6

Jax Is Really Alive

Chapter Recap 46 Opie continues to confront Jax with his selfishness. Opie accuses him of abandoning him when Piney died. He promised him that he would find the truth behind Piney's death and bring it to the table. Jax had planned on killing Clay and then taking Tara and the boys and leaving town until the CIA changed that.

Opie blames Tig for his death because Tig killed Veronica Pope and it was only natural for Pope to want vengeance. He also faults Jax for his failure as leader of the MC after Tig killed Pope's daughter for taking no action against Tig.

Jax is forced to see things from a different point of view. He spends the night figuring out his life and wakes up with a new plan for his future, Opie and Tara.

Chapter 47 Miles of Surprises

Jax was optimistic about the future. He had worked out his relationship with Tara and he would find a way to salvage his friendship with Opie, but the most important thing he could do now was to find and rescue Thomas.

It didn't make sense to him that someone would take Thomas without asking for some kind of ransom unless taking the boys was the end goal. Who wanted the boys? Gemma. That was the only thing that made sense. Gemma was connected with taking the boys.

Thomas was somewhere nearby. He had suspected that since he learned the boys had been kidnapped. He still hadn't worked out his relationship or his feelings about Gemma. If she were behind taking the boys, he might have to kill her again.

He went into the kitchen to get some coffee. Hale was already there in his police chief uniform.

"Your bar took some damage last night," Jax said. "I'll pay for the damage or fix it."

"I'm surprised it wasn't completely trashed," Hale admitted. "Bumpy conversation with Opie, huh?"

"I guess I am the only one who was surprised by Opie's attitude."

"This dying and returning to life is not easy. Opie's been through a lot with Donna and the Lyla situation and his death was pretty bad."

"I know," Jax said as he accepted a cup of coffee from Hale. "I was there."

"I'm off to work. If you need any police help in your search, you have my private number. I've opened a fake vandalism case where Abel was left. I have had detectives scouring the area for any video of that area. I'll send it to Louise. If I find any leads, I'll call you and Louise to coordinate. I am not optimistic. A lot of the video from cameras is poor quality, but I'm hoping that today we get a break. At least we know Thomas is near."

"I think Gemma is connected to this."

"That's my bet too. We'll find Thomas."

"I think I spent the entire night thinking. You are the only person who always did the right thing," Jax said and then he laughed. "Except for the night you went face down on Stahl." (Season 1)

Hale's face turned bright red.

"How do you know that?"

"I helped break Cherry out of jail. I went to the chief's office looking for info on the ATF. I saw you coming up for air."

Hale laughed.

"That was probably the worst thing I've done."

"I've done a lot worse," Jax said.

Hale left. Jax sat down at the kitchen table and called Tara. She updated him on Abel's condition. The doctor had run tests on Abel and detected chemicals in his blood. Together they worked out the medication Abel was given. It wasn't his normal heart medication.

Louise had downloaded all the pharmacy records from all the nearby pharmacies from the day before the boys were taken until the day Abel was found. Tara was hoping if they could find who got the drug, it would help them find who had taken the boys.

"I think Opie hates me," Jax said. "I had no idea how he felt."

"If he hated you, he wouldn't be in Charming and he wouldn't have bothered to talk to you about things. He's here to help us find Thomas. Focus on that for now. The friendship can be fixed. All of us hybrids stick together. Look at us. I didn't think we could put our relationship back together, but we're together."

"When can I come get you?"

"I don't know. I can work on the prescription lead from here and stay in contact with you. Ry's got a lot going on and I don't want to add to his load by insisting he let me return to Charming now."

"OK. I'd rather you were here, but I understand about Ryland. You have any idea what's going on with him?"

"No. If he wanted me to know, he'd tell me. I'm sure we'll eventually find out."

"We're going to find Thomas. He has to be close."

"I know we'll find him and get him back. Things will work out with Opie."

"Thanks. I love you, Tara."

"I love you, Jax."

They ended the phone call just as Opie walked into the room.

"Any developments on Thomas?"

"Yeah, Tara's working on a prescription drug lead. There's still a security lockdown and Ryland won't let her into Charming."

"Do you know what's going on with this security lockdown?"

"No idea. Tara has no idea either."

There was an awkward silence between the two men.

"Opie, I spent all night or it felt like all night thinking. Tara and I have put our relationship back together. I hope we can mend our friendship. You are right that I could have been a better friend. I could have been a better husband, father and MC president."

"I could have been a better husband and father too," Opie said taking a seat at the table across from Jax. "Donna and I are going to get our kids back. Hale and Ryland are helping us. We're going to send in some guys to tell Lyla that Donna is alive in witness protection and she's not in danger anymore and wants the kids. Lyla won't put up a fight for the kids. She'll be happy to be rid of them."

"I'm glad you're getting them back."

"I'm going to be a real dad this time, not dump all of the parenting on Donna."

"That sounds familiar. I did the same thing with Gemma and Tara dumping the parenting on them. I had more important things to do with the MC. It was only near the end after Abel told me that Gemma killed Tara that I became a little bit of a father."

"How did he find out?"

"She was talking to herself, I guess. He thought she killed Tara so the other mother Wendy could come back."

"I didn't know the part about Abel. That kid's been through a lot."

"He hurt himself and said Gemma did it. He was afraid of her. Tara was right to want to get Abel and Thomas away from her."

"She was like a mother to me when I was a kid. It's hard to see how she changed into something so bad. You think she's behind the kidnapping of the boys?"

"There is some kind of link. It's the only thing that makes sense."

"What can I do to help you find Thomas?"

"We have a room in the alien headquarters where we work. Louise from the convenience store coordinates everything."

Jax finished his coffee before leading Opie through the underground tunnels to the alien headquarters. Louise and Juice/JC were already in the war room working.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Juice," Opie said.

"New life. New me. I'm JC now. No more Juice."

"OK," Opie said.

"I've been up all night getting together the prescription information for Tara," Louise said.

"She told me about this lead," Jax said.

"I've also dumped all the traffic cam video into computer files so you guys can review it to see if you can find who might have had Abel. If you need me, you've got my number. I'm going to grab a few hours of sleep and then I'll be back."

"Thanks," Jax said.

"I've been looking at traffic cam footage. The quality isn't very good," JC said.

"I don't know what else we can do to try to find Thomas," Jax said.

"Wait a minute," JC said. He looked at the video, rerunning the clip and looked at it again.

"Do you see Abel?" Jax asked.

"No," JC said shaking his head. "It's Miles. He's back from the dead."

Both Jax and Opie stood behind JC as he showed them the clip. There was no doubt. Miles was back from the dead.

Next Up: Charming Sign