A/N: I don't own the Sons, though like many, I wish I did. I hate long author's notes but I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed, I love reviews :) Also, I'm worried about this being a bit out of character, for either of them, so feel free to comment on that in your reviews!

"Ugh!" I sat up in bed and from my mirror on the other side of the room I could tell my hair was not working with me. So it was going to be one of those mornings. Awesome. After staring at the closet for a while I settled on my white baby-doll peasant with red embroidery, jeans and sandals. I had no choice but to tame what frizz I could and hope the California breezes would help me with the rest. I headed to the kitchen for breakfast and was surprised to see my dad sitting at the table, mostly conscious and sober.

"Morning, Dad. Want some breakfast?" I laid out some aspirin and a glass of water for him on the table.

"Why are you all gussied up?" He chugged his water.

"Huh? This is how I always look." Shirt, jeans, sandals- pretty standard. "What'll it be?"

"Just gimme toast." He half-mumbled, Good enough for me! By the time his toast was ready he was getting dozy.

"Hey! Dad!" I shook his shoulder "Dad! I have to go to school now; I'll be back around 2:30, ok?" I took his grunt as acknowledgement of my existence and started the walk to school.

Once again, I was saddled with the crap locker. I probably looked like a fool banging and punching the metal door but to no avail.

"Here, let me try." Jax out of nowhere came up, punched and kicked the door at the same time and miraculously opened it perfectly. "See you in chem." He smiled over his shoulder as he walked down the hallway with Opie.

"What a dick!"

"Excuse me?" David was standing beside me and nodded towards Jax.

"He's a punk."

"All he did was help me with my locker, how does that make him a punk?"

"Never mind…" He turned towards me and looked a little surprised, "You look really nice today, Tara."

"Thanks" Again, self-righteous, but harmless.

"I actually came over here because I was wondering if you wanted to go out on Saturday." Just then the bell rang, Saved by the bell!

"I don't know if I'm free, but we're gonna be late!"

Surprisingly Jax had beaten me to class, "Fancy seeing you here, I'm surprised you showed up." I teased.

"I'm surprised you spoke up."

"Ha ha, you are just so funny."

"I do what I can." He said with a deadly smile. "Looks like we've got a sub" A skinny, nerdy-looking guy of about 25 walked into the room carrying a briefcase and a whole lot of nerves. "You're gonna have to cash in that rain check."

"What? Oh no, I can't…" He gave me his version of "the look", "Seriously, I have things I have to do today, and I can't just go gallivanting around town!"

"Yeah, like what?" Jax asked knowingly.

"Like…stuff!" Jax's eyebrows rose "Why do you even want me skip with you? I think we have had maybe 5 conversations in the last twelve years, including yesterday and today!"

"Because I think we'll have a lot of fun." I wondered what he considered "fun". He leaned in, "Come on, what's the worst that is gonna happen?" This was a true point, if the school somehow managed to contact my dad telling him I'd skipped, he'd forget before he could do anything about it.

"Where are we gonna go? And how are we gonna get there?" I asked him skeptical.

"You let me worry about that. You in?" How are you supposed to say no to eyes like those?

"Do I have a choice?" I ask standing up.

"Nope" He smiled grabbing my bag and moving for the door,

"Jax, how're we getting out of here?" I ask snatching his sleeve.

"Follow my lead." With that he lead me out of the classroom missing the death stare David Hale gave him as he held the door open for me.

"Shouldn't we be running?" I asked stupidly

"Nah, just act like you're where you're supposed to be, nobody'll ask you questions." He said as he strode across the parking lot…

To his motorcycle.

"You're kidding me, right?" he looked at me as questioningly, "You expect me to get on that?" He hopped on and gave me his helmet and my messenger bag.

"Please, I've been riding longer than I've been walking, you'll be fine." Reluctantly, I grabbed the helmet and put on the bag, while he showed me how to get on while avoiding the hot pipes. "Hold on here and relax, ok?" I managed a "mhmm" as he wrapped my arms around his torso but that was about it.

He carefully pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road. It didn't take long for me to get the hang of being on the back of a bike. Soon we were starting to go faster and it was only a little disconcerting at that point. Normally there were few people on the roads, it's a small town, but seeing as how it was a Thursday afternoon there were even fewer people as most were at work.

We passed by a semi and I held on tighter my cheek against his shoulder. Jax smelled good, almost like cinnamon gum. I was concentrating on that smell when all of a sudden we took a turn onto a small road that I forgot existed on the outskirts of town.

It was beautiful: tall grass on either side, vibrant green trees dotting the pasture and a tall hill on the edge of the field. Jax drove in a bit to a where a large rock and tree rested in the California sun. We got off the bike and I did a slow turn taking in the landscape while Jax laid out a blanket from his bedroll.

"This place is beautiful Jax." I said a little dumbfounded.

"Yeah, my Dad used to take me and my brother here every once in a while when we were little." It occurred to me then that out of the small group, he was the only one left standing; how many other people had he taken here, such a personal place? As if he read my mind he quietly said "I don't take to many people out here" with a small smile.

"Why me?" I realized all I had done this morning was asked him questions.

"I don't know." He said relaxing on the blanket. I felt awkward for a moment knowing personal things about him. Everyone knew about the Tellers, they basically ran the town. I knew of him because of his family's position, but did he know about mine? I felt the need to connect with him, share a piece of me the way he had shared a piece of himself.

"My mom died when I was nine." That was a bit tactless. But Jax just looked me in the eyes with a look that told me he understood.

We spent the rest of the morning relaxing on his old blanket talking about random things, of not too much importance. Things like movies, music, embarrassing trips down the school stairs (me) and embarrassing instances of laying down bikes (him).

"Oh! That one looks like a pumpkin!" I said pointing to a cloud quickly passing us as we lay side by side.

"Where?"

"There, see?" I pointed a little left of the tree providing us with cool shade from the hot sun.

"That's not a pumpkin! That's definitely a burger!"

"What? You're crazy!" I laughed

"No, I'm hungry; you want to go grab a bite somewhere?" I checked my watch, 3:15.

"Uhm, I have to get home, do you think you could give me a lift?" I asked trying not to lace my voice with too much fear.

"Sure thing." We packed up and headed towards my house. Jax parked in my drive way and lent me a steadying hand as I dismounted the bike. A loud crash sounded from inside the house. The cutlass was in the garage, so my Dad was home. Jax jumped off his bike.

"Is someone breaking in your house?" He asked looking around the backside and trying to pear through the closed living room curtains.

"No! No, my Dad probably just toppled something over. He's clumsy like that." I laughed giving him his helmet.

"You sure you don't want me to check it out?" He asked concerned as another bang was heard from inside the house.

"Yeah, I'm fine! I'll see you tomorrow!" I smiled desperate to get him to leave.

"Okay, see ya." He said with a tinge of suspicion in his voice as he backed his bike out of the driveway.

"Bye!" I yelled back as I calmly but quickly returned to the house.

I stepped over an overturned chair to reach my dad who was pulling himself up an antique side table surrounded in various crap that he had apparently knocked over.

"Come on, Dad." I laid his heavy arm around my shoulders and grasped around his waist, leading him to the kitchen. He turned to look at me with a look of disgust.

"I don't need you!" He shoved my shoulders hard, causing me to trip and clip my shoulder blade on the wooden arm of the couch. "Good for nothing, just like your mother!" He hollered, rummaging around for his keys. "Where are my keys?" He continued. I could see they were on the ground near the opposite couch but I said nothing, I just sat there trying to attract as little attention as possible. Finally with a loud, and slurred, "Fuck it!" He decided to walk to wherever he was going, probably the bar. I took the opportunity to neaten the house up a bit. If it were up to my father, we would never throw anything out so I had to wait until benders like this one to get the house in order.

After finishing the living room and kitchen, I changed the sheets on his bed and grabbed a bite for dinner before finally resting in my room. I opened my window and laid on my bed thinking about how differently my day had gone compared to what I thought it would be like last time I was in bed. Not too bad, not too bad at all. Just as I was staring to drift off the phone. Expecting a call telling me where to pick my dad up I answered in a deadpan voice.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Tara, it's Dave, David Hale?" Fully embarrassed I replied in a more cheerful voice, a little wary he was going to reprimand me for skipping school earlier.

"Hey David, what's up?"

"Well, I was wondering if you still wanted to go out on Saturday?" He sounded nervous.

I took a second to think before answering. What was going on with me and Jax? I liked being near him, he made me laugh, but was earlier just an afternoon between friends? Should I try to see where that could go, outside the realm of friendship? He was kind and I knew there must be something else to him besides just a good smile. I had to remind myself how that would look. The Biker and the nearly-mute girl? Did he even think about me in that way? In all seriousness did I want him to?

Then there was David. He truly was a sweet boy even though he didn't quite like Jax, or tolerate him for that matter. He just liked order, due process. He didn't like anyone thinking they were better than anyone. He had always been nice to me, a person to sit next to at lunch, but we never hung out outside of school; except for those blew moons when my dad found Jesus and I sat with him in church. But he would be a nice companion, someone to see a movie with, enjoy a night for change. If I didn't grow to have the kind of feeling he had for me, I doubt he would hold it against me.

"Hello? Tara, you still there?" David asked uneasily.

"Yeah David, I'm still here."