Jax leaps out of the chair with such a force that he knocks it over. By this time Skye is sitting up in bed, the deep screams still echoing from her throat. Her eyes still tightly closed, tears streaming down her face, now Skyes screams become intermixed with heavy sobs. Jax cant tell if shes awake or not, so he gently sits down on the bed in front of her, trying to decide what to do. As Skyes screams grow louder, Jaxs heart pounds with fright. He is terrified beyond belief that there is some complication from her injuries. Making a quick decision, Jax grabs Skyes shoulders to steady her. By this point, she is so upset that she is rocking back and forth. Her eyes fly open and she tries to figure out where she is.

"Please dont hurt me," she pleads, her voice rising with every word. "I know I was wrong and I promise never to do it again, if youll only give me one more chance. Ill lock myself in my room and never come out if thats what you want. Ill give you everything I own and do anything you want, just please dont hit me again," she rambles on. Jax doesnt know what to do. Skye is awake, but he realizes she still thinks shes in her dream. And, replaying her words over in his head, he realizes how terrible of a dream it must have been.

"Skye, you were dreaming," he says softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Thats all it was, just a dream. Nobodys going to hurt you here. Nobodys trying to hurt you and if they were, I promise I wouldnt let it happen." At this point, however, Skye is far too upset to really hear what Jax is saying. She continues her heavy sobbing, the tears rushing down her cheeks and wetting her neck. Jax raises a hand and wipes the small puddle of tears that has gathered on her neck. With this touch, Skye finally snaps out of her dream. Realization floods her eyes as she realizes where she is. Her heart still pounding from the sheer terror of her dream, she goes limp. Averting her eyes from Jaxs concerned gaze, Skye looks down and absentmindedly plays with the edge of the blanket.

"Look at me Skye," Jax commands lightly. "Its alright, you can look." Skye just shakes her head slightly. She has never felt more humiliated in all her life. How could she have let him see what she just did? Even though she had told Jax earlier about many of the hardships through her life, she had kept Altheas abuse private. That was the thing that hurt the most of all, the thing that truly made her feel as though she was not a worthwhile person.

"Im sorry," she whispers, finally lifting her head to look at Jax.

"Dont be," he immediately answers her. "That must have been some pretty horrible dream," he said.

"I wish it was only a dream," Skye mutters.

"What?" Jax asks, concerned. Shoot, Skye thinks to herself, realizing she had said that out loud.

"Nothing," she says, waving her hand as if to dismiss her earlier statement. Jax is torn. On the one hand, he wants to know what it is that is upsetting Skye so badly. More than anything, he just wants to make it go away. On the other hand, he can clearly see that whatever it is is a big part of Skyes life, something that she has kept hidden from all others, something that is hurting her deeply.

"Are you sure?" he asks. Looking into his eyes, Skye can see the combination of true concern and love there. Something about that look makes her want to tell him her deepest secret. Impulsively, she shakes her head no.

"I dont know if I can talk about it though," she admits, more so to herself than to Jax. Jax nods.

"I dont know what it is, Skye, but I can tell how hard it is for you. Im not going to ask you to tell me about it if youre not ready, but I want you to remember that Im always here for you. I promise you that," he says, reaching for hands and giving them a gently squeeze. The tears still running down her cheeks, Skye stares over at Jax. Tell him, a little voice inside her head pushes. You know you can trust him and you need to get this out. Its been holed up inside you for too long. If theres one person you can tell, its Jax. Pausing thoughtfully, Skye quickly reaches up and wipes a fresh batch of tears from her cheeks.

"I can try," she says shakily.

"If youre not ready, I dont want you to," Jax cautions. Taking a deep breath, Skye shakes her head.

"Ive kept this in for too long," she says. "I dont know if Im going to be able to talk about it, but Im going to try." Jax nods slowly, deciding it best not to say a word at this moment. Taking a shaky breath, Skye opens her mouth to begin.

"First off, that wasnt just a dream," she says. "It was a terrible nightmare, and for a good part of my life it was real." Already choked up, a whole new batch of tears comes pouring out of Skyes eyes and heads down her cheeks like a deluge.

"Oh Skye," Jax says softly, reaching out and pulling her closer. "I can see how hard this is for you." Skye nods, but takes a deep breath and continues. She needs to talk about this, she realizes now. Whats more, she realizes, she never could have talked about this to anyone else. Jax is truly the only person she feels she could ever tell.

"My adoptive mother wasnt exactly the kindest person in the world," Skye continues on. "In fact, she was absolutely terrible. She used to spend all her time drunk and away. When she finally DID come home, the alcohol always took over. She used to hit me, Jax, all the time. Sometimes it was worse than just hitting. A lot of times shed throw things at me or threaten me." Skye shudders as the memories come flooding back. Choking back a sob, Skye continues on. "But that wasnt even the worst part," she says. "The physical pain always healed. If I didnt think about it too much, I almost got used to the pain, I kind of became immune to it. But I just couldnt get over the emotional pain. She used to tell me all the time that I was worthless. She would say I wasnt worth her time, or anyones time, how she had made such a mistake when she decided to be my mother. Shed tell me I was the biggest mistake of her life and she was sorry to ever have known me. At first, none of it really made much sense to me; I was really too young to understand. But as I got older, and she said it more and more, I really began to believe it. Ive tried so hard for my whole life to put it behind me, but sometimes I still cant help but feel as though Im worthless." Skye falls silent and Jax just stares at her, trying his best to comprehend what had just come pouring out of her mouth. Silently, he pulls her into his lap and she lays her head against his shoulder, the tears pouring down her face. For a long time, they just sit that way, Jax gently stroking Skyes back as she cries.

"Im so sorry, Skye," he says softly. "I cant even begin to imagine what your life must have been like. But you have to understand that your adoptive mother was wrong. Youre such a special person Skye. You are most definitely not worthless, not to me or anyone else. I know that doesnt fix what she said to you, but I want you to know that. Youre such a special person Skye, with so much to offer. Her biggest mistake wasnt deciding to be your mother, it was treating you the way she did. You have to believe, Skye, that just because she treated you that way does NOT mean you are worthless. I know how hard it must be to live with those words, but you have to fight them. I know she isnt alive anymore, but you need to prove to Althea and yourself that those words are false. You showed it to me the first time I saw you. I knew you were someone special, someone with so much to offer. And I see that more and more in you with each passing day. Now you need to see that in yourself." Skye just buries her head in his shoulder, the impact of what he just said hitting her. Jax wraps his arms around her as tightly as he can and just holds her. Her whole body is heaving with sobs, both from what her mother had done and from what Jax had just said to her. They sit that way, in complete silence, for a long time. When Skye finally lifts her head, she looks up at Jax and smiles slightly.

"Thanks," she whispers. "For everything. Im sorry that you had to listen to all that."

"Dont you dare be sorry," Jax says, placing a hand underneath her chin and forcing her to look at him. "I mean it." Skye nods, knowing in her heart that he does mean it.

"Its just that Ive never told anyone that before because it hurt too much and I didnt know how theyd react. I thought it would me much easier if I just kept it inside, that way nobody could ever use it to hurt me again, which Im so scared of and I just dont know what Id do if something like that happened again," Skye rambles, aware of the fact that shes probably saying too much. At this point, though, she doesnt care. "I cant even imagine going through that again, it was just so terrible and I hated it and I hated my mother for making me hate her," she rambles on. "I didnt want to hate her, Jax, I wanted to love her, but I just couldnt, no matter what I did."

"Of course you couldnt, Skye, she was a monster and she didnt even deserve to be your mother for a single day." Skye nods slowly, knowing in her heart that Jax is probably right. But the twinge of guilt remains.

"But maybe if I had done something differently," she says, trailing off. "Maybe if I had been quieter, or always stayed in my room..." Jax shakes his head firmly.

"It was not your fault Skye, and you have to realize that," he says, wiping a tear from her eyelashes. Skye nods, staring back at him, suddenly overwhelmed.

"I do," she says in a shaking voice. "Sometimes its just hard to keep remembering it."

"Oh Skye," Jax says. "Im so sorry." Skye nods, falling silent and resting her head against his shoulder. She feels eerily calm, as though a huge burden has been lifted off her. Lifting her head slightly, but still keeping it on his shoulder, Skye smiles weakly up at Jax. For a moment he stares back down at her, before leaning down and capturing her lips with his own. For a split second, Skye is taken aback, but finally gives in and kisses him back with everything she has. At the moment, she cant think of anything else she would rather be doing.