Spark in the Dark

Chapter 118

"I'm proud of the bastard," Happy said once Jax explained to the guys what was going on.

"I can't believe the little Rican had it in him," Bobby added.

"That's what I said," Jax told him.

"Hey," Chibs said quietly and motioned towards Shawn. They all turned to look at her.

She was sitting on the couch still, not listening to them as she stared at the door, waiting for Juice and Tig. She was biting the skin around her thumb and looked worried.

"Shit," Jax said quietly. He nodded to Opie and they both went back over to the couch and sat on either side of her. "It's going to be okay."

"Sorry for being dicks about it," Opie added.

Shawn shrugged. "It's fine."

She kept her eyes on the door, wondering what Tig and Juice were talking about out there.

Juice closed the lid of the first aid kit Chibs had given them, satisfied that both his and Tig's cuts were clean enough. Tig had put a butterfly closure on one cut under Juice's eye for him. Juice suggested Tig have Tara looked at his split lip, but Tig brushed it off.

Juice sat on the picnic table next to Tig when he didn't make a move to go inside. He knew him and Tig needed to talk, but wasn't sure if Tig would actually want to. Juice waited to see if Tig would start, but the silence was making him uncomfortable so he decided to say something.

"Did Shawn tell you everything after I left this morning?"

"She told me enough. I don't need at the details."

"Okay," Juice nodded. "I should have told you from the beginning."

"Why didn't you?"

"We knew you wouldn't like it so we wanted to wait to see if it was real first. When things started getting serious, we planned on telling you, but Abel was born sick and we didn't want to distract Jax from that. So we were going to tell you the morning after Abel went home from the hospital, but Donna died. After that, she was scared that something might happen to her if she were an old lady," Juice hesitated when he saw Tig flinch. "And it sort of messed her up to see Kenny and Ellie without their mom."

"Because of her mom?"

"Right. When we got arrested and I was stabbed in jail, I didn't want to tell you if we had to do time. At that point I knew it had been way too long and you'd be pissed. I was worried you guys would leave me unprotected."

Tig turned to look at Juice. "I would have never done that."

"I know that now-"

"No, listen. Even with all this shit, you are still apart of this club. I was pissed at Kozik for years, man, but I would have never let anyone do anything to him because he's my brother. Same as you."

"I know," Juice nodded. "I know I should have done this years ago, but... Is it okay for me to be with Shawn?"

Tig took a deep breath and sighed as he nodded. "Yeah."

"Wait, really?"

"What? You want me to say no?"

"No! I just didn't think you'd agree so easily."

"Let me ask you something... She ever cry in front of you?"

"Yeah."

"When was the first time?"

"When Donna died. She tried not to, tried to send me away, but I didn't want to leave her alone after that."

"There are only three other people I have heard of her crying in front of. Jax, Opie, and Gemma. She won't cry in front of me. I haven't seen her cry since she was a baby."

"I didn't know why she didn't want to cry in front of me at first."

"I do," Tig admitted. "When she was a baby, before her mom died, her mom put her to bed every night. She had this whole routine she did with Shawn and I never bothered to learn it. After she died, I couldn't get that kid to sleep. I tried but nothing worked so I started to just set her in the crib and closed the door. She would cry for hours sometimes. She wanted her mom, ya know? Then, when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, she stopped. I haven't seen her cry since. Not until today when she thought she was going to lose you because of me.

"Then I hooked up with Colleen. She treated Shawn well at first but it started to change when Fawn was born. She treated Fawn better than Shawn. It only got worse after Dawn came along. I went inside for awhile and when I got out Shawn begged me to let her live with Gemma. Turns out, Colleen was going out of her way to make Shawn feel like shit about herself. So, I packed up Shawn's shit and then my shit and we left. But it was too late. Colleen did her damage and Shawn became anorexic. I didn't even notice. Gemma had to tell me.

"I wasn't a good dad to her, Juice. So, if you really make her as happy as she said you do then the least I can do is stay out of your way."

Juice stared at Tig for a moment. He felt heartbroken for Shawn and, surprisingly, Tig. He had known she had it rough growing up, but he never really understood what her childhood was like. Tig stood.

"We should get in there. We got a lot of shit to do today," Tig told him.

Juice stood and followed Tig over to the clubhouse door, but stopped him before he went inside. "Tig. For what it's worth, you seem like a good dad to me. I don't even know where the hell mine is."

"Thanks, man," Tig said and patted Juice's shoulder. "We just bonded, didn't we?"

"And you didn't have to dunk your balls in my mouth," Juice said sarcastically.

They went inside. Shawn stood from the couch and watched them walk in. Juice looked at Tig.

"Go before I change my mind," Tig told him.

Tig walked over to the bar and Juice approached Shawn. After everything Tig had told him, he felt like he was more in love with her than ever. He smiled at her and took her hand to pull her to him. She smiled back at him briefly before his lips covered her's.

Clay began to clap and whistled. Jax and Opie joined in, but Jax turned to Opie as he clapped.

"That is so fucking weird," Jax muttered to Opie. Opie nodded in agreement.

Juice and Shawn laughed and pulled away from each other.

"Assholes," Shawn said and rolled her eyes. "I got to go. I'm really late for work."

"Okay, I'll walk you out," Juice told her.

"Actually," Tig interrupted, "I'd like to do that."

"Yeah, of course," Juice said and turned to Shawn. "I'll see you later?"

Shawn nodded and walked out of the clubhouse with Tig. When they reached her car, she turned to him and hugged him.

"Love you, Shawnie."

"Love you, too, Dad."

Tig opened the car door for her and closed it once she was in. She drove away and Tig felt a arm go around him. He turned and saw Gemma. "You knew, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Gemma admitted as they watched Shawn's car turn out of the parking lot.

"It was really obvious, wasn't it?" Tig asked and looked back at Gemma.

"Yeah," she said, again. Tig sighed. Gemma kissed his cheek. "I'm proud of you, Tiggy."