{Charming 2014, Teller-Morrow Automotive}

"I love you son," Jax clutched his brawny arms around the young boy, collecting him in his grasp in an embrace that made it evident that something was causing him reason not to let go. Only the blonde haired, blue eyed biker knew that reason; it had not been relinquished to anyone other than Nero only moments ago as they stood in the emptiness of his mother's office, the walls that held many secrets, lies and even a few truths. Some truths that Jax wasn't ready to express so freely. His mouth ran dry and it was difficult for his own saliva to pass through the lump in his throat as the soft voice graced his ears, the little arms squeezing him back. "I love you too, daddy."

Wendy looked on at the little boy her and Jax had created together. Despite their differences, Abel was the one thing they had done right. Amidst the fighting and hatred her and her ex husband shared, that emotion never overflowed towards Abel; their son was the love of each of their lives and it showed, especially at the exact moment she realized Jax was struggling to untangle his flannel covered arms from around their pride and joy. A sense of concern and dread suddenly washed over her as she caught herself tightening the grip on the small boy resting on her hip, the son that belonged not to her but to a woman who so graciously cared for Abel as her own when Wendy could not. Tara had stepped up to the plate and raised Wendy's flesh and blood while his biological mother struggled to barely look after herself. How the irony had fallen; Two women who loved Jackson Teller, raising the children brought into the world by the other when each of them were unable. Luckily for Wendy her reasoning was short lived. Tara's however was not and Wendy's thoughts drifted for a brief moment to the headstone on Tara's grave. ~Devoted Wife and Mother ~ Devoted mother, yes. Wife, of course but devoted? That was one assumption Wendy would disagree on. Forcing herself forward she rested her dainty hand on the cool, smooth leather that rested on Jax's shoulder like a second skin, hoping it would help ease whatever it was that seemed to have him off kilter.

"Jax, you ok?" The pads of her fingers caressed the seams of his leather kutte as she spoke.

"Yeah.." Her angelic voice graced his ears and instantly Jax felt the tinge of warm tears threaten to emerge from beneath his lids. Quickly the back of his hand swept across his unshaven face, a move he hoped would keep the threatening emotions at bay as he stood and faced her. For the first time in all the years Jax had known Wendy Case, this was the first time he truly looked at her. The golden strands of her hair draped perfectly around her beautiful face, accentuating every feature he had in the past chose to ignore. He knew deep in the pit of his dark and dreadful soul that she, not Tara Knowles, was the woman meant for him. Wendy was the light in his dark, the other matching half of his god forsaken soul. The mother of his oldest son was the right to every wrong within him. She was there despite the chaos, despite the monster that now lived within him. She never left; she chose to embrace the shit storm he called life and had always wanted to do it standing at his side even in times he pushed her away. Not only did the tears threaten because of the impending doom lingering in his heart but because of all the bullshit he'd done, especially to her. She never deserved it but somehow, each time, he justified it. He wished he could tell her he was sorry, show her that his heart had truly always been hers. She embraced the MC life but most of all she embraced him, in all the bull shit he put her through, she was still here. For him. For his sons. Wendy Case was the one woman Jax Teller could finally admit was everything he ever needed and wanted. But now...now it was too late.

"You sure? You don't look.." Jax interrupted her before she could get her concern for him out in the open.

"Everything is going to be fine," Jax paused and as his ocean blue eyes fell onto her deep brown hues, reading the concern and question in them, he forced a half smile to reassure her. Deciding it was best to just leave things play out as he had carefully planned, Jax leaned forward, his rough, calloused hand residing on the curve of her hip; the one he remembered vividly caressing only nights ago in the bed they once shared. His lips brushed purposely along hers, pausing only briefly to allow his subconscious to etch the moment in his mind. For that single moment he doubted the decision he had already set into motion. The slight intimate contact with the woman that had been a permanent fixture in his life for so many years, other than his mother, was making him rethink the plans of the day, not to mention replaying all the mistakes he had made with her in the course of their time together. But this was best. His boys needed to grow up hating the thoughts of him, just as he had relayed to Nero in their earlier exchange. He was an outlaw, a criminal, a killer. His boys deserved so much more than the path his life had chosen to take them down. It was too late for him, but it was not too late for his boys...or for her.

"I love you Wendy." Jax took one more long look into her eyes until he forced himself to completely pull away and turn, his riding boots scuffing along the pavement of the parking lot, leaving her holding his youngest son, Thomas, on her hip while clutching the blonde haired, tiny version of himself against her thigh. He couldn't deny the footwear now residing on his feet felt out of place. The leather boot; just as his brothers wore and his father and fallen brothers before him. The significance of his trademark white Nikes was no longer needed; they had once symbolized his want for change and his determination to make that change happen, to step out of the mold that their life was so finely put into. He had failed. Jax Teller had done the one thing he didn't want to do; he became the man his father so desperately wanted to protect him from. Jax had failed his father but more importantly he had failed her...and his sons. It would be the last time he looked at her, spoke her name or said those words to anyone ever again. He could feel her eyes still on him as his stride widened towards the open garage doors of Teller-Morrow where his father's rebuilt motorcycle awaited. He knew if he turned around and took one last look it would ruin everything. His plan to protect them would crumble. This was for the best, it's the only play Jax.....the words played on repeat in his head. This was the way it was meant to be; the Reaper comes for us all and today was that day for Jackson Teller.

{Outside Charming, 55 minutes later}

The cool metal moved round and round on Abel's little finger as he sat silently strapped into the booster seat Gemma had purchased for him months prior. His blue eyes, the same color identical to Jax's, glanced to the right of him where his baby brother slept peacefully on their drive out of Charming. As far as Abel knew Wendy; now coined by his father as his mommy; and his daddy's best friend, Nero, were taking him and Thomas on a weekend getaway. The young boy was somewhat excited about this adventure but at the same time wished it was Jax that was in the driver's seat of Wendy's SUV, not the man he was used to seeing with his grandma.

"Everything alright baby?" Wendy questioned as she turned sideways in her seat to check on Abel. The moment he heard her voice the twirling of the ring stopped and his hand covered the other to conceal what his grandmother had given him only days ago. He really had no explanation for the urge to cover the ring, it just felt like the right thing to do, to keep it hidden like it was a sin to have it. Even at his young, tender age of five Abel somehow knew the piece of jewelry would someday have a great significance. Time would have to prove that to be truth.

"Mhmm," Abel pressed his lips together and made the sound to reassure Wendy he was okay. It was that exact moment the sound of police sirens flared as a highway patrol car sped past going the opposite direction. The boy's eyes widened as the colorful lights made reflections on the ceiling inside the car only for a brief moment until it was out of sight as quick as it had come in.

"Thought for a minute there he caught your ass for speeding," Wendy chuckled as her lashes batted innocently towards Nero, his dark eyes gleaming as a smile of his own formed at the corners of his mouth, a slight bit of laughter slipping past them.

"Listen here junkie girl.." Wendy leaned back in her seat as Nero teased her, her long curls tumbling over her shoulders as her head rested against it, a smirk plastered on her beautiful face.

"Getting pulled over for speeding too much of a pussy move for a big bad outlaw, huh?" The laughter once again erupted, Nero giving his eyes a roll just as two more police cruisers came into view.

"Jesus Christ...be damn glad to get to my uncle's farm. Get the hell away from this bullshit." Nero inhaled deeply, holding the air in his lungs for what seemed like a lifetime before releasing it. The words Jax confided in him earlier suddenly made an ugly appearance in his mind. He didn't want to believe the shit Jax was spewing but at the same time he knew what Jax was doing was the right thing. How he was going to explain to Wendy that Jax was leaving, never to return to her and the boys, he wasn't sure. The time would come, when the time was right he would tell her but not now, not today, not this weekend, but when the time came he would tell her. He had no choice. He hated Jax for putting this weight on his shoulders, hated that shit had come to this. The death and the wreckage, lies and deceit, innocent people being tangled in webs of MC bullshit, children's lives being torn apart because of the life they had all chosen to raise them in. Nero thought of his own son, Lucius, and the pain and struggle he endured every single day because of the poor ass choices he had made in the wake of becoming a father. He was no different than Jackson Teller. He loved his flesh and blood more than anything in this god forsaken world and would do anything it took to protect him just as Jax would for Thomas and Abel. He understood Jax's reasoning and a touch of the demons he lived with. He knew if Jax removed Gemma as Nero suspected he had, he would never recover from that; Jax's love was too deep for the woman that not only gave birth to him but lived her life for him, to protect him and love him from the deepest, purest part of her heart. That shit would eat Jackson Teller alive. And Nero knew it even as he briefly got choked up as he watched the now string of police cars passing them headed back towards Charming.