𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 - 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝘼𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙮

Forty-Four

"I am going to do everything I can to help you, Tara."

"And what about Toric?"

"He's lashing out, trying to hurt you and the club, but he's got no jurisdiction, no badge. I'm sorry. I asked him to wait for my call. Do you want me to tell him you're not ready?"

"No. I wrote down everything I can remember. It's in the pads."

"Okay."

"Did you start the other paperwork?"

"Yes. I'll call you soon."

"Thank you."

Tara is released on bail with a busted hand. She gives Lowen notepads filled with everything she can remember and asks if she started the other paperwork. Jax is waiting for her, even thought she told him not to come. They don't say anything as they get on his bike and ride off. Back at home, Abel and Thomas are happy to see her.

"Mommy!" Abel runs to her.

"Oh my God. I missed you so much. Hi. How are you? It's so good to see you." She hugs Abel and then takes Thomas from Gemma, "Mommy needs to say hi to Thomas, okay? Come here, you. There we go. I've missed you guys so much."

Gemma leaves and Tara looks around, "Where's Ellie?"

"In her room. Grounded." Jax tells her, "Had a huge meltdown with my mom. Cussed her out and took off across town to Lyla's house. Then she fought with me. Didn't want to come back home. Never seen her like that."

Once Tara gets Thomas situated, Jax sits with the boys in the living room. Tara knocks on Ellie's door before opening it. She sees her daughter laying on her stomach and sits on the bed beside her, running her hands through her hair, "Hi, sweetheart. I missed you."

Ellie's gasps at the sound of her mother's voice and sits up, hugging her tightly, already tearing up, "M- Mom."

"I'm here, baby." Tara kisses her, holding her close, "I'm so sorry, honey. I heard what happened. It must've been so hard for you."

Ellie pulls back and examines her mom's short hair. Tara wipes her tears away with a smile, "You like it? All the cholas are wearing it like this."

"You're always beautiful, mom." Ellie makes Tara tear up as she hugs and kisses her again.

"I'm not mad at you, Ellie. I know why you said what you said and did what you did. You're angry. Trying to protect your little brothers and defend me. Thank you. But, I- I don't want you and your dad to be fighting like this."

"He doesn't get it. I told him and he still sided with grandma like everything I said meant nothing." Ellie's still upset.

"I know. You have to understand that, just like how you defended me, dad would do anything in the world for his mom too. It makes things difficult, I know. Sometimes, you wanna scream at him, but he'll come around. You just gotta give him time. I'll talk to him about your punishment too." Tara kisses her cheek, "Until then, hang out in your room for awhile. I'll talk to him. I love you."

"I love you." Ellie feels herself drifting off to sleep because of boredom. Tara leaves her bedroom and closes the door. Jax is with the boys in the living room still when she joins them.

"Daddy needs to talk to Mommy for a minute." Jax tells Abel who runs to play with his toys in his bedroom.

"I missed you." Jax tells her.

"I missed you, too." Tara replies, changing the topic of discussion, "So, do we finish that last conversation we started?"

"Is that really what you want?"

"Well, I guess I won't be going to Oregon any time soon."

"I understand why you wanted me to sign those papers."

"Did you sign them?"

"No. RICO's dead, and Clay's gone. I'm gonna start moving the club in the right direction. I'm meeting with the Irish today, cutting ties. No more guns. We're gonna start earning legit."

"What does that look like?"

"We're gonna grow Diosa. It's trashy money, but it ain't dirty. Or bloody. I can take care of us, Tara. No one gets hurt anymore. We don't need papers or guardians to protect our family. I know staying here isn't what we both wanted. I don't know if I can explain this, but after Ope I just feel like, if I step away now, none of that makes sense. Like what he did was for nothing."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter. My trial's in six weeks. I could be back inside."

"Any jury is gonna understand you had nothing to do with that murder. You're not going anywhere."

"What are we gonna do about Ellie, Jax?" Tara's worried, "She's seen things that no kid should be, been through hell, what you got a taste of the other day may be bigger than you think."

"I don't know," Jax shrugs, "She was hysterical, Tara. I've never seen her that upset and angry. She was cussing. She called Gemma names, she talked back to me, I don't know. I asked her if it was about you being gone, and I think that was part of it, but she really wouldn't talk about it. She's just pissed."

"She's not a little kid anymore. She notices things. She's smart. I think she can see things between us, how we've become a little distant from each other. She sees it, and she feels it too. Imagine how this all must feel for her. Now she's got both parents who don't have consistency anymore. Dad went away. Mom went away. And now, she's terrified of being stuck with someone else because we're away. Without even realizing it, we're helping mess her up even worse than she was before. I don't want it to be too late for us to try and help her."

"I'll talk to her later. I got too much shit going on. I want her to be grounded for those three weeks though. She needs to know that she can't act like that-"

"Oh, come on. Compared to what we were doing at her age like- having a kid, what she did was harmless. You can't blame her or hold that grudge. Kids act out. They argue. They fight back."

"Yeah..." Jax sighs, "I just... I hate seeing her like that."

~ SOA ~ ~ SOA ~

At the hospital, Tara packs up her things at work. Margaret the administrator comes by. She knows Oregon pulled their offer to Tara. Tara has a favor to ask- she needs a pregnancy test.

Later, Tara brings Lowen documents. Lowen read Tara's statement, which she says will help prove Jax is an unfit parent because of the danger of the club environment, should Tara have to go to prison. Lowen plans to wait until right before the trial to file for the divorce, but she wants to make sure the guardianship with Wendy is in place right away.