Spark in the Dark

Chapter 107

Juice tried to help the guys get ready for the exchange with the Russians, but he couldn't stop thinking about what Gemma had said. He needed to fix it, but how? He kept seeing the devastated look Shawn had after thinking that Juice considered her a Cro Eater. He had really sunk low to pull that on her and he felt ashamed of himself.

Once SAMCRO was ready to go, Juice stepped away from the others quickly and tried to call Shawn. He knew as soon as they got back, ATF would arrive to arrest them and then he'd be out of time. He cursed under his breath as he got her voicemail. He listened to her brief greeting, wondering if it would be the last time he heard her voice for another year or so. The beep pulled him from his thoughts and he panicked, unsure of what to say.

"Shawn," he said and tried to find the words. "We're, uh, we're leaving TM now. We'll be back in about two hours, but once we get here, ATF won't be too far behind. I... I'm sorry. Please come back to TM. Please, Shawn? I don't want to leave it like this. Hope I see you later. Bye."

* * *

Shawn left TM and headed to the studio even though it was her day off. She had left her laptop there the other night and decided to get ahead on some work from home. Once she finally got home, she dropped her purse, with her phone in it, on the kitchen island and went upstairs. She put in headphones and turned her music on, hoping to drown out the thoughts floating around in her head.

There were two sides fighting inside Shawn's mind at that moment. One side didn't think Juice could have possibly meant what he had said. Juice could never be that heartless, it wasn't who he was. The other side argued that he was a member of an outlaw MC and just because he had never showed her that side of him before, didn't mean it didn't exist. Shawn shook her head and turned the music up louder.

She worked on some editing while singing along to her music when one song in particular came on. It was one of Juice's favorites. They had danced to it in the bar at Yosemite. Shawn's eyes filled with tears and she pulled the headphones from her ears. She didn't want to, or just couldn't, think about him right then.

Shawn went down to the kitchen to get a bottle of water from the fridge. Shawn noticed the time and realized almost two hours had passed. She sat at the island and pulled her purse across the counter. Pulling her phone from the bag, Shawn saw she had a missed call and a voicemail. She pressed on the notification and saw Juice had tried to call her. Her heart did a hard thud and she pressed her phone to her ear to hear the message he had left.

His voice sounded nervous as he talked. He said they would be taken into custody again soon and he wanted her there. Shawn glanced at her phone to see when he had left the message and began to worry when she saw it had been two hours before. The guys would be back at TM by now and AFT could be there any moment to take them to jail. Shawn wasted no time grabbing her keys and rushing out to her car.

She drove as fast as she could on the main streets of Charming to get there and was realized that the guys were there, but no police were in sight. Shawn parked the car and got out. Tig saw her and headed in her direction.

"Hey, kid. What are you doing here? I thought we said good bye this morning?" Tig asked her.

"We did, but I... I..." Shawn tried to think of what to tell her father, but was distracted as police cars and a large armored truck pulled into the lot.

Tig pulled Shawn into a hug and she saw Juice for the first time. He was looking at her, his face relieved to see her. Tig pulled away and looked at her.

"I love you, Shawn. Go stand with Gemma. Don't get involved with anything about to happen, you hear? You don't need to get into any trouble." Tig walked away to stand with the guys and Shawn headed towards where Gemma, Lyla, and Tara were. She looked towards Juice, and he nodded at her to go. She took a spot next to Gemma and watched what was happening.

Stahl had gotten out of a car and was talking to Clay and Jax. Clay nodded to Tig and he and Juice opened one of the garage doors to reveal Tara's car. They opened the trunk and pulled a man out. The man was taken into ATF custody.

"How did you know he was here?" Clay asked.

"Because your VP made a deal," Stahl told him smugly. Shawn's eyes widened as she realized what that meant.

Jax had ratted. The members of SAMCRO began yelling. Gemma rushed towards them, trying to defend Jax, but no one listened. The ATF agents Stahl brought with her rounded up the guys as Shawn put her arms around Gemma to comfort her. An agent who was holding Juice put him up against a car and began to pat him down. He turned to look at Shawn longingly. She could see how sorry he was by the look in his eyes. She nodded at him to let him know it was okay. She knew he hadn't meant it. After they were all searched, the agents loaded the guys into the back of the armored truck, closed the doors, and pulled away from Teller-Morrow.