"Has she said anything to you?" Gemma quietly asked Chibs while she was watching Mia sketch at the picnic table by the clubhouse.

He shook his head answering, "But then again I only ever see her here while she's working. IF she takes a break, she usually spends it with Happy and only Happy."

"What about after hours? Doesn't she still spend time in the clubhouse with everyone before heading home?"

"Not since she moved into her new place. She says that she's still trying to get it organized and cleaned up so she can have everyone over."

"It's been over two weeks. I don't believe she hasn't gotten everything done yet. Maybe I should go over there and offer to help her."

Chibs quickly caught her arm to keep her by his side because he noticed Happy coming out to sit with his daughter. "Just give her time, Mom. She'll tell somebody when she's good and ready."

XXXXXX

Dad placed a bottle of soda down beside my left hand. I hadn't heard him approaching me, so I actually did jump in my seat when I caught that movement out the corner of my eye. Mercifully, he didn't comment on that and just moved to the opposite side of the table to sit down.

"What on you working on, Baby Girl?"

I turned my sketchbook around and pushed it across the table answering, "Just a possible design for Phil's bike."

"Really? That… it's…"

"Not very good. I know," I stated somewhat defensively when he trailed off. "I just haven't been able to find the right inspiration for him yet."

Dad slammed his hand over mine to stop me from ripping the page out. When I didn't move my eyes up to his face right away, he squeezed my fingers and said, "That isn't what I was going to say. It looks amazing. You can really paint that onto a bike?"

"With the right tools I should be able to. Leo said I could stop by his shop whenever I want and he'll teach me new techniques or help me refine the ones I already know."

"Really? How is that going?" When I just shrugged and kept my gaze fixed on my nails picking at the label of my pop bottle, he reached over and stilled my hand. "Maria? What does that look mean?"

"Nothing really. I can't say how it's going when I haven't done any work with him yet."

"Oh… well… You should talk to Gemma. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to give you some time off to do that."

"It's okay, I don't want to bother her with this. Plus… Nah… Forget it."

I shook my head then tried to pull my hand and sketchbook away to stand up and head back to work. But my dad had a different plan for me. He was going to keep me close so we could continue to talk. He kept a firm hold on my wrist until I made eye contact with him again.

"Maria. You wanted me to pay attention and to listen. Well… I'm here and I'm willing to hear whatever you need to say. Does this have to do with…?"

"Yes," I interrupted quietly. "But…Can…? Can we talk about that over dinner? I… I don't want the guys to see me cry."

Dad perked up a little bit then asked, "Does that mean we're ordering in instead of going to a crowded restaurant?"

I got up and kissed his cheek. "I'll do you one better. I have pulled pork cooking in the slow cooker at home as we speak."

He wrapped his arms around my waist to give me a strong hug. He checked that my back was facing the garage and that my body was shielding him from any prying eyes before he quietly asked, "Is it really that bad, Baby Girl?"

I shook my head and gave him as strong of a smile as I could muster. "I'm fine, Daddy. Plus, I owe you a home cooked meal."

"Nena…" He tried to caution me.

I leaned down and kissed his head then laughed softly. "You worry way too much. I'm fine."

Before he could try to mount a new argument, I turned on my heel and made my way back to the garage. Please don't think that I was completely shutting my dad out. I can be a bitch, but not when it came to my dad's love and never just for shits and giggles. I had told Dad that JC and I were on a bit of a hiatus because Juice was having a hard time dealing with his feelings after Clay was arrested. Everyone was convinced that Marks was going to make sure that Clay never made it out of County and Juice couldn't handle the idea of Clay being dead and gone.

What? For all I know that's why he went brain dead and decided that getting high with his ex-girlfriend was a good idea. I still don't know if that's all they did. He tried to apologize and explain what I had walked in on. He maintained that she could score the most potent weed in Northern California. She was supposed to just drop it off, but he was having issues rolling a joint because he had been drinking, so she offered to find his pipe so he could smoke it that way.

When I brought up her clothing choice… or rather lack thereof, he could only say it wasn't what it looked like. His argument was that he had no idea she was stripping instead of searching his kitchen for his pipe.

When he couldn't explain her crawling all over him, feeding him tequila or give me any assurances that nothing would have happened between them if I hadn't interrupted them, I told him I needed us to take a step back, to take a break. He needed to figure some shit out and I couldn't be a part of it if spending the night with an ex to score some dope was his best option. He had no reply for that, so I closed the latch on the small window on my back door and that was the last time I saw him.

I had already arranged to have a couple of days to unpack everything in my new house. It was a small rancher sized three-bedroom, two bath that wasn't much bigger than most apartments, but it had a yard and it was perfect. It was mine. Dad had come over to help me unpack and told me that Juice had volunteered to check on Bobby. Everyone was slightly concerned because they knew I wouldn't be going with him, so I broke down and told Dad about us taking a break. I couldn't really tell how Dad felt about that revelation, but when I insisted that it was my idea, not Juice's, I swear Dad actually looked kind of sad. Not that he said anything along those lines, though.

"What do you have there, Mia-Luv?"

I had made it to the bank of lockers in the garage by this time. I looked up from my sketchbook and found Chibs giving me a sympathetic smile.

"Nothing," I replied in a light, airy tone.

He started to pull it out of my hands, but I pulled back almost desperately pleading, "Really! It's nothing!"

DAMMIT!

"Mia… Luv…" He mumbled in awe before he looked up and asked, "Mia-Luv, did you draw this?"

My cheeks got hot as I stared down at my feet and nearly whispered out my reply of, "I know… it sucks…"

"MIA!" He gasped out in shock. He forced my chin up gently in the cup of his hand. "Luv… this is… well beautiful isn't the right word. It's great. May I ask who you are doing this drawing for?"

I tried to pull the sketchbook out of his hands, but he wouldn't let up on his grip, so I stopped struggling so that we wouldn't tear the page or wreck the rest of the book. "I was supposed to be for Phil."

"For Phil?"

I couldn't tell if he sounded pensive or skeptical, so I quickly explained, "His birthday is the next one we'll celebrate, so I thought it would be a perfect gift for him. But I… But it just isn't coming together."

"And what is so wrong with this drawing?"

My eyes quickly raked over the room to make sure no one looked like they were listening to us. "That's the problem" I replied just over a whisper. "I can't figure out what's wrong with it. It just… it doesn't look right, but I can't put my finger on why."

"Ahh…" He chuckled saying, "You think he's a big teddy bear, so the skull and flames seem out of place."

"No, I don't!" I snapped out a little too angrily.

When I saw the shocked, hurt look on Chibs' face, I quickly realized that no one knew the nicknames JC and I had used for each other. That meant that my reaction only made sense to me. SHIT! Now I needed a cover story. FUCK!

"I mean…" I quickly added. "I know he paid his dues to ear his cut. No 'Teddy Bear' could do that."

"Aye, tis true." He then wrapped an arm around my neck so that he could more easily say into my ear, "But then again not everyone had Happy as a father, so we can forgive you if your 'scary' scale differs from ours."

"CHIBS!" I shrieked out with the first genuine laugh I had issued in weeks.

He hugged me more soundly then asked, "Now will you believe me that your drawing really is quite good?"

I hugged him back and kissed his cheek. "I believe you think it's good."

"Mia…"

"Shh… I'm not done." I smiled softly then continued, "And if you believe it, then maybe I'm over thinking it and being too critical, so… I won't toss it out."

I put my sketchbook into my locker and turned around to tease Chibs again, but then I saw Juice step into the garage. I'm not sure what look I had on my face because my mind had gone completely blank with shock. Dad had thought that he would be away for at least another week. I was hoping to be out of town when he got back so that I could avoid a situation like this.

A knowing grin spread across Chibs' face as he said, "Look at that. Your…"

"Shit! I forgot I need to talk to Gemma about something. Excuse me," I interrupted before I turned and nearly sprinted towards the office.

XXXXXX

Chibs stared at Mia's retreating back when a revelation hit him. Now Mia being so withdrawn and distancing herself from everyone but Happy made more sense. But she must have been the one to call things off because Happy hadn't made any moves to teach the young Son a lesson. He had had ample time to catch up with Juice to see that he felt some of the pain they had witnessed Mia feeling over the last couple of weeks.

No that any of that had any bearing on what Chibs was going to do now. He planned this during his ride home from Stockton. That was long before he saw the look in Mia's eye that broke his heart.

"Clear out," he ordered the mechanics left in the room. "Close the door, Rat."

XXXXXX

"Gemma? Can I ask you something?" I questioned as I stepped through the office door.

She turned around with a bright smile on her face. "Of course. What is it, Sweetheart?"

"I… I was wondering if I could…? Uhh… Would it be okay if I took some time off for a vacation?"

"Vacation?"

"Yeah. A friend of mine can get me tickets to any minor league game I want… I was hoping to do a tour of the California League to help me clear my head."

"Clear your head about what?"

I walked past her to look through the window into the garage. Chibs was helping Juice to his feet before he punched him in the face… again. I know I flinched when I saw the blood pouring down Juice's cheek and then I jumped when Gemma wrapped her arm around my waist.

"Would it have something to do with a certain biker with a goofy hair cut?"

I turned my back on the window and hugged her because I couldn't bear to watch Chibs beat Juice. Sure, there had been a couple of day I really would have liked to have been in Chibs' place, but they were actually few and far between. And none of them were all that genuine, they were just a fleeting thought.

"Yeah… a little bit."

She kissed my head then asked softly, "How long do you think you'll be away, Baby?"

"A week… maybe two. That way I should be able to see all the teams at home. But… I think it will mostly depend on how long my Gran can stand having me stay with her."

"Your Gran? You don't…? Do you mean Happy's mom?"

I nodded answering, "I haven't had a chance to visit her yet."

"That's great." She hugged me tight then said, "You take all the time you need, Sweetheart. Just make sure that you keep in touch."

I let out a soft sob into her shoulder and hugged her so tight that I could barely breathe because I couldn't get out the words to thank her.