CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE

Short chapter, and a time jump between the end of this and the beginning of the next.

"The clean-up will be taken care of, I told you, and you're not going to be there." I open my mouth to protest but Jax twitches an eyebrow in a motion that clearly says 'I'm not negotiating so you're wasting your breath'.

I sigh and nod "Okay baby I'll trust you to clean that mess up. Spare tiles are in the back of the garage."

Donna snickers at me, laughing even harder when I narrow my eyes and mock glare at her. Poking my tongue out at her she smiles brightly at me and shrugs "He told you you weren't going."

Jax nods "Damn straight, we're going to be free of here day after tomorrow so just deal with it."

"Thank god. My own bed, my own kitchen, no club whores in my face every five minutes, no sounds of adult activities from every dark corner."

Donna nods, sliding her arm through mine "No finding Tig in the kitchen in nothing but bright pink boxers and a pair of fluffy slippers, no showers limited to 5 minutes so that the hot water lasts for everyone."

Opie leans between us and gestures towards the door "Gem's waiting. And on the note of 'no mores', no more other people's kids who haven't learnt manners like Ellie and Kenny have, no more babies crying in the middle of the night." He catches my glare and lifts his hands "Not Abel. I don't think I've heard him cry once."

Gemma shakes her head and lightly slaps Opie's arm "That's cause he's been in with me, and the apartment is soundproofed."

Donna and I turn around to where Opie and Jax are behind us and almost in unison say "How do we get that done?"

Gemma grabs our arms and tugs us towards the table in the corner "Clay wants you guys in church." She says over her shoulder before sitting down "But I wanted to talk to you about that very question."

She trails off catching the very confused glances going between Donna and I "Clay and I have been talking about doing some remodelling in here."

I snort and Gemma lifts an eyebrow waiting for an explanation "You mean you told Clay you're renovating right at the time he was either full of pot roast and beer, or in the after-glow of some Gem-love."

Gemma chuckles "How did you know, and it was the first, the second was much later."

"You got the wardrobe redo after pot roast, the new carpet after you found a beer Clay loved and brought him a whole pallet. You got the Caddy with Gem-love and the house with all three. I remember Gem, you taught me if I want something to wait till the man in question has a blissed out look and can't get more than three words out. That way they can't argue."

Gemma shrugs, tossing her hair over her shoulder "It works. Anyway, after a very large meal of pot roast Clay agreed that we could remodel in here."

I frown as Donna drops her head to the table, closing her eyes "Hmm." She hums "And what do you need from us? You can't have my firstborn, but you can have my husband for manual labour."

Gemma shakes her head, reaching over and running her fingers through Donna's hair "Don't want either. What I need is for Elliot to come see me one day next week, to price up the renovations."

She smiles at me and I smirk back "The price needs to come back with a very substantial family discount doesn't it?"

Gemma shakes her head "No, not at all. But any discount would be great. No, the issue is the timeframe Clay's given me."

"What?" I frown. "He's said something impossibly like a month?"

Gemma shakes her head again "Not quiet baby. He's given me till the end of February, but it can't start till the beginning of January. And we have the issue of Sons with no houses to relocate to." She glances around the room "And their women too. Chibs doesn't have another place to stay, neither does Bobby, Tig, Kip or Miles."

Donna lifts her head from the table, her face pale and her eyes very tired "And you want us to use our spare rooms?"

Gemma grins, reaches over and pats Donna's hand "I knew you'd understand. Tig can stay with us so that just leaves Chibs, Bobby, Kip and Miles."

I slap my hand on the table "I bags Chibs and Kip."

Donna looks over "Why?"

I shrug and help her to her feet, telling Gem over my shoulder that I'm taking her to bed "Cause they both love my dog, and you're going to be unpacking, Miles is a prospect you can make him do it all without blinking twice."

Donna grins, leaning against me heavily "And Bobby?"

"Banana bread, his chilli and cornbread. The maker of your favourite not-by-me foods living in your house."

Donna groans as I mention chilli. "Yum, now I have a craving for chilli. Do we have any?"

I shake my head "Nope, and you need to sleep before you need to eat. You're falling asleep on your feet."

Donna mumbles under her breath as I tug her down the hall, eventually giving up when a yawn splits her mouth open "Okay, okay. Sleep."