Author Notes: This is book one of a fan fiction based on the younger years of Jackson Teller, Opie Winston, Tara Knowles, and Donna Lerner. There are also two Original Characters that have been created for this story, Aiden Janowitz and Amelia Tate. There will be other original characters created as the story line progresses. The story begins in 1994 when Jax and Tara first met. Every love story has a beginning this is theirs. Book Two posted here includes the same characters and much of the story will be on the same time line.

Face Characters

Jackson Teller (Son of John 'JT' Teller) Face Character – Charlie Hunnam

Opie Winston (Son of Piermont 'Piney' Winston) Face Character – Ryan Hurst

Aiden Janowitz (Son of Lenny 'The Pimp' Janowitz) Face Character – Kit Harington

Tara Knowles (Girlfriend of Jackson Teller) Face Character – Maggie Siff

Donna Lerner (Girlfriend of Opie Winston) Face Character – Sprague Grayden

Amelia Tate (Girlfriend of Aiden Janowitz) Face Character – Gabriella Wilde

Chapter 1

{Charming 2013, Present Day} As Tara struggled to grab the sides of the kitchen sink to gain some footing to fight off Gemma her mind raced. During her residency in Chicago she had always heard about those who had been on the brink of death only to be snatched back by modern medical technology at the last moment. Many returned with tales about the thoughts that played through their mind at the end, but Tara had never expected the intensity of what they described to be like this. She was fighting for the very breath of life, yet visions playing so vividly in her mind reel by reel, moment by moment, and each word from the past spoken, as if they were just happening, a movie playing in her head. The journey that had begun so long ago was about to reach an ending that neither she nor Jax had planned. Tara continued to struggle, refusing to believe it was ending her now, struggling for just a gasp of air to give her a little more time the flashbacks not stopping. In a way they were glorious, comforting, but they were also torture as she slowly realized she was losing her fight. Dreams, and hopes of a young love, of her, Jax, Opie, Donna, Aiden, and Amelia, all were alive in her head as if it were just yesterday, the smiles, laughter, and dear God the innocence of youth she hadn't thought of in so very long ….

{Charming, September 1994} The sound of her palm pounding against the tacky blue colored school locker, combined with the colorful metaphors flowing from her mouth, echoed through the high school corridors. Several heads turned to stare in the direction of the long haired brunette. Let them fucking stare, Tara Grace Knowles thought to herself as she attempted the combination on the lock again, the palm of her right hand blood red, and throbbing from the contact the with cool metal. She watched as a group of privileged Charming girls walked past her in the hallway, each snickering as they looked her over from top to bottom with their judgmental stares. She supposed they didn't approve of her homey button up top and plain jeans. Bitches the whole lot of them, Tara thought as they walked past, she had no delusions of ever being one of the girls.

There were a number of factors stacked up against her that prevented this from occurring. The first, and perhaps most important, the lack of money growing on trees at the Knowles very humble abode, Tara's father was an alcoholic. Her aunt who lived in San Diego said it had to do with two things their Irish heritage, the Irish being big drinkers and all, the second the fact he never got her mother's death. Tara's aunt was a firm believer that a person's fate and life was already predestined for them. That regardless of the choices they made there was no escaping the inevitable destiny that would find you.

Frankly Tara thought that was a huge crock of shit. She believed people had free will, and made the decisions that ultimately defined their life. Life wasn't a pre-paved road or destiny that you could not detour, and change at any time. She had vowed as a young girl to never lose control of her path, and had some very large detours planned for hers. One was getting out of the shitty little town of Charming, and making a better future for herself.

Tara loved her father, because well he was her father. Most days though he could be found passed out on the floor lying in a pool of his own foul smelling vomit. She got so very weary of cleaning up the mess day after day. Since his day consisted of laying in vomitus, holding a job on a regular basis wasn't his forte. Which lead back to the primary reason she didn't fit in with the typical girls of Charming High school, drunken father definitely equaled bare fucking money trees. She was sixteen years old, had just entered her junior year of high school, and was already scouting out a job at the local diner as a waitress just to afford the simple necessities she needed. Looking at the bitches walking past snickering at her she knew they would consider the simple necessities the right color shoes for their outfit, or the perfect purse, fuck Tara considered the simple necessities soap to wash with, food to make a small meal with.

Despite the obvious first factor there was a second that set her apart from the other girls in the high school, her demeanor and all over appearance. There was a look about Tara that didn't make others want to run seeking out friendship, and affection. She was an average looking girl, not breathtakingly gorgeous, but pretty in a plain Jane sort of way. She didn't really require the makeup other girls her ages spent endless hours painting upon their face, her complexion glowed beautifully in its own natural nakedness. Her eyes where most unusual, at times looking brown, others looking green, her dark brown thick brows hovering above them, and her long dark hair cascading down her shoulders. Her face was very intense, with a certain wisdom already the fine creased lines from frowning imprinted. All this combined made Tara appear not only many years older than a girl of 16 years old, but also unapproachable to many. Tara's fellow classmates gossiped amongst themselves that it was the constant scowl often apparent on her face that scared many of them away. The truth was Tara Grace had the ability to produce a radiant smile; it was just extremely rare her lips ever curved for the creation of such radiance. If any of them bothered to know her they would realize she had little to smile about.

Tara closed her eyes for a moment pulling in slow breaths to promote some sort of tranquility within her. Truth was she had a rage in her that was in constant need of being buried further and further down within the depths of her soul. There were times she honestly felt as if she were going to lose her mind. She couldn't help but wonder if one day it would all explode like a volcano and what would actually happen when the eruption took place.

Tara was particularly on edge today, her mind drifted to her mother; it was the anniversary of her death. She tried not to dwell on the past, but couldn't help but wonder what life might have been like if her mother hadn't died when she was only 9 years old. Tara could remember a time that life had been normal, with a father that didn't drink himself into oblivion, a mother that cooked cleaned, showed love, and affection. Her parents had even appeared to be in love with one another. That had all ended however when her mother was diagnosed with cancer shortly after Tara's sixth birth day. For three years she watched her mother fight the battle, and her father begin his slow spiral into the whiskey bottle. Now, that life was all a distant memory, and she was a 16 year old motherless girl, wearing all the wrong clothes, with a drunken daddy who biggest talent was being a fucking pack rat.

"Damn it!" She beat her palm up against the locker once more as the another attempt to open the stupid contraption failed, her palm now burning as if a thousand needles were sticking her.

"Darlin' it's going to be a long year for that hand of yours if you keep beating it against that fuckin' metal." Jackson Nathanial Teller, known as Jax to everyone, spoke the words as he leaned up against this own locker two spaces down. He had been watching Tara from a distance with a great deal of amusement before approaching.

Jax and Tara had never really talked much, their paths not really crossing. He knew the basics about her, mother was dead; father was a derelict, but other than that not a whole hell of a lot more. She wasn't the typical girl that Jax really gave much mind too, that combined with the fact the girls were thick as thieves around him at any given time, he didn't have to go prowling much for food. Even the prissy good girls snuck over to get a piece of him when they thought no one else was looking. As he watched her though, he was surprised to find himself so drawn to her, so attracted. The magnetic pull to come closer was the weirdest sensation he had ever felt to date, and well he had felt a lot of sensations despite the fact he was only 16 years old. Jax found himself wondering why in the fuck they had never spoken before as his eyes began to drift over her body. He shifted as he felt himself growing uncomfortable against the zipper of his jeans.

Tara eyed Jax curiously as he stood before her. She knew every girl in school secretly admired him, even the snobs that had just passed by. He was the bad boy that every girl dreamed about, long blonde California hair, sun kissed beautiful skin, deep intense eyes like the ocean, and a body that bulged in all the right places, and was clearly made for sin. All that combined with the fact he was John Tellers Legacy, the Prince of SAMCRO made him the ultimate bad boy package. She couldn't deny he was attractive in every way, but with her life being, well her shitty life, she didn't ever set her aspirations on snagging a guy. Especially one like Jackson Teller, everyone knew there was no snagging him anyway. One simply didn't snatch Jax off the street as if he were a stray puppy. Her brow furrowed as she frowned deeply. Tara was a sophomore in high school, had never been on a date, and had never been kissed. I am a sad, pathetic fucking washed up story at 16, she thought to herself as she stood there staring at the SAMCRO Prince before turning her direction back to the locker once again, more for distraction this time.

"Here let me help you with that, Darlin'," Jax closed the distance between them, "Shit can't be responsible for you breaking a hand, now can I?" His handsome face made even more devilishly attractive by the cheeky smirk that crossed it slowly as he spoke, without thought he reached his hand towards the combination lock, brushing against Tara's in the process. Neither was prepared for the exhilarating magnitude that simple contact with their flesh would create. Momentarily the world around them dissipated there was no noise of the crowded corridor of the school, only them.

Tara's eyes locked with Jax as his warm hand brushed against her delicate flesh, awakening stirring sensations deep within her she didn't know existed. Her skin became hot, and flushed as she felt her body tingle in a way that made her breathing become rapid, and short. Tara was mesmerized, unable to speak, and could only stand gazing into the ocean of blue of his eyes.

Years later when they talked about this moment they could only describe it as an awakening of their souls instantly recognizing the others eternal mate. Neither of them ever able to find the perfect words to describe what transpired between them, because it was an emotional connection deeper than either one. Deeper than any human words could decipher, and very quickly it devoured and consumed them completely. Tara realized that she had been very wrong; there were things in life to which people have no options, or no control. For Tara Knowles that thing was Jax and for Jax Teller it was Tara. At the age of 16 years old their worlds had already begun to collide, and their predestined course set in motion.

"Tara…." Jax spoke the word with a primal lust, and desire he had never felt. For the first time it was the only word he could utter.