Tara Knowles

When Tara finally fell asleep, she started dreaming almost immediately. It was because she hadn't been sleeping, her brain was desperately trying to process all of the things she'd done in the last week. She awoke with a start and a gasp, completely disoriented. She had no idea what time it was, where she was - nothing.

She was curled up next to Jax who was on his back, and she pulled in a breath, her eyes searching in the darkness, looking to see if there were scars from when he'd been in prison or the myriad of scars he'd just picked up since he'd left Belfast. Featherlight fingers skimmed the skin that was smooth and even, and she pulled in a breath, and bent to press a kiss to his chest.

She pulled in another breath, and slipped from bed, padding to his dresser, and pulling one of his shirts over her head, and after a minute of searching she managed to find the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror under the harsh lighting from the ceiling. Her eyes were swollen from crying, her neck reddened from the scrape of his beard from last night, and she washed her face, coming back to bed after she'd recentered herself.

She wasn't expecting him to be awake, and she slipped back into bed, her voice quiet. "Hey, I didn't mean to wake you." She knew that they needed to talk, and before they got caught up in the boys, they should take this time to do it.