Summary: She was an angel, returning to him the son he had lost. He was a cowboy Casanova, riding off into the sunset with her heart in his hand. Fate and the luck of the Irish would bring them together, love would keep them there.

Disclaimer: Twentieth Century Fox Cinemas owns the Sons, not me. I own this story and my OCs.

WARNING: I curse, so does Eli. So do the Sons.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry about not updating yesterday guys, my internet, as well as my computer, are on the fritz. Thankfully, I was able to get this chapter saved and posted. So, without further ado, here's Chapter Two. Enjoy!

CHAPTER TWO
|Haven, OH|
|ELI|

Eli woke with a gasp. Her body covered in a thin sheen of sweat, the young woman stumbled out of bed and raced into the adjoining bathroom. The door slammed hard against the wall, but Eli was too busy kneeling before the porcelain throne to pay any attention. When she was finished getting sick, Eli stood on shaking legs. She stumbled over to the sink, turning on the tap as she grabbed her toothpaste and toothbrush. She scrubbed hard, desperately trying to get the taste of bile out of her mouth. Finally, she spat the white foam into the sink and turned the tap back on. She watched it wash away before cleaning out her toothbrush and putting her things away. She stood there for a moment then, leaning heavily on the sink as she clutched at the shining basin. She looked up, observing herself in the mirror and taking in her pale complexion and the dark half-moons under her eyes. Then, her eyes widened as she remembered.
The bathroom door slammed open once again and Eli rushed out, flinging open her bedroom door as she raced to the nursery just down the hall. That door was opened slightly more gently, but it still swung open with some force. Eli ran through the doorway and froze as she stopped in front of the crib. Her breath was ragged, rattling in her chest sickly, as she stared at the empty crib. "Abel..." the whisper was rough, her throat dry and raw from the tears she had spread only a few hours earlier.
Eli didn't know how it happened, but one minute she was standing and the next she was on the floor. She leaned back against the crib, her legs sprawled out beside her at an odd angle as she stared into the distance blankly. Abel, her son, her Abel, was gone.
And Eli, who hadn't given up in a very long time, gave in to what she felt in that moment. And darkness became all she knew.

|ALEX|
He walked into Eli's house hesitantly. He half-expected to hear the sound of cartoons from the TV and Abel's delighted giggles as Eli laughed. It was like a slap in the face to walk into the house and find nothing but silence. Silence and stillness. The place was downright eerie and fear filled Alex's heart as he rushed down the hallway to Eli's room. Her bedroom door was half open, and the bedsheets were strewn around the floor. Alex searched her bathroom, practically ripping back the shower curtain in his haste to find his younger sister, only to encounter nothing. Then, with a shuddering breath, he closed his eyes. He knew where she was.
Alex walked from the bedroom to the nursery, slowly pushing open the door that had swung mostly shut on its own accord. He found his sister staring blankly at a wall, a lit cigarette in her hands. As he watched, she lifted it to her lips and took a drag before putting her hand back down.
"I thought you quit," he said softly. Eli didn't startle, but Alex knew she couldn't have seen nor heard him come in. Hell, she didn't even turn her eyes away from that blasted wall to look at him. Almost as if to spite him and his words, Eli took another lungful of cigarette smoke and blew it out through her nose.
Silently, Alex sat down next to Eli and took the cigarette she offered him. He pulled out his own lighter and lit it, taking a deep drag before blowing out the smoke slowly. "I miss him too, you know," he said. Eli didn't respond. He turned his head to the side, watching as a single tear trickled down her face. Me too, her blank gaze whispered mournfully. Alex swallowed hard.

|ELI|
She continued to sit there, even after Alex had left. She didn't respond when he told her goodbye, and she didn't laugh bitterly when he told her that everything would be alright. Nothing was right anymore. She moved once from her spot on the nursery floor, and that was to go get Jack, Johnny Red, Johnny Black, and Jose. She returned to her spot then, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a plain black tank top. She spent the rest of the day and well into the night smoking and drinking. Another day passed, and she continued to stare at the wall even as she heard the front door open. Sure enough, she noticed her brother appear in the doorway to the nursery out of the corner of her eye. "Eli," he called out to her. She didn't move. "Eli," he called a little bit louder this time. She didn't blink. "Elizabeth," he was losing his temper. She could tell he was. But, she continued to stare at the fascinating point on the wall. "Goddamnit, Eli! Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
Internally, she snarled right back at her brother and flipped him the bird. No one talked to her like that and got away with it, not anymore.
Outwardly, she stared blankly ahead and took a gulp from her shot glass, relishing the burn of the whiskey as it went down.
Just as she'd expected him to, Alex stared at her for a moment as he raked a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair before he stormed off. The slamming of the front door echoed through the empty house.
Eli took another drink.

|Charming, CA|
|JAX|
Jax wasn't sure what he expected. He certainly hadn't thought things were going to be easy, Abel had known the woman for two years and there was no way he was going to take being separated from her well. But, he most certainly hadn't expected things to be as hard as they were.
That first day, after arriving back in Charming, Jax had met his mother at her car right after their small procession had arrived back at TM. "How is he?" Jax asked, and the look on Gemma's face was one of drawn worry, "He fell asleep after we crossed Ohio borders. Didn't stop crying for 'Mama' until then, though." There was something more to it, though, and Jax could tell. He stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowed just slightly. Gemma looked back at him, the worry far from hidden in her eyes. Jax sighed, "What is it, Ma?" Gemma smiled, and it was the worst fake smile Jax had ever seen from his mother and they both knew it. "It's nothing, baby," she told him, waving her hand in the air as if to wave off the thought. Jax watched her for another moment, "Alright. I'm going to take Abel home then, and take the rest of the day off to get some rest." Gemma nodded, smiling a bit more convincingly, "Sure thing, honey." Jax leaned inside the car, taking the diaper bag and swinging it over his shoulder as he unlatched Abel's car seat and gently pulled it out of the car, sleeping baby still inside it. He headed for his truck after casting his mother another look, strapping Abel's car seat into the white 2005 Chevrolet Silverado, climbing into the truck and starting it after getting his son settled in.

Jax made it to the house with no problems. He slung the diaper bag over his shoulder after parking in the driveway, leaning in to unbuckle Abel's car seat. He carried the slumbering baby and car seat in easily, the diaper bag still slung over his shoulder, and gently kicked the front door shut behind him with his foot. He headed to the nursery, finding that Abel's old nanny Neeta had been by and had cleaned the entire house including Abel's room, and finally dropped the bag in the rocking chair in the corner. He sat Abel's car seat down on the floor and unbuckled the slumbering two-year-old, gently cradling his son in his arms. He gazed down at his son's peaceful face and swallowed hard. Gently, so as not to harm or wake the sleeping child, he hugged Abel close and pressed a kiss to the boy's head. Finally, finally, after two years of utter hell, Jax had his son back in his arms. Slowly, after a moment of simply being, Jax placed Abel in his crib. Then, he turned to the rocking chair. He sat, placing the bag in his lap as he slowly unzipped it and began to go through its contents. Bottles, baby food, teething rings, stuffed animals in various sizes and shapes and types, all were placed gently on the floor until he could put them away. And then, Jax found the book.
It was a baby book, with soft velvet binding and a hard cover with images of blue elephants shooting water in the shape of a heart from their trunks repeating over and over again. And, wrote in curling script, was 'ABEL'. Jax realized with a jolt that the handwriting on this book belonged to Elizabeth Grey, a woman that had known Abel virtually longer than he had. Jax swallowed hard.
Slowly, he opened the book.

|GEMMA|
Wincing at the noise made as she pried open a locked storage room with a trusty crowbar, Gemma tossed the 'bar back in her Cadillac as she turned back to the old storage locker. Slowly, for the first time in years, Gemma walked in.
A few minutes later, she carried the last of four boxes out of the storage room and placed the box with the others in the Cadillac's trunk. She shut the trunk, turned back to the storage locker and wrenched the door shut once again, before slipping into the driver's seat and driving back home.

It was late when Gemma finally worked up the courage to look in those boxes. She brought them into the house by herself, Clay attending Abel's homecoming party, and sat at the kitchen table. She lit a joint and took a drag, before opening one of the boxes. She pulled out paper after paper, and it was only when the box was empty and the papers formed several stacks that Gemma actually started going through them. She sorted through the stack of old junk, old assignments Jax had done when he was younger and came out empty handed. She threw away the junk papers and replaced the important ones before turning to the next box.
About an hour and a half later, she had gone through all but one box. Slowly, Gemma opened it. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she gazed down at the many albums that filled the box. The first one she picked up was marked, 'Teller'. Slowly, Gemma flipped through the album, laughing at some pictures and close to tears at others. The next album was called, 'Jackson'. It was thicker than the other but nearly as old. This was Jax's baby book. She flipped through it, snorting at the pictures of herself while pregnant with her eldest son and laughing at others. Then, she found the album she had been looking for, to begin with.
'Thomas,' it read. Slowly, Gemma picked up the book and opened it.

|JAX|
He sat in the same rocking chair, staring pensively at the two letters he held (one in each hand), letters that had been placed carefully in the final plastic slot of Abel's baby book. One letter was addressed to, 'Abel'; the other, 'Jax'. His heart hammered away in his chest as he placed Abel's letter back in the book and focused solely on his. He knew that elegant, curling script. It was the same script that had lovingly filled Abel's book, the handwriting of Elizabeth Grey.
He hesitated for a moment, his finger lingering at the corner of the letter, before shaking off his nerves (he had faced down guns before, so why the hell was he so afraid of a damn letter?) and ripped it open. He pulled out a single piece of paper, and carefully unfolded it. He took one more, quick breath, before letting his eyes scan over the page.

Dear Jax,
My name is Elizabeth Grey, but you can call me Eli.
When I was a little girl, I lost my family. I was placed in foster care, and unfortunately, I was one of those rare cases that get put in less than ideal conditions. I spent my first ten years of life being placed in and out of foster families and county homes until a family adopted me. The parents of this family, Dawn and Glenn Grey, already had a little boy four years my senior that was their biological son but they had been told that Dawn couldn't bear any other children, her body simply wasn't strong enough. So, they'd come looking to adopt. And Lady Luck seemed to shine down on me that day because I got to go home with them. But, our little family got bigger later on. Dawn, my mother, had one last child: my younger brother Max Grey. And it was here, in Haven, that I grew up.
Alexander, their son, became Haven's beloved Chief of Police.
Max now owns a successful nightclub in Columbus.
I graduated from Duke in North Carolina and came home after several unfortunate events, and I'm now the proud owner of my own tattoo parlor. I cater to any and all, but my best customer is SOANO.
And yet, despite all of these amazing things that have happened to me and proved that I really must have some sort of luck streak going for me, I think the greatest and luckiest thing to ever happen to me was when I opened my front door to find a tiny, eighteen-month-old baby boy on my stoop. Abel. Abel is the greatest thing to ever happen to me. He has made everything I've had to go through to get here worth it. He is my angel, my sun, my moon, and my stars. He is the reason I've tried to become a better person, and I'd like to think that at least for him I've succeeded.
I won't deny the pain I feel, writing this letter to you because that would be a lie. It will hurt, losing him. It will always hurt. I know this. And I know that, while the pain dosesn't go away, it'll lessen just a bit and maybe one day, if I'm lucky, I'll learn to live with it. And yet, despite this pain I feel, I don't regret this. I won't regret this.
Because Abel means everything to me, and I can only imagine what he means to you. I can't imagine going through what you had to, Jax, and I'm so sorry that you had to. No one, no parent, should have to loose a child. So, do me a favor?
Hold him close, Jax.
Cherish him.
Love him.
And never let him go.
~Elizabeth 'Eli' Grey
Proud Mother

Author's Note: Well then, this was angsty. Originally, this was NOT the chapter that I wrote. In fact, it's not close to the chapter I wrote at all. I just... sat down, started typing up the chapter I'd already wrote, and realized that it wasn't right. I mean, sure, it could have worked, but I wanted something... more. I hope I achieved it with this one. A huge thank you to everyone who reviewed, the update schedule is now up on my profile, and I'm hoping to update on Friday. And an early Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Oh, here's a little challenge for you all: I hid a movie quote in here, can you find it?
Questions? Comments? Review! I love 'em!
~E.S
(And yes, I did, in fact, leave things the way they are on purpose. What does Jax mean when he says he didn't expect things to be as hard as they were? Well, you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?)