Changed it up a little more with this chapter...its three tiny snippets all wrapped up in one. ;) I'll be getting to Angela's Mayan interaction and some Kozik in the coming chapters...woot! :D

Thanks to everyone who took the time to review, favorite, and follow! Y'all rock! I got back to most of you but thanks also to: Kerry and DarkChild19 (I'm glad it makes the relationship between Angela and Hap easier to understand! That's what I was going for! :D And Angela's already been in a situation that earned her a smiley in Chapter 57 of Hands All Over. She just never got the tattoo...;)).

How excited/nervous/anxious are y'all for the season finale!? I've been nervous all day! GAH! Can't believe its already ending and we have to wait another YEAR until the FINAL season! :(

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Angela and Elena

It Won't Be Soon Before Long

Chapter 6: Snow, Heart, and the Birds and the Bees

By Love Ink

Snow

Happy watched his seven year old cousin as she sized up the mountain of snow in front of her. When she told him she'd never seen snow before, he'd decided to take her to Tahoe on a whim. After all, he'd promised her father he'd take on adventures. Tahoe seemed as good of an adventure as any. He'd been watching her sled down the tiny hills from his place at the bottom for awhile, but he could tell she was getting bored with it especially since she saw the older kids whiz by her at a much faster rate. "Hap?" she asked looking from the mountain to him.

"No," he answered, knowing what she was going to ask.

She frowned, her bottom lip pouting out. "Please! Look how fast they're going!"

"Not by yourself," he said, still shaking his head. She was too light and would most likely go sledding right into the street with that kind of speed.

Angela sighed for a moment, her shoulders slumping in defeat before an idea came to her. "Will you go with me?"

"I don't sled."

"Please, Happy," she begged, her dark brown eyes wide. "Please, please, please! We can both fit and it'll be so much fun! You'll be the best cousin ever! And I'll be good when we get back home! And for the rest of the year! Please! It can be a Christmas present! I won't ask for anything else! Please!"

Whoever told Graciela that Angela didn't talk had obviously never seen her try to get something she wanted, Happy thought with a shake of his head. The kid talked a mile a minute when she wanted something. "All right, all right. Just shut up already."

Her smile widened as she practically jumped up and down with excitement. "Yay!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his legs in a hug.

He patted a hand over her heavy down jacket and sighed wishing he'd listened to his mother when she told him to put actual snow gear on. He hadn't wanted to drive with all that crap on. He'd insisted he'd be fine watching her in his jeans, workboots, and jacket.

Now as they trudged up the hill, he could feel the cold snow soaking through his pants, making them heavier with every step. To her credit, Angela climbed the hill like a champ, tugging the sled behind her as she sang some cheery Christmas song.

Once they got to the top, he sat on the sled, digging his heels into the snow to stop it from moving down the steep slope. He helped Angela climb into his lap, slipping his arms around her as he grabbed onto the string in front of her. "How do you steer this thing?" he muttered, testing out the skimpy strings.

"You don't," she replied, moving her body forward, ready to go down the hill. "That's what makes it fun! C'mon Hap! Let's go!"

Muttering something to himself, he pushed off the hill. The sled flew down the hill. The front end hit a jump, getting them some air time and sending them right towards a tree. Happy dug his heels in, managing to stop the sled merely inches away from the tree.

"Shit," he cursed, raking a cold hand over his hair. "You all right kid?"

Angela jumped up, clapping her hands. "That was awesome!" she exclaimed as snow showered down from the branches above them.

Happy had to chuckle as the little flakes of snow caught on his cousin's long eyelashes. His girl was an adrenaline junkie, no doubt about that. And even though he could feel the snow soaking through his clothes, it was all worth it to see her smile like that. "Good," he said standing up and hoisting her out of the deep snow and onto his hip. "'Cause we ain't doin' it again."

"That's okay. You only promised once anyways," she said, clinging onto his neck. After a minute, he felt her warm lips press against his cheek. "Thanks, Hap."

"You really want to go again?" he asked wondering how on earth the little girl wasn't terrified. "We almost hit a tree, kid. You ain't scared?"

She shrugged a shoulder. "I'm with you," she said as a simple explanation. "What do I got to be scared of?"

He smirked at the adoring look on the kid's face. He knew she was telling the truth, the girl was downright fearless when he was around. And he loved that about her. "Absolutely nothin', kid. I got ya," he said, squeezing her quickly. He set her back on her feet in the snow. "One more time."

Heart

Angela walked through the unfamiliar cemetery, studying the headstones as she walked, taking not of the dates and trying to find the oldest one. She knew which one it was in her dad's cemetery: Jeffry Gleason, 1910. She could see her Aunt standing at her Uncle Chico's funeral service not too far away. A heart attack, Elena had told her. She still didn't understand how a heart could attack you, but she kept checking her own to make sure it was still beating normally.

It wasn't her first time in Charming, she'd come a few times to visit with Happy, but they never really hung out in the town or talked to any of the people there. Hap usually just took her on adventures around the Bay area. Sometimes Uncle Chico would come along for the ride.

She knew her aunt was concerned about how she was taking Chico's passing, had heard her talk to her mom about it in hushed tones. After Happy had told her, she'd cried for a while before straightening up and being strong like Hap told her too. They thought she was bottling up her feelings, but she wasn't. She liked to picture Uncle Cheeks and her dad sharing a beer in the sky, watching down on her, being her guardian angels. It was a reassuring thought that she always circled back to.

Angela stopped when she saw a little boy watching her curiously. He was dressed in a pair of dark slacks and a nice blue button up shirt that made his blue eyes stand out. His dirty blonde hair was ruffled slightly as if someone had just given him a noogie. She smiled at him. "Hi!" she greeted, waving.

"Hi," he said shyly, his feet kicking at the grass. "Are you…are you here for the funeral?"

She looked back at the funeral party and nodded. "Cheeks was my uncle."

"Cool. He's my dad's friend," the boy replied shyly. "I'm Thomas. I'm five."

"Angela, I'm nine," she said extending her hand for him to shake. "Why aren't you playing with the other boys?"

Thomas looked over to where his older brother was playing some stupid game with his best friend. He only thought the game was stupid because they wouldn't include him. He wasn't supposed to run so much with his heart condition. "They won't let me."

Angela frowned, her brow furrowing in concern. "That's dumb. Let's go make them!"

"No!" Thomas grabbed her arm, stopping her. "I'm not s'posed to play with them. It could make me sicker."

"Oh," she said, still frowning. "Well, let's do something fun. Let's find the oldest stone in this cemetery!" With that, she grabbed her hands and they set off on their quest.

Gemma watched from the outdoor reception as her Thomas followed around the precocious dark haired girl, laughing and smiling like a normal five year old boy should. She glanced over to a dark haired woman whose eyes were also on the pair. "Cute kid. She yours?" she asked the older woman.

"My niece," she answered on a proud smile. "Chico was her godfather."

"Ah she's Chico's 'little girl'," Gemma said on a nod. "He talked about that little spitfire all the time. Gemma Teller."

"Elena Lowman," she replied, using her husband's last name to infer her connection to her son.

Gemma raised her eyebrows, looking the other woman over with a new respect. "You're Hap's mom, huh? Where's he today?"

Elena nodded, a slow smile on her face. Her son didn't do funerals for those that he loved. He paid tribute to them by taking to the open road. He'd done it when Victor had passed, and he was most certainly doing it now that Chico was gone. "Happy grieves in his own way."

"I get it," she replied, though she didn't really understand anything about the newly patched twenty-two year old. He wasn't chatty like the others. Kept mostly to himself and the boys. " Hap's a good guy."

"He's a strong man. Takes care of his family," she agreed before whistling to catch Angela's attention. The little girl whipped her head around and Elena beckoned for her to come over. "It was nice meeting you, Gemma," she said, walking away quickly. She'd heard all about Gemma and the little mind games she liked to play from Chico. She wasn't up for those kinds of games, not after burying someone she considered a brother.

Gemma watched as the little girl hugged Thomas goodbye before sprinting towards her aunt. She was intrigued by Happy's somewhat normal family, though it seemed his mother said about as much as he did. She watched Thomas' shoulders sag as he headed her way. "Hey baby. You make a new friend?" she asked once he was close enough.

Thomas smiled slightly as he nodded. "Yeah. She's real nice. We found the oldest headstone. Victoria Johansson."

"Maybe we'll see if we can get Hap to let her come visit some other time," she said running her hand over his slightly messy hair. "Would you like that?"

He nodded in response, an excited smile on her face. "Yes! Please!"

The Birds and the Bees

Happy could hear Angela humming as she worked on her homework. Her dark eyes were focused on the math book, the pencil scratching rapidly as she worked through the different problems. She was in the advanced math at her middle school and showed no signs of struggling. In fact, she looked a little bored. He sat down at the table across from her, pulling his sketchpad closer. He had a few tattoo designs he had to work on and for once, Angela was being quiet enough for him to focus on them.

She was silent for a bit before her dark eyes looked up at him, the top of her mechanical pencil shoved into the corner of her mouth. He lifted his eyes from the pad to meet her stare. "What?" he asked, brushing away some eraser dust. He took a sip of his beer watching as she seemed to struggle with finding the right words.

In true Angela fashion, she blurted out her question as tactlessly and bluntly as possible. "What's sex?"

Happy choked on his beer. He sputtered and coughed as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that his twelve year old cousin was asking him what sex was. "What?"

"Sex. What is it?" she asked again.

He checked his watch, praying that it was close enough to six that he could just leave the question for his mother when she got home. No such luck. He still had two more hours with the kid. "The fuck did that come from?"

"Jimmy Jr. asked if I wanted to do 'it', and when I asked what 'it' was, he said sex," she explained on a shrug. Hearing Happy swear hadn't bothered her since she was two years old.

"What'd you say?"

"I said I didn't want to do anything with him," Angela answered as though it was no big deal. "Guy's a pussy. He ratted out Daniel when he was chewing gum in class. Who does that? It wasn't like Daniel was botherin' anyone."

Happy smirked at her language. If her mother heard her talking like that, she'd have his head. "Good call, kid. Don't want to get stuck with a rat," he answered, hoping it would changed the subject.

She wasn't swayed though. "So what is it?"

"They don't teach you at school?"

"Not yet. That page was pulled out of the school dictionary, but I can ask the librarian if she has a book," she offered, looking back at her math problem. "

"No! Jesus Christ, kid!" he exclaimed, shaking his head. The teachers already thought Angela was weird enough, she didn't need to go asking for inappropriate books. "Sex is…y'know when we watch movies and I cover your eyes? Its 'cause they're having sex."

"Okay…" she dragged out, a confused look on her face. "But what is it?"

Happy ran a hand over his face before sighing. "Hold up a sec," he said, getting out of his chair and disappearing down the hall.

Angela stared at his back curiously. She knew he was heading into his bedroom. He came back out with a video tape in his hand and gestured to the couch. She quickly slammed her book closed and headed over, watching as he queued up the movie.

"Sex is used to…make kids," he explained as he paused porno on the opening screen. He pressed play, "And this is how it works."

Angela was silent throughout the whole movie, her dark eyes wide with a mixture of fear and curiosity. Every so often, she'd wince. Mostly in response to the use of a leather crop and some of the more intense bondage scenes. Happy grimaced along with her, knowing this porno would forever be ruined for him. He stopped the tape after letting her watch the main parts.

She sat staring at the blank screen for a moment. "That's sex?" she asked, a disgusted sound to her voice. "Do you do that?"

"Let's not go there tonight, kid," he muttered, hoping to God she wouldn't ask any more questions. "You shouldn't do it. Not now, not ever."

"Oh, Happy, I won't," she said with a rapid shake over her head. "It's disgusting. I'm going to kick Jimmy Jr.'s ass for wanting to do that to me."

Happy smirked proudly, that was his girl. "Language," he chastised. It was one thing for him to swear, it was quite another for her to. "Any questions about the…parts?"

"Nah. I know about the penis and the vagina. I read Ma's nursing books. And it talks about sexual intercourse, but I thought sex might be different…is it?"

"No."

"Damn," she cursed shaking her head in disbelief. "I'm never having sex."

Happy ruffled her hair. He was proud of her. She was so smart in the way she analyzed things. "Good. Don't."

Angela sighed heavily, leaning her head against Happy's shoulder. "Can we watch Star Wars now? There's no sex in that."

Happy chuckled, getting up with a grunt and taking out the tape. The Star Wars VHS was always handy since it was the only movie they each agreed on watching. "You finish your homework?"

"I finished it awhile ago," she admitted on a shrug. "I was just doing extra problems 'cause I didn't want to bother you while you were sketchin'."

"Thanks, kid," he said, ruffling her hair lightly as he sat down. Though his teaching style was a bit unorthodox, he was pleased with it. Scaring her out of having sex was as good a tool as any to avoid any future problems. He knew she'd find out eventually that not all sex was like the porno he'd just shown her, but he hoped by then that she a hell of a lot older than twelve like forty. And he prayed to God that when that day happened, he'd never have to hear or see it. Otherwise, he'd be getting a lot more smiley face tattoos for his little cousin.

These were just three random snippets I had in my folder, so I figured I'd put them all together and share before delving into Angela's teenage years. ;)

Let me know what you think!

~Love Ink