Born for Anarchism (On Hold)

Chapter Twenty-Four:

Alice's Pov:

After everyone was inside, Clay called us all to attention and began to explain the situation. I stood in the back next to Tig as I watched all three of them stand together as a family. "Hey," Tig whispered to me, nudging me slightly with his elbow. "everything okay with you? You seem off lately." I looked over at him, giving him a smile. He and I had an odd relationship, we were both always the people everyone called to do the dirty work and we kind of  bonded over it. If I wasn't out with Jax, I was with Tig and we always made it fun. He even let me give him a cute nickname without threating to kill me for it. "Yeah, Tigger, I'm good." "You're my girl. If you need me to take care of ANYTHING, you just give the word." I wrapped my arms around his waist and let him hug me. "You're the best." I told him. We stayed that way through the rest of Clay's announcement. When he finished, we all made our way into the safe room, Tig closing the door behind us.

I took my seat next to da, focusing on Clay to distract myself from looking at Jax. They were discussing how to get the Ak's when I noticed da began to panic. He told them Stahl was going to name him the rat to Jimmy, who in return was going to kill Fiona and Karianne. I put my hand in his, receiving a sad but grateful look from him. It bothered me more than anything to see him so distraught and be powerless to do anything about it. Clay reassured him that they would be safe and that he had put in a call to the Belfast branch to keep and eye on Karianne. Then Jax told us he had a plan to get our guns and convince Jimmy who the real rat was. Uncer came up and handed him a file, Jax laid out the pictures that had been inside for everyone to see. "This should be enough to convince Jimmy and the real IRA the betrayal's in-house." da nodded and let out a sigh of relief and replied, "Good." Clay gave Jax, Op, Juice and myself orders to go spread the racial harmony gossip to Weston. We all stood to go except a select few which included my da, Clay, Bobby and Tig. "No. Alice stays here." Jax told Clay, changing his plans, making sure not to make eye contact with me. "You're fucking shitting me, right Jackson?" I demanded from him, anger filling my voice. "We don't need to take that many people out for this. Plus, everyone is going somewhere and the only one left here will be Piney. If something happens to me, we'll need her to take my place. She's one of the only ones who can." "He's right, Telford. I need you here." Clay agreed, spinning in his chair to face me. "Fine." I replied cooley before I kissed my da's cheek and left the room.

I went and stood against the wall by our mugshots, infuriated at what Jax had just pulled. A few minutes later, da came up to me with a sympathetic look in his eyes. "Lass, I'm sorry, but I agree with them. I want you here and I want you safe." "I'm being treated like an ol' lady right now, we all know I can hold my own and everyone else's if I needed to." "We know you can, but we need you here. I need you here." he sympathized with me as he cupped my face in his hands. "Do it for me, love." my body unclenched and I let my anger fall away. "Aye, da. I'll stay for you." "I love you, Alice." he informed me as he pulled me into a tight hug. "I love you, da." "Now, I need to go get Fi. Promise me you'll be here when I get back." "I promise." he planted a kiss on my forehead, hugged me one more time then left. After he had gone, I watched Jax, Op and Juice make their way to the door, I followed. I pushed opened the double doors and slowly made my way over to them as they were getting ready to take off. I watched Jax wave them on ahead of him and sat on his bike, putting his helmet on the handle bars, waiting for me to reach him.

"That was some real bullshit you pulled in there, boy." "Believe it or not, Alice, all I want is to keep you safe." I crossed my arms over my chest. "I can keep myself  safe and you know it." I shot out angrily, stepping closer. He stood up, standing mere inches away, squaring off with me. I could feel his hot breath on my face, causing a chill to run down my spine. "Is this really the way we're going to leave things before I go out? I could not come back." he questioned, a smirk playing on his lips. I closed my eyes, letting my breath out, letting my arms drop along with my defensive stance. "I need you to stop trying to protect me, Jackson." I said softly as I opened my green eyes and met his blue ones. "I like it when you use my full name." he commented with that playful smile he often gave me. "I'm serious." "I can't, Alice." he stated simply, his hand reaching up to touch the side of my cheek. "Be safe, boy. Don't make me come after you." I ordered jokingly with a smile. "I'd kiss you right now if we weren't surrounded by men with guns watching us." he remarked. "Well, we are and I wouldn't let you anyway." he got on his bike, put his helmet on and grinned at me. "You keep telling yourself that, Telford." I watched as he sped off and headed out the gate, someone closing it tightly behind him. I stood there a moment longer, letting the wind blow my hair in every direction. 

Sighing, I turned and went back into the club, going to find Gemma. I found her sitting at the bar drinking a cup of coffee with Tara. I went to walk past her but she caught my arm, stopping me. "Come sit, babe." Tara refused to acknowledge me as I sat down, I shrugged it off. I didn't care what she thought anyway. "What are you doing here, why aren't you out with my boy protecting his ass?" she demanded from me as she put at hand on my thigh. "They boxed me out of this one. Da, Clay and Jax wanted me here in case something happened. Apparently I've been reduced to ol' lady status, no offense, and not a member of SAMCRO." I enlightened her as I ran my hand through my disheveled hair, trying to tame it with my fingers. "Welcome to the club." she said with a smile.

At that moment, one of the other women came up and gave Gemma more coffee. She thanked her, then the woman asked Tara if she'd like some as well. She declined and said she could get it herself, the woman insisted and she finally gave in. I didn't expect it, but she then turned to me and asked if I wanted any. "I'm good, but thank you." I replied with a smile as I turned to make eye contact with her. She nodded, returning it before walking away. I turned to Gemma, confused. "They need to do that. To show respect." she explained. "Oh, please." Tara spat, rolling her eyes. "Don't just toss that off. You've earned that, sweetheart. You're not just some crow eater. You're Jax Teller's ol' lady. And that means something. In this clubhouse, and in this town. People need to show you respect. And you don't take shit from anyone." the woman came back and gave Tara her coffee and Gemma turned to me. "And you, you're a member of SAMCRO, not an ol' lady and certainly no crow eater. You ride your own bike, you run with the men and you take shit from absolutely no one. They know to respect you. You're the first woman to be excepted amongst the ranks of their men. If that doesn't deserve respect, I don't know what does. Don't argue about it, just accept it." she told me, taking my right hand into her left and squeezing it. I may not have been out where I wanted to be, but thank God I had Gemma to be here with me.

Later that afternoon, Chucky showed up at the gate right before everyone returned, then told all of us he had seen who burnt down Caracara. He then went with Uncer to give a statement to confirm we hadn't burnt our own place down for the insurance money. A few of us sat around a while longer, waiting to get a call about when to head out for our guns. After the call came through, Clay came up to me as everyone was getting ready to leave. "I want you with us, Telford. I've been thinking about it, you're just as much a part of this as any of us, if not more. I need you with me, you're the best shot if things should get messy and we need to pick people off." "You got it." I replied, keeping my face expressionless to hide my excitment.

We all met a few blocks away from the Irish's warehouse, I was told to give Chucky his instructions. "Alright, I want you to take these flyers and put them on random car windshields. You need to figure out which vehicles belong to Agent Stahl and her men, then you need to let us know when they leave and the shits clear for us to come in. You got it?" "Yeah, I think so." "You'd better Goddamn know, not you think." I demanded, my hand on his shoulder. He eyed me nervously. "I got it." "Good," I handed him the messenger bag with the flyers and gave him a cellphone. "now get." after he ran off, Juice rolled up alongside of me. "Do you think this is gonna work?" "It has to." I replied, starring ahead.

About 20 minutes passed before we got the call to move in. Quickly we made our way to the garage, getting off our bikes and going up to it. Clay knocked and Jimmy opened up the door. "Gentlemen," he made eye contact with me and smiled, making my stomach turn in disgust. "and lass, your hardware." he and Clay hugged as Jax and Tig inspected it. Bobby guided the van back up to the garage and they began loading the guns. I went and stood back with my da next to the van, knowing he needed me with him right now. Seeing the chance to talk to da and I alone, Jimmy swiftly approached us, that smile on his face that made me want to slit his throat right then and there. "Glad we could move past our history, Filip." "Yeah." "I appreciate you reaching out to Fiona." da's face didn't hide his surprise at the statement. "Nothing happens with Fiona that I don't know about. How many times do I have to teach you that lesson?" "Go fuck yourself." I shot out in low voice. "Feisty one you are, aren't you?" I caught sight of Jax watching us, keeping an eye out in case any trouble started. "You touch her or Karianne, and I will cut you into a million pieces." da threatened, venom dripping from every word he said. "We okay?" Jax questioned as he walked up to the three of us. "Yeah, just swapping old Irish folktales." Jimmy responded with a smile before walking away. Jax looked down at me, immediately knowing by the look in my eyes, shit had just gone down. "We're good." Op called, all of us taking the cue to go back to our bikes. I stopped da before he started his up. "We'll get him, da. I promise." "I know we will." he replied with a smile before speeding off. I revved my engine and floored it, leaving everyone else to follow.