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Chapter 3

Julie disconnected the call after promising her little girl that she was on her way back to the hotel. She mentally reminded herself to give her ex a hard time about the fact that according to their little girl she was better at coloring.

"Everything alright?" Gemma asked pulling Julie back to the present.

Julie looked up and realized that Bobby, Gemma and Chibs were staring at her with great interest.

"Yeah, everything's fine, Gracie just wanted to know when I was coming back. Apparently, daddy is not as good at coloring as I am" Julie replied.

She looked at Chibs and noticed that he almost flinched at the word "daddy."

A wave of sadness washed over Julie as she realized the reason. She had known all of the pain that he'd went through, losing his family, the scars on his cheeks, even after ten years her heart still ached for the man he had been.

"Ah, well don't let us keep you, how long are you gonna be in town?" Gemma asked.

"I don't know. I'm still figuring things out, but how about I stop by your house later?" Julie answered.

"Sure baby, you bring the kid, it might do Abel some good to have someone to play with" the older woman replied making it sound more like an order than a request.

"I'll do that" she answered before giving both Bobby and Gemma a kiss on the cheek and walking to her car.

As she drove away, Gemma turned and looked at Chibs.

"Letting that girl go was easily the stupidest thing you've ever done."

Then both Gemma and Bobby walked away, leaving Chibs alone with his thoughts.

"Aye, don't I know it" he thought sadly.

"Guys, I'm back" Julie said about twenty minutes later as she walked into her room at the Charming Inn. She smiled when she saw that her six year old daughter was sitting at the table coloring.

"Hey Jules" her ex-husband, Adam Reynolds, said as he looked up from the table.

"Hey, I hear I'm better at coloring than you" she replied as she kissed the top of her daughter's head.

"Hey sweet pea" she said.

"Hi Mommy" the little girl smiled.

"How did it go?" Adam asked as Julie walked into the bedroom to change her clothes.

"It was a barrel of laughs. One of my best friends is dead Adam. How do you think it was" she shot back sarcastically.

"You know what I meant Jules, was the ghost there?" he asked.

"Don't start that again, not in front of her" Julie whispered, glancing over at their daughter.

"Sorry, I just know that he hurt you, and I'm sure he was at the funeral" Adam held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Yes, he was. It was his President's Old Lady, and he was friends with Tara of course he was there. But I am not having this discussion with you" she said trying to keep her tone civil so that her daughter wouldn't think something was wrong.

"Come on Jules, I just want to help, I know you and Tara were close" he started.

Knowing where the conversation was going, Julie put an abrupt end to it by shutting the door and beginning to get dressed.

She emerged a few moments later in a pair of jeans, a plaid button down, and a pair of Converse. She found Gracie watching the Disney channel.

"Hey pumpkin, where did Daddy go?" she asked noticing that her ex was nowhere in sight.

"He went to his room" she replied.

"Well, why don't you get some shoes on, and we'll go see a friend of mine, okay?" Julie asked.

"Can we get nuggets on the way back?" the little girl asked hopefully.

"I guess we can, if you are a good girl while Mommy is talking her friend" Julie giggled.

"Yay! I'll be a good girl Mommy, I promise" the little girl said as she pulled on a pair of boots.

Gemma had just sat down with a cup of coffee when she heard a knock on her door. She walked over and glanced out the window. She was pleased to see that it was Julie and a little girl that looked to be a couple of years older than Abel.

She smiled as she opened the door, noticing that Julie was wearing jeans and a pair of beat up Converse, looking more like the Julie that had left Charming, not the polished woman from the funeral.

"Now there's the Julie I remember, come on in baby" she said as she waved them into the house.

"Hey Gemma, this is my little girl, Gracie, this is Mommy's friend Gemma" Julie smiled.

"You're the lady with the pretty birds" Gracie said softly.

"That's right, you look just like your mommy" Gemma replied giving the little girl a small smile.

"Babe have you seen Abel's coloring books?" a man said as he came into the room carrying a baby that looked to be a little over a year old, and holding the hand of a little boy who looked to be about four.

"This must be the new boyfriend Tara mentioned" Julie thought.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt, Nero Padilla" the man said as he extended his hand to Julie.

"Julie Hale-Reynolds and this is my daughter, Gracie" Julie smiled shaking his hand.

"You in Mommy's picture" the little boy said suddenly.

"That's right, you must be Abel, and your mommy was one of my best friends" Julie said.

Gemma shook her head and noticed that Nero looked a little confused by the whole exchange.

"Babe, Julie is an old friend of the Club, and I'm assuming she is here to be Jax's lawyer" Gemma explained.

"You gonna get our boy out of this mess?" he asked interested.

"I'm gonna try, is there somewhere we can talk?" she asked glancing at the kids as she wondered how Gemma could have possibly known why she was back in Charming.

"Hey little man, what do you say we show the little lady your toys while grandma and her friend talk?" Nero said as he led the kids down the hallway while Gemma and Julie went into the kitchen.

"Boy she sure looks like you did when you were a kid, I still remember that little girl that would run around after her brothers" the queen of SAMCRO said without much preamble.

"Yea, thankfully I grew out of that" Julie said as she fixed herself a cup of coffee, even after ten years, it still surprised her that she remembered the layout of Gemma's kitchen.

"Abel's gotten so big! I swear he looks just like Jax. But then all I've ever seen were the pictures that Tara sent me of him and Thomas" Julie attempted to change the subject from their trip down memory lane.

"Yep, and he has so much of his daddy in him too. So when am I going to meet this husband of yours, I assume he's still in the picture since your last name has changed?" Gemma asked not buying into the tactic.

"Yea, Adam, well he's my ex-husband. We ended things about four years ago, he's a PI, we work together from time to time, and I kept the married name so it wouldn't confuse Gracie" Julie explained.

"Ah, being a good mommy" the older woman smiled.

"I learned from the best" Julie giggled.

"You know, everyone was hurt when you took off like you did Jules, not just Chibs" Gemma started suddenly.

"I know Gemma, but I had to get out of here. I couldn't be around him, the club, hell it was hard being around Tara and Donna after that" Julie reasoned.

"He loved you. I know he hurt you baby, but you taking off, no word, no goodbyes"

"Yeah, damn right he hurt me, if he loved me so damn much Gem, then why did he cheat on me, with some whore?" Julie wondered.

"He was a moron, I admit that, he knows he fucked up and he has regretted it ever since, and he has been lonely because of it. I'll have you know he even tried to find you a few years ago" Gemma replied.

"He did?" Julie questioned.

"Yep, and in the past ten years he's never taken another old lady, I mean he could have gotten back together with Fiona, but he chose to come back here instead" the older woman said hoping that her words were sinking in.

"I'm sure the club had more to do with that then me" Julie thought.

"And he even promised Jax that he would help care for those boys, you know how loyal he is" Gemma continued.

"Yea, I know especially when it comes to Jax. When is his arraignment hearing? Julie asked hoping to move on from the topic of a certain Scotsman.

"The day after tomorrow, how did you know he was being charged anyways?" Gemma wondered.

"Bobby called me, asked me to defend him. Opie and Bobby found out where I was living after Donna died, Op came to see me, and I asked them not to say anything. I didn't want anyone to know that I was still in Cali" Julie explained.

"I take it Tara knew"

"Yea, we kept in touch, Bobby called me and told me what happened. I took a leave of absence from my job, so it looks like I'm going to be sticking around town for awhile" Julie answered.

"Good, you're family baby, now how do we help Jax?" Gemma asked finally moving on to another topic.

"Well in the short term, he needs to let me do the talking at his hearing, except when the judge asks him something. Other than that, I need to know everything about their marriage, the club, and I need full disclosure. I also need to talk to the guys and get them on board, Jax needs their support more than ever" Julie answered moving into her work mode.

"You got it, we'll be there to show support, but we will let you do the talking" Gemma promised.

The two women talked for a few more minutes before Nero and the kids joined them.

"Are you sure you two don't want to stay for dinner?" Gemma asked as she walked Julie and her daughter to the door a short time later.

"Thanks Gem, but I promised this baby that we would get chicken nuggets if she was good, and I've got to do some research so I can figure something out with Jax" Julie replied as she kissed Gemma's cheek.

"Okay, well I'll see you at the hearing, I'm glad you're back" Gemma said as she closed the door to Julie's rental car and watched her drive off into the night, a plan already forming in her mind.

Two days later

Two days later, Julie found herself starring at one of her best friends as he was being led out in handcuffs, preparing to face the judge. She could tell that he was surprised to see her.

"Jules? Is it really you? I mean mom told me you were back, but I didn't believe her" he said his voice filled with emotion.

"It's me Jax, Bobby called me, lets see if we can get you out of this mess" she smiled as she noticed that the other club members were starting to arrive.

She glanced at Chibs and could tell that he was shocked to see her here. She figured that Bobby had neglected to mention what exactly she'd been doing in the past ten years.

"Please rise for the Honorable Judge O'Neill" the foreman said as the elderly judge walked into the court room.

"I see we have a repeat offender, D.A. Patterson, what are the charges?" he asked.

"Two counts of murder in the first degree, and we ask that he be held without bail until trial" the prosecutor answered with a smug smile.

"Objection!" Julie exclaimed as she looked at the judge.

"Who might you be young lady?" the old man asked.

"Julie Hale-Reynolds for the defense your Honor, I was under the impression that this was an arraignment hearing, besides my client is not a flight risk, he has two small children that need their father" Julie argued as she glared at the older woman who was the prosecutor that Gemma had told her about.

"You both can save it for the bail hearing that I'm setting for two weeks, Mr. Teller, you have been charged with the first degree murders of your wife and a decorated police officer, how do you plead?" he asked.

"Not guilty" he said softly.

"Very well, we'll set a date for trial, meanwhile the defendant will be incarcerated until the hearing" the judge said before exiting the courtroom.

"Thanks for coming Jules, what do we do now?" Jax asked.

"You do what you need to do to stay alive Jax, let the other guys handle things from the outside. I'll do what I can, but I'm going to need full disclosure, no lies" she answered.

"You got it Jules, Bobby and the others will make sure you get everything you need. Thanks for coming back" he said as the guard joined them.

"Of course I came back, you're family Jax" she smiled as she hugged him before the guard led him out of the courtroom

That night Chibs was at Diosa sitting at the bar when Gemma walked in. The Scotsman assumed that she was looking for Nero so he continued to knock back his Jameson. It surprised him when she sat down next to him.

"Hey Gem, Nero's in the back" he said.

"I wanted to talk to you first baby. How are you holding up?" she asked.

"I'm fine mother" he said as he knocked back another shot of whiskey.

"Seeing Julie must've been a shock for you, I mean not seeing her for ten years and then Bobby calls her" she started.

"He knew where she was?" he asked suddenly interested.

"Yep, apparently he and Opie found her after Donna died. Op even went out to see her. She was in San Bernardino this whole time, I'm just surprised that neither of them ever mentioned seeing her" Gemma smirked.

"Aye, even after I tried to find her a few years back" he said.

"I know, I mentioned that to her the other day, she told me the whole story, even the fact that she is divorced now, just keeps the name so she won't confuse the kid, well I'm going to go find Nero, see you later honey" Gemma said as she got up to go in search of Nero.

Chibs watched her leave as her words sank in. Bobby had known where she was the whole time. He had tried everything he could think of to find her, even had Juice do his computer shit, but nothing had worked. He'd wanted to talk to Julie to see if he could fix things, to tell her he missed her and to beg for another chance. He simply couldn't believe that his brother had lied to him. He'd lied right to his face.

"Bobby Munson, it's time we have a little talk" he thought as he got on his bike and headed towards Scoops with his anger continuing to build.