It's official...I have returned!

I'm sorry I've been gone so long, but some stuff came up. It's personal and I would like to keep it that way. My family, however, did have a very nice holiday. Thanksgiving and Christmas both was a time of blessings and for that I'm very thankful.

Anyways, this is not a long chapter. I would like to call this chapter "the romantic chapter", but yet it's one of the most tragic. Spoiler alert: Don't freak out! No one dies! The chapter is simply tragic because of the acceptances that are made within this chapter.

I'll be back with more soon, I promise. There are a few more chapters left in this story.

Thank you all for standing by me. Please read and review!

Fallon: End of an Era

Chapter Thirty-Five

That night Dru came back to Jax's house just as she had promised. When she pulled up she quickly noticed his motorcycle sitting in the driveway. According to Chibs he had been waiting on her for the past two hours. Jax was worried when she hadn't shown up immediately that something had already happened to her. Dru quickly made Chibs assure Jax that she was just tying up loose ends and she would be there eventually. Apparently the man hadn't liked waiting for her.

She understood that he was terrified. He didn't know what to expect because she was ultimately keeping it from him. It was not needed for him to know her final fate. The only thing he needed to acknowledge was the inevitably of her violent end. "Violent" probably didn't even begin to cover what would happen to her.

When she walked in to the house she was confronted with many candles laid out before her. Her heart melted. Jax was attempting to be romantic. It was not like him to be romantic. He was too simple for that. But the fact that he was trying made her love him even more. Dru had never felt so special. She heard his footsteps across the floor of the kitchen and was met with his blue eyes as he suddenly stood before her.

"God, I love you," she told him.

Jax shyly smiled. "I didn't know if you would appreciate this or not. We're not the type—"

"I love it," she cut him off.

"So, there is a romantic girl in there somewhere," he smirked.

"Just don't tell anybody. It'll ruin my reputation," Dru leered.

"You got it, darlin'."

While Jax and Dru was enjoying a romantic night, which was soon to turn lustful, Chibs was sure, he and Tig were relishing a bottle of whiskey. Dru's secret was beginning to take a toll on Chibs. His heart was heavy and the guilt was burdening his mind. He had kept his and Dru's conversation on repeat in his head for days. It wasn't making him feel any better.

"Do you ever feel as if you're stuck in the middle, Tiggy?" Chibs asked him.

"I'd love to be stuck in the middle of two women right now," Tig answered.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Tiggy!"

"What is wrong with you? You've been cranky for a few days."

Chibs sighed. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Well, whatever it is, you need to let it go. We're sharing a bottle of whiskey. Whiskey makes everything go away."

"Not this, brother. Not this."

Tig looked at him and relinquished the fact that nothing was going to force Chibs to let go of whatever was bothering him. He sighed and settled his shot class on the table beside of him. He and Chibs had made a place for themselves on top of the roof at Red Woody after Jax and Dru had left. Tig hadn't been able to handle the heartbreak that came with Dru's revelations. As much as he and Dru had thrown sexual innuendos at each other, and God knows he had flirted his ass off with her over the years, he considered Dru to be like a daughter. To even think of the possibility of her life ending was poignantly depressing.

He remembered the flame-haired little girl that ran around the Teller-Morrow garage years back. She was nothing but a spitfire, passionate in her anger and also in her loving of others. To know that she grew into the calculating killer that she was broke something inside of Tig. He had never seen it coming. However, it was a possibility since she came from Connor Fallon's loins. His genes ran strong through that woman.

"I wonder what Connor would think of Dru if he were still alive today," Tig thought aloud.

Chibs exhaled. "I would like to think that he would be proud."

"Proud that his daughter turned out just like him?" he questioned.

"Not that, Tig. The person that she is. She's loyal, faithful. She's a fighter, a survivor. She's survived things that no one should and came out on the other side. Maybe not as the person she was before, but she endured. Dru still loves just as strongly as she did ten years ago. I think Connor would be proud of that."

Tig understood. The only thing that Connor wanted when Dru had been born was for her to be resilient and happy. Tig doubted she was happy, but he could attest to the fact that she was resilient, sturdy.

"Is she gonna live, Chibs?"

Chibs didn't know how to answer that. He couldn't tell him the truth. Tig would immediately run to Jax with the reality of Dru's situation. "I don't know, Tiggy."

"She can't die. The entire club will grieve itself to death. And Jax…"

"Jax will go off the deep end," Chibs finished.

Dru had left Jax to go into the kitchen after their second round in the bedroom. He told her he would be in the shower. She had found herself needing some time by herself. She was thankful that he hadn't pushed, but Dru acknowledged that Jax knew her better than anyone. He had probably understood her need for isolation. Even when she was younger she sometimes craved to be secluded away from other people. Opie would call her a weirdo. She gracefully smiled as she remembered him. She hadn't really had the time to reminisce. Remembering Opie brought joy and comfort, but then she recalled that he was gone. That brought pain to the forefront. He was what brought her back to Charming. If it hadn't been for his death she would still be hidden, living her own life.

Dru speculated where she would be. Four years ago she hadn't had the control to stay out of the Sons' lives. She'd done everything possible to keep them safe. In the end, when it had really mattered, she'd been helpless to save Opie. If he were still alive, would his presence have made a difference in how things were presently? Dru would like to think so. After all, Opie had been Jax's moral compass, his true north. He had kept Jax's feet on the ground, which is what a genuine best friend did.

She jumped up onto the kitchen counter with a beer that she had fetched from Jax's fridge. Dru began contemplating about what tomorrow would bring. She knew one thing for certain. Her death was imminent.

"Whatever you're thinking of let it go," Jax told her as he made his appearance in the kitchen.

Dru looked up to find him practically naked. The only thing he had on was a pair of boxers. Jax Teller shirtless was a yummy sight to behold. And he wasn't all the way dry yet. There were still a few drops of water running down his chest. She unconsciously licked her lips.

Jax crooked his lips up in a naughty grin. "Not yet. I need to rehydrate first."

Dru smirked. "Can't keep up, Teller?"

"I never said any such thing. I can keep up with you just fine, Miss Fallon."

"Well, you certainly put on quite a performance earlier," she commented.

"So did you. Especially that thing you did with your tongue—" Jax cut himself off when he found a bottle cap flying at his face. "What the hell was that?" he asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she shrugged innocently.

Jax strutted over to where she was sitting on his kitchen counters. He put himself between her legs and stole her bottle of beer. Dru watched as he put the bottle to his sexy lips and guzzled down the remains of her beer. She narrowed her eyes on him when he pulled it away to smirk at her.

"You're gonna pay for that, Teller," Dru warned.

"I'm looking forward to it, darlin'," Jax said while leering at her.

Dru grabbed his face and pulled it towards hers. She aggressively kissed him as desire suddenly engulfed her entire body. There was something about Jax Teller that just did something to her. She was fierce in her loving. She was savage in her loyalty. Dru bit the lip that had stolen the last of her beer and found her hair being pulled with an unforgiving hand.

"I love you," he harshly whispered against her lips.

She gasped in pleasant surprise at his admission. Those three words had been on replay for them for quite some time now, but it still staggered her. She had forever wanted Jax Teller and here she was…kissing him. Touching him. Making love with him.

"I love you," she replied when he pulled away.

Dru found him searching her eyes. She wanted to cower away, afraid of what he might find. However, she needed to lay it all out for him to see. Who knew when it would end? He had to know now.

"I've loved you since I was a child. I've been in love with you since I was a young woman. You are every dream I've ever had," Dru began. "You hold every memory, every story, every emotion I've ever felt in you. Jax, you're the one that's kept me alive this long. All those times I begged for death to take me when I was with Galen…I would remember you and the pain went away. I would dream and the life I envisioned for us made me strong again. I had to live. I had to live for you. I had to live so I could do this one day…with you. It's all I've ever wanted."

Jax was speechless. He was practically breathless. The beauty of her words touched him and the only thing he could feel right now was her. He brought his hand up to cup her small breast. Every part of her was small. How she had survived the work she done with her stature Jax had no idea. But it was the muscles beneath the skin that spoke of her power. They rippled with every move she made. But her true strength came from somewhere else. He brushed his hand across the bra she had on and laid his hand to rest above where her heart lay below. This was where her potency came from. Her loyalty, kindness, intensity, love—it all came from here.

"You can't leave me, Dru. All those dreams you've had…I've had them too now. I know what I want our life to be from here on out. We are going to disappear far away from here. Then we are going to love each other every day. We're gonna laugh a lot. We're gonna make love a lot more. We're gonna heal each other, Dru, and then we're gonna grow old and gray. But you better believe you'll still be as beautiful then as you are now. We're gonna have that life, Dru."

Dru was crying. She cupped his face close to hers and allowed herself the tears. Those dreams would never come to pass. She had a different destiny to carry out and she cried for that life that she wanted more than anything. Because she would never have it.

"Yes, we are," she lied to him one last time.