Finding Happiness Ch. 29

Luna looked at her watch, fuck she was running late. Damn it. She got caught at work, last-minute emergency coming in, a kid got his hand stuck in pipe, and needed it removed, mom refused to let the Fire Department handle it. Shaking her head, she tried to focus on the task at hand, get to Gemma's without dying in a car crash. Goals. Simple but effective.

Turning the corner, Luna couldn't help but smile, it was Abel's first birthday party! She was super excited it was a long road to get here, but she was happy to know that the little dude pulled through and was thriving. Parking the truck on the side of the street, she grabbed all the bags and stuff from the bed of her truck, she may have gone a little over-board, but it couldn't be helped.

Checking both ways, she made her way into the house, "GEM, Sorry I'm late, please don't hurt me!" She yelled through the house.

"I'm in the kitchen." She heard her friend respond.

Rounding the corner, she could see that the kitchen was occupied with Luann, Donna, Lyla, and of course Gemma. Holding her hands up with the bags, "So, where do these go?" she asked.

Donna was the first to turn around, "JESUS, really Luna? You're going to make the rest of us look bad."

Shrugging her shoulders, "Um, sorry?" Smiling at her friend. "I've done the same for Ellie and will do the same for Kenny. I'm not playing favorites!"

Gemma turned and laughed, "Put them over on the living room please. Then get your butt back, we need your knife skills!"

"Sir, yes sir." Heading towards the living area, Luna found the makeshift table that all the presents were being placed on. Arranging them nicely, she didn't want to ruin the look that Gemma was going for. Finishing up, she could see the guys were outside on the porch, while she was comfortable enough to go out there, she knew that Gemma needed help getting this party off. Heading back to the kitchen, she got her instructions from Gemma and started cutting the fruit into shapes, Abel loved stars.

While she worked her magic to make fruit shapes, she couldn't help but smile, it had been a complicated 4 months, but with the love of her friends, she was able to come out the other side. Looking around, the women in this kitchen made every moment worth it.

It didn't take her long to figure out that Gemma was recruiting the guys to check in on her, Otto and Luann were like a fixture in her place, at least once a week, come by for dinner and a movie, Bobby would stop by the hospital every couple weeks and bring her some of his famous muffins, the biggest surprise was Clay, every other week he would stop by and ask Luna to give him his arthritis injections. She knew that Gemma wanted her to know that she was still a member of this family, even if a little estranged. It warmed her heart that they would still check in on her, but she was pretty sure if they refused Gemma would light a fire under their asses.

She couldn't help but think back to the first time Jax showed up to her house, needing a babysitter.

FLASHBACK

Luna just finished repainting her bedroom, it had been over a month now that she and Happy's relationship was torpedoed, finding little projects in her off time helped, hell she already got rid of the bed and bedframe, donating it to Goodwill, she was just waiting on the delivery of her new bed, which should be arriving tomorrow morning.

Stepping back, she looked over the color, it was different then before, this was almost seaside colored blue, soft, not too bold. Looking at the new curtains that were hanging on the windows completed it, a light blue with some pastel green flowing through, it brightened her space.

Picking up all the crap she used for painting, she cleaned her room up, heading out to the back porch, she cleaned her roller brushes and tossed the trash away, once she was satisfied that everything was in its place and she didn't have a bigger mess to deal with, Luna started getting dinner ready. After a hard day of painting and redecorating her bedroom, she figured something simple, chicken broccoli alfredo.

By the time she was almost done with making the sauce, there was a knock at the door, turning the burner to low so that it wouldn't burn, she looked through the peephole to see Jax on the other side, holding Abel.

Opening the door, "Hey, what's up?" she asked him, but immediately turned to that chubby baby. "Hey my perfect man."

Jax laughed, "Well I'm not perfect, but I'll take it."

Moving aside Luna let him walk in with the baby, but as soon as the door was shut behind him, "Why on earth would you think I would talk to you with all that love, give me my boy, and no one get's hurt!" Gently reaching over and pulling Abel to her chest. "He's insane. You're the love of my life." Nuzzling him, she couldn't help but smile when he squealed at her in delight. Turning her attention towards Jax, she could see that his eyes were soft. Smiling at him, "Need me to watch him?" shea asked.

He should be use to this by now, Luna was so perceptive, but sometimes it was like she could read people's mind, shaking his head, "Yea, I would normally drop him off with Gemma, but she's went home early because she was feeling tired, and Neeta just called saying that she was sick, there's some shit that needs to be handled, and I don't want to leave him with a sweet-butt." Giving her the biggest smile, he could, "Please darling, I'd owe you."

"You do realize that your panty dropping smile has no affect on me, right?" Holding the baby, she looked at him, "Your daddy is trying to use his charms, he's a silly guy. But he should know that for you, I'd do it." Looking back at Jax, she could see the amusement in his eyes, "Of course, I'll watch him. I just made some dinner, so we'll get him some noms. You have his diaper bag filled with everything I need, yes?" she asked.

Quickly turning on his heels he headed to his truck with all the crap, he even pulled out the car seat and base, wanting her to have everything she needed. As he walked back into the house, she was sitting at the table with his son, he was in her lap, and she was feeding him a small piece of pasta. It was a beautiful sight to see, his son obviously loved her, hell, he was sure anyone that spent any time with her did. He couldn't think that way, she was Happy's Old Lady, right now they were separated, he was sure it was only a matter of time before they got back together, and he didn't want to put himself in a position to get hurt again. "Here, everything you should need for a day or so, but I will call you when I'm heading over in the morning."

Looking up from the table, "OK, just leave it on the couch. Is there anything I should be aware of, or is everything good on this end?" Subtly asking should she be on alert.

Jax walked over to the table, "Should be quiet." Leaning down he kissed his son on the head, and looked at Luna, her big green eyes were shining with amusement. "Shut up." He kissed her forehead and headed out.

Watching Jax lock the door as he shut it, Luna couldn't help but smile, he was a great father. "OK, now that we're alone, let's finish our dinner, then we'll have bath time, and we'll snuggle watching a movie until you doze off. Sound good little man?"

The only response that she got was his giggles, that was enough for her. He was doing well with the bits of pasta, but she knew he needed a bit more. Heading over to the couch she grabbed his baby mush food and feed him a jar of the chicken. She also made a small bottle of formula to wash that foul smelling goop down.

Bath time was a bit messy, but to be fair, she didn't have all the stuff she would need to bath a baby; however, she made do. Bringing him and his diaper bag to her spare room, she carefully laid him down, and got him already for bed, from what Gemma told her, once he settles in for the night, he'll usually sleep through the night, which was good, not that Luna wasn't up for fighting a baby, but she wanted some rest.

Looking at the little dude, she could see that he was getting a bit sleepy, checking her watch it was 8, while she wasn't exactly tired, she didn't want to leave him in the bed alone, putting him in the center of the bed, she grabbed a blanket rolling it up like a burrito, carefully wrapping it around him, she put a pillow on the other side of his makeshift wall. Laying down with him, she carefully got under the covers, after about two hours of staring at a sleeping baby, her eyes finally got heavy, and she drifted off to sleep.

The sound of someone in the house woke Luna, she could see that the sun was just breaking through, quietly getting up, she checked over on Abel and he was blissfully asleep, carefully getting up, she made her way towards the noise, reaching into the spare bathroom, she grabbed the gun that Gemma gave her, putting a bullet in the chamber, she raised it and headed towards the sound, it was coming from the dining room. Rounding the corner, she had the gun pointed to the stunned face of Jax. Letting out a breath of relief, she lowered the gun, "You know it's polite to knock. Not doing so is a good way to catch a bullet."

He was too stunned to speak, it took him a second to realize that she was would shoot anyone that came into this house uninvited, "I figured that you'd be asleep, didn't want to wake you or Abel." He watched as she popped the bullet out of the chamber and put the gun in the closet, she was standing next to, "Nice to know that you'd defend yourself and Abel if someone was stupid enough to break in."

Locking eyes with him, "Jax, I'd give my life for that kid." It wasn't even a question, she loved that little guy.

Hearing that put him at ease, he knew that she wouldn't let anything to him, "Between you and Gemma, at least he won't grow up with mommy issues." That was something that he worried about, Abel being old enough to know why his birth mom wasn't around, realizing that she cared more about her fix than him. He even had Juice look into Wendy, she was back out of rehab, but she was still getting high.

Blinking rapidly, it warmed her heart to know that he considered her important in his son's life. "No, he won't, he's very loved by many. He's a lucky kid." They stared at each other for a moment, but the sound of Abel babbling, and squealing made her turn around and go get him. Quickly changing his diaper, and changing him for his day, she brought him back to the living room and could see that Jax was finishing up his bottle, she watched as he walked over and took Abel from her hands, seeing him settle down on the couch, "I'll make some breakfast."

That was the first of a few nights that Jax would drop off Abel and pick him up in the morning.

END FLASHBACK

Luna looked down at her progress, she had star shaped watermelon, pineapples, and regular apples. All his favorite fruit. "Is this enough Gem?" she asked.

Gem came over and looked at the platter, "Yea baby, it's more than enough, everything is ready for lunch. Lu, can you get the baby, Donna, will you let the guys know it's time." As soon as it was just the two of them, "Hap's here, I know you haven't seen or spoke to him since everything went down, are you going to be, OK?" she asked.

Putting the platter to the table, "Yes, I'll be fine, I'm good. What we had was nice, but it wasn't meant to be." Which was true, she mourned the loss of his love, and after a couple months she was able to see that it wasn't supposed to be forever. She was honestly in a good place with everything.

Luna was nothing if not impressive, Gemma knew that she wouldn't lie about how she was feeling, honestly, she kind of felt sorry for Hap, he was miserable he missed her, but by the looks of everything, Luna was moving on, and whatever could had been, was probably lost. But that was his mistake, he couldn't blame anyone but himself. "That's good baby."

The sounds of the guys coming inside, brought them out of the little moment, Luna looked up and found Otto making his way towards her. "Hey big man. What's up?"

Pulling her into a hug, "Not too much, missed you last this week."

Giving him a quick hug, "Yea, I've been pulling a lot of double shifts. Needed extra cash."

Tig ever so nosy, "Why's that doll?"

Looking over at the man, while he still was a little creepy, she never disliked him. "Heading to Chicago for the week, college roomie is getting hitched."

Jax was a little surprised, when he was with her, she never mentioned going to Chicago. Not wanting to worry about it now, he knew that Happy was on edge already for her being here. While it wasn't obvious to the rest of the club, he knew that he missed her.

Happy watched her interact with the club, the smile never leaving her face, by the time she greeted everyone he watched as her eyes got to him, he expected to see love, longing in her eyes, but all he was to see was polite friendliness.

Luna could see that he was staring at her, and the club was on edge, wondering if they were going to blow up, he looked the same, if not a little tired, but other than that, her heart didn't beat out of its chest at the sight of him, taking the time to heal was the right call. "Hey, Happy." Giving him a polite smile and nod.

His voice was caught in his throat, not trying to seem affected by it, "Hey Little Girl." The sound of his nickname for her coming out of his mouth, crushed him even more. But what was more telling, she didn't flinch. Raking his eyes over her, he could see that she looked just the same, his eyes settling on her stomach, not a bump. She'd be about 4 months now; she'd have a bump. Realizing that he needed to get some answers, he'd wait until after the party. This was about Abel.

Luna could see his eyes settle on her stomach; the look of surprise is what through her. Gemma didn't tell him. When she spoke with Gemma a few days after the breakup, she asked not to tell the club, she didn't need them knowing what happened, unless Happy wanted to discuss it, she wasn't going to. Honestly, it wasn't a big deal, she was just surprised. Not wanting to spend another moment thinking about him or what happened, she turned towards the others and started conversations with everyone.

Jax watched with interest, Luna wasn't affected by his presence at all, she seemed good. Could it be possible she moved on? Right now, he needed to focus on his son. Who at the moment was squealing to be near Luna. He watched as he reached for her. The smile on her face as she took him from Luann, was enough to light the room.

"There you are my love. Are you ready to have a party? Grandma made all your favorites, and us aunties helped. Are you hungry?" She loved talking to Abel. Never one to use baby talk, she heard from pediatricians that it helped with verbal development to speak to them like a normal person. Looking around the room she could see everyone smiling at her, Gemma had a huge smile. "What?" she asked.

Opie laughed, "Nothing. It's just funny, you're this tough no nonsense chick, but when it comes to him, you're a marshmallow." The room was filled with laughter.

Giving Opie the stink eye, "Watch it Lumberjack." Earning another round of laughter.

Gemma quickly got the party started, after a nice lunch, they sat around the couch and opened all his presents. He was definitely spoiled rotten. Gemma couldn't believe that he was finally 1. It took forever to get here, but now that they all were over that scary moment in his life, it was great to just enjoy everything. Shit his last party almost ended with tragedy, it was nice to know that wasn't going to happen today.

Several hours passed, and she could see that it was time for Luna to head out. She offered a million times to drop her off at the airport, but each time she was told that she had it covered, she knew that Luna was operating back in the mindset of handling herself alone, and she understood, there were going to be times that someone probably wasn't going to help. "Luna, are you sure you don't want a ride to the airport?" She asked as they picked up the wrapping paper.

Looking over her shoulder she could see the concern in Gemma's face, "Gem, I'm good, I promise." Standing up she walked over to Bobby who was holding Abel, "Love you little dude." Giving him a pat on his head, she turned to Bobby, "Love you too Elvis." Walking towards the front door, she said her goodbyes. Otto stood and walked her out.

"You sure you'll be OK kid?" he asked her.

Looking over at her friend. "I'm good Otto. I'll call as soon as I park it, I promise."

Pulling her into a hug, "Alright, have fun, be safe, call if you need anything."

With that she watched as he headed back inside. She checked her watch and new if she didn't leave now, she was going to miss her flight. Opening the door, she felt someone behind her, thinking it was Otto or Tig, "I'll be fine. Stop worrying."

"Can't help it Little Girl." His voice rasped out.

Turning around she could see him standing off to the side of the street, she really didn't have time for his apologies, she forgave him a while ago, but it wasn't something that needed. "Happy, I really need to go." She wasn't trying to be rude, but she did need to go.

Clenching his jaw, he could see that she wasn't being a bitch. "I'll drive you." Stepping forward towards her.

Putting her hands up, "No, you won't. I don't want to do this before I go, whatever you need to say can wait until I get back." With that she jumped in her truck and headed off to the airport. As she drove, she came to a realization, she was actually over him. While a part of her would always think fondly of their time together, she wasn't really affected by his need to apologize or whatever this was going to be. Not letting the thoughts run through her brain, she drove in relative silence.

Jax stood on the steps leading to his mom's house, he watched the interaction between them, anyone with eyes could have seen it, Happy was trying to come back, and she wasn't having it. Something about seeing that made him smile. Heading back inside to the party, he grabbed his son and played with him and all his new toys.