CHAPTER 2

Danielle leaned against the state issued car as she wrote vigorously on her notepad.

"It looks like your time on probation ends in a few weeks," The officer stated to the young man who was holding a toddler in his arms. "Keep up the good work and if you stay out of trouble, you won't be seeing me anymore."

The brunette woman quickly ripped out the page she had wrote on, and handed it to the man.

"I've got your next appointment date and time written on there. If there's any issues with that, just call me and we'll reschedule. I also need you to bring in a paystub. Alright?"

"Sounds good," the man nodded as he looked over the written down information.

"Alrighty, then." Danielle flashed a smile and began waving at the small girl in her client's arms. "Bye-bye, Melody!"

Melody grinned and waved back as the officer began getting into her car.

Upon ending her visit with her client, Danielle hopped in her car and decided to check her phone. Seeing two missed calls, she decided to check her voicemail.

"Hey, babe," Danielle smiled at the sound of David's voice. "Just calling to let you know we're doing range shooting tonight. You know what that means. I love you, sweetheart."

She did know what that meant. He had to go to the range twice a year for his certification. It meant David would be home later than usual and she'd probably spend her evening curled up in bed eating junk and watching an old movie.

"Hey, darlin'. Car's fixed. Call me back."

Danielle was shocked to hear Jax's voice. Her car was already done? She had expected it'd be weeks before she'd have it back.

She called the number back immediately.

"Hello."

Danielle paused awkwardly as the gruff voice caused a warmth to rise in the pit of her stomach.

"Jax," it sounded like a greeting, but the woman was saying it more so to snap herself out of the thoughts beginning to come to her mind. "Hey. I just got your message. I was wondering if there was any way David could bring me over tomorrow morning to pick up my rig."

"Where are you, darlin'?" Jax asked.

"I'm leaving a client's house," Danielle stated.

"If you aren't too busy I could come pick you up and we'll go to the shop," Jax offered.

"Oh, no, Jax.I really don't want you going out of your way for this. I'll just have David help me pick it up tomorrow or something."

"I'll be at the P&P office in 30 minutes, Dani." Jax stated before the line went dead.

Danielle stared at the phone for a minute as the information sunk in. Jax was headed to her office right now.

She dreaded telling David about this later.

Danielle pulled her car in front of the parole office and grabbed her clipboard before quickly exiting the vehicle and making her way towards her desk. The faster she got her stuff rounded up, the less likely her coworkers would see her hopping on the back of Jax's bike. Every place of employment had its gossipers, but she knew that this was not something she wanted circulating around the office.

Her boss knew about her previous connection with the Sons. In this line of work, it wasn't as if she could hide it. And known Sons members were never assigned to her.

It was supposed to be part of her old life. Being caught riding on his bike would have her director questioning if maybe her affiliation wasn't so old after all.

"Hey."

Danielle jumped as the deep voice interrupted her from her thoughts.

"Ope?" She stated in shock before surprising the man with a hug.

"I was hoping they'd assign me to you." Opie said as he enveloped the brunette woman in a warm hug.

"Not a chance," Danielle chuckled as she broke the hug and adjusted her Kevlar vest. "They won't let me have anyone affiliated with Sons of Anarchy."

"Damn the luck," Opie smiled at the woman he had once cared for as a sister. "I haven't seen you in ages. The vest has you looking like a badass."

"That's because I am a badass," Danielle joked as her and Opie both laughed. "It is so good to see you. How long are you on parole?"

"3 years," the woman could hear the frustration in his tone as he answered.

"You won't serve half of that time you know?" the officer tried to comfort him. "Stay clean and you'll be released in nine months."

"I'm doing my best," Opie huffed. "Trying to earn honest–working with Donna's dad."

Danielle smiled at the news that Opie was attempting to live life without much club influence. The sound of an approaching motorcycle caught both of their attention.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" Opie asked, confusion written on his face.

"Me."

Danielle almost died in embarrassment as she immediately regretted her words.

Opie couldn't hide his laugh as her face turned cherry red and she began to stutter.

"I meant- God–" Dani mentally cursed herself. "He's picking me up. They've been working on my car, and they're done with it."

"Hey," Opie couldn't help being amused. "I support whatever you and Jax are doing."

"Well," the woman still could not believe what she had said. "I can't speak for Jax, but I can assure you that I am doing nothing."

"You really didn't have to do this, Jax."

The woman lifted herself from the back of the bike and began taking off her helmet.

"Don't mention it, darlin'. I wasn't doing shit. Might as well ride around with a gorgeous woman."

Danielle blushed at Jax's comment as they walked together towards the office.

When the door opened, Danielle had expected to see Gemma's ever-judgemental expression. Instead, the young woman was greeted by an empty chair.

"Where's you mom?" she questioned immediately upon seeing the woman's absence.

"She's at the hospital with my kid." Jax tried to hide his sadness as he reached into a drawer on Gemma's desk.

Danielle's heart felt heavy as she looked through the tough man's facade and saw the brokenness inside him. Charming was a small town, and word about Abel had gotten around fast.

"Well, I can tell you something about that baby," Danielle chose her words carefully as she tried to comfort the blonde biker in front of her. "He's a Teller. And I've never seen a Teller that wasn't a fighter. I've got a feeling he's gonna pull out of this just fine."

Jax offered her a sad smile before tossing a set of keys at her. Not expecting it, the woman gasped in surprise as she barely caught it.

"There you go, sweetheart," He smirked as he purposefully changed the subject.

Danielle thanked him and reached in her purse to grab her checkbook.

"What are you? Eighty?" Jax laughed. "Who writes checks these days."

The woman rolled her eyes and laughed at his comment.

"I'll write my information on it. That way you'll know where to find me when it bounces." A smirk graced her face as she joked with her ex-lover. "What's the damage?"

"Nothing."

Danielle's eyes opened wide in shock as she looked up from her checkbook.

"What?"

Surely, she thought, she had misunderstood him.

"This one's on the house. All I ask for is to see that pretty smile."

Jax grinned as he offered the woman a wink.

"No," Danielle shook her head as she began to argue. "I'm paying you for your work."

"I won't take it," Jax argued in a stern tone. "But next time your car breaks down, I'll have to charge you double."

Jax's eyes locked with Danielle's and she knew he wasn't going to back down. She already began feeling sick as she thought about having to explain this to her husband later. She knew David would question Jax's motives.

"Jax," Danielle's tone was sincere. "I'll feel bad."

"So how much did the car set us back?" David asked the woman laying up against him. They were curled up on the couch with a blanket, watching Family Feud.

Danielle paused as she mentally prepared for the argument that was about to begin.

"Nothing." Danielle knew David wouldn't appreciate her answer.

"What?" anger radiated from his words.

"Jax told me not to write a check."

"Jax must have been hoping for a more intimate kind of payment," David growled as he slammed the remote down on the end table next to him.

"I sincerely doubt he'd be dumb enough to think that would happen," Danielle tried not to be offended by her husband's words. "It really doesn't matter what his motive is. I haven't had anything to do with him in years. And, now that my car is fixed, I can go back to not having anything to do with him."

David breathed heavily through his nose as he thought about the advances Jax had made on his wife, and the history that Danielle and Jax shared.

"I'm not mad at you. But, do you really think he'd do all that work for free out of the goodness of his heart?" David asked. "Anyone else would've had to pay him a few hundred dollars for the part, and a few hundred more for the labor. And you just get it all for free?"

Danielle looked down as she began feeling guilty. She knew David had a point. She didn't know what Jax was up to. But he must've had something planned to offer her mechanical work completely free of charge.

The two sat there in silence, but Danielle could see that David was still angry.

"Leave a check out on the table," He told her before grabbing the remote and turning up the volume. His hand gently caressing her thigh let her know that while her husband was upset–she wasn't on the receiving end of his anger.

"How you doing, Jax?" David asked as he pulled his jeep up beside the motorcycle.

"I heard about Wendy and the baby. I'm sorry." the man truly felt sympathy for the new father next to him.

"Thanks," Jax stated. He knew why David was talking to him, and it wasn't to check in on the well-being of his estranged wife and child.

"Here's the check my wife should've gave you a couple days ago," Hale held up the paper. "I called around to get an estimate on what that type of work usually costs."

"I told her I didn't want her money." Jax kept his eyes on the road and waited for the red light to change colors.

"I know about the past you and my wife had," David stated bluntly. "I don't like the idea of you doing work for her free of charge. Please, just take the check."

He extended his arm towards Jax so that the biker could reach the check.

Jax knew what Hale was saying–the cop didn't want him and Danielle speaking. And he definitely didn't see Jax fixing her car as a 'friendly' act.

He rolled his eyes as he grabbed the check.

You know, I took a ride out to the streams today," David continued. " I saw that warehouse that burnt down."

"Outside your jurisdiction, ain't it?" Jax fired back.

The light finally turned green and the biker took off down the road, hoping his conversation with the chief deputy was over.

Hellbent on finishing what he was going to say, David sped up until he was once again beside Jax.

"You ever heard of a 'Bluebird Supply Company'?" he questioned. "Apparently they hold the title on that parcel."

"Never heard of them." Jax shouted over the noise of the vehicles.

"The whole area was littered in casings and gun parts," David continued. "That warehouse was a weapons depot."

He knew that the biker wasn't going to give up any information. But that wasn't what this was about. He wanted Jax to know that he was onto them.

"No kidding," Jax smirked as he played coy.

"Chief Unser's retiring at the end of this month, " David took his eyes off the road to glance at Jax. "I'll be stepping into those shoes. Unser's always had a 'look-the-other-way' policy with the Sons of Anarchy."

"Unser's a lazy drunk," the blonde smiled.

"I will not look the other way, Jax," The cop warned. "Just a friendly heads-up."

Jax shook his head.

"We're all free men, protected by the Constitution. You look any way you want, Chief."

Jax revved up his bike, leaving David in his rearview mirror.

I am so sorry I'm just now getting this out. I have no excuse other than the fact that I'm just more interested in writing the later chapters of this story than I am the beginning ones. I SWEAR I'll try to do better about updating more often. This story has been in my head for years and obviously it needs to be shared so I can get it out of my system. As always, please review. Reviews really do motivate me when I can't seem to get interested in writing.

Love you all!

Sincerely,

Callistoscrow