Chapter One - When It Started
Title: Shelter
Author: sweetestsadness
Disclaimer: I do not own any of Kurt Sutter's amazing creation or characters. I do have a few characters I have created, but I'm sure you can separate the two.
Pairing: HappyxNora
Rating: M
Warning: Language, and adult concepts.
Summary: A tattooed man moves in next door and Nora's world is turned upside down.
A/N: This note is just a quick message. I used to have a Tig/OC story, but have deleted it upon loosing all interest in it, because of a harmful case of writer's block and life drama. But, I'm back and with a Happy/OC fic, that I hope will be enjoyable.
CHAPTER ONE
'WHEN IT STARTED'
The fake smile finally slipped from Nora's lips. Now that she was alone, she had no one to assure, no one to tell that she was fine. Which was a lie she'd been giving all day. She wasn't fine. Her aunt was dead, gone, taken from her. Four years of fighting was just too much for Rachel Rollins. And now Nora was truly alone. The one person in her life that ever cared for her, taken by a nasty habit her aunt had picked up at the age of fifteen. Smoking wasn't only an addiction, it was a sure fire way down the road to a nasty, internally painful death.
Her Aunt Rachel had been an angel sent from heaven at one point in her life. When her parents couldn't help her, well when they gave up on trying to, her aunt was the one person who never said 'I can't do this anymore'. After Nora's accident, that seemed so long ago now, it was Rachel who became her mother, her parent. Rachel loved her unconditionally, unfortunately her parents just didn't have that much room in their hearts for a defected child.
She had just turned ten she was shipped off to Oakland, California. She remembered it as if were yesterday:
Nora sat on the blue leather upholstered seat, hugging her backpack to her chest for dear life. She never liked buses. She didn't like them when they took her to school and she sure didn't like them when they were filled with adults. Especially ones who stank like the old lady sitting next to her.
Her nose wrinkled up and she tried to scoot further away from the slumbering grandma, nearly falling out of her seat when the bus lurched to a stop.
"Oakland, California," the driver yelled out. "Anyone?"
Nora looked around at the other passengers, all of them giants compared to her. It was late and many were coming out of their snooze from the abrupt halt of the vehicle. She hesitantly gazed over the old lady next to her, to look out the window. Oakland, California. She was sure this was the place she was supposed to get off at.
If the familiar woman standing outside the bus, most likely waiting for her, had any say.
Her aunt. Aunt Rachel. Her mother's sister, she had been told. But she'd never met the woman before. Not once in her long ten years of life. She'd only ever seen a picture of her, and she held that picture now. Looking from it to the nervous looking lady outside.
When it seemed the bus was going to start moving again, Nora jumped up and ran down the aisle of seats. She waved her hands for the bus driver to see that she needed to get off. He scowled at her, but then pulled the lever to open the doors and let her out.
Nora didn't waste anymore of the mans time. She was only ten years old, but she grew up in a strict household and knew when she was trying someones patience. She stuffed the picture of her aunt in her backpack, while cautiously walking down two steep steps, only secure once her feet were on concrete.
"Nora?"
She looked to her right and saw the woman coming towards her. Her aunt. Rachel. Nora gave a small nod, but kept her feet firmly planted on the ground, feeling her skirt ruffle around her legs as the bus pulled out of the stop and moved onto it's next destination.
She had to crane her neck a little. Her aunt seeming to be extremely tall. Just like her mother. But she quickly looked to the large brown belt her aunt wore, when she saw the older blonde wince. Trying not to make eye contact when her aunt crouched down. She wanted desperately to take a couple steps back, to regain her personal space. But instead she met her aunts eye.
"Hello, Nora. My name's Rachel, it's nice to finally meet you," Nora watched as she held out her hand. And brought up to be polite, Nora gently took the larger hand into her own and shook it. It seemed like hours before her aunt spoke again and when she did, she was surprised at what she heard. "May I see your scar?"
Nora's eyes grew large. No one ever asked to see it, not unless they were a doctor. It had almost been a year since the car accident, but the scar still stuck out, like a bright pink line across her neck. Apparently the gore-ish color would fade over time.
She slowly lifted her chin to show off the mark that made her parents pack her up and ship her off to some unknown relative. She was young, but she wasn't stupid, she knew her parents were disappointed. No more beauty pageants and no more voice lessons, her mothers hopes and dreams of her only daughter becoming Miss Universe thrown right out the window.
She watched her aunts face closely, ready for the disgust to curl her lips and crinkle her brow, just like it did to her mothers face. Instead, her aunt simply tilted her head and then smiled, once again meeting her gaze.
"You know, I think it adds a bit of character."
That had been the first time in eight months that anyone had been able to make her smile. With that memory, Nora caught herself on the verge of tears and looked away from the funeral photo of her aunts smiling face that the pastor had brought over along with the intricately carved silver urn that held her aunts ashes.
With a deep breath, Nora turned and started to clean up. Her aunt had many friends, and while they hadn't lived in the most safest neighborhood, everybody had loved Rachel Rollins. Many people had asked if she needed help with clean up, but she declined each offer. Needing the work to help clear her mind.
She started in the kitchen, where cake plates littered the sink and the counters were overcrowded with Saran-wrapped dishes of comfort food. She tied on an apron to keep her black polyester and spandex dress from being ruined and then set to work. Putting the food in the fridge before hand-washing all the dishes. The house her aunt raised her in was small, large enough for two, maybe three people, but not large enough to fit a dishwasher. When the kitchen seemed to be as spotless as it had ever been she took the trash bag out of the bin and then walked around the house, gathering all the plastic cups people left sitting around.
Maybe it should have bothered her, picking up other people's messes in her home, but she was glad. It gave her something to do, something to distract her.
Tying the bag up she hefted it out of the house, the storm door slamming behind her. Before she could kill herself going down the front steps, she kicked the five inch heels off with a sigh. Her toes tingling in relief. Nora barefooted it the rest of the way to the garbage bins, ridding herself of the white plastic and everything inside it. She then pulled all the bins out to the road for the morning. Turning her head at the sound of a couple kids and a basketball.
"Hey, Nora!" a couple of them yelled and she just gave a small smile and raised her hand in greeting before watching them run off to play hoops and whispering to themselves. In this neighborhood, a lot of the people usually called her white bread, or cracker. Aside from Mr. and Mrs. Walter, her right side neighbors, she was the only other white person on the street. The demographics putting blacks and Latinos in the lead. She wasn't racist, she probably would have been given another minute with her parents, but Rachel had different morals and ideals to teach her about what equality was.
Turning to go back inside the house, Nora once again heard her name called out. Looking to the left, she saw a small older woman hurrying down the front steps of the green house and rushing to the dirty white picket fence separating them, carrying a clear Pyrex baking dish. She had to smile. Eva Rodriquez was her other neighbor. An older lady in her early sixties, tanned skin, a Spanish accent, and a figure that even made Nora jealous of.
Eva was slender enough to fit into juniors clothing, something that Nora was just now having trouble with. And Nora was only twenty-two.
"Nora!" Eva called again, rolling her 'r'. As she stopped and held out the Pyrex dish, careful not to damage her two inch long freshly, manicured nails. Nora rushed over and took the platter with a thankful smile. "Enchiladas!" she announced happily, before her features became more grave. "I am so sorry to have not been able to come to the funeral or the wake. I've been moving in my sister and nephew," Eva informed her. "I don't think it will be too long before Lucia will be joining your aunt in heaven, so I only think it's best to move her in so I can spend time with her while I can."
Nora could only nod in reply at the explanation, before she finally mouthed 'I'm sorry'. She knew how it was to watch a loved one wither and die. And she could only hope Eva's sister wasn't in the pain her aunt was in at the end.
Eva seemed to space out, deep in thought for a moment and Nora gave her the time to think, but wasn't rude enough to walk away and go back to the house, as much as she felt like doing just that. Instead she looked past Eva, as something caught her eye. A man, tall and bald, with a light scruff on his face, as if he hadn't shaved that morning. He was smoking a cigarette on Eva's front porch and looking right at her. She felt her cheeks grow warm, but as much as she wanted to look away from him, she couldn't.
His eyes were like lumps of coal, dark and deep as an abyss. His face without expression and his stance cold and calculated. He wore a simple white t-shirt and jeans, his arms littered with tattoos but she was too far away to make out any of the designs. She also noticed a knife strapped to his side, but of course that didn't much surprise her. She'd seen some of the neighbor kids toting much fiercer looking weapons than that. It was a sad thought, but true.
She jumped a little when Eva's hand patted her cheek. "You are a good girl," the other woman told her. "Your aunt was very proud of you." Those words made her forget the bald man and she looked into the woman's dark brown eyes, her own beginning to water once again.
She gave a small nod, then gestured to the house, wanting to go inside now more than ever. She knew she wouldn't cry, Aunt Rachel had taught her that crying over the dead was selfish. Because once someone was gone, they were most likely in peace and what was the use of crying over some one when they weren't in pain any longer? Nora just really needed the shelter her Aunt's house, that was now hers, brought her.
"Of course, poco uno," Eva said gently. And with a last glance at the bald man, Nora hurried back to her house, quickly grabbing her heels left on the porch.
SSSS
Happy didn't say a word as he watched his aunt talk with some small blonde bitch next door. He'd noticed the many cars that had been parked along the street earlier and all the black clothes, so it was obvious the girl had lost someone. He eyed her closely, not at all deterred when she returned his gaze. The only thing that surprised him, and even then it was a very small one, was when she looked at the piece of steel attached to his hip and seemed completely unfazed.
His aunt had been talking non-stop since he'd arrived with his mom and the hospice to get her all set up. Moving in wasn't much of a problem, but his aunt seemed worried about not being able to go somewhere, as if the lack of her presence would have been missed. It was obvious his aunt knew the girl well.
He gave her a once over from her short blonde hair to her bare toes. The black dress she wore clung to all the right places, the only jewelry she had on was a cheap necklace that hung all the way down to her navel, and she had nice, shapely legs that made her seem taller than she was. The girl didn't have on a stitch of make-up, but he had to admit the bitch was attractive. And completely out of place in this neighborhood, but apparently she was friendly with the local thug-wannabes.
A parting smile to her aunt and one last look at him before she was hurrying to the safety of her home. Not that she was scared, no, Happy knew when someone was running out of fear. That girl was just wanting the shelter of those walls that whoever she lost could no longer give her.
Happy only looked away when the storm door slammed shut behind her, watching his aunt come up the steps carefully in her red high heels.
"That was neighborly," he commented dryly with another puff from his cigarette. "Who the fuck was that?"
He quirked an eyebrow when he got a smack in the chest in reward, wincing inwardly. His aunt was a little thing, but she could sure pack a fierce punch. "Watch your mouth, Carlos," she admonished, before looking off to the tan house next door with a sad expression, shaking her head. "That is Nora. The poor chica lost her aunt a couple days ago. Rachel was like her madre." She tsked quietly before turning to go back inside. "Come. I made extra enchiladas for dinner."
The screen door smacked behind her and Happy took one more puff from his cigarette, stomping it out with the sole of his boot as he looked off to the tan house. For a moment wishing he was back at the club house in Charming, before he made his way inside.
SSSS
Nora's boss had given her two weeks off to mourn her loss, she was completely sure that Gary was also giving her the special treatment package many others had done because of her situation. But, she was getting stir crazy, not only that but her sleeping schedule was off the charts. It had only been a week since the funeral and she probably only got about six hours of sleep. She was sure the copious amounts of coffee weren't helping her one bit, but she needed something to keep her going when she was awake.
She had thought maybe it was her aunts final resting place that was unnerving her so much. So, she had moved Rachel's urn and photo around a million and one times, before finally placing it back on the shelf she had put up in the living room for just that. For a whole week she's been cooped up. She cleaned the house from top to bottom more than once and even moved some of the furniture around when she got too bored. She mostly lazed on the couch like a potato, eating all the sugary cakes and pies that were left behind. Eva's enchiladas were gone too.
When it got to the point that the walls of her home only seemed to make her claustrophobic, Nora slipped into her black converse and headed outside. In need of the fresh air, even though it was humid out. The moment she stepped outside, her skin was gleaming with a light sheen of sweat, but she carried onward and trekked up the street.
She was drenched when she came to a stop, smiling as she leaned against the white picket fence, the matching archway giving her some shade.
"Nora!" a light accented voice called out to her. She smiled at the black woman sitting on her porch, with flower pots and soil surrounding her. Two of her sons, Luther and Vandross, hanging around the porch. Their heavy builds making for the obvious protection Vivica needed. Nora didn't know what it was that they did exactly, but she knew Vivica's prized tomatoes didn't pay for the flat screen TV Rachel got a year ago and now sat in her living room.
Nora didn't hesitate when she was waved over, opening the gate and closing it gently behind her. In the entire block, Vivica's house was her favorite, and maybe only because the older woman had a beautiful garden.
"I got tomatoes for you, girl," Vivica said and then waved Vandross off. She watched as the heavier brother walked into the house, while Luther stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a friendly fashion.
"We miss you around here, cracker," he said, making her laugh silently.
"Yes," Vivica nodded as she shoved some soil out of a bag and into one of her pots. "You and your aunt kept me from wasting tomatoes. Poor woman," she muttered quietly before pointing her small hand-shovel at Nora pointedly. "You better not stop eating tomatoes, girl."
Nora shook her head, smiling, before making her answer truly known as Vandross came out with two baskets filled with tomatoes. She took one and hugged it close, earning a proud smile from Vivica. When Nora looked to the other basket that Vandross held, she quirked a curious brow and pointed to herself.
"No, no," Vivica laughed, shaking her head. "Those are Eva's. Could you take them to her on your way back?"
Nora took the other bag with a polite expression, and then started back down the steps. Before she could get to the last one, she felt soft fingers curl around her wrist. She looked back into the honey brown eyes of the black woman. "You take care of yourself. I'll have Luther bring you vegetables from the garden, but you visit us more often, you here me?"
Nora smiled and leaned down to give Vivica a hug.
It took about fifteen minutes to get back to her street, the heat not helping at all, nor the fact she was getting weighed down by the huge tomatoes Vivica had given her. Before she crossed to her house she walked up the drive to Eva's, passing the Harley in the drive with a small look, she'd been hearing its loud rumbling quite a few time this past week, and came to acknowledge that it belonged to Eva's nephew. The bald man.
She stepped up to the front door and lightly knocked on the siding. Stepping back a bit as she set one of the baskets down, so she could swipe her arm across her forehead. Nora waited a couple minutes, curious, only because Eva always rushed to get the door. She tried to look around to the carport to see if the woman's car was there, but then the screen door banged open.
The sound startled Nora, if her heavy breathing had any say. She placed her hand over her heart as she came eye to eye with the black-eyed, bald nephew of Eva's. His brow was set in a frown and he folded his arms over his chest, looking menacing without even trying. She really wanted to get a better look at his tattoos now that she was close enough, but refrained from doing so and coming out looking like an idiot. She just took a small step forward and pointed behind him.
He frowned even further. "What do you want?" his voice was like gravel, and she felt it pull at the pit of her stomach. Something that hadn't ever happened before, so she pushed it away like it was nothing.
Nora knew that without a pen and paper, she wouldn't be able to converse with him. And she doubted he knew sign language, something she had learned just in case. The only person who had gone out of their way to learn it for her was her aunt. Instead, Nora handed the basket of tomatoes to him, holding them out for well over two minutes before he even took them from her. She then pointed to the house.
"You deaf or somethin'?" he asked, his words coming out just as sharp as they were blunt. If she could have been able to speak she no doubt would have sassed: 'If I were deaf I wouldn't be able to hear you, asshole.'
But since talking was out of the question, she frowned and shook her head. Bending over to pick up the other basket, she walked away and headed back over to her house without a backwards glance.
SSSS
Happy stared after her, until she was out of sight. She was a weird bitch, that was for sure. He wondered about her from time to time over the past week, her house sitting there silently, and only a few times did he ever hear the sound of a vacuum.
He didn't ask his aunt anymore about her, because that would be a pussy move. And the only thing his aunt would say was 'poor chica' whenever she was on the porch with him smoking a cigarette and her gaze went to the tan house next door.
Now he stood there with a basket of fucking tomatoes and more questions than before. A bitch had never made him like this, and that was all the more reason he was ready to hit Charming that night, for a nice rough and tumble with a bitch he could forget about right after.
TBC. Review, please!