Jess left Jax's house, closing the door behind her before leaning against it, finally allowing the tears to come. She shrank down in front of his door, pulling her knees into her chest as she sobbed silently. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She and Jax had made it through so much, she didn't think there was anything they couldn't get past.

And now she was once again leaving Jax's house with no idea where to go. But there was only one place she wanted to go, only one person she wanted to see right now, and that was her best friend. She just hoped she was still her friend.

When she pulled up to the apartment several minutes later, she stood and peered up at it, remembering the first time she'd met Lux, at her interview at Cara Cara. The day that had completely changed her life. It had been almost two years, but it felt like a lifetime.

She slowly took the steps up to her apartment before finally reaching the door. She opened it tentatively and as soon as she stepped fully inside, she was immediately embraced by a pair of arms, a slightly protruding belly digging into her stomach. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she held Lux to her. They finally stepped apart and Lux took a good look at her before racing off to the kitchen, returning with a beer that she shoved into Jess's hand.

"First off, don't you dare disappear on me ever again," Lux said sternly and Jess choked back a laugh, nodding.

"Promise," she said, "I just thought… I thought you'd be so mad at me."

"Well I wasn't happy with you," Lux admitted, "But you're my best friend, Jess. We've been to hell and back together. We can get through anything." Jess smiled sadly at her.

"Well apparently Jax and I can't," she said. Lux's eyes widened as she looked worriedly back at Jess, leading her to the couch and they both sat down.

"What happened?" she asked.

"It's over," Jess said sadly, shaking her head, barely believing the words.

"What? What do you mean it's over?" Lux asked. Jess shrugged.

"I mean… we're not together anymore," she said.

"He broke up with you!?" Lux shrieked, bouncing up from the couch, "That son of a bitch! I swear to God, my idiot brother! I will kill him!" Jess shook her head, grasping Lux's hand and pulling her back down.

"No, he's right," Jess said, "We can't be together right now. Maybe we'll work things out later but… we both have to earn back some trust before we can even think about a relationship." Lux frowned, shaking her head.

"This is stupid," Lux said, "You can earn back trust while you're together. Everyone knows you're made for each other." Jess shrugged.

"It wouldn't work. Not right now, anyway. We would just end up hating each other, and neither of us wants that," she said.

"So… so you're okay?" Lux asked tentatively. Jess looked back at Lux, her never ending tears back again.

"No, Lux," she said, "I'm definitely not okay." Lux nodded as Jess leaned into her and Lux wrapped her arms around her.

"Well, I'm here," she said, holding her as Jess cried into her shoulder.

SOASOASOASOASOA

"Are you sure you're okay to close tonight?" Jess asked nervously, standing in the door to her office at Cara Cara with her purse hoisted over her shoulder. It had been two weeks since Jess's breakup and she had been trying to keep herself busy training Daisy in her new job as Assistant Manager, but tonight would be the first night Daisy closed on her own without either Jess or Nero around to help. Diosa had finally opened its doors the week before and Nero had been so busy with the business upstairs Jess had barely seen him, except in passing.

Daisy sat back in her chair and smiled, nodding.

"I'll be fine. Go now, before I have one of them bouncers throw you out," she said jokingly.

"You are such a huge help," Jess said, finally grinning as she headed out the door. Daisy's transition to Assistant Manager had been relatively easy, and she had picked up on things much easier than Jess had thought she would. To her surprise, it turned out Daisy wasn't a complete idiot and Jess wondered what Daisy could have done with her life if she hadn't gotten addicted to drugs so young.

Jess walked out into the early evening, excited that she would be able to get to the apartment before Lux went to bed, and hopefully even before Tig made his way over after Church.

She walked in to see Lux lounging on the couch watching TV. Her head jerked from the couch's headrest at the sound of the door opening and she grinned at Jess, moving to sit up.

"You're home early," she said happily. Jess nodded, walking into the kitchen to grab a beer.

"Daisy's closing up for me," she called as she opened the fridge, noticing the ultrasound hanging by a magnet and trying to ignore the jolt of pain that shot through her every time she was reminded that her odds of ever being able to have children were slim to none, at best. But she was genuinely happy for Lux, and she tried to focus on her instead of herself.

"Tig started freaking out yet?" Jess asked jokingly, taking one last look at the ultrasound before she grabbed a bud light and walked into the living room to sit next to Lux, who shook her head.

"Surprisingly… no," she said, "He actually seems… excited about it all. He's been great." Jess smiled.

"That's good," she said. Lux nodded and smiled, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, "What's wrong?" Lux shook her head and sighed.

"It's my dad," she said, "I saw him earlier at the clubhouse... he barely even looked at me. He hasn't said more than two words to me since I made the announcement. I'm sure he was hoping Tig and I would just be a phase, but you'd think he'd at least try and be happy for me. Tig already said he was going to move in here full time once the baby comes and… it would just be nice if I had my dad's support. I mean, this is kind of a big deal." Jess nodded sympathetically.

"He'll come around," she said, trying to ignore the fact that when the baby came, Tig would be in and Jess would be out. She'd have to figure out her living arrangements soon, "Especially once the baby is here." Lux nodded.

"I hope so… at least I know Gemma will help me. Probably way more than I want her to, but I know I'll need the help," Lux said. Jess continued to nod, but shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Gemma had been an ice queen to her ever since the incident at the zoo. Jess expected her to be mad, but she'd hoped that Gemma would warm up to her again. However, it wasn't happening like that.

"So when do you find out if it's a boy or a girl?" Jess asked, attempting to change the subject from Gemma. Lux grinned, bouncing in her seat excitedly.

"We get the results in a couple of days," Lux said, "I'm going to make an announcement at the clubhouse on Thursday. You have to be there." Jess grinned, even if the thought of going to the clubhouse made her uneasy. But so far Jax had stuck by his promises. She'd only been to the clubhouse a few times since their breakup, and she hated seeing the skanky crow eaters clamoring around the newly single president, but Jax had kept his word - she was still welcome there.

"You guys think of any names yet?" Jess asked. Lux rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, if it's a boy Tig wants to name him Glock," she said, "I told him no way in hell." Jess laughed, shaking her head, imagining a tiny newborn with the name Glock Trager.

"What about you?" she asked.

"If it's a boy, I like Maddox," she said, looking at Jess for approval.

"I like it," Jess said, grinning.

"And for a girl, Alexa. And we'll call her Lexi," Lux continued.

"Perfect. Goes with the family," Jess said. Lux nodded, smiling happily as she absentmindedly rubbed a hand over her belly.

"Yeah," she said, "And I know Tig will give me whatever I want. I just have to pull the whole 'I'm carrying your fetus inside of my body' card and he'll roll over." Jess laughed.

"Tough guy Tig, brought down by his pregnant girlfriend," she said.

"Damn straight," Lux responded, "So what about you? How are things with Jax?" Jess shrugged, running a hand through her hair.

"Yeah, we're okay," she finally said. She glanced at Lux before returning her gaze to her hands in her lap, "And by okay, I mean awkward as fuck. But we're both trying to be adults about it." Lux nodded.

"I still stand by my opinion that you're both idiots," she said, "But I'm at least glad you're sticking around in spite of it all."

"I was thinking of going to visit my dad sometime this week," Jess said, "Now that I've got Daisy's help, I have the time to make the trip." Lux nodded, smiling.

"I'm sure he'd like that," she said. Jess nodded, making a mental note to call the prison the next day to work out visitation.

"Yeah, me too," Jess said, already feeling excited about the prospect of seeing Otto again.

SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA

Jess walked into the clubhouse Thursday and looked around for Lux, but didn't see her. She spotted Jax talking to Opie and Juice by the dart boards, crow eaters hanging all over them, and straightened her shoulders slightly, repeating her mantra over and over. She was an adult. She could handle this like an adult. She could be mature about this.

A croweater giggled at something the guys said and Jess's mantra died in mid-thought.

"Maybe not…" she muttered to herself, making a beeline for the bar and praying to God Lux showed up soon. She grabbed a beer from Rat, who was manning the bar, and scanned the room as Bobby strode up to her.

"Hey, Jess," he said, grabbing a beer for himself and taking a seat at the bar. She smiled at him.

"Hey, Bobby," she said.

"Lux tells me you're going up to Stockton sometime next week," he said. Jess nodded.

"Yeah, Tuesday," she replied. She'd managed to work out the visitation with the prison and was looking forward to the visit. Bobby nodded.

"That's good," he said, "He needs you, you know." Jess nodded, guilt creeping in. She had only seen him a couple of times since Luann died. It had just been too hard to face him, only to be bombarded with the memory of Luann every time she looked at him. And then she'd gotten so busy with the club reopening she just hadn't had the time.

"I know," she said, "I need him, too." Bobby nodded.

"I just want you to know," Bobby said, "We're all glad you're sticking around. It's what Otto would want." Jess smiled at him, nodding.

"Thank you, Bobby, that means a lot," she said. Bobby nodded, winking at her.

"And if you ever want to bring your aunt around, well… she'd be more than welcome, too," he said. Jess laughed, nodding.

"I'll be sure to extend the invitation," she said. Just then the front doors flung open and Tig and Lux walked in.

"IT'S A FUCKING BOY, BITCHES!" she screamed over the music, and the entire room erupted in cheers. Jess immediately leapt from her seat and ran to her friend, hugging her tightly as Lux beamed, unable to contain her excitement. When the uproar finally died down, Lux, Tig, and Jess walked over to join Jax, Opie, and Juice at the dartboards. Lux shooed the croweaters away as the guys congratulated her again.

"Thank God for small miracles," Lux said, "No way in hell could I handle a girl." Tig shook his head, grinning.

"Glock is gonna be amazing," he said and Lux slapped him upside the head.

"We are not naming our baby Glock!" she yelled. Tig shrugged.

"We'll see," he said as a crow eater brought over a round of beers for them all, and a water for Lux.

"Oh my God when will this baby come so I can have a beer again," Lux wailed, taking the water and sipping on it. Jess stood awkwardly by Lux, trying to avoid staring at Jax and once again repeating her mantra. She was a completely mature adult. She could handle being in his space. But then he walked over to her, giving her a nervous smile, and she smiled back.

"Glad you made it," he said. Jess's smile widened, and she nodded. Maybe she really could be an adult about this.

"Wouldn't have missed it," she said, and Jax nodded.

"That's good," he said, "Nice of you to take the night off for Lux."

"Actually I've got Daisy working for me now," Jess said, "Assistant manager. She's closing the place up for me." Jax's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Really?" he asked, a note of apprehension in his voice, "How's that working out?"

"Great, actually," Jess said, "She's picked up on the system really well and has agreed to trade closing shifts with me so I can actually get home before 3 am once in awhile." Jax grinned.

"That's great," he said. They stood in awkward silence for a few minutes, each of them unsure what to say to the other, until Jess's phone beeped. She dug in her purse to pull it out, frowning at the message flashing at her on the screen from Daisy.

-Some weird guy named Georgie just walked in and started screaming for you. Should I get the bouncer?-

Jess sighed, rolling her eyes, and showed the phone to Jax.

"I've gotta go," she said. Jax frowned, reading the text, and shook his head.

"Not alone you're not," she said.

"I can handle Georgie," Jess said. Georgie Caruso was like a cockroach - disgusting and you really didn't want him anywhere near you, but relatively harmless. Jax started to shake his head again, but Jess stopped him.

"Jax… this isn't your problem," she said. Jax frowned.

"I still care about you, Jess," he said, "I can still help you." Jess nodded.

"I know, but I don't need your help," she said, "I can handle this, and if I can't, Nero is upstairs."

"So, what, Nero's your go-to guy now?" Jax asked, a note of anger and jealousy in his voice.

"Well… we are partners," she said. Jax frowned.

"Is that all you are?" he asked, and Jess scowled at him. Nero was old enough to be her father and she'd never given Jax reason to believe that they were anything other than business partners, and now he sounded like he was accusing her of something.

"Jesus Jax, we've only been broken up for a couple of week. Not that it'd be any of your business, anyway," she reminded him, just as a crow eater sidled up to Jax, wrapping her arms around him. Jess cocked an eyebrow at him, reminding him that she wasn't asking who he was fucking, which meant he didn't have the option of asking her.

"Just… call if you need me," Jax finally said, before walking away with his arms wrapped around the girl. Jess watched them walk away for a few minutes, her heart twisting painfully in her chest at the sight of him with another girl, before saying a quick goodbye to Lux.

She drove the short distance to Cara Cara and when she finally walked inside, she saw Georgie standing by the side of the stage screaming at Sasha, who was currently dancing on the main stage and doing her best to ignore him. He looked drunk; what little hair he had was mussed and his clothes were disheveled. Steve the bouncer was standing nearby, ready to step in if things went too far.

"You stupid bitch!" he was screaming, "You had it made at Georgie's! I did everything for you!" Sasha looked incredibly uncomfortable, and her tips were non-existent; any guys that had been sitting by the stage had clearly moved away when Georgie started his tirade. Jess strode up to him, anger bubbling inside her that he dare come in to her club and harass her girls.

"Sasha, take 5!" Jess yelled. Sasha nodded in relief and practically ran off the stage as Georgie turned to face Jess, a broad grin across his face.

"Ah, there she is!" Georgie said, his words slurring and his arms wide open in welcome, "The princess of Charming! But where is her prince?" Georgie pretended to look around, every movement highly exaggerated.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jess asked, "Do I need to get a restraining order keeping you away from my girls?"

"I wasn't doin nothin," Georgie said, his words slurring. He jabbed a finger in Jess's direction, but was too drunk to make contact with her, "You ruined everything. Everything was working out great and then you came in and took it all."

"I think it's time for you to go," Jess said assertively, arms crossed across her chest.

"You're not the boss of me," he said, and Jess wanted to laugh at the childishness of it all. He was acting like an oversized, drunk baby.

"I want you out of here in the next 5 seconds or Steve here will throw you out," Jess said, motioning to the bouncer standing several feet away, his bulging arms crossed intimidatingly across his chest. Georgie turned to glance at Steve before turning back to Jess, scowling at her.

"Oh, Steve the bouncer," he said mockingly, "Oh no, I'm so scared." Steve made a step toward him and smirked as Georgie nearly fell over himself attempting to back away from him. He righted himself, glaring at Jess as he started walking to the door.

"This isn't over!" he called over his shoulder, "You owe me!"

"I owe you shit!" Jess called after him, "I'll be sure to send a big pile of it your way!" She watched him walk out the front door before turning to Steve.

"Thanks," she said, "He is not allowed back in here. Ever. Make sure to tell the rest of security." Steve nodded and walked back to his post by the door as Jess looked around for Daisy, finally spotting her watching from Jess's office.

"I'm so sorry, Jess," Daisy said when Jess walked over to her, "I should have been able to handle that. You shouldn't have had to come up here." Jess waved her hand away.

"Don't worry about it. If he ever shows up again I want you to call me first thing," Jess said. Something told her Georgie wouldn't be going away any time soon.

"So who is he?" Daisy asked.

"That fine example of a human being was Georgie Caruso. He owns another strip club on the other side of town. Nasty place," Jess added, wrinkling her nose at the memory of taking Lux to work there after Cara Cara had burned down.

"Well what's his problem?" Daisy asked.

"He's just pissed I rebuilt the club," Jess said, sighing, "He'd benefitted a lot when the club burned down. Got all our business, all our girls… but we're back and he's getting hit."

"Is he somebody to worry about?" Daisy asked. Jess shrugged, shaking her head.

"Nah, he seems like someone whose bark is way worse than their bite," Jess responded and Daisy nodded.

"Okay," she said, "Oh, before you leave, Nero called down to say he needed to reschedule your meeting to Wednesday." Jess nodded.

"That works, I need to leave early Tuesday anyway," she said. Daisy nodded.

"What you got goin on?" she asked. Jess hesitated, unsure how Daisy would take the news that she was going to visit Otto.

"Um, I'm going to see Otto, actually," she said. Daisy widened her eyes in surprise, taking a slight step back.

"Oh," she said, "I didn't know you two were…I didn't know you guys had talked, is all." Daisy looked around the club, as if a dawning apprehension had just come over her. When she looked back at Jess, there was a strange expression on her face and for a split second Jess thought she saw something in her eyes that she didn't recognize. But it was gone faster than it had appeared and Daisy once again had a smile on her face.

"Well I think it's great you've gotten to know him," she said. Jess nodded, still feeling strange about what had just happened.

"Yeah, I'm sorry if it makes you feel weird… I just…" Jess began, but was unsure how to finish.

"Want to know your dad," Daisy finished, the warmth back in her voice, "Of course you do. Well… let me know how it goes."

"I will," Jess said, deciding she had imagined whatever she had seen flash in Daisy's eyes, and smiled back at her mom.

AN: Thank you so much to all who reviewed! I really appreciate your feedback and LOVED reading your thoughts on the last chapter! I hope you liked this chapter - let me know in the reviews!