Always in My Head - An SOA Fan Fiction

Chapter 29

With the kids already in the car Mae stood at the doorway with an overly toothy smile for Opie. She was anxious about his decision, how it would really play out during their day to day. It was dangerous life, no doubt, but she knew how much he loved the club. Mae knew in the beginning what she was getting into and she accepted it. Leaving just seemed so strange to her but strange didn't exactly mean she didn't like it. She watched as he pulled out of the driveway, without his cut on, to take the kids to school and take care of his business.

She shut the door and leaned her back against it as she looked at the now empty house. "Jesus, I need a job… or a baby." Pressing the palm of her hand over her stomach she tried to ignore the strange tingly sensation in the crook of her elbow. "Don't," she clenched her fists. "Don't even think about it. Where would you go to buy anyway?" Mae laughed at herself as she continued to talk herself down aloud. "You don't need it."

Pouring herself some coffee, caffeine always helped, Mae decided to busy herself with some job searching. Just as she sat at her laptop, there was a light knock at the door. "Figures," she groaned as she walked toward the door. She made a mental note to stop talking to herself before it started getting really weird. "Who is it?" She asked, peeking out the peephole to see David Hale, she wasn't nearly as angry as the last time he showed up at the house uninvited. "Everything okay?" She opened the door.

"Yeah," he stepped over the threshold with a small smile. "I wanted to talk to you, about what happened."

Mae shook her head, she didn't want to talk to him about it. As often as he was sweet and understanding, he could be caustically judgmental and she hated the look of disapproval he gave her when she mentioned Opie. "I'm good, Dave. Things are getting better. Time heals all wounds, as they say."

Any healing she'd done was about it be instantly reversed by the news but Dave had no choice. She needed to be safe and she wasn't, he had proof of that now. "That it does. Ope at TM?"

"Eventually he'll be there, he had to drop the kids off and then he stopped up at the mill."

When she spoke he had just started to pull the folded up phone records out of his pocket but stopped, surprised. "Why the mill?" Luisa's last call had been to the clubhouse, Dante's was more specific, he called Jax Teller. That itself didn't tell them much except that they both needed to contact the SAMCRO VP during the time of the kidnapping.

Opening her mouth to speak Mae quickly shut it, unsure if she should say anything. "Well, I don't know if I should tell you, honestly."

"It's off the record, just between friends. What's he doing at the mill?" Dave knew Opie was either attacking meth dealers or something much more interesting.

They sat at the table and Mae shrugged as she shut the lip of her computer. "Getting his old job back, actually." Her chest puffed out with pride as she said it. "Yesterday he and Jax," she stopped herself from going further. "They talked and he decided to step back from the SAMCRO and TM."

He knew. Opie knew that Jax was involved somehow and he was finally man enough to do what he had to. "Well, that's great, Mae. I'll bet you're thrilled. I'm happy for you."

"You don't have to lie. I know you aren't happy about anything involving Ope."

"No, I am, really. It's safer for you, at least I know he's taking care of you if I can't."

Looking up over her mug she pouted. "Please don't say those things."

"I'm sorry." He still wanted to tell her, obviously Opie hadn't, but what purpose would it serve? She'd only get upset, more so than he could see she already was. Maybe if Opie didn't know or wasn't making moves to ensure her safety he could find a valid reason to tell her but that wasn't the case, at least it didn't seem to be. "Are you okay?" He pulled her hand toward him and stretched her hand across the table. She winched but was happy to show him she hadn't relapsed.

"I'm making it." Her phone went off but Mae was quick to silence the call and turn the phone screen side down. "I'm moving in here." With an apologetic smile she took her hand back from him.

"Oh," he wasn't surprised but it stung. "I didn't realize you two were that serious," he joked under his breath. "Good news, I guess?"

"Yes, it is. Everything is finally coming together and this sucks to have to say, Dave but I have to. I want to be friends with you, especially now that he'll be off your radar. I'd like it but there needs to be boundaries, because of everything. You understand, don't you?"

And that was that, Dave was effectively removed from her life with those words. She could claim friends all she wanted and honestly mean it but he knew that would never happen. "Of course I understand." He stood and smoothed his shirt as he showed himself to the door. "Take care, Mae."

---

It wasn't the plan but Opie decided the mill would be a better place to start the day, if he couldn't work there he'd have to rethink everything. The guys were all friendly enough as he came and went rather quickly. A hard laborer like Opie who didn't burn bridges was always welcome back and the foreman told him so right away. It really helped give him the confidence he needed to go and talk to Clay and eventually Jax.

"Where's your cut, son?" Piney asked, deeply troubled by Opie's lack of leather as he walked with an obvious purpose toward the clubhouse.

"In the garage at home, are Clay and Jax here?"

"What's going on?" It was a threatening tone that Opie knew all too well and even as a grown man it still scared him. "What are you doing?"

"Pop, I'm taking some time away. I gotta focus on my family before it falls apart." Despite their lovely talk the night before Mae was still fragile, he could still feel her sorrow and loneliness. It might not have been the full reason but it was enough.

Conflicted wasn't a strong enough word to describe Piney's feelings but he couldn't deny his pride. "Be a man," he nodded "Take care of your shit."

"That's what I'm trying to do."

Opie walked away with a small smile and comfort in knowing Piney had his back. Looking for Clay and Jax as he lumbered into the clubhouse he found the former first. "Can I get a minute?"

"Sure, chapel?"

"Is Jax here?" He asked as they entered the room alone and took their usual seats. "I want to talk to him too, after this." Clay wasn't stupid, he knew something was up the moment he saw Opie didn't have his cut on. His initial reaction was of course what had happened to Donna but there was much more to it now, Opie just wasn't sure he'd be explaining all of that.

"He should be around, somewhere. I guess this means you changed your mind?" He spoke through a clenched jaw as he lit his cigar.

"I need to put some distance here, Clay. The club is hurting my family, my kids lost their mom and now there's so much going on I can't put the time in at home to fix shit. Mae is," he shook his head. "I don't want to patch out. I just need to work with them and find a way to deal with the club's hand in the damage."

There was no argument Clay could ever make to change Opie's mind and that was without the compounded truth of Jax's lies. He nodded slowly along with every word, it was shocking that he lasted this long after the truth came out. "You take all the time you need, brother. We want you in this club, you're one hell of an asset but you need to get right with some things, I get that. I want you to be in it 100% and until you can do that I support whatever you need to do to get there."

"Thank you," Opie leaned forward with a relieved smile. "I really appreciate it."

"You want me to call Church?"

"Nah," he shook his head. "My old man knows and I'm going to talk to Jax myself but you can tell the others. I don't need that noise making shit any worse." As Opie stood, Clay stayed in his spot. "You know where he is?"

"Check TM, but no I don't know." Opie walked to the head of the table and as he moved to shake Clay's hand the older man finally stood and pulled him into a rough, manly hug. "Hope you come back around soon, Ope. We'll always be here."