I'm not a lawyer but I watch a lot of law shows so even if all the shit I made up about California's custody laws is BS it was made up w/good intentions. This one is turning into a little bit bigger than I expected, if you're familiar w/my stuff, I don't do a lot of short & sweets so if you're riding bitch, hold on tight this is starting to come together. MKAngelus

OLODL CH4

"Well Jackson, I can understand your concerns," Ally said, "But really, California is very pro 'mother' in these cases and given your history versus her history, she might actually have a chance at partial visitation. She didn't sign over her rights and as far as Tara is concerned, she's just your girlfriend, she's not a legal guardian to Abel. Wyatt, yes she has full control of him as do you, but with Abel, it's unfortunately in the eyes of the law between you and Wendy."

Jax swore into the phone and took a long drag off of his cigarette, exhaling as he looked over at Abel playing with Kenny and Ellie and Piper in the backyard at Opie's house. He'd woken up early with Wyatt and had gotten him fed and changed just in time for his mid morning nap and then Abel had woken up and Kenny and Ellie weren't far behind, they'd gotten ready for school and we're just waiting for their dad to take them. Deciding he'd try to go the 'legal' route before anything else, he called Rosen's office and figured that Ally would be a better contact than Rose. "So what, if I say no to her demands then we go to court right?"

Ally sighed, she liked the outlaw bikers, they were actually pretty good guys, just on the wrong side of the law. "Jax, I'm not a family lawyer, so I'm not really a hundred percent sure what could happen. The judge could decide that the environment that Abel is in isn't stable, he could pull into question all the known illegal associations that you and the rest of the club have, not to mention your recent stint at Stockton. Of course, he could also question Wendy's past just as easily, I'm sure that Abel's birth problems and her drug habit will be called into review. This isn't going to be an easy fight." She started to say something else and Jax cut her off.

"I don't care if it's an easy fight; she's not going to see him. I'll do whatever and I mean WHATEVER I have to do to stop her from seeing my son, this will kill Tara and don't even get me started on what Gemma will have to say about it."

Grinning Ally rolled her eyes, of all the people that she didn't want to get on the warpath Gemma was at the top of the list. "Okay Jax, here's what we have in the plus column for us," she paused and pulled a pad of paper over to write down what she was saying as she spoke, "Tara. She's going to be our strongest factor in this, she's a respected pediatric surgeon at St. Thomas, and she's never really been in trouble with the law, aside from some minor juvenile stuff which won't be called into question. Given her kidnapping and that of her boss, she might garner some sentimental sway. She's a homeowner, pays her taxes and aside from her being the girlfriend of the second most powerful man in the largest motorcycle club on the west coast, she's a pretty upstanding citizen."

Jax grinned, she wasn't all that far from the truth concerning Tara. She was most definitely the most out of place 'Old Lady' that he'd ever heard of, aside from his own mother, who was the wife of the most powerful man. "Okay, what else?" He asked.

"We also have a strong support system in place, Abel has a steady nanny in Neeta, who is a well respected local nanny, she goes to church, and she volunteers at the mission, an established regular good citizen in Charming. So that's another good thing, now some good but not great things, Abel also has Gemma in his life, so he's not wanting for supervision. Granted, she's had her fair share of judicial tie-ins lately, but the general consensus on Gemma is that she's a good person. She donates a lot of time and money to local charities and organizations, she puts on the carnival and fireworks every year for the school so on paper your mom is also a good person to have on our side. However," she paused again, "the judge isn't going to take into account what is on paper as his sole persuasion on this Jax. Your entire family was involved with not only the local Charming police department, and the FBI as well as the goddamn ATF, you've been incarcerated twice in the last three years, your mom was accused of not one but two murders and your girlfriend was dating an ATF officer who has yet to make an appearance."

Jackson grimaced; Kohn was never going to be making an appearance. He couldn't believe the piss poor direction this was taking, he'd thought that once he got out and the club stayed clean for a couple of month's things would start to roll smooth. "So, what's the negative look like?" He asked afraid of the answer.

"His god father's wife was brutally murdered in a drive by shooting; his grandfather is a known criminal with associations with other known criminals. You have the same known associations and are still on parole."

"But Ally, I've been employed at TM since I was 14 years old, I'm also a homeowner and I've never been involved with drugs or alcohol. I also donate my time and money to local endeavors and I've never been caught or implicated in anything other than some trumped up weapons charges, I've done my time. My family has been in Charming my whole life and the Sons do a lot of good here. Wendy is a fuckin' drug addict and she almost killed him before he was born!"

She sighed again, "I know that Jax, and that's going to be the best thing that we have going for us, I'll argue that she's relapsed time and time again, there's no guarantee that she'll stay clean this time and she still associates with known drug dealers and users. But Jax, that's all I've got."

He sighed himself and lit another cigarette, "Alright, do what you can, send me the bill and I guess we'll see you in court. I'm not letting her get my son though, one way or the other."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that Jackson, and I don't care what you do, in the next two weeks you better keep yourself squeaky clean and that goes for all the guys you hang around with. Got it?"

"Got it counselor." He hung up and looked over at Opie who'd come out to watch the kids. "What did she say?"

"She said I have a snowball's chance in hell of blocking her bid for visitation because this fucking state is pro 'mom' and apparently even if the mom in question is a fucking junky she still gets to see her kid."

Opie watched his brother and thought for a few minutes. "Well then I guess we just have to make this all go away." He lit his cigarette and called over to the kids, "Come on guys, time for school tell Abel goodbye. I'll meet you at the club brother." Opie escorted his kids to the truck to take them to school. Jax walked over to where Abel was standing by the small slide in the backyard. He was looking after the kids and said to his dad, "Where they go?"

Jax picked his son up and swung him high above his head, giggling Abel threw back his head and grinned, his blonde hair flopping on his head, kicking his feet he squirmed to get put down as Jax said, "They went to school buddy, someday you can go to school too. For now though, let's get you ready for work."

"Fuck" Abel said morosely, holding his hand up to his dad. His dad's eyes were huge as he bit the inside of his cheek. "Hey buddy, we talked about that word, that's a daddy word not an Abel word, remember? Mom will be really mad at daddy if you say that okay?" he looked down at his son, the past two years flashing through his mind instantly, he smiled at him and bent down to look him in the eye, "Ready for work bud?"

Abel looked up and smiled, "Okay daddy, Wyatt's crywin again, dumb baby." He dropped his dad's hand and ran towards the house, "I'll get him daddy." Jax grinned and said, "Okay bud, let's get him together." Walking into the house he wondered whether he should call Gemma and see if they could hang out with her, but then when he saw Abel peering into the playpen where Wyatt was he heard him say, "Stop cwyin Wyatt daddy's coming." He decided that he'd made it through the day before without any problems, so how hard could it be today?