It had been a long day, a long week…a long life and Jax was dragging his feet across the parking lot of TM and away what was left of the clubhouse. It was well past dark; the day after the explosion and he could still smell the charred remains of the building a block away from the garage. As much as he was enraged at the loss of the SAMCRO clubhouse he would be eternally grateful that no one had suffered any injuries, that there were no casualties. He thanked God for the fact that he had spotted that clover leaf pen on the bar and that he had gotten everyone he loved and cared about out before the building had gone up in flames.

He was bone tired and his sneaks scraped across the pavement. His legs felt as leaden as his heart. He sighed as he turned back upon reaching his bike and shook his head at the sight of the building.

"My God…"

He took his helmet off the bars and was starting to place it on his head as he saw headlights turning the corner into the parking lot. The vehicle was moving slowly, and with the lights in his eyes and the darkness around him he couldn't make out what it was or who it belonged to. His hand strayed to the gun tucked in at the small of the back but he paused as the driver stopped and turned off the lights. A familiar figure slipped from the driver's side and he groaned as he recognized his ex-wife Wendy. Her figure was in turn thin and curvy at the same time, tiny waist, long legs and a more than ample chest. Physically there was no question why Jacks had been attracted to the blonde; but years of hard living had left their mark on her face and while she was still lovely she wore a certain weariness and strain in her features that made her look a little older than her ex-husband.

"Oh Jax…I heard what happened…I didn't want to believe it. Is everyone really alright? I mean, look at this place."

Her voice sounded raspier than usual and she remained back by the door of the vehicle.

"I just planned to drive by and look. I'm sorry I didn't know you'd be here."

She started getting back in the car but Jax was already at the door and he had the edge of it in his hand as she tried to pull it closed. She sighed and let her head hang down, allowing her hair to hide her face from his view as he spoke.

"Yeah. Everyone got out."

He replied sounding exhausted and a bit broken of spirit, he was too tired to even fight with her even though the two of them hadn't said a single civil word to one another in longer than he could remember.

"The boys are okay? Abel…and Thomas?"

"Yes, Abel was a little shaken up but he didn't get hurt."

"Thank God. Oh Jax, just thank God."

She stifled a small sob behind her hand and pushed her hair back away from her face and that was when he saw the bruise on her cheekbone and the cut above her swollen left eyelid.

"Wendy?"

He knelt down and took her wrist in a grasp that was surprisingly gentle considering all the bitterness between them and she tried to pull away.

"It's nothing. It's not your problem…I didn't think you'd be here Jax. I didn't come here to lay my shit on your doorstep. I swear."

She started to cry, her shoulders heaving and her ribs crackling under her flesh as she gasped in pain. Always a sucker for a damsel in distress Jax knelt down on the wet, muddy ground beside the open door and gathered his shaking ex old lady into his arms as she let out a soft moan of pain and tried to stop her tears from flowing.

"What happened?"

He whispered soft and close to her ear as she let her head rest on his shoulder. God, she thought, how had I ever been so stupid? How could I have traded this for the poison I stuck in my veins? She'd had the world when she had his love and she had given it all up for a fix that cost her him and her son.

But now…now she was sober and she was seeing things clearly not only in regard to everything she had lost, but everything she could possibly have again and just what she had to do in order to get it back.

"There was this guy at my meetings. Some sleazy Spic, I told Gemma about him like last week. He came up to me after a meeting and he pushed me against a wall…he almost choked me out and he shoved his hand down my pants. Jax, he told me he was gonna rape me bloody. I got in a cheap shot and ran…"

She muttered out the short version of the story, the phrases chopped and disjointed as she sobbed at intervals and had to stop to catch her breath from the pain in her side.

When Jax reached out to touch her ribs she flinched away and he pulled back his hand.

"Gemma gave me a gun."

She reached for her purse but he took her hand in his and brought it back to his knee, he didn't need to see the gun. He needed the rest of the story.

"He was there again last night. I made sure to leave through a different exit but he caught me out by my car. He was all over me and I fought… I fought as hard as I could but when he hit me, I went right down."

He pushed her hair back from her battered face and gasped when he saw the real extent of the damage. Her left eye was swollen shut and she had two stitches in the brow above it. Her mouth was swollen and her lip split and she showed him the scrapes and cut on her hands as if they were badges of courage that attested to fact that she had fought with everything she had.

"He had me down and he kept kicking me, and I curled up in a ball. I saw my bag on the ground and I went for it, and I got the gun. I don't even know how I got the gun while he was still kicking me in the side."

She had to pause to catch her breath and Jax ran his hands up her arms to try and calm her down, but he didn't try to stop her because he knew she had to get this out and tell him all that had happened. A lump was growing in his throat as he was waiting for her tell her she'd been raped. He knew the pain it had caused his Mother and Gemma was a far stronger woman than his ex-wife. He really didn't know if Wendy could survive something like that.

"I turned and I shot him. I didn't aim or anything I just rolled over from my stomach and shot. He ran off, or limped off, so I guess I hit him. But he knows where I work, where I live. I'm a counselor so the people at the meetings have access to me. And this guy, he's gonna come back to finish and when he's done raping me I think he's gonna kill me."

She started to sob hysterically and Jax had to catch her against his chest and hold her in his arms before she pitched right out of the open car door.

"Darlin' no one is gonna hurt you anymore. I promise. I'm gonna take you somewhere safe and I'll find the son of a bitch that did this to you."

Wendy smiled as she balled her hands into fists at the arms of his cut and took in a deep breath of everything that together added up to smell like Jackson Teller. He smelled like leather, a touch of sweat, the simple scent of soap, and cigarettes and in this case smoke from the building he'd just been inside. But that would wash away and leave the scents she associated with strength and security and everything she had loved and lost.