Free Bird

Lifting up the hood of the car in front of her, Holly bit her lip as she inspected. Reaching for some tools, she began working straight away. Looking up as she heard a motorbike outside, Holly watched as Tig walked over to Clay with an uneasy expression.

"You're coming to the dinner, aren't you?" Holly whipped her head around to see Gemma standing at the doorway between the garage and the office.

"Oh, uh... of course" Holly nodded in response, trying to recall Jax asking her about coming over for the dinner.

"Great, it'll be good to catch up" Gemma smiled genuinely, before disappearing into the office to answer the phone. Going back to the car, Holly felt her phone ringing in her pocket. Wiping her hands on a rag, she retrieved the phone and answered the call.

"Hello?" she greeted the caller, waiting for them to speak. When there was no answer, she let out a frustrated sigh and ended the call. Stuffing her phone back into her pocket, she ignore Jax's questioning look as he turned his head around to face her.

Watching as Clay and Tig walked through the lot and into the Clubhouse, Holly followed them in and figured it was time to get paid for the deal with Laroy. Catching the envelope of money Clay had thrown towards her, she mouthed a thank-you.

"Holly, sweetheart - there's a package here for you" Gemma called out as she walked into the Clubhouse, waving the parcel in the air. Hurrying over, Holly smiled at Gemma before taking it. Using her pocket knife to cut through the tape, Holly dug through the shredded paper and revealed a stack of photos.

Flipping them over, her eyes widened as she started to shuffle through the photos. Shoving them back into the box, she scurried out of the building. In fear of throwing up, she gripped onto the railing in front of her and looked down as she tried to regain her breath.

She knew it wouldn't be long before someone would be out asking about her sudden departure, so she walked over to her car and got in. Perhaps a long drive would take her mind of things...

※

"Well. There's only one way to keep that forensics team away from our warehouse... and that's another murder in the area" Clay sighed, as he leaned back in his chair. Holly nodded in agreement, and of course Jax thought otherwise.

"No way, man" Jax shook his head.

"Hale's on red-alert... The Mayan's, the Nord's - everyone is jumpy right now" Juice backed up Jax's argument.

"It's not a good time to kill-" Jax started up again, before Clay interrupted.

"Of course it's not a good time, it's never a good time. But we need to protect Tig, and stay out of the ATF's cross-hares. Tig, since this is your mess - go and kill two birds with one stone, take out two of Darby's guys and we'll use the bodies" Clay ordered, as Tig nodded and stood up to leave the room.

"Wait!" Holly called out, before clearing her throat as everyone stared at her - which was becoming a regular thing "What if there was a way I could pull this off, without any blood being spilled?" she asked, and everyone laughed "Don't go thinking I'm crazy, I mean 'brains before bullets' right?" the blonde quoted the plaque on the wall, which everyone glanced at and seemed to become more on board with her suggestion.

"Alright, let's hear you out" Clay shrugged, figuring it was worth a shot.

"Now, what do we need for a murder?" Holly questioned, looking around the table.

"Bodies and a crime scene" Jax answered, as everyone nodded and waited for Holly to continue.

"Jackie boy and Holly... You've both really lost me" Chibs pointed a finger to his head, with a confused look.

"Skeeter!" Jax exclaimed, realising what Holly was on about.

"The cemetery guy?" Bobby asked, with an unsure expression. Not that he thought it was a bad idea, he just found him creepy. Alot of people did, actually.

"Yes, the cemetery guy" Holly confirmed, with a nod.

"Ah, I like it" Chibs flashed Holly a grin, whilst nodding.

"I give a front-page murder, and we don't stir up any unnecessary drama. It's a win-win... As for sending old Darby a message..." Holly bit her lip, before Jax continued for her.

"I'll sort him out" Jax promised as everyone awaited Clay's answer eagerly.

"Alright, we'll do it your way blondie" Clay agreed, as everyone got up to leave and start work on Holly's idea "Don't make me regret this - and I don't want to hear another lovers quarrel either" Clay warned, as he stopped both Jax and Holly.

They both nodded in response, waiting for the older male to leave.

"I'll go visit Skeeter" Holly informed Jax, as she started to walk out.

"I'm coming too, I don't trust that guy" Jax called out, as they walked out to the van. Getting in, Jax decided to ride with Holly. Juice and Half-Sack got on their bikes, and led the way to the crematorium.

※

Opening the doors to reveal Skeeter working away, Half-Sack looked around.

"They really cremate people here?" he asked, as Jax rolled his eyes.

"Yep, they do" Jax gently pushed the male inside, as they all walked in.

"What do you think that things for? Wood-fired pizza?" Holly shook her head, as everyone but Half-Sack laughed.

"Oh, hey guys. H-hey Holly" Skeeter greeted the group, Jax subconsciously taking a step closer to Holly protectively "What are you guys doing here?" he asked nervously, not used to having all these club members here. Even if there were only four of them.

"We need a favour" Holly announced, as Skeeter scurried around.

"Now's not exactly good time, I've got the boss crawling up my ass" Skeeter answered, hitting the back of Half-Sacks head as he caught him playing around with some of the equipment.

"Let us clear up your schedule... We need two fresh bodies" Holly explained, as she sent a warning look to Half-Sack.

"W-what for?" Skeeter asked, genuinely confused.

"I could tell you, but then you'd have to go into the furnace" Jax laughed, as Skeeter joined in.

"Two fresh ones? That's... That's crazy" Skeeter shook his head, as he continued to fiddle around.

"Here, still crazy?" Holly asked, as she handed him an envelop full of money. Skeeter shook his head, declining "You don't want money?" she raised her eyebrow, and he shook his head. She could hear the others mumbling several choice words, as she tried to remain calm.

"You know what you can give me? A date" Skeeter grinned, as Holly scrunched her nose up - an action Skeeter luckily hadn't seen.

"With who?" Jax narrowed his eyes, and folded his arms as Skeeter turned around.

"Ho-" he started, if Jax wasn't there, he definitely would have answered with Holly. But because he was scared of the male, he went for his second choice "How about Emily Duncan? Been trying to push up on that for a long time" Skeeter grinned like an idiot as he nodded his head.

"Okay, I can get you the croweater" Holly agreed, nudging Jax's arm "You can sort that out, right?" she raised her eyebrow, as Jax nodded.

"Shit. Okay, um... You got a deal then!" Skeeter nodded once more, walking over to the other side of the room. Picking up a clipboard, he studied his schedule "Well, I'm not cremating anything until the end of the week" Skeeter explained.

"We need two by the end of the afternoon" Juice interrupted, holding up two fingers.

"Okay, well I have to prepare a closed coffin and I just buried a guy this morning" Skeeter informed, looking up from the paper.

"White guy and a Mexican?" Jax asked, and Skeeter nodded.

"That'll be great" Holly grinned, before Half-Sack interrupted.

"Wait... We have to dig one of 'em up?" he asked, with a concerned tone.

"Who said anything about 'we'?" Juice asked, before the others started to laugh.

※

Opening the door to Jax's room, Holly's eyes landed on him and another slightly older woman - Emily Duncan. She quickly closed the door, trying to erase the image from her mind. Seconds later, she heard hurried footsteps and turned to see Jax - who was catching up to her whilst getting dressed.

"What's the rush?" Jax asked, as he fell into step with the blonde. Holly just glared at him, not bothering to answer. Heading back to the van, she got in and drove off before Jax could get in. Leaving him to ride in the car with Juice.

Once back at the cemetery, Holly hopped out of the van and walked over to Half-Sack who was still digging.

"Missed a spot" she laughed, looking down into the plot. Half-Sack jumped, almost dropping his shovel.

"Jesus Christ! You almost killed me" he shook his head, as the others walked over to inspect.

"Good thing we're at a crematorium and a spot just opened then, huh?" Holly grinned, as Half-Sack groaned and lifted the lid on the coffin.

"How are we going to pull this off?" he questioned, scratching his head.

After what seemed like an hour trying to get the body out, Jax loaded it and the other into the back of the van.

"... So, you're into croweaters now huh?" Holly asked, as she drove down the lonely road - so far the only other car around was Juice and Half-Sack behind them.

"Hey, you asked if I could sort it out. You didn't say how" Jax answered, as he rolled his eyes.

He couldn't help but smirk at the fact Holly was jealous. Even if she was going to deny it, he knew it would be true.

Looking into the side-mirror, Holly groaned at Jax's response as she watched two flashy looking cards speeding behind them. She didn't take much notice, and figured they were in some kind of race - considering they had moved onto the opposite side of the road.

The first car moved back into the right side, followed by the second which narrowly avoided the van - causing Holly to swerve out of the way, going off the road and stopping within an inch of a tree. Moving back onto the road, Jax shifted in his seat.

"Assholes!" Holly yelled, even though they wouldn't of heard, but she didn't care. If it weren't for the seat belt, she would have for sure flown through the windscreen and ended up like that deer.

"So... What was in that package this morning? Is someone hassling you?" Jax asked, breaking the sudden silence. Distracted, Holly hadn't even realised he said something until she saw his expectant look out of the corner of her eye.

"No. I was uh, just feeling a little sick" the blonde lied, as she started to shake her head. Just as Jax was going to answer, he saw a police car parked ahead of them.

"Shit, how'd I know we'd have company..." the male shook his head, leaning back into his seat. Driving past them, Holly held her breath and hoped the others would make it through. But once she heard the siren, and saw the car turning around she knew they were about to be in deep shit.

How on earth would you ever possibly be able to explain the fact you have two dead bodies in the back of your van, just casually?

Knowing there was no point in trying to evade them, Holly pulled the van up on the side of the road. Sitting up her seat, she fiddled with her hair and pulled her top down slightly before she looked at herself in the mirror. Maybe she could get out of this by using her looks - after all, it had worked several other times.

Jax scoffed at her actions, before watching as a sheriff approached the van. Bringing the window down, Holly raised her eyebrows.

"What seems to be the problem this afternoon, officer?" she asked, before Juice's car rammed into the back of the police car.

"Wait right here" he warned, before chasing Juice and Half-Sack down the road. Jumping out of the van without warning Jax, Holly used her knife to let down tow of the police cars wheels and ripping the radio out.

Running back to the car, she jumped in and turned it back onto the road to catch up to the other two. Within seconds, Jax, Juice and Half-Sack were in the back of the van as the police officer stopped running and fired shots - which fortunately, had missed the vehicle and everyone inside.

"Where the hell did you come up with all of that?" Juice asked, whilst panting from running. Holly grinned proudly, as she looked into the rear-view mirror at Jax.

"I once dated this criminal" the girl shrugged, as Juice and Half-Sack laughed. Jax just shook his head, climbing back into his seat at the front.

※

Laying down one of the bodies, Jax positioned the males head - which had been detached, and stood back up.

"Okay, come forward... little bit more, little bit more and... stop!" he instructed Chibs, before the male got out of the car to inspect the scene.

"That's nasty" he shook his head, wondering how the head had been removed in the first place.

"No, that's brilliant" Holly corrected with a grin, walking up behind them "I'll need some help with the next one" she pointed to the other male, who was much larger. Taking one corner of the sheet he had been wrapped up in, Chibs took the other and helped the female drag it into place.

Once he was sat in the car, Holly scrunched her nose up - she was definitely having a shower as soon as she got home. Half-Sack jogged over, handing out the blood they would be using to make this whole thing work.

Thanking the male, she began to squirt the blood over the male in the car, laughing as Chibs made fun of Half-Sack's way of doing it. Once they finished, they all lined up and aimed their guns towards the car.

"Time for the finishing touch" Holly grinned once more, before they all started to shoot at the car. Placing the gun in the hand of the male on the ground, Holly watched as Jax wrote a message on the car with some of the blood.

M + N = BLOOD

Running over to the getaway car, Holly climbed in instructed Juice to go. Driving back to the Clubhouse, Juice announced that they'd have to stop off at the gas station in order to fill the tank up. As he got out, Holly glanced around to see a familiar looking car.

Looking over to a sleeping Half-Sack, she frowned and turned to look at Chibs - who wasn't there, leaving Jax her only option to speak to. Nudging his arm, she pointed through the window.

"Look, it's one of those guys from earlier!" she exclaimed, before climbing over him to get out of the car.

Knowing it would only end badly, Jax rolled his eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that day, and followed her into the store.

"Let me take care of this" Jax held his arm out to stop her from walking further, as she glared up at him.

Knowing there was no use in arguing, she simply sighed and gestured for him to keep walking. With a satisfied smirk, Jax continued to walk towards the driver of the car.

"Pass us one of those" Jax spoke up with his usual menacing tone, as the now startled male turned around.

Before he could answer, Jax swung his fist and it collided with the males chin. Falling to the ground, Jax started to kick him - just like he had done with the crank dealer the other day. Hearing the shopkeeper yell, Holly quickly grabbed the security tape once he had walked over to the other males.

Tucking it inside her cut, she walked over to Jax and glared down at the male. Picking the man up by his shirt, Jax sneered at him.

"Don't ever cut her off again, asshole" he warned, dropping the male back onto the ground as he groaned and looked up at Holly - whom he figured Jax had been talking about.

Stepping over the male, Jax joined Holly and started to walk towards the exit. The shopkeeper continued to yell, as the male Jax had just practically beaten to a pulp rised to his feet and aimed his gun towards Jax.

"Why don't you call me that again, asshole?!" he exclaimed, pulling the trigger.

Jax widened his eyes, ducking his head and pulling Holly down with him. The shopkeeper did the same, but with a woman who had entered the store just seconds ago - narrowly avoiding the bullet. The woman started screaming as the glass door shattered behind her.

Breaking free from Jax's tight grip, Holly lunged towards the shooter and tried to wrestle the gun out of his hands. Ignoring Jax's yelling, Holly winced as the male pushed her back into a shelf. Finding all her strength to push him back, the male ended up pushing her to the ground before she could do anything.

Falling on her backside, along with various items on the display that had fallen down with her, Holly sat up and tried to reach for the gun as the disorientated male aimed for her head. Luckily for her, but not so luckily for him, the shopkeeper rushed over with an axe and swung it straight into his neck, beheading him.

Letting go of the unfamiliar woman, Jax slowly got up and tried to process what had just happened. He stared over at Holly in disbelief, thinking he would have lost her. She slowly got up, realising Half-Sack and Juice had come up to the broken door.

"Fuck..." she exhaled, biting her lip as she stared down at the dead body. The other woman had disappeared, and the shopkeeper was shaking like a leaf "I don't suppose we need another body?" Holly joked, as Jax stared at her as if she were crazy.

Walking back out to the car, everyone piled back in - causing Chibs to wake up.

"What'd I miss?" he questioned, as he looked around feeling groggy.

"A whole lot, Chibs. A whole lot..." Holly shook her head, with a light laugh as Juice continued on to the clubhouse.

※

Zipping up the back of her dress, Holly glanced at her outfit once again and bit her lip. She wasn't sure about this dinner, but figured it would allow her to catch up with everyone and get back into contact with them.

Jax had gone ahead to see Abel, before going to the dinner. Heading back into the bedroom, Holly tried not to get caught up in old memories as she reached for her bag. Digging around, she pulled out her car keys and realised the photos from this morning will still in there.

Walking over to the set of drawers, she pulled one open and buried the stack under some clothing. Most of which she handed touched since she left that day, but hadn't gotten around to getting rid of them just yet.

Heading out the car, not wanting to be late, Holly drove over to Gemma and Clay's house feeling nervous. Once she was there, and convinced herself it would all be okay, she walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.

Moments later, Luann opened the door with a warm smile.

"Holly, darling! It's so good to see you" she pulled the female in for a hug, before leading her inside "Take a seat, dinner is almost ready" Luann added, as she shut the door.

Walking off towards the kitchen, Holly remembered the way to the dining table. Hell, she remembered the way to every room in the house. She had probably spent more time here, than her own home growing up.

She and Jax were practically inseparable, due to the fact their mothers were best friends. When they were fifteen, they starting dating - although looking back, she was sure Gemma had arranged the whole thing - and were together until they were twenty.

That's when Jax became vice president, and Clay and Gemma told Holly to leave Charming. Not in a demanding way, they just explained it would be best for her to leave. That's when she moved to her previous town, joining her Uncle's club. He too was a vice president, his best mate the president.

He knew Clay, hence the reason she was sitting here right now. She was more shocked than anyone to be here right now, and even more shocked with Jax's reaction. She expected him to be angry, and throw tantrums about it.

But instead he was just... normal. Which admittedly, was much more scarier than angry Jax.

"So, Holly... You got a man back at home?" Luann asked, as she reappeared at the table. Looking over to her, Holly noticed a curious look on Jax's face before she answered.

"I did" Holly answered vaguely, not wanting to go into detail. She had several men back home - all of which she wasn't dating, but were still significant to her.

"Well, there are plenty of good sorts around here" Luann flashed a sympathetic smile, as she tilted her head towards an oblivious Jax. Holly just laughed whilst shaking her head, turning her attention towards Gemma who was approaching the table with a hot dish.

"That, or you can go back for seconds" Gemma winked at Holly, who felt her cheeks burning up. She looked over to Jax, who was smirking. Ducking her head, Holly laughed at her comment and started to fill her plate with food.

Gemma took a seat next to Holly and Clay who was at the head of the table - as usual, of course. They spent the rest of the dinner talking - well, mostly interrogating Holly about how she spent her time away from Charming.

And whilst she was helping clean up, Luann went back to the topic of boyfriends and asked Holly a million questions about her ex.

After saying goodbye, Holly walked out to her car with Jax. He had asked for a ride home, seeing as he and Gemma had come over to the house together after going to the hospital. Opening the door, Holly's eyes landed on an envelope sitting in the drivers seat.

Picking it up, she opened it to reveal even more photos - much like the others she had recieved. Gulping, she tried hiding them from Jax but he had managed to snatch them out of her hands. Frowning, he looked over to the blonde.

"Holly, what the hell is going on?" He asked, genuinely concerned.