AUTHORS NOTE:
Seriously thank you for all the feedback! This one took a little bit more to write but I hope you enjoy...
A little blast from the past finally surfacing
"Hey Gem," Tara called out as she entered the Teller-Morrow residence. Tara had a relatively light day at St. Thomas and was able to finish her rounds in time and sneak out in time for dinner. Entering the Teller-Morrow fortress, she was immediately flooded with the smell of the food that Gemma had been cooking.
"Hey baby," Gemma yelled back from the kitchen, "you staying for dinner?"
"Sure…" she didn't want to admit that it had been her plan all along. Tara spotted Abel sitting on the floor playing, "hey honey," she sat down next to him as he called out "momma."
Gemma walked in and smiled at the two of them playing together, "you really are good with him." Tara looked up and smiled back genuinely.
"You know Gem, his birthday is in two weeks," Tara reminded. Gemma came a sat on the sofa close to the two of them. "Yeah I know.. what are you thinking?" Gemma asked.
"We should do it here… keep it small, you know," Tara said, distracted by Abel but Gemma was happy to have the party at her house. Especially seeing as she still couldn't leave the house. "Sounds perfect," Gemma rubbed Tara's shoulder, "come on lets eat."
Abel had started to progress in his milestones quickly. He had began standing with the assistance of holding onto the table or couch for a few weeks now, but had not yet taken those first few steps on his own. And once Abel had started talking it had been hard to shut him up. He said "momma'" and "dadda" but his favorite word had quickly become "no." Gemma had gone to pick up Abel to put him in the high chair while they ate dinner and not to her surprise she was met with a chorus of "no's."
"Yeah, yeah," Gemma ignored, "you can sit for ten minutes and let your mom eat something."
"You seeing Jax on Saturday?" Gemma inquired. Tara was in between bites, "of course. Why?"
"Just making sure he's taken care of's all," Gemma continued, "I can't do much with my jewelry here," she motioned to her ankle monitor.
"You take care of his son," Tara reminded, "you do enough." Gemma laughed sarcastically, "Oh, I would take care of this boy even if Jax was still under my roof."
Abel had passed out in his carseat on the ride home and Tara easily got him into his crib to sleep. Tara looked around the nursery mentally redesigning the space to soon be home to two Teller boys. She opened the dresser to put up some clean laundry and saw the stack of letters that she had forgotten in the rush of Jax's sentencing. With Abel peacefully snoozing she sat down in the nursery and began to read...
It hadn't taken Tara long to read all the letters that Jax's father had written Maureen, some love letters, some pure confessional, other diatribes on errors of SAMCRO. Her curiosity had been spiked and she began to question everything she thought she knew, but then she would pick up Abel from Gemma's house and see the love that she had for this child. Tara knew that JT had been right about Gemma and Clay getting together, but to Gemma's defense he had not been faithful either. Gemma was a force, that's for sure, but a force for her family and right now Tara was part of that family and needed the security of it.
Seeing Clay in the visitation room had been a different experience though. His snake like smile greeting her and Abel, Jax alongside. Betrayal from Clay was something she could easily see, but for Jax's sake she shook off her eerie feelings. "Hey babe," Jax's innocent smile greeting her and his son. Jax took Abel from her as Clay came in for a hug and kiss on the cheek, "good to see you Doc. Let's sit."
The three of them sat at one of the tables, "Pres and VP, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Tara had sensed that this was club business.
"Need to ask a favor Tara," Jax started, "Just need you to run a little distraction next week for Opie and Chibs."
Clay gave one of his wicked smiles, "feeling like a drive up the coast doc." Tara looked to Jax trying to read his expression.
"Zero risk babe," Jax started, "only way I would be ok with this. Opie will fill you in on the rest." Jax took her hand as Tara nodded, "ok, fine."
Clay smiled, "glad to hear it, now can I see this little one," Clay reached over to Abel, "give you two a minute."
"Tara I promise this one is safe," Jax started afraid of the on coming conversation. Tara just shook her head, "Jax I trust you...just don't make this a habit. I think my services for the club are better kept to pulling out bullets and stitching you up again." Jax came over to her side of the table and gave a kiss.
"You planning something for the kid's birthday," Jax asked. "Yeah, just a small thing at your mom's," Tara responded.
"Get him something from me, okay?" he went on. "Course babe," she responded pushing his hair out of his face. Clay returned Abel to Tara, "he was asking for you momma." She took Abel and stood him up on her lap as he bounced along, "someone is getting a bit restless and looks ready for a nap," Tara spoke sweetly to Abel. "Seems like he is going to start walking soon," Tara informed Jax. "You ready for that momma?" he returned. Tara just laughed, "chasing this one around? I'll be fine, it's Gemma I'm worried about."
The guard let them know there time was up. Clay gave Abel a kiss on the head and Tara a kiss on the cheek giving Jax a moment to give her a proper goodbye.
Once she was back in her car she called Opie from her cell phone, "Where are we going Op?"
Turned out Jax had been right, this favor was a relatively easy one. The guys needed to run the guns up to the Tacoma handoff and drop some black market prescriptions to Happy's mom and Bobby's ex. Tara was happy to actually to look in on Happy's mom. Her real job came for one small stretch of road where a local cop, who had been trying to get they guys for speeding had been camping out each weekend. Chibs had decided that the cop knew nothing about their real operation but was just looking to write tickets, none the less they couldn't risk it. Opie had scouted and knew what part of the road he was patrolling.
Tara rolled up in her old cutlass, popped the hood of her car and played the pregnant damsel in distress. On cue, the highway patrolman pulled up to offer his assistance. She had been on the phone with Opie to give him a cue, "its ok babe, a cop just pulled up, will call you back," she hung up, "thank you officer." She tried to seem as helpless as possible, "no idea what happened it just started to smoke a bit so I pulled over." The patrol leaned inside the hood inspecting the engine, just as Opie and Chibs rode by on their bikes giving a small salute to Tara. "Everything looks okay ma'am, maybe just needed to cool off, and watch your coolant."
"Thank you," she said getting back in the car and turning back for Charming her job done. She called Gemma who was watching Abel and reassured her everything was fine and went as planned. "Good, now get your butt back home, kid's been a nightmare today," Gemma commanded. "Oh you mean Jackson Teller's son is not a perfect angel," Tara joked back, "will be home in about 2 hours."
Abel's little birthday party was planned for Wednesday night. Gemma and Lyla spent the day getting the house ready while Tara took Abel to the zoo for the day. Tara was jut happy to get out of the house for a bit and walk the zoo with Abel. It was so peaceful here alone with Abel and her growing child, there was no club here, no hospital, no sickness and no danger. Just the two, well three, of them.
The party was perfect. Abel sat in his highchair that Gemma had decorated with a banner that read Abel and some balloons. They had ordered a cake with a little motorcycle on it as they sang happy birthday to little Abel. Opie, Lyla and the kids were there along with Piney, Chibs, Unser and of course the proud grandmother overseeing the occasion. Tara helped him blow out his one shaped candle before Abel had his first taste of cake, which he promptly got all over himself. Opie had the job of manning the grill while Tara helped Abel open his presents. She had mainly gotten him clothes, which he needed as he was quickly outgrowing everything. Gemma got him some new toys and Lyla a bundle of new books. Tara was sometimes amazed that the porn star was actually a good mom.
"Well," Tara announce, "I have one more gift for you from your daddy, which I am already regretting." Tara disappeared into the another room and returned with a little baby sized push motorcycle. Chibs and Opie cheered looking at the red and yellow tikes bike, Gemma gave Tara a proud smile. "Figured if it was a gift from Jax it had to be something that would be equally annoying and amusing," Tara shrugged. They snapped some pictures and ended the night with an exhausted and filthy Abel.
That week at visitation there was no club business just Jax, Abel and Tara. "Happy Birthday big man," Jax said scooping up Abel. Tara had brought some photos along.
"This ones from you," she said showing him the picture of Abel sitting on the little bike with the help of Tara. "It's perfect babe," he gave her a kiss. Tara sat at the table with a hand on her stomach while Jax walked Abel some holding him up by both of his hands. "How's that one," Jax asked Tara nodding to her stomach.
"Oh we are moving along, got another doctor's appointment next week," Tara started, "feeling a little better these days, morning sickness has let up some." Jax walked Abel over towards Tara. "You're gonna be a big brother little guy," Jax spoke to Abel.
"And you," she spoke to Abel as well, "have your one year old check up on Tuesday," equally informing Jax. "No," Abel said. "Sorry bud, no choice," Jax laughed.
"Yeah, and you're not going to like this one," Tara continued as she looked at Jax, "lots of shots." Jax made a face. "He will survive," Tara spoke. "Will you?," Jax joked as the guard motioned to him, "got to go babe." He gave her a kiss as "love you's" were exchanged before Jax disappeared behind the door.
