Fourteen months earlier...
"Don't look so sad." Tig bumped Vanna playfully with his shoulder.
"I can't help it." She pouted. "You're gonna be gone for over a year."
"It'll go by super fast." Tig promised. His heart hurt knowing that Vanna was upset about his going to jail.
It had been a long time since he had anyone other than Gemma and the club to worry about him. It made him feel good and bad all at the same time.
"It'll be alright sweetheart, Opie and Gemma will look after you." Tig promised her.
But it didn't make Vanna feel any better.
She had been tagging along to SAMCRO parties with her croweater sister for a few months now. She and Tig had gotten really close in that time. He was like a fatherly older brother, he told her often that she reminded him of his own daughters and he took care of her. He fixed her car and various things around her apartment and Vanna made sure that Tig ate at least one non fast food meal a week and that his house wasn't always a total pig sty. He had became such a huge part of her life that she couldn't imagine spending the next fourteen months without him.
Jax sped into the lot of Teller-Morrow Automotive followed by a couple of police cars.
"Shit." Tig pulled the girl into his arms and squeezed her tightly. She grabbed his hand before he could join the rest of his brothers.
"Please be safe." She begged him.
"I will. Write me okay?" Vanna nodded.
Two Months Later...
Parties were few and far between at the SAMCRO clubhouse these days. With more than half of their club in prison no one felt much like partying. But everyone still seemed to gravitate towards the clubhouse on the weekends and Gemma insisted on having family dinners every other week to keep everyone together.
It was a Friday night and there were croweaters scattered around the clubhouse, hanging around the leftover members. With Tig Trager in jail Herman Kozik had finally been voted in as a patch member of SAMCRO and even though Gemma and Ope had called everyone to celebrate his patching Kozik didn't feel much like a party.
He and Trager had a rough history and he had stood in the way of Kozik patching over to SAMCRO before going to prison, so despite being glad to be a part of the mother charter of his beloved club it didn't feel right to Kozik. He really wished that Trager would forgive his past transgressions and move on already.
Vanna was curled up on a couch in the corner of the clubhouse she was reading a book, with her hair in a ponytail and her reading glasses perched on the tip of her nose she definitely stood out amoung the half-naked girls. But she couldn't handle being home alone. She didn't have much in the way of family, just her crazy sister and Tig. Sadly she felt more at home at the clubhouse than she did her own apartment most of the time. At least there was background noise at the clubhouse.
"Whose that?" Kozik asked a prospect.
"Vanna." He replied nervously.
"She an old lady?"
"Nope."
With that answer Kozik grabbed two beers and made his way towards the brunette.
"Hey. Wanna beer?" He asked her with a hopefuly smile.
"Uhm -" Vanna wasn't sure what to say.
"You can have the unopened one if you don't trust me." He said handing her a beer with the top still on.
"Oh it's not that." Vanna blushed. "I - I'm not a big drinker." she answered honestly.
"I see. Can I sit?" Kozik asked,
Vanna pulled her knees up to her chest to make room for Kozik on the couch.
"So you don't drink much, and you don't look like a croweater are you someone's old lady?" He asked putting her beer on the coffee table infront of her.
"No." Vanna replied.
"Then what are you doing in a place like this?" He questioned.
"See the half-naked brunette with her tits half out over there?" Vanna gestured towards another corner of the clubhouse.
"Yeah."
"That is my sister Lisa. She is a hot mess." Vanna explained.
"I can see that." Kozik laughed.
"I used to tag along and make sure that she didn't get into trouble, but I've been around the club long enough to know that she's in pretty good hands. No matter how many she ends up in before the end of the night." Vanna rolled her eyes.
"Kozik! C'mere man." Opie yelled.
"I'll be right back."
"Sup?" Kozik asked the acting president.
"Of all the girls in this clubhouse you have to pick that one?" Opie raised an eyebrow.
"What are you talking about?" Kozik was confused. "She said she wasn't an old lady."
"She isn't." Gemma spoke up. "But she's real close to Tiggy."
"Shit." He muttered under his breath.
"Are they you know together?" He questioned looking over his shoulder at Vanna who had resumed her reading.
"No. It's not like that." Opie replied.
"Vanna reminds Tig of his daughters. She cleans his house a few times a month and I'm pretty sure he's like a surrogate father. The way her sister burns through members of this club there's gotta be some daddy issues in that family." Gemma explained.
"I just wanted you to be aware brother." Opie told him.
"Thanks man." Kozik patted him on the back as he walked away.
Gemma shook her head as Kozik made his way back to Vanna.
"Sorry about that." He apologized.
"It's fine. The club comes first." She smiled closing her book.
"So I've not seen you around much." Vanna commented.
"Yeah I just patched over from Tacoma."
"That's cool. Wait Kozik... You're the one Tig is like eternally pissed at." She said suddenly realizing who he was.
"Yeah. He's damn good at holding a grudge." Kozik frowned hoping that his beef with Tig wouldn't push Vanna away. Something about the young brunette intrigued Kozik, he couldn't quite put his finger on it but he wanted to talk to keep talking to her.
"What the hell happened between you two anyway? Tig won't talk about it much." She asked.
Vanna had always wondered why Trager hated Kozik so much. That was one of the few things he wouldn't open up about.
"That is a long story..." Kozik said rubbing his neck.
"I've got time." She said sitting up eagerly. Aside from the fact that Vanna really wanted to know what the beef between the two men was. Kozik was cute. Especially when he smiled. He kind of reminded her of a hedgehog the way his blonde hell fell all over the place.
Kozik started to explain what had happened years ago to Vanna and after the story was over the two of them just kept talking. The next thing they new it was almost 2AM and the party had wound down and became more of a gross porn.
"Ewh." Vanna commented. There was a naked couple doing something on the pool table. She tried not to look long enough to figure out just what they were doing.
"Yeah it usually goes to shit after midnight." Kozik laughed.
"Tig usually takes me home before it gets, well like this." Vanna commented sadly. She really missed Tig, even though she knew if he wasn't on the inside she would've never got to meet let alone talk to Kozik for hours.
"Want a ride?" Kozik offered.
"I'm supposed to make sure my sister makes it home safely." Vanna answered then she looked around. "Fuck. Where the hell is she?" Her sister was MIA.
"She's probably shacking up with someone in the apartment. Let me take you home then I'll make sure she makes it home alright. Charming is pretty safe but I wouldn't feel right if I let you go by yourself at this hour."
"Okay sure." Vanna smiled, they had walked to the clubhouse anyway so a ride would be nice. There was a voice in the back of her head - that sounded strangely similar to Tig telling her that she needed to be careful. But she shook it off. She trusted pretty much any member of the Sons of Anarchy with her life. They were good guys. They had always been really good to her and her sister.She also really liked the idea of cuddling up to Kozik.
Kozik kept his promise and made sure that Lisa made it back to the apartment she shared with Vanna safely the next morning. Vanna rushed out to greet the blonde biker.
"Thanks." She smiled.
Lisa roller her eyes and stomped up the stairs.
"No problem. I don't think she's very happy." Kozik nodded towards her sister.
"Probably not." Vanna frowned and chewed on her bottom lip. Her sister was pissed, and she was gonna have to deal with that when she went back inside.
"If you need to get away later call me. I've gotta go check in at the clubhouse but I'm free most of the day." He grinned at her.
"Alright." Vanna smiled and handed him her cellphone so he could program his number into her contacts.
"See ya later." He said as he revved up his Harley.
"Bye." She called after him. Unable to wipe the idiotic smile off her face.
Vanna pulled herself out of her thoughts about Kozik and made her way back to her apartment and the reality of her pissed off sister.
"What the fuck is up with that shit? Are you a crow eater now?" Lisa spat the question at her sister as soon as Vanna walked in the door.
"No! He just kept me company last night, and when I expressed my concern for your safety he told me he would make sure you made it home in one piece." Vanna explained as she poured some Gatorade into a clean cup for her sister.
As much as she trusted that Lisa would be safe at the clubhouse or with a Son, the sisters lived on the very edge of Charming and their neighborhood wasn't always the safest place to be walking at night.
"So you fucked him."
Vanna rolled her eyes.
"No. I did not fuck him. We talked. Thats it. It is possible to simply enjoy conversation with a guy y'know!"
Lisa snorted. "Not with a Son."
"Just because you've sucked all of them off doesn't mean you know them!" Vanna told her sister through gritted teeth before storming out of the room.
She wasn't in the mood to deal with her sister. She missed Tig. He was usually where she went when Lisa was too much to handle. He listened and gave her fatherly advice and if he wasn't home sometimes she would just let herself in and clean. Something about scrubbing and the smell of lysol really calmed Vanna down. But Tig was in jail and Kozik had just left. It would seem ridiculously desperate if she called him so soon.
So she turned the hot water dial as far as it would go and took a long shower. Vanna hadn't been in the shower five minutes before Lisa was beating on the door.
"Don't use all the hot water! I have to take a shower before work!" She screeched. Vanna sighed and hurriedly finished her shower. She wrapped her hair in a towel and grabbed her makeup bag.
Lisa was tapping her foot impatiently in the hallway.