The summer seems to pass quicker than any of the other's before, Tara reflects one bright August day, because she's blinked and it's gone by in a haze of parties and days tanning, ice cream runs and mornings spent alternating between taking care of hungover Shea and Jax.

Time runs funny in the summer, slow and fast all at once, the days themselves seemingly stretching on forever until Tara wakes up one day and suddenly realizes she's only a couple weeks away from the anniversary of her and Jax dating, as well as the beginning of her senior year.

Donna's motivation to attend school has not been helped by Shea's arrival and her subsequent reminder that she never graduated high school and she's fine. Tara wants to remark that living in a tiny apartment, working part time jobs, and having Gemma do her laundry doesn't seem fine, but she hushes and keeps it to herself.

She doesn't want to rock the boat when they're all doing so well. Opie and Donna are still blissfully in love, their talk of getting an apartment and living together suddenly a lot more serious. Shea flitters between the girls and the guys, comfortable with both. Their odd little family is still as tight knit as ever.

And Tara and Jax are doing well, against all the odds. Tara likes that he works most the day, putting cars and bikes back together, explaining to her how satisfying it is to know what's wrong with something and have his hands fix, taking out the nuts and bolts and putting them back in so that a machine can work again.

Tara wonders if that will be her some day, doing the same with people. She tries explaining it to Jax once, why the human body fascinates her so much that she'll read medical textbooks for the fun of it, gravitating towards health journals rather than celebrity gossip magazines. He'd patted her head and told her that it was nice, but she knows her love of science is bewildering to Jax and Donna and the rest.

But for right now, the days are long, the sun is bright, and Tara is happy, looking out at Donna and Shea, both stretched out on towels on the edge of the pool. Shea has one hand absentmindedly dangling in the water and occasionally she'll bring it up to flick herself with droplets of water.

"Are you guys happy?" Tara asks suddenly and they turn to look at her in tandem.

"Yeah." Donna says immediately.

"But like really happy." Tara pushes. "Like, so happy your face hurts from smiling."

"I'd like it better if I had a girlfriend to amuse myself with." Shea rolls over and glances at a group of girls in the shallow end. "Why are all small town girls straight? No offense."

"None taken." Tara and Donna both assure her.

"Why, are you not happy?" Donna asks her in concern, rolling to look at her imploringly.

"No, I am, that's the thing." Tara looks up at the bright, impossibly blue sky without a cloud in sight. "And I'm scared of how long this is going to last."

"It'll last forever!" Donna says, brightly cheerful, and though Tara and Shea share a knowing look, neither denies her, reclining back to soak in more sun.


"Hey, where were you?" Tara calls, when the door slams and she hears the familiar jingle of Jax's keys being tossed into the bowl beside the door.

"Work." He yells, not bothering to come find her in the bedroom, instead clanging and slamming his way through the kitchen. Tara doesn't bother to point out that she knows that he was with the club. Donna mentioned that was where Opie was and Tara knows where one goes, the other follows. But when he walks into her room with a bag of chips and a grin, she chooses not to push it, setting her book aside and smiling.

"Hi." She says sweetly.

"Hello." He sits next to her, kissing her, and she can taste the salt from the chips on his lips, along with faint cigarette smoke, and something harsher that she can't quite place. "What are you doing?"

"Reading." Tara stretches out languidly. "It's too hot to do anything else."

"Well, you know what we could do?" Jax suggests and Tara eyes his hands, coated in salt and chip crumbs.

"Wash your hands first." She orders and he glances at them then laughs.

"No, not that, even I'd be ok with it." He wiggles his eyebrows at her. "No, we should go to the carnival."

"Oh. The summer carnival?" Tara looks at him, a little surprised, because usually middle schoolers with crushes and parents looking to offload their kids for a night of popcorn and cotton candy go to the before school fundraiser, the annual last days of summer carnival.

"Yeah, I think it would be fun." Jax explains, reclining on the bed and finishing off another handful of chips. "Opie and I went all the time as kids. It was the only time my mom ever let us off our leashes honestly."

"I find that hard to believe." Tara says wryly. "I don't get the impression you were an easily controlled child Jax Teller."

"I was when it was my mom." Jax grins at her. "You'll see, there's nothing boys are more scared of than their mothers."

"That I believe." She says, but quietly, and mostly so Jax doesn't hear her.

"I think we should go. It'd be fun. Besides, it'll be the last time you go to something as a student. You're going to be graduating!" He beams at her with pride and she ducks her head, smiling.

"Crazy to think that's already happening." She says softly. "Never thought we'd get here."

"You did, now take some time to coast and relax." Jax balls up the empty chip bag and lobs it for Tara's garbage. "And come with to the carnival Tara Grace. I want to win you the biggest teddy bear so everyone knows you're my girl."

"I'm pretty sure they know that regardless." Tara says wryly, watching as he settles down into her bed, eyes closing, a look of contentment on his face. "You know, with the whole tattoo, riding around on your bike thing."

"Let me do something sweet for you." Jax keeps his eyes closed, reaching out and ensnaring her in his arms. "But first, how about a nap?"

"I'm not sleepy." Tara protests and Jax's eye cracks open in amusement.

"I know a trick or two to wind you down."


"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Tara." Tara answers Donna, standing in the kitchen, watching as tiny bubbles in the pot slowly rise to the surface.

"Oh, hi you, what's up?" Donna asks and Tara idly plays with the flaps on the pasta box.

"You and Opie going to the carnival tonight?" She asks and Donna pauses for a second.

"He mentioned it, why?" She says slowly, sensing the hesitation in Tara's tone.

"So did Jax. I just think it's strange that we never go to the carnival, everyone always says how it's for little kids and old people, and suddenly they're all gung-ho to go and do stuff." Tara glances down the hallway to her bedroom, where Jax is still slumbering.

"Tara." Donna sounds like her patience is quickly wearing down. "They want to go do something fun. Gemma is probably going to wrangle them into working a booth or something. Why does everything have to be treated like they're sneaking around behind our backs?"

"Because for all you know, they are." Tara tries and fails to not sound huffy. "I just thought it was strange."

"It's sweet." Donna's voice is clipped and it stings Tara a little, to think about her friend being annoyed with her. "We'll meet you there, ok?"

"Ok." Begrudgingly, Tara hangs up, then dumps the noodles into the pot and throws the empty box a little harder than necessary at the garbage.

"Hey. Everything ok?" Jax startles her as he ambles out of the bedroom, boxers slung low on his hips, hair mused up in the back.

"Oh." Tara takes a deep breath, trying to reassure herself that he hasn't heard anything. "Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

"Just making sure." Jax gently takes her face in his hands and tenderly kisses her forehead. Tara closes her eyes and relishes the way he smells, like smoke, oil, dirt, and deodorant, the feel of his warm skin beneath the pads of her fingertips, his large hands running through her hair. "I want to keep you happy."

"Then stay right here." Tara mutters, thinking about all the things she wants to ask him for but doesn't dare- honesty, trust, reassurances, and more. But for right now, it's enough to have him.

"I wouldn't go anywhere else for the world." He chuckles then tilts her chin up to kiss her again. "I love you, Tara Grace."

"Love you too." She whispers and he grins.

"Go get ready. I'll make this." He gestures to the kitchen and Tara looks at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah?" She pauses skeptically and he scoots her out.

"Go, I got it!"

When Tara walks back into the kitchen, dressed in shorts and a loose tee-shirt of Jax's that Donna had cut to better fit her, she's impressed to find the table set and the pasta cooling on the stove. She looks at Jax as he rummages through the fridge and produces a bag of salad.

"Oh hey, I forgot I got that." Tara says brightly, fastening her bracelets around her wrist. "We better eat it before it goes bad."

"Maybe your dad will want it." Jax says tartly and Tara gives him a rueful look.

"It's green, the only green thing he likes is a green fairy." She mutters darkly, glancing back at the sagging reclining in the living room. "He hasn't been home in like three weeks and I haven't bothered to look for him." She admits quietly.

"Oh, he's still alive." Jax says casually. "He's been alternating between the old motel and the strip club down on the highway."

"Oh." A little stunned, Tara can only blink. "And you… Know this because…"

"Because I asked all the local bartenders to keep tabs on him." Jax takes a bite of pasta like it's nothing. "Keep me posted about where he is, what he's doing, that sort of thing. Unser never lets him get too far."

"What do you mean, too far?" Tara's jaw drops. "You've been having the police chief what, babysit my father?"

"Not babysit." Jax doesn't seem to be bothered by her incredulousness. "But you know, if he gets brought in, Unser lets me know. Gives me a call before you."

"Oh." Tara drops her fork, suddenly not hungry anymore. "And here I just thought that he was staying coherent enough to get home on his own. That'd be too much to ask, wouldn't it?"

"Yes." Jax doesn't say it with sorrow and hatred, just a flat statement. "He's a drunk. But I can take care of him. One less thing for you. I promised I would take care of you, Tara." He takes her hand and smiles sweetly at her. "And I will."

"I know." She says with numb lips. "I know." Jax kisses her knuckles then continues to eat like it's nothing, like Tara isn't lost in a wave of guilt, anger, and frustration.

She hates her drunken, worthless father, who's too busy drinking away a meager paycheck at every bar that will serve him, leaving her with the little money she can scrounge up to keep the lights and water on. But she'd thought she was handling it well enough. But it's been Jax all along.

Jax is why he hasn't came home, why he doesn't show up anymore with friends and fellow barflies, drinking and smoking into oblivion. Jax, likely since that first night he came to find her father destroying the house, has kept him at an arms length from her. And for the first time ever, Tara truly realizes the scope of power Jax Teller has in Charming. It sends a shiver down her spine.

"Ready to go?" He asks, from the doorway, once they've cleaned up and Tara looks at him, standing there with messy hair and a boyish grin. He doesn't look like he could order the police chief to do his bidding, but Tara knows that appearances are deceiving.

"Ready." Tara reaches out and takes his hand. He smiles and kisses her before pulling her out the door.

AN: Hey, we're back, leave me a review because they're the best and make me smile? Y'all are the best.