Sam had been baking all night. It was what she did when she needed to clear her head.
The kitchen of The Shop was now filled with cookies, cakes and all different pastries. Sam had no clue who was going to eat it all; since they would not be fresh when the store opened Monday morning and she would need to bake new ones. But still, she kept on baking.
When Sam was given the assignment to come undercover into Charming, she needed to come up with a plausible reason for her being there. Single women renting a house, not working and showing up at the SAMCRO club house would easily arouse some suspicion. After doing some research into Charming, she noticed that the real estate was cheap and there was not a coffee house in miles. She set up her cover story as a small business owner and apparently, everyone has been buying her story.
Since returning from Jax's the night before, Sam had been in the kitchen. She kept trying to rid her head of the screams that came from Jax's kitchen, but she could not. Sam knew logically that it made sense leaving. Her mission was to bring down SAMCRO. She knew they did not kill innocents. So obviously, the man in the kitchen did something. But still, the guilt Sam was feeling was almost suffocating.
She was running through the Tara's murder again in her mind when she heard a loud banging on the front door. Sam looked at the clock and saw it was only 6:45 am.
Sam walked out into the store and stood still.
"BANG BANG BANG"
The whole store shook from the force of the knocking.
She made her way over to the window and peered out. Jax was staring right at her.
What was he doing there? Did he see her last night? No, that was impossible, she told herself.
She stepped back and tried to center herself. She need to be Sam Broker now, innocent and injured coffee shop owner, not a guilty undercover ATF agent.
She went and opened the door.
"I have been knocking for a while," Jax said pushing his way in.
"What's wrong?" she asked,closing the door and still concerned that maybe she had left a clue to her real whereabouts the night before. She was now angry that she returned her gun to its hiding place upstairs.
Jax turned around and looked at the empty store.
"Some of the guys drove through here last night and saw the closed sign. "
Sam relaxed and gave Jax a smug smile.
"Were you worried about me?"
"Why did you close the store?"
Sam heard the timer go off in the kitchen and motioned Jax to follow her to the kitchen.
"Business was really slow yesterday. My staff has been working overtime covering for me, so I thought everyone needed a break. We will open again on Monday."
Sam made her way over to the stove and pulled out hot pumpkin muffins.
Jax looked around at all the food.
"So, planning on eating all of this yourself?"
Sam smiled.
"I could not sleep. When I can't sleep I bake."
Jax pulled out a stool and sat in front of Sam. He grabbed one of the hot pumpkin muffins and started eating it. She was going to warn him they were hot, but it did not seem to bother him.
She started hand kneading a bowl of dough which would soon be donuts. Sam looked at Jax, wondering how he could be sitting in her kitchen, eating a muffin; when he was just torturing and killing a man a few hours before.
"These are really good. You are really good at this," he said.
'Thanks. My grandmother taught me how to bake. I feel in love with it as a child," she told him, happy that she could share a bit of truth about herself with him.
Sam stopped kneading the dough, wiped her hands on her apron and looked at Jax.
"You could have called if you were so worried," she said.
"I wanted coffee, " he replied, not missing a beat.
She pointed to the fresh pot that she had brewed right before he got there. Jax got up and made himself a cup.
"Why can't you sleep?" he asked her as he returned to his stool.
"I don't know," she lied as she started rolling the dough into circles.
Yes Jax, I can't sleep because I broke into your house last night, pretty much confirmed my suspicions that your wife's death was an inside job, heard you torture some guy who obviously did not kill your wife. Oh and my ankle has been throbbing since I jumped out of your bedroom window. And to top it all off, I am an undercover ATF agent who is here to bring you and your club down and I kinda want to kiss you.
Yea, Sam could not tell him any of that.
"So you bake..."
Sam sprinkled more flour onto the table and continued rolling her circles.
"When I can't sleep. I just have no idea what I am going to do with all this food. I can't sell it on Monday, it won't be fresh."
"Bring it over to Redwoody. We are still on lockdown. None of this would go to waste. "
Sam had wanted to check out Redwoody, but she did not want to seem eager.
"Are Abel and Thomas there?"
Jax nodded.
"And my mother," he said.
"Great! I have missed her," Sam said sarcastically.
Jax slightly smiled.
"So why are you here? If you are on lockdown, shouldn't you be there?"
"I had business to finish up. I was on my back there now," he said not looking her in the face.
Sam noticed the already dark circles under his eyes were almost black.
"Are you ok?" she asked him. She knew the answer, but she wanted to see what he would tell her.
Jax licked some of the crumbs off his fingers.
"I have not been ok in a really long time."
Sam knew he needed a distraction. She turned around and put the fryer on.
"What to help me make donuts?"
Jax laughed.
"Trying to turn me into Chef Boyardee?" he said standing up.
Sam pretended to be insulted.
"You are comparing my homemade deliciousness to shit in a can. Get out of my kitchen." she said, pointing to the door.
Jax stood up and took his kutte off. He placed it on a hook next to an apron and walked over Sam.
"It is pretty easy," she told him. "Just put the dough in the fryer and wait until it is golden brown. Take it out too soon, it is a doughy mess. Take it out to late, you got burnt donuts."
"I think I can handle it, "he said rubbing his hands together. Sam could not help but smile at him. For the first time he looked happy. Maybe not happy, but content.
Jax picked up one of the donuts from the counter and dropped it into the oil like Sam had showed him. After a minute, he turned it over.
'Wow, " Sam said. "You're getting the hang of this."
After a few more seconds, he pulled a perfectly golden brown donut out of the fryer. He placed it gently on the drying rack.
"After it cools, you frost it," Sam told him.
"I am not eating this. I am gonna frame it. Proof I did something in the kitchen!"
Sam laughed at Jax.
"Maybe we should take a picture of it."
Jax gave her a smile that she felt all over her body. When he smiled the corners of his mouth seemed to reach those beautiful blue eyes of his. He was so easy to get lost in.
"Can you hand be the rest of the dough?" Sam asked breaking herself from his smile.
Jax reached over to the table and grabbed the dough circles Sam had rolled out.
When he went to hand them to her, Sam noticed his bruised and battered knuckles.
"What happened to your hands?" she asked, knowing the answer but still pretending to be surprised.
Jax looked at his hands and looked at Sam.
"I had to take care of shit," he said quietly, the smile disappearing from his face and a look of shame replaced it.
Sam grabbed the tray of dough from him and put them next to the fryer. She turned to Jax and grabbed his hands and rubbed them. She did not know why she was doing this, but it was almost like she had to do.
"What are you doing Jax?" she asked with all the sincerity she had in her.
Jax's eyes dropped to the floor.
"I don't know. I thought I did. But I don't anymore."
Sam lifted Jax's head up and looked straight into his eyes.
"That kutte must be so heavy," she said.
Jax stared right back at her. His hand quickly found a streak of flour that graced her cheek. He brushed it away and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
Sam was lost once again in those baby blue eyes of him. So full of sadness, yet so irresistible. They both leaned in for a kiss, when the timer to the other oven went off and broke them out of their daze.
Sam jumped back and Jax did the same.
Without saying anything, she went over to the other oven and pulled out cookies. She was soundlessly screaming at herself. She had almost crossed a line that she didn't know if she could come back from.
Before she could turn around and face him again, Jax's phone rang and cut through the awkward silence. He walked into the front of the store to answer it.
Sam leaned up against the over for support. Two months ago, she was a proud agent with a file full of commendations. Today, she was acting like a love sick teenager who almost kissed the blue eyed killer in her kitchen. How far she had fallen.
Jax came back into the kitchen.
"I need to go," he said. He grabbed a pencil and an order form from the wall.
"This is the address of Redwoody. Come by this afternoon. I know Abel will be happy to see you."
He wrote down the address and left it on the table. He turned and grabbed his kutte.
"Thanks for the coffee," he said with a soft smile.
And with no other words, Jax walked out the door.