Thank you for the reviews, I'm not sure if I got back to many/any of you. I know my update is late, I caught Covid-19 and it developed into pneumonia. I have been extremely ill and haven't had much energy to keep up with my school work let alone work on fanfiction. But I am on an antibiotic and an inhaler and I am definitely on the mend.

Hope everyone else is doing okay. Stay Safe out there!


Disclaimer: I do not have the rights to SOA and make no profit from my writing. Anything you don't recognize from the show I have created.


Content Warning: This fanfiction is rated M. Please respect that warning and do not read this if you do not want to read M rated material.


I no longer have a beta, so all mistakes are my own.

2031

Age 39

Gabby knocked on Shark's door with a bag full of Chinese food. She had left the kids, 11 and 16, to fend for themselves with leftovers. Gabby had a very important conversation to have with Shark. He answered the door and swiped the bag out of her hand.

"What did you get me?" He asked like a little kid.

"Everything you asked for. And you better share with me." She followed him into the kitchen and grabbed plates and forks while Shark opened the food.

"So what's the big, 'no kids allowed' conversation you want to have with me?" Shark asked as he heaped food onto his plate.

Gabby took not even half as much and settled into her seat. "We can talk about it after dinner." She shrugged.

"Oh, now I'm really intrigued. Come on, what's up?"

Gabby stayed silent and Shark grabbed a dumpling off her plate, waving it in her face. "What? What? What? What?" He chanted with each circle he made.

"Okay!" She pushed his fork away. "Okay, it's just a favor."

"I'll do it." Shark said automatically.

"I was counting on it…" Gabby answered.

Shark continued to eat while Gabby struggled over her words.

"The thing is, Matthew is starting the 5th grade." Gabby started. Shark nodded his head. "And they're gonna have a sex ed class."

"NO!" Shark dropped his fork on his plate. "No, Gabby, please! Ask me for a kidney!"

"You don't have to give him the talk. I…found videos for him to watch, a series, they cover everything I want him to know at 11. I just thought, after…if he had questions….he would probably be more apt to ask you then me."

Shark leaned back in his chair and rubbed a hand over his face. "Videos? Really?"

"I want him to know the basics before he gets pulled in a gym and talked to with 100 other boys by a gym teacher that is embarrassed to begin with."

"So you want to embarrass me instead?" Shark whined.

"Look, the videos cover puberty. Voice changes, hair growing, wet dreams-"

"OH GOD!" Shark sunk his head down to the table, embarrassed.

"And how babies are made. His plumbing, girls plumbing, the basics of periods, safe sex, sti's, birth control." Gabby listed off.

"Sounds good, very educational, covers everything." Shark summed up. "You don't need me."

"You don't even have to watch the videos with him. Just watch them before you come over so you know what they say and then be in the house while he's watching them so he can talk to you after. I'm gonna take Kristen school clothes shopping."

"I don't want to." Shark whined and played with his food. "You bribed me with Chinese." He took a violent bite of chicken.

"Please, Shark. You said you would do anything for me."

"Don't. Don't go there." Shark took a swig of his beer and finished off the bottle. "That's low."

"Shark" Gabby pleaded.

"You know I'm going to. Just let me be embarrassed about it a few more hours, okay?"

"Deal." Gabby smiled.


Shark sat at the kitchen table with his third beer waiting for Matthew to come out of the den. He could hear the kid was on the last video. He had opted to have him watch all of them back to back and have only one conversation at the end.

Matthew came out of the room and headed to the living room.

"Hold up." Shark swiped an arm out blocking the path and ushered Matthew into the seat at the head of the table. He cleared his throat. "Did you understand all that?"

Matthew shrugged.

"You got any questions?"

Matthew scratched at the table with his fingernail. Shark waited for him to speak.

"The girls at the club…." He started. Shark winced. "I mean…just…do you just have sex with all of them? Aren't you supposed to be with one person at a time? Someone special?"

Shark took a deep breath. "You're right. Good men, they find one girl they care about, and they have that relationship only. You know…I don't sleep with the sweet butts." Not anymore, not after…Shark inwardly winced. "Neither did your dad. He was with your mom, and no one else. And Vin doesn't sleep with any of them. And Frankie, he and Carol sleep together. And they don't sleep with anyone else. So you could say they are a couple. And Tom Tom is in a relationship with Becky, and he doesn't sleep with any of them. Neither does Mitch. Not since Lexi moved here to be with him."

Matthew nodded his head. "So…"

"So… sleeping around with the sweet butts isn't the right thing to do. And that's not what the sweet butts are there for. They are girls who are looking for a boyfriend, they just…go about it the wrong way."

Matthew nodded his head. He started to get up from the table and Shark stopped him. "I'm gonna give you 2 very important pieces of advice, and I want you to follow them the rest of your life, okay?"

"Okay." Matthew repeated, sitting up straight in his chair, ready for a man to man talk.

"Number 1, you should treat every woman the way you would want your mom, or your sister to be treated. You don't lie to them, you don't make crude comments, you never, ever, hurt them. Think of the kind of man you would want your sister to date, and be that man to the girl you are dating."

Matthew nodded his head. His mother had raised him to respect women and what they do. Even the sweet butts at the clubhouse got thank you's when they helped clean or cook.

"Number 2, no matter how careful you are, having sex can get a girl pregnant. You shouldn't sleep with a woman that you wouldn't want to spend the rest of your life raising kids with. And if she does get pregnant, you step up, be a man, and be a father." Shark drummed his fingers on his knees. If only someone had given him that piece of advice before Kaye.

"Okay."

Shark nodded his head. "Now listen. When you get older, you're gonna have more questions. You're gonna be curious. I want you to come to me with questions. No matter how embarrassing it might be, I want you to know you can always come to me."

"I know that Shark. You're like my dad."

Shark bit his lip and accepted the hug Matthew gave him before walking into the living room. Casper should have been the one to just make that promise to his son. Shark got up and grabbed another beer out of the fridge.


1 year later

Gabby was laying in bed waiting for her snooze button to vibrate again when her phone rang instead. She grabbed it and looked at the time, 6:04. It was the prison. She sat up straight.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Russo?" an authoritative voice asked.

"Yes, this is Gabby Russo."

"This is Mr. Guthrie. Interim warden at Mondota Correctional Facility."

Gabby's heart stopped. This was not a normal phone call.

"Yes, Mr. Guthrie. What is this call concerning?"

"Your father, Mr. Happy Lowman. He was found in his cell this morning unresponsive. The medical staff confirmed he had a stoke last night. He has passed away ma'am."

Tears flooded into Gabby's eyes. She took a deep breath. "They confirmed…a stoke…there was no foul play?"

"No ma'am. Natural causes. Your father was in solitary confinement. There was no one there with him all night. He was found by a guard this morning."

Gabby nodded her head and swallowed back her tears. "I understand."

"I know this can be a shock ma'am. If you need, you can call back at a later time to get the specifics on what will happen next."

Gabby nodded her head. Her hands were shaking. "Yes, I'll do that, thank you." She clicked the phone off before he could respond and the tears flooded down her face. She didn't try to stop them. She fell onto her side and curled up in a ball on the bed.

She cried as quietly as she could for a solid 10 minutes before she could fathom telling anyone else what had happened. She stayed in the fetal position as she turned her phone back on. She didn't think. She didn't hem and haw over her wording. She tested her best friend. 'Happy had a stoke last night. He's gone.' She threw her phone on the nightstand and hugged her pillow to her.


Shark heard his phone chirp as he came out of the shower. He wrapped a towel around his waist and went out to see if todays work site had been changed.

When he saw Gabby's text his knees nearly buckled. He sat down on the edge of the bed. 'I'll be right there.' He sent over, and then 'I'll tell the club' as an afterthought.

He threw on clothes over his wet chest and raced out the door. He took his cage so he could call Vin on the way. He texted Becky on his jog up to Gabby's front door then left himself in. He ran up the stairs quietly on the way to Gabby's room.

He looked at her laying in bed and his heart broke. He didn't say a word. He just sat on the edge of the bed and started rubbing circles on her back. Gabby turned over and looked at him. The amount of grief on her face made his own eyes well up with tears.

"I'm so sorry Gabby." Was all he could choke out. Gabby rolled onto her other side, facing Shark, and tried to control her breathing.

"The kids are gonna be up." She whispered between sniffs.

"Tig is on his way for the kids. And Becky's coming here too."

"I can't tell them, Shark."

"You don't have to. I'll take care of it. You don't have to do anything. Give me your phone, I'll email your boss."

She fished it out from under her and unlocked it. Shark opened her email and scrolled through her contacts to find her superior. He heard the door open and boots on the stairs and knew Tig was here.

Tig stopped in the bedroom door. He looked at his daughter, no longer estranged, crying over the man that had raised her. His own eyes filled with tears.

"Gabby…" He started, but didn't know what to say next. Gabby glanced at him, face and eyes red. Shark threw her phone on her bed and turned to Tig.

"The kids alarms go off in…3 minutes." Shark stated, looking at his watch. "Becky is on her way here. Call the kids schools, report them absent. Numbers are-"

"On the fridge." Tig nodded his head and took another step in the room. "Gabby, doll, I'm so sorry." His voice cracked and he stepped back out of the room to Matthews door. He knew Matthew would jump up at his alarm, whereas Kristen would hit snooze a few times.

"I have to call them back. Find out how I get him out of there." Gabby whispered, sitting up and wiping her face several times.

"Vin's gonna take care of all of that. Gabby, you have all of us here, we're gonna take care of everything." Shark brushed hair off Gabby's face that was stuck to her tear stained cheeks.


It was 10 before Gabby got out of bed. She showered and threw on jeans and a t shirt and came downstairs barefoot. She knew her house was full of people, all there to help, but she just wished she could be alone a few more hours, maybe days. But no, she needed to check on her kids.

When she made it to the bottom of the stairs she was stared at by 3 bikers. She bit her lip and kept walking. Matthew came running up and gave her a big hug. He may have been 12, but he was still a mama's boy.

"Mom, I'm so sorry your dad died." Gabby hugged him back. Her dad died. Not his grandpa. Matthew remembered nothing of Happy, or Casper, being in his life. They were only men he talked to on the phone once a week.

"Thanks, little man." She ruffled his hair and stepped past him. "Where's your sister?"

"Here." Kristen came through the living room doorway and stepped up to her mom, she towered over her a good 2 inches at 17. She gave her mom a hug.

"You okay, sweetie?"

Kristen nodded her head. She may have been older than Matthew at the time of the arrest but she didn't remember that much of her grandpa either. "Becky went to the clubhouse, she said to call when you got up. She's getting things ready for the funeral."

Gabby nodded her head. Of course, Becky would take it upon herself to start the preparations. She probably already had Lexi there too.

Gabby sat at the table between Shark and Vin. "God, I don't know if I can go through this funeral." Shark entwined his fingers with hers on the table and gave her a smile.

"We're all gonna help you. You don't have to do a thing, just stand there and listen to all the good stories, okay?"

"And the condolences." Gabby added and freed her fingers to wipe her eyes once more.

"I called the prison and arranged everything with the mortuary." Vin stated.

Gabby nodded her head. "Thanks." She whispered.

"You want anything, doll? Coffee, breakfast?" Tig offered.

"Coffee." Gabby said gratefully and watched as Tig got up and poured her a cup. He brought it back to the table and Gabby wrapped both her hands around the mug without taking a sip.

"Do you two want to talk?" She asked her children who were standing off to the side.

"No." Kristen shook her head.

Matthew came over and wrapped an arm around his mom's shoulders. "I love you." He told her.

"I love you too, little man."


Becky didn't let Gabby help with any of the preparations. She'd been around long enough, and had enough help, she kept saying. It was a relief. Gabby kept reminding herself her father died of a stoke. He was 69. It wasn't unusual. And it wasn't her fault.

It wasn't her fault. She repeated to herself over and over again as she dressed the day of the viewing. It was her fault he had been in prison. No matter what anybody said. But even SHE couldn't blame herself for a stroke.

She took one more look at herself in the mirror and nodded to herself. She could do this.

She stepped across the hall and peaked in Matthews room. He was gone, but so were the clothes she had laid out for him. She stepped over to Kristen's room and sighed. She couldn't take a teenage induced migraine today.

"Why aren't you dressed?" Gabby asked, holding in the sigh she wanted to let out.

"I don't want to go." Kristen said defiantly.

Gabby took a slow deep breath. She could count on one hand the number of times she had forced Kristen to go to the clubhouse since she turned 12. She of all people knew what it was like to go there when you didn't want to.

"Kristen…please don't do this to me. Not today."

"Everyone's gonna want to talk to me." Kristen threw her phone on her bed she was perched on. "What am I supposed to say? I barely knew the man!"

"He was a very big part of your life. And you talked to him all the time."

"He left when I was 7. And he was just a voice on the phone I made small talk with."

"Kristen. If you don't want to do this for Happy, then do it for me. Just come and support me."

Kristen huffed. "He wasn't even your real dad!"

Gabby's knees wobbled and she hung on to her daughter's door jam.

"Who told you that?"

"No one had to tell me. I took biology mom, I know how genes work. I know Tig is your real dad."

Gabby paused and attempted to collect her thoughts. "Yes, you're right. Tig is my biological father. But Happy raised me."

"Do you know how much of a hypocrite that makes you?"

"What?" Gabby asked, astonished.

"What do you say, every damn week. You have to talk to him, he's your dad. Well guess what. He's not my dad. He's my biological father. He's not the man that raised me."

"Shark is your father's best friend and he promised to help take care of and raise you and your brother."

"Hypocrite." Kristen shot back.

Gabby took a step back and stopped trying to hold in her tears. Before she could say another word, Shark came bounding up the stairs.

"We need to go ladies." He looked at Gabby stepped forward concerned. "Gabby?"

"I can't." Gabby whimpered.

"Can't what?" He ran his thumbs under her eyes wiping away her tears.

"Just…make her come." Gabby waved into Kristen's room and ran down the stairs.

"What the hell did you say to her?" Shark turned to Kristen.

"The truth." Kristen crossed her arms, ready for a fight.

Shark wiped a hand over his face and took a deep breath. "Look." He nearly shouted, and took another breath to calm down. "You're grieving. Whether you want to admit it or not, you're grieving. And if that means you need to get angry and take it out on someone, then take it out on me. But don't you dare take it out on your mother. She is devastated. Can't you see that? Can you stop being a dramatic teenager for one damn minute and see that your mother is fucking devastated?"

Kristen dropped her arms and looked down in shame.

"Now get changed. Or wear that, I don't care. We're leaving in 5. And you're coming with us." Shark slammed Kristen's door closed and went back downstairs. Gabby had pulled herself together and was fixing Matthews hair.

He started to walk towards her then stopped. Gabby had just barely pulled herself together, and he did NOT want to make her start crying again.

Kristen came downstairs after a few minutes, slowly, and headed right out to the garage. The rest of the group followed.

"You made mom cry." Matthew whispered accusingly at his sister when they were alone in the back seat.

"Shut up." Kristen shot back without looking at him.


She should have known she could count on the people around her to take care of things. Between Becky, Carol, and Lexi, everything was going smoothly. The bar was stocked, food was flowing out of the kitchen, no one looked lost or in need or want of anything.

Gabby sat in the corner on the couch with Matthew tucked in her side and Kristen next to him. Shark was sitting in the chair next to her and Hammer was standing beside him. Happy had a habit of making close friends with any brother he came in contact with. But Hammer being his riding partner while the 2 were nomads, and also knowing more of the out of town brothers coming in, he took it upon himself to be the go between for Gabby and the visiting men.

Becky kept her rotated with wine, coffee, and water. She always seemed to show up right on time with a new drink. Gabby liked having something to hold on to. She knew from her psychology classes it was a barrier between her and the others around her. But if she wasn't entitled to a coping mechanism now, then when?

She stayed till she thought she could get away with leaving, and at 10 used the excuse of her exhausted 12 year old to skip out on the reminiscing. Shark got the 3 of them out of there without too much fan fair, since they would be seen again at the funeral tomorrow.

Kristen and Matthew went straight up to bed and Gabby and Shark sat on the couch. Shark drummed his fingers on his knee thinking he should offer more drinks, but then again, Gabby looked half glazed over.

"You should go to bed Gabs." Shark finally spoke up.

"Don't want to. If I go up there, I'll just cry."

Shark nodded his head and got more comfortable on the couch. "Anything I can do?"

"Just stay a while?" Gabby asked. Shark nodded his head and Gabby moved over, leaning her head on his shoulder. Shark wrapped his arm around her. It didn't take her 5 minutes to fall asleep.


Gabby kept reminding herself this was the last step. She bit her lip, she was surprised it wasn't bleeding by now, and accepted another hug from a man she didn't know. Matthew was getting restless, swaying back and forth next her. Kristen had long since given up and was waiting in the SUV behind them.

She had held it together at the clubhouse, on the long parade to the cemetery, through the burial. She just had to get through this last line of men before she could escape to her own home.

She wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for a week. She had slept peacefully on the couch last night with Shark but her back was mad at her for it. She wished Shark would have woken her up at some point, she hadn't meant to stay there with him all night.

A man she finally recognized gave her a hug and she squeezed back. He moved on to Matthew and Gabby hugged his old lady. She couldn't help but think how lucky the woman was to have her old man out living life with her.

Casper had finally gotten a call in the day after Gabby was called by the prison. The news hadn't spread through the prison yet and Gabby had to tell Casper he was alone in there now. He seemed resigned to it. Of course, he must have known it would happen eventually.

Casper wasn't the same man he had been when he went into prison. He was harder, rougher, angrier, more demanding and less sympathetic. Gabby just hoped he wouldn't stay that way upon his release. 10 more years. Maybe just 5 with good behavior. He could be out to see Matthew graduate high school. Maybe.


I don't know how you guys feel about this chapter, but I sobbed while writing it. And then sobbed all over again today while editing it. In fact, I wrote my way through the phone call and then stepped away from writing for a week because I just wasn't ready to face the end of Happy.

Please review, criticize, comment, guess, or yell at me in the box below.

Thank you in advance.