Always in My Head - An SOA Fan Fiction

Chapter 28

Opie spent little time reassuring his family they were safe and more refusing to explain to Mae what happened. She worried obsessively as he kept quiet, even quieter than usual, and stayed out back to avoid them for the rest of the day. Surprisingly he joined them for dinner, Chinese takeout, but it was an extremely awkward meal. He sat, zoned out, and tried to make sense of everything that Jax had admitted to earlier. When the kids left the table Mae attempted to start some kind of conversation between them but he shut her down. Quickly, he cleared the table and headed out into the yard with a few beers and his cigarettes where he stayed for hours.

"I'm going to bed." She said as she poked her head out the door. "And I want you to come with me."

"I'll be up soon," he said, absentmindedly. "Goodnight."

Taking a few pained steps out, her bare feet squishing the grass as she walked, Mae shook her head, not that he was even looking at her. "No, you'll be up now Harry. I want to talk, we have to talk." It was unsettling to see him staring at the corner where Salazar had been killed, it would have been worse if she knew why he was so obsessed with it. Jax couldn't even let him kill Salazar, it figured really.

With a huff and a dramatic sigh, he nodded and left the table littered with his empty bottle and cigarette butts. Normally she would have chastised him and made him straighten it all up but right now Mae just wanted him with her. She took his hand and led him up the stairs and right into the bedroom.

"What do you want to talk about?" He pulled his shirt off first then helped her raised hers up over her head, any arm extension was extremely painful for her as her ribs continued to heal. "Are you okay?"

"No, but neither are you and that's what I want to talk about." She looked up at him in just her shorts and bra with sad, pouty lips. "Please, talk to me. What happened?" Her aqueous blue eyes were glistening with tears in the dimmed light, disarming him in an instant.

"The third man, he's dead. I just had a lot going on and I needed to think. I'm sorry if I was a dick."

"You weren't, you were just gone and it scared me." Tenderly she reached up a bit and winced as she pet his cheek. "Was he here?"

"Yeah, I caught him out front watching the house, forced him out back and me and Jax handled it." He could see the fear in her eyes. "He was actually here to talk to me, not to hurt you. I'd never let that happen, not again. It's done now, Mae."

She smiled and nodded, resting her head on his chest and took a moment to enjoy in the feeling of safety. "I'm sorry, Ope. I never got to apologize for, you know." Mae looked at her stomach.

"Don't you dare apologize." He tilted her face up and could see the sadness and fear in her eyes. "It's not your fault, don't ever think it is."

Mae couldn't shake the guilt but she knew, logically, he was right. "I didn't know how much I wanted a baby before. I don't think I really did want one, until I met you."

He put a firm hand on her lower back and guiding her to bed Opie helped her finish undressing before easing her back onto the mattress. It took longer than usual for Mae to settle and find a comfortable position so he took the opportunity to strip down himself and when she finally found a spot Opie was quick to slip in next to her. Rolling onto his side, he leaned up on his elbow and looked down at her lovingly.

"We're going to have a baby, Mae. We weren't even trying and it happened, we'll have one." Hoping to make her smile he tucked her hair behind her ear and whispered close. "And we'll have a lot of fun trying."

It worked, Mae smiled, nodded, and even chuckled for a moment. "Yeah, we will." She wasn't even sure he wanted children before but hearing Opie so confidently say he did and they would made all the difference. It was one thing she could stop obsessing over but there was so much more going unsaid between them and it was only making her anxiety worse. "About earlier," she started, her eyes squinting as if he might be annoyed. "Before Jax came over, we were talking about something."