Quick Note: I have been updating pretty quickly but please know that this will not be the norm. I will attempt to update at least once per week, anything after that is just icing on the cake ;). And now: Chapter Three

"Can I borrow a car? I wanted to go see a friend." I asked, hoping Mom would question it too much. She seemed too preoccupied with Wendy to really pay attention to what I was asking. She nodded and handed me the keys to her car.

"I find a scratch on it and I'll kick your ass." She threatened, parking the SUV beside her car in the driveway. Clay's bike was parked out on the street so I decided to leave before even going inside. I thanked her for letting me borrow the car and we parted ways. I took a deep breath and lowered myself into her car. It was all her, jet black, flashy and fast. I started it up and buckled up before carefully backing out of the driveway. Before I ever had my license, Jax had called and asked me to come pick he and Opie up because they'd gotten too drunk to drive home. I found them hiding in the bushes on the side of the road about half-way between the Knowles' house and ours. We may have gotten away with their underage drinking and my unlicensed driving if I hadn't ran over a mailbox right in front of Unser. Jax still brings it up sometimes.

I pulled into the familiar driveway and got out of the car quickly. The front door opened and I felt myself smile brightly.

"Tara!" I said, rushing to hug her. It had been three years since I saw her at a conference in Chicago. She was close to graduating medical school and I was just finishing my first year. We bumped heads a little bit over how she'd left Jax but eventually we moved past it and I understood that had I been involved with someone before I left, I'd probably be in her same shoes. After the conference, we stayed in touch through texts, emails and phone calls several times a week. She was my outlet for the drama with Hank's family and all of the other firemen's wives that drove me crazy. Knowing that she had just moved back to Charming less than a month before was a silver lining when I decided to come visit for a little while.

"Lexie, I'm so sorry." Tara said, squeezing me tightly. I closed my eyes to keep the tears at bay and nodded my head slightly. When he passed, she was the first person I called. It was something I would never tell my mother. "When you pulled up in that car I was sure Gemma found out I was back."

"You know Charming, Tara. She'll know soon enough." I said, following her inside. My eyes widened as I looked around at all of the boxes and clutter. "Apparently you've been keeping yourself busy. No wonder she hasn't seen you yet. I don't know if she could see you if she was standing at the front door."

"Yeah, I know. Dad's hoarding got even worse when I left, I guess. I spent almost a week throwing away newspapers from five years ago. Don't even get me started on all the empty liquor bottles." Tara said with a groan. I remembered how much her dad used to drink and it only got worse after Tara left. The garage must have towed the Cutlass from the Hairy Dog at least ten times in the two years between Tara and I leaving. He was lucking that the bartender had a soft spot for him or he could have ended up wrecked in a ditch more than once. It eventually caught up to him when he died from Cirrhosis.

"If you take away about half the boxes, add dirty dishes and let it fester for a few weeks then it may look and smell like Wendy's place. That bitch is going to end up killing my nephew." I said, my hand curling into a fist. Tara shook her head and offered me a beer. I took it with a small smile and we walked out onto the back deck. It wasn't nearly as large as Mom's but there was a huge back yard that you didn't see much in Charming.

"Hopefully not. He's a Teller. As long as he doesn't have the family flaw then I'm sure he can get through anything else." I knew that by anything else she meant being born with an addiction to crank. He would have to go through detox and it was hard on babies in perfect health. If he had the cardiac problems my mother and Thomas had then his chances of survival would be slim to none.

"Seriously. If anything happens to him, I might snap. I already lost Hank. I don't think I could lose anyone else without going on some killing spree." I said, shaking my head and finishing my beer. Tara nodded silently. "So, change of subject. How's being back in Charming?"

"You mean being back in the place where I swore to never come back to? Surreal? Saint Thomas is great but it isn't exactly Chicago General. It is nice to not be looking over my shoulder all the time though." She was referring to her crazy ex-boyfriend and ATF agent Josh Kohn. She would always get off the phone quickly when he got home and never like to talk about him much. I knew something was off about their relationship. Then, she told me about having an abortion and Josh finding out. Had it not been for her begging me not to, I would have gotten in touch with the closest charter and had him 'taken care of'. I doubted that he couldn't find her in Charming but at least she would be safer here. He didn't have the connections in Charming like he did in Chicago.

"Yeah, I'm actually enjoying the break from Georgia. I feel like I can just be here, you know? I don't have to be a widow. I can just be." I felt selfish as soon as the words left my mouth. It didn't matter where I was, I was still a widow. I still lost my husband. I felt my bottom lip start to quiver.

"Do you want another beer?" Tara asked, motioning towards the kitchen. I shook my head and stood up, brushing off the back of my jeans. "You know you don't have to feel guilty for wanting to be happy, right?"

"It's barely been a week." I scoffed, upset with myself for running away from my problems. Tara handed me another beer with a smile.

"Lexie, there's no timeframe you're supposed to work off of. I didn't know Hank but I know that if he was anything like you told me, he would want you to be happy. Besides, I wouldn't exactly call you happy. I would just say you're coping." Tara said, leaning back against the counter. I took a sip of the fresh beer and pushed away the negative thoughts swarming in my head. "Can I ask a really insensitive question that I've been wondering about since you said you were coming to visit?"

"No, I haven't seen or talked to him." I answered before she could ask. I didn't mind, it was bound to come up eventually. Tara was the only person outside of the two of us that ever knew anything happened. She nodded and let my answer hang in the air for a minute. "I should probably get back before Gemma starts missing her car. I'm not leaving until next Sunday so we should have dinner or something."

"Sounds good, Lexie. Oh and I checked on those records. I can't find where she's seen a doctor in over two months." Tara said, walking out to the driveway with me. I closed my eyes and tried to keep calm. I'd asked her to check on Wendy's medical records and it was exactly what I was afraid of. I knew she could get in a lot of trouble for telling me that and I had to make sure and be careful about how I used it. I gave her a hug and got back into Mom's car. I wasn't even out of the driveway before my phone started ringing. It was Jax.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked putting the call on speaker and backing out of the driveway. I was hyper-focused on not hitting anything. I wasn't a bad driver but Mom had me paranoid.

"Where are you?" I twisted my mouth and wondered if he knew Tara was back. I wasn't going to get in the middle of it, so I just told him I was headed back to Mom's. "I'm going to pick you up and you're coming to the party tonight. You deserve to have some fun, Lexie."

"Jax, a club party? Really?" I said, pursing my lips and wondering if it was really such a bad idea. I missed the guys and maybe if I showed back up at a party, I wouldn't be given the third degree about my return. "Fine."

"I wasn't going to take no for an answer. I'm headed that way." Jax ended the call as I turned onto Mom's street. I looked down at what I was wearing and shrugged. It wasn't exactly club party clothes but it was good enough. My wardrobe was pretty slim on leather after living in Georgia for so long. Jax pulled up just after I told Mom where I was going. I felt like a teenager all over again. I just didn't want her to worry. I climbed on behind Jax and pulled my hair back, securing it with a hair tie before putting on his helmet that he offered up to me. I felt nervous and excited to be going back to the clubhouse after so long. When I brought Hank home for Christmas, I'd avoided taking him to the clubhouse. It wouldn't have gone well; best case scenario he would have been hazed and I didn't want to consider the worst case at the time. "Having flashbacks yet?"

"Ask me after a few beers." I said with a laugh. I put his helmet on the seat and undid my hair, shaking it out. Jax put his arm around my shoulders and led me towards the doors. He opened the door for me and I felt like I was stepping back into time. I recognized almost everyone wearing a kutte and even a couple of the women; a few I had gone to school with and a few had been hanging around the club for a long time. Several heads turned towards me as I walked in with Jax. Those that didn't recognize me probably thought I was some girl he'd picked up for the night.

"Lexie Teller!" Bobby boomed, rushing over to me and scooping me up into a big, bear hug. I laughed and hugged him tightly. He taught me how to bake so well that I actually baked Hank and I's wedding cake. I blinked a couple times, forcing the memory of the our cake tasting, baking the cake and the wedding away. "I haven't seen your skinny butt in years."

"I know, I'm sorry." I said, my cheeks blushing. He waved it away and called for a beer for the two of us. I gave the young woman a smile, despite her dark glare. "So, this place looks the exact same."

"You know us old men, we're not big on change. How's Georgia? Your old man with you?" Bobby asked with a chuckle. I paused and realized that they didn't know. I had asked Gemma and Jax not to say anything but I honestly didn't think they would listen to me, especially Mom. I downed my beer in one drink and took a deep breath. "What'd he do? I'll kill him."

"A fire already beat you to it." He looked mortified. I shook my head, "Don't. You didn't know, Bobby. I should have let Jax or Mom say something about it."

"I'm sorry, baby girl. How long has it been?" He asked as I grabbed another beer from Jax as he walked up, no doubt noticing me becoming upset.

"About a week." I said with a nod. Bobby frowned and pulled me into a hug. I refused to think about it. I had come to the party to have a good time. I felt like I deserved a couple hours of fun before getting back to 'coping'.