12.
It was midday and another sunny Californian day was upon her. That kind of weather was getting on her nerves and secretly she longed for the New York ever-changing scenery. Not Cali. Cali was always sunny and hot and contradicted her mood. Ava was sitting on her couch with her lap-top before her and she was hitting the keyboard hard. She had come home with Opie the night before after the party but she heard his phone ring early in the morning. Opie got up swiftly and talked for a while before coming back in and kissed her on her forehead as she was pretending to be asleep and left. She hadn't asked what the deal was with LOAN but she had more serious problems to deal with. She was digging into Gemma and Clay when her phone rang.
"Big man" she said her eyes pinned on her computer screen.
"Babe, I need a favor" he said urgently and made her frown.
"Say it"
"There is some bad shit going down. I need you to pick up my kids and keep them at your place for a while"
Ava's eyes went wide open and she slummed her lap-top shut.
"Babe?"
"Isn't there anyone else?" Ava made no attempt to hide her denial "What about your father?"
"My father spends most of his days up in the cabin, drinking himself senseless" he barked and Ava knew shit was serious "Fuck, Ava!"
"OK, big man" she gave up.
"Thanks. They are at school" Opie said and hang up.
Ava puffed her cheeks and sighed. She was willing to go head on with Gemma and Clay than bring Opie's kids home. Especially when she was in the middle of a secret goddamn war with the royal couple of SAMOCRO. She looked around and checked her house. It was mostly, children friendly and she always hated guns anyway. She rushed to her kitchen and opened the fridge. She had all she needed for her favorite food. Then she remembered she hadn't showered and rushed to the bathroom. She would hate to pick up a guy's kids still smelling like him and his sperm. Few minutes after she was out the door and on her way.
There was a long line of SUVs and soccer mum cars picking up kids and Ava waited patiently for her turn thinking how Opie would look like in his beat truck looking as bad-ass as he did and that made her crack a smile. She was next when she spotted Ellie and Kenny sitting on a bench so she pulled her hand- break and went out the car. There was a teacher there making sure that the right parents got the right kids.
"Hello" Ava approached the teacher and widened her smile.
The teacher looked at her up and down. Ava was in loose, midi, black dress, black leather boots and a long silver pendant over it. Her hair was pulled up with an elaborate hairpin and she had black and white Ray-Bans on.
"Hello" the teacher, an overweight stringy woman, answered "May I help you?"
"I'm here for the Winston kids" Ava glanced at Ellie and Kenny.
Kenny was already coming up to her with a wide grin but Ellie's look was sullen. She was the exact opposite than her father when it came to colors but that look Ava knew well. It was the precise copy of her father's hard look.
"You are?" the teacher narrowed her eyes.
"Ava!" Kenny answered for her and came up enthusiastically.
Before Ava could react, Kenny had thrown his arms around her waist and pulled close. The Russian had faced cold-blooded killers, rapists, mafia bosses and she had lost count on how many times she had looked down a gun's barrel. Yet that was the single most terrifying moment of her life and she couldn't help but think that the ability of rendering her incapable of any reaction was hereditary in Winston men.
"I'm Ava" she turned to the teacher with an awkward smile.
"She's my Dad's girlfriend" Kenny hadn't left her still.
"Ellie, is it true?"
Ellie pulled closer and the teacher looked at her seriously. Ava glanced at the teacher eyeing her stung by jealousy and she frowned as she was dealing with the idea of a middle-aged teacher in love with a huge, tattooed biker. She turned to Ellie and the girl looked back with an affirmative look. Ava smiled and she was surprised enough to see Ellie crack what remotely resembled a smile.
"Ellie? Is this your father's girlfriend?" the teacher asked with a wounded tone.
"She is" Ellie said and went to Ava's car.
"Bye, miss Haneker" Kenny said and slid beside Ellie.
Ava smiled and took her place in the driver's seat. She glanced back at the teacher that was eyeing her vengefully.
"And there goes your get-out-of-jail-free-card" Ava said.
"She is not our teacher" Ellie threw.
"What? What?" Kenny asked and Ava laughed at how sweetly innocent he was.
"Well, kids, your Dad is caught up and you are coming to my house"
"Yeah!" Kenny was really happy.
Ava glanced at Ellie through her mirror and she was met with the girl's look. And Ellie wasn't the least excited as her brother was. She was older and more aware of what went on in her father's life, what was the reason her mother was dead. And she was tortured between blaming her father for her lost mother and loving him as a daughter should. Ava wished she had the courage to tell her she had been there and went through the same roller-coster of feelings when she woke up to her mother's body with a bullet hole between her eyes.
Kenny rushed in Ava's garden with excitement and Ava was jealous of the kid. He, too, knew what was going on in his life and he chose not to wallow in bitterness. Someone had to keep that family together, pour some joy in their life and he had the courage to take that task up on his own. Ellie came in and flopped on her couch checking her phone.
"Guys" Ava's tone was firm "I didn't know you were coming so you got to help me prepare lunch"
Kenny was following her around and he did so when Ava went in the kitchen. Ellie pretended Ava never spoke but Ava wasn't going to budge that easily.
"Kenny, please take out the mayonnaise and mustard. I'll be right there"
Ava went in the living room and stood across Ellie.
"Come to help, please" Ava demanded firmly.
Ellie continued to ignore her. The easy thing to do was let her be, cook and wait for this to be over. But Ava wasn't ready to follow the easy path.
"It is rude not to look at the one talking to you" Ava put simply and felt Kenny at the doorway.
Ellie glanced up with an ironic look meant to hurt and shake her off.
"Thank you" Ava was serious "Now, come and help in the kitchen"
"No" Ellie provoked.
"Then you don't get to eat" Ava smiled.
"Fine" Ellie resumed the obviously serious thing she was doing with her phone.
"Ellie" Kenny yelled desperately but his sister wasn't giving up yet.
"It's OK, Kenny. Let's go" Ava went back into the kitchen.
For a while she was preparing her favorite hot pasta salad and she caught herself smiling as Kenny's enthusiasm seemed contagious. They were almost ready when Ellie walked in with a tough look on her face.
"Am I allowed to drink water, at least?"
"Bottles in the fridge" Ava pointed and turned to mixing the salad.
Ellie grabbed a bottle and sat on the bar stool across the counter looking at them.
"Ellie, did you now there was a thing called Worchester sauce?" Kenny tried to include her to what they were doing.
"It's ready, Kenny" Ava said "We clean up and we are ready to eat"
"If…uh…if I clean up? Would you let me grab a bite?"
Ava turned to her with a warm smile. Ellie had a few more walls to break but she was making an effort. Ava had no idea why but she wanted to see her smile, see her happy, relaxed not angry.
"Of course, Ellie. Thank you. Kenny, wash your hands and I'll set the table"
Kenny complied readily and Ellie went round the counter to the sink, washing off the dishes and loading the dishwasher. There was a strange familiarity in all this, that woke a longing in Ava, the likes of which she had never tasted before. The Winston family was one of many firsts. That exact moment her phone rang and Opie's name flashed on screen.
"Big man" she said as she was setting the plates on the dining table by the window looking out the countryside and it would be the first time to use that table.
"Babe, you got the kids?"
"Yeah. We are ready to eat. Is everything OK?"
"Hope so" Opie remained cryptic "Are they giving you hell?"
"Not at all" Ava glanced at Ellie that was listening attentively.
"I'll swing by tonight when this is all over"
"OK"
"Thanks again, babe" Opie hang up.
Ever since that day of the shooting he wasn't using the L word anymore. Ava suspected it was out of respect for her unspoken wish to take things slower. But should he happen to ask her, she would admit she missed it. She left the phone on the counter and had her look still pinned to it.
"You like my Dad, right?" Ellie asked with her back still turned to Ava as she was cleaning the counter.
"I do. Not as much as miss Haneker does, though" Ava smiled.
Ellie scoffed and turned to Ava.
"You should see her how she drools over him when Dad picks us up. Gross"
Ava laughed and grabbed the big bowl and placed in on the table. Soon they were all around the table eating listening to Kenny doing all the conversation for the three of them. Ellie seemed to be trying to rebuild part of the wall that was torn down but she wasn't making a real effort so her face cracked into faint smiles at her brother's jokes. Afterwards they helped her with the dishes and she regaled them with ice-cream.
"Can we watch TV?" Kenny asked.
"Homework first" Ava surprised herself on how prude she could be.
"I don't need to study!" Kenny smiled "I'll be a warrior rider like my Dad. I'll be a Son!"
Ava and Ellie exchanged one bitter look. Ava didn't know what to say but Ellie was more than eager to speak her mind.
"Sure, shithead" the girl threw at him "Who needs to study to have people killed?"
A heavy, impervious veil of sorrow fell upon them and for a while it kept them held there. Ellie was the first to stir out of it, waking darker waves.
"Maybe you should marry and have your wife shot at" Ellie was shaking.
"Ellie" Ava ordered seeing Kenny's eyes filled with tears.
Ellie went back to the living room and resumed her aimless surfing on her phone. Kenny ambushed Ava once more and fell in her arms sobbing. Ava fell on her knees and wrapped her arms around the boy.
"I know how you feel" Ava said softly.
"Yeah, sure" Ellie chuckled cruelly.
"When I was a little girl, I had the habit of going out to grab my Dad's newspaper every morning. I woke early for this but I enjoyed it" Ava caressed Kenny's back that was getting calmer.
Ellie felt Ava's tone. She knew that weight on someone's voice so she turned her blue eyes into Ava's. Ava had no sympathetic look, no pity for the orphans, the kids of a convicted felon affiliated with a dangerous gang, a father they hardly knew. Ava's look was hard, bearing in it the pain of a lifetime.
"I did the same that morning" Ava continued as Kenny pulled back and sniffled "I went out and opened the door, still in my pyjamas and light green slippers. I still remember those slippers, they were my favorite"
Ellie left her phone and begged her not to go on with her look but Ava knew she had to. She couldn't grasp why, but she knew she had to.
"My mother's body was on the steps, cold and still. There was a bullet-hole on her head" Ava said with a sigh.
She expected the veil to fall upon them, crushing them under its weight but instead it was lifted and the light came through the windows and suddenly they heard the birds chirping out.
"You still got your Dad, at least. And each other" Ava got up and straightened Kenny's hair.
Kenny was looking upon her with a look pooling with immense sympathy, ready to share her pain along with his. Ava was defenseless against such a look. She had never met Donna and she never spoke to Opie about her. But looking at that boy, she could see why Opie loved his wife so much.
"So, homework and then we'll watch a movie" Ava said and glanced at Ellie.
The sun was set and the three of them were before the TV watching Ava's favorite anime movie from her youth and the kids were really into it when Ava heard the revving of a Harley. She got up slowly making sure not to frighten them and glanced out the window agitated. She sighed relieved when he saw Opie pull up her driveway.
"Your father is here"
Kenny pressed pause and got up leaving Ellie sitting coldly on the couch. Ava went to the door and Kenny followed bouncing excited. Ava couldn't help but imagine the burden on Opie's shoulders. He might be coming back home from a shitstorm, could have bloodied his hands, being shot at or seen a friend being shot. Yet he had to go home to two kids that have lost their mother and needed him.
"Kenny, get the salad out of the fridge. Opie might be hungry" she tried to spare the kid of any signs blood.
She opened the door and scanned Opie coldly. He was in his cut and dark clothes, his leather gloves on and had a bag with him. His look was clouded but his face was calm.
"I'm fine, babe" he leaned in and kissed her on the forehead.
She didn't manage to say anything before Kenny rushing to him with uncontained excitement. Yet he stopped by the door and looked upon his father shifting from one leg to the other. He still didn't know how to react, what to make of this gigantic man they told him was his father. Opie seemed to have the same awkwardness.
"Hug you freaking son" Ava hissed in his ear angrily.
Opie took a step forward, kneeled on the doorstep and opened his arms. Kenny didn't need to be told twice. He sunk into his father's embrace and Ava smiled softly. She turned only to see Ellie in the hallway looking upon them with a cold eye. Opie got up and wrapped his son and her in his arms before going in.
They finished watching the movie together, ate the rest of the pasta and each time Opie leaned in to kiss Ava Ellie would look at them and Kenny would make "Eww" sounds playfully. Ava felt a crawling under her skin, like a disturbing bug reminding her they weren't some suburban happy family. She was the daughter of a mafia tsar with no family left but the cold-blooded godfather of Sacramento, he was the explosives guy of an outlaw gang that dealt guns and those kids were orphans of an execution.
"I've brought some things for the kids but we can go home" Opie whispered as Kenny and Ellie were gathering the dishes.
"They can sleep here, in my room. I think the couch will fit us both" Ava said and got up to help out.
Opie smiled and leaned back with one hand over his shoulder. Ava scowled and beckoned at his plate and empty bottle of beer.
"Seriously?" he smiled "Fuck. Tig is right. I am ass-whipped by you" he said and followed her back into the kitchen picking up his plate.
"I am afraid Tig was trying to be quite literal" Ava said playfully "Thanks, Ellie. Kenny, I recycle, please"
"Prius, tea, ABBA, recycling" Opie scoffed and gave Kenny his empty bottle of beer.
"And I am itching to be literal, also" Ava pinned him with her look.
Opie paused at the other side of the counter. Ava followed his look. He was looking at Ellie loading the washing machine and Kenny filling the recycle bin and his ever present sorrow tapped him on his shoulder. Ava wanted to say something when she saw Kenny open her fridge.
"Kenny, no more ice-cream. Opie has brought you some stuff. Find the toothbrush and I'll be right there"
And since it was a day of many firsts, Ava scared her own self on how easily she fell into a role she never imagined, wanted and straight down avoided for her whole life: that of a mother. She stopped and didn't help but wonder when exactly was she abducted by aliens and instilled with maternal instincts. And was even more terrified to see that the kids not only followed her instructions but they seemed happy to have someone boss them around. Ava trailed them with her eyes out the kitchen before turning to Opie. And she saw that in those fleeting moments his sorrow was lifted as he came up to her, picked her up and placed her on the counter. He pushed himself between her legs and kissed her leisurely, sweetly, gently caressing her hair and Ava drowned slowly into the warm sensation he was delighting her with.
"Hm" Ellie coughed and Ava broke off the kiss panicking.
"Right" Ava pushed Opie aside "You'll sleep in my bed tonight. I'll chance the sheets. Follow me to the bathroom"
She was back down after she made sure the kids were lying comfortably. Opie had taken off all of his cut and t-shirt and was lying on her couch, zapping through the channels aimlessly in his black jeans. Her look travelled on his strong body eyeing the bad-ass tattoos, his fine muscles and those thick arms she couldn't get enough of. And yet what she heard coming out of her mouth was not a sexual purr.
"Your kids are ready, big man. Time to tuck them in"
Opie looked at her as if she was asking him to go to the moon and back again. He glanced at the stairs as a man before a mountain would. Ava felt an urge to slap him across the face for being so cold but she knew he was trying hard. Those kids were the embodiment of his failures, his allegiance to the club, his time in jail that took him away from them, his dead wife.
"Fuck, Opie" she said with a strict smile "It's just a fucking blanket and two kids. If they rough you up just call out"
Opie gave her a bitter smile and made for the stairs. Ava fell on the couch and felt exhausted. If someone were to come up to her and told her that Donna staged her execution, she wouldn't find it absurd.