Hello everyone! This is my third story and my second Happy one hope you like it as well. I wanted to see how Happy would deal with someone who was closer to the club. This story will run in conjunction with my Chibs story Ringfinger the characters won't really interact with each other too much but some of their actions might make more sense if you read both stories. Since this story is running with that story I will post chapters to this story when they match up with Ringfinger so you might get a couple of chapters all at once or you might have to wait a while.

Chapter 1

Madelynn Winston awoke to the shrill sound of her phone ringing. Groaning from under her covers, she opened one eye and squinted at the alarm clock that read two am. Letting out a string of curse words, she reached for her phone, flipping it open and not bothering to look at the caller ID. Shunning all pleasantries she grumbled "this better be fucking good", bolting upright when she heard the voice on the other end.

"Maddie?" the gruff voice choked out. She had grown up with the sound of that voice but never in her life had she heard it quiver with such uncertainty.

"Pop?"

"You need to come home. There's been an accident."

Maddie held her breath. "Opie?" she questioned, afraid of the answer.

"No baby it's Donna, she's gone." For a moment Maddie stupidly wanted to ask 'where' but she knew what he was saying. "Get your ass here to your brother's" was all he said before the line went dead.

She sat there in the master bedroom of her two-bedroom house in Bakersfield wondering if she was still sleeping and if she had dreamed that call, but the phone in her hand showing the last call as 'Pop' told her otherwise. She had always expected that a late night call from Charming would come someday but she hadn't expected it to be her father on the line or that the name would be Donna. His demand to go to her brother's house ringing in her ears, Maddie got her ass up and quickly began shoving things in a bag. Not bothering to change out of her pink pajamas, she threw on a bra, grabbed her work computer and was out to her red Nissan Maxima in a heartbeat. Her father had insisted on the Maxima because it was a safe, reliable car but she had insisted on red. The Winston's were a strong-willed bunch.

She knew with the late hour she would be pulling into her brother's driveway in two and half hours - maybe two if she pushed it. She would push it for this, her brother needed her. Pulling on to the highway, she headed towards Charming. If the situation wasn't so serious, she would have laughed at Piney's words telling her to come home. Charming hadn't been her home for 11 years - since her mother had left their father and taken her and Opie, who was 16 at the time, to Sacramento. Opie wasted no time in making his choice - quickly running away that first night to live with Piney. Madelynn, who was only 12 at the time, didn't get to make that choice. She was permanently moved to Sacramento with her mother, only spending the summers and a few holidays in Charming. When she was 18, she left her mother's care and went off to college in San Diego for four years. The only time she set foot in that little town was for the major holidays. When she was done with college, she was hired at a publishing house in Bakersfield. She was now the assistant to the editor, and hoping to one-day change that title to assistant editor.

She had graduated top of her class and had several job opportunities to choose from, but her home state would always be California. Not wanting to be within a stone's throw of either of her parents, she had settled on a lower end publishing house in Bakersfield and had lived there for the past year. She loved it there, she got to be on her own but was also within driving distance to her older brother and his kids. When Opie had been locked up, she often made the drive to help Donna, who she thought of as a sister, with the kids. Her heart clenched at the thought that she was gone and tears started to form. She'd just talked to her a couple of days ago and promised to come for Christmas and stay with them. She pushed the tears back, not wanting to cause an accident and also because she knew if they started, they wouldn't stop.

She pulled into her usual gas station an hour later to fill up and grab a coffee. The rest of the drive she spent with the radio cranked up, singing along to whatever song shuffled through her iPod. With the window rolled down, the crisp California air kept her awake until she turned onto Opie's quiet street. When she pulled into the driveway, she looked at Donna's car almost inspecting it for dents and dings. Her father had said an accident so she had assumed it was a car accident, but she also noticed Opie's old clunker of a truck wasn't parked anywhere, just his bike. Grabbing her bags and fishing through her purse, she pulled out her key ring and found the key that was marked with an O and D in black sharpie marker. She slid the key into the lock, pushed the front door open and stepped into the darkened house. Dropping her bags, she shut and locked the front door, quietly making her way through the house and scanning for signs of life but coming up empty. Piney had said to go to Opie's house but maybe they were at the clubhouse. She was just about to reach for her phone when she saw the moonlight shining through the open door of the master bedroom, illuminating movement on the bed. She toed off her shoes and stood at the side of the bed, looking down at her brother sleeping on his side with his long arm wrapped around both the kids that slept next to him. She lifted the covers and slid into the small spot that looked like it had been left just for her, her arm going under his and pulled herself closer.

"Maddie?" she heard him question when he felt her next to him.

"I'm here Op," she said. She put her hand to his chest wondering if she could feel what a broken heart felt like.

"Oh god Maddie" she heard him moan in a whisper.

"It's alright Op, I'm here." It clearly wasn't all right but she didn't know what else to say to her brother who had just lost his wife. Her brother who had always been larger than life in her eyes, not just because he towered over her small 5' 2" frame but because that was who he had always been. Now he was a broken man who needed the comfort of his little sister for once. She pressed her upturned face against his t-shirt clad back and hugged him while he let his tears come freely. Hers wouldn't, she had to be strong this time for him and for his kids. She felt him relax against her hold, and she drifted off into a fitful sleep.

She was awoken by a tap on her shoulder. Rolling onto her back, she realised she was alone in bed. Still a little disoriented, she turned and saw Ellie standing next to her.

"Hey Kid."

"Grandma said to come get you up."

"Grandma Mary is here?"

"Uh huh."

She then heard her mother's shrill voice yell through the house. "Madelynn are you up?"

Maddie rolled her eyes, causing Ellie to giggle. "Yeah, Ma" she yelled back. Sitting up, she pulled Ellie into a hug, kissing the top of her head. "Your grandma is a real pain in my ass."

"That's what daddy says."

"Well he's right." Standing up, she grabbed her hair tie and coiled her long red hair into a bun.

"Aunt Maddie, are you going to stay with us?"

"Yep."

"Can we play rummy later?"

"Sure, first let's go see what your grandma wants."

She walked into the kitchen with Ellie trailing behind her. Mary was at the sink doing dishes while Kenny was on drying detail. Maddie grabbed a cold pancake from the plate by the oven. "You missed breakfast" Mary scolded, grabbing the plate with the remaining pancakes and tossing them into the trash. Shoving the rest of the pancake in her mouth, Maddie went to the fridge, searching for the OJ. Pouring a glass, she left room at the top and grabbed the vodka from the liquor stash on the counter. She was just about to pour when she heard Mary behind her.

"Really Madelynn?"

"What? It's past noon."

"I don't need shit from you today. We got to get this house cleaned before company starts coming by."

Maddie placed the vodka back without pouring herself some. "What you mean is for the Sons. I don't think they care, probably wouldn't notice if the fucking house was flooded in sewage." Mary might have been disdainful of the Sons but having a spotless house when they arrived was just one of the many ways that showed she was above them.

"Watch your mouth young lady! Get the mop and start in on these floors."

Maddie suddenly felt like she was a child again being chastised for every comment that came out of her mouth. She wanted to stomp her feet and tell her mother to shove it but she bit her tongue instead since the children were present. She pulled Kenny away from dish duty. "Come on kid show me where the mop and bucket is. You know what they say Kenny, two tears in a bucket fu..."

"Madelynn Winston!" the shrill came from across the room.

"What? I'm sure they've heard worse from Pop."

"I didn't raise you to be crass. Now stop messing around, you've wasted half the day sleeping already."

She wanted to tell her mother to cut her some slack. She had driven all the way from Bakersfield, after a phone call from her father telling her that her sister-in-law was dead. But she knew it wouldn't get her anywhere, just more criticism for her behavior. She spent the day cleaning with her mother constantly on her ass; she didn't do this or that right, when was she going to grow up, when was she going to take things seriously, when was she going to get married, have kids blah blah blah. Opie had disappeared somewhere before she had got out of bed so he wasn't there like he usually was to deflect her mother's wrath. The evening was spent helping her mother prepare dinner and of course being on the end of more scornful remarks like she wasn't ever going to land a man if she didn't learn how to cook anything decent. After dinner, she played cards with Ellie and Kenny and then helped get them off to bed, her mother following suit. Once the house was hers, she sat in the living room, a glass of straight whiskey in her hand. When Opie came through the door, he motioned to the tumbler in her hand.

"That bad huh?" he asked.

"A day with just me and Ma what do you think? Where'd you run off to?"

"Needed to have some time to myself. I just couldn't deal with her today. Thanks for taking the brunt of it."

"No problem, whatever you need I'm here"

"Everyone else asleep?"

"Yeah, Kenny's in his room, Ellie's in hers with Ma sleeping on the bottom bunk. I was just about to head to bed myself." She motioned to the couch that she had made up into a bed with spare blankets and pillows. "So if you could kindly get out of my room."

"You can take my room. I'll sleep on the couch."

"I'm fine with the couch. You're too big to sleep on this lumpy old thing, your feet are going to hang off, Sasquatch."

Opie shook his head, suddenly a little paler. "I can't Maddie, I can't go in there."

"Okay," she nodded letting him know she got it.

"Thanks for taking all of Ma's shit today."

"No problem, but you owe me asshole" she said, heading toward the master bedroom.

Hope you like it so far, thanks for reading as always! Thanks to poppyandbeeb for all the hard work editing this and making it even better!