Author Note:

I'm sorry I couldn't get this out to you any sooner. You've all been so positive and encouraging in your responses, I'm extremely happy and glad that you have all taken to the story so well. Unfortunately, this is the final chapter - for now. I fully intend to continue the story after Season 2 has fully aired.

As promised in earlier chapters I will be doing a one-shot on how Charlie and Chibs first got together. I'm also working on a one-shot as to how Chibs became HalfSack's Sponsor.

Once again, thank you, and now on to the final chapter.

Chapter Nine: The Savior

Charlotte sat straight up in bed, woken by loud noises coming from outside. It took her a few seconds to realise that it was Tuesday and the waste bins were being collected. Looking over her shoulder she saw that Chibs was still sleeping soundly beside her, not even remotely bothered by the noise outside.

She couldn't get back to sleep so she grabbed her clothes from the following night that were gracelessly thrown around the room.

Seeing as it was only 8am no one else should have been up. Her car was parked out the front and if people saw it they'd ask questions which she didn't want to answer. After getting dressed she left the bedroom quietly.

The Clubhouse was quiet and Charlotte had escaped unnoticed. As she went to get in her car she found her doors were locked – she'd left the keys somewhere. She racked her brain to remember where she last had them. Entering the Clubhouse again she started to search the bar area, and spotted them on the floor near the cash register. Standing back up again she froze when Clay suddenly appeared on the other side of the bar.

Chibs woke up, disappointed that Charlotte had fled the Clubhouse already. He knew she was reluctant of going public but he didn't fully understand why. He knew he wasn't a poster boy for relationships, especially with a failed marriage already under his belt, but he wanted to really try hard at whatever it was that he and Charlotte had.

Glancing at his watch he saw it was coming up to 9am. He decided it was time to get up and wander outside, see what was going on and who was around and maybe get some work done.

The Clubhouse was eerily silent. After making a cup of coffee in the small kitchen Chibs turned and saw Clay leaning against the bar, arms folded against his chest, watching him.

"We need to talk." He commanded in a low voice.

"Sure." Chibs agreed, walking towards him.

He was surprised when Clay started to walk away from him and into the Church. He followed him in anyway, closing the door behind them. It seemed a little odd for just the two of them to be there alone.

"Sit."

Clay motioned to Tig's chair and as soon as Chibs sat down he could smell Charlotte's perfume. She'd been in the Church room too he guessed and not that many minutes before him either.

Ah, Christ.

There was only one thing this could be about. This was the big 'What Do You Think You're Doing With Charlotte?' speech. He'd been expecting it but not so soon or so early in the goddamn morning. Whilst he was relieved there would be no more sneaking around, he wished Charlotte had at least told him of her intentions, not just drop him in it with Clay.

"Clay-" Chibs started.

"I know I'm not the best father." Clay interrupted holding a hand up to silence Chibs further.

Chibs looked down into his steaming cup of coffee wondering where this was going.

"I know I'm not the best husband, either. But one thing I do know is that I'm the best President for Samcro, and I know I'm the best brother I can be to my guys."

Chibs chose to remain silent.

"If you and Charlie want to be together that's fine, I got no problem with that. But you lied to me. You lied to me as a brother and as your President-"

"Clay, I never lied to you-"

"But you kept shit from me." Clay leant forward and pointed a finger in Chibs' face.

"You think I wanted to keep this from you?" Chibs grew defensive. "It was all her idea, I just went along with it 'cause I-" He stopped short.

"'Cause what?" Clay pressed.

"'Cause that's what she wanted, and..." He trailed off and shrugged his shoulders, taking a sip of his coffee.

"And I guess I'd do anything for her." He finished, hating how soppy that sounded. This definitely wasn't the time nor place for that kind of thing.

"That's all I wanted to hear." Clay stood and Chibs followed suit.

"You do realise Gemma'll give you hell, right?" Clay smiled, patting Chibs on the shoulder.

After Clay had interrogated Charlotte in the Church (She knew it was coming, just not so soon or so early in the Goddamn morning) she went back to her house to shower and change her clothes before driving back to TM. She was heading over to Oakland to pick up the fridge she had ordered on the internet and needed an able bodied person to help her collect.

Putting the handbrake on her car she saw Piney storm out the Clubhouse, moving quicker than she had ever seen him move before, and get on his bike. Jax appeared a few seconds later and went to go and talk to him. Whatever he said didn't work and Piney pulled out the lot on his trike. Jax spoke to Half Sack who was loitering nearby and the Prospect got on his own bike and followed Piney out the garage.

Jax went over to Charlotte's car and she wound the window down.

"What you doin' here?" He asked.

"What was that about?" She asked, ignoring his question.

He shook his head and exhaled.

"Heard you spent the night."

"Yeah." She nodded. Nothing was ever a secret in the Club, and if it was, it wasn't for long.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Why didn't you say anything about Tara?" She countered.

"That's different."

"Is it?" She raised one eyebrow. Talk about double standards!

"Look, Charlotte, this life? Chibs is never going to give it up - never. You gotta be sure this is what you want. You gotta be sure that you're okay with him coming home at god knows what time in the morning, blood all over his face. You gotta be sure that you're okay with him dropping everything in a split second because we need him. Because the Club needs him."

Charlotte mulled it over for a few seconds. The truth was she was used to that shit happening. The guys would show up everywhere and anywhere with cuts and bruises they hadn't sported the day before. They dropped out of so many dinners and get togethers that often it was just Gemma and Charlotte left to eat enough food to feed a thousand.

"Jax, I wouldn't want it any other way.."

"I just don't want you to get hurt...like Donna."

He chewed his bottom lip, remembering Donna lying on the yellow sheeting, stone cold dead.

"You getting' soft on me Jackson Teller? You turning gay?" She teased.

"Shut the fuck up."

"Stop worrying, okay?"

"You know I'll always be here to pick the pieces up, right?"

"There won't be any pieces for you to pick up."

Jax nodded in understanding.

Everybody was busy at the garage and so consequently Charlotte drove to Oakland on her own. On the free way she spotted Half Sack amongst the traffic, and a few cars in front of him was Piney. So it seemed Piney had stormed off to Oakland, but why? What was in Oakland that needed his attention so urgently?

She was intrigued and followed Half Sack and Piney until they stopped outside a bar, cars belonging to the Niners littered all down the street. The two men talked briefly before Half Sack made a phone call and followed Piney into the bar. Charlotte took out her own phone and called Clay. She got no answer so called Jax.

"I'ma have to call you back." He answered.

"Did you know that Piney and Half Sack are in a Niner bar in Oakland?"

"Yeah." He paused. "Wait, you there too?"

"I'll keep an eye on them."

"Charlie-" He started but she'd already hung up.

"Charlie's in Oakland too." Jax announced.

"What she doin' there?" Chibs asked in disbelief.

"Go. Now." Clay ordered pointing to Chibs and Jax.

"Oi."

Charlotte felt someone grab her bare calf and pull her off the dumpster she was standing on. She was using the height to look through a small window, giving her a perfect view of the bar from the back. She stumbled backwards and yelped in surprise as she fell into Chibs' arms, Jax looking down at her.

"The fuck you doin', Nancy fucking Drew?"

"Keeping an eye on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle One Nut."

"Anybody see you?" Chibs asked her as they made their way back down the alleyway.

"No."

"Go wait in the car." Jax told her.

"Stay there this time." Chibs ordered, opening the car door and motioning his head for her to get in. Last thing he wanted was for her to caught up in a cross-fire if something went wrong inside the bar.

"But-"

Charlotte started to protest, but she knew she had no right to enter the bar with them. Whatever it was that was happening, they were right – she should stay in the car. After she sat in the driver's seat Chibs leant in and kissed her.

"Get outta here, 'kay?"

Charlotte arrived at the cemetery at 1.50pm, ten minutes before the service was due to start. Not that Charlotte intended to duck out of paying her respects, but she wasn't a fan of funerals and she didn't want to be there longer than necessary. She'd also been trying Jax's cell phone like crazy that morning. He wasn't picking up and nobody had heard from him. When Chibs had left earlier that morning to go to the Clubhouse he said he'd get Jax to ring her, but then he sent her a text saying Jax had been in a bust up with Tig the night before and nobody had seen him since.

Wonderful, she thought.

On one side of the coffin were Donna's friends, distant family, neighbours and work colleagues. On the other side sat Gemma, Wendy, and Mary with the kids, Donna's older sister Heather, a dark haired woman that Charlotte had never seen before, Tara, and then an empty space. None of the guys were there yet but she could hear the bike procession in the distance.

Gemma stood when she saw Charlotte and they hugged each other in greeting.

"Chibs, huh?" Gemma simply stated, one hand on her hip. "How's that going for you?"

"Good." Charlotte smiled.

Gemma always knew in the back of her mind that Charlotte would end up with someone either from the Club or very closely affiliated with the Club. She knew she wasn't interested in Juice or Half Sack, so she always imagined her getting together with a future member somewhere down the line. Never would she of imagined the person Charlotte would end up with would be somebody who was almost 20 years her senior.

"You know I'll be watching like a hawk." Gemma warned.

"Don't you always?" Charlotte laughed lightly, giving Gemma another hug.

"I'll be fine." Charlotte whispered in her ear.

Wendy stood up from her seat.

"You wanna sit down?" She nodded to the seat she had been sat upon. Charlotte was about to take it but then she noticed that Tara held Jax's cut in her hands. That alone was a story ready to be told.

"No, it's okay." She answered. Gemma went to say something but didn't and just nodded, sitting back down again, watching as Charlotte walked towards Tara. The Doctor saw her and scooted over one seat so that now she was sitting at the end.

"Hey." Tara greeted softly, and Charlotte gave her a polite smile in return. Tara never really knew what to think of Charlotte. Clay and Gemma had adopted her after she went to college in Chicago, so the two never really knew each other after her and Jax became brother and sister. The first time they'd even been in the same room outside of the hospital was at Abel's homecoming, and Tara had practically blown that opportunity to impress. No doubt Gemma had poisoned Charlotte's perspective of Tara already anyway.

"You wanna tell me why you're holding Jax's cut in your hands?" Charlotte asked.

Tara shook her head slightly. That sounded exactly like something Gemma would say. As Charlotte removed her sunglasses, Tara noticed a look of worry in the younger woman's eyes. No anger, no patronisation, no manipulation, just worry and anxiety. Tara relaxed.

"Juice dropped it off. I guess he figured I'd see Jax before he did again."

"Did you?"

"Did I what?"

"See him? This morning?"

"No. I -I thought he was at the Clubhouse."

"Nobody's seen him since last night."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

As the service was coming to an end Charlotte started getting restless about Jax. So much shit had happened in the past two months that Charlotte now realised anything was possible. Anything could've happened to Jax.

Not only was he MIA, he was missing for Donnas' funeral, the highest form of disrespect to his longest and dearest friend Opie. If Opie didn't kill him for missing the service first, Charlotte would. Gemma wouldn't be too far behind, either.

Tara elbowed Charlotte lightly and nodded in the distance where Jax was approaching the group. His lip was visibly cut and there was some dried blood on his knuckles.

I guess that's what being in a fight with Tig looks like.

Tara stood and took the cut with her, helping Jax put it on and then kissed him.

Oh no.

Charlotte glanced down the line of people and saw the look on Wendy's face. Opie was watching the unfolding scenario with interest -hell they all were- wondering what Jax was going to do next. Jax smiled briefly at Charlotte as he walked towards the coffin, grabbed a blue carnation, kissed it gently and laid it on the coffin. On the way back he shot an odd look in Clay's direction, followed by a slight nod towards Opie before passing Tara and heading further deeper into the graveyard.

Charlotte tapped her foot on the grass in anticipation. She wished the Reverend would speak quicker so they could all leave. She had to go and see Jax. Give him an earful for not answering his phone, not telling her where he'd been. Then she'd find out why he was acting weird and hadn't stayed at the funeral.

"And now, let us bow our heads together in a unified and final prayer for Donna. Dear Heavenly Father..."

As everybody bowed their heads Charlotte bowed out of the ceremony in a bid to find Jax. She headed in the direction she saw him go but she couldn't see him. She knew he'd gone to his Dad's grave but she had no idea where he, or the other war veterans, were buried. Looking back over her shoulder the service had officially ended and people had begun to disperse. Taking a deep breath she walked a little way to her father's grave stone.

PAUL ERIC DAVIS

JAN 10 1952 – JULY 7 1997

BELOVED FATHER, LOYAL FRIEND

Charlotte pulled up a few overgrown blades of grass around the base of the cold stone, sitting on her knees. With all the crazy shit that had been happening lately she hadn't been to the gravestone in a while, and she felt guilty for it. A soft breeze ran through the trees as she rubbed her fingertips over the engraved lettering. She felt at her most calm at that moment than she had in weeks.

She had no idea how much time had passed, but she decided to go and look for Jax. Standing, she dusted off the grass from her knees.

"Jesus!"

She jumped when she turned and saw Chibs standing a few feet away from her, sitting on top of an extremely old gravestone, smoking a cigarette.

"You enjoy sneaking up on people in graveyards?"

"Yeah, kind of." He replied with a smirk, jumping off the tomb and extinguishing his cigarette.

She raised her eyebrows in question but decided that she didn't really want to know the story behind that comment. He reached out and when she took his hand he pulled her towards him.

"You okay? I mean, I know you're not, but..." He trailed off.

"I'm fine."

She smiled, placing a kiss on his lips as she slipped her hands under his cut, around his waist. Resting her chin on his shoulder she spotted Jax in the distance, perching on a gravestone. Piney approached him and gave him a thick brown envelope.

"There's Jax."

Chibs put an arm round her shoulder and walked with her along the rows of graves. He proceeded to tell her the story with Half Sack and the grave.

"Digging up a grave? You know that's bad karma, right?"

That sounds familiar.

"Long as it's not your grave, baby." He kissed her temple and stood back as she approached Jax.

"Where the hell have you been?" She asked.

He looked at her, tongue poking out and licking at his split lip.

"What's our number one rule Jax? We always check in with each other."

"I'm sorry. Some shit came up."

"And I guess that 'shit' was in the form of Tig?"

Jax just nodded; thumb flicking through a huge booklet of some sort.

"What the hell is that?" Charlotte turned her head to read the front.

The Life and Death of Sam Crow: How the Sons of Anarchy lost their way.

"It's a new direction."

THE END.