༄ The sound of a babbling Thomas and the smell of fresh brewed coffee woke the brunette up. Stretching out her hand to the side, she felt the bed next to her was empty. With a soft groan she opened her eyes, blinking a few times to give them a chance to adjust to the sun shining in her face.

She gave herself a moment to stare at the ceiling, a dreamy look on her face as she thought back to last night. It was the first time they slept together and she was on cloud nine again only thinking about it.

Her feelings for Jax grew quickly and turned into something serious. She knew she really liked him before already but after last night, she couldn't help but think that it was already love. Was it even possible to love someone this quickly?

With Adrian it had took her months to say the three special words, the feelings for her ex came only four months into their relationship. Sure, she knew Jax since around half a year but they only were together since a month now and the brunette already felt the urge to tell him that she loved him, yet she wouldn't risk to scare him away by saying those words too early.

"Cleo, we made breakfast", Abel's excited voice tore her from her thoughts. "I helped Daddy!"

"Oh really?", she asked with a wide smile and helped the little boy climb on the bed and sit down on her lap.

She leaned back against the headboard and let him cuddle with her. She wouldn't want to miss these moments anymore. Since she was babysitting Abel and Thomas they'd already formed a bond and the those boys had already stolen her heart with their cuteness.

"Yes! I made you a bowl with the cereal we got yesterday. I spilled the milk a little", he giggled at his own clumsiness, making her laugh, too.

"I see, you had a busy morning", Cleo smirked. "But I can't wait to taste it. Come on, let's see what your daddy and brother are doing."

By now she was fully awake and had no problems getting out of bed. Luckily, Jax and her got dressed after they slept together yesterday. The blonde told her it would be better in case Abel would come in the middle of the night because he couldn't sleep.

"That's daddy's shirt", Abel stated with a nod, curiously looking at the brunette who carried him from the bedroom towards the kitchen. "Are you daddy's wife now?"

Cleo smirked slightly at his question, finding the boy's logic unbelievable cute. "No buddy, I'm not. But we do like each other, you know?"

Abel seemed to think about her words, trying to understand what she was saying. He was still a month away from turning four and didn't understand what was going on, yet he nodded eagerly as if he did.

"Okay!", he smiled and wriggled himself out of her arms. Once she let him down he grabbed her hand and dragged her the rest of the way into the kitchen. He beamed while pointing at the table. "Look!"

"This looks delicious", the brunette said softly with a big smile, ruffling Abel's hair before pressing a kiss down on the top of his head. "Thank you for making this, buddy."

"No problem", the little boy squealed happily and climbed on his chair, digging into his cereal with the probably biggest spoon he had found, earning a laugh from both Jax and Cleo.

"Morning Babe", the blonde pulled her close to him by her wrist, put a hand on the back of her neck and kissed her deeply, causing a pleasant sigh to escape her throat as she kissed him back with just as much passion.

"Morning baby", she whispered against his lips, ghosting her's over his one more time. "How did you sleep?"

"With you next to me? Great", he smirked.

Cleo rolled her eyes and chuckled. "That was cheesy."

"Maybe a bit", he admitted amused and gently pushed her towards a chair before he sat down himself next to Thomas. "Your phone vibrated a few times, thought you should know."

The brunette sat down next to Abel and started with the cereal bowl the little boy had made for her. The fruit loops were already soaked with the milk but she didn't mind, she felt like she was starving like every morning once she was up. Her skinny figure was just luck and good genes, definitely not from her 'healthy' lifestyle.

"Oh, I'll check on it after breakfast. Thanks for letting me know", she retorted, wondering who had called her this often. Her mother and brother both knew she was at Jax' over the weekend, so if it would be something super important one of them would've stopped by.

Enrico wanted to know Jax' address, otherwise he wouldn't have let her stay with him without knowing where she was, not while there was still a big risk of a relapse. Maybe it seemed overdramatic but her brother always was overprotective when it came to her and their mother. Katelynn really raised him to become a caring man.

"Yeah, do that", Jax nodded briefly. Of course he was curious and wanted to know who it was. There was a question that burned on his tongue since yesterday but he wasn't sure if he should ask or not. They had decided to take things slow but he wanted her to stay longer.

"Why don't you stay for the week? I'd like to have you around for longer", Jax finally asked, breaking the comfortable silence after they all finished their breakfast. His eyes met hers, searching for a reaction.

"Yeees, please stay!" Abel bounced on his seat, a wide grin plastered on his chocolate covered mouth from the chocolate milk he had with his cereal. "We can go to the park everyday and visit your mommy!"

Cleo wasn't surprised to hear that Abel wanted to visit her mother. He had been at the diner often enough while the brunette was babysitting him and her mother absolutely adored Jax' kids and so it was also the other way around.

"Yeah. I mean, why not? I just have to get some more clothes later, I didn't pack for a whole week", she said hesitantly. Situations like this made her still nervous. What if it would become too much for her when she was alone with both kids while Jax had club shit to do? She hadn't been sober for long, every random little thing could trigger her, yet she wanted to stay, too.

She noticed Jax' eyes on her, how he studied her with a look of concern. He didn't plan to put her in a complicated situation, he just wanted her close to him⸻ she was his Old Lady after all. The blonde told his son to get ready so they could head to the club, this way he had a minute with Cleo alone. Well, and Thomas. But his youngest was distracted with his breakfast he was still eating on.

He reached out to her and ran his fingertips over the back of her hand, drawing circles on it. "You don't have to if it's too early for you. I just want you around, babe."

"It's fine, really", she assured him. "I'm just a little nervous about the daily routine stuff. I didn't had a routine in the last three weeks. What if it gets too much when I'm alone with Abel and Thomas?"

"Then you call my mother", he answered quickly, knowing Gemma would be over in less than five minutes if she had the chance to spend time with her grandkids. "Or you come with them to the club, there's always someone you can ask for help."

"So that everyone thinks that I can't even take care of two kids? No thanks", she scoffed.

"You really think any of them would judge you, babe?", he asked with a slight smile and shook his head. "They wouldn't. No one except for Gemma knows about your past and the addiction anyway. I love all of them, they're my family⸻ but your struggle is none of their business as long as you don't want it to be."

The brunette cracked a smile at her boyfriend's words. She liked his brothers, they all seemed to be amazing people but her struggles really were none of their business. She didn't want anyone's pity or being judged because she's a junkie.

"If you say so", she said softly, intertwining their fingers. "What about you? Do you really trust me to stay alone with your kids when you have stuff to handle?"

"I wouldn't ask you to stay if I don't trust you, Cleo. I see how you treat them, not even Tara was this compassionate with them. You were nothing but relaxed around them", he told her honestly. "I just know you wouldn't do anything that could hurt them."

"You don't know that", she said meekly. "I'd never hurt them on purpose but I'll always be a junkie. Maybe a sober one but no one can guarantee that it'll stay that way."

"We've talked about this, babe", the blonde said firmly. "If you relapse, what I don't think will happen, I'll be there for you."

"You're really optimistic, huh?", she smiled briefly. At least one of them was, which was good.

"Always", he winked, his calm expression replaced by a more serious one. "You're not alone, okay? If it gets too much for you, you can still go home and take a few days for yourself."

"No", she shook her head quickly. "I need to get my shit together. I want to be with you. Not only once or twice a week, I wanna be there if you need someone to lean on, I wanna help you with the kids and the house. And I need to go back to the diner soon, don't wanna leave my mom hanging."

Jax smiled at the brunette. Her words meant a lot to him. She had the perfect Old Lady material and he was sure they'd find their perfect routine.

"That's the way to go, babe", he said with a proud look on his face. "And don't worry about your mom, I told you that I'll take care of it. She already has someone helping her out but I'm sure she can't wait to have you back."

"Thank you again for that, your help means a lot to my family", she told him sincerely, running her manicured fingernails of her free hand over his forearm, tracing the tattoo he had there. "I should check my phone."

Jax nodded briefly and let go of her hand so she could take a look on her phone. Meanwhile he made sure to get Thomas ready and helped Abel to brush his teeth. He left both boys in the nursery to play until they'd leave in a few minutes.

"You ready, darlin'?", he asked as he entered the kitchen, helping her dry off the last two plates and put them in the right cupboard.

"I⸻ I have to handle something but I'll come by later if that's okay", the brunette lifted her head to look up into Jax' blue eyes. "Shouldn't take long, I should be back in two hours."

"What's going on?", Jax inquired in a lower tone as he noticed her shaking hands. A sign that she was nervous as fuck.

"It's my dad", she swallowed softly. "I've avoided to visit him since around six weeks and apparently his condition has deteriorated rapidly."

"Why did it get worse? And in what way?", he wanted to know, suspicious about the whole thing with her father. Until now he had no idea how manipulative her father could be if he wanted something.

"You know he's an addict, too. His addiction almost killed him last night." Cleo sat the glass she was drying off aside and braced her shaking hands on the counter. "He sounded so desperate, said he needed to see me before things get worse."

"You don't actually plan to go there, right?", Jax asked baffled, his inner alarm was triggered.

"I know I promised you and Enrico that I won't see him anymore. But what if it gets really worse? What if he won't survive the next overdose? I couldn't forgive myself for not visiting him before", the brunette reasoned, a pleading look in her eyes. "He's my dad."

Jax snorted. "Yeah, a dad who got you addicted to drugs. That's not a real father in my eyes, Cleo."

The young woman swallowed hard. She couldn't be angry at Jax for saying the truth about the man who should've raised her in a safe environment and not around drug dealers and hookers.

"What am I supposed to do here, Jax? I can't just ignore him", she whisper-yelled, nervously pacing around the room. "You said you trust me, why can't you let me go then?"

"Because he's gonna shove the cocaine right under your nose. You wanna tell me you're strong enough already to turn it down?", he asked, his voice raised slightly. "Stop doing that!"

He grabbed both her arms to keep her from pacing around that made himself nervous as fuck. "I trust you, babe, I really do. But this is a whole other level of resisting. There's a ninety percent chance you're gonna slip and I won't let that happen."

"You said yourself that you have a good feeling about me not relapsing", she said stubbornly. "Changed your mind already?"

"No one around here is snorting white lines or crushed pills, right? I know you're strong, and I know you can stay away from that shit but not if someone offers it to you", he said harshly, his grip on her arms tightened. "I want you to think about it and give me a honest answer. Do you think you're ready for such an exposure? Could you say no?"

Cleo wanted to say something, answer right away with a confident yes but she realized that it would be a lie before the word could even roll over her tongue. Just like Jax asked her to, she put herself in that position in her mind and heaved a deep sigh.

"No, I couldn't say no", she admitted in a whisper.

"And that's my point", he sighed, trying to calm down a bit. The blonde felt guilty for being so harsh towards her but he couldn't risk loosing her.

"I love you, Cleo. I can't just watch you run into the arms of someone who got you addicted to that shit in the first place", he added as he slowly let go of her. "It's your choice. If you wanna go, do it. You know where to find me."

Cleo grabbed his arm to keep him from leaving the kitchen. "What did you just say?", she asked with wide eyes.

"What exactly?", Jax asked with his hands shoved into his pockets.

"You know what I mean", she replied.

"That I love you", the blonde shrugged. "It's the truth."

Cleo let out a shaky breath. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest, making it hard to focus on anything else. He said those words first, the words she wanted but didn't dare to say.

"I love you too, Jax", she said softly.

She took slow steps towards him and wrapped her petite arms around his neck, standing on tip toes so she could reach his lips with hers.

He didn't waste a second and snaked his arms around her waist to hold her close. Their kiss got heated quickly and within seconds he had picked her up and sat her back down on the counter, placing himself between her legs.

His hands slipped under her, or better said his, shirt earning a soft moan from the brunette. She felt the excitement press against her entrance through his grey sweatpants. Since he was still not wearing a shirt she had full access to his exposed chest and abs. Painfully slow she ran one hand over his bulge.

Jax got rid of her lace panty by ripping it off with his bare hand that caused her to let out a gasp. He made sure to pull his pants down just a bit in case he needed to put them back on quickly.

"Jax, the kids", she breathed out while throwing her head back as he pushed himself inside her.

"They're distracted", he told her quickly. His hands resting on her ass after he pulled her as close as possible.

The brunette buried her face on his shoulder to muffle the moans that she couldn't hold back because of his hard and deep thrusts, her nails leaving red marks on his back.

Jax did similar, nuzzling his face in the crock of her neck to muffle his groans, now and then sinking his teeth into her skin and trail kisses down her shoulder while he picked up his pace. It didn't take long before both of them came to their release, moaning into the lust filled kiss they were involved in.

Once they rode their orgasm out, Jax pulled out of her and put his sweatpants back on. Leaning his forehead against hers, he let his hands rest on her thighs.

"You're my Old Lady, my responsibility⸻means I won't let shit happen to you. You're not going anywhere, especially not to see him", he said firmly and draped one of his arms around her small waist, his grip strong and the look in his eyes so intense it almost made her shiver. "Understand?"

He didn't mean to sound like some manipulative narcissistic boyfriend but her sobriety was something she already worked hard for and the work wasn't done anytime in the future. It would be always hard for her to resist the drugs, he couldn't let her run into the arms of a drug dealer, even if it was her own father.

Maybe he was a little possessive, yes, but she understood. That's why she nodded slowly.

"Yes", she replied shortly while she was still catching her breath.