Author's Note: Oh. My. God. That's pretty much what we were saying all weekend. To say that we were thrilled with the response from the last chapter would be an understatement. Ecstatic might be a better word. To all 19 of you who reviewed, we want to say THANK YOU for making our day – pretty sure both of us had permanent smiles plastered on our face all of yesterday and Sunday and I can't tell you how much we appreciate all the feedback and notes we got. You're all sooo WONDERFUL! We work hard on this story and we're just so excited that so many of you are liking the Jess and Jax saga.

I was so excited in fact that I got about 3 chapters finished over the weekend when I was supposed to be studying for the GRE. So thanks for that!

We wanted to give you something for being so totally awesome, but we don't have anything else to give except this chapter a day early so here you go and I hope you enjoy this one as much!

Luann walked purposefully up to Gemma's house, needing to have the talk with her that she couldn't put off any longer. Her mind had been on little else than what had been revealed to her during her and Jess's conversation the week before, but she hadn't seen Jess since and she wasn't really sure if she should tell her what Luann was sure she now knew.

She rapped anxiously on the door, waiting for Gemma to finally open it. Luann smiled at her friend as Gemma stepped back to allow Luann in and she walked straight for the table in the kitchen, sitting down.

"Well this is a nice surprise," Gemma said, joining her at the table and looking at Luann.

"I needed to talk to you," she said. Gemma nodded.

"I gathered," she replied. Luann took a deep breath, gazing back at Gemma for several moments.

"What do you know about Jess?" Luann finally asked. Gemma looked at her appraisingly, deducing where this conversation was headed.

"I know she's Daisy Tyler's kid," Gemma said, her head cocked, "I assume you do, too, now." Luann nodded, leaning over the table toward Gemma.

"You know as well as I do what that means, Gem," Luann said, "The timeline fits. The girl's 26 years old and who else was Daisy doing 26 years ago? Whore barely ever left the clubhouse until she just disappeared, probably when she got knocked up." Gemma nodded, sighing.

"Yeah, I figured as much as well," she said, looking back at Luann.

"Gemma, she's gotta be the daughter of a Son," Luann said, "And that makes that girl family."

"She might not even want a family," Gemma said, and Luann scoffed.

"Please," Luann said, "That girl's been crying for one since the day she was born." Gemma shrugged.

"So what? We go do a DNA test on the girl? Play 'who's your daddy' like we're Maury fucking Povich?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yes!" Luann replied, "That's exactly what we do. We can get one of those over the counter things. They got 'em down at the drugstore." Gemma stared back at her for a second before shrugging. She didn't have anything else going on at the moment.

"Alright," she finally assented, "Let's go talk to her." Luann nodded gratefully and stood as she followed Gemma out the door.

SOASOASOASOASOASOA

Jess and Lux sat in the kitchen eating lunch before they would have to leave for their shift at Cara Cara when there was a knock on the door. Jess glanced at Lux, her heart thumping as she feared who was behind it.

"You get it," she said and Lux rolled her eyes, standing up to answer the door. She raised her eyebrows in surprise when she saw Gemma and Luann standing there, and she stood back to let them in.

"Mom, hey," Lux said, glancing between her and Luann, "I was just about to leave for work. What are you doing here?" Gemma smiled, kissing Lux on the forehead.

"We're not here to talk to you," she said, her eyes landing on Jess, who was still sitting in the kitchen. Lux turned to Jess with wide eyes and shook her head as Jess rose from the barstool, walking into the living room.

"I'm sorry for whatever is about to happen to you but I'm out of here," Lux said, grabbing her bag off the couch and running out the door. Jess turned to Luann, the look on her face making her nervous.

"Am I about to get fired?" she asked, her eyes flicking to Gemma, "Or killed?"

"Have a seat, Jess," Gemma said, motioning to the couch and Jess sighed.

"Oh God, I am about to get killed," she muttered, sitting down on the couch and looking at Luann and Gemma.

"We need to talk to you about something," Luann said kindly, taking a seat next to Jess on the couch as Gemma sat in the recliner opposite them.

"We don't know if you knew this," Gemma started, "but we knew your mother before you were born." Jess shook her head.

"Daisy is not my mom," Jess replied, "My mom died." Gemma and Luann exchanged glances before returning their gaze to Jess.

"Well, whatever the case may be, we don't know if you were aware that Daisy was a … well, she hung around the clubhouse, a lot," Luann said, having a hard time telling the poor girl her mom was a club pass around.

"Including around the time you were conceived," Gemma added, "Right before she dropped off the face of the earth." Jess looked between the two, dawning comprehension coming over her but not wanting to get to their conclusion any faster.

"Okay," she said, scooting away from Luann on the couch and curling her legs underneath her, not sure if she wanted them to drop the bomb she knew they were about to.

"Well, we're pretty certain that your father is, or was, in the club," Gemma finished, never one to beat around the bush. Jess looked between the two of them, her heart thumping in her chest.

She'd given a lot of thought over the years as to who her father might be. When she was a kid, she imagined him as an international spy who couldn't come get her because he was busy protecting their country. Then maybe an army hero, who died in the line of duty. As she got older and found out who Daisy was, the fantasies became harder to entertain and she assumed her dad was probably some nameless drug dealer. She'd since gotten comfortable with the fact that she may never know who her father was.

And now Gemma and Luann sat there, staring at her, telling her they'd narrowed down all the possible suspects to a select few and that he was almost certainly a member of the very club she had just decided to distance herself from.

"Is this a joke?" Jess finally asked, looking at Gemma.

"I don't joke," Gemma told her seriously.

"Why are you telling me this?" Jess asked.

"Do you want to know who your father is?" Gemma asked. Jess immediately shook her head, her first reaction being a resounding NO. Luann reached over, rubbing her arm gently.

"Sweetie, we can find out. You can finally know your dad," she said, her voice full of sympathy. Jess sat back, drawing her knees up to her chest as she thought about all the guys she knew in the club that would be the right age. There weren't many options left and she finally looked over at Luann.

"Well what if it's someone that's not around anymore?" she asked. Luann gave her a smile and a small shrug.

"Then you're no worse off than you are now, are you?" she asked, "But I don't think it is."

"Who do you think it is?" Jess asked, her voice a whisper.

"Well… there are several… possibilities," Luann said.

"Your mom got around," Gemma added, and Luann glared at her. Jess's eyes widened as she ran down the suspects again and jerked her head back to them.

"It couldn't be Tig, right?" she asked desperately. Gemma shook her head.

"Oh, no," she said, "He wasn't around then." Jess breathed a sigh of relief until she cocked her head at Gemma.

"Or Clay?" she asked. Gemma shook her head firmly.

"Oh hell no," she said. Jess's eyes widened as an even more awful possibility occurred to her that made bile rise in her throat.

"Oh God," she moaned, "It couldn't be… not Jax's dad?" Her heart thumped in her chest as she looked between the two, her shoulders finally sagging when Gemma shook her head.

"No, don't worry about that," Gemma told her, "John had already passed before you were born." Jess breathed a sigh of relief, now understanding the importance of finding out who her dad was. The thought of accidentally sleeping with her brother made her shudder.

"Okay, then who could it be?" she asked. Luann took her hand in hers, her eyes studying Jess's face.

"I think…" she started, "I think there's a good possibility it's Otto." Jess's eyes widened as she looked back at Luann.

"And… and if it was?" Jess asked meekly, "What would happen if it was Otto?" Luann scooted closer to her, Jess's hand still clasped firmly in hers.

"From the moment I met you, Jess, you've been nothing but a hard worker and a sweet girl," Luann said, looking directly at Jess, "And I would be proud to consider you a daughter."

"Well… step-daughter," Jess mumbled, looking down. Luann gripped her chin gently, pulling her face back up to look at her.

"No, a daughter," she said firmly. Jess gazed at her for several seconds, feeling her eyes brimming with tears as Luann dropped her hand from Jess's chin.

"Okay," Jess said, "You can do the test." Gemma stood, smiling broadly as she walked over to Jess.

"Great! All we need is this," she said as she yanked several hairs out of Jess's head.

"Ow!" Jess yelled, rubbing the back of her head as she frowned at Gemma. She watched as Gemma pulled a plastic baggie out of her purse and shoved the hair in there.

"You came prepared," Jess commented.

"I don't do things any other way," Gemma replied simply, smiling at her as Luann stood up, looking back at her.

"Is it okay if I come in a few hours late today?" Jess said, "I'm not really up for it right now." Luann nodded, hugging Jess.

"Take the day if you need it," she said, "We can manage without you." Jess nodded, giving Luann a small smile as she walked them to the door, shutting it behind them and leaning back against the door. If ever she needed to go on a run, it was now.

She got changed quickly and took off running, heading towards a park she'd been to a couple times before. Several joggers were out that day and as she ran around the trail she allowed her mind to drift back to who her dad might be. Of those still around, the pickings were slim. It had to be either Otto, Bobby, or Piney. She knew Opie was the same age as Jax, making him about 6 years older than her, and Piney had been married when Opie was born, but she wasn't sure how faithful Piney had been or if he'd even still been married by the time Jess came along. The thought of Piney being her father made her grimace. What if Opie had been the one she'd slept with, instead of Jax? She shook her head, shuddering at the thought.

She didn't know much about Bobby, except for his baking skills which, if she was his daughter, she had most certainly not inherited. But she thought about what Rose had told her about Bobby – how she had been with him a lot during that time, which made Jess doubt that it was Bobby.

That left Otto. She didn't know how she felt about Otto as a possibility. On the one hand, she loved Luann and would love nothing more than to be accepted as a member of her family. On the other hand, Otto was serving a life sentence in prison, making the whole 'getting to know her father' thing obsolete. Not to mention, she was sure he was serving a life sentence for something much worse than gun running or bashing a girl's face in. How could she possibly reconcile that?

She continued running, these thoughts swirling through her brain, as she noticed another jogger keeping time with her. She glanced over at him and he smiled at her. He was cute, in the completely anti-Jax way. With his short brown hair and kind eyes, he was about as far from outlaw biker as you could get. She grinned back, picking up her pace to run ahead of him, rolling her eyes as he shot past her. She was already running well past her normal speed, but this had turned into a competition. She ran faster, practically sprinting now as she shot past him and she felt him speeding up behind her.

She looked over at him, grinning, as they both broke out into a full blown sprint until he finally fell back, keeling over.

"Alright, I give up!" he called after her, "You win!" She grinned, jogging backwards to look at him.

"See you around then!" she said, turning back and continuing on her run.

SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA

Jess sat on the couch at the apartment several days later, her anxiety as high as it had been for the past few days. Luann had told her that Gemma had sent the tests in, and she should expect the results in about a week. The news made her incredibly anxious. One part of her wanted to know right now. The other part of her hoped the results got lost in the mail.

She hadn't yet told Rose about Gemma and Luann's little experiment. She knew that if Gemma and Luann had picked up on the strong possibility that her dad was a Son, then Rose most definitely had. Hadn't Rose told her she and Daisy used to go to the clubhouse together? She must have had some reason to not tell Jess and she wasn't sure how her aunt would feel about Gemma and Luann taking the matter into their own hands.

Lux walked into the living room, sitting next to Jess on the couch and guessing correctly about why Jess had the strange look on her face that she did.

"The results aren't gonna be back for a while, Jess. You can't just sit around and wait," she said, "Come over to the clubhouse and get a beer." Jess shook her head.

"I don't really want to hang out over there," Jess sighed.

"Why?" Lux asked, "Tara's not gonna be there."

"I don't really want to be around Jax right now," she said, "Especially not somewhere he's got the upper hand."

She knew that the words and actions that had taken place on the doorstep of her apartment would not have been tolerated at the clubhouse, but she didn't know what he would've done about it if they had been there instead of at her apartment. All she knew was that you feel the power shift the second you walked through those doors.

"If you're still upset about him getting back together with Tara-" Lux said, but Jess cut her off.

"It's not about that," she mumbled, "Well… not completely anyway."

"Then what is it?" Lux asked. Jess sighed. She really didn't want to tell Lux about Jax hitting Ima and how that made her scared to be around him. She had a strong feeling Lux would take Jax's side when it came to him vs. Ima, and that Lux wouldn't understand Jess's feelings about it, so she remained silent.

"What? Is it about them getting arrested?" Lux asked in frustration, "You think we're trash now? Do you not want to be my friend anymore?" Jess jerked her head over to look at Lux, shaking her head quickly.

"No, of course I don't think that," she tried to reassure her. Lux frowned.

"Then what is it?" she asked. Jess took a deep breath, not seeing any way around it now.

"I went to go check on Ima for Luann a few days ago," Jess began, but Lux cut her off.

"Ooohh," she said in understanding, a sly grin spreading across her face. Jess looked at her curiously as Lux asked, "What does she look like?" Jess raised her eyebrows, surprised at Lux's knowledge of what went down.

"She looks like she got the shit beat out of her," Jess said and Lux snorted in amusement. Jess scowled at her, shaking her head.

"It's not funny," she told her. Lux wiped the grin off her face, shrugging as she looked at Jess.

"He did that because she put people he cares about in danger," Lux told her, reiterating what Jax had said to her as if this made everything okay, "Me and mom and Abel and you."

"No one deserves to have that happen to them," Jess insisted.

"It's fucking Ima," Lux said, "Are you really not gonna come to the clubhouse ever again because of Ima? It's not like stuff like that happens all the time." Jess raised her eyebrows doubtfully as Lux shook her head.

"They're not a bunch of women beaters, Jess," Lux told her, "Quite the opposite actually. But when someone threatens Jax's family, whoever it is, he sees red. Honestly, I think it's one of his better qualities." Jess still didn't look convinced so Lux rolled her eyes, grabbing her cell phone and dialing Jax's number.

"Hey, you at the clubhouse?" Lux asked as he picked up.

"No, I'm at home," Jax responded, "Why?"

"No reason, thanks love you bye," Lux said quickly as she hung up on him. She turned back to Jess.

"Jax isn't even there, he's at his house," Lux told her. Jess sighed, shrugging.

"Okay, fine, I'll go," she said. Lux grinned, hopping off the couch gleefully as Jess followed her.

"Do you ever not get your way?" Jess asked.

"Not often," Lux replied, grinning broadly as they walked across the street to the clubhouse.

SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA

Jax stared down at the phone in his hand as his sister hung up on him, frowning at it. He knew Lux too well not to know why she called to ask him if he was at the clubhouse; or rather, to make sure he wasn't at the clubhouse. She was bringing Jess over and Jess wouldn't go if he was there.

He sighed, leaning back in his chair at the dining room table, trying to ignore his desire to run over there and see her. He hadn't seen her since their fight, but a recent conversation with his mom let him know that Jess's world had recently flipped upside down and he wondered where her head was at towards the club now that it was a good possibility she had SAMCRO in her blood.

He glanced down the hall where he knew Tara was before shaking his head, rubbing his eyes. He'd made his decision. Tara was the right choice. She loved Abel, and Jax needed to start thinking of him. Tara was a good mother for him. But there was a distance between him and Tara now that he wasn't sure could ever be bridged. He hoped that in time, their relationship could be back to what it was, but try as he might, he couldn't get Jess out of his fucking head. He sighed, grabbing the keys to his bike before heading down the hall, standing in the doorway of Abel's bedroom to see them playing on the floor.

"I'm gonna go over to the clubhouse for a little bit," Jax said, "I shouldn't be long." Tara glanced up at him, nodding.

"Yeah, okay," she said. He smiled at them, stepping into the room to kiss Tara lightly on the lips and Abel on the top of his head.

"Alright, see you guys later," he said, walking out of the door.

SOASOASOASOASOASOA

"Grab me a beer, will ya?" Lux asked as she and Jess walked into the clubhouse and she pranced off in the direction of Tig. Jess rolled her eyes as she walked behind the bar to grab a couple bottles, looking across the bar to see Piney and Bobby staring at her strangely.

"What?" she asked slowly. They both shook their heads.

"We're just trying to figure out who you look like," Piney said as Jess's eyebrows shot up.

"Yeah, you got Otto's eyes," Bobby said.

"Yeah but she's kinda got my jawline," Piney said as they both turned to study her.

"I don't see it," Bobby said, shaking his head, "She's kinda got my hair though. I mean, it's almost the same color."

"She definitely don't got your beer gut, though," Piney said, grinning at Bobby.

"Yeah well she doesn't have that Winston mountain man look, either," Bobby retorted. Jess looked at them both uneasily.

"LUX!" she called in desperation. Lux ran up to them, rolling her eyes at Bobby and Piney.

"Stop being creepy, possible fathers of my friend," she said, pulling Jess away.

"You're a big help," Jess said sarcastically and Lux beamed at her, her expression obviously saying 'you're welcome' as she led Jess over to where Tig was sitting with Juice and Chibs. Jess sipped on her beer, feeling awkward and uncomfortable with 'the mystery of Jess's dad' seemingly being known to everyone around here.

Lux glanced up as the door to the clubhouse opened and rolled her eyes dramatically, rising quickly from the table. Jess turned her head to see where she was going and her eyes widened as she saw that Jax had walked inside.

"What are you doing here?" Lux hissed at Jax. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"This is my clubhouse," he replied easily, "A better question would be what are you doing here."

"This is my clubhouse, too," she said, crossing her arms across her chest. He snorted at her, moving to walk around her.

"The problem is, you actually think that," he said. Lux rolled her eyes, glancing over to see Jess throw her beer back and stand from the table.

"I'm gonna head back to the apartment," she said, walking quickly to the door without taking a second glance back. Jax's eyes followed her as she walked out of the clubhouse, his lips pursed. Lux turned angrily back to Jax.

"See, you scared her off," she said. Jax rolled his eyes.

"If she doesn't want to be here because of me, she can leave," he said, "I'm not going to avoid my own clubhouse because of her." Lux rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"Yeah, don't tell me you didn't come here just to see her," she said, "Why aren't you with Tara?" Jax glared at her for a second before shaking his head and walking away from her.

Author's Note: Because we posted this chapter a day earlier than usual and Sunday is such a long time to wait for the next one and also because now you all have spoiled us, if we get a good response on this chapter, we'll post the next one on Thursday or Friday! In addition to our usual Sunday update, of course.

So if you've got a second to spare, please please drop a note and let us know what you think!