August 2008

"Hey Jason, I just got to the garage so I gotta go. I'll call you later once I've talked to Clay or Bobby or whoever." They said their goodbyes and she climbed out of her vehicle, mood a little soured by their conversation. Jason was thinking about selling their house. She hadn't thought much about her old life back in San Bernardino. It felt almost like a past life at this point; like she'd been somebody else when she lived there. She knew inevitably she would have to help facilitate the final dissolution of SAMDINO assets and then eventually their old house, but it still pulled the bandage off a wound she'd thought had healed when her brother had called her. It didn't hurt as much to think about, but it still fucking hurt to think about her life falling apart.

"Bobby or Clay around?" She asked Lowell, Jr. when she approached. The spaz of a man pointed to a workstation a few spots over and she nodded in thanks, her heels clicking as she made her way over. The man had always struck her a bit as a tweaker. She'd heard some background about his father working for the club at some point, and that the kid had dabbled in drug issues, but she wouldn't be surprised if he was using again based on his demeanor. She'd been meaning to ask around about him, but she didn't really have time to take on a passion project right now and the club hadn't asked her to step in so she figured she should mind her own business. She'd been on an even keel with the club for the past few months and she didn't want to do anything to rock the boat, especially with her plans to move to Tacoma. She needed to start gathering allies in her corner before walking into that den of sin.

"Sare." Happy's raspy voice caught her attention and she turned towards the sound of his voice. His garage coveralls and white tank were covered in grease and her mood softened slightly at the sight of him.

"Hey." She made her way over and gave him a small kiss, trying to avoid getting grease on her clothes. "I need to talk to Bobby and get the brothel stuff finished up. The guys need to know what needs to be done with the final real estate documents and stuff." She responded immediately, knowing he was going to ask why she was there. He nodded once in silent understanding wiping his hands on a rag.

"Should I expect you for dinner tonight?" She asked and he shrugged noncommittally.

"Not sure yet." He muttered. "Might have to do some club shit late tonight." She sighed and rolled her eyes. Surprise, surprise. He hadn't been in Charming much and he had been busy almost every night when he was either on club business or partying with the guys. Since she held normal working hours, she would skip most of the parties and she'd held her tongue for a while out of respect but it was starting to grate her nerves. Not that it made a difference. Honestly, she couldn't say anything about it anyway. If she complained about it, he'd tell her she was being a controlling bitch; if she tried to bring it up to talk he'd tell her she was nagging him, which she was afraid would drive him away. Outlaws didn't like that sort of thing. They wanted something pretty who didn't tell them what to do. She wasn't his Old Lady and even if she was, she knew her place. She wasn't going to drive him away by being difficult and making him talk about his feelings all the time; she'd seen enough outlaw couples fall apart because of that very reason. She'd grown up watching men drop their girlfriends or wives at the first sign of trouble and trading them in for a younger, prettier version who could keep her mouth shut. They were outlaws for a reason. If they wanted to live a square life they sure as shit wouldn't be living outside the lines. Clay and Gemma were the longest running couple she had met, but the matriarch was an outlier, and there were some days she wasn't sure which was running the Club.

Still, the only thing Sara hated more than Happy coming in at four or five in the morning and waking her up, was him crashing at the clubhouse so he didn't wake her up. His reasons were good, she knew that, but she couldn't help but start to take it personally like he had distanced himself after they'd agreed she would move to Tacoma a few weeks ago. She couldn't stop the scratching in the back of her mind that maybe he was intentionally staying away; what if he was changing his mind? What if he regretted asking her to move in? Had something happened on the road that was making him pull away? Did he meet someone else? Was it all going to happen again? Her own insecurities were starting to raise their ugly heads. All of the swirling thoughts had been keeping her up at night (mostly wondering where he was and who he was with), and the lack of sleep resulted in her being cranky and tired. She wanted to trust him; he hadn't given her a reason not to but then again Ryan didn't give her a reason to doubt him until that reason showed up at the clubhouse asking for him.

"Well let me know when you know." She grumbled in annoyance before turning to go find Bobby.

"Sare!" Happy barked as she walked away. She sighed loudly and turned to face him with arms crossed.

"What's your fucking problem?" he asked equally annoyed. Suddenly aware the other guys had slowed their work to watch the dispute, she softened her body language by uncrossing her arms and moved closer to speak in a quieter, more respectful voice. He didn't deserve to be embarrassed by her.

"Nothing, Hap. I'm fine." She offered with an eye roll that she couldn't stop. Of course, he didn't get how hard this was for her. She was here to sign over all of the hard work she'd done for the past 4 years and watch them break it down into the best money-play for them. This was a win for them, but a painful loss for her. If he'd bothered to ask even once, she would have told him all of this.

"Then what's with the attitude?" He asked crossing his own arms and flexing his masculinity.

"I always have an attitude." She pointed out as if it were obvious. "Please, Hap. I didn't sleep well; I'm just in a bad mood and I'm trying not to make a scene here. Yell at me later, that's fine I deserve it, but I have work to do right now." She sighed, reaching out to apologetically touch his crossed arms before turning to Bobby who was approaching with Lowell Jr behind him. "Can we talk numbers?" she asked trying to compartmentalize her feelings and dismissing Happy with a quick squeeze to his forearm. She'd been all business in SAMDINO. The guys there didn't fuck with her. She'd been a legacy and a pillar of the chapter, and now she was here to sell off her work in piecemeal. Where did she fit in now? She had a tarnished legacy, a lost business, and a tumultuous relationship with a man who was barely ever around.

She could hear Happy grumbling behind her, but she kept her attention on the older, stout man. Bobby nodded, politely ignoring the tension between the two lovers, and grabbed a rag to wipe his hands and lead her into the clubhouse. Soon they were settled at the bar with the paperwork, Bobby's glasses on his nose as he looked over various documents.

"I think you know where we are leaning with this one." Bobby hinted, taking a drag from his cigar. She nodded glumly, having known all along it didn't make good sense to keep the brothel open. Once the Berdoo chapter had been dissolved, a few who went Nomad were assigned to stick around and run protection on the business. But with Sara gone (admittedly it was her fault for abandoning the establishment) and the guys not drumming up area interest, it wasn't turning the profit it once did. Plus, she knew it was only a matter of time before it got raided without her meticulous books.

"Well, what would you like the guys to do? They are chomping at the bit to wrap all this up." She asked, barely looking towards the door as the other guys poured in. Must be time for church soon.

"I'll get ahold of them, no reason for you to be a go-between on this shit. We'll have Lowen right up all the paperwork so we can get your name off the documents before we start moving things around."

"I just want the girls taken care of." Sara sighed "I kind of abandoned them first chance I got."

"Well, they were getting shot and you came for help." Bobby generously pointed out.

"What a lot of help I did." She snorted, shaking her head. "I could've gone back I guess. I should have done more."

"It would've met the same ends with you there or not, darling. Don't beat yourself up over this shit. It's business." Sara nodded trying to internalized Bobby's sage words. "If any of them are looking to break into the porn business, we can set them up with Luann; least we can do I suppose. " Bobby sighed, rubbing his beard as he thought it over.

She thanked him and they poured over the numbers one last time, her heart aching as they figuratively nailed the coffin on her business. She hadn't loved overseeing a brothel, but she'd still been proud of turning the once rundown, cheap whorehouse into a legitimate escort business that stayed in the black. Long hours of sweat and tears ensured it had stayed not only legally clean but also garnered itself a decent reputation. It wasn't a massive success like Bunny Ranch but it had done okay for the area, and Sara found herself surprisingly sad to see it go considering the tantrum she threw when her father, Jason, and Ryan had cornered her into running it. Another chapter of her life closing. Sara only looked up from the paperwork in front of her when someone put a cold glass in front of her. Her eyes met Happy's dark ones as he gave her a questioning look.

She nodded slightly, assuring him that she was okay and took a sip. Rum and coke. She smiled inwardly because he knew her drink of preference and that she might need one, and turned back to the documents in front of her. Maybe he did know how hard this was for her without needing to ask.

There was a loud slam of the front door opening and everyone looked up as Jax stormed in with Wendy hot on his heels. Sara winced seeing the obviously distraught looking Wendy looking rougher than usual. They'd only recently split, and it was clear Wendy was taking it harder than Jax. Poor girl, Sara thought; can't be easy being left by your husband when you are pregnant.

"Well, did you know she was back in town?" Wendy inquired loudly waddling along now that her belly was really growing.

"Go home, Wendy." Jax responded, clearly frustrated.

"So, you knew? Is she why you ended our marriage?" she accused nastily.

"It changes nothing. Go home. I have shit to do. I'll have Gemma bring over some cash for the appointments I owe you for." He tried to sooth, turning on his Teller charm but his ex-wife wasn't taking the bait.

"Keep your money, Jackson! Spend it on your whore!" She spat and stormed out, slamming the heavy door behind her.

"The fuck was that about?" Tig asked once the door closed behind Wendy.

"Tara Knowles is back in Charming." The blonde VP grumbled with a shrug. "Wendy found out, blew her lid over it. She's hormonal; she'll get over it."

"Oh shit. Since when? Your mom know?" Tig pressed.

"I guess she's been back for a couple weeks. I doubt Gem knows or she would have said something by now." Jax shrugged again.

"She works at St Thomas." Sara interjected as she took a sip of her drink. The guys all looked at her in silence. "What? I saw her a couple weeks ago. She's a doctor." Sara shrugged as they continued to stare at her.

"You didn't think you should say something?" Jax asked slowly.

"Why would I? Didn't know it was breaking news..." She stated with a scoff, confused as to why it would matter. Happy shot her a dark look and shook his head, and she sighed. This day just keeps getting better and better. Now she managed to get in trouble for NOT running her mouth? Normally the guys wanted the girls to keep their romance gossip to themselves. Happy always zoned out whenever she talked about her conversations with Donna or the girls at work. Besides, she told Donna and if Donna thought it was worth telling someone, she would have told Ope who would in turn have told Jax. Obviously.

Jax rolled his eyes but didn't say anything before walking into the back to blow off some steam. The guys milled around and quickly chatter filled the clubhouse. Happy made his way over as she finished up her conversation with Bobby.

"Brothel settled?" He asked gruffly and she nodded bitterly, sour expression on her face from the interaction with Jax. "What's your deal today? On the rag or some shit?" he asked ignorantly. She scoffed at his insensitivity as Bobby made a low whistle and gathered up the loose pages, keeping himself busy and quickly excusing himself.

"You're such an ass." She muttered getting up from her stool. Happy grabbed her arm before she could walk away.

"Quit walking away from me, bitch." He hissed loud enough to get the guys attention. Again. Great. Somehow she knew it would be her fault for 'making a scene' yet he was the one who kept raising his voice in front of people.

"Quit shouting at me like I'm a child!" She hissed back quietly yanking her arm from his grip, her proper club upraising telling her to try to avoid a scene. He wasn't making it easy with his show of dominance for the guys.

"Then quit acting like one!" He snapped back fiercely, standing up to his full height and getting in her face.

"Oh, you gonna act tough now?" She mocked, shoving hard against his chest. He didn't even budge as he grabbed her wrists tightly and yanked them from his chest.

"Don't push me, you fucking bitch!" He grunted using his grip on her forearms to shake her slightly, trying to get some sense into her.

"Then stop acting like a dick!" She responded trying in vain to pull her wrists from his grasp, forcing him to tighten his grip until it was a painful vice.

"Stop making a goddamn scene!" He argued through gritted teeth; agitation obvious.

"You're the one shouting at me!" She finally raised her voice. "Also you're hurting me."

"What are you even upset about?" He finally asked in exasperation loosening his grip minutely. She huffed and shifted her weight, refusing to meet his eyes. "You don't even know, do you?"

"Of course, I know! And you'd know too if you took five damn minutes of your day to ask instead of just fly off the handle and blaming everything on me!"

He groaned with an eye roll, calming down as amusement took the place of his anger. She just wanted him to ask about her day? Did it make sense? Sure. Should he have asked? Probably. Should he be upset she disrespected him? Of course, he'd deal with that later. Besides, Jax had his pregnant wife come in, make a scene, and kick him out for the night so this wasn't that bad by comparison.

"Don't be mean to me. I'm tired, and in a bad mood, and having a really fucking bad day, okay?" She huffed, suddenly feeling vulnerable. She couldn't talk to him about her feelings because he was never around, and he never wanted to talk about that shit anyway. Now he was being tough on her because she was cracking a little under the stress of a shit day?

"Just cut the shit, Sare." He sighed and released her wrists rubbing the angry, red skin gently. "You want something from me, just ask. Don't do this crazy girl shit and then expect me to be able to read your goddamn mind."

"Come home tonight." She quietly stated with an indignant pout. His eyes sparkled with realization. She was upset that he wasn't coming home. She was in a bad mood about closing the brothel, and just wanted him around.

"You know I can't promise that." He sighed. "I have shit to do." He stated nodding towards the guys who were watching with interest as the soap opera before them unfolded. Her temper flared again, but this time she tried harder to rein it in.

"Of course you do. You always do. This is why I don't bother asking." She sullenly answered barely above a whisper, only embarrassed by her outburst now that things had settled some. Fuck, she knew he would be so pissed later when they were in private. He wasn't one to physically take out his anger with her, but he still wasn't someone to trifle with either. Usually they ended up in a screaming match and maybe he'd break something, but it always ended in some rough sex—sometimes she'd get off, sometimes he would just get his and be done.

He sighed frustrated, yet again, to be put in a position to decide between his club and his woman. Unsure of what else to do, he reached into her hair and pulled her in for a searing kiss. She resisted a little at first, pushing her hands into his chest, before melting into it and responding with her own passion. A few of the guys hollered and clapped but Sara ignored them as Happy's tongue caressed her own, as if to burn away the tension.

The kiss finally broke and he pulled her to his chest tightly, hugging her and kissing the top of her head.

"You know that doesn't fix anything." She mumbled into his chest indignantly despite needing to catch her breath from the force of the kiss.

"I know. I'll be home as soon as I can." He whispered into her hair, not wanting the guys to hear his comforting words. She nodded into his chest and sighed, loving the feeling of his strong arms holding her tightly.

"Okay, you guys are fucking intense." Tig stated and the guys all laughed in response, the situation effectively diffused. "Two raging women in one hour? I'm telling ya…Their cycles are sync'd up…. No wait, Wendy's knocked up… that can't be it… must be something in the water…" Tig continued to ramble about how grateful he was he didn't have some gash to come barging in and making a scene, but Sara stopped listening. After a few more moments, the guys were called into church and Sara parted to head home.

Sara looked up from her laptop when she heard a bike pull up. She glanced at the clock. 1AM. She was surprised the time, not realizing how late it was. She had spent the last few hours working on some paperwork for work and writing up treatment plans and reports for her clients. She smiled a little hearing Happy fumbled with the lock before it clicked, and he opened the door. At least he'd come home, after all. Maybe something good had come from her embarrassing meltdown at the clubhouse after all. A part of her was nervous that he would still be mad with her and she was going to have to face the consequences, but she hoped that the hours in between of club business had calmed him down some.

She noticed his surprise at seeing her on the couch as she moved her laptop off to the side and standing stretching the kinks from her back before readjusting her cotton shorts. He dropped his backpack by the door and toed of his shoes silently.

"Hey babe!" She greeted sweetly, moving towards him for a kiss. Best foot forward, right?

"Don't." He warned holding out a hand to stop her approach, a wild look in his eyes. Her brows furrowed in confusion. He slowly unzipped his black hoodie and peeled it off, revealing red bloody stains almost completely covering his white tee, the fabric so wet she could see it sticking to his skin and the outline of his bulltproof vest beneath it. Her hand covered her mouth to muffle the gasp that escaped her lips. She opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off.

"'ts not mine." He mumbled quietly before toeing off his boots. She nodded once continuing to stare. "I'm gonna shower." He grumbled quietly and moved past her without another word, carrying his hoodie. Sara stood stunned rooted in place as she grappled with the very obvious notion that if it wasn't his, it was someone else's. And that much blood meant that person didn't survive. His lack of anguish and so much blood could only mean that he had ended a life tonight rather than one being taken from him; she knew what he had to do sometimes as an enforcer, she wasn't stupid, but this had been the first time he'd brought it home with him. All couples had milestones, right?

Jarred from her stupor, she bounded up the stairs into her bathroom to find him shirtless standing before the mirror twisted around to look at a nasty purple bruise developing on the back of his shoulder. He winced slightly as he touched the tender flesh. Her eyes found his shirt balled up in the sink, but she could still see the sticky maroon stain of blood on his chest. Her concerned eyes caught his in the mirror as she leaned on the jamb.

"Sara…" He started in tired distress, "Could you just leave—"

"Don't you dare tell me to leave. You walk into my house covered in a blood and have the audacity to tell me to leave you alone?" She shot back, eyeing the bruise on his back from her vantage point. He sighed.

"I don't want you to see this." He rasped. She shrugged.

"Tough shit. You brought it into my home. What'd you think was going to happen?"

"I was hopin' you'd be asleep." He admitted evenly. She rolled her eyes.

"How's that gonna work when we live together in a few months? I'm not that good of a sleeper." He didn't answer but held her gaze for a moment, his expression pensive. With a heavy sigh she nodded towards the shower. He wasn't even going to act like it wasn't a common occurrence.

"Get cleaned up. You gonna burn them or should I wash up your clothes?"

"You don't have to—"

"Just get in the shower, Hap." She ordered eyes narrowing as her own exhaustion reared its head. He nodded in quiet acceptance. She gathered his clothes as he stripped out of them. She pretended not to see his partial erection as he climbed into the shower. Was that because of her or the bloody events of the evening? She couldn't even think about that right now.

"Don't wash my kutte. I'll do it later." He shouted from the shower. Sara only rolled her eyes in annoyance mumbling about how this wasn't her first rodeo.

Back when she had started officially dating Ryan, a couple of the SAMDINO Old Ladies had taught her the secrets to getting blood out. You couldn't be with an enforcer and not encounter this. In fact, it was almost like an Old Lady rite of passage to learn the methods of getting blood out of clothes. One of the first rules was that the kutte didn't go in the wash. She had always thought it was obvious, being leather and all, but she imagined that they made a point to say it because more than one kutte had gone through the wash. The leather needed to be cleaned and then treated, and most of the Sons preferred to do it themselves for fear of ruining the beloved vest.

She hated to admit to herself how many times she had done loads of bloody laundry in her life, but it was a lot between all the men in her life that were devoted to club life. Sara moved on autopilot to her hall closet where her laundry machines were and proceeded to start a soak cycle on cold before pouring in some peroxide and baking soda and tossing in his clothes to soak. She made sure to hold his shirt under the running water to wash out as much blood before soaking as possible. She moved to the kitchen to wash her hands thoroughly with soap and grab two glasses of water before running back upstairs to her bedroom. The bathroom door was closed but she couldn't hear the water running so she assumed he was out of the shower.

Moments later Happy emerged with a towel wrapped around his hips and immediately noticed Sara sitting cross-legged on the bed, waiting for him. He didn't say anything as he moved to her dresser and pulled out a pair of boxer briefs. Wordlessly, she held up a glass of water as he approached. He took it graciously, drinking it nearly gone in one gulp. However unnerved he felt by her unusual silence, he was too tired to start a conversation to break it. He honestly hadn't intended for her to see him like that tonight; it was a mistake to come to her house but he had been so sure she was going to be asleep. He'd been hoping to ease into the nastier side of his job with a more gradual method starting with maybe some blood spray. Instead, he'd stabbed a guy and nicked an artery and the poor chump sprayed blood like a hose.

Happy sat next to her on the bed, hoping she would just want to go to sleep. Her eyes dropped to the bruising on his bare shoulder. It must fucking hurt like a bitch.

Some Niner had dropped him unexpectedly and he had come down hard on it. Her soft fingers skimmed the marred skin gently. Her fingers dropped to his midback and he hissed as her fingers found a tender spot.

"You were shot." She whispered removing her fingers from the delicate perfectly shaped circular welt.

"I had a vest on." He answered with a shrug, as if that were a good excuse. She hummed in response in a way that was so iconically Sara. Neither judgmental nor approving, just acknowledging his statement.

"Are you going to tell me whose blood I just washed out?" She finally asked quietly. He sighed loudly and shook his head before turning to face her.

"You know I can't." He whispered back, his eyes searching her face for any signs of distress.

"Can't or won't?"

"'s it matter?" She shook her head subtly, never actually expecting him to actually tell her. They sat like that for a moment, watching each other in silence, neither knowing where to go with this new milestone. He sighed in relief when she finally broke the moment to move away from him and climb under the blankets on her usual side of the bed facing the wall. He got up to flip the lights off and crawled back in beside her. He inched across the bed to mould his body to hers, wincing a couple times when his shoulder moved wrong. He pulled her hips to fit into the space made by his own and pressed his bare chest into her back instantly calmed by the familiar position.

"I'm sorry." He whispered into her hair. He felt her hand feeling around before lacing her fingers with his silently reassuring him. He pressed a kiss into the back of her neck before relaxing down into the pillow. He was almost asleep when he felt her wiggling around. He held back a grumpy groan; he just wanted to sleep. Realizing he wasn't going to get away that easily, he lifted his arm to allow her more space to move as she flipped onto her back and turned her head to face him.

"Hap?"

"Hmm?" He grunted as his arm rested across her waist hooking around her ribs.

"Is this why you've been crashing at the clubhouse so much?" He grunted again in confirmation.

"I'm okay… you know… with all of this." She whispered. He didn't know what to say so he kept his mouth shut. "I mean… I know what you do. I know this isn't going to be the last time you come home bloody. Just… tell me next time."

"What do you mean?" He whispered back, his thumb caressing her ribs absently.

"You have no idea how confusing it is when you ask me to move in with you and then you disappear on me. Then the one time you decide to come home you to show up like you work at a slaughterhouse?"

"You weren't supposed to be awake. I don't want you anywhere near this shit… I mean, fuck, I didn't want you to see any of this." He responded gruffly not comfortable with the idea of her seeing this side of him.

"I know. But I can handle this; I can't handle you not coming home to me…" She swallowed loudly. She didn't even want to go down the sweetbutt avenue right now; he already knew she had insecurities as far as that was concerned. "What if you weren't wearing the vest and you got shot and I wouldn't even know because I'm not expecting you to come home?" She clarified.

"The guys would call you if something happened. You're my emergency contact." Happy tried to joke and she sighed in annoyance that he wasn't getting the point. He sobered a little before continuing, "I know, I just…hate for you to see this side of me" he admitted before rolling onto his back and rubbing his face. She sat up onto her elbow to look down at him in the dark room.

"Then why did you?" She asked curious. He shrugged and moved his arm to let her move closer into his side, resting her elbow above his shoulder. His arm wrapped under her and pushed up the back of her t-shirt to rub soothing circles on her back.

"You been pissed that I haven't been around; I know you think I don't listen but I heard you today..." He admitted after a moment of thought.

"If we're going to live together, you can't just not come home." She pointed out. "Do you think I can't handle it or something?"

"You don't need this bullshit in your life."

"Hap, I'm a club woman. This bullshit was my life; it should be our shit to deal with together. You keeping it from me make it seem like you don't trust me or something."

"'Ain't like that." He sighed, reaching up to brush the hair from her face.

"Do you ever get nightmares? You know, from doing… what you do." She inquired and he immediately scoffed, looking up at the ceiling.

"No... Never." He admitted before turning his head slightly to look up at her. "I like doing it, Sara. Like a lot." He admitted and saw her bite her lip slightly as his words sank in. Her mind flashed back to his semi-erect cock from earlier as her fears were confirmed. He wasn't sure what her silence meant so he turned his eyes back to the ceiling.

"That scares me." She finally whispered barely audible.

"It should." He answered firmly before squeezing her hip gently and letting his eyes flick back to her face. "You know I'd never hurt you, right?" He barely saw her nod as her fingers traced one of the tattoos on his chest.

"I'm serious, Sara. I want you to feel safe with me. I would never let anyone hurt you."

"I know, Happy. I just… I'll never understand it, you know?" She responded finally. "I have no idea how you guys are able to just end someone's life without even losing sleep. I know its part and parcel of the life, but as someone who wants to help people; it just doesn't make sense to me."

"Some people gotta die."

"Did this person tonight need to die?"

"He made his choices. He knew this was how things would end."

"I just don't get how you can like it so much." She scoffed in confusion. Sure, people got shot when deals went sideways; that comes with running guns. But you don't get covered in blood like that if you were in a shootout and normal people don't get hard when they see someone die a horrific bloody death. He grabbed her hand with his own and brought it to his lips before lacing their fingers.

"You're too good for this life." He responded quietly; brows furrowed. There was a heavy moment of silence between them before she leaned down and kissed him, his hand releasing hers to wrap in her hair.

"Get some sleep." She whispered into his lips and he nodded, wrapping his arm around her as she rested her head on his chest.

"Thank you." He whispered.

"For what?" She giggled.

"For not running scared." He answered simply and she pressed a kiss into his chest in response.

It was only minutes before his breathing shallowed into soft snores, but Sara lay wide awake. She couldn't help but worry about this life she was starting to build with Happy. Ryan had never taken joy in his job. He'd done it because it was his job, and he was soldier who followed his orders. Happy was a soldier too but different. She had known what he was since before she met him. She'd known his name and reputation within the club long before she met the man. He was a killer; this wasn't news. Hearing him talk about how much he liked killing people was unsettling and she hadn't expected that. Although it wasn't all that surprising she supposed. If Ryan was a soldier, Happy was SEAL Team Six.

The sky was turning a lighter shade of gray by the time she finally succumbed to sleep, and it was restless at best as her brain struggled to accept that she was wholly and deeply in love a completely unremorseful killer. There was nothing she could do about it now. The Tacoma Killer had her heart wholly and completely. What did that say about her?

A/N: Milestones. This one was hard to write but I feel like it needs to happen. It feels clumsy to me and I apologize but onward we go. Review and let me know you are still reading! Be kind and be well.