Thanks for the great reviews to the first chapter! It really made me happy to see that people were responding well to this story that I have rolling around in my head. The more I think about the story itself, the more I realize I would like to take a few liberties with what happened on the show. All the big stuff will be the same, but I just want to tweak a few things…hope everyone is OK with that!

The end of the chapter is actually scenes from the show, but I added some bits and pieces of what I feel like the characters would've been thinking/feeling. So MAJOR DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. This is just my take on the fabulous creations of what others put forth.

Chapter 2

Tara sat in the small chapel inside St. Thomas Hospital. One hand rested on her stomach, the other rubbed her forehead as if she were trying to rid herself of the tension headache that had seemed to take up permanent residence since Cameron Hayes had burst into Jax's house, killed Half-Sack and kidnapped Abel.

The tears that she refused to shed when packing up her belongings at Jax's were slowly making their way down her cheeks, leaving mascara tracks in their wake.

She stood up slowly, her legs wobbly as she made her way to the altar. She wasn't particularly religious, but she was so confused. She needed guidance.

"I never thought I'd be in this situation again, you know?" she pondered to whatever Greater Power may be listening. "Pregnant. Alone." Her hand gently rested on her tummy. "I love this baby. I love its father." Tears clouded her vision and she was suddenly angry. "I thought he loved me," she sobbed.

Visions of that morning flooded her and all she could see was Ima standing in the doorway of Jax's bathroom at the clubhouse, smirking at her.

She grabbed a bible that was nearby and threw it. It landed with a loud thump that seemed to echo in the small space. She reached for the waste basket and promptly emptied the contents of her stomach. Between the morning sickness, stress and emotional roller coaster that had been their lives for the last few weeks, she was exhausted.

She felt a hand on the small of her back, rubbing soothing circles and she looked over into Jax's concerned eyes. "Are you OK?" he whispered almost inaudibly.

His heart sunk when he saw her eyes steel right before him.

She quickly stood up to move away but a wave of dizziness washed over her and she swayed. Jax's arms reached out to steady her but she quickly removed herself from his protective arms.

"Tara-"

"Don't," she whispered, close to breaking down. "Just don't touch me, Teller."

His shoulders sagged. "I never wanted to hurt you."

She scoffed. "You are so full of shit!" She was too angry to care that she'd just cursed in a house of worship. She wiped furiously at the tears that would not stop pouring out of her eyes. "Only a few weeks ago I told you that it would kill me if I knew you were sleeping with other women and-"

"I wasn't!" He argued.

"YOU DID LAST NIGHT!" She screamed. A sob escaped her lips and she was emotionally drained. She moved to the end of the pew and sat down slowly. Her elbows rested on her knees and she held her head in her hands, looking at the floor. "I hate this."

"You mean you hate me," Jax softly corrected. He sighed. "I don't blame you." I hate me too, he thought.

"I wish it were that simple," she sniffed. "It would make it much easier." She leaned back and wrapped her arms around herself. "I blame myself." She choked back another sob. "He's gone because of me. They're both gone because I couldn't stop the Irishman."

"It's on me, Tara," Jax insisted. "It's my life. Everything I touch is ruined."

"Every single night, I relive it. I close my eyes and it's all I see. The gun. The knife. Kip, bleeding all over the floor. The look in his eyes as he took his last breath." She wiped at her tears, sniffling. "Abel was fussing when that asshole took him out of the carrier. He looked at me, his little hand reaching out and I couldn't move." She tried to catch her breath, but was having trouble. "Oh, God, I couldn't move. Why couldn't I move?...Abel is completely innocent in all this….he should've taken me."

Jax wiped a tear that was falling down his face. "No. He shouldn't have taken you. Or Abel. This isn't your fault, Tara."

"YES IT IS!" she shouted again.

"NO!" He buried his face in his hands before sliding over on the pew to sit nearer to her. He left enough space so he didn't crowd her, but close enough so he could smell the scent of her shampoo. "After my mother broke your nose, you told me that you couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. To Abel and to us. I showed you my Dad's manuscript. And I promised you that I was going to get us out of all of the things you were afraid of. I promised." He shook his head. "I failed you both. That's on me. All of this is on me. This is my burden. Not yours."

The anger bubbled to the surface again. "Jesus, Jax! This is where we've always run into our problems!" She stood up, this time with no dizziness, and started to pace. "There are," she looked at him sadly and corrected herself, "were. There were two people in our relationship. The burden isn't all on you. It's mine to share." She looked down at her shoes. "He may not be my son. You may not be my family," she spat out, the hurt of his words to her in his grandfather's basement evident, "but I love him as if he's mine." She headed towards the doors that led back into the Hospital. "How could I not love him, Jax? He's a part of you."

"I know you love him," he admitted. "And he loves you. You're the only mother he's ever known."

Tara was in the OR when he born. She was the only surgeon who was there during each and every one of the procedures he underwent. She was the first person to change him. To bathe him. Even the first who held him. She was the woman who saved his son and then put him in his arms for the first time….He had overheard the medical staff one night talking about how she had sat beside the incubator long after her shift had ended, just watching over him. He knew she was more of a mother to Abel than Wendy could ever be. She had put her own addiction and needs before Abel. With Tara, he knew the instinct to love and protect his son was primal. She didn't think about loving him. She just did it.

"I knew it was going to get a lot worse before it got better," he sighed.

"You warned me," she reminded him, her hand on the door handle, her head resting on the cool, thick wood of the chapel doors.

"I should've told you to pack a bag and sent you and Abel someplace safe."

"And I should've insisted on the same thing, Jax. But I didn't. Neither of us thought that we'd end up here, with Abel only God knows where." Her pager went off and she looked at the screen. She sighed then opened the chapel door. "Good luck, Jax."

He stood up and quickly followed her out of the chapel and into the hospital hallway.

"Tara?" He called after her.

She stopped and slowly turned around and looked at him.

He didn't know what to say. He had hurt her. He didn't deserve her. He loved her too much to let her lose herself inside his world – the world she ran from when they were 19. She'd broken his heart and taken the pieces with her. His heart wasn't whole again until she came back into his life…He knew that as much as he didn't want too, he could live the rest of his life with a broken heart if it meant she'd be safe. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah," she nodded tearfully. "Me too."

"I'm not really sure what to do next, Tara," he admitted.

"Dr. Knowles?" a male nurse approached her.

She cleared her throat, trying to sound professional. "Yes?"

"This just came for you. The man who delivered it said that it was urgent you get it right away."

"Thank you," she said as she accepted the legal sized envelope that was simply addressed to 'Dr. Knowles.' The male nurse nodded and walked away. She opened the envelope and looked at Jax. She noticed Juice and Opie approaching him from behind. She took a few steps forward and handed him the envelope.

"You go find your son," she said simply. "He needs his father. Goodbye, Jax."

He silently watched her walk away. The finality of her goodbye felt like a bullet to his heart. A bullet he knew he more than deserved.

"Don't worry, bro," Opie slapped his best friend on the back. "I'll make sure Lyla keeps an eye on her."

Jax nodded silently in thanks before he looked down at the envelope in his hands. He opened the flap to look at the contents. Inside was a healthy amount of cash and note, thanking them for the HIV/AIDS medicines.

He felt like an even bigger piece of shit than he thought possible. He had blamed the guy Tara had found for the HIV drugs on being the cause of the raid at Samcrow. Now he knew that it was someone else entirely. No way would a person report them for dealing illegal scripts then turn around and pay them this much money the very next day.

A few minutes later, outside in the parking lot of St. Thomas, his cell phone rang. Sighing, wondering what complication had risen this time, he pulled the phone from his pocket. He couldn't help the small amount of hope of that coursed through his veins when he saw Tara's name illuminated on the display.

"Hey," he said softly, not wanting to leave on bad terms.

"It's mom. You at the hospital?"

His brow furrowed in confusion, wondering what was going on. "Yeah. You Okay?"

"Just listen. Meet me outside the service entrance. I'll be down in a few minutes."

"What?" he was angry. This was not part of the plan.

"Just go! Now!"

The line went dead. Jax felt his blood pressure spiking. Whatever his mother had up her sleeve, Jax knew she'd involved Tara. Pulled her deeper into the life he was trying desperately to free her from.

"What's the problem?" Clay asked.

"My mother." He started heading towards the tow truck then turned around to Clay and Tig. "C'mon!"

"I, uh, packed enough meds for a few weeks, but if you're there longer, you'll have to find a way to fill the prescription," Tara rattled off to Gemma as they waited for the elevator.

Gemma nodded. "Yeah, I will."

"This elevator takes you down to the service level," she said. She held out a key card, "Key card will get you out the back door."

Gemma smiled, though it went unnoticed by Tara. She had only asked for Tara's help creating a distraction so she could slip out of the hospital. But the young woman had gone above and beyond, making her escape much easier and faster.

Tara dug into the pocket of her jeans. "Here's some cash from my pocket. It's not much," she slipped the handful of cash, mostly smaller bills, into the white lab coat that belonged to her that Gemma was now wearing. "My car is in the service lot. If you need it." She tossed the keys into the same pocket as the cash."

"Not sure the Feds are going to believe I did this at gun point," Gemma said softly.

"You may as well have," Tara answered. Truth be told, Tara knew she would've helped Gemma escape to help find Abel even if she hadn't known about the baby and used that as blackmail material.

"And I'll keep my promise. No one will know about that baby."

"It's my decision, Gemma," she blinked back the tears that she could feel welling up.

"What I suggest is you wait 'til Jax gets back. Look into Abel's eyes before you do anything," she said softly. Woman to woman.

Tara looked down. Uncertainty was all she felt. She had come to the conclusion that she was ready to be a mother – to Abel, to this new baby – but she needed Jax. Without him, she didn't think she could do it. Nothing in her life made sense without him. And he'd made it perfectly clear that they couldn't be together.

If she told him about the baby, would he stay out of obligation? Would he resent her? Their child? She couldn't handle that thought, either…

The intercom buzzed through the hospital halls. "Securtity. Code seven. Therapy wing."

"I better go," Tara said, unable to look Gemma in the eyes. The plan was in motion. Even if she had wanted to, it was too late to turn back.

Gemma reacted by pulling the young woman into a tight embrace. Tara wrapped her arms around Gemma and they stood there for a moment. As if they were drawing strength from one another. Silently wishing each other luck.

The elevator dinged, signalling it's arrival to the floor.

Gemma quickly pulled back. "I'll be back in week," she promised.

Tara nodded her head slightly. "Yeah," she breathed.

Gemma moved into the elevator and Tara walked away, putting some distance between them. Hoping Gemma was right. Praying that she, Jax, Abel and the rest of Sam Crow would be home soon. In one piece.

Just before the elevator doors closed, Tara turned back and shared one last look with Gemma. It had to work. It just had too.

Little did either of them know, but they had an ally in Margaret Murphy.

Jax pulled over the tow truck in the parking lot behind Tig who was driving Tara's Cutlass.

"C'mon, c'mon," Tig said, "Unser must've called this in. We're not going to make it out of Charming. They're lookin' for the truck. You guys take the Cutlass and go to the plane."

"No!" Jax was adamant. "We need you with us, bro!"

Tig looked at Jax. "You need your mom more. Now, I'll just back track down through town and lead them up the 18."

They all knew they were out of time. This was it.

"Go!" Tig insisted.

Jax made a move for Tara's car. "Shit. C'mon!"

He and Clay headed for the car while Gemma quickly kissed Tig in thanks.

"Alright!" Tig hollered over to the car. "Be safe!" He hopped into the drivers seat and looked over. "Jax! Get your boy!"

Jax nodded in agreement. "Keep an eye on Tara!" He shouted back. "She's gonna need it!" he glanced at his mother, pissed.

Tig nodded once in affirmation that he would make sure Tara had help if Charming PD or the Feds took issue with her version of events that led to Gemma's escape from custody.

Those chicks really are going to be the death of me, Tig thought as he turned left back on to main street. Glancing in the rearview, he noticed flashing lights behind him. "Here we go!" He chuckled, punching on the gas cause a dark, nearly black, exhaust to spew from the tail pipe.

End of chapter 2. Please review!