Sheriff Wesley Gartlan glanced at Abel , who was handcuffed to the bench nearby. It didn't seem right, but drunk and angry as he was, it wasn't exactly safe for him to be amongst the others in the holding tank.

"What's with the Teller kid now ?"

Toni, at dispatch desk was well aquainted with Abel's antics, but hadn't taken the call before her shift.

" Drunk and fighting at the mall out on 30. Busted another kids face n made a mess in the food court. Security don't want him out there anymore!"

" He stinks t high heaven, and it's not beer either !" She noted, as she passed by him a few minutes ago. She'd witnessed Abel drunk before, but those times he'd smelled like a brewery. This time he reeked mostly of whiskey. And he wasn't the usually happy drunk either.

" Yep, it's shine, and whatever else they got their hands on...I got his Mom on the phone, she oughta be showing up pretty soon. This kids ok on beer, but he's a little shit drinking anything else...gonna be a mean drunk when he grows up..." The Sheriff finished his report just in time to see Mrs Teller approaching the front desk.

" Hello Wes..."

Tara smiled at him.

" Mrs Teller...is Jax on his way? Looks like your boy out there got into it with some other kids at the Mall. Seems like their security got a legal no trespassing notice served on em too. Were you made aware of that ?"

Tara was watching their eldest son, half asleep on the bench. His bloody shirt was ripped, his face was bruised, puffy , and a small angry cut was scabbing above his eye. He looked angry, even as he slept. He'll be sixteen next month she was thinking. Was his behavior going to get worse ? The no trespassing notice got her attention.

" What ? No...when was that issued?" She remembered some of her own illegal activities when she and Jax were in school, and knew what it was. Obviously she wasn't that aware of or involved with what went on in Abel's life...this was so frustrating. Why were boys such a pain in the ass at this age?

Substance abuse and teens

Youth Alcohol services

AA and the adolescent

These were just a few of the pamphlets Tara looked over as Wesley continued.

" I think this would be a safe direction for him, Jax- when we get involved, and it's a chance your boy will continue using, his family won't have much say in the matter. So I want you to consider getting support for him and yourselves. We're at the point of doing him harm when we rescue him like this."

She was remembering back when she and Jax were in highschool. Wasn't this just something all kids went through? She'd managed to focus on her studies, and party, right? Then she realized the challenges Abel faced with his learning disabilities. But wasn't his guidance counselor helping enough with that? Both she and Jax thought the program everyone agreed on was supposed to help ...so why was their son acting out this way?

With a sigh, she glanced at her husband. At times like these, even after Charming, he was impossible to read, emotionally. When he shut down like this, the end result was a verbal skirmish between them. She hated ambushing him sometimes, but when it came to the kids, there seemed no other choice.

No one spoke for a while. Tara sat next to their eldest son, as he leaned against the half open window, and watched as his blonde hair whipped with the wind.

He's almost a replica of Jax at that age, she thought in amazement, reaching across and gently touching his cheek. This gesture was reserved for what Abel always called " those mother-son moments" as he would recoil back with a smirk. " Not the tissue n spit thing Mom ! " He'd plead with a grin, hands held up in defense. When the boys were small, she was always fussing with their hair, or face or something...

Jax caught her concern in the rear view mirror.

" He can't handle liquor..." He said to her.

" That's a shrewd observation !" She answered , not looking .

" No, I mean he CANT handle it...his chemistry won't work with it the way it does with beer. We dealt with one of those back in Charming, at the Club. Prospect was ok as long as he didn't drink any hard stuff, and when he did , he was an insufferable shit head !"

Tara had forgotten that fact. It must have alot to do with Wendy and her substance abuse issues when she was pregnant with Abel. Heroin, Crack, or booze...it didn't matter to his birth mother at the time...she'd completely forgotten that, along with Gemmas attitude towards her...the question now was ...what do they need to do to help Abel ?