AN: thanks to sanna11, decadenceofmysoul and Emmettluver2010 for their reviews of the previous chapter. Unfortunately, this already brings us to the end of our journey together. I thank you all for taking it with me. I've really enjoyed writing this and the awesome readers were definitely a big part of that. One last question to you guys: If anyone can come up with a nice(r) summary than I have now, please do tell me. I suck at summaries so any suggestions are welcome! Now, enjoy the epilogue and don't forget to tell me your thoughts!

Epilogue.

The academic year was almost over. And on days like these, all I could think was: finally.

I'd been doing pretty well in my classes, had been hanging out more with Jenny and even sometimes with her girlfriend Pam, and in the weekends I went home to cook for Piney, annoy Donna and, most important of all, see Jax. It was pretty great and most of the days, I was quite happy with where I was in life.

As I walked out of my last lecture for the day, however, my head still aching from all the information that it had not picked up, I was ready for my roommate and mine weekly chickflick night.

Sauntering down the hallway, I did my best to ignore the dark brown eyes that had been following my movements ever since I'd stepped into the classroom that morning. Although he did not talk to me anymore, let alone openly bother me, I could still feel Charlie's gaze on me from time to time. I had tried not to let it get to me, but couldn't help but be relieved that his attention on me was finally starting to lessen.

To my surprise, he had not reported me after I'd broken his nose. Even after going to the hospital, having his nose set and then having everyone ask him what had happened due to the big bruises (or so I was told), he had stuck to his story of getting a football in his face. My name was never mentioned – and I had the sneaking suspicion that Jax had had something to do with that.

As I crossed the campus, I picked up my pace as I noticed a familiar head of blond curls walking just a few feet in front of me.

She looked up as I fell into step beside her, giving me a sweet smile. 'Oh hey, Eliza. How are you doing?'

I scrunched up my face, then laughed 'Could be better. How about you?'

'Jen blackmailed my ass into watching Legally Blonde 2 with you guys, so I could be better, too.'

'Legally Blonde is not that bad!' I defended seriously, though a smile was already threatening to break out. For all that Jenny was fierce, stubborn and unyielding, her girlfriend was the exact opposite. Pam was the kind of girl that you could simply not not like and I had no qualms at all with having her tag along on some of our movie nights – except for that time when they were having sex when they thought I'd fallen asleep, that is..

We walked the last minutes to the dorm in silence and when we'd finally reached the room, I dropped my bag on my bed with a heavy sigh.

Jenny and Pam broke of their kiss just in time to hear the world-weary sound escape my lips and my roommate pulled up her eyebrow, but said nothing.

I was about to start off my rant about professor Achenberg when the sound of Bohemian Rapsody filled the room and it took me a second to realize that it was my ringtone. Seeing Donna's name on the display, I frowned and put the phone to my ear.

'Ellie? Are you there?'

'Yeah, I'm here Donna. What's up?'

'You've got to come home now.'

'What? Why?' I felt nauseous as I connected the dots. 'Fuck, is it Jax? What happened? Is he okay?'

'Jax is fine, Ellie. It's..' She was silent for a moment, then sighed. 'It's Wendy. She overdosed; she's stable now but..-'

Realization hit me. 'What about the baby, Donna? Is it..'

She did not respond immediately. 'He's not dead. They performed an emergency C-section, but he's ten weeks premature and barely viable. They fear… Well, they've given him only a 20% chance of survival. Jax has been to the hospital but he's not visited Abel.' Another silence as I took in her words. 'He needs you here, Ellie.'

'I'll be there in two hours. See you then, Donna.' I ended the call, still half in a daze about what had just happened. With all that had been going on, I'd hardly ever worried about what would happen when the baby came. Now, it seemed that the situation was even more dire. I cursed softly, then took a deep breath to calm myself before I pulled a handbag from underneath my bed.

'What's going on, El?'

I took another calming breath, throwing my wallet in my bag before I turned to look at Jenny. 'Basically, Jax's ex – remember, the one who was on drugs – she overdosed and now the baby has been born ten weeks prematurely. They've given him a very low chance of survival and, knowing Jax, it's probably killing him.'

She looked worried. Jenny had met Jax during one of the few times that he'd come to pick me up and I knew that she'd liked him – which for Jenny was quite miraculous, since she never liked anyone. Suddenly, she bowed over her nightstand, then threw her keys at me. 'Take my car, it's much faster than public transport.'

'Are you sure? I mean..-'

'I am not going anywhere, El.'

I smiled at her, hoping that it somehow conveyed my gratitude, then quickly grabbed my jacket and ran out of the door.

It was Thursday evening and the California roads were mostly silent. I'd soon turned off the radio, finding that it only added to my nervousness, and so had ample time to think about the current situation. It was as if reality was only now starting to sink in.

Jax's child, his baby boy, had entered the world at last. And now that he was here, he might very well leave it again soon. Although I did not agree with his decision not to see the baby, a part of me understood. Because despite his fears of being a bad father, despite it not fitting into the picture of an ideal family, despite it not being an ideal situation to begin with, I knew Jax had really wanted to become a father. He'd wanted this baby so bad and now, he was afraid of losing it again. And so he felt like he could better not get attached to him at all.

Having lost my own mother far too early, it was a fear I could relate to only too well.

In the years that I'd spent in Charming, however, I'd slowly managed to let go of that fear, of that past, and move on. I'd learned not to let my life be directed by others and what others wanted from me. I'd learned that running away from your mistakes isn't going to solve anything. I'd learned that sometimes you have to take a risk to get what you want. But most of all, I'd learned that not even the darkest night lasts forever.

Time heals all wounds they say. But that's not what I've found. I've found that sometimes time hurts, time breaks and yes, sometimes time heals. But what time mostly does is change things and it's up to us to decide how we react to it.

Five years ago, I'd never imagined that this would be life as I would know it. I had never imagined that I would lose my Mom, move in with my estranged uncle in a small town named Charming and would meet, befriend and fall in love with the vice president of a notorious motor club. And maybe if I had known all of that, I would have done everything in my might to change it. But that's the beauty of it. Time does not just change things. It changes us, too.

I was not the same girl that came to Charming all those years ago. I had grown, matured and finally turned into a person that I liked seeing in the mirror. I had learned that life was not always wonderful, had learned that it was all right to feel sad, but had also learned that there were also many beautiful things to be happy about in life. And I was damned if I would let the one who had shown me those things be left alone with his grief.

As I neared the exit to Charming, I sent Jax a quick message, asking him where he was. My answer came shortly and I rode the by now familiar way to the Charming cemetery. It did not take me long to find him, sitting by his father's gravestone, and I silently walked up to him.

'Didn't you have classes tomorrow?'

Instead of answering, I sat down next to him and softly covered his larger, calloused hand with mine. We sat like this for a while and as I looked beside me, I noticed silent tears rolling down his cheeks. Pulling him closer, I held his head against in the crook of my neck as his shoulders started shaking. I traced soothing circles on his back, my voice soft. 'It's going to be okay, Jax. Maybe not today, but tomorrow is another chance. He'll pull through.'

Jax stilled a little at what she said. For although there may be no words that could take his sadness away, no words that could diminish the pain that he felt at that moment, the reminder of the future made his hurt just that little bit more bearable. For no one knows what tomorrow will bring.

And time changes everything.