One second she was laying in bed with Jax and the next she was at the wandering the shores Vashon Island, Washington. She had been here once before, long ago. Before anyone knew that Kozik and Stella were together, it was one of the best weekends of her life and it was the first time they slept together. She sat down and looked over at the lighthouse and wondered why she was there, how the heck did she get there and why hell was she there. All her questions were answered when she felt his arm snake around her waist and pull Stella closer to him. She closed her eyes when he kissed her lightly on the cheek and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Hey Baby"

She wrapped her arms tightly around his and didn't want to move, for the rest of her life.

"Is this a dream?"

"What do you think?"

She knew it was a dream, that or she was dead but her money was on it being a dream. This was different, normally if she dreamt about him it was memories of what she had done. Reliving the nightmare. This however was completely different and she liked it.

"Baby, I am so sorry" she said getting all chocked up. " So, so sorry"

She softly hushed her and held her tightly. This wasn't why he was there. " It wasn't your fault. Stop torturing yourself. I need you to stop, it's killing me" She looked up at him and gave him a playful frown " Okay wrong choice of words"

"You think?"

They both chuckled and he kissed the side of her forehead and then her cheek again. Stella wondered if she was going to remember this when she woke up. Stella hopped she did, she needed to remember this.

"People are coming to Charming and I need you not to freak out and I need you to remember that it is all going to work out. Your family does things to protect you, not to hurt you"

Stella was completely confused and had no idea what he was talking about. Like he was speaking in another language.

"I don't understand"

"You will. I wish I could tell you more, I don't have the time. You just have to trust me and know that I love you"

"I love you too. Where have you been?"

Kozik chuckled softly and she could hear his smile when he spoke "When I'm not with you, I am taking care of someone very special. I wish you could see her. She's got these long blonde curls and her Mama's green eyes. She is so, so beautiful"

"Who?"

"Our daughter"

Stella's eyes shot open and she looked around the room. Jax's bedroom. She was still in bed with his arms wrapped around her, they felt different now. She turned her head and looked at him. Studied him as he slept. If Stella wanted to, she could fall in love with his man. If she let herself. Stella needed to let herself, she couldn't hold back anymore. Kozik had been right, she had to stop torturing herself. She needed to be happy and Jax could make her happy. He began to stir and she just smiled.

"You're still here"

"Where else would I be?" She watched a grin lighten up his face before he kissed her good morning, something he could get use to doing but then it turned into something more passionate, which she was only too happy to go along with and she did for a while until she slowly pulled away and took a breath. " Hunni, you're going to have to stop"

"Why?" he asked trailing kisses down her neck

"Because I hear little footsteps coming down the hallway"

Suddenly the bedroom door flew open and a little person flung himself on to the bed and crawled in between his father and Stella.

"You're killing me, Son. You're killing me"

Stella cracked up laughing as Abel struggled up to her

"You wouldn't be getting any action anyway because you need a shower. You stink. Does daddy smell?" Stella asked looking down at Abel. His little head bobbed up and down. Stella laughed and looked up at Jax " Daddy stinks"

"Oh it's gang up on Daddy day? I see how this is going to go down. That's fine" Jax told them playing along walking out the bedroom door. Stella turned to Abel pulled a face making him laughed

Stella walked through the clubhouse, which was like a ghost town. All the guys were out or still in bed. Some people had all the luck. She walked into the kitchen to see if anybody made any coffee, she prayed to god they had because with the thoughts rolling around in her head, Stella needed coffee. She remembered her dream the night before, she remembered him holding her tightly, remembered him kissing her cheek but did quite remember what he had told her. It was a warning of some kind but if she could only remember what about, Stella had the feeling it was important but why couldn't she remember. As she walked through the doors of the kitchen Stella almost walked into a woman, Ima.

"Morning" Stella said sweetly even though the last thing she wanted to do was be sweet to this woman. Actually the first thing she wanted to do was kick this bitch out of the clubhouse and away from her guys.

"Morning" Ima said quickly. She quickly looked Stella over, like she had never seen her before. What she was actually doing was looking for some ink. Surely she belonged to someone, one of the guys. Stella lent past Ima to grab the coffee pot and Ima saw it. Stella's Crow inked on her wrist, perched on top of a capital A. Stella saw the confusion on Ima's face, she decided to put the poor girl out of her misery.

"Tig's real name is Alex"

"You belong Tig?" she asked surprised. Stella swung around quickly and stared at Ima.

"I don't belong to anybody"

Stella was about to give Ima a mouthful about self respect and how Ima should get some but couldn't before Juice joined them in the kitchen. The way that Ima and Juice looked at each other there was no question in Stella mind who Ima's last conquest was. Ima quickly left the kitchen and Stella's sight, thankfully.

"What are you doing here so early?" Juice asked Stella

"I ran out of coffee"

"How does your house run out of coffee?"

"Not a clue"

Stella was known for her caffeine addiction which was why Juice was so surprise she hadn't thought ahead and brought more. "You are working today?"

"Nah" she said happily "Thinking of going on a road trip, for the day"

"Getting out town while Tacoma is here" Stella looked at Juice in shock and awe. Why did Juice get the distinct impression that it was the first time Stella was hearing about this. " He didn't tell?"

"No he didn't!"

Stella took a deep breath and marched out of the kitchen with her coffee cup in search of her Scarecrow, who was in deep shit, right about now. She didn't have to look far before she found him, walking out of church.

"Tacoma is coming to town?" she called out across the clubhouse "And you didn't tell me?"

"It doesn't affect you, Sweetheart" he said as he kept on walking. He was kind of fearful of his pissed off Princess right now

"How doesn't this affect me, Alex! I killed one of their brothers; you don't think they're going to want a little payback for that?"

God, Stella knew if the roles were reversed she would want payback. She was cold and calm on the outside but her heart was beating at a million miles per hour and she couldn't help back think that her past was going to catch up with her.

"They don't know you did it"

"What?"

"We didn't tell them that you kill him. They know you were there but that's it"

"Who do they think shot him?"

"Me" someone said walking through the door. She looked over and saw Jax walking towards them. Stella shook her head; she couldn't believe that Jax had done that. Taken the blame. This was going to be one hell of a day for him. Jax told Tig that he'd take care this, this meaning Stella. Tig quickly made his retreat. "Come here"

Jax lightly grabbed her hand and led her back to his old room. Once he shut the door behind them. She ripped her hand out of his and pushed him slightly.

"Why would you do that, huh? Do you have any idea about what they are going to want to do to you?"

"I was trying to protect you, from all of this"

"Jesus Jackson"

"It's going to be okay" he said wrapping her up in his arms "Besides you're worth it"

"I don't know about that" she said muffled by their hug. She closed her eyes and stayed there for a while and that was when Ima walked past and saw them. Ima watched for a second as the jealousy built up inside of her. Didn't belong to anybody, what a load of crap! Stella belonged to someone. She belonged to Jax by the look of this. Ima smiled to herself and kept on walking. The Prince and Princess weren't going to be a secret for long. Jax might not have wanted Ima anymore that meant no one else was going to have him either.

Later that day in the auto shop Tig walked up to Jax, wondering how his princess was. He hadn't seen her since this morning and he got the feeling she was avoiding him, so she must still be pissed which he hated. There were only three women in his life he had ever been scared of when they were angry. His mother, God rests her soul. Savannah because she didn't get pissed off often but when she did Savannah was like a hurricane and Stella because let's face it, he had taught his Princess well and she was a firecracker.

"How is she?"

"She's angry but she'll be okay. I think she really just worried about everyone else"

"How unlike her"

"Exactly"

Suddenly a bunch of bikes pulled up and Jax took a deep breath "Terrific" Jax said flatly

"You ready for this?" Tig asked him

"Better me then Stella"

They both walked towards their visitors and a blind man couldn't miss the death looks Jax was copping. Tig did a quick head count and one person was missing. Steven, Kozik's brother.

"Where's Steven?" Tig called out.

"He had to make a pit stop"

Jax and Tig glanced at each other and they knew exactly where Steven was and they couldn't help her, without making it obvious. Stella was going to have to fend for herself

Stella heard someone knocking on her door, which was strange because her family normally just walked into the house or used the key under the frog. Stella frowned, put down her cup of coffee, her fourth of the day and walked towards the front door. She saw a figure but didn't see their features because the sun was right behind them. She saw a tall guy, blonde hair, blue eyes, familiar but it couldn't be him. Not unless she was dreaming again. Stella moved to the side and away from the sun.

"Steven?"

"Yeah"

"Hey" she said softly before he hugged her "Heard you guys were going to be in town"

"Yeah just some club business"

Stella held up her hand and shook her head

"'Don't tell me. It's good to see you" she said letting him in the door "Coffee?"

Steven nodded his head and followed her into the kitchen. She could feel Steven's eyes on her and she was right, he was watching her every move. The sunlight streamed through the kitchen window and bounce off her engagement ring, which was on her right hand.

"He always knew that you'd love that"

Stella turned around confused before noticing what Steven was looking at. Stella touched the diamond with her thumb for a brief second before turning around and handing Steven a mug of hot coffee.

"Besides Alex, your brother was the one person that knew me best. Even after years apart"

They walking into the lounge room and sat down. There she was sitting down to have a coffee chat with the brother of the man she killed. She could feel the guilt rising up in her stomach and her heart beat away, afraid that he was going to find out the truth. How did her Scarecrow do this for so many years, with the truth about her father? She couldn't even do it for ten minutes.

"When he came back to Tacoma to put in for the transfer, I have never seen his so happy. He had the girl of his dreams back"

"Then I left. Things would have been so much different if I'd stayed after I found out about my father"

'No one blames you for that Stella. My brother sure didn't, he might have acted like he was angry but he wasn't"

Stella shook her head like she didn't believe him before bending down and picking up her pack of cigarettes. As she did the ring around her neck feel out of her top and Steven saw that it was his brother wedding ring. Stella was still in love with him and Steven smiled. When Stella looked up again he saw the tears in her eyes.

"Steven, I'm sorry for everything"

"Hey" he said putting his coffee cup down. He kneeled in front of her and hugged her tight "It's not your fault. We know who fault it is"

"Darby"

"Jax"

They answered at the same time but with two completely different answers and Stella looked at Steven worried.

"Steve wait. It's not Jax's fault"

"He killed my brother, Stel. He killed the love of your life. I know he is your family but that doesn't excuse that fact that it happened"

God he looked like his brother when he was pissed. She wanted to stand up and tell Steven the truth own up to what happen. Tell him that she was the one to pull the trigger but in the back of her head she knew the guys had their plan and she had to trust them, she had to go along with it.

"Steven, listen to me okay. We were all in a situation that we didn't want to be in, all three if us. Jax didn't want to pull that trigger but he was protecting me. Koz got into it with a really bad guy and if there was any other way, any other avenue we could have taken trust me, we would have taken it"

Steven hoped up from the floor and sat back down on the sofa across from her, not believing a word of it. He shook he's head and finished his coffee.

"He wasn't protecting you Stella. He was protecting himself. There is so much you don't know and even if I told you Stella. You wouldn't believe me"

She knew that he was talking about how Jax felt about her and had felt about her at the time but once again, it wouldn't be helpful to admit that.

"Steve" she started

"I gotta get to the clubhouse. Their waiting for me, just wanted to see you first"

Stella nodded her head and thanked him before following him outside to his bike. He opened one of his bags and handed her an envelope.

"We were packing the rest of his stuff back in Washington and found these. Thought you might need them more than us"

She opened the white envelope and saw a few photographs taken years back. "Oh my god, look at my hair" she said with a chuckle. It was natural, before she found hair dye, long and sandy blonde, like her Mama. She flicked to the next picture. Steven looked over her shoulder.

"On Vashon Island, do you remember?"

"I actually had a dream about it last night"

"Must have known something"

They hugged, said goodbye and she watched him ride away. She had no idea what Steven had planned for Jax but she knew it wasn't the best and she knew that Jax didn't deserve it. Thankfully she knew that with the Tacoma guys in town there would be a party that night and she know could keep an eye on the situation. She went back inside and studied the photographs that Steven had just given her. It was funny she didn't remember photographs being taken that weekend they were at Vashon Island but clearly there had been. Stella couldn't keep doing this to herself; she couldn't keep living in the past, other wise she was going to get stuck there. She had this great guy who wanted to be there for her. Who was copping a lot of crap today protecting her. She had to give him a chance. Stella placed the photographs in a book that was on the coffee table and tried to forget they were there. She had to close that chapter of her life.

Stella breezed through the clubhouse and there was only one man she wanted to see, one man she needed to see. She caught Jax's eye and walked towards the backrooms. It wasn't long before he followed and was pulled into his old room. He took a long appreciative look at her and was amazed at how beautiful she looked.

"I don't know the crap you would have had to put up with today but thank you" she said before kissing him. It was more than a kiss; it was the prelude to something else, something more. As much as he wanted to continue he knew they couldn't, not there and not now but that didn't mean he couldn't have some fun and some payback. He lowered his head to her neck and smiled

'Do you remember this morning? When we woke up"

"Yeah"

Jax smiled and moved his lips up to her ear before saying "Payback is a bitch"

She looked up at him and saw that cheeky grin and rolled her eyes and shook her head.

'I'll remember that next time. Then you'll regret it"

"Wouldn't want anyone to walk in and catch us anyway" he said backing away "I'm going to have a hard time keeping my hands off you tonight, anyhow"

"Good to know" she said before he kissed her one last time and moving out of the room. Stella took a deep breath, straightened herself up and did the same.

They didn't spend every moment together at the party but even if they did no one would think twice. Jax and Stella had always spent a lot of time together, so they wouldn't turn heads if they spent more time together now. It was only the fact that Steven was there that Stella created some distance between herself and Jax. The slightest thing could set Steven off given the way he felt about Jax these days and Stella didn't want that to happen. She rolled her eyes as the croweaters showed up all together, much to the guys delight. Steven stood next to Stella as Emily Duncan walked past. It was the first time she had showed her face since their little altercation a few weeks back. Steven saw the look in Stella's eyes the cold, malevolent, wickedness that played behind those emerald greens. They both watched as Emily made a Beeline for Tig. They looked on as she tried all her well known, well used tricks and her scarecrow loved every second of it.

"She's challenging me, isn't she?" she asked Steven

"Oh yeah"

Stella was off in Emily's direction and was going to kick some major sweetbutt behind and was halfway there before someone arm wrapped around her waist, picked her up for the ground and turned she around in the other direction.

"Woah, beautiful. Hold up" Chibs told her walking Stella towards the front door "Where are you going?"

"Where do you think I'm going? Going to give her a nose job"

"She's trying to get a rise out of her"

"And that's what I'm going to do. Give her what she wants. Let me go"

Chibs laughed as they took a walk outside, she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Stella knew that he was right; the better revenge was to not give Emily what she wanted. Keep her guessing. Normally that is what Stella would normally do but there was something about Emily that just set Stella off. Maybe she should have kicked Emily's ass all those years back? Might have made her life easier now.

"Chibs?"

"Yeah Sweetheart?"

"Do you think Emily's pretty?"

He chuckle and pulled for a hug as they kept walking "Doesn't hold a candle to you Stella, Trust me"

They both walked into back into the clubhouse when she was calm again. What would she do without her guys having her back? They knew her better then she knew herself, most days. Once they were back inside she walked straight up to Emily and Tig, only calmly this time. Stella stood in front of the both of them and stared Emily down before raising her eyebrows. Emily stood up and made her exit quickly before Stella sat down in Emily spot, looked over at her scarecrow and asked "Really?"

"What?"

"Her?"

"Jealous are we?"

"If memory services me right, I slept with you first. It's not my fault she has a thing for my seconds"

"Are we actually going to talk about this?" He looked at her surprised and impressed. They never had spoken about it and he was under the impression that they were never going too. People often asked both of them if they had slept together but they never admitted it or denied it, they just let people believe what they wanted to believe and they were happy either way. They had a peculiar relationship but it worked for them and that was the reason they never justified or explained what they had.

"We don't need to talk about it, Alex. We were both there and I rocked your world" she said before they both laughed "I am just surprised that you wait until I was eighteen"

"So was I. Do you know how much self control that took?"

"I'm very proud"

It was their little secret and he kinda liked it that way and really it was no one else's business but theirs. She hugged him before standing up

"Where are you going?" he asked " I thought you were protecting me from Emily"

Stella fell into a fit of laughter before turning around " I'm getting a drink. You want a beer?"

Tig nodded his head and watched her walk to the bar and stand next to Jax. She quickly rested her head on his arm, before he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Tig knew that it wouldn't be sitting right with Stella, Jax taking the heat for Kozik's death but he was glad that Stella had trusted them enough to go along with their plan. He had actually been worried that Stella would confess everything to Steven.

Tig wasn't the only watching them. Steven didn't know what it was that triggered him, something about the way that Jax kissed her on the forehead or the way that his hand slid from her shoulder, down her arm, brushed the curve of her waist and rested on her hip but Steven was sure that his brother had been right about Jax. He had more than friendly feelings for Stella. Stella didn't notice and everyone around them must have thought nothing of it. Stella playfully bumped into Jax before she left and joined Tig again. Steven was going to have to have a little chat with Jackson and set him straight. If there was one thing Steven could do for his brother, it was that.