A/N: This is the first of two ficlets covering events that were mentioned, but not fully explored in Charming's Worst Kept Secret and All Roads Lead to Charming.

Please remember that your reviews motivate me and keep me writing, so if you read, please review.

Enjoy!

Looking out her bedroom window, Jolene Morrow huffed as she saw the love of her life blithely walking down the Teller-Morrow walkway. Waiting for him in her father's black 1975 Cutlass Supreme was his girlfriend, Tara Knowles. Jolene was unconsciously biting her thumbnail down to the quick as she watched Jax open the door and jump into the passenger seat as the car's radio blared out Nirvana.

"God, this is like, what, their third date this week? When is he going to buy a freaking clue?" Jolene griped.

Hearing Jolene complain—again, her best friend, Donna Lerner flopped back on her bed dramatically and rolled her eyes.

Oh, please God, not again.

Donna loved Jolene dearly, but she was convinced that her friend had crossed the border from an infatuated pre-teen into obsessed stalker with regard to the man that was the center of her universe—Jackson Teller.

Almost six months shy of her 15th birthday, the petite girl with warm brown eyes and shoulder length sable-colored hair rolled onto her side to observe her BFF. Jolene was sitting on the window seat of her bedroom as she stared out into the street with a stormy expression on her face. Wearing a ratty pair of shorts and an oversized SAMCRO t-shirt that did absolutely nothing for her boyishly slim figure, Jolene looked more like the grease monkey she took immense pride in being than a girl of nearly 13.

Donna and Jolene had become the best of friends during Donna's last year in middle school after Ronnie Armstrong, Jolene's closest female friend, had relocated to Seattle with her family. The two girls were tight even though Donna was now a freshman in high school and Jolene was in the seventh grade. In spite of being from two different worlds—Donna, the product of a middle-class background and Jolene, the product of the MC world—the two girls managed to become close friends and confidantes. As a result, they spent practically every waking moment together. That is, unless Jolene was stalking her prey, her extremely sexy older, and relatively new, stepbrother.

Jax's mother, Gemma Teller, had recently married Jolene's father, Clay Morrow. Clay had assumed the presidency of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original upon the untimely death of Gemma's first husband John "JT" Teller. Even though Jolene had grown to love Gemma over the years, even before she and Clay hooked up, Jolene was still on the fence about having a stepmother. Jolene, who had never felt loved by her own mother, wasn't too keen on sharing her father with another woman. Uncle Elvis had tried selling her the whole "one, big happy family" scenario, but Jolene wasn't buying it. She would have preferred that things stay just the way they had been since she had come to Charming, but even Jolene had to admit that she had never seen her father happier. If she was forced to endure a situation not of her own making, at the very least there had to be a bright side. With the newly blended family moving in together under one roof, now Jolene had unlimited access to Jax, who she refused to refer to as her "stepbrother".

And I can't blame her in the least, Donna thought.

After all, Jackson was freaking hot and the new step-siblings had a very close relationship that had spanned the length of time that Jolene had lived in Charming. But taking into consideration the four-year age difference between them and her friend's tomboyish looks, a far cry from the curvaceous girls Jax always had hanging off of him, Donna knew that Jolene was living in denial and finally decided to say as much.

"You know it can never happen between you two, right?"

Jolene's entire body whipped around to face her best friend. "What the hell are you talking about?" Jolene moved away from the window as Tara's car roared off in the distance. Plopping herself on her bed next to Donna, she gave her friend an evil look.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Donna said exasperated. "Jo, you are in denial and I'm not talking about the river in Egypt, either."

"Funny." Jolene replied witheringly. "I see you came prepared with bad jokes at my expense." Flinging herself back on her bed, Jolene stared at the ceiling.

Pulling herself up so that she could see Jolene's face, Donna retorted, "Okay, maybe that was a little lame, but I'm not making fun of you, Jo. I'm trying to help you see reality here." Jolene rolled her eyes, but her best friend paid no attention. "Jax sees you only as his little sister and, from what you've told me, that's all you've ever been to him since you came to Charming."

"Don't you think I know that?" Jolene said angrily.

"Well, if you know it, why are you still mooning over him? Why not be real with yourself about the situation? Find someone your own age?"

Jolene draped her forearm over her eyes and sighed. "We've been through all this, D. Jax and I are made for each other. I know this like I know I need air to survive." Jolene replied stubbornly. "Why bother subjecting myself to any of those hormonal, pimple-faced losers who skeeve me out beyond belief when I've already found the love of my life? Why should I settle for anything less when I know Jax is my destiny?"

Donna sighed. Her best friend sure did have a flair for the dramatic. "Knowing" something and it not having a snowball's chance in hell were two completely different things. In spite of having grown up together, Jax and Jolene were worlds apart. Jax, already 6'1" with a sinewy, chiseled physique at 16, was extremely well-known and liked among Charming's female population. Even Donna, whose experience with the opposite sex was probably more limited than Jolene's herself, knew that Jax had more than just a few notches on his bedpost. He oozed raw sexuality even without a motorcycle. Jax and his best friend Opie Winston were in the process of rebuilding a couple of Harleys and Donna just knew that Jax on a bike would be almost too much to bear. Regardless of age, shape, or size, the women of Charming would be dropping their panties all over town with just one look. Even at 16, there was no way anyone could ever classify all that hotness as a boy. Jax just screamed all man and the type of man that knew his way around a woman's body, no less.

Jolene, on the other hand, although almost a teenager, was light years away from hitting puberty. Over a foot shorter than Jax, Jolene was probably 80 pounds soaking wet and nary a curve to speak of. She did have beautifully thick and shiny ebony hair and wide seafoam green eyes that were the envy of every girl they knew, but Jolene wasn't interested in making these attributes work for her. Jolene's daily wardrobe of choice consisted of jeans, a t-shirt, and black steel-toed boots. When at the garage, she would change it up a little by throwing on a T-M work shirt. She usually kept all that luxurious hair pulled into a ponytail underneath a Reaper Crew cap she had won from Jax by completing a dare to steal a swig of her father's beer at the dinner table.

After years of having Jax and Opie all to herself, Jolene had recently started inviting Donna to hang out with them as a group. The foursome had enjoyed a lot of good times together and now having the opportunity to observe Jax up close, it was completely obvious to Donna why Jolene had such a huge crush on him. Not only was he damn near perfect he was so beautiful, but he was funny, charismatic, and easy-going. He also had a smile that could make any girl forget to breathe.

Although Jolene was convinced that her infatuation with Jax was a well-guarded secret that she had only shared with her Uncle Elvis and now Donna, you either had to be blind, or Jolene's father, not to see it. Even though none of her father's brothers ever acknowledged knowing to Jolene, Jax did receive his fair share of ribbing in the Clubhouse. He played along, sometimes acting embarrassed and sometimes even mad because of all the shit he got from the members of SAMCRO. In reality, Jax was somewhat flattered and even though Jolene was four years younger and now his stepsister, Jax never discouraged her crush and, in fact, harbored special feelings for Jolene.

Aside from Jax and Opie, Jolene had been Tommy Teller's constant companion during the last two years of his life. By the time Jolene had settled into life in Charming, Tommy was mostly bedridden and couldn't attend school. Gemma, who had wanted to make life for her severely sick little boy as normal as possible, home-schooled Tommy starting when he and Jolene were six and would have been in the same first grade class together. Not wanting Tommy to have to go through the experience alone, Jolene had managed to convince her father to let Gemma home-school her as well.

Tommy and Jolene quickly became the best of friends and the young girl with the huge, sad green eyes soon became one of Jax's favorite people. Tommy had been the first child that Jolene had allowed herself to grow close to and had come to love him very much. Jax and Jolene spent many hours together playing with and entertaining Tommy in his bedroom or at the hospital when he had been too sick to go without round the clock medical care. As a result, she had developed a close bond with both Tommy and Jax and, as far as Jax was concerned, anyone who could make his little brother laugh and bring the color back into his cheeks would always hold a special place in his heart.

When the little boy finally died, everyone had been concerned with Tommy's immediate family and the pain they were suffering, especially his parents, and Jolene seemed to get swept to the wayside, no one taking into consideration that she was grieving as well. No one, except Jax. Twelve year old Jax took eight year old Jolene under his wing and they cried on each other's shoulders, comforting each other as best as two young children could.

But Donna didn't know all that. Jolene, Jax, and Opie, the closest of all the SAMCRO children and progeny of the First 9, rarely spoke about Tommy and what they had all been through together, except with each other.

Since hitting puberty, Jax never suffered from the lack of female company, but he didn't have any female friends. Except for Jolene, and Donna didn't know that either. Ope was his best friend, his brother from another mother, but there was only so much Jax would share with another boy his own age. Sometimes he needed a sympathetic female ear to listen to his woes and he sure as hell wasn't going to his mother. She already had an uncanny ability to get inside his head, he didn't need to invite her in further. And Jax wasn't naïve. Although he enjoyed reaping the benefits of his popularity among the women in the Clubhouse and the girls at school, he knew that anyone that easy to coax onto their backs wasn't interested in what was going through his mind. Even though he knew that Jolene's opinions and advice could be tainted by the feelings she believed she harbored for him in secret, he still valued what she had to say, because like Gemma, Jolene was usually dead on.

But Donna, more concerned with protecting her young friend's heart, didn't see all that. However, Jolene did and that's why Jolene knew that right now Jax was "sowing his wild oats," as Uncle Elvis would say, but eventually he would come around. He had to because even though his body was his to share as he saw fit, for now, his heart belonged only to her.

He just didn't know it yet.

And neither did Donna and that's why she was hell-bent on making Jolene drink the Kool-Aid that would wake her up to the fact that Jax would never look at her in the way that she wanted. Donna hated to bring it up, but she thought it was time that Jolene came down from the clouds and into reality.

"Why would he be interested in any other girl now that he's involved with—"

"DON'T say her name!" Jolene covered her ears. "D, you know damn well that her name is not to be spoken in this room, and if you must make any reference to the bane of my existence, you can only call her NP, which, hopefully, will soon be nothing but OP. Get me?"

Sighing, Donna shook her head at her friend. NP as in "New Pussy" and OP as in "Old Pussy". Her friend really needed to get a grip.

At 16, Tara Knowles had everything going for her physically that Jolene didn't. She had looks and a seriously tight and curvy body. More importantly, however, Tara had the one thing that Jolene didn't. Jax Teller.

While Jolene hated to admit it, she knew that the older girl had a lot to offer. She wasn't like any of the stank hoes Jax had hanging off of him at any given moment. It was sickening to see the croweaters and sweetbutts just lining up to bed the sixteen year old, even though he wasn't even a patched member yet. Disgusting, yes, but Jolene could deal with them because she knew they were forgotten the moment they pulled up their thongs.

But Tara was different. She didn't carry herself like so many of the ho-bags that Jax had been involved with. A straight-A student, Tara had the reputation of being smart and a hard worker. She exuded a certain amount of class and had a reputation of being a good girl, which was probably what had initially attracted Jax to her in the first place. Typical bad boy that he was, Jax was always up for the challenge of corrupting any nice girl that crossed his path. The fact that she also had an alcoholic father gave her a damsel-in-distress air about her that was totally irresistible to Jax. Damaged goods in need of rescuing were his Kryptonite. It surprised everyone, except Jolene and Gemma, for that matter, that Jax had succumbed to Tara's wiles and, for nearly six months, she was the only girl that was on his radar.

And it was driving Jolene freaking nuts!

Jolene had confided in her Uncle Elvis when she was ten years old that she knew Jax Teller was her destiny. One day, she and Jax would be together, she would be wearing his patch, and she would be his old lady, the only old lady he would ever need. But ever since Jax had come home from school one day, extolling the virtues of Tara Knowles, Jolene had been fighting hard to maintain a firm grip on her destiny.

The problem was that Jax was blinded by all of Tara's fine qualities, which Jolene would begrudgingly admit she had a few. The fact remained that Tara was all wrong for Jax. Tara was far too delicate a flower to deal with the realities of MC life. She was too much of a damsel in distress and a little too needy. Although on the surface she appeared to be a tough chick, and had acquired herself a rap sheet since hooking up with Jax to prove it, Jolene knew that it was all hot air. When the real shit hit the fan, and it almost always did when you lived the Life, Tara wasn't strong enough to prop Jax up and would fall like a house of cards in the face of adversity.

Jolene looked at her best friend. She knew that Donna meant well, but she simply just didn't understand and at this point she saw no reason to enlighten her further. Despite the fact that NP seemed to be embedded in Jax's life, Jolene was no where near ready to give up.

One day, Jax Teller will be my old man. You can take that to the bank!

"Damn it!" Jolene exclaimed as she fussed with the showerhead to no avail.

The shower was acting up again and she was going to be late for school. Standing in her bathroom, wearing a terry cloth robe and sporting serious bed head, Jolene contemplated her situation.

When they had first moved into the new house, Jolene was excited that she would have her own en suite bathroom, but it had been in need of some major work. Gemma had a plumber gut the room and replace the old moldy tub with a brand new shower and tile work. Gemma then proceeded to go to town redecorating the interior. The result was the girliest-looking nightmare Jolene could ever imagine, but Gemma had meant well and at least she had her own bathroom.

Unfortunately, it had been giving her a problem the last couple of days and she had forgotten to mention it to Gemma. Now, thanks to the damn snooze button, Jolene had less than an hour to get ready for school when the shower finally decided to die on her. She could hear the pipes clanging in the wall, but only a trickle of water dribbled out of the showerhead. Shrugging her shoulders, Jolene sleepily rubbed her eyes and headed towards the bathroom across the hall from Jax's room. As Jolene went to grab the knob, the door suddenly opened.

Simply put, Jolene was not prepared. Not at all.

As a gust of hot air and steam rolled out, Jax stood in the doorway. With a small towel barely covering his assets and his upper body still wet from his shower, Jax made a striking picture.

"Good Morning, little darlin'," Jax tried suppressing a smile in reaction to the open-mouthed expression on her face. No response. "Are you a'ight?"

Jax heard Jolene swallow the large lump in her throat. "Uh, yeah, uh, my shower. . ." Jolene trailed off, her eyes glazing over as they danced over the hard sinewy pecks and, against her will, trailed down his torso to his incredible six-pack.

Rubbing a hand across the bottom of his face to hide a grin, Jax said, "What? I didn't catch that."

Jolene's inner voice couldn't believe what was happening.

Girl, get your thumb out of your ass and get a frickin' grip before he catches you drooling.

Shaking herself free from the spell a half-naked Jax had put her under, Jolene tried again. "Uh, my shower doesn't seem to be working, so I thought I would, uh, use this one."

Jax smiled and stepped aside to give her entrance. "Well, it's all yours now. Sorry I steamed it up for you."

As Jax walked away, a wide-eyed Jolene turned her head to follow his retreating form. How was it humanly possible to look that good going as well as coming? Biting her lip, she had only one thought in her head.

There was no need for you to turn on the hot water, baby. You could steam up a room all by yourself!

Jolene stumbled into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Wiping down the fogged-up mirror over the sink with her hand, she caught a glimpse of her flaming red cheeks.

"Holy shit!" Jolene exclaimed as she sat on the edge of the tub and fanned herself with the pair of clean panties in her hand. "What a way to wake up in the morning!"

She most definitely owed her dad and Gemma a debt of gratitude for getting hitched.

Who knew there would be so many benefits to living with Jax?

Crouched next to his motorcycle, Jax was removing the last of the old spark plugs on his bike while Opie looked on. It was a surprisingly warm Saturday afternoon for a spring day and since business was a little slow in the garage, Jax had decided to spend some time working on his ride.

Jax and Opie worked part-time at the garage after school and on weekends. It was a great opportunity to learn the automotive trade and since both hoped to one day prospect with the Club, working along side other Club members helped set them apart from regular hang-arounds.

For the most part, Jax and Opie were self-taught amateur mechanics and had already put their knowledge of motorcycle repair to good use shortly after Jax's father had died. JT had been hit by a semi-truck and dragged 178 yards before dying two days later in the hospital. After the funeral, a grieving Jax had decided to rebuild his father's Panhead as a memorial to him. With Opie's source at a junk yard in Lodi, they had been able to scrounge around for old bike parts to use in the rebuild. Under the direction of Clay and Big Otto, Jax and Opie spent six months restoring the beautiful teal bike to its glory.

JT's bike was now showcased in an alcove in the Clubhouse with a framed picture of JT resting on the seat.

Proud of their accomplishment, Jax and Opie had decided that it was time that they build their own bikes. They had spent many weekends crammed into the cab of Piney's pick-up, with Jolene in the middle, searching high and low all over NorCal before finding what they wanted. Opie found his bike, a Softail Fat Boy, through his hook-up in Lodi. He bought it for next to nothing because it was basically just a shell. Jax, on the other hand, found a used Dyna-Super Glide Sport in Modesto, which he bought off the ex-wife of a weekend warrior. She had gotten the bike as part of her divorce settlement and it had been sitting in her backyard, exposed to the elements and untouched for over five years.

Both bikes had needed some serious work to get them in working condition again and the boys spent every spare moment at the garage working on their rides. The Club was in their blood and they were eager to heed the call of the open road.

As the sun beat down on Jax's well-muscled and currently shirtless back, a nearly breathless Jolene squatted down next to him. Dressed in her customary attire for a Saturday afternoon—or any afternoon for that matter—of worn jeans and grease stained T-M work shirt with "Jo" imprinted on the pocket and her wild mane kept barely under control by the ponytail tucked into her backwards cap, Jolene looked less like a girl and more like the tomboy grease monkey that Jax had known for nearly seven years.

"You know, you're gonna strip the head right off that plug." She advised.

"Jo, I know what I'm doing." Jax scoffed as he continued to turn the spark plug with a wrench. "It's fine."

Opie peered over Jax's shoulder. "Uh, actually, I think she's right, bro."

Jax was about to retort that Opie didn't know shit, when the wrench slipped off of the spark plug and slammed on the thumb of his left hand. Throwing down the wrench, Jax quickly wrapped his hand around his sore digit.

"Damn it!" He growled through gritted, yet perfect and pearly white teeth, Jolene noted.

As he saw to his bruised thumb, Jolene tried to pay him no attention as she busied herself examining the spark plug.

"Yup, it's been stripped all right. Why don't you go put some ice on that, while I fix this?" Jolene snarked, trying to do the best she could to hide the fact that she was about to pass out from seeing her bare-chested golden god in all his manly glory.

Looking down at Jolene, Jax unconsciously reached out and grabbed an errant silky soft stray curl that had slipped out from beneath her cap and tucked it behind her ear.

"Like you know so much." He shot back with a half-smile. Turning away, Jax headed to the Clubhouse for some ice.

Opie smiled to himself as he watched the pain in the ass girl he loved like a little sister staring dreamily at Jax's retreating back.

"You might want to put your eyes back in your head if you're gonna change that plug." Opie said mildly. "My advice, take a picture. It'll last longer."

"Shut your pie hole, Sasquatch." Jolene said gruffly as her face turned a delicate shade of pink. Besides a picture wouldn't do Jax justice. I'd need a full-size poster to put above my bed! "Why don't you pretend to be productive and hand me that wrench?"

By the time Jax returned, Jolene had removed the stripped plug and had installed the rest of them. "Go ahead, give it a try."

Cocking his head at her, Jax swung a leg over his ride. As he turned the key and gunned the motor, the Dyna-Glide's engine purred to life.

"Hey, not bad, little darlin'." He winked at her. "Not bad at all."

Jolene smiled like a mental patient as she headed across the lot to help her father, who was threatening to put some asshole in a headlock for misplacing his favorite wrench.

Just one step at a time, she thought. One step at a time.

Sitting in St. Thomas' waiting room of the third floor surgical suite, Jolene tried to deal with her restless leg syndrome. Tucked into a corner by the swinging doors leading to an area off-limits to visitors, Jolene sat with Gemma while her archenemy sat in one of plastic chairs directly opposite them.

Jolene could do very little to conceal the fact that she was staring daggers at NP, who, in her opinion, was the reason they were here in the first place. Jolene had spent the last two hours equally fantasizing about beating up the little bitch and worrying about Jax.

Jolene crossed her arms underneath her non-existent bosom and ground her teeth when she thought about the events that resulted in her spending the afternoon in the hospital.

It was only the second day of the summer break and Jolene had been stuck at the lot. Normally, she would never mind hanging out at the garage. In fact, Tig had planned on showing her how to change a transmission, which she had been nagging him to do for ages. However, when she got a last minute invite to hang out with Jax and Opie at the streams, she was ready to drop Tig like a bad habit.

That is, until Opie revealed that Jax's girlfriend was going too and would be riding with Jax, while Jolene rode with Opie. At that revelation, Jolene suddenly "remembered" her session with Tig and declined to join the party. There was no way that she was going to spend the day watching Miss Perfect and Boring riding on the back of Jax's bike, while clinging to his hard, muscled chest. Jolene couldn't bear the thought of watching NP carrying on with him all afternoon.

But maybe if she had, she might have been able to stop the events of that afternoon. Jax, wanting to show off his riding skills in front of Tara, had lost control of his bike and went head first 30 yards into a ravine and broke his collarbone. Opie, who was unable to rescue Jax by himself, had to leave him behind with a hysterical Tara while he went for help.

I knew that when the chips were down, NP would fall to pieces, Jolene thought vehemently.

While it had taken only twenty minutes riding at top speed to get back to Charming and to get an ambulance back to the site, it had taken almost forty minutes to extract Jax from the ravine and then rush him to St. Thomas.

Now, as she sat during the second hour of Jax's surgery, Jolene felt guilty that she had abandoned him because of her pride. She blamed herself for what had happened and said as much to her stepmother.

Gemma sighed and put an arm around the upset girl. "It wasn't your fault, baby girl." She said, using Clay's term of endearment for his daughter.

It was that bitch over there he was showboating for, Gemma thought bitterly.

When Opie had rolled into the lot peeling tires, Gemma had known immediately that something was wrong. Having spent the better part of her youngest son's life in the hospital, her fear had been very real that she was about to lose her remaining son.

It had taken Clay's strong and quieting presence to settle her down. Now, she was trying her best to control her own anxiety and comfort her stepdaughter as they anxiously waited for Clay, who had left the waiting room to see if there was any news on the surgery.

Just then, Clay and Dr. McDermott, the orthopedic surgeon handling Jax's case, entered the waiting room. All three women leapt to their feet as the two men approached them.

The middle-aged doctor, who was wearing green surgical scrubs, held out a hand to Gemma, who by this time found herself wrapped securely in one of Clay's arms, with his other one wrapped around Jolene.

"Mrs. Morrow, I'm happy to report that the surgery went well." As Gemma let out a sigh of relief, the doctor continued to detail the aspects of the surgery and Jax's expected recovery. "It's going to be a bit difficult and uncomfortable for him as he needs to wear the cast for most of the summer. The type of break he suffered will require him to be completely immobile. No movement whatsoever. He's going to be totally dependent on others to care for him and see to his basic necessities. You may want to consider getting a professional, like a home attendant or nurse to help if you feel you're unable to cope with the demands of his day-to-day care by yourself."

Jolene immediately chimed in, looking up at her father. "Jax is not gonna want some stranger taking care of him. I can help, especially while Gemma's at the garage."

Looking at Jolene, Tara felt her eye twitch. "Mr. and Mrs. Morrow, as Jax's girlfriend, I want you to know that I definitely want to help take care of him as well."

"Well, that might not be for the best," Jolene spoke up before Clay or Gemma had the chance to open their mouths. "Dr. McDermott said 'completely immobile', that means no movement whatsoever."

That means no nookie for you! Jolene smiled to herself. Ahhh, every cloud does have a silver lining!

"I know what 'completely immobile' means." Tara shot back.

"Of course, you do, but just in case, let me use it in a sentence. 'Tara stood completely immobile while Jax writhed in pain in the ravine'." Jolene retorted, fighting the urge to stick her tongue out for emphasis.

Gemma bit her lip to keep herself from smiling as Tara's eyes widened in shock. Although Gemma had no love for the girl, she was a little disappointed that Tara had no snappy comeback to put the young teen in her place as Jax's girlfriend.

No doubt the girl is soft, letting herself get bullied by a newly 13 year old.

Quirking an eyebrow at his daughter, Clay spoke up, hoping to forestall an argument between the two young women. "Thanks, Doc. As Jax's parents, my wife and I will make sure he gets the best care possible."

"When can we see him?" Gemma asked anxiously.

"He'll be in recovery for about an hour, but once he's moved to a room, one of the nurses will come and get you so that you may see your son."

It was the hottest summer in Charming that anyone could ever remember. Instead of enjoying her time off from school with her friends, including Donna, Jolene spent all summer taking care of Jax. Even though Jax tended to get cranky every now and again over his enforced lock down, Jolene was still happy to do it.

The first couple of weeks into his recovery, Jax's bedroom resembled a bustling Grand Central Terminal with a constant parade of visitors from school, the garage, and the Clubhouse. But as summer roared on, his daily roster of visitors slowly trickled down until it was just Opie and NP. Jolene, however, never left his side, except of course, when Gemma got ready to give him a sponge bath. Then Gemma would almost have to drop-kick her through the door in order to get Jolene out of the room. In hindsight, Jolene knew it was for the best because she wasn't sure if she could handle giving Jax a sponge bath without passing out cold.

Dr. McDermott had been very serious about Jax's total and complete immobility. The heavy plaster cast ran the length of his torso and completely encased his entire right arm and, as a result, Jax was unable to move without assistance. Being totally dependent on others irked him beyond reason, but Jolene did her best to keep him entertained and amused. Jax felt guilty and responsible for ruining her summer vacation, but the fact was, except for the part where Jax got hurt, this was the best summer of Jolene's young life. For the most part, she had Jax's undivided attention and Jolene milked it for all it was worth.

And best of all, Gemma seemed to be on her side as far as the Tara issue was concerned. Although Tara had tried to usurp her way into the Teller-Morrow household, Gemma had told her, and in Jolene's opinion rather politely, that her services would not be needed. Without an excuse to hang around Jax all summer, Tara had taken a part-time job at a bookstore-slash-coffee house on Main in downtown Charming. Although Tara did visit him everyday, and once there, she would almost have to be asked to leave, Gemma insisted that Jolene sit in as a more-than-willing chaperone. Gemma was nobody's fool and she wasn't going to have her son permanently disabled for not healing properly just because his girlfriend refused to let him keep it in his pants.

Today, like clockwork, Tara made her way to the Teller-Morrow house to visit Jax once she finished her shift at the bookstore. After giving Jax a suck-the-tongue-out-of-his-head kiss, which made Jolene roll her eyes, Tara re-adjusted his pillow and pulled a bag out of her backpack to reveal a loaded burger from Nicky's diner that she had brought for the sickly patient. Before a more-than-willing Jax could take it, Jolene quickly snatched the bag out of Tara's hands and summarily dumped it in the garbage can next to Jax's desk.

"Sorry, Jax," She said insincerely. "But Gemma doesn't want you having overly fatty foods."

"Gemma's not here." Jax reminded her with a clenched jaw.

With a hand on her bony hip, Jolene cocked her head at Jax. "Do we really have to discuss your last bout of constipation in mixed company?"

Before Jax could reply, Tara jumped in. "You're really enjoying this aren't you?"

"Are you asking me if I enjoy seeing Jax uncomfortable and miserable?" Jolene asked and before Tara could respond, continued. "No, I do not, but you feed him that greasy burger and I'll have no choice but to witness his discomfort and misery when he can't move his bowels." Jolene replied as she re-adjusted his pillow so that he would be more comfortable.

Jax sighed as the pressure on his back was relieved at the proper placement of his pillow. As he looked at the two angry young women, he chuckled to himself, thinking that in spite of the fact that Jolene was just barely a teenager, it was kind of hot to see his girlfriend and his stepsister fighting over him. It certainly gave him something else to think about other than how he had completely ruined his plans for the summer.

Jax bitterly regretted his little stunt that had turned him into a prisoner of his own making. After he and Opie had finally finished rebuilding their bikes in time for summer break, they had planned a number of road trips for just the two of them to take.

Jax absolutely loved the freedom of being on the open road. In addition to exploring NorCal to a greater extent, they had planned on taking Uncle Jury up on his invitation and make their first real road trip to Indian Hills. Jax had not seen Jury since his father's funeral and they had been looking forward to getting together under happier circumstances. Not to mention that Uncle Jury had offered them free range over his stable of girls.

In Charming, Jax would never consider cheating on his girl, but Indian Hills wasn't Charming. It was the road and what happened on a run, stayed on a run.

Instead, Jax had spent the last six weeks trapped in his room, practically unable to do anything for himself and with another four weeks to go, entertainment was pretty thin. If it weren't for Jolene and Opie, he probably would have lost his mind, especially as his mother was doing everything possible to keep his girlfriend at arm's length, which meant that he was currently one horny bastard.

Tara, seeing that she was not going to make any headway with Jolene on guard, finally left. Happy that the bitch was gone, Jolene quickly propped herself up next to Jax on his bed and pulled out an old hardcover book of essays that had belonged to his father.

Reading in a low voice, Jolene read the words written by Emma Goldman.

"Anarchism... stands for liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from shackles and restraint of government. Anarchism stands for social order based on the free grouping of individuals . . . that will guarantee to every human being free access to the earth and full enjoyment of the necessities of life, according to individual desires, tastes, and inclinations."

After finishing, Jolene closed the book. "Wow."

Jax nodded. "Pretty deep, huh?"

"Absolutely." Jolene marveled. "I remember hearing JT quoting it verbatim all the time."

"It was how my dad tried to live his life. He told me once that he read it many years ago, but not in a book. He was my age when he went hiking near the Nevada border and it was painted in red on a wall." Jax sighed. "Ope and me, we were gonna go find it together this summer and I fucked it all up."

Jolene reached over and, although nervous, brushed a lock of his golden hair behind his ear. "I'm really sorry this happened to you, Jax, but it's not going anywhere. You'll be able to see it, stand in the same spot and read those same words that changed your father's life, and you will feel that connection to him again."

Jax looked at Jolene in wonder. That she, at her age, could pinpoint exactly what he was feeling and that she understood him amazed Jax. They had always been close, but over the last six weeks, Jax had come to realize just how much Jolene had grown up.

They had spent Jax's enforced imprisonment talking about their goals and aspirations. Jax shared his hopes of following in his father's footsteps and finally becoming a patch, while Jolene dreamt of being a teacher, but worried about not being smart enough to get into college.

She wasn't your typical 13-year old. Sometimes, the things that came out of her mouth made you forget that she was barely a teenager. Clay would say that Jolene was too smart for own good, but he would usually say that when she was cracking wise and being a general pain in the ass. In Jax's opinion, it was refreshing to know a teenage girl that wasn't as dumb as shit and that had interests outside whatever it was that teenage girls found fascinating.

That was one of the reasons Tara had been the first girl his own age that he had ever seriously dated. Watching Jolene thumbing through his father's book, looking for another essay to read, Jax came to the realization that Jolene had set the standard that Tara had met by proving that girls you could actually talk to and have meaningful conversations with existed out there.

When he really thought about it, Jax came to the stunning conclusion that, in a lot of ways, he felt closer to Jolene than he did with Tara.

How weird is that?