AN: I've got to say the response to this story has been amazing! I was a little nervous to post this story, but the response has been so positive! Thank you guys so much!

Young and Beautiful

Hot summer nights, mid-July

When you and I were forever wild

The crazy days, the city lights

The way you played with me like a child

Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?

Will you still love me when I got nothing but my aching soul?

I know you will, I know you will, I know that you will

Will you still love me when I'm no longer beautiful?

Chapter 2

Haley groaned as she sat up. Her ribs were screaming in protest. She stumbled off the sofa and headed into the kitchen. She managed to twist the lid off her prescription and shook out a pain pill. She grabbed a glass and quickly filled it with water. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the microwave. She gasped and gently touched the bruises on her cheek.

"You don't look as bad as you think," a voice called from behind her.

Haley jumped and spun around. "Shit Jax, you scared me! What are you doing here?"

"Someone had to watch you, it was my turn," Jax said with a shrug. "You hungry?"

"I just want to take a shower, I... I don't have any clean clothes with me."

"You didn't bring any with you?"

"I literally ran out of the house Jax, all I have are the clothes on my back and what was already in my car."

"You want me to go look in your car? See what's out there," Jax offered.

"I don't think I'll be wearing tights and leotards anytime soon."

"You still dance?"

"I majored in it!"

"What like at college?"

"Yeah, where do people normally major in things," Haley asked with a roll of her eyes.

"I didn't know you were that serious about it," Jax replied.

"You haven't seen me since I was what? 12?"

"Yeah, all you did was run around in that damn tutu and try to get me to dance with you."

"You were a terrible dance partner."

"I was also 15, all I wanted to do was learn to ride a bike."

Haley rolled her eyes at him again. "Well it looks like you got your wish," she said before moving around him. Jax caught her elbow and pulled her to a stop.

"You sure you're ok? I mean, with everything? You're mom and all that?"

"We going to talk about our feelings now," Haley joked. Jax shook his head at her and ran a hand down his face. "Fine, I'm dealing with it Jax. I mean, my mom was killed in a car crash. The night of the funeral, I come back to her house and find my step-dad drunk off his ass. He beat me, he raped me, and then once he passed out on top of me, I ran out of there and didn't look back. How the hell am I supposed to feel?"

"Baby girl, you gotta talk to somebody about this," Jax exclaimed.

"Who Jax? You want me to tell my dad? Or you and Opie? Who the fuck am I supposed to talk to about the fact that my step-father raped me," Haley cried. She bit her bottom lip when it began to quiver. "I'm scared Jax, I am absolutely terrified that he's going to find me. My mom left me everything and when he finds out he will lose his mind. He's going to come out here, he won't let me go just like that."

"What do you mean by that? Let you go like that," Jax asked.

"He... he's been... that...," Haley stumbled through her words as she leaned against the kitchen counter. She crossed her arms and shook her head. "I'm not doing this, I'm not."

Haley pushed past him and started down the hallway. Jax followed after her, trying to catch hold of her arm.

"Will you stop? Talk to me," Jax demanded.

Haley turned around and shoved him away. "Stop it! Just stop it Jax! We haven't seen one another in ten years, Jax! Ten goddamn years! Now you want me to cry on your shoulder and let you take care of me like when we were kids? It doesn't work like that! You don't know anything about me Jax!"

"I know that you graduated from high school with honors, I know that you went to college on a dance scholarship! I know that you gave up an offer from a dance group or whatever you call it so you could teach because you always wanted to teach kids! I know a lot more than you think I do, Haley! You really think your mom could keep Piney completely out of the loop about you? We were all there when you graduated from high school, your mom asked us to stay away, but we all came anyway. We wanted to be there for you," Jax replied.

"You were there?"

"Yeah, I was," Jax said as he took hold of both her arms. "I've always been here for you Haley, nothing is going to change that."

"Jax," Haley whispered as she stared up at him. She blinked back tears and leaned into him. Jax wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Her fingers brushed against his cut before resting on his heart.

"We are going to take care of this Haley, we won't let him hurt you."

...

After Haley's shower she padded out of the bathroom and down the hallway. She was wrapped in a towel, her hair dripping onto the floor. She had given Jax her clothes to wash, she highly doubted it was going well.

"How's the laundry coming," Haley asked as she leaned against the doorway. Jax turned around and looked at her. "You don't know how to work the washing machine, do you?"

Jax heaved a sigh and threw up his hands in frustration. "I don't, I've been standing here since you got in the shower trying to figure this out."

Haley shook her head at him and pushed him out of the way. "Ok, just set it on this, you put the detergent in here, you turn it on, and then close it."

"What would I do without you," Jax asked as he grinned at her.

"I would never have clean clothes, that's what. What am I supposed to wear now?"

"The towel looks good to me."

"My dad or Opie come in here and I'm in just a towel, they will beat your ass Teller."

"I think I might have some clothes here, maybe we can find you something," Jax said. He wandered over to a closet and tugged it open. He jumped back as things fell out on him. Haley giggled as Jax kicked the items of clothing and random things out of the way. Jax dug around in the closet before pulling out a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

Haley caught them when Jax threw them to her. She sniffed them before rolling her eyes at Jax. "Are you sure these are clean?"

"Cleaner than your clothes right now."

She shook her head at him before heading down the hallway to the bathroom. She quickly tugged on the clothes and toweled her hair dry. She wandered back out of the bathroom and found Jax sitting on the sofa, watching tv.

Haley's phone rang on the coffee table and Jax leaned forward to pick it up. It stared at the screen for a long moment. "Its a Charming number," he said as he held out the phone.

Haley flipped the phone open. "Hello?"

"Miss. Winston?"

"This is she."

"This is Marcy Richards, were you aware that your mother had a home in Charming?"

"I thought she sold it," Haley replied.

"Well its been on the market for some time now, but it hasn't sold. I heard that your mother recently died, I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, what does that have to do with the house though?"

"Well, your mother put your name on the deed a few weeks ago. Now that she is dead, the house belongs to you," Marcy explained.

"Really? She... she left me a house," Haley asked as she met Jax's gaze.

"Well, based on a recent conversation I had with your mother, I don't think that's all she left you. The house is paid for, it will need some repairs and a little work. No one has lived in it for years, but its all yours."

"That is... thank you."

"You can come by my office tomorrow and pick up the keys. There are a few papers to sign, after that it will be all yours."

"I'll see you tomorrow, thank you again," Haley said before hanging up the phone. She stared at the phone for a moment before looking at Jax. "She left me the house, I had no idea she still had it."

"What? The one you lived in before?"

"Yeah, when we were kids. She still had it, she was trying to sell it, but she put my name on the deed a few weeks ago and now its mine."

"Well I guess that solves your housing problem," Jax replied. "You want to head over there and take a look?"

"She said I can pick up the keys tomorrow. She said something about a conversation she had with my mom a few weeks ago. I think... do you think she knew something was going to happen?"

"I don't know, I mean why would someone want to hurt your mom Haley," Jax asked as she sat down on the sofa next to him.

"I don't know, but her putting the deed in my name, everything is in my name now. Her lawyer told me that at the funeral. I think she knew."

"We'll look in to it, one of the prospects, Juice, he's good with computers. If anyone can find something for you, he can," Jax assured her. "Did she tell you anything? Did she say anything that made you think it wasn't an accident?"

"How hard is it to orchestrate a car wreck? Maybe it wasn't an accident. She was tense, I was only home for a week, before it happened. I had... I had just gotten home from school, I had to pack up my stuff. She was jumpy, a little nervous, she... I don't know, I had never seen her like that Jax. I thought it was stress or something."

"It wouldn't be hard to make it look like an accident. We... well we've done things like that before," Jax said uneasily.

"Jax, I know what the club is about, you don't have to act like that about it."

"I know, I know," he said before running a hand down his face. "All right, so you think someone wanted your mom dead. Who? Why?"

"My step-dad, I mean they have been having problems, my mom told me as much. He thought he would get it all, he didn't know she'd changed everything to my name though. If something happens to me, he'd get it, I mean who else would it go to?"

"Makes sense."

Haley heaved a sigh and shook her head. "This is seriously a conversation I never thought I would have."

Song is Young and Beautiful by Lana Del Rey