Blinded by the Son
Chapter 1, Personal Sacrifice
(Parker Sisters Saga continues with an non-canon adaptation of SOA Season 3 and beyond...)
By BG & Reaper Girl
Let's try this again. Apparently teaser chapters aren't allowed by ff. and they yanked our post from earlier this week. But thank you guys so much for the outpouring of love for the new story. SO here is a small chapter to get you ready for our version of Season 3. And yes, I said OUR…Reapergirl loved us too much to stay away. She's back and writing furiously!
XXX
As he continued his drive North, Tig took another sip of coffee from his silver travel mug. That was one of the only perks to driving a cage instead of a bike, drinking and driving. He put the mug back into the empty cup holder. He kept one hand on the wheel and propped his elbow on the driver side window sill, glancing at the truck's console.
The other holder was occupied by his new prepaid cell and if he had looked at that thing once, he had looked at it a million times. The phone was his lifeline back to Charming and thus back to Jaci. He struggled with calling her or waiting for her to call him and occasionally wondered if he was just stupid for even giving her the phone in the first place. It was a gesture, an open line of communication that seemed fitting at the time. Given everything that was going on, it seemed wrong to let a wall start building back up between them. But in the daylight of the morning, he was fairly sure he was just postponing the evitable.
He shut off the part of his brain that was infected with thoughts of Jaci. With each mile, Charming faded away literally and figuratively...he had a new task at hand that needed all of his attention, keeping Gemma safe and locked away out of sight was Priority #1 until the Club could get a grip on the murder charges she was facing. But before he could even start that task, he had to break the bad news about Abel to Vix. He had no clue how to even say those words to her and sort of regretted volunteering for the task but he owed Jaci that much. He glanced at the clock radio; he had a few more hours to practice the dreaded speech in his head.
XXX
Gemma slid her sunglasses off her nose and stared in half shock/ half horror at the humongous grey cinderblock building stretched out before them. "Here? We're shopping here?"
Vix turned slightly and stared at the queen of SAMCRO who was seated in the backseat of the Jeep. "We need supplies, we need to go somewhere cheap, somewhere we won't stick out..."
"Everybody blends at Walmart." Koz added his two cents to the conversation from the driver seat.
"But I need clothes and toiletries not a coffee maker or garden hose." Gemma stammered.
"You can find everything you need at Walmart. If they don't got it, you don't need it. Besides I need to pee." Vix declared.
"You just went to piss fifteen miles ago." Koz muttered.
"Yeah well, I just downed a Double Big Gulp. Give a girl break."
Koz pulled into a parking space and killed the engine. Gemma was still staring at the building as the Son and Vix hopped out of the Jeep. He nodded towards the backseat. Vix eyed Gemma, "It's time to get real, sweetheart. You ain't got much cash on you and none of us can't hit an ATM because the Feds are likely tracking transactions. Everything you need is in that store at reasonable prices."
"I got it." Gemma grumbled and upon seeing Vix's doubtful expression, she sighed and rolled her eyes but got out of the jeep nonetheless. Vix grinned and slipped her arm thru Gemma's and led her into the Super Center as if she expected the woman to bolt at any moment.
As soon as the trio were inside, Gemma was hit by a weird combination of aromas; coffee, rubber tires, garden chemicals and nail polish. She shook her head, something was very wrong when all those things could be inhaled in the same breath. The atrocities didn't end with the smells. The freak show of customers and employees alike was nothing that Gemma had ever witnessed. She looked around; kids were everywhere, running up and down the aisles, sitting in shopping carts. Some sat quietly but most were screaming and crying, deeply entrenched in a game of emotional blackmail with their folks trying to score some loud-assed toy or oversized boxes of gummy bears.
"Women's clothing looks to be over that way. There, see the sign?" Vix pointed out. "I'll meet y'all over there in a little bit."
Koz led the way past the costume jewelry and a display of the most hideous collection of vinyl handbags on the planet. The place was more horrifying than Gemma expected. She stared at the racks of clothing in dismay, never having seen so much cheap polyester in her life. Gaudy flower prints seemed to be all the rage, some enough to raise an eyebrow or two. With a sigh, she delicately picked through a rack of cotton shirts. At $4. 99 apiece, she realized she could buy ten and only blow through half her budget but in looking closer at them she realized buying even one was buying one too many.
"What size do you wear?" Koz inquired as he flipped through a nearby rack of clothes.
"Never you mind."
He pulled a shirt off the rack, "How about this one?"
"That's hideous!"
Koz frowned. "It's a perfectly good shirt."
"Yeah, for my great grandma."
"What? You don't like my fashion sense?"
Gemma slid her gaze up and down his frame, "Eh, you're not exactly GQ material."
"Well there's a lifelong dream shot to hell." Koz mumbled as he worked his way through a rack of Capri pants. Vix approached the duo sorting through stacks of ugly clothing, Koz up-nodded at her, pulling the pants off the rack. "Well now aren't these nice? I think they're her color...you know, on that color wheel thingy."
Vix shook her head. "Those pants ain't anyone's color. You sit a chameleon on them; the poor thing would commit suicide." She glanced over at Gemma and nodded towards the far wall, "Jeans. Jeans are good."
Koz nodded, "Jeans are very utilitarian."
Vix gave him a smirk, "Utilitarian… that's an SAT word."
"You two can have a battle of wits later. Right now I think we need to get a move on." Gemma interjected. "Feels like someone's watching us."
"The eye-in-the-sky is simply there to deter shoplifters."
Gemma looked around and shook her head, "Shoplift? Good Lord! IF I was inclined to steal, I would do it from a better place than this." With another eye roll she turned around and walked towards the racks of denim. "The stitching is crooked."
Vix laughed. "You ain't paying enough for it to be straight."
Holding up a pair of jeans to her frame, Gemma glanced in the mirror. She blinked and cast the jeans aside and went in for a closer inspection of her hairline. She grimaced as she noticed her roots were beginning to show, "Oh Jesus Christ!"
Vix sidled up next to her and slipped an arm around your shoulder, "Don't worry, sweetheart. I got you covered. Maybe even do a whole makeover; top to bottom have you looking like another person completely. Hell you won't even recognize yourself, when I'm through that chick on Alias will have nothing on you." She stepped away. "Grab a couple pairs of jeans, a few tank tops and couple of shirts, whatever else you may need then meet me in health and beauty."
"I refuse to buy underwear in bulk."
"I do not blame you there. If I were you, I would think my money would be better served buying a bottle of Woolite and hand washing what I got on between wearings."
Gemma sighed again. "Going to parade around looking like goddamn Frump Barbie."
"It'll get you through to the Calvary comes. Hopefully they'll remember to bring changes of clothes."
XXX
Jaci walked back into the clubhouse with Piney who had been her escort to the clinic earlier that morning. After a few hours of pain and waiting, she had a prescription for painkillers in her pocket and a cast half way up the forearm of her left hand. Her hand was a mess but nothing that six weeks or so in a cast wouldn't fix.
"Aww why'd you get it wrapped in black?" Chibs asked as he examined her cast carefully in his hands. "Now we can't sign it."
"Exactly." Jaci answered. "I can't go to work with the shit you guys would write and draw on it."
"Speaking of work, you need to call in or something, J?" Bobby asked.
"No…I had the rest of the week off. I'll have to figure something out for Monday though."
"Your boss is club friendly. I'll take care of it…see if we can't get you some medical leave of sorts."
Jaci nodded her thanks but then winced slightly. "I need to call back home to Bama."
"Eh…you think that's a good idea?" Chibs questioned. "We're trying to keep all this shite quiet.
You go tellin' your uncle you're broken and the baby's missing…nothing quiet bout that."
"I'd love to skip the call but I think we all need something from them." Jaci replied as she motioned for them to follow her down the hallway to the bunkroom she had been staying. The trio walked inside and shut the door. Jaci faced the two Sons. "Cameron's on the run with Abel and I can't imagine he's staying close; it's going to take money to chase him. And unless you guys have some major stash put back, we need everything we can get. The same goes for guns, right? I don't like to stick my nose in club business but I'm not oblivious, I'm guessing the Irish pipeline is officially closed for now, right?"
The Sons exchanged a look. Bobby nodded his head. "You're right…on both counts."
"Ok then, here we go." Jaci replied and pulled out the prepaid that Tig had given her.
Unfortunately, she had BB's prepaid number memorized. She dialed as she sat down on the middle of the bed. Chibs sat down on the bed's end with Bobby pacing around the room.
Half way across the country, BB Parker was at work, reviewing blueprints for a new building with an architect. He felt his prepaid buzzing in his pocket and grabbed it. He frowned at the number, not recognizing it. "Excuse me a sec." He ducked out of the office and into the hall. "Hello?"
"Hey BB…it's J."
BB closed his eyes dreading anything she had to say. "I said your next call to me had better be rainbows and puppies, darling. I guess we're not there yet?"
"Far from it, sorry." Jaci replied and curled her legs up Indian style. "Do you have time to talk?"
"Well hell yes I have time to…hang on." BB snapped as he ducked his head back inside his office to give marching orders to the architect. "Hey, Gabe…this is gonna take a bit. It's that second floor I got a problem with. Take a look at that." He said before he slipped back into the hallway and shut the door behind him. He headed down the hall to an empty break room. "OK…let's hear it. Tig startin' shit with you?"
"No…he's…he's actually the least of my worries right now." Jaci said quietly. She didn't mince words or try to soften the blow of her bad news, she told him the condensed story of the previous night's tragedies.
BB blew out a breath. "Fuck." He rubbed a hand over his face and shook his head. He sat down at a table, reeling from the news. "But you…you're ok?"
"Yeah, I had a little breakdown last night but today I'm casted up, drugged up and sitting at the corner Pissed Off and Determined."
"Wait…where's your sister in all this? She was off taking a test? Where's she now?" BB asked and received only silence in response. He pressed harder. "Jaci…your sister…where IS she?"
"Vix is…in the wind. I don't exactly know where but she's with Gemma and a Son from Tacoma."
"Fuckin' fantastic, Johnny law got Gemma on the run and your lil'sister is aiding and abetting a federal fugitive." BB mused. "Why am I not surprised? Ok, J…you've dropped the bad news bombs…what do you need to fix it all? You name it, you got it."
"Well first off, I…we need money to chase down Abel. I need you to talk to Dean. Tell him I need to dip into the Life or Death Contingency Plan. Get my ten grand at least, see if he can spot me five more and I'll get it back to him when I can."
"He'll spot it with a goddamn smile on his face." BB snapped. He never had understood the arrangement between Jaci and her ex fiancée. They had flipped a few houses together when they were dating. When the big breakup had come, they had split the earnings accordingly but Jaci had left her money in Dean's account and thus his hands. It was an odd move for a woman that was usually so financially smart.
"The club needs some things too. I'm gonna let you talk to Bobby. Just get to working on everything and we'll get back together to figure out logistics. Not like we can wire or mail this stuff." Jaci stood and looked down at her cast. "I'm sorry to ask for all of this. I owe you one."
BB audibly scoffed, "You don't owe me shit, ever, J. Just get through this mess, get the boy back and then move your ass back home, you hear me? I want you and Vix both back down here but she's got an old man to deal with, you don't. I'll work on wearing her down later. Promise me you will get the hell out of that town."
"I will…I promise…as soon as I can." J answered without hesitation. "Ok, here's Bobby. Thank you." She handed the phone to her friend and walked out of the room. Chibs followed her into the hall. She sighed and wrapped her arms around her torso, "I'll be glad when I can stop retelling all that shit."
Chibs wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Aye, I know, luv." He frowned, fuzzy about the situation between her and her ex back in Bama. "So why does your ex have your money? Shouldn't you have your hands on it?"
Jaci shrugged, "We both had decided to let it be life or death emergency only money. I didn't plan on ever using it. Figured it was fine to sit in the bank with his stash, earning interest, use it as a retirement fund maybe one day. I never had to worry about him messing with it. My half's insured by the FDIC of Trace Cope; Dean ever cheated me on the money, his uncle would beat his ass until every penny was returned."
"You think he'll pony up the extra five?"
"Yeah…Dean's a daddy now, has a young son. He'll feel our pain."
Bobby walked out of the bunkroom a few minutes later and handed the phone to Jaci. "We're all set. Money and all extra items should be ready in a few days."
"Good." Jaci replied. "Now what?"
"Funeral planning I guess. Goddamnit." Chibs grumbled and walked down the hall, Jaci in tow.
XXX
Koz pulled the Jeep into the stone lot of a roadside motel and Vix and Gemma took in their surroundings.
"Rouge River Motel." Vix read the sign.
He killed the engine outside the office and glanced at his passengers, "Well ladies, welcome to Home Sweet Motel."
"It's a shit hole." Gemma scoffed.
Koz nodded, "But it's a club friendly shit hole and believe me, darling, it could be worse. You'll be safe here."
Gemma heaved a resigned sigh, "Fugitives can't be choosers."
"I'm gonna go talk to the manager. You two cool your heels here, a'ight?"
The girls nodded their compliance and two sets of eyes watched the Tacoma SAA disappear into the building . Vix reached out and flipped on the radio, catching the tail end of a bluesy, folksy kind of song...
"Lord have mercy on me, Now, Grandma's got an Uzi and it weighs a ton...
For all the things I've done...
I've lost my mind...
My eyes were blinded by the Son...
Don't forsake me Lord,
I'm not the only one...
I've lost my mind...
My eyes were blinded by the Son...
And Johnny Law got her on the run...
Another broken bottle and the damage done...
We've all been blinded by the Son...
BLINDED BY THE SON! "
~song by Everlast