So I couldn't wait to start writing this story. I had a dream about it (I know, i know, I'm weird) but I wanted to start writing. It's totally different from everything else I've written and it has nothing immediate to do with the show.

I hope you guys like it! As always, please let me know. Your comments and suggestions are what keeps things fun and interesting and inspires me.

Maple Hill, South Carolina

"Leave the Rest Behind"

The town sign read after weeks of cheap motels, countless bottles of liquor, packs of cigarettes, and aimless driving across the country. Leave the rest behind. That was exactly what he needed. Directionless, he continued to drive through what seemed like the center of the town. It was peaceful. Quiet. Brick buildings. Small shops. Farmer's markets. Well kept streets and trees. Maybe this was the one place he could settle into. Lay low - start anew.

Slowing to a stop in the parking lot of Maple Inn, the weary biker hopped off his Harley to admire the beauty of the old fashioned building, much like the rest of the town. He turned his view back towards the bike. His father's old bike. Never thought it would hold up on the drive but it did. He couldn't keep riding it much longer. It would be a constant reminder of everything he'd left behind and like this town's slogan - everything needed to be left behind. With a slow hoarse inhale, he turned his attention to the main entrance of the building - this was his future.

"Evenin' young man." The sweet old woman behind the desk greeted. "What brings you in at this hour?"

He took in her feeble appearance. She looked friendly, motherly. Wearing a light pink dress with a pale green cardigan draped over her shoulders. She was thin, despite her heavily wrinkled face, he could see the glimmer of green in her eyes. Her smile, warm and inviting. The comfort this place was providing only supported his decision of making a home out of Maple Hill.

"I'm new here. I need a room until I can get settled."

She moved slowly, pulling out a book with Reservations writing across the cover.

"What's your name, son?"

"Jax. Jax Teller."

He watched as she wrote down the name, not asking for an ID. It showed a lot about the town, trust must be a big factor.

"We'll put you on a nightly rate, honey. Just until you get on your feet. I'm Norma, my husband Jerry and I are the owners. What brings you into town?"

Pausing for a moment to sign the paperwork she laid out in front of him. He thought about how to answer her question. Telling anyone about his life in Charming was off limits. That person no longer existed. That life was nothing but a distant memory.

"Just time for me to settle down, Norma."

"Well you've picked the right place. Anything you need, you just holler okay? If you'd like I can show you around one of these days."

"Thanks, darlin"

Taking the key, he followed Norma up the flight of stairs to the room. The place was nice, roomy, pleasant. Just what he needed. Norma went down to grab him towels and other toiletries while he took off his flannel and white t-shirt before walking to the bathroom to turn on the shower. His appearance had changed due to little food and sleep. Spending nights in cheap motels and drinking heavily would do that to a man. He washed the wind-blown dirt off of his face, taking out his razor to shave the sparsely grown hairs forming into a beard.

He was going to give this place a shot. He would never be the person he was but he didn't want to. Normal is what he was aiming for now. Just another face in the crowd. Tomorrow he would look for a job. His best bet was a mechanic seeing that all he had was a GED, but he would make this work. He had too.

7AM -

Sleep abandoned him, mostly out of habit due to the compulsive need to ride his demons away in the past few weeks. The taste of Jack still lingering on his tongue from the previous night's binge, Jax grabbed the bottle off of the nightstand taking another swig before he got up off the bed to get ready for the day. After another shower, he combed his slick hair back and threw on a white t shirt, throwing a flannel over it along with a clean pair of jeans and his white air forces. unconsciously hooking his knife into his hip before making his way downstairs.

Norma wasn't behind the front desk this time, an older man was. He assumed this was her husband Jerry - a little shorter than Jax, a face lined with experience and wisdom, with faded blue eyes and thinning silver hair. He debated between introducing himself and heading straight for the door, but with Norma's hospitality - the last thing he wanted to be was rude, so he approached the man, extending his hand out for him to shake.

"You must be Norma's husband. I'm Jax Teller. Just rented the room upstairs."

"Ahh, Jax. Norma told me about you. We don't see many new faces in Maple Hill but they're nonetheless welcome."

The older man's southern accent was similar to Norma's, actually made it a bit difficult to understand them but he was grateful for the acceptance either way.

"Jerry Crawford." His hoarse voice added as he shook the young man's hand. "Norma went out into town this mornin' but she made some breakfast for yah. Left you some maps to get you acquainted with the town."

"She didn't have to do all of that. Thank you."

Jax followed the older hand into the kitchen of the Inn, where a plate of eggs and sausage was set up on the table for him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a homecooked meal. It'd been so long since Gemma had hosted a family dinner. Gemma - a name he could never speak of again. He gratefully accepted the breakfast, sitting down to eat while Jerry left to go back to the front desk. Hastily shoving fork fulls of food into his mouth, he skimmed the maps Norma had left him. Beckett Auto Repair, the only auto body shop in town, seemed like the place to start.

He cleaned off the dishes so Norma wouldn't have to before making his way outside to his bike to drive to the shop. The place was busy, he'd imagined it was because he was the only shop in town, but the business was still impressive. Parking in a spot, he climbed off the bike to take a look around. The building was white washed brick with a grey outline, Beckett Auto Repair written in huge white letters in the front. He walked inside the front door to see a waiting room with a few people hanging around and a petite honey blonde woman with eyes like the ocean, iridescent almost, flecked with every shade of blue. The tan in her skin and the sunshine in her hair only accentuating them further. Maybe Maple Hill wouldn't be so bad. He waited until she finished speaking with the man ahead of him in line before stepping up to her.

"Hi, I'm new here. Anyone I can talk to about a job here?"

He used the most charming voice he could. It had been rusty, sure, but he wasn't here to meet women, he was here for him, but it couldn't hurt to look either. Her full pink lips curved into an alluring smile as she spoke with a similar southern accent everyone in this town seemed to have, but coming out of her mouth made it sound sweeter.

"Let me go grab Andy for you. What was the name again"

"Jax."

He replied shortly as he watched her turn heel walking out of the back entrance towards the garage only to emerge a few minutes later with a disheveled man in his garage uniform covered in grease. He was Taller than Jax, about 6'3, messy short cut brown hair, with skin tanned like the girl at the counter with the same blue eyes. He wiped the oil off of his hands with rag before extending his hand at Jax.

"Jax? Howdy, I'm Andy, Andy Beckett. Heard you were lookin' for a job?"

Jax Teller and yes sir. I just moved here."

Jax shook his hand. His shake was firmer than Jerry's but there was a certain sense of hospitality with these people he'd only seen in movies. It was different. Charming gave the illusion of being this way but the turmoil inside that town would never allow it.

"Well, why don't we step into the office and see what you can do"

With a nod, he followed the well built man into the back room of the building. taking a seat across the desk from Andy. Looking around, he saw deer heads hung on the wall, pictures of him and the beautiful girl from the front desk as well as a picture of him with an older blonde, southern belle type women, he assumed to be his wife. Andy took a seat across from him, lowering the top half of his work overalls and adjusting the plain white T-shirt he wore under then before leaning forward on his elbows on the desk.

"So do you got a resume or anythin' on you?"

"No, I don't. But I'm a good mechanic, I've worked in a shop all my life. I know my way around anything."

"What shop?"

"Teller - Morrow - Out in California."

The man cocked an eyebrow. California was a long way away from here. He probably should've put more thought into preparing for this. A resume. Why didn't he think of that. Probably because he'd never needed one. He was a shoe in at TM. A shoe in for the club. What other job would he need? Never did he think he'd leave all of that behind and have to start over.

"Teller - you owned the shop?"

Inhaling quietly, he lowered his eyes to the ground. In times like this he'd be fidgeting with his rings but he'd left those behind as well. He knew questions like this would come up, but they didn't need to know all the gruesome details of all their deaths.

"No, sir. My father and step-father had opened the shop together, they both...passed."

"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Is that why you moved out here?"

"Yeah. Traveled around a while but decided to pick a place to settle down. Maple Hill seems to be it."

He watched Andy take a deep breath as he thought things over, praying silently that he'd overlook his lack of preparation. The older man looked up at Jax with a generous smile.

"I'll give you a shot, Teller. I could use the extra hands."

"Thank you. You won't regret it - sir."

"Andy, call me Andy. You can start tomorrow. I'll have Aubrey set you up with the paperwork, give you a tour of the shop. We open at 8am, close at 8pm. She sets up the shifts. Any availability issues, you let her know."

The two got up again, Jax following him to the front where Aubrey was standing at the doorway handing a pair of keys to a younger looking employee. He admired the shape of her long tan legs in cutoff shorts with a red, black, and white flannel button up, fitted to her figure, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Andy called her name, causing her to turn slowly, her blonde hair, swaying softly with her movement as she approached the two with a smile.

"Jax, this is my daughter Aubrey. Aubrey, this is our new hire Jax Teller."

"Glad to see it worked out for you."

She extended her hand as Jax eagerly took it into his, giving it a gentle shake. The softness of her skin felt like silk in his raw calloused hands. He gave her a smirk, grateful that they were willing to take a chance on him. He reluctantly let go of her hand as Andy spoke up again.

"Aubrey - get Jax set up with paperwork, give him a tour of the shop, and schedule him in tomorrow morning. I gotta get back to that Wrangler."

Andy left the garage and Aubrey turned her sights on Jax. Her lips lifted upwards into a smile giving off a warm glow of happiness that had long since left his life. He watched as her eyes squinted with her smile revealing her perfectly aligned white teeth and two symmetrical dimples on each side. He couldn't help but smile back though the smile didn't quite reach the darkness in his eyes.

"Let's get you started, shall we?"

She advised as she nodded her head towards the desk. They walked over and he patiently waited as she flipped through folders to pull out the paperwork he needed to fill out. He watched her delicate movements as she expertly made her way around the countless folders and file cabinets before approaching him with a clipboard and a pen.

"I'll need your driver's license."

She mentioned as she walked him over to the waiting area where he could have a seat to fill out his paperwork. He set the clipboard down on the seat, reaching into his pocket to pull out his wallet, taking out his license to hand it to her. Her nimble fingers grazing his as she took it before walking away. He looked over the paperwork, sucking in a deep breath at all the legal information it required. Taking a seat in the fluorescent lit room, he felt the anxiety building up in his chest as he began filling it out. What if they ran a background check? What if he had outstanding warrants? His mind raced as he stared at the first line on the form asking for his first name. He could do this. He needed to do this. He couldn't turn back now. With a sharp breath, he lifted the pen filling the sheets out line by line.

They made their way through the building - Aubrey showing him the ropes, explaining the opening and closing processes to him. The shop was significantly bigger than TM. More employees working at a time. No hang-arounds. No bar across the lot with a line of motorcycles. It was a legit business. She introduced him to a few of the men he'd be working with all of different age ranges but similar to Andy and Jerry in presence and behavior. He could get used to this.

Leaning his elbows onto his legs, he hunched over on the side of the bed. He took a long pull from the bottle, letting the smooth liquor make it's way down his throat. With each blink of the eye he'd see the blood stained roses, the body of his mother lifeless on the ground. He took another pull, each drink with the purpose of erasing that memory. The lines of misery were etched deeply into his once flawless face. There was no life in his eyes anymore - nor did he want there to be. There wasn't much he cared about anymore. Any and everything he loved died back in Charming. He managed to pass out, still fully clothed, after downing half of the bottle. Blurring all thought - cutting off any possibility of nightmares.