Ain't No Easy Way

Eleanor woke from her slumber to the sound of loud banging on her front door, “You’ve got to be shitting me! It’s not even 6 yet.” She yelled to no one in particular.

“Rise and shine princess, you’re shit’s here.” Said a low voice.

;Eleanor reached under her pillow and held her browning towards the voice and saw a pissed off Tig Trager at the other end of the barrel.

“You better get that gun out of my fucking face before I finish what was started in Texas, bitch.”

Eleanor sighed and dropped the gun to her side and putting a sneer on her face,
“What do you expect when you come barging into my house?” she walked past him, not noticing the fact that Tig admired her ass that was only covered by skimpy boy shorts and looked down the hall,

“How did you even get in here?” Tig had taken to leaning against the wall still leering at her, his eyes greedily taking in the sight of her toned legs, small waist, and the perkiness of her breast.

“Picked the lock.”

“Fucking Creep.” She said under her breath as she went back into the room and wiggled into a pair of shorts.

“So, what are you, my baby sitter?” Tig grimaced at the thought of his new found position of guard for the morning before the fundraiser,

“Don’t flatter yourself Doll. Some guy named Beau is in the truck, said you knew him.”

Completely ignoring Tig, Eleanor ran out of the house and threw herself into the waiting arms of Beau. Wrapping her legs around him she kissed him harshly with need. He spun her around so her back roughly hit the U-Haul truck and pulled at her hair.

“So you two lovebirds certainly know each other.”

Beau dropped her at the sound of Tig’s voice.

“Maybe I was just excited to see him.” Eleanor said hotly and became even redder in the face when Tig smirked, “Well, shit Doll, I can’t wait till you’re excited to see me.”

Eleanor rolled her eyes and put her and on her hips, “In your dreams Creep,” she turned to Beau, “Okay, let’s get this work done. I have a fundraiser I have to be at.”

It didn’t skip Eleanor’s notice that since Tig interrupted her make out with Beau, the SAMCRO Sargent of arms had barely left her side and she also didn’t miss Beau’s glares towards Tig when he thought her back was turned. It was around 8 am when they had finally finished and she was leaning through the window of the U-Haul.

“I’m sorry Tig was being such a douche, I don’t know what his problem is.” She said as she leaned in close to him.

Beau scoffed, “He looks at you like you’re one of the club whores.”

Eleanor rolled her eyes and pressed her lips to his. “I’m going to miss seeing you Beau.”

She whispered as he held the back of her neck so their foreheads were pressed hard together,

“Only for a little while babe.” He kissed her forehead.

“I know. I just miss home, Beau.” She said in a low voice.

“Hey cheer up, I left you a nice present, fifteen 5’s of candy for my baby. It’s in the secret compartment of your side table.”

Eleanor smirked, “You know that SAMCRO doesn’t like drugs in their town, right? I think you’re trying to get me killed.”

Beau shook his head and started the engine turning his head to give her one last kiss; she hopped down and walked towards the driveway to see him off.

“Does daddy know about you and his sergeant at arms?”

Eleanor turned with a frown on her face, “No. No he doesn’t and I think it should stay that way.”

Tig put his hands in his pockets and smirked, “That’s where I think you’re wrong, sister. Maybe I should give Bones a call and let him know.”

Eleanor looked at him in disbelief, “Are you seriously threatening me, asshole?” she took a step closer to him bringing her face to his shoulder. “I don’t like being threatened, Tig.” -She said in a dangerously low voice.

“What, are you supposed to be scaring me right now?” Tig asked in amusement and watched as Eleanor stormed past him. He was so concentrated on watching her hips sway as she walked that he only heard her mention something about showering and then going to the fundraiser.

Eleanor stepped into the kitchen and saw Tig still sitting there with his feet kicked up on the table, “Get your feet off the table, this isn’t a barn so don’t act like an animal.” She said as she walked past him pushing his feet off the table.

“Yes ma’am.” Tig replied as he stood. “Do you want me to take you to the grounds or will you make it by yourself, razzle dazzle?”

Eleanor grabbed her helmet and a black leather messenger bag, “just tell me how to get there and I’ll be fine. The sooner I get there the better. I don’t want everything to be set up for tomorrow and not have done anything.”

Tig nodded as they both walked outside and got on their bikes. He gave her the directions she needed and scoffed when he looked at her helmet, “What kind of pussy helmet is that?” he watched as she pushed on her sunglasses.

“The kind that girls wear, asshole.” She revved the throttle of her bike and left him sitting in the driveway, “Prissy bitch.” He said slowly as he took off towards the club house.

Eleanor was power walking away from her bike towards the large Teller-Morrow booth,
“You’re late.” She heard Gemma call out to her.

“I know, I know, I’m really sorry Gemma! Unloading my crap took longer than I thought it would. What can I do to help?”

Gemma looked around the booth and pointed to the large box of plastic plates, “You can take those out and stack them on the back table.”

Eleanor gave the woman a salute, “aye aye captain.”

“So how was spending time with Tig? I know he can be a hard person to be in a room with.” Gemma said as the two women were taking out the utensils.

“Well, he broke into my house and I held him at gun point so I feel like that’s always the best way to make a first impression.”

“Jesus Christ, I’m sure he took that well.” Gemma said putting her hands on her hips.

Eleanor laughed, “Just peachy.”

They both looked up as they saw a woman who looked to be in her early 40’s approach,

“Gemma.”

She turned to face the woman and Eleanor knew to make herself busy.

“Oh, hey April, appreciate you coming to help.” The woman named April leaned over the table,

“No problem. Can I ask you something?”

Gemma face instantly went flat, “What?” she replied tersely.

“Charlie's band's playing during the fireworks tomorrow night. He really wants his dad to come.”

Eleanor couldn’t help but listen to the conversation with interest she found it peculiar that some woman was asking permission for the father of her child to come.Unless he’s a member of the club she thought to herself.

Gemma looked around before answering, “Shit, April, I don't think Clay is going to go for-”

;“I would never ask anything like this,” April cut in, “Me and you, we understand what went down, but my kids, and Charlie doesn't know. It breaks his heart that his dad can't come to anything around here No baseball games, no school stuff…”

“All right, all right, all right.” Gemma said having heard enough she turned and looked at Eleanor who raised her eyebrows, “I’ll bring it up to Clay.”

“Thank you.”

Gemma put her hands on her hips once more, “But I can’t promise anything.” Gemma dismissed the woman by moving to the other side of the booth making it look as if she was busy.

Eleanor moved closer to Gemma, “Can I ask a question?” Gemma gave Eleanor a side glance,

“Naturally you’re curious with what you heard.”

“Her kids dad, he SAMCRO?”

“He was ex-communicated a little over five years ago; there were some difficulties when the boys were doing business.”

Eleanor nodded and Gemma turned to her, “I know it must be hard for you being so active in your club and then having to come to a place where you don’t have the privilege to be involved.”

Eleanor looked at her confused, “Tommy told the guys about you involvement with the clubs business.” Eleanor nodded her head, “I love that club more than anything I just like making sure they’re making wise choices.”

Gemma regarded the girl, She reminds me of myself when the club was just forming she thought.

“I’ll tell you what, what I know –you know. You said you got your degree to help the club, how does psychology help your club?”

“For my capstone I looked at how talking to a trained professional helps reduce violent outburst and lowered drug use in comparison to those who I didn’t talk to. There was still total confidentiality between me and the guys I talked to though –unless I thought they were going to do something that hurt the club.”

“And how’d that work out?” Gemma asked. “There was actually a decrease in the guys that came and talked to me, they seemed to deal with the authorities in smarter ways than the other did.” Eleanor said proudly.

“I’m going to talk to Clay about April’s husband. I’ll bring up your little experiment and see if he maybe wants to use you for the club. You know how to work on bikes?”

“Of course, I did all the customizations to my bike. My brothers worked at a shop and taught me everything I know.”

Gemma nodded, “Let’s go.”

Eleanor parked her bike across from the large row of bikes that lined the Teller-Morrow auto shop and walked up to Gemma’s car.

“You go to the clubhouse and wait for me, I’m sure everyone’s there go make nice. I’ll let you know when I’m done.”

Eleanor walked across to the building where the large SONS OF ANARCHY sign and sat herself down at a picnic table. She laid down on top of it and lit a cigarette bring it to her lips and closing her eyes,

“I didn’t take you for a smoker –just thought you had the whole badass look and that’s it.”

Eleanor opened her eyes and looked up at the massive bearded tree that was standing in front of her and looked at him confused.

“It’s Opie. Can I borrow your light?”

Eleanor nodded and sat up offering her lighter to him,

“How you liking Charming so far?” He asked as he looked at the girl.

“It’s certainly different than Austin that’s for sure but I think I can get used to it.”

Opie stared a little longer at the purple green tint of her black eye then he meant to and only noticed when she looked down and lightly placed her fingers on it,

“They’re healing nicely, they should be gone in the next couple of days.” Eleanor said to him lightly.

“I didn’t mean to stare I’m sorry. I just can’t believe anyone would do that to a woman.”

She laughed, “That’s club life right? Gotta learn to take some hits, lord knows I do a lot of hitting myself.”

Opie chuckled, “Oh, you’re a fighter are you? Maybe we should put you in the ring and see you beat the shit out of the prospect.”

They both put out their cigarettes and she sat cross-legged facing him,

“I don’t think I’ve ever beaten up a guy without the clubs help usually it’s just the pussy cats who are new and think they can push me around, although I did punch an ATF agent in the face before.”

Eleanor chuckled at the memory, “She was pissed when I only got a couple days in county and a shit bail.”

Opie slung an arm around the girl and led her to the bar in the clubhouse, “Well, I think you’ll fit right in Eleanor.”

They sat down at the bar and the prospect slid Opie a beer, “What can I get you?”

Eleanor stuck out her hand, “Eleanor.”

The prospect smiled, “What can I get you, Eleanor?” he said flirtatiously.

Eleanor leaned over the bar knowing full well her boobs were all but popping out, “I’ll take a whisky on the rocks, babe.” She replied winking at him.

“Jesus prospect, stop blushing like a middle school girl and get her the damn drink.” Opie boomed,

“On me.” He added turning to face her.

“You little hell cat, you into the prospect?” Opie asked taking a swig of his beer.

Eleanor sloshed around her whisky and smiled, “Not my type, I like my men older they’re like an aged scotch, besides he looks to innocent and I’m not into the whole doe-eyed innocent school boy look.”

Opie watched Eleanor take a sip of her drink, “So you like older men huh, what about beards?” he joked and laughed when she responded with slugging him playful on the shoulder,

“Yeah right, Opie.”

“You got an Ol’ Lady Opie?” Eleanor asked.

They had moved from the bar to sitting on a couch with Eleanor’s legs on his lap.

“Donna, she was my high school sweetheart.” Opie scratched his head moving his beanie around, “It really tore her up when I did my five year stint, she’s been trying to get me to go straight.” He looked down at his beer while he was speaking as though he was ashamed of his wife’s behavior.

“She knew who I was and what I did when we got married but I think the idea of losing me became real to her, you know?”

Eleanor nodded and she in that moment she made a split decision, “You know Ope, I have a degree in psychology and in my dad’s club the guys could come and talk to me.” She removed her legs from him and sat close to him so no one could listen in, “If you ever want to talk to me about anything you can –everything we discuss stays between you and me. The guys who utilized what I have to offer really appreciated the ear I lent.”

Opie moved his gaze over to me and gnawed on his lip, “The club doesn’t need a shrink.”

“But maybe you could use someone to listen to you. You know how dangerous it is if you’re not all in.” Eleanor replied quietly. The both looked up startled by the sound of the doors slamming open and Eleanor watched as all of the SAMCRO men walked through.

A man with long blonde hair came up to the couch Eleanor and Opie occupied and Eleanor stood, “Hi, you must be Jax. I’m Eleanor; Bones-”

“Bones Grayson’s girl. So I heard you met my kid?”

Eleanor shifted uneasily I knew he would be mad she thought to herself, “Yeah, he’s beautiful, I’m sorry if I wasn’t allowed. Gemma all but dragged me along.”

Jax chuckled, “Don’t worry about it darlin’.”

He turned his attention to Opie, “We got church now, gotta discuss come business. See ya ‘round Eleanor.”

Eleanor gave him a smile and walked over to the bar and leaned against it and jumped when she felt a hand graze her ass, “Son of a -”

"Chose your next word carefully razzle dazzle.” She huffed and downed the rest of her third glass of whisky.

“Gun.” She finished, and wanted to punch Tig in the face when he smirked.

“Can I help you Tig, you oh so chivalrously got my attention.”

Tig watched with satisfaction as Eleanor’s face became tense, he didn’t know why but so far it gave him great pleasure in making her pissed. “With your ass out like that I thought you were a sweet butt.”

“You want another whisky Eleanor?”

Tig turned his attention to Half-sack who was drooling over the new girl.

Eleanor climbed up on the bar stool and tucked one feet underneath her, “Kip, you keep me so happy.” She purred while slowly batting her eyelashes at the prospect.

Half-sack turned red and shook his head, “Nah, just doing my job… well, just prospecting I guess.” He stammered pathetically.

Tig rubbed his hand over his mouth annoyed with what he was witnessing in front of him and decided to intervene. “Hey, uh prospect, why don’t you focus on getting a full patched member his god damn drink instead of getting distracted by some crow-eater pussy.”

Half-sack took the hint a quickly got Tig his beer, “Beat it.” Tig simply said.

Eleanor watched in disbelief as Kip ran from behind the bar with his tail between his legs and turned with her teeth clenched to the man in front of her. “Why are you being such a dick to Kip he was just being nice.”

Tig leaned on the bar with one bent arm, “At the price of ignoring a member of the club he’s prospecting.”

Eleanor shook her head and saw from the window Gemma’s nearing figure. “Don’t you have church?” Eleanor sneered before downing her drink and putting it down loudly on the bar.

She started making her way towards the door and turned to face Tig once more, “Oh, and if you ever call me a crow-eater or a sweet butt again, I will break one of those pool cues and stab you in the dick.” She smiled sweetly at him and while walking away shouted, “Have a nice day, fucker.”

Eleanor met Gemma by the door and looked at the woman who had her hands on her hips, “I would ask you if you played nice but by that goodbye, I’m going to say no.” she said as though stating a fact.

Eleanor pushed on her sunglasses as well taking out a Marlboro red and offering one to Gemma who took it and put it between her lips. “I was until Tig decided to grab my ass, be a dick to Kip, and called me a sweet butt crow-eater.” She replied in an angry tone.

"Kip?” Gemma asked and quickly corrected herself, “You mean the prospect, what was he doing?”

“He was just asking if I wanted another drink and Tig got all butt-hurt about it.” Gemma smirked.

“Sounds about right. Let’s go sweetheart, they’re going to be voting to see if Kyle can come back tomorrow and their also going to discuss if you can be welcomed in the shop and as a shrink.”

Gemma made a move towards her car so Eleanor started for her bike, “Follow me to your house, I’ll help you unpack and we can go to my place for dinner.” She nodded clipping her helmet on her head and followed Gemma to her House.

Tig’s POV

Tig watched as Eleanor stormed out of the club house and walked over to the bar, pouring himself a tequila shot, “prissy ass bitch.” He hissed under his breath. After he slammed the shot on the bar top he heard Clay call him to chapel. He didn’t understand what it was about Eleanor that made him want to get under her skin but he enjoyed doing it; even if the end result caused her to hate him. He just got too much satisfaction from watching her face turn red and her full lips tighten into a line.

“Chuck's been cooking the books for the Asian mob. Skimmed 400 K off of Henry Lin's crew. Otto kept him safe up at Stockton, but he gets out tomorrow morning. So we protect him, we pick up the cash; we get him out of Cali.”

Tig looked at Clay, registering the first sentence since the beginning of church.

“We're going to split the cash with Chucky boy. Otto wants his 25 to go to Luann.” Jax finished.

Tig nodded his head in agreement.

“Ain't gonna be a cakewalk. Lin's a dangerous cat, sneaky little bastard.” Bobby said while taking a puff from his cigar.

“That's why we're going to work three-man shifts. We will keep this place locked down. Chuck never leaves the clubhouse. And the garage is open for pick-ups only.” Clay said as he looked around the table and finally to Tigs for conformation, he nodded his head in support.

“Skim's hidden in one of the restaurants Lin uses as a front. We're going to keep Chuck here until Sunday. Go pick up the money when the place is closed.”

The plan sounded good to Tig, and as long as Clay was on board so was he.

“Good.” He said as he slammed his hand on the table dismissing himself from the table he wanted to go find a crow eater to suck his dick to get his mind out of the gutter.

“Gem came to me and let me know a few things about our little senorita from the south. Bones’ kid went to school for shrink shit and her dad let the club members go to her if they felt they needed to talk to anyone.”

“We don’t talk to no shrinks.” Piney huffed as he smoked his cigarette.

Clay looked at him with a ‘let me finish my god damn sentence’ look. Just when Tig was starting to get his mind off of the new girl she seemed to find her way back into his thoughts and now his club business.

“I’m not saying make it mandatory but let the option be there. Gem also wanted me to bring up me letting her working in the shop, she knows her way around a bike; added the custom work to her own ride.”

Tig licked his lips, “I agree with Piney, we don’t need some damn shrink, we’re not pussies.” He saw from the corner of his eye Opie making a movement.

“What’s the harm? She can be a resource if anyone else wants to use her, no one’s saying you have to see her Tig.” Jax said to the sergeant at arms.

“Opposed?” Clay brought to vote,

“Me, definitely.” Tig said without hesitation

“and me.” Piney said.

"Majority rules, Eleanor can work at the shop and if anyone wants to talk to her, they can.”

Tig shook his head in anger and disbelief, isn’t this the exact reason this bitch was roughed up before, because she knew too much? He was about to go call a crow eater when Clay’s voice tore him from his thoughts,

“Wait a minute, wait a minute. There's one more thing.” Clay said wearily as he held up his hands to get everyone to sit back down.

“April Hobart wants to know if her old man can come to the fund-raiser, see his kid's band play.” He started weakly.

“That’s done brother” Tig said looking straight at Clay he shook his head once more, “that’s done.” He said once more.

“No, I know, but You know, she took a big hit staying behind. She supported the club. It's for her, not Kyle. I figured I'd throw it up for a vote.” He said gesturing towards the men at the table. There were murmurs of annoyance and anger until once voice rang loud and clear,

“Let him come.” Opie said looking at Jax.

Tig couldn’t believe his ears, if the man who sent him to prison was trying to come back into his town, well, let’s just say that wouldn’t have that opportunity and he wouldn’t have family to come back to.

Clay leaned forward in his chair, “This can't be about getting even, not at the school.”

"This guy’s got nothing right? No club, no family. Do me good to see that, appreciate what I got.” Opie said looking directly at Clay with a neutral face.

Tig watched him take a swig of his beer waiting for the question he wanted to hear most,

“Is anyone opposed?”

“Yeah me.” Tig said in a loud voice giving Clay a hard look.

“I don’t agree with it.” Piney said, but Tig’s focus was still on Clay.

When Clay glanced at Tig he knew he would have to explain himself, “Look, this is wrong man…”

Clay looked at Tig, “Majority rules, the vote passes.” He pounded the gavel and stood,

“You all better be at that fund-raiser tomorrow, unless you want a size-nine high heel boot up your ass.”

“You coming?” Bobby asked as he picked his drink up,

“I’d rather have my balls cut off.”

Tig laughed at Clay’s reference while the other men groaned in sympathetic pain,

“what? Too soon?”

Before Tig knew where he was going he found himself sitting on his powered down bike in front of Eleanor’s house. He sat across the street simply glaring at the bedroom he knew to be hers. Acting on a whim he put on his black leather gloves, pulled out his knife and headed to her front door. He jimmied the knife until he heard the satisfying click of the lock being picked and quietly entered the house.

He looked around noticing the difference in feeling now that her stuff has for the most part been unpacked. In the hall to her room he stopped and looked at the multiple pictures hanging on the wall; some of Eleanor when she was small with two older boys, some with what he assumed to be guys from her dad’s club, her smiling brightly with her college diploma with her dad Bones, and one with her and the man he met earlier Beau.

Rage suddenly overwhelmed him as he took the picture from the wall and studied it. He assumed it was taken not that long ago and that they were in the club house, Eleanor sat on his lap with her arms wrapped around his neck as she leaned her head into the crook of his shoulder affectionately. Tig ran a hand over his mouth and applied pressure to the frame –resulting in the frame breaking in half. Tig held the picture in his hands looking at Eleanor and Beau until he couldn’t stand it and before he knew it started to rip the picture in half storing the half with Eleanor in his cut pocket and spitting then tearing beau’s picture into little piece; dropping them along the floor.

Tig moved forward to the door of the master bedroom and slowly opened the door. The whole vibe of the room felt different to him than it did this morning, the then bare walls was now adorned with large pictures and a four-poster bedframe sat against the wall with a small love seat facing away from the foot of the bed. Tig slowly made his way to the figure silhouetted by the moonlight and her bed sheets, he looked at her bare leg that was uncovered from her sheets and lightly ran his hand on her smooth skin. Tig licked his lips as he stared down at the girl and he felt the flames of desire lick at his stomach like he’s felt so many times before. As he gazed down at her he couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to be inside of her or maybe even to put his hand over her mouth and simply take what he knew he wanted.

Tig leaned as close as he could to her without physically touching her and inhaled deeply taking in her scent, lavender and musk, Tig recognized. He simply stood there and watched her sleep, he watched the way her chest rose when she took breathes, how she mumbled to herself, or how when she turned over in her sleep she arched her back in an oh so tantalizing way. Tig didn’t know how long he stood there and watched her sleep but finally decided that he should leave and get some rest for tomorrow, he leaned down a placed his nose on her once again bare leg and softly ran it up and down inhaling as he did so.

Without a backward glance Tig silently closed the door to her room and then seconds after the door to her house.

NORMAL POV

The next morning Eleanor woke up refreshed and happy. Even though she didn’t have the family she was raised with she had a feeling that she was going to find a new family here in Charming. After her and Gemma left the garage they came back to her house and for the most part unpacked everything except for the small things and went grocery shopping. Even though Eleanor insisted Gemma and Clay stay for dinner at her house and she could make them dinner as a thank you; Gemma was not having any of it and insisted that Eleanor come over. Her, Gemma, and Clay had talked about everything from her time at UT to her being able to work and practice with the club. She also learned a little bit of history regarding the mother chapter, she found out that Clay was actually Jax’s stepdad and his father, John, had been killed on the road in 93. She learned that the reason Opie went to jail was because of April’s husband, Kyle, bailed on him when he heard the cops coming; and that in Stockton, the had an “In House gang” that was headed by a man named Big Otto.

After she got out of the shower she brushed her hair and quickly put it in a French braid and doing a little happy dance when she realized she was going to make herself a cup of coffee and an omelet.

As she walked out of her room she yelped in pain and grabbed the side of the wall looking confused at the large open cut on her foot, “What the hell?” she whispered to herself as she looked around the floor to see where the offending piece of glass came from she then noticed a broken frame and small pieces of paper scattered on the floor.

Eleanor dropped to the ground since she couldn’t apply much pressure to her foot and picked up the pieces of paper, as she looked closer she noticed it was a picture –in particular the picture with her and Beau, expect she was nowhere to be found. “Shit.” She said clamping her hands over her mouth, she stood quickly ignoring the pain and footprints of blood she left behind as she walked to the door and saw it was unlocked.

“Jesus Christ.” She went to the kitchen and picked up her house phone and dialed the number Gemma left her the previous night.

“Hey baby, you need a lift to the fundraiser?” Gemma answered knowing it was Eleanor.

Eleanor took in a shaky breath, “Gemma, can you come over… I think someone broke into my house last night.”

Gemma turned quickly towards the door and Clay watched with amusement as she started towards the door. “I’ll be there in a second. Don’t go anywhere.” Gemma smacked the phone down and turned to Clay,

“Someone broke into Ellie’s last night. I’m going to head over now.”

Clay’s amusement vanished, “What are you talking about?” Gemma walked towards the table giving Clay a kiss,

“Said the door was unlocked and a frame was broken with her picture ripped and missing.”

“I’ll send the prospect to escort you guys to the fundraiser grounds.”

“Okay, Baby. See you later.”

Gemma didn’t wait for Clay to give her a not so convincing “sure baby.” As she jumped in her car and rode towards Eleanor’s house.

Eleanor and Gemma sat at her table with coffee and eggs in front of them, Gemma walked in and was instantly concerned with the bloody footprints and instructed Eleanor to keep her leg elevated.

“You know you’re going to need to get stitches in that foot of yours.” Gemma said as she took a drag from her cigarette. Eleanor chewed on the eggs in her mouth and nodded in agreement.

“I know the prospect is coming to take us to the grounds but maybe we should make a pit stop at the club house, see if Chibs can sew you up real quick.”

“Okay, we can go whenever you want.” Eleanor watched Gemma rise from the table and stood up with her, “I really appreciate this Gemma, I was just really freaked out. I haven’t even been here for two days and shit’s already happening.” Eleanor made a grad for her helmet and bag,

“Why are you grabbing your helmet Ellie?”

Eleanor looked at her like she grew another head, “I’m riding my bike.”

Gemma stared at her and licked her lips finally shaking her head, “You’re just like them.” She chuckled as she put on her sunglasses and stepped out of the house.

Eleanor followed suit and closed the door behind her, ignoring the pain she felt in her foot and revved her bike to life speeding off towards TM.

“Sorry to drop in unannounced boys but little Ellie needs patching up.” Gemma said as she held Eleanor to her side taking pressure off her foot. Chibs stood up and walked over to the women,

“le' me see lass.” He said as he watched her sit down on a stool in front of him.

Eleanor looked around the room to see all of the guys staring at her and became embarrassed. “It’s just a little scratch on my foot, but Gemma insisted I get it looked at.” She pulled off her brown cowboy boots and made a face when she saw the bottom of her sock was a deep shade of red,

“tha' looks to be more than a scratch lass.” Chibs laughed as he took off the sock and held her foot close to his face.

Eleanor felt the hair on her neck stand up and she looked up to see Tig staring at her intently she met his gaze narrowing her eyes in defiance. She doesn’t know how long they stared at each other challengingly, but Tig was the first to turn away and leave the clubhouse.

“Well I pulled out the glass pieces that were still in there an' just glued the skin back. If tha' doesn’t hold you’ll 'ave to come back an' get stitches an' crutches.”

Eleanor sighed, “That’s lame how am I supposed to ride if I get stiches.” She grumbled.

Gemma chuckled at the girl who seemed to be more upset about not being able to ride than the fact that someone broke into her house, “Just double up the bandages and you won’t even feel it. Let’s go we have a table to run.”

Morning at the Taste of Charming fundraiser had actually been more fun than Eleanor thought it would be. She was working the booth with Gemma, Luann, and two other crow-eaters. Eleanor decided that even though Luann had an interesting profession choice and seemed a little out of touch she was a nice woman. She wouldn’t drop the idea of me and her daughter, Reese meeting saying we would get along so well since we were both educated and grew up in the club. When Eleanor asked her where she was her whole demeanor changed and she softly replied,

“Last I heard from Gemma, LA.”

Eleanor quickly knew that the topic was a sensitive one and didn’t miss the fact that she said that she heard the news from Gemma.Well I guess that means they don’t have the best relationship Eleanor thought to herself. She pulled herself out of her internal dialogue and saw Luann smiling at her,

"You know,” she started looking Eleanor up and down “if you ever needed a job or are tight on money I’d be happy to let you have a role in one of my movies.”

Eleanor raised an eyebrow at her,

“Well we don’t actually have any girls of color working at CaraCara.”

Gemma turned around to stare at the woman after she heard her say those words, “Are you kidding me Luann?” Gemma said as she looked at the woman in disbelief. She then turned her attention to Eleanor to make sure she wasn’t offended orkick Luann’s ass Gemma internally added and looked shocked as she watched the girl start laughing.

“Okay Luann I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Now that I think about it being in a porno is on my bucket list…” Eleanor’s words faded as she shook her head If my dad ever found out though I would be dead. Deader than dead I wouldn’t have existed.

She thought to herself as she turned her attention to a little boy. “What can I get you sweetie?” she said gazing at the boy who simply looked back at her awestruck. Eleanor shifted her weight between her feet feeling uncomfortable until a woman came behind the little boy and noticed him staring open mouthed.

“I am so sorry, Calvin is never like this.” She quickly apologized and tried to pull him away.

“You’re the pretest girl I have ever seen.” The little boy said in a small voice. His mom looked from him to Eleanor and back to her son.

Gemma and Luann were watching and couldn’t help but laugh.

Eleanor put together a bowl of chili and a bag of chips giving it to the boy who blushed as she bent down, “Why thank you Calvin, you’re the nicest boy I ever did see.” She smiled and patted his head throwing a smile to the mom as she mouth ‘thank you’ as they walked away.

Eleanor smiled as she turned around to see Gemma with a smirk on her face, “Well look at you, you little heart breaker. Charming might just warm up to you yet.”

A couple of hours had come to pass and Eleanor could tell Gemma was furious. She had mentioned to her earlier that Bobby always comes as Elvis and does a booth for the kids and the rest of the guys simply offer the man power, but they were now officially an hour late. Eleanor was busy pulling a beer out of the cooler to give to a man when she saw two bodies pass the booth and Gemma shoot up,

“You’re late.” She heard Gemma bite out as they walked towards Bobby’s Elvis booth.

She handed the man the beer and took the money from him wishing him a good afternoon as he left. She turned as saw Tig leaning against the tree behind their tent she turned to give him a nod of acknowledgement and went back to serving people.

“How’s the foot Razzle Dazzle?” he asked crossing his arms Eleanor looked over at him noticing how his black long sleeved shirt hugged his arms.

“I little sore but nothing time can’t heal.” She replied taking a seat on the cooler,

“You know what happened?” he asked seeming genuinely concerned.

She shook her head, “I guess someone came in during the night –it’s a little scary because I never knew I was that heavy of a sleeper that if someone came into my house I wouldn’t know.” Eleanor nervously bit her lip, being a psychology major she could always read others but what she hated most of all was that she could pick up on her nervous habits easily.

“Well I wouldn’t worry too much about it baby, nothing happens in Charming that we don’t hear about.” Tig said as he walked over and squeezed her shoulder.

Eleanor looked at him like he grew another head, in a matter of a day Tig Trager had gone from being a total pain in the ass to actually sweet. Her gut told her there was more to this than what was in front of her but did not want to act on it,

“Thanks, but apparently there is since someone broke into my house, babe.” She said sarcastically.

Tig took a step closer to her, “Well next time I would lock my door knowing there’s someone looking for me with a lynch with my name on it.” Tig said menacingly.

Eleanor’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second then quickly turned into slits, “and here I was thinking that maybe you weren’t a total scumbag. Do you want to discuss your obvious childhood trauma with me later?”

Tig was about to reply when he saw Gemma hurry over to the two of them, “Hi mother.” Tig said as he leaned in and gave Gemma a kiss in greeting

“Hey Tiggy. Do you think you can just walk around and make sure everything is going smoothly and that there’s no trouble?” Gemma asked putting her hands on her hips as she scanned the grounds.

Tig nodded in reply shooting Eleanor one last look before stalking away. Eleanor took a sip of her beer that she had hidden underneath the table and saw Jax push a man against the wall,

“Gemma.” Eleanor said simply and nodded towards Jax.

Gemma stood up to her full height and pursed her lips as she looked over at her son and Kyle. Jax looked our way and obviously saw a pissed off Gemma letting go of the man and patting his chest, Gemma shook her head and Eleanor laughed,

“I take it that’s Kyle.” She mused as she downed the rest of her beer.

“The one and only” Gemma replied as she watched Jax make his way over to them.

“Hey mom” Jax said as he leaned in and kissed Gemma on the cheek,

“Ellie” he said moving over to kiss her as well. Eleanor seemed a little taken aback, she was a full believer in comfort and treating individuals like family as a way of connecting but Jax seemed to warm up to her exceptionally fast.

Reflecting on it further and considering the circumstances of the club it made sense. If they are all brothers in the anarchistic society it would make sense that kids of the brothers would be just as readily welcome. Motorcycle clubs were a vastly complicated social group.

Eleanor smiled and replied, “Hi Jax”.

Gemma looked over at Kyle who was playing the egg toss with his daughter, “So how are the guys handling Kyle?”

Jax took the chip Eleanor was about to put in her mouth from her hand “Asshole.” Eleanor hissed and threw Jax a pout, he smirked as he put the chip in his mouth and replied to his mom,

“Nothing to handle Kyle’s dead.”

Eleanor looked over to Opie who was standing behind a curtain where the fireworks were placed staring intently at Kyle, “I don’t think he’s dead to Opie.” Eleanor said.

After realizing she spoke out of turn she blushed when they both looked at her, “Sorry, psychologist. I’m going to go over-” flustered, Eleanor pointed to the other side of the tent and made it look like she was busy.

“She’s right. You should go check on him, make sure he’s doing okay.” Gemma said to Jax giving him a smile and then getting back to working the booth.

Eleanor was feeling curious, after observing how Opie stared down Kyle like some sort of predator she switched her attention to Kyle. His laugh seemed genuine enough but it failed to reach his eyes, Eleanor knew that if it had been any of her dad’s guys they wouldn’t be truly happy without the club. It’s all they knew and functioning in normal society isn’t really an option, they would just go outlaw solo. Eleanor blinked when the egg broke on Kyle’s shoulder and watched as a girl who looked about her age lift the jacket off his body revealing the lower rocker tattooed on his back.

Oh shit.

Eleanor looked over to see if Jax and Opie caught it and by the anger apparent in their faces they had. Eleanor then came to a mental dilemma, should she say something to Gemma? She knew that if they told the rest of the club, which they would it wouldn’t be good but then again it wasn’t her place to put her nose in the doings of another club.

About ten minutes passed after she decided she wasn’t going to say anything when Bobby and Tig approached the table. Bobby made a move to stand right in front of Gemma and Tig stood in front of me, “You seen Jax?” Bobby said in a serious tone.

“He’s with Ope, why?”

Tig drew his gaze away from the young woman in front of him “boss wants us.” He simply said turning his head back to stare at Eleanor.

It was unknown to him but not missed by Gemma or Bobby as Tig’s head went to the side as he watched Eleanor pick up something from the ground. Gemma and Bobby looked from Tig to each other and Gemma rolled her eyes,

“You got two more hours in that booth.” She said to Bobby but as he walked off to meet Jax, Opie, and Kyle it was Tig who responded,

“Sorry mother. Later Razzle Dazzle.” And he stalked after Bobby.

Gemma turned to face Eleanor who was staring after Tig with her brows creased and a cute sneer on her face. “Jesus Christ. I can’t believe Clay is pulling this shit.”

Eleanor smiled as an older man in a police uniform approached the table,

“Sucks being boss, don’t it?” he said to Gemma with a smile.

“You know that fried shit is gonna kill you.” She replied sassily

“’cause the cancer’s keeping me fit and spunky.” He sarcastically bit back.

Gemma nodded her head at the man’s direction calling Eleanor over, “Wayne this is Eleanor Grayson, she’s staying with SAMCRO for a while. Eleanor, Wayne Unser.”

Wayne was a bit taken aback as he gazed at the girl; she was a young thing and had spunk that he remembered another girl having. He stuck out his hand which Eleanor reciprocated,

“Nice to meet you Mr. Unser.”

Wayne laughed, “Well actually it’s sheriff Unser nice to meet you.”

As Wayne and Eleanor introduced themselves Gemma noticed Tara start walking towards the Teller-Morrow booth but stopped short when she saw a man Gemma didn’t recognize and all but run from the fundraiser.

“Hey, who's that guy behind the grill?” Eleanor looked to see who she was talking about and saw a tall creepy man.

“That's our new best friend Agent Kohn. ATF.” Unser replied.

Eleanor had to hold in her laughter as she realized that Unser was on the payroll.

“The fed looking into the club is grilling sausages?”

Deciding she had something funny to say in reply Eleanor said, “Must be part of his special federal training.”

Unser looked at the girl and shook his head just like Gemma

“Good chili.” And walked away from the women.

Gemma smiled at Eleanor who simply shrugged her shoulders, “hold the fort” Gemma said as she watched the guys start to head her way.

Eleanor watched as Gemma smacked Jax on the chest and exchanged some words she also moved her attention to Tig and wasn’t surprised when she caught him staring. She held his shaded gaze for a minute before returning to helping Luann with the people.

Later that night and after listening to hours of Gemma’s huffing and puffing Eleanor saw Opie arrive back at the fundraiser. Since she was done working the table and had a couple of beers with Luann and Gemma and was feeling pretty at home. She walked over to Opie after she saw Gemma leave and decided she was going to confront Opie.

“Hey Opie long time no see.”

Opie gave her a smile as he put the fireworks in the cylinders, “Ages.”

“I have an observation for you by the way you’re looking pretty glum I think the club is going to be taking care of Kyle’s kutte tattoo.”

Opie looked over at her with a strange expression,

“I saw it when he was taking off his jacket. I don’t know what you do in y’all’s club but I know if an excommunicated member didn’t black out his ink there was a nasty price to pay.”

He chuckled, “I feel like it’s going to be hard to sneak around you Eleanor, you’re like a mini Gemma.” He wrapped an arm her shoulders, “Watch the fireworks with me and my family I want you to meet Donna.”

Eleanor nodded happily and smiled as a woman and two kids ran towards them.

“Donna this is Eleanor her dad’s a president of one of the Sons charters she staying here for a while.”

Donna looked a little skeptical at first until Eleanor stepped closer to her,

“Hi Donna, I am so pleased to meet you. Opie’s told me some great things.”

Donna smiled at Opie in response to her words, “You did?” she said as she wrapped her arms around Opie and kissed him.

After the fireworks were done Eleanor decided to pull Donna aside, “hey I just wanted to tell you that if you ever need to talk I’m hear.”

Donna crossed her arms going on the defense, “why would I need to talk to you?”

Eleanor licked her lips, “I was raised in the club and I know it like the back of my hand and sometimes the women get the shitty end of the stick.”

Eleanor looked at Donna who seemed to have tuned her out once she started talking. “I went to college to get a degree in psychology so I’m just saying if you need to talk I’m trained to listen. Opie is actually going to come and see me so maybe y’all want to come together one time to talk it out in a mediated setting.”

Donna looked at the girl that was standing in front of her. She seemed like the other crow-eaters that she hated with the same tattoos and revealing clothing but when she talked and just her presence she had a certain air about her. Donna found herself nodding to the young girl who smiled in return.

"Opie has my number I have to finish setting up my home office so I won’t be ready to go until next week but as soon as it’s done I’ll let you know. Bye Donna.” She said giving her a hug.

Donna watched as she high-fived her kids and gave Opie a hug.

“She’s very interesting” Donna said as they both watched her leave,

“you can say that again.” Opie chuckled.