Jo threw a punch, following it through with a kick as she tried but failed to reach her intended target both time.

"Your head's not in it Jo. Focus! "

They continued to dance around each other for a moment until Jo took another swing but Samson easily dodged it again. He bumped his hands together, taunting her. "Get your head our of your ass girl!"

She felt herself getting annoyed and tried a fake out, spinning at the last minute, landing her feet in his chest, knocking him back into the ropes. "That's what I'm talking about!"

While he was busy talking, Jo continued her advance, landing a punch before sending him onto the mat with a smooth sweep of the leg. Towering over him, as he tried to sit up, she flashed him a smile, holding out a hand for him. "That focused enough for you?"

He let out a laugh as he shook his head negatively. "I can still stand on my own, thanks."

They walked off the ring and sat on a bench nearby. Samson smiled knowingly, patting his forehead with a towel as she removed the straps on her hand. "Okay, so I'm gonna go on a limb and say I know what's got you so worked up. Still haven't heard from him?"

Jo threw him a sassy look before answering. "Nope."

"How long has it been? A week?"

"Ten days. But who's counting?" She was. Very much. Happy had warned her he'd be out of touch but she hadn't expected it to be so long. She missed him yes, but after a few days, missing him had inevitably turned into worrying sick about him.

"You know I might be thinking outside the box here, but you could always stop torturing yourself and I don't know, call him?"

Like she hadn't thought of that. She literally had to stop herself from calling a hundred times. "I can't Sam. He said he'd be in touch and asked me to trust him. So that's what I'm doing. I'm giving him his space. I'm just worried that's all. You know me."

"Yeah, I do. And don't take this the wrong way Jo, but I've never seen you like this. With anyone."

There was a question in his comment.

"I can't really explain it Sam."

"Try me."

"It's just- we have a connection and everything but it's more about the way I feel when I'm around him or even on the phone. It's like nothing I've had before. He…He makes me feel like a woman, you know, a proper woman. It sounds weird but I can't explain it any other way."

"You really falling for him, aren't you?"

"You think it's a bad thing?"

"It doesn't matter what I think, babe."

"It does to me."

"I've seen him with you. I've seen how you two connect. I get it. I also know a little about guys like Happy. I grew up with a few of them. So what I think is that he could either be the best thing that ever happened to you or the worst. Either way, you know I got your back." He declared as he squeezed her shoulder.

"Thanks Samson. It means a lot."

"Now how about we hit the showers and I'll buy you some diner."

"I like the sound of that."

After their chat, they'd gone to a local diner they favoured above the wanna-be fancy restaurants in town. She felt slightly better after her talk to Sam. Her own admission of how Happy made her feel lifted some sort of weight off her shoulders. But it also added some worry. She wanted him in her life, that much she knew. She needed him to be okay so he could be in her life. And the need she felt scared her. A whole lot.

It hadn't started off like that. At first, she'd just been curious about this taciturn biker who seemed to keep the world at arms length. Then she'd been incensed by the challenge he had been determined to make him walk come what may,however long it took, no matter how hard it was. She was realistic she had had ulterior motives to do so. She had told him, she had a score to settle with life.

**********SOA**********

It had been a couple of months since he'd finally felt his legs. The doctors had wanted to be cautious, but keeping her promise, Jo had been riding Happy hard, working almost exclusively with him with Graeme's blessing. They all were suckers of a story with a happy ending. And a man with virtually little hope of ever walking again, managing to get back on his feet was exactly that, regardless of who he was.

The return of sensation to his legs had also done wonders on Happy's motivation as well and he took everything she threw at him with little complaint. He still had days where he scared some staff member half to death but with Jo and her team, he had been nothing but cooperative. Sure, he still growled at her and wasn't going to make friends any time soon but they had found a middle ground and were managing to work together for their common goal. She had made him a promise to get him up in his feet and so far, there was no question that she was delivering.

She'd taken the habit of coming to his room a couple of nights a week, smuggling in whiskey. It was usually good stuff too. Sometimes she drunk with him, sometimes she didn't. There were times where they talked, but most times he was too tired to make conversation, happy to relax with a glass of the amber liquid.

She liked those nights. She had come to enjoy the charged silences. Truth was he intrigued the heck out of her. He had such an uncompromising take on life. Unlike most people she knew, unlike even her, he was real. There was absolutely nothing fake about him and it wasn't something that could be said about most people in life. He made no apologies for who he was, and he didn't care about how the rest of the world saw him. It was...refreshing. His entire body was a mirror to the way of life he believed in. I live, I die, I kill for my family. Couldn't get any clearer. And she was sure it wasn't just something he'd tattooed on his collarbone. Every inch of ink on his body represented something to him, a reflection of who he was, what he did.

He'd caught her watching him several times but he had never offered an explanation or even mentioned it. She hadn't asked. She wasn't sure if it was because she was afraid he wouldn't provide any answers, or the opposite. Truth was, if she had met Happy in other circumstances, she would probably never have talked to him or him to her. They might live in the same world but they had very different lives. He didn't understand hers and she didn't understand his. But as they got to know each other, she was starting to see that even if their lives were polar opposites, the two of them weren't so different after all. Or maybe they were but it didn't seem to matter so much.

She had also become very aware of something else. Something that had snuck up on her before she could realise It. She was attracted to him. Physically and otherwise. That much had become clear when he'd stripped to his boxers one morning for his daily deep tissue massage, as he had done for two straight months and she'd blushed. Full on, teen with a crush blushing. She could cringe just thinking about it, but she hadn't been able to help it. She was sure he'd noticed it too even if he spared her any comment. When she'd laid her hands in him, she'd also felt how her body was reacting to the touch. She had never experienced that before. Touching was a huge part of her job. she touched people as often as others sent emails in other lines of work. Never before had it been sensual, nor did it cause a familiar but unwelcome tingling to course through her body.

She knew it was probably unprofessional of her to stay on his case after she realised this but she had come too far to give up now. She had made him a promise and by god she was going to keep it. Besides, she still trusted herself and she knew who she was. And crossing lines with patients wasn't who she was. Not matter how hot and bothered they made you.

She realised he had been watching her for a while, his eyes drilling holes into her.

She flashed him a smile. "What?"

He downed his whiskey and held out his glass for a refill. She poured him a new glass and topped up hers while she was at it.

"Can you be straight with me Doc?"

She frowned in confusion. "Of course."

"Why're you here?"

"What do you mean?"

" I ain't a fool doc. We're all the consequences of our past. I know this thing you do with me, getting in this deep, it ain't just about getting an asshole like me walking."

" I do care about you walking again, Happy."

" Never said you didn't. Question is why do you care so much? I've been straight with you Doc. I'm asking the same."

" You don't say much but when you do, you don't dance around things, uh?"

"Never gets me nowhere."

"No, I guess not."

She looked down. This wasn't something she shared with just anyone. In fact, aside from her dad, her aunt and a couple of other people including Samson, she never had this conversation with anyone else. Why she felt comfortable enough to share that history with Happy Lowman, a man she didn't know a couple of months ago was telling. But he had asked for the truth and she figured she owed him that much.

" I don't like my birthday."

" I noticed."

" I used to love my birthday. It was my favourite day of the year. My mum, she, uh... She would always go all out. My parents struggled having me so she always wanted to make me happy. That kind of turned me into a brat. Anyway, my mum was a very keen rider. Horses, not bikes. She'd been riding since she was a kid and she always wanted me to love it as much as she did. I liked it enough but I guess I was never great at it, so I Never really tried. Anyway, we had this thing where she would take me for a morning ride for my birthday. Sort of like a tradition. But that year, I didn't want to go. I was turning twelve we had a big party planned and I... I just didn't want to go. She insisted and we ending up going but I sulked all through it. She finally had enough and got frustrated with me so we turned back."

Jo had to pause there and swallow hard, trying to control the tremor in her hand. It had been twenty years but she could still remember everything about that day. The slight chill in the air, the light rain that was falling that day, the familiar smells of the pine trees. She didn't turn to face Happy but she could feel his eyes on her, waiting for her to continue the story on her own time. She appreciated his silence. Someone else might have tried to encourage her or even stop her. He didn't. He just waited.

After a moment, she found her voice again. "Something spooked the horses. Mine buckled but I managed to calm him down. But hers just bolted and threw her. Her foot was still attached and she was dragged away. It took me an hour to find her. She was dragged for two miles before she managed to free herself. She survived, but she...uh, she was paralysed. And just like that, the woman I knew? My mum? She was gone. She'd suddenly been replaced by this shell of person who spent days looking out the window for something that was gone, ignoring the world around her."

He still didn't say anything and she looked up to meet his dark eyes. She had expected to see pity but instead she was surprised to see something else. Some sort of new found respect.

Feeling scrutinised, she focused on the glass she was holding, playing with the amber liquid. " She killed herself a year later. I came home from school and I found her in the bathroom. She didn't even bother to lock it knowing I'd be the one to find her. After she died, I got lost for a while. I was lucky to have someone who helped me find a way through it. My aunt... She... She helped me in ways she doesn't even realise."

She swallowed her drink at once and he poured her another, making her chuckle. They made a weird pair, sharing messed up stories around a drink like two old friends would in a bar. " I'm sorry I didn't mean to blurt all of that."

He finally spoke, his gravely voice cutting throug. The silence. "I asked."

" You did. But here's the thing Happy. That history? You're right, I carry it with me every day. It's part of who I am. But it isn't why I care. I don't do this job to exorcise some kind of ghost." she paused looking for the right words. " Being capable of compassion, caring for others, trying to make a difference in the life of those in pain? That is what I learned from my aunt and that girl I used to be? I'm not sure she would have. Losing my mum was the hardest moment of my life but when I think about who I was becoming, who I could have become, it scares the hell out of me."

he didn't respond for the longest time but then he downed his drink and she finally heard him speak.

" You're a freak show, Doc." He said without humor.

As soon as she heard the words, she erupted into a laugh. He hadn't meant it as a bad thing and coming from him, she knew to take that as a compliment. " Yeah, I guess I am."

**********SOA**********

Jo let herself into her darkened house and turned on the lights. She loved her house. She had fell in love the very first time she had seen it and it had been everything she had dreamed of. It was small but cosy, and she had managed to give it a cottage homey feel without be trying to much. It was her dream house, but sometimes, like tonight, it felt cold and empty. Being a single child, she had alway had dreams of a house full of kids and she had hoped this was in her future but at thirty three, she knew that window was closing in fast.

Putting her dark thoughts aside, she headed to her bedroom to get changed, throwing on some shorts and a man shirt. She opened her fridge but realising she wasn't really hungry she just took out a beer. She opened it, taking a long sip and walked to the bay window that led to the backyard, sliding it open, letting in the fresh air of the night. Summer was nearly there but the nights could still be quite chilly. She didn't really mind though. She picked up a blanket on her way out and took a seat on a lounger, sipping her beer and letting her thoughts drift back to her conversation with Samson.

She wasn't sure she had been able to clearly convey the way Happy made her feel. After all, it was something she barely seemed to understand herself. But when Happy looked at her or talked to her on the phone, he might as well have been touching her. She had dated many guys who thought she looked nice on their arms and seemed to think she ticked all the right boxes when it came to picking a life partner, a wife, a mother for their kids. If any of those guys had tried bossing her around, trying to tell her what to do, she would have sent them packing. But somehow when Happy did it, it didn't upset her, it made her feel good. Really good. He didn't treat her as an equal. He treated as a woman and damn the feminists, it made her feel like million box. It might be ironic and hard to understand that a woman as independent as she was would be seduced by it, but she was. She remembered the way he had taken control when he'd kissed her his last day in the center. Forcing her to look at him, making sure she was on board before kissing her. She was sure that Happy wasn't the kind of man who lacked female attention and she loved the way he made her feel special just with a look or a word.

Jo was so lost in her thoughts that she almost didn't heart the faint sound of her phone ringing in her gym bag. She jumped to her feet, throwing her blanket on the seat before running back inside to pick it up. She rummaged through her bag, picking up right before it went to voicemail.

"Hello?" She almost shouted out of breath.

"Doc, it's me."

She exhaled loudly, partly because of the panic she'd just felt and partly because of the relief that swept over her as she heard his gravely voice . She felt her eyes watering uncontrollably. "Hi."

"You okay?"

She nodded almost forgetting he couldn't see her. "Yeah," she manage to say. " I'm just really glad to hear your voice."

She knew he could hear the tears she was chocking back in her voice. "I told you, you didn't need to worry about me Doc."

"Like that was going to stop me. " she laughed good heartedly. "It's been ten days Hap'. Of course I was worried. I- I thought that something might have happened to you, and I wouldn't even know about it."

"You would Doc." He corrected her. "But nothing is going to happen to me, I promise you that."

She decided to change the subject. There were so many things she wanted to ask but she knew there were a lot of things he wouldn't tell her, so she picked her words carefully.

"You sound tired."

"I am tired." He confirmed with a sigh. "Sick of crashing in shit holes motels."

"Are you back in Charming?"

"Not yet. I had something to take care of first."

"Oh." She hadn't managed to hide the disappointment in her voice. She hadn't really tried. She didn't want to speak to him on the phone anymore. She wanted to see him, touch him. If he wasn't back in California, she wasn't sure when that would happen now. But she continued without enthusiasm. "Anywhere nice?"

"Things are definitely looking up yeah."

That was vague. Even for him.

"Get to your door Doc."

She'd heard the words, sure. But they didn't compute straight away. "Hap?"

"Just do it Jo."

She swallowed hard, very aware that her heart rate had suddenly accelerated. She refused to get her hopes up, but it was hard to contain a smile as she opened her front door.

He was standing halfway up the driveway, leaning against his bike, trying to hide a self satisfied smile. He had hung up his phone and slid it back in his cut. He was wearing a white tee-shirt showing off his inked muscular arms and his usual low cut jeans over his leather boots. He looked gloriously hot. And sexy. And most importantly, unhurt.

She let out a small laugh beaming, and bit her bottom lip as he waited, arms crossed for waiting for her to come to him. Without an hesitation she ran to him and throwing her arms around his neck, pulling his head down to meet her lips.

Their first kiss had been tentative, patient, deep. This was something else entirely. It was about need, want and passion. It was about coming together finally. He slid a hand to the small of her back pulling her closer, whilst fisting his free hand in her hair. Their tongues were dancing together in sync as she spread her fingers against his cheek, breaking their kiss to suck in a much-needed breath, before trailing down to bury her face in his neck. ""I missed you." she whispered against his skin.

He tugged at her hair, and she looked up meeting his gaze. He smoothed his hand over her soft curls. "You too Doc".

There were so many questions to ask, so much to say, but she was overwhelmed by his presence here, in her world. No, this wasn't the moment for this. Right now, she just wanted to be with him. She caught his hand, pulling him towards the house. "Let's go inside."

They walked in and she let go of his hand to close the bay windows that she had left open. Turning back to him, she watched as he took off his cut, laying it gently on the couch, before taking off his holster. She ticked at the sight of a gun but brushed it off. Later, she thought. He was looking around him, taking in his surroundings. She did a double take on him, amazed at how surreal his sudden presence in her house was to her. He sensed her eyes on him and spun around to face her.

"You hungry? I can put something together for you."

He took a few steps towards her. "Nah, I'm good."

"You want something to drink?"

He stopped a few feet away from her. Close but not enough to touch her. "Didn't come here to drink either, doc."

She bit her lip, suppressing a smile. "You want a tour of the house?"

"Only one room I'm interested in right now." He stated with a crooked smile.

She closed the gap between them, capturing his hand on hers. "Yeah. Me too."

She guided him to her bedroom, turning on the light before facing him.

"Come here Doc."

She didn't move. His turn to come to her. Instead she slowly started to unbutton her shirt. His eyes darkened and in two quick steps, he was on her, his hand on hers to stop her. "That's my job, doc."

There would be not arguing with that. Without breaking eye contact, she removed her hands, letting them fall to her side as he took his time taking off each button. As he reached the last one, she let out a sharp breath as he gripped the sides of her shirt letting it fall to the floor. He perused her body shamelessly lingering on her chest. "You're so fuckin' beautiful, Jo."

He delicately brushed her collarbone with his fingers and she closed her eyes, letting herself get lost in the array of sensations he was provoking in her. He leaned forward and dived to her neck, trailing his tongue on her skin lightly as he roamed her back, before reaching and expertly unclasping her bra. He pulled it off her shoulders in a swift move and let it drop. He took her in, lust and desire clearly visible in his eyes before taking each breast in his hand, caressing her softly. She leaned her head back as a rush of heat started in her, slowly spreading to every inch in her body.

He bent slightly, taking her left breast in his mouth, sucking on it.

"Oh, Hap." She moaned as she slipped her fingers to the back on his head bringing him closer.

Happy let go of her left breast and continued to work on her right as she tried to keep control of her body. He dropped to his knees, his mouth resuming its exploration of her body, lingering on her stomach for a moment before heading south. He hooked his thumbs in her shorts and pushed them down her body.

He ran his hands softly along her legs, his destination clear. But right as he reached her core, she grabbed his hand. " Hap, I want to see you too." She croaked.

She tugged on his hand and he stood back up. She cupped his face, pulling him toward her and gripped his tee-shirt and pulling it above his head making them break contact for a moment before she took his mouth again while his fingers gripped her hair. Her hands fumbled down his chest, closing around his belt and unbuckling it,opening his jeans in the same movement.

She moved her hands back to his chest, pushing him sway slightly. He frowned, confusion in his eyes. Not offering any verbal answers, she walked backwards until she hit the bed. She pulled her thong down and she heard him exhale loudly as she scouted up and held out her hand to him. He kicked off his boots and socks, and after fishing a condom from his pocket, he dropped his jeans and boxers to the floor and climbed on the bed next to her. He kissed his way up her leg, parting them slightly to allow himself passage.

He reached her core, and ran his fingers between her folds as she arched her back and gasped. She felt him kissing her and suddenly he was pushing two fingers inside of her.

"Shit Doc, you're so wet."

He started to move inside of her, as his tongue teased her clit.

It was the most amazing feeling but it was all too much and not enough. She wanted him with her, she wanted him inside of her. She closed her hands on his face. "I need to feel you Hap, I need you here."

He seemed to hesitate for a second and she pleaded again. " Please, we have time for that. I need you now."

He sat back and opened the condom rolling it on in one quick move before moving on top of her as she parted her legs, closing her ankles around his waist.

He laid his forehead on hers as he pushed at her opening, letting out a earthy growl as he buried himself deep into her.

I hope you enjoyed this! This was a longer chapter than usual to make up for the long wait and if this gets a good response, next chapter should be coming very soon ;)!

Thanks to everyone who has alerted this story (165 on the last count!) . I think I have thanked everyone who has reviewed, but I want to say a special thank you to all the guest reviewers that I'm been able to thank directly! You guys are brilliant and continuously brighten my days with your kind reviews!

The reaction to this story had been freaking fantastic and I hope you stick around for the ride and continue to let me know what you think!