With the Wind

Never the same.

The morning was eerily quiet except for the sounds of snoring that filled the bar area of the clubhouse. The clubhouse was a disaster, bodies everywhere mixed with pieces of glass and miscellaneous drugs and other substances. Jax woke up fairly early with the realization that both Ava and Eden were gone. A sinking feeling in his stomach was enough to make him panic. Perhaps she realized that being here was more than she could handle and split once again. Running a hand through his messy blond hair, Jax stood up and walked to the main area of the club house to see the woman in one of the over sized SAMCRO shirts. A wave of relief radiating throughout his body. 

The smell of eggs and bacon made the man's stomach groan causing the porcelain woman to jump. "Jesus Jax! Where a bell next time," She laughed quietly, grabbing three paper plates and filling them with heaps of food. She handed one of the plates to Jax and the other to her daughter, beginning to dig into her own. 

"I never thought I would wake up to you cooking," Jax teased causing the woman to playfully hit his chest with a disapproving shake of her head, but nonetheless a cheesy grin upon her lips.

"Me either," She laughed quietly, the ringing of her phone interrupting the moment the two were sharing. She reached for her phone, her eyebrow raised at the unfamiliar number.

"Uh, can you watch Eden for a second while I take this?" She asked before quickly walking outside to answer the phone.

"Took you long enough," The deep familiar voice causing the woman's heart rate to spike in the worst way possible. The voice she had been avoiding and almost died to escape.

"What the hell do you want?" Ava asked angrily, careful to keep her voice down.

"Aw, come on Ava.. You're the one who made the grave mistake of leaving without my permission. Mark my words Ava, I'm not letting you go, ever. Don't fucking forget that," The man's words shook her to the core, causing her to abruptly hang up on him, tempted to just smash her phone.

"Is everything okay?" Jax asked causing the woman to jump still in a trance from the intimidating phone call she had just received. She quickly forced herself to snap out of it, flashing him a small smile especially as she saw him holding Eden. 

"Oh yeah, just some bill collectors trying to hassle me," She lied, her eyes wandering everywhere except for Jax's own pair. He knew she was lying but he thought it would just be best to leave it alone especially since he didn't know what she was lying about. 

As days passed everything seemed to be falling into place. Ava was rekindling with Jax. Eden was getting used to having a father around. Gemma seemed to be slowly coming around. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, except for that same strange number blowing up the woman's phone at every hour of the day and night. She was scared to even leave her home and was very much on edge and it seemed as if others were catching on no matter how coolly she tried to pretend to be.

So, who was it that was blowing up the woman's phone?

When Ava left Charming she had moved to Washington with nowhere to go and only a few dollars in her pocket as well as being four months pregnant. Most of the nights consisted of sleeping in her car and working in a diner and spending all of her money on food. That's when she met Jesse. A handsome, charming man who had swept the broken woman off of her feet. Looking back he could probably smell the vulnerability from a mile away. He was nothing like the man she had first met as time went on. In reality, he was a psychotic, sadistic bastard who took pleasure in mentally and physically abusing her and making her feel utterly worthless. She stayed with him for about a year, knowing she had nowhere to go and him threatening that if she had ever left he would kill her. She thought she had finally gotten away from him, not hearing from him for a while. But she was wrong, and she was fucking scared.

She knew what he was capable of and knew that her life was in danger but there was nothing she could really do. So now, she was distancing herself from everyone in her life because the fear was eating her alive. 

A loud knock startled her, fearing that it was Jesse who had somehow tracked her down and would kill her. She reached into the drawer of her nightstand where she had a pistol she had always carried after she had escaped Jesse. She slowly made her way to the door, her grip tightening on the gun. Unlocking the many locks she slowly twisted the door knob with one hand, pointing the gun with the other.

"Shit!" A woman's voice said in surprise -- it was just Gemma. 

"Shit Gemma, I'm sorry.." She mumbled, lowering the gun and backing up to allow Gemma to enter her home. She placed the gun on her dining table, sitting down and lighting a cigarette. A habit she seemed to do in excess nowadays.

"Is that how you greet all of your guests?" Gemma said, her face showing concern as she had been observing that the woman had been more on edge as the days past. 

"I just wasn't expecting visitors," Ava mumbled, chewing furiously on her bottom lip taking a large drag from her cigarette. 

"You've been on edge, what's on your mind?" Gemma asked, a sound of genuine concern in her voice, lighting her own cigarette. 

Ava shook her head, this was her issue something she could deal with herself. Besides if she told Gemma then she would tell Jax and she knew Jax would overreact. 

"Don't give me that shit," Gemma was calling her bluff, taking a drag of her cigarette as she stared at Ava as if she was reading her, mentally taking not of the woman.

"I... Well... When I left Charming I was a few months pregnant and ended up in Washington with no money, no place to stay, nothing. I slept in my cars and worked at a diner spending my paycheck on food. I met this man, he was a nice, older man with his shit together. So I started dating him and moved in with him and it turns out that he was a sadistic, psycho prick. He hit me, he made me feel like a piece of shit. So, I escaped and fled to Oregon where I gave birth to Eden. A few days ago he called me threatening me and shit, saying that I couldn't leave him that easily. And he's been blowing up my phone, I've been on edge," Ava finally spilled her secret and it felt good to let it out, even if it was to Gemma.

"Shit... You have to tell Jax-"

Ava stopped her mid sentence, shaking her head. "No, he has enough shit on his plate especially with me being here, I can't make his life any harder, I will deal with it," She mumbled, not knowing how she would exactly handle it without killing the son-of-a-bitch. 

"Listen, I ain't gonna sugar coat it and you know that you fucked up with Jax big time. And I've never been a fan of you especially not after you broke my son's heart. But you're here now fixing shit and I can't hate you for trying. That shit has nothing to do with this, a man playing with your life. I'll kill him myself if he steps a foot in Charming," Gemma said honestly, and Ava knew she meant it. Gemma wasn't afraid of anything but her past, but then again so was everyone.

"Thank you, Gem. Just please keep this between us for now. If he continues harassing me I'll tell Jax, promise," Ava mumbled, looking the older woman in her eyes which let her know that she meant it.

"Anyways, I didn't come over to bond with you, I came to take Eden out," Gemma said as if she had blocked out the entire conversation they had just had and was back to being her normal bitchy self. "Was thinkin' of havin' her sleep over my place so you and Jax can finish talking, you know you have some serious shit to figure out," She knew that meant they'd end up having a make up sex session, and it was only a matter of time before she ended up giving in. She was still weak for the biker, no matter how much had changed he was still her first love and the father of her child.