Land of the Living 11/11 Finished

Chapter Nine: The Savior
Charlotte sat straight up in bed, woken by loud noises coming from outside. It took her a few seconds to realise that it was Tuesday and the waste bins were being collected. Looking over her shoulder she saw that Chibs was still sleeping soundly beside her, not even remotely bothered by the noise outside.
She couldn't get back to sleep so she grabbed her clothes from the following night that were gracelessly thrown around the room.
Seeing as it was only 8am no one else should have been up. Her car was parked out the front and if people saw it they'd ask questions which she didn't want to answer. After getting dressed she left the bedroom quietly.
The Clubhouse was quiet and Charlotte had escaped unnoticed. As she went to get in her car she found her doors were locked – she'd left the keys somewhere. She racked her brain to remember where she last had them. Entering the Clubhouse again she started to search the bar area, and spotted them on the floor near the cash register. Standing back up again she froze when Clay suddenly appeared on the other side of the bar.
***
Chibs woke up, disappointed that Charlotte had fled the Clubhouse already. He knew she was reluctant of going public but he didn't fully understand why. He knew he wasn't a poster boy for relationships, especially with a failed marriage already under his belt, but he wanted to really try hard at whatever it was that he and Charlotte had.
Glancing at his watch he saw it was coming up to 9am. He decided it was time to get up and wander outside, see what was going on and who was around and maybe get some work done.
The Clubhouse was eerily silent. After making a cup of coffee in the small kitchen Chibs turned and saw Clay leaning against the bar, arms folded against his chest, watching him.
“We need to talk.” He commanded in a low voice.
“Sure.” Chibs agreed, walking towards him.
He was surprised when Clay started to walk away from him and into the Church. He followed him in anyway, closing the door behind them. It seemed a little odd for just the two of them to be there alone.
“Sit.”
Clay motioned to Tig's chair and as soon as Chibs sat down he could smell Charlotte's perfume. She'd been in the Church room too he guessed and not that many minutes before him either.
Ah, Christ.
There was only one thing this could be about. This was the big 'What Do You Think You're Doing With Charlotte?' speech. He'd been expecting it but not so soon or so early in the goddamn morning. Whilst he was relieved there would be no more sneaking around, he wished Charlotte had at least told him of her intentions, not just drop him in it with Clay.
“Clay-” Chibs started.
“I know I'm not the best father.” Clay interrupted holding a hand up to silence Chibs further.
Chibs looked down into his steaming cup of coffee wondering where this was going.
“I know I'm not the best husband, either. But one thing I do know is that I'm the best President for Samcro, and I know I'm the best brother I can be to my guys.”
Chibs chose to remain silent.
“If you and Charlie want to be together that's fine, I got no problem with that. But you lied to me. You lied to me as a brother and as your President-”
“Clay, I never lied to you-”
“But you kept shit from me.” Clay leant forward and pointed a finger in Chibs' face.
“You think I wanted to keep this from you?” Chibs grew defensive. “It was all her idea, I just went along with it 'cause I-” He stopped short.
“'Cause what?” Clay pressed.
“'Cause that's what she wanted, and...” He trailed off and shrugged his shoulders, taking a sip of his coffee.
“And I guess I'd do anything for her.” He finished, hating how soppy that sounded. This definitely wasn't the time nor place for that kind of thing.
“That's all I wanted to hear.” Clay stood and Chibs followed suit.
“You do realise Gemma'll give you hell, right?” Clay smiled, patting Chibs on the shoulder.
***
After Clay had interrogated Charlotte in the Church (She knew it was coming, just not so soon or so early in the Goddamn morning) she went back to her house to shower and change her clothes before driving back to TM. She was heading over to Oakland to pick up the fridge she had ordered on the internet and needed an able bodied person to help her collect.
Putting the handbrake on her car she saw Piney storm out the Clubhouse, moving quicker than she had ever seen him move before, and get on his bike. Jax appeared a few seconds later and went to go and talk to him. Whatever he said didn't work and Piney pulled out the lot on his trike. Jax spoke to Half Sack who was loitering nearby and the Prospect got on his own bike and followed Piney out the garage.
Jax went over to Charlotte's car and she wound the window down.
“What you doin' here?” He asked.
“What was that about?” She asked, ignoring his question.
He shook his head and exhaled.
“Heard you spent the night.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. Nothing was ever a secret in the Club, and if it was, it wasn't for long.
“Why didn't you say anything?”
“Why didn't you say anything about Tara?” She countered.
“That's different.”
“Is it?” She raised one eyebrow. Talk about double standards!
“Look, Charlotte, this life? Chibs is never going to give it up - never. You gotta be sure this is what you want. You gotta be sure that you're okay with him coming home at god knows what time in the morning, blood all over his face. You gotta be sure that you're okay with him dropping everything in a split second because we need him. Because the Club needs him.”
Charlotte mulled it over for a few seconds. The truth was she was used to that shit happening. The guys would show up everywhere and anywhere with cuts and bruises they hadn't sported the day before. They dropped out of so many dinners and get togethers that often it was just Gemma and Charlotte left to eat enough food to feed a thousand.
“Jax, I wouldn't want it any other way..”
“I just don't want you to get hurt...like Donna.”
He chewed his bottom lip, remembering Donna lying on the yellow sheeting, stone cold dead.
“You getting' soft on me Jackson Teller? You turning gay?” She teased.
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Stop worrying, okay?”
“You know I'll always be here to pick the pieces up, right?”
“There won't be any pieces for you to pick up.”
Jax nodded in understanding.
***
Everybody was busy at the garage and so consequently Charlotte drove to Oakland on her own. On the free way she spotted Half Sack amongst the traffic, and a few cars in front of him was Piney. So it seemed Piney had stormed off to Oakland, but why? What was in Oakland that needed his attention so urgently?
She was intrigued and followed Half Sack and Piney until they stopped outside a bar, cars belonging to the Niners littered all down the street. The two men talked briefly before Half Sack made a phone call and followed Piney into the bar. Charlotte took out her own phone and called Clay. She got no answer so called Jax.
“I'ma have to call you back.” He answered.
“Did you know that Piney and Half Sack are in a Niner bar in Oakland?”
“Yeah.” He paused. “Wait, you there too?”
“I'll keep an eye on them.”
“Charlie-” He started but she'd already hung up.
“Charlie's in Oakland too.” Jax announced.
“What she doin' there?” Chibs asked in disbelief.
“Go. Now.” Clay ordered pointing to Chibs and Jax.
***
“Oi.”
Charlotte felt someone grab her bare calf and pull her off the dumpster she was standing on. She was using the height to look through a small window, giving her a perfect view of the bar from the back. She stumbled backwards and yelped in surprise as she fell into Chibs' arms, Jax looking down at her.
“The fuck you doin', Nancy fucking Drew?”
“Keeping an eye on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle One Nut.”
“Anybody see you?” Chibs asked her as they made their way back down the alleyway.
“No.”
“Go wait in the car.” Jax told her.
“Stay there this time.” Chibs ordered, opening the car door and motioning his head for her to get in. Last thing he wanted was for her to caught up in a cross-fire if something went wrong inside the bar.
“But-”
Charlotte started to protest, but she knew she had no right to enter the bar with them. Whatever it was that was happening, they were right – she should stay in the car. After she sat in the driver's seat Chibs leant in and kissed her.
“Get outta here, 'kay?”
***
Charlotte arrived at the cemetery at 1.50pm, ten minutes before the service was due to start. Not that Charlotte intended to duck out of paying her respects, but she wasn't a fan of funerals and she didn't want to be there longer than necessary. She'd also been trying Jax's cell phone like crazy that morning. He wasn't picking up and nobody had heard from him. When Chibs had left earlier that morning to go to the Clubhouse he said he'd get Jax to ring her, but then he sent her a text saying Jax had been in a bust up with Tig the night before and nobody had seen him since.
Wonderful, she thought.
On one side of the coffin were Donna's friends, distant family, neighbours and work colleagues. On the other side sat Gemma, Wendy, and Mary with the kids, Donna's older sister Heather, a dark haired woman that Charlotte had never seen before, Tara, and then an empty space. None of the guys were there yet but she could hear the bike procession in the distance.
Gemma stood when she saw Charlotte and they hugged each other in greeting.
“Chibs, huh?” Gemma simply stated, one hand on her hip. “How's that going for you?”
“Good.” Charlotte smiled.
Gemma always knew in the back of her mind that Charlotte would end up with someone either from the Club or very closely affiliated with the Club. She knew she wasn't interested in Juice or Half Sack, so she always imagined her getting together with a future member somewhere down the line. Never would she of imagined the person Charlotte would end up with would be somebody who was almost 20 years her senior.
“You know I'll be watching like a hawk.” Gemma warned.
“Don't you always?” Charlotte laughed lightly, giving Gemma another hug.
“I'll be fine.” Charlotte whispered in her ear.
Wendy stood up from her seat.
“You wanna sit down?” She nodded to the seat she had been sat upon. Charlotte was about to take it but then she noticed that Tara held Jax's cut in her hands. That alone was a story ready to be told.
“No, it's okay.” She answered. Gemma went to say something but didn't and just nodded, sitting back down again, watching as Charlotte walked towards Tara. The Doctor saw her and scooted over one seat so that now she was sitting at the end.
“Hey.” Tara greeted softly, and Charlotte gave her a polite smile in return. Tara never really knew what to think of Charlotte. Clay and Gemma had adopted her after she went to college in Chicago, so the two never really knew each other after her and Jax became brother and sister. The first time they'd even been in the same room outside of the hospital was at Abel's homecoming, and Tara had practically blown that opportunity to impress. No doubt Gemma had poisoned Charlotte's perspective of Tara already anyway.
“You wanna tell me why you're holding Jax's cut in your hands?” Charlotte asked.
Tara shook her head slightly. That sounded exactly like something Gemma would say. As Charlotte removed her sunglasses, Tara noticed a look of worry in the younger woman's eyes. No anger, no patronisation, no manipulation, just worry and anxiety. Tara relaxed.
“Juice dropped it off. I guess he figured I'd see Jax before he did again.”
“Did you?”
“Did I what?”
“See him? This morning?”
“No. I -I thought he was at the Clubhouse.”
“Nobody's seen him since last night.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
***
As the service was coming to an end Charlotte started getting restless about Jax. So much shit had happened in the past two months that Charlotte now realised anything was possible. Anything could've happened to Jax.
Not only was he MIA, he was missing for Donnas’ funeral, the highest form of disrespect to his longest and dearest friend Opie. If Opie didn't kill him for missing the service first, Charlotte would. Gemma wouldn't be too far behind, either.
Tara elbowed Charlotte lightly and nodded in the distance where Jax was approaching the group. His lip was visibly cut and there was some dried blood on his knuckles.
I guess that's what being in a fight with Tig looks like.
Tara stood and took the cut with her, helping Jax put it on and then kissed him.
Oh no.
Charlotte glanced down the line of people and saw the look on Wendy's face. Opie was watching the unfolding scenario with interest -hell they all were- wondering what Jax was going to do next. Jax smiled briefly at Charlotte as he walked towards the coffin, grabbed a blue carnation, kissed it gently and laid it on the coffin. On the way back he shot an odd look in Clay's direction, followed by a slight nod towards Opie before passing Tara and heading further deeper into the graveyard.
Charlotte tapped her foot on the grass in anticipation. She wished the Reverend would speak quicker so they could all leave. She had to go and see Jax. Give him an earful for not answering his phone, not telling her where he'd been. Then she'd find out why he was acting weird and hadn't stayed at the funeral.
“And now, let us bow our heads together in a unified and final prayer for Donna. Dear Heavenly Father...”
As everybody bowed their heads Charlotte bowed out of the ceremony in a bid to find Jax. She headed in the direction she saw him go but she couldn't see him. She knew he'd gone to his Dad's grave but she had no idea where he, or the other war veterans, were buried. Looking back over her shoulder the service had officially ended and people had begun to disperse. Taking a deep breath she walked a little way to her father's grave stone.
PAUL ERIC DAVIS
JAN 10 1952 – JULY 7 1997
BELOVED FATHER, LOYAL FRIEND
Charlotte pulled up a few overgrown blades of grass around the base of the cold stone, sitting on her knees. With all the crazy shit that had been happening lately she hadn't been to the gravestone in a while, and she felt guilty for it. A soft breeze ran through the trees as she rubbed her fingertips over the engraved lettering. She felt at her most calm at that moment than she had in weeks.
She had no idea how much time had passed, but she decided to go and look for Jax. Standing, she dusted off the grass from her knees.
“Jesus!”
She jumped when she turned and saw Chibs standing a few feet away from her, sitting on top of an extremely old gravestone, smoking a cigarette.
“You enjoy sneaking up on people in graveyards?”
“Yeah, kind of.” He replied with a smirk, jumping off the tomb and extinguishing his cigarette.
She raised her eyebrows in question but decided that she didn't really want to know the story behind that comment. He reached out and when she took his hand he pulled her towards him.
“You okay? I mean, I know you're not, but...” He trailed off.
“I'm fine.”
She smiled, placing a kiss on his lips as she slipped her hands under his cut, around his waist. Resting her chin on his shoulder she spotted Jax in the distance, perching on a gravestone. Piney approached him and gave him a thick brown envelope.
“There's Jax.”
Chibs put an arm round her shoulder and walked with her along the rows of graves. He proceeded to tell her the story with Half Sack and the grave.
“Digging up a grave? You know that's bad karma, right?”
That sounds familiar.
“Long as it's not your grave, baby.” He kissed her temple and stood back as she approached Jax.
“Where the hell have you been?” She asked.
He looked at her, tongue poking out and licking at his split lip.
“What's our number one rule Jax? We always check in with each other.”
“I'm sorry. Some shit came up.”
“And I guess that 'shit' was in the form of Tig?”
Jax just nodded; thumb flicking through a huge booklet of some sort.
“What the hell is that?” Charlotte turned her head to read the front.
The Life and Death of Sam Crow: How the Sons of Anarchy lost their way.
“It's a new direction.”
THE END.

Land of the Living 10/11

Chapter Eight: Homecoming

Charlotte slept well considering the previous night’s extra-curricular activities. Taking a quick shower, she suddenly pined for her father. She needed that reassurance. She needed to physically hear his voice out loud, other than the one that kept repeating in her head. With all the crazy shit that had been happening, she hadn't found the time to go to his grave lately.
After her shower, Charlotte checked in with the vet, who said that he had got the bullet out of Madison's body and she would be fine after her scar healed. Apparently, Madison's large stomach had saved her life. The bullet hit mainly fat and a bit of muscle, missing major arteries and organs. Next, she called Jax, wanting to thank him again for getting Madison to a vets in good time. After she had raced out of her house to go find her mother at the Vista Inn, Chibs and Jax had loaded both Nathan and Madison into their 'borrowed' car and dropped Madison off at the vets. Without the guys, she'd be burying Madison.
Heading downstairs, Charlotte saw Gemma sitting at the dining room table with two cups of freshly brewed coffee.
“You okay, baby?” Gemma asked, reaching out and taking Charlotte's hand as she sat down.
“Yeah,” Charlotte nodded, “All things considering, yeah.”
“Jax just called. Abel's coming home.”
Charlotte beamed. That was the first good news they'd all heard in months.
***
“How many people are we feeding?” Charlotte asked as Gemma placed an assortment of five, huge, ready-made cakes into their already full trolley.
Gemma stood upright, hands on hips.
“We're celebrating.”
“Yeah but who's 'we'? The whole of Charming?”
Charlotte glanced down into their trolley, filled with cakes, crisps, nuts, pop, and alcohol. They nearly had to get another trolley for all the bags of snacks and crisps that Gemma had wanted to buy.
“You got a smart mouth. You know that, young Lady?” Gemma couldn't hide her smile.
“Yeah, but I got that from you.”
“Yeah, guess you did,” Gemma said as she checked out her reflection in the security mirror hanging on the wall, readjusting the sunglasses on her head.
***
Charlotte arrived laden with presents for baby Abel and two cases of beer.
“Think we might run out?” Gemma teased, taking one case from Charlotte and putting it on the kitchen counter, where four other cases were already sitting.
“My fridge is busted,” Charlotte explained, “My kitchen floor looked like a swimming pool.”
Gemma left for the hospital, leaving Luanne fussing in the kitchen. Charlotte and Wendy were alone in the living room, putting up the final decorations in an awkward silence. Jax soon swung by and picked Wendy up. He handed her his spare helmet and Charlotte was catapulted back to eighteen months ago, when that gesture would not have been uncommon. Now Jax barely even looked at his soon-to-be-ex-wife…How times changed.
***
Charlotte tapped the cake again with her knife. It didn't even make a dent in the frosting.
“It's still frozen,” she announced.
Tig made a noise of disgust and left her alone in the kitchen again. Tig loved cake almost as much as he loved going through hookers. He had his eye on the double chocolate brownie cake since he first got there, but it was taking a while to defrost.
Charlotte heard the front door open and she immediately went to go see baby Abel. Jax walked through to the living room where everybody crowded around him in a circle. This wasn't just about Abel's homecoming. This was about family, too. They were all there to show support, love, and commitment to one another. Charlotte realised that, when Abel was surrounded by his family - blood or otherwise - this baby was dearly loved and would forever be protected. She was too. They all were. They all had each other's backs.
***
“See? Nerves of steel,” Piney declared, removing his hands from the glass that was balancing on Kenny's head.
“Don't laugh, Kenny! You're spilling it!” Charlotte said as some of the liquid sloshed over the sides onto Kenny's hair.
“Y'know the rules. Say that if you spill it, you have to drink the rest,” Jax smiled as Piney was already putting a glass on Ellie's head too.
“You mean his Dad will,” Donna laughed, looking up at Opie.
“Sure will, baby,” he replied, giving her a kiss.
Out of the corner of her eye, Charlotte saw Tara take a seat on the chair's arm next to Jax. She also saw her lean down and kiss him.
Oh Shit, She thought as she glanced over to see Wendy's reaction.
“Look after this.”
Jax handed Charlotte his beer bottle, before leading Tara away to talk. Jax's vacated seat wasn't even cold before someone sat heavily beside her. It was Tig.
“Checked on that cake lately?”
Charlotte shook her head.
***
“You're looking like a pro,” Charlotte commented as she entered the kitchen to dispose of the empty beer bottles that had been littering the living room. Jax was holding Abel in one arm, putting beers in the fridge with his free hand.
“Yeah, I'm getting the hang of it,” he smirked. “I don't care what anybody ever tells you, little man,” Jax said, looking down at Abel, “You always listen to your Auntie Charlotte, you got that?”
She was so taken aback by the sweetness of his comment and his sincerity that she was left speechless.
“Here, can you hold him? I gotta take a leak.”
Now that was the Jackson Teller she was used to. She carried baby Abel back into the living room where she took the only available seat next to Wendy.
After a little while, Abel fell asleep. So she put him in his cot under the supervision of Gemma.
“You know, she should be doing this. Not you,” Gemma mumbled.
“Gemma,” Charlotte warned.
“What? She should.”
Gemma left, but Charlotte stayed for a few minutes, watching the baby's chest rise and fall with his breathing.
“He's a cutie.”
Chibs' voice broke the silence in the room. She turned to see him leaning against the doorframe, watching her watch Abel.
“Yeah,” Charlotte replied softly, stroking the baby's tiny nose.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
“I'm fine.”
She turned and leaned against the railings on the cot. Chibs turned his head and looked down the hallway to check that nobody was coming their way.
“You still staying at Gemma’s?” he asked.
“No, she's staying here tonight. For Abel.”
He looked to the floor, thinking.
“What's wrong?” she asked, sensing something.
“Maybe you should stay here, too. ‘Til this shit blows over.”
“I thought it was done.”
As their eyes met in the semi-darkness of the baby's room, Chibs debated telling her the whole truth about Nathan's sudden disappearance. Sometimes when people knew the truth, they panicked. And when they panicked…that's when they got hurt.
“Just...be careful.”
***
Charlotte exited the kitchen with two slices of cake – one for her and one for Tig. The cake had finally defrosted. As she exited the kitchen, she saw Tig leave through the front door.
“Where's Tig going? I got cake,” she asked Clay, who was leaning against the wall.
“He, urr, went to get cigarettes.”
***
The house fell into a deadly silence after Jax, Chibs and Clay left to go and meet Opie. Gemma was washing up, trying to take her mind off things. Wendy and Charlotte sat opposite each other in the living room in another awkward silence.
Charlotte glanced at her watch and noted that the guys had been gone for forty minutes. They didn't know where the accident had happened exactly, but Charlotte was seriously considering going on a drive around the town to find them.
“You still doing your jewellery?” Wendy asked. She already knew the answer but she just wanted to break the tension.
“Yeah.”
“I heard you got fired from the Nail Salon.”
“Yeah.”
“Found anything else yet?”
“No.”
Wendy scoffed.
“Jesus, Charlotte, you have to give me more than one word answers. I'm making an effort here.”
“What do you want me to give you, Wendy? Five hundred dollars? Or you just going to take that yourself again?”
Wendy winced, consciously rubbing the fading track marks littering her hands.
“Okay, I deserved that. I'm sorry. What more can I say?”
“Sometimes, Wendy, it's not so much what you say. It's what you do, too,” Charlotte huffed.
“Dishes are done,” Gemma announced, cutting off Wendy's reply.
The three women remained in silence until Abel's whimper came through on the baby monitor. All three women stood up to go tend to him, eyeing each other, silently figuring out who should go.
“Go,” Gemma said, waving Wendy down the hallway - Junkie Mom had to learn sometime.
***
Jax entered through the front door, shaking his head. From the look on his face, everybody knew that whatever had happened, Donna hadn't survived. Gemma immediately stood to hug her son.
“You should go home, Mom,” Jax half-asked, half-told his mother.
“What about the baby?” Gemma swallowed.
“I can take care of my son.”
Mother and Son continued to look at each other before Charlotte stood and looped an arm through Gemma's.
“Come on,” she urged.
“I'll get my purse,” Gemma finally relented.
As Gemma collected her things, Charlotte looked at Jax and saw a mixture of torture and anger on his face. She gave him a quick hug before she left with Gemma.
***
The silence of her house hit Charlotte as soon as she stepped through her front door. She half-expected Maddy to run up to her, tail wagging, begging for more food. The only sound was the horrible clinking sound of her broken refrigerator. She'd really have to get that sorted.
It had been a long day and an even longer night. And with the onslaught of a headache, Charlotte headed straight up to her bedroom, her heart set on changing into comfortable pyjamas and watching 'Dirty Dancing'. Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey would make her feel a little better at least. Flicking on her light, she stopped in her tracks. Painted across the largest wall in her room in bright red paint was the message:
I'M STILL WATCHING
Charlotte was so terrified she couldn't even scream. She felt like she was bolted to the ground and couldn't move for a few seconds. When she was able to, she ran downstairs, grabbed her keys and headed straight for her car.
Peeling out of her driveway, she spotted a pair of headlights in her rear-view mirror. The lights were so bright that she couldn't make out the car or the driver exactly, but she had a good idea as to who it was. The car followed her the whole way to the Clubhouse.
She had stupidly left her phone in the house in her rush to get out. Thankfully, someone had left one of the Teller-Morrow gates open. She parked, got out quickly and shut the gate. A car stopped outside the entrance. But just as quick as it had stopped, it had sped off again. It was Nathan in his Pontiac.
Charlotte ran to the Clubhouse door, finding it locked. She banged on the door, screaming for someone to open it. On the other side of the door, she heard someone flick the lock and she stood back to let them open it.
“Charlie? What's-”
Charlotte didn't even let Chibs finish his sentence before she flung herself at him, arms going around his neck. He took a step back to steady himself and nudged the door shut with the tip of his boot.
“I thought you got rid of him!” she cried hysterically, “He's still here!”
“What happened?” he asked, one hand rubbing her back and the other on the back of her head, holding her close. Juice looked on from the bar with piqued interest.
Charlotte pulled away to look at him, hands gripping the collar of his cut.
“He was back in my house! He followed me here!””
“Oh Jesus.”
Chibs closed his eyes for a second. He'd wanted to hunt down and kill Nathan the second he realised that he had escaped. He knew he should've said something to her earlier at the party. He was lucky she got out alive and unhurt.
“What's going on?” Juice asked, walking up to them. He couldn't hear what they were saying properly from the bar.
“Stay here,” Chibs ordered. “You,” Chibs pointed to Juice, “Watch her.”
***
It had been almost half an hour since Chibs had left. Sitting at the bar with Juice, Charlotte confessed that she felt guilty about at least not going after him to check that he was okay. Juice had laughed at her.
“I think he can handle himself,” he said, shaking his head then announcing he was going to bed with a bottle of Tequila in one hand and a packet of cigarettes in the other.
After being by herself for a few minutes, Charlotte got bored. She went to Chibs' dorm-room, just opening the door by a little bit, not sure what to expect.
Chibs' room had the same horrible, dark wood effect panelling that Jax had, all around the room. On the nightstand, stood a ceramic black lamp that she turned on, illuminating half the room in a dim light. He tried to 'decorate', which consisted of a large Scottish flag pinned to one wall, a framed hand-drawn picture of a Harley on another and a number of pictures of half-naked women stuck to his small mirror.
She sat on the edge of the bed, facing the door. When she heard the sound of his footsteps coming down the hallway she tensed up, hands gripping the mattress, preparing herself for whatever state he could be in.
The whole world paused as he entered. Charlotte's eyes diligently looking everywhere for any signs of stab or bullet wounds.
He stood in front of her whilst she looked up at him.
“Charlie,” he started, “It's always gonna be like this, y'know?”
No, she didn't know what he meant. Her brows furrowed together in confusion and before she could voice her thoughts he cupped her cheek and continued.
“You're always gonna be waitin' around. Wonderin' where I am. When I'm gonna come back.”
He pulled his hand away.
“You need to realise that and you need to accept it. 'Cause that's what I am.”
She stood quickly.
“I know. I know that this,” she said, placing her hands over the patches on his cut, “is what you are. But it's not all you are.”
His eyes roamed over her face before he kissed her so hard she fell backwards onto his bed, Charlotte bursting into a fit of giggles.
In the room next door, Juice knew something was up when he heard Charlotte laugh. Then something crashed to the floor and after hearing her moans of pleasure, he proceeded to turn up the volume on his iPod.

Land of the Living 9/11

Chapter Seven: Crappy Liar – Part Two

Juice saw Charlotte's car gunning for him. He didn't think she would stop in time at the speed she was going. She braked hard and a squeal came up from her brake pads, stopping inches from him and the bike he was working on.
“Where's Clay?!” she yelled at him before she was even fully out the car.
“He's out.”
“Jax?”
“Out too.”
“Tig? Anyone here?!” she flustered.
She liked Juice, but she didn't think that in this sort of crisis he had the right head on him to figure this out.
“Tig's with Clay. Half-Sack's in the back,” he thumbed behind him, “Chibs is in the Clubhouse.”
Charlotte turned and ran over to the Clubhouse. Typical; any other day they'd all be hanging around on the benches, smoking and drinking, but today of all days they'd decided to go off doing errands.
Charlotte burst through the Clubhouse door, the reaper shaking when she slammed it shut. Even if he was bothered about the sudden intrusion, Chibs showed no signs of it. He remained leaning on the bar on his forearms, reading through 'The Charming Enquirer' newspaper.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” he asked, not even looking up from his paper. A brown envelope was thrust into his chest.
“You're in deep shit! This Club is in deep shit.”
Chibs raised his eyebrows and delved into the envelope, bringing out glossy, 7x9 photographs of…
“Holy Christ!” he shouted, looking at a photograph of himself, Jax and Tig beating the shit out of the Carnival folk at Fun Town. They'd been careful that night, hadn't they?
“I know!” Charlotte replied, pacing the Clubhouse floor.
Chibs started to flick through all the photographs. There was enough evidence here to put them all away for life. Whoever had taken these was good – beyond good.
“Where the hell did you get these from?”
“Long story.”
She rubbed her face.
“Are you being stalked?” he asked, face turning into a smirk as he held up a picture of him and her kissing, both half naked, standing in front of her living room window.
“Stop it!” she scolded, snatching the photo from him and ripped it up, stuffing the remains inside her bag. Chibs was already calling Clay on the pre-pay.
***
“Let's just kill 'im,” Tig suggested.
Charlotte had sat with Clay in the Church one-to-one and showed him the pictures, told him the whole story of meeting her mother and of Nathan Drone. Afterwards, he had called an emergency meeting and re-told the story to everybody else. Charlotte was waiting, pacing up and down outside the Church door.
“No,” Jax replied sternly.
“This guy knows about the guns, the beatings, the bodies,” Tig rattled off on his fingers.
“This guy is good, a'ight? He's not some two-bit punk from the street. He's been trained for this kind of shit,” he said, throwing a photo towards Tig, “He's probably connected. We don't know who he works for or with. We can't just off him and expect nobody to miss him. ATF are still floating around. We can't afford to add another body to the list, another track to cover, another alibi to figure out.”
“Then what the hell do you suggest? Give him a fuckin' fridge magnet? Thanks for visiting Charming. Come again soon. Then send him on his way? He's a rat you know what we do to rats.”
Chibs placed a hand on Tig's arm to calm him down. He was as angry inside as Tig was on the outside, but he was using all his self-control not to show it.
“What's your master plan then, VP?”
Jax sighed. This couldn't have come at a worse time. He was still trying to reach out to Opie and this setback was costing the Club time they didn't have.
“A'ight. Here's what we do. Me and Chibs will go home with Charlie. We'll wait for Nathan to leave – he has to at some point. We'll follow him, get the memory card, escort him out of Charming and make sure he doesn't come back.”
“You better make sure he never comes back here, understand?” Clay ordered.
“Absolutely,” Jax and Chibs agreed.
***
Charlotte had got home first and rang Jax to tell him that Nathan wasn't outside yet. Even after the night he entered her house, Nathan still watched her from his car outside. She guessed that Sharon wanted to make sure she didn't leave town.
Chibs and Jax arrived in a 'borrowed' car and parked it in Charlotte's garage. Jax headed upstairs to the spare bedroom, peering out the window, but leaving the light off. Chibs remained downstairs, leaning back on a dining room chair, peering through the small slits in the semi-closed blinds that looked out onto the street. Madison had taken up a seat on the floor beside him and he was scratching behind her ears.
The house was still. The only noises were the news report on the TV and the soft panting from Madison.
“What are you gonna do with him?” Charlotte whispered, standing behind Chibs and looking out through the blinds herself.
“Get him to leave,” Chibs replied simply, as he watched a pizza delivery bike make it's way down the street.
“You're not going to kill him?”
She was shocked by her own question. When had she decided that Nathan should die? What gave her the right to even think that? When had she turned into Judge, Jury and Executioner?
Chibs turned his head to look at her.
“Do you want me to?” he asked quietly, holding her gaze so she couldn't look away. He saw her internal struggle in her eyes.
Chibs had his own problems. The Club had come up with a plan that had been passed – Get the memory card and get Nathan out of Charming – and he had an obligation to fulfil it. If Charlotte said she wanted Nathan killed, he knew he'd then feel an obligation to her to kill Nathan--to keep her safe.
If ATF hadn't been snooping around, he would've been able to take Nathan out without a fear of a backlash, but Jax was right. Killing meant another body to bury, another lie to cover, another alibi needed. SAMCRO had no idea who Nathan was working for or his capabilities. There was no way in hell they could trip up right now.
“Yes.”
He merely nodded and turned back to look through the blinds.
“I see you have company.”
Charlotte whirled around to see Nathan standing behind her. Chibs stood quickly, stepping in front of Charlotte to shield her. He grabbed his gun from his waistband, pointing it at the bald headed man.
“There wasn't any space out in the front. I had to park my car in the next street. I would park in the driveway, but that'd just be down right rude of me.”
“Jax!” Chibs bypassed Nathan's strange comment and yelled towards the stairs.
“I recognise you,” Nathan smirked, talking to Chibs.
“Shut it!” Chibs cocked his gun.
“I don't blame you. I've got off on her surveillance photos before.”
Chibs hit Nathan in the head with the butt of his gun. Nathan went down on the floor and Chibs pinned him down, taking his gun away and skidding it across the floor before grabbing the collar of his shirt in one hand, gun pointed at his temple with the other.
“Who do you work for, smart arse?”
Jax appeared in the room, wondering what was going on since he never saw a car pull up. He quickly assessed the situation, told Charlotte to stay back, and stood over Nathan with his gun pointing at him.
“Answer him!” Jax shouted.
“I work for myself!” Nathan spat out.
“Where's the memory card?”
Nathan laughed. Chibs slammed his head on the floor.
“I asked you where the fucking memory card is, asshole!”
Nathan laughed again. Chibs dropped his gun to the floor and punched Nathan in the nose a couple of times. When blood started pouring onto the carpet, Chibs pulled out his knife, putting it inside Nathan's mouth, pressing it against his cheek.
“I'm going to ask you one more time, you little shit and if you run off that smart mouth of yours again, I'm going to make your smile a lot wider, you get that?”
“We could be twins.”
Chibs punched Nathan in the cheek where the knife was. The pressure on the blade pierced his cheek as well as Chibs' knuckles.
“That fucking hurts!” Nathan yelled in agony.
Chibs moved the blade onto Nathan's other cheek.
“Stop! Jesus fucking Christ, you maniac, stop!”
He started to choke on the blood that was filling his mouth.
“Ah, and I was just getting into that.”
Chibs stood up and retrieved his gun. Nathan sat up on his knees trying to hold the hole in his cheek together to stop the bleeding.
“Sharon has the memory card. She has it all – everything's with her at the hotel,” Nathan confessed.
“Lodi?” Chibs asked, looking to Jax.
“Cable ties then Lodi,” Jax agreed. They'd take the bald-headed psychopath with them as their own insurance for the memory card.
They'd all taken their eyes off Nathan for only a few seconds, but it was all he needed. He rolled over to get his gun off the floor and then rolled under her dining-room table. Chibs and Jax shot at him and bullets hit his shoulder and leg.
Nathan raised his gun to Charlotte, but it proved too heavy for his wounded arm. His aim faltered and the bullet hit Madison instead of her.
“Maddy!” Charlotte gasped.
Nathan dropped the gun on the floor, which Jax picked up, then knocked him out with a blow to the head.
Madison's long grey fur quickly turned crimson from where she'd been hit in the stomach.
“Oh my God, do something! Do something!” Charlotte yelled at Chibs whilst stroking Madison. Her breathing was laboured and her eyes were glossy.
Chibs wanted to tell her he wasn't a vet, but he knelt down beside her anyway, searching for a pulse.
“Charlie, she needs a vet. I can't help her,” he confessed.
Charlotte stood as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, scrolling through her address book to find the number for her vet. All those monthly insurance payments were finally going to pay off for Madison.
“Where the hell do you think you're going?” Chibs yelled after her, as she made her way to the front door. He stood to chase after her but Jax held him back with a hand on his arm.
“Wait! There's only one place she's headed; Lodi. Get the goon and let's go.”
***
When Charlotte barged into Sharon's motel room, she was lying on the bed and had a belt around her arm, about to shoot up.
“Shit!” Sharon quickly took off the belt, “Knock first!”
“Get up.”
“Did you get my money?”
Charlotte grabbed the lampshade on the nightstand and hit Sharon across the face. It caught her lip and it started to bleed.
“Charlotte!” she scolded, “I'm your mother!”
“You're nothing! You're nothing to me but an alcoholic, junkie, money-grabbing bitch who tried to ruin my family! You're lucky you're still breathing!”
Charlotte hit her again across the face and she stumbled over the edge of the bed, falling backwards onto the small chest of drawers.
Sharon's head made an almighty cracking sound on the corner of the wooden dresser.
“Oh no, oh shit,” Charlotte breathed.
She had wanted to hurt Sharon in her fit of rage, but now she feared the whole situation had gone a step too far. Thick blood started to pool out of a large wound at the back of Sharon's head. It was quickly turning the grey stone coloured carpet a horrible crimson colour.
The only sound filling Charlotte's ears was her own heavy breathing. One minute everything had been going eight hundred miles an hour, and now it was all on pause.
She heard a noise behind her and the last person she expected to see there was Gemma.
“Gemma? What the hell-?”
“Where is she?”
Gemma didn't even bother to close the door as she stepped into the room, stopping at the sight of Sharon's body and blood on the floor. One look at the lampshade in Charlotte's trembling hands was enough to tell her what had happened.
“Oh, baby,” Gemma soothed, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. Guess she wouldn't need that Beretta after all.
“I didn't mean to. She just fell.”
Charlotte didn't really know how to feel about the situation.
“Junkie bitch,” Gemma spat, “Give me the lamp, baby. It's okay,” she soothed.
***
Jax and Chibs walked quietly down the hallway until they reached a corner.
“Go, I got your back,” Chibs stated as he waited and kept watch.
When Jax saw the door was already open and he heard female voices, he motioned for Chibs to come to him. As the two men peered inside the room with caution, they were surprised to see Gemma there, too. Stepping into the room further, they saw Sharon laying lifelessly in a pool of blood on the floor while Gemma was struggling to take back the lampshade in Charlotte's vice grip.
“Charlotte, come on sweetheart; just give it to me.”
The trouble was, Charlotte couldn't let go of the lampshade, because if she did, she felt like she was going to pass out.
Jax approached Charlotte slowly and cautiously took hold of her wrist. Upon seeing him there, Charlotte finally dropped the lampshade into Gemma's hands and fell into Jax's arms.
***
The others turned up at the motel minutes later. Jax had called Clay on the pre-pay on the drive to Lodi to tell him what had happened.
Juice destroyed the camera and the memory card. There was no evidence left collected by Nathan to incarcerate them.
Tig, Juice and the Prospect loaded Sharon's body into a car drove out to the outskirts of Lodi, made a grave and burnt the body.
Jax half-carried, half-dragged Charlotte to Gemma's car and the two drove back to Charming. Madison was at the vet’s and would be for the foreseeable future. Instead of going home to an empty house, Charlotte took up Gemma's offer of staying overnight at her house in the spare bedroom.
Clay had paid off the night manager, giving him some spiel about how Sharon had recently gone through surgery and her stitches had opened; hence the blood on the floor. The manager accepted the money gratuitously and told him not to worry about the mess, but her mini-bar tab still needed paying.
“Clay, we've got a problem,” Chibs announced.
“This night cannot possibly get any worse, Chibs.”
“Back window's been smashed. Nathan's gone.”
“And then again, maybe it can.”
“He's been hit in the leg, he couldn't have got far.”
He pulled out his gun and started to head back to the car.
“Hey,” Clay grabbed his arm, “Where're you going?”
“Gonna find that prick and kill 'im.”
“No more bodies, remember?”
Chibs sighed in frustration.
“He knows where Charlie lives.”
He spoke more so to Jax, who had been standing there silently, than to Clay. Jax chewed on his bottom lip as he thought this one through. They already had to burn Sharon's body, which was already a big risk. Nathan was injured and would probably seek medical attention tonight. On the other hand, he was a psychopath and he did know where Charlotte lived. He even knew how to get into her house silently.
“Charlotte's staying with Gemma tonight. She'll be fine.”
Jax placed a hand on Chib's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Jax-” Chibs started to protest.
“No more bodies. End of discussion,” Clay ordered.

Land of the Living 8/11

Chapter Seven: Crappy Liar

Being locked in a jail cell overnight was hungry work. Jax had caved and drove one of the garage's breakdown cars to pick Charlotte up. She wasn't a huge fan of riding the two-wheel vehicle variety, even packing double with experienced riders such as Bobby or Tig. Jax bought them a takeaway lunch at “Cheesus Crust”, a local pizza parlour that had just opened, and he spent the entire car journey ribbing her about how now her criminal record was stained. After lunch, Jax dropped her off at home, knowing how much she would love a shower and to change her clothes. Plus, he had to get back to the garage and find Opie.
Charlotte was working on some jewellery pieces when her home phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Charlotte?”
“Yeah?” she answered cautiously, not recognising the voice on the other end.
“It's your mother,” Sharon slurred on the other line. She sounded drunk or high--or perhaps both.
“You okay?”
They weren't best of friends, but she didn't want her mother “OD”'ing over the phone on her.
“Are you busy? Come over to Lodi. Let's get something to eat.”
“I just ate.”
“We can talk.”
She sounded optimistic, bordering on desperate.
Charlotte paused for a while. Sharon was reaching out and Charlotte decided to take her hand.
“Okay.”
***
Charlotte took a seat on the only chair in the motel room, ignoring the loud creak it made under her applied weight.
“You look nice.”
Sharon sat on the edge of the bed, opposite Charlotte, after locking the door.
“Thanks. What have you been up to?”
She scanned the room and saw a spoon on the nightstand. Sharon caught her looking, knowing what she had seen and folded her arms so her track marks on her hands weren't completely visible.
“Um, shopping, sightseeing.”
“Sightseeing in Lodi?”
Charlotte nearly laughed. Sharon shrugged. They sat in silence for a few seconds before Charlotte decided to ask her burning question.
“Do you have a problem?”
“Excuse me?”
“With drugs? Alcohol?”
Sharon had the nerve to look hurt.
“I saw you pour alcohol into your coffee at Lumpy's. There's track marks on your hands. The only utensil in your room is a fucking spoon and I saw you score in the parking lot. Just admit it.”
“Alright, alright!” Sharon agreed. She had no energy to cover up the truth with her lies. “I have a problem, but I can control it.”
“Bullshit!”
Charlotte reached across and grabbed Sharon's arm, pulling her hand free, showing it to her.
“These are fresh tracks! This room stinks of alcohol!”
“Don't you dare preach to me,” Sharon snapped, pulling her hand away, “I know I have a problem – my liver's fucking packed up already for Christ's sake – look at all these pills I have to take every god damn day!”
Sharon grabbed a pill tray from the nightstand and emptied multicoloured pills into Charlotte's lap. Charlotte remained still as Sharon stood above her, chest heaving from her little outburst.
“I'm going to change. I'm getting help. I'm getting a liver transplant.”
Charlotte studied Sharon's face. She noticed that it was a tinged yellow colour the other day but assumed it was the dodgy lighting at Lumpy's.
“That's not help Sharon. That's a fucking way out! A coward's way out.”
“I'm going to get my new liver and you're going to help me!”
She thrust a finger in her face.
“Jesus, woman, get a grip of yourself.”
Charlotte slung her bag on her shoulder and went to leave. Sharon moved quickly and blocked the door.
“Get out of my way. I'm leaving.”
“You're not leaving this room until you give me what I came here for--Money.”
“I don't have any money.”
“I'm still in legal rights for your father's life insurance money. We never divorced. I'm a widow – I want what's rightfully mine – I want my goddamn money!”
Charlotte slapped her face. Sharon was shocked but then laughed, holding a hand up to her burning cheek.
“Did the biker boys teach you that, sweetheart?”
“Shut up and get out of my way, you junkie bitch!”
Sharon moved out of the way, but the door was locked and dead bolted, and by the time Charlotte was even half way through the locks Sharon returned with a photograph in her hand.
Charlotte glanced at the picture out of curiosity and her eyes went wide. It was a photograph of Tig and Juice assembling AK's out of oil drums.
“There's a whole pile of 'em in that envelope.”
Sharon nodded towards the nightstand.
Charlotte went over and felt inside the brown envelope, pulling out the glossy photographs. There were pictures of the Sons in various criminal activities – even pictures of AK's inside the oil drums. How the hell had Sharon managed to get that close without being undetected?
“Nathan's pretty damn good.”
“Nathan?”
Of course. How could Charlotte of been so stupid? Nathan was trailing her and when he wasn't, he was gathering incriminating photographs of everybody else.
“You had this all planned out, didn't you?” Charlotte accused, “Nathan, the pictures, black mailing me for money?”
“Not entirely.”
Sharon sat down on the edge of the bed.
“I found out that Clay and Gemma adopted you and that you still lived in that backwards hick town. I asked Nathan to follow you, yes. When he told me who Clay was, well, let's just say I decided to take out an insurance policy of my own in case you weren't co-operative. Nathan's got a future in photography, don't you think?”
Charlotte had to agree to that. These pictures could take down every member of SAMCRO for a lifetime. Agent Stahl would have an orgasm over the pictures Nathan had took. If his photography didn't take off, he'd make a good Agent.
“You bitch!” Charlotte hissed, “Burn 'em!”
“Give me my money and I'll burn everything!”
“You do not barter with me on this one!”
Charlotte backed Sharon against the wall. She could be a junkie and an alcoholic. She could be a heartless, greedy bitch and only want money, but one thing she could not do was destroy Charlotte's family.
“You burn everything here, now, or I'll take you to the Sons myself.”
“Fine,” Sharon shrugged, “I'll burn them here, but Nathan still has them on his memory card. Isn't technology great?” She smirked.
“Fuck!” Charlotte cursed.
She didn't know where Nathan was. He was dangerous and unpredictable. She couldn't take him on to get the memory card without the Sons’ back up.
“How much do you want?”
“Sixty grand, cash, day after tomorrow.”
Charlotte grabbed her mother's head and slammed it against the wall several times before she collapsed to the floor in agony. She took the envelope of photos and ran out of the motel room, leaving the cleaning maid in the hallway in a cloud of metaphorical dust. She jumped in her car and raced back to Charming to the garage. She needed to tell Clay everything - Nathan could be snapping away pictures of them at that very moment.
He needed to be taken care of.

Land of the Living 7/11

Chapter Six: Better Off Alone

“Detective Hale, these are the typed reports from the AK incident.”
Amanda Staff handed the Detective the notes and reports on the case.
“Thanks.”
He took them from her and headed into the office that was once Unser's before Agent Stahl took over. He was surprised to see her putting on her jacket, a neat pile of files in front of her.
“Heading somewhere?” he asked.
“Going for a picnic in the woods. Wanna come, big bear?”
He rolled his eyes.
“We found enough drugs at Luanne's to put her away in a cell. All I have to do is pit her jail time against Big Boy Otto, get a confession from him and ladies and gentlemen we have a RICO.”
Otto was old-time SAMCRO. As much as Hale hated to admit it, he knew Otto would never rat. But then again, there wasn't a lot that that Otto wouldn't do for Luanne. He put his report on the edge of the desk and grabbed his sports jacket that was hanging on the coat stand.
“I'm coming, too.”
Stahl took a quick, inquisitive peek at Hale's typed reports. After a few weeks reading non-stop files regarding Sons of Anarchy members, her brain went into autopilot and scoured pages for keywords. The word “Morrow” sprung out of the page at her.
“What're these from?” Stahl asked.
“Typed reports from the incident with the AK's,” he shrugged.
“Who the hell is this?”
She pointed to the typed statement by Charlotte about the incident.
“She's the only surviving eye-witness besides Trammel.”
“Charlotte Davis-Morrow? Does Clay have a daughter?”
How could she have missed this information beforehand?
“Yeah, kind of. She's adopted,” Hale shrugged.
“And you never thought to mention this to me?” Stahl snapped.
Hale shrugged again and from the look on Stahl's face--that was the worst thing he could've done right then.
“Tell me everything.”
***
Charlotte swung the door open and was surprised to see a slim woman with brunette hair and a sharp suit at her door. If it weren’t for the badge that was thrust in her face, Charlotte would've pinned her down for a lawyer.
“Agent June Stahl, ATF. May I talk with you Miss Morrow?” the lady asked with a forced smile.
"It's Miss Davis-Morrow," Charlotte returned sharply.
"Oh, I do apologise," Agent Stahl smirked.
“Come in,” Charlotte shrugged and stepped aside, leading Agent Stahl to her living room and offering a seat.
“This is a nice place you have here,” Stahl noted.
She wondered if the huge wide screen TV situated in the corner had been bought with dirty money. Maybe it hadn't been paid for at all and just happened to 'fall off' a truck.
“Was there something you wanted Agent Stool?”
“It's Stahl.”
“Right.”
The two women looked at each other for a few seconds before Stahl spoke again.
“It was awfully nice of Gemma and Clay to adopt you, after your father died."
Stahl smiled tightly. After Hale told her that Charlotte had never been arrested for anything in her life and the only thing staining her criminal record were a few parking and speeding tickets, Stahl had to go and see the Princess of Charming for herself. She had found it nearly impossible to believe that someone who was without a doubt affiliated with the Sons could be so evasive of the law. Then again, after spending a couple of weeks in the town, the Sons certainly had their slippery moments when it came to the law. But that was a whole different kettle of fish, ready for frying another day.
Stahl continued talking when Charlotte didn't respond.
"Living with Clay and Gemma for a number of years, working at the garage and hanging around the Sons, I bet you've seen a thing...or two.”
“A 'thing'? Could you be a little more specific, Agent?”
Charlotte looked across at the agent over her cup of coffee.
She'd play dumb, as she always did when the Sons were in a bit of trouble with the law. She didn't see or hear anything. She'd been in the bathroom the whole time or she'd give falsified statements like, 'The guy with the blue T-shirt ran at Tig with a knife, officer, it was self defence'--that sort of thing. She'd play dumb and bail them out later if they needed it. She'd been in that police station more times than anyone, but she'd always been on the right side of the desk.
“What is it Charlotte? Hmm? Hanging around fat, aging, balding men wearing leather and riding big bad bikes give you the hots? That why you stick around?”
Charlotte eyed Stahl for a few seconds, trying to figure out if that comment was about her and Chibs. Stahl couldn't know. How could she? Any member of the Sons staying at her house overnight was not uncommon.
“They're my family.”
Stahl laughed at her.
“Was your father family to the Sons, Charlotte? Did you know that he entered this country illegally?”
Charlotte was fuming on the inside and just as she was about to come back with a snappy remark, they both heard the rumble of a bike's engine head down the street, past the house.
“What, you guys have a bat signal or something?”
Stahl raised an eyebrow as she laid out some forms on the coffee table.
“These are copies of your adoption papers. You may have been living in this country for sixteen years and you may have your own green card, but if I suspect you've been harbouring important information, like a fugitive, or have anything to do with SAMCRO's illegal activities, I can deport you back to England so fast, you won't have time to pack.”
Charlotte leant forward in her seat.
“They're motorcycle enthusiasts,” she replied slowly.
Stahl laughed at her again.
“That's good. That's really good Charlotte. I'll leave you my card in case you do happen to see a thing or two that would interest me.”
Charlotte snatched the business card away and the Agent grabbed her papers and let herself out.
“Lock the door Miss Davis-Morrow. You never know who's around.”
Charlotte threw the card on her coffee table and picked up her phone to dial Gemma.
“That fucking ATF bitch, Stahl's, just been round my place trying to get me to stir some shit up about SAMCRO!” Charlotte blurted out.
“Don't you worry about that skinny little bitch. She's got a bee in her bonnet, but if she sticks around any longer, it's going to end up stinging her.”
Gemma put some cans in her trolley as she walked down the aisle in the grocery store.
“She's picked up Luanne earlier on a drug charge. I think she's pecking at us girls.”
“Shit. What about Cherry and Donna?”
“So what about them? Cherry doesn't know shit anyway and even if she did, her head's so far up Half-Sack’s ass, she wouldn't rat if she knew it would break them up.”
“And Donna? She's not exactly our number one fan right now.”
“Donna cannot afford to let Opie go back to jail. She needs him. She needs us. Don't worry about it, baby.”
“I don't like that Agent,” Charlotte confessed.
She would never rat on the boys, but that didn't mean she enjoyed house visits from Feds.
Gemma didn't have time to answer as Cherry suddenly appeared at her side.
“Gemma--Gemma I really need to talk to you.”
“Hang on, baby. I'll call you back.”
Gemma ended her call and turned to Cherry. She didn't need two guesses to figure out why she was here.
“ATF harassing you, too?”
“How did you know?” the young woman asked with wide eyes.
***
After doing some grocery shopping and dropping off a few jewellery pieces she had done for customers, Charlotte returned home to find her driveway packed with ATF cars. She guessed that Stahl had an even bigger chip on her shoulder than expected.
“What the hell is going on in here?” she yelled above the noise they were making.
They were slamming her cupboard doors, pulling out her drawers, leaving paper, nick-nacks and all sorts strewn all over her house. Agent Stahl came down the stairs, holding a clear plastic bag with a small black beretta in it.
Shit!
They'd found her 'emergency' gun, hidden away in her nightstand.
“Since I'm guessing you don't have a licence for this, I think we need to talk, young lady.”
Stahl shook the bag in her hand and nodded at one of her minions who cuffed Charlotte's hands behind her back. Unser appeared at her side, sipping coffee and being generally and completely useless. Charlotte narrowed her eyes at him.
“We had an agreement.”
By 'we', she meant the Sons of Anarchy and all those affiliated with them.
Unser shrugged.
“I ain't got no say in this Charlotte. My hands are tied, just like yours.”
“Oh that's really funny. Call Clay.”
She spoke over her shoulder as she was taken away in one of those black, swanky cars that were littering her driveway. The neighbours were out on the street watching her and those that weren't out there were curtain twitching.
***
“We had an agreement, Unser.”
Clay had called a meeting along with Unser and the Prospect as 'special guests'.
Well there's a line that sounds familiar, Unser thought.
“ATF have their own rules and regulations. My hands were tied.”
He gave the same excuse to the table as he did to Charlotte.
“Charlie doesn't have guns or drugs in that house. Why the hell would they even bother to search?” Bobby asked.
He stayed there the most out of everybody. With two ex-wives prowling for money, he often stayed for the night at Charlotte's house when one of them turned up on his doorstep, banging on the door for alimony and all that shit.
“ATF are just tryin' to piss in our stream,” Chibs replied, exhaling on his cigarette.
“Well, piss or no piss, Stahl found a gun,” Unser put forward.
Clay looked to Jax for reassurance that the gun was clean. Charlotte wasn't stupid by any means, but he liked to know for sure.
“It's clean,” Jax confirmed, “Gemma gave it to her.”
Jax remembered Charlie telling him about where she had hid the gun; she'd been pleased as punch about her 'secret' place. He had laughed, but he had to admit that if you didn't know where it was already, it wasn't an obvious place to look. ATF must've torn that place up.
***
After a grilling from Stahl and then Hale coming in for a visit, Charlotte was glad to be led to a cell while the gun was being checked for serial numbers, registry and prints. Luanne was still being held, but surprisingly Cherry was there, too.
“What the hell are you doin' here?” she asked, when the officer had gone.
Gemma wasn't kidding when she said they were going after the women of SAMCRO. She half-expected Gemma to walk in soon on a bogus charge.
Cherry was pacing her cell and it was obvious that the young girl was panicking; and after hearing her story about her husband and burning down their condo, she had every reason to be. Charlotte was hoping that whatever plan the Club was coming up with, it had better be under way and fast.
Later that night, the three women were still locked away. Cherry was still pacing; Luanne was still talking about Hummers, Anal beads and ad revenue from her site; Charlotte was lying on the hard mattress, trying to block everything out. The cell door suddenly opened and Charlotte jumped off her bed after seeing Jax enter. He gave her that trademark smirk cum smile of his and headed over to Luanne. He said something to her about Otto, a RICO, and a conjugal visit. It was hard to make out his words exactly, as Cherry kept shrieking for him to get her out of there.
“Hey! Calm down!” Jax scolded. Cherry convinced him to get her out and he did. “Chibs is waiting in the hallway.”
At the mention of his name, Charlotte pressed her head closer against her bars to see if she could see him. She could see a bit of his arm and watched with a pang of jealously as he placed his hand on the base of Cherry's spine and walked her out. Jax appeared at her cell.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked and she nodded yes as he placed his hands over hers on the cell bars, “There's nothing on that gun. You'll be out by morning.”
“Yummy, I get to stay for breakfast.”
He politely smiled at her attempt at humour.
“Jacky boy, we gotta split.”
Chibs appeared in the doorway, motioning with his head down the hallway.
“I'll pick you up tomorrow,” Jax promised, kissing her forehead and exiting the cells.
She could hear Unser in the background giving him shit for busting out Cherry.
“Button it, old man!” was his reply.
Catching Chibs' eye as he pulled the main cell door closed, she gave him a small smile. It was the fist time they'd been close to 'alone' since their huge fight about Emily fucking Duncan. He paused for a second, finding it odd to be on the other side of a 10x8 cell. He realised that seeing her behind bars turned him on. If she ever let him back in her bedroom, he'd have to suggest handcuffs.
As he turned to leave, he gave her a wink.

Land of the Living 6/11

Chapter Five: A Junkie's Hell
After her rude introduction to Nathan Drone, Charlotte had been tense and snappy at everybody around her.
“You okay, baby?” Gemma asked her one morning at the garage, smoothing down some hair that had gone wild at the front of her face.
Sometimes when Gemma looked at Charlotte, she still saw the thirteen-year-old frightened teenager, sitting on a plastic chair in a hospital corner, shaking from fear and shock at the death of her father. Gemma had knelt down in front of the scared child to offer words of comfort. Charlotte lunged forward and grabbed hold of Gemma. She was hanging onto her, clinging to her for guidance and support. Gemma had hugged her back and let Charlotte's tears run onto the crook of her neck.
She had always wanted a third child, but even when she was pregnant with Jax the Doctor had warned her that the labour could kill both her and the baby. When Thomas was born, she very nearly died and did not want to risk her life for a third child, no matter how much she had wanted one. But Gemma always got what she wanted somehow and Charlotte was the nearest thing to a God-given miracle that Gemma would ever get.
“Yeah. I'm fine.”
Gemma didn't believe her, but she knew from experience not to push Charlotte or she would clam up and withdraw into herself. Gemma showed her utmost restraint and decided to give her a little space, a little time and then Charlotte would come to her and let her know what was bothering her.
“Something's up with Charlotte,” Gemma stated, spacing the office blinds open with her fingers and peering out at her daughter talking to a client on the forecourt.
“She's a woman. There's always something 'up' with her,” Clay sighed, leafing through paperwork, slamming drawers open and shut to find something.
Gemma turned on her heel to her husband.
“I'm serious, Clay. Keep an eye on her.”
Clay stood up straight.
“Next month, it'll be twelve years since Paul died,” he offered, “You know she gets upset.”
“Yeah, well, you know she likes to bottle shit up, too.”
Gemma resumed her watch post.
***
Charlotte had barely slept soundly for a couple of nights. Lying awake in bed, all she kept thinking of was seeing her mother for the first time in twenty-one years. All she had as a reference of her was a picture taken on Charlotte's very first Christmas. She, her father and her mother sat around the Christmas tree. Her mother had strawberry-blonde hair and green eyes, while her dad had dark hair and brown eyes. Charlotte inherited her mother’s lips, but everything else was from her father.
After Nathan had scared the shit out of her, she had dialled the number he had left.
Charlotte knew that if she didn't, she would end up regretting it for the rest of her life. It was just a phone call. They weren't becoming best friends and planning mother-daughter day trips with each other.
They had arranged to meet at Lumpy's at 1pm the following afternoon. Charlotte got there twenty minutes early, sitting in her car and peering into the inside of every car that pulled into the parking lot. She got restless after ten minutes and took a booth inside the restaurant where she would be able to spot her mother coming in. The waitress approached and Charlotte ordered a coffee.
“Oh, wait, make that two please,” she told the waitress.
Did her mother even drink coffee? She was addicted to the stuff, so she automatically assumed everybody else was. She remembered the time she had woken up to the aroma of the coffee Chibs had been brewing in her kitchen. She had snuggled deeper into her duvet, expecting him to bring her a mug of it in bed. Instead, he had yelled up to her.
“Charlie! Coffee!”
She had barely seen him since that night when she asked him to leave, but she constantly thought of him.
She missed the way he used to peer at her over the top of his glasses whilst he was working on a bike and she was in the office. She'd pretend not to notice him looking at her and she'd either cross her legs, making her skirt or dress ride up to expose more leg or bend over so he could cop an eyeful of her tits.
“Charlie baby,” he'd sometimes say, “You've got the best tits I've ever seen!”
The remark was so vulgar, but she took it as a compliment and it made her blush madly.
She had to stop thinking about him!
“Charlotte?” she was shaken out her trance by a female voice.
Looking up she saw her mother--the woman from the photograph that had hung on her wall for years had now materialised in front of her.
“Hey,” Charlotte said, getting up on shaky legs.
“Oh my word!”
Sharon placed a hand over her mouth and looked at the young woman in front of her.
“You look so much like your father!”
The two briefly hugged before Sharon took a seat opposite Charlotte in the booth and got a tissue out of her bag to dry her eyes.
Charlotte chose to bypass that comment.
“I got you a coffee.”
She pushed one of the mugs towards her mother, eyes flicking to the entrance and panicking slightly as she thought she saw Tig enter, but it wasn't.
“Thank you.”
Sharon dragged the mug closer to her and the waitress reappeared to take their orders. She was a bit overly keen considering Sharon had only just arrived and Charlotte asked her to give them a couple of minutes. During the time Charlotte was talking to the waitress, she noticed that Sharon delved into her bag, bringing out a small flask.
Sharon unscrewed the tiny lid and poured a few drops of the brown liquid into her coffee before quickly hiding it in her bag again, taking a plastic spoon from the condiments box on their table and stirring it. Sharon did it so quickly that by the time the waitress left, Charlotte began to think she was mistaken.
“So, what do you do? College? Are you married?” Sharon asked, taking a large gulp from her whisky laced coffee.
“You hired Nathan. I thought he would've told you all that,” Charlotte replied, flatly.
“I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean for him to scare you. I just panicked when you didn't answer my letters. I've spent so long looking for you.”
Sharon reached across the table to take Charlotte's hand and looking down, she noticed faded track marks in her mother hands. Great. Her mother was an ex-junkie as well as an alcoholic.
“Why did you leave?” Charlotte snapped, “Why did you leave to come back twenty-one years later?”
“I was a mess.”
Sharon put on her puppy dog eyes.
“I was always alone with you in the house and I just started hitting the bottle to take the loneliness away. It just spiralled out of control and I knew I had to leave before I started to hurt you or your father. I never stopped loving either of you and I always thought about you.”
“Well, you did hurt me. Hurt us. Where did you run to? Why did you never come back?”
“I had an old school friend who married a guy from Tennessee. I went to stay with her and I just...”
“Got into bad habits?” Charlotte offered, touching the tracks on her mother's hands--seemed like Wendy wasn't the only one who had a favourite vein there.
“Yeah. I was so messed up. There was no way I could ever have tried to contact you when I was like that.”
Sharon reached into her bag again and just as Charlotte thought the whiskey flask was coming out again, a packet of cigarettes landed on the table and the impatient waitress came and finally took their lunch order.
“I'm proud of you.” Sharon lit up a cigarette. “You went to college.”
“I went for a year and it was a course on how to design jewellery--hardly rocket science.”
“Nathan's been showing me pictures. You're always with that gang, the Sons of Anarchy. You seem like a happy family, very close.”
Charlotte shrugged at the lack of anything to say in response to that comment.
“I'd like to meet them. And Gemma and Clay especially, for taking you in like they did.”
Charlotte placed her mug on the table a little louder than she intended too.
“Sharon--” she started, not feeling comfortable calling her anything else, “It's good to finally meet you after staring at a photograph for twenty-one years but...that's moving too fast for me.”
“Of course. I apologise.”
They made little conversation over lunch. As the waitress took their plates away, Sharon spoke again.
“I was, um, upset to find out that your father had died. A stroke, wasn't it?”
“Yeah,” she answered simply.
“Do you,” Sharon hesitated, “Have money and stuff? Nathan said you drove a nice car.”
“I get by,” Charlotte shrugged, “I bought the car with some of Dad's insurance money.”
Some? Sharon pondered at the sound of 'some'.
Charlotte reached into her bag to take money out of her purse.
“Let me.”
Sharon handed the money back to Charlotte and placed a ten dollar bill on the table to pay for their meal before they walked out of the restaurant.
“I'd like to see you again,” Sharon breathed, as they stood out in the parking lot next to Charlotte's car.
“Um,” Charlotte thought for a second, rubbing her hands on her arms. “How long are you staying?” she asked, remembering her mother was staying in a hotel.
“Well, I'm booked in my hotel for another three nights, but I can stay longer.”
“You have my number,” Charlotte offered.
“I do.”
They hugged awkwardly and as Charlotte got in her car, Sharon continued to stand there.
“Did you come in a cab?” Charlotte asked as her electric window wound down.
“Bus.”
The buses from Charming to Lodi ran every two hours. Looking at her watch, it was just past 2pm, so the next bus wouldn't arrive until 4pm--another two hours.
“I'll give you a ride.”
“Really?”
“Get in,” Charlotte exhaled deeply as her mother walked around to the passenger seat. She couldn't have her mother sitting at a bus stop for 2 hours. Gemma's 'giving' nature must've rubbed off on her.
***
Pulling into the Vista Inn, Charlotte noticed a couple of Darby's guys hanging out in the back parking lot. Their tattoos were unmistakable, peeking from under their white vest tops.
“Shit,” she cursed under her breath, as she parked right against a wall. If she was lucky, they wouldn't recognise that it was her in the car.
After Sharon exited, Charlotte pulled out of the parking lot and stopped at the traffic lights, which conveniently just so happened to be on the opposite side of the three foot wall against where the Nords were parked. She sank into her seat, putting on her over-sized, paparazzi dodging-style sunglasses in the hopes of masking her face. The Nords wouldn't physically do anything to her--maybe shout some sexual obscenities, but she was more worried that news of her being there would head back to Clay and she didn't have a good enough alibi to be heading into Lodi alone.
At this point in time, she didn't want anybody to know about her mother. She herself didn't even know where it was heading, if anywhere.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sharon walk across the parking lot towards the Nords.
What the hell are you doing? She thought, watching as Sharon handed money over in exchange for a small bag filled with white powder.
Stupid question.
Charlotte sped off as the light turned green, heading back to Charming with the knowledge that her mother was a potential alcoholic, but a definite drug user. She'd barely even waited for Charlotte to drive off before heading back into the lot to get her fix.

Land of the Living 5/11

Chapter Four: Spilt Blood

Bobby wasn't required to run through the minutes from the last meeting. They all knew what they were there for—to discuss raising enough money for the IRA in four days.

“Bobby, what're the funds looking like for the Irish?”

“Every spare cent is in the rebuild right now.”

Bobby shrugged, leaning forward on his knees.

“We still need a hundred and fifty kay to be straight.”

“How the hell we gonna raise that much in two fuckin' days?” Tig asked as the whole table sucked in their breath.

Listening to Clay's idea about getting a loan from Luanne, Jax had a thought. He took a long inhale and exhale on his cigarette. Tapping it in the ashtray, he began to speak.

“I think I know where else we can get a chunk of money—or rather who else.”

All eyes turned to the blonde-haired biker.

“Charlotte—I know she still has insurance money from when her old man died.”

“We can't take her Dad's money from her.”

Bobby shook his head and Chibs agreed as he reached across the table to steal Jax's ashtray. As sweet as it would be to get a chunk of money handed to them on a plate, they'd all had a lot of respect for Paul Davis and to take it would feel like they were somehow betraying or disrespecting him.

“Look, we might not even need it, but it's a back up plan in case Luanne can't deliver.”

He met everyone's staring, pondering eyes, landing on Clay's who were looking back at his.

“All in favour of asking Luanne and Charlotte?” Clay asked, raising his own hand.

Everybody followed suit.

“You going to talk to her?” Clay asked Jax.

There was no doubt in his mind that Charlotte wouldn't say “No” to the club; however, eleven
years after Paul Davis' death, it still struck a nerve with her. She'd still get upset and withdrawn at the mention of his name. Whilst this was entirely understandable, Clay didn't really feel like dealing with emotional women right now.

“Sure.”

Clay closed the meeting with a knock of his hammer.

***

“Hello?” Charlotte drawled out.

“Hey. Where the heck are you?”

She sounded stoned and he could hear water sloshing about in the background.

“Having a bath,” she replied, grabbing some bubbles and putting it on her nose.

“Gross.”

Jackson physically shook his head as a mental image of Charlotte tried to appear in his mind.
They had completely different parents, but for those two short years he had lived in the same house with her, they really had bonded as brother and sister. Jax speaking to his sister whilst she was naked in the bath was not appealing.

“This not having a job thing is great, y'know?”

“Still pissed at me for that, huh?” he smirked, flicking his cigarette to the ground.

“Hell yes.”

Maybe this wasn't a good time to ask her for money, but then again, time was something he
didn't have right now.

“Listen, I need to talk to you. Need a favour. For the club.”

“Okay,” she paused, waiting for him to speak, “What is it?”

“I'll come over.”

He hung up, not even saying goodbye—a horrible habit he'd never grown out of.

***

Charlotte grabbed her necessary documents and headed down to CTB—Charming Town Bank. Mr. Evan Everett was the owner/manager—a middle aged, balding, slim man who'd recently returned after a bitter divorce with his wife after getting caught with his hand in a Crow Eater's pants. Evan was on Clay's payroll and had been for fifteen odd years. He'd helped the club on several occasions with cleaning dirty money and sometimes worked with their lawyer, Mr. Rosen, on property deeds.

He also sweated like a pig and Charlotte had forgotten that until she stepped into this office and nearly recoiled at the stench of BO. As he extended his hand to greet her, she could see his sweat patches under his arms through his navy blue suit.

After formalities, Charlotte told him she wanted to withdraw all money from her savings account. When her father's life insurance policy had gone through to her when she was thirteen, Gemma had insisted she put all the money into a savings account. It wasn't a high interest one, but more of a safety net to fall back on. It had remained untouched until two years ago, when she splurged most of the money on a brand new car.

Jackson hadn't told her what the money was for and she didn't want to know. Originally, he wanted the whole forty thousand dollars that she had got from the policy. She looked at him gob-smacked and then laughed. She had about eight thousand dollars at the most. The rest had gone on her car and a brand new range fridge freezer.

“Every bit counts,” Jax had said, “You know I wouldn't be asking this of you unless we needed it.”

After going through the paperwork, Evan led her to the vault where he opened up a metal cupboard and started putting wads of hundred dollar bills on the table. Charlotte was practically drooling as he and his assistant—a stuck-up bitch with the nametag of “Rosie M”—counted out eight thousand US dollars and handed her the bag. This was the most money that she had ever physically seen in her life.

She placed the bag on the passenger seat in her car and made Madison sit on top of it, scared it would grow legs and run off.

***

Jax took his vibrating phone out of his pocket and flipped it open after seeing the caller was

“CHARLOTTE”.

“Hey, did you get it?” he asked.

“Yep, all of it,” she replied, stopping at a red light.

“A'ight, cool. You swinging by?”

Clay looked over to Jax with a questioning look and a raised eyebrow. Jax shook his head yes in return.

***

“Hey, yo, money truck just pulled in,” Tig announced, as he spotted Charlotte's car pulling into the garage.

He and Jax went to the car to meet her. Tig opened the zip on the bag after unceremoniously moving Madison out the way and stuck his nose inside, inhaling deeply.

“Shit, that smells sweeter than any pussy I've ever had,” he remarked.

“What the fuck, man?” Jax asked, shaking his head.

“What? I'm just making an observation.”

He walked away towards the Clubhouse with the bag.

“Hey, can you stick around for a bit? Mom's doing the final touches to Abel's bedroom this afternoon and we're swamped here today,” Jax asked.

“Yeah, Gemma told me about Abel's room. You really think an ATF agent could do that?”

“He's fucked up in the head, Charlie. But he's just plain fucked if I see him again.”

Just then, they heard Chibs yell in the background, “Punch him, you muppet!”

Charlotte looked behind her to see an impromptu boxing match between Kip and Lowell.

“Oh yeah, you look real busy Jax.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes.

“Shut up. You know how it is.”

Charlotte laughed at his lame comeback and headed to the office cabin.

Jax wasn't kidding when he said they were swamped at the garage. With visiting the hospital so often, Gemma had fallen behind on time sheets and filing. Charlotte spent her day catching up on that, seeing to customers and watching Chibs and Half-Sack through the window. Under orders from Clay, Chibs and Half-Sack spent their whole day in the ring. Well, Half Sack did. Chibs spent his day drinking beer and smoking whilst yelling insults at the young Prospect.

Later that afternoon, Clay had poked his head into the cabin and asked if she was heading to the fight later that night.

“Yeah, I was planning on it,” she replied.

“Could you, uhh,” he looked around to see if anyone was around, “Pick Cherry up?”

“You don't trust her?”

“I don't know. That's why you're picking her up.”

“And picking her brains?” Charlotte finished.

Clay beamed at her.

“Okay,” she nodded.

By the time Charlotte had caught up with everything in the office, it was getting dark and the
guys were locking up to get to the fight. Tig and Juice were still in the garage working on Tig's
bike under the lights, but everybody else had seemed to head back into the Clubhouse. Walking across the forecourt to her car, she saw Jax sitting on the roof, cigarette in his mouth and beer bottle in his hand.

“Hey stranger,” she greeted, as she got to the top of the metal ladder on the roof.

“Jesus. You scared me.”

He closed his father's journal in his hand and she took a seat beside him.

“Wow. You can see for miles up here,” she noted, looking out over the rooftops of the surrounding businesses and houses, “What are you reading?”

“Oh, it's...I found some of my Dad's journals in storage.”

“Any good?”

Jax shrugged.

“Mainly shit about 'Nam and what happened when the war ended.”

Charlotte gave a small smile, picturing what very little she remembered of John Teller. She and her dad had only been in the states for just over a year when John died, and with Charlotte only being nine at the time, the only thing that truly stuck in her mind was that he loved to BBQ and he always had this magnetic aura about him. John Teller seemed to draw people to him—good or bad.

“Jax I need to tell you something,” she blurted quickly, thinking of the letters that her mother sent her.

“Sure, anything,” Jax answered, all ears.

Charlotte paused, taking a deep breath.

“Jax!” Chibs yelled up at him from the Clubhouse.

God, that man had some lungs on him.

“We're at the table!”

“A'ight!” Jax yelled back, “Hey, we'll talk later--after the fight.”

Jax kissed her forehead and led the way down the steps.

***

“Thanks for the lift. I appreciate it,” Cherry said as she put her seatbelt on.

She peered in the back where Madison was lying across the seat on a blanket.

“You're dog's adorable. I used to have a Chow Alsation mix called--” Cherry stopped in mid-sentence.

“What was it called?”

“Um, Cherry.”

Charlotte laughed.

“You called your dog after yourself? Wasn't that a bit confusing?”

“Um, sometimes, yeah. So, um, are you anyone's Ol' Lady?” Cherry asked, wanting to shift the topic of conversation.

Charlotte flinched in her seat.

“No,” she replied, simply.

She'd kill the Prospect herself if he'd been talking to Cherry about what he knew.

“Does Half-Sack ever tell you about what goes on in the Club?”

“No, never. I've been doing this a long time, Charlie. I know when to keep my mouth closed.”
Charlotte was relieved at hearing that. It soon became apparent that Cherry was a talker and throughout the car ride Charlotte had discovered the gist of Cherry's life history. There were no apparent dark skeletons in her closet--for now.

***

Charlotte spotted an open space right near the entrance, but just as she was about to pull in, some dick in a silver sports car cut in front of her. She braked hard to avoid collision and poor old Cherry nearly broke her nose on the dashboard again.

“Hey, dick shit!” she yelled out her window.

The driver stuck his head out of his window and looked back at her.

“Sorry. I didn't see you there, sweetbutt,” he replied sarcastically, sniggering to his friend in the passenger seat.

“You here for the fight?” she shouted.

She recognised him as Ryan Whittaker--a wannabe biker. He didn't like bikes. He just liked the weight that wearing an Sons of Anarchy cut in Charming would carry. He'd hung out at the Clubhouse a few times, but he'd always been sent home packing with his tail between his legs.

“Yeah, and what?”

“How about I get Tig to put you in for a few rounds with the big boys, huh? We'll see if your moves keep up with that smart mouth of yours.”

“Shut the fuck up,” he replied rudely, as he and his friend exited the car.

“What a douche bag!” Cherry commented.

Charlotte smiled and parked her car right up alongside Ryan's car. There was no way he could get out--even Cherry had to scoot across and get out Charlotte's side.

“He's going to be seriously pissed when he comes back.”

“I hope so.”

***

Somewhere between the fourth round and the fifth round, Charlotte had completely misplaced Cherry. They hadn't instantly bonded and were now joined at the hip, but it was just nice to have a female accomplice similar to age in a room full of raging egos and testosterone.
Waiting for a beer at the bar, she overheard two guys talking behind her.

“Man, this kid’s loosing it.”

“I know. He started out real strong, too.”

“Don't think this is...y'know.”

“What?”

“Rigged?”

Charlotte took her beer and walked around to Half-Sack’s corner where Tig and Chibs were on
the ropes, yelling at him to keep his hands up. She noticed that Ryan was on the opposite side of the ring, yelling at his friend. If the Club didn't have money riding on Half-Sack losing, she'd want that son of a bitch knocked out, just to spite his trainer. At least the Prospect was getting a few punches in and making him bleed.

From where Chibs and Tig were standing, they couldn't hear her calling their names. Charlotte reached up and squeezed Chibs’ calf. He looked down, noticing her, and motioned his head for her to get up on the ropes. She shook her head ‘no’. She was wearing four-inch heels. There was no way that she could get up that thing without breaking her ankle.

She squeezed his calf harder this time and he looked back down to her and then to the ring
before he hesitantly jumped down. If she was here to talk about 'relationships' or bitch at him because she'd seen Emily Duncan in the crowds, she could bloody wait.

She leant closer to him, so that he would be able to hear her over the crowd’s noise, placing a hand on his shoulder as she spoke in his ear. Her breasts pushed up against his chest and just as he thought she was going to suggest something X-rated, she came out with, “You need to wrap this shit up, Chibs. People are catching on.”

“Okay,” he replied simply, jumping back up to the ring and leaning closer to Tig.

“Need to shut this down, brother. People are getting suspect.”

“Alright, alright, next round for sure,” Tig agreed.

Charlotte was sitting next to Cherry, watching the action, when Clay finally appeared and sat next to Cherry. He gave Charlotte a look and she nodded her head slightly, silently indicating that Cherry was okay.

***

“Get the hell outta here before I rape both of ya.”

“Hey! Tig!” Bobby scolded.

“What? It's just an expression--a term of endearment.”

Charlotte sniggered to herself at the look of shock and bewilderment that passed across Cherry's
face. If she was going to stick around, she had to learn to let those kinds of 'remarks' brush off of her.

“And you--don't think you're getting away with anything.”

Tig put a finger in Charlotte's face and she grabbed on to it.

“Ow! Bitch!” Tig hissed.

His finger was highly sensitive after a riding accident years ago. He'd needed surgery after his bone had broken and some of his nerves had been damaged, too. Applying pressure on a certain spot on his finger could have him reeling on the ground.

“Hey bitch, move your goddamn car!”

Charlotte recognised that voice, but didn't say anything. She hoped he would keep shooting his mouth off. This could be fun.

“Hey! I'm talking to you. Goddamn whore--”

Ryan approached her but stopped in his tracks as he rounded Clay's truck and saw the people she was with up close.

“What did you just say?” Clay asked.

“N-Nothing,” Ryan stuttered.

“I heard bitch,” Bobby said.

“I heard whore,” Chibs joined in.

“And I heard Goddamn. Do you go to Church with that mouth? You should be ashamed.”

Tig shook his head and tutted.

“I'll be going in like ten minutes,” Charlotte replied, sweetly.

“But I need to get--”

He didn't even get to finish his sentence as Chibs nodded to Half-Sack and he gave him a solid punch on the nose. He writhed in pain on the ground, blood spurting out as one of his friends came and took him away.

“Does this mean I still owe the club thirty-five kay?” Half-Sack asked with some hope.

“Yes, you do. Muppet.” Chibs replied.

***

After Charlotte dropped Cherry off at her apartment block, she pulled into her own driveway and looked for the cream-coloured Pontiac. It had become second nature to her to look out for it, and when she noticed it wasn't on the street, it actually unnerved her. Walking into her house, it wasn't until she reached the living room that she realised she hadn't needed to unlock her front door--it had already been open. She sure as hell hadn't left it open and she hadn't left that lamp on, either.

As Madison trotted towards her food bowl, Charlotte heard a sound from behind and spun around. She was quickly spun back the other way by a pair of arms much stronger than she was, hand covering her mouth, which stifled her scream.

“I'm not going to hurt you,” the man kept repeating in her ear.

Charlotte screamed into his hand again and started to wriggle. Her phone was just in her pocket. If she could manoeuvre her hand a little, she would be able to get it and call for help.
The man reached into her pocket and she screamed into his hand again. She was going to be raped in her own home!

“Relax,” he said, grabbing her mobile phone and holding it in front of her face before throwing it on the ground.

The back casing split open and the battery skidded across the floor.

When she realised he was only after her phone and not her panties, she stopped screaming and flailing her arms around.

“I'll let you go, but if you scream, I'm bringing out the cable ties and duct tape, okay?”

Charlotte nodded and true to her word, she didn't scream. She stepped away and turned to see him. He was tall with broad shoulders, bald, and wearing a baby blue work shirt with the collar just open enough for her to see the tattoo on his chest of two snakes eating each other's tails. She figured he must be one of Darby's guys.

“You were the one in the Pontiac,” her voice wavered.

“Yeah. I knew you caught onto me. That's why I parked it two blocks down.”

“What the hell do you want? Clay's gonna be really pissed when I tell him you broke into my house!”

“I didn't break in,” he smiled lightly, holding up her spare key that used to be kept on top of her doorframe.

“What do you want?” she asked again.

He wasn't carrying a gun, but she spotted a sheathed knife hanging from his belt. It appeared to be the weapon of choice for the outlaw male population of Charming.

“You're Charlotte Davis-Morrow. Your mother is Sharon Davis, right?”

“Yeah, so?” her voice cracked again.

“My name's Nathan Drone. I'm a friend of Sharon's.”

“A friend?” Charlotte repeated, stepping back on shaky legs and falling on the sofa.
Her mother had some choice friends, if they sneaked up behind people in their own homes!

“She's been hunting you down for almost a year. With your father moving over to the US, you getting adopted and changing your name, it's been a lot of work. Plus, there's not a lot of people in this town who willingly give up information.”

His fingers drummed on his sheathed knife and Charlotte wondered just who had dished out information on her, and whether or not that person was still alive.
He pulled something out of his pocket and thrust it towards her. She screamed and Madison finally showed signs of life and started barking.

“Relax!” he shouted above the barking and Charlotte looked closer to see that he was holding out a piece of paper to her that read:

Sharon
Vista Inn, Lodi
1-808-586534

“She's in town for a few more days. She'd really like to see you.” And that was all he said before he left her alone again.

Charlotte just nodded her head, fearing her heart would burst out of her chest at the rate it was
pumping.