1994

She was sitting in chemistry class chewing on the cap on her pen, her knee moved up and down restlessly and periodically she would glance over her shoulder at the clock to check the time. 2:55. Shit the time was going slow today she thought, her knee moving faster.

Today was the day that Big John was letting her ride alone. It was her first time riding alone so she was equal parts scared, excited, and anxious.

She hoped she didn't fall. Or drive into a tree.

Jax and Opie would never let her live that shit down.

She was brought out of her daydream by David Hale's sharp elbow in her side. She looked up at her chemistry teacher, who was looking at her expectantly.

"Oh ummm….I'm not sure Mr. Wallace", Tara said, which brought a slight frown to Mr. Wallace's face, there had never come a time in any of his science classes that Tara Knowles was unsure.

"Mr. Hale?", Mr. Wallace said moving on.

"If you want to convert from mass to moles, you must first find the molar weight of the compound, then divide that by the amount of the compound that you have, in grams of course", David said in his most haughty voice. Tara gave him an annoyed glance out of the corner of her eye, for some reason he always set her teeth on edge.

Tara continued tapping her foot impatiently, no wonder Jax and Opie skipped so often, when it came down to bike versus school, bike always won.

Just when she decided to stand up and walk out of the classroom, the bell rung. Tara wasted no time grabbing her backpack and running out of the classroom, which was also unlike her as she usually lingered to speak with her teacher after class was dismissed.

When she reached the hallway she began to run full out, not stopping to talk with her best friend Donna, or at her locker. Her body, heart and brain were of the same accord; finally, finally sitting on the beautiful Triumph 200 cc cub that she (along with the occasional helping hand of Jax, Opie and Big John) had restored herself.

"Wooooo! Today is the day! Good luck TARA!, Donna screamed as Tara sped past her.

She pushed out of the double doors that led to the front of the school, and there her baby was in all her glory. Recently painted midnight blue with dull silver chrome, she glistened in the sun, beckoning her new owner to ride her.

Tara's breath caught in her throat, she moved as if in a dream, each step bringing her closer to the freedom she had been pushing for the last year. As she approached her bike she noticed the words , "Tada gan iarracht" inscribed on the side of the gas tank. Jax and Opie were standing on either side of her bike watching her.

"What does that mean?" she asked with a shaky voice

"Nothing without effort", Big John said from behind her. She turned to him and ran into his arms, if Jax and Opie were like her brothers, then Big John was the father she lost when her mother died. She closed her eyes and let him lift her off the ground.

"Thank you", Tara said breaking the embrace.

"Don't thank me, sugar, Thank Jax, he's the one that decided the inscription would complete your bike" Big John said looking over her head to where Jax and Opie stood.

Tara ran over to Jax, she nearly knocked him down in her excitement. "Thank You Jax!", she said pressing her body hard to his. He embraced her back, running one work roughened hand down her back and the other underneath her long hair. He cradled the back of her head in his hand, for a second Tara thought he might kiss her on the lips, but instead he kissed her on the forehead and gave her a cocky smile.

"Nothing doing darlin', you did all the hard shit I just added some gloss", he winked and released her. He stepped toward his own bike that was parked in front of Tara's.

Opie held out her helmet and her keys.

"Where to Tara?", he asked excitement in his voice.

"Ummmm…..", she said thinking hard and fast, "Just follow me and we'll see what we see."

"Aight, you kids be careful", big john said, "Jax, Opie watch her back, and try to be home before daybreak" he said eyeing Jax and Opie.

"No prob, pops", Jax said revving his engine, drawing the attention of everyone around them. Tara shook her head at him, sometimes she wanted to slap him across the back of the head like Clay did when he was stepping out of line.

Tara picked her book bag up and put it on her back, she strapped her helmet on her head and straddled her bike. Her heart started pounding a mile a minute, she was actually riding alone, on HER BIKE. She put her key in the ignition and started her bike, the engine purred to life, vibrating her thighs and exciting her even more. She raise her hand in a farewell wave to Big John, kicked her kick stand up and pulled off. At first she drove with trepidation, letting Jax take the lead. When they got out of the city limits, Opie pulled up along side Jax and she was left to bring up the rear, not one to be left in their dust, she revved her engine and pulled around and in front of them. She sped up, leaving them in her dust. The feel of the wind whipping past her head and around her body spurred her forward. She rode and rode, watching the road slip past her and the sun began to set. Opie pulled out in front of her and began to guide the way to their familiar hang out, his father's cabin. Pulling up in front of the cabin Tara began to take it all in, she felt free, totally free and she had her two best friend with her. It wasn't until she got off of her bike and was walking toward the cabin that she noticed Donna's beat up little rabbit parked off to the side.

So, Tara thought, they were gonna have a party. She smiled with anticipation for the night to come.

Tara was standing with Donna, Opie and Mark Rosen when it happened. One minute she was standing next Mark, giggling like crazy and some inane joke Donna told and passing around the joint she had rolled earlier, and the next Jax was running toward her screaming her name. She turned to him with the joint in her hand still not registering what was happen, he jumped toward her his 9 mm glock in his hand, and slammed her down to the floor. Finally Tara was able to register the popping sounds coming from all around them as gunshots, glass was flying in all directions from the broken windows and Jax was laying heavily on Tara. The gunshots stopped and Jax got off of her, Mark and Opie stood up with him. Jax reached into the back of his jeans and pulled out a .38 special handgun and handed it to Tara. He got right in her face.

"You see anyone you don't recognize, you cap them", he said looking directly into her eyes. Tara nodded her head quickly and look back into Jax's eyes conveying everything she could not say in that moment. Tara watched as Jax, Opie and Mark made their way out of the door each with a gun in his hand.

Tara pulled herself up to hunches, then glanced behind her at Donna, who looked scared and held a gun similar to Tara's in her hand. Tara nodded her head at Donna once and Donna nodded back. Donna knew how to use the gun in her hand, Tara did not, but Tara was not afraid to protect herself. She was worried about Jax. He was outside and whoever had just shot up a known SAMCRO hang out could even now have their gun trained on him.

Tara felt before she heard or saw movement in at the door, before she could think she trained her gun on the door, and before the ugly looking long haired mexican could raise his gun at her she pulled the trigger. The jolt from the gun vibrated through her arm, making it sting but Tara was lucky and her bullet hit the mexican in the stomach, the next two shots hit him in the throat and the forehead but they did not come from Tara's gun they came from Donna's.

Tara heard footsteps coming up the front stairs from outside and raised her gun again but this time Opie came running through the door. He stopped just inside the doorway, taking in the dead mexican and the guns that were trained on his head. He kicked him as he passed by him and then made a bee line to Donna. Tara watched as he grabbed her face and asked if she was okay. Donna nodded once and Opie kissed her hard on the lips.

Jax came running through the door next, he didn't even look at the dead mexican on the floor he simply stepped over him and walked toward Tara with a fierce expression on his face. Tara thought he might yell at her, but instead he walked up to her, looked her in the eye, put his hands on either side of her face, leaned down and kissed her. Tara thought her heart would explode in her chest, he pressed her against him letting his fingers slide through her hair and down her back he wrapped his arms around her. Tara let herself be kissed, not really sure of how to kiss him back, she let him slide his tongue in her mouth, let him press his body against hers. She felt as though someone had just set a struck match to her body, just when she thought you would melt in a puddle at his feet, he let her go.

"We need to get out of here", Jax said. Tara stared up at him, completely dumbfounded. "Tara will ride with me, Op, you take Donna on your bike, and Mark will ride Tara's bike, we all need to stay together until we get back to the clubhouse" he said looking Opie straight in the eye.

"Okay" Opie said grabbing Donna's hand and leading her out of the cabin. Tara followed Jax out of the cabin, she stopped next to her bike and grabbed her helmet. She quickly got onto the back of Jax's bike while strapping her helmet on her head. Jax climbed onto the front of his bike and waited while Mark got on her bike. As Tara watched her bike sag under the weight of Mark's body, she thought so much for freedom. They all pulled off quickly, making their way back to the safety of the Son's clubhouse and Big John.