Jess ran a hand distractedly through her hair as she tried to complete the alcohol order for Cara Cara that was sitting in front of her, but she couldn't seem to focus. She kept glancing up every few minutes to make sure Opie's hulking figure was still standing outside the door to her office, which was helping to keep her calm. Ever since Zobelle's reveal at Cara Cara the week before, Jess had been filled with apprehension every time she left the clubhouse. She'd thought that being able to put a face to her attacker would make things better, but it had only made things worse. Now there was a defined figure waiting in her nightmares.

She hadn't said any of this to Jax, of course. Around him, she made sure to keep a brave face on as she didn't want him to worry any more than he already was. It had been hard enough to get him to let her and Lux come back to Cara Cara, and as scary as the thought of going back was, Jess refused to let Zobelle rule her life.

She was starting to feel like she was keeping a lot from Jax. She also still hadn't told him about the bomb Rose dropped on her at the hospital and the secret was starting to weigh on her. She had no idea how he'd react. They hadn't been together long enough to even think about having kids, and she wasn't sure if the fact that she now probably couldn't would be a deal breaker. She was terrified of losing him after all they'd gone through to finally be together, but she was still trying to wrap her head around her own feelings about the news.

Jess finally gave up on the order, sighing and leaning back in her chair as she heard the music from outside begin to fade and the lights come on. Closing time. Maybe the quiet would help her focus. Luann rushed into the office and smiled at Jess as she grabbed her purse from the closet.

"I'm heading over to the clubhouse for a little bit," she said, "Will you be alright closing down here?" Jess nodded, returning Luann's smile.

"Yeah, I just gotta finish up a couple things and I'll be right behind you," Jess said.

"Good," Luann replied, "Call me if you have any problems."

"I will," Jess said, grinning, "Now get outta here. You spend too much time here as it is." Luann laughed, rolling her eyes.

"Don't I know it," she said, strolling out of the office door. Lux brushed past her and into the office, slapping her receipts from the end of the night down on Jess's desk. Jess collected them, reaching down to grab an envelope to stuff the receipts into.

"I swear," Lux sighed as she threw herself in her chair, "Tig is not allowed to be my bodyguard anymore." Jess laughed.

"Why's that?" she asked.

"Because every time I flirt with a customer he glares at them and my tips go down," she said, "At this rate, I'm never getting my new Ferragamos. He will be punished." Jess grinned, shaking her head as Opie stuck his head in the office.

"Friday night party's on," he said.

"Why does that not surprise me?" Lux asked sarcastically.

"I guess we'll be there since we pretty much live there now," Jess replied, "I just gotta finish up a few things and then we can go." Opie nodded, about to step back into the hall when Jess called him back.

"Hey, Opie, will you close the door?" she asked. Opie frowned but pulled the door closed and Jess turned to look at Lux, needing to talk to someone else about her situation. The fact that her best friend was also her boyfriend's sister made things a little complicated, however.

"What's up?" Lux asked, eyeing her curiously. Jess took a deep breath, slowly exhaling as she looked back at Lux.

"If I tell you something… will you promise me you won't tell anyone?" she asked, "Especially not Jax." Lux raised her eyebrows, slowly nodding her head.

"Yeah, of course," she said. Jess leaned back in her chair and she absent-mindedly rubbed her hand over the scar on her belly.

"At the hospital, you know, after the attack," Jess began, unsure of where to begin. Lux nodded her on encouragingly, "My spleen wasn't the only thing damaged."

"Okay…" Lux said slowly, her eyebrows creasing in worry, "Are you okay? I mean… you're not dying or anything right?" Jess scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Lux, what if I was dying? Do you think that would've made me feel better?" Jess asked.

"Oh, shit, yeah. Sorry. But you're not, right?" she asked.

"No, I'm not dying," Jess replied, "But I… the second bullet got lodged in my… well, anyway, it looks like I can't have kids anymore." Lux frowned, scratching the back of her neck as she looked back at Jess.

"Oh, shit," she said quietly, "I mean, did you want to have kids?" Jess shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe. I wanted the option," she replied.

"I'm sorry, Jess," Lux said sincerely, "And I take it from my sworn silence that Jax doesn't know." Jess shook her head.

"No one knows. Except my Aunt. And you, now," Jess said, "And I don't know what to do. I'm afraid to tell Jax. I mean, it's still so early for us…" Her voice trailed off and she looked at Lux, hopeful that she would have the magical solution. But she just shrugged.

"It's your business, Jess," she said, "At this point… it's not really his. I mean, you've only really been together a couple of weeks."

"So you don't think I should tell him?" Jess asked.

"Well, it is kind of a big deal," Lux said, "You'll have to tell him eventually. But… you know, when you're ready to tell him. With everything else going on, I don't think you should be worried about this, too." Jess nodded, sighing as Lux gave her a small smile and stood from her chair.

"I'll wait for you outside to finish up," she said and Jess nodded as Lux walked out the door. There it was. She'd tell him when she was ready. Whenever that was.

SOASOASOASOASOA

Walking up to the clubhouse, if Jess hadn't known better she would have thought this was just a normal Friday night, like all the others. The party was in full swing. As usual, a crowd of croweaters, Sons, and hang-arounds crowded around the boxing ring in the lot, watching a match between a couple of hang- arounds Jess didn't recognize. She found the normalcy of it all comforting. It almost fooled her into believing nothing had really changed.

She and Lux walked past the crowd and into the clubhouse, which was in its usual Friday night state of drunken debauchery. The music was set to 11 and a couple of croweaters were fighting over the use of the stripper pole while Juice and Phil looked on, grinning. Lux spotted Tig and ran off to see him while Jess scanned the room for Jax, finally spotting him sitting at a table with Chibs and Happy. He smiled as she walked over to him, sitting back from the table so she could sit in his lap.

"Hi," Jess said, grinning as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"Hi," he murmured, kissing her, "Everything go alright at Cara Cara?"

"I'm sure your hourly reports filled you in on all the nothing that went on tonight," she said and he smirked.

"Hey, those hourly reports keep me sane," he said, "I wish I could be there all the time."

Jess shook her head, already feeling guilty enough that her and Lux's insistence that they go to work was putting pressure on the Sons. There weren't that many of them, and the half that wasn't constantly patrolling the clubhouse while they were there were trying to find where Zobelle was hiding out. Unfortunately, Juice had come up with so many properties that had ties to Zobelle that it was taking a long time to search them all out, and there was a good possibility that Zobelle kept moving. He was a very intelligent enemy, which was not good for any of them.

"We're fine there," she said, "You just keep doing what you're doing." Jax nodded, running his hands absent-mindedly along the small of her back as Jess spotted Luann sitting at the bar, talking to Gemma. Gemma walked off towards the bathroom and Jess crawled off Jax's lap.

"I'm gonna go say hi to Luann," she said, and he nodded as Jess leaned down to kiss him before walking up to Luann.

"Well you finally made it!" Luann exclaimed, giving Jess a hug. Jess grinned, nodding. It was nice to see Luann away from Cara Cara every once in a while, and she seemed to be in better mood than she had been lately.

"Yup, just had to finish up those orders before I left," Jess said.

"Now don't work too hard," Luann told her and Jess rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, look who's talking," Jess said. Luann grinned, shrugging her shoulders as Jess continued, "You know, I thought my helping you out would let you go home every now and then."

"Hey, I'm at the club all the time because I don't want to be home," Luann said, "So don't take my never leaving as an example of what you should be doing. You're doing great." Jess smiled.

"Thanks, Luann," she said, "I don't know what I'd be doing if I'd never moved here. Waiting tables for the rest of my life, probably." Luann shook her head.

"Well I'm glad you came," she said, "I'm going up to see Otto in a couple of days. He's so proud of you." Jess felt herself blush as she smiled, giving Luann a hug.

"Well tell him I say hi," she said, wishing she could go with Luann but knew that she and Otto needed some time alone together. Luann's cell phone rang just then and she answered it, listening to the call as her smile faded quickly. She shut the phone, glancing up at Jess.

"I gotta go back up to the club," she said, "That was one of the new security guys. Said it looked like there'd been a break in." Jess frowned, glancing around the clubhouse.

"You should take somebody with you," she said. Luann shook her head.

"I'll be alright," she said, "The security guys are waiting for me." Lux bounded up to them just then, clearly drunk with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey, Luann," she said, "I wanted to tell you I'm not coming in tomorrow. I need to spend some with Tig away from Cara Cara." Luann frowned at Lux, shaking her head, and Jess could tell she was getting angry.

"No, Lux, this is not okay!" Luann said sternly, "If you're on the schedule, you need to be there, and if you're not going to be there you better have a better reason than wanting to see Tig."

"But Luann-" Lux started to argue, but Luann cut her off.

"No, Lux! I'm not doing this shit anymore! If you're not at work tomorrow you're fired," Luann said firmly.

"You can't fire me!" Lux shrieked, and Luann crossed her arms, looking stonily at Lux.

"Watch me," she said, "You can't just not show up to work anytime you don't feel like going anymore. It's not happening." Lux stared at her for a minute, her face filled with disbelief before she finally scowled, turning away and running off. Luann sighed, shaking her head as she turned back to Jess.

"Sometimes that girl really frustrates me," Luann said, "I need to get Gemma to talk to her. She's the only one that can get through to her half the time." Jess nodded, looking worriedly at the spot Lux had disappeared into the crowd at.

"I'm gonna see if I can find her," Jess said, "Get her to calm down. Let me know what's happened at Cara Cara." Luann nodded as she grabbed her purse from off the bar and walked out of the clubhouse while Jess went searching for Lux. She didn't see any sign of her but spotted Tig on the other side of the bar and walked up to him.

"Hey, do you know where Lux is?" she asked. He shrugged, shaking his head.

"Nah, she's probably in the bathroom or something," he said.

Jess nodded, turning to walk down the hall toward the bathroom when Jax came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her neck. She grinned, forgetting all about her hunt for Lux as she turned around, wrapping her arms around Jax's shoulders as he leaned down to kiss her. He grabbed her hand and she followed him out through the side door by the kitchen where they sat on the picnic table.

He pulled a joint out of his pocket grinning at her as he held it up. She laughed, tilting her head to one side as she smiled at him.

"Are you sharing again?" she asked and he nodded, smirking as he lit it before passing it to her.

A retching sound came from behind them and Jess turned to see that a hang-around had wandered to the side of the clubhouse from the lot out front and was now bent over a couple hundred yards from where Jax and Jess sat, his hands bracing himself on the wall as he vomited profusely. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, shaking her head as she turned to Jax, who smirked.

"Can't hold his liquor," he said, taking a hit off the joint.

"He gonna be your next prospect?" Jess teased. Jax chuckled, shaking his head.

"Fuck no," he said and Jess laughed.

"You're all just a bunch of teases, you know," she said, "Why let 'em hang around when you know they've got no chance?"

"Babe, 90 percent of these guys have no chance," he said, "If we didn't let 'em hang around, the clubhouse would be empty and then we wouldn't get any good prospects." Jess laughed, wincing slightly as the hang around hurled again.

"Tease," she repeated. He laughed, shrugging.

"Yeah, well it's just like 100 percent of those croweaters are never gonna be old ladies. Doesn't stop 'em from trying," he said.

"Yeah… I feel less bad for them," Jess said.

"Yeah, their best bet is to just get knocked up by a Son. Then they'd have a tie to the club at least," Jax said jokingly. Jess raised her eyebrows at him.

"Oh like my mom?" she asked. Jax rolled his eyes, throwing his arm around her as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I didn't mean you," he said.

"Uh huh," Jess said, grinning up at him, "Just like you didn't mean it when you said I wasn't important?"

"When did I ever say that?" Jax asked.

"After Lux and I went to Lodi," she reminded him.

"Oh yeah. No, that I meant," Jax said grinning and Jess rolled her eyes, pulling herself out of his grasp as she slapped him playfully on the shoulder with the back of her hand, "Well you're important now," he corrected and Jess laughed. She watched as a stray cat climbed the fence in front of them, walking along the top of it until he disappeared into the shadows.

"I want a cat," Jess mused, the weed affecting her ability to think in a straight line. Jax shook his head.

"No way," he said. Jess grinned, shaking her head.

"You can't tell me what to do. We don't live together," she said. He cocked an eyebrow at her, "Well, not permanently."

"Yeah, well you might live with me someday and no way do I want a fucking cat," Jax said.

"Or you might live with me," Jess said grinning. He smirked.

"Yeah, move me and Abel in with you and Lux? That'd be a lot of fun," he said sarcastically, "Not to mention Tig over all the damn time."

"Hey, if I have to deal with it you have to deal with it," Jess said. Jax shook his head.

"The difference is she's my sister," he said, "There are certain things I don't want to see. Or hear." Jess laughed, shrugging.

"Okay, okay," she said, leaning her head against him and yawning widely.

"Tired?" Jax asked. Jess nodded.

"It's been a long day," she said. Jax rose from the table, holding his hand out to her and she took it as she also stood. Jax wrapped his arms around her, kissing her deeply before looking down at her.

"Then let's go make it just a little longer," he whispered and she grinned as he led her inside and back to the dorms.

SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA

Jess woke early the next day, glancing over to see Jax still sleeping soundly. She tried to fall back asleep, but every time she closed her eyes, Zobelle's face appeared, taunting her, and she knew sleep would be impossible. She sighed, crawling quietly out of bed and trying not to wake Jax. She walked to her bag and dug through it, searching for a tank top, shorts, and her running shoes. She needed to go for a run, clear her head, and hopefully get Zobelle out of it.

Jax groaned tiredly as Jess pulled on her shorts and she turned to look at him, smiling. His arms were stretched above his head, which was still lying firmly on the pillow, and his eyes were closed, but she knew he was awake.

"Do you ever sleep in?" he grumbled at her, his voice gruff from the early morning.

"I wanted to go for a run," Jess said. Jax groaned, reaching his hand out for her.

"Come back to bed," he said, still mumbling, "I'll give you a work out." Jess grinned as her eyes grazed over his naked back, the comforter draped low over his hips, extremely tempted by the suggestion. She took a few steps toward the bed, grasping his hand in hers as he pulled her down onto the bed, grinning and now fully awake and Jess thought she might just end up staying in bed with Jax all day.

But that was not to be. Jess sighed as there was a frantic pounding on the door, rolling over and groaning.

"What now?" Jess asked and Jax glanced over at her, shrugging, "Maybe if we're quiet they'll go away," Jess whispered, wrapping her arms around Jax's shoulders. He grinned until he heard Opie yelling for him through the door, sounding panicked.

"Jax!" Opie called, banging on the door again. Jax groaned, releasing Jess from his grip as he pulled himself out of bed, pulling a pair of jeans on and Jax opened the door to see Opie standing there, looking as if something horrible had just happened. Jess sat up straighter, watching them with wide eyes.

"There's a fire, Jax," he said, "It's Cara Cara. It's on fire." Jax turned back to look at Jess, who had already sprinted out of bed and thrown on a t-shirt before she dashed past them both.

"Fuck," Jax hissed, grabbed his shirt and cut that had been tossed on a chair and throwing them on, hurriedly following after Jess.

Once they had climbed on Jax's bike, Jess clutching Jax tightly around the waist, all that was going through her mind was panic and confusion. Was this Zobelle again? Or just an innocent fire? Was anyone hurt?

As they neared Cara Cara, Jess could see smoke billowing up to the clouds from a distance and silently begged Jax to go faster. As if reading her thoughts, he sped up and as they turned the corner Jess's eyes welled with tears as she saw the burnt remains of the club Luann and Otto had built together. The club that had given Jess her family. Flames were still dancing merrily as a group of firefighters attempted to put it out.

Jess threw herself off the back of Jax's bike, noticing Luann's car parked in the lot and stumbled in her haste to get off. She looked around for her, desperate to find out what had happened, what was going on. A huge crowd had clustered around the building as well as several fire trucks and an ambulance.

"Luann!" Jess yelled, struggling to spot her in the crowd of people. She rushed towards the crowd and tried to fight her way through. As she reached the front, where yellow tape had been erected to keep the crowd back, she looked wildly around at the scene. It was chaotic. The firefighters were just managing to get the fire under control and several police officers were interviewing people all over. She dashed under the yellow tape, running past the front of the crowd as she scanned all of the faces for Luann. She had to be here somewhere.

She looked towards the ambulance, where a crowd of police officers were gathered and ran towards them until she noticed they were congregated around a stretcher holding a black body bag. She froze, remembering Luann leaving the clubhouse during the party to come to Cara Cara. Something about a break in. But that couldn't be her. It couldn't be.

"LUANN!" Jess screamed desperately, sprinting towards the ambulance, Jax hot on her heels. Jess could feel tears stinging her eyes but brushed them away. She refused to believe it was Luann in that bag. The universe could not be cruel enough to give her a mother, only to take her away less than a year later.

"Who is that?" she begged one of the police officers and he looked over at her. She looked down to see the shiny sheriff badge on his chest, his name tag reading 'Roosevelt'.

"There are no civilians allowed over here just yet," he said, but his voice was kind.

"Please, just tell me," Jess choked, "Just tell me who it is." Roosevelt glanced behind Jess to look at Jax before returning his gaze to Jess.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Jessica Tyler," Jess said desperately, "I'm the Assistant Manager here. I'm the owner's step-daughter. Please… just please," she begged, her face crumpling as she looked desperately at Roosevelt. He looked sadly back at her and she shook her head at the confirmation of the news she dreaded to hear.

"No…" Jess whispered. The entire world was closing in on her and she began gasping for breath, struggling to get any air into her lungs, "No," she repeated.

"It's Luann Delaney," Roosevelt said as gently as he could and Jess felt herself crumple. Jax grabbed her before she hit the ground and she turned into his arms, screaming into his shoulder.

Author's Note: So first off, sorry I'm posting so late today! It's been a crazy week and I've been out of town all weekend and only just got back.

Second, I hope you enjoyed this new chapter, and aren't TOO mad at us about the end! Those of you who have read the story before might have been expecting it, but to our new readers... sorry? :)

I'll try to have the next chapter up on Wednesday this week if we get some good feedback! Otherwise it'll be Sunday as usual! Thanks for reading and pleeeaassseee review! :)