tell the wolves i'm home.

Letting out a soft laugh, Autumn shook her head at the other woman’s short rant. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry Lex.” She grinned, pushing the plate out more towards her. “I swear I would never poison you, especially with all of those people you know hanging over my head.” She smirked, a light laugh leaving her lips as she joked with the other woman.

“I do trust you,” Avery agreed with a gentle smile. “But I’ve tried a few of these before and it wasn’t my thing. Are you sure this is something I’ll like?”

“I’m sure, honey.” She smiled, pushing the plate closer to her old friend. “If you don’t I’ll make your favorite cupcakes, how’s that?”

“But if I tell you what’s in it then you might pull one of those ‘well I don’t like that one ingredient that’s barely in there so I’m not gonna try it’ thing. I”ll tell you everything that’s in it once you try it but not a bite before.” She smiled, “Besides. It’s me. I went to culinary school and everything, I can be trusted.”

“You can’t say you don’t like it until you’ve tried it. It might surprise you.” Autumn pointed out, her grin widening as Eliza agreed to try it for her. “So!” She asked almost immediately after the piece of food had been placed in the other woman’s mouth. “Do you like it?” The words came out fast and enthusiastically, causing even Autumn to laugh at herself. “Honestly? I’ve been holed up in my room hiding away from everything and eating. Totally healthy way to cope, right?”

Autumn smiled gently at the woman, shaking her head as she pulled off her own boxing gloves and set them down to take a drink from her water bottle. “I doubt anything thinks you’re going to break down. We all know you’re too strong for that. But losing family is rough... so I just wanted to see how you were doing and if you needed anything.”

“I did. My surprise was just the same when I saw them,” Lux replied in a matter of fact manner. “Oh you don’t have to get me anything. I can call a nurse or something. I don’t wanna bother you.”

“I bet.” The young again wolf frowned slightly, “But you’re not bothering me at all. Really. Is there anything you need or want? I’m happy to get it for you. Besides, nurses take forever.”

Autumn’s words fit like cold glass, straight to his heart. He knew that Autumn would not be happy to see him… he knew that she was going to yell at him or probably never talk to him ever again. Jackson knew all these things but he still couldn’t help it. There she was, standing right in front of him. He felt like he was an addict getting their fill, just by having her here. The blonde man had assumed he would never get to see her ever again, that he had ruined his chances at love, forever. But with Autumn standing here in front of him, and although she was angry with him.. he still held onto hope that maybe now things could change or be fixed. 

She’d imagined this moment a million times and a million different ways. She’d meet him again in the street while she was with the boys, or run into him at a bookstore while in search of the next novel her book club was reading, any way she pictured it throughout the years it’d always been dramatic and she never told him about their children. She’d wanted to at first, when she found out she was pregnant all she had wanted way to go and find him, try and reconcile their relationship so that they could be a family. But then she remembered how he had left her because of her want for a family and she had decided to keep the news, and the boys, to herself. After all, he’d already left her once and she wasn’t going to put her children through the pain of losing a father when he wasn’t ready for the responsibility. 

Autumn flinched at her words, her smile faltering only for a moment but coming right back when she agreed to try it. “It’s just ground turkey. I promise it’s good. I mean, it beats ramen and easy mac by a landslide.” 

Dan laughed as she looked at the plate of food being thrust at her. “Whoa A, I’m not that hungry, but thanks. I can’t be your guardian if I’m too full to get off the couch.”

“It’s not that much. C’mon, it’s actually really good for you so you won’t be too full to get off the couch.” She pouted a little bit as she continued to hold the plate close to the other woman. “I made too much, anyways. Please take it.”

Even after Autumn replied to his words, he couldn’t find anymore. He felt like a deer caught in the headlights- paralyzed by her beauty. Coming back to the reunion he should have realized that he would be seeing his black-haired long lost lover again. But nothing prepared him for the moment that their eyes met, for the moment that her voice spoke his name aloud. The guardian had seen this moment playing over a million times in his mind, hoping that he could get the chance to tell her how much he missed her. To tell her how much he loved her and regretted what he did. At the time when they broke up just before graduation Jackson hadn’t wanted anything to do with marriage or children. He had run away from all responsibilities and commitment to a future. 

She’d been dreading this moment the instant she decided to go to the reunion. She hadn’t seen Jackson, the once love of her life and the father of her children, since the day he’d broken her heart and left her crying on her own doorstep. She almost hadn’t come because of this, the chance that they would have to see each other again, but the draw to see all of her other friends was too strong - stronger than the need to stay away from him. But standing there in the garden with the man who looked exactly as he did the day he broke her heart, she regretted the decision more than she did when she woke up and was in her twenties again. It’d been absolutely horrifying as she had two teenagers at home, and now she almost looked their age. She couldn't go back like this, so she had to make other arrangements for her boys, sending them off to stay with her parents in England for the summer in hopes that she would be back to normal before the next school year started. 

Finding You Again | Jax & Autumn

Autumn felt horrible. She’d been so caught up in her own life - in her boys and explaining why she couldn’t come home to her family - that she hadn’t even realized that two people had lost their lives. It was incredibly selfish and out of character for her, something that she had been reminding herself of over and over ever since her conversation with Elijah. She had needed a moment to herself after that, to collect her thoughts and calm herself down... but really, to just cry in peace instead of out in the open for everyone to see. People had already thought of her as weak, she knew that, but she didn’t need to give anyone even more reason to think that she hadn’t hardened throughout the years.

“It looks really gross” he looks at it, “What if you like, poisoned it or something?” 

“Why would I poison it? Here, I’ll eat some first and then you try it.”

“No.” She said simply, shaking her head as she looked over at Amelia. “I wanted to see how you were doing after everything?”

“Oh my god.” Her hand came up to cover her mouth, a deep frown etching into her features. “H-How?” She’d been so focused on making sure her sons had a place to stay with her family and checking up on them that she hadn’t thought of anything else, a realization that made her feel absolutely horrible and selfish as it began to set in.