Skeletons

Just as Falyn was coming down the staircase, there was a firm knock on the front door. She thought nothing of it as she swung the door open but she cringed when she saw who was behind it.

The look on the woman's face was enough to let her know that she was extremely unhappy about something and Falyn could make a good guess at what that would be. She hadn't seen her since Donna's funeral, but she knew that Tara had found out about Savannah awhile ago. She was probably just waiting a few weeks to confront her about it. "Um, come on in."

Tara walked past her into the house and straight to the living room where Savannah was sitting curled up on the sofa. She just stared at the young girl, noticing every little feature of Jax's. "Sav, could you go upstairs?" Falyn asked her daughter. She knew what her conversation with Tara was going to be about and she knew she didn't want Savannah to hear it.

"Oh, that's not necessary," Tara countered, lowering herself into the chair in the corner.

Falyn glanced between the two of them uneasily before finally sitting down on end of the sofa, waiting anxiously for Tara to start speaking. "Did you always have a thing for my boyfriend?" Falyn let out a heavy sigh and shook her head but before she could get a word in, Tara continued. "Did you even wait for me to get out of Charming before you fucked him?"

"Hey! You watch your damn mouth in front of my kid," she snapped before turning her head to look over her shoulder at her daughter, who was sitting frozen with wide eyes. "Sav, go upstairs please." The girl immediately jumped up from the sofa and walked out of the room. Once Falyn was sure that she had gone up the stairs, she turned back to the woman across from her.

"That was inappropriate. I'm sorry."

"Tara, I know how this all must look to you, but it's nothing like that. I never wanted Jax. Not before you left, not after you left, and not now. It was just some stupid Club party where were all hanging out in the dorm drinking. Opie left to take Donna home and-" Falyn paused to shake her head, looking away from Tara's face. "He was lonely and we were both drunk as fuck. If it makes you feel any better, he actually called me Tara."

"He did?"

"Yeah," she chuckled. "That's what sobered me up." Falyn watched the woman closely, noticing that her mood seemed to improve very slightly. She wasn't as angry as she'd been when she entered the house. "Look, Tara, it was a mistake. The whole thing shouldn't have even happened at all, but I can't apologize for it because it gave me the best thing to ever happen to me. I wouldn't take it back even if I could but you can be damn sure that there was never anything between me and Jax. Except alcohol."

Tara sat there for a moment before finally nodding. "I believe you."

"You know, Wendy actually thought the same as you. She cornered me in the kitchen at Abel's homecoming party. Once she was sure I didn't want him, she tried to get me on her side. You know what I told her?"

Tara raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"I'm Team Tara. If anybody's gonna be with Jax, it's you. It's always been you. It's always gonna be you. You guys are meant to be together. I think we've all known that since we were sixteen years old."

She smiled and Falyn knew that she was no longer angry, but then she sighed heavily. "I just hate the lifestyle. So much shit happening all the time."

"You know Club life is fucked. Really, really fucked. But we're both in it now. We have to stick together."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Tara agreed, a smile tugging at her lips. And with that, all previous anger and awkwardness were gone and things between the two were back to normal again.

"Hey, Sav and I were just about to go to the diner to grab some breakfast. Wanna come?"

"I can't, I really have to get to work," she said, looking down at the green scrubs she was wearing. "Rain check?"

"Of course!" Both women stood from their seats and hugged each other. "I better be seeing you soon."

"I'm sure you will," Tara replied with a grin. "Tell your daughter I'm sorry."

Falyn waved her off as she walked with her to the front door. "Don't worry about it. I'll see you soon," she said as Tara walked out the front door. She waved once more before she got into her car and headed down the long driveway.

As soon as she was gone, Falyn called up the stairs for her daughter and seconds later the blonde bounded down the stairs, a questioning look in her eye. "Everything okay?"

"All fine, baby. Now let's go get some breakfast."

The town was buzzing with people when they arrived to the point where she could barely even find a place to park the car. As they were walking inside, she saw Davey speeding out of the parking lot as if he were trying to get away from something, and she hoped that something wasn't her. She and Savannah sat down at the bar and one of the waitresses, Hannah, came to take their order.

They ate their eggs and bacon as they talked, Savannah asking a million questions as always, most of them revolving around her father and brother and when she was going to get to see them again.

"Well, if it isn't my baby brother's runaway girlfriend. Lookin' good, Falyn."

She didn't even have to turn around to recognize the voice. "Jacob," she acknowledged, but she still kept her back to him. "That explains why Davey was trying to get out of here so fast."

The older Hale just chuckled, laying a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Now, now. Let's play nice in front of the kiddo."

Falyn shrugged him off and got up from the barstool, pulling some cash out of her pocket and dropping it onto the counter as she nudged Savannah to get up as well. When she finally turned to look at him, she found herself face to face with two other men that she had never seen before.

"Oh, Falyn, I'd like you to meet Ethan Zobelle and AJ Weston. They're new in town. Gentlemen, this is one of our long lost Charming residents." The taller of the two men, Weston as he'd been referred to, just stared down at her with a somewhat creepy smirk on his face, making her feel supremely uncomfortable. Jacob was bad enough, but these new men were even worse.

"Nice to meet you both, but we really have to get going. Come on, Sav." She didn't give the men a chance to protest before she fled the diner as quickly as possible, pulling Savannah by the arm the whole way.

Once the woman and child had disappeared out the glass doors, the shorter man turned to Jacob with raised eyebrows. "And who was that?"

"Falyn Fitzpatrick. Several different SAMCRO connections."

"Ah," the man said, turning to his colleague with a smirk. "We can use that."