Loyal Sons

Summary: re-written scene from the episode "Service", Season 2

Jax walked into Opie’s room looking for his friend. The gun casually laying on the bed was unsurprising. He knew Opie was like a walking time bomb right now. If the man had had a death wish before, he’d be ready to kill someone right now, if he hadn’t already.

He could see Opie in the bathroom leaning over the sink.

"Hey, I've been looking for you." Jax said. There was one thing he could think of to make Opie want to stick around, and that was to give him something to live for in the form of John Teller’s vision for SAMCRO.

Opie looked up at the voice and saw his childhood friend in the reflection. He’d been trying to calm down enough to have this conversation. He walked into the room Jax was in.

"I didn't kill her," Opie said. He wanted to, but he knew the consequences of killing someone in Stahl’s position. But more than that, he knew she’d only been one small part of the problem. Tig had intended to kill him, on Clay’s orders because Clay hadn’t trusted Opie’s word. Stahl, an outsider to their group, should not have been trusted over him.

He walked over and sat on the bed. Jax took the cue and sat in the chair next to it.

“The rift between you and Clay…,” Opie began. This is what Opie understood now. He was devestated by the betrayal of Clay and Tig, but when he thought about Jax’s part in this whole equation he realized that he had been betraying Jax this whole time. The only reason Jax was being a pain in Clay's ass was because he knew about Donna.

Opie understood why Jax had kept his mouth shut. He didn't think he would have been able to handle all of it at once, Donna and being betrayed by his brothers. Jax had stood by and silently handled the brunt of Clay's wrath while Opie had been siding with Clay.

He listened to Jax talking to him. Opie was too tired to feel guilty. Instead he tried to focus on what needed to be done now with Clay and the rest of the club.

“…but the one thing I know for sure is I can’t do this alone. I need you, bro.” Jax said. The whole club had been falling apart and divided, but Jax knew how he wanted the club to be, and he wanted Opie to be part of that. One day he wanted to be sitting in Clay's chair with Opie by his side.

Jax looked at Opie hoping his friend would choose to stand by him.

Opie stood up and walked to Jax, standing over him.

"I'm here, man," he said quietly.

Jax stood up and they hugged, thankful to be on good terms with the other again. They seperated slightly, but still held each other in a loose embrace. They looked at each other with a sudden realization of the last time they’d been in the same position.

Opie spent a lot of time thinking about that night Donna had died. It was also the same night his best friend had kissed him in a manner that was not platonic, but not really what he’d label as sexual either. Opie found that the kiss was something he remembered warmly. For whatever reason Jax had done it, Opie took it as a sign of so much affection when he needed it most.

Opie could see that Jax was troubled now. It had been a rough ride as of late within the club. Opie hadn't made Jax's life any easier either, and all Jax had been doing was protecting him this whole time.

Opie leaned his head in slowly, but stopped just short, two inches away from Jax's mouth. Jax didn't move, didn't even breathe just continued to stare at him and so Opie leaned in the extra two inches and gently laid a kiss on Jax's mouth. Jax instinctively responded and kissed him back. Not platonic, but not really sexual either.

Then Opie moved back and looked at Jax with held breath.

Jax swallowed visibly. He hadn't expected that. He had no idea what he was suppose to do or say. He never intended to kiss Opie again, and he'd never imagined Opie would be the one to instigate it.

"I got something for you to read," Jax said because that was one of the reasons he'd come by. It was what he intended to do to convince Opie to stay with him and SAMCRO despite the betrayals.

"Ok," Opie nodded.

Jax turned to go and Opie followed him. Both glad that there wasn't any conversation about what had just happened. Both licking their lips as the crossed the threshold.