Noelle rocked Nolan gently as she watched Jax bustle around his new office, getting everything in order to start interviewing potential employees. She had been on edge lately, ever since Jax had been getting calls at weird hours. It was sending her back into the mindset she had when they first started dating. He was up to no good and it for sure had to involved his brothers that had left a week ago. "Janelle, be careful. Stay out of your dad's way. Okay baby girl?"

Janelle nodded as she slinked towards her mom and smiled. "So, daddy is the boss now? He gets to be a Mr. Bossy Booty?"

Jax chuckled and turned to see his daughter with her arms crossed. "Yes, I get to boss people around and tell them what to do. It's quite amazing."

"Oh." She smirked up at him. "I wanna be the other boss! Can I boss some people around dad? I'm good at it!"

He lifted her up and nodded. "I know you're good at being the boss. You gotta be a little older to be the boss around here though. You have to at least know how to work on a bike or a car darlin'."

"Well, I know how to fix fake ones." The brunette patted her dad's cheeks. "That's close enough."

"No way." He shook his head as he set her back down on her feet. "I'll teach you how to work on bikes and cars when you get a little bit older. When you're five, alright?"

Janelle smiled. "I guess I can wait two years! Mama, did you hear? I get to learn how to work on bikes and cars when I'm five. Then I get to be a boss and tell all the people what to do and they have to listen to me because I'm the boss."

"You're in for it now Jax." Noelle smirked and shook her head. I'm sure you're going to have a lot of fun being the boss Nelly. I know the employees will always be on the top of their game with you watching over them with your dad."

"I'm gonna make sure that I keep them in line." The three year old smiled as she moved towards her mom. "Can I hold my baby? I won't drop him. I promise." She nodded as she sat down on the couch and held her arms out. "Come on Nole."

The brunette nodded as she passed her son to his older sister. "Take good care of your baby. He's cute and looking at you. He's trying to remember your face for future reference." She smiled as she watched Jax look at his phone and scoff before sliding it back into his pocket. "Who pissed you off with a text?"

"It's nothing." Jax shook his head as he looked at his wife and smiled. "I was just trying to get one of the guys I worked with to jump over here. He said no."

"Ok." She sighed as she looked down at her nails. "Who called you the other night? It was early, it woke me up."

"It was one of the guys, letting me know they made it back safely." He shrugged as he picked up a stack of paperwork. "I'm sorry that it woke you up babe but I had to answer it. You wanna sit in on interviews with me or are you good with just hanging out in the office while I do them alone."

She shook her head. "I don't wanna sit in on interviews. I think we'll just stick around for a little longer before going home. I don't want to keep Nolan out for too long."

Jax nodded and looked at his wife, trying to figure out what had made the brunette go from happy to upset in a matter of seconds. "Alright, Noe. Abel is coming by later, can I keep Janelle with me?"

"Yeah, she can stay with you. I'm not against that." She smiled. "Just make sure she doesn't turn into a tiny tyrant. Alright Jax?"

"What's wrong babe? You seem distant…" He picked his daughter up off the couch and set her to her feet. "Go sit at the desk… I'll be right there." He watched the three year skip away before looking back at his wife. "You gotta talk to me Noelle. I can't help if I don't know what's going on with you."

Noelle shrugged. "Honestly? I'm worried. I don't like the whole you being secretive thing and getting calls at weird hours of the night. It takes me back to when you were a Son and sometimes I'd wake up and you'd be leaving or you'd be gone without much explanation."

"It's nothing, I promise. The guys have been asking for advice, that's it Noelle." Jax sat down next to her and rubbed his hands up and down his face. "I'm sorry for taking you back to that mindset but nothing is gonna happen and I'm not doing anything but offering advice from my experience as the club's president. That's all."

"I'm sorry." She nodded slowly as she stared at him. "I just don't want anything disrupting what we've managed to build for our kids. I don't want them to have to grow up around the club like you did Jax."

"Like I said before, I'm not doing some sneaky shit. I'm all about this life we have together Noelle." He kissed her temple and smiled. "Go home, get some sleep with Nolan. I'll be home with the other two after I finish all of the interviews. I love you."

"I love you too." Noelle smiled. "Have fun with those interviews."

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Jax was tired. The interview process had taken longer than he initially expected. He shook his head as he looked toward the leather sofa, is daughter was curled into a ball under his hoodie, sleeping like a dream while Abel was on his tablet, playing yet another game. He let out a yawn before standing up from his chair and stretching. "It's finally time to go."

"Finally." Abel looked up from the tablet. "Which ones are you gonna hire?"

"I think I'm gonna hire them all." He smiled and nodded as he scooped his daughter up from the sofa. "Could use a big crew. What do you think?"

"I think that's good." The six year old nodded. "I liked all of the guys and the one girl."

"Yeah, she was cool." Jax adjusted Janelle in his arms as he started locking up the garage. "I can't wait to get home and relax, watch some tv." He murmured as she felt his daughter wrap her arms around his neck. "I think I'll put her down and maybe you and I can hang a little before you go to bed."

"Ok." Abel smiled. "We can do that."

He grinned back at his son as they walked to the truck. "I want to stop by In n Out, we can pick up some food. Noe probably hasn't eaten dinner yet, so we gotta grab some burgers and fries for her and whatever you and your sister wanna eat. Don't get crazy though." He placed his daughter in her booster seat and kissed her head, smiling as she started to wake up. "Sleepy head."

"I heard you say fries." Janelle reached out for her dad. "I want some fries and some more cuddles daddy."

"I'll get you fries and when we get home, I'll give you all the cuddles in the world darlin'." Jax closed the back door before moving to the driver side and climbing in. "Let's roll."

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"Some cuddles now." Janelle smiled at her dad as she crawled into her lap with her burger and fries. "I don't want any ketchup either. I like the other sauce." She pointed to the thousand island dressing Jax was holding. "Can I have some daddy?"

He nodded as he held up the sauce for her to dip her fries into. "I need to make sure I get you some of this for you next time too. I didn't think you'd like it."

"It's yummy." She nodded as she leaned back against him before taking a big bite of her burger. "It's all so yummy. I want this every day for dinner." She tilted her head back and looked at her dad. "If mommy doesn't eat hers, I'm gonna eat her burger. I like the bacon on it."

Jax chuckled. "I don't think you can handle eating another bacon cheeseburger darlin'. You may get a tummy ache." He poked at her stomach and smiled. "I don't want you getting sick."

"I'll eat it tomorrow for breakfast." She gave a stern nod. "I don't need cereal, I'll just eat the burger. It's almost like breakfast, it has bacon in it." She took a sip of her juice and smiled. "I love apple juice so much."

The man smiled and nodded, admiring how his daughter was so pleased by the small things in her life. "That's a good argument. I cannot argue with that. Bacon is a breakfast food, so the burger is a breakfast food. You've loved juice ever since the first time your mom let you taste it. Your eyes went really wide and you flashed a cute toothless smile. It was cute."

"Juice is lovely." Janelle nodded and smiled. "Can I have a bite of your burger? Yours has veggies on it, does it taste good?"

"Take a bite and see for yourself." He grinned as he watched her take a bite of the burger. "It's good huh?"

She shrugged. "I liked the onions! Mommy eats those on her burger but she never gives me any on my burgers." She poked out her bottom lip. "I want onions on my burger next time, ok daddy?"

"Yeah, onions next time." Jax nodded. "Now, finish your dinner so we can cuddle."

"Jackson." Noelle stood in front of the tv, holding up his ringing phone before tossing it to him. "Next time don't leave it upstairs with me. It's been vibrating nonstop for the last thirty minutes and I tried to ignore it but it's annoying as hell. So, answer it and tell whoever it is to call once and leave a damn message."

"Shit, I gotta take this. It's Opie." He stood up from his recliner and kissed Janelle's head. "I'll be right back to finish cuddling. I'm sorry Noe, I'll make sure he knows to leave a message next time."

The brunette nodded and crossed her arms as she watched her husband slip out the sliding glass doors. "I swear, he's hiding something." She mumbled as she dropped onto the sofa before removing the baby monitor from her waistband. "Baby girl toss me my burger and you can have some sips of my milkshake."

Janelle frowned before tossing her mom the bag of fast food. "There you go. I was gonna eat that for breakfast but I guess you can have it."

"Well aren't you generous." Noelle chuckled as she pulled the burger out of the bag and took a bite of it. "I'll buy you a burger for breakfast tomorrow baby. I promise. You can have a big ol' bacon cheeseburger with extra bacon."

"And onions!" She nodded. "Daddy let me have some of his burger. It had veggies on it. It was good."

"Oh, so you're eating veggies now too?" Noelle smiled. "That's good to know. You always eat onions though baby. Onion rings are onions and you eat those like once a week."

"What?" Janelle looked at her mom with wide eyes. "I didn't know they were onions! I just thought they were rings!"

She laughed and shook her head. "Nope, it's onions underneath the crunchy breading." She passed her milkshake to Janelle. "Have some sips but don't drink all of it or I'll be sad and start crying."

"I want to eat some of them tomorrow for breakfast too." The three year old smiled and nodded. "I want them with this sauce. Daddy said it's thousand island or whatever." She shrugged as she dipped her burger into it. "It's yummy."

Noelle smiled. "It's a good sauce." She nodded as she watched Jax walk back into the house, his face red. "Whoa, babe what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Jax shook his head as he sat down next to his wife. "I got into an argument with Opie because the club is gonna make stupid moves."

"Sorry babe." She trailed her hands through her hair. "I hope it works out."

"Yeah me too." He grabbed her milkshake and took a generous sip. "I'm not too worried about it. It's not affecting us." He kissed her cheek and smiled. "I love you babe."

"I love you too." Noelle grinned. "So much."

SOA

Jax moved around the JT office, his mind going over everything that had happened in the last month. He had gotten back into bed with the Sons, opened his own garage and managed to make his wife slightly paranoid with the amount of calls he was getting. He claimed that they were all business calls, which wasn't an entire lie. He was handling business and he understood her paranoia. He shook his head as he dropped back into the office chair. "Shit." He looked up as his door opened. "Hey Rocco."

"Jax." Rocco closed the door behind him before sitting in the chair opposite of Jax. "I got some news from your Charming boys. The shipment will be coming up tonight. A little early but it works out the best. We'll get the shipment, me and Greg will drive it up this tomorrow since we have the day off."

"Alright." Jax nodded as he looked at the young man across from him. "That works for me. What time tonight? last hour before we close? So it doesn't look suspicious."

"Yeah, of course man." Rocco nodded. "We'll keep it low key and easy. Don't want to draw any attention to us."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Get back to work. I think Lucy needs some help in the garage. She's been working on that damn Honda for two hours." He shook his head. "Go help her. If she can't get it finished, then step in and finish it up. I want it out of here."

"Daddy!" Janelle rushed into the office and towards her dad. "Hi! Mommy dropped me off! She said I could hang out with you until the garage is closed."

"Hey darlin'." Jax picked up his daughter and smiled before looking up at Noelle who was walking into the office. "Hey babe."

"I have to run some errands and hit a few doctor appointments. I figured she'd have more fun hanging around here than being dragged from place to place with me and Nolan." Noelle smiled. "After all she does want to be a mechanic like her daddy."

"I'll put her to work, get her a coverall." He smiled. "Everything's alright though? Should I be worried about the appointments?"

She shook her head. "No, it's just some simple things." She looked at Rocco. "You can leave… It's now becoming a personal conversation." She eyed him carefully, her eyes dropping to the reaper on his lower leg before she looked back up at his face. "Thank you…" She watched him walk out of the office before turning her attention back on her husband. "It's time for me to get the IUD put in. No more kids." She shifted Nolan in her arms. "That Rocco guy is a walking invasion of privacy."

"He's slow but he's fast with fixing cars." Jax shrugged as he braided Janelle's hair. "I will give him a talking to later. If you come in, then he needs to leave. So, you sure you don't need me to come with you? Hold your hand?"

"I'll be fine, it's twenty seconds of pain for security of not being surprised again." Noelle smiled. "I can handle it. I'll have your twin in there with me. He'll keep reminding me that I don't need a triplet running around. Janelle you gonna be good for your dad? Make sure he's not getting into any trouble? Remember, he can't have too much candy or he'll get a tummy ache just like you and Abel get when you over do it."

"I'll keep him in line." Janelle nodded as she patted her dad's cheeks. "You hear that daddy? I'm the boss of the candy, you can have one piece! No more than that, ok?"

Jax nodded and chuckled. "Yes, boss." He kissed the brunette's forehead. "Only one piece of candy for me today. I will be on my best behavior. I don't want my boss to fire me Noelle. I need this job."

"Good." Noelle kissed him. "I love you guys. Be good, the both of you. I won't hesitate to put you both in time out when I pick her up later. I know you rode your Dyna here, so I'll be back to get her around closing. Alright baby?"

"Yeah, babe. Go have fun with your appointments." He smirked. "I love you too."

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"Are you sure about this?" Blair looked at her daughter and sighed. "I think it's sort of extreme to jump to this type of measure. It's just your hormones, they're still not back in control."

Noelle shrugged as she looked over the paperwork. "It's a precaution. I want to make sure that it's not in my name if some shit happens at the garage mom. Something just isn't sitting right with me. Like this kid he hired, Rocco, has a goddamn reaper tattooed on his lower leg. Same style as Juice and Jax's almost. It's just too much to be a damn coincidence."

"So you think that something is going on?" The blonde sighed as she took the paperwork back. "It's not in your name. It's solely in his name."

"Good because if for some reason he's doing something illegal with the Sons again and they get caught I don't want my name attached to that shit." She shook her head as she adjusted in her chair. "I got the IUD, I'm still a little sore and uncomfortable."

Blair nodded. "That's smart but I don't think he's getting back involved with them. He's come too far to fuck shit up like that Noelle."

"You haven't been around him since his brothers left over a month ago." Noelle shook her head as she tapped her nails on her mom's glass desk. "He's been secretive, taking calls at all hours of the night and early morning, he hired most of the guys before background checks even passed. If it weren't Jax, if he wasn't coming home and fucking me every chance he got, I would think he was cheating on me but it has to be the club he's getting into bed with."

"Jesus." She huffed and shook her head. "Just talk to him about it Noelle. It's the only way that you're going to get any answers."

"He lies!" Noelle smacked the desk. "He fucking lies to my face about this shit. He looks me in the eyes and tells me he's not doing shit with the Sons but I know he is mom! It's like killing me to know that he doesn't think I'm worth the goddamn truth. My husband is lying to me and he's putting the family in danger. If something goes wrong… God forbid but if something were to go wrong, then I'd have two kids and a dead husband."

Blair sighed as she rubbed her temples with her thumbs. "Calm down, drink some water. You can't get worked up about this shit. If he's doing this shit then you need to find the proof and you threaten his ass with it. You threaten divorce and taking Janelle and Nolan away from him. If he's all about family as much as he claims he is, then you use it against him and it'll show if he really is all about family if he owns up to his shit and walks away from it again."

The brunette huffed as she wiped at her eyes. "It just fucking sucks. I had so much faith in the change. I was fucking stupid as hell to think that he could stay away from that shit. He hasn't even been out that long mom!" She looked at Nolan as he stared back at her. "I have a near carbon copy of Jackson. I'm going to have to raise both of my kids alone and answer the where's daddy? Janelle is going to be wrecked. She can't even go a day without her dad and his cuddles mom. What am I gonna fucking do?"

"You're gonna relax is what you're gonna do." Blair rounded her desk and pulled her daughter into a tight hug. "You're going to go talk to him about it, since you're picking up Janelle later anyway. Let him know everything that's on your mind and give him a chance to own up to it. If he doesn't, then I'll start the divorce process. You can be a single mom and you can let him see the kids on supervised visits. It'll be helpful. You can do it babe."

Noelle nodded as she buried her face in her mom's neck and sighed. "I just thought it was going to work out for us. I don't want my marriage to end but I don't want to sit back and watch my husband go into a tailspin. It's a fucked up position that he's put me in." She sniffled. "I just wanted my happy ending with Jackson."

"You never know. You still may end up with that happy ending." Blair rubbed the brunette's back. "Just gotta try your best to be optimistic and an open heart."

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Noelle looked down at Nolan who was strapped to her chest in his carrier before looking up at the auto shop that Jax owned. She took note of the bright blue letters. JT's. She shook her head as she touched her face, hoping that she didn't look like she had spent the last four hours crying in her mom's office as she thought about every bad thing that could potentially happen between her and Jax. "Well Nolan, let's get your sister and say hi to your daddy."

She shuffled towards the open garage, looking around to find it completely empty save for the light coming from the office. She moved to the office and let herself in, smiling as she saw her three year old sitting at the desk and coloring. "Hey baby love."

"Hi mommy! I colored so many pictures." Janelle smiled as she set down the marker she was using and slipped off the chair and moved towards her mom. "I missed you so much! Daddy only had one candy, I didn't have to fire him."

"I missed you more." Noelle smiled down at her. "Yeah? He was good? That's great, I'm glad that you didn't have to fire him. He needs the job so he can make money and buy you and your brothers some fun stuff. Where is your dad?"

"He went around back, some truck is dropping off packages." Janelle pushed her hair out of her face and smiled. "It's a huge truck! He told me to stay in here because it's not safe back there."

She nodded. "You stay here. I'm gonna go see the big truck." Noelle kissed her daughter's head before moving out of the office and back into the garage, towards the door that lead to the loading dock in the back of the business. She opened it a crack, trying to listen into the conversation before she opened it wider, sticking her head out to see where Jax was. "He-." She stopped herself as her eyes landed on a familiar face, one of the Sons that came to visit Nolan. She shook her head, her anger rising as she listened to the conversation.

"You're killing me here Decker." Jax shook his head as he looked at his brother, his eyes not even taking in the slightly open garage door. "This was supposed to be a small shipment and you said no Sons were gonna be showing up here. It's risky. I don't need my wife finding out about this shit, she's already suspicious."

Decker shrugged. "I know but I couldn't help but come up with the shipment." He shook his head as he watched the last box be unloaded. "It's only this time and two more times. Then we'll be out of your hair and your girl won't have anything to be suspicious about it."

He sighed as he rubbed his face. "Alright but make this fast. She'll be here any minute to pick up Janelle."

Noelle slinked back into the garage, pulling the door closed behind her as she felt her face grow hot with anger. "Fucking asshole." She growled as she moved towards the office, trying to keep her anger hidden from her daughter. "I'm gonna put you and Nolan in the truck. I need to talk to your dad for a little bit then we can grab a burger and some fries."

"Ok mommy!" Janelle grabbed her backpack before following after her mom. "I want onions on my burger."

"I know my love." She nodded as she opened the back door to her Range Rover and watched her daughter climb in and into her seat. She strapped Janelle in before doing the same with Nolan. "You guys sit tight, it'll only be a minute." She passed Janelle her phone. "Play your game baby girl and watch your brother." She turned on her heels as she rushed back into the garage, her eyes scanning the space for something to torch. "Fucking asshole, getting back into it with the Sons." She spat as she grabbed a gas can and started drizzling it all over the floor. "Fucking jerk."

She fished around her purse for her black zippo before pausing to look at the puddle of gasoline. "Think, think. Think Chemistry." She tapped on her chin before tossing some motor oil into the mix before lighting a gasoline soaked rag and tossing it to the floor before running out of the garage and towards her SUV. "I told you it'd be quick babe." She looked into the back seat at her kids and smiled before starting the vehicle and turning on her lights as she stared straight ahead at the garage, smiling to herself as she heard the fire alarms start to blare.

Jax rushed into the garage, his mind going a mile a minute as he rushed into the office to find his daughter to be gone. "Fuck!" He covered his face as the smoke grew thicker and blacker as he made his way out of the garage behind the prospects and Decker. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" He shook his head as they made it out of the garage and into the parking lot, his blue eyes landing on the red SUV, that was passing slowly. He shook his head, the impact of the situation settling deep into his soul.

He made eye contact with his wife before shaking himself out of his thoughts. "Noelle!" He called after her as she sped up. "Fuck!" He turned back and looked at the flames and smoke billowing from the garage before he sunk to the ground, his head buried in his hands. "She found out! She saw you fuckers." He looked up at the men surrounding him. "She fucking found out." He watched as the garage continued to burn. With one small mistake, he stoked the slow burning fire. Not only was his watching his business burn, he was watching his marriage burn too.

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so, that was the final chapter. well there's an epilogue coming after this but it's finally over. I know it was kind of abrupt and unexpected but I am happy with the way it ended. Leaves everything pretty much up in the air, letting you draw your own conclusions as to what exactly happens between Jax and Noelle. Um, also thanks for the readers who stuck with the story from the start, thanks to those who jumped in during the middle or even the end. It was all appreciated and I loved reading the reviews, even though they became sparse. but it was fun nonetheless. I look forward to my next journey and sharing it with you all.

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