Juice's heart physically hurt as he looked around the small funeral home filled with his brothers for Half Sack's wake. It felt weird to be there without Angela. She should have been there. She should've been taking care of everyone and making sure Sack got the send-off he deserved because that's what she enjoyed doing. How many times had she told him it was rewarding for her to plan these beautiful services to send off a family's loved ones? How much pride she took in helping families that way? Skeeter had done a great job, but he had a feeling Angela would've done better. Would've found better pictures of Sack, more flowers. It would've been more of a celebration of life and less of a depressing sob fest. Everything looked so...barren. It only made him itch with the need to get back to his laptop. He'd been at it for hours, but he felt like he'd hit a brick wall. Happy had forced him to leave. Told him it was time for the funeral. That even Angela would've wanted him to be there for Sack. He knew he was right, but it didn't stop the anxious feeling in his gut that told him he should be doing more. That, as much as he loved Sack, this was a waste of precious time. The longer he was away from the laptop, the farther away they could be getting.

He'd run into Skeeter on his way in. Had the same conversation with him that he seemed to be having with everyone. No, he didn't know where she was. Yes, he was going to find her. He made it clear to Skeeter not to go to the police with her disappearance. Tara hadn't told Hale about Angela being with Abel. It would've made her an accomplice since she'd gone willingly. No one else had asked where she was. Not Hale, not Stahl. The club kept talking about finding Abel. Over and over it was about finding him. No one in the club other than Hap and Koz seemed to give a shit about finding Angela. She was collateral damage at this point. Not even Jax had said anything, and he was supposed to be her friend.

With a sigh, he walked outside of the funeral home with the rest of his brothers. He was anxious to get back to work, and it was a long drive to Oakland. Sure, he could continue working from their house in Charming, but it felt weird to be there without her. Her absence made his heart ache so much it hurt. It was an overwhelming feeling that made it hard to pay attention to anything else, and he needed to focus on finding her.   

He was so wrapped up in his head, he didn't see the black van roll in or the door slide open. Barely heard the gunshots until Happy literally pushed him to the ground as he crouched down himself. The shots were over before he knew it. Juice jumped to his feet, his heart racing as he looked around.

Happy gripped his shoulder tightly. "You whole?"

He looked down at his torso, patting himself down knowing adrenaline could mask pain. "Yeah. 'm good. You?"

He only nodded before he was gone, sprinting towards where Jax was beating the shit out of one of the shooters. Hale lay lifeless in the middle of the street, his head caved in. Juice was aware of people screaming and crying, but all he felt was numb. He understood why Jax had gone crazy; he'd finally unleashed all the anger he'd had pent up inside of him. Juice couldn't blame him. He'd do the same thing if given the opportunity. He waited until things calmed down before discreetly heading to his bike. He was over the whole ordeal. He had to get back to Elena's house. Back to his search before the tiny lead he had became useless.

~'~'~'~'~'~~'~'~'~'~'~~'~'~'~'~'~~'~'~'~'~'~~'~'~'~'~'~

Angela shivered as the rain soaked through the sweatshirt she'd been wearing for the past four days. It was Juice's sweatshirt, and the smell of him had just started to fade. The rain brought it back a little, especially as she pulled the hood over her head. They'd spent the last four days on the run. Cameron had treated her and Abel both with the utmost kindness. Feeding them and making sure Abel had what he needed. It didn't change the fact that he locked her in the trunk of some piece of shit car when he was doing his errands, making sure he took Abel with him to keep her from running. Always with a threat of hurting Abel should she try to run to get help. They'd taken a train to Vancouver with the forged passports he'd gotten them. God, she hoped Juice found her note with her and Abel's fake names. That had to help in someway way. At the train station, she'd noticed every camera and made sure to stare straight down the lens. Maybe Juice could access the cameras, maybe it'd help them find them. Once in Vancouver, they'd stayed one night in a shitty lodge in Canada. Cameron had given her and Abel the bed, but he slept in front of the door. At some point, he'd bought some zip-ties and used them frequently to ziptie her hands together. Make sure she didn't run. Her wrists were raw from where the plastic dug into them. It didn't matter. Abel was okay. Well fed and well taken care of. That was all that mattered to her at this point.

Somehow, Cameron arranged for them to get on some cargo plane that definitely wasn't made to hold passengers, let alone a baby. Cameron had spun some story about how she was an illegal immigrant, and they were escaping before they could deport her. She went along with it. Feigning that she didn't speak English so she wouldn't have to talk. Either the pilot was stupid and believed Cameron, or Cameron had given him enough money that he just didn't give a shit.

And now they were in fucking Ireland of all places. Under any other circumstances, she would have loved to see the country. As a captive, she just noted it was cold and dark. Depressing as fuck. She walked quickly to follow Cameron, who was holding Abel closely to his chest as he did anytime they were in transit. It was a smart move; if she had been able to hold him with any kind of freedom, she would've made a break for it a long time ago. But she wasn't going to try to escape without Abel. Cameron had already made it clear that if she ran, he'd kill the baby. While she didn't necessarily believe him, she wasn't willing to gamble Abel's life like that.

She kept her head down as she followed Cameron until he finally headed up a set of stairs on the side of a brick building. He knocked gently, and the door opened a crack revealing a blue eye and some blonde hair. Cameron pleaded with whoever it was to let him in. A blonde woman swung open the door, allowing them to enter. Angela felt her cold blue eyes on her, scrutinizing her every move as she let her inside. The woman glanced back at Cameron. "What's goin' on, Cammy? What's all this?"

"I messed up, Mo," Cameron answered, his voice shaking. "They killed my Eddy. Had to do somethin'. Couldn't just let them skate by. This is her grandson. A son for a son."

The woman, Mo, didn't looked as panicked as she should have at hearing about the abduction, which put Angela a little on edge for some reason. Was this type of thing normal for her? It couldn't be. Still, the woman was taking it in stride. Mo nodded towards her. "And her?"

"Angela. She's an Old Lady. Old man saved my life," Cameron explained, shaking his head. "Came to take care of the babe. Wouldn't let me leave with him without her."

So this Mo had club ties, otherwise she wouldn't understand the term 'Old Lady'. That would be why she didn't even blink at Cameron's confession. "He's not yer baby then?" she asked, still looking unsure.

"No," Angela answered, her voice a quiet rasp that felt unfamiliar to her own ears. "Someone had to take care of him."

Mo nodded slowly, taking it all in. "Looks like ye could use a shower and some clean clothes," she stated, pushing away from the table. "I'll show ye to the bathroom. Think I may have some clothes that'll fit while these are in the wash."

While Angela appreciated her kindness, she wasn't about to let Abel out of her sight. She'd already come this far in her dirty clothes and one real shower at that shitty hotel; she wasn't about to abandon Abel now. "I'm good."

"Wasn't an ask. Need some alone time."

"Could use some sleep. The both of us," Angela said, taking Abel from Cameron's arms and holding him close. Abel snuggled into her neck, clinging to her shirt with a soft coo. Holding him relaxed her some. At least he was safe. Her crazy act of following after him hadn't been for nothing.

"Okay," Mo replied with a dip of her head. She led her back into the house, opening the door to a small bedroom with a pathetic looking twin bed pushed into a corner and nothing else. She lay Abel down on the mattress before sitting down on the edge of the bed. To her surprise, Mo pulled out a pair of handcuffs with a long chain connecting the cuffs. She attached one to the bed frame before holding out a hand. "Safety precaution. You understand," Mo explained as Angela set her wrist in her hand.  Mo frowned at the angry red skin already there from the zipties. She shook her head, making sure the metal restraints weren't tight enough to hurt. "Get you some bandaids for that later. You or the babe need anything, let me know."

Angela nodded, thankful the chain was long enough to allow her to move somewhat. The notion that she wasn't the first person that had been shackled in the room passed through her head. Where the hell was she? What the hell kind of gang was Mo associated with that kept people chained to a bed often enough that the restraints were easy to find?

With a sigh, Angela tried to push those thoughts away as she lay down next to Abel, moving a protective arm around his belly. "We're gonna be okay, Abie," she said, feeling a lump rise in her throat. For the first time, she had a feeling she wasn't going to be okay. They'd made it to their final destination. There was nowhere else to go. She was either going to live long enough for Juice to find her or die protecting Abel. She silently prayed Juice find what little clues she left and work his magic to find them. Otherwise, she didn't know how she was going to get out of this mess.

~'~'~'~'~'~'~~'~'~'~'~'~'~~'~'~'~'~'~'~~'~'~'~'~'~'~~'~'~'~'~'~'~
Bit of a filler, but I'm getting somewhere!

Please let me know what you think!!

Had a crap day at work so any love you could send my way would be much appreciated!!
💜