Tara is loading the last of the dirty dishes into the dishwasher, before turning the machine on. She quickly wipes down the water splatter around the sink, puts the dishrag down, and turns around, leaning back casually against the kitchen counter. Her eyes are on her husband now, who's helping her clean up the mess their boys left behind after dinner, wiping down the table and the chairs.
She folds her arms and glances over her shoulder at the time displayed on the microwave, noting that it was just a few minutes past seven in the evening. She was planning to talk to Jax after their boys were asleep in bed, so they could do all this without interruptions, but now she's not sure she can possibly stand to wait another minute, let alone another hour, because she feels like she's been keeping this secret from him for too long already.
She takes a deep breath, thinking about it one last time, before she decides to just blurt out the words to him, and play it by ear from there. "I'm late, Jax."
Jax doesn't even look up from what he's doing when he replies, "Late for what, Babe? You just got home thirty minutes ago."
But then there's a moment of déjà vu rushing through him, it only takes a split second before he abruptly stops wiping down the table and turns to look at her in the instant her words sink in and he realizes what she actually meant.
He's searching her face now, noting the little smile that's tugging on the corners of her lips when she takes in the puzzled expression on his face, "How late are we talking here, a day or two?"
"A week," Tara admits, looking a little guilty by her admission.
"A week?" Jax repeats her words back to her clearly stunned, a disbelieving expression on his face now when he carelessly tosses the moist rag onto the table, wipes his hand down the side of his jeans to dry it while he takes the few steps over to her.
He reaches out for her, his hands caressing her shoulders, then slipping down to her arms when he's searching her eyes for more insight, a little smile on his face now when he finally says. "So you've known since right after Christmas, you've known for a whole week and didn't say anything?"
"Let's not jump the gun, 'cause I really don't know anything yet." Tara clarifies as she's reaching out for him now too, her hands slipping under the hem of his dark blue sweatshirt, fingers hooking around the belt loops of his jeans, pulling him close when she gives him a shy little smile of her own. "I just didn't wanna be the girl that cried wolf after just a minute."
He knows why she's still being cautious, because even if he has forgiven her, she hasn't forgiven herself quite yet. But he still can't help but smirk down at her at the possibility, "A week is a far cry from just a minute." His eyes flicker to the time on the microwave, before they return to connect with hers again. "Want me to go to the store, pick up a test?"
"No." She shakes her head, and twists around to the side just enough to reach into her purse sitting on the kitchen counter, pulling the test out she'd already picked up on her way home from work. "I already got one."
"Then what the hell are we still waiting for, Babe?" He looks at her dumbfounded, then grabs her hand and pulls her along with him.
He stops to make sure the front door is locked and the chain is in place, since as of late Thomas has taken it upon himself to visit Mrs. Ellie down the hall on his own without telling anyone. Then they slip past their boys sitting on the couch, who are too preoccupied watching SpongeBob at the moment, and hurry into the bathroom.
Jax leans back against the sink, unfolding and glancing over the pamphlet that came with the test, while Tara unbuttons her jeans, quickly takes a seat on the toilet, and proceeds to pee on the pregnancy test Jax has handed to her.
She puts the test down on the edge of the sink, cleans herself, pulls her pants back up, and flushes the toilet, while Jax already looks down at the test, impatiently waiting for anything to happen, but nothing's happening just yet.
"How long does it say it takes?" Tara nods toward the instructions still in his hands, a nervous expression suddenly on her face while she turns to wash her hands.
"Two minutes," Jax confirms, pries his eyes away from the test itself, and pulls his phone out of his jeans pocket to set a timer real quick instead. It seems crazy that in a matter of two minutes, their whole life could change.
"Let's wait over here." Tara tugs on Jax to follow her over to the door, where they won't be tempted to glance down at the test every couple of seconds, and drive themselves crazy. And at first, he only reluctantly complies, but then his hands slip around her waist, his eyes meet hers, and he's smiling sweetly down at her as if the test being positive is a sure thing, and already a done deal.
"You know, I could be late for several reasons." Tara can't help herself, not wanting to get her hopes up this easily, after all, she's already in her mid-thirties, and as a doctor, she's come across plenty of cases with couples who've tried for years and never gotten pregnant. So even though she's been feeling a little bit nauseous and had been having some odd migraine here and there, she starts to rattle off other explanations for the sudden lack of her period, "Could be a hormonal imbalance, could be a -."
"Hormonal imbalance, my ass." Jax interrupts her scoffing at first, but then is outright smirking back at her just a moment later, amused by her search for another explanation, when in his mind there's clearly only one. "Babe, ... I've been working you over day and night, even forgoing that blow job you offered the other day to not waste any Teller-Juice ..." He suddenly pauses, looking rather smugly back at her now. "Come to think of it, if the test is positive, I might cash in that rain check for the blow job tonight, give your womb some much-needed rest."
He grins and she playfully backhands him squarely into the chest, and gives him a disbelieving look when she repeats his words, "My womb, really?" They both laugh out loud at that, although Jax admittedly thought she'd comment on the Teller-Juice bit instead.
Then Jax curls one hand around the back of her head, his fingers disappearing in her long chocolate brown strands, holding her in place when he leans down to press his lips to hers. The kiss turns passionate and needy pretty much right from the start, a momentary distraction, but they're interrupted when the alarm on his phone chimes off, letting them know that the two minutes are already up.
Their eyes meet hopefully for a quick second after they pull away from the kiss, before they take the few steps over to the bathroom sink together, and glance down at the test, noting the unmistakable two lines that indicate it's positive. She's really pregnant!
Jax smiles sweetly at her and picks the test up, giving it a closer look even though the result is glaringly obvious, and wraps his other arm around Tara, pulling her to him, a sweet kiss against her forehead, "I'm so happy right now, Tara."
"Me too, Jackson." She replies, looking back at him, taking the test from his hand to look at it up close herself.
He shakes his head to himself for a moment, the expression on his face suddenly serious, all the jokes cast aside while he's fighting back the emotions that threaten to overwhelm him now. Then he turns all the way toward her, wraps his arms around her waist, and holds her to him, pulling her so tightly and lifting her that her feet actually come off of the ground, his face buried in the side of her neck when he mumbles, "I don't deserve you, I don't deserve how fucking happy you make me, Babe."
Tara clings to him just as tightly, she thought the bliss they've experienced since they've truly reconnected couldn't possibly reach a greater high, but she couldn't have been more wrong.
A tear slips from the corner of her eye and rolls down her cheek, dripping onto his shoulder and disappearing in the dark fabric of his shirt, when she lets herself envision the future they have ahead of them now. Happily married, committed to each other and this new life they've built here, with two beautiful boys and another little one on the way, and most importantly without the doom of the Club looming over every aspect of it! At this moment, she felt all those dreams her nineteen-year-old self had given up on all those many years ago, were now coming true after all!
X
About one month later ...
Tara walks into Baker's Automotive Repairs, greeting the familiar face of the pretty receptionist Emma with just a simple but friendly nod, which the slightly younger woman returns with just a nod and smile of her own, since she's currently in the middle of a phone conversation with a customer. But she still takes the time to point toward the bays, letting Tara know Jax is working on a vehicle on the floor and not in the back, stocking parts at the moment.
Tara turns toward the big glass window overlooking the garage bays, when her eyes land on Jax bending over the engine compartment of a gray four-door sedan, with his back partially turned toward her. But when Greg happens to look up toward the front office and sees her waving, he quickly taps Jax on the shoulder, and nods in her direction, telling him that someone's here to see him.
Jax turns and looks up, smiles sweetly when he sees Tara raise her hand in a shy wave at him, and he practically shoves his wrench into Greg's hand, telling him to finish what he's been working on, before he makes his way toward the front office to greet her in person, swiping some of the grime on his hands down the overall he's wearing while he walks.
"Hey, Babe." He smiles, genuinely happy to see her, and leans in to kiss her, but doesn't touch her with his stained black hands.
"Hi," Tara answers just as sweetly when she pulls back from the kiss. "I gotta talk to you. I tried calling, but it kept going straight to voicemail." She sort of whispers, not wanting to interrupt Emma's phone call.
"Sorry, I dropped my phone this morning, busted it, can't even get it to turn back on." He explains, then nods to the door that leads toward the bays. "Let's go talk in the break room," Jax adds, opening and holding the door to the garage for her, throwing a nod over his shoulder back at Emma who's still on the phone, before he follows along behind Tara.
Jax pulls the door to the break room closed behind them, trying to drown out the general loud noises from the garage so they can actually carry on a conversation without having to raise their voices.
"Everything alright?" He asks immediately now that they're alone, and steps over to the sink, starts the hot water, and pumps a generous amount of the grainy heavy duty hand cleaner from the gallon-sized orange container into his palms, trying to wash away the greasy grime from his hands, before he glances back at her over his shoulder awaiting her answer.
"Did Gemma try to call you? Or anyone from the Club?" Tara asks with a hint of hesitation, setting her purse on one of the chairs, but remains standing herself, leaning against the kitchen counter behind her instead.
Jax furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "No." He shakes his head, "Well, for one, I blocked her number a while back, and like I said, my phone's busted." He turns the water off, and reaches for the towel to dry his hands before he spins around to face her all the way, searching her face for a reason behind her questions. "Why? What's going on?"
Taralets out a sigh, "Margaret called me, said Gemma called her at St. Thomas, desperately trying to figure out how to get a hold of me. It's about her dad, your grandpa Nate."
"What about him? Is he alright?" Jax asks, unzipping the top part of his work coveralls, before he slips his arms out, but then ties and knots the long sleeves in the front of his waist, so the garment doesn't fall off of his hips.
He listens to Tara explain what happened, while he walks over to the fridge, pulls two chilled water bottles out, and hands one to her which she takes, before he opens and takes a sip of his own. "Your Mom's over there, wanting to visit with him, but they won't let her 'cause she's not on the allowed visitor's list, and I'm still listed as his key conservator."
"Oh shit." He responds at first, but then there's a little smug grin that appears on his lips before he adds, "Bet my Mom's fuming, ready to blow a gasket." He suppresses the urge to laugh at the thought though, and instead asks, "So now what?"
"Now I gotta drive all the way over there, straighten everything out," Tara replies, knowing already he won't be happy about that, and truthfully she isn't happy about it either, but knows it needs to get done.
"No. No way." Jax shakes his head right away. "Can't you just call 'em? Handle it over the phone?" He questions the first thought that pops into his mind out loud.
"Trust me, I tried, baby. I talked to the receptionist at Saint Paul's, and some guy in charge, told them I could fax or email a copy of my driver's license, proof that it's really me, but because I moved out of state, my address, phone numbers and place of work changed, and on top of that I changed my name too, they won't allow me to do anything over the phone. I gotta go up there in person with all the paperwork, so I can take myself out of the equation, and make your Mom his conservator instead." She explains as best as she can, but the expression on his face speaks volumes. He does not want her to meet up with his mother on her own.
"I don't want you going alone, but I can't get out of here today, Baker's out of the office, which means I've gotta get the inventory done myself, and get the part orders to Emma by three this afternoon." He shakes his head at her as he rattles down his to-do-list, throws a nod in the direction of the door that leads back out to the garage, "And you've seen that every bay's full, got a bunch of walk-ins this morning, appointments lined up all day too. I can't." He shakes his head again for emphasis.
"It's just an hour and a half drive to get to Worden from here. Three hours total to get there and back, maybe add thirty or forty minutes to get the paperwork straightened out, so ... so if I leave now, I could be back home and have dinner ready, before you even get off work at five." Tara tries to reason with him, because as much as she doesn't want to see Gemma either, she honestly just wants to get this taken care of, wants to get this over with, and sever the last remaining ties to her mother-in-law for good. "You know the longer she's gotta wait, the more pissed off she's going to be."
"Fuck her!" Jax blurts out even to Tara's surprise, his face suddenly distorted in real anger when he rambles on. "None of that shit would've even happened if it wasn't for her."
Tara looks at him confused for just a second but he's quick to explain what he means, sounding angrier with each word that's rolling off of his tongue, because since he's cut ties with his mother, he's had plenty of time to think about Gemma's actions of the past. "The Club had Zobelle fucking cornered, so if she would've just stayed put with you, like she was told, instead of going after Zobelle's daughter herself, then that ATF bitch would've never framed her for Edmond's murder, which means Cameron wouldn't have taken Abel, Sack would still be alive, she wouldn't have had to go on the lamb, my grandpa's caretaker wouldn't be dead, and he wouldn't be in a fucking home with you as his conservator in the first place."
He meets Tara's eyes and nods his head at her, a knowing look in his eyes and Tara swallows the lump in her throat at what he's not saying out loud but is merely wordlessly implying, his guilty and heartbroken expression speaking volumes loud and clear. After all that wreckage, I pushed you away with Ima, left for Belfast without you, Salazar taking you, almost killing you, and Thomas along with you. "Everything that happened was a ripple effect of her fucking actions, so I don't give a shit if she's pissed that she has to wait around for you."
"You're right," Tara replies, nodding her head, meeting his sorrowful eyes with matching ones of her own at all the horrible outfalls of Gemma's actions. "But I just ... I need to do this, Jax. I need to cut the last ties that I have with your mother, get it over with, and leave it in the past. And I'm not here ... I mean, I didn't come here asking for your permission to let me go, baby, but that being said, I don't like the thought of you being pissed and us fighting, because I'm going to go either." She's searching his face for a reaction, not liking the scowl that still lingers as he swipes both his hands down his unshaven face when he's glaring at her with steely blue eyes.
Tara was supposed to have a day off today, and spend it with Thomas, and Jax knows that, so she quickly adds, "Mrs. Ellie's watching Thomas, she'll get Abel from school later too, and she'll keep them until one of us gets home." In case his next point of argument would be about 'who's got the boys'.
He sighs heavily, shaking his head to himself for a long moment averting her eyes now, but then finally looks up at her and meets her eyes once more when he steps closer, right in front of her, and reaches out, taking both her hands in his. "Don't get into it with her." He shakes his head to bring more emphasis to his words. "No matter what she says to provoke you, just sign the paperwork and leave."
"Okay, I will." Tara agrees, smiling gratefully at him.
But Jax isn't done just yet. "If she brings up JT, or the letters, won't leave you alone about it, just stick to the story that I already sold her. That I called to check on Trinity, Maureen asked if I got the letters, and during the conversation, she told me about Gemma's involvement in JT's death. Maureen is the one who sold her out. You had nothing to do with it, you merely confirmed it when I continued to press you about what Maureen had said, that's it. Promise me, Babe."
Tara nods her head, "I promise. I'll avoid talking or arguing with her, you won't have to worry. Besides, I don't think she'd be stupid enough to start a fight in your grandpa's nursing home. I mean, he's all she's got left at this point, I don't think she'd risk getting booted out of there."
Jax scoffs for a moment, he's not sure what his mother would still risk at this point. "Just be careful."
He frames her face now and kisses her sweetly, before he pulls back once more, meeting her eyes with a peculiar smirk on his face now, when he asks out loud rhetorically. "What happened to the good old days when wives not obeying their husbands was punishable by law?"
Tara rolls her eyes at him, and purses her lips, barely able to contain the smirk of her own now as she's wrapping her arms around his neck, and replies with a heavy dose of sarcasm, "Right, the Teller's, law-abiding citizens extraordinaire."
He chuckles at that, "Touché!" But then smirks once more, one hand lightly patting her ass when he says, "Maybe I'll just have to bend you over my knees when you get back tonight, take the law into my own hands, Misses Teller."
Tara laughs out loud at that, "I'd like to see you try, Mister Teller." She teases him back just the same.
"Don't tempt me, Babe." He's smiling so brightly now at their playful banter and leans down and kisses her deeply once more, before he releases her from the kiss just to further instruct her with a more serious tone of voice again after all. "Keep me posted, when you get there, when you leave, just text Greg, alright? And I'll stop at the store after work, and I'll text you when I've got a working phone again, okay?"
"Yeah, okay." Tara agrees, running her thumb across his bearded chin as she smiles up at him. "Can we agree now that protective phone cases aren't just for pussies, and will you - for the love of God - get one this time, please?"
"Fine." He concedes rather easily, because the phone and his previous lack of a case were the least of his worries at the moment.
"Will you walk me out to my car?" She asks sweetly next.
"Of course." He replies, and waits until she grabs her purse from the chair again, then reaches down for her hand, placing a quick kiss to it, before they walk hand in hand out to the parking lot together.
The next cars that are about to get serviced are being pulled into the bays, and because of that two of the big garage doors just happen to be open while he's framing her face with both his hands and kisses her passionately for a long couple of minutes, standing still beside her open car door. His coworkers begin to whistle, hollering loudly and teasingly at the sight, Tara's blushing a little, while Jax merely smirks and flips them off, before he holds her driver's door open for her until she slips inside.
"Drive carefully, please." He urges her once more. "And for the record, I don't like this at all." His face is suddenly grim again.
She reaches up from her seated position in the car, palms his cheek while he's leaning down to kiss her once more, "I know, don't worry, I'll be back before you even know I was gone, I promise."
X
Other than the mild case of nausea and her occasional headache here and there, the drive east to Nate's nursing home on the outskirts of Worden Oregon is rather uneventful, and as promised, Tara sends a text to Greg as soon as she gets there, while she's still sitting in the car, so he can pass it on to Jax that she's arrived without incident, safe and sound.
To say that Gemma is not happy about how everything has played out is an understatement, but Tara knows her mother-in-law enough to expect no less, and tries her best to follow Jax's advice to not engage in an argument that she knows will ultimately lead nowhere good for either one of them. She matches Gemma's smartass remarks with curt but to-the-point answers, and goes on about the task she's come here to accomplish, not willing to engage in a hypothetical pissing contest.
So instead of arguing, Tara is just focusing on filling out the necessary paperwork to transfer the conservatorship over to Gemma instead. She sighs in relief when the receptionist gives her an approving nod and hands all the necessary paperwork she'd had to bring back to her, which Tara quickly stows away into her purse, so she can finally get back on the road to head on home.
Her final goodbyes from Gemma are even more awkward than the nonexistent greeting they exchanged up on her arrival. It very much feels like the rift between the two women runs even deeper than ever before, now that Jax has cut his mother off completely by severing all ties with the woman who'd raised him.
So neither woman even bothers with a faux farewell or other words in place of a proper send-off, they merely part ways in the most literal sense of the word, grabbing their purses off of the counter and turning on their heels, as if they'd never known or even loved each other in the past.
But ultimately it's Tara who glances back over her shoulder one last time, listening in as the receptionist informs Gemma that her father Nate is in room eleven, down the hall to the left of the reception desk, and Tara can't help but freeze in place while she's watching Gemma's retreating form, until she rounds the corner and is finally out of sight for good. Good riddance!
Tara can feel another bout of nausea coming on, and hurries out of the building to get to her car, where she has an open box of saltine crackers sitting readily available on the passenger seat. Damn you, morning sickness, ... and damn you, Jackson Teller!
She quickly settles into the driver's seat of her car, leans back, and closes her eyes for a long moment, letting the worst of the sickening feeling subside. She finally reaches over to her box of crackers and slowly eats one or two, before she's chasing the dry crumbs in her mouth with a sip from her water bottle to help it all go down a little easier.
Her fingertips are massaging her temple, a vain attempt to ease some of that migraine-like headache she's been dealing with these last couple of days. The blinding pain seems to randomly come and go at its own will, and doesn't really leave her much of a choice other than to power through it and deal with it, since it tends to rear its ugly head at the most inconvenient times imaginable, like the other day smacks in the middle of her performing a surgery.
When the worst of the pain subsides once more, Tara fishes her phone out of her purse and quickly shoots Greg another text for him to pass along to Jax, letting him know that everything's been taken care of, and she's getting back on the road home right this minute.
She connects her phone to the charger, and pulls up the maps app to help her steer this car back in the right direction, before she finally buckles up and begins to pull out of the parking lot.
Then, just barely catching it out of the corner of her eyes when she glances in her right rearview mirror, she sees Gemma one last time, pushing her father Nate in a wheelchair on the sidewalk out front of the building, and it's then that the searing pain in her head comes back with a vengeance she's never experienced before.
Tara stomps on her brakes and brings her car to an abrupt stop, having already pulled halfway out onto the main road, but she can't help it since she can't help but press her eyes shut, and finds herself with no other choice. She can hear a car honking loudly in protest, barely able to swerve around the front of her car to avoid a collision, but Tara's in way too much pain to give it the proper acknowledgment of shock.
She lets go of the steering wheel instead, grabs desperately up to her own head as if that could somehow help ease some of the crippling pain, and lets out a cry to bring voice to the agony she's feeling, when her memories from that fateful night of her attack come back to her all at once. Gone one moment, then there the next, all in a matter of nanoseconds.
Another car honks loudly, and comes to a screeching halt right before it almost plows into Tara's driver's side, and that's the moment when Tara finally comes back to, tears streaming down her face when she glances in the rearview mirror one last time, seeing a stunt Gemma that has obviously recognized her car and seen her two almost collisions unfold in front of her very eyes.
But Tara knows now what her mother-in-law has done, she knows the whole ugly truth now, as unbelievable and painful as it may seem, so she finally manages to gather her wits, shifts the gear back in drive, and peels out of the parking lot to speed away.
X
Tara ends up parked outside the nearest police station she can find with the help of her GPS, but instead of going inside and reporting the crime she's finally regained a memory of, she's been sitting here for God knows how long, helplessly crying, struggling through her inner turmoil and at a loss of what to do now.
She's sick to her stomach, literally, had to open the door already and threw up on the pavement right beside her car.
She's also clutching her phone, ringer, and volume turned off, yet unable to keep from checking the screen, to see the countless messages and phone calls she's ignored this far, the first few from Greg, or rather Jax via Greg's phone, but a while ago from Jax's number too, clearly he's gone and gotten another phone already.
If his messages are any indication, he's desperate to hear from her, that much is clear. And she feels so bad, so guilty and ashamed, because she can only imagine what Jax must be thinking right now, probably worried sick about her, wondering where she was, why she wasn't reaching out, and what has happened to her.
But at the same time, she knows she can't talk to him, she just can't, at least not right now. Not when she's so clearly at a loss of what to do, of how to handle this. Her head hurts from trying to figure it all out, what to do so the least amount of pain will be inflicted.
She's not scared of Gemma, that's not even a real concern right now, but she's scared of the consequences of the truth coming to light. The consequences to their newly found happy life and future, and what it will mean for them as a couple, as husband and wife, as parents, and as a family.
What will he do if she tells him the truth? Would he even believe her that the memory just miraculously came back to her? Or would he maybe doubt her after all, because the idea of Gemma being the one was too outrageous, too cruel to be true? If she didn't remember it now as clearly as day, she wouldn't believe it herself, so how could he?
But what if he did believe her? Would he follow through on his promise to end the person who's done this to her? And could she even let him do such a thing? Stand by in the name of revenge and let him murder his own mother? How could he come back from something like that? How could they come back as a couple?
Or what will the police do should she decide to finally walk inside and tell them first instead? Could it be as simple as making a report? Would her testimony be enough? Would they rush over to the nursing home with sirens blaring and arrest her on the spot? Or would there be an investigation first?
And then what? Would Gemma get out on bail? Back to square one to be hunted by her own son, or forever on the run, leaving not just Gemma, but her herself to live a life that would require constant looks over her shoulder and living in fear?
More than anything she wishes she'd know what to do right now, but she just doesn't, because every way she spins or twists this, it somehow all ends the same, in heartbreak!
She knows that this will crush him, it'll break Jax's heart. There is no pretty other side!
X
This is one of those times that Jax wishes he was more tech-savvy, and right now as he's practically pacing around the apartment waiting for Jason to show up, he vows to himself that he'll pay more mind about that stuff from here on out. He's smart enough to grasp it, that wasn't the problem, he's just never had much interest in that sort of thing, which he regrets so deeply this very moment.
The doorbell rings, and he's quickly buzzing their mutual friend inside, pulling the door to the apartment open impatiently, waiting for Jason to make it up the stairs.
Jason has already shrugged off his jacket before he rounds the corner of the staircase, and after a mere "Hey," in greeting, he quickly follows Jax inside, closing the apartment door behind them with a bang, heading straight for Tara's laptop already running on the kitchen table.
Jax has explained the situation to Jason in detail on the phone already. How Tara's not answering her phone, and has not been replying to calls or texts for the last couple of hours. How the nursing home says she left hours ago, and that the older Misses Teller stayed behind with her father, eliminating Gemma as a possible culprit of sorts. In his desperation, he's even gone so far as to call the police, but she hasn't been missing long enough to file a report, nor have there been any reports of accidents involving the make and model of her car either in the greater area between Medford and Worden.
But then he'd remembered something from the night they'd had the fight about her going to that medical conference in Boise with John. How later that night he'd asked how she'd managed to find him so quickly, in Old Joe's Tavern, a bar clear across the other side of town, and she'd slyly admitted that she'd used an app to track the location of his phone. Which in turn had led to a whole other discussion then about why he'd stuck it out with those old yet reliable prepays for as long as he had, because getting tracked down that easily wouldn't fly in the outlaw kind of life.
So now, here was Jason to the rescue, who after just a few keystrokes on her laptop managed to find which email address Tara was using for her iTunes account. And after fruitlessly trying out several different combinations of the boys' names, initials, and birthdates, they gave it a try with a few variants of Jax's name, initials, and date of birth, until finally, they'd cracked her password as well, they were in!
Jax's heart was beating out of his chest, when the so adequately named 'Find my iPhone' app on Jason's phone zeroes in on her location before his very eyes. Jason zooms in closer, changing the settings around until it not only reveals the closest nearby street to her location, but that she was apparently right by the Klamath Falls Police Department. The one he'd called just a little while ago to ask if there had been any accidents in the area.
"What the hell?" Jax curses under his breath, not really finding a logical explanation for why her phone would be at this police station now, yet no one is answering it.
Had she been a victim of a crime of some sort? Was her phone brought to the station in an evidence bag? Had Juice been stalking her, following her out east, waiting for the opportunity to finish her off? Or had someone else targeted her, because of her ties to the MC and him?
He can't stomach the thought that something has happened to her yet again. His mind of course goes to the baby too, hoping and praying that they are both alright, and found whole. How could he have been so reckless and let her leave on her own? He had a bad feeling about it, but didn't push her on it because he didn't want to upset their newfound happiness by starting a fight about her staying put.
"Maybe her phone was lost, or stolen, and someone turned it in to the police." Jason tries to offer, but the not-so-well-thought-out suggestion does nothing to ease Jax's worried mind.
"She'd still have made it home by now," Jax replies without missing a beat.
"Right." Jason agrees, a lost or stolen phone wouldn't have derailed her return trip by much.
Jax quickly grabs the keys to his truck from the table now, meeting Jason's eyes. "The boys are still with Mrs. Ellie, they're gonna ask where I am, and where their Mom is." The latter was the reason why he couldn't bring himself to pick them up already, because he couldn't lie nor break their hearts with the truth that he didn't have the faintest idea what had happened to her. How could he tell his boys that he didn't know where their mother was?
Jason just shrugs, "I'll tell them you had someplace to go, that I'm not sure where, but not to worry, because you'll be back, ... how's that sound?"
"Yeah." Jax nods, because it's the best available answer to placate those boys, for now at least, until he knows more.
"Go. Find her." Jason urges him on, knowing he's feeling the guilt of leaving his boys in the dark like this. "I'll check in with Christy once she's done with her surgery, see if Tara's called her at all. And I'll call the local station here again, see if they can reach out to Klamath Falls PD and maybe find out something they wouldn't -."
Jason's words are cut short when Jax's phone rings, the number showing on the display isn't one he recognizes, but he does recognize the 541 area code for Klamath Falls, and quickly answers it with a rather impatient sounding, "Yeah?"
"Is this Jackson Teller?" There's an unfamiliar female voice asking on the other end of the line.
"Yes, it is. Who's this?" Jax asks, his heart in his throat, closing his eyes, bracing himself already for the horrible news that he fears he's about to hear. Please, God, don't let anything have happened to her!
"Mister Teller, my name is Deputy Reid, I'm with the Klamath Falls Police Department, and we have your wife, Misses Tara Teller, here with us, and we'd appreciate you coming in for questioning?" The unknown voice rattles off rather quickly, and even though he's completely baffled by what's going on, why Tara's at the station, or why he needs to come in, but then he's also so utterly relieved too, because if she was hurt or worse, she'd be at a hospital instead.
But still, he can't stop himself from asking, "Is she alright? Did something happen to her? I've been worried sick, she's been missing for hours, and she's ..." He hesitates for a second, but then blurts it out after all. "She's pregnant. Can I ... can I talk to her?" He's trying to ignore the stunt expression on Jason's face. He and Tara agreed to keep the news about the baby under wraps for now until she was a little further along, not even Christy was in the know.
"I'm sorry, she's giving her statement right now. She's not physically hurt, but she is very distraught, and it would be very helpful if you were here."
"Yeah, alright." Jax tries to make sense of it all, but can't no matter how hard he tries. "I'm all the way in Medford, I'll be there as soon as I can. But ... does she need a lawyer? Is she being charged with something? Or is this about Juan Ortiz? I mean, Jesus Christ, can you tell me anything about what's going on with my wife?"
"Your wife is not being charged with anything, and neither are you. She's here voluntarily, and we would just like to follow up with you about what happened, anything you could possibly add to her statement? But that's all the information I can give over the phone right now. I'm sorry."
"Okay." Jax lets out the breath he's been holding, shaking his head in confusion, so glad to know she's alright, but still so utterly lost and wondering what the holy fuck is going on. "I'll leave right now."
X
Author's Note: This chapter has been a long time coming ... 43 chapters to be exact, and Tara finally remembers. And she's also pregnant again, hope some of you are happy about that. What are your thoughts on this? Please leave me a few words, and let me know. I can't wait to hear from you. Thank you.