Old Bones | Jax Teller

Opie

It doesn't feel real.

He doesn't think it is real.

Only minutes – seconds – before he was sharing a beer with his brother. They were both laughing amongst each other as it seemed the bullshit with the ATF fell through. It was a close call, but as usual, they didn't have shit. Not for one second did Jax think his brother ratted. Now that the situation had cleared over, Stahl's little scheme was too obvious. Jax knew he wasn't biased when it came to Opie, he even told Clay that if Opie ratted he would kill his best friend himself. But all Opie knew was the club and his brother would die before ever betraying them. The ramifications of ratting would be too great for his family and Jax knew that ratting was something he would never consider. For a second, Jax believed he betrayed his brother forever considering he would rat.

Besides that little hiccup, the club was on smooth sailing waters for the most part. Things did work out as the Irish were happy the task handed down to the Sons had been completed and they opened a new pipeline up for them. All was well for the club besides the minor setback with the ambush with the Niners and Mayans a few days ago.

Despite that bullshit with the ATF taking Opie's family as a ploy to make it seem as if he ratted, for anybody else, it would've probably strained the relationship between a family – a husband and wife. It was no secret that Donna and Opie were struggling with his return home from a five-year stint in prison. It wasn't just about the money. It was the future that strained them, the lifestyle that led him to get locked up in the first place. Where did the two go from here? Donna couldn't reconcile with her husband going back to the lifestyle that took him away from her and his children for five years.

Jax could see why Donna despised the club. Why she didn't want their charity.

Jax remembered witnessing a blowout between Donna and Opie during the early weeks after his release. Opie was trying to lean right and got a job chipping wood. He still attended mandatory church on Friday nights, but barely darkened the club's doorsteps otherwise. However, he was still a member and there were duties and responsibilities he needed to fulfill, the club needed him for a job. Donna caught Opie in his kutte getting ready to leave and Jax was exposed to an angry Donna punching her husband repeatedly as he tried to calm her down. Jax was grateful the kids weren't home to witness the shaky ground of their parent's marriage. Donna departed with a sneer toward her husband and didn't even acknowledge him. Opie later told him after the job was done that Donna wasn't sad. She was pissed. She was pissed at having to raise two babies because their daddy was in prison.

Jax didn't know what to say because at least Donna gave a shit about Opie instead of preferring a $40 fix, but then again Jax wasn't the most available husband.

Jax had to watch from the sidelines as his best friend's family did struggle. He watched as they struggled in his absence. The kids being young at the time didn't really understand why their dad was gone. There were some questions that were sugar-coated for them, but as the years passed they got used to Opie not being there while Opie never got used to being in Chino. Opie missed birthdays – his brothers replacing his absence. He missed when Ellie's and Kenny's teeth fell out and they got a dollar from the tooth fairy. There were the doctor appointments and the surgery for Ellie when she had to get her tonsils out. He missed soccer games and school plays.

He missed the kids struggling with their math homework and how they would con Donna into letting them have an extra five minutes before bedtime. He missed when Ellie tried to give her brother a botched haircut that had Kenny crying and everyone laughing or better yet when Kenny wanted to look like his dad and shaved his head. Thankfully they had a cosmetologist in the family to fix the choppy bowl cut.