A/N: I made some changes to Chapter 10 in the last few days, and because it's been a while since I used the up loading program on this site, I accidentally deleted chapter 11. I fixed everything. So my apologies for the confusion.

Later in the day after Gemma and Bran's hospital chat

Juice slid the folder across the table toward Clay at the head of the table, with one hand while flicking the ash from his cigarette into the circular ash tray between him and Bobby. The folder contained everything he could find on their little party crasher from last night and his friends. Juice had pulled their face's from the video surveillance around the yard of the garage and club house and ran them through some software a nerd buddy of his made.

Unfortunately, he practically came up with nothing on Ethan Zobelle, and only a fraction more on most of the men that accompanied him onto their territory. Zobelle was clean, squeaky fucking clean and no matter how much Juice dug, he found nothing.

"Who is he?" Clay asked flipping open the folder and briefly looked over the first page before growling and pushing it into the middle of the table. The large Cuban clamped between his teeth as he stared down the table.

"Middle age, flush white man." Juice clenched his teeth, as he spoke out. He was embarrassed at the lack of information he could produce. " Business man, with various interest in cities around southern California, and it seems like Charming. He bought relastate on main street, and a house on Pulmac st. He paid cash for both. Deacon at his church, owns five cigar shops, widower and has one child. He's pretty much a fucking saint."

"Great." Opie scowled, as he shifted in his seat.

"While information on Zobelle was pretty dry, the communities that he opened business in the last four years all have seen a decrease in black and Latino activity and an increase in white hate. For example, in San Bernardino, the last place the League of American Nationalist put down roots, War Boys MC crumbled within six months. "

Chibbs cursed something colourful from across the table from Juice, while Clay lit the cigar and pulled hard before replying with a stream of smoke coming out of his mouth. "War Boys run guns."

"They did." Jax nodded, as he pulled the folder towards him and scanned the papers. He ran his fingers through his mop of blond hair before reaching for the smoke sitting in the ash tray between him and Clay. He put it to his lips as he spoke. " That was before they all went down for aggravated assault on Zobelle's cigar shop."

"So Zobelle rolls into a town, impresses his white hate agenda and what? White hate prevails?" asked Bobby as he lit a smoke from the pack on the table sitting between him a Juice.

Tig rubbed the scruff on his face with his hand and took a drink of his beer before speaking. " We should stamp out Darby for good. You know, he's got his fingers somewhere in this."

"It's too smart for Darby." Jax said, shaking his head. He caught the other man's glare from across the table. Things were tense between the vice president and the sargent in arms. The rippling was felt around the club, they had been chafing at each other ever since Opie left for his walk about. " If Darby had the brains to start some kind of coup he would have done this years ago. No, Darby isn't a key player, he is just what he has always been. A chump."

"Zobelle walked in here the other night, with no fear. With a fucking smile on his cocky face, no less." Tig bit out as he clenched his fist on the top the table.

"He wanted to incite you." replied Jax, trying to show the pattern of Zobelle's agenda to his brothers, most who were inclined to use brawn over brains. They couldn't be like the War Boys, they needed to be smarter.

"Fucking dickhead, prepping for the great race war." muttered Bobby as he reached for the folder and started to educate himself on their newest threat. " This is the method that he has clearly used before, and has gotten results."

"So what?" Chibbs asked, looking around the table at his brothers. While he understood the threat Zobelle presented to the club, he clearly was seeing it differently then the rest of them. " We own the law in Charming. What's he going to do to us?"

"We own Unser, not Hale." Opie pointed out shifting the large gold rings on his large hands. The gesture was something new, he had only noticed he started doing it when Jax pointed it out the other day before the started looking for Donna's killer. He stopped his fingers from playing with the rings before placing his hands on his lap." Unser is out in six months, if he doesn't die first. Maybe Hale's cut a deal with Zobelle."

"If Hale could be bought, we would have had him years ago." Jax shook his head as he rubbed the scruff on his face before flicking ash into the ash tray and taking a pull on the smoke.

Clay frowned, looking down the table. " Maybe we never offered him the right pay off. Hale and his family have been trying to push this club out of Charming for years. Goes all the way back to his daddy. Let's stick to the devil we know."

"Darby's cook shops are all shuttered up." Opie nodded in Clay's direction. He had done a little drive by earlier before coming to the club house this morning. " He could have gone mobile."

"Guess someone is going to need to find those meth labs, and fucking fast. " Clay grounded the cigar out in the ash tray and looked pointedly at Opie, then at Chibbs. " You too, get on it. Take Juice, you might be able to use his less then white skin for some bait."

The table breaks out in half laughs and chuckles breaking the tension in the room. A few of them start to get up and stamp out their lip cigarettes, as Clay lifts the gravel to end the meeting.

"Before we end this, there is just one more thing." Juice said, feeling the wetness in his mouth dry up as he pulled another folder from beside him. This was everything he had found on Bran, and he needed to have her cleared by the club in order to keep seeing her. Juice lay the folder out on the table, where any of his brothers could reach it.

"What now?" snapped Clay as he rubbed his tired face.

" I did some digging into Bran Holloway. She's Jax's new neighbour." Juice started before his brother's cut him off.

"Why, were you looking into her?" Jax asked before he took the folder and flipped it open.

" Who the hell is she, and why do I need to know about this gash?" Clay demanded looking at Jax to Juice, wondering which one brought this new problem to an already full table.

"Not just the neighbour, " Smirked Tig, eyes lighting up at Juice's expense. " Juice want's to tap that ass, all night long."

" I dug around cause she's a new face in town." Juice ignored the taunt from Tig and looked at his president. " I found out somethings that I thought I should bring to the club's attention."

Chibbs was silent on the topic to this point as he stared at the man across from him. His relationship with Juice was different then the rest of the clubs. This was man he sponsored into the club, and for the most part Juice had never brought any attention to himself among the brother, up in till this point. " What is Juicy?"

"She's bounty hunter." Juice said, listening to the break out of grumbles and comments the men around him made. " Or at least was, as she is not licensed here in California."

"Is she planning on getting one here and setting up shop in Charming?" asked Opie from the far end of the table. He wouldn't lie, it surprised him that such a little woman had chosen a dangerous profession, and in his mind Bran wasn't really all that threatening. She was a quarter of the size of him, and really what was she really going to do if someone his size didn't want to go with her.

"No." Juice said, looking around the table before landing at Clay. " I asked, she said no. I looked into it and she hasn't submitting or filled out any paper work to apply for a licensed. And she hasn't been in contact with the board or anyone associated with any local bounty hunter agencies."

"How do you know that?" asked Bobby as he elbowed Juice beside him so he would look at him.

"I accessed her phone records, her email and I looked through her mail once or twice." Juice shrugged, and was hoping Bobby would drop it before he had to admit he looked through her mail more then eight times since she moved to Charming.

"Gash's lie." Tig pointed out, starring at Juice. He was enjoying watching Juice flinch with Clay looked at him. Clearly, this was not a topic that Juice was happy about bringing to the club. " Bet she told you that when you were balls deep in that snatch."

"Fuck off Tig." snapped Juice glaring across the table. He had taken his fair share of shit from Tig over the years since he prospected for the club, and had done so without complaint. He wasn't interested in being pushed around about this. If he didn't present this to Clay a certain way, or enough of the brothers backed him, whatever he wanted from Bran would be a distant memory.

"Oh, you going to make me Juice?" Tig fired back leaning across the table. He had been spoiling for a fight ever since his and Jax little scrap a few months back, and if Juice wanted to step up Tig was alright with putting him down a peg or two. "What's wrong? You don't like hearing about what she really is? A fucking warm hole for your little dick."

"Enough." Opie's voice was quiet but every man sitting at the table heard him. He could see where the vote would land on Bran when Clay called it to a vote. The club was wary of outsiders to begin with, and with this Zorbelle shit landing on the table the same time as Bran moving in across from Jax would way heavy on the minds of his brothers. But Opie had met Bran, spent a little bit of time with her, and she wasn't interested in the club any more then she was interested in fucking Tig. She wanted Juice, and only Juice. He looked across the table, and saw Jax starring at him. Jax gave the slightest nod, and knowing Jax as long as he had, Opie knew what that meant. " I met her. She don't have any interested in this club. She isn't looking for any trouble. I know that, and I'm not balls deep in her pussy. Do you want to question that Tig?"

Jax's eyes bore a hole in the side of Tig's head as he waited for a reply from the man that murdered Opie's wife. Nothing came out of Tig's mouth, so Jax spoke up. " I'm with Ope. That was my impression of her. She's never question Tara on club business, nor has she spoken to me. In fact, the only information that she has came from Gemma."

"Gemma?" Clay asked, leaning back in the chair and he wished he brought a drink into the chapel. "What does she have to do with it?"

"Took a run at Bran the other day. Mentioned some shit about being an old lady." Jax told the table, and he shoved the folder back into the middle of it. " Bran had no idea what the fuck Gemma was talking about. She's not here for the club, this is just some fucked up coquedence that she is here the same time as Zobelle."

"Put it to a vote." Chibbs said, hoping to release some of the tension in the room. " Juice will respect the clubs decision."

"This club is my home." Juice told Clay as he ground out the smoke in his hand he had barely even touched it. " I would never put anything before the Son's."

"Vote." Clay said as he watched the men around the room to see where their vote would land. " All in favour of Bran, raise your hand."

Juice watched, as Opie and Jax raised their hand, his own joining them before Chibbs gave him a nod then raised his. It wasn't in till Bobby raised his hand that Juice was surprised. The old man beside him, usually fell on Tig and Clay's side of the vote.

"You better keep your eye on her, and if this club get's any blow back because of your little piece of tail Juice, there won't be a hole deep enough to bury you in." Clay banged the gravel on the marker and with a sigh got out of his chair.

Juice nodded, and swallowed hard. Fuck, he needed a blunt.

Clay's large frame filled the office door way of Teller-Morrow Garage, the late afternoon sun casting a shadow over Gemma's paper work. She looked up at her husband as he leaned against the door frame. She looked at him with a frown, hoping that this was not going to be another argument about her working again.

She understood his concern with her physical appearance and at another time she would be grateful of it but right now she needed to do something. Closing herself up into the office, sorting paperwork was all but keeping her from tearing her hair out screaming. The familiar atmosphere of the garage, and the never changing office comforted her.

"Need to run something by you." Clay said, moving into the office. It hurt him to see her looking like this, but after her nearly biting his head off after he suggested she stay at home and rest after seeing her at the hospital; he knew when to pick his battles with his Queen.

"What's that baby?" Gemma asked, keeping the desk between him and her. Even though, her head knew Clay had no part in her incident as she referred to it in her head, he was still too male for her to handle at the moment. But how the hell was she suppose to tell him that?

"You knew that new broad that's been hanging round with Juice?" Clay asked, watching Gemma avoid eye contact with him, while shuffling the same stack of papers around. Her hands never stilled, and her head never looked up.

"Red brown hair, short, small tits?" Gemma briefly looked up to see Clay nod at her description, before continuing to play around with the papers on the desk. " Seen her a few times with Tara. She's Jax's neighbor."

"What's your take on her?"

Gemma turned to start shoving papers in the filing cabinet before looking back over her shoulder at Clay." Why?"

"Juice wants to get serious about her. Dug around and found some concerning shit about her." clay told her as he turned and closed the office front door. He checked to see the door leading to the garage was closed.

"Like what?" Gemma hadn't gotten around to doing her own little digging through Leeann before all the bullshit went down prepping for Bobby's home coming and her incident. " What kind of shit did he find."

"She's a bounty hunter back east or some shit like that." Clay told her as he stuck his hands into his pockets and leaned against the wall.

"That little thing?" Gemma sounded surprised, and raised an eyebrow. Bran was to Gemma, as lethal as a yappy chihuahua nipping at your heels. " Doubt she could take a fly out."

Clay cleared his throat and looked at Gemma.

"Alright, alright." Gemma said holding her hands up. Her talk with Bran earlier hadn't softened her feelings much about her, she still thought she wasn't old lady material but Clay was asking for her opinion." She's clever, like our doctor. Bit to wide eyed and bushy tailed for my liking. Little socially slow, so her and that idiot have that in common, but she's still waters. Took a run at her, and she didn't flinch. Feels like she's hard to rock. Why, you think she is going to be a problem?"

"Just wanted to see where you land on her." Clay shrugged his shoulders. " Opie and Jax vouch for her. Thought seeing what someone who doesn't have a dick thought of her, that's all."

"I'll keep an eye on her." Gemma told him as she watched him walked back to the front door.

"See you at home?" he asked her as he opened the door and turned to look at her.

"I'll be a bit late." Gemma told him, ignoring the hurt look on his face before he turned away from her and out of the office.

Bran listen to the sound of rain through the head phones in her ears as she lay down on the back porch of her house. Her knees raised up, bare feet pressed against the wood warmed by the sun. A glass of ice tea by her head, ice cubes long melted, and a plate of soda cracker lay by her head. Her attempt to sway the greasy, sour feeling that had washed over her body since her encounter with Gemma.

One hand lay flat against her belly and the other tucked into her short pocket. The hot sun had long since dried her wet hair, another attempt to rid her self of the shame that had creeped up on her. Bran tried to force her mind to be still, push the memories down and just to be silent in her head.

It wasn't in til she felt the vibrations of footsteps on the stairs of her deck that she knew she wasn't alone. Bran opened her eyes and for moment she forget where she was and reached for a gun that wasn't there.

"Hey," Juice said, giving Bran an awkward wave. He didn't know where he stood with her after the party. She was gone by the time he finished digging for information that he didn't find. He had tried to enjoy the party but his head just wasn't into it. He went to bed alone and more confused then he had been previous to their moment in the hall way. "Sorry, I knocked but you didn't answer."

"Juice." Bran said as she took the head phones off and pushed the phone away from her as she sat up. She cracked her neck, and rubbed the back of it as she looked at him. His shoulders were slumped and he looked like someone had put him through the wringer emotionally. "You okay?"

"Can I just chill here for a bit?" Juice asked playing with the bottom on his cut. He was tired from the night before and from the grilling he received in Church, he just wanted to be still for a moment. Juice wasn't sure how he ended up at Bran's, it really wasn't his intention when he got on his bike after the meeting, he just needed some space between him and the club or more specifically him and Tig. Part of him was honestly surprised he ended up in her drive way and not the bluffs where he usually went to think.

"Sure." Bran nodded as Juice walked over to the shade and sat down. He looked at her with a half smile and she moved over to him. "You need anything?'

Juice shook his head as he reached into his cut. He pulled out slim, silver container and opened it up. Inside lay, four perfectly rolled joints. Taking one out, held it up and with a raised eye brow looked at her and asked. " This okay?"

Bran nodded and watched relief wash over his face. Her arms wrapped around her legs as she sat near him but not touching him. She reached back and grabbed the warm ice tea and took a drink before setting it down beside her.

"Come here." Juice said, after he lit the joint and tucked his lighter back into his cut. He took a hard pull on the joint and blew out a stream of smoke away from her. He held out his free had and waited for her hand. He wanted to see if she was still comfortable with him after last night. He felt the warmth of her hand in his when she placed her smaller hand in his and he pulled her closer to him.

Bran turned her body, and placed her head on his lap, laying down as she felt him change his position to accommodate her. Juice sat with his back against one the wall, and with his free hand played with her hair. He continued to smoke the joint offering her a hit once before nodding when she shook her head no.

Bran was tense at his touch. Part of her like it, feeling him beside her. Like knowing he still wanted to touch her after whatever the hell their argument was last night. But that greasy, sour feeling was still in her stomach and she was scared Juice touching her would only intensify it.

Juice sat there, content to lean against the wall, smoke his blunt and just be with Bran. After a while, he felt her start to relax as he rubbed his hands through her hair and down her face to her neck. He never went further, didn't feel like he needed to.

Bran closed her eyes and let her body relax, when Juice's hand came to rest on her collarbone. The two of them stayed there on her porch for a while, sitting in silence before Juice's burner phone cut through the quiet.

He muttered a few words and crushed out his blunt on the wood of her deck before he shifted her so he could stand up. He stuck his hand out and pulled her up.

"Got to go." Juice told her, pulling her into him by her waist. He nuzzled her neck, bit her ear lope and kissed her soundly before squeezing her ass and turning away from her. " Call you later?"

"I'll be here." nodded Bran as she watched him walk down the stairs and around the porch towards her front yard and his bike. " Be safe."

He shot her a smile and nodded. He noted, that she didn't ask questions when she could have. And he appreciated that. He didn't want to lie to her, but couldn't tell her any club shit. He knew the line he had to walk.

Bran watched him walk away, in till he as out of her sight and she could hear his bike roar to life. She collected the ipod, ear buds and half drank ice tea and walked into the house. Between the shit with Gemma and god only knew what the hell was going with her and Juice she felt like she needed a nap. Who fucking knew Charming was a complicated as her bullshit family back in Maine.

This was not a fucking vacation from life like she wanted it to be.