aravenamongcrows on Tumblr! (ask and submissions are open!)

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

CHAPTER 74: ABCS

;

Tig made his way back down the hall with his phone in hand after ending his call with Clay, walking out into the bar where he scanned the empty room in search of Sydney so that he could relay the instructions from their President.

"Where's Syd?" He scowled, looking over to Half-Sack for an answer where he stood behind the bar.

"Her and Jax are talking." He nodded to the chapel where the doors were closed.

Tig felt his self control slipping by the second as a growl formed in the back of his throat and he lunged towards the oblivious man, the untrustworthy man, the useless man. "You had one. Fucking. Job." He snarled through gritted teeth as he seized the scrawny man by the collar of his shirt and slammed him up against the wall. "Free ride's over, Kippy." He told him as he pulled his arm back.

Half-Sack squeezed his eyes shut, cutting off Tig's murderous stare as he waited for the moment of impact that would surely shatter his face and make Sydney's injuries look like papercuts. But the moment never came…

He opened his eyes slowly, wondering if his anxious mind had made the whole thing up, but when they opened he saw that he hadn't made it up at all - Tig was still holding him against the wall, but he wasn't staring into his soul anymore, instead his gaze had fallen to the chain around his neck.

Tig stood frozen in time as the little silver charm dangled from Half-Sacks neck, the glint stinging his eyes as he made out what the tiny letters scrawled across the metal: 'CHERRY'. The hand that he had been preparing to end the disobedient kid's life with slowly fell from where it had been readied - creeping up his chest where his fingers found the charms around his own neck, rubbing his thumb over the one that Sydney had given him as he stood, about to do exactly what she had pleaded with him not to. He shook his head, releasing his grip on the prospect and stomping away wordlessly.

;

Tara felt her heart sinking further and further down her chest with each step that she took - carrying baby Abel towards his real mother. She forced a smile as she approached the door, pushing it open with her hip and nodding for Wendy to enter the room.

"Oh my god… Abel." Wendy gasped, her hands slapping over her mouth as she laid eyes on her son for the first time since she had almost killed him. "Oh my god, he got so big." She exclaimed as she looked over the healthy baby - no thanks to her - feeling tears flooding her eyes. "Look at you…" She shook her head slowly with a permanent grin on her face, holding out her arms so that Tara could pass him to her.

"You got him?" Tara double checked before she pulled her arms away.

"Yeah, I got him." Wendy nodded. "Oh my god." She cooed again. "He's so beautiful…"

"Yeah, he is." Tara smiled as genuinely as she could as she watched Wendy sit back in the rocking chair with her son - the rocking chair that she had been sitting in with him just hours ago. "He looks like Jax, doesn't he?" She smiled, shifting her focus back to the baby that had brought her so much happiness, and not the woman who had actually birthed him.

"Thank you so much." Wendy cried out, turning her head towards Tara as the tears began flowing down her cheeks. "I know you weren't supposed to do this." She shook her head, hoping that Tara understood the double meaning in her statement - that she wouldn't be holding her son if it wasn't for her, but also that if it wasn't for her, she might not have a son to hold.

"It's okay." Tara shook her head nonchalantly, refusing to lose her cool in front of the one woman who had been able to give Jax what she'd never had the chance to. "Do you have a plan, Wendy?" She floated the question cautiously, hoping that the answer would ease the pit in her stomach. She'd known that this reunion would be coming any day now, but she never could've prepared herself for the level of responsibility and protectiveness that she felt over a child that wasn't even hers, towards his own mother - the emotions giving her a new perspective on the one woman that she knew would understand exactly what she was feeling…

"I got into a sober living house at Lincoln Village." Wendy nodded.

"That's good." Tara nodded half-heartedly, the response not giving her the relief that she'd hoped for.

"Yeah." Wendy nodded. "How's Jax?"

"He's- He's okay… I think." The brunette stumbled over her words, unsure of how much potentially damaging information to give up to the recovering addict.

"God, I miss him so much…" Wendy sighed.

Tara felt her entire body go stiff when the truth that she already knew was confirmed - what Wendy's intentions were with Jax. And they were the same as hers. "Yeah… I can imagine."

;

Donna paced heavily around the family room of the facility that she had been imprisoned in for what felt like ever, but had really only been a day and a half. She flinched when she heard the door open, snapping her head up to see her mother-in-law standing before her.

Mary entered the room slowly, looking around as she avoided eye contact with the meek girl that his son had married. She still remembered Donna from all those years ago - the few memories from that time that hadn't been tainted by the club - she was the quiet girl in Jax and Opie's class, the smart girl, the girl who had fallen victim to a handsome rider, just as she once had...

"Where are the kids?" She finally brought herself to look the young woman in the eye once she realized that they were in the room alone.

"In the cafeteria finishing lunch." Donna felt tears coming to her eyes, looking away harshly as the judgment from the older woman penetrated her from across the room. "Thanks for picking them up." She choked out as she grabbed their suitcases.

"I don't know how much fun they're gonna have with me." Mary scoffed. She didn't know how much fun anyone could have with her - let alone kids.

"They'll like your dogs." Donna shrugged as she recounted one of the only details that she knew about her husband's mother. She didn't give a shit if they had fun, she just wanted them to be safe.

"One of them died." Mary sighed, looking back up at Donna with softer eyes this time. She hadn't wanted to make the younger woman feel bad, she had just wanted to save her from going down the same awful path that she had - from making the same mistake that she'd regretted making for the last few decades of her life. "You wanna tell me what's going on here?" She asked sternly.

Donna gave a small nod of understanding when she saw Mary's expression change. "They uh." She brushed her hair behind her ears. "They think that Opie might be involved in a shooting."

"Oh, sweetheart…" Mary shook her head back and forth slowly at her naivety. "You're not in lockdown for 'might be'. This shit never ends." She cursed. "He's gonna be back in jail."

"He's your son!" Donna retaliated with the only thing that she could think of as Mary spoke all of the words that she had been too scared to let herself think.

"He is a criminal." Mary kept her voice level. She didn't want to fight with her daughter-in-law, she wanted to protect her. "Just like his father is. Opie made his choice."

"He was sixteen when you bailed! What other choice did he have?"

Mary could see clear as day as the squeaking protests came from the woman before her that she was looking for any excuse that she could - anything that she could blame for her husband's actions. "I took Opie with me!" She took a few steps closer, leaning in as she over-enunciated each word of the apparently hidden truth in hopes that Donna would see what was happening - how she was being manipulated. "To get away from all this shit! He was the one who ran back to his old man - to the club! His problems aren't mine!" She felt her emotions rising as all of the awful feelings she had towards the club that had ruined her life came back to haunt her. "If you have half a brain." She lowered her voice, trying to keep calm. "You will take these kids and move to another planet before their father poisons them, too."

Donna stood, stunned by Mary's words - words that had differed from the truth that she'd always believed. But what stunned her most of all wasn't that Opie had lied to her - it was how clear her decision had become after hearing the truth.

;

"We meet with Rosen later this afternoon - find out what's going on with Bobby. He'll give us some insight on Opie-" Tig explained to Sydney as he led her out the office door and onto the compound - finally having the time to explain what Clay had told him during their call earlier, but he trailed off as they approached the picnic table where Juice and two of TM's newest hires were acting something out: throwing their bodies against the table before tossing their heads back and laughing before Juice shut them up by pointing out the couple where they snapped their heads back into place and went silent. "Uh…" He knew exactly what they had been acting out: Sydney being violently slammed to the ground by the cop, and the only thing stopping him from going over and making sure that they would never be able to act it out again was the feeling of her grip tightening around his hand - reminding him that defending his old lady's honour would have to wait, he had to take care of her first. "You wanna go eat inside?" He looked down at the bag of food that he'd brought them for lunch from the diner.

"No." Sydney ground her teeth as she broke free from his grip, stomping over to the table where she dropped the tray of drinks she'd been holding down harshly onto the wooden surface. "Hi boys." She took the empty seat next to Brian, one of the two young mechanics who sat with his lips quivering. "What are we talking about?" She asked eagerly, looking around at the blank faces.

Tig sat down across from Sydney and next to Greg, the other new mechanic - blocking him in so that he couldn't escape as he waited to see what Sydney was going to do. But he wasn't the only one waiting as Juice peered at him through the younger man's black hair wearily, earning himself a warning glance from the Sergeant. Even though Tig knew that his younger brother hadn't been the one to start it, he hadn't exactly done anything to finish it either.

"Uh." Brian looked around as everyone else stayed silent and Sydney's penetrating gaze lingered on him for an answer. "Just saying how that Mustang is kicking Greg's ass." He nodded to the blue Ford sitting in the garage. "V8 is gonna have him on the ground by the end of the day."

"Mm." Sydney nodded curtly with her lips pursed, keeping the sinister smile off of her face as her plan became clear as she gazed upon the two men... The two men that reminded her of the ones that she'd dealt with all of her life: pretty, petty, and weak. But the difference in these men was that they had no sway in the club, no say in what she did, and no relevant opinion over how she acted - she didn't have to give a shit what they thought about her. Instead of being forced to accept every bit of scrutiny, judgment, and critique as she'd had to do since she'd arrived in Charming, Sydney was able to do what she'd always done best: let a man's doubt fuel her.

"Brian, do you still think I'm pretty?" She tilted her head to the side as she batted her eyelashes lightly.

"Of course, Princess." He smirked, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

"Mmm, good." She purred, biting her lip as she placed her arm around his waist, letting her hand travel up his back slowly until she reached the sandy brown hair at the nape of his neck, combing her fingers through it before she closed her fist and used all of her strength to slam his face into the solid surface below him, yanking him back up as everybody started yelling and blood began pouring from every hole in his face as he gasped for air.

"Don't even think about it." Tig whispered to Greg through gritted teeth as the young man flinched beside him, knowing that he was contemplating making a break for it.

"I think you're real pretty too." An evil grin spread across Sydney's face as she forced Brian to look at her while she admired the damage that would surely be matching hers by the morning. "And for the record…" She lowered her voice and leaned in closer. "Ford only makes a V8 engine for a GT Mustang, and that piece of shit aint no GT." She nodded to the car in the garage that he'd tried to use as a decoy. "So next time you wanna run that mouth - you better own it like a man, or find a better excuse." She spit the words at him as he sat quivering in her grip where he glanced at Tig - knowing better than to try and fight back in the presence of a patched member, especially her old man.

Sydney followed the terrified man's gaze, scoffing when her eyes landed on Tig. She threw him out of her grip, getting to her feet as he clutched his face but stayed where he was under Tig's silent warning. Apparently the newbie had been around long enough to learn not to fuck with the Sergeant, but he hadn't been around long enough to know that fucking with his old lady was far more dangerous.

"Syd, I-" Juice began as she pushed herself up onto the picnic table in front of him, her menacing eyes taking Greg as their next prisoner.

"Get the fuck out of here." She cut him off with a tone that was cold as ice, snapping her head towards him with a threatening glare.

Juice felt awful as she looked at him like that - a look of pure betrayal. But it was also a look that told him that he would be next if he didn't respect her wishes. He nodded, looking to Tig apologetically as he gathered his lunch and headed towards the garage.

Sydney sat for a few seconds before she spoke, reveling in the tense air that had been charged with Greg's fear as he trembled with Tig's hand on his shoulder, keeping him right where Sydney wanted him. "What about you, Greggy?" She asked sweetly, tilting her head down to look into his eyes that he'd tried to shield from her penetrating gaze. "You think that watching men hit women is funny, too?"

"N-no ma'am." He shook his head rapidly.

"It's okay if you do." She shrugged, trailing her black-sandaled foot up his chest, slowly increasing the pressure as it crept up his neck. "There are things that I find funny." She nodded slowly, digging the sole of her fuzzy slide into his adam's apple - listening to him starting to choke as he tried not to move. "Like how the men who hit helpless women are always the ones who can have their asses handed to them on a silver platter." She pulled her foot away slowly and she turned away from him, letting him think that he had been spared until she spun back around, swinging her ankle into his jaw.

Sydney grinned as he groaned in pain, recoiling and letting his hand fly up to cup his face where he began bleeding from his mouth. She leant down, wrapping her hand around his throat as she yanked his face inches away from hers where he didn't dare look away. "That's right, Greggy." She nodded approvingly. "You look at me, cause he aint the one knockin your teeth loose." She nodded to Tig. "Now, was that funny?" She asked him with a pout in her voice as she mocked him.

"No. No ma'am." He shook his head.

"Well that's where you're wrong... It's funny when the helpless women realize that they aint so helpless... And it's funnier when the men do too." The glint in her eye and smile on her face were pure evil as she rasped the cocky words in a bone-chilling voice as she looked over where he and Brian both sat bleeding before her. "Now both of you, get the fuck out of my sight." She snarled, throwing his head back.

"Y-yes. Yes ma'am." He nodded, quickly getting to his feet where he gathered the remainder of his lunch and scurried back to the garage - Brian following close behind.

Tig blinked slowly as he sat stunned, still trying to comprehend what had just happened - the only reaction that he could form aside from the uncomfortable erection in his jeans. "Uh-" He tried to formulate a response through his bewilderment.

"I don't wanna hear it." Sydney stopped him before he could start as she retook her seat, reaching for the bag in front of him where she unloaded the takeout containers.

"Okay." Tig blinked a few more times, nodding slowly as he came back to earth, thanks to the smell of food. "Uh, I just got some stuff that I thought would be easy for you to eat…" He explained as she unboxed the odd assortment of items that he'd picked out for her at the diner. Even though the pills had kicked in by now, he still wanted to make sure that he didn't inadvertently prolong her period of discomfort while she healed.

Sydney felt a smile of amusement tugging at her lips as she lifted the lid off of the container that was marked 'Hot! Be careful!', recognizing the unmistakable liquid. "You did not get me alphabet soup." She giggled.

Tig felt his eyes widen, worried that he had done something wrong until he saw the smile on her face. He had been so concerned about getting her something that she would be able to eat comfortably that he hadn't even realized how ridiculous the idea had been. "Yeah." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess I did." The smile lingered on his face - glad that he had been able to make her smile after what had just happened.

"Never thought I'd find myself missing Lowell." Sydney scoffed as she tore the wrapper off of her plastic straw and stuck it into her chocolate milkshake, taking a long sip.

"Yeah, well… If it aint a junkie or a rat, it's…" He mused as he looked back into the garage at the frantic young men who were rushing to get their work done in hopes of erasing the deadly mistake that they'd made.

"Slim pickings." She chuckled, taking another sip.

Tig chuckled along with her as he lifted the lid of the styrofoam container that held his food: a steak sandwich with some thick-cut french fries, but he couldn't focus properly on the meal with his primal instincts buzzing in the back of his mind - the instincts that were telling him that he had to do something and he had to do something now. "You want me to let this fly, too?" He squinted in the sun as his head tilted to the side. As much as he wanted her to say no, a small part of him hoped for her to say yes so that he could redeem himself for ignoring her wishes the first time.

"Nah." She replied distantly as she stared at the reminder that she would always have to work twice as hard to merely be given the time of day. "You can do whatever you want to them."

Tig nodded distantly in return as his mind took a grateful turn from the guilty hope for redemption, to the excitement of all of the things that he could do to the smug pieces of shit who clearly didn't understand what it meant to work with the MC, and definitely didn't understand what it meant to disrespect their women - the thoughts not helping to ease the bulge in his pants. But what did help to ease the bulge in his pants was the reminder of the man that he wasn't allowed to perform any punishing acts on - but he shook the negative thought away, remembering what it was that had pushed him past the restraint.

"Jax give you any trouble?" He asked as casually as possible as tore the ends off of multiple ketchup packets and poured the contents over his fries.

Sydney felt herself tense when he asked the question that a few days ago, she would've hidden the answer to. But in light of recent events, she knew that her old tricks couldn't work anymore - not if she wanted to keep this relationship. She had to do what she'd agreed to do, she had to be transparent.

"Tried to tell me that I need to think about what I'm doing, wait it out until we know more or somebody's gonna get hurt."

"He knows it just as well as we do." Tig scoffed through his surprise at her easy divulgence.

"I know." Sydney scoffed back as she stirred her soup. "He said that if he really is a rat, he would kill him."

"You think he could do it?" He squinted skeptically.

"Of course not." She scoffed. "But we don't need him to do it, we just needed him to acknowledge that it had to be done." She stared at him pointedly, hoping to convey the message with her eyes instead of her words.

Tig kept his forehead from creasing as he tried to figure out if Sydney's cryptic expression meant what he thought it meant: that they had to kill Opie, but he tore his eyes away, ripping open a salt packet and shaking it over his fries - he couldn't let himself spiral on that thought, not now…

"Baby, you're gonna give yourself a heart attack." He looked up to see Sydney's eyes wide as he defiled his fries with the extra sodium.

He smiled bashfully, looking down as his cheeks reddened the slightest bit - putting a giant grin on Sydney's face. "Doll, if I can handle war, bullets, jail, and dog bites - I think I can handle a little salt." He raised a brow smugly.

"But what if you can't? Who's gonna be the one to defend my honour around here, hmm?" She mused playfully.

"Sweetheart… I think you got that covered." He chuckled. "You're just mad cause you wanted some." He smirked.

"Yeah, I am." She admitted with a laugh.

Tig watched with sparkling eyes as her cheeks reddened now - biting her lip and looking down bashfully. "Come here." He nodded to his side of the bench with a cheeky grin.

Sydney smiled as she looked back up at him, catching that devious glint in his playful blue eyes. She shook her head slowly as she rose to her feet, skipping over to him where he yanked her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her.

"You wanna hear about it if I tell you how fucking sexy it was?" He growled against her neck with a smile.

"You know…" Sydney grinned as she leaned back into his touch. "One of these days, I'm gonna stop hurting myself so that you can fuck me properly." She nipped at his ear lobe.

"Oh yeah?" He raised a brow. "And how's that?"

"Rough, the way I like it." She smirked as she rested her head back on his shoulder as his hands tightened around her waist, sliding down lower and into her army pants.

"Tell me, angel." He whispered into her ear, placing hot kisses all along her neck and exposed shoulder.

Sydney smirked, seeing an opportunity to keep her buzz going as the adrenaline from the fight started to wear off. "Bite me, spank me, choke me… Fuck me deep and eat my pussy until I'm begging you to stop." She moaned, letting her eyes fall closed as she grinded her ass against his crotch. Even though she had no intention of following through with anything right now, it was still fun to feel the tense of his muscles with each filthy word that passed through her lips.

"Baby." Tig growled with a smirk as she tried to rile him up. "I can still do lots of that…" He let his hands slip into her panties before slowly pulling them back out of her pants and sliding them over her hips as his teeth nipped at the sensitive skin on her neck.

"Mhmm but you know I'm greedy Tiggy… Especially when it comes to the big, bad, Sergeant at Arms." She purred as her hand snaked up his neck and wove into his curls, holding him in place.

"I'd give you the world." He told her quietly with a smile before pressing his lips to her cheek.

"And alphabet soup." She laughed.

"And alphabet soup." He repeated with a smile and a nod.

;

Song for this chapter

Venom - Eminem