Why the name "Bozo" was considered amusing would always remain perplexing to Denise. There was hardly anything entertaining about it. Baby Sofia, however, was excited and squealing in elation from the instant they brought her inside of Bozo's, the kids' fun center in Charming, so for her sake, Denise could easily pretend she liked clowns and balloons and the smell of cotton candy. Besides, she decided with a smile, the sight of Tig practically having to walk around with his eyes closed to avoid the sight of the prize wall - an entire wall that was comprised almost entirely of dolls - was well worth enduring the sickly sweet cotton candy scent.

"That's right, keep laughin'," Tig grumbled, catching sight of Denise with her hand clapped over her mouth to stop her giggles from leaking out, having very little success at doing so. "I don't see anythin' funny."

"Oh, come on - go pick up a MILF at the skee ball game or something," Denise scoffed, laughing good-naturedly. Tig pulled a face and grumbled something about Denise being a spoiled brat, prompting her to elbow him in the side as he leaned over to kiss the side of her head in greeting.

"Ouch! Jesus Christ, potsticker, keep your kung fu hands to yourself," he groaned, rubbing his ribs exaggeratedly. "This is a family institution."

"Aunt Deedee! Aunt Deedee!"

Denise turned around to see Abel running towards her with a gift in his arms, holding it out to her proudly. It was a box about half his size, wrapped messily in Harley Davidson wrapping paper and copious layers of Scotch tape. The look on his face made it clear that he'd done the wrapping himself, and Denise took the proffered package with a smile, setting it front and center among the other gifts before leaning over and hugging the little boy tightly, planting a kiss on his forehead.

"What's a margarita?" he asked, Denise's eyes widened slightly before snapping back like a rubber band so that her brow quickly furrowed. "When we walked in here, Mama said she could use a margarita so I'm looking for one!"

"I don't think you're gonna find any of 'em here, sweetie," Denise chuckled before looking up at Jax, who walked over to the long table they had reserved in the dining area with his arm around Wendy.

"Juice and Fifi are over there playing in the ballpit," Denise said, nodding over to the opposite corner where sure enough, Juice was seated at the edge of the ballpit, though rather than actually putting Sofia in the pit because she was too small, he had her in his arms and simply handed her colorful plastic balls to throw. "You boys wanna go say hi?"

Jax nodded and leaned over, giving Denise a swift peck on the cheek in greeting that for once, Wendy seemed perfectly okay with. "I'll let you two... catch up, yeah?" Jax said before nodding for Abel to follow him over to greet Juice and the birthday girl. Denise nodded for Wendy to take a seat at one of the small booths next to their reserved table before she walked off somewhere for a brief moment, then reappeared, sliding a plastic cup filled with a red strawberry slushie over towards Wendy.

"It's not a margarita, but it's as close as you can get in here," Denise said, taking a seat across from Wendy with a lopsided smile. "Abel said you could use one."

"Thanks," Wendy nodded.

"How..." Denise began before she had to clear her throat, still unsure of how to talk to Wendy. Could things be normal? Did she want them to be? "How's Abel?" she managed to ask.

"He's good. Really good," Wendy nodded with bright enthusiasm. "He's only seeing the therapist once every couple weeks to check in. They said he's adjusting alright. Just... just needs the right people around him, people who make him feel safe. He's missed you."

"I've missed him too," Denise nodded honestly. "But I'm... I'm glad that he has you around now, all the time. It's good."

"Yeah," Wendy laughed, the squeamish tone still not completely gone from her voice as though she still felt small under Denise's gaze. "How about you?" she choked out. "How are - you know, things?"

"Good." Denise wanted to cringe at how awkward and stilted their conversation was, but the awareness that this was better than nothings was reason enough to press forward. "Things are still pretty weird. Definitely not normal. But still good."

"Good."

Wendy looked down and wordlessly took a drink from the slushie that Denise had brought for her. It was a wonder, Wendy thought to herself, that so soon after everything that had happened, Denise was able to give her a drink without wanting to poison her. That was how things worked with SAMCRO, she decided. Sometimes, when someone was all you had, you couldn't stay angry with them for long. You'd want to, of course, but that didn't make it an option.

"I meant it when I said I wanted you and me to be friends again," Wendy finally managed to speak up. "I know that's - that's a weird request for me to make, but I really want that, Dee. I want you and me to be okay."

"I know," Denise nodded. Wendy, at first, felt slightly disappointed at the noncommittal answer, but when she looked up and saw Denise at least trying to smile, trying to make this normal in some way, she knew that Denise was doing her best.

"I love my family. So do you," Wendy continued, nodding and reaching over to grab Denise's hand - she wasn't much of a touchy-feely person, but she had learned quickly that in Charming, people communicated by touch just as much as they did by speech. Denise inhaled slowly through her nostrils and breathed out through pursed lips before managing to reply to Wendy.

"You are family," Denise nodded, gently squeezing Wendy's hand back. "And family's allowed to hate each other once in a while, but at the end of the day..." her voice trailed off, and she shrugged. This was all Nero's fault, Denise thought to herself in amusement. He'd gotten her on this forgiveness kick, and now, she was forgiving people left and right.

"Babe!"

Denise looked quickly over her shoulder when she saw Juice hurrying over, carrying Sofia and pointing at her foot, and Denise's first reaction was fear. What was wrong? Had she gotten hurt? Denise leapt to her feet to meet Juice halfway, and he panted slightly to catch his breath.

"She kicked her shoe off somewhere in the ballpit - I didn't put her down for a second, I swear!" Juice said. Denise raised her eyebrows and fought back the urge to sock him in the shoulder, even if only because he was holding their daughter.

"You," she said, shaking her head gently, "just scared the s-h-i-t out of me. Fifi," Denise said, turning her attention to their daughter and taking off her other shoe as well so that she was at least even, "your Daddy is a dork."

"Dada!"

Juice and Denise immediately locked eyes, both bearing comical, almost cartoon-like expressions of shock. Amused by her parents faces, Sofia squirmed in Juice's arms and turned to look at him, reaching around and bopping him on the nose with her tiny fist. "Dada!"

"Oh my God!" Denise said excitedly, clapping both of her hands over her mouth to mask an overjoyed squeal - if Sofia's first word hadn't drawn attention from those around them, Denise's proud-mama celebration which consisted of her squealing and bouncing, practically oscillating on the spot definitely did. She reached over and tapped the side of Juice's face gently with the tip of her finger, not once taking her eyes off of Sofia. "Who's this? Who's this guy, Fifi?"

"Dada!"

"Did my ol' ears hear that right?" came a voice approaching from behind. "Is our little princesa talkin'?"

"Nero!" Denise said, hurrying over and giving him a fond hug as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. She practically dragged him over to Juice and Sofia in her excitement, reaching over and tapping Juice's face again. "Fifi, tell grandpa Nero -"

"Chinita," Nero chided, prompting Denise to pause and chuckle sheepishly, knowing that Nero wasn't exactly fond of being called a grandpa. He laughed as well as Denise quickly resumed.

"Tell Papi Nero who this is," she squealed excitedly, tapping Juice's face with her finger yet again.

"Dada!" Sofia laughed giddily, kicking her feet against Juice and bouncing. Realizing quickly that every time she said the new word, everyone grew excited and played with her more, she repeated it. "Dada!"

By now, practically everyone that they'd invited had trickled over to hear the birthday girl in action, and despite the fact that Juice had, only days ago, practically cursed the fact that he'd ever come to the club at all, that he'd considered them a nuisance that stood in the way of him and his family, there was something good - something familial now as they all came over to congratulate him with claps on the shoulder and kisses on the side of his head, celebrating his daughter's latest milestone. Denise took a moment to look at him, to really look, and realized that there were times that the club truly was still a band of brothers for him. In spite of everything, he still loved them - and Denise felt very much the same way. This was why they kept getting pulled back, because for two people who had very little else to turn to in the world, a family - even one as messed up as SAMCRO - was difficult to walk away from.

Denise flinched slightly when she felt her phone buzz in her back pocket, and she excused herself from the crowd to step outside and take the call, which she presumed was going to be from a client checking in on when their photo proofs would be done. When she arrived outside and looked down at her phone, however, she felt herself shiver when she realized that it wasn't a client.

"Hello, Charles," Denise said quietly, glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one had followed her to eavesdrop. "Why are you -"

"You have a deal," he said quickly. "I've arranged everything. You can collect Gemma from me tomorrow - meet me in Stockton."

And without another word, without any further explanation, Charles hung up. Denise went back inside to her daughter's birthday party with a sense of heaviness that she didn't have before. Here was something else that she'd have to hide from Juice - something else she was doing on her own. She wanted so much to consider it not her fault. She and Juice hadn't even been getting along when she'd made the deal with Charles - but they were okay now. They were okay. They were sleeping in the same bed, under the same roof. They were supposed to be done keeping secrets, but this wasn't something she could tell him about because she knew he would stop her. The weight of the decision she was making sat heavily on her shoulders, and she knew, even now, that it was a mistake - but it was one that couldn't be stopped anymore, because the consequences might be too great.

"This gets done," Denise muttered to herself, nodding almost imperceptibly. "Just this once. No more..."

This had to be the last time, Denise told herself. This had to be the last time she acted like she was the only one responsible for saving her family, the only one who could act. She and Juice had to be partners now - she just had to clean up this one last mess, and no more. It was different this time because this was a mess she had made all on her own - Juice was trying so hard and doing everything he could. Denise couldn't ask him to clean this up for her.

The idea played on repeatedly in her head until, without her even noticing, Juice came up behind her and nudged her back with his shoulder. Denise gave a small gasp and turned around in surprise to find him no longer holding Sofia, as Wendy had now taken Sofia and Thomas over to the small coin-operated carousel, where they were both seated on the same horse, with Thomas reaching out and holding Sofia's hand.

"We're gonna have to watch out for that one," Juice chuckled. "I said so the moment I first saw her, I'm gonna need to be showin' all the little boys how her Daddy cleans his guns or else - hey," he said, pausing in his fond ramblings to wave a hand in front of Denise's slightly blank eyes. "Somethin' wrong? Who was that?"

"That?" Denise asked, her brow furrowing slightly. "Just a client - the photographer they booked for their kid's sweet sixteen had an emergency, and someone slipped 'em my card, asked if I could make it out to shoot the party tomorrow."

"Wow, talk about eleventh hour," Juice chuckled, crossing his arm and nodding - he was impressed, without a doubt, at how successful Denise had gotten just by word of mouth, though the stunt she had pulled in the park had given her some good publicity as well. "Where at?"

"Stockton," Denise said - there was something strangely relieving about being able to at least be honest about where she was going, even if she had to lie about what she was doing there. "You don't have a run or anything that you need to be on tomorrow, do you?"

"Nah," Juice scoffed. "Overdue for a little Fifi and Daddy time, so you can go ahead and do work. Bring home the bacon," he chuckled. "And then maybe when you get home... we could have a little Mommy and Daddy time...?"

The phrase inflected upward into a question. Juice knew that he couldn't rush her into being normal with him again, but tonight had just been so good, it had been practically perfect. If there was any time to be a little bit brave, it had to be now, didn't it? Juice felt a wave of relief when Denise shot him a small, vague smile.

"That sounds good," she nodded. "I... I'd like that." For a few short seconds, they simply stood there looking at each other again, like two people who had just met and were trying to decipher this connection that they felt towards one another. Juice reached over for her hand and squeezed it fondly, but before he could say anything else, there was another sound that caught their attention.

"Mama!"

Denise's eyes were wide as she turned around and saw Wendy walking towards them while carrying Sofia who was looking straight at Denise and reaching for her with both hands, squirming to get out of Wendy's arms. Denise let out a gasp as she scooped her daughter into her arms and kissed her chubby little cheek repeatedly.

"That's right, baby!" Denise said, reaching out and tapping Sofia gently on the tip of her nose. "I'm Mama!"

"Mama!"

"Alright, prepare for the waterworks," Tig called out, earning a swift thwack across the head from Jax as everyone else snickered. Tig, however, was completely right as Denise sniffed back a few tears, beaming broadly while Juice stepped up and put his arm around her, leaning over and whispering in her ear.

"Told you so."

A/N's

And there is your mostly fluffy chapter! Even as a writer, though, I'm getting annoyed with Denise as a character - I almost forget that I'm the one doing the writing. No more secrets, Deedee! Cut that crap out! Bringing Gemma back into the fold is going to complicate things, definitely, but it isn't going to be the primary issue right away. But in any case, you'd best believe that Denise is going to have to be held accountable for trying to pull all the strings without telling anyone, even if she means well.

Also, within maybe the next 5 chapters, depending on how I divide things up, start preparing yourselves for some turbulence. I won't spoil what's going to happen, but things are definitely going to get shaken up. As always, thank you for all of your reviews and feedback! I'm so grateful that you're all sticking with this story! I've also been posting graphics and other fun things on my Tumblr more frequently lately, so feel free to head thattaway to check it out. The most recent post, as of this update, is a new more happy, romantic playlist that helps me power through writing the fluff even though I know that some very non-fluffy times are ahead.

Until next time, cheers!