I've taken some liberty with the timeline here, and Wendy woke up earlier than in the show. I have also taken some liberty with the Tacoma members and associated people. Happy gets a little happy, and Josie shows off some acting chops.

Church had been an interesting experience for Josie that morning, with the older women studying her clothes and the younger women trying to decide if she was there for any of the limited available men. The children were all in their Sunday best with harried mothers attempting to keep them quiet while the fathers went about their duties as collection plate passers or prayer leaders. Josie enjoyed singing with the congregation, and the pastor was a good man with a heavy southern accent. He and his wife made a point to shake her hand and let her know when all the prayer meetings and different groups would meet that week.

When she pulled into the clubhouse, Josie was forced to park a bit further away than usual. There were five bikes on the lot that she did not recognize, and there were two in her normal spot. Each had large saddlebags with some also sporting bedrolls. A heavy layer of dust and road grime coated the paint on each, and Josie made a mental note to have Half-Sack wash them down. She was nearly across the main room of the clubhouse and headed for the kitchen when a low whistle drew her attention and quieted the group of men sitting and standing at the bar.

The whistler was a short, well-built man with tribal tattoos running up both arms. His head was shaved clean, though he sported a neatly trimmed mustache and goatee. Brown eyes ran over Josie's capped-sleeved, tea length navy blue dress and white heels before landing back on her face.

"Hey, sweet thang." He gave her a grin that said he knew where he would be spending the rest of his afternoon. "Why don't you swing those hips right around this way?"

"My name is Josie," Josie shook her head with a smile. "And I don't think Happy would like that very much at all."

"Aye, that would cause some problems." Chibs chuckled from his spot at the end of the bar, "he wouldn't. 'Ave ye been ta church all mornin', lovey?"

Smiling at the Scotsman, Josie nodded and slipped her wide, white church hat off. "Tell me ya'll ain't doing shots before breakfast."

Tig shrugged and swallowed the clear contents of his glass. "No one offered to cook."

"Well, excuse me for having things to do!" Josie giggled. "I'm gonna fix myself something to eat if you want anything. Praying for all ya'll takes a lot out of a girl."

Turning to the new comers, Josie mustered a sweet smile. "You guys hungry?"

"Yeah, we could eat." A large man with long hair and a tank top under his cut gave a wry smile as he laid a phone on the bar beside an empty glass. "You Happy's old lady?"

"I'm Happy's something." Josie smiled impishly and resumed her trek into the kitchen where she had ordered Half-Sack to place some basic supplies the night before.

When her response was answered with chuckles and inaudible comments, Josie grinned and began beating eggs to make French toast.

Happy

Happy was cleaning his guns and formulating a tentative plan to deal with the drug dealers who thought Tacoma's elementary schools were their personal client list when his phone dinged with an incoming text message. Finishing with the barrel of the Springfield Armory 9mm in his hands, he wiped his fingers and flipped open his phone to open a text from Quinn, the Nomad president, revealing a picture of Josie standing in the clubhouse, a pretty blue dress bringing out the soft red of her hair. She was looking off to the side as if she were talking to someone and unaware that her photo was being taken.

'Doe this belong to YOU?!'

Happy scowled and hit the button that would call his Prez and longtime friend.

"Why you taking pictures of my girl?"

"So these assholes weren't bullshitting us?"Quinn's voice held a chuckle and he had to hush the men around him before he could continue. "Coon hit on her before we knew, says he's sorry."

Happy felt a feral grin sliding over his face. "Tell that asshole to keep himself in check, or I'll find something real fun to do to him."

"Well, shit, Hap. Not like there's a way for a brother to tell. She ain't sporting a crow."

Happy's mind went to the croweater the night before, and his reaction to Josie's concern for him. He thought of the way she described the house she had bought, and of the way she stood up for herself against the Mayans. "Workin' on it."

"Well, your girl's making us breakfast." Quinn chuckled quietly. "Guess she spent all morning at church."

Happy nodded absently. "Keep the others off her."

"Will do, brother."

Hanging up, Happy trailed his eyes over the few members awake and moving around the Tacoma clubhouse just before noon on a Sunday. Lorca and Donut had sent the prospect out for food before sitting down to clean their own weapons. Donut's impressive stomach was even larger than Bobby's, and he was forced to sit with his legs spread in order to accommodate its girth. Lorca's wife, Candice, was directing the other women in the cleaning of the bar and main room from where she was holding court in one of the more comfortable armchairs.

A memory of his time as a prospect, of the way Candice would drive him hard to see how much he would take and how he responded to different women and their demands, floated to the fore. Back then, she favored long sleeves due to her unfamiliarity with the cold, Washington rain. To compensate for the crow on her left forearm being consistently covered, she had taken to wearing a leather vest with Lorca's name on the back.

Happy knew his eyes were burning with an unnatural light as he smirked across the table at the other man. "Where'd you get that vest your old lady used to wear?"

Lorca chuckled and gave Happy directions to a shop just outside of the busy shopping district without further comment.

Josie

Josie fed the assembled group of men, and left the mess for the prospect to deal with when Gemma arrived with Clay to take her and whoever else was interested to a carnival that had arrived in town a few days before. She sent a quick text to Happy to let him know she was going to the carnival with Gemma, and that Tig, Jax, and Bobby as well as Clay would be escorting them. She didn't want him to worry that she was running around without someone to watch her back when the Mayan situation was as yet unresolved. Changing into a pair of pants and one of Happy's SAMCRO t-shirts that she tied into a knot in the back to cinch it in around her waist, Josie strapped a pair of sandals on and climbed into her truck.

Fun Town was the usual mix of fun and kitsch that traveling carnivals often brought to small towns all across the USA. The warm summer day wasn't too hot, and a cool breeze kept her from becoming overheated as she moved between the booths and rides. Jax and Tig convinced her and Bobby to ride the dragon rollercoaster meant for small children, and they pretended that they weren't having just as much fun as the others while they looped the simple, undulating track.

Gemma and Clay introduced her to Karen and Elliott Oswald, though the other couple seemed reluctant to speak with them. Their daughter, Tristan, was thrilled with extra ride tickets Jax slipped her, and went running off with a big smile and a muttered 'thank you'. Josie waited until the uptight couple left and then giggled as Gemma propositioned her husband. The more time she spent around the club, the more she found to love about the rough and tumble family.

The rest of the day was spent watching the guys playfully rough up a mouthy carnival clown and eating food that she really had no business munching the weekend before a big race. The lights on the ferris wheel had just blinked to wakefulness, the setting sun washing the world in rays of orange and purple, when Gemma and Josie decided to split one last elephant ear before heading home. Waiting in line, they were surprised to hear Tristan's mother shouting for her daughter, a wide ribbon of fear haunting Karen's voice.

"What's going on? What's wrong?" Gemma got the other woman's attention as she and Josie drew close.

Terror for her daughter had chased any thought of superiority from Karen Oswald, and she clasped Gemma's arm franticly. "I can't find Tristan!"

"I'll check the funhouse and the ride. She's probably just run into some friends and lost track of time." Josie dropped her fried treat and ran across the field to the building. Finding it empty, she scanned the rides on the way back to where Gemma had called the men to order, now joined by the nomads. "She's not in the funhouse or on any of the rides!"

"Oh, God, my baby!" The blonde woman was openly weeping now, and Josie wrapped her in her arms. "What do I do?!"

"We've called the cops, and everyone is coming to help look." Gemma's voice had taken on an edge that Josie didn't recognize. "We'll find her."

Understanding what Gemma wasn't saying, that they all knew someone had to have taken the young girl, and that this person would be made to pay, Josie squeezed the lady in her arms. "You need to find a picture of her for when the police ask. Then, we're going to get a cup of Coke to get some sugar into your system. You're shaking, and we need to get that under control before you go into shock. Tristan is going to need her momma to be strong, no matter what."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." The older woman nodded and let Josie guide her away while she dug for her wallet.

Josie caught and returned Gemma's small nod. "I've got her and the police. Ya'll do what you need to do."

Josie forced the woman to take large sips of the sugary soda, and then stayed with her through the initial police interview. She left her side once Elliott joined them, called away from his work by Josie when Karen's voice failed her. Josie located Gemma in the crowd of searchers and then stayed with her for the next hour, when the call came in that the girl had been found.

"Is she okay?" Josie whispered the question to Gemma as the two of them made their way to her truck. The older woman had decided to ride home with her while Clay and the others waited to see if they could help in any way.

Gemma shook her head as they drew close to the GMC. "Don't know yet."

Knowing there was nothing else she could do, Josie quietly prayed for the young girl as she dropped Gemma off at her home and returned to the nearly empty clubhouse. Half-Sack was scrubbing down the bar and looked up with his shy smile as she entered. Josie shook her head at his questioning look and retreated down the hall in silence.

Happy

Happy and Lorca took the club van, even though they both hated to ride in the ugly cage. They needed to be as discreet as possible until they made entry into the house where the small group of dealers had all bunked down. They knew the other men were sitting on a pile of weed as well as some pills, and they wanted to catch as many of them at home as they could.

All the better to send a message.

A soft rain was drumming a staccato beat on the roof of the van as they parked a block away from the house and ducked into the back. Happy slipped his pistols into his shoulder holsters and double checked the knives he habitually carried at his waist and in the top of his right boot. A shotgun gave him an extra edge over the crew they were about to meet, who their intel informed the Sons carried nothing but small caliber handguns. Lorca was similarly armed, and gave Happy a cheeky grin as the two of them stepped out of the black vehicle.

"How long do you think this is gonna take?"

"We go in, make them piss their pants, and leave." Happy shrugged. "Shouldn't take too long."

Jogging down the alley, the two of them looped the shotgun straps over their backs and hopped the back fence. They were across the small, unkempt backyard in less than three seconds. Taking up their pistols, they stood on either side of the flimsy back door. When Happy gave a nod, Lorca shouldered the wooden barrier aside. A young man jerked to his feet at the kitchen table, but Happy put a bullet in his shoulder before he could reach for the small firearm resting on the corner of the counter.

Yanking the man's back to his chest, Happy used him as a shield and pushed him into the next room to confront the others. Four men, looking panicked and disheveled, entered the room from the opposite direction just as Happy and his captive stepped in. Lorca was nearly pressed to his back, a pistol in either hand trained on the group.

"Time for a sit-down, boys!" Lorca's voice was jovial as he looked over the boys in front of them. They were quite young and dressed in huge jeans with loosely cinched belts as well as giant t-shirts.

"Guns. Floor. Now." Lorca did the talking as Happy glowered.

"That's my brother, you motherfucker!" A brown haired young man in his mid-twenties, a beard attempting to fill itself in on his jaw and chin, pushed his way to the front. The pistol in his hand was a Glock, though it was showing signs of rust.

Happy chuckled darkly. "Put the guns down, and we'll talk."

The man standing next to the first speaker drew himself up to his greatest height before aiming with his gun turned completely on its side. "Let his brother go, and we'll think about letting you two assholes walk out of here."

"Oh, thank you." A twitch of his wrist had Happy aimed correctly, and he pulled the trigger in the same second. The insolent young man hit the floor with a scream, his right hand a mass of bone and blood. "Hold your shit right, for fuck sake!"

Once the other occupants of the drug house were disarmed, Happy let himself smile in the way that he knew people found emotionally disturbing. This was shaping up to be a very rewarding endeavor.

"Wh – What's this about?" The one in front of the others, and the apparent leader, didn't take his wide, frightened eyes from the man with a gun to his brother's head. "What do you want?"

"Good questions," Happy shoved the man in his arms to the side, grinning when he bounced off the edge of the couch and landed in a heap on the floor with a groan. "We're here to talk about how you've been dealing close to schools, and you're going to promise us that it won't happen anymore.

The leader put his hands up in a placating motion and grinned. "Now, let's be reasonable here, fellas."

Happy snorted and took aim at the man's left kneecap. The 9mm bullet ripped through the cartilage and bit of bone, coming free in a spray of blood. When he fell to the floor screaming in agony and disbelief, the biker turned his pistol on the two remaining members. "Who's next?"

"Dude!" The smallest member of the crew shook his head. "I was just in this shit to make a little extra money. I'm out."

"Smartest thing I've heard any of you dickweeds say all day." Lorca motioned toward a chair. "Have a seat."

The last of the dealers looked at the three men bleeding all over the living room rug and the other man sitting in the threadbare recliner. "I was never a fan of being around the schools. Don't need that kind of heat, you know?"

Lorca nodded and began speaking as if they were old friends. "See? Not so hard, right? Just keep at least five blocks away from any school, don't seek kids out, and don't bring guns or drugs into the nice neighborhoods."

Happy patted his first victim on the bloody shoulder, wrenching a cry of pain from the smaller man. Leaning down to the level of the leader, now holding his ruined leg and fighting to stay conscious, Happy softly patted his leg. Sinking his fingers through the ruined mess, he grasped the slickness of bone.

"If you ignore what we're telling you, we'll come back." Standing over his friend, Lorca grinned maniacally. "And my friend here can get much, much worse."

Leaving the same way they had come, the two friends gave a whoop as they jogged back to their van. Climbing in, Lorca made sure they weren't followed as Happy pulled out of the lot in front of an empty business. Laughter filled the van as they drove away, the two men recounting their favorite parts of the encounter.

"You out in the morning, then?" Lorca lit a smoke and turned to face his friend.

Happy shook his head. "Want to make sure these dickheads don't try anything, and I need to stop by that place you told me about."

"Never thought I'd see the day you took on an old lady."

"Me neither." Shrugging, Happy lit a smoke of his own.

Lorca grinned. "Wanna talk about it?"

Happy snorted. "No."

"Good. I didn't want to hear that shit." Nodding at the intersection approaching, Lorca sighed. "Turn left at the light. We'll go get shit sorted."

Josie

Monday morning promised to dawn clear and bright, the air carrying with it the barest hint of fall as Josie pulled on her running shoes and strapped her mp3 player to her bicep. It would get boring running in circles on the lot, but she needed to get some miles in. At least she would be out in the predawn world and not on some treadmill somewhere. She had had worse workouts.

The clubhouse door barely made a sound as it opened and she eased it closed behind her. The breeze was cool on her skin as she went through her stretches. The thin jacket she wore over her t-shirt would come in handy for a while until the sun crested the hills surrounding Charming. Knowing she had about two hours before the men started to stir around outside, Josie started her running playlist and started out in a light jog.

By the time Josie had circumnavigated the garage lot enough times to count for ten miles, the men who worked at Teller Motor garage began to arrive or emerge from the clubhouse. Josie took the time to nod hello to some of them as she drank down a bottle of water and removed the thin jacket. Stretching a bit, she shook out her legs as she set the timer on her player and set it up where she could see it.

She would have twenty minutes to do as many rounds of 5 handstand pushups, 10 one-legged squats, and 15 pull-ups as she could manage. In Crossfit, this workout had been given the innocent sounding name of 'Mary', though she knew it was anything but sweet. At least she knew her shirt, which read 'This is my handstand pushup shirt' in an upside down font, would get a few laughs from the assembled men.

When Elliott Oswald pulled onto the lot an hour later, Josie was icing her shoulders as she sat on the picnic table nibbling at a protein bar. She forced herself to remain seated and away from the open office door through which she could hear muffled voices. Someone would let her know what was going on eventually. When the grey haired man left the lot, he gave her a nod of recognition and thanks, and Josie knew he hadn't forgotten her kindness to his wife the day before.

"I need to go see Abel," Gemma said instead of a greeting. "Thought we could do that after the bank. You in?"

"Yeah," Josie nodded and slowly rose from her seat. "Need to grab a shower and run to my bank in Lodi first."

"Good deal. Abel's good for nothing junky mother woke up yesterday. She's put in a request with us to see him." Giving a mirthless chuckle, Gemma rolled her eyes. "As if that bitch deserves to be in the same room as that sweet boy. At least the judge agreed with us."

"Screw that!" Josie scowled. "That baby's been through far too much already."

"My thoughts exactly, darlin'." Jerking her head toward the office, Gemma smirked in the way Josie had begun to recognize as being affectionate. "I'll be in with Clay whenever you're ready."

Showering as quickly as properly taking care of her hair would allow, Josie slipped on a pair of comfortable and pristinely innocent white cotton panties and a matching bra that featured a little white ruffle before donning a blue maxi sundress with a white flower design. Plopping her floppy sunhat on her head, she checked her purse to make sure she had all needed identification for the bank. It was going to be a long, hopefully good, day.

Two hours later, Gemma swung into a Starbucks drivethru. They had successfully navigated all the red tape with the bank, and Josie knew she wouldn't stop checking her wallet to reassure herself that the cashier's check hadn't gone anywhere until it was safely at its destination. Deciding that they both needed coffee, Gemma offered to treat the younger woman to a latte.

"So, have you thought about decorating at all?"

Josie giggled as they waited for their turn to order. "I'm going to need a bigger bed for that room. I have some ideas for the living and family rooms, and I'll probably turn one of the bedrooms into a gym. The kitchen will be the easiest for me."

"I wonder what Happy is going to think?"

"He'll probably yell or something, and say it's too big." Josie shrugged. "It's my money, though, and a woman ought to get some say in where she makes a home."

"Oh, I understand and agree with that completely." Gemma turned to place their orders then, and the conversation stalled while they waited. "Happy is a bit notorious for his cheap ways."

"Well, it's not a bad thing to want to save your money."

Gemma sipped her drink and placed the cup in its holder before she responded. "It's more a necessity than anything, what with his mother being sick and all."

"Gemma, if you want to tell me something you know you probably shouldn't, I won't say anything to him about it." Josie grinned. "It's no secret that Happy would be welcomed as a member of SAMCRO."

"Oh, aren't you a smart little thing?" Chuckling, Gemma merged onto the highway that would lead them back to Charming. "Happy went Nomad from the Tacoma chapter because there's more money in it. His mother is very sick, and he's paying for her doctors and meds."

Josie nodded. "I won't say a word about it, but I'm sure we'll discuss that sometime soon."

"You'll talk him into staying?"

"I'll let him know that I'm happy here, and that I'm not going to let the mother of my old man suffer in any way." Josie sipped her latte as the fingers of her free hand grazed the piece of paper in her purse. "He isn't the sort to let someone else make decisions for him."

"He's your old man, now?"

"Well, he hasn't called me his old lady or anything, but I cannot honestly see myself with anyone else."

Gemma nodded. "That's a good sign."

The rest of the trip to town was filled with talk of Elliott Oswald requesting that the Sons step in to find the man who had brutalized his daughter and what should be done once he was found. They stopped for a quick lunch before getting everything at the bank taken care of. They left with Josie stroking the deed to her new home much the same way she had the check. Deciding to go straight to the hospital, the two women were sobered upon drawing near the entrance.

Karen Oswald was pacing in front of the doors, chewing her once perfect manicure to pieces.

"Maybe you should go see Able by yourself for a little bit."

Nodding, Josie smiled softly. "The little angel does need some church songs."

When the older women began to speak, Josie slipped through the sliding doors and made her way up to Able's private room. Humming softly, she scrubbed her hands the way the nurses had shown her before slipping one through the armhole in the tiny incubation crib. His skin felt so soft and fragile against her warm hand, and Josie began singing a song about mansions and streets paved with gold as he instinctively grasped her finger in his own.

"Who the hell are you?!" An unfamiliar woman's voice lashed through the small room, and Josie skirted the plastic bed to put herself protectively in front of it.

"No, who the hell are you?"

Pushing stringy, badly bleached hair behind her ears, the stranger frowned sourly. "I'm Wendy Teller, and that's my son."

"No," Josie raised an eyebrow sardonically. "You're Wendy Case, and this baby may have come out of you, but he is not your son."

"He is so, and I demand to see him."

"Well, people in hell want sweet tea, darlin', and you've got just as much a shot as they do." Pointing to the door, Josie kept her voice level and quiet through force of will alone. "Now, you need to leave."

"I will not!" Wendy was shouting, her voice causing Able to fuss a bit in his little blue blanket.

Planting her feet, Josie shouldered the other woman back through the door and drew it closed behind her as she followed. "You're not gonna just barge in and upset that sweet baby boy."

"Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do with my own son?!"

"Well," Josie shrugged slightly. "I'm on the list to come and see him whenever I want, and you're the worthless bitch that nearly killed her own son."

Wendy swung from the shoulder, and Josie's first instinct was to dodge the badly thrown punch. Steeling her shoulders, she kept herself in place and allowed the blonde to make contact. She felt the mostly healed split on her lip reopen, and let out a little cry of pain as she let herself go limp against and slide down the wall to the floor.

A nurse came to see what had happened, saw Wendy crouched over Josie's prone form, smacking and occasionally screaming at the smaller woman, and shouted for help. Nurses and orderlies came running, and Wendy was forced to return to her room under hospital guard until the police could be brought to the hospital to handle the situation. When Officer Hale arrived less than ten minutes later, Josie had to fight away her smile in order to tearfully recount how she had been forced to put herself between the unfit mother and the son she was, due to a court order, not allowed to see without permission from his father. By the time he left, Gemma had arrived and she smirked at her as the younger woman was taken down to be looked at by the emergency room doctors and photographed for the police report.

"Why didn't you just kick her ass?"

"I could have." Josie smiled as the two left the hospital and slid into Gemma's tiny convertible. "But it did far more damage to her and her chances of ever getting even partial custody to beat me up. I have a feeling that any judges around here are male, and they'll only see a small young woman who was trying to protect a baby from his obviously unhinged failure or a mother."

Gemma laughed heartily as she started the car. "You need to let Happy know what went on here so he doesn't hear it from someone else and decide she needs taken out."

Josie followed her suggestion and sent off a message to her bit of tall, dark, and scarily handsome. Leaning back in her seat, she looked at her unlikely friend. "Any word about Tristan?"

"It was that fucked up clown." Gemma shook a cigarette from her pack and lit up while they sat at a red light. "Don't worry. The boys will handle him."

"So. . ." Josie sighed and smiled. "Want to go get a drink and shop online for house stuff?"