*About a month after the Grand Openings*
Mornings were always a struggle in the Teller house. Between getting ready for work, getting the boys ready for either daycare or simply dressed and fed, and the lack of help from Jax, Tara always felt stressed and rushed. She was running particularly late that morning and almost missed the knock at the door had it not been for Abel.
"Mommy," he called out. "There's a man at the door!"
She froze and peered out the window, wondering if it was someone she needed to be wary of. There was no reason to be so cautious she decided, he had parked put front and wore a pair of khakis and a polo shirt, so Tara answered the door.
"Hi," she said with a smile.
"Hi," he smiled back. "Is a," he glanced down at his paperwork, "Jackson Teller home?"
"That's me," Jax said coming behind Tara and startling her.
"You're Jackson Teller?" The man asked again.
"Yeah," Jax nodded and stepped in front of Tara. "What's going on?"
"Oh, okay, well this is for you," he said, handing Jax the large envelope. The moment Jax gripped the paper the man pulled his hand away. "You've been served. Have a nice day," he said quickly before scurrying back to his car.
"Ah shit," he hissed. "What the fuck is this?" Kicking the door shut he ripped open the envelope to see his and Katie's names on the paperwork. "Kate's suing for sole custody of Charlotte," he sounded surprised, shocked even. "Physical and legal," he looked at Tara with his jaw hanging open. "She's trying to take my daughter away."
—
When the process server contacted Katie she felt her nervousness explode into panic. She didn't regret it but there was no going back nor would she have a chance to do it in a friendlier manner. Katie started a war.
"Jax got the papers," she said, the words making her stomach clench. "He's going to be pissed."
Happy shrugged, swallowing the last spoonful of cereal from his bowl. "Should be pissed at his old lady."
"Yeah," she sighed, her lips resting on the edge of her mug. "I don't think he'll agree though."
"You alright?" He asked as he stood, his hand gently brushing her cheek in a surprisingly tender moment.
"I'm good," she assured him. "Ana is going to take the baby today so I'll either be at the gym or the shop."
"Shit," he hissed. "I left my wallet at my place."
"Don't start," Katie said quickly. "I'm not ready to lose that much of my independence."
He rolled his eyes, "I wasn't gonna say shit. It's just annoying. You don't have to move in but stay at my place more."
"Maybe," she shrugged. "Lunch?"
"Yeah," he kissed her cheek and grabbed his keys from the kitchen table. "You need anything let me know."
That really meant if Jax or Tara came around he'd defuse the situation but she didn't need it to be said so explicitly. She knew he was trying to remain as neutral as possible, even with his words, and she respected that.
When she arrived, parking about half a block away from the corner, Katie headed into the gym first. Juice was in the boxing ring with Half-Sack, the prospect looked exhausted but he was putting up a good fight.
"You know you don't have to force him in here so early," Katie laughed.
"It's fun," Juice laughed.
"I appreciate it," she said with a smile.
Sons weren't there just for fun, they wanted to help promote and draw attention to the gym and it seemed to be working. They wouldn't admit it but they also enjoyed the new equipment compared to what they had at the clubhouse.
Katie disappeared into her office to handle some other business but in less than two hours she was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. Looking up suspiciously, she shut her laptop stood and headed over to open the door.
"Gemma," she said with relief. "What can I do for you?"
"Got a minute?" Gesturing into the office Gemma had hoped to see Katie feeling intimidated, even just in the slightest, but she remained stoic.
"Sure," Katie stepped aside and let her in, shutting the door behind them. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"You're cute," Gemma scoffed, knowing Katie was being sarcastic. "I think that's part of the problem."
"There's a problem between us?"
"Between you and my son," she said with annoyance. "Suing for custody? That's low."
"It's not Jax," Katie said quickly, "Not that it's any of your business. It's Tara. That's where the problem is."
"You got a problem with Jax, you got a problem with Tara," Gemma said sagely. "You know that, it's how it works with you and Happy too."
Katie slowly nodded, understanding a tiny bit more than she had before. "That's neither here nor there, though. They need to realize she's the one who made this necessary. So he needs to work on that."
"You want me to be honest?"
"I didn't think you were capable of anything less than brutal honesty, Gemma."
Gemma gave Katie a look, one she'd flashed to Tara and Jax before, but didn't go at her with some snappy comeback. "Tara is going to keep picking at your relationship with Jax, just like she tries to do with mine, but it's insecurity."
"Whoa," Katie laughed awkwardly. "I don't think this is really a good conversation to have. She's your daughter-in-law, I'm the enemy, it's kind of a conflict, isn't it?"
"I know my conflicts," she said with a smug grin. "This isn't one of them."
"Okay," Katie said suspiciously. "What are you doing here then?"
Gemma expected the question so her expression didn't change. "I never wanted Tara with Jax," she admitted what everyone already knew. "I tried to keep them apart but-"
"You did a shitty job," Katie chuckled.
Giving her a dirty look Gemma sat in the small armchair by the window and went on. "But I can see how she's good for him and I know why she's doing this. I'm asking you to take it easy on them."
"No," Katie growled. "If she respected me as Charlotte's mom it wouldn't have come to this. I tried. I fucking tried to make it work but she repeatedly disrespected me and the choices I made, with Jax, about how we wanted to raise our child."
Gemma was taken aback by Katie's snap but didn't show it. "And if the roles were reversed? If Happy had a child with another woman? You wouldn't try to have some role just to keep yourself relevant?"
"Relevant?" Kate inhaled sharply. "What the fuck? She's his wife, mother of his sons, there is no one else MORE relevant than her in his life, except maybe SAMCRO."
Scoffing, Gemma uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. "You wouldn't care?"
"No," Katie shrugged. "Actually I would want him to be a proper father but I wouldn't try to parent the kid. Tara sees Charlotte as a threat, Gemma, so she wants to swoop in and mother my child then push me away from Jax."
"You have no interest in Jax?"
"No," Katie snapped. "He's too pretty for me," she said sharply.
She nodded and stood up from the chair. "I've said a few things about baby girls in the past but I love my granddaughter and I don't want to lose her either."
"I'm not going to fight visitation," Katie said coolly. "I want Charlie to know you, Jax and her brothers."
"But not her step-mom?"
"No," Katie said staunchly and without hesitation. "If I had it my way Tara would never get to spend time with Charlotte."
"Think about what you're doing," Gemma said warningly. "You're starting a war with a baby and your man in the middle. If this gets nasty they're gonna get hurt."
Katie watched as Gemma left the office and strolled right to the exit confidently. Those last words shook Katie and the vaguely threatening language made her stomach twist into knots. Swallowing it down she went right back to work knowing it was all she could really do. Suing for custody was the right thing, it just wasn't going to be easy.
—
Gemma left the gym and headed up to Diosa to visit with Nero, a secret relationship she had been nurturing since the grand opening. On her way she called Jax, who was trying to keep his distance from Happy knowing a fight between the two wouldn't help despite how much stress and anger it would release.
"Hey Ma," Jax sighed heavily. "What's up?"
"I just wanted to tell you it's going to be okay," she said in a comforting tone. "I don't think Katie wants a war, I think she's trying to force something she hasn't been getting."
"Ma, Katie gets everything she needs for that kid either from me or she gets it herself," he said with annoyance. "Don't get involved in this," he warned her. "I mean it."
"I'm involved," she said flatly. "You're my baby, Charlotte is my granddaughter, that makes me involved."
"You never listened to me before why would you now," he complained.
"When do you get her again?"
"I'm supposed to get her tomorrow but I don't know what's going on now," he sighed.
"Come for dinner tomorrow tonight, I want to see my grandbabies and get you out of your head."
"Maybe," he sighed. "Tara is supposed to be working tonight."
"Even better," Gemma said. "I'll see you at six."
Jax didn't have a chance to speak again before she hung up, strolled into Diosa and went directly to his office. Gemma knocked before stepping in and closing the door behind her.
"Hey Mama," Nero said with a sweet smile. He kissed her cheek, noticing her slightly sour expression, and took his spot behind the desk again. "What?"
"You know your girl is suing my son for custody?"
Nero held his hands up in surrender. "She ain't my girl, I didn't raise her."
"Maybe you could talk to her and I could talk to Jax?"
"I'm not getting involved," he told her apologetically. "I like you, Gem and I like Katie, I've been friends with Alec for years. It's too messy."
She shook her head. "You know what's going to be messy?," she asked threateningly. "Jax's reaction if he loses that little girl."
—
While Gemma tried to find an angle, any angle whatsoever, to influence Katie's decision Jax was still stewing.
"Hap," Jax said as he approached him.
"I can't, brother," he said quickly. "This ain't between us."
Jax took a deep breath and slowly began to nod. "You're not gonna let this shit touch the club? We're good, no matter what?"
Happy nodded. "As long as you don't hurt her, we're good and nothing is gonna compromise my loyalty to the club."
They shook hands and hugged roughly before moving on to any topic that wasn't Katie.
—
Much later that evening when most of Charming was asleep, Jax was up and out and on his way home from the clubhouse. Taking his time he enjoyed the cooler evening air and tried to clear his thoughts before heading home. As he rode down Main he noticed the lights still on at the gym. Parking right out front he pulled on the door to find it locked so he knocked loudly instead.
"Kate?" He called out as he knocked again. The day has given him time to calm down and his current concern made any residual anger he felt melt away.
After a minute or two Katie popped her head out from the hall. She was clearly taken aback but hurried to let him in anyway.
"Hi."
"What are you doing here so late?" He asked authoritatively.
"Uh," she stammered, "Just going over the books and preparing the deposits."
"You alone?" Jax peered into the building.
Katie nodded. "I am."
"If this wasn't Charming I'd tell ya it's not safe," he chuckled a bit. "You got a second?"
"I do," she really didn't. There would be a client arriving any minute and she had to change but she couldn't tell Jax that. "Just a second though, I want to get home." Katie stepped aside and let him through the door.
"You really gotta do this?" He snarled at her as he spoke. "Suing me? Taking this to a judge? Dragging our family through this shit?"
She knew it was coming but thankfully he was much calmer than she expected. "Will you just agree and sign over custody?"
"No," he snapped.
"Then yeah, I'm gonna have to, Jax." With her hands on her hips she glared at him. "I don't trust her and you've proven to be pretty useless when it comes to standing up for decisions WE made together concerning OUR child."
Jax rolled his jaw as he glared at her. "It's really all about Tara?"
"Yeah," Katie said gruffly. "Does she know we slept together? Is that why she's so psycho?"
"No," he grumbled, "Jesus, if she did she'd have my goddamn balls."
"Don't blame her," Katie sighed, relaxing a bit. "With all this shit adding consensual sex to the mix would probably break her."
"Not probably," he said, the two finally agreeing on something no matter how minor. "Lemme talk to her. See if I can't rein her shit in, okay?"
"Jax-"
"Lowen said this won't see a judge for weeks, maybe even months," he said with exasperation. "Let me talk to her. Please. I want to fix this, Katie," he said, gently placing his hand on her waist. "I don't want this getting nasty."
Katie didn't know why but she nodded, "Fine. I'm not dropping it though, Jax, I'm not having Alec ask the courts to dismiss it just to have to refile if you can't. You have till we go to court to fix this, fix her, okay?"
Beaming, he kissed her fleetingly on the lips, "Thank you, darlin'."
"Yeah," she sighed. "Now get out of here," she pushed him gently toward the door.
Jax winked at her before scurrying out and back to his bike allowing Katie to finally get back to work. She didn't regret giving him one last chance but she was scared his efforts might make things even worse with Tara.