CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile. Here we go, bonus Saturday chapter. I did manage to get some more sleep, running on 6 hours when I've recently been getting 10-12 hours a day due to being sick. On the upside, only 3 more sleeps then I'm getting my Gall Bladder out.

Pulling into TM the first person who moves towards us is Chibs and it's not even to see us, he opens the tail door and pats Doj "Come on big boy, I have a slice of pizza with your name on it."

Shaking my head I unbuckle my seat belt smiling at Miles who's moving the food and dish from the back of my car into Gemma's Caddy which Jax had parked beside. "Pizza's inside, it arrived about 2 minutes ago. Beers cold and Gemma got some really fancy vodka for you to try Sarah."

Getting Abel out of his seat I nod "And Miles, please for the love of god call me S, or hey you if you must."

Miles laughs "Sorry."

Jax picks Abel out of my arms and points towards the diaper bag "You carry that."

"Oh for fuck sakes Jackson don't be silly. It's a black leather bag, what's so offensive?"

"It's a handbag." He states as we walk towards the door, Miles snickering quietly behind us.

"No it's not, it's a diaper bag. Full of diapers, wipes, bottles, formula, cream, a couple of toys, bibs, burp cloth and a change of clothes. You won't find any of that in my handbag."

Jax shrugs, pushing the door open "Don't care, it's a handbag."

Opie laughs "Still having that argument. Harden up bro."

Cam appears at my side, throwing her arms around me and hugging me tightly "Hey." She whispers in my ear "You doing okay?"

I nod, pulling away and taking a look at her, bursting into laughter before searching the room, finding Happy leaning against the bar "You work fucken fast you know that Hap?"

He frowns and I gesture towards Cam's neck where a fresh hickey is peeking out the top of her shirt. He shrugs and turns back to Bobby.

Cam slaps her hand to her neck "Dammit, I thought I'd covered it."

"You did, but moving to hug me moved your shirt off your collar bone." I reply with a giggle. "Guess Hap wanted to mark his territory."

Cam blushes faintly but doesn't say anything, dragging me towards the tables where Al, Donna, Lyla and Cherry are already sitting with Gem and Luann, three pizza boxes open on the two tables.

"Hungry girls?" I remark, pulling out the seat between Donna and Cam's empty one, her bomber jacket proof of her seat.

Gemma points towards the bar where the entire surface is almost covered "Had to make sure we got some before the vultures ate it all." Pointing at the three she tells me there's a Hawaiian, which makes my nose wrinkle. Ellie and I agree on that point, pineapple is a dessert food and does not belong in pizza or in burgers. Meat lovers, which is covered in sausage, ham, beef, chicken, pepperoni, prosciutto and a swirl of deep brown BBQ sauce piled on top of the cheese and a Margherita pizza which has tomato, basil and mozzarella on it.

"The one Cam told me was your favourite has crushed garlic, onions and chilli on half of it. I wasn't brave enough for the chilli." Gemma tells me, pointing to the difference in the sides of the huge pie.

Everyone but Al laughs at me when I pull Abel's burp cloth out of the diaper bag and drape it over the front of my white t-shirt. Picking up the first slice I put it to my mouth laughing when a bit of onion falls off, dragging some sauce with it and landing on the middle of what was the barb wire heart on my shirt before I covered it.

"That's why I wear a bib it's so good it's messy." I say with a smile, shoving a huge bite into my mouth. The slight heat from the chilli is enough to let me know that California, well Charming at least, still hasn't realised that chilli is amazing, if used in the right place.

Al and Lyla, who are already known for their appetites, look surprised when I reach for a second slice of pizza before they do. Their eyes widening in surprise as I laugh.

Pulling a bit of the meal lovers onto my napkin I stop to brush off my hands "There's one place in Charming that does pizza's well. Before I moved to New York Gem would make sure once a month we'd have a girls night of pizza and chick flicks."

"Really?" Jax's voice behind me makes me jump a little. Leaning backwards so I can see him I nod.

"You asked every now and then why you'd come home and it would smell like pizza and popcorn. Well, that's cause that's normally what we'd eaten."

Gemma narrows her eyes "Shush. You're giving away trade secrets there. How am I meant to do that with your kids if Jax knows?"

I laugh "Easy, I'll let you. Just as long as you don't…"

"Let them eat pizza, French fries, popcorn, chocolate chip cookies and ice cream in one night." Gemma finishes with a laugh; everyone else looks completely lost while I nod.

Finishing three slices of pizza and the vodka and lemonade that Jax had brought me it's almost 830 when he reappears at the table with a very tired Abel in his arms, the poor boy is almost dropping off to sleep while sucking on his bottle "Babe, time to go."

I nod, standing up and hugging Gemma tightly, thanking her again for dog sitting while we're gone. Crouching beside Doj where he's chewing on a pizza crust I gave him he looks up as I pat his head "Love you buddy. Be good for grandma."

Having already handed my keys to the house to Gemma so she can come and get the mail I double check she remembers the new alarm code which she nods at, telling me she's got it locked in the safe at their house just in case. The house keys I gave her were carefully done as both the keys for the front door and back door have 'do not copy' printed on them. My love for Gemma is deep enough, but I don't want her having free access to my home unless I decide to give her keys.

Jax and I retrace our steps to the car Donna and Opie using our exit as a way to get out themselves. Needlessly reminding Cam and Al that we need to be at the airport at Stockton at 530 before we leave Cam just laughs at tells me that the plane will wait for her, but that they'll be there.

Jax takes Abel straight up to bed while I putter around downstairs, putting the now cleaned dishes away and checking I've thrown everything perishable out from the fridge and that my laptop cords are in the bag with the laptop and phone chargers I set them in the entrance way as Jax comes down with the first two of the suitcases.

"So there's these two, our two, the garment bag and your makeup case thing?"

"And the laptop bag. But my makeup case can wait till tomorrow for any last minute things I forget."

Jax nods, setting Abel's two suitcases down and going back up the stairs, coming back a minute later with the garment bag folded in half over his arm and the two suitcases in his hands. "That's all then."

I pick up the handles for Abel's two suitcases and we take them all out to the car, setting the cases down beside the pushchair and then the garment bag flat across the top Jax closes the tail door again and looks at me "You okay?"

I nod then pause and shake my head "Not really."

Pulling me to his chest he wraps his arms tightly around my shoulders "How bout I run you a bath and get you a glass of wine."

Looking up into his eyes I nod once, wiggling closer to his chest and kissing over his heart "You get the drinks, I'll start the bath."