CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND ONE

Have been away for the weekend, hence no update like normal. We went through a chocolate factory, a beer factory and the only Castle in New Zealand. Photo of Abel's PJ's on Photobucket.

When we walk back into the clubhouse Gemma is standing at the kitchen door ordering almost all the women around. Donna is sitting at one of the tables cutting veges but through the huge window it's easy to see five women crammed into the tiny kitchen, each doing something under Gemma's watchful eyes.

Smiling at me she points to the table "You. Sit. Don't touch anything. We don't know if you're still sick."

Rolling my eyes I sit by Donna while Lyla and Cherry are sent to the garage bay which is now a giant store room to collect boxes of pasta.

Mid-way through feeding the almost five dozen people that have made TM their temporary home there's a series of vehicle honks from the gate and everyone's eyes snap to the monitors.

"It's Unser in the truck." Juice mutters. Looking over at Miles he jerks his head towards the door "Go get that gate open."

Miles pushes his chair back and practically runs out of the room, Kip barely containing his laughter till after Miles is through the door "Did I look that eager?"

Jax leans forwards to look past me "Sack you looked like all your Christmases had come at once every time you were given an order. Apart from that one time..."

"...At band camp." Tig finishes, whistling merrily as he sticks his fork into the salad Gemma had dropped on his plate before he could escape.

"No, you freak." Jax says with a chuckle "The deer."

Looking over at Donna she shakes her head, in that simple motion letting me know that I don't want to know what it was that happened to a deer that now has all the Redwood Sons chuckling to themselves.

Unser walks in the door, tosses the keys to the truck he's parked right out the front to Clay and turns around and leaves again. Looking at Jax I lift an eyebrow in silent question to which he just shrugs sticking a forkful of food into his mouth.

After dinner all the patched Sons vanish into their inner sanctum again, the prospects staying out, monitoring the cameras which point in each direction, the changing of the guard on the roof happens about 45 minutes after the chapel doors closed. Taking my leave of the overcrowded room a little before 8 I stop by to give Gemma a hug and let her kiss Abel goodnight. Whispering for her to let Jax know where I've gone as I stand up.

I'm talking quietly to Abel as I push open the door to our room it takes me several seconds to realise that there's someone already sitting on the chair in the corner.

"What's wrong Miles?"

He shrugs as he looks up "Jax told me to keep an eye on you."

I can't help but giggle as I set Abel on the bed and change his nappy, slipping him into a pair of pj's "I don't think he intended on you to watch me while I sleep. It's sweet and all, but with how sick I've been he meant for you to make sure my dinner didn't revisit me."

Miles colours slightly, reaching over and helping me get Abel's legs into his pants. "Well I didn't want to be told I wasn't doing it properly."

Lifting Abel back up I set him in the cot, tugging the front of his Taz top down a little more "It's okay Miles. Jax is a little over protective at the moment since I got sick but I'm fine."

Miles nods once and leaves the room. Sitting on the edge of the bed when the door is closed I drop my forehead into my hands "Damnit its hard work pretending to be okay."

Standing up slowly to prevent the wave of nausea that's hit me every time I've moved to rapidly I carefully tuck Abel's blanket over him and head into the bathroom hoping a shower will make me feel better.

When Jax comes into the room almost an hour later I'm sitting on the edge of the bed, my hair still wrapped in a towel but my own PJ's on.

"You okay babe?"

I barely manage to shake my head once before the bed sinks beside me as he sits down. Resting his hand on my back he pulls me into his side, rubbing his palm over my spine "Why were you trying to act okay?"

I blink slowly, testing whether I can speak or not "Cause you've got shit going on at the moment, even a blind person could see that, and I can't be a distraction."

Jax snorts, lifting my head carefully so I'm looking at him "You may have fooled most of them but I knew you were still feeling like shit. So did D and Al. Both of them offered to take the little man if you need them too."

I shake my head once, stilling almost instantly as my mouth fills with saliva in a warning not to do it again or someone will be wearing recycled dinner. Taking a few deep breaths I swallow slowly, opening my mouth "I've had enough of everyone else taking care of my son. I'm fine."

Jax frowns "You're not alright, you're not fine. You're sick and need to be resting."

"I'll rest when I'm dead." I mutter under my breath, finally starting to dry my hair.

Sighing Jax gets back to his feet and walks towards the bathroom "That's what I'm worried about."

Leaving him to gather his thoughts while he moves around in the bathroom I'm sitting up in bed when he comes out "What did you mean?"

Dropping his towel into the hamper I smile at him and wait quietly as he pulls on a pair of boxers and comes to the bed, sitting down side ways and turning his bright blue eyes to me.

"I'm worried about how much you're doing, how fast you're trying to get it done. It's almost like there's some deadline that I don't know about that you're determined everything must be done by and it's rushing towards us and no one knows but you that it's coming." Lifting my hand and squeezing my fingers once he traces his fingernails over the rings on my finger "You've been back less than 6 months and you've crammed years' worth of stuff into that time. When do you slow down and enjoy what you've got?"

I can feel a sort of blankness overcoming my face while I think about what he's said, my mind going over what's happened since I arrived back in Charming in mid-May. "Yeah I can see what you mean baby, but it's all slowing down now. The house is finished and we're living in it. The businesses are due to open in 2 weeks and there's nothing I can do with either of them for the next 10 days at least. Abel's home so there's no daily hospital trips and stress over his health," I chuckle a little, looking over at the port-a-cot "Well no more than usual anyway. I'm not leaving town again in a hurry, for anything other than Stockton for supplies."

Jax kisses me on the forehead and smiles "Good. On that note, we're leaving early tomorrow, set your alarm for 5 for me, mines set for 445."

"Ick." I mutter as I press the buttons on my phone "Why so early?"

Jax's gaze flicks over mine after I put my phone down "You came to bed before we could tell you anything. We found out who killed the chick in the hotel then blew it up and where that fucken photo came from and it's all connected."

My forehead pulls down "But the photo came from ATF?"

Jax shakes his head "Yeah it did, but that wasn't the originating point. That guy of Patrick's is pretty fucken smart. He rang me this morning." I nod in agreement but stay silent "It was sent from a different address, to the ATF where it was forwarded on to you. He told me a whole bunch of tech shit that made no sense to me about codes, Juice seemed to get it all, anyway he traced it back to an IP address in Budapest."

"Who the fuck lives in Budapest?" I ask with a frown as Jax chuckles.

"Zobelle. That's where the motherfucker is based. Tomorrow he'll realise that we haven't been sitting down letting him pull the shit he has been."

"What?" Somewhere along the line I've gotten confused but Jax just shakes his head.

"It's okay babe. I'll fill in all the blank spots when it's over." Kissing my forehead he reaches over and turns off the light, effectively ending the conversation when he lies down and closes his eyes.