Once a year, the whole town comes together for the fun fair. It is celebrated in the park and is generally enjoyed by all the inhabitants of Charming. Compared to this event, Dani's fundraiser was nothing. There were stands with games, stands with food an drinks. There were rides which had come all the way from Sacramento and a stage on which performances would be held.
Dani had organized her own food stand, which sold baked goods and refreshing drinks. For once she wasn't in charge, but she had made Lana boss for the day. It had been a while since she had taken a day off to do something fun, and after all that had happened over the past weeks, she had deserved some fun. Besides, SAMCRO was attending as well, and she didn't want to give up time with Jax for baked goods.
They had dropped off Gemma and Clay somewhere, so Dani and Jax made their way over to the Ferris wheel. The rest of the SAMCRO guys went to the arcade, hoping to knock down the clown who was yelling at them when they passed him before.
Above in the Ferris wheel, Dani could see the whole of Charming. Up here everything was so quiet and soothing, the noise from the fun fair slowly fading away as they got higher.
"This is nice," Dani spoke, letting the wind blow in her face.
"Yeah," Jax agreed. He placed his arm behind her, his thumb softly stroking her shoulder.
The Ferris wheel remained stationary for a few minutes so other people could get in, a perfect opportunity for them to enjoy the view, and talk.
"I'm going to see the baby later today with Gemma," Dani began. She didn't want to keep any secret from him. It was only right to let him know. "If that's okay with you?"
Jax nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."
He seemed to be a little absent minded, replying without any emotion is his voice. Dani knew the baby was still a difficult topic for them, but she couldn't ignore the kid forever. One day she had to face him.
"Are you sure?" Dani asked, hoping to get more of an answer out of him.
"Yeah, I told you."
Dani raised her eyebrows upon hearing his answer, but decided not to drop the subject just yet. "Have you been to see him?"
It remained silent for a few seconds, Jax staring off in the distance. "No," finally said, not looking her in the eye, but his gaze still fixed on the highway on the edge of town.
Dani sighed. She figured he had probably gone to see his son at least once, but apparently he never went. The baby might look a bit scary in an incubator, with all kinds of tubes sticking out of him, but that was not a reason not to go. He was Jax's son for crying out loud. Not a toy that could be thrown away whenever he got sick of it.
"You have to go see him" Dani stated. "He's your son, Jax."
"I can't see him," he replied.
She frowned, not understanding why. If it was her own son, she would've been by his side day and night.
"Why?" she asked, when it got clear Jax wasn't going to elaborate.
"What if he dies? He's in bad shape, Dani."
"What if he lives?" She placed her hand on his cheek, turning his head towards her, forcing him to look her in the eye. "How are you gonna explain to your little boy that you were never around when he was in the hospital? That his mother is a junkie and his father to scared to see him. He's your flesh and blood, Jax. You can't turn your back to him. You are all he has."
Dani hoped her talk with Jax had left an impression on him. For now, there was nothing more that she could do. It was his choice to visit the baby or not, and she could hardly force him. However it would be best for both the baby and him if he went to see the little boy.
"Wendy named the kid, did you hear that?" Gemma spoke, turning the steering wheel to the left and reversing the car into a parking spot at the hospital. "His name is Abel."
"That's a good name," Dani nodded, figuring Wendy would name the kid sooner or later. She thought it was a good idea to name him. It made it look like they had the faith he would survive.
They got out of the car and started heading inside. Dani had wanted to check on Wendy as well, but since she had to ride home with Gemma she decided against it. The stuff Gemma did to Wendy was unacceptable, and she would understand if Wendy never wanted to see her ever again.
"You have never seen him, have you?" Gemma asked as they were moving down the hallway to the maternity ward.
"Nope," Dani shook her head. It was about time she saw Jax's son. If he wouldn't go see him, then she should.
"He's beautiful, you'll see. Looks just like Jax, only a little smaller."
Gemma knew exactly where Abel's room was, making it easy for them to find it. The little boy had a whole room to his own. Next to the door was a huge window so you could look in, but Gemma told her she'd like to close the blinds when she was inside. The baby was laying in an incubator, protected against it surroundings. There were a few chairs and blankets for the visitors and Dani noticed a lovely bouquet of flowers standing on the table at the end.
Dani softly shuffled closer to Abel, her heart pounding. He was small, really small. He was covered with tubes, monitoring every vital organ. A tiny blue Sons of Anarchy beanie covered his head. Gemma was right, he did look like Jax. He had the same blue eyes and once he got older, he would probably have the same head of blonde hair.
Gemma sat down in one of the chairs, but Dani couldn't keep her eyes of the little man. There was something fascinating about watching him dream, his arm twitching every so often. This was Jax's flesh and blood she was looking at. Maybe one day, she could have a baby as well.
"What are his chances of survival?" Dani asked after a moment.
"Pretty good," Gemma said. "Doctors say he's doing better than initially expected. But he's a Teller, so he's strong."
"Thank god," Dani mumbled.
"Wendy is going to rehab," Gemma continued. "Which means the kid has no mom…"
Dani turned around and let her eyes fall on Gemma, slowly raising her eyebrows.
"But he has you," Gemma added.
"Gemma, I don't know. I'm not ready to have a kid."
She was being honest. How would she manage everything? Jax didn't have a lot of time for the child, but neither did she. Dani had hoped Wendy would be fit enough to take care of him, but seeing she was going to rehab that wasn't the case.
"Do you think I was ready when I had Jackson? Nobody is ready for a kid," Gemma said, rising from the chair to stand next to Dani. "But if someone can handle it, it's you."
Dani had been home for a few hours when Jax returned. She heard his bike from all the way down the street. Bruce was also picking up on it. It was amazing how fast the little pup learned to recognize all the noises around him.
Having missed him in the hospital, she eagerly jumped up from the couch and moved to the door, ready to embrace him as soon as he walked in.
"Hey," she smiled, as Jax appeared in the doorway. Dani kissed him before giving him a hug. When she let go of him she noticed a cut above his eye. "Something happen?"
"It's nothing," Jax smiled softly, taking off his gloves which revealed his bloody knuckles.
"Tell me about it," Dani spoke. She led Jax to the kitchen chair and nodded that he should sit down.
"I thought you didn't want to know?" Jax replied.
She found the first aid kid in the cabinet under the sink. "I do now."
"You sure?" he asked.
"Yeah," Dani nodded. "I want to."
Too long had she gone without knowing anything he did. Dani doubted he would tell her everything, but anything was better than nothing. Him coming home beat up without her knowing what exactly had happened had taken a toll on her. They shouldn't have any secrets for each other.
"Okay," Jax began. "Oswald's kid, Tristen, she got raped at the carnival today."
"Holy shit," Dani said. She knew the kid pretty well. Tristen always wanted lemonade and a blueberry muffin whenever she came to the café. She was beautiful as well.
"Yeah, I know. Well, me and the guys went on the finding the rapist, and we did. Got into a little fist fight before, though."
"What happened to him?" Dani asked. She leaned forward to clean the small cut, glad the ones she had because of Harrison's thugs had disappeared almost entirely. Jax didn't even flinch as she touched it with an cotton swab.
It remained silent for a few seconds. "He's dead."
"Well, good riddance." The fact that she had seen a dead body had made her a lot colder and less tolerant. The guy deserved to be dead.
She took his hand and softly dabbed his knuckles clean.
"Abel looked good, Jax. There's a good chance he'll live," she continued. There was no way she could not bring him up, especially after everything what Gemma had said today. "Maybe I could help bring him up? You know, when he gets out of the hospital. I can try to make it work."
Jax raised his gaze from his hands to her eyes. "Are you serious?"
Dani nodded. "Yeah, I think I am."
Gemma had convinced her. She had to be a guardian to the boy, it would be selfish of her not to be. Wendy was in no position to be a mother and Jax couldn't be a single father. This was what needed to happen.
"If you want nothing to do with him, I can't – …" Jax tried to say.
"I want to. I really want to," Dani interrupted. "The boy needs a mother and maybe I can be that for him."
A smile unraveled on Jax's face. "I love you so much," he softly spoke, his hand behind her head, pushing her towards him. His lips found hers and that was when Dani knew she had made the right decision.
A/N: Thank you all so much for the lovely comments. Wow! I'd also like to answer a question I got :)
Regarding the episodes and chapters: I will most of the time have one chapter per episode, unless it's an important one then I'll spread it out. Also I'm "skipping" a couple of them. In this case only a lot of Jax stuff happens, which Dani isn't able to witness. Oh, and also all the Tara stuff will be deleted as well, which allows me to skip quite a few of them. So that basically leaves Gemma's stuff, but I'm not gonna add everything that she does, because it's not her story so I don't want to focus on everything she does. Hope this clears everything up :)
Please review if you can and stay tuned for the next chapter, it'll be a surprising one ;)