23
Jax Is Really Alive
Chapter 15 Recap
Jax removes the bags of fluids from Tara's hands and wrists and sleeps beside her. She's still asleep the next morning, so he returns to the gym and works out and fights with the robots. Tara fakes being asleep when Jax takes a shower, so she can watch. He pays her back by pretending to see a scorpion on her.
Tara tells him how painful it was for her to watch him spiral out of control. She confesses that she was thinking about killing herself and Ryland helped her. Jax suggests her feelings for Ryland might be gratitude and not love.
Tara continues her efforts to seduce Jax, who is displaying a shocking amount of self-control.
Chapter 16 Déjà vu All Over Again
Author's Note
This chapter has been in my head and plotted out since the first chapter of this story. There is a passage that is a little explicit and lots of words that some consider bad are used. I don't use a lot of profanity when I write because it has more impact when I do use it. Just wanted to warn any delicate eyes out there. SOA isn't a G rated show, so you have to expect it.
Jax just finished taking a cold shower with the bathroom closed for once. Aside from a lot of sexual frustration, Jax was feeling good about his future. Tara had basically told him that she was only with Ryland out of gratitude. It wouldn't be long before she would decide she didn't want to spend the rest of her life with a man she wasn't in love with when she could have the man she'd loved since she was sixteen. He was pleased with how well his strategy of refusing to have sex with Tara until she broke off her relationship with Ryland was working. Who knew a woman could be manipulated by withholding sex?
He wondered about what Tara had told him about hybrid sex being better than human sex. If that were true, he and Tara would have to spend a few days in bed and there would be no sleeping involved. He grinned at the thought.
His life was looking golden to him now. All he needed to do was to figure out what kind of career he wanted. All he'd wanted since he was five was a Harley and a cut. A lot of that was him, but Gemma and JT also played roles.
Now, he had the freedom to pick a new job to go with his new life. The possibilities threatened to overwhelm him, so he focused on something that he could wrap his mind around—what Tara told him about watching him fall apart after her death.
What hurt the most was Tara thought of him as weak. She had seen him at the two lowest points in his life when Abel was kidnapped and when she was killed. He had despised his father at times for what he thought was weakness. He wasn't much better. He could never fall apart or hit bottom again. New Jax was stronger and tougher.
Gemma watched him fall apart and spin more and more out of control too. She didn't seem to find it distressing. At the party for SAMCRO's new porn studio Red Woody, she pointed out the guy she saw running from the house after Tara's murder. Gemma knew she was marking an innocent man for death. He doubted she gave a second thought to the man he'd killed believing he was responsible for Tara's death. All she cared about was pushing the blame away from her.
He remembered walking into his grandfather's garden to kill Gemma. He would never forget the sickly sweet smell of roses and the sound of crickets. He could recall the scent perfectly. He hoped he would never see or smell another rose as long as he lived. She had gone to her death without pleading for mercy. She had even encouraged him. She told him it was who they were as people. Jesus Christ! What kind of mother does that?
He hoped like hell that wasn't who he was as a person. He would never raise his boys like that. He would have Tara by his side to make sure he didn't make the same mistakes his mother had made with him. There was an unswerving goodness in Tara. If she hadn't been in his life, he would have turned into the monster she feared he'd become that day at the park, the same day Gemma killed her.
Tara truly loved him and that's why it had ripped her apart to see how he was suffering and destroying his life. She was the only person who loved him for who he was as a person. She got to know him and fell in love with that person. To her, he was always more than some hot blonde guy. A lot of girls were with guys because they belonged to the MC. Tara loved him in spite of the MC. She broke the law and treated gunshot wounds without reporting it, putting her career at risk all because she loved him.
His feelings about his mother were a complex mix of love and hate. He didn't know how he could have been so wrong about her. She smothered him with her love, but maybe it wasn't love. Maybe it was all just about control. Gemma wanted to bend him into the shape she wanted him to take. He fought her and carved out his own life, but that hadn't ended well.
In the end, the only true love Gemma had was SAMCRO. She helped build the MC, but she could never be a member, only an old lady. She pushed JT to become president. She had helped position Clay for president. She had done the same for him. It gave her power and prestige and her MC empire would go on after her death. Some men created kingdoms or political dynasties; Gemma had created an outlaw motorcycle club. She had done it so cleverly, the men she used to do it never even caught on.
He wondered if Gemma gave any thought to what he was going to do after he killed her. Did she know that in killing her, he was also passing a death sentence on himself? Or did she only care that he had a son that she'd primed for SAMCRO and she thought her MC legacy was secured? Poor troubled Abel. At least, he would be free from her legacy of poison and crime.
His happy optimistic mood was gone. He needed to think about something other than his mother. It was going to take him a long time to work out his feelings for Gemma. He might not ever succeed in coming to terms with everything that had gone on between them. It was hard to reconcile the mother that bandaged his scrapes when he was a kid with the mother that urged him to kill her a only a few days ago.
In retrospect, he should have known anytime he thought of Gemma, his thoughts would turn dark. He went back to thinking about sex. It was his default whenever he needed something to think about. His mind just automatically went there. If women were honest, he was sure they would admit the same thing. Thinking about sex always lightened his mood even when the prospects for getting any were hours or even days away.
Tara told him she needed to spend time in the medical unit working on something for Ryland. He had finished memorizing all the details of his new identity while Tara had been hooked up to the Tara packs. Cas had even quizzed him on the details.
He decided to go hiking while he thought about sex. Just as he was about to leave, Cas announced that Ryland would be there in five minutes. He delayed his hike to wait for Ryland. He wanted to be there to protect his territory. He thought his presence would keep Tara from having sex with Ryland—well at least it would keep her from having sex in front of him. The days that Ryland could have sex with his wife were coming to an end. It could even happen that day.
He had been an idiot. He didn't think it would bother him if Tara had sex with another man. He knew she'd been with Kohn and he'd been OK with that. Of course, that had been in the past. The only time he experienced any jealousy was during the beginning of their relationship when he thought there might be something between Tara and Hale. (Tara's Story) She was faithful. She didn't even flirt with guys. Tara had never given him a reason to be jealous, or at least not that he knew of anyway.
He was only possessive about two things, his bike and his cut. Now, both were worthless to him. Tara and his boys were all that mattered to him. His priorities for his life were finally right.
His jealousy kept growing. The more he thought about Tara allowing Ryland, or any man, touch her the way she let him, made him furious. He was smart enough to know displaying anger wouldn't help. He just had to keep his focus on getting Tara back.
Short term hell for long term happiness. That was going to be new Jax's motto. That and instead of thinking about something bad like abused dogs and shit like that, think about sex. Unless it's jealousy. Thinking about sex when overcome with jealousy only made it worse. He decided to write this down later for his boys, so they wouldn't screw up their lives.
When Ryland walked into the retreat, Jax appraised him for the first time. He was an inch or two shorter than he was with dark hair and gray eyes. Women would find him attractive, but there was a sort of remoteness about him. He just seemed cold.
"Tara's down in the medical unit," Jax said by way of greeting.
"I know. I was just talking to her. I'm here to do your fingerprints. Once that's done, you will be able to return to the world. If you want to fight now, we can do that. You won't be able to do that for a day or so when I do your fingerprints. Afterwards, I'm going to eat. While I grab a couple of hours of sleep, Tara can do the first part of the fingerprint procedure."
"I'll meet you in the gym after I change," Jax said.
"OK."
Ryland had changed into his dark blue work out clothes and was waiting for Jax in the gym.
"How many robots do you want to start out fighting?"
"I thought we were fighting each other." Jax said.
"I'm not going to fight you. I thought we could fight the robots together."
"A team building exercise," Jax said with a mocking edge to his voice.
"I'm not going to fight you. Hybrids are stronger than Paralorns. I'm pretty well trained, but I would be no match for you."
Jax didn't bother to conceal his disappointment. He had been looking forward to beating Ryland the way the robots beat him.
He decided to go ahead and fight with Ryland. Maybe it would help him get a better understanding of him and knowing his enemy could be useful.
They began by fighting two robots and added in robots until they were fighting four robots together. Jax was surprised at how much fun he had robot fighting with Ryland. As they worked together, Ryland's aloof façade slowly came down and Jax found he liked him.
After almost an hour of fighting, they took a break. Ryland asked Cas for beer. As they sat on the gym mats, beer bottles in hand, Jax realized that Ryland had just outplayed him.
"This was all designed to get me to like you," Jax said.
"To help fit into this world, I watched a lot of movies. This is the moment in the film when the two love rivals fight a common enemy together and become friends."
"I understand your comment about being rivals and not enemies now. I wouldn't go as far as calling you a friend."
Ryland finished his beer and asked Cas for another round.
"Whether you or I end up with Tara, we are going to see each other. Tara's mother is the Queen and I am a member of the council. It's better if we can get along."
"OK. You know she's only with you because she's grateful for your help in getting her through the conversion."
Ryland drained his second bottle of beer.
"I think there may be some truth in that when we first got together. I was reluctant to take things to a romantic level with her for that reason. I know she loves me."
"It's not romantic love," Jax said.
"It is for me. My wife died twenty-five years ago from a sickness that is similar to leukemia. After about ten years, I began to date. Tara's the only woman apart from my wife that I've ever been in love with. It's not a casual relationship for me. I believe with more time, Tara will fall in love with me."
"There's more to Tara and me too. She's loved me longer and we have a destiny together."
"If that's true than she will pick you or maybe your destiny resulted in your son and that was as far as your destiny went."
"I think Tara is reluctant to break things off with you because she doesn't want to hurt you," Jax said battling back. He was used to fighting with his fists. Fighting with words was new, but he was learning quickly.
"She's afraid you'll fall apart," Ryland countered.
"Did she tell you that?" Jax demanded.
"So much for team building. You want to do another short round of robot fighting?"
"Sure," Jax said getting to his feet.
As they worked together to beat up the robots, some of their former comradery returned. Jax got the lesson he thought Ryland was trying to teach him; they can work together as a team yet fight it out over Tara.
Jax realized that the key to winning Tara back wasn't about tearing Ryland down. That would only make her defensive. Instead, he just needed to stay on his path of using sex or, more accurately, the lack of sex to remind her of what they had together and what they could have again.
Ryland was more competition than he realized. Behind the chilly façade was a decent guy. He understood now what Tara saw in him. He reminded him a little of Hale. If they both weren't in love with the same woman, they might even have been friends.
After they finished another twenty minutes of robot fighting, they went upstairs. Tara was sitting on the sofa watching TV. She looked at both men carefully.
"Doesn't look like any blood's been spilled," she said.
"The robots don't bleed," Jax said.
"Or we would be covered in blood," Ryland added.
"I'm hungry. Are we all eating together?" Tara asked.
The men agreed and walked off to take showers.
"Hey, I have a professional question for you," Jax said in a low voice before Ryland could disappear into his room. "Tara told me that male hybrids can only have sex with other hybrids and Paralorns. They can't get hard for human girls."
Ryland looked at Jax and laughed like it was the funniest joke he had ever heard.
"That's between you and Tara," Ryland said before shutting the door to his bedroom behind him.
As they sat at the dining table and ate a perfectly prepared medium rare steak, baked potato with sour cream and butter and green beans with bacon Southern style, Jax wondered if Tara ever checked out Ryland in the shower, but most of all, he wondered if Tara lied to him about hybrids not being able to have sex with human females. Could that be why Ryland thought it was so funny? Or was he laughing because it was true? Would Tara lie to him about something like that? Damn, he hated not knowing!
He only half listened to the conversation about Tara's half-brother back on Rackle, their home world. He had the same disease that killed Ryland's wife. In the last five years, he and some others had come up with a cure that worked on Earth. They were hoping it would work on the Rackle strains as well.
That was one of the points in Ryland's favor; he could talk medicine with Tara. What did he really have in common with Tara apart from the kids? Their past. That was about it. For a day that had begun so promisingly, it was all sliding downhill to the land of shit.
He was still hotter than Ryland. It all came back to his firm belief that if you get the sex right, the relationship is right. He doubted Ryland had the same level of sexual heat with Tara. He couldn't be a better lover and even if he were a better lover (and there was an almost nonexistent chance of that), he couldn't compete with Stellar Teller with the hybrid sex advantage.
"Meg is coming," Tara announced. "She will be here in a couple of hours. She wants to officially meet Jax."
"While I get some sleep, it would be great if you could do the first part of the fingerprint process, Tara."
"I'm glad that you trust me to do it."
"Anyone having dessert?" Ryland asked.
"Maybe later," Jax said.
"I was thinking it would be nice to gather around and eat dessert together in a couple of hours depending on how long Jax and Meg's meeting lasts," Tara said.
"What's for dessert?" Ryland asked.
"I told the robots to make cherry cheesecake. Oops. I mean I told Cas we wanted cherry cheesecake and she instructed the robots."
"Perfect meal and a perfect for later dessert," Ryland said. "I'll see you in a couple of hours."
"Let's go downstairs and I'll get started on your fingerprints," Tara said.
"Are you surprised there wasn't any bloodshed?"
"I was hopeful that the two of you could find a way to get along."
"I don't hate him. If we both weren't in love with you, we might even be friends."
Jax was adding to his plan to get Tara back. Instead of demonizing Ryland, it would be better to show Tara that he could get along with Ryland. He was taking the mature approach. It was all part of the new Jax.
They went down to the medical unit and Tara donned a white lab coat.
"You are official now," Jax said.
"I just don't want to get the stuff on my clothes."
Tara was wearing dark wash jeans with a deep fuchsia sweater that emphasized her full sexy breasts.
"It's a pretty easy procedure. There are just a lot of steps. The part that Ry's going to do is a short process, but it takes a lot of surgical skill. Ry is an amazing surgeon. I watched while he did my fingerprints. I wouldn't advise you to do that though. You don't feel pain, but you do feel some of the pulling and then there's the laser. There's also a burned flesh smell. It was tough for me to watch at times."
"I don't think it would bother me."
"Jax, just trust me. It's tough to watch. I only wanted to stay awake for the procedure so I could learn how it was done."
"OK."
Tara told Cas to list on a white board the procedures for removing fingerprints and to get all the materials she needed.
"I watched while Ry did my fingerprints on one hand and then I did the other. With the procedures, it just helps me remember everything. I will remove your fingerprints, put a healing cream over them that activates with a laser. I'll remove that and then a magnifying device will make sure all traces of your prints are gone. Once I've done that, then I'll put on another gel that will prepare your hands for the surgical procedure. You will have to wear special gloves to keep your hands sterile until Ry does the fingerprint procedure."
"How do you know the prints you are giving me aren't in the system?"
"The Paralorns are like us. They have unique fingerprints. They knew they might need to change identities and they knew that eventually humans would have the technology to store the prints. They collected more than 100,000 prints from dead bodies 70 years ago before the tech existed. Once a set of prints is used, it's destroyed so it can never be used again."
"It seems like they've thought of everything."
"They've had 75 years to get it right. This is going to burn a bit," Tara warned as she began to apply the bright green gel to his hands with a cotton swab.
"You are doing my whole hand?"
"Yes because palm prints are also unique and it's an easier procedure to do the whole front of the hand."
"It's good seeing you as a doctor again."
"It's nice to be able to use my education."
Jax sat in a chair that reminded him of a chair in a dental office. Tara wiped the gel off and reapplied it several times before applying the healing cream.
"Cas send the healing laser down," Tara said.
A black hand-sized box descended from the ceiling. Tara swung it over to Jax's hand.
"Rest your hand on the bottom of the box palm up. Spread your fingers. I'll start the laser and it will make multiple passes over your hand. It will quit when the optimal level of healing is reached."
"There's a laser inside this box?"
"Yes, they have some amazing devices. It would be great to share them with the world. It could do so much good especially for injured soldiers and burn patients, but keeping the Paralorns presence secret is the first priority. Nothing will ever take precedence over that."
"What happens if someone tries to tell?"
"They get killed like rats in an MC only they are even more intense about it."
"I get that."
Tara switched the laser on. After about fifteen minutes, the laser quit and Cas told Tara that the laser had completed the job.
Tara pressed a button on the box and a circular clear glass swung out. When Tara placed it over Jax's hand, a light turned on.
"There's a sensor in this glass looking thing that will spot any areas I might have missed."
The glass beeped and highlighted four small places on Jax's hand. Tara reapplied the green gel to the areas, wiped it off and reapplied it two more times before applying the healing cream. Once again, his hand was put in the box and the laser passed over it. This time when Tara checked his hand with the glass, there were no areas that were highlighted.
Tara repeated the process with his other hand. It was a long painstaking process. This time when Tara checked his hand with the glass, only one area was highlighted. She repeated the treatment on the area and it passed the glass check.
"When the glass was checking your hands, it was also taking measurements. It will go through the hand print casts to find the best fit and then use it as a mold. Liquid artificial skin is put into the mold. It sets and out pops your new hand and fingerprints all in one piece. The process makes several casts because it's so easy to tear the skin when it's applied and you can't use torn skin. Once the skin is successfully attached to both hands, the mold is destroyed."
Jax looked at his bright red hands. The skin was smooth with no lines.
"Can't get my palm read now. That's pretty amazing."
Tara wrapped Jax's hands in bright purple plastic.
"Give it a couple of minutes and it will mold to your hands. It will keep your hands sterile and safe until Ry can apply the new fingerprints."
Just then, Ryland appeared on a screen that descended from the ceiling. He told them he was ready to do the fingerprint procedure.
"Did you get enough sleep?" Tara asked.
"I'm good. I'll be down in about ten minutes," Ry said before the screen went dark.
"Can I see your hands?" Jax asked Tara.
She held her hands up.
He touched them and looked at them carefully searching for a scar or any sign that her hands had surgery.
"No scars?"
"None and Ry fixed my wrist so it's better and I'm scar free. I didn't have the nerve to watch him do that surgery. Your surgery will take about an hour total. It depends partly on how well the fingerprint cast fits on your hand. The better the fit, the easier the surgery. I'm going to give you something to drink. It will make you fall asleep and when you wake up, the surgery will be over."
Jax drank the small cup of colorless liquid and handed the empty cup back to Tara. Ryland walked in at that moment. Everything began to get blurry. He wasn't sleepy; it was more like the time he accidentally got dosed with LSD at an MC show in Vegas. Now, he could see lots of spinning lights and then everything went black.
Whatever Tara gave him must not have worked. Just as he was about to open his eyes and tell Tara that the medicine didn't make him fall asleep, he thought he heard the word "sex". This conversation was too tantalizing to miss.
"How much longer do you think he'll be out?" Tara asked.
"About another fifteen minutes."
"I really love the way Paralorns view sex. You are so much more . . ."
"Evolved?" Ryland suggested.
"That's it. I mean you are OK if I sleep with you and Jax. Jax isn't always the easiest person to deal with. I've always felt this intense pressure to fake it when I don't reach the top of the mountain."
"That's something you should be able to talk to him about."
"I know, but how am I going to explain it and not hurt his feelings? It's just easier to keep faking it."
"How many times have you faked orgasm with Jax?"
"Every single time."
"That surprises me because we don't have that problem."
"I know. I can climax four or five times with you."
"If you ever have sex with him again, just start over from that point on and don't fake it."
Son of a bitch! How the hell could Tara discuss his sexual inadequacies with Ryland! And what sexual inadequacies? How the hell could she even fault his sexual ability! He had never gotten a complaint and he'd been with more women than he could even count. What the fuck? Son of a bitch! She faked it every time? Fuck! Shit! Damn! Maybe he was in hell. Fuck! Shit! Damn! Hell!
Tara began laughing and Ryland joined in.
"Scorpion payback," Tara gasped and then began laughing again.
Jax opened his eyes and looked at them.
"I wasn't fooled," Jax said.
"You were," Ryland said. "We're medical professionals. We knew you were awake."
"Your head was twitching a little bit," Tara added, "the way it does when you're really mad."
Jax shook his head and laughed.
"OK, you got me."
Maybe his ego did get kind of out of control at times, but a man without swagger was just ordinary. He had always wanted more for himself than being average. He could laugh at himself, especially now that he found out it was a joke and Tara's complaints were all made up or were they?
As unlikely as it seemed, the joke Tara and Ryland played on Jax bonded the three of them together. Between the robot fighting and the joke, Jax and Ryland had formed a relationship that was short of friendship but it had come a long way from the tense simmering feud of earlier days.
"I wrapped your hands with that shrink wrap stuff again. I'll monitor them and make sure there aren't any problems. I should be able to permanently remove the covering tomorrow," Tara said.
"It didn't feel like any time passed. I didn't think you did the surgery. It doesn't even hurt."
"The surgery went very smoothly and Tara did part of your left hand. She's a quick learner and a gifted surgeon."
Cas announced that Lorna and her staff would be there in ten minutes.
"Why don't your go ahead and go upstairs," Tara suggested to Ryland. "I need to tell Jax a couple of things."
"OK. I'll let Lorna know. I want to get changed out of scrubs before she gets here," Ryland said. He left the medical unit.
"Who is Lorna?"
"In the Paralorn language, Lorna is their word for queen. Lorne is the word for king, lorner is the word for prince and lorness is the word for princess."
"What do I call your mother then? Lorna?"
"Yes. I'm the only one who calls her Meg. If it's an etiquette thing and if I need to call her Lorna, she will let me know. She always meets the new hybrids that have gone through the conversion. I really like her. I'm kind of getting a chance at having a mother again."
"Is there anything else I should know?"
"I think that's it."
"So that we're clear here, you really haven't been faking it, right?"
Tara laughed.
"I love tormenting you."
"I'd prefer that sentence without the word "tormenting" in it."
Tara didn't need to say it. He could see it in her eyes. She was still in love with him. It wouldn't be long before they were really back together.
Ryland walked into the medical unit with Lorna. She wasn't wearing her homeless woman's clothing anymore. Her dark brown hair was cut in a chic bob that swung forward skimming her shoulders and her eyes were the same shade of brown as Tara's. She was wearing black pants and a long sleeved black sweater.
Lorna held her hand out to Jax. He shook her hand and bowed his head slightly.
"It's nice to meet you Jax Turner."
"Lorna."
She released Jax's hand and gave Tara a hug. It was odd to see Tara with her mother because they appeared so close together in age thanks to the benefits of how the Paralorns showed age.
"I was hoping to have a long conversation with you. I have answers to give you, but there's a problem with a member of my council over a container we're sending to Rackle. I should be able to deal with him over a video connection, but it's highly sensitive and I am going to have to leave to deal with him in person. Let's have coffee and dessert and then I will have to leave. Paralorns love sweets. We rarely say no to dessert."
"The robots made your favorite cherry cheesecake," Tara said.
"My perfect daughter," Lorna said.
"I'm your only daughter," Tara pointed out.
Lorna smiled and hugged her daughter again.
When they returned to the upper level, Jax was surprised to find three people. Two identical looking tall, very fit looking men with light brown hair and dark blue eyes dressed in identical navy pants and white shirts were standing watching one of the screens. Jax could tell from the audio that they were watching some kind of sporting event. Off to one side, a woman with long white hair and patches of shorter hair dyed black stood. It took Jax a moment before he realized that her hair was supposed to look like a piano keyboard. That was a lot strange.
"Jax, this is Eric and Derek. They are my fearless security team and they are rare Paralorn identical twins. This is Angela, filling in as my temporary assistant."
"My name isn't Angela anymore," the woman with the piano hair said sullenly. "My new name is Aranora. Angela is too ordinary for me."
Lorna's lips tightened. It wasn't a good idea to contradict the queen.
Aranora, formerly known as Angela, served Ryland, Tara, Jax and Lorna cheesecake and coffee at the dining table. The two security men and Aranora ate their desserts at the bar.
Lorna and Ryland were discussing sending the cure for the disease that Tara's half-brother had back to Rackle. If it worked it could save thousands of lives.
Ryland wanted to show Lorna some medical specimens. Tara went with them to the lab. Lorna suggested he remain with her staff. It was a subtle order, but it was still an order.
Jax went to his bedroom. He wanted to take a look at his skin under the purple gloves. His hands were also starting to itch.
"Do you remember me?" Aranora asked following him down the hall.
"No." Jax said.
"You have probably seen me at least a dozen times around Charming."
"I still don't remember you."
"That's because I had boring hair. Now, I have memorable hair."
She walked into his bedroom and began to close the door. He blocked the door with his foot.
"What is this?"
"I'm marrying Skeeter and I'm supposed to stay faithful. I've heard all about how amazing you are in bed. How about a quickie? I'll never tell. Every girl deserves great sex once in her life. Think of it as charity."
Old Jax might have been tempted for a few seconds because sex was sex and looks didn't matter much in the dark, but New Jax felt no temptation.
"You want great sex, get yourself some sex toys and lots of batteries."
Jax left her and returned to the living area. He wasn't sure if she seriously thought he was open to having sex with her or if it was some kind of test to see if he would cheat. He walked over to the body guards and talked to them about robot fighting until Lorna, Ry and Tara returned.
Lorna exchanged hugs with her daughter and then they left in three of the four cars that were at the bunker. They needed extra cars to transport supplies. That left them with only one car. There was something about that that made Jax uneasy.
"Your hands are bothering you?" Tara asked as she watched Jax carefully scratch his thumb.
"Itching mostly," Jax admitted.
"That's probably just healing, but let's go down and check," Ryland said.
The trio returned to the medical unit. Ryland and Tara cut the purple plastic gloves from Jax's hands and carefully examined them.
"That's astonishing. I've never seen anyone heal that fast before," Ryland said.
Jax was surprised that there weren't any stitches or redness. They looked normal.
Ryland ran Jax through several touch tests to make sure there hadn't been any loss of sensation.
"I want you to keep the wrapping on for a couple of more hours just to be on the safe side, but your hands are perfect."
"It took me more than a day to get to where you are when I had mine done," Tara said.
Tara carefully coated Jax's hands with more of the healing cream and rewrapped his hands.
"I'm going to get more sleep. I have to leave in a few hours to go to the launch site. You are going to be left without a vehicle for two days. I'll either be back or Lorna will send one of her security detail."
They returned upstairs and Ryland went to his bedroom. Jax and Tara returned to the living area.
"What did you think of Lorna?" Tara asked.
"She seems nice. We only had a couple of minutes before she had to leave."
"What did you think of Aranora?"
"I went to look at my hands in my bedroom. She followed me and wanted me to have sex with her. Crazy. Was that real or was it some kind of test?"
Tara shook her head.
"I had nothing to do with it. I don't think Meg would do that either. Meg always travels with at least two security and a personal assistant. When I tell her what you told me, she won't even be a fill in assistant."
"I don't think you should tell your mother. I told you because it's part of the new Jax who is open about everything."
"My mother needs to be able to trust those closest to her. Aranora has just proven that she is not trustworthy."
"Fair enough."
"I'm going to go to bed now. I'm exhausted."
"Yeah, me too," Jax agreed.
Jax shut his bedroom door and turned down his bed. There on the pillow was a pair of black thong panties. He shouldn't have left that crazy bitch alone in his room. He shook his head and laughed.
The next morning, Jax was having an argument with Cas.
"Look Cas, I know Tara's in her room and I need to talk to her."
"I can't open the door without her permission."
"Fine, then you tell her I need to talk to her. It's important."
Tara's door opened silently and Cas turned up the lighting in Tara's room to its standard setting.
"What's wrong?"
"The communication system is down. Cas said it could take 10 to 36 hours before it's fixed based on how long it took the last time. She said that the system runs too hot because it's a Paralorn design with human made components so this is an on-going problem. We are completely cut off from the world, from the internet, from everything."
"OK."
"There's a huge storm coming and there are flash flood warnings."
"That doesn't really matter since we've got two days without a car. That isn't a big deal either. What's really wrong?"
Jax walked over to where Tara was sitting up in bed and sat down.
"Before the com system went down, Hale called me with some information."
"Hale called you?"
"It surprised me too," Jax took a deep breath. "Nero is on the run from law enforcement and his crew."
She stared at him. He could see the fear in her eyes. If Nero were running from the police and his own crew, something major had to have happened.
"Wendy is in ICU with a suspected overdose. Probably crank. She may not make it."
The color drained from Tara's face.
"Our boys . . ." Jax's voice broke.
"Oh God, please not our boys."
"Our boys are missing."