Always in My Head - An SOA Fan Fiction

Chapter 8

Mae was staring off, a blank look on her face, when Opie made his way through into the kitchen. He waved his hand inches from her nose with a goofy smile. "Hey," he bent down to look at her. She blinked a few times and gave him a halfhearted smile. "You should lock your door, Mae, it's not safe.

Not safe, seemed she hadn't been safe in a while no matter what she thought. "Yeah, you're right. Listen, we have to talk." She wasn't ready to bring up her conversation with David, nowhere near ready. Avoidance was key.

"We do, Mae, me and you..." She cut him off immediately.

"The kids were telling me you've been having a hard time, you've been in a bad mood and all. Said they spend a lot of time at the club. Ope, we talked about that, it's not a great environment for them."

Opie shook his head, what in the hell was going on in her mind? Just a few hours ago she wanted to talk about their relationship and now she was like some robot. "Mae, we can talk about them later, I think it's time to sort the shit between us."

"I don't want to, not right now." Sitting with her hands folded in front of her she pursed her lips. "This is serious, Ope. They're very upset. Your inability to connect with them is a problem that needs desperately to be rectified."

Angry and frustrated Opie huffed and rolled his eyes. Did she really think after everything she could turn it all off? "Don't shrink me, Mae. I'm not just some shitty dad or one of your fucking clients."

"No, you're not." She said calmly, trying to keep this from getting more intense than it already was. "But you're still a father and a good one when you want to be. Just because we didn't work out doesn't mean you get to give up trying with them. That's not fair."

Opie pulled a face, he didn't know where this was coming from. He barely knew who he was talking to. "You're goddamn impossible, Mae."

He stood now and began to pace around. The attitude was a testament to how strongly he felt, Opie never used such a tone with Mae. Before it seemed as though if he spoke too harshly she'd break but that wasn't the case anymore.

"Me?" She pulled a face, the slight pulled her out of her professional mindset. "This has nothing to do with me."

"It has everything to do with you." She tried to deny it but every word he spoke tore Mae down. She wanted him but at what cost?

"Fine." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Blame me if that makes you feel better."

"It doesn't, I tried."

"That's because you can't blame me. We didn't work out because you fucked that nasty bitch."

Now they were on opposite sides of the room as all their pent up emotion built to its breaking point. This was what they needed; the anger they didn't know had been building needed to be expressed.

"I fucked up but you know it wasn't that cut and dry. I can't change that Maelynn, I can only do better. I'm sorry, but this shit proves me right." Opie snapped. "This is about us, all this awkward bullshit, you're shutting down, pushing me away and using the kids to do it.

"This is about you and the kids." She was trying to keep on topic, Mae didn't think she was ready for more. "You worked so hard to fix your relationship with Kenny and Ellie, I know you did. I saw you change, you weren't scared, you did it and you were happy. Why just throw it away?"

"This isn't about them." There was no way he would believe Mae couldn't see it. How many times did he have to say it? "This is about us."

"How?" She was asking a question she didn't really want the answer to. "You can't just stop living because we broke up. You have responsibilities, a life, things you have to do."