When the hangover passes, the party continues...

[impala]

She shrugged, "it's fine, trust me I've had a lot worse." She indicated to her scar travelling down her arm which could be seen graphically in the harsh motel room light.

"I'm not gunna lie it was kinda fun, I haven't had that sorta adrenalin rush in a long time." She over exaggerated the word 'long' and then chuckled.

It had been so long since she'd had a solid conversation with anyone, for so long her only contact had been polite small talk with diner waitresses, motel managers and gas clerks. Her life had been such a shit storm and she got the feeling that now after so long it might all just be ok.

She finished her glass, smacking her lips at the burning liquid.

"So how come your dad's so protective, I mean I know that growing up related to the people we're related to can be kinda dangerous but having your own personal body gaurd," she whistled, "that's kinda bad ass."

[mavrick]

She smiled, even if she hadn’t enjoyed herself, at least Bailey had. Getting into bar fights wasn’t Kate’s idea of a good time, even if she did get in them on a fairly regular basis, it was usually with other women, and they were easy things to win. Men, on the other hand, still shook her up. It had only happened once, and it was the reason Cyrus was always sent out to protect her. And now Bailey wanted to know. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell her, it was just one of those sensitive subjects that you could never really bring up without either getting unneeded/unwanted sympathy, or bringing up memories that were best left behind her.

“This one night, when I was thirteen or so the Tribe threw a huge party. I was tending bar, and decided to sample the merchandise.” On cue, she took another hearty swig from her drink. “Got shit faced, and in all the commotion no one noticed a guy from another charter leading me off into one of the rooms.” She paused, drank the last of her drink and sat it down on the table. Flashes of half coherent memories ran through her mind, it made her stomach feel uneasy. Even if she’d been half passed out, she knew it hadn’t been pleasant.

“It was dealt with, but since then Dad’s been overly protective, and Cyrus is apparently the answer to all his fears.”

[impala]

Bailey chewed her bottom lip, looking at the tiny blonde who was telling her such a horrific story, yet seemed to be so calm, collected and strong.

That was how you got shit done in life, you didn't wallow in self pity, you didn't complain, you lived the life you were dealt and you overcame whatever you needed to. Bailey got the feeling that Kate would hate her if she gave her any form of sympathy or pity. So she chinked the girls glass and gave her a knowing nod.

"Screw it all huh, screw the men who fuck us over, screw whatever God said we were strong enough to handle this crap, lets just enjoy the family we got, enjoy the friends we make along the way and try to smile and laugh while doing it!"

Bailey put her feet up on the table, feeling relaxed as a tiny buzz began to envelope her mind, making her feel decidedly happy.

"And at least your dad gives a shit, mine did this to me, can't beat a good ol scolding hot shower huh?!" Bailey laughed, it was a joke to her now anyway, a whole lifetime ago what more could she do but laugh about it?

[mavrick]

Kate had gone through her period of feeling bad for herself. She’d had excellent support from her father, the club and everyone involved with it. While it wasn’t broadcast publically, those who knew her well knew something had happened, and helped her through the tough times. She smiled at Bailey’s comment and gave a little toast to it.

Her eyes wandered to the large scar on Bailey’s arm as she explained where she had gotten it from. She had wondered, but wasn’t about to ask. She couldn’t have imaged what it would be like for her father to be an uncaring prick, and she didn’t want to.

“That’s the beauty of life, the pain never lasts,” she said simply before downing the rest of her drink. She could feel the effects, and was pretty sure that with another one she’d be crashing at Baileys, instead of crashing into a pole or something.

[impala]

"Yeh, not even a third degree burn hurts forever." She said, mirroring Kate and finishing her liquor off too.

Getting up she took Kate's glass and wordlessly refilled their two empty mugs, it seemed like they both could do with a night cap or two and she was enjoying talking to someone who was on her level.

"Why is it," she began, as she took her seat again "that the woman who are affiliated with this life seem to end up more hurt than the men?"

She shot the whiskey, draining the glass within seconds and slamming it down on the table, stifled a wince as the liquor ran its burning course down her throat, setting aflame her empty belly. "I mean I get this life, I really do and it's a shit load better then being back in New Zealand or Louisiana but ah, sometimes, when I'm really in one of my moods I just wish I could've grown up all boring and normal, do you ever get that sometimes?"

[mavrick]

Kate shook her head. “Never,” she stated rather bluntly. She loved her life, and she honestly didn’t spend time wishing she’d been raised different. She took a long sip from her fresh drink and reclined in her chair, looking over at Bailey.

“Getting hurt is part of life, whether you live under an MC or not. I don’t see how living a ‘normal’ life would amount to any less pain than this one. Divorces, bad relationships, friends fucking you over, crappy dead end jobs. It’s all different kinds of pain, but pain never the less.” She gave a small nod, a knowing little smile crossing her features. “To me, bar fights and looming babysitters is normal.”

[impala]

Bailey nodded, not quite agreeing with Kate's view but getting exactly what she meant. It was all the same sort of shit and maybe this life was a better trade then her slaving over a dead end job and probably getting screwed over by some good looking yet dead beat kinda guy.

Her head spun but she was enjoying the slightly numbing feeling, it was doing wonders to her chin.

"I spose I could get used to a few bar fights and hunky biker guys keeping his eyes on me," she said cackling loudly, "it's always fun to have a bit of eye candy."

[mavrick]

Kate laughed. She never really considered Cyrus as eye candy, mostly because he was so damn protective, it reminded her of her father.
“I try hard to behave myself, but I’ve gotten a bit of a reputation for starting shit in bars, it’s not the first time someone in a cut has had to drag me out to keep me from being arrested.”

She couldn’t help but grin. She didn’t like getting into fights, but when she was drunk, people (women especially) running their mouths just irritated the hell out of her.

“Jax always gives me shit about it, I’m sure he’ll find this amusing as hell.”

[impala]

"Ah the mystical Prince eh, yes I'm sure he'd enjoy a story about some cute, petite, blonde showing her muscles off!" Bailey gave Kate a wink, and then grinned stupidly. She always thought Jax had been good looking, what women could resist his disarming eyes, strong jaw, amazing body and so on and so forth but Jax had always slightly made her nervous and she couldnt quite understand why, maybe it was because he was second in charge, he was the club and Bailey didn't know if she wanted in that deep.

For her whenever she'd come up to visit her Uncle, Rain had always captured her attention, truth be told she never even looked Jax's way when Rain came into the room. At one point during her life that man had been all she'd ever seen, or all she'd ever wanted and she had loved him, maybe more than anyone else she'd ever been with and than she'd left, off on a wild goose chase for her brother.

She was chewing the inside of her cheek absentmindedly as she thought of him, snapping back out of the daze, she twirled the empty glass around looking back at Kate. "To be fair this bar fight totally wasn't our fault, I reckon we could've sorted ourselves and even gotten a couple free drinks out of it too!"

"Too bad big, beefy, babysitters have to come along and ruin all of our fun." She continued, adding a fake pout for affect.

[mavrick]

Kate laughed, it wasn’t the first time Cyrus had taken things too seriously and made a mess, Kate was pretty used to it. But it was true, Kate and Bailey could have easily diffused the situation with no casualties. “Cyrus will be sorry, I’ll make sure of it,” she laughed, raising her glass in a toast to the event as she did. There wasn’t a whole lot she could do to make things hard for Cyrus, but the few things she could do were always fun.

Like lead him on a wild goose chase the next time he had to babysit her.

“So how long you in Charming for?” The truth was that Kate had probably seen Bailey before, but was younger. She hadn’t spent a whole heap of time at the clubhouse up until the last year or so, she mostly had seen the Sons when they came through the Hills. Kate saw so many faces, they often blurred after a while.

[impala]

She smacked her lips and fell silent for a moment, pondering the answer to a very simple question. However to Bailey, sticking around was never a simple equation and when it came to leaving Charming the last couple of times had all but ripped her in two.

"Ah, well I duno this time...depends on whether or not my dumb ass brother wants to ruin my life again." She grinned, although the memory filled her with pain.

"Me and Rain used to go y'know, about a year ago, I sorta fucked that one up with the help of my dear older brother and now I'm just trying to work out if it's a good idea to stay or just hang with Chibs and then shoot through again."

She chewed her bottom lip, trying to work it all out but figuring that sort of decision was best left to the morning.

"But it's whatever, too much drama for too late of a night....you wana just crash here dude?"

[mavrick]

Kate listened, or at least tried to as best she could. Shit made less sense when you were trying to work out if you’re ass had gone numb or not. She shifted in her seat, and felt the pins and needles start. She looked up as Bailey asked her if she was going to crash there with her and she gave a firm nod. “It’s either crash here or crash in a ditch on the way home,” she said with a smirk. She grabbed up her drink and consumed the last of it.

“My ass has fallen asleep,” she stated randomly with a laugh, rubbing her denim clad backside as she did. “That ever happen to you?”

[impala]

“Dude just crash here, the pull out bed is actually ridiculously comfy and you can spread out, which is usually a first for me and beds.” She chuckled gently and stood up, beginning to clear the cups and place them in the sink, not wanting to wake up tomorrow with a massive hang over and being forced to tidy up liquor.

Rubbing her muscular behind she winked at Kate, “yeh but it doesn’t usually happen in these situations and it’s only worth withstanding that sort of annoyance if there is someone there to distract you.”

Coming back into the living area, she dug her hands into the couch and pulled out the bed, lumbering over towards the wardrobe and pulling out some bedding for the tiny blonde to sleep on. “There ya go dudette, I’m sorry I really need to hit the hay, I’m quite literally dead on my feet.”

She moved towards her room and before descending into the darkness of her tiny space she turned and looked back at Kate. “Thanks so much for tonight, it felt nice to just get out and have an adventure, even if I did get the shit beaten out of me....night, night miss lady!” She called, crossing the threshold and entering her room.