Disclaimer - I do not own Sons of Anarchy or any of their characters. I only own my original characters.

So this story will be going back and forth between the present and the past, I will post at the top which tense we are in so you won't get confused :)

Thank you to havasu25, x-searsha-x, JCLProductions88, EctopicKnight2, TikiKiki, trinanz, Kiaral, kfarm87, laney.18, Loyalyoungqueen, Nlig2389, .dj, valenkaya, loverofnothing, Rainn74, Notrachel, driidrii123, 4EverReading18, 0netflixme0, scowgirl2000, Sassykat27, Countrygirl83 and Legolas' Girl 31 for choosing to follow and favorite this story.

And a huge thank you to cujoo, Cherokee Daniels, ReadtoRelax, Ks, Samantha Renk, beth626, Ang R, DarylzDarlin, Roberta Kurk, 0netflixme0and Legolas' Girl 31 for their wonderful reviews of chapter 7!

You all have blown me away, thank you so much!

Reviews are very much appreciated. Let me know if you like it or not.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~14 years ago – Tacoma, Washington~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a week after her 17th birthday when the doctors woke Bella up from the medically induced coma. And just as he promised her, Happy was the first person she saw when she opened her eyes. She smiled as her blue eyes met his brown ones, her hand gripping his that held her own.

"Hey Belle, how you feeling?"

"Like I did something stupid." She admitted with a dry laugh.

Happy had to smile at her humor as he nodded, "It was stupid. You could've died, Belle. What were you thinking?"

"Protecting you." She stated in a quiet voice.

Happy saw her bite down on her bottom lip, a sign that she was embarrassed, he sighed as he sat down on the side of her bed. Placing a finger under her chin, he lifted her head up to look at him. "I'm the one that's supposed to protect you, and I failed."

"I'm sorry, Hap." She whispered as tears clouded her eyes.

And there were the words that broke Happy's heart, he hated hearing that coming from her, especially when she had nothing to apologize for. Shaking his head with a sigh, he pulled her into his arms, wrapping his arms around her.

"Shh. It's okay, Belle. It's okay." He whispered as he stroked a hand over her hair. "Honey, I'm not mad at you. I promise. I was—I was so worried that I was gonna lose you before—" Happy stopped his sentence, this was not the way he wanted to tell her how he felt.

Bella sniffed forcing her tears back, "Before what, Hap?"

Happy pulled back so that he could look at her and took a deep breath, "Before I could tell you that I love you."

Bella was speechless, out of everything Happy could have said right then, that was the last thing she expected to hear. "You—you love me?"

Happy nodded feeling a weight lifted off of his shoulders, "Yeah. I love you, Belle. I always have." He noticed how quiet she got and the way her head dropped. "And it's okay, if you don't feel the same way. I'm not going anywhere. I am always gonna be—"

He was cut off as Bella lifted her head up and pressed a kiss against his lips, when she pulled back she smiled up at him. "I love you too, Hap."

The two smiled at one another as Happy held her close to him, his fears had all been laid to rest right then. They laid there in silence until Happy heard a giggle leave Bella mouth, he looked down to see her smiling.

"What's so funny?"

She held up her hand that now brandished the black steel band wrapped with smiley faces. "From you?"

"How'd you guess?" Hap asked sarcastically.

"Gee I don't know." Bella shot back. "What's it for?"

"A promise." Happy said tipping his head so that he could look her in the eyes. "Your dad made me promise to wait until you were 18 before I call you mine, you know, just to avoid the scrutiny of idiots in this town. So that ring is my promise to you, that on your next birthday if you still want me, I'm all yours."

Bella smiled, "Of course I'll still want you. Nothing will ever change that, Hap." She kissed his lips again and snuggled into his side, "Arg, a year is gonna feel like forever."

"Tell me about it." Hap grumbled. She giggled again and Happy looked down at her again, "What now?"

"Smiley faces. You're so corny."

Happy chuckled, "Only with you."


A few days later Bella was released from the hospital just as ornery as ever, she was arguing with the nurses when he walked in. They wanted her to be taken out in a wheelchair and she was refusing adamantly, saying that her heart was hurt, not her legs. Seeing the waning patience of the nurses and doctors, Happy stepped in and lifted Bella into his arms.

"I've got her. Everybody happy now?" He said as he carried Bella out of the hospital to his bike parked outside. Setting her down on the seat he handed her a helmet, Happy put his own on and climbed onto the bike starting it up. As they rode back to the clubhouse Happy smiled, he could feel Bella's hands holding onto his waist, her fingers rubbing circles on his skin. His grin widened as they pulled into the clubhouse lot, it was empty which was unusual especially with Bella coming home today. He saw Bella looking around with a frown, he knew she was wondering why no one was here to greet her, and only he knew why they weren't.

Taking her hand with a smile he lead her to the front doors, opening them he let Bella walk in first. Her head was down as she sulked, she was expecting a big homecoming party to celebrate her return. So little to say that when the lights turned on and everyone jumped out and yelled, "Welcome home!" and "Happy Birthday!", Bella was beyond shocked.

She smiled as her father came over and hugged her tight, enveloping her in his large arms, but not tight enough to cause her pain knowing she still had stitches in her chest.

"Happy birthday, my little one." Dean whispered into his daughter's ear.

"Thank you, daddy." Bella whispered back as she clutched her father to her.

Both of them knew that they could've lost one another, and neither of them wanted to ever have to go through that hell again.


After an hour Bella had finally made her way around the entire clubhouse greeting her guests and thanking them for coming to the party. While she was grabbing a drink at the bar she saw Devin walk through the front door alongside Jimmy and Jey. Smiling she waved them over to her, giving them each hugs as they greeted her.

"Sorry we're late." Devin said sincerely.

"It's okay. I'm glad you guys could make it." Bella told them.

"Here we got you this." Jimmy said as he pulled a giant stuffed wolf out from behind his back.

"Aw, that is so sweet. Thank you guys." She kissed both of them on the cheek making them blush slightly.

"I got you something too." Devin said as he handed her a medium sized box.

Bella sat the wolf on the bar-top as she opened the box, inside was one of Devin's football jerseys. The football players usually gave their spare jersey to their girlfriend to wear on game days and during pep rally events. There was also a smaller box inside, Bella opened it to find a silver necklace with Devin's football number 7 on it.

/twelve-days-of-pigskin-day-12-some-football-bling/

She was incredibly touched by the gift, it was thoughtful and so sweet, but as she glanced across the room to Happy who sat on the couch watching her, she knew she had to tell Devin why she couldn't.

"This is very sweet, thank you. But, you and I need to talk, Devin." She said.

Devin nodded, he could see that something was different with Bella, and he had seen the new ring on her finger. Judging by the smiley faces on it, he could venture a guess as to where it came from and he had a good idea of what she was going to tell him. Contrary to popular belief, Devin wasn't a dumb jock, he was very smart and he could read people very well. He followed Bella outside to the picnic table and sat down beside her on the bench, giving her time to decide what she wanted to tell him.

After a minute Bella sighed, there was no easy way to let someone down, so she just said what came to her first. "Devin, I really like you. But things have changed, not between us, between me and—"

"Happy." Devin said with a smirk.

"Yeah. Is it that obvious?"

"Only a little." He chuckled. "I knew from the beginning that he had feelings for you, they way he looks at you says it all. I was just waiting for you realize that you had feelings for him too."

"You're not mad?" She asked quietly.

"No, I'm not. I knew we wouldn't be a forever thing. I really like you, I do, but if all I can ever be is your friend, then I'll be happy with that. Let's face it, I'm not your type by a long shot." He ribbed nudging her shoulder with his own making her laugh. "So, why don't you go get him?"

"My dad asked Happy to wait until I'm 18, so that we don't get any flack from people in town."

"That's smart." Devin said, before he motioned to the necklace and jersey. "Well, I still want you to keep those."

"I can't, it wouldn't be right, Devin."

"I'll tell you what, why don't we finish out our senior year together. Just as friends."

"You mean like a fake couple?" Bella asked with a grin.

"Yeah, you be my fake girlfriend and I'll be your fake boyfriend. It'll keep the people of the town from thinking there's something going on between you and Happy."

"So, in public I'm with you…"

"… and in private you can be with him. No one's the wiser."

Bella smiled, "You really are a great guy, Devin. I'm glad you're my friend."

"That's why I'm doing this, you're a good friend to me, Bella. Probably one of my closest ones next to Jimmy and Jey. You see past the rich boy jock and see me for who I am. You and I understand one another, and I don't want to lose you."


So for the next year Devin and Bella went on like nothing had changed between them and no one was the wiser. It was true that the couple was just a rouse, but no one knew the difference. A hug here, a kiss on the cheek there, no one noticed that the couple was less PDA than before.

Bella wore the jersey to every Friday night football game and all of the school sponsored pep rally events. She wore Devin's necklace with pride, and even Happy was growing fond of the necklace, 7 being his lucky number, so he didn't mind Bella wearing it. Happy was glad that Bella had such a good friend in Devin, the kid was proving his worth, so Happy didn't mind him being around the clubhouse quite often. Devin had even been given a part-time job as a mechanic by Dean, much to the disappointment of his family, but Devin seemed to care less what people in town thought. He felt at home with the club, they treated him like part of their family, and that was something that Devin had been missing in his own home.

The only night that left Happy a little disgruntled was Bella's senior prom, she and Devin were in the running for prom king and queen. In true Bella style she opted for a dress that was both sexy, but classy, and little flirty and fun. The dress was turquoise making her cobalt eyes pop even more through her smoky eye makeup. It had a halter-style bodice with an open back and brilliant, beaded necklace strap with curving crystal strands that framed her bust and midriff in slenderizing sparkle. Curvy hips completed an iconic silhouette while the svelte skirt spilled to a flaring, sheer-layered full-length and floor-brushing train.

.

She had left her hair down and had the left side pinned back by her ear with a bright blue orchid, and she had Devin's necklace on.

Happy smiled as she came out of the back room of the clubhouse, the old ladies of the crew had been back there helping her get ready and she looked amazing. "You look beautiful, Belle."

"Thank you." She said smiling.

Happy held out a small black box, "Just something to accent your beauty."

Belle opened the box to find a pair of black diamond double-heart earrings inside, she gasped as she laid eyes on them. "Oh, Hap, they're beautiful. These must have cost a fortune, I can't take these, it's too much."

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Happy shook his head as he took them out of the box and slid them through the pierced holes on her ears. "Nothing is too much for my lady."

Bella smiled, leaning up on her toes to kiss Happy's lips, "You're too much. Thank you."

The others around the clubhouse smiled, they loved seeing Happy and Belle together, they were so in love it was infectious to everyone else. Everyone couldn't wait until Belle's birthday so that the two could be together officially.

Bella turned to the doors to see Devin walk in, "Hey, Dev."

"Wow, Bella, you look amazing." Devin said smiling.

"Thank you. You look very sharp yourself." Bella said admiring his black tux. He had a white shirt with a turquoise vest and tie underneath.

"Thank you." Devin took a box out from behind his back containing a corsage, with a smile he turned and handed it to Happy. "I think you should do the honors, sir."

Happy was taken aback, but he actually gave Devin a smile after a moment. Taking the box he opened it and pulled out the corsage before taking Bella's wrist and sliding the band over it. It was made up of blue and white orchids and roses.

"You ready?" Devin asked her.

"Yep." Bella said before she kissed her father's cheek, "Have fun sweet pea."

"I will, daddy."

"Be careful." Happy said after she laid a light kiss on his lips.

"Always." She smiled before she took Devin's arm and the two walked out of the clubhouse.

The rest of the Sons followed them out to the lot where their limo was waiting, Jimmy and Jey along with their dates were inside waiting for them. Devin held her hand as she slid into the car, the two waving goodbye to her family as the limp pulled out of the lot. The group chatted as they drove to the high school, the twins dates gushing over Bella's dress and jewelry.


Bella had a wonderful night with her friends, dancing and laughing throughout the whole night. Afterwards they all went back to the clubhouse for a small after party hosted by the Sons, and surprisingly quite a few of the seniors joined them. Most of the senior class had gotten close with Bella and had realized that the Sons were good people.

The Sons cheered as Bella and Devin walked into the clubhouse wearing their crowns, they had been crowned unanimously by the senior class as prom King and Queen.

Towards the end of the night Happy ventured outside to find Bella sitting on the picnic table. He sat down beside her with a smile, "That crown suits you, Belle. Now you really are royalty."

Bella laughed, "I may be a Queen for the night, but I'll always be a princess here."

Happy smiled as he wrapped his arm around her hugging her into the side of his body. Bella sighed as she leaned into him, laying her head on his chest.

Happy couldn't help the feelings that were bubbling up inside of him and he shifted uncomfortably on the table top. He was trying to be inconspicuous about it, but Bella noticed.

"What's the matter?"

Happy sighed, "The same thing that always happens to me when I see you in a dress like that."

Bella giggled as she glanced down to Happy's lap, she could see the tell-tale bulge indicating what he was feeling right then. "Sorry, my bad."

Happy laughed as he hugged Belle tighter, leaning down to kiss her lips. But the soft kiss soon turned into a deep passionate kiss that left them both breathless. Happy reluctantly pulled away from Bella with a groan, "How long do we have left?"

"5 months." Bella said with a grumble.

They both looked up at one another with a frown, before they burst into smiles and laughter. "This is gonna be a long 5 months." Happy said as he stole another kiss from her lips.