Disclaimer: I own NOTHING from Sons of Anarchy… just my OC's. Thanks!

…Chapter Four…

Ava's heart was pounding a little, when she finally responded. "Uh, Jax, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at Opie's wedding?"

"I was, but now I'm here." he looked at her from head to toe. "You look great."

"So do you… and you even cut your hair."

"Yeah, I did it while I was locked up."

"Who's at the door, Beeotch?"

Ava opened it a little more. "Jax, this is my best friend Tiny… Tiny, this is Jax."

"Hi, there." she stood up and Jax nodded, then Tiny chuckled. "And now, this must be my cue to exit."

"No, you can stay." Jax glanced at Ava. "You want to go for a ride and talk?"

"Uh, sure… let me grab something." then she headed towards the hallway. "Tiny, can you come here for a second?"

"Sure." she looked at Jax. "It was nice meeting you."

"You too." he nodded.

"What's up?" Tiny asked, walking into Ava's room. "You look like you're about to shit bricks, are you okay?"

"I don't know… I mean, I didn't think I'd see the father of my child and my first love this soon."

Tiny put both of her hands on Ava's shoulders. "Relax and take deep breaths. You'll be fine. I'll stay with Lily, you just go talk to your baby's daddy, and fuck him silly."

Ava laughed. "Yeah, that's not happening."

"Well, either way, you'll be fine." Tiny let go. "Okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Ava grabbed her hoodie and put it on. "Thanks, Tiny."

"No problem." she smacked her ass as she was leaving the room. "I won't wait up." she winked. "Later."

"Bye." Ava waved, then walked out into the living room. "So, how'd you know that I was in town?" she asked, grabbing her cell phone.

"Gloria told me."

"Right… of course she did."

"You ready?"

"Yeah." Ava nodded, then both of them walked out of the house, got on his bike, and he rode off.

...

"Um." Ava looked around. "You didn't bring me to the marina to drown me, did you?"

"No, I didn't." Jax grabbed her hand and lead her into one of the boats that was docked.

"Why are we here?" she asked, as they went below the deck. "Who owns this?"

"A buddy of mine."

"Oh." she sat down on the bed. "You wanted to talk, so talk."

Jax grabbed a chair and sat in it backwards, facing Ava. "When'd you get here?"

"Earlier today."

"What made you come back?"

"Gloria… wait, what exactly did she tell you?"

"Not much." he shrugged. "At the reception, she said that you were in town, and you were staying at her place."

"Oh." Ava let out a breath of relief. "The reason why I'm back is because, Gloria convinced me to come home, and see Elias, or I'd regret it." she groaned. "I hate it when she's right."

"Yeah, I heard." Jax nodded. "Have you seen him yet?"

"Yeah, today."

"So, how long are you staying?"

"Just a few weeks."

Jax just looked down and nodded. "Where are you living? In Phoenix, right?"

"No, actually, we live in Sedona."

"Who's we?"

"Tiny and my daughter Lily."

"You have a daughter?"

"Yeah."

"Where's her father?"

"Sitting right in front of me." she thought to herself, then sighed. "He's around, but we're not together."

"Oh." Jax nodded and took a deep breath. "After your mom told me you were here, I was thinking about what to say to you, replaying it in my head."

Ava raised her eyebrow. "What was it?"

"The night you left, I thought it was bad dream, but when I realized that it wasn't, and you were really gone… Ava, I was a complete mess, more than I was when Tara took off. First - Ope gets locked up in Chino, then - I lose you, before I could give you this." Jax reached in the front pocket of his cut and pulled out a white gold princess cut diamond ring, with four smaller diamonds on both sides.

"Jax… " she breathed out, clearly shocked. "It's beautiful."

"I've held onto this for seven years, except during the time I was in Stockton, but for the most part, I held onto it, wondering if and when you'd come back to me." Jax put the ring back in the pocket and snapped the button to keep it safe. "Ava, why did you leave… and I don't want the Gemma version, I want the Ava version - the truth." she just sat there with a blank stare, then Jax grabbed one of her hands. "Come on, you can tell me. If I can survive getting stabbed by the Russians, then I can take this."

Ava's eyes widened. "What? You got stabbed? Where?"

Jax stood to his feet and lifted up his shirt and her jaw dropped. Out of impulse, she grazed her fingertips over his scars, which sent shivers down his spine. The kind of shivers he hasn't felt like that in a long time, then she dropped her hand on her lap, and looked up. "A Russian did this?"

"Yeah." Jax nodded as he sat down.

"Why?" she asked, but as he opened his mouth to respond, she quickly put her two fingers to his lips, and shook her head. "No, it's none of my business and I gave up that right seven years ago." she dropped her hand back in her lap. "So, don't tell me."

"Fair enough." he rested his hand on her leg. "Now, tell me the real reason why you left, and like I said, I can take it."

Ava stared at Jax for a couple of seconds, then took a deep breath. "A week after Opie was sent to Chino and Kyle was ex-communicated, he cornered me at the cemetery, asking and begging me to talk to you into changing the clubs mind. I told him that you nor the club would ever go for it."

"Fuck no, not after what that bastard did to Ope."

"That's what I was trying to tell him, but he wasn't listening."

"Okay." Jax nodded. "And then what happened?"

"He just kept bugging me and all the times he cornered me, no matter what, if it was at the store or coffee shop, Gemma was right there watching us, thinking that I was cheating on you, which I wasn't." Ava looked down and started playing with her fingernails, so she didn't have to look at Jax, for what she was about to say next. "The night of my twenty - first birthday, I was running late, and as I was walking to my car, Kyle grabbed me from behind, and tied me up in his truck, then took me somewhere." Ava felt the tears falling down her cheeks as she grabbed Jax's hand and squeezed. "Kyle attacked me. He ripped up all my clothes and he said that it was my punishment for not convincing you to let him back into SAMCRO."

"Ava… " Jax whispered, getting off the chair to sit next to her on the bed.

"After he left me, laying on the ground, I realized that I was close to T - M, so I went there as quick as I could to get some help. All I found was Gemma in the office doing paperwork. I tried telling her what had happened, thinking I'd get a little compassion from her, but no, it was the opposite."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know that Gemma hates me and God knows why, but instead of helping me, all she was doing was blaming it on me, saying that I asked for it, and she threatened to tell you… unless I left town, so I did, because I'm sure she'd put her own spin on what actually happened." Ava finally looked up at Jax, with tears falling down her face. "That is the absolute truth… I don't know what Gemma told you, but I'm not lying."

Jax wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I believe you… I just don't understand why you couldn't come to me and tell me what was going on."

"Honestly, I thought you'd give me the cold shoulder like Gemma."

"Ava." Jax got closer and held her face with his hands. "I'm not my mother and if I had known, I never would have let you leave me. Tara may have been my high school sweetheart and the mother of my children, but you're my soul mate and that runs deeper than anything out there. I know that sounds cheesy, but after Tara left to Chicago, you were there to pick up the pieces." he let go of her face, but kept his hands resting on her shoulders. "When Gloria told me that you were here, I wanted to leave right then, but I couldn't for a while, because of some club business besides the reception, but as soon as it was all done, I went over to Gloria's as fast as I could."

"Jax." Ava sighed. "What about Tara and the boys?"

"I'm not with them… I'm with you and right now, it's the only place I want to be." then suddenly, Jax leaned in and kissed Ava on her lips. Her head was screaming to get out of there, but her heart was telling her to stay, so she went with the obvious choice, kissing Jax right back.

...

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Gloria raised her eyebrow, looking up from her TV show as the knocking continued. "Alright, alright." she muttered, getting off the couch, then she opened the door. "Gemma, what brings you here, this late?"

"Jax isn't answering his phone." Gemma walked right in. "He's not at his house or at the clubhouse."

"So, you think he's here? Did you see his bike outside?"

"No, but you never know. I'm just checking to make sure. What room is Ava in?"

"Hers." Gloria pointed towards the hallway.

Gemma walked over and opened the door. Taking a breath of relief, she saw two bodies laying in the bed. Satisfied with seeing Ava and Lily, she shut the door, and turned to Gloria. "Okay, Ava's here."

"Yeah, her Tahoe is parked outside, so I'm pretty sure she hasn't left."

"Okay, good." Gemma smirked. "Jax must be somewhere else, as long as it's far away from Ava… thanks, Gloria, I'll let myself out." and with that, Gemma walked out of the house.

After Gloria knew that she was gone, she went to check Ava's room. "Wait a minute." she whispered. "That'snot my daughter." she giggled, shutting the door. "Well done, Ava… well done."

...

Ava was laying on Jax's chest, looking up at the ceiling, while he was tickling her arms, then he heavily sighed. "I missed you." he started. "You leaving me was a million times worse than when Tara left, which means, I'm gonna make sure you stay longer than two weeks."

"You think so, huh?" she grazed her finger over his scars.

"Yeah, you won't be going back to Sedona. Charming is your home."

"I don't know, Jax." she sat up, bringing up the sheet with her to cover her chest. "I was never going to come here, but Gloria convinced me to visit Elias." she laid back down. "So I did."

"I'm glad you did. I was wondering if and when I'd see you again, but now that you're here." Jax rolled over on top of Ava, moving the hair out of her face. "I'm not letting you go this time."

"Oh, really?" she giggled. "Good luck with that, Sir."

"You just watch." Jax started nibbling on her neck. "You'll end up staying." Ava just laughed as they went for round two.