Here She Comes

Damn Fool

AJ pulled her mustang into the parking lot at the local diner, turning to face Kenny and Ellie who were seated in the back.  "Let's eat" she said smiling gently at them.

 It had only been a couple weeks since Donna had passed and Opie had been drowning his sorrows, barely seeing the kids. His mom, Mary, looked after them most of the time and AJ had been helping out too. They were missing their dad though and in all their trying; they hadn't managed to get a real smile on their faces.

"I'm not hungry" Kenny mumbled, turning to look out the window. 

"Me either" Ellie sighed, fidgeting with her hands in her lap. 

"You sure? I was thinking we'd start with apple pie, then for the main course; pancakes and to finish it off for dessert; ice cream sundaes" 

They looked at each other before nodding lightly and turning to face AJ. 

"Alright, let's go then" she said grabbing her keys out of the ignition and jumping out of the car. She opened the back door letting Kenny and Ellie out, strolling over to the Diner.  AJ opened up the door and they walked inside. 

"Go grab a table and I'll order" she said to them and she watched as they ran to a booth in the corner. 

She ordered the food and sat with Kenny and Ellie while they ate, silently. 

"You miss your mom a lot huh?" 

They both nodded in response. 

"I lost my mom too, a couple years ago..." she said and they both raised their heads, looking at her. "It was pretty hard, loosing your mom, it makes you feel kinda empty right?" she said, smiling weakly.

"Yeah..." Ellie mumbled as Kenny nodded his head lightly.

"But you don't need to feel that way" she said and they both furrowed their brows. "Because she's still here, in our hearts and in our memories and I know she's looking down at you both now aching to see you happy again" 

"We miss Dad too" Kenny said, his voice filled with sadness, a frown on his face.

"I know you do baby" she said reaching up and ruffling his hair. "He loves you both so much, he's just been real busy..." she said, forcing a smile. She hated lying to them but they didn't need to hear that their dad was too drunk most nights to make it home and too scared to see them.

They nodded lightly, placing their spoons down as they finished their ice cream. 

"Right, we best get going, can't have you guys being late for school" she said, standing up and they jumped up following her to the car. She drove them to school, dropping them off at the gates she watched as they walked in to the building before leaving and driving to TM.

Pulling in to the lot she noticed Opie's bike parked up along with rest of the clubs. She jumped out of the car, slamming her door shut. Walking in to the clubhouse she saw the guys filtering out of the chapel. 

"Opie!" She yelled, the room quietened as everyone's attention drew to them. 

"Hey AJ... how are the kids?" he mumbled.

"How do you think Ope? They just lost their mom and they've barely seen their dad since, they need you" she snapped. She couldn't tread lightly anymore, it wasn't going to help the kids or Opie. 

"I know, I just..." he mumbled before AJ interrupted him.

"Just nothing Ope, you're all they've got. Sort your shit out" yelled before throwing her hands up and walking out of the clubhouse. Tig and Chibs both following her whilst the rest of the room buzzed with whispers.

"Tiggy... maybe I should take this one?" Chibs said turning to him. Tig nodded, turning and taking a seat at the bar. 

AJ's phone began ringing again and she looked down at the screen to notice it was him again. For the 16th time that day, how many times he'd called her in the past week however she'd lost count of. 

"And who is Johnathon, AJ?" she heard Chibs' Scottish accent thick in her ear, she turned almost bumping into him. She scrunched her nose up at the sound of her nickname on his lips, something she hadn't heard since the first time he called her by her first name.

"Nobody" she muttered "stay out of my business" she scoffed, turning to walk toward her car before being stopped by Chibs' hand grasping her wrist.

"16 missed calls? awful lot don't yer think?" he said, glancing down at her phone in her hand. A pang in his chest as he felt a lump forming in his throat. "YOO ARE MY OLD LADY" he roared. "Tha' means, your business is my business too"

"But I'm not am I" she muttered looking down at the floor.

"What tha hell are yoo talking about?" he yelled drawing the club outside. Glancing across to see everyone stood there, he took a step back letting go of her wrist. 

"I don't have your crow, you havn't asked me to be your old lady" she muttered and he sighed.

"So what AJ, that means you can go sneaking round with this Johnathon" Chibs said sarcastically. "And I thought you didn't want my crow" he snapped.

"Ofcourse I want your crow, you damn fool" she said stepping closer to him and tracing the scars on his cheeks with her fingers, she kissed him gently. He pulled back quickly, his brow furrowing at her.

"Who is he AJ?" he snapped, as he began to pace.

"It's not what you think..." she said before her voice broke and tears flooded down her face. "It's really not" she uttered.

Tig started to walk over before he was pulled back by Clay. "Let them work it out Tig, she'll be fine"

"Can we talk, in private?" she sighed, looking up as her eyes met his.

"Aye" he nodded before taking her hand and leading her into his dorm inside the clubhouse. She slowly walked over to his bed, sitting on the edge with her hands grasping the blankets.

"I'm gonna tell you a story Filip, it's a true story, it happened the summer after I graduated Junior High" she explained. She looked up to see Chibs watching her with a furrowed brow.

"At writing camp?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" AJ yelled. "I never went to writing camp,  my mom made me go with her and her new boyfriend to his lake house" she explained, fidgeting in her hands as she stared blankly at him "how did you know about writing camp Chibs?" she said causing him to snarl at her. As much as she hated him using her nickname; it didn't compare to how much she knew he hated her using his.

"You must have mentioned it" he said, his voice deep.

"I didn't mention shit" she said and she looked up to see him sighing, rubbing his jaw.

 "Alrigh' but you can't say anythin'" he explained as he looked to see her glaring at him "Tig paid for you to go to writing camp, he bribed your teacher so that you would think it was funded and wouldn't find out" he sighed, pulling up a chair about a meter away from the bed and sitting down. 

"Jesus Christ" she cursed "I've gotta go talk to him" she sighed, walking towards the door. Chibs stood, moving in front of the door, blocking her way. 

"No darlin', not until we talk" he said, resting his hand on her cheek.

"Well you better get comfy, it's a long story"