Chapter Ten - It's A Little Bit Funny
Title: Shelter
Author: sweetestsadness
Disclaimer: I do not own any of Kurt Sutter's amazing creation or characters. I do have a few characters I have created, but I'm sure you can separate the two.
Pairing: HappyxNora
Rating: M
Warning: Language, and adult concepts.
Summary: A tattooed man moves in next door and Nora's world is turned upside down.
CHAPTER TEN
'IT'S A LITTLE BIT FUNNY'
After three days of all but ignoring her own house, Nora finally had the stones to walk up the porch steps where she proceeded to stare at the door. It had been scrubbed to the point that bits of white paint had chipped off, but there was still a tint of red. A reminder of what was once there.
"So..." Juice said awkwardly behind her. And the look she gave him over her shoulder was enough for him to leave it at that. The fact that he shut up, though, was actually sweet. Had it been Happy, he would have pushed by her and told her to get the fuck inside, already.
Phil had finished cleaning everything up yesterday and she repaid him with a heaping stack of pancakes smothered in maple syrup, but hadn't dared to see his handy work until now. He'd been nice enough to tell her it wasn't perfect, he had to throw a lot of shit out, but he scrubbed the walls and her bedroom floor as best he could.
Her fingers touched the door knob five minutes later and with a twist, it opened. Counting down from ten, she took a deep breath and pushed the door wide open once she reached uno, stepping across the threshold and clamping down on the nerves that twirled in her stomach.
Phil had been right, while the floors were clear of debris, everything that had been broken was gone and her home looked bare. The living room itself only had the couch and TV stand. The urn was still on the mantel, but Rachel's photo was no longer in its frame. Instead, it was wedged between the urn and the wall. The walls themselves were the worst. Not all of the paint had come off, the red bleeding in and staining, some of the 'bitch's' were still visible, but it was mostly the same tint imbedded in the door.
She needed paint... Lots of it. And a coffee table. Maybe a TV. It all depended, because who knew when she was moving back in. If Eva had any say it would be never, and Lucia was quick to back it up.
Nora went throughout the house, making a mental list of everything she needed to get, and also appreciating just how much work Phil had put into cleaning shit up. The whole house smelt lemony, even her bedroom, but just being in there for a minute had made her feel sick. The memory of what she stepped in still very fresh. So, she quickly grabbed a few extra clothes and stuffed them in the trash bag Juice had gotten for her.
Bagging up some of the stuff from the bathroom, Nora realized that the moment she stepped into the house, all she felt was the overwhelming need to leave as quickly as possible. Feeling like a stranger in her own home made her stomach churn. Even as she stared down at the sink and remembered the moment Happy pushed her against it, the memory of fear and lust only seemed to make it worse.
With all the toiletries bagged, she raced out the door and found Juice on the porch, smoking. Nora's lips curled in distaste. Once she locked up, she handed Juice the bag with all her girly things and then signed, "Wanna take a trip?"
/-/-/-/
It had only taken ten minutes for her to put everything away at Eva's, and a second for her to throw Juice her keys as they got into the car and headed to Home Depot. The drive there was comical, if only because there Juice was with his mohawk and tattoos, a fierce looking man when the time called for it, but now his face was plastered with an excited grin, almost child-like, as he spoke about some knew computer software, all the while driving her beat up, yellow, Volkswagen bug. It was amazing he even fit inside.
When they finally got there, she went on inside while Juice got a cart. Nora made a b-line for the paint department, silently declined an offer to help from the guy behind the counter, as she looked at the color cards. She had already decided to stay away from anything pastel or neon. She needed neutral colors, something that spoke of the calm she desperately needed in her life.
She heard Juice coming before she saw him, the cart making a loud racket as he stood on the bottom step of the cart and sped her way, nearly falling when he came to a stop right beside her. The paint manager gave them a disapproving look.
"Find anything?" he asked with a boyish smile.
She fanned out the four color cards for him with a pleading look on her face and he chuckled before snatching up 'Violet Smoke'. It was a pretty color somewhere between tan and gray. Neutral and soothing.
"What about the front door?" The question nearly made her shoulders sag, she would have just gotten white, but with the red already stained on the door, it would bleed through in time. And she didn't really like looking at the cornucopia of color before her. It was a tad exasperating. There were too many choices.
Putting the other color cards away, she handed Juice 'Violet Smoke' and then signed. "You pick. I trust you. Just nothing completely out there, alright? I'm going to see if they have any rugs on sale."
"You sure?"
Nora nodded and took the cart with her, mouth opening in a silent laugh at the disappointed look he gave her. Like she had just taken his favorite toy away. Poor guy.
"I'll find you once the paint's mixed," he called after her and she waved a hand to show she heard.
Strolling throughout the store, she stopped a couple times. First, because she came upon some furniture and a coffee table caught her eye. It was pretty. Painted black and made of pine. It had a shelf and two drawers for extra storage. The price, however, was a little out of her budget. She only wanted to spend around two hundred bucks, if that. And the coffee table was two hundred and five.
With a sigh, she carried on. Any accent tables would have to wait.
She stopped for only a moment when she saw a bronze lamp. Small and cute with an off-white shade.
Ugh.
Nora continued to push the cart, nearly having to force herself when she saw things that would look good in her house. She didn't need new curtains or pillows with white and navy blue stripes. She needed paint and a rug. That's it.
So, it was only right that not one rug struck any interest. Looking through them all three times, before she even settled on one. It was plain, nothing much. Tan and tightly woven. And the description said it was stain, soil, and fade resistant. So, that was a plus.
"May I help you?"
Nora looked up and almost tucked in her chin, when she saw the guys eyes widen as they zoomed in on her neck. Scarves, she really needed to invest in some more. And then remember to wear them. She could almost see the questions swirling around in his head from his expression. His mouth hung open a little and she just knew he was wondering if she had had her throat slit.
Eh, well, technically speaking... It had been. By a nasty piece of windshield from her mother's Bentley.
"I'm sorry," he finally seemed to snap out of it. He was young, a teenager. Almost her brother's age, maybe. So, she wasn't surprised by his lack of tact. "Is there anything I can help you with today, ma'am?"
She smirked a little. Really? Ma'am? She was not old enough to be a ma'am. She was only a couple years older than him. Nora shook her head. "No, thank you," she mouthed slowly, and then watched as his eyes once again widened.
She tried giving him a kind smile, before she looked back to the rug and tried to find it on the bottom shelf. Squatting down and finding the right one, she gave the end a two-handed tug and was met with some resistance. God, she really needed to work out more. She looked back up to maybe ask for some help, but the kid was already gone. She didn't blame him. Fuck. Nora frowned at the rolled up area rug, wrapped in plastic and ready to go. However, it needed to get into her cart...
With a couple silent grunts, she nearly broke a sweat getting the fucking thing not even halfway into the basket. Then, it decided to lean the other way, taking the cart with it. No, no, no, no, no...
"Whoa, hey," a hand shot out, catching the rug and another pushed the cart back on all wheels with a clatter. Blowing her bangs out of her eyes with a huff, Nora looked at Juice's amused smile. "Having trouble?" Jackass.
"What gave you that impression?" she signed irritably.
He laughed, before lifting the rug up and over his shoulder like it weighed next to nothing. Really? What was he on, steroids? Hell, his muscles were practically showing through his sweatshirt! It made her check out her own arms. They were small, even with the striped woven sweater she wore. It made her frown.
However, her frown wasn't there long. Nora's jaw just about dropped when Juice walked over to another cart. "Just leave that one there," he said with a nod to the cart she already had. But, she just stood next to it gaping like a fish.
"Juice... What did you do?" her hands finally moved.
He frowned for a moment, before he glanced at his cart and a smile lit his face. He looked so damn proud of himself. "Oh, I got the good kind. It's got primer in it and everything."
But it wasn't exactly the fact he'd gotten the expensive kind that had her so stunned. It was the fact that there were over eight gallons worth of paint sitting in the cart.
"I can't afford all that."
"Sure, you can," he responded, looking incredulous. Even going as far as to 'pfft'.
It kind of pissed her off. "I'm not made of money, here, Juice. I don't make a shit load working as a librarian. Each of those are what, thirty bucks each?"
His shoulder gave a minuscule shrug and he hitched the rug up his shoulder when it jostled a bit. "More or less. I wasn't going to let you pay," he said by way of explanation.
She could argue. She really had the ride away here, but his face looked put-out and she could see he would give her a hard time if she fought with him. He could look so much like a little boy at times, but there was this thing in his eyes, a flicker of steel, that told her to back off.
"Why'd you get so much paint?" Nora asked him instead.
"Why are you getting a rug?" he countered.
She couldn't help it, she smirked. "I want to pull the carpet out of my bedroom. There should be wood planks beneath." Nora raised an eyebrow. It was his turn.
"I thought we could paint your bedroom too. Figured you could use a change." Well, that was actually sweet. She rolled her eyes and playfully punched his arm. He didn't even flinch, not even for her benefit. He did, however, snort. "Anyone ever tell you, you need to work out more? That was so weak."
/-/-/-/
Juice helped Nora drop everything off at the house, before they both made their way through Eva's front door. Nora was quick to start helping with dinner and Juice ducked out to the backyard once Eva stopped fretting over him, joining Happy for a cigarette.
"What the hell happened to you?"
Juice glanced up after lighting his cig, looking confused for a moment, before he sighed out a string of smoke and lifted a hand to his forehead, prodding around the gash that stretched from the bridge of his nose to the middle of his melon. "Fucking karma," when Happy just raised an eyebrow, Juice rolled his eyes and looked sheepish. "Hit my head getting out of her cage."
It was kind of embarrassing. He'd parked the car and all but demanded to race Nora to her front porch. He opened the door and BANG! His face collided with the metal frame. They left the shit in the entry way, before she forced him to sit still while she wiped up the blood and sprayed Bactine on the cut. The crap had burned like a mother and he whined like a baby.
Juice was just glad Happy was the silent type, he didn't ask anything else and he didn't jump his ass like Tig would have. After a moment of silence between them, just listening to Eva prattle off instructions from inside, Juice pulled out a wad of cash from his back pocket. "Here, man."
Happy raised an eyebrow at it, pulling the cigarette from his mouth as he took the bundle.
"She wouldn't take it. Nearly took my balls of getting too much paint and ruining her budget plan. She wouldn't even take the offer," he said, flicking some ash onto the ground.
"So fucking independent," Happy shook his head and gave the roll of money a sneer, before putting it in the pocket of his hoodie.
"I like her," Juice remarked, peeking at Happy out of the corner of his eye as he rocked back on the balls of his feet.
There was a long silence before Happy spoke again, smashing the cigarette butt beneath his shoe. "She's not cut out for this."
Juice looked at the killer. Actually looked at him. His face was hard set, more so than normal. And if Juice was really as stupid as everyone claimed, he would have called Hap out on it. "No one ever is in the beginning," was his reply, turning to observe the backyard and missing the shift in the other man's expression.
/-/-/-/
"We're headin' out," Juice's head appeared and Nora put her book down, sitting up a little further on the bed. Her eyebrow instantly went up, catching onto the 'we're'. The last few days, it was quite obvious neither of them wanted to leave the area unprotected. If Happy wasn't around Juice was always there. After dinner they'd both settled on the couch and watched the news, while her and Eva cleaned up. She'd gone to her room straight after.
"Stay safe?" she made it a question. While she hoped he would, she couldn't help thinking of another tan skinned man.
"Sure thing," he said, vaguely. Yep, whatever it was they were going to do, it was none of her business.
"Thanks for going with me today. I'm sorry about your head," Nora couldn't stop the wince if she wanted to. It stopped bleeding which was good and it didn't look like it needed any stitches... Eva hadn't liked the look of it, but she confirmed that she'd seen worse.
"Juice!" Happy.
Juice looked over his shoulder and then shot her a grin. "No problem. Gotta go. See ya later. Maybe tomorrow we'll have a Friends marathon or somethin'?"
"Alright."
"Cool," he declared with that boyish smile.
"Juice! We gotta go!"
"I'm coming!" Juice hollered, shaking his head. "I better hit it before your man skins me alive." Nora's mouth opened on instinct and she raised her hands to correct him, but he ducked out before she could even get her fingers moving.
It wasn't five second later that she heard their Harley's start up. And she listened until all that was left behind was the echo in her ears. She sighed and picked up her book.
'Anthony turned over sleepily in his bed...'
Once, twice, she read the line over thirty times before she heard the soft knock on her door. She couldn't exactly respond, but she sat back up and was surprised when the door opened and Lucia's face greeted her.
"What are you-" she started before remembering Lucia didn't know Sign.
"Oh, calm down, mija," she demanded and slowly made her way over, sitting on the edge of the bed. With two books in her hands. She looked tired, her make-up had been washed off recently and she smelled a bit like pumpkin spice. Her nightgown was bright blue, though, and the scarf around her head was a brilliant green, it gave life to her dreary face. A face Nora just now noticed was a tad more haggard than she'd ever seen before.
Lucia raised one of the books and Nora read the title: 'Signing for Dummies'. She was kind of shocked. "I had Eva go buy it. We've been learning together. Would have thought that woman would have learned when you first came into her life..." Lucia shook her headed and rolled her eyes.
Nora grabbed the paper and pen from the bedside table, scribbling quickly, before she showed her.
"That's very sweet. You didn't have to do that. I don't mind writing down my responses." While it would be a lot less difficult for everyone to just know Sign, she couldn't expect that out of people, especially Lucia. It might have been because she was in remission that Nora didn't want Lucia to stress herself over learning something like ASL. It wasn't exactly something you could master overnight. Just like any language, it took time.
Lucia smiled at her, a full-fledged smile she hadn't seen before and Nora briefly wondered what a smile like that would look like on her son. If Happy could even smile, that was. "It's okay," Lucia's fingers moved slowly as she both said it and signed at the same time.
Nora didn't have words. It was the sweetest thing anyone had done for her since Rachel's death.
"What's this?" Lucia then asked, picking up the book Nora was reading. "The Beautiful and Damned? You like the classics then?" Her thin eyebrow arched.
Nora shrugged her shoulder with a nod.
"I think I read this in high school," Lucia commented, turning the book over in her hand. "It was depressing and didn't have an ounce of smut," she said it like it was a bad thing and Nora couldn't stop from smiling. "Here," instead of handing her back Fitzgerald, she gave Nora the other book she'd brought with her. It was small, paperback, and had a woman biting a man's neck on the cover. "Read this. The author is a godsend. The plot is actually quite good and the smut will no doubt soak your panties," Nora's head snapped up and wide eyes found Lucia with a smirk on her lips. "When you're done, I'll give you the next one. You need something to hold you over until my son snaps."
TBC.
A/N: You guys are awesome. There isn't any Happy/Nora in this chapter I know, so I hope you aren't too mad, but I'm deepening the bond between her and Juice. I just really want them to be friends. You're all so nice, I just hope you like this chapter and aren't disappointed. I'm rather disappointed in myself for not diving in deeper and letting RL shit get in the way of me finishing this. Don't worry, there are a lot more chapters to come. I actually have a Halloween chapter in mind. I really wanted to get it to you guys ON Halloween, but since it's tomorrow, I doubt I will. I hope it won't take longer than a month this time. I'll try to get it to you guys as soon as possible. Please, enjoy.