I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews, and have to say I was amused by everyone's approval of the burning sheets.
Thanks as always, to my beta, missyklauslvr, who fixes my mistakes and had really good input on this chapter and ended up making me rewrite a chunk of it to better fit. I hadn't sent her the rewritten part, so there might be mistakes and those are all on me.
See first chapter for standard Claimers and Disclaimers.
SOASOASOASOASOA
When SAMCRO finally rumbled into the compound after cleaning up the van site, Destery had fallen asleep again on the couch; Abel tucked between her and the couch back to keep him from falling. Somehow they both managed to sleep through the sound of the bikes driving past and parking, but when the guys all poured into the building, both Aunt and Nephew woke with a start. And in Abel's case, crying. Disoriented and in pain from her concussion and the crash that caused it, Destery tried to calm him down. After having no effect on his cries whatsoever, Jax took pity on her and picked his son up, which instantly caused the infant to go from crying to making sounds at his dad.
Destery sat up slowly and rubbed the sleep from her eyes with his fingers, then looked at the guys, all of who had similar expressions on their faces. A mixture of worry, satisfaction, and fatigue. Happy was hiding his feelings better than the rest of them, and Destery couldn't help but glare at him when he started to walk towards her. Tara, having been told what Happy had done, quickly went and sat next to Destery on the couch, then took out her mini flashlight and used it on the blonde's eyes again.
"Fuck! Tara, no matter how many times you shine a fucking light on me, I'm still going to have a concussion!"
Tara just gave her a patient look and shook her head, then pulled a bottle of pills out of her pocket.
"Take one every time the headache is too much, and you'll be fine. Get some rest, too," Tara told her before getting up and going over to Jax and Abel, purposely bumping into Happy's shoulder on the way there.
A little confused at Tara's actions, Destery put the pills on a coffee table, having already decided she wasn't even going to open the bottle. After glaring at Tara, Happy came and sat down next to her, one hand touching her head so he could try and look into her eyes. Still pissed at him for the croweater from earlier, Destery jerked her head away from his hand, then ended up regretting it as it made the throbbing in it ten times worse. One hand pressing at her forehead, she blindly reached out for Chibs with her free one, then got up when he grabbed it and pulled her closer to him. Just as Happy got up to do God knows what about it, Clay interrupted them.
"Alright, quit your drama bullshit. I got important things to say." Clay waited until all eyes were on him before continuing, "The guys that grabbed Destery were all Zobelle's. And one was Weston. So we can expect retaliation for his death."
The second Weston's name was said, Destery's eyes darted over to her mother. Relief was clear on Gemma's face for all over two seconds before she wiped it away and Destery turned back to Clay.
"We're no longer on lockdown after tonight, but everyone needs to watch their backs. Report anything suspicious to one of the brothers," Clay waited a few seconds for a silence to fill the room before striding into Church with Bobby and Tig on his heels like puppies. Almost the second the double doors were shut behind them, Happy stepped forward, only to be stopped by Chibs' hand.
"No, brother. She's had to deal with enough shit today, and doesn't need ta' be thinkin' about some cheap red head in your bed."
"Too late," Destery said before pulling away from Chibs and heading over to stand near Tara, reaching out to touch her shoulder before giving a pointed look towards the door. When the doctor nodded, they started to head for it. Destery stopped just before exiting the building to glance back over her shoulder. "Oh Happy, I burned your sheets and blanket. They're out here if you want them back."
There was laughter as the door shut behind them and Destery gestured towards the parked cars, where the two women sat on a lowered tailgate. Uncomfortable silence filled the space for a minute or so before Destery finally broke it, "I'm going to apologize for being rude since I got back. You've really been nothing but nice to me and I'm being hypocritical by being angry over something I did as well. I was mad at you for ditching Jax to go become a doctor, but I ditched my family to go be with a guy."
"I get it, and I'm over it," Tara told her, bumping her shoulder against Destery's lightly.
"You really had no reason to be nice to me in there and stopping Happy for awhile."
"Stop those whores from hanging on Jax and we're even."
"Deal," Destery said with a smile and hopped off of the truck's back, then paused to catch her balance before glancing back at the building they had come from. "I think I need more sleep to deal with the bullshit that will happen tomorrow."
A truce called between the two, Destery and Tara headed back to the clubhouse, with Tara heading off with Jax. Destery found Chibs and leaned up to whisper in his ear, smirking slightly when she noticed Happy watching from a corner. As Chibs nodded and led her down to his room with a smile, they both caught the glare that Happy sent their way. Shutting the door behind him, Chibs laughed quietly and shook his head at her.
"Yer gonna get meh killed, love. Yeh can sleep in here for tonight, but I'm not staying with ya. He'll butcher meh."
After a small pout, Destery nodded and let the scottish man leave after thanking him, then changed and crawled into his bed to try and get some sleep.
The next morning provided a shocking wakeup for Destery. As she rolled over in bed to try and get more comfortable, her hand hit a denim covered leg. Eyes slowly opening, she saw Happy's angry face and her heart sped up. Sitting up quickly, ignoring the slight pain that still lingered in her head, she pulled the blankets over her chest and glared right back at the SAMCRO member.
"You are not my old lady."
"I know that," Destery said and crossed her arms, trapping the blanket against her body.
"Then don't be bitchy about me sleeping with someone else," Happy pointed a finger at her before getting up and heading for the door. He stopped in the middle of opening it to smirk over his shoulder at her. "And I've already seen everything you got, so there's no use in trying to hide."
She made a noise and threw a pillow at the door just as he closed it, then huffed and crossed her arms. After a few minutes of childish pouting, the blonde crawled out of bed and got dressed in dark jeans and a tank top, then went out to the main room and took a muffin from a container on the bar. Ignoring Happy's staring, Destery sat on one of the barstools, staring at a blonde male with a Tacoma Kutte on his back. As Juice walked by, she reached out and caught his arm, then nodded over at the blonde.
"Kozik. He's based in Tacoma. Used to be SAMCRO, though," Juice told her quietly before slipping away. Destery started to smile when recognition finally hit her and she jumped off the bar stool to run over and hug Kozik from behind.
"Koz!"
Kozik turned around in her arms and grinned down at the woman, before picking her up for a tighter hug. He spun her around once and kissed her cheek, then placed her back down.
"Dezzy, I missed you," he said and ruffled her hair, unaware that Happy was glaring at them from his spot at the bar. The two of them having been friends when she was a teenager, Destery and Kozik easily fell back into old habits and started talking, not paying attention to the people around them. As they went over what had happened to each of them over the past years, they wandered outside and to the dirt bikes.
"Oh man, you still have these things? I remember when Unser arrested you for riding down the street on one, drunk as hell and yelling 'For SAMCRO! And for a better Charming!'," Kozik laughed quietly at the memory, one arm moving around her shoulders.
"Thank god you were following me and bailed me out before mom found out. She would have kicked my ass. I actually need to finish the details on these bikes. Want to help?"
Kozik agreed and after a quick explanation about what she wanted done to the bikes, the two of them started to paint wings and skulls over the black paint with silver. The two continued to swap stories while they painted, laughing loudly at funny parts.
"At least I was never arrested for walking down the street without pants, holding a pair of high heels and calling out for Santa," Destery smirked over the bikes at Kozik, who frowned and shook his head.
"I don't remember that one. When was that?" he asked, looking confused.
"I was. . . oh, fourteen or so. Bobby went and bailed you out. You went away for a few months after that. No one ever told me why," she explained as she put down her airbrush, having caught his wince. "What happened?"
"I was a junkie back then. When the club found out, they said I had to go get clean before I was allowed to come around again."
They both lapsed into silence after the confession and finished up the bikes before getting up and leaning against the wall of the compound.
"Where have you been the past few years, Destery?" Kozik asked, causing her to sigh and lean her head back against the bricks.
"Jail. I got sentenced to five years up in New York."
"What the fuck did you do, girl?" Kozik didn't look happy about the answer he had gotten, having always been the one to try and reign her in to keep her out of trouble. He had once not talked to her for a month after she had gotten a week in juvie for vandalizim.
"I got involved with drugs," Destery confessed to Kozik, who cursed and gave her an angry look.
"Why would you do something so stupid? Didn't your mom teach you anything? No drugs! They threatened to take my patch when they found out I was using!"
"Well it's not like you ever told me, and you shouldn't be lecturing me, you were a junkie too! You just fucking admitted it!" her voice started to raise as she turned to face him, looking angry as well.
"I had shit to deal with in my life, the M.C. isn't always easy!"
"Either is living in the shit part of New York with a drug dealer. Get over yourself, Kozik, you aren't the only one who has had a hard time when they needed help escaping for awhile."
Kozik stuttered a little before the biker in him surfaced and he placed his hands on her shoulder, shaking her a little bit as he growled out, "You should have fucking known better. What did you do for a fix?"
Before Destery could even try to get out an angry answer, Kozik's hands were pulled from her and she was pulled against Happy's chest with one of his arms around her.
"Don't touch her like that." Happy's voice was a very pissed off, murderous sounding growl and both Destery and Kozik paled from just hearing it. Peeking up at Happy, Destery saw that his expression matched his tone of voice and though she was scared, she made the choice to save Kozik.
Quickly reaching up, she placed a hand on Happy's cheek, making him look down at her. The blonde smiled and ran her thumb over his cheek in what she hoped was a soothing way. "Hey, it was just a misunderstanding. It's okay now."
Happy glared for another minute or so before growling and pulling away from her, then stalking back to the clubhouse. Destery waited until Happy slammed the door behind him to turn back to Kozik, who was still looking scared.
"Kozik, I just saved your ass from Happy. I expect you to fucking lay low and don't talk to me until you apologize for assuming I whored myself out for drugs. Not everyone went as low you to get a fix."
Kozik stormed away and Destery closed her eyes to try and keep a hurt expression from her face at the potential loss of a friend she had just reconnected with. When a hand landed on her shoulder, she turned around with a carefully blank face to adress who had touched her.
"What, Juice?"
"What was that about?"
With a sigh, Destery got up and walked over to the bikes, making sure the one Kozik had worked on was finished before she started to clean up the air compressors. Seeing her struggle to carry both machines, Juice quickly took one from her and they carried them back to the garage.
"It was just a misunderstanding. No big deal," Destery told Juice, and then smiled at him to try and make his frown go away.
"If you say so. When we're done cleaning up, Gemma wants to talk to you at your house. I'll give you a ride there, if you want."
"Actually, I want you to do something else for me. Go mention that I need a ride home in front of Happy. He'll do it and it'll get him away from Kozik," Destery made shooing motions at Juice, who gave her another frown, but went to do as she asked.
Destery barely had enough time to finish cleaning up before Happy was standing next to her with her duffle bag in one hand, and a spare helmet in the other. Frowning a little at him, she took the bag and slung it over her body, then strapped on the helmet. Climbing behind him on the bike, she placed her hands in the most neutral spot she could, ignoring his pointed glare at her.
"Get over it, Happy. I'm still mad at you."
Gemma immediately noticed the added tension between her daughter and Happy, but waited until Destery followed her upstairs to ask about it.
"Kozik and I got into a fight. He got mad about something and shook me a little. Happy saw," Destery explained as she stared at a picture of her brothers playing in the backyard that was hanging on the wall. Reaching up, she ran a finger over Thomas, and then smiled over at her mother. "It was really nothing, but Happy is Happy."
Gemma frowned and shook her head before digging in the hall closet and pulling out a few hat boxes. Raising an eyebrow, Destery went over to take one from her mother, so she didn't drop them. After she followed Gemma into the bedroom, she got to see what was in the boxes and it wasn't exactly surprising to her.
"I think you'll be able to handle a .22, don't you?" Gemma asked as she handed over one of the guns and started picking clips from one of the other boxes.
"I need a gun now, Gemma? That's kind of extreme, don't you think?"
"Oh please, even Tara has a gun. Take it just in case," Gemma said and gave her one of those motherly looks that you don't dare disobey.
"I haven't fired a gun since I was sixteen! I probably couldn't aim this if my life depended on it!" Destery tried to pout over at Gemma, hoping it would work like it had when she was a little kid.
"Good thing Happy is downstairs then. He's excellent with guns."
"Fuck. . ."
SOASOASOASOASOA
I don't know about the rest of you, but I always enjoy Professor Happy. The mental image of him in glasses with a ruler is enough to make me giggle like crazy. On another note, I have a general outline for the rest of this story, except I'm not sure if I'm going to give it a happy ending. If I don't there will probably be a sequel though.
