Father Knows Best

Chapter 18

With a small audience consisting solely of Jax and Opie, Amelia outlined her conversation with Roosevelt and how Abel seemed to be holding up during the few seconds she saw him. They were not impressed with any of the details; they either meant little or meant very bad things.

"This guy is gonna ride us," Opie remarked.

"No shit," Jax growled. "He already is."

"How straight of a cop is he?" Opie asked, seeing the files they'd pulled on Roosevelt on their kitchen table.

"From what we got on him," his rings tapped the table, "He's as straight as they come," Jax sighed.

Amelia nodded, "Yeah but maybe you guys don't know everything. There's rumors and work place gossip and shit," she looked eager to dig deeper into her hunch.

"No," Jax said quickly, his eyes narrowing on her.

"What?" Opie looked between them.

"I can talk to Hale," she said.

"No," Jax scolded. "He's getting the wrong idea with all these fuckin' chats, Meely."

"Jax," she spat, "You don't have to trust him, you just have to trust me." With her hands on her hips she cocked her head to the side, "Do you trust me?"

"Amelia, I trust you," Jax said firmly.

"Then what's the problem?" She asked forcefully.

"Shit, I'm outta here," Opie groaned, his eyes rolling far back into his head.

"No," she shook her head and relaxed her stance. "You two have work, I'm sure. I'm going to talk with David." Jax scoffed when she used his first name. "I'll be back as soon as I can.

Jax watched her leave with a dark expression. "If I knew I was gonna end up almost killin' a Hale it woulda been that fuckin' one."

Opie smirked, "Get over it. He's helped us and he doesn't even know it."

"Yeah," Jax rolled his eyes. "She's right though, we have work to do. We gotta push back on Roosevelt. Cover our tracks and ourselves."

--

Amelia spent a good amount of time with Dave. It wasn't necessarily just to get information or try to ease any tension or bitterness but also because she enjoyed talking to an old friend. Amelia would never admit it to anyone, most of all Jax, but she knew it was true and accepted it.

"I didn't know cops were ever that clean," she scoffed.

"I used to be," he said shamefully.

Amelia pouted, "Dave, don't do that shit. You're not a bad cop, you're not a crooked cop; stop the guilty pity party."

"We have much different definitions of good cops and bad cops," he said with a half smile.

"I never said you're a good cop," she laughed. "You're a shit cop, Dave, just not crooked."

Making a goofy face, he gave her a playful shove, "Funny."

"Can we get serious," she frowned deeply. "Again."

"You're gonna tell me again how the club had nothing to do with my brother?"

"Yeah," she hung her head. "You're not crooked but Jacob is, you know that David. How many people had reasons to go after him?"

"More than just the club," he admitted.

"Exactly," she touched his arm tenderly. "We can deal with the investigation, they're clean anyway, but I don't want to burn shit here for nothing."

He nodded, reaching behind him to grab his phone as it rang on the end table. "One second," he said quietly to her. "Hale."..."Jesus," he gasped. "Okay. Th-thank you."

"What?" She asked even before he ended the call and once he did she asked again. "Dave, what?"

"Jake died," he mumbled in disbelief.

Amelia covered her mouth, "Christ, Dave, I'm sorry."

"You should go," he spoke barely above a whisper. "Please."

"Of course," she stood to see herself out. "If you need anything-"

He cut her off, "Just go, please."

--

*The Next Morning*

"I'll call Jax to bail you out."

Alice and Abel's lawyer, Sanchez, gave them a supportive smile as he walked to the lobby to make the call. The city gave little warning about the hearing but Alice and Abel both decided to simply call Jax after. It felt like the adult thing to do, they didn't anyone to hold their hands even though Alice was scared and exhausted.

Passing Sanchez, Michael strolled in with a dark look on his face. When Abel glanced in his direction Michael nodded and kept eye contact with his cousin as he spoke to the receptionist.

"I've just been told your bail has already been posted," Sanchez informed them. "I didn't even get Jax on the phone before Michael Hale said he handled it."

"There's something else," Abel said as he glared at his cousin. "He ain't doing this out of the goodness of his heart."

"He doesn't have a heart," Alice said bitterly.

"Well," he sighed, "Motive doesn't matter in this instance."

"Guess not," Alice sighed. "I just want a shower and my own bed."

"You don't have to thank me," Michael appeared behind them. "My dad died last night and, well, guess I felt the need to reach out Abel. We are blood, despite everything."

"Uncle Jake died," he didn't know how to feel. "Shit."

"I'm sorry, Mike," Alice said sadly.

"Me too," he shrugged. "Now I just have to find who did it."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Sanchez said quickly. "I can give you two a lift," he offered Abel and Alice.

"Okay," Alice knew what he was doing. Sanchez was practically part of their family, however removed he had to be for his work, and he was working to keep the line drawn between them and Michael, mainly between Abel and his blood. "Again, Michael, I'm sorry about your dad." She grabbed Abel's hand and pulled him with her as she followed out of the building.

"I'm gonna stay with Michael," he said quietly. "Probably go to my Dad's too. Family," he said as some kind of explanation.

"Abel," Alice whispered. "You said he wasn't family, after everything."

He pulled an annoyed face, "Alice, his dad died."

"I know, but,"

"No buts, you don't understand. Your blood is  the club, you don't have the conflict."

Alice nodded, slightly offended but unsure why, and kissed his cheek softly. "I'm sorry for your loss, Abel," she said.

It felt like so much more than it sounded but Abel shook it off and followed Michael to his car while Alice went with Sanchez.

"Does it look bad?" She asked Sanchez.

"Yeah, looks it," he said casually. "Don't worry about it."

"You gonna tell my dad?"

"Are you?" He asked, opening the passenger side door for her.

"I have to," she sighed. 

"Good, if you didn't I would have but I'm glad you're doing the right thing," he smiled, shutting the door. 

"Yeah," she huffed in the silence of the car, "The right thing."