A/N: This chapter comes with a trigger warning as Hailey details just what Joel did to her before she left.

"So you got the job little sis?" Opie asked his sister who sat across from him.

"Sure did. I start on Monday." Hailey answered grinning.

"Good stuff Kiddo. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks Ope."

"Your mom would be too."

Hailey gave a sad smile. "I hope you're right." She said.

"He is doll. You're mom woulda been rapt that her little girl has made so much of herself." Tig said from behind her. He was sitting at the other table, Chibs across from him. They'd been sitting together and talking in hushed whispers for the last half an hour.

"Thanks Tiggy." Hailey answered.

He smiled as he rose and came toward her and kissed her cheek. "Grats Hailz. You deserve it." He said.

Chibs rose from his spot and suddenly announced loudly. "So it's a glorious afternoon. Who's up fer a ride?"

"Out to the diner on the highway?" Tig proposed.

"Sounds good." The Scotsman answered.

"I'm in." Tig said. "You coming Doll?"

"Me?" Hailey asked.

"Yeah you! You used to ride with me all the time before you left. You remember?" Tig asked her.

"Yeah. It was about the only time I was calm and not getting into trouble." Said Hailey thinking back to when she was younger. Tig smiled and winked at her before exchanging a quick look with Chibs that she couldn't help but notice.

"What about you Ope?" Chibs asked.

"Sure why not. Who you riding with Lil Sis?"

"Is it okay if I go with Tig?" She asked her brother, he knew checking that things were okay between the two of them.

"Of course Hailz." He answered her. "Tig and I are good."

She smiled. It never ceased to amaze her, the close bond of camaraderie that existed between these men. No matter what went down between them they always brushed it aside and moved on for the sake of brotherhood.

"Come on doll. Let's go, see if they can catch us." Tig said handing her his helmet.

They rode out to the diner on the highway. Hailey noticed that it hadn't changed since the last time she'd been there which would have before she'd left Charming five years earlier.

"Nothing ever changes around here does it?" She remarked as she and Tig walked from his bike across to one of the outside tables.

"Not a bit." He motioned for her to take a seat. "You want whatever I'm having?" He asked grinning and raising his eyebrow at her.

"Sure." She answered smiling. That had always been her standard response whenever they'd ridden out here together when she'd been growing up. Nothing ever changes. He'd often brought her out here to get her away from the club and to cool off and get over whatever her latest tantrum had been.

She heard the approach of other Harleys as Tig went in to order. She glanced around and saw three pulling up next to Tig's. Opie, Chibs and Happy. She cast Chibs a questioning stare as he approached the table she was sitting at. "What the hell is he doing here?" She asked as he reached her and took a seat next to her. He didn't answer her question, just responded with "Just try to be nice, Lovey."

She could tell that Happy was less than impressed to see her also but he said nothing, just sat across from her. Tig came back out. "Ah good you're here. I took the liberty of ordering." The short and stocky but not unpleasant looking waitress followed him out with a tray filled with five beers in her hand.

"Oh, didn't know you were back." She said when she saw Hailey. "You're Opie's little sister right?"

"Yeah I am. Hailey." She answered.

"Hailey. That's right. You back for good or just visiting?

"Back for good actually." Hailey smiled surprised that this waitress remembered her.

"Oh well good for you. Everyone who leaves Charming always seems to make their way back." The waitress commented. Hailey smiled. She couldn't disagree with just how true that was.

"Wow I was certainly right. Nothing does change around here if she remembers me." Hailey said as the waitress walked back inside.

"I can think of something that has changed." Said Chibs.

"Oh yeah what's that." She asked him.

"Yer no longer a lil shit!" he laughed. She smiled.

"You sure about that?" Asked Happy.

"Oh you've no idea the shit she used to do Hap! It's a wonder we didn't kill 'er!" Chibs continued.

Happy raised an eyebrow which Hailey took to mean he almost wished they had.

"My oath!" said Tig. "You certainly didn't want to piss her off, that's for sure."

"And it never took much either." Opie added.

"You remember when you wouldn't let her out to that party in Lodi Ope?" Chibs asked.

"Sure do! She painted 'FUCK YOU OPIE! I HATE YOU!' across the tank of my Harley in red nail polish. I had to strip it back and repaint the fucker." He raised his eyebrows at Hailey watching her cheeks turn a bright shade of pink.

"What was it you did to piss her off that night she went AWOL Tiggy?" Chibs asked.

"I don't even remember man. All I remember is my bike ended up spray painted hot pink. She's lucky I forgave her for that one." Tig said as their food came out.

"At least it was still in one piece. The first and only time I tried to discipline this lil troublemaker she took a hammer to all my mirrors." Chibs said.

"The bikes. It was always the bikes." Opie lamented.

Hailey sat, a bright red blush spreading across her cheeks. "I guess I knew how to get you back when you pissed me off." She said.

"More like when you didn't get your way." Opie said.

"Yeah, I didn't take too kindly to being told what to do back then."

"It's a wonder she's never done anythin' to your bike brother." Chibs directed toward Happy.

"P'haps she knows better than to mess with me." He glowered at Hailey. "Sounds like you caused a lot of damage Princess."

"Hey I've paid Clay back every cent that it cost him to repair all the damage I caused." She said in her defense.

"I've no doubt, you have Doll." Tig spoke up. "You were always so sorry afterward. I'd bring you out here and we'd have our little chats." Tig reminisced. "And then you'd be the perfect little angel we all loved for a while."

"Until one of you pissed me off again." She smiled.

"Perfect little angel? I'm not sure they're the words I'd use to describe teenage Hailey." said Opie.

"Aww. Come on there had to be some endearing qualities for us to have kept her around." Tig defended her.

Happy raised his eyebrows at her a look of disdain upon his face.

"Well, I think I'm just about done," said Chibs pushing his plate away from him, "I'm gonna go take a piss." He rose from the table and headed inside.

"Hey Tig," Opie piped up. "My bike was making an odd sound on the way out here. Wanna come take a look see if it's what I think?"

"Sure man. Let's take a look." The two also left the table to head over to their bikes.

"You really were a little shit weren't you?" Happy commented once he and Hailey had been left alone.

"Yeah, but times change Hap." She answered sighing as she propped her elbow on the table and rested her head against her hand.

"Oh do they now? You think coz you paid Clay back it's all made up for?"

"I didn't say that. What I said was times change. I've changed."

"Doesn't make up for it."

"I never said it did!"

"Think becoming a nurse and coming back here and helping all the poor helpless sick people of Charming makes you a good person?"

"Oh like you can lecture me about being a good person. How many people have you killed Hap?"

"That's different."

"Is it? Tell me how!"

They were so caught up in their latest scruff that they didn't notice Chibs come out and join the other two, nor did they notice the three of them getting on their bikes readying to leave until they heard the sounds of the three engines start up and take off in unison back toward Charming.

Hailey spun around at the sound and was just in time to see the three of them speeding off down the highway. Chibs looked back, a huge smug grin on his face. "What the fuck are they doing?" Hailey cried looking across at Happy's lone bike still sitting there. She looked around at Happy who sat with one eyebrow raised and a less than amused expression on his face.

"We've been set up Princess." He answered.

"What?" she responded.

"This is their way of forcing us to get along or at least testing me to see if I'll leave you out here."

"Bastards!" She cursed.

"Yep" he agreed.

"So what do we do now?" She asked.

"Well we could get on my bike and head back to the lot and berate them but I'm guessing they want us to have a little chat and make nice."

"Like that's gonna happen." She said.

Just then the waitress came out to collect the plates and empty bottles. "Oh. I thought you'd all left." She remarked.

"Nah, just the others." Happy said to her.

"Well it's such a lovely day why not spend it out here together." She remarked. "He the reason you're staying in Charming sweetheart?"

"What?" Hailey almost scoffed, shocked that she'd come to that conclusion "Oh. No we're not together. Not like that."

"Oh sorry. I thought since they'd left you here together you might've… Well never mind. Anything else I can get you?"

"No thanks. We're good." Said Happy, standing up and coming around to Hailey's side of the table.

"Okay. Well yell out if you need anything," She said heading back inside.

"What are you doing?" Hailey asked as Happy sat down next to her straddling the bench with one leg either side of it.

"Let's do this." He responded.

"Do what?" She asked feeling a little nervous at how close he was.

"Talk. Figure out our shit. Whatever it is they want us to do."

Hailey sighed. "I guess they're a little over us laying into each other all the time."

"C'mon Hailey. You can't tell me you haven't noticed me let up on you the last few days."

"Yeah I had noticed. Why?"

"You must have some endearing qualities right?"

"Seriously Hap? I thought you hated me."

"Not so much. Just some of the shit you do."

Hailey studied him sitting there before her. There was no malice in his gaze, only that quiet perusal she was beginning to see more and more. She sighed as a long pause halted their conversation.

"So I hear your mom's not doing so well." She said trying to make conversation but also thinking that perhaps that may be at the root of his often belligerent attitude.

"What do you know about my mother?" He snapped.

"I know it must be hard to watch what she's going through."

"Oh yeah?" he said getting short and belligerent again. "What would you know about that?"

"More than you think Happy. I know how helpless you must feel knowing there's nothing you can do for her. How utterly hopeless it makes you feel watching her suffer each day slipping further and further away from the strong and courageous woman you once knew." Suddenly she was no longer talking about him or his mother but remembering back to her own experience as she continued tears forming in her eyes. "When you're the only thing she has left but she hasn't even got the ability to tell you she loves you …" She trailed off.

He looked into her steel blue eyes and saw them filled with pain. "What did she have?" he asked her knowing they were no longer talking about his own mother.

"A very rare and extremely aggressive brain cancer. She was diagnosed and then within weeks she was gone. I barely had time to process it before I was losing her. I sat with her in the hospital every day. Her speech was the first thing to go. She'd sit there watching me each day, trying to keep up appearances for my sake, but she knew she was dying and she knew I knew it too. There was always a sad acceptance behind her gaze. By the end she couldn't eat or even swallow and struggled with every breath she took. The last night that I sat with her the sadness in her eyes was unbearable before she drifted into a sleep that she never woke from."

He took hold of one of her hands in both of his. She didn't protest. He realized he'd underestimated her. He doubted that she had ever broken down and said all that out loud before. "I guess you do know what you're talking about." He said looking into her eyes.

She smiled a sad smile. "Yeah, maybe just a little."

"My mom's not that bad. But she's still not doing so good." He offered.

She nodded. "Make the most of the time you have left Hap." She smiled her eyes sad.

"You wanna tell me why you finally left Joel?" he asked becoming the concerned Happy that had made such a brief appearance the night Joel had shown up and attacked her. He noticed her flinch at the sound of her ex boyfriend's name.

"You saw what he was capable of the night he showed up here."

"Yeah I did. But there had to be a reason you hot tailed it down here." He pressed.

She sighed. "You said yourself you'd seen from a distance how he treated me? That was out in public. Ever wonder what it was like behind closed doors?" She asked.

"All the time." He admitted.

"He was rough, violent, abusive both physically and verbally. I'd take you yelling at me any day over what I went through with him." She met the gaze of his dark eyes that hadn't left her face.

"What made you finally leave?" he pressed.

"The last night I was there, the night I drove back here, 12 hours straight, he … he raped me."

Happy just nodded. He had thought as much when he had seen how scared of him she was the night he'd showed up.

"He'd always been abusive but he had never hurt me during sex. It was always like sex was his apology for hurting me," she continued. "But that night he had hit me and beat me harder than ever. He'd gotten wind of the fact that I was planning on coming back here a week earlier and he was angrier than I'd ever seen him. He took my keys and locked me in the house. No one knew any different as I'd already resigned. Anyone who knew I was coming back here probably assumed I'd already left. He left me locked up for that week. Barely came near me. It was the last day that I was there that he started to …" she trailed off.

"Started to what?" he pressed her.

She paused to raise her tank top to just below her bra showing him bruises down her sides and torso that were still mottled and purple nearly two weeks later. He had no doubt that they continued further up and down her body also. She lowered her top and swallowed, closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them and continuing.

"He'd never hurt me like that before. I tried talking to him and explaining why I wanted to come back. And I thought I'd finally gotten through to him when he started being gentle again." She saw Happy raise his eyebrows at the word gentle.

"Yes he was capable of gentle." She smiled briefly before continuing. "I thought I'd finally gotten through to him and then I said something really dumb that made him snap. That's when he started hurting me, really hurting me. And then he raped me – there's no other word for it. Like I said sex was usually his way of making it up to me but not that night. He slammed me against the wall of our apartment so hard that my head left a hole in it. He tore my clothes to get them off and he was so rough." She paused briefly and took a deep breath before continuing.

"I begged him to stop but I guess it fell on deaf ears. I could hardly breathe as he … he slammed into me … gripping my sides so hard that he left bruising on my hips."

Happy ran his hand gently up her arm. She was surprised at how comforting it was and equally surprised that it was Happy to whom she was finally confessing all this to.

"After that he threw me face down on the bed and did the same again but … well …" She couldn't bring herself to say it and she quickly looked away when he met her gaze. He just nodded acknowledging that he understood what the low life had done to her. "I know Tig and Ope both suspected something especially that first day." He said quietly. "I could tell how scared you were of him that night he came back."

"Please don't tell them. Especially the second part …" She wouldn't meet his eyes and he could tell she was ashamed.

"Hailey, none of it was your fault." He told her wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. She met his gaze and was surprised at what she found there. Instead of the dark menace that usually resided in his eyes they held a softer more compassionate gaze.

"What'd you say?" He asked.

"Huh?"

"That made him snap. What'd you say?"

"I said that you'd probably start wondering where I was." She smiled.

He didn't know what came over him next. He moved his hand to the back of her head and brought her lips to his and kissed her. She pulled away, surprised as he met her questioning gaze before she leaned back in to kiss him back. It started out slow and explorative before quickly elevating to a hot and sensual kiss. Her hands travelled to the back of his neck to pull him closer and he pressed his against her back doing the same. She felt his tongue press hungrily against hers before she pulled away breathing hard.

"Stop Hap. What are we doing?" She asked.

"Getting along." He answered an almost mischievous sparkle in his eye. "Don't say you didn't like it."

She smiled. "Sure is a change from not getting along."

He smirked seeing a glint of lust in her eye.

"Come on, let's head back." He said swinging his leg over the bench and leading the way over to his bike, not knowing how far things would have gone had she not pulled away. She caught an odd look in his eye as he handed her his helmet. She couldn't quite decipher it and she couldn't quite make sense of the feelings that were starting to take hold of her as she wrapped her arms around his waist before he took off down the highway towards Charming.

A/N: So this chapter and the one that follows were originally one chapter but due to length (and let's face it suspense also!) I decided to split it into two. So you'll have to wait for the aftermath of Happy and Hailey's little moment and just what is going on in each of their heads. For now I'm gonna leave you all hanging for a little while. And please, please, please review.