9
Jax Is Really Alive
Chapter 21 Recap
Juice now calls himself JC. His back story is revealed and it explains why Juice made some of his choices. JC came to the harsh realization that he was never SAMCRO. He wasn't a violent criminal. He was just a guy who was so starved for family and a place to belong that he made bad decisions that lead him to SAMCRO. He knows that he was weak when he should have been smarter and stronger.
Chapter 21 is a stand alone chapter. You don't need to read it to follow the story, but it does give insight into Juice and it also may give hints about the sincerity of his offer to help Jax and Tara find their boys. He may also not be completely settled in his feelings for Jax.
Chapter 22 Wendy Makes a Friend
Hale led JC back through a maze of staircases and corridors. Hale's home served as the emergency operating center for the Paralorns, so it had its own bunker system, supplies, sleeping quarters, medical facilities and communications system all underground with the ability to withstand a direct nuclear strike.
Hale was using one of the small underground conference rooms to manage the hunt for the boys. Skeeter and Aranora, now sporting chrome colored hair with baby blue tips, were sitting on one side of the conference table, Jax and Tara were sitting across from them. Louise (Season 1 Pilot episode, convenience store clerk) sat at the head of the table.
"I go by JC now," the former Juice said as soon as he walked into the room.
"Juice is the name of a dead loser who was weak. I'm not that guy anymore. I'm not here for you, Jax or you, Tara. I'm here because my parents told me that your boys have been kidnapped. I'm here to help find them."
For the first time ever, Jax looked at JC with something close to respect. He always thought of Juice as a weak loser who was useful thanks to his computer skills.
Despite Juice's Chinese lie and all the bad that followed, Jax knew he needed to let it go. Juice had paid a huge price for his lie, but Jax had paid an even higher price.
Now though finding the boys was all that mattered. Focus on the living. The past was over, or at least, it could be dealt with at a better time.
"Thank you for coming here," Jax said. He would do whatever he needed to do. If that meant being nice to JC, that was what he was going to do.
"Thanks," Tara echoed with less enthusiasm.
"Have a seat," Hale said. "I just started the briefing when the system's cameras caught you knocking at the door."
JC took an empty seat next to Aranora and across from Tara.
"The boys didn't wander off," Hale said. "We know they were taken. That's about all we know. It's still possible that it was a stranger abduction. There aren't a lot of traffic cameras in that area, so there's not much to go on. That's the worst case scenario because it will make finding them very difficult.
"For now, I think we focus on three areas, Gemma, SAMCRO and Norco. Skeeter and Aranora are handling SAMCRO. Skeeter has existing contacts within the MC and Aranora has been going undercover as a crow-eater. She's also going to Oregon to find out what she can about Gemma's death and see if she can identify who might be helping her. Tara and Jax will head to Norco to find and talk to Nero and Wendy. JC, that leaves finding Gemma. I know it's a big request and there's history between the two of you."
"I didn't think this was going to be easy. I'll do whatever needs doing to find the boys," JC said with quiet confidence.
Hale nodded.
"Good. Louise is the point person. I can't always be available, but she will be. Call her with any information. Even coming to a dead end in an investigation needs to be reported. If you need anything, she will get it to you. She will be constructing the info boards and sending updates to your phones in real time. I'm hoping that one of these three areas we're investigating will lead to the break we need to find the boys."
"I've got your flight to Oregon arranged, the car rental reserved and your ID as a reporter," Louise said handing a large manila envelope to Aranora. "You might want to get a wig and have more conservative hair. You don't want to be remembered."
"Fine," Aranora said sullenly. "I'll use one of my boring ugly brown-haired wigs."
"Skeeter, when you have your casual conversation with SAMCRO, see if you can find out anything about what's going on with the windows at SAMCRO. It's making the town very nervous. The windows have been shot out almost as fast as they have been replaced. People are afraid to shop in that area despite all the window vandalism being done at night when all the businesses have been closed," Hale said.
"You think the boys' kidnapping and the windows are related?" Jax asked.
"No, but it would be normal for Skeeter to ask SAMCRO about it. Maybe SAMCRO will shed some light on who is on their current enemies list. That could help us out with the boys."
Hale ended the meeting. Skeeter, Aranora and JC left.
"So are you a came over on the spaceship alien or hybrid?" Jax asked Louise.
"Hybrid," Louise said. "I choked to death on a big gumball when I was two. There was no one around to help me, no Heimlich maneuver, just death and a return to life. My parents are Paralorn, so at least they knew what to do. They told everyone I was mauled by a dog and had to have reconstructive surgery to explain why I looked different."
"Hybrids stick together," Tara said.
"The most exclusive club in the world," Louise said with a smile. "I'm going to grab some sleep in the bunk room while I can," she said getting to her feet. She gave Hale a long, lingering glance.
Jax had seen that same look on Louise's face when he would come into the convenience store. He never made a move on her. For all his faults, he'd always kept his casual sexual conquests confined to girls who understood the score. He had enough kindness in him to exclude the girls who might mistake him for a long term romance.
Once Tara left Charming, Jax just accepted that he would never have passionate love for another woman. He drowned himself in casual sex and weed.
"Thanks for helping," Jax said.
"Good night, Hale," Louise said with one last lingering look.
"Don't," Hale said to Tara pointing his finger at her.
Tara laughed.
"She's perfect for you, Hale. She's pretty, smart and she wants to be a police officer."
"I don't need the misery of a relationship," Hale said.
Jax noticed the look Hale and Tara exchanged and he wondered again about exactly what had gone on between the two of them back in high school. (Future Tara's Story chapters) Or maybe even now, judging by the way Hale was looking at Tara.
"Do you trust JC?" Jax asked.
Hale shook his head.
"The only two people I trust are you and Tara. You want your boys back."
"He has a lot of reasons to hate me. I hope he's really changed and grown, but it's a big change for a short span of time. He may not be behind the boys' kidnapping, but he may want to attach himself to the investigation because he wants to take them or kill them once we've found them. It would be his ultimate revenge on me," Jax said.
"Yeah, I've thought about that too. We'll be prepared."
Hale's phone vibrated. He listened and ended the call by thanking Louise.
"Louise has Taz monitor video and radio for any mention of Jax, the boys or anyone else connected to him. She checked and found this. Taz video of Wendy Case on screen. It's not good."
A bedraggled Wendy with hair in wild disarray, smeared eyeliner and rumpled clothes that looked like she'd slept in them for a couple of days appeared standing next to a woman wearing a bright red suit. They were standing in front of a hospital. The woman stepped away from Wendy and spoke into a cluster of microphones representing all the major local Southern California TV news stations.
"My name is Flora Whitehead and I am representing Wendy Case," the woman paused dramatically before continuing, "She is finally ready to speak about the kidnapping of her boys."
Flora Whitehead was a new female attorney who was hoping to make a name for herself by attaching herself to a woman having trouble in her life that might generate a lot of media attention. Reluctantly, she stepped away from the microphones and allowed Wendy to step in front of them.
"My name is Wendy Case. I haven't been able to make any public statements about what happened to my boys. After going on his murder spree, Jax Teller, my former husband, tracked me down to Norco where I was staying with a friend. I had been a meth addict, but I'd been clean for many years. I worked as a substance abuse counselor helping others," Wendy said. She looked over at her attorney who nodded her head in approval. "Jax Teller injected me with an overdose of meth and took my boys. He knew that was the only way he could get them away from me. I would have gone to my death fighting to save them from me . . . I mean saving them from him."
"That lying, fucking bitch," Jax said in a voice tight with anger.
"Junky whore," Tara pitched in on the Wendy dis train using one of Gemma's favorite names for Wendy.
"Jax, if you can hear me, just leave the boys somewhere safe and call 911 with their location."
Flora shoved Wendy aside.
"That's all for now. Ms. Case is just trying to deal with what could be the death of her beloved sons."
Wendy cast an alarmed look at Flora and her eyes teared up.
The broadcast cut away to the local NBC news affiliate reporter who summed up what Wendy said and recapped Jax's murder spree on the day he appeared to have miraculously dodged certain death when he seemed to be heading straight into a large truck. Jax's picture was put on screen and the audience was told that he was armed and extremely dangerous. The reporter urged viewers to be on the look out for him, not to approach him and to call law enforcement.
"What the hell is wrong with her?" Hale asked, shaking his head. "That isn't going to get the kids found."
"This is your fucking fault," Tara said to Jax. "Oh, I don't think you should kill Wendy," she mocked him. "Worrying about the kids for the rest of her life is punishment enough. Fucking pussy. And I mean you and not her. I'm going to kill her and no one is going to stop me. I'm going to bed now. Alone," she said looking at both men.
"If I don't leave the room, I'm going to go off on you all over again, Jax. You deserve it because you put SAM fucking CRO and your pretend brothers ahead of your own real sons. How the hell do you come up with some plan that allows that junky whore to raise our boys? If we don't get our boys back, Wendy may not be the only person I kill." Tara said, storming from the room.
"Don't kill anyone in Charming," Hale called after her.
"I keep hoping I'll wake up and this will all just be a nightmare."
"Reconciliation's hit a rough patch, huh?" Hale asked.
The absurdity of the situation hit Jax and he began to laugh.
NEXT UP: Fire Fight
Hale surprises Jax with a gift and reveals to him how he's changed since returning to life. More drama and turmoil with a fiery end as I move the story to be more plot driven and less emotion driven story. Jax comes up with a shocking plan that no one will see coming. It will completely change Jax, but not in the way he was thinking about changing in the first chapter of Strange Times for SAMCRO.
The emotion will still be there because that is what keeps me coming back to writing this story. It's just interesting to me to see these characters trying to deal with the mess of their lives after Season 7 and after I torture them a bit.
Future chapters—murder, murder and probably another murder, more conflict, Nero returns, Wendy returns and SAMCRO enters the story in a bigger way. No one is safe.
All of the characters who have returned to life have sort of found their better selves, but what about Gemma? She's either going to be a better version of herself or even more evil. This was a woman who gave birth to a baby girl and killed her, so if she's a lot worse . . . WATCH OUT! Evil Gemma sounds like a lot more fun than sweet Gemma.