I do not own any characters from Sons of Anarchy. I own Sara and any other original characters.

February 2008

If you had asked Happy Lowman a week ago where he would be on Saturday morning, he never would have said sitting in the visitor's section of Chino. His eyes scanned the other people waiting: mostly women and a few sullen children who were probably forced to come see the father they barely knew. There were a couple rough looking guys giving him the same side-eye treatment he was giving them, sizing him up and wondering about his affiliation. Happy looked down at his own clothing: worn jeans and a plain black hoodie to cover his SOA ink. You never knew who you'd run into in the parking lot of a state prison; last thing you wanted was to be tailed by some rival gang and get jumped a few miles up the road. His foot bounced a few times as he checked his watch.

"You Lowman?" His head snapped up and caught the eye of the man standing before him in the polyester jumpsuit and cuffs. Happy stood up and just nodded in response, knowing that a handshake was probably called for but not permitted per visitation guidelines. Hap waited for the taller man to start sitting before returning to his seat across the metal table.

"So you're the man fucking my wife?" Ryan asked crossing his arms across his broad chest.

One Week Ago

Happy took a deep breath, letting the smoke burn in his throat and lungs before exhaling slowly. He stared at unfamiliar house before him as he leaned on his bike. He was stalling by smoking, he knew that, but he needed a few minutes to gather his thoughts. He wasn't scared to walk up the drive and ring the bell; there wasn't much that scared a man like Happy. No, it wasn't fear that kept him securely on the asphalt. If anything it was annoyance. Annoyance that he felt he needed to make this trip at all.

The screen door of the house opened and a blonde head popped out.

"You gonna grow some balls and come in, or just stand there all day?" Jason Harris inquired sounding as annoyed as Happy felt. Fucking kid assumed that Hap was afraid to face him. Happy put out his cigarette with his boot before trudging up the walkway. He let himself in, seeing as Harris wasn't at the door anymore. He found the younger man sitting at the wooden dining table with a steaming mug of black coffee and a cigarette.

"Coffee's in the pot." Jason offered with a shrug and gesture. He was shirtless, his torso littered with tattoos—some club-related, some not. Happy opted not to get mug but pulled out his pack and lit another smoke.

"Business or pleasure?" Jason asked after a moment and Hap just watched him. He hadn't paid too much attention to the man when they had met previously but now seeing him one on one, it was eerie how much he and Sara were alike. Of course they looked alike with the same coloring, same eyes, same fair skin, but watching the man move through even the simplest movements like lifting a mug to his mouth or the way his sharp blue eyes were taking in Happy, it was like watching Sara. Hap realized in that moment how close the siblings must have been at some point. He knew Sara practically tripped over herself to keep her brother happy, but Hap had always kinda hoped it was like Stockholm Syndrome or something since Jason had been her protector when she was little. Sara always argued that her brother hadn't always been the douchy hardass he was now. Seeing the similarity between the siblings hammered home the point that they were just genuinely siblings that the fucked up MC life had twisted. This realization made him even more resolved to put any shit between them to bed.

"I wanna know why you let Sara move to Charming." Happy finally stated.

"Thought you wanted her there?" Jason asked, eyes narrowing.

"I do. But you don't."

"Can't just take the win?" Jason scoffed, fingers tracing the edge of his mug.

"Not if it's going to bite me in the ass later." Hap responded with a hard look. Jason sighed and rolled his eyes and Hap winced at the familiar movement.

"She wanted to go, so she went. She's an adult. Didn't have anything to do with me."

"Everything she does has something to do with you." Happy stated, trying to hold back an accusatory attitude.

"Look man, I just want her to be happy. She's had a hard run of it lately." Jason offered with a shrug.

"There's more to it than that." Hap pressed, knowing the younger man was holding something back. Jason watched him for a few moments before taking a long drink from his coffee.

"Her Old Man told me to let her go." Jason finally spat. Happy was stunned. He had generated a lot of possible scenarios in the long drive down from Charming; this had never even crossed his mind.

"What are you talking about?"

"It was months ago. Around the time he ended their engagement." Jason started with a dismissive wave of his hand. The smoke from his cigarette spiraled through the air as Happy tried to process what he was being told. "Ry told me that she was going to have a hard time finding her place. He said that if she was trying to move on, I needed to let her, regardless of my feelings about it."

"And you think that's what this is? Her moving on?"

"I sure as hell hope not." Jason stated with an eyeroll. "But I think that's what she thinks it is."

"We aren't serious. We're just having fun." Happy defended.

"Not really what I want to hear about my baby sister." Jason snorted. "Look, she was adamant that she wanted to move to Charming and that, despite what I think, it has nothing to do with you. She wants a chance to start over somewhere. I promised a brother that I'd look after his girl; his girl happens to be my sister. The least I owe him is honoring his wishes to let her do her thing." Happy nodded in acknowledgement but didn't say anything as Jason's words sunk in. Jason cleared his throat and Hap looked up from his burning cigarette.

"Also, I told Ryan about you." He admitted. Hap's eyes narrowed.

"What about me?"

"That you and Sara are a thing." Hap huffed. "Well what did you expect me to do? He asked about her, I had to say something."

"He asked about her?"

"Of course he did. He always asks about her. She's the love of his life."

"Then why'd he end it with her?"

"Because he loves her." Jason emphasized. "It's no life for her to sit around wasting her time waiting for him." Happy bit his tongue and his reflex to disagree. The man was entitled to his opinion.

"He wants to meet you." Jason added.

"Jesus Christ, Harris." Happy scoffed. The younger man at least had the decency to flush a little under Happy's glare. "If I hadn't stopped by, when were you gonna bring that up?"

"I figured it could wait until we ran into each other again." Jason shrugged. "He just wants to look you in the eye, talk about some stuff."

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Happy grumbled rubbing a hand over his bald head.

"Well you're 'just having fun' with the woman he dedicated years of his life to, so I think you could manage the decency to meet him face to face."

"Un-fucking-believable." Hap mumbled and put out his cigarette. "Fine. Arrange it, I'll be there. But any shit between us is done after that." Happy stated pointedly and Jason nodded his head once in agreement.

"So you're the man fucking my wife?" Ryan asked crossing his arms across his broad chest.

"You ain't married, 'sfar as I know." Happy countered, crossing his own arms defensively. Ryan was a huge guy. He was easily over six feet and built like a brick wall. With his thick dark brown beard and shaggy hair, the man looked more like he belonged in a cabin up in the mountains wrestling a bear than in a state prison. It was the familiar brutal glint in his eye, something that you would only notice if you also have that darkness in you, that revealed his true nature to Hap. In a different life, he was sure that the two would have gotten on well but here separated by the metal table and thick air of tension, Hap knew that the man across from him would never think highly of him.

"She wore my ring and my ink, makes her as more my wife than some piece of paper ever could." Ryan huffed and Happy pinched his cheek between his teeth, begrudgingly conceding to that point.

"You wanted to meet?" Happy stated, getting straight to the point.

"You even gonna act like you give a shit that she's marked by another man? By a brother?" Happy refused to let the burly man before him see how much it did affect him. He fucking hated it, but that wasn't any of Ryan's business.

"Should it? She's told me time and time again that you ended it with her. She been lyin' to me?" Hap challenged.

"No, she's telling the truth. Still, you getting involved with her and turning a blind eye to that ink shows the kinda man you are."

"Don't fucking sit there and disrespect me by acting like you know shit about how things went down between her and I. I don't gotta ask your permission for shit." Happy scoffed defensively. "I'm here outta respect for her, not because I need your blessing." The two man sat in tense silence for a few moments. Happy could hear his blood pumping in his ears as he tried to stay calm.

"You better be treating her right." Ryan spat out suddenly.

"I'm not mistreatin' her, if that's what you're implying."

"Relax, I'm not making a dig at you. Look, that woman is everything to me, but I didn't always treat her as well as she deserved. I just want to know that she's taken care of." Happy didn't have a response to that so he just nodded.

"She ain't always a walk in the park. She's whiny and demanding and a hothead. She storms out, and slams doors, and runs off to get piss-drunk when she's upset." Ryan informed and Happy snorted, nodding in agreement. "But she also has the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met, and she's loyal, and she's forgiving to a fault. Don't let our world take advantage of that and tear her apart." Ryan advised, pausing to let his words sink in.

"I'm gonna ask the same thing of you that I've asked of Jason. If she wants out of this life, let her get out. I want her to be happy, even if that means leaving everything behind. She deserves better than anything any of us assholes can give her." Ryan finished and eyed Happy intensely, waiting for a response.

"Promise me." Ryan urged and Happy nodded.

"If she wants out, she's out. I'd never tell her what to do with her life." Happy agreed, although he was fairly confident he'd never be faced with the reality of that situation anyway. It wasn't as if he really even had a say in her life. Sure, she asked his advice occasionally but it wasn't as if he could stop her from doing anything she set her mind to. Also, Ryan had been correct in describing her as loyal. Happy couldn't think of a scenario where Sara would want to leave the club life. She had been raised in it, and it was all she really knew. She was good at it, she fit into it perfectly. If there was ever a woman other than Gemma that was born for it, it was Sara Harris.

Happy was confident of this if nothing else.

A/N: Well, what do we think of Ryan? What of his and Hap's talk?