After talking with Margaret, Cheyenne was able to get into the medical conference. Next, she called her mom to see if she wanted to meet on the ride up or back. She had been surprised that her mom agreed to even watch the boys and Isla, if Lip didn't mind her coming, for a few days if needed. Cheyenne walks back into the bedroom. It's a rare morning where they are both up and not scrambling to leave the house.

Jax looks up at Cheyenne from tying his shoes as she walks back into the room closing the door. "You okay?" He asks fixing his pant leg and stands in front of her.

"Margaret was able to get me into the medical conference in Providence, Oregon. "

"Well that's good, right."

Cheyenne nods her head. "I accept this job, it means leaving Charming, Jax." It means leaving Lip and Isla. Probably being in a stilted relationship with Gemma and everyone else. Accepting this job means she won't wait. She'll be leaving him and it's all up to him to follow her.

"I know. Look, I know this won't be easy, but we'll get through it."

"Okay."

"Look, if you're heading up to Oregon, I'm gonna have a couple of the guys from Rogue River meet you there, okay? Just to keep an eye on you."

"You should be keeping an eye on us," Cheyenne counters back instantly.

"I wanna come, babe. You know that." Jax tells as his phone began to ring.

Jax goes to walk away to answer his persistent ringing phone, but Cheyenne snatches his phone away, "You going to have to make a choice, Jax."

"I'm with you. We're getting out… I just can't bail on the club…not yet. I can't do what my old man did."

. . .

Jax presses a kiss to his boys' head as a goodbye as Neeta whisks them away to take them to the Gardens. Lip pulls up as soon as Neeta pulls out of his driveway.

Jax looks at him confused.

"We shouldn't be riding alone." Lip explains.

"You talk to Chey?"

"No. Why?"

"She's heading out of town for a few days. She's going to a medical conference. She's taking the boys with her. Maybe Isla would want to tag along."

Lip's face scrunches up. It's almost comical as he has seen this expression on Cheyenne and even Abel. "You alright with that?"

Jax looks away from his brother. He decides now he needs to tell him the truth. "Clay is going to push the President patch to go to Opie when he steps down. I need you to back him. I need you to be his VP."

"Where are you – oh shit. I was right," Lip concludes. "You used this deal to get out clean didn't you."

"I have too, Lip."

Lip leans back on his bike. "I'm not mad." Lip tells him truthfully. He wasn't. He couldn't be. This shit with the Cartel was a mess and he can admire Jax for actually taking the moves to get the fuck out. After all, before this, there had been serious damage down to Jax's family because of club business. "I just wished you would have told me sooner. But I have to say it's kind of shitty to leave us with the Cartel mess."

"I'm not going to leave without there being an exit strategy."

"Thanks," Lip says blandly. "Look…"

"You don't think I can do it." Jax finishes for him.

Lip rubs his chin. "I think you want to do it. But I know you Jax the fact that you need to give the club an exit strategy shows you can't just leave the club. I'm not trying to be a negative Nancy. It's…can you really allow Chey and the boys to go without you because if they leave…and you find this perfect exit strategy for the club…can you leave?"

"Yeah. I can. I can't miss this, Lip, I can't let my time with my boys…Cheyenne slip away."

"Okay." Lip says. He isn't going to stop Jax and he will damn sure make sure nothing gets in the way of Jax doing what he needs to for his sister.

"You don't think about leaving? Take Isla out of this?" Jax questions.

"All the time," Lip admits. "I was thinking about sending her to my mom if shit got worse. But Isla will be 13 at the end of the year…It's what almost four years. She's going to college so that comforts me that she is getting out. And then there is Ellie. Can't separate them especially with Opie's current drama."

Jax gives him a sad smile. "I didn't expect it to go this way."

"No one did."

. . .

After a few lingering stares walking back into St. Thomas, Cheyenne is glad to finally reach her office hoping her patients weren't scared away. It's not the first time her personal life has somehow bled into the workplace and for her sake she hopes this will be the last time. She sits at her desk and realizes she has been used to this her whole life. The only time she wasn't looked at with suspicious and dirty looks was when she had left for college.

Cheyenne goes over her some paperwork and charts when Margaret comes into her office.

"Hey," Margaret greets. "I am glad you are okay."

"Yeah, it was nothing. I'm fine, really." Cheyenne says dismissively.

"Well that is good. So the medical conference in Providence… "

"Actually, I'm going to check it out tomorrow." Cheyenne tells her with a smile.

"Oh god, good, I am happy to hear that." Margaret says with relief evident in her features.

"Margaret, thank you," Cheyenne tells her sincerely.

Margaret gives her such a heartfelt smile as she reaches across the desk and grabs her hand. "It's all you."

"I have a favor to ask, though." Cheyenne tells her as she leaned back in her desk chair.

"Of course."

Cheyenne opens her desk drawer and grabs the envelope holding one of the copies of the letters, "I'm going to leave something with you. I just need you to hold onto these while I'm gone for the day."

Margaret frowns. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, they are just some personal letters –" Cheyenne begins to explain as she opens the envelope up and just sees blank printer paper. Her face falls.

"What is it?"

Cheyenne schools her features as she hid her annoyance. "Uh… I must have left them at home."

Margaret's pager begins to go off. "Well I'm here all day; you can give them to me then."

"Alright thanks." Cheyenne says as Margaret leaves her office. She throws the papers on her desk. She wonders when in the hell Gemma managed to even get in her office to swap them out. Or really, she wouldn't be surprised if she had someone like Unser to do her dirty work. "You duplicitous bitch."

. . .

Cheyenne is waiting in the office of Teller Morrow marveling in the fact the auto shop still managed to get business with the constant presence of a police cruiser staking the lot. Cheyenne's fingers are playing with the worn out fabric of the couch that probably held as many secrets as Gemma's hair.

Cheyenne stops her ministrations when Gemma opens the door surprised to see her there, "You waiting on Jax?"

"No. You took the letters from my office." Cheyenne says cutting through any bullshit and false pleasantries.

Gemma doesn't bother keeping up a lie. "I had Unser take 'em. He burned 'em before I could read any of it. Also told me they were copies, which means you still have the originals. You have no idea what you just stirred up." The biker matriarch accuses.

"I haven't done anything with them."

"You let Piney read 'em," Gemma spits.

"No, I didn't." Cheyenne tells her. "I asked him about John, told him I read some things. Did he say that he read them?"

Gemma doesn't answer. Instead, she evades. Her typical tactic. "You want out of here?"

Cheyenne looks away from Gemma. She knows the two of them are now teetering on a very fine line. Since Cheyenne now knows truth about Gemma and Clay, she knows it will somehow draw a wedge between them they haven't had before.

"Look at the last three weeks, Gemma. We are all in danger. How could you want your grandchildren to be raised in this?"

"Then why didn't you let Jax read those letters?" Gemma probes.

"You were right," Cheyenne admits begrudgingly. Besides, Jax was so focused on getting on that she felt they would hinder his endgame. Cheyenne thinks maybe it is selfish of her to keep them from him and she wonders if she is acting like Gemma keeping that truth from him. "Things John wrote about would be very painful for Jax to read. The truth about Clay... "

"- You're afraid Jax would kill him." Gemma states.

"Yeah. Finding out how John really felt at the end- it would break Jax's heart knowing how he had been hating his father so... deeply. The, the guilt would push him deeper into the club and... I'd lose him." Her sons would lose their father.

"What about me? What would he feel about me if he read 'em?"

Cheyenne looks at Gemma seeing some of that anxiety – that fear – of certain truths about her being exposed, "He'd learn some hurtful truth…you being with Clay before John died."

"I made mistakes." Gemma admits.

"Did you know that Clay tried to kill JT?" Cheyenne asked.

"I know what everyone else does. John went out the way they should all go out- on two wheels at high speed. I don't know if Clay killed JT. All I know is, he brought me back to life."

Cheyenne shakes her head. She doesn't bother bringing up her dead father by Clay's hands or how Gemma and Clay had used her and Lip against her mother.

"What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna drive up to Oregon tomorrow. Medical Conference. Give me some time to think." She informs her as she moves towards the door.

"Cheyenne?"

The blonde doctor turns to look at Gemma. "When did you read the letters?"

"I found them the day after they went inside. I read one of them and couldn't decide if I should burn them. So I hid them. I almost forgot about them. I read them in December."

"Why?"

"This life we live…it's just coated in so many lies. I wish I never read them."

"Because lies are easier to swallow." Gemma gathers.

Cheyenne closes her eyes as she looks at Gemma. "I still love you Gem like my own mother. That hasn't changed."

. . .

Jax thinks they are really in over their heads. Now they are stuck in the middle of a goddamn cartel beef and Charming into turning into a quasi-Mexico war land. He is starting to regret in ever backing Clay in this deal to get out of the club. Parking his bike in his VP spot, he watches as Cheyenne walks out of the office still looking bothered as she did this morning when he left.

Taking off his sunglasses, he walks up to her, "Hey you okay?"

Cheyenne gives him a small, but genuine smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Did you tell her yet?"

"Yes. Uh…I may have neglected in telling her I was taking the kids," Cheyenne tells him with a slick smile leaving him to deal with his mother's wrath.

Jax shakes his head. "Right…I'll handle her. I told Lip."

"About the conference?"

"Yeah, but also about getting out." He reveals to her.

"How'd he take it?"

"He supports it."

"We'll get through this." Cheyenne tells him as she clutches his kutte.

He gives Cheyenne a chaste kiss before he walks into his mom's office. He finds her sitting on the couch looking bleak. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"What's going on?"

Jax takes a seat in one of the extra chairs in the office opposite from her, "Cheyenne's going to head up to Oregon tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know." Gemma replies despondingly.

Jax leans back in his seat. "She's taking the boys with her."

"Why?" Gemma asks confused and slightly irritated.

"She's their mother," Jax states.

"For how long?"

"I'm not sure." Jax decides it's best not to mention this trip will include seeing Cheryl.

"What are you doing, Jackson?"

"I'm getting my kids clear of headless bodies."

"You can't do that."

"Mom, it's just until we get past this cartel shit. Cheyenne is just doing what you would do. She's protecting her family."

Footfalls approach, "Sorry," Chibs says as he eyes Jax. "I was wondering if you'd seen Juice. He's not picking up his cell phone and, uh, I can't find him."

"Shit," Jax mutters. The last thing he wanted to deal with was this. His mind is still reeling that Juice needed to be on suicide watch. Juice was always a little goofy, but it was a hard pill to swallow to think that someone like Juice had hit a breaking point.

. . .

Jax watches as Chibs recruits Phil in his search for Juice. He thinks he might not blame Juice for wanting to escape.

"You were great today."

Jax turns to find Bobby approaching him. Since the vote for the Cartel went down, Jax knows Bobby has been a vocal opponent. Not as if he blames their Secretary, but Jax had kept his distance for the sake of him just wanting to focus on his endgame.

"Talking the cartel down, saving Laroy and all those other guys. It was impressive. This club needs that. Can't lose you." Bobby adds pointedly. Jax wonders if Lip told him. "Yeah, I know you're jumping out with Clay."

"Who told you?"

Bobby sighs as he runs his hair through his wild mane. "It was Clay talking to me about handing me the gavel after he steps down. You are supposed to be the next president, not me. It's your path."

"It isn't."

"You ain't gonna make it anyplace else."

Those words burn Jax more than he would like. He knows that the doubt he feels is normal. After all, outlaw is the only life he had ever led. "I'm gonna try. I can change."

"Yeah. Well, maybe."

Jax doesn't reply as he walks away from Bobby. He couldn't let this club fracture his relationship with Cheyenne and his boys. He heads into the clubhouse and finds Clay in the chapel reading over paperwork.

Looking at Clay, he feels that same anger when Clay tried to shut down Cara Cara. He closes the chapel doors and takes a in his spot.

"You told Bobby I was getting out? Promised him that seat?"

Clay doesn't even look apologetic in how he reneged on their deal. "I'm sorry. Opie can't lead this club. It's just not who he is. I'm only trying to protect what we worked so hard to build."

Jax sniffs. "At this rate, ain't gonna be much left of that building. The cartel was a mistake."

"You almost took Bobby's head off this morning for barking that same gripe."

"I'm not just griping about it. We need an exit strategy. I'm gonna come up with one, and then I'm out."

"What are you talking about?" Clay looks at him with narrowed eyes.

"We're gonna make this deal with the Irish, get Romeo his WMDs, and then, we're gonna sit down and plan a way to get this club free of Galindo. See an end date. And then I'm gone. I'm taking Cheyenne and my boys, and we're getting clear of this."

"You promised me, you would finish this out." Clay growls.

"And you promised me the cartel would be good for the club. I guess we both lied." Jax mocks him as he makes his way to the door.

"Cheyenne's tight pussy's clouding who you are, son," Clay spits to him with his back turned.

Jax turns around clenching his jaw and looks at Clay menacingly. He wonders how he ever looked up to this man after his father. How he considers this man to be like a father to him. This man was married to his mother and was technically the grandfather to his children, he wonders how this man got down to this path – how the gavel corrupted him. "If you ever talk that way about Cheyenne again, I will pound those half-dead hands so hard into this table, you won't ever be able to hold that gavel again."

. . .

"So?"

"So?" Cheyenne repeats at her brother.

She had been surprised that Lip had decided to join her and the boys for dinner with Isla tagging along. She also noticed that Isla had a suitcase packed.

"How long have you been looking at other hospitals?" Lip ponders as he accepts a dish to dry before playing it back on the rack.

"I wasn't. My boss was trying to and encourage me."

"Then?"

"What do you think?"

Lip nods his head. "This shit sucks all around."

"I know."

"Look, if you get out…things become worse…I'll send Isla with you."

"If you're not happy…"

"Clay has two years at most, Chey. With Jax gone it wouldn't be the same, but it'll be better than now."

Cheyenne licks her lips as she looks at her brother. "You're more than this patch, Lip. You're my brother. A father –"

"But I can't change. I can't be anything else." Lip admits. "I do my best for Isla. I try my hardest to give her a good life, but deep deep in my core, I'm an outlaw. I'm not wired like Jax and hell even Opie. Isla will grow up and go to college and I'll let her go. I'll let her go."

"Lip –"

"Chey, it's fine." He tells her sadly. "It's fine."

. . .

Jax comes home. The house is quiet and the only light on is the one coming from the master bedroom. Enter the bedroom, he finds Cheyenne standing on the side of the bed with a huge suitcase folding clothes in it.

He throws his hat on the dresser as he stands next to her. "Got any more room in there?"

Cheyenne rolls her eyes at him as she places another outfit in the suitcase. "I'm coming with you."

Cheyenne stops her packing and looks up at him in disbelief, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna drive you up, have someone from Rogue River bring me home. I'm out, babe. Just got a few things to tie up when I get back." He tells her.

Her arms come around his neck as she gives him a bruising kiss. His hands sneak to underneath her thighs as he hails her up causing her to squeal in surprise. He walks her back to the dresser where he places her on top of it. His fingers trail to the button of her jeans.

"Jax, we can't I need to finish packing."

"I'll help," Jax promises as his mouth meets her.