A Princess in Charming

Chapter Four: Kristina

Kristina had a feeling that Gemma was trying to push her and Jax together and she suspected that the older woman's motives weren't 100% innocent. For the second night in a row, she found that her and the hot as hell biker were the two chosen to stay and close up the shop. While she did enjoy watching Jax work in the garage when he wasn't looking, tonight she really wasn't feeling well. She was nauseous and tired and she just wanted to go home to her tiny, run-down apartment and curl up in bed.

"You okay, babe? You don't look so hot."

Kristina jumped. She hadn't heard Jax enter the office.

"Sorry," he chuckled and perched himself on the edge of her desk. "I didn't mean to scare you, sweetheart. You alright?"

Why did he insist on calling her 'babe' and 'sweetheart'? It gave her a warm, tingly feeling in her stomach that she wasn't comfortable with after everything that had happened with Johnny. "I'm okay," she nodded. "The baby's just making me a little sick." She figured that his mom must have told him about her pregnancy anyway so she might as well be honest about it.

Jax just nodded in understanding before getting to his feet and holding out his hand. "Come on, the shop's dead. We can close up and I'll drive you home."

Kristina gave him a strange look. "Jax, you ride a motorcycle and I'm pregnant," she pointed out.

He laughed. "The bike's not my only set of wheels. Get your stuff so we can get out of here."

Sure enough, Jax had a black Ford Explorer parked behind the shop and they were soon on the road.

"What's with the car seat?" Kristina asked just to make conversation. She had noticed the safety device as she was getting into the SUV.

"It's my kid's," Jax glanced over at her as he stopped at a red light.

"You have a kid?" She was surprised.

"Damn, don't look so shocked, babe." He laughed as the light turned green. "His name's Abel. He's two."

"Abel," she tried the name out. "I like that name."

"You got any names picked out yet?" Now it seemed like Jax was the one trying to make conversation as they grew closer to her apartment.

"Alexis Natasha if it's a girl and Thomas Michael if it's a boy."

Jax got an almost sad look on his face as he turned onto her street. "Thomas was the name of my little brother who died when he was a kid."

"I'm sorry," Kristina told him sincerely. "Alexis was my mom's name. She died of lung cancer a few years ago. Michael was my older brother. He died when he was thirteen," she found herself sharing.

Jax reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as he pulled into her complex's parking lot. "I'm sorry too, sweetheart."

The moment was broken when Jax took a good look around the apartment complex. "Oh, fuck no. You are not staying here. I've seen crack houses nicer than this place."