Chapter Text
Annie Teller pulls up to the Teller-Morrow garage, her eyes landing on her older brother wiping down a sleek black Mercedes with a cloth.
Smiling to herself, she parks her car in front of the garage and gets out, walking up to him.
“Hey punk,” she greets.
His head shoots up at the sound of her voice, blue eyes widening before a grin spreads across his face, “Hey squirt!” He greets, standing up to pull her into a tight hug.
She hugs back and breathes in the scent of motor oil, cigarette smoke and leather. The scent that is distinctly Jax.
She’s home.
“You didn’t tell us you were coming to visit,” Jax says, releasing her.
“Visit? Hell, I’m moving back. I just...I needed to come back home,” she says with a sigh.
Jax smiles and throws his arm around her shoulders, kissing the side of her head, ”Well I’m glad you’re back, darlin’. Come on, mom and Clay are in the office.”
He leads her to the office and pushes the door open, “We have a visitor,” he announces, waving her through.
She steps into the office and Gemma’s eyes widen, “Hi mommy.”
Without a word, Gemma stands up and hugs her daughter tight.
It takes every ounce of strength Annie has to not start crying. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed her family. There were a lot of times while she was away that everything seemed to be caving in on her and all she wanted was to curl up in her mom’s lap like she did when she was little. It was always the place she felt the safest. The most loved.
“Are you back home, baby?” Gemma whispers into her hair.
Annie nods and sniffles, “If you’ll have me.”
Gemma pulls away, taking her daughter’s face in her hands, “Always. We kept your room the way you left it.”
Annie smiles, “Good,” she says, turning to her stepfather, “Hi Clay.”
Clay smiles at her and holds his arms out, “Good to have you home,” he says, wrapping her in a hug.
They pull apart when someone steps in.
Annie turns and is face to face with Tig Trager. The man who broke her heart before she left.
“Annie,” he breathes out, “when did you get back?”
“Just now. Um, how’ve you been?” She asks, tucking her hair behind her ear.
Gemma looks over to her, eyebrow raised. She’s the only one who knew about their secret relationship and the real reason she left.
“I’ve been good, doll. And yourself?”
“Good. I’m moving back,” she says, looking down at her feet to avoid her mother’s gaze.
Tig swallows hard before clearing his throat, “Well uh, good to have you back. Um, Clay, someone’s here for a pick up. That ‘02 Camry. I need her keys and paperwork,” he says, now addressing Clay to avoid looking at Annie.
“Right,” Clay says going over to the desk looking through various files before finding the one he needed while Jax searched the peg board for the key, each handing what was needed to Tig. “Gem, why don’t you knock off early. Go get the kid settled in.”
“Just what I was thinking,” Gemma says, turning to grab her purse off the back of her chair before kissing her husband, “I’ll see you at home, baby,” then turning to say goodbye to her son, kissing his cheek before stepping aside so Annie could say goodbye to her stepfather and brother, “Let’s get you home, sweetheart.”
Gemma puts an arm around her daughter’s waist and leads her back outside, “That old beater yours?”
Annie nods, “My ex crashed my other car. Asshole was drunk and snuck it out while I was asleep,” she looks at her mother, who has her eyebrow raised, “Long story.”
“Well let’s get a head start then. Hey Half-Sack, mind giving us a hand,” she calls to the boyish looking man in a kutte that says ‘prospect’.
“Hey Gemma. What do you need?” He asks, reminding Annie of a puppy eager to please its master.
“We need to get my kid’s stuff out of that old beater and into my car and then you guys can junk the rust bucket,” Gemma explains.
“Your kid?” He asks, glancing at Annie.
“My daughter, Annie. She’s been in San Francisco but she’s moving back,” She says, smiling at Annie.
Half-Sack smiles at Annie and holds out his hand, “Nice to meet you, I’m Half-Sack. Kip but Half-Sack.”
Annie shakes his hand with an eyebrow raised, “Do I even wanna know?”
Before he can even answer, Gemma cuts in, “Keep your damn pants on, kid. Let’s just get the girl’s shit so we can get out of here. It’s hot as hell.”
That’s when Annie notices his hands quickly moving away from his belt buckle, “Of course, right away.”
After getting the few boxes and bags that Annie has in her car loaded into Gemma’s, Annie hands the keys to Half-Sack, thanks him and they leave.
Once in the car, the questions start.
“So who’s this ex that crashed your car? Your new car that Clay and I had just bought you,” Gemma says, pulling her cigarettes and lighter out of her purse.
“Steven. I met him not long after I got to San Francisco. He was nice at first but then turned out to be a drunken, abusive asshole. The car was the least of it, really.”
“He hit you?” Gemma asks with a slight edge to her voice.
Annie sighs and nods, “I let it go on longer than I should have. Shoulda put a bullet between his eyes the first time but I thought he meant it when he said he was sorry. Shoulda known it was bullshit.”
“Don’t tell the boys that. Every available charter would be heading to San Francisco to find the fucker with Clay, Jax, Ope and Tig leading the herd.”
Annie scoffs, “I doubt Tig would be involved even if that did happen.”
Gemma casts a sideways glance at her daughter, “You’re kidding, right? The man was crushed when you split and felt like the biggest pile of shit on the planet.”
“Yeah, kinda like I did when I went to his dorm to surprise him on his birthday with a cake, his favorite scotch and some sexy lingerie and found him in bed with a croweater. That was lovely.” Annie says, swallowing hard to keep the tears at bay.
Gemma sighs and reaches over, patting her daughter’s leg, “I know, baby.”
The rest of the ride was silent as they made their way to the house.
Once there, after a couple trips, they got Annie’s belongings inside and back to her old room.
“It’s been a long trip. I think I’m gonna take a nap before I try getting all this shit put away,” Annie says around a yawn, stretching her arms up over her head.
“Ok, want me to wake you for dinner?” Gemma asks, placing a duffel bag on the chair by Annie’s window.
“Wait, it’s Sunday so everyone will be coming over. I’ll stay up and help you get everything together,” Annie says, briefly standing up before Gemma gently pushes her back down on her bed.
“I’ve got plenty of help. Luann, Emma and Donna are coming over to help so you just rest.”
“Donna’s gonna be here? I thought she didn’t want anything to do with the club since Ope got out?”
“She’s come around. I think she realized that we’re all a family and we stick together.”
Annie smiles up at her mother. She was happy Donna would be around. She was one of the people that Annie had missed immensely while she was away, “That’s good. Who’s Emma? I don’t think I know her.”
“Chibs’ old lady. She’s about your age, owns a bakery next door to Floyd’s. Real sweet girl, she’s crazy about Chibs. They’re a good match. She’s really good for him.”
“What about his ex?” Annie asks.
“Once she was free of that prick Jimmy, she was able to officially file for a divorce. They’re still on good terms though and her and Kerrianne both love Emma, which is surprising. I didn’t think that bitch could like anyone.”
“Well that’s good. Glad things worked out for them,” Annie says around another yawn.
Gemma smiles fondly and walks over to her daughter, kissing her forehead, “Get some sleep.”
“Love you, momma,” Annie says with a smile, laying down.
“Love you too, baby girl. Welcome home,” Gemma says quietly before walking out of the room, shutting the door with a soft click.
—————
A few hours later, Annie wakes to the sound of voices coming from the kitchen. Getting up, she walks over to the mirror on her dresser before pulling a brush out of her bag and bringing it through her hair in an attempt to tame the bird nest on her head.
Once satisfied that she looks somewhat presentable, she exits her room and makes her way to the kitchen where she sees her mother, Luann, Donna and a petite redhead preparing food and carrying on a lively conversation.
Donna is the first to look in her direction and breaks out into a wide grin, making her way over to hug Annie, “Hey you!”
Annie smiles and hugs her friend, “Good to see you. I missed you.”
“I missed you too. Your mom said you’re moving back.”
Annie nods, “Yeah, it’s been a shitty year so I needed to be back with my family. Where are the kids?” She asks, looking around for her godchildren.
“They’re coming later with Opie,” she says, going back over to the kitchen island, making room for Luann to greet Annie.
“Hi baby girl,” Luann greets her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Hey Lu, good to see you,” Annie smiles and kisses her cheek before turning to the woman in the kitchen that she didn’t know, “Hi, I’m Annie.”
The woman smiles nervously, “I’m Emma.”
“Chibs’ old lady, right?” Annie asks.
Emma nods, smiling at just the mention of her old man, “Yeah, for about 3 months.”
“Well it’s nice to meet you. Mom had a lot of nice things to say about you and she doesn’t like anyone,” Annie grins at Gemma.
Gemma simply flips her off.
Emma laughs, “Well I guess that’s good then. You know, you’d think that meeting a bunch of bikers would be intimidating but nope, it was this one,” she says pointing at Gemma, “Of course, Jax didn’t help it. He said she might eat me alive.”
“What’s with my kids making me out to be some screeching harpy she-beast?” Gemma complains, tossing a metal spoon onto the counter with a sigh.
“But you’re our screeching harpy she-beast, mom. Shouldn’t that count for something?” Annie asks, putting an arm around Gemma’s shoulders.
“I want new children,” Gemma grumps.
“Shame you’re stuck with me and Jax,” Annie says with a shrug.
Gemma sighs, “Well I am kinda partial to you guys so maybe I should just keep what I have.”
“That’s the spirit, momma,” Annie says with a grin.
———
A while later, everyone has arrived and sitting down to dinner. Annie finishes helping bring everything out and of course the only free seat is between her mom and Tig. Just perfect.
With a sigh, she sits down and begins putting food on her plate before passing the dishes around.
She eats quietly, just listening to the conversation buzzing around her when she keeps feeling something on her leg, She subtly looks down and it’s Tig’s hand.
She looks up at him and yanks her knee away with a glare.
Tig smiles sadly and turns to continue his conversation with Bobby.
“I need air,” Annie says suddenly, getting up and making her way outside.
Gemma goes to get up to follow her when Tig stands up. To hell with being subtle and secretive. He needs to talk to her.
He goes outside to see her sitting on the front steps, breathing heavily and her shoulders shaking. It’s easy to see that she’s crying.
He made her cry. Again.
He silently makes his way over to her, sitting down next to her, “I’m sorry, baby,” he says quietly, putting his arm around her.
She pushes his arm off, “I’m not your baby, Tig. Not anymore,” she says bitterly.
“I know. And I know it’s my fault just like it’s my fault you left. But if it helps, I feel like such an asshole. I loved you. Still do and I fucked it up.”
“If you wanted to fuck around then fine but you should’ve told me so I could’ve at least decided whether I wanted to stay and put up with that shit. Or did I not matter at all?” Annie looks at him with tears rolling down her cheeks and his heart breaks.
Tig reaches up and brushes them away, “You do matter, baby. More than anything. I was such a fucking idiot but I swear it was just that one time.”
Annie swallows hard, “I told you when we first got together that I was an all or nothing kind of girl. Well, you chose nothing,” she says standing up and going inside, leaving Tig all alone.
Alone. Like he knows he deserves.