Chapter 32

At 5:00, all hell broke lose at the shop. Tinsley was  in the office filing some paperwork when the club house doors burst open. Looking out the window, she saw Jax running across the lot. He jumped on his bike and tore out of the lot before Tinsley could even make it to the door of the office.

Wondering where he was going, she grabbed Abel out of the bassinet and walked to the clubhouse in search of answers. She found Gemma coming out of the kitchen.

"Hey, where'd Jax go in such a hurry?" Asked Tinsley.

"I didn't know he left. I've been slammed trying to make sure all the other charters were here for Opie's funeral tomorrow." said Gemma.

"Is Donna even going to want any of the SONS there?" asked Tinsley.

"Probably not but it's not going to keep them from coming. He was a family. He was a brother. His dad is First 9. Opie was practically SOA royalty. She might not want any help from the club and that's fine but the club will be attendance whether she wants them or not" Said Gemma.

"How many people we talking?" Asked Tinsley.

"Probably 500 or so members. That's not including family and friends." Said Gemma.

The amount of people was mind boggling. She knew the SONS had multiple charters but she didn't realize they would have than many people in attendance for the death of a member.

"That's a lot of people" said Tinsley.

"Yeah, but he deserved it. This is one last show of love and respect to him. Hey, how's Jax holding up?" said Gemma.

"Not good. I found him this morning sitting in the floor of the tub crying. I'm trying to be there for him Gemma but I don't know what to do to take his pain away" said Tinsley.

"Pain like this isn't just going to go away" said Gemma.

"I know, I just hate to see him so broken. I don't know what else to do" said Tinsley.

"Just be there for him. He loves you. He will probably try to push you away because of all this but don't let him." Said Gemma.

"He can try all he wants but I'm not going anywhere" said Tinsley.

"Good" said Gemma.

Remembering why she was inside the clubhouse to begin with, Tinsley explained how he had tore out of the lot like a bat out of hell. The two of them went in search of a member to find out what was going on. They found Juice coming out of the chapel holding his laptop.

"Hey where did Jax go? He seemed to be in a hurry" said Tinsley to Juice.

"Club business" was all Juice said.

"Well that doesn't tell me shit" said Tinsley.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you anymore than that" said Juice.

"Juice, I'm not a fucking idiot. I know Bobby hasn't been around because he's being held by the feds. I know that there was a witness to some kind of crime and that's why he's being held. So tell me where Jax went." Said Tinsley.

Juice looked torn. He looked like he wanted to tell her what was happening but at the same time he knew he would be telling her club business as that was against the rules.

"I can't" said Juice.

"Can't or won't?" Asked Tinsley.

"Both" said Juice as he walked away.

Dammit! Tinsley needed to know where Jax was. Taking her phone out of her pocket, she called him. Of course he didn't answer. She did t expect him to. She left him a voicemail when the greeting was done. Hey baby. Is everything ok? You left the garage in a hurry and everyone's holding out on me here. Call me.

Sliding her phone back into her back pocket, she took Abel back to the office. She knew the witness info was supposed to come out today and she could only assume that's where Jax had went... to find the witness. Her mind was only half way on her work the remaining forty-five minutes of her shift.

At 6:00, she still hadn't heard from Jax. She loaded Abel into his carrier and headed home. Gemma was staying behind to lock up. On the way home, Tinsley stopped at the grocery store and got the makings for Chicken Alfredo, salad, and French bread. She was craving Olive Garden and this was the closest she was going to get.

When she got home, she fed Abel who had began to get fussy on the ride home. The stop to the grocery store had threw off his eating schedule and he wasn't happy about it. This little boy already had a temper.

After Abel was finished eating, Tinsley washed and cleaned her chicken breasts and sliced them thin. Starting her pasta water, she let it get to a rolling boil before she put in the noodles. She grilled the chicken in the grill pan she found in the cabinet. She grated the Parmesan that she needed for the sauce and mixed it with the heavy cream and other ingredients. Letting to cool a little, she strained off her pasta and put it back in the pot. She dumped the cheese sauce in and mixed it well with tongs so she didn't break the noodles.

Once everything was done, she sat down at the table and waited for Jax. She still hadn't heard from him and she was beginning to worry. The way he was this morning scared her. She had never seen Jax so broken. The fact that he wouldn't answer her calls was scaring her.

Giving up on waiting for him, she ate her dinner. She cleaned up all the left overs, placing them in the refrigerator. Once the kitchen was cleaned up, she went into the living room to watch tv. Nothing  caught her interest. She was too worried about Jax.

Deciding she couldn't wait any longer, she called Gemma to see if she had heard from Jax. Tinsley didn't get the news she wanted. Gemma hadn't heard from him either. Clay wasn't telling anyone what was going on either. Tinsley decided it was time to go look for him. She knew she wouldn't get any sleep he wasn't here so she loaded Abel into his carrier, grabbing his da paper bag and formula, and headed out looking for Jax. She hoped he wasn't wrapped and a tree somewhere.

She searched all night for him and never found him anywhere. She was a nervous wreck when she pulled into the drive way. Riding around all night with an infant in a car seat and needing to be fed at certain intervals was hard work. She was exhausted and her nerves were shot.

She had hoped that Jax's bike would be in the driveway when she got home and that maybe that had just missed each other. That's wasnt the case. Carrying Abel inside, she took him to his room and laid him in his crib. She showered while he slept and got dressed for Opie's funeral.

Once she was dressed, she fed Abel and bathed him. Poor little guy hated bath time. She hoped he started to like it better because if he didn't, she didn't know what they would do. When she was done washing him, she dried him off and took him back to the nursery. Laying him on the changing table, she dried him off and put on his diaper. She dressed Abel in the SAMCRO shirt he had came home from the hospital in and his jeans. She found one of Jax's bandannas and tied it around his head like a sweat band. Sliding a pair of socks on him, she carried him down stairs and placed him back into his car seat.

It was almost time to leave. She still hadn't heard from Jax. Funerals always sucked and she knew this one would be no different. Grabbing a pop tart out of the cabinet and bottle of water from the refrigerator, she carried Abel to the car and headed to cemetery.

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When Jax left the shop, he sped his way though town trying to get to the witnesses house. The info had came out on who fingered Bobby. It was a 17 year old girl. Turns out, the port commissioner had a thing for underage girls. Good thing the asshole was dead because Jax wanted to kill him himself that. They had found out that the witness was being held in a safe house. Chibs, Happy, and Tig were already in route to take out the witness. They had found out the location of the house from Trammell with a little help from Oswald. Jax was just hoping he got there before they killed the poor girl.

When Jax finally made it to the safe house, he slipped around back and came in the back door. When he walked in, the girl sat in a chair with an FBI T-shirt wrapped around her head so she couldn't see. Her hands were duck taped to the chair and Tig was drawing down on her. The sound of him coming in the back door startled Tig and he swung the gun in his direction.

"Jesus brother, you scared the shit out of me"

"Put the gun down" said Jax.

"What? Why are you even here?" Asked Tig.

"She's a seventeen year old girl asshole. SONS don't kill women and children." Said Jax.

"He's messing this up" said Happy.

"Jackie boy, get out of here so we can take care of this shite" said Chibs.

"No, we don't kill women and I'm not leaving here. You two head back to Charming." said Jax, pointing at Happy and Chibs.

"Are you sure about his bother?" Asked Chibs.

"Yea, not get out of here" said Jax.

Happy and Chibs got on their bikes and left leaving Jax, Tig, and the witness in the room. Jax walked over to her and removed the makeshift hood and let her hands loose from the tape. He got right in her face. He knew he was scaring the girl but that's exactly what he needed to do at the moment. He need this girl good and scared.

"You see this guy? What you claim to see has a friend of his locked away. He's pissed as I'm sure you can tell. He will kill you. So, I'm gonna give you the chance to live but you never saw anything. Do you understand what I'm saying? You never saw anyone." Said Jax.

Taking a wad of money out of his pocket he handed it to her.

"Take this and get a place, a train, hell still a car if you have to, but you get the fuck out of California and never come back. Because if you do, I might not be there to keep him from killing you next time." Said Jax.

The girl just shook her head in understanding since she was crying so hard.

"GO!" Screamed Jax.

The girl took off running out the back door knocking over the chair she had been sitting in int hr process.

"Oh you really did it this time brother" said Tig.

"Oh I'm not finished yet" said  Jax.

The two of them began to fight. The two of them locked up and ended up on the table where the feds had been playing monopoly with the girl. Fake money and pieces went flying. The two continued to brawl. Each landed some good hits but it was Jax who got the best one. He knocked Tig out. Jax left Tig slumped against the wall and climbed on his bike to head back to Charming.

On the ride back, Jax began to think about all the things Hale had told him. A few things started to make since. If Clay had ordered hit, Tig would have been the one to take it out. He remembered the day that Opie and told them all about what Stahl was trying to do to him. When everyone had left the room, Tig and Clay has stayed behind. The two of them had always been thick as thieves.

Thinking back to the gun drop, when planning who was going to be where, Clay had been sure to put Tig with Opie and made sure Jax wasn't anywhere around. Was Tig supposed to have killed Opie at that drop Jax wondered to himself.

Then, last night, when Opie, Donna and the kids left, Tig had left just before them. Leaving before then would have given him the chance to steal a car. It was looking more and more like Clay was behind all of this. Now Jax just needed the proof. He just had to figure out how to find the truth.

Jax ride around for a while longer trying to wrap his head around what was beginning to look like a club hit. This type of stuff made charted crumble. If the rest of the club found out, no one would trust each other. And without trust, the club wasn't shit. He stopped at the 24-hour liquor store and got a fifth of vodka.

After leaving the liquor store, Jax headed to the cemetery to see his dad. When things got rough and he needed a listening ear, he always went to see his dad. He knew JT couldn't answer his questions but it felt good to be able to talk to someone without any judgement. Plus, he needed the quiet. He settled in and drank his alcohol and talked to his dad.

Jax woke the next morning to the sounds of birds chirping. He had passed out in the cemetery. His back muscles were tight from a combination of the position he had passed out in and his fight with Tig.

Standing up, nausea hit him and he ran to the tree not far from his dads resting site. He puked his guts out until he didn't have anything left to throw up.

Once he was straight, she could hear the sound of bikes coming. Dragging his phone out of his pocket, he noticed it was dead. He didn't know what time it was but he knew it had to be getting close to eleven. Getting himself together the best he could, he walked over to the little pond that was in the cemetery and scooped up some water to wash his face.

When he was as clean as he could get with pond water, she made his way towards the group of people that had gathered. He knew it was where Opie was being laid to rest. He could see all the people with kuttes on and all the bikes lining the sides of the path.

As he walked closer, she snapped up his kutte to try and cover the blood on the front of his white T-shirt. As he got closer, she saw Tinsley and Abel standing among the group of people. Walking to them, he hugged them tight and kissed her on the lips.

Tinsley took stock of his injuries. His lip was busted and his eye was black. He looked like he had been in a fight. She had noticed that Tig had some of the same injuries so she wondered if they were connected.

Breaking the hug, Jax walked over and grabbed a blue carnation from one of the flower arrangements. He walked over to Opie's casket and placed a hand on top of it. She couldn't hear what he had said but she knew it was something meant just for Opie.  Once he was done talking to Opie, he looked towards the group of people. Following his line of sight, she saw him glaring at Clay and Tig. Tinsley knew Jax had his suspicions about what happened to Opie and she wondered if Jax had found out anymore info on it. After he was done glaring in their direction, he just walked off back the way he had came.

After the funeral was over, Tinsley carried abel off in the direction that Jax had headed in search of him. She found him at his brothers tombstone.

"Are you ok? I was worried about you" said Tinsley as she walked up to him.

"Yeah" said Jax.

They stood there in front of Thomas's grave in silence until footsteps caused them both to turn around. It was Piney. He looked like he had been through hell and she imagined that he had. He had lost his only child in one of the most violent ways possible.

When Piney got to them, they both noticed he was carrying an envelope. He handed Jax the envelope and said "time for a change" and walked off.

"What's that?" Asked Tinsley.

"I don't know" said Jax.

He opened the envelope and read the front page.The Life & Death of SAMCRO: How the Sons of Anarchy lost their wayBy John Thomas Teller

"What is it? Isn't that your dads name?" Said Tinsley.

"Yea, it's dads name. I'm not sure what it is. It's looks like some kind of book or manuscript. Dad was a writer. He was always jotting down stuff in little notepads. He always had one with him." Said Jax.

Pulling her into his side and kissing her and his son, they stood there looking at Thomas's headstone wondering what the stack of papers was all about and why Piney would have had them. The sound of bikes leaving was the only sound that could be heard. Tinsley didn't know what the rest of the day or even the coming days would be like but she knew she was going to be by Jax's side for the entire rides.