The members of SAMCRO begin rebuilding all that the last two months has crumbled, but will the foundation be strong enough to withstand all that has yet to come?

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 58: THE REBUILD

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"Hey, we need to talk—" Jax panted as he ran up the side of the van where Sydney sat in the passenger seat with her window rolled down, and a cigarette in her hand, looking nervously over his shoulder as Laroy pulled up behind them in a black Escalade.

"Have anything to do with why you wanted to see me this morning?" Sydney didn't move her eyes from the side mirror where she watched Opie, Tig, and Bobby as they loaded AKs into crates, squinting as she brought the cigarette to her lips and took a long drag.

"Yeah." He grimaced.

"I'll send Laroy to you with the cash." She blew the smoke out of the side of her mouth. "You bring it to me while they're loading up."

"Okay." He nodded, slipping away before Tig could notice him.

"The hell's all this?" Bobby scowled as Tig pulled the final crate from the back of the van, revealing a pile of—

"Don't worry about it." Tig quickly slammed the door shut, glancing through the tinted rear window to be sure that Sydney hadn't heard.

"Well, well, well..." Laroy crooned as he waltzed up to the van. "If it ain't the Cali Queen, finally makin' an appearance."

"If I gave it all up right away, you wouldn't come back for more." Sydney forced a smile through the taunt that she could tell was anything but playful banter.

"I ain't usually a patient man..." He raised his brows. "Especially when I keep givin' chances that I ain't wanna be givin' in the first place, and you keep blowin' 'em…"

Sydney fought the urge to roll her eyes through his lecture, catching Teaj winking at her through the mirror. "About my patience…" Laroy warned with a raised voice as he watched her push herself up out of the window to give his henchman a flirty wave.

"Yeah, yeah." Sydney slumped back down into her seat. "We had a little problem..." She lifted the hem of her dress. "I'm here now," she nodded. "No need to get your panties in a bunch."

The gang leader's eyes widened when they caught sight of the injury with a severity that he never would've expected the petite girl to be weathering so well. Apparently the Niners weren't the only ones that SAMCRO had pissed off, and sent her to deal with...

"Don't worry, Mr. Wayne. There's still plenty of me to go around." She winked. "You can give our money to my VP," She looked away from him with a smirk, pulling the visor down. "He's good with his hands..." She purred.

Laroy scoffed as he jerked his head away, stalking towards the back of the van where he ordered his men to get their guns loaded up faster, grabbing the black duffel bag containing the discounted amount, and throwing it at the blond man.

Jax narrowed his eyes, his gaze lingering as he strutted back to the front, climbing into the driver's seat where he unzipped the bag and tossed it aside. He scowled when he looked up to see Sydney staring ahead in some sort of distant trance, not acknowledging his presence in the slightest.

"Got somethin' on your mind?" He raised his brows as he slid a cigarette behind his ear.

"A reconciling…" She mused, squinting as she nodded slowly.

"Between?"

"My past and my future..." She finally blinked the thought away, turning towards the worried man beside her. "What'd you have to tell me?"

"Before it was ask… Now it's tell." Jax grimaced, choosing to ignore her display of mild insanity.

"Go on..." She nodded.

"I didn't want Ope on this hit…" He admitted, looking away. "I know, okay? I don't need to hear it." He rolled his eyes.

"Why not?" She stayed calm. On any other day, she probably would've been more concerned with Jax going against the decisions of the club yet again, but there was more important old news on her mind today.

"Guess I just didn't want him to get pulled in like I did… He's not ready."

"Admitting that you weren't ready, now?" Sydney smirked. "Maybe you are growing."

"Not at all." He chuckled. "But I'm here now…"

"You don't think that Opie will show up the same way?"

"I haven't told you what happened yet…" He ran a hand down his face. "Ope choked… That was why I didn't want him on it... Because I knew that he wasn't ready." He shook his head angrily, withholding the instinctual punch to the steering wheel.

"What the fuck happened?" Sydney didn't understand, if Opie had failed to carry out the hit, then how did they manage to get the guns?

"Bobby pulled it... He's gonna tell Clay that it was Ope…"

"Jax..." Sydney groaned. "This is a mess." She ran her hands over her face now.

"I know… But, maybe this ain't so bad..." He shrugged. "Think of it this way; Clay stays happy, and Ope gets what he wants. He knows that he can't handle the heavy shit, so he'll stay away from it in the future."

"Or he feels the need to prove that he can, and pushes even harder." Sydney snorted.

"Yeah…" He scoffed as she killed his optimism. "Or that…"

"Guess we'll see…" She sighed.

"So, how would you have done it?" He cracked a knowingly smile as he looked over at her.

"Made him a better offer, told him that the feds were watching, gave the wrong address, said Juice's intel was bad..." She easily rattled off just a few of her ideas.

Jax snickered, shaking his head. "This is why we need you around." He smiled, giving her a nod before he slid out of the passenger seat, taking the bag of cash with him.

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Tig drove the van through the tall redwood trees while Sydney stared silently out the window, as she had the entire time since she'd carried out her hit. "Come on, babe, I took the long way through the trees just for you." He teased, lightly jostling her knee.

"Sorry." She apologized weakly, shifting her distant stare from the road ahead, to the trees beside her.

Tig's eyes widened and his brow raised with concern. "You, uh, you okay?"

"Just thinking..."

"You're scarin' me." He joked, hoping that the light-hearted approach would get him some willing information.

"I just feel..." She nodded slowly. "Different." What she was feeling wasn't shock or regret, instead, it was a revelation; a revelation that this time, she'd gotten what she wanted all on her own. She had avenged herself, byherself.

"Hopefully not different enough that you realize you're too good for me." He chuckled, sliding his hand into hers.

"I could never feel that different." Her lips curled up, placing her hand over his as she ran her thumb across his knuckles, looking up just in time to catch the road sign for Highway 1. "Where are we going?" She scowled, a glimmer of excitement lighting her eyes.

"To get tacos." He smirked.

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Tara trudged through the bare hospital halls, the sound of her white tennis shoes echoing against the tiles as she stopped by room after room, completing her rounds until she finally reached her last stop of the day; Abel. She smiled as she approached the clear incubator, but her smile faded and a frown took its place once she realized that it was empty, because that could only mean one thing… She took a deep breath as she prepared herself for yet another interrogation, smiling politely as she entered the room and headed straight for the clipboard that was hanging on the wall.

Gemma watched Tara as she pretended to be studying the notes in front of her, smiling as she turned her attention back to her grandson. She knew that she'd succeeded in getting her point across this morning, there was no need to beat a dead horse.

Once Tara no longer felt the glare of The Matriarch, she snuck a peek at the deceivingly wholesome scene out the corner of her eye; Gemma, caring for Jax's son… Wendy's son… The son that should've been hers. And that was when it hit her, what she needed to do to prove that she could be a good old lady; she needed to be a mother—resilient and fierce like the woman before her. That was the only way she would truly earn her respect.

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Sydney sat in the passenger seat with a giant smile plastered on her face this time, complete with a giant box of tacos, and a pint of strawberry-lemonade flavored sorbet on her lap as Tig drove them to their mystery destination.

"There's that smile I like to see…" Tig grinned, reaching over and running his thumb down her chin as he turned her face towards him.

"You really outdid yourself, babe."

"You don't even know where we're goin' yet..." He smirked.

"I don't have to." She shook her head softly, lacing her fingers in his.

Tig smiled as the warmth of familiarity spread through him under her touch, providing him the relief that he so desperately needed to be able to accept that Sydney wasn't permanently damaged from the bullet that he'd failed to shield her from.

"Shit—" He pulled his eyes away from her captivating gaze once he realized that they were getting close. "Close your eyes, and hold on." He reached over and pulled a bandana from the glovebox, dropping it in her lap before returning his hand to the wheel.

Sydney scowled when the printed polyester landed in her lap, looking up at him incredulously. "What?" Tig groaned impatiently, motioning for her to hurry up. "I don't trust you."

"You really want me to blindfold myself?" She raised a brow.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" He raised one back.

Sydney shrugged as an intriguing rush of excitement pushed a smug smile to her face under the dominance that she'd been thoroughly enjoying all morning, doing what she was told and tying the black fabric around her eyes just in time.

Tig breathed a sigh of relief as he turned the van into the narrow park entrance off of the main road, driving straight past the small parking lot. "Hold on." He reminded her, grabbing her hand and guiding it towards the handle above her head.

Sydney whimpered when his hand made such unexpected contact with hers, shivering as his forearm grazed across her chest in the blindfold that heightened every single one of her senses.

Tig smirked as her cheeks reddened, shaking his head with a chuckle as he began descending the steep hill where the paved road faded to dirt.

"Jesus Christ." Sydney groaned as she leveraged her other arm against the seat in an attempt to reduce the amount of pressure on her leg, all while doing her best to keep the food balanced on her lap. "Are you driving us down a fucking cliff?"

"May as well be." Tig chuckled, quickly bringing the vehicle safely to the bottom where he backed onto the empty beach. "Okay, now," he instructed. "I need you to stay right here, and don't turn this down." He cranked the volume on the shitty stereo, sending the classic rock station through to every corner of the old van.

"Uh," Sydney shook her head in confusion. "O-oka—" She was cut off by his lips crashing into hers before she could ask any questions, the unexpected sensation bringing another blush to her cheeks.

Tig hurried to get everything set up before their food could get cold, hoping that the sound of the crackling guitar solo was enough to mask the rolling waves that were ringing through his ears as he banged around in the back of the van while she sat only a few feet away. Once he was finally satisfied, he made his way back around to the passenger side, pulling her door open and pressing his lips against her cheek. "Gotta do one more thing..." He reached for her purse where he found the gauze, medical tape, and tensor bandage. "Can I?" He placed the soft material against her leg.

Sydney shivered when he touched her so gently, whispering his requests into her ear so softly. "Mhmm." She hummed, trying as hard as she could to keep the moan out of her voice.

Tig smirked. He hadn't at all intended for the blindfold to serve any other purpose than to conceal what he'd had planned for her, but he couldn't help but pat himself on the back for the inadvertent turn on as she began squirming in his grip; hot, bothered, and unable to hide it.

"I'll be gentle." He brushed his lips along her jaw as his fingers trailed down between her thighs, dragging them all the way to her ankle where he lifted her leg up onto his shoulder.

Sydney bit her lip, containing her smile as she realized that he was just as game as she was—spreading her legs before him in the highly unnecessary position.

Tig froze when she gave him an eyeful of the tiny scrap of white lace that covered her beneath her dress, sucking in a deep breath as he tried to keep himself focused. "Thought you'd need more room." She explained with an innocent tilt of her head, but her smirk was pure evil.

He just shook his head and rolled his eyes, clearly he didn't have as much of an upper hand as he thought he did when she hadn't even needed to see his face to know the effect that she had on him—but he was going to get it. "Hold this for me." He took her hand, slowly dragging it down her body until her fingertips reached the edge of the gauze that he was holding over her wound. "Tight." He ordered.

"Tight… I think I can do that." She rasped as she slid forward, the tiny dress pushing further up her thighs.

"I know you can, baby." He nodded with a growl in his voice, ripping up a strip of tape before tearing it off with his teeth. "Open." His fingers grazed her pouty lips which parted as he slid the strip between her teeth.

Once Tig ripped off the fourth and final strip of tape, he began securing down the gauze—taking each piece out of her mouth methodically, letting his fingers tangle with her tongue before dragging them down her lips. On the last one, he let his wet digits fall to her chest, listening to her whimper under the cool breeze that rolled off of the ocean.

"I think we need one more…" He taunted, grabbing the tape and tilting her head back where he firmly held her chin as he slid the end of the roll into her mouth and pulled, his eyes rolling back as she whimpered again. "Better." He nodded as he placed the final piece, circling her waist where he pulled her flush against him so that he could apply enough pressure to properly adhere the bandage without hurting her.

Sydney expected to feel pain when she realized what he was doing, but instead of a grunt or a cry coming from her lips when he applied the pressure, she heard a moan as her barely covered crotch ground against the prominent bulge in his jeans.

Tig's blood ran cold when her heavenly mewling hit his ears, even above the music. He slowly let her go, fighting the urge to give in early—but he knew that anticipation was what she thrived off of, and that was what he was going to give her.

He wrapped the tensor bandage around her leg at an agonizing pace, letting his fingers wander and his grip linger until he was finally satisfied that he'd gotten her good and worked up. He secured the cloth in place tightly, sliding one hand under her thigh while trailing the other up to her ankle where he lowered her leg from his shoulder.

"Don't stop." Sydney whispered shakily as he tried to pull away, feeling her entire body trembling with anticipation.

Tig obeyed, wrapping her leg around his hip and squeezing her thigh as his other hand firmly grasped the back of her neck, pulling her to his lips where he finally allowed himself to devour her sweet mouth.

Sydney moaned freely when he finally kissed her the way that she'd wanted all day; slow, sensual, dirty. She yanked him closer by his black t-shirt, balling the material in her fists as she ground her pelvis against his.

"Now?" He chuckled.

"I need you." She nodded with a desperate pout in her voice.

"It'll ruin your surprise…" He warned oh so tauntingly, attaching his lips to her jaw.

"Then keep my blindfold on…" She moaned as he moved to the sensitive spot below her ear.

Tig smirked against her neck as the erotic words pumped all of the blood in his body straight to his dick. "You don't even know where we are… There could be tons of people around, watching you right now; begging for me." He breathed into her ear as he began nipping at her neck.

"I don't care." She threw her arm around his shoulders, digging her nails back into the thin cotton of his shirt. "As long as I have you…"

"You naughty girl…" He grinned, not pulling away as he moved his hand down to undo his belt. "How did I get so lucky?" He asked as he pulled her to the very edge of the seat, holding her tightly against him as he yanked her panties to the side.

"Because you do things like this." She choked out as he slicked himself in her arousal, and lined up with her entrance.

"You deserve the world, angel." His smooth voice hit her ears right as he pushed inside of her, making her cry out as she clutched to him—her head rolling back as her inner muscles relaxed around the prominent length that never failed to take her breath away.

"And you give it to me." She whimpered as she slid forward until he was fully sheathed inside of her, listening to him groan as his grip tightened around her waist.

"Not nearly enough…" He shook his head, placing his hand back on her neck where he tilted her lips up towards his as he began a rhythm.

Sydney moaned and mewled with every slow, deep stroke—her eyes rolling into the back of her skull even behind the bandana that was covering them. Even without her sight, she could see clear as day that this was more than just sex. She could feel every last bit of tension in her body being released into the electrically charged air as he brought her back to the blissful paradise that no other man had ever been able to; physical chemistry.

"I love you." She cried out, clutching to him as she felt the hot tingling building in her core. "I wanna see you…" She whined as her body tightened. "When I come… I wanna see you."

Tig ripped off her blindfold without a second thought, filling her eyes with the one sight that she would've given anything to have as her last; his blue eyes, staring into hers. "I love you so much." He whispered as he shook his head, resting his forehead against hers as he brought them both to their releases.

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Sydney laid with her head against the armrest of the driver's seat, staring up at the upholstered ceiling as her head span, and the loud music filled her ears while Tig laid slumped over as he rested his head on her chest, and she ran her fingers through his hair.

"Still don't know where we are?" He asked as he finally lifted his head and lowered the volume.

"No." She smiled bashfully. "I was only looking at you…"

Tig felt a genuine smile coming to his lips. "Close your eyes." He pressed a kiss to her warm skin, straightening up where he got himself situated before doing the same for her.

"Are we at the beach?" She asked excitedly once her focus was on her surroundings instead of on him, finally hearing the crashing waves instead of his voice, and smelling the salty air instead of his cologne.

"I don't know… Are we?" He pulled her upright by her hand, lifting her from the seat and placing her onto the ground where her bare feet sunk into the sand.

"I think we are." She grinned.

"I think you might be right…" He smirked. "But you need to keep your eyes closed a little longer." He told her as he guided her to the back of the van. "Okay, you can look."

Sydney's eyes snapped open eagerly, but her racing heart was instantly slowed by the sight before her. "Wow…" She blinked a few times as a wave of emotion hit her. She thought that the beach was a surprise enough, but she was truly shocked by the amount of thought that he had put into what she was looking at. Never in a million years had she expected to open her eyes to a dozen yellow roses sitting in the middle of the van-turned-bed, backed onto the beach so that they could stare out at the ocean while they ate the meal that she had been craving all day. "Now this has gotta be the proposal." She smirked.

Tig chuckled, looking down at the sand. "You like it?" He looked back up, squinting in the sun as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Do I like it?" She blinked incredulously, still in awe that he had managed to pull this off. "Baby… I love it." But suddenly she realized that the wave of emotion that she felt was guilt, filling the dark and dangerous crevices of her mind that he had only just cleared out minutes ago. "But…" She started shaking her head. "You don't have to do all of this… Not for me." She didn't want him to feel like he had to bend over backwards—be someone that he wasn't—just for her; the person who, less than twenty-four hours ago, was doing drugs behind his back, and less than two weeks ago, was climbing into bed with his brothers.

"Don't." Tig shook his head, taking her falling face into his hands. "A few days ago, you told me that you wanted me to know how much you wanted me back." Tig momentarily felt his own guilt creeping in as he thought about how poorly he had handled that, but he shook the thought away. Today, he was righting that wrong. "This is me showing you how thankful I am. I know that shit ain't easy to earn with you…" He still had a hard time understanding how he'd managed to score a second chance with her. "And I'm not gonna take it for granted. Not again."

Sydney had no choice but to trust the blaring sincerity behind his eyes, nodding as she brought her hands up to his. "Thank you…" She stroked them gently.

"Don't thank me." He shook his head, pulling his hands away. "Thank you for giving me a second chance."

"I'm not nearly special enough to deserve all of this as a thank you." She scoffed with a playful smile.

"There ain't a person in the world more special than you." Tig assured her. Part of him felt horrible for robbing her of the confidence that she'd had when he met her, but the other part of him selfishly clung to it, because even in his darkest hours, it was the most undeniable proof he had that she loved him.

As Tig walked her towards the van, Sydney found herself resenting the fact that she had grown up with men. She was so convinced that after twenty-two years of watching men get bored of their women, that the same would happen to her. The SAMDINO guys had always told her that she was far too high maintenance, and until recently, she had taken pride in that. But since meeting Tig, she worried that being too high maintenance would drive him away; that it was too much to ask from the life of a biker. But, as he had so many times, he had managed to prove her wrong; that he wanted her—all of her. Just like she wanted all of him.

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Songs for this chapter

No Flockin' - Kodak Black

crash&burn - Bea Miller (feat. O'neill Hudson)