A/N: Love to hear all the feedback, it makes me all warm and squishy on the inside. Anyways I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it was a real pleasure fleshing this particular one out. Oh that reminds me, I might be, actually I will be upping the rating for future chapters. There will be some detailed adult content between our beloved couple. How far into the future will we be seeing these scenes, I myself am not very sure, but I do know they will be featured. Read and review :) XOXO


She hears a rush of air behind her from the force in which he yanks the door open. Hearing her name in the sound of plea from her husband had her feet moving faster out of the hallway. For every two of her steps on the hardwood floor he covers them in one long step. By the time she swings around the corner into the dining room, he's already on her.

"Tara. Please just hear me ou –" He grabs her right elbow to slow her down as she makes her way to her into the dining room. She sharply forces her arm downward to break the hold he has on her and continues pass Chibs and Tig playing cards at the table.

Chibs and Tig share a look of amusement. Remembering the days their old president and queen would have arguments. Both men shook their heads at the sight of Jax following Tara out the door.

"Groveling would be too kind of a word, don't you think." Tig rocked back in his chair and smiled at Chibs.

"Aye brotha."


With Jax on her heel, she makes it to her car door, but stops to fumble around in her purse in search of her car keys. As she feels the familiar ridges of metal at the bottom of the purse he pulls her hand out of it and spins her around to face him. His nose dangerously flares out with every breath and his eyes reflect deep frustration with her. He ruthlessly pulls her body to his, causing her to drop the purse. Out of reflex her hands daintily curl into his chest and she casts him a glare filled with resentment, but absolute longing.

Her boots gave her the extra height that allowed for their breaths to mingle, for them to breathe in one another. His hands held her so tightly she was sure that even through the leather jacket; it would've left a mark. Her pale skin always flushed and bruised with ease, especially whenever it came to Jax's touch.

Speaking of his hands, she found them fervently burning their way up to her neck, as they always had a habit of doing for as long as she could remember.

She knows exactly just by the positioning his hands what he plans on doing; his index finger deliciously digging through her hair to place that familiar pressure to her skull, his pinky finger feathering light circles lower on her neck creating a sweet juxtaposition of pain and pleasure.

Before she has the chance to absorb what's coming next, a black SUV pulls up to the cabin, its two headlights shining upon them. The bright hot lights transports both them back to a time where recklessness was their middle name. Where getting caught with their pants down, literally, by the cops was pathetically, a common occurrence between the two of them.

With his hands still cradling her head, he turns behind him to see who was disturbing this fleeting moment with his wife. The sight of the familiar Caddy had an intense groan ripping through his mouth, however, before he could swear at the arrival of his mother the doors to the SUV swung open. An argument could be heard between his mother and Nero.

"Nero just tell me what he told you before you go and co –," before her word was complete Nero jumps out of the driver side of the car and starts toward Jax. Gemma moves to intercept him, pleading him to stop and talk to her. Her words falling on deaf ears, Nero moves in with a viciousness to get to Jax.

At the sight of an enraged Nero, who refuses to be placated by his mother Jax instantly lets go Tara's face. He knows and recognizes the look of a man who wants blood all too well. He discerns in the moment that he's Nero's target; he rapidly moves himself away from Tara and shifts to the right, his back facing the stairs of the cabin.

He raises his right hand, but before he gets a chance to get a word in, Nero brings a massive fist up and sucker punches him. The force behind the blow instantly knocks Jax to his knees.

Both Gemma and Tara take a step forward with a cry of shock.

"Nero! Stop this!" Gemma rushes to Nero and places a hand on his shoulder which gets shrugged off the moment Jax takes to his feet.

Jax disgustingly spits a wad of blood and saliva onto the ground and brings his hand to his jaw. He moves his jaw to check to see if it's broken.

He looks up to Nero, "Hello to you partner."

Nero lunges for Jax once more, but at the ready he brings his right hand up to deflect Nero's punch, and moves in with a one of his own.

In the background, Tara picks her purse off the ground, dusts it off with a sneer and begins to look for her car keys once again. The stupidity of the human race is astounding. She curses the darkness of where she's standing and wishes she could stand over where the light is, but her husband and his partner are taking up all the light with their stupid fist fighting. She continues on with her search as if it's the most important thing in the world, ignoring the cries of Gemma and the men coming out to break the fight up.

Selective attention, however, seems to be the only thing that could tear Tara from her perilous search of the elusive car keys. She hears her name spill out of Nero's mouth and looks up to see him pointing at her.

With a roll of her eyes, she spins to face the men, "What'd Tara Knowles do now?"

"You know mano, I don't blame your wife for what she did. I can see why she wants her children away from you."

Jax once again lunges for Nero's head, but the sound of Tara's sardonic rebuttal stops him, "It's more so your little girlfriend."

All eyes swivel in her direction, to which she raises her left hand and bobs her head as if weighing her options, "Just saying. She did almost kill my – sorry, her kids or did we all forget that."

There was a long extended pause to which everyone still stared at her, stunned at the light heartedness in her demeanor. It was so unlike Tara, who always came off as a 'no nonsense' kind of a chick, to sarcastically drop that kind info. There was no undertone of malice in her voice; all they heard were sweet soft-spoken words that read as a truth to her.

With a few flicks of her left hand and smile, "Please don't let me stop the beginning of what seemed like a really important diatribe. With all due respect, continue on."

With her reminder of why he was there in the first place, Nero stuck Jax with a look of contempt.

"I talked to Juice, he told me what you had him do."

Wiping the blood from lip and cheek Jax stepped towards Nero, "What exactly did Juice do."

"Suffocated an innocent mother to death on you orders," Jax painted his face with false confusion, "Please don't lie to me twice Jax. When I confronted you, I told you Darvanny had two other children who needed her, I asked you to be straight with me man, to tell me the truth. Instead you lied, you embraced me and called me brother."

Jax took another step towards Nero, anger dancing throughout his eyes, "Where's Juice?"

With a smile, "He's currently recovering from an overdose. The shit you made that boy carry pushed him over the edge. You think shit like that just gets buried, just goes away. That hurting people that way don't have consequences. Well they do mano, they do."

"So what you saying man, you gonna serve me out my consequence?"

"No. Me and you, mano, we're good. I got what I needed to get out. We'll keep the pussy flowing. I'm not backing out, but believe me mano, karma. Karma, she'll be back. And when she comes, she'll make you pay."

Nero turned back to Gemma's SUV, "Whenever you're ready mama. I'll wait."

Jax turns to look at his mother, "Where's Juice?"

She sighs, "Jax look, Juice he's in real bad way. When me and Ner –"

"We're heading back up tomorrow, we'll deal with him then." Jax looks over to see Tara still standing by her car.

"Rat. Watch over Tara, she's gonna head on home and get a change of clothes. Stay there with her, and drive up tomorrow."

She played with her new found keys in her hand, "I must say Jackson, the irony is not lost on me. Whatsoever."

"Tara, not now."

"Oh so we talk when it's convenient for you. Sorry it must have slipped my mind. I'm just an old lady, we have to do what we're told when we're told," She presses the unlock button on her key and as she turns to open the door she salutes Jax, "Aye aye captain."

He ruffles his hair out of habit and frustration, "What irony Tara?"

"Oh you know. When that nut job Tooric was dead set on making me an example to you and your merry biker brigade, I swore up and down that my husband would never sanction or order another member to kill an innocent woman. That you would never do that to someone," A very unlady like snicker and snort made its way from her as she shakes her head, "Oh how the times have changed."

She climbs into her Ford and catches the sight of Thomas' car seat in the rearview mirror which brings her to sticking her head out and calling out to Gemma.

"Where are my children? Aren't you supposed to be watching them at this moment?"

Gemma beamed her with a smile, which hid the death glare behind her eyes.

"Don't you worry they're good hands, Wayne is watching them."

"By himself? He can't handle putting both of them down on his own."

Stuck in her power play with Tara, she didn't catch herself before dropping the name of the one person Jax never wants near his sons, "Don't you worry about that either sweetheart, Wendy is helping him."

Stuck in his leftover feelings from what just transpired, he moves towards his mother. Remembering the anger of Wendy shooting up while pregnant with Abel and remembering the hatred for his mother driving high with his sons in the backseat brought him to question why Wendy was with his sons.

"Why the hell is that junkie anywhere near my sons?"

"Wifey's manipulations got to her. I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and guess that lying about wills, pregnancies and miscarriages violates one of those twelve steps," She shrugs her shoulder and steps towards Jax, "I'm just looking after her until tomorrow. She gets shipped off to rehab then."

He turns away to his mother and walks over to Tara, "Swing by her place and pick up the kids. I don't want her anywhere near them."

"Jackson. Wayne and I will the ones taki –"

"You know what, wait for me, I'm going with you."

He walks past Chibs, Tig, Happy and Rat and tells them to follow him inside.

After all the men return inside to speak with Jax, Gemma turns her attention to Tara.

She digs a hole into the dirt with the heel of her boot, "You must be enjoying this aren't you?"

"Being awkwardly locked in close quarters for the next thirty minutes with my estranged husband? Oh yeah, it tops my bucket list for sure."

Gemma walks over to Tara's car door, "I know my son. He may be blinded for now, but the sting of that betrayal will return. Believe me."

Growing tired of Gemma's incessant gloating she decides to not just pacify her this time 'round. She swings the door open, causing Gemma to have to take several steps back. In the background she hears Nero exit Gemma's car and approach them.

"There is no one around here who should be talking less about betrayal, than you. My betrayal may have stung, but at least in didn't end with him being put six feet under."

She steps back from Gemma as the cabin door swings open to reveal Jax wearing his jacket and kutte. He walks past Nero without so much as glance in his direction. Obviously Jax recognizes that this isn't the time or the place to deal with what he perceives as "club business".

"We're gonna take the boys home. Tomorrow morning we'll drop 'em off at daycare then head up here. Tara'll take a look at Bobby, then head on back to take them from daycare. I gotta few things to do in the morning, but I'll be back around noon."

"Why don't Nero and I just drop them off over at your place? Save you the trouble."

Nero hesitantly steps forward and interjects, "Actually, I was wondering if you could drop me back over at Diosa. Got a few things to clean up."

Gemma nods her head in Nero's direction and turns back to Jax, "Okay, well Unser is there. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I don't know, plan on taking a little personal day."

Gemma leans over and places a chaste kiss on his cheek. Before stepping away she glares at Tara. Her son's new found trust in Tara unsettles her. Fear of her trying to pull him in the other direction starts to slowly trickle in, but is quickly shut out with the reminder of Tara's murder charges. However, satisfaction laced with doubt is enough for someone like Gemma to get the wheels turning.

She turns away from the two of them and both she and Nero returns to the car and drives away leaving Jax and Tara to stare at each other.

He takes a step forward which is parried with a heeled boot moving backwards away from him. The memory of the palpable heat that burned between them not so long away crawled its way right back under her skin. She starts to climb back into the drivers' seat, however, the keys are snatched from her hand before she gets the chance to sit.

"Wha –"

"I'll drive."

She rolls her eyes at him, "You know if anyone should be groveling, it should probably be me. I was the one who faked a pregnancy then a miscarriage. If anyt –"

"Stop! Stop saying it like that," he takes her hand and pulls her from the junction between the seat and the door, "Just go get in the car."

Not in the mood to back down she takes her right hand and pushes him as he enters the car.

"Stop saying it like what? Does it pain you to hear how your wife hurt you so deeply?"

"No! It pains me to know that I was the reason why you did something like that." He grips her steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turn white. He turns to face her, his eyes pitifully regretful, "So please babe, just get in the car."

She sighs in acceptance and slams his door shut. She walks around the back of her car as he starts it up. She clambers into the unfamiliar passenger side.

As he adjusts the seat to his height she turns to him, "Unlike everyone around here, I actual act my age, so therefore you can treat as such. I can own the consequences of my actions, so please why don't you treat me as so. You didn't force me to do anything. My actions were my own."

She sighs and leans back in the seat, "If we're going to 'figure out' whatever the hell is left between us to figure out, then the only way I see that happening is through owning what we did. We can't just absolve each other of our sins, at least not yet anyways."

As they both reach behind themselves to grab their seatbelts he asks her, "Do you even want to figure us out Tara?"

"To be completely straight with you, I don't know. The one image I prayed over and over to myself to never have the displeasure of having, I now have." She buckles her seatbelt and casts her gaze out the passenger side window. Her hands fiddling with the leather of the seat, "Seeing you with that prostitute….. I don't know if I can lower the respect I have for myself to forget that. And I don't know if I can respect a man who could ever ask me to."

He watches Tara and the intense feeling of guilt and shame hits him again like a brick. He doesn't know what to say to her. Lost would be kind for how he felt in regard to his wife.

So all he can do is reverse the car and begin to drive down a very long road. The scary thing about the road he's driving on right now, is that it's not even a fraction of the length he's gonna have to travel in order to find his way back to his wife.