It was a quarter after one and, other than Luann, Gemma had yet to see any of her help. It was bad enough that Clay refused to come himself, but now he was most likely holding the rest of the guys hostage. Never mind the fact that the Elvis booth already had a line of kids waiting. Oh no, let the music department rot. As long as Clay had reinforcements for whatever club related shit was going on this time, that's all that really mattered. Selfish Bastard.

Just as she was about to bust out her prepay and give her old man a piece of her mind, Gemma spotted one of her own. Unfortunately, it wasn't Bobby, who she swore she was going to annihilate the very moment he finally decided to drag his fat ass through the gates. But she supposed it was better than nothing. Veronica would just have to do.

"Nice of you to finally show," she barked in place of a greeting. "I told that no good father of yours to make sure you were here by 12:45. You're 30 minutes late."

"He told me 12:30," V explained vacantly, as she put her purse under the table. "I got distracted. Sorry."

Something was off, Gemma could sense it. The V she knew would have had a witty comeback to combat her chastisement. Or, at the very least, offered an eye roll. The girl in front of her hadn't even bothered to look at her. And that lame ass response? Hollow, the usual annoying chipperness that was V, deflated.

"You okay sweetheart?" she asked, even though she already had a pretty good idea what was going on.

Veronica absentmindedly busied herself unnecessarily rearranging the Styrofoam cups and bowls. "Peachy."

Gemma took a step forward and gently grabbed her by the chin. If V wasn't going to do it on her own, Gemma would make her look at her while she was talking. "You sure?"

"100 percent," Veronica answered with a forced smile.

Even with the perfectly done make-up, Gemma could tell her eyes were a little puffy and bloodshot. "Last time I checked, people who are 100 percent don't spend their mornings crying."

Veronica turned her head, forcing Gemma to relinquish her grip. "Guess you don't know anyone with allergies then."

Her eyes narrowed. "Allergies huh?"

She didn't answer, but before Gemma had a chance to pry further, a customer came over to purchase some chili. Feeling forced, she smiled politely and stood back as Veronica handled the transaction. She hated being lied to, and even worse, knowing it was happening from the moment a person opened their mouth. It didn't matter if it was blatant or simply withholding information, she had no tolerance for it. And Veronica always had a bad habit of keeping things to herself, especially when the information had something to do with her and Jax.

As if she could feel Gemma's skeptical eye on her, Veronica turned to her immediately after finishing with the customer. "What?"

Gemma shrugged and went to ladle out another bowl as someone else sauntered over. "Nothing, just trying to remember if you had allergies when you were a kid."

"I didn't," Veronica answered before offering a hello to the lady.

Gemma waited, very much impatiently, for the woman to leave before continuing. "So it's a recent development then?"

For the second time in five minutes, Veronica didn't answer. Allergies her ass! This was about Jax and Gemma knew it. Which should have been great news, as it meant that her plan to get them together this morning had worked. The problem was, tears were not usually a good thing, meaning her stupid son was probably still too busy being an ass to realize what a golden opportunity he'd been given. No matter, they were at least communicating, which was a step in the right direction. She just needed to find a way to speed up the process.

"You didn't happen to see Jax this morning did you?" she asked after a few moments.

V shook her head. "Nope."

"Really?" Gemma said, faking disbelief for the sake of showmanship. "That little shit was supposed to come by around nine thirty and help me lug some of this stuff down here."

Veronica looked over at her with one eyebrow raised. "You left at seven this morning Gemma."

"Well, yeah. I had things to do. You think a fundraiser like this plans itself?"

Veronica scoffed and looked up in frustration. "Unbelievable," she murmured before shooting a dirty look across the tent. "You set me up."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

And cue the eye roll she'd been looking for earlier. "Oh don't play dumb Gem, it makes your hair look bad."

Gemma placed her hands defensively on her hips. "What are you on about?"

"You. Giving Jax a fake time, knowing I'd be at home by myself," she whispered angrily so as not to draw attention. "What the hell did you think was going to happen? That we'd just fall into each other's arms and everything would be A-okay. Or were you hoping for the opposite, that'd he tear me down enough so I would just give up and leave?"

Gemma went back to the task at hand. "Neither," she lied."I was hoping the two of you would finally work out your shit so you would feel comfortable enough to come see your dad once in awhile. He may not show it, but Clay is lost without you and it breaks my heart."

Veronica turned back to the chili and Gemma couldn't help but notice how tightly she was holding her jaw. "If that's your story."

Gemma all but threw the ladle in her hand down. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Veronica couldn't remember feeling so angry. Well, okay maybe this morning when Jax was coming at her trying to dig up the past. But she had expected that from the moment she'd driven into the Charming city limits. It at least made sense. Gemma playing mediator and peace maker? That was utter bullshit, plain and simple.

"It means," she began, "that I know you Gem. I'm more than aware of how manipulative and self-serving you are. So you can hide behind that bullshit story about me and my dad, but we both know you have a greater purpose here. And while I haven't quite figured it out yet, I'm willing to bet it has nothing to do with what's actually best for me or for Jax. It's about what's best for you."

Gemma's eyes grew dark . "Think what you want, Sweetheart, but I assure you that I'm always doing what is best for my son."

Veronica was about to retort when a familiar voice interrupted her. "Holy shit you have got to try the empanadas! Best damn things I've ever put in my mouth..."

Veronica continued glaring at Gemma for a half a second longer before turning to find Luann Delaney standing before her, all fake breasts and pig tails.

"...it's a good thing I ain't in front of the camera no more because I could seriously eat my weight in those things," she continued before noticing Veronica. "Holy shit! Ronnie?"

Veronica offered a wave. "Hey Luann."

"Oh my god, look at you!" she practically yelled in glee before pulling her in for a hug. "You are fucking gorgeous."

A blush heated up Veronica's face. "Thanks."

"My God, your tits are spectacular and that ass...oh honey what I wouldn't give to be twenty years younger with..."

As Luann continued to drone on about Veronica's new figure, Veronica's eyes were pulled to the right where three very different, yet familiar figures were coming towards them. Two were dressed in the typical SAMCRO kutte and the third in an ill fitting white, rhinestoned jumpsuit. None other than good old uncle Tig, Bobby Elvis, and the blond haired ass face she had once been stupid enough to love. Apparently, Gemma had noticed them too because she muttered a "shit" and immediately ran off to give Bobby a piece of her mind, leaving Veronica to deal with Luann's awkward praise alone.

"...you ever considered doing adult films?" Luann asked, pulling her back to the conversation at hand.

Veronica blinked and shook her head. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Adult films," Luann reiterated, proving that Veronica hadn't misheard her like she'd hoped.

"Porn?" She clarified again when V continued to stare at her like she'd grown three heads."Because let me tell you baby, with a body like that, you could be set for life. Don't you think Jax?"

Between her own disbelief at Luann's words and trying so hard to pretend that none of this was actually happening, Veronica had failed to notice Jax taking a place beside her. Although she busied herself looking at anything but him, she could feel those mesmerizing blue eyes of his searching her profile. He wanted her to acknowledge him, and truth was she wanted to. But she was still pissed beyond belief at his callousness earlier and her stubborn nature wouldn't let her.

"Think about what?" he asked a beat later when he finally gave up and helped himself to a bowl of chili.

She could tell from his body language that he wasn't really all that interested in what Luann had to say, which could be to her benefit if Luann would just let it die. So Veronica sent up prayers and even attempted telepathic messages pleading with her to keep her mouth shut. However, this was no filter, all up in everyone's business Luann she was dealing with, so of course it was in vain.

"Our girl Ronnie is going to make some big money in one of my movies."

If there was ever a time to find a hole to crawl into and die, this would be it. Never, ever had V been more mortified. She could feel her face burning as complete humiliation spread throughout her entire body. Under any other circumstance, she might have found it funny, but this was too much, even for her.

Judging from the way he spat out his chili, Jax found it about as amusing as she did. "Excuse me?" he asked with some obvious hostility as he looked over at her again.

"Oh come on Jax, you should know better than anyone she's got the body for it," Luann continued, proving that the situation actually could get worse. "Just look at that ass, you could bounce a god damn quarter off that thing. I bet you really enjoy looking at it when you go at her from behind."

And with that, Veronica was out; to hell with politeness and working this stupid booth. "I need a fucking drink."

As he watched V walked away, Jax was at a loss for words. It wasn't often that he found himself completely caught off guard, but for the third time in two days, she had somehow managed to accomplish it. He could feel his old friend jealousy building up as he turned a questioning eye over to Luann. His Veronica in porn? Only if it was of the homemade variety, for private viewing only, and he was playing the male lead.

"I said the wrong thing, didn't I?" Luann asked stupidly as she caught Jax's hateful stare.

"You think?" he asked before heading after V.

He caught up with her in front of the cotton candy booth. Reaching out, he grabbed her elbow to catch her attention. At first she jumped a little, and he could feel the muscles tense as she clenched her fist. She started to swing at him as she turned, but Jax threw up his hands signaling that he came in peace.

"What do you want, Jax?" she asked with a hint of defeat in her voice.

"Please tell me Luann is just being Luann and you're not actually considering porn."

The look she gave him could only be described as disgust with a hint of you-must-be-the-biggest-idiot-on-the-planet thrown in. "Are you fucking kidding me? The fact that you feel the need to ask me that is insulting."

"Well," he replied smugly, unable to stop himself. "You do have a history of doing things that I don't really understand."

"Yes, Jax, because after four years of undergrad and four more of law school, I thought to myself, 'hey I should get into the porn biz, because nothing says accomplished like over-enthusiastically sucking cock for a living.'"

Unfortunately for them both, a mother and her six-year-old daughter chose that very moment to walk by. "What the hell are you looking at?" Veronica seethed, after the mother shot her a disgusted look. "Judgmental bitch."

After the pair had hurried on their merry way, Jax smirked as V's attention moved back to him. "You done scaring the natives?"

Veronica crossed her arms defensively. "I don't know, you done asking stupid questions?"

Jax let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. He hated that being near him always put her in defense mode. Obviously, he had brought it on himself, what with the way he got up in her face the day before and jabbed at her again this morning. However, it was really going to become a problem if he didn't do something to convince her that he wasn't actually out to get her. Yeah, he had a lot of pent up aggression and some anger towards her, but all he really wanted was answers, to understand what went through her head before she left, to know if she would ever be able to forgive him for what went down. And there was no way in hell he was going to get anywhere if he couldn't get her to back down.

"Look, V, I…"

He didn't get to finish his thought before someone called his name behind him. Turning, he saw Kyle Hobart making his way over to them. Fuck.

He hated Kyle as it was for what went down with Opie, but the last thing he wanted was to have that douchebag anywhere near Veronica. Back in the day he was always skulking around, making passes at her and saying really inappropriate things. Even when he knew she was underage and the President's daughter. And after she turned 18 it only got worse. she'd told Jax many times how uncomfortable Kyle made her and right now the thought of the bastard even looking at his girl made him livid.

"Veronica," Kyle greeted, his eyes raking over her. "Mind if I steal your old man for a second?"

She smiled sweetly, but her eyes remained dark with hatred. "Sure thing, Kyle. In fact, you can just keep him, because I honestly don't give a damn," she said, making sure to look at Jax one last time before stomping off.

"Damn she is looking good," Kyle admitted appreciatively. "I like 'em feisty. Better in the sack that way. "

One second he was watching V walk away, the next Jax had Kyle by his collar pinned up against a brick wall. "Stay away from her, you perverted son of a bitch. Don't talk to her, don't look at her, don't even thinking about her. Because I swear to God, I will fucking kill you."

With that, Jax placed him back on his feet. He was about to start his way back across the courtyard when Kyle called to him again. Dumb bastard didn't know when to quit.

"Hold up man, I just want to talk to you for a second."

"Unfortunately for you, I don't give a damn," Jax replied, not bothering to look back.

"You might when you hear what I have to say," Kyle continued. "I got this thing, kind of fell into my lap. Real easy money running stolen parts, could be good for the club."

Once again, Jax had Kyle by the collar. "That's what this is about? You trying to get back in with the club?"

Feeling eyes on him, Jax glanced over to see who his audience was this time. Across the yard his mother was glaring daggers right at him. Reluctantly, he put Kyle down for a second time. He wasn't trying to bring the wrath of Gemma on him today. He'd already had enough with his extremely pissed off ex.

"Do yourself a favor," he sneered at Kyle, "when you're kid's done playing, take your teenager, climb into your pretty little cage and get the hell out of Charming, or being kicked out of the club will be the least of your worries."

Gemma was really starting to get pissed. Not only had the guys shown up and hour late, but now it was as if her own son was doing everything in his power to ruin this for her. First, he scared off Veronica, which, admittedly, she probably should have seen coming. Now he was bringing club shit out in to the open for the whole town to witness, as if their reputation wasn't bad enough already. At this rate, she wouldn't have a son by the end of the day because she was going to kill him herself.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing," she barked when Jax reached the tent. "You're at a school fundraiser, god dammit! If you want to start brawl do it on your own time, Jackson."

"Don't worry about it, ma," he said, grabbing a cracker. "I'm finished ruining your picnic."

"Oh how convenient, now that Veronica is nowhere to found," she said. "You need to fix things with her, Jax. She's only here for a little while and you both need closure."

Jax's eyes narrowed. "Who the hell are you and what have you done with my mother?"

Gemma placed her hands on her hips. "I'm still your mother, jackass, I would just like it if my family could go one day without being at each other's throats."

"I think you're in the wrong family," Jax commented with a snort. "And it would probably help if you weren't setting up scenarios for the two of us to run into one another."

"It's not my fault your lazy ass stayed in bed all morning instead of coming to help your mother save the middle school music program."

Jax smirked. "Well who's fault is it that I was given a fake time? Or did you just accidentally tell me to be there two hours after you planned to leave?"

Gemma shot him a questioning glance. "What?"

"Aw, come on Ma, Clay told me. Caught me as I was pulling out of the lot, said you left at seven this morning," he explained taking another cracker.

"And you still went over there?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow.

He shrugged, a grin spreading across his handsome face. "Didn't want to take a chance that you might have actually needed me."

Gemma smiled in self-satisfaction. Jax had taken her bait even though he knew it was a set-up. That could only mean one thing. Despite what he said about wanting to stay away from her, he was still purposely seeking out opportunities to see V. The girl had literally been here for less than 24 hours and Jax was already caught up.

Maybe this would be as easy as she thought.

"So how are the guys handling Kyle," his mother asked, thankfully changing the subject.

Jax shoved another cracker into his mouth. "Nothing to handle. Kyle's dead."

"Yeah, well he's not dead to Opie," she said pointing over to where his best friend was busy unloading fireworks.

Quickly shoving one last cracker into his pie hole, Jax placed a hand on his mother's shoulder as a goodbye gesture and headed over towards his best friend. "Yo! You bow out of the egg toss?" he asked when he reached him.

"Yeah," Opie answered, taking a seat on one of the crates. "I did."

Jax nodded and moved a box of fireworks to join him. Directly in their line of vision, Kyle was participating in the egg toss with his daughter Leigh…or was it Danielle… Jax could never remember. Although why he cared, was beyond him, it was really irrelevant. What mattered was that Kyle looked happy and that seemed to really be bothering Ope.

Taking a breath, he was about to say something when Opie beat him to it. "I wanted the guy to be a miserable, broken piece of shit without Samcro," he admitted with a shake of his head. "He's not even having a hard time with it."

Jax pulled two cigs from his pack of Marlboro Reds. He handed one to Ope, who took it a with a muttered a thanks before Jax handed him his Zippo. He then placed his own cig between his lips in anticipation and placed the pack back in the inside pocket of his kutte. After Opie lit his own, Jax accepted the lighter back and followed suit.

Ope let out a smoky exhale and placed his elbows on his knees. "You know, this club means everything to me. Everything I've ever wanted has been here. But everything else, Donna, the kids, work, they're all headed in different directions and they can't meet up. I feel like I'm missing on every front."

Jax let out a half-hearted chuckle. "I got no answers. My family plan's right out of the Sid and Nancy handbook," he said, getting a smile out of his best friend. "I'm so used to shit moving in the other direction, I don't know what I'd do if something actually hooked up."

"Eh, but it seems like your shit is slowly circling back to you, my brother," Opie stated, nodding to his right.

Jax looked over to see Veronica off in the distance seated on the steps in front of the main entrance. She too, was smoking a cigarette, which was odd considering she used to always give him hell about his own habit. Even from far away she looked beautiful and he had a hard time taking his eyes off of her. When she looked over and caught him staring, her facial features scrunched together slightly in a scowl. And then, like the lovely lady she was, she flipped him off.

"Yeah, I'd say you've definitely come full circle," Opie laughed before taking another drag. "When'd she get back into town?"

Jax turned his attention back to the egg toss. "Showed up at the clubhouse yesterday."

Opie nodded. "I'm guessing that wasn't exactly a happy reunion."

"Not unless you consider me telling her to go to a hell happy."

He nodded again. "You two always did have a way with communication," he offered, before shifting slightly. "Not going to lie, it took me a minute to figure out who the blonde was you rushed off to meet earlier. But I caught on pretty fast when she let you have it over in front of the cotton candy booth. I've only met one other person who could make you look like a complete moron in front of the entire town, and Gemma ain't blonde."

"Yeah," he agreed, taking a drag. "V always did have a way of putting me in my place, even when I didn't deserve it."

Opie chuckled again. "Pretty sure you always deserved it, my brother."

Jax grinned and looked down at his hands. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"So you going to try to reconcile that with Tara back in town, or what?"

Jax shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing about anything anymore."

A moment of silence fell between them and Jax couldn't help but glance over at Veronica again. One thing was for sure, V had a knack for complicating things for him. When he'd heard Tara was back in town, he admittedly thought about what would happen if they got back together, how it would all play out. One thing he had failed to factor in was Veronica waltzing back into his life before he ever got the chance. Add to that the fact that he had a sick baby he was now responsible for and he'd say his life was nothing but one big complication.

And then there was Kyle, he thought as she turned back to the egg toss. Traitorous son of a bitch got kicked out of the club and still ended up with it all. A hot piece of ass and two healthy kids. By all appearances, it looked like the guy had it good. And yet, it would seem that Jax had something he still wanted. The club.

"You think he's happy?" Ope asked, clearly following Jax's train of thought.

Jax shook his head. "Honestly? I don't know."

They watched as the Kyle's daughter tossed the egg right into Kyle's shoulder, splattering his black jacket with yolk. Immediately, his girlfriend, or fuck buddy, or whatever the hell she was, moved to help him get it off. In the process his shirt underneath rode up, thereby revealing a part of his lower back. And there, in solid back ink, was the first couple letters of "California."

"He's still got that tat," Opie said, as both of them rose.

Jax started to stalk over there and kick the bastard's god damn face in, but Ope held out his giant arm to stop him. "No, this is on me."

Veronica hated that she was smoking. She hated that she let her emotions stress her out so much that she felt like she needed it. In fact she hated the idea of smoking period. Absolutely hated everything about it, from the part where she was essentially filling her lungs with tar, to the fact that she was exhaling of toxic chemicals into the environment. Although, she did know how to make some pretty boss smoke rings if she did say so herself, but a useless party trick was hardly worth it.

In her previous life, because that's what her younger years felt like, she was constantly getting on to Jax about his smoking habit. "You know, that shit's going to kill you one day," she'd say as she snagged the cancer stick from his lips and threw it on the ground before he got a chance to light it.

"Baby, I'm pretty sure these," he'd say shaking the carton, "are the least of my worries. Besides, I've got to calm my nerves somehow."

She'd then flash him a sexy grin and slink herself up to him, throwing her arms around his neck. "I've got plenty of other ideas," she'd whisper sexily and then…

Oh what did it matter. That wasn't her life anymore. Now she was just like him, turning to nicotine, needing a puff to calm her crazy ass down. Never say never and all that jazz. Just add it to the list of bad habits she'd picked up over the years. Including Jax.

She honestly had planned to be as amicable as possible when it came to him, no matter what he threw at her. There had even been at least a week's worth of fucking pep talks leading up to the moment she arrived at TM. She'd lowered herself to pathetic levels to prepare her self-esteem for their reunion and she still managed to let him get to her. Best laid plans and all that. Although, to be fair, she should have known it wouldn't work out, after all she was a known hot head in the worst way. Part of her just wished she had magically produced thick enough skin over the years that Jax could no longer find a way to get under there.

Even now when she wanted nothing more than to hate him, she was drawn to him like the needle of a compass to the North Star. Her eyes could always find him in the crowd without any effort. For instance, right now he was making his way through a water gun fight over by the popcorn machine to talk to who she could only assume to be Donna, as she looked exactly like her but a tad bit older. Some might say it was the blonde hair, or the kutte that made him easy for her to spot, but she knew in her heart it was their connection. And just like smoking, she hated it.

Yet she continued to watch, enjoying the way he bit his bottom lip as he looked out at the crowd, the way his stupid smile lit up his entire face. Dammit, she was supposed to be over this! She'd spent way to much time carving him out of her heart because she didn't have room for him anymore. If she wasn't careful, he might be able to find his way back in again. Then again…he probably never really left.

She continued to watch from afar until he finished his conversation with Donna and headed over toward the Gym. Seeing this as her chance, she quickly snubbed out her cigarette and rose from her ass-numbing seat, also known as the concrete steps. It was time that she grew a pair and went back to the chili booth. Gemma would be pissed enough as it was that she took such a long break so early in the day, she wasn't about to heighten the anger by not coming back at all.

Along the way she was paying more attention to all the adorable kids running around her then to where she was actually going. So when she literally ran into someone for the second time today, she only had herself to blame.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," she said, holding her hands out to steady the brunette she side-swiped.

"Don't be," the girl muttered, "I wasn't exactly watching where I was going."

When the stranger looked up, Veronica was immediately transported back in time. One minute she walking through the school yard a full grown woman, the next she's relieving those terrible awkward teen years. The years when she spent all her time secretly pining for Jax from a far, the years when she wished like hell and swore that she would do anything to be the girl who was now standing before her.

And just like that, Gemma's mediator act suddenly made all the sense in the world.

Hey guys, sorry this one took a bit longer to get out. I was out of town last week so I didn't have as much writing time as I would have liked. I tried to crank this chapter out as fast as I could so if there are typos or errors I apologize. There are also a lot of POV shifts so I hope that wasn't too confusing.

Thanks for Reading!