'I told Tig I wouldn't patch back into SAMCRO this way, with him in Stockton, not able to keep me out with his vote,' Kozik began before Piney's raspy voice cut him off.

'Screw Tig. He's in prison for 14 months and no vote for 2 years anyway with his license being revoked. We need you here; don't care what his beef is. Work it out later; this club isn't going to be here next week if you're not part of the Charming charter again right now, brother.'

'Agreed,' came Chibs' thick brogue.

Opie was silent a moment longer, knowing that his Dad hated Tig and Clay for what had happened to Donna almost as much as he did, but not convinced that sneaking Tig's rival into the charter would help things. 'Not sure this is the best move long-term, but for now I think it's our only play. Koz, we need you here full-time, part of SAMCRO.'

Lorca nodded from his temporary place at the head of the table. 'The three full-patch members of SAMCRO vote to accept you into the charter, Kozik. As temporary President, I vote 'aye'. Your being patched SAMCRO gives the Charming club a quorum of four, able to run club business. Per my conversation with Clay and Jax, I name Opie temporary President of the Charming chapter. Tacoma and Rogue River will be sending members to Charming to supplement your numbers during this time, as well as any member of the Nomads or any other charter looking for a change of scenery over the next 14 months,' he declared before banging the gavel.

Kozik wasn't quite sure how to react. On one hand, he had been hoping for a couple months to get back into SAMCRO. On the other, he had also been hoping that he and Tig would have reached some kind of resolution that resulted in a positive vote from his former friend. He had been sincere in his conversation with Tig, only a couple days earlier, that he did not want to sneak back into the charter like a bitch only able to make the cut because of Tig's absence. Kozik knew Tig was being ridiculous, holding Kozik responsible only because he himself could not bear the burden of his mistake, but it still weighed on him, knowing that technically he wasn't really part of SAMCRO no matter what his cut might be saying the next day. Chibs and Piney however had no such qualms.

Piney embraced the younger man. 'Glad to have you back onboard, Koz. Charming needs you, has needed you for awhile now. Proud to see you sporting a Redwood Original patch again.'

'Thanks Piney.'

Chibs pounded the younger man on the back, 'Aye Kozik, it's good to have you back. Heard how you were the one to talk Alvarez into playing dead when you guys were trying to save Tara and the Murphy woman. Good work there, lad.'

'Ah, I just knew Alvarez wouldn't want to see anyone's old lady get killed like that. Mayans won't put up with anyone hurting a woman anymore than the Sons do'.

Piney snorted while Opie gave his Dad a warning look before he reached out to give Kozik a bro hug. 'Thanks for stepping up and coming aboard, brother. Know the situation ain't ideal but I can't see any other play right now.'

Kozik nodded. 'Yeah, I guess it'll work out like this. I know Clay wanted to get some other bodies in the charter before they were all sent to Stockton but things happened a little faster than everyone thought.'

'Yeah, but at least everything else fell into place with Jimmy and Stahl, even if it was a day too soon.'

Lorca cleared his throat, 'Hey, I think I'm gonna take off. If I leave now I can get to Tacoma around midnight. Call if you need anything, anything at all. Give us a couple days to game plan, and I'll let you know who from Tacoma will be joining you. Probably gonna rotate guys out every coupl'a weeks unless someone has a hankering to stick around longer. And Koz, your spot is always open at Tacoma as long as I'm President.'

Kozick and his former president hugged. 'Thanks, Lorca. 'Precciate it man.'

Opie shook hands with the older man. 'Thanks for helping us out, Lorca. Don't know what we'd've done without ya' brother.'

'Call me anytime, Opie. Know you've got a lot riding on your shoulders without much warning, Tacoma will be available for anything you need, man.'

And with that, the Tacoma president left the room. The four SAMCRO members looked around at each other. All were suddenly hit with the realization of all that had happened within the past 24 hours. Stahl and Jimmy O had been taken care of, with Opie and Chibs each getting some measure of revenge. ATF had taken care of the Russians for them, the only good thing that Stahl had done since blighting Charming with her presence. Clay, Jax, Tig, Juice, Happy, and Bobby were in Stockton, beginning their 14 month ticket. Jax's bold plan to let Stahl think he'd turned rat in order to clear his mother of murder charges, and to get the club short-time for the weapons' charges, had actually worked. Yes the club was low on numbers at a time they needed growth, but things could and should have been so much worse for them. With Kozik getting voted into the Charming charter, they would be able to immediately get to work on the next step needed to implement the deal Clay had worked out with the Irish council to get SAMCRO more involved in their West coast gun running operation.

'Tomorrow I'm gonna set up calls with Rogue River and Nevada,' Opie decided. 'I think they're gonna be key in helping us with this new enterprise. Indian Wells hasn't been involved much more in business since the patchover, now's the time they need to step it up for us. Chibs guess I'd like you to act as my VP; Kozik since you were SAA at Tacoma, makes sense for you to fill in that role here. Pops, think you can take over handling Bobby's duties as Treasurer?'

Piney rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, think I can handle collecting money, son. Just don't ask me to start baking them damn muffins, okay?'

With a laugh, Opie banged the gavel. 'Guess that ends the first official meeting for the four of us. Might as well have a few drinks tonight, have some fun. Have a feeling we'll be working our asses off the next 14 months'.

Koz walked out of Church at Opie's side. 'Think maybe we should look at hiring a few mechanics? We're down 6, and I think the 4 of us might have our hands full enough with other matters we might not be able to keep Teller-Morrow running smoothly alone. Phil seems to be pretty damn good with the cars, but Miles seems a little lacking in his mechanic education.'

'Yeah, good point. I'll see if Gemma has any ideas about that. Hope she can get that anklet to include working in the office and not just being kept to house arrest. With all the guys away, we really need her around. I'm gonna see if Lyla can help out, too. She knows shit about fixing cars, but she can answer the phones and type and shit'

'Right, right. She's a sweet girl,' Kozik offered awkwardly, not really sure what to say about the idea of the porn star turning into office help.

'Yeah, she's great. Her and Tara really get along, seems like they bonded while we were in Ireland. Before Tara was kidnapped and all.'

'Tara saw Lyla slap the shit outta Ima after she slept with Jax. They seemed to spend a lot of time together after that. They both seem kinda lonely.'

Opie nodded slowly. 'I can see that, brother. Weird shit going on around the club lately, makes it hard to get into the old lady groove. Donna was never really part of it; Lyla has to be. What about you, man? You got an old lady hanging back in Tacoma you'll be bringing to Charming?'

'Nah. Had one; she got sick of the life and took off 5 years ago. Since then,' the handsome blond shrugged. 'ain't found a woman worth the effort of anything regular. I do all right. And when I don't, there's always some croweater or sweetbutt hanging around, you know?'

It was Opie's turn to shrug. He'd been with Donna since high school, then Lyla since Donna's death. Sure, there'd been blowjobs and fucks on runs, but for the most part Opie had been in relationships since he'd first been with Donna. It wasn't that he'd ever consciously thought about fidelity, it's just the way it had worked out for him. He knew he might be considered unusual in the club life, but it also struck him that it was weird how some of the guys never settled down with one woman, content to keep urges filled by whoever happened to be around and caught their eye on any given night. Seemed to him like there should be some kind of happy medium, but what did he know?

'Yeah? She just took off?'

'Yeah,' Koz repeated softly. 'Woke up one morning and all her shit was gone. Note on the kitchen table begging me not to look for her. Said she just wanted a shot at a normal life, was tired of the MC. Sent me a postcard a couple years ago; married some guy and living in Michigan. Said she was happy. Missed me, but was happy just being married to some guy who worked in a factory and wouldn't ever dream of getting into a fight, let alone being the badass killer SaA of some MC crew,' Koz laughed a little.

'Sorry, bro,' Opie picked up on the slight sadness his brother felt at reliving the memories. 'Guess she wasn't the right one.'

'Right? Don't think such a creature exists for me, a 'right one'. But hey, having fun banging my way through the west coast to see if I can find her.'

Opie left Stockton prison, pleased his meeting with Clay had gone as well as it had. The gruff President (Opie knew his title was only temporary, and Clay or Jax would be taking it over as soon as the prison sentences had been fulfilled) had known Kozik would have been voted into the charter. There was no other play available to them, not to get the charter up to quorum immediately. Tig wouldn't be happy, but there was nothing to be done about it. Having four full members was a priority, and it wasn't like there were people lined up waiting for the opportunity. Better to have Tig pissed than to vote in prospects months too early. Or to let in members from other charters that Clay didn't know as well as he knew Kozik. Sure, he didn't know the entire story behind Tig's hatred of the former Tacoma SaA. But he knew Kozik, knew him from when he was a part of SAMCRO, and knew of him from Lorca as the Tacoma charter's SaA, knew him from the time he'd been hanging around Charming lately, hoping to patch back in. What he knew more than qualified the guy to be a part of his crew, a man that Clay had wanted voted in from the moment Kozik had mentioned wanting to patch over. Clay assured Opie that he was fine with the vote, it was exactly what he had hoped would happen as soon as he had realized there would be no chance for him to get another warm body voted in before the majority of his club was sent off to Stockton.

Opie got back to Charming right after lunch. The guys were swamped with work orders; as much as club business needed to get taken care of quickly, he realized for the next few hours he was going to be busy changing oil, tires, and doing whatever else needed doing at T-M. A quick stop in the office revealed Chucky and Tara swamped with the phones and paperwork. Piney wasn't able to do much car repair work anymore, but for the day he was in the thick of it.

'Tara, can you place a couple ads in the paper? Clay wants to hire at least 3 experienced mechanics as soon as possible. We'll have brothers coming in from other charters but need to have guys that are only focused on the garage to free the Sons up for club business when needed. Rosen had already been and gone this morning. Gemma's not gonna be allowed at T-M in the immediate future so Clay wants to hire some kind of office manager so none of us have to worry about running this place for now. How far behind are we today?'

Tara shrugged. 'Most of the scheduled repairs are fine. What's killing us is all the drop-ins for oil changes, a/c flushes, stuff like that. Think there's a lot of Charming residents just wanting to check out what's going on with all the guys at Stockton. Did Clay specify what exactly he wants in this office manager person?'

It was Opie's turn to shrug. 'Might wanna call Gemma about that. She knows more than anyone what's needed to run this place.'

'I need to pick up Abel soon anyway; he has a dr.'s appointment. I'll check with her then. Opie, did you get to see Jax?'

'Nah, just Clay. He said they're all doing good. Not happy about doing the time but glad the plan worked and its short-time not hard.'

Tara smiled weakly. 'Right. Thanks.'

'Jax'll be fine, Tara. He's got Clay and the others there for him. You did good, you know? Without your help, don't know if the club could have pulled off the entire plan. Remember that, Tara. When it came down to it, Jax trusted you even more than his mother. So did Clay.'

'Yeah. Better get going. Think you've got a few cars to work on, and I'm not sure how Gemma's going to react to being replaced here at the garage.'

'Worse comes to worst, give her some extra time watching Abel. She'd rather do that than run the garage any day. Thanks again, Tara.'

'See you later, Opie.'

The afternoon flew by for everyone. Opie, Chibs, Piney, Kozik and the rest continued to work on a constant stream of cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Gemma wrestled with pinning down the qualities she wanted to see in whoever took over running the Teller-Morrow office in her extended absence. Tara had her hands full with the specialist checking over Abel, her own OB appointment, and working out a schedule to work at St. Thomas that would allow her time with Abel and to help out T-M for at least the next couple weeks. Meanwhile, a new visitor to Charming settled into a hotel room, wondering if maybe this would become her new home; if a new job would turn up for her