Hello my readers! No, this isn't really a new chapter of Just Married( that is in the works), but here is another flashback for you all with Jax and Melanie when they are sixteen. I figured I should post another flashback since you enjoyed the first one :) . All flashbacks written are also posted under the story, Take me Back to The Start. Hope you enjoy!

Present:

It has been going on three days, and Jax has barely left Mel's bedside.

His mother and mother-in-law had brought every necessity imaginable since he was even showering at the hospital as well.

Abel refused to go home either after visiting his mother, so he's currently asleep on the right side of her while Jax has his ass parked in a chair, holding her hand against his mouth.

The on shift nurse came in and smiled.

"She's one lucky girl. Not only one, but two men at her bedside waiting for her to wake."

Jax looked away from Melanie and over at the nurse.

"Yeah, I guess she is."

"How long has it been?", she asked as she begun changing the iv bag.

" It's been three days since her surgery and she hasn't waken up yet. These past three days felt like three god damn years."

"Have you tried talking to her?"

"Yeah, everyone has. But, no reaction yet."

"Don't worry, just give it time."

Flashback:

The arguing has gotten worse between my mother and father.

What were they constantly arguing about, you ask?

What seems to be the root of all evil in every relationship.

Money.

We were living paycheck by paycheck and it has pushed them to their inevitable breaking point.

My mom states she's more than willing to pick up extra shifts at the Pharmacy she currently works at to give them some breathing room.

My father would immediately shut the idea down, and said she works hard enough already ( she works a minimum fifty hours a week) and it's his responsibility to take care of his family, and he'll just pick up a third job.

I moved my heavy bookbag up and over my body, resting the strap on my right shoulder.

I walked over to my dresser, yanking out the small drawer located on the far left.

I set the drawer on top of my dresser's cluttered counter top and pulled out my growing wad of money that I've made from waitressing at the local diner and helping out Gemma with the bookeeping at Teller-Morrow.

I shoved the money in the back pocket of my jeans and opened my bedroom door, heading down the hall that eventually led to the kitchen.

Thankfully, the arguing has now subsided.

Dad was sitting at the kitchen table on the house phone with the electric company while my mom continued to make breakfast for the three of us.

"Morning," I greeted with a forced smile.

"Good morning Mel bear," my mom replied, returning an equally forced smile.

"Can you just give me until Friday? I'm tapped until then," my father pleaded into the phone.

The reply wasn't what he wished for.

He hung up the phone shortly after, holding his head in his hands.

"Hey dad.."

He looked up at me, giving me a grin.

"Mornin' baby girl."

"I want you and mom to have this."

Linda turned away from the stove to look at her daughter.

I reached into my back pocket of my jeans, pulling out the rolled wad of money that was secured with a rubber band, placing it standing up in front of him.

"No Mel, that is your money. We are not taking our daughter's money," my dad shook his head repeatedly, attempting to hand me back the money.

I refused to take it back and closed his hand around the cash.

"I'm not taking it back. What I have there should help cover some bills. You and mom shouldn't have to carry it all."

"Yes we do, Mel. Because we're the adults," he replied with tears forming in his eyes.

" Well, even adults need help now and then. Please dad, just let go of your pride a little and let me help."

Linda covered her mouth in shock as tears rolled down her face.

How could their financial struggles gotten this bad to the point where their own teenage daughter felt the urge to intervene?

That's her money she has worked for.

She's supposed to do what she wants with it.

"Mel, your dad is right. We can't take your money."

"Exactly, it's my money and this is how I want it spent."

My dad stood up from the head of the kitchen table, pulling me into a firm embrace.

He pulled away from me, brushing my long locks behind my right ear.

"You're a good girl, Melanie," he stated, kissing my forehead.

"I'll begin to pay you back Friday."

"No need. I'll always make more."

The sound of a motorcycle placed their heavy conversation on hold.

My dad closed his eyes and sighed.

"What's he doing here this early?"

"The tires on my car needed rotating. It won't be ready till later this afternoon. He's just giving me a ride to school. I promise you, it's just for today."

"That's how it starts. You may not see it, but I do."

" See what, dad?"

" The way he looks at you. "

I started to laugh.

"No disrespect dad, but I think your sight is off. Jax is with Tara."

"Tara or no Tara, I know what I see. Wait, if Tara is his girlfriend, wouldn't she be the one on the back of his bike? Unless you plan on riding on the god damn handlebars."

"No, Tara's dad won't allow her on the bike."

"Smart man. Sounds like a rule I should start enforcing."

Jax knocked on the front door, causing my father to close his eyes and sigh once again.

I shook my head, making my way to the front door.

"Hey, are you ready to go," Jax asked with a smile and the spare helmet in his hands.

"Yeah."

"Hi Linda, Hi Mr. Torres," Jax greeted as he looked past me, giving my parents a small wave.

"Hi sweetheart," my mom replied.

My dad didn't respond and just continued to glare at Jax.

Jax looked away from my father and looked back at me.

"Can we go now before your father beats the shit out of me?"

"Yes."

"Wait Mel, you can't go yet. What about breakfast?", Linda asked, jogging to the front door to prevent us from leaving.

"We have to. First period is in twenty minutes," I yelled as Jax and I mounted his brand new motorcycle.

I was one of the first to finish the pop quiz my history teacher Ms. Taylor just delivered to each one of our desks.

I turned my quiz over to its opposite side and set my pen along side of it.

Jax, who sat next to me due to assigned seats, hit me lightly on the arm to get my attention.

"Flip your quiz back over," he whispered.

"You didn't read the chapter last night, did you?"

"No."

"Jax.."

"I know, I know. But, you have no idea how fucking hard it is being a prospect. It takes up every minute when I'm not here."

Ms. Taylor stopped pacing back and forth in front of the classroom, adverting her eyes to Jax and Melanie.

"Mr. Teller and Ms. Torres, this is a pop quiz, not a group assignment. No talking."

The intercom that was hooked up in the classroom came on, causing everyone to look in the direction of it.

" Attention all students, Melanie Torres, please report to the principal's office immediately."

Everyone "ooohed and ahhhed" at me, wondering what kind of shit I got into this time.

Jax, who sat next to me, looked away from his quiz, giving me his full attention as I gathered my belongings.

"Hey, let me know what goes down."

" I always do," I smiled before I abandoned my desk.

Tara and her good friend Connie exchanged glances since they were sitting in the same row as one another.

Connie leaned foward to get close to Tara.

"You still believe nothing is going on there?"

As I came closer to the principal's office, I could see my mom talking to the receptionist through the large glass window.

I opened the office door, touching my mom on the shoulder.

Once she turned to face me, I could now see she was crying.

"Mom, what's going on?"

"It's dad, honey. He collapsed on the construction site today, complaining about chest pains. "

I swallowed harshly, feeling my emotions begin to get the best of me.

"Is he.."

"He's at St. Thomas. I don't know much else, but the doctor assured me he should make a full recovery. I just wanted to update you on what is going on. If you want, you can head back to class."

"No, I'm going with you."

Leaving my bookbag in the car, my mom and I entered my dad's assigned hospital room now that we were able to see him.

"Mel, what are you doing out of school?"

"Mom came to school and told me what happened to you at work today. I told her I wanted to come with her to see you," I stated, taking a seat next to him on the bed.

" Oh honey, you didn't have to do that. The doc said the chest pains were my body's way of saying it's in desperate need to take it easy. Plus, the fried shit I eat isn't helping either."

"Fried shit?," I asked.

"Yeah, your father never eats the salads I make him for lunch. Instead, he eats off of those god damn food trucks that park at the sites every day," my mom confessed with anger weaved within her voice.

"And you will, Joe. What the doctor says, goes," my mother continued, sitting on the opposite side of him.

"We'll see. Now that I have my favorite girls here, I'm feeling better already."

"Do you need me to get you anything, dad?"

"If you don't mind Mel bear, can you get me one of those god awful salads from the cafeteria? I'm starving and will eat just about anything right now."

I nodded as I stood to my feet.

"You got it."

My mom dug her hand into her purse, pulling out a twenty dollar bill.

"Here sweetheart. Get yourself something too since you didn't eat breakfast this morning and didn't get the chance to have lunch at school."

"Okay," I replied, taking the twenty from her, shoving it into my leather jacket's pocket.

When I reached his room once again with his requested meal, my mom was now standing outside his room with tears running down her face as she looked into my dad's room.

I quickly made my way over to her, touching her left arm.

"Mom, what's going on?"

"While you were gone, he started having another heart attack."

I shifted my eyes away from my mother, looking into his room myself.

He was surrounded by doctors and nurses, recieving the paddles that send electric shock to the heart that I always saw on television.

This was the first time I have ever seen them in reality, and nobody prepares you how scary as fuck it is when your eyes do in fact land on them.

I dropped his food that I had in a plastic bag onto the floor, automatically holding my mother.

In that moment was also the first time I have ever prayed to a higher power.

I was having a lot of firsts today, but none of them were even remotely enjoyable.

"Come on Joe, come on," the doctor pleaded, sending another shock through his heart with the paddles.

After over twenty minutes of compressions and electric shocks, the status on the machine did not change.

"Time of death, 12:34 pm," the doctor stated, looking up at the clock above the bed.

My mom screamed, falling to the floor with me going down with her.

She held me tighter as she cried into my jacket.

The news of my father's death didn't shove me into hysteria like it did with my mother.

Instead, it shoved me into shock and I felt paralyzed.

Jax sprinted down the hallway with Gemma falling behind.

He stopped running when he spotted Linda now sitting alone in the waiting room alone, holding her husband's jacket that he wore earlier today.

"Linda, I'm so sorry," Jax said as he bent down in front of her.

"She nodded, not taking her eyes off of the jacket.

Gemma touched her son's back and he stood upright, taking a step back.

"Linda.."

Linda stood up, hugging her best friend tightly.

"It's going to be okay, sweetheart," Gemma whispered in her ear as Linda held her even tighter.

"Lin, where's Mel? I tried calling her, but it keeps going to voicmail," Jax asked.

Linda pulled away from Gemma, wiping her fresh tears away from her face.

"She said she'd be right back, but that was over an hour ago. I know my daughter. She took off. I tried calling her too and nothing," Linda claimed.

Jax nodded, knowing exactly where she disappeared to.

" I know where she is."

Jax pulled up into the park's empty parking lot.

He dismounted his bike, setting his now removed helmet onto the seat.

His blue eyes scanned the empty park, discovering long red hair hanging off of the roundabout as it spun slowly due to the mild wind.

He sprinted over to the roundabout, finding Mel laying down in the middle of it with her earphones in and her brown eyes glued to the cloudless blue sky.

Jax's hand gripped one of the bars on the roundabout, elminating all movement.

Mel sat upright, pulling out her headphones.

"You found me," I stated with aggravation in my tone.

"I did."

I layed back down, shaking my head.

I just want to be alone.

Jax climbed onto the roundabout, laying down next to me.

"Mel, I'm really sorry about your dad."

I nodded, feeling my eyes begin to water.

"Me too."

"Can I ask you something?"

"I guess."

"Why'd you take off?"

I turned my head to look at him, making direct eye contact.

"I know if my mom saw me cry, it would break her even more and I wanted to prevent that, so I left."

"You figured crying in an empty park alone is better than crying in front of your mom."

"Yeah, " I replied as the tears overthrew my shock and I began to ball my eyes out.

I covered my face with both of my hands, attempting to hide my hysteria.

Jax sat up, pulling me upwards by my forearms that were held flush against me.

My hands finally fell from my face and they allowed my arms to wrap themselves around his neck, bringing him into a hug.

His arms immediately coiled around me.

He rested his head onto her shoulder, breathing in the scent of her strawberry scented shampoo and conditioner from her voluminous hair.

"I got you Mel. No matter what, I got you," he stated as he closed his eyes.

Present:

A tear fell down Mel's face and she lightly squeezed Jax's hand.

Jax's eyes immediately shot open from dozing off and he stood up from the chair as his ringed right hand brushed back her hair.

"Mel, can you hear me darlin'," he asked, now only inches away from her face.

My eyes opened slowly and nodded since I have some sort of tube contraption attached to my face.

Jax quickly made his way out of the room to get some help.

He returned with a nurse who carefully removed the tube from my mouth, giving me a free facial wax as she pulled the tape off of my face that held the tube in place.

"Mel," Jax moved his way back in front of the nurse.

"Hey handsome."

Jax smiled, giving me a forceful kiss on the lips.

"I was talking to Abel, actually," I replied as we both smiled at one another.