Finding Happiness Ch. 36
Luna was sitting in now what would be Abel's room, she was finishing on assembling his crib, she prided herself on being self-reliant, but this fucking thing tested her patience, but when she finally got the last screw in, she stood up and looked back her work. She was very proud of herself, taking a quick look around the room, she took inventory of everything that was done.
The walls were painted a light gray, with a deep blue accent wall, the curtains were a medium gray and blocked the light coming in so that the sun didn't wake him up if it came over the rise early, the crib itself was a nice black matte, with matching changing table/dresser combo, but what was the best part of the whole room, wasn't the little knickknacks on the shelves or his cute little toys, it was the beautiful mural that was on the wall with the window. She loved how it came out, she hoped that Jax would appreciate it.
It was a gorgeous redwood tree, that held a handful of crows overlooking the whole room. Smiling at it, she was so proud of Tristen, she was an amazing artist, seems like it was something that she got into during counseling, she was extremely talented. She tried to pay Tristen for her artwork, but the girl wouldn't have any of it, she only asked that Luna teach her to fight. Checking in with her parents, they said that they didn't have a problem with it, she agreed. Tristen was more than excited, looking at her watch, she knew that today was going to be the first day that they started training. Taking one last look in the room she walked out and headed to her bedroom and got ready for her day.
A light knock on the door, Luna checked the peephole, seeing Elliot and Tristen she opened the door, "Good morning." Stepping back, she let them into the house.
Elliot looked around the house, he could see that she took pride in her home, and it was very well designed, and it was beautiful, "You have a lovely home, Luna." He said.
Smiling back at him, "Thank you so much." She looked over at Tristen, she seemed ready, wearing a pair of leggings, and t-shirt. "You ready sweetie?"
Tristen looked over at her friend, "Yes, I'm nervous though."
"That's OK, that's 100% normal, today is mostly getting into a workout routine, and learning basic stances and such, as we progress, we'll add everything you need to know about self-defense." Looking over at Elliot, "I'd say about an hour, you're more than welcome to come outside and sit with us." She offered.
Nodding his head, "Maybe just for today," which earned him a look from his daughter. "But, after I'll just drop her off. Sound fair sweetheart?"
Tristen rolled her eyes, but she wasn't going to complain too much, while her parents improved with counseling with the family, things have gotten better for them as a whole. She smiled, "OK daddy."
Luna smiled at them, Tristen made some fantastic strides, "Let's get started." She turned and headed out to the backyard; it was time to get her into fighting shape.
Gemma looked around the house that was once Jax's. Seeing it empty, was strange, but she completely understood why Luna wouldn't want to move in here, hell, she hated being in the kitchen when she came over, that was where she found that junkie whore on the floor. Trying to focus on her task, she made sure that everything was ready for the realtor to start showing, she shut the door and locked it house up. It was a bittersweet moment.
She knew that Jax would have handled it all, but he needed to deal with the Irish, so Gemma took control of it, not that she minded. Pulling out her phone she sent him a text letting him know that the house was cleaned out, and everything that wasn't meant to be saved was sent to goodwill. Once she sent that text, she called Neeta letting her know that she would be back to the house in about an hour. As she turned to her car, she saw the realtor bringing a young couple to the house, shit, that was perfect timing. Getting into her car, she waved at them and drove off, she needed to turn the keys into the realtor office officially, and then she would pick up her grandson and bring him to his real home. The smile that graced her face could probably light a room, but she didn't give a shit. Things were finally in place.
Standing around the warehouse, Jax listened to Cameron talk about the new deal that the Irish wanted, it wasn't a bad deal, but he didn't want to get deeper in the pockets of the Irish, he knew that getting out of guns was a long-term goal, but taking on more hardware, that would make his plan take a lot longer. As Cameron finished, Jax looked around at the at Opie and Chibs, they were saying the same thing, no.
"Look, I get that you want to push more, artillery, I'll bring it to the club for a vote, go from there." Eyeing him "We still going to be in good standing with the Kings if it gets shut down?" Knowing that Cameron didn't speak for the Kings but was loyal to the club he would give a straight answer.
"Aye, this wuz just an offer for a little extra, not a demand." He said.
Jax nodded, extending his hand, "We'll be in touch either way."
With that SAMCRO left headed back to the clubhouse. Pulling into the lot they could see that the bikes were there, good he wanted to handle this shit, and call Cameron tomorrow with the answer, making it seem like they took time to think about it.
Entering the clubhouse, he saw the new prospect sweeping up, "Hey shithead, round everyone that's in the dorms, CHURCH." With that Jax turned towards the doors and sat down at the head of the table. Letting out a breath, he couldn't believe that less than 24 hours ago he was in here selling the guys on Luna's plan. He couldn't help but smile at the thought.
FLASHBACK
Jax was nervous on bringing this too the table, he knew if they voted against it, he couldn't do it, while he could still pursue a relationship with Luna, and he sure as fuck would, but doing it like this was to give him the best chance to keep his son, and he'd do anything for him.
He watched as the last member entered the room, once everyone was seated he took a deep breath.
"So, Luna came to me with an idea, turns out our resident guardian angel took it upon herself to go see Lowen today." He looked at the men, each one of them had a level of figures and she's amazing.
Bobby looked at him, "Sounds about right. She figured something out?" he asked.
Looking at him, "Yea, but it's not conventional and it can cause a lot of issues inside the club if we don't agree."
Clay looked over, "What does that mean?"
Lighting a cig, "Lowen said that me being in a long-term healthy relationship would go a long way with the judge."
Opie smirked, he knew where this was going, "How does that work Jax? It's not gonna be hard for you to find a bitch, but no one that would be a good look?"
Looking at his best pal, "Luna offered, she said that Lowen agreed that she would be perfect, but starting a new relationship would look suspect, that we'd have to set the record back, so to speak." He looked directly at Happy, "Pretty much the time that she was with you would be erased, so to the outside world it would have not happened." He could see the rage building inside his brother, he could almost feel sorry for him, but this was his cross to bare.
He could see the stunned faces around the room, "I didn't push her, I didn't make this offer, she came to me, and you know that she loves Abel, I won't do this unless majority agrees, but I can't lose my son."
Otto smiled, while this wasn't the conventional way for Jax to get the girl, it was just how things played out. He could read the room, this was going to go in Jax's favor, but he needed to know how his kid would be treated, "I'm for it, but you going to be a real old man or is this just for show for the courts, I love her too much to let her get hurt again."
Jax understood, Otto was her father for all intents and purposes, "No, it would be real, even after the courts."
Otto stared down his president, "Let me be clear, President patch or not, you hurt her, you and I will have issues, and it will be dealt with." Taking another moment, "I vote, yes."
Bobby looked at Jax, "She's special Jax, while I get you want to protect your son, she's not some tool that you pick up and put down when you're done. You hurt her, I'm with Otto, you'll be in a world of hurt. I vote Yes."
Happy was torn between rage and acceptance, "You hurt her Jax, you do anything as stupid as I did, I'll kill you." He looked at the table. Then back to Jax, "We go to the ring after this, I need to settle this there before I can be OK with seeing you two together, but I vote YES."
Everyone was surprised, no one expected that from him, but once Happy got on board the rest of the club voted YES.
Jax was relieved, he looked directly at Happy, "I'll see you in the ring than. I need to let her know what we decided."
Happy nodded, looking around the room, the respect that was showing in his brother's eyes, helped, he did her wrong, but this was something that he could do to show her that he was sorry.
Calling an end to CHURCH, the guys filed out of the room, Jax looked around and didn't see Luna. "Shithead, where's Luna?"
Phil looked up from the bar, "Uh, Otto's kid? She went to the roof."
Giving him a strange look, he turned to Otto who had this shit eating grin on his face. Slapping Jax on the back, "Don't worry son, you treat my kid right you got no issues with me."
Nodding to him, he turned to the guys, "Thank you. Spread the word, make sure we get the whores in line, get Gemma, Donna, and Lyla involved if you have to." Turning on his heels he headed towards the latter.
He saw her sitting on the edge of the building, not wanting to spook her he cleared his throat, he watched as she turned her head slightly, the smile on her face was enough for him, he didn't think that he would ever get tired of seeing that look on her face.
Not bothering to get up, she turned to Jax, "So, we good or find a plan B?" she asked him.
He held out his hand, once he felt her hand in his he pulled her up, smiling down at her, she was small compared to him, not saying a word, he pushed some hair out of her face, and leaned in to kiss her. It was slow, but he dominated the kiss. Holding her in place by putting his hand on the back of her neck, he deepened the kiss, he only imagined what kissing her would be like, but this exceeded his expectations. Pulling back, he could see that her green eyes were sparkling. Rubbing his thumb on her cheek. He smiled down at her.
Luna could only stare at him, that was intense. As her brain started to fire on all cylinders again, she stepped back a bit. "I'm glad it worked out." Looking in his face, she could see that he was happy, but there was something behind them, "What's the catch?"
Laughing at her, "I'm starting to think you can read minds," pulling her into a hug, "Happy agreed to it, he voted yes, but he wants to settle the personal shit in the ring, I agreed."
Luna gasped. "I'm surprised, but I'm glad." Looking over the edge she could see him taking off his Kutte and shirt, she smiled, looking back at Jax, "I would normally go down there for this, but I'll sit this one out."
Jax understood, she had history, but before he went any further, he wanted to make sure she was all in, "Last chance to back out darling."
Smiling back at him, "Nah, I'm good." Giving him a little nudge, "Go, do man shit, I'll be at the bar." She watched as he walked away and headed down the ladder, she turned back to the ring, she smiled down again, saying mostly to herself, "Thank you Happy."
END FLASHBACK
CHURCH was handled relatively quickly, the club agreed while they would keep their current deal with the Irish, getting into more artillery seemed like more trouble than it was worth. Everyone walked out to the bar, and Otto looked over to Jax, "Prospect and Gemma get everything handled at the house?"
"Yea, Gemma said it was done, I'm pretty sure I'll need to help Luna setup Abel's room, finishing putting my shit away." He was excited, tonight was the first night that they would be in the same house.
Otto looked down at his friend. "Gemma is a force of nature, with enough incentive I'm sure she could take over the world."
Clay was behind him, he couldn't help but laugh, "No shit." Grabbing a beer, he looked over at his son, he could see that he was happy, "You do know that your old lady is just as committed to getting shit done." Taking a long sip, "So, here's my advice, let her do her thing, she'll never cross the line, you know that, and let her do shit for the club, it will make your life 100x easier. Strong women are amazing, but can be a pain, but it's worth it."
Otto and Jax laughed, Otto slapped him on the back, "Go home, I'm sure that you'd like to get settled in on your first night."
"Thanks boys." With that he headed home.
Luna had a pair of shorts and an orange tank on, after her training session with Tristen she wanted to jump in the shower, after she was dressed, she got a text from Gemma that she just dropped off the keys to the realtor and was grabbing Abel and she'd be there in a little bit.
Heading towards the kitchen she wanted to have a nice dinner waiting for her family when they got home. Grabbing what she needed to make her homemade raviolis she got to work, a small tear escaped her eyes, while she was mostly happy, her heart still hurt for her friend. Raviolis were his favorite dish, so as she made them, she thought of every fun memory she could of them together. She knew that his funeral was coming up in a few days, she already talked to Jax, he said that he would be there, no matter what, which was nice, but if he couldn't make it, she'd ask Gemma to be a stand in.
It didn't take long to get them made and prepped for dinner. She got the pot on the stove and started to set the table, she knew that Gemma was coming with Abel, Jax texted her on his way home, but he didn't mention if Clay or anyone else was coming, so she left a couple bowls out in case.
She heard the door open, looking up from the stove, she could see Gemma walking in with the baby. "Hey," putting down her spoon, she went over to help, "anything needing to come in from the car, or did the Phil drop everything off already?" she asked.
"No baby, everything's here," she looked around the room, she didn't see any boxes, "you get everything done?" she asked in surprise.
Laughing at her, "Yea, Abel's room was done yesterday, Jax's shit is put away." Smiling down at her boy. "You wanna go see your new room. I had someone make it special for you." Abel squealed at her. She looked at Gemma, she got a smile back.
Gemma nodded and followed Luna to the bedroom, she watched a Luna opened the door and stepped aside. Walking in, Gemma gasped, her eyes focused on the mural. "That is so beautiful," stepping closer she could see that there were 10 crows in the tree. Looking back, "You made sure to include the club."
Luna was leaning against the door frame, "Of course, there is a good chance he follows in his father's footsteps, he it's important for him to know that they are always watching over him." Gemma was a little harder to read than most people, but she was sure that she approved. "Do you think that Jax will like it?"
She didn't get to answer her question, the sound of a bike pulling up stopped her. Looking at Luna, "We are about to find out. You ready baby?" Abel squealed, and Gemma placed him in new crib.
"Luna, Ma, where are you?" Jax asked as he shut door behind him.
"In the backroom. Come back here, you need to see your son's room." His mom said from deeper in the house.
Walking towards the back rooms he stopped at the door, he could see Luna leaning against the doorframe. She looked so beautiful. Giving her a soft kiss, "Hey darling."
"Hey." They locked eyes for a moment, "Looks like little man loves his room." Turning her head towards the baby.
Jax followed her eyesight and walked into the room, looking around he could see that she made sure to have it look nice, he could see his son holding himself up and smiling. Looking around the room, his eyes fell on the mural. Stepping closer he could see the crows, counting them, there was one for each member, looking deeper into the tree trunk, he could see craved letters, REDWOOD ORIGINAL. Instinctively running his hands over, he felt a wave of emotion rush over him. Keeping his composure he turned towards her, "This is amazing," he walked towards her pulling her into a kiss. Not wanting to make out in front of his mother, he pulled away. "I'm in awe of you, you know that right."
Reeling from the kiss, she couldn't help the blush that crept up her cheeks, sparing a quick glance at Gemma, she could see the amusement in her eyes. Shaking her head at her, she looked back at Jax. "Eh, well it's not hard to make miracles happen when you have the love of your life in the room," she could see that Jax smiled widely at that, she looked at Abel, "Is that right my beautiful boy?"
Jax laughed at her, "Smart ass." Walking over to his son, "I got the girl, stop stealing her, OK?" Abel babbled with joy.
Gemma watched as her son and grandson looked over at Luna. She was beyond happy; this is what she wanted from the moment she met Luna and was glad that it was falling into place. All they had to do was get pass the custody shit and she knew that their lives wouldn't be perfect, but it would be complete.
Luna smiled at her family, "Alright, mushy shit needs to end, let's get some food. I made raviolis."
With that she headed towards the kitchen to finish dinner. Hearing them follow behind her, she knew that while tonight was going to be a good start to their lives, she focused on tomorrow they had a meeting with Wendy and her lawyer. She didn't want to get ahead of herself. But watching Jax put Abel into his highchair, and sit at the table with his mom, she knew that this fight was going to be worth it.
