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Fallon: End of an Era

Jax had seen Dru in all her vicious glory today. She had been fierce. Brutal. Powerful. It had been a glorious sight to behold. At the same time he was worried. He didn't want what humanity she had left to disappear under the weight of what she was doing for him and the club. She had suffered so much already, but here she was standing strong as the world was bearing down on her.

He was grateful that Tully's guy was going to clean up the mess. Less for him and his crew to do. He seen the car coming up the drive and met Dru in the yard. "You doing okay?" he asked her.

"I'm perfect," she grinned.

Jax grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips to kiss it. "I love you."

"And I love you."

They watched as Tyler got out of the SUV along with…

"What the hell is T.O. and Rat Boy doing with him?" Dru asked.

Jax wrinkled his brow in confusion. "I have no idea."

"Shit," Chibs exclaimed. "What the hell happened to him?"

"I couldn't get away from Moses to give him a heads up," Tyler told him.

"We were heading out for the hospital and he scooped up both of us," Rat Boy said.

"You okay?" Jax questioned.

"Yeah. I couldn't cave too easy and I took a few hits," Rat Boy answered.

"I'm sorry it went down that way."

"It's cool," he shrugged.

Jax grinned and cradled his bruised cheek. Suddenly, he playfully smacked him. Rat Boy groaned and Jax grabbed him up in a hug and told him he was proud of him. T.O. climbed out of the SUV and Jax shook his hand. "I owe you, brother. Thank you," he said.

"Anything for you, Jackson," T.O. told him.

"Guess things went okay here," Rat Boy stated.

"Well, we've got a pile of dead black guys in the backyard," Tig commented.

"What?" T.O. exclaimed. "Was LAPD here?"

Happy took out Moses' fingers from his pocket and told Rat Boy there was three left if he wanted one. Rat Boy and T.O. quickly refused the offer graciously. Dru raised a brow at Happy's warped sense of humor and sadism.

His first reaction was to call Dru. He had come home to make sure that Abel was settled in with Wendy. He had been really freaked out by what happened earlier. He hadn't quite known what to do. He was helpless with how to respond to Abel's self-mutilation. Jax hoped he wasn't doing it for attention. With Tara's death, Abel had been withdrawn lately. Confused. He couldn't help but understand his little boy's need for stability, but more importantly safety.

He had made the decision to tell Abel about Wendy being his biological mother. After all, Abel was spending all of his time with Wendy. Jax had figured it would comfort the boy somehow to know that he still had a mother. In the end, it had blown up in his face. The words that had exited his son's mouth when he had tucked him into bed had knocked him for a loop. He staggered back from the impact.

Now the only thing he wanted to do was call Dru. She had stayed behind with the others at Red Woody. She said she had things to straighten out before she met up with him later. Jax had taken it as a sign that she needed to make phone calls, contact the people that were crucial to her survival during this war. Jax could only hope that her life was more valuable than that of August Marks. But at the moment, his survival was dependent on Dru.

Jax forgot calling her. He needed a face to face conversation. He had a relatively large bomb to drop at her feet.

He found her sitting at the Reaper table with two laptops laid out. She was completely absorbed in her work. Whatever she was doing seemed imperative. Jax hated to interrupt her, but it needed to be done. He shut the door behind him and it caught her attention.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"I need to talk to you," Jax told her.

Dru shrugged and shut her laptops down. She could finish what she'd been doing later. "Okay. Talk."

Jax sighed as he took his regular seat at the head of the table. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Abel told me something tonight," he started. Dru wrinkled her brow. "I told him about Wendy being his real mother. I wanted to comfort him somehow especially after what happened today."

"Jax, if this is about him being confused then it's totally reasonable. He lost the only mother that he knew and now you're throwing him another one. I'm not saying you did the wrong thing, but he's five. That's not something a five year old can easily comprehend."

He shook his head. "No, he understood perfectly. It's what he said to me later."

"What is it?"

"He asked me if grandma killed his other mommy so his first mommy could be here with him."

It was those words that made her blood run cold. She almost recoiled at the power they had over her, but she didn't let herself react. If there were two things that Dru was good at, it was keeping secrets and hiding her emotions. She decided to play dumb.

"What?" she murmured.

"That was exactly my reaction. Is Abel's mind so chaotic that he can't make sense of anything around him now?"

"Jackson, come on. He's five. He's a smart kid. He can't be that disorderly."

"Well, something is going on with him."

"Maybe he's mistaken. Especially with everything going on. He's been shuffled around from place to place the past two weeks alone not counting all the other times. Abel has seen people get hurt. He has seen people disappear never to be heard from again. I'm sure he's noticed Bobby's absence. He's lost a lot of people in his life, Jax," Dru explained.

"But it doesn't make any sense. What he said doesn't make any sense."

"I agree," Dru nodded. "Why would he accuse Gemma of killing Tara?"

"I don't know," he shook his head. "But I'm going to find out."

And that's what she was afraid of. No worries though. She would get to Gemma before he did.

"I don't know why he'd do it. I know he misses you. But, I've never put a hand on him and you know that. I love him more than anything. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm so sorry this happened."

Dru stood in the kitchen as she heard every word Gemma spoke. She knew she was speaking to Tara. Dru wondered if the woman was suffering from guilt. She acknowledged that the night Gemma killed Tara that the matriarch had went into a fit of rage thinking that Tara had ratted on the club. She should've known how much Tara loved Jax. That woman never would've betrayed her husband's secrets.

When she had shot Eli Roosevelt to protect her secret, she had wanted to shield Gemma from the backlash of Jax and the club. Gemma had raised her. Gemma had loved her and taken her in when her own mother had abandoned her. How could she, in good conscience, turn her back on her? But now she was regretting her decision. Oh, well.

"Remorse eating away at you, Aunt Gemma?"

Gemma jumped as if spooked by her presence. She scoffed. "What would you know about it, Dru?"

"I know a lot about remorse. I know more about it than you could ever conceive," Dru replied. "But I also know when to let it go too. In your case, you can't because you recognize how wrong you were in killing Tara. You knew how wrong it was only seconds after the act was done. Which is why you're sitting there talking to the victim, and the victim just happens to be your son's wife and your grandchildren's mother."

"You should be happy with what I did. I gave you a free pass to get your man," Gemma sniggered.

"I didn't need a free pass, Gemma. I already had him."

"And you honestly think that Tara would've allowed you to have him without a fight?" the Queen scoffed. "You're delusional."

"She wouldn't have fought me because she knew she'd lose. Jax and I have too much history; too many things in common."

"It doesn't matter now. You have him. You should be proud."

"But not at the expense of your grandchildren's sanity." Dru paused. "Or should I say…Abel's sanity."

Gemma turned to look at her. "What are you talking about?"

"It's quite ironic. The person you love most in this world is the person who betrayed you."

"Dru, what are you talking about?" she questioned again.

"Last night as Jax was putting Abel to bed, he asked his daddy if Grandma killed his other mommy so his real mommy could be here." Gemma's eyes got as wide as saucers. She was stunned. "Now," Dru continued, "I don't know how he found out. I'm going to assume he's overheard one of your ghostly conversations you've had with Tara. But it doesn't matter. He knows the truth. And now Jax is hell bent on finding out the truth himself."

"And when he finds out you'll be going down with me, Drusilla," Gemma told her.

"No, I won't," Dru shook her head. "Because if I do who will protect Jax and the club from certain extinction?"

Gemma flinched. She hadn't expected that. It was her ace in the hole.

"Your lies have gotten Jax and SAMCRO into a lot of trouble with a lot of people. The blowback is going to be massive. Their lives are on the line especially your son's. The only one who can safeguard his life and defend the legacy of the club is me. I've already pledged my allegiance. I'm putting my own life on the line, Gemma. I am already a walking target.

"But because of my skills and the commitment that I have to SAMCRO you're going to keep your mouth shut. You love your son deeply. You don't want anything to happen to him. I'm the only who can stop that from happening."

Gemma sighed and began to rethink her options. She would have to go down alone. She couldn't divulge Dru's involvement in Tara's murder. She knew what Dru was capable of. If any person could keep her son safe it was her. Dru would die for Jax. She was isolated and she hated it. Fear filled her heart and she began to tremble.

"But now I have a question for you, Gemma."

"And what's that, sweetheart?"

"Why were you protecting Juice all that time?" Dru asked.

Gemma sighed. "After you left that night and turned yourself in, I went to him. I knew about his troubles with the club. In exchange for hiding him from the club, I told him what happened so that he could clean up the mess."

Dru harshly exhaled. "There was a reason why I didn't want the murder scene cleaned up, Gemma. There was a reason why I left the murder weapon in the floor."

"And what reason was that, Dru? Collateral?"

"No, you dumb bitch. I left it because it was a gruesome slaughter. Never in a million years would they have suspected you. After all, why would you kill your son's beloved?"

"She was not his beloved!" Gemma yelled. "You were. You are!"

"It doesn't matter. Jax will connect the dots, Gemma. He will know to go to Juice for answers. Does Juice know of my participation?"

"No," the matriarch shook her head. "I left you out of it."

"Thank God for small favors," Dru muttered.

Wendy had pointed him in the right direction. Who knew that Unser would have the answers that he needed? Jax had a feeling that Juice was the key to everything.

"I know you and Gemma have been helping Juice. I need to know how that happened," Jax said.

"Who the hell told you that?" Unser asked.

"She said Gemma was helping him because she didn't want anyone else to get hurt. But why would Juice go to my mom in the first place?"

"I'm not sure how that all came together," Unser shrugged. "I assumed they crossed paths sometimes."

"That doesn't make sense!" Jax exclaimed. "You were with my mom the night Tara got murdered. What was going on with her?"

"She was upset. She knew that you were going to get picked up by the Sheriffs," Unser replied.

"Did she call you after she saw the Chinese?"

"Yeah. After we found out what happened she was wrecked. We both were. She didn't tell me what she saw. Only the club was privy to that. What are you digging at, son?"

"I need a face to face with Juice. Can you call Jarry and set that up?"

"You're kidding me, right?" Unser scoffed. "I mean, we know what you're doing with Juice. You're using him to get close to Lin."

"This isn't about Lin!" Jax shouted. "It's about Tara."

"Why should I help you, son? You guys have done nothing but lie to me. The guy Juice and your mother I.D.'d, he wasn't even in the state."

"What are you talking about?" Jax questioned in surprise.

"Chris Dunn. Jarry found out he was in a Vegas drunk tank the night Tara was murdered."

Jax didn't understand any of this. "I need you to get me in a room with Juice. Tell the D.A. that we will get them the intel they need on Tara's murder. You can pull the video and watch the whole thing. Wayne, do you want the truth or not?"

"Alright," Unser acquiesced. "I'll call Jarry, see if she can hook it up. You burn me on this, Jackson, and…and…there's no more loyalty. For your club and for your family. Understand?"

"Understood."

"Hey, what's going on, brother?" Tig asked after he and Tig pulled up.

"I need you guys to visit our white friends. Have Otis reach out to Tully. I'm sitting down with Juice. I need the cameras off in the room."

"I thought all this shit with Lin was set," Chibs said.

"It's about something else."

"I'll fill you in when I know more. And contact Dru. She can help. She'll know why."

Jax walked away from them. They were baffled by his behavior. It seemed that their President was becoming a little muddled lately. But today it was worse.

"What the hell is going on?" Tig questioned.

"I don't know," Chibs shrugged. "But Dru does. If Dru knows and we don't, it has to be bad, Tiggy."