Trouble – Chapter 1 – Home

Author's note: This takes place somewhere around the beginning of season 3, with some minor/major changes. For instance, I love Half-Sack and he will be very much alive in this fic!
PS: This is my first Sons of Anarchy-fic, so if you like it and want a continuation of it, please let me know ;)
Thank you so much for reading!

---

Chapter 1 – Home

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop worrying about me, Gemma? I'll be fine." I said, the phone pressed between my ear and my shoulder as I stuffed another pair of jeans into my bag. God, I owned too many jeans!
"You can tell me all you want, sweetheart, but that won't make me stop worrying." The older woman said, causing me to shake my head with a smile, the phone slipped from my shoulder as I did but luckily Julie, my roommate caught it right before it hit the floor and handed it back to me with a smile.
"Yeah, I'm still here, Gemma." I sent a quiet "Thank you." to Jules who just giggled at my worried self-appointed god-mother. I now held the phone with my hand, so now I was free to shake my head when Gemma asked me if I had enough money for the flight from LA.
Sure, I may have just finished my bachelor's degree in music at UCLA but I still had enough savings to get myself to Charming, the place that I had longed to get back to since I moved when I was 18.
"Look, Gemma." I placed the phone against my shoulder again as I stuffed the sixth pair of jeans into the bag, I seriously needed to get myself something other than jeans to wear.
"I'll be there soon, I'll call you before I board the plane, alright?" I heard a mutter in response and chuckled. "I promise if anything comes up, I'll call you right away, okay?" Another mutter, followed by a small sigh. She was such an amazing woman, how someone in her position of power could still act so childish sometimes, I could not wrap my head around it.

I really admired Gemma, from the moment my brother had first introduced her to me I knew she was someone you didn't want as your enemy. But contrary to popular belief, she was one of the gentlest people I had ever met. She could be tough sometimes, a bitch even, but once you've grown up around a person like that, you learn to see past what's on the surface and look deeper. Making you quite the good judge of character.

"By the way, does Tig know you're coming home?" Gemma asked, and I smiled widely at the mention of my big brother.
"Did you tell him?" I asked, the smile still on my lip as Julie helped me pack down the last pair of jeans from my closet.
"No." Gemma replied, almost sounding offended.
"Then he doesn't know." I smiled when I heard Gemma groan at my answer. "What, I want to surprise him."
"Sweetie, call him. You don't have to tell him when but just let him know that you're planning on heading up."
"Okay. But I gotta go now, Gemma." I rolled my eyes with a smile, making Jules laugh quietly.
"Just take care of yourself, sweetheart, alright?"
"I promise, Gem. Love you."
"Love you too, baby-girl."

"Something wrong?" Jules asked when I sat down on the bed, next to my half-full bag.
"Nope, just Gemma being a worry-wart is all." I smiled at her and pulled her onto the bed with me.
"I can't believe we're not gonna be roommates anymore." I whined but Jules just chuckled.
"Yeah, four years have gone by so fast. We make a great team, you and I. Remember the parties?"
I nodded with a smirk and propped myself up on my elbows.
"Remember the boys?"
"Yes! I never would have imagined, with that over-protective brother of yours, that you, Lily Trager, could be such a promiscuous girl." Jules said with a raised eyebrow and a teasing smirk that made me smack her arm playfully.
"Well, I don't really know how that happened. Must run in the family or something." I laughed and hugged her hard. I was really going to miss living with her.
The hours flew by as we laughed at the silly things we had done together during the past four years and kept packing my life into the suitcases, until all that was left was my jacket on the hanger by the door and my beloved acoustic guitar laying in a plain black case, on my bed next to my two suitcases and the one duffel bag that was my carry-on for the flight.

"Guess this is it then." Julie smiled a sad smile when we had packed all my bags into the cab. "No more Tinkerbell and Bambi-parties..." A tear fell down her face and I felt the lump in my throat grow bigger. Jules never cried, she was always the positive one, always came with up with some witty comment to brighten the mood, so seeing her cry like this just broke my heart.
"Come on, Jules. Just because we're not living together doesn't mean that you stop being my Bambi, now does it?" I lifted her chin up with a smile, at this moment I didn't want to leave but I knew deep down that I wanted to go home, so I tried to make the best out of the situation.
"You promise, Tink?" She sobbed and I pulled her into a tight hug with a low chuckle.
"Of course I do." I stroked her hair softly. " And I'll always be your little Tinkerbell, whether you like it or not." I kissed her temple causing her to giggle a little.
"Besides, you're coming down for my birthday, right?" She nodded as she wiped the tears away. "Then I'll see you then."

Jules just looked at me, the tears spilling over again as she threw herself around my neck, burying her crying face in my long black hair, as I tried to keep my tears to myself. This was one of those moments when I had to be strong, if not for myself then for Jules.
"Don't cry, sweetie." I whispered into her hair. "We'll meet again before you know it." I felt her nod and hugged her closer, trying to print this moment into my memory.
"Are you ready?" The cab-driver asked with an apologetic smile. I had totally forgotten about him, and it seems like Jules had too because she jerked away from me with a smile on her face, and even though the tears were still falling from her eyes it seemed genuine.
"Go knock 'em dead, Tink!" I laughed at her positive spirit and nodded before I got in the cab, waving out the window.
As the cab started moving and Jules quickly disappeared into the distance, I finally let a tear fall from my eyes. I was the more sensitive of the two of us, even though I rarely cried but if there was ever a good time to turn on the waterworks it was now.
I knew the cab-driver was looking at me through the review-mirror but said nothing, just let me sit there with the tears silently running down my face.

The minute I got off the plane the next morning I called my brother, like I had promised Gemma I would. I told him I was heading home and that I planned on staying a while, which he of course was thrilled to hear. We made small talk while I waited for my bags to show up and once I saw my guitar-case we said bye and hung up.
I was about to grab the case when I saw a man reach out his hand and grab it off of the conveyor belt, I was about to run up to him to tell him that that was my guitar but when I saw him walking towards me I stopped.
He definitely placed somewhere in the top-three on my list of good-looking guys, and yes I have a list. He was probably around the same height as Tig, his skin tanned and from what I could tell his arms were covered in tattoos but I wasn't too sure since most of his upperbody was covered by a white T-shirt and on top of it... A Sons of Anarchy-cut!
I felt myself letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding. He did look kind of scary but it actually suited him.

"You Lily?" God, his husky voice was so sexy I could have dropped dead right then and there and not even having minded but I kept myself composed enough to look into his dark eyes and nod.
"I take it you know my brother?" I noticed one of my suitcases on the conveyor belt and was about to grab it when the man once again picked it up before me.
"Yeah. Gemma told me to pick you up, said she trusted me to bring you home safe." He placed the bag down at his feet as he looked over at the belt to see if my other one had come out... How he was supposed to know which one was mine, I had no idea but it seemed to have worked so far.
"Well, Gemma has always been a little... over-protective of me." I laughed as I chose my words carefully and adjusted the duffel bag hanging from my shoulder.
"'A little'?" He seemed to think for a second and then turned those dark, delicious eyes to me. "What would that make Tig then?"
"A monster." I said quickly. He seemed to get the joke, and chuckled. God, that voice made me think of hot, messy sex! This could only end the Trager-way, meaning in a very bad way seeing as me sleeping around within the club wasn't really something my brother was going to appreciate.
"This your bag?" He asked me and I blushed as I realized he caught me staring at him.
"Yeah." He chuckled at something, most likely my blushing face but I didn't care to investigate the cause of it any further.

Ten minutes later we were outside, heading towards a young man, leaning against a black van. He couldn't have been much older than me, he was by no means skinny but he wasn't anywhere near as muscular as the man at my side. He had strawberry blonde hair and the same Sons of Anarchy-cut as Tig and the companion currently on my right, so I quickly assumed that he could be trusted.
"You Tig's little sister?" He asked as he pushed himself off the car, jogging the short bit over to us to grab my bags.
"The last time I checked." I smiled and reached out a hand to him. "Name's Lily." He took it with a smile. He looked really sweet when he smiled.
"Half-Sack."
I frowned at the name but decided on not asking. If there was one thing I learned from my years being around the club was that some guys were very... sensitive about their nicknames, so I just gave Sack my duffel bag with a smile before my eyes fell onto the beauty parked in front of the van.
"Wow!" I walked up to the black Harley, running my fingers over the anarchy-symbol on the tank, feeling the butterflies flutter in my stomach as I remembered the feeling of being on a bike.

"You like it?" The tattooed Son whispered in my ear. I hadn't even known he was behind me so I jumped a little when I heard the hoarse voice but turned around nonetheless.
"Absolutely!" I answered with a wide smile. "It's a gorgeous bike." My chirpy response seemed to amuse him because he turned to Half-Sack, whispering something to him before turning back to me.
"You wanna ride back with me?" I was going to ride bitch with this sexy bad-ass biker? Just the thought of it was enough for my body temperature to go up and a shiver ran up my spine as I gazed into those dark eyes once again, trying to tell myself about the kind of shit I'd bring the club by doing this...
"You sure I can? I mean, I could just ride back in the car with Sack..."
"What are you: an idiot? SAY YES, YOU IMBICILE!" The sex-fixated part of my brain was screaming at me as he continued looking at me with those chocolate orbs.
"You could but from that grin on your face, I'd say you can't wait to get on the bike."

Oh, God! I must have been grinning like an idiot, and I felt my face turn into the shade of dark-red, causing him to chuckle.
"Are you really as innocent as you seem?" Now, that question caught me off guard. I recognized that tone of voice, I had heard it many times before and the effects of it didn't escape my young promiscuous body.
"I'm a Trager, what do you think?" I replied with the hint of a teasing smile on my lips.
"What the hell are you doing? Don't flirt with him, Alex would kill you if you went through with this!" The rational part of my brain was arguing and I felt like my head was about to split open.
The biker chuckled at my teasing reply, and oh God, that chuckle made my heart beat so hard my chest hurt.
He got on the bike and handed me a helmet.
"Hop on." He simply said and without listening to my mind screaming at me, I did as I was told, wrapping my arms around his waist as he started the bike up. I hadn't been on a bike in two years, and I had to admit I felt a little nervous when we first took off but as soon as we left the parking-lot behind us that nervousness was gone.
The feeling of the wind in my face made me smile widely, the feeling of my companion's chiseled mid-section against my arms left my body feeling sinfully hot and the familiar scent of leather and smoke coming from his cut made me feel secure. I was home.

I was finally home!