I disclaim. I own nothing.

AN: Like so many others, I was upset and heartbroken over the finale. And as such I decided to rewrite the finale and continue it into a AU season 7. As always Eve Levine was a big help on this story. Hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 1

It was over. Despite the fact that Jax would be going away and she'd no doubt have to move the boys away from the only home they knew, Tara couldn't help the rush of relief she felt. Finally the looming fear, anxiety, and sadness she'd been living with the last few weeks, or since Opie died if she were being honest, was gone, and she felt like she could breathe again. There was a lot that still needed doing. She had to find a new job, find a place for her and the boys to go, say goodbye to Jax. None of which would be easy.

Tara had loved Jax since she was sixteen years old, but it was a love that was never easy. Sometimes, she questioned if it was even worth it at all. But even with all the issues they had recently, she was not eager to see him go away again. In the same vein, despite what happened in that ratty motel room, Tara wasn't sure where they stood. More, and maybe what was worse, she wasn't sure if she wanted it to be anything more than what it was. She loved Jax, knew in her bones she always would, but lately she found herself imagining the easy life she'd have without him.

The noise in the kitchen broke her out of her reverie. Despite the relief she had felt only moments ago, old habits died hard and Tara found herself reaching into for the gun she carried there. She hated having it on her with the boys around, but once she made the decision to leave Jax having the gun on her only seemed to make sense. Her movements were slow, cautious. Unser's truck was in the drive, but a voice in the back of her head reminded her that Unser would do anything for Gemma and Gemma would do anything to keep Jax in Charming, in the club.

"Wayne?" She tried to keep the anxiety out of her voice, she thought she only just succeeded. When she received no answer, her hand wrapped around the handle of the gun. And when the figured stepped into the kitchen-the wild out of control look she knew so well in her eyes-Tara was relieved to feel the weight of the .38.

The tragedy was, despite everything they'd been through recently, Tara couldn't bring herself to pull the gun and point it at Gemma. It hurt that this was what their relationship had come to. Gemma was the only mother Tara had ever known and she loved her. Loved even though she knew that if it came down to Gemma and her boys, her boys would win every time. But it was that love that had her running instead of pulling the gun, and it was that love that cost her those precious few seconds and a blow to the head.

Later Tara would realize that it was the gun that saved her life. Her finger had been on the trigger when Gemma grabbed her, causing the gun to go off. She wasn't sure what Gemma hit her with, but she would have sworn she actually saw fucking stars. Her reaction was purely instinctive, the need to survive guiding her movements. When Gemma swung her around, Tara threw her weight so that her forward momentum had them both careening into the counter. Her head was pounding, her vision blurred, slowing her reaction time. But she was aware enough to know that Gemma's reaction time was slowed as well.

When the older woman pushed off the counter, drunkenly lunging for her Tara moved, causing Gemma to fall into the ironing board. She tried to make for the door again, but Gemma grabbed her ankle, sending her spiraling to the ground. And not for the first time Tara wondered what the hell was taking Eli so damn long to get into the house. She thought she may have hit her head again as the pain seemed to be radiating through her blood. She wanted to throw up, she wanted to curl into a ball and cry. She needed to get up and get out, she had to get away for her boys. For Jax.

Gemma would kill her, even if she hadn't seen it in her eyes, Tara felt it in her gut. If she didn't move, if she didn't do something, Gemma was going to kill her. And she couldn't let that happen, wouldn't let that happen. Her boys needed her, Jax needed her. She told Abel everything she did was for him and Thomas. The most important thing she could do for them was get up, to live.

The pain was excruciating, paralyzing her and stealing her breath so that she couldn't even cry out. She tried to kick out, couldn't understand why her legs didn't work. Tried to wiggle free, but Gemma had climbed over top of her body heavy and sluggish. She made the mistake of glancing over her shoulder, saw the wild manic look, and sobbed at the realization that she'd kissed her boys for the final time without even knowing it.

The sound of the gunshot had Eli reacting immediately. His hand going to the walky talky on his shoulder to call in back-up even as he drew his gun and began moving towards the house. He was aware of Ortiz moving as well and had little to no time to make a decision. Anything was possible with the Sons and maybe he should have been prepared for something like this, even though part of him wasn't sure he believed that Teller would hurt his wife. It was the same part that always doubted Dr. Knowles would turn on her husband. Still after the loss of his own wife and unborn child, he vowed not to let two small children lose the mother who was willing to give up everything for them.

So he allowed Ortiz to get ahead of him despite everything in his gut telling him to rush inside. But Ortiz was a wild card, unstable and lost, ever since he and Potter put the squeeze on him. He allowed himself to think this was a set up, even though he knew in a set up Ortiz should not have moved ahead of him. But it was the justification he used to move in close behind the biker, raise his gun before bringing the butt down hard on the back of Ortiz's head causing the man to crumble to the ground at the steps leading into the house. He was alone until his back up arrived and though he heard the sirens in the background, Charming wasn't that big and the Sheriff having called in back up gained a quick response time, he had to control the scene as best he could against a group that seemed to stop playing by their own rules.

Because Thomas seemed intent on trying to pull one of the patches off his kutte, Jax had a difficult time trying to juggle his son in one arm while using his other hand to reach for his ringing phone in the back pocket of his jeans.

Abel was sitting on the counter, his attention focused completely on one of Chucky's fake hands. Tig, who was leaning against the counter, using the other hand to poke Abel in the belly, causing the kid to giggle, glanced up with a puzzled look on his face.

"What's up with the sirens, brother? I thought they were picking you up from home quietly."

"That's not my ride, bro." Jax finally managed to pull his phone free and one glance at the number tanked his mood. He thought he had more time with his boys and time still to go home to spend with Tara. "Don't know what that shit's about. Yeah?" He spoke into the phone.

"Mr. Teller, I thought we had a deal."

Jax nodded to Bobby to take Thomas, he had a feeling this conversation was only going to piss him off. "What the hell are you talking about? We agreed to nine o'clock. I'll be there."

"Then what the hell is going on at your house. A call came in at the station, Eli requesting back-up…" Patterson trailed off. "Where's your wife, Mr. Teller? Are all your club members accounted for?"

Jax glanced around the ice cream shop even as his fingers went numb causing him to drop the phone. Juice. He sent the other man off with a warning. How could he still be so fucking stupid? He knew Juice wasn't completely stable, knew he couldn't be trusted.

"Jackie?" Chibs' voice was quiet though there was no mistaking the concern there. "Everything okay."

Jax could only speak one word. "Tara." He barely managed a look towards Rat to make sure their newest member knew to stay with his sons. There was no doubt in his mind that Bobby, Chibs, Tig, and Happy would be right behind him.

There was a time when Tara use to joke that you could get anywhere in Charming in five minutes, but Jax thought the only ride in his life that may have been longer was the one he took to trade the Priest for Abel. In reality he got to the house not long after the EMTs. There was no way to tell, just from the scene, exactly what had happened. His brain only just barely registered Unser's truck in the driveway. He saw Juice standing off to the side talking to a couple of cops holding what looked like an ice pack to the back of his head. Neighbors he'd only seen in passing were crowded on the sidewalk and Jax resented everyone he had to push his way pass to get to the house.

"I'm sorry, sir." A young uniformed officer stepped in front of Jax just as he cleared the crowd. "You can't go in there."

Jax could have pointed out that this was his home, which he was sure the officer knew. He could have mentioned that Patterson had called him. It was all he could do not to shout that his wife was likely inside. But that would have taken time, so he simply shoved the cop out of his way. His forward progress, however, was halted when he saw the paramedics bringing the stretcher carrying Tara out of the house. She was propped up on her side, Jax could see something sticking out of her back, while Patterson was holding her hand barking orders.

Jax moved so quickly the distance between them was practically non-existence. It wasn't his intention to shove Patterson out of the way, he was just trying to get to Tara. "Babe? Babe?" Seeing the handle of whatever it was that had been buried in her back twisted something inside him, almost as if it had been driven into him. He couldn't stand to see it there, couldn't stand to think it was still causing her pain. Thinking only easing her pain Jax reached for the handle only to have his hand knocked away by one of the Paramedics.

"Sir," One of the paramedics shouted. "Don't do that."

"Take that out. It's hurting her." She had to be okay, he didn't know who or what he'd be without her.

"Take that out and she can bleed to death before we can even get her to the hospital."

"I'm riding with you."

"Mr. Teller," Patterson grabbed his arm. "I need to speak with you."

Glancing over his shoulder, Jax looked at her as if she sprouted a second head. The paramedics never stopped moving. "Are you fucking kidding me? My wife…"

"They need to get Dr. Knowles to the hospital as quickly as possible and they don't need you in the way. And I think you may want to hear what I have to say."

Helplessly, Jax watched as the ambulance pulled away. Lights and sirens blaring, he felt as though his entire life was heading away from them. "What could possibly be more important than my wife?"

"Jax," Bobby's voice was quiet as he came up behind him. "Gemma."

Because most of him was in the back of the ambulance with Tara, it took Jax a moment to figure out what Bobby was saying. And still it really didn't register when he looked up to see Roosevelt leading his mother out of the house in handcuffs.

Patterson didn't even have to turn around to see what drew Jax's attention. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. It seems your mother received some…faulty information regarding our agreement."

"What are you talking about?"

"She was lead to believe that Tara ratted. And then, apparently, got it in her head to come over here and do something about that."

It was too much for him to believe. Jax knew that his mother and Tara had their differences. Their relationship seemed as complicated as his own with each of them. But at the end of the day…they loved each other. They always had. It was why Gemma had been so angry when Tara left all those years ago. They may fight and occasionally plot against one another but…Tara hadn't even been conscious when they brought her from the house. No way would his mother attack her so viciously.

"Jackson," Gemma's voice, though slurred, was full of panic. "Jackson, I was just trying to protect you. It's all I've ever done. Jax…"

The words broke through the haze that clouded his mind but likely not in the way his mother intended. "Wait." His voice was loud, hard, and halted all the murmuring conversations going on around him. When he started to move forward-his movements slow and methodical-he felt Bobby and Chibs trying to stop him. But the ease at which he broke away from them had him thinking their efforts were half-assed at best. When he was no less than a foot away from his mother, he pinned her with cold blue eyes even as he addressed Roosevelt. "What happened?" His tone was quiet, deceptively calm, and tinged with something else that had the Sheriff answering him.

"When I got inside the house I came across Dr. Knowles laying barely conscious on the kitchen floor, she appeared to be bleeding, though I couldn't tell from where I was standing. And your mother was crouched over her, plunging what appeared to be a fork of some kind into the back of the helpless, semi-conscious mother of your children." On his best day Roosevelt barely had an opinion of Gemma one way or another. He didn't trust her, because of her associations, he couldn't trust her. Though often times he felt something like respect for her loyalty. But now, though he should remain biased, he could do nothing to disguise the disgust he felt for someone who would attempt to rip a mother away from her young children. And the brutality of the scene he came across made it all the more disturbing.

"Jax," Gemma searched blue eyes for her son, but was chilled by the stranger that was staring back at her. "It had to be done. It…I had to protect you."

There was no sneer, no glare, no nothing as he looked at her. "I need to get to my wife." With no acknowledgement of her, of their relationship, Jax knew Gemma would understand what he was saying to her. And with a nod towards Roosevelt, he turned and moved quickly to his bike.

"Unser," Tig's voice was quiet so not to be overheard by Jax. Their president was bent double in one of the waiting room chairs, hands clasped together behind the head he had buried between his knees. Tig thought the younger man hadn't taken a breath since they arrived and was told that Tara had been taken into surgery. "Who else could possibly have access to that information? And who else would rush over to tell Gemma?"

"Juice." Rat, who got the news on Tara and came immediately to the hospital, said with barely contained malice. He knew he was the new guy, that his say would carry little to no weight, even knew he was walking a thin line for leaving the ice cream shop. But he'd been responsible for Tara since before shit went bad between her and Jax. He always felt proud of the fact that Jax trusted him with his family, to protect them and keep them safe. Other's may have saw it as grunt work, errand boy shit. But Jax wasn't just a member, wasn't just their charter's president, he was The Son. So Rat never saw getting assigned to watch after Tara and the boys as grunt work, he felt honored by it. "Shit's been icy between him and the doc, lately. And he was practically calling her a rat before he even knew what was going on. Was all gung-ho to-" He knew better than to say what Juice was so gung-ho to do in public. More he couldn't say it, especially now. "He was there and he obviously didn't try to stop it." Which as far as Rat was concerned was Juice's biggest sin. The man had given Juice a job, one job, and he didn't do it. And now the president's Old Lady was on some table possibly bleeding out. Rending their president nearly fucking comatose. Someone had to pay for that. Why not the someone who didn't do what the fuck they were suppose to do.

"Rat," Bobby said the younger man's name when it looked like he was only gearing up. "Cool it." Not even twenty-four hours and he was feeling the weight of the gavel. Rat and Tig wanted someone to pay for what happened to Tara. They wanted blood and pain. But Tig couldn't bring himself to mention Gemma's name. Bobby couldn't say why Rat was gunning so hard for Juice.

Right now Bobby thought they all needed to be focused on Jax. If Tara died…there was nothing down that road for Jax but madness. He didn't know why the two of them couldn't ever catch a break. He never knew two people so right for each other, who so obviously belonged together, yet the universe itself seemed to conspire to keep them apart. "Now's not the time." And he couldn't think about what Jax would do, mostly because it scared the shit out of him.

Losing Opie had changed something in Jax, but even before that Jax responded badly whenever Tara was involved. There was the fed he'd thrown through the window of Floyd's shop and he and Tara hadn't even been together at the time. Then there was Salazar, Clay had seemed to be the only one operating under the ridiculous notion that when Jax went into Hale's office Salazar would be coming out of it alive. And when they thought the Cartel had been the ones responsible for Tara's kidnapping and smashing her hand, Jax responded by bringing a bazooka to a gun fight. Bobby couldn't imagine how Jax would react to this.

"Tara is Jackie's." Chibs reminded everyone. "It's his call."

"Excuse me?"

As one, the group of men all glanced over at the middle aged doctor that approached them. Jax was instantly on his feet, anxious for any word on Tara.

"Mr. Teller, I just wanted to inform you of your mother's condition."

As Bobby watched, Jax's eyes flashed dangerously before a shutter seemed to slam shut behind them. He shrugged and it was so careless and indifferent Bobby thought he would prefer the younger man get angry. And when he spoke, it was impossible to deny he meant what he said with every fiber of his being.

"I don't have a mother." And with that he sat back down, resuming the exact same position he'd been in before.

Bobby waited, thought Tig would maybe approach the doctor but when he only went to sit by Jax offering his silent support, SAMCRO's new president could only heave a sigh as he went to talk to the doctor. "How is she?"

"Few bruises, I guess Tara….Dr. Knowles didn't go down without a fight." The doctor paused and Bobby realized he wasn't just talking to Gemma's doctor, he was talking to one of Tara's colleagues and someone who clearly considered her a friend. "Due to her condition we ran a few tests, still waiting to hear back from her cardiologist but I don't think we'll be releasing her tonight. Want to be safe. She's still in custody, wants to see her son. Sheriff said it's up to him."

Bobby glanced over at Jax. "I don't think he's up for it." But someone had to speak to Gemma and by the looks of things that someone was him. "Sheriff still around."

"He's with Mrs. Morrow, sounded like he'd be the one staying with her tonight."

That at least, Bobby thought, made things a bit simpler.

The doctor hesitated a moment before taking a few steps towards Jax, not approaching him full on but moving close enough to gain his attention. "Mr. Teller, I just wanted to say, and I think I speak for everyone here when I say it, we're praying for Dr. Knowles to pull through this. She's a strong, determined young woman. And Dr. Ormond is our best surgeon."

"Second best." Tig and Chibs corrected.

"Right," The doctor smiled kindly. "Second best."

"Where's Jax?"

Bobby approached the foot of the hospital bed, not missing the cuffs on Gemma's right wrist and left ankle. "I don't think you want to see Jax right now, Gem."

"I need to see him, I need to explain."

"Yeah, I don't think any amount of explaining is going to fix this for you."

"I thought she was a rat. I was trying to protect Jax, the club."

"Is that what you're going to say to him, Gem?" Bobby's eyes narrowed on her. "Shit sounds pretty weak to me."

"Jax will understand."

Bobby didn't know if Gemma actually believe that or if she was just that deep in denial. "I think it's pretty safe to say that until he's sure Tara's going to make it out of this alive, Jax is not going to be very understanding of much of anything any time soon."

"I just need to talk to him."

"You may think you want to, but trust me darlin', you don't." As Gemma continued to look at him defiantly, Bobby leaned against the hospital bed, voice conspiratorially low. "How many people who have hurt Tara got anything resembling understanding from your boy? If you're having trouble just give Ima or Wendy a call, as how hurting Tara worked out for them, and they never even laid a hand on her."

Something not unlike fear flashed across Gemma's face before she resolutely pushed it down. "I'm his mother."

"And he loved Clay like a father."

"I'm his mother." Gemma repeated. "He knows I'd do anything to protect him."

"You nearly destroyed him!" Bobby snapped out before managing to catch himself. "I love that boy. I love him like a son. And I'm not going to let anyone break him, not even you. I just got him back. When he laid out his plan, he was the man I always knew he could be, the man I laid the hope of this club on. He was at peace with his decision, at peace for the first time since Ope died. And you…you," He bit the word off so harshly Gemma flinched. "Go and fuck it all up. You better pray to God Tara makes it through this. Because if she doesn't that boy doesn't have a chance in hell. And the next time you see him, you may not like or recognize the man he is."