I have half a hundred headcanons about Jax and Tara meeting for the first time, this been one of them.
It's my first SOA fic so please be nice!
The car stalls when the light turns green. Bloody typical.
"No, come on!" She uselessly hits the wheel with the palm of her hand and tries to restart the engine - once, twice - in vain. White smoke appears from below the hood, only resulting in a few curses in her mouth.
The car behind her honks, and Tara is tempted to give them the middle finger. Good old Charming habits. She tries for the engine one more time, but her old Cutlass makes some weird sound, so she gives up. The other cars drive past her without second look, until a bike stops by her side.
"You okay there, lassie?"
Her eyes widen a bit, because she'd recognize the scar and accent anywhere. The opposite doesn't seem true, though, as Chibs looks at her like she's any other stranger. She blinks. Hard.
"I don't know, really..." she manages to answer. There's still smoke coming out of the hood. What a mess.
"The shop's just 'round the corner if you need it."
She looks around, surprise painted all over her face. It's amazing, and maybe a bit scary, how the neighbourhood changed in ten years, new shops, new houses, new everything. Yet the street itself hasn't changed one bit and, if she stretches her neck, she can even see the sign announcing 'Teller Morrow, Automotive repair'.
Chibs barely needs her "okay, thanks" to ride away, leaving her alone by the curb. Tara sighs and turns off the car for good before putting her keys and phone in her bag.
She tries not to overthink when she enters the garage, not to look around her like a deer in highlights. Still, it's when she's glancing at the clubhouse that someone catches her by surprise with an almost too gleeful "Can I help you?"
She startles and looks at the guy in front of her, barely older than she is, all in muscles and tattoos, his long hair in a bun. Harry - no, he's Opie here - looks so unlike the teenager she shares an English class with now that he's in his element, it's like they're two different people. He looks at her like he's trying to put a name on her face, with a small frown. "Tara, right?" before repeating "can I help you?"
"I..." she stammers a few words, pointing above her shoulder with her thumb. "My car broke down on Main Street, I had to push it all the way here. It's parked right outside."
He doesn't even hide the disbelief from his face even when he looks above her shoulder, then at the tow truck parked in the yard. "There's another shop next to Main Street," he says, very matter-of-factly.
Tara feels the blush creeping on her neck, her cheeks. "Yeah, but..."
"Nah, I get it."
He takes a few steps back to call after another guy, leaving her the space to indulge in her curiosity. That's how Jax Teller finds her, bouncing on her heels, hands deep in the back pockets of her jeans, looking around her with wide eyes. She jumps when he clears his throat.
"She pushed her car all the way from Main Street," Opie repeats with a weird tone, full of innuendoes. She tries not to roll her eyes, because it makes her sound like one of those girls who only live to shag the bikers, and it's obviously not who she is. She's only... yeah, curious, basically. Enthralled by that odd way of life of theirs, so far from her books and study sessions. Thankfully, the blond only nods and gives her a crooked smile.
"Okay, show me your ride, we'll see what we can do."
She folds her arms tight against her chest as she leads him to the street without a word. He opens the hood, coughs at the white smoke that come out of it, tinkers with this and that bit. "The engine's dead."
"What?!" Leaning against the car, he raises his head to flash her a grin, biting his lower lip not to laugh. She hits him on the shoulder. "That's not funny."
"Yeah, it's not." He stands up, wipes his hands against his jeans. "'S nothing, really, the guys'll take care of that in five minutes."
She only nods at first, a bit uselessly, and follows him back to the garage. He calls after two other guys, points to the street and tells him this and that in a technical vocabulary she doesn't understand. And maybe he catches her looking around again - seriously, she can't help it if this place is so damn fascinating and full of mysteries - because the next thing he asks is "Do you want me to show you around?"
"Yeah, sure."
"I'm Jax, by the way."
She knows, because they're in the same Biology class. She doesn't say so, though, used to been invisible in school. Instead, she offers him a grin of her own. "Tara."
The guy smiles at her, nice enough to let her look around before focusing back on his face. Nothing has changed, which doesn't surprise her. New faces, though, like this little guy with the crazy blond hair and Prospect cut. You don't know what you're getting yourself into, she wants to say, but she eats her words and smiles instead.
"Is Jax here?"
"Yeah, just one sec."
He jogs to the clubhouse and Tara finds herself staring at people, trying to put names on faces she barely recognize. Her eyes fall on Opie, who stares back at her and doesn't respond when she waves shyly. Instead, he looks at the clubhouse's door as Jax comes out. The two friends share a look before looking at her. Jax's eyes widen. He's never been good at hiding his emotions around her, wearing his heart on his sleeve. She can read surprise, hurt, a weird mix of anger and happiness, as he strides toward her.
"My car broke down."
"Did you push it all the way from San Diego?"
His voice sounds as amused as it is accusatory. Fair enough. She can see the irony in it too.
"Chicago, actually."
They stare at each other for what seems like hours, yet it takes him only two seconds to close the last feet between them and take her in his arms. She stills for a moment, no longer used to his strong embrace and wary of that kind of physical contact, his breath tickling her neck, his strong smell of sweat and leather and oil. The little sigh of contentment he gives her is enough to hug him too, arms locking around his shoulders. For a second her feet don't even touch the floor, and the hug is longer than socially appropriate, but she couldn't care less. Especially when his hand settles on her lower back, his little finger brushing the inked skin beneath her top, almost possessively.
"I missed you so much, babe."
And it's enough to sweep her off her feet, to feel sixteen and in love again. It's enough to give up on false pretenses, Kohn and her dead dad and accepting the job at St Thomas, like they were the only reasons bringing her back to Charming, like there wasn't another motive behind leaving Chicago and her life behind.
"Missed you too."
Because being in Jax's arms, safe and sound, is the only way she feels home.