CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN

Happy comes out a few minutes later, the furious look is still firmly planted on his face but the rapidly blackening eye of the gorilla man having lessened some of the tension from his shoulders. Happy doesn't stop walking, shoving the barely conscious man in front of him he waves off Chibs and Tig and only stops when Clay asks him something. A short conversation follows which ends with Clay looking at me then back at Happy before he says something else very close to Happy's ear and swings a fist at the already swollen eye of the ape-man.

Chibs and Tig run over as soon as Clay steps backwards, from where I'm sitting Clay says a few words before the pair of them help Happy pick up the now unconscious dirty Santa lookalike.

The entire lot is almost silent as Clay walks towards me and crouches down in front of me, "You okay?"

I nod and smile, "Sure I am Uncle Clay."

There's a sudden rise in noise level after I say that and Clay grins, resting a hand on my knee. "You did that on purpose?"

I nod, "Just reminding everyone, and informing those that didn't already know that I'm not a sweet-butt, I'm not a crow eater. I'm your niece."

Clay nods once, "Good. Anyone else pushes any boundaries you let me know."

I nod and squeeze his hand, "I will. Thank you."

"Though you could stop me from having heart attacks and wear more clothes." He tells me as he stands.

I glance down at the red plaid skirt I'm wearing, the black tulle sticking out from under it and the decorations of lengths of belt complete with buckles. "I like it."

Clay shakes his head and turns back towards the clubhouse.

Happy, Chibs and Tig come back in the gate a few minutes later, by the time they do my vodka is gone, the water is forgotten about and I'm starting to worry. The three of them are laughing and shoving like little boys and the tension I was unaware I was holding lifts.

Happy's dark eyes meet mine and he walks in my direction, ending up exactly where Clay was minutes before. "You good?"

I nod, "Yep. Thanks Hap." I wrap my arms around the enforcer's neck and give him a hug. "I'll make cupcakes for you." I whisper into his ear.

He chuckles as he pulls backwards and stands up. "You do that. And I'll be keepin' an eye on you now."

Jax says something to Opie behind me but I don't hear it, all I notice is when he stands up in a hurry, snatches Opie's empty bottle and storms inside.

Turning to Donna and Opie I know I look oblivious to whatever I've just missed. "What?"

Donna leans over to me, "You were meant to ignore him, not make him furious with his brother."

Happy looks just as confused as I feel before understanding lights his eyes and he turns around and heads inside.

I shake my head as Al and Juice join us at the picnic table, "What happened?" Al asks, leaning into Juice's side.

"With ape-man? He got handsy and didn't understand 'no'. Happy had to re-educate him. With Jax, no fucken idea."

Jax comes back outside, a couple of beers hanging from his hands. He passes one to Opie then spins around and heads to the other side of the lot where Chibs and Tig are beside the ring cheering on Kip and a potential prospect nicknamed Rat.

Donna and Opie eventually leave to go back inside, by the time they do I've decided I've had enough to drink and switched to water, not that anyone can tell the difference.

Al and Juice are discussing the trip we're about to go on to LA, Juice isn't making a secret of the fact he's not pleased with the three of us going without any 'protection' and I almost fall off the bench laughing when Al reminds him of her firearms licence, and the trunk full of weapons that have crossed state lines.

"Yeah, and she's not mental so she'll be able to keep them." I say, realising as I speak how snarky I sound.

Al just smiles at me, "Well, I'm sure you could get a not so legal version of what you had."

Juice rests his head on Al's shoulder and fixes his dark eyes on me, "You could get yours back. It'd just take Clay asking Unser."

I shake my head, "I can't do that to Clay, or Wayne. I know they have a 'don't ask don't tell' thing with each other but if I was really worried about it I'd talk to Clay directly and get something. Besides, why do I need a gun, everyone around me has at least one?"

Al giggles and I realise she knows how annoyed I am at my mental state being questioned, I had been poked and prodded for so long before the hospital in New York released me that any unfounded judgement about the state of my brain gets me wound up.

Kip and Rat are being helped down from the ring and I grin widely as Cherry shoves several of the 'higher ranked' crow eaters out of the way as she goes to hand Kip a towel and a beer.

Al spots the smile and raises an eyebrow. "I may have taught her from my mistakes. I told her that if she wanted him she had to go after him and not let any other set of boobs, or lips, get in the way."

Juice just about chokes on his beer and ends up in a huge coughing fit, and draws attention from several of the people outside. "I'm fine." He manages to choke out as I hand him my water and wait for him to start breathing normally again.

He mock glares at me, "You gotta warn me before you say shit like that."

I laugh, "But that would take the fun out of it."

He shakes his head and goes back to arguing with Al about taking at least one Son with us as I turn my attention back to watching the people around the lot, my attention drifting from one group of people to another.

I watch Jax strides across the lot to where we're all sitting, I'm happy that Al seems to have found someone who understands her, she's always been a difficult person for members of the opposite sex. Juice, as strange as he seems, is absolutely great.

"Wonder what his problem is." Juice's voice sounds intrigued, but as Jax's steps bring him closer to us Juice starts looking round the lot like he's making sure he hasn't done anything wrong.

"It's probably me again Juice, don't worry." I stand up and step over the picnic bench. Turning back to them, "I'll find out what his problem is and deal with it."

"Oh you're going to deal with something alright." Jax's voice is hard behind me and I spin around wondering what on earth I've done this time.