Victoria Rollins runs the diner in Charming for her uncle. When the Sons stop in one day, she notices a new face among the leather. Tig Trager is new to Charming and soon becomes best friends with the feisty redhead. Everyone around them can see tha...
A/N: There are going to be a lot of time jumps in the first bit of chapters for this story, just so that we can get the lay of the land and see the relationship between Vic and Tig.
Vic leaned against her desk once again and watched as David fidgeted on his feet, clearly trying to figure out what he wanted to say. Finally, he sighed and looked over at her, a small smile on his face.
"Vic, I know that you don't want or need my advice, but... SAMCRO is not a group to get involved with."
Vic nodded before she shrugged. "I know what SAMCRO is, David. I've lived here all of my life and I know what they do for the town." He started to protest but she held up a hand. "I know that they aren't always on the right side of things, but Tig's my friend, and you should know me well enough by now to know that I don't disregard friendship because of popular opinion."
David sighed and nodded. "I know that Vic, but Alex Trager is probably the last person that you want to be close friends with. Besides one of the nomads that come and go with the club, Tig is the most dangerous."
Vic nodded. She'd figured that much out on her own. You have to have a little bit of danger in you to be a Sergeant At Arms since they were usually the first ones to face a threat. She smiled at David. "I know what he is, and I think that maybe someone like that, especially someone like that, needs one person that they can be themselves with, that isn't looking to them to fix things or change them. Someone that won't judge them."
David nodded as he turned to the door. "Well, you seem to have your mind made up. I just wanted to throw my opinion out there. I would hate to see you get hurt just because of the people you align yourself with."
Vic watched him walk out of her office and pushed herself up from the desk. She thought that it was sweet of David to be worried about her, but she really didn't think anything bad would come of her association with Tig.
Saturday evening found Vic where she always was, behind the counter of the diner, ringing up a sale. The door opened and a young man walked in, looking around before he spotted her and came her way. He smiled shyly and nodded to her as he sat down at the counter.
"I'm Half-Sack... well, Kip. Tig and Bobby had to take a run at the last minute but Tig sent me to take you to the concert. He didn't want you to miss it because of his work."
Vic smiled at the young man as she spotted Tabby eyeing him from the other end of the room. Her grin turned devious and she nodded as Tabby made her way to where they were. "Kip, I appreciate that, but really it's not necessary. I have plenty to do here to keep me busy for the evening, but... " She looked up and motioned to Tabby to join them. "We aren't busy tonight, so why don't you take Tabby?"
Tabby smiled at Kip and nodded. "I'd love to go if you want to."
Kip shook his head as he looked at both women, clearly liking the idea but not wanting to face the wrath of the SAA. "I don't know... "
Vic waved him off with a grin. "Don't worry about Tig. He won't bother you about it. Go, have fun."
Kip smiled then, nodding as he stood up while Tabby took off her apron and put in behind the counter. "Well, if you're sure... "
Vic chuckled and nodded. "I am. You two go have fun."
She grinned as Earl joined her at the counter, watching the young couple practically run out the door. Earl shook his head and chuckled. "Tig's not gonna like that, ya know. He wanted you to go out and have some fun."
Vic grinned at the older man. "He'll survive. Let's get these orders out to the tables."
Two days later, Tig walked into the diner, ready to light into Vic for blowing off the concert, but he didn't see her anywhere. Instead, there was an old man behind the counter, barking orders and generally being a pain in Tabby and Earl's asses. He frowned at Tabby.
"Where's Vic?"
Before Tabby could answer, the old man did, glaring at Tig. "She called off today. Probably won't be in tomorrow either."
Tabby rolled her eyes before looking at Tig sadly. "Her cat died. She's taking it pretty hard."
The old man, snorted, shaking his head. "It's a damn cat, not a kid! She needs to get her priorities straight!"
Tabby glared at the old man. "He was all she had, Frank." She looked at Tig. "After Jake left, she found Roscoe sitting on her front porch one morning. She said it was like a sign from God, that he sent the cat to her so she wouldn't have to be alone." She wiped at her eyes and sighed. "I think this is worse than when Jake left her, Tig."
Tig cursed under his breath before nodding. "What's her address?"
Tabby gave it to him and he left the diner, calling Bobby to tell him he'd be out of reach for a while, and that he would call him when he knew more. He roared out of the lot and it didn't take him long to make it to the outskirts of town. His frown deepened as he noticed the general disrepair of the houses in the area, his worry ratcheting up when he passed a house that he knew to be Darby's.
When he pulled into the driveway of the address Tabby had given him, he shook his head and muttered to himself. This shit wasn't going to fly. His Vic wasn't going to continue to live next door to Darby in a house that looked ready to cave in on itself. He knocked on the door but his gut told him to try the knob. To his frustration, the front door was unlocked. He pushed it open and walked in, intent on finding out where Vic was.
