A whole week has passed since Jax was released from county, though not much has changed.

Tara is still in a coma after her surgery and remains unresponsive, but so far all her scans reveal ample brain activity, which the doctors all agree is a good sign, so Jax remains hopeful that she'll wake up soon.

Yet the search for her attacker is still leading nowhere. On one hand, Jax's blood is boiling with the need for revenge, and at times it takes all his willpower to not unleash that wrath on anyone currently in his path.

On the other hand, he tries his best to contain that bloodlust for the sake of his boys. Since he's been released he's taken on a more active role in parenting and is trying his best to stay on the right track for his sons.

It is only five in the morning and Jax finds himself sitting alone at the table in his kitchen, a hot cup of coffee still steaming before him and the photocopies of Tara's ordeals spread out in front of him as well.

After Lowen left them with him, he's read them all, more than once, and he'd be lying if he said that reading how scared his wife has been at times wasn't feeding his resolve even more to do right by her this time. For once he wants to keep the promise he's made to her. That he'd fix this and protect their sons in the process of it all. That he'd make her proud.

So with that in mind, he's finally come to a decision. One he knows will probably confuse the boys to some degree, maybe even scare them, but he knows it has to be done. As much as he wants them close, he knows they need distance from the Club and the life that comes with it.

After days of contemplating his options and hours consulting with Margaret Murphy, he's finally made up his mind. The boys will move in with Margaret and her family for the time being. Abel will start the new preschool Tara enrolled him in several months ago and Thomas will go back to the childcare center at Saint Thomas.

Margaret will be their primary guardian and will ensure that they get to see their mother at least once a day if not more often, but Jax would try his best to be there every night too. To spend time with them and to help get them settled and ready for bed.

At least that is the plan Margaret and him have decided on, and today is the day he'd have to explain it all to them, fearing that Thomas is still too young to understand, but hoping that at least Abel will. But truth be told, Jax is scared to inflict any more emotional scars on the boys, considering everything they've already had to endure in their short lives. He doesn't want Abel -or Thomas- to think that this arrangement would make them lose their father too.

As for Margaret Murphy, Jax knows no amount of money can convey the amount of gratitude he feels for the older woman when she graciously offered to take in his two sons for the time being. Not only did he know that Margaret would take great care of his sons, but he also knew that she would make it a point to remind them daily of their mother and only speak of Tara in a good light. Something he isn't sure his own mother would be able to do.

He wants to believe that Gemma is also grieving and worried about Tara, but he also can't overlook the fact how much she relishes being the main caretaker for his two young sons. That first became clear the moment he decided to take them home with him and the argument that would've ensued had he not put an immediate stop to it.

Gemma has shown up several times, always offering to watch the boys, and left obviously annoyed on the few occasions he'd actually turned her down.

However, the straw that broke the camel's back was last night, after a long dreadful day of handling Club business and yet another dead end concerning Tara's attack, Gemma showed up at the house, unannounced.

He'd actually been grateful when she helped him get the boys bathed and settled into bed, but after the boys had fallen asleep, her suggestion for him to 'visit with Colette' and 'let off some steam' was disturbing, even for her standards.

Gemma may have condoned his cheating ways in the past, but never had she outright suggested it, or had tried to talk him into being with someone other than Tara.

Clearly perplexed by Gemma's suggestion, he was speechless at first and it took him a moment to come to the dreadful realization that his own mother either didn't share his belief in Tara's recovery, or she simply didn't think his wife was worth the wait.

Either one of those revelations had caused Jax's jaw to clench in anger as he confronted his mother. Gemma had always been smart concerning the choice of her words, but no matter how hard she tried to backtrack and make it sound like she was concerned about his well-being, it quickly became clear to him that his mother was ready to pull the plug on her daughter-in-law. On the mother of her grandbabies. On his wife.

Maybe he overreacted, or maybe he let all the deep-seated loathing he felt toward himself, for having ever cheated on Tara in the first place, out on his mother instead, but at that moment, he simply snapped.

It was the first time he'd ever thrown Gemma out of the house, but it certainly was a wake-up call as to where his mother stood. The attack on Tara in her own home hadn't changed her mind concerning this life in the least.

Gemma still believed that he should remain at the head of the table and his boys should grow up to follow in his bloody footsteps one day. She didn't want Jax to get out and leave Charming, and ultimately he realized that it meant she didn't want Tara to wake up. Because the two went hand in hand.

Now, here he is, dreading having to tell his sons that they'll be living with someone else for a while, and the pain he already envisioned on Abel's face is twisting his stomach into knots.

X

Three months later …

Jax pulls into the driveway at the Murphy residence and dismounts his Dyna. He takes the steps up to the front door in stride and rings the doorbell. He can already hear the familiar voices inside and he can't keep the smile from his face when Abel opens the door for him.

"Daaaadddddyyyy!" Abel screeches with delight and throws himself in his father's outstretched arms.

Jax picks him up with ease, "How you doing little man?" and steps inside.

Margaret greets him without stopping to set the table for dinner, while her husband continues to bounce a delighted Thomas on his knee, stopping just long enough for Jax to lean down and place a kiss against the fair-haired toddler's head in greeting. "Hey, baby boy."

Abel begins to tell his father about the day he had in school, and Jax listens, trying to keep up with the boy's story that in all reality doesn't interest him all that much. He is simply glad that he's made it here in time to eat dinner with them and read them a few bedtime stories before they have to get to bed.

However, Jax's interest is peaked when Abel mentions his mother.

"We went to see Mommy today," Abel says as he begins to pull drawings from his backpack that he wants to show to his father.

"Really?" Jax replies, his hands busy with straightening out the papers Abel is already passing to him. "Did you talk to her?"

"I did." Abel nods his head as he shoves several more pieces of paper into his father's hands to admire. "I told her about my teachers and about my friends in school and when I gave her a kiss on her hand, she moved it."

"What?" Jax asks in surprise and looks up from his seat on the ground to meet Margaret's eyes across the room. "She moved her hand?"

Margaret nods with a smile on her face, but before she can say anything, Abel continues his story.

"She did, Daddy. She squeezed my hand back, like this." He says without skipping a beat, grabs a hold of his father's hand, and gives it a tight squeeze to demonstrate as if it is the most normal thing in the world. "I think she's going to wake up."

Jax glances up at Margaret once more and is met with the same hopeful expression that is displayed on his own face. "Yeah, I hope so too."

X

Several days later …

Having your son's trust is a thing to be cherished. Gemma Teller-Morrow has found that out the hard way since she has lost it three months ago.

Deep down inside she knows she should've kept her mouth shut a bit longer about wanting to take Tara off life-support, but she feared the younger woman's improvement would reveal the ugly truth and she simply couldn't let that happen. So she'd spoken her mind. Much too soon!

For the past three months, Jax has graciously allowed her to see her grandbabies a few times, but he no longer wants her near their unconscious mother.

Best to Gemma's knowledge, Tara is still not breathing on her own and remains on constant live support, but with every test, she's shown more and more signs of improvement, and it scares Gemma enough to throw caution to the wind. She knows she has to act before Tara makes a full recovery and since she's helped Juice get out of town months ago, she's finally come up with a way that will seem plausible enough.

So she takes one last big breath before the elevator doors open and she rushes outside, down the hallway toward the ICU, and around several corners toward Tara's room.

"Rat." Gemma gets the young man's attention. "I just saw Juice, down the hall from here." She fakes concern.

"What? Are you sure?" Comes his confused reply as he quickly reaches for his cell phone.

"Of course I'm sure." She hisses back at him. "Jesus Christ, you're not gonna catch him with that phone. Aren't you gonna go after him?"

Rat hesitates for just a split second before he heads down the corridor that leads to the elevator.

"He was wearing a dark hoodie, and he's probably armed. Hurry." Gemma yells after him.

The moment Rat is out of sight, Gemma looks around to make sure the coast is clear before she quickly steps inside Tara's hospital room.

She stands frozen by the foot of the bed for a short moment before she snaps out of it and realizes that now is not the time to get cold feet. It is Tara's life or her own and she isn't ready to leave her family behind just yet.

Gemma pulls on her gloves as she quickly steps around the bed toward the monitors and machines that are keeping her daughter-in-law alive. She's done her research online and knows just what she has to do, but she has to do so quickly before Rat shows back up.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I really am." And with a quick twist of her wrist, she disconnects the breathing tube from the machine and flees the room, as inconspicuous as she's entered it.

She rushes down the opposite hallway that Rat has taken off to, making sure to make a show and be seen, asking people if they've seen a man in a dark hoodie, to further establish an alibi for herself, all the while further pointing the finger at Juice as the culprit. But when an alarm suddenly sounds at the nurses' station, and nurses and doctors rush in the direction of Tara's room, she quickly follows behind the staff, doing her best to feign concern for the mother of her grandbabies.

Gemma gets there just in time to see a nurse usher Rat back into the hallway and their eyes meet for just a fraction of a second before she forces herself to look away.

She stands frozen in place yet again, the guilt coming on stronger than she's anticipated and suddenly she finds herself unsure if she can pull this off. Did she really just kill her son's wife?

She swallows away the lump that has formed in her throat and with the most concern-stricken voice she can muster, she turns toward the younger man. "What happened?"

"I don't know." He admits and looks to her for answers instead.

"Juice." She suddenly replies tragically and she manages to squeeze a tear from her eyes and covers her face with her hands as her chin begins to quiver. "Juice got to her. He did this." She staggers backward in an Oscar-worthy performance and Rat rushes to her side to keep her steady on her feet. "That's why he disappeared the night she was attacked ... Oh, my God, it was Juice all along." She sobs into the younger man's shoulder, clinging to him for support.

"Jesus Christ, ... we need to call Jax," Rat replies and runs a soothing hand over the older woman's back trying to comfort her, while he digs out his cell phone to make the call.

X

Author's Note: Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this development. Thanks.