as Dani's hands travelled down Opie's chest to his stomach. She hesitated briefly at the waistband of his boxers before sliding inside them, circling his hardness, stroking him.

Opie broke away from their kiss to look down at her "Baby…"

"I want this, Opie. I want you." To emphasize her point, she stroked him again.

"Are you sure?" Opie asked her. Dani nodded and Opie kissed her again before guiding her to the bed. He removed the last of their clothing He kissed his way from her neck to here chest as his hand slid down to her clit. He began rubbing her center at the same time as he took her right nipple into her mouth. Dani gasped as she clutched Opie to her. She reached down and began stroking Opie's hardness.

Opie let out a quiet moan and he kissed her as he slid first one, and then a second finger inside her, causing Dani to let out a moan of her own. Their lips moved together as they brought each other pleasure. Dani felt her excitement growing until she was on the edge of an orgasm. Just then, Opie withdrew his fingers, eliciting a whimper of protest.

He maneuvered himself between her legs as he broke away from their kiss. He looked into her eyes and saw her desire, but he also saw some nervousness. He positioned himself at her entrance. "Tell me you're ready," he said.

"I'm ready," she told him. Opie thrust slowly into her, pausing when he was fully inside her. Dani gasped at the sensation. Opie filled her so perfectly, and as Opie began moving inside her, Dani let out a gasp. "Opie."

"God baby, you feel so good," Opie told her as he kissed her throat. Their motions were sensual and slow, Dani raising her hips to meet each of his movements with one of her own, her hands moving across the muscular plane of his back. Soon, Dani was back on the brink of her orgasm.

"Opie, I'm going to… I'm so close." She closed her eyes, willing the feeling to overtake her.

"No. Look at me. I want to see you when you come." He told her. Dani Opened her eyes and gasped as Opie reached between them with one hand and began circling her clit with his thumb. A few moments of that coupled with the feeling of Opie moving inside her and the look in his eyes as he watched her move underneath him and she was coming undone. Wave after wave of pleasure as she got lost in the intensity of Opie's deep brown eyes.

"You're so perfect," Opie told her as her orgasm subsided as he leaned down to capture her lips with her own. He increased the speed of his movements, causing Dani to cry out, her overly sensitive nerves still alight with fire.

"Opie," she gasped. "More."

"More what?" Opie asked, pressing kisses to her neck.

"You. More of you." Dani cried.

Opie increased his movements, thrusting deeper, faster. "Is this what you want?" he asked her.

"Yes," she panted, "so good."

"Baby, fuck, you feel so good. I want you to come with me," he told her as he brushed his hand across her breasts, fingers grazing her nipples. He took her hand and guided it in between them to where they were joined. Together, they worked over her sensitive nub until she was writhing, on the edge of another orgasm. "Come on baby, come with me."

Opie's movements became erratic, thrusting deeply as he came, her name coming foo his lips and the feeling of his losing control inside of her brought Dani over the edge, and they came undone together.

They lay there after, catching their breath, wrapped in each other's arms. Opie kissed her gently. "Are you ok?"

"I'm perfect." Dani said. "This was perfect."

"You're perfect." He told her, kissing her again.

Dani lay there, looking into Opie's eyes, seeing the emotion in his eyes, and feeling quite emotional herself, she spoke. "I'm so glad I have you in my life. You make me feel so safe; you feel like home to me. I never thought I would find anything like this, anyone like you. Opie, I…I love you."

Dani held her breath as she waited for him to say something as her. She grew more and more nervous as the silence seemed to drag of forever. Finally, Opie pulled her closer. "I love you back," he said in that low, gravelly tone that always made her melt before bringing his lips to meet hers in a kiss.