Disclaimer: All characters, locations, concepts, dialogue, and story leading to this work of fiction belong to their respective copyright holders, no profit-making is intended.

Timeline and Spoilers: Anything up to and including Season 6, Episode 10: "Huang Wu"

Author's note: As with all of my stories, suggestions about future plot developments are welcome and wanted, Reviews of any kind are neat as well. Due to the many reviews, there will most definitely be more to this story. How can I not give Jax and Tara a happier turn of events.

Genesis 2:24

Chapter 1

"All you can do now is tell him you're sorry, and go away...Thomas and Abel will not be raised by you, and that what you do now will determine how we deliver that message. Either Mommy moved away or Mommy passed away. Your call."

Gemma Teller-Morrow to Tara Knowles-Teller

Tara looked at the older woman, the threat was both explicit and implicit. If Gemma had her way, which seemed more likely with every passing day, then not only would Tara lose her boys; she would be dead. Losing Jax, Abel, and Thomas seemed inevitable. However; her own survival was not guaranteed. That left only one option.

Gemma had told her that her only option now was to apologize to Jax and go away. The threat was meant to clarify what 'going away' really meant.

Tara reflected that she would have immediately responded with a biting remark of her own. But Gemma's threat had changed her. Her actions thus far had been geared towards protecting her boys. All of the lies, betrayal, and manipulation were all for them. Now, with her plan exposed and in tatters, she had to think of herself for once. Before Gemma could turn around and leave Tara spoke with a resigned sigh "Gemma, you're right, I won't be the boys mother anymore. No more games, they're yours if you want them. Jax too."

Gemma smirked as if she won some great prize, which she really had. If Tara was not going to fight her anymore, then Jax and his children would remain part of the club and close to her. If Jax wanted to take the club legit, good for him. "Always knew you were smart, so about that message to the boys, it's up to you."

"I'll tell Jax I'm sorry for all the shit I pulled, I won't divorce him, and then I'll leave. Can't go too far, with my trial coming up. I'll stay out of your way. Can you give him a call? I want to do this face to face." Tara was just so tired of it all. She knew she was being selfish, but if that's what she had left, she'd take it.

Gemma was trying to figure out if Tara was playing another game, but looking at her now. She was just another defeated, broken, and alone old lady. Even if she was still the wife of her son, Tara was just someone else trying to get to mess up her plans, Gemma gave her daughter-in-law a smile "Sure, he's out on club business, when he's done with that I'll send him to you, you'll be here?"

"Got nowhere else to be, the kids are staying with you, I can't practice, nobody wants to hire a doctor with a felony arrest and pending trial. I'm not a rat, that's why I'm staying married to Jax, I can't be compelled to testify against him." Tara found that this whole situation was so absurd that it was almost funny, except that her family was being ripped away from her.

Gemma had seen this before, she was proud of Tara for accepting her role. Before she turned to go she said with a certain smugness "Good girl."

"Thanks for the heads-up, it really helped." Tara was being honest, the threat had put things into stark clarity. Dead or not dead, the choice was easy.

Gemma got the last word in "You know me, I'm all about the helping."

After the door was shut, Tara sported a wry and weary grin, the first she allowed herself since Gemma had darkened her door "right."


It was some hours later, Tara had fallen asleep on the couch, waiting for Jax. Having nowhere to be and nothing to do. She let herself relax, being totally selfish had some advantages.

She was jolted awake when the door to the house opened. Only a few people had keys, it could be Gemma again, or Jax. It was the latter. He came into the living room, he'd been riding and was dressed and armed accordingly.

Jax didn't know what this was about. He told Tara he needed some distance from her. Her betrayal had stung him deeper than he cared to admit. Didn't she realize what she put him through with the fake pregnancy and miscarriage. With the life he led, death was a close friend who was always just around the corner. It made new life that much more precious. So it was with some surprise that his mother had called him, to tell him that Tara wanted to talk to him.

"So, what's going on?" Jax noticed that Tara seemed to lack that certain spark he was used to, especially when he used that harsh tone of voice. He and the club were in the middle of a potential war between the Chinese and the Irish, Happy was already a hostage.

Tara sat up and yawned, she wasn't rested, but the nap helped "Gemma came by today, made me an offer, I just wanted to take care of my end sooner rather than later."

"What kind of offer?" Jax was starting to become concerned, regardless of what Tara planned to do, he still loved her. He didn't like the way she looked or spoke. It reminded him of when she had first got her hand crushed, like she knew her world had changed and she had no control.

If it were any other time, Tara would have smiled. Jax couldn't hide anything from her. His unspoken concern was touching, but now wasn't the time for smiles. "Basically, she told me I would not be raising Abel or Thomas. That my only option was to tell you I'm sorry and then leave. How I left was up to me, either alive or dead."

"Wait just a minute. I'm their father, and I never said you weren't their mother. So, you just backed off?" Jax's concern was becoming slowly mixed with anger, who did his mother think she was, that she could say that to his wife?

Tara scoffed and sighed "Yeah I did, so here goes. Jackson, I apologize for everything I tried to do. I'll set up in Oakland or Stockton, maybe there's a free clinic that will hire me until the trial. I hope you'll forgive me, but I know how much I hurt you."

"What about our boys?" Jax's anger was slowly shifting, if there was one thing he could say for certain about Tara is that she was loyal and protective of her children, that didn't seem to be the case anymore. He went from standing to plopping down in a chair, this promised to be a long talk.

Tara calmly turned, so she could look at him. "Gemma wants to take care of them, and I really don't want to test whether she'll follow through with her threat, it wasn't the first time she's done that."

"When did she threaten you before?" Jax was far better when he was dealing with a single target. Not like now when he didn't know who to support, his wife or his mother.

Tara proceeded to tell Jax of her confrontation with Gemma in her office, not the most recent one, but the one where Gemma brought up turning Tara into the cops if she tried to leave for the job in Oregon and punching her in the stomach, and Gemma's flippant comment about how it was good that Tara wasn't pregnant.

After the story was over, Jax was shaking his head, trying to figure things out, Tara mistook his uncertainty for doubt and chimed in "I know I haven't given you any reason to trust me, but it was that moment in the office that led to the plan that happened later. I knew exactly how to get to Gemma, because of what she said."

"It's not that I don't believe you, I just don't know what to do here. What you tried to do, it hurt, I won't deny it. But no matter what, I don't want you to go anywhere." Jax was still trying to figure things out, putting the pieces together. 'So that's why Lowen told me that Tara thought my mother turned her in. Never mind that it was that psycho Toric.'

Tara smirked "Jax, what you want and what actually happens rarely meet up. Especially when it comes to me and our family. I remember a guy who promised me that we would leave this life and town. That your father should have run your mother over to get you out. The reason it's so clear to me is that you had just been released from jail, but here we are, three years later and now I have to leave by myself, just to stay alive."

Jax looked back, seeing all that had happened to his wife since she came back into his life. Being kidnapped, life and death situations, attempted murder leading to her hand being crushed. These last couple of years Jax had been trying to have it all, club and family. Then the memory surfaced, the clubhouse bombing, he could've lost everything if things had turned out differently. He also went through what his life would've looked like if him, Tara, and the boys had just packed up and left all those years ago. He'd be a mechanic somewhere, she'd be a top-notch surgeon, their boys would have had normal lives, without the threat of their parents being killed or going to jail.

Another memory, Opie after losing Donna, Jax could see that the loss had wounded his friend. It was like a gunshot wound that could never be treated. Opie was never the same. Jax could still recall one of the last things Opie said to him regarding the club. How Jax was wrong in choosing the club.

Jax had his first real doubt then, it hit deep. 'What good is the club if I shatter my family by sticking close to it.' Jax went back to thinking about his best friend. Before Opie had come back to the club, he had a loving wife and kids to care for. Since he came back, he had lost his wife and father. Finally, he was killed in order to protect the club. Opie's kids were basically orphans, both of their parents were dead. Not to mention the burden that Lyla now had to bare alone, being a mother to both her and Opie's kids.

Jax considered his own actions and family. As president of the club, he would be at the forefront of most big deals and meetings the club had and would have in the future. How many more altercations with the Irish or whoever else would he be lucky enough to survive?

As for Tara, her immediate future was filled with a trial. If things went bad there, she would go to jail. And not short time either. By the time she was released, she would have missed at least a decade of their son's lives. On the other side of the coin, if the trial went well, Tara would still have the arrest on her record. And Gemma breathing down her neck. never mind any blow-back from the club's current and possible enemies.

His kids could be in the same situation. If worse came to came worse and he and Tara were taken from them. They would end up being raised by Wendy, who was okay when she was clean. But she was unreliable at best. This left Gemma, Nero, and the club. And Jax had already lived through that story with his mother and Clay.

He was so focused on changing the club. That his family had fallen apart right in front of him. He came out of his musings to really look at his wife. And he made a decision "Tara, babe, you do have to leave, and I'm sorry its come to this. But you won't be leaving alone."

"Am I going to have minders, a prospect or Juice like before?" Tara scoffed, she didn't expect anything else really, Jax would want to know where she was.

Jax shook his head "No, that's not what I meant, tomorrow, I want you to go talk to Roosevelt, ask him how far away you can go, while you wait for your trial." Before Tara could respond, Jax got up and went to the kitchen. He came back with one of his numerous prepaid cell phones.

Tara asked "Why?"

"Because the further away, the better. As for me, I'll keep this phone on me, only you'll know the number. Ask the cop if he'll give you a deputy as an escort, if not I can have one of the guys do it. If you want. Anyway, when you tell me where you are, I'll bring the boys to you." Jax was going over all the steps that would have to be taken.

Tara looked astonished at this, it was unexpected to say the least. "What about your mother? I doubt she'll go for that."

"Well, she won't know where you are, and she's going to be busy. See, there's going to be a big surprise happening tomorrow that she's really going to be pissed about." Jax was already thinking about how that little situation would play out.

Tara was trying to figure out what could possibly keep Gemma busy while the boys were taken away. "What about you? After you bring Thomas and Abel to me, what will you be doing."

"Well, by the time that happens, I'll be patched out of the club. In fact, if everything goes as planned, you'll be in the clear, immunity and community service for anything the D.A. might have you on. So, I'll be staying with you, if you'll have me." Jax smirked at the thought of what was going to go down in the next few days with the Irish. The Chinese wanted them dead, while the cops wanted them dead or alive.

Tara gaped at her husband, of all things she thought he might say, that was the last thing. "Wait, what do you mean, how is that possible?"

"I made a deal with the D.A., I deliver the Irish, you and the club get cleared of everything." Jax had moved to sit down next to his wife. He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

The fact that Jax was so close brought Tara her next question, the kutte he wore like a second skin still smelled of the road and his bike "You're leaving the Sons, can you do that? And about the escort, I wouldn't mind some company, Bobby would be good."

"Of course, babe, as president, I can step down whenever. We'll need to take a vote on whether I can leave, but once I tell the guys what's going on, that shouldn't be a problem. Bobby, huh, I think I'd feel safer if Tig or Happy were with you." It was unfortunate that Happy was currently a hostage of the Chinese, but Jax would tell the next president how he planned to get Happy back alive.

Tara smirked, it was a welcome sight to Jax, he hadn't seen her this happy of relaxed in a long time. She said "Yeah, Tig and me have some history, and he tends to attract danger. Besides, Bobby's been kind of a friend. He took me aside just after I got out of jail and told me that you didn't stand a chance without me. If I wasn't so wrapped up in my plan, what he said would have been much more appreciated."

"Huh, well, he was right. It turns out I'm lost without you. Well I guess that leaves Chibs to be the next president, they'll be in good hands." Jax finally started to relax, he shrugged out of his kutte and kicked his boots off.

Tara sighed and leaned against him "What I still don't get, why do you suddenly want to leave? The club's been your life forever."

"It was what happened to Ope, and you telling me you're leaving. I got to thinking, what good is the club if I have to come back to an empty house? And what about our kids, do I really want them raised by someone other than us." He draped an arm over her shoulder, thought better of it, and kissed his wife before standing up and turning to her "C'mon, let's get some rest, long day tomorrow."

Tara stood up as well, she finally started to really believe her husband "Thank you, Jax, I never thought you would ever do this. I thought Gemma was right, that I'd driven you away and you wouldn't forgive me."

"Well, she went too far, you're my wife. And those are our kids." With that, he followed the woman he loved to their bedroom for the last time. The next time, if everything went to plan, they would be a whole family again far away from Charming, SAMCRO, and Gemma.