Written in Blood 4
Chapter 4: Friction
Summary: Skyler Blake can't change her position as the town outcast… and the town witch. When a young girl comes to her to talk to her dead mother, who knew that doing so would allow her to find a place among outcasts, and her place beside the most dangerous one. Happy/OC
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Skyler.
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"Ellie, did this woman take you from school?"
"No." Ellie looked down at her father's boots. "I walked."
"Why?"
Ellie's eyes filled with tears as she looked up at her father, and Skyler felt her stomach drop. "I wanted to talk to mommy. She was the only person who could."
The silence that followed the child's words was loud in Skyler's ears. She closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. The whirlwind of emotions rising in the room was a storm she would rather not weather but it was too late for her to be able to escape.
"Ellie, go back to the room." Opie was the first to break the silence and his voice was filled with such fury and pain that Sky felt her heart stop. He wanted to hurt her, badly, and wasn't above doing it right now. Ellie's footsteps running from the room was the only sound made, and after the door shut behind her the silence continued for a few moments.
"You heartless fucking bitch." It was a statement, like someone had said she was a blonde. It hurt her, knowing that this was the way he truly saw her when he didn't know who she was or what she could do.
"I'm not." She croaked, her eyes remaining shut so they couldn't see the tears welling. "I'm not."
"Then tell me why you would do that to a little girl? Tell her you can talk to her mother that's been dead for six months?" He demanded.
"Because I can." Sky opened her eyes and met his gaze, letting him see the truth in her eyes. "She was beautiful."
"Don't." The word was strangled, like he couldn't breathe.
"She's happy. She watches over you and your family. She wants you to be happy Opie. She's glad you found your girlfriend and that you're going to marry her."
"I'm fucking serious. Stop." He demanded desperately.
Sky's eyes unfocused as she concentrated on the information coming to her from a higher power. "She likes that she takes care of you. She wants you to remember to give Ellie pink roses on her last day of school and on holidays, they're her favorite. And help Kenny with his tackling for football, and make sure to get the right pads so he doesn't get hurt." Opie put his head between his knees and shuddered while Piney put a hand on his shoulder in comfort. Slowly Sky's head turned to the man who wasn't quite sane and she smiled at him, "She says its ok. Stop feeling guilty, she's happy it was her and not Opie and the kids."
The entire room held its breath. It had come out days ago that Tig had been the one to pull the trigger on Donna and no one had planned on addressing it, ever. As far as they were concerned, that information was to never leave the mother charter.
So how the fuck did this outsider know about it?
Sky shook her head and immediately regretted it. Using her energy like this was hard on her but she had to prove her point. "Can I have some water? And something chocolate please?" The man in charge nodded at the man with lightning bolt tattoos and he sprang up and trotted off through a set of doors behind the bar. "Since I'm probably going to be here a while, how 'bout some names?"
He nodded at her, thinking his poker face could hide his thoughts but she knew he was seriously creeped out, "I'm Clay, this is Jax, Tig, Chibs, Bobby, Piney, Opie, and Happy, and the nerd who just ran to get you food is Juice."
"Pleasure." She drawled, closing her eyes in exhaustion.
Happy was beyond intrigued. This woman could do things he had only heard about growing up from his mother and aunt. She wasn't afraid to stand up for herself but he could tell that she was all class. The way she spoke might come out in a sarcastic tone but he could tell it was just a façade she was using to hide her fear from them. No, she was polite and well mannered to the bone. He wondered if she ever got a little wild.
And oh how he wanted to get wild with her.
Juice scrambled back into the silent room and handed her a glass of water and a plateful of brownies before sitting back on the couch. His leg was jumping and it looked like he could barely keep himself contained. The men watched in wonder as Sky stuffed a whole brownie in her mouth and chewed quickly, swallowing audibly and taking a large gulp of water before repeating the process.
"Easy darlin, you're gonna make yourself sick." The man Clay addressed as Bobby chuckled, pulling a cigarette out of his cut and lighting it. As far as he was concerned this woman had proved that she wasn't lying and wasn't working with their enemies.
Sky swallowed again and took a slower drink of her water. "Sorry. Connections like that are kinda hard on me. I need the sugar to pick me up."
"Do you mean there's different kinds of connections? How long have you been able to do this? Can you talk to anyone who's dead?" Juice hurled out the questions, his eyes shining with enthusiasm. Sky looked at him like she didn't quite know what to do with him.
"Whoa there Juice. Let's give ourselves some time to adjust to this." Jax said, running a hand through his hair.
"How do we know you're not making shit up?" Piney demanded sullenly.
"She's shorter than your average woman, she would have barely come up to Opie's collar bone, has these soulful brown eyes, brown hair in a short cut, kind of a pixie-ish nose, a little thinner than what's in fashion lately." She rattled off.
"That doesn't prove shit." He growled.
Skyler cocked her head, listening to the woman now whispering in her ear, "The last time you were in the hospital, you had a heart attack. Opie was in prison and Mary wouldn't come to help you so she did. She would read you books, Jurassic Park, The Lord of the Rings, but your favorite was The Catcher in the Rye. She stayed up all night because you couldn't wait to hear the whole thing. She loved you deeply Piney. You were the father she never had since the moment Opie brought her to the cabin to meet you when she was fourteen."
Piney flattened his lips and lowered his head into his palms and Sky took the opportunity to stuff another brownie in her mouth. "Di' I poss?" She asked with her mouth full.
Happy kept his face blank but damn it was hard. The sassy little bitch!
Opie raised his head, and narrowed his eyes, "Where was her crow?"
Sky raised her eyebrow and swallowed the mouthful of sugary treat, "I beg your pardon?"
"Her tattoo, where was it?" He demanded.
Again she cocked her head and after a moment a small smile spread across her face as well as a healthy blush that made her look younger and prettier, "She had two. One on her lower back so everyone knew who she belonged to, and another one," she turned her head and met Happy's eyes, "that you did low on her pelvis, right on the top part of her cat, so no one would trespass on what wasn't theirs."
"Her cat?" Juice asked, puzzled.
"Her pussy, you dumb fuck." Tig snapped at the younger man. Sky took a drink of water to hide her smile, her eyes never leaving Happy's.
"Christ." Opie jumped up and paced. "No one knew about that! How the fuck did you know about that?"
"She told me." Sky said simply.
"Let's get back to why we're here." Clay demanded. "Why was Ellie with you?"
"Ellie walked to my house all by herself. She's heartbroken and having a hard time dealing with her mothers death and her fathers new relationship. I gave her an outlet." She turned narrowed eyes on Opie, "You, however, need to make sure that she's using it. She's just a child and doesn't understand everything that's happened then or everything that's happening now. You need to suck it up and talk to her or you'll regret it!"
Opie opened and closed his mouth several times before finally finding his voice, "I've talked to her! And Lyla loves her, she knows that!"
"Does she?" Sky raised an eyebrow.
"Alright already!" Clay roared. "Tig, go get Sack, we need to go to church."
"Wh-" Sky looked around in puzzlement as Tig jumped up and swaggered out while the rest of the men walked to a room with a pair of double doors. Tig appeared again seconds later and entered the room, closing the door behind him. A skinny man with red-blonde hair and scruff stumbled into the room, struggling with the strap of a rifle that had tangled around his body.
"H-hey!" He said brightly, finally managing to untangle himself from the strap.
"Um-Hi?" Sky felt like she had just been thrown in the twilight zone.
"I'm Half Sack." He smiled engagingly at her. She sensed his eager attitude and general good nature and couldn't help but smile back at him. He was a good man, and he truly believed in what the Sons stood for.
"I'm Skyler, but you can call me Sky." She grinned at him, getting up and moving to a stool when he motioned her there so he could start his duties behind the bar. "Why do they call you Half Sack?"
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"So what do we think?" Clay asked, sitting back in his chair with his cigar.
Jax leaned forward, "It seems like the real deal. I mean how the hell could she know all that?"
"Come on kids, you really believe in this hocus pocus shit? I think she's working for ATF." Tig said.
"Come on Tig, I seen these things in Ireland and Scotland. Is pretty common there." Chibs said, lighting a cigarette. "There be no denying that she knows things tha' she shouldn't. And she couldn't have gotten the information from somewhere else."
"My mom used to talk about people like this." Juice said enthusiastically. "She said they were blessed by God with knowledge so they could do good."
"But could she be a threat to us." Bobby demanded.
"It doesn't seem like it." Jax said, tapping his knuckles on the table.
"Op, Piney, what do you think?" Clay demanded.
"I think she knows things that no one should know." Piney said briefly.
"She doesn't seem like she's a threat." Opie said quietly.
"Hap?"
"I think we could use her to our advantage." Happy said slowly. "If she knows things, and can tell what's going to happen and shit, she could warn us about trouble comin our way."
"We don't know that she can do shit like that." Tig denied.
"But we don't know she can't." Clay said slowly. "I say we keep her around, keep her close for a while."
"How do we do that?" Jax asked.
Clay smiled, "Gemma."
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Sky was laughing with the prospect and didn't notice when the door opened behind her and the men filed out. Jax disappeared down the hallway to fetch his mother while the rest of the men watched the woman and the prospect chat animatedly.
"So- so, I ended up butt ass naked and trying to sneak back into base but my staff sergeant caught me."
Sky giggled and leaned forward eagerly, "And?"
"I was put on kitchen cleanup for the rest of my tour. Lucky for me a week later I got sent home on honorable discharge." He glanced behind her and saw the men and immediately started pulling beers from the fridge and popping off the caps. "Hey guys."
"Prospect, get me a shot of Jim, off the top shelf." Clay called, sauntering up and taking a seat at the end of the bar. The rest of the men followed suit and Sky found herself with Happy on one side and an empty seat on the other. She heard the clicking of heels coming down the hall behind her and turned her head to see Jax and an older woman with brown highlighted hair and a tattoo on her chest emerge from the hallway followed by Ellie. The woman smiled at them all before going straight to Clay and giving him a kiss. They started talking low enough so that she couldn't hear and she raised her eyebrows.
Ellie ran up and climbed up on the seat next to her, "Did I get you in trouble?" She asked anxiously.
Sky smiled down at her reassuringly, "No hun, nothing I can't handle. I've seen much scarier things then your daddy." She winked at the little girl who giggled in response. The rest of the men had to cover their chuckled as Opie glared at them.
"I think he's scary when he's angry. Grandpa too." Ellie said seriously in a conspiring 'whisper' that all the men heard.
"Oh no," Sky said smiling, "Never be scared of them Ellie. They would never hurt you, and they love you so much."
"I know." Ellie said looking down, "But since mommy died they're angry a lot and don't spend as much time with me and Kenny."
Sky shot a glare at Opie and hugged the little girl, "Everything's going to get better really soon, trust me."
At that moment a thin blonde with long hair walked into the clubhouse and swooped down on the child, hugging her tightly before releasing her and looking her in the eyes, "You scared me to death Ellie!"
"Sorry." She mumbled, not looking the woman in the eyes.
"Come on, let's get you home." She said, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door.
"Can I come and see you tomorrow?" Ellie asked Sky hopefully, resisting the pull of the older woman. Opie got up and kissed the woman, speaking softly to her and she let Ellie go to speak with him.
"That's up to your daddy, but probably not hun. I have to give Salem a bath and he is unbelievable sour after that until I make it up to him." She smiled down at the child and gave her one last hug. As she released her, the woman reached out and grabbed her hand again.
"Come on Ellie." She said, pausing to send a glare at Skyler.
"Bye Sky!" Ellie called as she was lead to the door.
"Bye hun!" She turned around to face the bar, smiling softly.
"What are you smiling about?" Happy asked her.
Sky turned her smile on him, "Because I helped her start to heal. She has outlet's now, ways to cope with her mother's death that she didn't have before."
"And what exactly is that?" Piney demanded.
Sky kept the smile on her face, "She can talk to butterflies. I told her when her mother is keeping an eye on her she sends butterflies, that way whenever she see's one she'll feel comfort."
The men looked at her like she was crazy, but the older woman who had an arm around Clay's shoulders smiled. "That's a great idea."
"Thank you." Sky took a pull from her beer. "I'm Skyler." She directed at the woman.
"Gemma." She answered simply.
"Nice to meet you." She finished off her beer and rose to her feet, "So, am I allowed to leave?"
"Course." Clay said as if it were obvious. "Happy will follow you, make sure you're tucked in nice and safe when you get home."
"Sounds good to me." Sky smirked, winking at Happy. The men let out cat calls and watched them leave the clubhouse together.
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A/N Review =]
