Note: In this story haley is Opie's sisters, Piney's daughter. This story centers around one night where Haley and Jax are finally honest with each other. Italics are flashbacks. Regular front is current time.

Safe & Sound

I don't know where I'm at

I'm standing at the back

And I'm tired of waiting

Waiting here in line, hoping that I'll find

What I've been chasing.

He creeps up from behind her in the dark, with a hollowing voice that vibrated deep under her skin. "Is he mine?" Slipped so easy off Jax's lips, but it was the look in his eyes. Eyes that focused on that angelic sleeping little boy, hidden deep in the room they stood at the entryway of before those hot and demanding eyes fell upon her revealing his true intent.

Three little words, words that were powerful and crushing all in one breath. His words echoed in her mind. Harkening back to another time. A time long before this. To one single night. The only he could be questioning… Their only night.

Her mind slipped back to that warm, thick place she only visited in her quietest of moments. Where one heated kiss in a weak moment had started it all.

Flashback:

She had gone to see him the night she heard the news from Gemma. Driven to be there for him like he was always there for her. Staying at the clubhouse, he was easy find. It only took seconds after her first knock and the awkward sound of his shuffling movements before he opened the door. His hand rested on the door jam, arm outstretched across the opening as his weight rested it on. His sculpted bare chest gleaming out at her as something empty shined from his piercing blue eyes.

"Hey Hales," His crisp breath murmured to her.

"Hey Jax," She called back with the brightest of smiles, hoping to send some her warming light his way. Ducking under his outstretched arm, sneaking past his solid form that loomed lazily across the door way, Haley snuck inside his room.

"Guess you heard." His dull breath lagged at her back as he shut the door, and she moved deeper in his room.

Her face flashed his way, shiny blonde hair swinging in the sudden movement.

"Heard what?" She lied with a mischievous smirk that told him without words she had in fact heard Tara had broken his heart. Something contagious must have sparked from her grin, because it sent a smirk finally rising on Jax's lips shooting back her way.

Holding their exchanged affection for a moment Haley turned to his nightstand standing before her. Half empty bottle of Jack sat upon it's surface with an empty glass that still held the liquor's residue to match.

"How long you been drinking?" She questioned him honestly, her big doe eyes shooting back to see the truth of his answer on his face.

A wicked grin arched the corners of his mouth, something sly and sexy in the gesture.

"I don't know, not long enough." His shapely lips answered poised and tauntingly playful.

A sadness she couldn't hide dampened her face. Haley hated to see him like this, in so much pain, even if he hid it well.

Snatching up the bottle's cap, she screwed it back on. "I'm cutting you off." She stated softly, being considerate of his fragile state. Knowing better then most how the men in this club loved to drown their sorrows at the bottom of a bottle. She had watched her brother and father do it enough times to know the signs of smothered pain.

"I'm not drunk." Jax reassured her concerns with a quick laugh as if this were all just fun and games, and after the few glasses he's pounded down his gullet it almost feels that simple. It almost feels like his heart hasn't been ripped out at all.

Letting out a deep breath, Haley turned slowly to find his eyes. A quiet empathy shiningly so brightly to see from her tender orbs. "But you're trying your hardest to get there."

She whispered the brutally honest truth off a quiet breath that left a lingering sting.

His grin dropped as his features grew steady and strong. A look that could scare most men and have, but not her. She knows he's not capable of hurting her. "What are you doing here, Haley?" He questions her point blank. All playful games left somewhere on the floor where they had dropped them.

That coat of strong armor he made himself wear got to Haley the most. Seeing it on her dad, and her brother, and now Jax, it always broke her heart. Knowing underneath the tough surface was a heart that really gave a damn. A heart that was hurting right now. Taking slow small steps to him, Haley smiled softly as their eyes held. "I'm looking out for you."

His eyes rolled as a huffed laugh left his lips before a slanted grin took it's place. "You sound like my mom." He laughed as his eyes fell back down to find her. She got to him like few other women could. Something about her genuine, big heart that always gave no matter what else was going on, always had a way of shooting him where it counted.

Stopping just before him, Haley smiled something soft with pride. She considered that a compliment. Gemma was one of the strongest women she ever met, like a second mother to her in so many ways. "She's a smart lady. You should listen to her more." Haley nodded with her words, so sure.

Maybe it was their closeness, maybe it was just because he couldn't hold it all back any longer, but suddenly their silly conversation had slipped away, and all that remained was the blinding pain surfacing fast in his piercing blue eyes that barreled down upon her.

"Jax," Haley's voice broke as she reached out to him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she pulled him in for a tender hug. Her heart physically aching in her chest from the tortured look in his eyes.

She held him there, in her arms. Listening to his heavy burdened breath that struggled to keep it all together, keep himself together. She held him wishing he'd open up. Find a quiet place to be fully exposed with her in a way she's always found with him. But knowing even if he doesn't that at least he can feel the unconditional love in her embrace.

Haley feels the tightness of his returned hold on her waist before she pulls back slowly. Resting her head gently upon his forehead, his scent envelopes her, his breath heavy upon her face.

"It's going to be ok, Jax." She whispers soothingly like a promise. They linger there for a brief moment, where she feels him surrendering to the comfort she knows he so badly needs.

Until it all goes off course in a second. Goes off course in a way she couldn't have imagined, in a way it's never gone before. In a movement she doesn't see coming, only feels, his mouth is leaning into hers, his lips capturing her own in a tender embrace.

Haley knows she should pull away, stop this, and she's pretty sure he's feeling the same, but for reasons she will only understand later, she doesn't. Her soft full lips kiss him back, welcoming the intimacy. Letting them take this where it's never gone before.

With her consent everything spirals out of control too fast and satisfying to stop. Jax has her white tank top up and off her body before Haley even realizes that's where this is leading.

His lips only leaving hers for a second in the movement before his moist hungry mouth is moving down her suddenly exposed skin, and in that moment, as the first shuttered sighs rippled off her breath, as she begins to tremble in his strong hands, Haley knows she's not going to stop this, she's going to give into it completely.

The feel of his warm smooth lips against her taunt belly. The hold of his mouth felt so confident as it captured her flesh in it's grasp. Jax was all she could sense as his skilled hands careful with respect unclasped her jeans that held like a barrier between them. Her breath felt so heavy in her lungs as her hands tangled in his long greased hair, not daring to let him go for a second.

She knows she didn't come there for this. To find herself drowning in this beautiful disaster. She came to take care of him after his break up with Tara. Knowing the saucy brunette was the love of his life, but as she feels them gently coming to rest on his soft sheets worn by time, as she sees that American flag hanging up on the wall beside her head, Haley knows whatever her intent was it's lost now. She feels Jax's towering body cover her like a shield from the world, as their bodies come together soft skinned and on fire against each other.

His husky moist breath feels like it's melting the tender skin of her neck as he whispers her name as if it's the only name he knows. His lips full and soft consume her neck as he lies trapped between her trembling thighs connecting them in a way they've never touched before.

Then his eyes hang over her stealing her breath, barreling into hers, piercing blue, haunting and insistent. A look that tells her more truthfully than words, this isn't just sex to him. They aren't screwing each other right now in the name of payback. On the contrast, he feels completely connected to her in this moment. He's sharing himself completely with her. Giving her his heart, body, and soul as she hands herself freely back over to him.

His body pushes deeper within her as cries she can't hold in call to him. His eyes hold her captive with every thrust, his hand so steady and tender on her cheek, and Haley's not sure which part of him is reaching deeper inside her, claiming every part of her.

When he kisses her mouth, she feels it down past her toes, to a place no one has ever found before. The stubble on his face scratches at her skin, course and prickled, but he kisses her with such a tender embrace she knows in this moment he's feeling more for her then he's ever felt before. Feeling so much they might never be able to come back.

Her thighs clinch at his bare hips, her weight sinking down upon him, as she nibbles at his salty sweet skin. His hands tangled at the base of her neck, lost in her silky hair while the passion of her mouth sends deep throaty grunts slipping past his lips. They come together, taken by the same overwhelming urge to combust. Lost in each other's eyes, lost in a passion that threatened to destroy them both with the morning light.

A threat that seals it self like a promise as the early morning rays find Haley like piecing dangers demanding she see the truth of her actions. Her eyes blink open slowly to the sight of creamy solid flesh beneath her cheek. She can feel his arm wrapped securely around her, her exposed body molded to his strong softness. A

s beautiful as this moment was, as perfect as it feels to be lying there with him, Haley's heart sinks with guilt. What they've done, what she's done was wrong, his heart doesn't belong to her. All Haley can think to do is run, run away from him, run away from this mistake. A mistake she knows he'll call by name when he too realizes what they've done.

That's exactly what she does as she slowly untangles herself from him, careful not to wake him, before she escape out the door, ready to pretend this never happened.

I'm not ready to let go

Cause then I'd never know, What I could be missing

But I'm missing way too much

So when do I give up, what I've been wishing for

The memory dissolves in on it self. Disappears like memories do and all that's left is piercing blue eyes waiting on her. Even now, after all this time, there's moments like the one she finds herself in now, where she can almost still feel his hot permeating breath on her flesh, taking her so high she's never come back down.

Moments pass before she regains her composure, moments his intense eyes never leave her pupil. Haley has to force herself to shake it off, to regain her strength.

Silently she steps back from the doorway. Her eyes catching his fleetingly while her heads tilts back toward the end of the hall. Saying without words they were going to have this conversation where little sleeping ears could be disturbed.

Reaching her father's living room, she turns to him. Her eyes never meeting his as her shoulders shrugged lamely. "You met his father." She answers simply, as if the answer were so easy there shouldn't be any question.

To Be Continued...