IT WAS THE MIDDLE of the day when more and more cars filled the lot. Women and children got out, heavy bags slung over their shoulders as they were greeted by the members and escorted inside. Wives, mothers, childrenᅳ anyone close to a son.

Jax watched the whole thing from one of the picnic tables, preparations for the lockdown in full swing, a cigarette hanging between his lips, the smoke dancing lazily in front of his face while Tara and Lyla looked after their kids and the other children inside to take some of the work off the upset mothers.

He looked at his phone again, sighing deeply and frowning as he read the new message from his little sisterᅳ half-sister to be exact, but he didn't make a distinction.

'I told you I couldn't come. I'll be fine, Jaxᅳ stop worrying. Take care of yourselves and give me updates, hear me? Love you.'

"No chance?" Chibs appeared behind Jax, the wood of the table creaking as he sat down next to the blonde and fished a cigarette out of his crumpled pack. "Ye' kno' we can just get her. Or we call Lee t' send a prospect from Tacoma."

"Nah, she'll flip if I send someone she doesn't know to keep an eye on her", Jax replied with the slightest of grins, knowing how much Randi hated having strangers around. "But we have to do something, we can't just risk something happening to her."

Being the daughter of the former Pres, the sister of the new Pres and the former Old Lady of the Tacoma Killer made Randi a target. Enemies would know that they would hurt the club by using SAMCRO's princess as leverage, maybe even harming her. And if they did enough research, they knew Randi existed.

"No, we can't, yer' right abou' that." If there was one thing Chibs didn't want, it was for something to happen to the young woman, the younger Teller, just like Jax, just as important to him than his own child. "Clay didn't get through t' her either?"

"No, not even Clay", the blonde sighed before flicking away the rest of his cigarette and straightening up. "I'll talk to Mom, maybe I'll head up there myself."

"Aye, but yer' not drivin' alone, Jackie", Chibs insisted sternly. "It's not safe right now."

"I know, brother", Jax nodded curtly and slapped Chibs' back before strolling towards the office to talk to Gemma. With a small smile, he leaned in the doorway, his hands deep in his pockets, as he watched his mom for a while, the matriarch engrossed in her work. "You know there are no customers coming in the next few days, right? Stop workin' and sit down with Tara and Lyla."

Gemma, her head still hovering over the paperwork, just waved her hand. "I need a distraction, otherwise I'll go crazy worrying about your stubborn sister."

Jax sighed, pushing himself off the doorframe to walk towards his mother, placing a hand on her shoulder once he stood behind her. "She just doesn't want to lose her job, can't you understand that?"

"Understand?" Snorting, Gemma put down the pen, jerking her head towards Jax. "She knows we don't call a lockdown unless it's really necessary! And she has the nerve to just tell me that she'll be fine. No job can be so important to!"

"Stop it", Jax warned, yet with a certain softness in his tone. With slow steps he sauntered to the small couch where he plopped down. "You know exactly how much this job means to her; dancing was all she's ever done, all she's ever wanted to do."

Gemma let out a huff, bracing her hands against her hip after she stood up. "You think I don't know that, smartass? I'm her mother, Jackson. And I'm happy for her, believe it or notᅳ but she has to come home, at least until the lockdown's over. Shit's getting serious and I'm not taking the risk of my babygirl getting hurt or worse."

"Aight", Jax nodded slowly, understanding where his mother was coming from, worry etched info his own features. "What if I head up there, stay with her until this is over? Tara and the boys are going to be safe here with you guys."

"Or", Gemma trailed, drumming her fingernails against the surface of the table after she had sat down on it. "We send Happy."

"No, Mom, stop it", the blonde warned again, followed by a deep, tired sigh as his mother just innocently shrugged her shoulders. "We can't do that to Hap, you know he's still not over her, not even close. It'll just rip open old wounds. And Randi's gonna rip out god damn heads off if we do that."

"Or their love is rekindled when they spend time together alone. Randi's gonna realize that she's still in love with him", Gemma lifted her hand as Jax was about to interrupt her. "I know she still loves him, I can hear it in her voice every time I mention him. So, why not?"

"Okay, even if she still loves him", Jax' voice dropped low just in case someone would walk by. "It still won't work out between them. His life is here, her life is in Seattle now. As much as I hate that she's so far away, she finally lives her dream."

Gemma waved her hand, lifting a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "She can't be that happy, Jax. She's got no one up there, not even a single friend. Her family is here, the man she lovesᅳ I don't buy this 'mom I'm really happy here' bullshit from her."

"Whatever, I'm not sending Hap up there", Jax said, his final decision made, which earned him a slightly annoyed look from his mother; but he didn't care, he wasn't going to hurt his brother on purpose just because they all wanted them back together. "Tell Clay to meet me in Church later, first I wanna talk to Tara about this."

ᅳ

CLAY LEANED BACK IN HIS CHAIR, his brow furrowed in thought. "And you're sure that's safe enough? It would be better if she came here, son."

"Yeah, maybe, but you know how stubborn she is. I can try to convince her to come back to Charming with me", Jax shrugged his shoulders, the only solution he could think of. "But I can't take her against her will, that would only drive her away from us."

"Yeah, I know", Clay grumbled, rubbing his chin with a sigh. Randi had definitely inherited her stubbornness from both Gemma and him. "And you takeᅳ"

Clay was interrupted by gunfire. Bullet after bullet pierced the walls, screaming and panic echoing through the clubhouse. With a quick movement, Jax dragged the older man to the ground, crossing the room close to the ground and then storming out of Chapel.

"Stay down", he hollered in Clay's direction before pushing past the panicked crowd, women and children getting shielded from other members. "Tara!"

No answer, not even when he yelled her name again over the loud shots and the breaking of windows and other things. He spotted Gemma, her body bent over Abel and Thomas', his younger son crying while Abel just clung to Gemma's arm, his eyes wide with fear.

Tig, his piercing blue eyes filled with rage and anger, looked around, his gaze sharp as he shielded Gemma's body with his so that in a bullet would hit him first instead of Gemma or the kids.

"Has anyone seen my wife?!" Jax yelled into the crowd, but apart from a few headshakes he got no answer, everyone too scared to even think clearly. "Fuck!"

Panic gripped him as he continued to search the room. Chibs was with Lyla, pushing her and Ope's children into a safe corner, the others were with their own Old Ladies and families. But Tara was nowhere.

"Jax, over here!" It was Bobby frantically waving him over, and Jax' eyes grew wide with fear.

Bobby sat on the floor next to the door, his hands pressed down to Tara's stomach. Blood seeped past them anyway, dripping from his wrists onto the sticky wooden floorboards, Tara's shirt already soaked in the red liquid.

Jax' heart sank as he slid to his knees, cupping Tara's face into his shaking hands, his wife barely able to keep her eyes open. "Hey, stay awake, you hear me? You can't do this to me, babe."

Happy, Quinn, and two others rushed past him, their guns clutched firmly in their hands as they rushed outside, firing shots. It took a moment, but the gunfire finally stopped and the loud screeching of tires drifted into the distance as Jax felt like he couldn't breathe anymore.

"Chibs, I need you over here", Jax hollered as everything went silent for a moment, his blue eyes covered with a layer of unshed tears as Tara wrapped her fingers gently around his wrist.

"I need a hospital", she croaked, no judgement or anger in her voice, just fear. "You're taking care of the boys, you hear me? No matter what happensᅳ"

Jax shook his head, sniffling as he rubbed his thumbs over Tara's cheeks. "Don't even say it, babe. You'll be fine, I promise."

"Jesus Christ." Chibs took Bobby's place on the floor while Bobby already had his phone pressed against his ear and was calling an ambulance, the sirens of several police cars already blaring in the distance. "This is heavy, Jackson. If I do something now, I might make it worse."

"Oh my god", Gemma exclaimed, shielding the boys' view so they couldn't see their mother bleeding on the floor. "Tig, take the boys to mine and Clay's room, stay with them!"

The man with the dark curls hesitated for a moment, but his hands were already placed on the boys' shoulders. "Gemᅳ"

"Now, Tig", the matriarch barked before rushing to her son and Tara, but her scrutinizing gaze searched the clubhouse for Clay. She breathed a sigh of relief as he rushed out of Chapel and in her direction. "Oh, thank God, you're okay."

"I'm fine, baby. Are you?" Clay grabbed Gemma's shoulders, looking his wife up and down. He pulled her into a short hug, holding her tightly before he also saw what was going on. "Jesus Christ, this can't be true. The bastardsᅳ"

"We have one of them", Happy shouted as he and Quinn came back into the clubhouse, his gun pressed firmly against the back of the stranger's head, whom he pushed in front of him. "What do you want me to do with him?"

"Hide him, good. The cops are already on their way", Clay grumbled while Gemma sank to the ground next to Jax and placed her hands firmly on Tara's wound. "And then we'll let the bastard suffer. But not until we've taken care of everyone."

Happy nodded briefly, his answer just a low grunt as he was about to push the stranger further across the room and to the back of the clubhouse. But when Jax called out his name, he stopped abruptly and turned around.

He felt for his brother, his hard, unreadable gaze immediately softening when he saw the sheer panic in Jax' eyes, the man still holding his wife in his arms. If that was his Old Lady, Happy would lose his mind just as muchᅳ and for that alone he was willing to make the fucker in front of him suffer.

"What do you need, Pres?", he asked in a rasp while the other members around him tried to settle the chaos and take care of their families.

"I can't leave here right now", he said seriously, not ready to leave Tara alone right now. She needed him and he needed to know that she'd be okay. "I need you to check on Randi, stay with her until it's safe again. Please, Hap."

Jax trusted everyone in this room with his sister's life, but Happy was on a whole different level. Calculated, brutal and when it came to Randi, no matter how painful their break up had been, the killer would protect her with his life.

And that's why Jax wasn't surprised when Happy didn't even hesitate for a moment, instead he just nodded firmly. "I'll make sure nothing happens to her."

"Thank you", Jax replied sincerely as the first cops stormed through the door, causing a new kind of chaos.

Happy discreetly pushed the guy in front of him to the back of the clubhouse, threatening the man that he would find and kill his family if he said a word to the Cops. The SAA didn't know how the next few days would go, what it would be like to see Randi again for the first time in over a yearᅳ but he would sure as hell make sure that nothing happened to the woman under his watch, as much as he dreaded their first encounter.

word count; 2165