I'm baaaaaack!

I'm sorry that I've left this story on hiatus for so long. I've been going through some personal issues and decided to take time for myself. Please don't mad that I chose to go this route. However, I've noticed since I've been gone that you all have still been following my story and I must thank you for your loyalty. It leaves me in awe.

Since it has been more than a few months since I've posted a new chapter I have returned with an extra long post :) I'm so anxious for you all to read it.

Megan: You have been a hell of a good woman. Checking my email became a sort of therapy for me. Your letters that you left on here certainly kept me going. I never had intentions of abandoning this story, but I never really knew when I would return to writing it. Thank you for your passion and your kindness. I dedicate this chapter to you.

Please read and review!

Fallon: End of an Era

Unser pulled up into the parking lot more than a little confused as to why the Sons were sitting there. He got out of the Teller-Morrow tow truck and asked, "What's this? Chuckie told me there was a pickup, old Volvo." Unser turned his head when the van door opened to reveal Jax. "Oh, shit. Really?" he mused. "You need four guys to take me out?"

"Relax, I just need to talk to you. You baited me into that punch trying to get me off the street."

"I guess you can tell that to the judge," Unser told him.

"I know you feel betrayed."

"This ain't about betrayal, son. I promised Tara I'd protect her, help her get your boys away from all this…all this shit. It eventually killed her. I have to find out who did it. It ain't about the law or some kind of win. I gotta do it for her," Unser explained.

"I get it," Jax nodded.

Unser scoffed." Well, then why are you and your club feeding me nothing but smoke and lies all the time?" he questioned. "Where's Gemma now? Why is she on the lamb? I'm lost here, son. I'm lost!"

"I'll tell you the truth, but you have to drop these charges. I have a lot to do over the next couple days and I can't do it with an APB on my back," Jax said.

"What truth?"

"Tara," Jax whispered.

"I'm listening."

"It was Gemma," he told him. Jax could tell that Unser didn't believe him. "My mother killed my wife. I don't know why. I guess she got wind that Tara made some kind of deal. Eli was waiting outside and heard some kind of commotion. By the time he got to the kitchen Tara was dead. Gemma was covered in blood. Before Eli could call it in, Mom killed him too. She contacted Juice to help cover everything up."

"Holy Christ," Unser muttered.

"They came up with the Chinese lie together."

"Where's Gemma now?"

"I don't know. I've been looking for her. That's the truth and that's all I know."

"I'm gonna have to report this, son," Unser told him.

Jax nodded. "My retaliation turned Oakland and Stockton upside down. I went toe to toe with Lin and then Marks. I lost Bobby, West, Collette, Diosa… I'm just about to clean that mess up. With yellow gone, black, white, brown, we're splitting turfs and settling all beefs. It means an end to bloodshed, both in the city and in Charming."

A phone began ringing in the background.

"I understand your need for closure," Jax continued. "And you know how much I appreciate how good you were to Tara, but the truth about her death it's the straight. If everyone finds out that those bodies died on a lie…that wound gets ripped open. I don't know where it ends."

"What happens to Gemma?" Unser asked.

"If she shows up I'll deal with it," Jax said.

"Deal with her how?"

Jax simply blinked at him. He turned his attention to Chibs who had walked up.

"I'm sorry, Jackie. That was Packer. He says it's done," Chibs told him.

Jax looked at Unser again when Chibs left them. "I told you the truth. What about that APB?"

Unser nodded. "I'll call Jarry."

Hopefully Jax wouldn't be too angry at her for what she had done. It had been the only option for this to even somewhat go the Sons way. Dru knew keeping her intentions a secret would come back to bite her in the ass where Jax was concerned. He had specifically told her to not get involved and she had done the opposite. In Dru's mind, Jax should've known better than to think she would sit this one out. It'd be over her dead body before something happened to Jax or her dad's legacy.

Dru hadn't expected Jarry though. She honestly thought the woman didn't have the balls to confront her. Dru could understand the curiosity that was a part of Jarry, especially since she's a cop. Everyone wondered who she was and Jarry was no different. It didn't mean the woman needed the information. Like she told her, it was above her pay grade. Jarry would come back. The fear Dru had seen in Jarry's eyes didn't matter. She would come back.

But right now, Dru was on the clock for she knew what was coming next.

"I know you've talked and you have your recommendation," Jax told the men sitting before him. Before you deliver it I'd like to say something."

"Of course," the man to his left said.

"Don't you say another word, Jackson," Dru ordered as she walked into the office slamming the door behind her.

"Who the hell are you?" the new President of Indian Hills questioned.

"I'll be your worst nightmare if this bullying convention doesn't stop." Dru announced taking her place beside Jax. "What the hell do you think you all are doing?"

"You have no right to be here. A woman has no place in the charters, especially their decisions!" the President of the Indian Hills charter shouted.

"Hush up, man!" the man to Jax's left ordered. "Do you have any idea who this is?"

"I don't care," the other man said.

"Well, you should. This here is Connor Fallon's daughter, Drusilla." A murmured awe went around the room. "Red hair just like your old man," he noted. You've made quite a name for yourself."

"What would you know about it?" she questioned.

He shrugged. "I know you spent time in the IRA. There are whispers of you everywhere, kind of like a ghost."

"I am a ghost," Dru told him.

The man nodded. "Why did you stop this meeting, Miss Fallon?"

"Because Jax was about to perjure himself to protect the club as a whole. There's no need."

"And why is that, Miss Fallon?"

"I have taken it upon myself to protect all charters. Nothing that has happened before or about to happen is the club's doing. Only mine."

"You were there the day that Jax shot Jury," the new President commented.

"And I have it on good authority that Jury was the one to sell out Redwood," Dru told them. Jax narrowed his eyes at her. "I have proof." She dug inside the coat she was wearing for the tape recorder that she had stowed away from her earlier visit. "The recording will tell you that it was Jury who told Lin where the merchandise was being kept. It is Henry Lin himself on the recording."

"How did you come by this, Miss Fallon?"

"I think you already called me a ghost," she shrugged. "This is my job. I get into places undetected or sometimes even under the cover of very powerful people. You can listen to it and verify the information, but it's there. Now, if you all are done sniffing up the wrong tree, Jax has some cleaning up to do."

The members of the other charters got up to leave, but not without grabbing the voice recorder. "I expect you gentlemen to go back to your tables and alter your decision," Dru told them.

After her and Jax watched them walk out of the office, Jax quickly grabbed her by the elbow to jerk her to face him. All she seen was pure fury masking his face. She expected this.

"What the fuck did you just do?!" Jax growled.

"I did what needed to be done," Dru calmly said.

"Did that include killing the Kings?" he questioned.

Her head ticked to the right. "It's nice to know that you met up with Conner already. Let me guess…you were trying to talk him into giving the browns the gun trade." She shrugged. "He'll go for it now that the Kings are dead."

"What the hell were you thinking killing them? You have seriously put yourself into some dangerous shit!" Jax shouted.

"It's nothing I've never done before and it had to be done for you and the club to come out unscathed. I'm sorry that I'm the only one who can move around unnoticed and do the things that need to be done. I did you a favor."

She went to walk out of the office with Jax following close behind. "No! You didn't do me any favors, Dru. You've put yourself in jeopardy after I very deliberately told you not to, that I couldn't run the risk of losing you."

At this point the rest of the members who had been waiting outside the door to find out Jax's fate had heard the argument between the two lovers. Chibs had seen Dru go inside and had stopped the others from interrupting the obvious plan that she had put in to motion.

Dru sighed and turned around to face Jax once more. "When I returned a year ago I told you it was to make sure that my father's legacy lives on. I will not see this club crash and burn. That was my mission. I didn't see you coming from a mile away, Jackson. I loved you from afar for so long that I was used to not having that love returned and I was finally okay with that. I'd made peace with it. But then you had to throw a fucking curveball at me and suddenly discover your hidden feelings for me. And no," she interjected before he could interrupt her speech, "I believe it when you say you love me. I know you do. But history tells me differently. You loved Tara, but yet you still chose to put the club before her. You should do the same for me."

"Look at where Tara ended up, Dru. She ended up in a body bag courtesy of my mother!" Jax exclaimed. Dru allowed her eyes to widen in surprise. He scoffed. "Yeah, while you've been busy jet setting the world I found out that my mother killed Tara during a fit of rage and that Juice helped her hide the fact."

"Jackson—"

"I'm dealing with it," Jax told her holding up his hand to save her lecture. "The point I'm trying to make is that for the first time in my life something is more important than the club and that something is you."

Her heart melted, but she quickly had to harden it. "I'm asking you to change that. I can't be first priority. The club has to continue to come first. My father's legacy must live on, Jackson. It's the only thing I've wanted and the only thing I have fought for. I have fought for so many years to make sure that it remains. I refuse to come first for you. Do you understand?"

Jax shook his head. "I can't, Dru. It's not gonna happen."

"Then I'll make sure it stays at the top of my priority list," she told him.

He sighed. "Where did you get that recording?"

Dru smirked. "While I was out 'jet setting the world', as you called it, I made a detour to go visit a friend."

"Henry Lin," Jax nodded.

"You had already made him a target for Juice. I simply told him he had nothing else to lose," she shrugged. "And he did me a solid."

"You tortured that fake confession out of him," Jax stated. It sure as hell wasn't a question.

"I did. All while I was trying to put your ass in jail."

"Excuse me?" he narrowed his eyes on her.

"That APB Unser put out on you," she explained, "I knew it would be for the best if you were out of my way so I could do what needs to be done. I wouldn't have to fight you every step of the way." Dru sighed. "But you found Unser first and persuaded him to drop the charges. You ruined my plans."

"What the fuck, Drusilla?!" Jax bellowed.

"Shut up, Jackson. You know I'm right."

He refused to argue with her about her idea to put him in jail even though he did feel a little betrayed. "So, in the span of twenty four hours you took out the IRA Kings and convinced Lin to give you a fake confession."

"I killed Barosky too," Dru told him.

"Holy shit," Chibs muttered.

For the first time since she stepped inside Red Woody Dru turned to give them her attention too. "I found out that he was the rat. It was after that I went to Lin and got him to give me the bogus confession. I knew with both of them gone nothing would be questioned." She turned back to Jax who stood to her right. "The only ones who know that Jury's murder wasn't self-defense are the guys and me. I covered your tracks the best way I knew how."

"Dru, you don't know what you've done," Jax shook his head.

"I know exactly what I've done. If I hadn't have walked in whenever I did you would've confessed to killing Jury and lying about him being the one to sell you all out. You killed a fellow member in cold blood. That would've put you on a one way ride to Mayhem and I wasn't about to allow that to happen."

"I can't believe you did this!" he exclaimed.

"Well, believe it because I did!" she shouted back. "It was the only way that I could protect you. This club can't be under scrutiny. It's been through enough the past year."

"You know what this means, Dru. You—"

"I chose a side," she finished. "In the end it was the only side I can choose because it's the only one that makes sense to me. I wasn't going to leave you to take the fall for everything. And now with Gemma…" Dru shook her head not able to finish the sentence.

"No. You're not going to do a damn thing with Gemma. That's my business," Jax told her.

Her forlorn eyes met his. "It's already in motion."

"Goddamn it, Dru!"

"What? You thought I was gonna leave it to you? I'm cleaning up this mess whether you like it or not. All that you need to do is set back and let it happen."

"Set back and allow you to get yourself killed?!" he bellowed. "You warned me what would happen if you took these steps."

"And I chose it!" Dru screamed. "I chose this, Jackson! So, leave it alone."

"I just got you back, Dru. I can't just leave it alone and let you commit suicide."

Her green eyes eerily looked into his blue ones. He didn't see fear. All he saw was a quiet acceptance of her fate. Jax shook his head. He couldn't allow this to continue, but what choice did he have now? She had went behind his back and set these events in motion. He was supposed to take care of her, not the other way around. She had done enough. The only thing Jax had wanted to do was make sure she was finally out of harm's way and live happily ever after even if he wasn't there to experience it in the end. Once again she had chosen to defy him so he could live.

"I didn't do this just for you, Jax. What about your boys? They're already gonna grow up without a mother. I made a conscious decision so they won't lose their father too."

"And I can't live without you," he softly said as tears came unwanted to his eyes.

Dru bit her lip. She had to give him something. "After all this is said and done, I will run away and try my best to survive, but Jax, I can't make any promises. The people that will be coming after me, I've got a 50/50 chance. That's all I can give you and that's not a guarantee."

"How can you ask me to go along with this? A 50/50 chance of losing you? I can't lose you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you. You can't ask me—" Jax cut himself off as his voice broke from the raw emotion behind it.

"I'm not asking. I'm telling. Let it go, Jax. Let me go."