The Scottish Thistle and The English Rose by HaylsValo

Chapter 16: Brutal Honesty

Tig had seen it coming when Chibs and Boo had come out with it and told him they were together, but he hadn't expected anything less of them if he was honest with himself. After all Boo had killed Jorge to save Chibs life just days after Chibs had saved her life - that would have made the both of them take a good long hard look at their lives and realise that it was time to get their priorities straight. They'd waited until all the shit with the Mayan's and Jorge had been sorted - Maracas had agreed not to retaliate over his son's death on the condition that his son's body was returned to him and that SAMCRO took out a Lodi sheriff that was trying to sniff out his heroin trade - before they'd approached Tig about it. Simply holding hands, yet keeping their distance from one another they'd sat down with Tig in the clubhouse and told him that they were in love, that they wanted to be together and that above all else, they wanted his blessings. The Sergeant at Arms had been impressed with that, impressed with the fact that they respected him enough to ask for his blessings, more over that they'd respected him enough to stay apart and not be all other one another. They could quite easily have been all other one another, kissing and cuddling in front of him but they hadn't and as a result Tig had felt a great respect for the both of them in return, had found himself quite willing to give them his blessings. Mostly because it would make Boo so happy and shit, he'd do anything for that girl if it made her happy, even if it meant letting her become the one thing he'd hoped she'd never be - an Ol' Lady. First however, he wanted to tell Boo a few home truths. He needed to be brutally honest with her about the sort of life she'd live and if she could handle that then she could have his blessings.

"Sit down Boo." Tig said, gesturing to the dining room table soon after he and Boo had walked in the front door. He'd wanted to talk to her alone and without Chibs lurking nearby so he'd taken her home to talk to her there. Boo nodded nervously, scooping up an excited Tillie in her arms before sitting down at the table, Tillie held firmly in her lap. She wanted to cry she really did, Tig's emotionless face was totally unreadable and she had no idea what he wanted to say to her, no idea how he felt about her and Chibs wanting to be together. She was terrified that Tig wouldn't give his blessings and that he'd try and keep her and Chibs apart because Boo knew in her heart that that would work. She didn't want to be with Chibs without Tig's blessings, if it made her guardian unhappy.

Tig sat opposite her, head down, eyes on the table for he knew if he looked across at Boo's tear streaked face he'd forget all about being brutally honest with her and just simply give her his blessings. She needed to hear what he had to say, he needed to know that she understood what she was letting herself in for.

"Tig please, I love Chibs and he loves me we ju-" Boo rambled as soon as Tig sat down, wanting to drive home how much she and Chibs loved one another, wanting Tig to understand that they were just two people very much in love. Maybe if he could understand that he would let them be together, then maybe he would give them his blessings...

"Just hear me out kid okay?" Tig snapped, cutting Boo off with a wave of his hand. He could not let her whine her way out of hearing this! Boo knew exactly what buttons to push with Tig to get her way and she would push those button's if she felt she had to. A prime example of that was sitting in her lap, licking at her fingers... Damn dog! Tig risked looking up at Boo long enough to see her nod sadly before he looked down again, inhaling deeply, fingers curled tight around his hair as he tried to push out the brief image of her tear streaked face, big watery eyes and tussled hair from his mind. Goddamnit he could never stand to see her so upset... "There last few days have been scary right? You've almost died, you've killed someone..." Tig said, his words hurried but stern, more authority in them than he had ever used with Boo before. He needed that, needed her to understand that he was being serious, that he wasn't just saying what he had to say just to say it; he was saying it because she needed to hear it, because she needed to know. "It'll be like that all the time now." He added, for it would be. As an Ol' Lady Boo'd be in the line of fire even more so that she was now. She was already Clay's daughter, his even more so and that brought with it a world of shit, but being an Ol' Lady was different, enemies who would normally think twice about using her against the club would suddenly see her as prime bait to use against the club. They would no longer see her as a child, but as a woman and that was dangerous.