It was almost noon by the time Jess finally pulled herself out of bed. She made her way to the kitchen, flipping the coffee pot on before walking back down the hall, pausing by Lux's room when she heard her shower running. She walked through the bedroom, knocking on the bathroom door and grinning as she heard more than one person slip on the tub.

"What!?" Lux finally called.

"I'm making coffee, you want a cup?" Jess asked through the door.

"Um, sure," Lux responded.

"What about you, Tig?" she called, grinning broadly at the silence that greeted her question. She knew those two thought they were so sneaky. It was several moments later before Tig finally responded.

"Sure," he called back.

"You stupid asshole! Now she knows!" Lux yelled.

"She already knew!" Tig said defensively. Jess laughed as she made her way back to the kitchen and poured three mugs. Lux's door opened several minutes later and Lux walked out, wearing a robe with her hair wrapped in a towel. Tig trailed behind her wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

"So how did you know?" Lux asked, "Was it the sneaking through your window?"

"You guys are pretty obvious," Jess said, "I'm surprised the whole club doesn't- Wait. What did you say?!" She whipped her head to look at Tig, "You sneak in through MY window?" Lux waved her hand dismissively.

"Don't be so dramatic," she said, "He waits until you're asleep." Jess shuddered, glaring at Tig.

"What if I slept naked!?" she asked. Tig shrugged.

"I wouldn't mind," he replied, catching Lux's eye as they both laughed. Jess shook her head.

"You can't use my window anymore. Figure a new way in. Like the front door, maybe," Jess said.

"Nah, they can see the front door from TM," Tig said, "This is… um…. Well, it would be bad if people found out."

"Then you guys had better get a lot better at hiding it," Jess said as she walked over to the fridge, opening it and sighing at the empty contents. She'd been living there for a couple of days now and she still hadn't gone grocery shopping. Her stomach rumbled at her and she placed a hand over it in attempt to placate it, finally deciding she'd have to go grab something.

"It's times like these when I really miss fast food," Jess grumbled as she shut the door, turning back to Lux, "I'm gonna get something to eat. Seeing as how there's no food in the house." Lux nodded as Jess walked back to her bedroom to get dressed and at least attempt to look presentable in public. When she finally passed her own inspection, she made her way out of the front door and down the stairs, glancing over as she saw Jax walk towards her from the TM lot. The usual symptoms suddenly appeared, from the sweaty palms to the rapid heartbeat, and she smiled as he walked up, trying to keep her breathing steady.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Jax replied, flashing a grin that only made her think naughty thoughts, "Where're you off to?"

"Lunch," she said, "We have no food." Jax nodded, glancing at his watch.

"Gimme a minute, I'll go with you," he said. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, her heart practically jumping out of her chest.

"Um, sure," she finally said, "Okay." He grinned, running across the street. She saw him throw a rag into the bay he'd been working out of and grab his cut, sliding it on before getting on his bike. She watched as he revved it up and pulled up next to her, holding out a helmet. She stared at the helmet skeptically for several moments before looking back at him.

"We can just take my car," she suggested hopefully. Jax grinned, shaking his head.

"No way," he said, "Get on." She looked nervously at the helmet before finally shrugging. She took it and climbed on, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Ready?" he asked.

"I guess," she muttered, and he kicked off. They pulled up to a diner several minutes later and walked inside, sitting across from one another in a booth. Jess picked up the menu in front of her, scanning it quickly.

"So what's good here?" she asked. He raised his eyebrows.

"You haven't been here?" he asked in surprise, "There's only about 4 places to eat in this town." Jess shrugged, shaking her head.

"I haven't really gone to that many places," she said.

"Oh, well… they have a burger," he said, "A burger's a burger." She laughed, nodding as the waitress walked up and took their orders, taking their menus from them.

"So how're you liking Charming so far? Especially now that you've seen the diner," Jax asked, his eyes light with amusement. Jess laughed.

"I really like it here," she said, "I wasn't sure that I would, I've always considered myself more a city girl. But I'm glad I met Lux." Jax chuckled.

"That's a first," he said. Jess grinned, shaking her head.

"She certainly makes life a little more interesting," she said. Jax nodded.

"That she does," he said.

"And I'm glad I met…" Jess began, stopping herself mid-sentence as she looked across at Jax's expectant face, "… other people," she finally finished lamely. Jax grinned, leaning towards her over the table.

"I'm glad I met you, too," he said, his voice low. She smiled, blushing deeply and flicked her eyes from his, trying to find some way to change the course of the conversation.

"So how's Abel?" she asked as the waitress brought their food over, setting it in front of them. Jax thanked her before returning his attention back to Jess.

"He's awesome," Jax said, grinning, "He's so smart. He already knows the entire alphabet and he can write his name and-" Jax paused reaching into his cut and pulling out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it, showing what looked like red scribbles all over the page, "he drew this for me last night. It's me and him. And I think that's a motorcycle." He looked up at her, shaking his head slightly, "Sorry, I'm rambling about him." Jess shook her head, smiling.

"No, I think it's sweet. It's nice how much you love him," she said, "I would have done anything to have a dad like that." Jax gave her a small smile.

"I'd do anything for that kid," he said, "He's had it pretty rough and he's only 3. Some things I just … can't protect him from." He folded the drawing back and stuck it back in his cut. Jess noticed his knuckles had been scraped up pretty bad, scabs already appearing.

"What happened to your hand?" she asked. Jax frowned, glancing down at the cuts.

"Oh, nothing," he said, "Just busted it when I was working on a car a couple days ago."

"That musta hurt," Jess said. Jax shrugged.

"Nah, it's alright," he said, "I've had worse."

They ate in silence for several minutes while Jess tried her best to analyze the situation before finally giving up. She had no idea what was going on here. Was this a date? Or was this just how Jax was with everyone? Was he just being nice? Did Jax even do dates?

"So you liking living with Lux?" Jax asked, once they'd finished the meal and he'd signaled for the check, "Apart from the empty pantry." Jess nodded.

"It's only been a couple days, but it's been great so far," she said. Jax grinned playfully at her.

"Even with Tig around?" he asked. Jess's eyes widened as she cocked her head slightly at him.

"You know?" she asked. Jax nodded.

"Yeah, they're a bunch of morons," he said, "How Clay hasn't caught on… it's like he's blind to it or something."

"But you… you don't care?" Jess asked. Jax shrugged.

"It's not like I'm a big fan of the situation," he said, "But Lux is… she's not the type of girl anyone can really tell what to do. When you try, she'll go and do something ten times worse. So if the worst thing she's doing is Tig, then I'm okay. And she seems happy, so…" his voice trailed off as he shrugged, Jess nodding in understanding. The waitress set the check on the table and Jess reached for it but Jax stopped her, grinning as he swiped it out of her hand.

"It's on me," he said, throwing several bills on the table and standing up.

"Well, thank you," she said, following him outside, more confused than ever.

SOASOASOASOASOA

Jax pulled up to Jess's apartment and she hopped off, handing him the helmet back and unsure what to do next. She stood awkwardly for a moment, debating hugging him, or kissing him, finally deciding on an awkward smile and walking away.

"Hey!" Jax called and Jess turned around, taking a step back towards him. He grabbed her hand, pulling her close to him as he kissed her gently on the lips.

"Awwwwww!" They both heard Lux call and looked up to see her leaning over the balcony watching them, "Aren't you guys cute?" Jax and Jess shook their heads turning back to look at one another.

"Well, I'll see you around," he finally said, kissing her one more time before pulling away from the curb and into the Teller-Morrow lot. She smiled, watching him park his bike before finally walking upstairs.

"So you and Jax? A little lunch date, eh?" Lux asked, grinning broadly as Jess walked into the apartment. Tig, apparently, had already left. Jess sincerely hoped it was through the front door, but she doubted it. She shrugged, walking past Lux.

"You need to get ready for work!" Jess called to her over her shoulder as she went to do the same.

"You're no fun!" Lux called back and Jess laughed.

Two hours later, Jess and Lux walked into Cara Cara for their shifts, heading to the back to put their purses in lockers and check their section assignments. Jess glanced at Lux in confusion when she saw that next to both of their names it said 'VIP.'

"What's that mean?" Jess asked in confusion.

"Very Important Person," Lux replied, grinning. Jess rolled her eyes.

"Ha. Ha," Jess said, "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, it means the VIP room on the second floor. Probably the Sons having a meeting," Lux explained.

"I thought you didn't work whenever they came in?" Jess asked. Lux shrugged.

"It's different with meetings," she said, "They need someone in there they can trust. They just meet here because it's, like, neutral ground." Jess raised her eyebrows.

"You make them sound like a gang," she said, "Like they all have their own territory." Lux laughed nervously.

"Nooo, don't be silly," she said evasively as she walked off. Jess stared at her back for a second before finally running to catch up with her. Lux led them up a set of stairs at the front of the club Jess had never been up before. It opened to a large private room with a small bar off to the side and several tables grouped together. Luann was dragging tables around and glanced up when she heard Lux and Jess walk in.

"Oh thank God you're here," she said, before she began a venting tirade, "You think they could've given more than an hour's notice, but no. They just spring it on me like it's nothing. I need both of you to wait on 'em tonight. Apparently it's a big 'ol party. They just didn't think I would need to know that say, maybe, yesterday. What if this room had been booked? Huh? What would they have done then?"

"Luann, you must chill," Lux said, walking over and placing her hands on Luann's shoulders, "Everything'll be fine. Who're they meeting with anyway?"

"Niners," Luann replied. That meant nothing to Jess. Was that another motorcycle club? Luann took several deep breaths before turning to Jess.

"I really appreciate you helping out, too, Jess," she said, "You've really stepped up around here." Jess grinned, shrugging.

"Sure," she said. They helped Luann move several tables around and not long after they finished the Sons filed into the room. Jess saw Jax walk in, but contrary to all the other Sons walking in, he did not look happy. He gave Lux a kiss on the cheek before spotting Jess, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"I didn't know you were working tonight," he said, leaning over to also give her a kiss on the cheek. She nodded.

"Yeah, Luann said she needed both of us. Said you had a big party," she said. Jax pursed his lips but shrugged, walking over to Clay as 7 or 8 unfamiliar men, all black, walked in. Jess could immediately tell by the lack of cuts on their back that they were not a motorcycle club. The Sons greeted them all and they began to take seats around the tables.

Jax walked up to Clay, stopping him before he sat down, and pulled him off to the side.

"Why is Jess here?" Jax asked him. Clay looked back at him in surprise.

"She's a friend of the club," he replied.

"No, she's a friend of Lux," Jax said, "She doesn't know shit about the club."

"And she's not going to. She's just serving us drinks," Clay said, "Better her than one of the other gashes out there." Jax's nostrils flared slightly as they both took their seats at the table.

Lux and Jess spent several minutes walking back and forth from the bar to the table, making sure everyone had a drink in their hand, before Clay dismissed them, letting them know he'd call if he needed them. Lux and Jess walked outside of the room, closing the door behind them, and Jess looked strangely at Lux.

"What's that meeting all about?" she asked. Lux shrugged.

"I told you, they don't tell me shit," she said, "The One-Niners are just a… group… from Oakland, they're … friends of my dad's. They… get together every now and then." It was obvious that Lux knew more than she was saying and Jess looked unconvinced, beginning to think that the Sons of Anarchy were more than just a bunch of guys that like to talk about bikes.

After the meeting, the Sons and Niners filed out of the meeting, all looking like they were in good spirits. They certainly left an enormously large tip that Lux and Jess gleefully split. Several of them decided to stay and watch the shows and they each took a table as Luann ran up to Lux and Jess again.

"If they're staying, I need you two to take care of them," she said. They nodded, glancing at each other.

"You can take the Sons table," Jess offered.

"Are you sure?" Lux asked. Jess nodded.

"They're your family. And your dad's gone," she said. Lux grinned.

"Okay. You shouldn't have any trouble with the Niners," Lux told her. She pointed one out to her, leaning over, "That's LeRoy. He's their… president, for lack of a better word."

Jess nodded as she headed over to the Niners' table, smiling as she introduced herself and took drink orders. As far as she could tell they all seemed pleasant enough, but she didn't linger too long at the table. LeRoy finally called her over for the check and she dashed to get it, bringing it quickly to the table. As she moved to walk away, LeRoy called back to her.

"You don't hang around much, do you?" he asked, but he was grinning, "Seein' as we're your only table."

"Well I've just figured out by now that with friends of SAMCRO it's probably best not to," she said, smiling back at him. LeRoy laughed, nodding.

"Yeah, that's probably the right mind to be in," he said, "You're a pretty smart girl." Jess grinned, shrugging her shoulders.

"Alright," he said as he threw down a wad of cash that Jess didn't need to count to realize it was hundreds more than the bill asked for, "You'll probably be seeing us around again. Nicer titty bar than any in O-Town." Jess smiled, nodding.

"I hope so," she replied as they filed away. Jess scooped the money up, trying to resist counting it as she walked up to the bar to close out their tab. Lux waved her over from the Sons table, grinning.

"Come have a drink with us," she shouted. Jess nodded, pocketing the tip money along with the rest from the meeting ,and joined them at the table. The only seat available was between Lux and Jax and Jess rolled her eyes at Lux, knowing that wasn't coincidence. Jax grinned over at her as she took the seat, placing his hand casually on her thigh as he turned back to finish his conversation with Opie. Jess looked over to see Lux watching Tig, scowling as he stared fixatedly at the girl currently dancing the pole on the main stage.

"Don't look too hard," she said, "You might see where she had the surgery to get her dick removed." Tig jerked his head toward Lux, looking a little more intrigued than disgusted.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"I just saw her changing one time and… all I'm saying is she's got scars down there that bear a remarkable likeness to those from those dick swapping surgeries," Lux said, shrugging. Jax and Jess both stared at Lux.

What were you doing starin' at her pussy that hard?" Jax asked as, at the same time, Jess asked, "How do you know what gender reassignment scars look like?"

"I saw it on youtube," Lux replied, "Or something." Jess stared at her for a beat, her head cocked to one side, before she shook her head.

"You are so not normal," she said. Jax leaned over towards Jess, grinning.

"Michael Jackson would look normal standing next to Lux," he said quietly. Jess burst out laughing, the memory from that night flooding back to her. Her and Jax, sitting on that picnic table and getting high as kites, laughing until her rib cage hurt. Lux scowled at them, arms crossed.

"That was not that funny," she said and Jess continued laughing hysterically, Jax joining in.

"What are you guys, high?" she asked once they had calmed down, but that only sent Jess back into fits of giggles, Jax grinning next to her.

"Well maybe I'd be more normal if I wasn't surrounded by idiots," Lux said, rolling her eyes at them.

"I'm…sorry," Jess gasped as she wiped her eyes, looking back at Lux.

"I'm assuming that was some inside joke I was not privy to," she said and Jess nodded, causing Lux to grin.

"Oohh you already have inside jokes. That's precious," she said, her smile widening as it was now Jess's turn to scowl at Lux.

"Stop it," she said. Lux shrugged, leaning over towards her.

"So my dad's going on a run Thursday with some of the guys," she said quietly, "So I'm gonna go hang out at the clubhouse."

"I'm guessing Tig's not going on this run?" Jess asked, her voice as low as Lux's and a teasing grin on her face. Lux shook her head.

"Obviously," she said grinning, sitting back up. Jess turned to look at Jax.

"Are you going on the run on Thursday?" she asked. He grinned, slinging an arm around the back of her chair as he shifted his body towards her.

"Nope," he said, "I'll be here. All alone." His face was inches from hers and Jess felt herself blushing, unable to tear herself away from his gaze.

"You should come, too," Lux said loudly to Jess, who finally flicked her eyes away from Jax to look at Lux before turning back to Jax, grinning.

"Yeah, I'll be there," she said.

SOASOASOASOASOA

Jess couldn't help but look forward to Thursday. She hadn't seen Jax at all since Cara Cara and she was finding most of her thoughts consumed by him in the way only a new crush can. It was almost torture getting through her afternoon shift on Wednesday and by the time 8:00 rolled around she was ready to leave. She walked to the back to get her purse before realizing Luann had told her she wanted to talk to her before she left. Sighing, she closed the locker after grabbing her bag and made her way to Luann's office.

Luann glanced up as she walked in, the phone cradled between her chin and shoulders and relief sweeping over her face as she motioned Jess to walk in. She finished up her phone call and placed it back in the cradle, turning to look at Jess.

"Today is a nightmare," she said, "I've already had three people call in on me. If that phone rings one more time I swear I'm gonna shoot somebody." Jess frowned in commiseration at her as she took a seat on the other side of her desk, praying she didn't ask her to stay late.

"That sucks," she said. Luann nodded before putting a smile on as she looked across at Jess.

"I just wanted to talk to you for a second. Gemma told me she saw Rose Tyler and I had no idea Rose had had a daughter! I used to know her a long time ago," Luann explained. Jess smiled, shaking her head.

"Oh, she's not my mom," Jess said, "She's my aunt." Luann sat back in her chair, studying Jess carefully.

"Ah," she said, "So Daisy is your mother?" Jess shrugged.

"Biologically speaking," she said, "But she gave me up when I was a baby so she never really got around to the mothering part." Luann frowned, leaning over her desk towards Jess.

"So… why weren't you raised here? By Rose? Or your dad?" Luann asked. Jess shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She didn't like to talk about herself much if she could help it, but she found she didn't mind Luann asking so much. The look on her face was caring, rather than curiosity.

"Well, Daisy didn't tell Rose about me," she said, "So she didn't even know I existed until I was about 15, and it was another 3 years before she managed to track me down. As for my dad… I don't know who he is."

"Does Rose know?" Luann asked. Jess shook her head.

"No. I've asked her. I doubt Daisy even knows," Jess said, staring down at her hands. She finally looked up at Luann, surprised to see her eyes misting.

"Would you… would you want to meet your father if you found out who he was?" Luann asked. Jess shrugged.

"I don't know. Probably not," she said, "After Daisy turned out to be such a prize, I don't know if I could go through the disappointment of finding out my dad is some junkie, too." Luann nodded, her lips pursing thoughtfully.

"So you're… what? 24, 25?" she asked. Jess raised her eyebrows in surprise at the question.

"I'm 26," she said.

"26," Luann repeated, "So that's like 1980…?"

"6," Jess filled in for her, "1986." Luann nodded, smiling.

"That's the year before Otto and I got married," she said, her smile turning wistful. Jess smiled back at her.

"You must miss him a lot," she said. Luann nodded sadly.

"I miss him every day," she said, "When people hear he's in prison, they think he must be some monster or something but he's not. He's really not. He's the sweetest man I've ever known. He's the one who gave me the courage to open the club, you know, not to mention the money. He's the best."

"Well if you love him that much, he must be great," Jess said, her heart breaking for Luann all over, as it had done when she had first heard about Otto.

"He is," she said as the phone rang again. Luann glanced at it, annoyed, before picking it up.

"Hello," she said, her face falling in anger as she listened to the other line, "What? No, you cannot do this. I need you here tonight. I'm down girls as it is!" She listened for several moments more before finally slamming the phone in the cradle, glaring at it.

"First Ima calls and says she can't come in for an entire fucking month, and now Lyla's sick!" she said, "I'm gonna have to call a few girls and see if they can come in. This is a disaster – those two are my biggest earners."

"Why isn't Ima coming in for a month?" Jess asked, surprised. She thought back and couldn't remember seeing Ima at all since that morning at the clubhouse.

"Fuck if I know," Luann said in exasperation, "I've been meaning to check on her, but I've just been so busy being here 14 hours out of my day. It's hard to find good help you know."

"I'm off now," Jess said, trying not to sound too disappointed as she offered, "I could go check on her if you want." Luann smiled.

"That'd be great," she said, Jess nodded.

"Yeah, no problem," she said, "I just need her address." Luann nodded as she turned to the filing cabinet behind her, thumbing through the files inside.

"It's in here somewhere," she muttered, finally pulling out a file and copying Ima's address onto a scrap of paper.

"Just… make sure she's okay," she said as she handed Jess the address, "Not doing anything stupid."

Jess nodded, standing from her chair as she made her way to the door of the office.

"Jess," Luann called, and Jess turned, "Thanks." Jess smiled, nodding as she walked out of the office, through the club, and out to her car.

GPS became a completely irrelevant source of technology in Charming. It wasn't hard for Jess to find Ima's apartment and she walked up to it, knocking nervously on the door. The last time Jess had seen Ima, a gun had separated them and she wasn't really looking forward to a repeat performance, but something told her Ima wasn't going to be doing that again.

She waited several moments before she finally heard the lock click and the door opened slowly. Jess's eyes widened as Ima barely stuck her head out of the door, gazing at Jess. Her face was almost completely blue and purple from bruises, she had a black eye, and a bandage across her nose. Jess stared at her in shock for a second before snapping out of it.

"What happened to you?" Jess asked softly. Ima scoffed in derision.

"As if you don't know," she said, "If you just came by to rub it in or repeat the threat – you can let him know: message received."

Jess's heart sank low in her chest, recalling Jax's banged up knuckles, as she asked the question to which she really didn't want to know the answer, "Let… who know?"

"Who else? Jax," Ima said, confirming what Jess had known as she stepped back from the door, allowing Jess to walk through. She glanced around Ima's apartment, biting her lip to avoid cringing. It was a complete mess and smelled as if the trash hadn't been taken out in weeks. She looked at Ima's defeated expression as she slumped on a bar stool by the kitchen.

"How long has it been since you've left your apartment?" she asked.

"I can't leave!" Ima yelled, "If anyone saw me… I don't want anyone's pity. And honestly, where the fuck would I go."

Jess looked at Ima, at how depressed she was, and felt a hint of guilt creeping into her. She felt partially responsible. She knew Ima hadn't meant to fire the gun, and most likely wouldn't have if Jess hadn't tried to take it from her. She knew that was why Jax had done this to her and it made her sick to her stomach to think about.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," she said, her voice barely a whisper. Ima shrugged.

"I shouldn't have pulled a gun at the clubhouse," she said, turning to pour a shot of whiskey out of the bottle on the counter behind her, "Shoulda known better."

"Yeah, but you didn't deserve… this," Jess replied, "No one deserves that." Ima smirked, taking the shot before looking back at Jess.

"You clearly don't know how SAMCRO works," she said. Jess gnawed on her lip, nodding.

"Yeah," she admitted, "I guess I don't." Ima shrugged, pouring another shot.

"You should get out of town for a couple weeks," Jess suggested, "Clear your head. It's not good for you to be cooped up in this apartment until you heal."

"Yeah, maybe," Ima said vaguely. Jess nodded, feeling as if their conversation was over, and turned to walk towards the door.

"You know," Ima called after her, and Jess turned to look at her, a sad expression on Ima's face, "the worst part wasn't getting my face bashed into a mirror. The worst part was him spitting in my face and calling me a whore." Jess's lips tightened as she looked back at Ima before turning around, feeling as if she was in shock all over again. She paused by the front door, dropping a couple hundred of her tip money out of her bag on the table by the door.

"That should help you get out of town for a little while," she said, her head turned slightly but her back still towards Ima, and she walked out of the apartment before Ima could protest.

Author's Note: We really hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and again, please please let us know what you thought of this chapter. Your feedback is so important to us!