Skeletons

"Tara?"

The older woman spun around so they were face to face. "Falyn, you're back!" she exclaimed, pulling her into a tight hug.

"You are too!" she replied, returning her hug before pulling away. "Come on in."

Tara followed her into the house, shutting the door behind her and they both curled up on the sofa, making themselves comfortable. "Gemma told me you were back in Charming and I've been meaning to come and see you. I've just had so much going on lately."

"Trust me, I understand that feeling."

"So catch me up! Tell me what's going on with you. Why'd you leave?"

Falyn sighed. She knew Tara would be curious to know what had happened. Of course she wouldn't know what Donna knew; she left Charming months before Falyn did. "I moved up to Portland to be with my mom. I missed her." Even though it wasn't a total lie, Falyn still felt bad for not giving Tara the whole story. She knew however that it would all come out eventually.

"Gemma told me she passed. I'm sorry for your loss."

Falyn just nodded. "What about you? Dad said you came back after your father died a few months ago."

She swallowed hard and looked away from Falyn's eyes as she nodded. "Yeah. I just came back to go through his stuff. But then when I got here, all these old feelings came back and-....I don't know. It's so complicated."

A hint of a smile made its way onto Falyn's lips. "No, it isn't. You still love him, don't you?"

Tara rolled her eyes. "I'll always love him, Fal. It's Jax."

Falyn laughed and leaned back against the sofa, folding her hands across her stomach. "So you're a big-time surgeon now I hear?"

Tara grinned, immediately lighting up at the subject. "It's the most rewarding job I could ever dream of. I'm in neonatal and pediatrics so I get to help kids. It's really special to me."

"I heard you were taking care of Jax's kid over at St. Thomas?"

"Yeah, Abel was extremely premature so he's been in an incubator since he was born but he gets to come out of it in a day or two."

"That's great! So he's doing well then?"

"He's getting very strong. If he continues like this, it shouldn't be too long before he's able to go home."

"How's Jax dealing with all that?"

She sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. He wasn't ready to be a father but he's been doing great coming to see him in the NICU. I just don't know how he'll do once Abel actually comes home and isn't being fully taken care of by nurses and doctors 24/7."

"I'm sure he'll adjust to it eventually."

"Let's hope so."

The conversation gradually steered away from Jax as Falyn began to ask her about what had happened after she left Charming, medical school, and her life in general. Tara responded with questions as well, which made Falyn feel on edge as she tried to answer with as little information as she possibly could.

Luckily, Tara couldn't stay too long but with a goodbye and a promise to catch up more later, she left the house, just in time for Craig and Savannah to return home from dinner. Falyn, who was utterly exhausted from the day she'd had, kissed both her father and daughter goodnight before they all went to bed early.

Unsurprisingly, when she rolled out of bed the next morning, she found the house empty and a yellow post-it note stuck to her bedroom door, informing her that her father had taken Savannah for the day. "Always going somewhere," she muttered to herself as she shuffled into her bathroom to take a shower.

Once she was dressed for the day, she decided that going to try to talk Gemma into keeping her mouth shut was what needed to be done, even if it wasn't the best use of her time. She knew Gemma wouldn't be listening but she wanted to try anyway. She stopped by the house first, but found the driveway empty. She continued on through town toward Teller-Morrow, hoping she would find the woman in the office there.

When she parked her car and got out, she noticed the prospect she'd been talking to at the party was standing in the middle of a boxing ring that was set up just outside the clubhouse doors. He was practicing his right hook on some poor bastard, who was just doing his best at trying to keep his arms up in defense.

Clay pulled into the lot on his motorcycle right after her and as he took off his helmet, he shook his head. "Shit, Lowell, get outta there!"

Apparently the poor bastard getting beat on was Lowell. "I don't mind it, Clay. I'm just helping Half Sack train," he replied, breathing heavily.

"Well, you've killed enough brain cells. Come on, back to work."

Lowell took off the protective gear he was wearing and slowly climbed out of the ring, obviously very tired. Falyn approached him with a huge grin. "Why the fuck are you letting the prospect beat up on you?"

He chuckled , throwing his arm around her shoulders. "He needed a punching bag. He's in training."

"For what?"

"Some bare knuckle boxing thing coming up. He's pretty good."

"He doesn't look like he would be."

"Tell me about it. But trust me, he is," he sighed, grimacing as he ran his hand over his already bruising cheek.

"So how are you? You know, other than getting the shit knocked outta you."

"Okay, I guess. Some days it's just so fucking hard to stay clean. But I'm trying. For Moby."

"Moby?"

His entire face lit up. "Yeah, my son!"

"Holy shit, I didn't know you had a son." She didn't know that he'd had drug problems either, but she decided it was better not to ask.

"He's with his nanny Neeta right now but you should come by the house sometime and meet him."

"I'd like that," she smiled.

He popped the hood on one of the cars that was in the garage and grabbed a wrench to begin working. Falyn suddenly got a weird feeling that she was being watched, but when she looked around and didn't see anyone who seemed to be paying attention to her, she shrugged it off and went back to thinking of the reason she'd come down to the garage.

"Hey, is Gemma here?"

"I think she's in the office. Why?"

"Just....needed to ask her something."

"Oh, yeah, I think she's in there doing some paperwork."

"Alright. Thanks, Lowell. I'll see you later?" she asked, outstretching her arms.

He grinned as he pulled her into a hug and gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. "Yes, you will."

Once she left Lowell to his work in the garage, Falyn headed over to the office. The door was open but she knocked anyway, causing Gemma to look up from the stacks of paper piled on the desk. She immediately pulled the glasses off her face and stood to her feet. "Well, I wasn't expecting you to show up around me anytime soon."

"We need to talk."

Gemma motioned to the chair across from her and Falyn uneasily took a seat in front of the older woman, her eyes never straying from Gemma's face. As soon as Gemma returned to her seat, she slid the glasses back on and looked back down at her paperwork, writing furiously. "Look, Gemma, I don't know what you're thinking about yesterday but-"

"Does he know?" she interrupted as she wrote something in the notebook sitting in her lap.

Falyn rolled her eyes. "Of course he doesn't know."

Gemma looked down at her over the top of her glasses. "Then, baby, you better tell him. The boy has a right to know."

"I know. But could you just let me handle it please? Like, not inform the whole town?"

The older woman considered her options before finally sighing and returning to her paperwork. "Of course, baby."

"Thank you."

Once she had her confirmation, Falyn high-tailed it out of the office and back out into the lot. She noticed Chibs sitting on top of one of the picnic tables watching as the prospect jumped rope. She silently made her way over and slid up onto the table next to him. "How is jumping rope going to make him better at knocking the shit out of someone?"

Chibs turned his head with a grin. "Look, she's sober!"

"Oh, shut up would you."

He chuckled as he pulled the sunglasses off his face and leaned back on his hands.

"To tell ya the truth, I just like torturin' 'im."

"That doesn't surprise me in the slightest. What's this thing his training for anyway?"

"Bare knuckle boxin' competition. Gonna bring lots of money in for the Club."

"So you guys are placing bets, huh? I hope he's as good as you think he is."

"He is. The competition's tomorrow nigh'. Come if ya don't believe me."

A smile found its way onto her features- something that she seemed to not be able to help when she was around the older man. "I would if I could, but I have something I have to do."

He nodded. "Aye, well, catch 'im next time."

Before she could respond, Chibs was on his feet, barking orders at the prospect. She watched in silence as he yelled at the younger man before finally sliding back onto the table next to her.

"I feel so sorry for him."

"We all had t' go through it. 'S what prospectin's about."

"Trust me, I know. I saw Jax and Opie go through it. It's hard to watch."

He chuckled. "But it's so much fun!"

"If you say so," she said, rolling her eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gemma come out of the office, looking around before her eyes finally landed on Falyn. She groaned and stood up from the table.

"I should get going. Do me a favor, Filip?"

"Anything."

She tried her best to hold back a smile at his response. "Try not to be so hard on the prospect?"

He laughed. "I'll do what I can."

"That's all I ask." She turned to the younger man, who was practicing his swing on an punching bag. "Good luck in the fights, Prospect."

"Thank ya ma'am," he replied with a nod.

Falyn walked back to her car but before she was even halfway there, she heard the prospect make a suggestive comment about her. She shook her head when she heard Chibs slap him hard.

Maybe he would've done as she asked if the kid could've just kept his mouth shut.