A new day brings second chances in Charming, chances to redeem, and chances to redo - chances that Tig can only hope for as he prepares to finally make his return home, and win Sydney back.

General trigger warnings for this story: Language, smut, mentions of rape, abuse, drug use/overdose, violence/death, racism/gang activity.

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CHAPTER 44: TWOFOLD

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Happy stomped out of the clubhouse and fired up his Dyna with a hardened expression after Sydney had stormed out of his bed, the frustration having him forgoing his usually essentially shower - especial before a long ride. Even though he worried about leaving her alone after seeing what she had been doing to occupy herself, he hoped that the timing of his departure for the weekly Glock run up to Tacoma would push her to seek out Cherry for the answers that he couldn't seem to make himself give her. He did, however, have a backup plan to cheer her up in case she decided to continue to be as stubborn as he knew that she could be, which helped to ease his guilt about leaving when she needed him the most.

He had just lifted his kickstand when he heard another bike, looking up to see Jax pulling back into the lot after apparently having left at some point in the few hours since the incident. He felt his face turning to a scowl as his grip tightened around the handlebars, kicking the metal stand back down as he cut the engine and removed his helmet as the VP approached.

Jax parked his bike quickly when he noticed the Nomad lingering. "Hey, man." He nodded. "How's Syd doing?" He asked as he removed his own helmet, acting as if he hadn't waited until she had stormed out of the clubhouse to get himself to his house to shower off the blunder of a night before Happy could catch him off guard with his questions so early in the morning.

"Sad." Happy nodded.

"Yeah, I figured." He grimaced. "That's gonna take a bit to get over, especially when Tig gets back... You know how he is." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah. It's a good thing you were there last night, someone else might've tried to take advantage of her." Happy pursed his lips.

Jax searched the bald man's face for any indicator that he was testing him, but the infamously stoic stature of the Tacoma Killer gave away nothing. "Yeah, me too…" He nodded cautiously. "You don't have to worry about her here, man… We care about her."

"I hope so." Happy nodded. "Cause if I found out anyone tried to hurt her? It would be a lot worse than what I did to Tig."

"What'd you do to Tig?" Jax scowled. This was news to him...

Happy let the devious smirk on his lips serve as an answer as he restarted his engine and took off out of the lot. He might've been a ruthless man, but he was a ruthless man who believed in loyalty and respect. He wasn't going to challenge a superior without a damn good reason, and the damn good reason that he had, wanted no part in causing a scene - but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to remind the younger man that he'd never been caught for the dozens of hits that he'd carried out over the years.

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Sydney ambled into the Charming drugstore in search of Advil as she rubbed her throbbing temples. Of all mornings, of course it had to be this one that she discovered her medicine cabinet to be empty. She blinked a few times as she walked through the small store, trying to adjust to the harsh light even under the oversized black sunglasses that masked a large portion of her face.

She eventually reached the correct aisle, standing silently as she zoned out in front of countless rows of pill bottles as her mind raced with the aftermath of last night's breakdown that she would soon be faced with. She hadn't missed the stares that she'd gotten from Bobby and Juice when she'd left the clubhouse later than intended, knowing that they were wondering where she'd slept, and who she'd slept with - which brought her to the next major problem; Jax. He would never respect her after last night - not properly - would never see her as an equal. Everyone would soon come to the same conclusion that she'd brought him to - that she was just some damaged groupie who could handle a gun. It was the same conclusion that the guys in San Bernardino had all secretly come to, no matter how much respect and dignity she carried herself with. Her reputation in SAMCRO was all she had to get herself anywhere near earning a patch, and that reputation had been destroyed by one stupid decision; one stupid decision caused by Tig...

She angrily swiped the family-sized bottle of extra-strength from the shelf, knocking a few stray bottles off in the process, but choosing to ignore them as she stomped up to the checkout and tossed a twenty dollar bill onto the counter, not bothering to wait for her change. She stalked out as quickly as she'd stalked in, her strides coming to a halt under the blazing sun on her sensitive nervous system, blinking wildly behind her sunglasses as she clutched her forehead. She stumbled across the parking lot, and onto the sidewalk that ran along Main Street as she tried to regain her bearings.

"Hey!" She finally looked up from the ground when she heard someone trying to get her attention. "I know you!" Cherry nodded as she recognized the long blonde hair and full lips of the girl who had happened to stumble in front of her. "You're the Sergeant's old lady!" She couldn't believe how lucky she'd gotten after days of trying to figure out how she could possibly work things out in her favor.

To say that Sydney was stunned as the little tart dared to approach her in the street and speak to her with such enthusiasm after fucking her man and jumping charters for him, would be the understatement of the century - pulling her sunglasses up onto the top of her head in disbelief.

"Oh, you skateboard?" The brunette pointed to the sidewalk between them - the only thing separating Cherry from her death. "That's so cool."

Sydney looked down at the skateboard that had been set aside by one of the kids that was playing in the grassy median, a few feet away. "Yeah, I do." She bent down to pick it up. "But contact sports have always been more my thing." She smiled sarcastically before pulling back and using all of her might to swing the skateboard into the small girl's face.

"Oh my God!" Cherry dropped to the ground. Sydney felt a rush of satisfaction wash through her exhausted body as the sound of the little slut's nose breaking filled her ears, and blood poured onto the concrete. "My nose!" She cried. "Why would you do that to me?" She looked up at Sydney with tears in her eyes as people wearily gathered to help.

Sydney's adrenaline rush lasted all of twenty seconds before the weight of her actions came crashing down on her. She wasn't usually a remorseful person, but the way that Cherry looked at her with such betrayal seemed to tick something in the back of her brain - perhaps the part of her brain that was more logical than heartbroken. She shook the thought away as she stared blankly at the chaotic scene, but her conscience only formulated a new reason to feel bad; because once again, she was acting out harshly because of Tig.

She took a shaky step backwards, then another before she realized that she couldn't stand any longer as the bitter reality enveloped her, stumbling back as she dropped to the ground too, sitting herself down on the curb as her ears rang with the blurred sound of sirens.

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"What's all that about?" Hale asked Unser with a small smirk as he watched their two newest members of the force scrambling to get out to their first solo call.

"Assault on Main Street - a blonde and a brunette, female." Unser raised his brows.

"A blonde?" Hale knew what that meant...

"Blonde struck the brunette, stayed on the scene. Brunette is en route to St. Thomas." Eglee, the female new officer reported over her shoulder.

"Hey!" Hale hollered to the trainees. "You bring her to me." He ordered.

"Sure thing." Eglee nodded, leading her much less confident male partner out the door of the station.

Unser looked to Hale with a raised eyebrow, but he didn't say anything. He knew that the blonde had to be Sydney, but he hadn't gotten a call or a warning from Clay, so he let his deputy continue on with his false sense of power in hopes that it would keep him from seeking it out in other areas - areas that the Chief needed to keep under his control.

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"I'm really sorry, Kip…" Cherry twirled her thumbs overtop of the blue and white hospital gown as she sat up in her bed at St. Thomas - the staff of which she had somehow managed to convince to track down Half-Sack for her emergency contact. "I'm really sorry if I got people in trouble..."

"Yeah, well..." Half-Sack fidgeted with his sunglasses that he was folding and unfolding as he tried to will himself not to look into her blackened eyes. "You can't let a club Sergeant have a time with you, and then show up, you know?" He eventually shoved the glasses into his pocket, and crossed his arms. "Especially with his old lady on the lot."

"No, I know that." She shook her head as her blinking began to speed up - her lashes brushing against the white bandage that was holding the bridge of her nose together. "Wait... Is that why you think I'm here?" She scowled.

"Well, yeah." He shrugged. "It's why Sydney thought you were here too... And Gemma... And everyone else." He shrugged.

"I wasn't with him." She shook her head incredulously. "I mean, he's the reason I'm here, but not for that..." She bit her lip as she peeked up at him through her tear-soaked lashes.

Half-Sack blinked, uncrossing his arms and placing them on his hips before crossing them again as he tried to figure out if he believed her or not. "Do you have any thoughts about pressing charges against her?"

"Never." She shook her head thoughtfully.

"Good." He nodded, taking a few steps towards her where he tried to appear threatening, but he couldn't. "Why the hell did you come here?" He felt himself uttering.

Cherry blinked slowly as her lips curled up. "You know why..." She felt horrible for the mess that she had made. She had let her naivety get in the way of her logic - forgetting that being both respectful and respected in Indian Hills for so many years, did not automatically transfer to the foreign charter. Never in a million years had she expected that showing up in Charming for Half-Sack would look like she was jumping charters for Tig - the one person who had pushed her to follow her heart in the first place.

"No." Half-Sack scoffed, unsure if he was saying it because he didn't want it, or because he couldn't believe it - either way, he wasn't in any position to be making risky moves behind the club's back. "No. Jesus, that- That... Can't work." He began rambling the opposing words that he wasn't even making sense of as she reached up and grabbed his hand. "You understand? No, look, look..." He tried weakly as she pulled him down to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Okay-" He blinked as he gave into her force and fell to the mattress. "Look, that can't work, okay? Not after what went down."

"I'll make things right with her." She shook her head as she looked deep into his pale blue eyes. "With everyone."

Half-Sack was conflicted. He understood now why Sydney had been so rattled by Cherry's presence, but he also now knew the truth - the problem would be getting Sydney to believe it. "Sydney... She's not easy to convince-"

"Just give me one last dance…" She cut him off with a small smile. "We can take it from there."

"I don't think that's a good idea. You know cause… If, you know-" His babbling was cut off by her yanking him to her lips where he finally gave in. If someone was willing to go up against Sydney, Gemma, and the entire club, just for him? It was worth a shot.

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Sydney stared into the scuffed surface of the bronze coloured metal desk where she sat in the middle of the room at the police station, waiting to be booked for the assault. The last time that she'd been in this room waiting to be booked for an assault, it had been intentional. This time, it was the result of her impulsive temper that she cursed herself for not being able to control, all because of him.

"You're becoming one of our regulars." She looked up at the sound of the cold words to see David Hale, but his smile was warm.

"I told you before, Davy, I'm getting to be more popular than you." She smiled, not having enough strength to fake what usually would've been a much cockier grin.

"Almost as popular as you are around the clubhouse." He joked back.

Sydney tensed, an uncomfortable chill running through her veins as the salty comment stung in the fresh wound. She knew that he didn't know, she didn't even know if anyone else knew, but she knew.

"You jealous?" She tried to cover up the delay with a dirty smile.

But her hesitation unfortunately didn't go unnoticed by Hale. "You okay?" He'd only been matching her playful energy, but he felt bad the instant that she faltered, reverting to his usual serious self and remembering why she was there in the first place - noting her disheveled appearance for the first time since he'd entered the room.

"Yeah." She forced a smile. "Let's just get this over with."

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"Where's Syd?" Clay was finally forced to ask Jax after having searched the entire compound.

"She had a rough night." Jax grimaced from where he was leaning over the hood of an old Chevy. "Probably at home recovering."

"Tig?" The older man raised a brow.

"Tequila." He scoffed with a smile, wiping his hands off on a shop towel as he headed into the office to clock out for his lunch break.

"Hey, you know where Sydney is? Can't get ahold of her." Gemma peered over her reading glasses. She figured that her son was the last person who would know, but she decided to try her luck since nobody else seemed to be able to give her an answer - or save her a trip off of the compound.

Jax faced the same question from his mother as he just had from his stepfather, but he knew that he couldn't give the same answer. He might have been able to cover their asses with Clay, but Gemma was a whole other story.

"Yeah, she had a pretty rough night last night - alcohol poisoning." He winced. "I talked to Hap this morning and he was going to check on her before he left. I'm sorry, I was supposed to let you know that she wouldn't be in today." He smiled apologetically.

"Shit." Gemma blinked in surprise when she heard that Sydney had been put out of commission by alcohol. "This have anything to do with Tig?" She raised a brow.

Jax nodded sadly. "I think you should talk to her tomorrow when she's feeling better... She could use the support." He knew that if anyone could get Sydney back on her game, it was Gemma.

Gemma nodded. She would definitely be talking to Sydney, but it wouldn't be to give her the kind of support that Jax had suggested. The Matriarch was going to keep driving the Tig train until it rolled off of the rails.

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Maya paced back and forth in her kitchen, draining the glass of whiskey in her hand before scurrying over to the counter for a refill. She'd intended to return back to her pacing once she'd set the bottle down, but she ended up gulping the entire portion and reaching into her back pocket for her cellphone. She knew that Happy had a run to make, and that he would've been leaving early this morning anyways, but she just couldn't get last night out of her mind.

Happy excused himself from the group of Tacoma natives to answer his ringing phone. "Hello?" He asked impatiently as he stomped over to the thick tree line that surrounded the SAMTAC clubhouse.

"Hey!" Maya replied far too enthusiastically, overcompensating for not wanting to sound needy or worried. "Did you make it to Tacoma okay?" Her voice shook as she tried to regulate it.

"Yeah." Happy's lip turned up in confusion, of course he'd made it safe. "Why?" It wasn't completely out of character for Maya to call him, or for him to call her, but it was only ever for the purposes of confirming an upcoming tryst. They didn't do small talk.

"I wasn't sure after last night." Maya racked her brain for a way to ask what last night was really about, a sly smirk coming across her lips when she landed on the perfect cover. "Thought maybe you had to go and help your mom..."

"My mom is fine." Happy blinked.

"Oh, well who'd you run out for then? It sounded important." She spoke casually.

"It was." He nodded.

Maya's eyes almost rolled into the back of her skull. She had been on a good track, but the realization that she needed to speak his language - one sentence at a time - had roadblocked her path to victory, and answers. "Okay. I'll see you when you get back then I guess." She shrugged.

"Okay." He nodded again before snapping his phone shut, and returning back to his brothers.

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Sydney sat on the edge of the bed in the dingy cell with her head in her hands where the emotional turmoil had proved to be more than enough to rival the discomfort of even the largest of hangovers. She took a deep breath, trying to tell herself that she was just overthinking the whole ordeal - something that she apparently did a lot of, these days - but every logical solution that she managed to come up with, was squashed by another part of her psyche pulling her in a different direction. Her head was telling her to bolt - to get as far away from the embarrassment as she could, and start over somewhere else the same way that she had started over in Charming, somewhere that she wouldn't make the same mistake. Her heart was telling her to stay - that she could rise above the doubt the same way that she had done her whole life, and to keep fighting for what she'd always dreamed of. And her gut was telling her that she had it all wrong - that this was just some kind of punishment for thinking that she'd be able to outrun her feelings forever, and that things would work out if she gave them a proper chance.

It was the rare moments like these that Sydney realized why little girls were supposed to grow up with mothers to guide them through life, but she quickly extinguished that fire. There was no good that her mother would've done her even if she had been around. She thought about her dad instead - reluctantly, nonetheless, but it was better than thinking about the former.

"You wanna make a call?" She was pulled from the imaginary pep talk that her dad was giving her about how these worries were irrational, and if they weren't irrational, then they were irrelevant, by Hale standing at the bars with a sympathetic smile.

Sydney thought about it for a few seconds, really thought about it. She thought about calling Gemma, or Happy's mom, or Packer, knowing that she could rely on them to continue the talk that her dad had been giving her.

"Got nobody I wanna talk to." She smiled sadly before closing her eyes again, a single tear sliding down her cheek as she rested her head back against the concrete wall.

She spent the remainder of the day in the quiet cell, allowing herself to feel every bit of sadness that she could. If she was going to be vulnerable - and miserable about it - she figured that a jail cell was the best place to do it.

By the time that the sun began to get lower in the sky, she felt the pain and pity wash away as an odd sense of peace took its place. She took a deep, cleansing breath as she sat up from the bed. She was going to keep her word. Nothing was going to change why she came to Charming.

Hale stood just past the threshold as he gazed upon her, wondering how it was possible for someone to be so effortlessly attractive, captivating the attention of the strongest of souls without even trying. He couldn't help the pang that he felt in his heart as she sat in the empty room. His forehead creased as he tried to shake it away, knowing that he shouldn't feel bad for her. She had broken the law, assaulted a seemingly innocent girl, but for some reason he still wanted to be the one to take the frown off of her face - and he hoped that the news that he brought would be able to do just that.

"Hey." He smiled as he finally entered the cell room for a second time.

"Just can't stay away from me, huh?" She smiled, figuring that the best way to get back in the game was to dive in, head first.

"It's my job." He smirked as he walked over to her cell, feeling the guilt wash away when her usual demeanor came back into light.

"Well, I guess a job where you have to wear khakis can have perks, after all." Her lips curled up as a blush creeped up his neck while he unlocked the gate.

"Charges have been dropped. Someone's here to pick you up." Sydney's brows knit in confusion. She wasn't surprised that Cherry wasn't pressing charges, but with her track record building steadily in the small town, why wasn't the state?

Hale narrowed his eyes as he opened the squeaky door. He knew what her scowl was for, but he wasn't going to come right out with the answer that would've ironed it out. He wasn't willing to stray that far from the badge; this was still about getting ahead - at least that was what he told himself.

A light bulb went off in Sydney's brain as those blue orbs danced behind his hardened expression. She thought back to the Mayan chase a couple of weeks ago when he had stopped her, the way he had taken so long to book the speeding fine, the cryptic way that he had told her not to get any more tickets... She tried to tell herself that the conclusion was crazy, but as soon as she remembered the way that he'd insisted on being the escorting officer when she'd hit the cop, she realized that crazy didn't have to mean impossible - and that was the theme that she was going for.

"Thank you…" She reached for the hand that he had around the metal bar, looking up at him sincerely. She didn't care why he was covering for her, she would find that out later. Right now, she was thankful. Not just thankful that he was keeping her out of jail, but thankful that he had just narrowed down her pool of suspects for the Mayan informant. If he was working dirty against them, he wouldn't be putting his job on the line to keep her out of jail. His reasons were personal.

Hale bit his lip, looking for the right words that wouldn't incriminate him, snorting as a smile pulled at his lips. "I'm just doing my job." He settled on the popular phrase that he knew would be the easiest to pass off, the one that he used to answer all of her invasive questions - only this time, it wasn't quite the truth.

Sydney stood at the counter where she picked up her belongings from the young newbie on the force - a nervous brown-haired man that she knew wouldn't make it through his probationary period if his life depended on it. She winked at the poor kid who struggled to keep his eyes off of her long enough to make sure that he had chosen the correctly labelled bags, following Hale out to the front of the station house.

"Hey, killer." She was met with the playful grin of none other than Jax Teller.

She rolled her eyes. At that point, she would've taken anyone over who she'd gotten - even Gemma. Jax was the absolute last person that she wanted to be stuck in a car alone with. She may have found some peace in that cell, but courage had yet to join the party.

"I didn't think you'd wanna ride bitch." Jax nodded towards the tow truck that was parked in the small lot as he led her out of the building.

"You thought right." Sydney scoffed, climbing into the passenger seat as he jammed the keys into the ignition and started the engine, backing the truck out of the tight parking space and beginning the short drive. "Hale wasn't the one who tipped off the Mayans." She broke the silence before it lasted long enough to be considered awkward.

"This another one of your 'get into jail free' cards?" Jax looked over at her with a raised brow.

"Nah, this one wasn't intentional." She chuckled, answering honestly since she'd figured that the details of the incident had already spread through the small town like wildfire.

"Workin' out some of that anger." He nudged her with a smirk.

"You might be next." She joked back.

"Ah, shit." Jax groaned as he patted himself down. "Forgot my wallet in the garage. Do you mind if we stop? Everyone's gone home for the day." Sydney shrugged indifferently. She was appreciative for his consideration, but she would have to face them sooner or later...

"Do they know?" She drawled dismally as she stared out the window at the passing buildings.

"Nah, I took care of it." Jax smiled smugly. Sydney's brain began working overtime now as she wondered what exactly he thought it was that she was referring to. "I took care of everything." He clarified as he watched the gears begin to turn behind her eyes. "Nobody knows anything, not about the girl, not about-" He paused, blinking awkwardly. "I said that you had alcohol poisoning, slept in Hap's old dorm, and that you'd be back tomorrow."

"Thank you." Sydney finally replied after a few seconds of processing, trying to figure out the proper response. Her initial reaction had been surprise when not only had he gone out of his way to help her, but that he had actually managed to pull it off, but the poisonous part of her brain that she had been working so hard to silence only began to seep through the proverbial walls as she told herself that he was only doing it because he felt sorry for her. She was so wrapped up in her own internal push and pull, that she didn't even think to ask how he'd found out that she'd been imprisoned, in the first place.

Jax pulled the truck into the lot, stopping by the front gate where he swung the door open. "I'll be right back." He tossed her a friendly wink, and one of his infamously charming smiles before jogging across the lot and into the garage where he slipped through the office door.

"Okay, she's in the truck." He reported to Half-Sack.

Cherry took a deep breath as she squeezed her phone that began to buzz with her signal to move in. Not only was she worried that she wouldn't be able to repair the damage she'd done, she was worried that she'd be sent away harsher than she had been the first time... She took the step of faith, walking out from behind the building and along the chainlink fence until she spotted the truck, her heart beating faster and faster as she approached.

Sydney looked up from her lap where she'd been counting the threads in her black leggings when she heard footsteps approaching out her open window. She rolled her eyes when she saw the little tart once again, sporting two black eyes and a bloody nose this time. She took a deep breath as she pulled on the door handle and stepped out of the truck, ready to send a stronger message this time.

"Look, please just hear me out." Cherry held up her hands before Sydney could cut them off.

Sydney felt the same tick in her brain; the gentle whisper of the one that was telling her to listen rather than the louder one that was telling her to lash out. She crossed her arms and nodded curtly. If she was going to get over this, once and for all, she needed to know exactly what it was that she was getting over.

"Nothing happened between me and your old man." Cherry shook her head as she cleared the air immediately, hoping that it would be smooth sailing from there. "I came for the prospect, I came because of you..."

"Because of me." Sydney mimicked her with a skeptical scoff.

"What you and him have… I want that." Sydney hadn't expected that answer. Even if nothing really had happened between them, Tig had still left her. "Look I know something happened between you two, so you probably don't believe that, but he's miserable up there. All he cared about was how he was going to get home to you and make things right. That's why the bald dude brought me back here… He thought I could help make you see that your guy made a mistake leaving you."

"That bastard." Sydney scoffed as it finally clicked; why Happy hadn't been nearly as harsh on her about moving on from Tig as she'd expected him to be, why he had been so insistent that she talk with the stowaway - because he had been in cahoots with her and Tig this whole time. "You're really here for him?" She questioned the shorter girl with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah." Cherry answered without a drop of hesitation. "He's the right one." She'd known it from the moment that she saw him.

Sydney bit the inside of her lip as she nodded slowly, cautiously. Regardless of where her feelings about Tig landed, Half-Sack deserved to be happy - and she could tell that this girl was willing to do just that. "If I see you flashing that pussy at anybody but him, I will shove my fist so far up that bony ass, your cup size will double. Got it?" She raised her brows.

Cherry's eyes flicked down to the prominent cleavage busting out of the blonde girl's white tank top. "That how your rack got to be so big?" She nodded with a smile.

Sydney smirked, biting her lip in both amusement, and in approval. "Go." She nodded towards the compound. "I'll get the others on board with you staying."

Cherry lit up with joy, shaking her head in disbelief. "Are you sure you can do that? Change their minds?" She blinked incredulously.

Sydney leaned down. "It's got a little somethin' to do with how my rack got this big." She whispered, winking as she straightened back up.

Just as their conversation concluded and Cherry bounded across the lot in search of Half-Sack, Jax emerged from the office. Sydney raised a brow as he strutted towards her, snorting and shaking her head. Of course they had planned this.

"You guys sort things out?" Jax looked between the two with a raised eyebrow when he got back into the truck, tucking his wallet into his pocket.

"Yup." She pulled her door shut. "Seeing that you 'found your wallet', you can buy me dinner as compensation for trying to pull a fast one on me."

"What?" He feigned innocence. "You think I? Nah..." He shook his head.

"Diner." She ordered, looking down at her phone screen.

Jax chuckled as he began the short drive to the diner. "And by the way... It wasn't trying. I'd call that a success." He winked as he attempted to pull the wide tow truck into the only empty parking spot.

"Ugh, I should've known there would be a problem with you driving." Sydney groaned as he inched into the narrow stall. "Order it to go, I don't need Doreen getting any more ideas than she already has. I want a double BBB with extra bacon, cheese fries, diet coke, and a chocolate shake." She gave her list of demands without looking up from her phone where her nails tapped harshly against the glass screen, finally ripping her eyes away when she didn't hear him leaving.

Jax stood in front of the open door as he tried to blink through his shock. "BBB?" He questioned as he tried to sort out one of the many puzzling things her statement had given him to consider.

"Barbecue bourbon bacon, aren't you the local here?" She shook her head incredulously, watching as his creased expression stayed in place. "What?" She groaned. "I haven't eaten today."

Jax laughed as she rolled her eyes, heading inside to please the princess. He was glad that the plan with Cherry had worked out, effectively cancelling out half of his guilt from the night prior - hoping that he could keep up his winning streak. He ordered the food for the both of them, returning to the truck ten minutes later - thanks to the speedy service that the leather kutte always got him, no matter how busy it was - with a large bag, and a full tray before driving them to a nearby park. He shut off the engine and grabbed the food from the backseat, nodding for Sydney to follow him around the truck where he lowered the tailgate and sat down under the setting sun.

The pair ate mostly in silence, and Sydney was grateful for that. She was hoping that the barely existent mention of the previous night was all that she would have to hear of it, and they could move on pretending like it didn't happen.

"He was the only one who knew." Sydney looked up from her milkshake with a creased brow when Jax broke the silence. "Half-Sack." He clarified. It'd been clear how embarrassed she had been to break down in front of him, and how that embarrassment had carried over. "I was serious when I said that no one knew anything about what went down between you and Cherry. She got him to the hospital, explained everything, then they he came to me."

"Okay." She replied awkwardly, looking down into the frothy remnants of her chilled treat.

"You don't gotta be ashamed of it, you know." He shook his head.

"I do…" Sydney decided to try and keep up the honest streak, it's not like anything she said now could be worse than what she'd divulged less than twenty-four hours earlier. "I don't want pity." She shook her head as she twirled the red straw around in the empty cup. "In this life, it's all that men look at me with. I want to know that the respect that I get is respect that I've earned, not respect that's given to me as a consolation prize because they know that I'll never get the prize that I really want." She spoke wistfully as she stared at the rigid pattern of the tailgate.

Jax nodded as she spoke, truly absorbing every single word, understanding a little more why she was so harsh not only on herself, but on him as well. "I read something... From my dad." He smiled. "'Letting your guard down is honourable'... It stuck with me."

"Maybe for a man." She replied with a sad smile.

Jax drove her home in silence, wishing once again that he had more to say, but he didn't. She'd checkmated him. He'd been completely oblivious to just how similarly different they were up until this moment where everything that she'd ever said suddenly made perfect sense. He now knew exactly why she felt the way that she did, and she had every logical right to those feelings, now all he could do was make an effort to show her that it didn't have to be that way.

"Look, Syd... Last night…" He grimaced. He knew that they needed to talk about it if he was going to prove her wrong.

"Didn't happen?" She finished the sentence for him.

"That's not what I was gonna say." His lips curled up in amusement.

"Oh…" She dropped her eyes as she twirled her finger over the oil-stained upholstery of the bench-style seat. "Well, what were you gonna say?" She looked up at him innocently as she leaned slightly closer to him.

"Uh…" He rubbed the back of his neck as he felt his face getting hotter, struggling to remember what the hell he was going to say.

"You're too easy." She shook her head with a grin as he blushed. "Don't worry, Jackson. If I was wearing panties? I wouldn't get them in a bunch over you." She winked, leaning completely across the bench where she pressed her lips to his in a deep kiss, brushing her tongue over his bottom lip to give him the full effect before she finally pulled away. "That can be the one that you remember." She explained as pure shock washed over his face, smirking as she jumped out of the truck and strutted up the pathway to her front door. Kissing him the second time hadn't felt any less wrong than it had the first time, but it helped immensely to know that she'd restored some of her pride.

;

Song for this chapter

I Shot Cupid - Stela Cole