Disclaimer: I don't own Sons of Anarchy or any of the characters, they belong to Kurt Sutter and FX.

As always; I am ever grateful for all the favs, alerts and especially reviews. An extra thank you to those of the reviewers who have disabled the private messaging feature since I can't send you the usual 'thank you'.

I'm in somewhat of a struggle with this story and how to make it work with the actual series, but I think I've had it figured now. I hope you like it.

Chapter 21: We want to talk to you in private

Sunday morning. It always made her think of the Velvet Underground song. She gave Happy a kiss and got up. She turned around and looked at the bed and noticed black marks everywhere.

"God damn!"

"What?" Happy rubbed his eyes.

"There's ink all over the bed."

"Happens every time." He just turned around.

"Think it'll come off in the wash?"

"It's pretty permanent ink, babe." He chuckled. "Wash the tattoo, let it air-dry and put lotion on it. It'll hurt less when you've done that."

It did actually hurt so she did as he had said and he was right. The throbbing stopped but she was still quite swollen. She walked back into the bedroom.

"Is it usually this swollen?" Happy opened his eyes again and pulled her closer and looked at the tattoo. He smiled when he did. "You love it."

"I love that you have it." He said and looked up at her. "Looks good, they're usually quite swollen for a couple of days. Whenever it starts hurting or feel warm do that again."

"The washing and stuff?" She asked and he just nodded, still looking at the tattoo.

Grace came running and jumped on Happy's back. "Breakfast!" She said while hugging him from behind with her arms around his neck.

"What do you want?" Ava asked and pulled on a pair of sweatpants, just the thought of pulling denim over the tattoo made her shrug.

"French toast with cinnamon sugar."

Happy got up and still had Grace hanging on his back. "I'd like scrambled eggs and bacon."

"Sounds like we're doing a massive Sunday breakfast then." Ava said and gave them both a kiss.

Happy left after breakfast and Ava collected all the clothes. A noon at the laundromat was on her schedule. It would be ok to have sweatpants all day there. People had the strangest clothes at those places. She usually spend the time reading or trying to figure out who was there without underwear. She refused to believe that she was the only one who once in a while was at the laundromat wearing only sweatpants and t-shirt since it was the only clean clothes she had.

-o0o-

Happy was walking next to Clay. His moms medicine was getting extremely expensive and with him on his way inside he needed to cut costs. He would need to help Ava as well, no matter what she fucking thought she was his Old Lady now and he was going to provide for her and Grace.

He explained the situation and it turned out that Piney had a solution to his problem, as it turned out, it was a solution to Bobby's problem as well. So they were going to head out to some chick who pushed scripts after delivering the guns.

Since that night with Jonah he had started to like Piney even more that he used to. He was a good guy and the slight chuckle when he had asked Happy if he needed privacy still made him smile. It wasn't that he was about to torture Fuckface, it was out of respect for Ava. It was hard to not like an badass old fashioned gentleman like that.

What had sounded like an easy fix turned bad the second they got out of the bikes. Some fucking rednecks were tearing the place apart and he obviously didn't have any cell cover out in the middle of nowhere.

Some brothers saved the fucking day and he was royally pissed that he'd had a gun against his neck. He fucking hated when that happened but all in all he had at least gotten the meds for his mom and a good contact whenever he needed more.

Of course that wasn't the end of the shit that day and this time it was Gemma who made matters worse. Disappearing and finally falling to the ground outside the clubhouse. They turned into the lot just in time to see her hit the ground.

When the ambulance had left he walked up to Tara. "Give Ava a call when you know more."

"Sure." She nodded.

"She'll want to know that Gemma's ok."

"I know." When he started to walk back to the bike she yelled at him. "Don't forget the meds."

He turned around and went to the van. "Thanks."

"I heard she did it." Tara said with a smile.

"What?"

"The tattoo." Happy nodded and realized that he had no idea where Tara's crow was. He had never seen it. Proved his point that it didn't have to be visible to keep other guys off. He waved at her and she waved back. "Give my love to her and Grace."

"Yeah."

-o0o-

When he walked through the door, Ava met him in the hallway. "Ohhh, you have present for me."

"Sure do, but it's not in the box." He smiled and kissed her. "Got some bad news."

"Ok."

"Gemma had... like a heart attack."

"Like?"

"Probably something with that heart shit she's got."

"Oh." She looked worried.

"Tara's going to call you when she knows more so don't worry."

"I'll worry when I've talked to Tara then." She put her arms around him. "What's in the box?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow." She was just so fucking curious about strange things like that.

"Tell me now or you're not getting any."

He pressed her agains the wall. "Sure about that?"

Ava was trying her very best to not give in and pushed him out of her way and walked into the kitchen.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yeah." She took out the leftovers from the dinner and put them on a plate and in the microwave.

He came up behind her and pressed her against the counter and her thigh hit the cabin.

"Aoch, shit!"

"What."

"The tattoo." He laughed and knelt down and pulled down her pants.

"You should wash that." He kissed her stomach and got up again. "Now."

"Did you just pulled down my pants?"

"Yes." He smiled. "You're my Old Lady. I can pull down your pants whenever I like."

"Really? I don't think you mentioned that."

"Left out the good parts." He said. "Thought I'd surprise you later." He took cutlery from the drawer and a glass.

She glared at him and then simply stepped out of the pants and walked into the bathroom, she wouldn't need them. Earlier that day she had tried to was the tattoo in the sink but it was impossible so this time she leaned her foot on the inside edge of the bathtub to wash it in the shower.

Hap came in, holding her phone. "It's Tara."

She turned of the shower. "Hallo?"

"Hey, just wanted to call you and tell you that Gemma'll be fine."

"Thank you. And the situation with the police?"

"She's handcuffed to the bed."

"Fuck." Ava started to look around for a towel and Happy took one from the hook on the inside of the door and handed it to her. "Any news on that department?"

"No. We'll know more tomorrow."

"Ok."

"If you come by the hospital I'll try to sneak you in to see her."

"Sounds good. I'll see you at the hospital after work." They said good bye and she handed the phone back to Happy who was smiling.

"Did you miss with the shower or are you just really happy to see me?"

Her panties was wet and she just threw her tongue out at him. "What's in the box?"

"If I tell you tomorrow, will you give me some today?"

"No, but if you tell me tomorrow I'll give you some then."

He put her phone in his pocked and walked up to her. "You should take every chance you get. I'll be going inside soon." She took at deep breath and put her arms around his neck. He pulled down her underwear. "Shouldn't have wet underwear."

"I'll miss you."

"I know." He kissed her. "Show me how much you'll miss me."

Ava laughed, took off her t-shirt and walked to the bedroom. Then she showed him.

-o0o-

When Happy had dropped of Grace in the morning he went to the clubhouse. There was some Crow Eaters there and he walked by them and found Chucky.

"Where are they?"

"At the hospital, with Gemma." He nodded and went outside.

He found them in the chapel of the hospital.

"Hey, how's she doing?"

"Just woke up, wanted to talk to Jax." Opie said. Happy sat down in front of Chibs and Juice.

"Need to dump the drugs we got from the Red Necks." Juice said. "We need cash"

He nodded.

"I'll go pull the trigger on those bounty hunters." Bobby said and left. Happy looked at Opie with raised eyebrows.

"The Canadians, to look for Abel."

A while later Jax came back inside.

"McGee's old lady called mom yesterday. According to her, Abel is in Belfast."

"Didn't O'Neil say that Cameron was on his own when they scooped him up?" Happy asked.

"Yeah."

"So who the fuck do we trust?" Chibs sat down next to him and scratched his neck.

"No need to trust anyone yet." Jax said and Happy agreed, better to be skeptical towards everyone until they knew more. "You and Ope follow me to Luke and let's hear what he has to say. You four," He waved against the other's including Happy. "Try to unload the steroids. You free today?" The last part was directed at him.

"Need to visit my mom later, she's running out of meds, but I'm free until the afternoon."

"Good." He put a hand on his shoulder. Jax and the others walked outside and he got up and looked at Tig and Juice who were still sitting down.

"You coming?"

"When are you asking for that transfer?"

"Quinn's giving me the papers tomorrow."

"Good, we need you, man." Tig said and gave him a hug.

"Guessin' I've got your vote then."

"Without a doubt." Tig kept the arm around him. "I can almost guarantee that you got everyones vote."

-o0o-

Ava and Grace walked into the hospital after work and school and they sat down in the waiting area. Tara came and met her.

"I can sneak you in but I'm not sure about Grace. Think you can wait with me?"

"Oh, I wanted to see Gemma." She had insisted on her best dress even after Ava had explained that she wasn't sure if she could see Gemma.

"I know, honey. And I promise that you will, just not today."

"Promise to ask her about the pink t-shirt." Grace was pouting.

"I'll do that." She gave Grace a kiss and they both followed Tara.

Ten minutes later she was in Gemma's room and Clay was there with her.

"Hey darlin'." Gemma said and Ava gave her a hug.

"How's the heart?"

"Not sure. Sit down." Gemma had a way of saying things that made you do them without even thinking. She would have been a great general in any war.

"Just wanted to see you." Ava smiled and looked up at Clay who had a very serious face. "What's going on?"

"Abel might be in Belfast." Gemma blurted out.

"Belfast?" Just then her phone rang and she looked at it. "It's Happy."

"Pick up, shouldn't keep your Old Man waiting." Clay said and sat down next to Gemma.

"Old Man?" She heard Gemma say just as she answered.

"Where are you?"

"At the hospital, visiting Gemma."

"Is Grace with you?"

"She's with Tara."

"I'll pick you up in twenty minutes." Then he hung up.

"He's picking me up in twenty minutes." She looked back at Gemma. "What?"

"Old Man? Guess he got that ink on you."

Ava just nodded. "So, in Belfast?"

"A friend of the club called me."

"But Happy talked about Canada."

"Someone is full of shit and we're not sure who." Clay said.

Ava sat quiet for a while. They were very quiet as well and it kind of felt like they were testing her and she didn't want to fail them. That might not be the case but it sure was what it felt like.

"Who would gain most on feeding you false information?" They were both still quiet, just lookin at her and Ava swallowed. "I mean, it's not so much about who would tell you the truth and who you can trust. That's always hard to know but it's generally easier to figure out who would gain most on you not knowing for certain where he is Who would either not want you in Belfast or who would want you to go there." They were both quiet and she dried her hands on her knees. "It was just a thought."

"No!" Gemma said. "You're right."

"It something to think about." Clay nodded. She assumed that she passed the test. If it was a test.

"I need to get going, Happy was going to pick us up. I just wanted to say hi." She gave Gemma a kiss on the cheek. "I know this is of no importance what so ever, but Grace wanted me to ask you."

"What?" Gemma said and Clay started laughing. He knew what Grace wanted.

"She wants a pink SOA t-shirt."

Gemma stared at her and then she smiled. "I'll take care of it, tell her not to worry."

"She also says she misses you."

"Tell her I miss her too and give her a kiss from me."

"I will."

Clay got up and followed her to the door. He gave her a hug. "Smart Old Ladies it what keeps us going. I'm glad he's got you."

"I'm glad I have him." She gave Clay a hug.

Happy and Grace was waiting for her in Tara's office and they got out to her car.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to meet my mom."

"Marianne?" Grace asked.

"Yes."

Grace took his hand and started skipping next to him. "Does she know that we're coming?"

"Yes, I called her earlier." He put his arm around Ava's shoulders. "The box was her meds." He said and she laughed.

"What did Gemma say about pink t-shirts?"

"She said she'd take care of it."

Grace gave Happy a big smile and he shook his head. "God damn." He mumbled.

-o0o-

Happy was holding Grace's right hand and Ava her left. Every few step she took a long leap and she was singing some song.

When they came into the dining room he saw his mom and when she saw him she smiled and got up. She came up to them and he gave her a hug.

"Ma, this is Ava and Grace."

She turned to Ava first and gave her a hug. "It is very nice to finally meet you." Then she turned to Grace. "And this must be the magnificent Grace."

Grace laughed and gave her a hug.

They walked into her room and sat down.

"Happy told me you're a librarian."

"Yes."

"Have you managed to get him to read a book yet?"

"No, I haven't. But he's been to the library."

His mom laughed and looked at him. "Really. I remembered the last time you were at the library. Got suspended for two weeks."

He looked at Ava and she laughed. He hadn't told her that part of the 'in library'-blow job. He shrugged at her. By know he had done far better things at the library without even looking at a book.

"What did you do in the library?" Grace said while climbing up in the couch next to his mom. "Did you destroy the books?"

"Something like that." Happy said.

"Mom is really good at finding books for people. She always knows what they'll like to read." Grace said that to Marianne who smiled at her.

"That is a sign of a really good librarian." She looked at Ava but was still talking to Grace. "What do you think she would suggest to Happy?"

"Mom! What?" Grace reached for one of the sandwiches that his mom had made sure was waiting for them in the room.

"What book I would tell him to read first?" Ava smiled at him and as always he couldn't help but to smile back. "That's really tricky one. I'm going to have to think about it for a while. Maybe 'Of Mice and Men'."

"A bit sad." His mom said with a smile. "Might be suiting though."

"Or 'The Shining'."

"Probably best to start with that one." His mother agreed with a nod and then looked at him. "That's settled, you should read 'The Shining'."

"I'm not reading." He said while reaching for a sandwich.

"Then what are you going to do all that time in jail?"

"I like to read." Grace was obviously starting to feel overlooked and Happy took her into his lap.

"Maybe you could read to me instead." He said and was granted a huge smile. "Some book about bikes."

"I have books about bikes."

"I know you do. I'd rather hear about that then about mice and shine."

Grace laughed and he looked up at his mom who had a strange smile in her face.

"Grace, what is you favorite book?" She asked.

"Oh." He could see her brain going ballistic. Ava had looked the same when he once asked her what her favorite book was. "I like 'The Borrowers' and 'Goodnight Mr. Tom' and The Narnia books of course."

"Of course. No-one can dislike the Narnia-books." His mom agreed with a serious nod.

They talked for another hour and then he noticed that his mom was getting tired and they decided to leave. Just as they were about to leave Grace gave his mom a hug.

"Can we visit you when Happy is in jail?"

"I would love it if you did." She answered.

"You two go to the car. I'll be there in a minute." He said and they left. "I got you some meds."

"Do I want to know from where?" She said with a smile when she took the box.

"No."

"They're great." That comment wasn't about the meds.

"I know."

"And you're great with them." She put her hand on his cheek. "I'm very happy for you."

He gave her a kiss. "I'll try to come by soon."

"Tell them that they can come whenever they like."

"I'll do that."

"Take care of them."

"I will, mom." He gave her another kiss. "I'll call you and you call me if there's anything."

They waited outside of the car and Grace seemed anxious. "Think she liked me?" Grace asked and he picked her up.

"Sugar, she loved you."

"Think I can call her grandma'?"

"She'd like that."

"I don't have one." She seemed very concerned about that.

"You do now. And Gemma's like a grandmother as well."

"So I have two now?"

"Looks like it." He opened the door and put her in the car seat.

-o0o-

By the time Ava parked the car outside of her building, Grace was asleep in the car. For some reason that girl could keep her eyes open in a moving car.

She had dropped Happy off a the hospital where his bike was and he said he'd go by the clubhouse before coming home.

He came late and snuck his arm around her, just as usual. "Bad news?" She said when she saw his face. It didn't look good.

"Abel's in Belfast."

"You need to go get him." She said and put her leg around his waist.

"It's just the club leaving. But they're voting for my transfer tomorrow at church." He mumbled into her neck.

"You worried?" He had explained how the voting worked, the entire club had to agree.

"No."

"I'll miss you, when you're in Belfast." She felt, rather than heard his chuckle.

"Good time to practice."

"Have you had a date for the trial?"

"No, but they're pushing for a new bail hearing."

"And you're leaving?" He nodded and looked her into the eyes. She knew why, he wanted to make sure that she understood what that meant, what it would mean if they missed the bail hearing. She caressed his face. "You all need to do what you have to do to get Abel back."

"You'd make Gemma so proud." He smiled and Ava smiled back at him.

"Good, I'd hate to be on her bad side."

"You'd know if you were on her bad side, trust me." His hands was starting to move all over her body. "And you're not. They were very impressed with you today."

"So that was a test." His hands was starting to make her loose focus.

"No, and yes, I guess."

"You're not making sense now."

"I might be if I wasn't touching you."

Ava didn't give a shit anymore and kissed him to make him shut up. They would have to talk about that some other time.

-o0o-

Tuesdays was according to Ava the most pointless day of the week. It wasn't Monday that everyone hated, Mondays tendency to slap you in the face with all the things you should've done the week before and just in general put people in a bad mood.

Wednesdays meant you were halfway through the working week and you were more than catching up with the work you should've done the week before. On Thursdays you could practically smell the weekend and Friday was Friday. You knew you wouldn't have to work and could sleep in the next day. You felt so good about things that you left things for the Monday, thinking that you'd have enough time to fix it the next week.

But Tuesdays was just that meaningless filler-day that didn't seem to have any purpose whatsoever. Sometimes Tuesdays tended to slap you in the face for ignoring it, it certainly did that to Ava this Tuesday. There was nothing in the phone call that had prepared Ava for what would meet her when she came downstairs in the library.

"Ava, there are people her asking for you." The receptionist said on the phone and Ava had simply walked down the stairs and when she saw who it was she almost threw up.

It was Eric and Mary Richardson, Jonah's parents.

"What are you doing here?" She didn't wait for their reply ans simply turned to Katherine. "Call Mr. Keller."

"We want to talk to you." Eric said.

Ava ignored them and kept her eyes in the direction which James would come from. He smiled at her and seemed confused when he came towards them.

"Is there somewhere we can talk?" Eric continued, still trying to get Ava's attention.

"Mr. Keller, this is Eric and Mary Richardson, could you please stay with me while I talk to them?"

"Of course." He said and turned towards them, still looking slightly confused. "You can come with me to my office."

"We want to talk to you in private." Mary said and just the mere voice from the woman gave Ava the shivers.

"I don't want to talk to you in private, you either follow me into Mr. Keller's office or we don't talk at all."

Mary was about to say something but Eric stopped her and they followed her.

The second James closed the door she opened her mouth. "How did you find me?"

"Jonah told us he was going here." Mary said in a defiant tone.

Mary had never been the brain in the family, that was for sure but Ava knew who was and looked at Eric. He looked down at the floor and she knew that he knew what Mary just admitted to. They both knew fully well that she had a restraining order against Jonah and they hadn't done anything to stop him. That might not be illegal, but it didn't look good in the public's eyes. And Eric cared about the public.

"Do you know where he is?" Eric asked.

"No."

"Did he come here?" There was something pleading in his voice and she almost felt sorry for him, almost.

"If he had been here I wouldn't still be here. You both know that." She looked at them and realized that this wasn't the reason that they were here. "What is it you really want?"

"We want visitation rights with Grace." That fucking bitch said.

She took a deep breath, trying to slow down her pulse and said as calmly as possible. "No." She exhaled and tried to take another breath. She had thought that she would be prepared for this but she wasn't. "I'm not giving you that."

"We have rights." Mary said.

"No you don't and I'm not going to let you use her as some poster child for your filthy campaigns" She looked at Eric for the last part and he at least had the decency to blush. Obviously she had been right about one of the reasons why he wanted Grace. "You're going to have to sue me for it."

"You bitch!" Mary said. "All you ever wanted was Jonahs money, that was the only reason you or your filthy brother ever wanted him. He lured you into Jonah's bed and Jonah gave you everything you ever wanted and you still had the audacity to claim that he hurt you." Mary lost it as she so often did in Ava's presence. This is why she wanted James to be there with her. She need to make sure that someone else saw this. She wasn't proud of putting him in this situation but she didn't have much of a choice. She looked at James with an excusing smile and he nodded back at her. He had probably figured most of it out by now.

Eric finally walked up to Mary and pulled her out of Ava's face. "This isn't the time." Mary shut her mouth and Eric looked at Ava. "You'll hear from our lawyer, we will be staying in town until this is resolved." There wasn't anything threatening in his voice and Ava nodded at him. She wished she had met him under different circumstances and before he met Mary.

Ava opened the door for them and when she stepped out herself, Agent Stahl was waiting for her.

"I see you had a happy family reunion."

Ava had to use every ounce of self control to stop herself from beating the disgusting smirk out of the bitch's face.

"What do you want?"

"I had some follow up questions." She smiled.

"This isn't a good time." Ava tried to walk pass her but was stopped by a hand on her arm. "Please don't touch me. I don't like to be touched."

"It won't take a minute."

"I really don't care. If you want to force me then take me to the station, otherwise get you fucking hand off me and let me go."

Stahl let go and put her hands up. "No need, just come by the station tomorrow."

"Fine." She said and continued up to her office to get her bag. She called Happy.

"Hey, babe. Could you come to the clubhouse? We need your help."

"Sure." That was all they said before hanging up, they were not much for talking on the phone. When she turned around James was looking at her.

"How are you?"

She put her hands on her hips and took a deep breath. "Not too good."

"I wouldn't have known, you seemed very calm while talking to them."

"That's good." She sat down on one of the visitor's chairs. "I always knew that they would pull one of these stunts on me. I thought I'd be able to deal with it."

James sat down next to her. "You'll be fine. Listen, there's a lot going on in your life right now. Maybe you should take some personal days and deal with all this?"

"That would probably be best. I'm not sure I'm of any use right now anyway."

"If there's anything urgent I'll call you." James got up. "Take care of your girl."

Ava got up as well. "I feel really bad. You just gave me the job and I'm messing things up already."

"You're not. Your situation is not optimal at the moment but that doesn't mean that you're not the perfect person for this job." He patted her back. "Fix things and then come back."

"Thank you, Mr. Keller."

She was on her way to the clubouse when she realized that she should pick Grace up. She didn't want to leave her in school in case the Richardsons did something stupid. It wouldn't help their case but Mary was an idiot. Her husband wasn't, he was smart and he was probably once a quite nice person. His money-desiring, status-hungry bitch of a wife had taken that out of him years ago.

Ava had actually been preparing for this, it still hit her like a log in the head and she was just now starting to sort things out, remembering what she had planned and how she was going to do this. She took a few deep breaths, turned the car around to Grace's school and did mental notes to herself on what she needed to take care of.