Chapter Five

Carrie looked up from the chart as someone entered the room. Seeing Jax, she gave him a small smile in greeting before continuing to update Abel's chart.

"How's he doing?"

Carrie closed the chart, before briefly looking at Jax," Getting stronger every day," she answered, fondly looking at the little boy in the incubator. Letting a comfortable silence settle over them as they both took in the little boy. The occasional beeping of the heart monitor being the only sound in the room.

"Look," Jax began, breaking the silence, before sighing. "I just want to say thank you for letting my mom in to see Tristen."

Carrie sighed, crossing her arms, turning halfway to look at him. "Did you guys catch him?"

She saw the way his shoulders tensed and the seriousness that overtook his facial expression. That in itself gave her away the answer, along with the fact that he most likely didn't want to talk about it.

"Look, Mr. Teller-", Carrie began before he cut her off.

"Jax," he said turning to look at her before holding out his hand. "Call me Jax. Mr. Teller makes me feel like I'm in trouble or something."

Carrie softly laughed, before nodding, placing her hand into his. "Carolyn Blake."

"I know," Jax answered, smirking, before letting go of her hand. "My mom told me, said you prefer to go by Carrie too."

"What else did your mother tell you about me?"

"Nothing much, just your name and the fact that you broke the rules in letting her go in to see Tristen," he answered.

"Who me?" she rhetorically questioned. "I was making my rounds, I don't know what you two are talking about. She must have slipped in when no one was around," Carrie explained, shrugging before picking up the chart.

Jax furrowed his eyebrows before seeing the smile threatening to spread across her face, "Oh you're good," he chuckled, shaking his head. "I almost believed it too, you need a better poker face though."

Carrie laughed, before shrugging, "Good thing I'm a nurse and not an actress then," she said as she moved towards the door, not waiting for his response. "See you around Jax."

"What's up with the smile?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Carrie said, looking at Mackenzie, as the both stepped out of the hospital doors.

Mackenzie hummed, before pointing at her, "You're lucky I'm too tired to interrogate you any further," she said sighing, bringing her hand down. "But I know it has something to do with you know who."

Carrie rolled her eyes, looking at Mackenzie over the roof of her car, "So I think he's cute," Carrie explained unlocking her car door. "But that doesn't necessarily mean anything. There's a bunch of cute guys out there."

"Oh honey," Mackenzie began as she turned to look at Carrie. "Jax is anything but cute. He's the epitome of sexy with his rugged good looks, charismatic persona, not to mention that panty dropping smile of his or his infamous smirk and charm," Mackenzie explained. " Now Deputy Chief Hale falls under the category of cute but given the chance to choose between the two I'd go with the sexy one."

Carrie shook her head at her coworker/friend while trying not to laugh before waving at Mackenzie. Watching her drive off before getting behind the wheel of her own car. Glancing up, as she reached to close her car door. She saw Jax step out of the hospital doors, pausing to look at his phone before slipping it back into his pocket.

Not wanting to continue looking like a stalker, she closed her door before turning the key in the ignition. Only to hear a clicking sound, causing her to groan, "No... this can't be happening," she said trying to start her car and getting the same clicking response.

"That's just fucking great," she muttered, before puling the lever to release the car's hood, and getting out of her car.

She was too focused on hopelessly looking under the hood, as if the problem would just jump out and say "fix me, here I am", to notice someone approaching until they spoke which caused her to jump in fear.

Before turning around to see the person responsible. "You scared the shit out of me," Carrie pointed out to Jax, who only held his hands up in surrender trying to suppress his amusement.

"First I save you from falling on your ass," Jax said coming to a stop next to her, in order to look under the car's hood. "And now I scared the shit out of you. Guess we're going to have remedy that last one."

The mention of their encounter at Fun Town caused a wave of embarrassment to flow through her, causing her face to turn an unflattering shad of red.

Thankfully Jax hadn't noticed or at least he had pretended not to notice, instead he was focused on looking under the hood."What seems to be the problem with your car?"

"I don't know, I tried starting it and it just started making this clicking noise," she answered, taking in their close proximity. "I think it's the battery but I'm not sure."

"When's the last time you got the car serviced?"

"Not that long ago," Carrie answered. "Maybe 6 or 8 months ago."

Jax nodded while taking his phone out of his pocket, "I'll call a tow truck to come pick it up and take it to TM, get it checked out. In the meantime I'll give you a ride home or I'll give you a ride to TM. You pick."

"TM?" She questioned, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach at the thought of getting a ride from the blonde in front of her.

"Yeah, it's the only automotive shop here in Charming," Jax answered before lifting his phone to his ear. "Family owned business, I'll give you a discount," he explained before answering the person on the phone.

Carrie watched as a guy with a funny haircut and lightning bolts tattooed on either side of his head talked to Jax, while a guy with light brown hair hooked her car up to the tow truck.

She was lost in her thoughts, about how much the services were going to set her back, that she didn't notice that the guy had finished hooking her car up. Or the fact that they were pulling away from the parking lot.

"Home or TM?"

Carrie blinked and looked at Jax who was patiently waiting on her to answer. "Sorry, what was that," she sheepishly asked looking at him.

"Do you want me to give you a ride home or do you want me to take you to TM?"

"If it's not to much trouble do you think you could give me a ride somewhere else?" she nervously bit her lip waiting for his response.

Her breath catching in her throat when Jax stepped close pulling her lower lip free, "I'll take you anywhere you want to go darling."

Carrie's mind went blank as she noticed the little space between them and the fact that Jax hadn't dropped his hand. The smell of his cologne mixed with a hint of leather and the faint smell of cigarette smoke, which would have been a turn off for most, got her heart racing.

The feel of his hands had inappropriate thoughts running through her mind, like what his hands would feel on her bare back and what a kiss from the biker would feel like, which got her face flushing.

Deciding that she didn't want to seem like the rest of the women throwing themselves at him or embarrass herself any further than she had in front of him by drooling or saying something completely inappropriate. Carrie stepped back, clearing her throat, "Can you give me a ride to the Winston's?"

Seeing his questioning gaze, "I promised the kids and Donna I'd have dinner with them tonight. Meet the husband and spend Friday night with them," she explained nervously shifting her weight, not wanting to make eye contact in case he said no. Even though he had just stated he'd take her anywhere.

Jax nodded before motioning for her to follow him, stopping in front of a motorcycle. " You ever ridden one before?"

Carrie shook her head, looking around before nervously looking at him. Meeting his gaze, his eyes shining in amusement before his lips formed into what Mackenzie called his infamous smirk.

"Well there's a first time for everything. Glad to be able to pop that cherry for you," he said adjusting the helmet on her heard. Swinging his leg over and sitting down before motioning for her to do the same.

Her heart racing and her palms beginning to sweat, she slowly and nervously imitated his move. Settling behind him, he showed her where to position her legs so she wouldn't burn them on the exhaust pipes.

"Ready?"

She nodded before wiping her sweaty palms on her scrub pants and wrapping her arms around his waist loosely. "You're going to have to hang on tighter than that darling," he said looking at her over his shoulder. "Just remember to follow my lead and move along with me when I make the turns. Other than that just sit back and enjoy the ride."

Carrie used Jax's shoulder as support while getting of his bike. Her body still humming with adrenaline from her first motorcycle ride. She had been nervous and tense at first but halfway through she had started to loosen up and enjoy it. Understanding the thrill and freedom of being on a bike, she had felt saddened at arriving at the destination. Not only was she going to miss the thrill but she was going to miss being in close proximity with the rider.

"How was the ride?"

"Thrilling," she blurted out, clearing her throat before handing him the helmet back. "Liberating. I can see the appeal of riding one these now."

Jax gave his famous pantie dropping smile. "Then I was glad to be of service."

Carrie softly laughed, shaking her head. "Thanks for the ride Jax."

"No problem, just doing my good Samaritan duty by helping you out," Jax shrugged. "Would have been a dick move to act like I didn't see you having car troubles."

"Well I'm glad you didn't act like one and helped me out," Carrie took out a post it, jotting her number down before handing it to him. "Give me a call once you know what my car needs and how much the repairs are going to cost me."

Hearing her name being called out, she turned before she was ambushed by little arms wrapping themselves around her. She laughed as Ellie and Kenny excitedly greeted her while telling her how much fun they were going to have and all the plans they had to make her night memorable.

"What am I chopped liver?" Jax jokingly questioned holding his arms out. "Where's my excited greeting?"

"Sorry uncle Jax," Ellie untangled herself from Carrie before stepping into his arms and giving him a tight hug.

"Yeah uncle Jax," Kenny said stepping forward to greet the man in the same fashion as his sister. "It's just that we got carried away."

Kenny looked over his shoulder at Carrie, who had noticed Donna standing in the doorway looking between her and Jax with an eyebrow raised in question. Stepping back he dropped his voice in a whisper and motioned for the man to lean towards him as if to tell him a secret. "It's just that she's really pretty and nice. So its kinda hard not to get excited and Ellie's just happy to have another girl in the house."

Jax stared at the ten year old who kept his gaze on Carrie before moving his own gaze towards the brunette in question. Watching her interact with Ellie as they met Donna halfway towards the house.

Jax knew the kid wasn't lying. Carrie was pretty he would even go as far as saying she was beautiful, not that he would admit that out loud to anyone or the guys would mock him for going soft. But her gentle and caring persona, her brown doe eyes with flecks of green that weren't noticeable unless you were up close. Her slim figure with curves, that were all natural, in all the right places. Her looks alone made you notice her but it was her personality that captured you.

Jax shook his head knowing that if he described her like that to any one of his brother's they'd jump at the chance to screw with him and make jokes at his expense.

"You staying for dinner too uncle Jax?"

Jax nodded a greeting at Opie who had just arrived home before looking down at Kenny. "Next time little man," Jax answered ruffling the boy's hair. "I have to head back to TM."

Carrie sat back watching the family of four interacting in front of her. Kenny and Ellie were telling them about their day while subtly pushing each others hands away, trying to get the last biscuit, while Opie and Donna smiled at each other over the kids antics. She couldn't help but laugh along with them as the kids broke out in a game of rock- paper-scissors over it.

She was thankful for the opportunity to join them for dinner and they had welcomed her with open arms even though Opie had been a little skeptical and reserved at first . But he warmed up to her through out dinner. If she had to guess, she knew it was because the kids were taken with her and Donna was happy to have someone not judging her or associated with the club as a friend.

Seeing his wife and kids happy was the reason his demeanor towards her had changed. He was still reserved but the tough exterior was starting to melt away as the evening wore on.

Carrie knew if given the chance she could get used to being a part of this. Although it did make her sad reminding her of better times when her family was complete before it all went downhill. Yet she wouldn't change this for anything and she could see herself and Donna being extremely close in the future. They were already half way there and they hadn't known each other for very long. The same could be said about her and her crazy redheaded coworker, she knew if all three of them got together they would have a close bond. But Lord help them all with Mackenzie around and her crazy antics, Carrie swore she would have them in more trouble than they wanted to.

Sorry for the wait guys but that was the next installment of the rewrite. Let me know what you guys think. I hope you guys enjoyed it. With that being said I hope you guys have a fun and safe weekend.