Author's Note: Hey guys here's chapter 2, as always I do not own SOA.
Jax's white t-shirt billowed around him, as he stood staring at Opie's headstone. Not for the first time since his best friend's death, Jax was seeking his counsel. Jax's guilt was crushing him once again. He hadn't seen the boys since he found Tara a week ago. He knew he was being selfish, but everything about them reminded him of her. Every time he looked in Thomas's eyes he felt like Tara was staring back at him, and Abel was Tara's personality carbon copy. Jax honestly wouldn't doubt if he became a doctor one day just like her. He wished Opie was here, he'd been through this before, he'd help him snap out of it. But he wasn't, just like Tara, Opie was dead. Jax was alone and he had Samcro to thank for that. He had to get himself and the boys out of this toxic town.
The ringing of his phone snapped him out of his thoughts. "Yeah?" he answered without looking at the caller ID. "Jackson! Where are you? I've been trying to reach you for days." Jax sighed, reaching into his jean pockets for his pack of Marlboros. It was his mother, and until now he had been doing a good job of avoiding her. He couldn't deal with needy bullshit. "What's up Gemma?" he replied shortly, taking a much need drag. "Just checking in with you baby, you doing okay?" Was she crazy? No he wasn't fucking okay. When he didn't reply she continued. "Well I got the boys from Lyla today Jax, Wendy's going to help me with them. They need to be with family at a time like this." Jax was pissed, Wendy was not their goddamn family. "Gemma, I don't fucking want her around them!" Jax snapped his temper flaring. "Jax don't be ridiculous, I need help with them." Gemma replied snarkly. "I'm coming to get them, and she better not be there when I get there, Gemma" he said snapping his phone shut, throwing his cigarette to the ground.
He was still steaming when he pulled his truck in Gemma's drive way. He was so sick of Gemma's shit. How could she forgotten so easily what Wendy had done to Abel? If it wasn't for Tara coming back into his life when she did, Abel would be gone. "Daddy!" and the sound of running, filled Jax's ears when he walked in the door. "Hey buddy" he greeted his son, picking him up. He couldn't believe he had gone so long without seeing his boys. Tara would be up his ass if she knew. "Where's your brother kiddo?" Jax asked setting Abel back down. "With Wendy" his oldest replied. His anger that had dissipated when he saw his son, came flaring back up again. "Buddy, why don't you get the things you want to take with you, we're going home soon." Abel took off too Jax's old room to get his stuff.
Jax walked towards the living room, where he could hear voices. His eyes immediately went to the couch where Wendy sat with Thomas. He walked over without a word, and took Thomas out of her arms. "Daddy?" he heard from the other room, he could hear the anxiety in Abel's voice. Jax's stomach dropped, he felt horrible, Abel obviously thought he had left. "I'm in here Buddy" Jax yelled back. Poor kid, he had already been through so much in his life. He lost his mother a week ago, and his father had been AWOL ever since.
"Where are you taking them Jax?" Gemma asked. He focused back on the situation at hand. Had he not made it perfectly clear that he didn't want Wendy around his children? He really didn't want to lose his cool in front of his sons, but he could feel his anger taking over. "I'm taking them home, Gemma" he replied shortly. "Do you really think it's best for them to be going there?" Wendy piped in for her place on the couch. It took everything Jax had not to completely lose his shit. "I missed the part where a junkie knew what was best for mine and Tara's children" Jax seethed, running his hand through his hair trying to keep his cool. "Recovering junkie Jax, you know that" Wendy snapped back. Jax scoffed, "Yeah, I don't think 3 hours sober counts as recovering. You forget who I am Wendy, who I know, you can't ask around Charming for crank without it getting back to me."
"Jackson, settle down, why don't you and the boys just stay here for a few days" Gemma jumped in. "No Gemma! My children are going to their home with me, their father. Abel buddy, say bye to Grandma were going home." Jax grabbed the boy's stuff without another word, got them loaded into the truck and headed home.
"Daddy? When are we going inside?" Abel's voice for not the first time today brought him back to reality. They had been sitting in the driveway. Jax was dreading going inside. He wanted nothing more than to burn this house to the ground. How was he supposed stay in the home Tara had created for them, when he had found her dead in it a week ago? But it was time for him to step up and be the father Tara always wanted him to be, and getting them away from Gemma even if it was only 15 minutes away, was the first step. And he knew deep down that the boys were going through so much that preventing them from being in the only home they've ever known wasn't fair. Jax's only consolation was that they would be out of this house and town soon enough. "Yeah buddy lets go inside." Jax said helping Abel out of the truck, and picking up a sleeping Thomas out of his car seat.
Getting Abel to bed was a fiasco. Abel kept crying for Tara, and Jax felt horrible. He had forgotten that he was a father before everything else, even his own pain. Abel had only fallen asleep when Jax laid down with him. He felt ridiculous laying in Abel's little twin bed, but it wasn't like he could sleep in the bed in shared with Tara anyways. He needed to start making moves for them to get out of Charming. But tonight he was focused on his boys. Tomorrow he would call for Church and give up the gavel for good this time. God he was so tired, when was the last time he was even slept? He turned on Thomas's monitor, and tried to clear his mind, and maybe get a little sleep.
P.S. Next Chapter will focus on Jax's moves to get himself out of Samcro, and them out of Charming.