Lying had become such an integral part of Alex's life that it wasn't hard for her anymore. She was even convinced that she could manipulate a lie detector. That way, she was sitting in the interrogation room, feeling completely relaxed as she answered the questions of the police officer. She stuck to the story she had also told Roosevelt, although she added some more colour to it. By coming up with a story about her young age, she created the impression that she wasn't the most popular prospect and that most men didn't take her seriously. Although she'd found the behavior of the two Nomads suspicious, she hadn't dared to tell her president; distrusting your brothers was not done, especially if it was based on a gut feeling alone. And so, she had wanted to gather evidence by tailing the two men. She'd parked her bike in a nearby street because she didn't want it to be seen, then she'd gone to the house to figure out what the guys were doing. She had her suspicions, but since it was the house of a cop she took into account the fact that something else might be going on. Since she was a prospect, she had no access to important information and she could only guess about their intentions. The moment she'd heard a gunshot, she'd ran upstairs. The men had been panicking when they were caught by their younger brother; they'd yelled at her to leave and to leave the woman to die. She had refused; the guys had been scared that she would rat them out and had started shooting. Alex had already counted on it; she'd jumped to the side and taken out the two guys herself before calling an ambulance. 

About the reason why the two men had attacked the woman, she hadn't said much. She stressed that it was her job to clean the bikes and the clubhouse, and that she had to drive the van now and then. By asking devious questions they had tried to catch her in a lie, but Alex had remained calm, answering every question patiently until they'd dismissed her. Alex wished things would go just as smoothly with the Sons, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. She would tell them exactly the same story, but whether they would also take her for a hero by killing two of their brothers... she couldn't imagine. She'd purposely remained silent about Clay and Greg's roles in it, hoping the two would neither rat her out. 

Alex leaned against a flower put, lighting a cigarette as she waited for Juice, who she had asked to pick her up. She had felt his panic right through the phone as she mentioned the police station, although he'd probably been stressed since her first call. Alex took a drag from the cigarette while thinking about Rita. She was probably in surgery right now. Would she survive? She thought back to the hunch she'd had a couple of days ago, when she had asked Juice to add Shane to the system. Subconsciously she had sensed something would go wrong and she hated herself for not taking more precautions. 

She got up when a bike stopped in front of her. Juice almost tripped over his feet as he jumped off his bike and pulled her in his arms. "What the hell happened Alex?! I saw cops and –" His voice sounded hysterical and she pressed her lips against his to silence him. 

"Not now, okay? Take me away from here, then I'll tell you everything." She gave him another kiss and brushed her cheek to calm him down, then she shoved him gently towards the Harley. 

His fingers were shaking as he wrapped them around the handlebars.  Alex wondered if it would be better if she would ride since the stress was messing with his head, but she didn't think he would appreciate the gesture. Therefore, she just wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek against his back. Although she hadn't thought about it in the heat of the moment, it was a little miracle that she was sitting here now. Gogo's bullet might have hit her, or the police might have judged her participation in the whole act differently. 

It was a short ride to his house. Actually she wanted to pick up her own bike, but maybe it was better to wait. His whole body was tense like he had been the one in the interrogation room. Her hand glided into his as they walked to the front door and she kept holding it until they snuggled up into the corner of the couch. 

"I can't wait too long with telling the others." Alex looked up to him. His eyes told her he was trying not to ask her a thousand questions. "A while ago Clay approached me. He had a plan to make Jax step back again, by giving the people of Charming an unsafe feeling, so it would look like Jax wasn't ready to lead. He wanted to do some home invasions. He had asked three Nomads to do the job, but since Greg has a prosthetic he considered him as a risk. That's why he wanted me to join them. I saw how Jax received the gavel, by threatening his stepdad with a knife in a hospital bed and this felt like my way to do something about it. Nobody else knows, I felt obliged..." He raised his eyebrows and she sighed. "Of course it wasn't just out of nobility. I know Jax hates me and that I have a bigger chance on a top rocker if Clay's on the head of the table. And apart from that, I don't believe I really had a choice. If I refused, there would have been no reason why he wouldn't tell the others that I'm a girl."

Juice pulled his hand out of hers and rubbed his face. "Shit Alex, what a fucking mess. If the others find out they kick you out."

"I think I'm lucky if they just kick me out."

He lowered his hands and stared at her with wide eyes. "W-what?"

"I was on watch today, when we broke into Roosevelt's house. When I heard a gunshot, I ran upstairs and discovered that they'd gunned down Rita, in her stomach. On the table there had been baby magazines; I'd warned the guys that she was pregnant but they shot her nevertheless. Once I got upstairs they wanted to leave her to die. I was so pissed that I put a bullet in Frankie's brain and when Gogo wanted to shoot me, I killed him too."

"Jeez Alex... Oh fuck man! You got a death wish? You're fucking insane?" His breathing sounded heavy and he was fighting a panic attack. "You killed two brothers! Oh man they're going to kill you!"

She grabbed his face with both hands and looked him in the eye. "There's no reason to panic. You –"

"No reason to panic?! You fucked up Alex! You should have gone to Jax, the moment Clay came to you!"

"And then what?" she snapped. "Then Clay would have told everyone who I was."

"And you think that's worse than two people being dead?!"

"They fucking shot a pregnant woman!" she shot back. "Retards like them never should have earned their patches in the first place!" 

Juice took a deep breath, rubbing his face again. Alex used the silence to explain  how she was going to try to save her ass. "I told Roosevelt I saw the two Nomads acting weird and that I followed them, and that I ran upstairs when I heard the gunshot and killed the two men out of self defense. I'm just a prospect, nobody will believe that I was involved in some big action. I've made my statement at the police station and they let me go. I'm going to tell the guys the same story. I keep Clay and Greg out of it and I hope they'll do the same."

"But if they find out..."

"They won't. It's more likely that I followed them on my own than that I'm part of some conspiracy. They will question Greg, but they got no proof he was involved in this."

Juice still had a hard time breathing, his eyes were moving restlessly. "You really want me to keep quiet about this? Fuck – this is some crazy heavy shit Alex. Clay making men turn against Jax! I feel a fucking traitor for not telling him this! And the thought that Clay is getting away with this is making me sick!"

"Jax started this shit by threatening Clay."

"It doesn't matter what Jax did! We, the club, voted for Jax to become the new President! You can't ignore club decisions just because you don't like them! If they find out I knew about this, I'm dead!"

"How will they ever find out? Even if I hang, nobody will know I told you what I've done."

He bent over, running his hands across his mohawk. "Keeping this a secret feels so wrong."

Alex gritted her teeth. She was about to remind him of the fact that this was partially his fault because he had told Clay that she was a girl, but she swallowed the snark, knowing it would lead to nothing but a new fight.

"You want to tell 'em?" she asked eventually. 

"That would be fucking hypocrite, huh?" he huffed. "I stole a brick of coke and killed a fucking brother to keep it a secret. You had my back that night, so I got yours now." He sighed deeply. "But that doesn't change the fact that this is some fucked-up shit man."

"It is." 

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Juice muttered. 

"We were in a fight," she answered. "This was the first raid since we're together again."

"And you would have told me otherwise?" He sounded skeptical. 

"Probably not," she admitted. His jaw tensed. "Not because I don't trust you Juice, nor because I promised Clay not to tell you. I'm coming up with a thousand excuses to justify what I've done, but when it comes down to it I just let someone blackmail me and I hate myself for it. It feels weak – and you know I hate to feel weak."

Juice wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "You're not weak, Alex. You're just as cornered as I was, back then. I get it." He sighed. "Let's hope this will pass just as quietly..."

. . .

When he got a phone call a little before midnight because of an emergency meeting, Clay had a really bad feeling about it. He knew it could be about anything, but none of his men had confirmed that their mission of tonight had ended well. He was one of the last entering Chapel and he took a seat. To his surprise, he saw that Jax had allowed Alex to come in; she was leaning against the wall, her hands into her pockets. The two Nomads who'd been with her tonight, were nowhere to be seen.

When Bobby had entered the room as well, Jax gestured for Alex to close the door. 

"Shane told me there's something going on that can't wait until tomorrow." With a wave of his hand, he ordered the prospect to start talking. 

"Shouldn't we wait until all seats are occupied?" Clay said. 

"Gogo and Frankie ain't comin'," Alex said. To his surprise, Jax didn't cast her an angry glance because she was answering his question without permission. "They're dead."

A deadly silence fell. Clay wasn't someone who stressed easily, but suddenly he had a hard time swallowing. 

"They were behind the raids in Charming," Alex continued. 

Clay tensed. If she would frame him... As if she could hear his thoughts, her eyes met his. She didn't avoid his glance, but gave him an intrusive look, as if she wanted to command him to keep his mouth shut. For the first time in his life, he did what a prospect wanted him to do. 

"When I wanted to go home tonight, I saw the two whispering. I had a bad feeling about it, thought they were saying something about beating someone up. So I followed them to see what they were going to do. They entered Roosevelt's house. I wasn't sure what they were doing, thought it might be club business so I stayed outside. Only when I heard a gunshot, I ran inside and went upstairs. The two were about to leave; they'd shot Roosevelt's wife. They startled when they saw me, yelled at me that I had to leave. I saw the woman lying on the ground, bleeding. On my way up, I had seen various things indicating that she was pregnant, so I refused to leave her to die. Frankie panicked, thought I was going to rat them out once the cops would show up and he tried to shoot me. In his panic he missed, but I didn't."

Only now, Clay noticed that he had been holding his breath. She didn't speak a word about him. This bullshit story she'd come up with sounded legit, he had to admit that he was impressed. She didn't even seem a little bit of nervous. 

"Ye realize ye killed two brothas?" Chibs asked in a cold voice. 

"I do. If you consider two morons who kill off pregnant women as your brothers, I killed them indeed."

A tense silence fell, it felt like everyone was wondering what they would have done if they'd been in the prospect's shoes. 

"But why?" Bobby asked. "Why would Gogo and Frankie do such a thing?"

Alex shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe they could use some extra money? I don't know either. All I know is that they were ready to kill for it."

Clay aimed his glance at Jax, who was staring at the prospect, a dark look in his eyes. "Why did you go after them all by yourself? You should have reported it to me."

"Yeah?" Clay heard how she tried to ward off her mocking tone, but she didn't succeed very well. He couldn't hide a smirk. "How do you think you would have responded, if I'd accused two of my brothers of something like that, without any evidence? I know how important trust is within the club, and I also know you're not a big fan of me anyway. Confirming my suspicions sounded wiser. I had a feeling they were into some shady things, but that they were going to shoot a pregnant woman? No – I didn't know Sons did such things."

Her voice sounded dark, even a bit accusatory, as if she blamed Jax for not knowing what type of guys he'd allowed to become part of this club. The new president clenched his jaws; Clay noticed how hard he was trying to stay composed. 

"We've heard enough. You can go now."

Alex walked away without saying another word. 

Jax heaved a sigh, leaning back into his chair a little defeated. He closed his eyes. As he opened them again, he looked Greg in the eye. "You knew nothing about this?"

"No man. I can barely believe it."

"You think the kid's lying?" Tig asked. 

It was silent for a while, until Chibs sighed. "Why would he lie? It's an honest kid. A little drastic now and then, but always trying to do the right thing. The cops could have hold him responsible for this; they're happy with every Son they can put behind bars."

"But he did kill two brothers," Jax said. "We know the punishment for that, so we need to vote. Anyone who wants to give him Mayhem?"

Some heads were shaken. It was clearly just a formality; in their eyes it were the two former Nomads who'd crossed the line and not Alex. She'd solved it in a clever way, he had to give her that. 

"So no sanctions at all?" Jax sighed. "I know some of you are very fond of him..." he briefly glanced at Juice, whose cheeks flushed, "but this is the second time he's tryin' to be the hero which could have ended very badly. We're a club, not a one-man business. He's a fucking prospect, all he should do is scrubbing toilets."

"Maybe he passed the prospect stage," Clay cautiously brought up. "He proved his value. He cleaned up someone else's shit, and I think in a good way. Yeah, the club lost face because two of us have beaten up innocent civilians, but Shane, also a Son, is the one who freed Charming from them and who saved a pregnant woman. That's showing us in a better light." He paused for a moment. "If the fact that he isn't behaving like a prospect is bothering you, then maybe you should allow him around the table."

"You fucking serious? That guy hasn't followed a single order properly!"

Clays shrugged his shoulders. In silence, he suggested that it might have to do more with Jax's capacity to lead than with the prospect's capabilities to obey. 

"He's unstable," Jax stressed. "A loose cannon."

"The lad just needs a bit more guidance," Chibs said. "He's morally alright, he's resourceful and he ain't afraid to get his hands dirty... Would be a shame to let him go Jackie-boy. Aye, he needs to learn a little more respect, but he's honest. I trust him."

He's honest. Clay really had a hard time not to laugh. Every word she'd just spoken, had been a lie and nobody had noticed. Her lying skills might be alarming, but since he wasn't afraid of lying a bit himself knowing it was sometimes even necessary, he didn't judge her for it. Hell – there had never been a prospect who'd grown on him this much and he imagined that if he would have had a kid, he or she would have been like Alex. 

"Fine," Jax grumbled when the others agreed with Chibs. "But next time he's running his own course, it's over. Even when he saves the whole damn world with his disobedience."

Clay's lips curled up. If that really happened, he had no doubt that Alex would know how to get everyone on her side again. Like a true woman, she wrapped them all around her finger – and except for him and Juice, everyone was blind to it.