Just a quick one shot about a visitation because I was missing the characters and the story. It's a bit of a tear jerker (at least to me). I may put up a couple more one shots before we get into Part II if you all are still interested. :)
2 YEARS
We walked into the prison hand in hand. Freya was too accustomed to the prison and the visitation process. She was going on three years old and she had come to visitation to see Happy at least once a month since he'd been locked up two years ago today. Her dark hair was braided in a single braid down her back and she insisted on wearing her leather jacket with her new pink dress.
"Good morning sweetheart!" The visitation clerk smiled at Freya who waved happily. For a child who had to come visit her father in prison, she was extremely well adjusted and happy.
"Where is he?" She asked impatiently as we sat at the metal table. She had his scowl painted on her face and crossed her arms across her chest with an exaggerated sigh. We'd only been seated for maybe five minutes.
"Daddy!" She bolted from my reach and threw her arms around his leg. The guard gave me a dirty look as he took Happy's restraints off and reminded him needlessly of the time limit. Happy nodded and picked Freya up, giving her a kiss on the forehead as she put her hands on either side of his face.
"Hey mija, have you been good for your mama?" Happy asked as he sat down across from me and put Freya on her normal seat on his leg. She nodded and gave him a mischievous smile.
"Ollie pooped in the bathtub!" She tried to whisper but it just came out as a loud rasp. I rolled my eyes and smiled as Happy laughed and shook his head. Oliver Happy Lowman was just over sixteen months old and looked just like his father down to the dark brown eyes and full lips. He stirred at the sound of his name but didn't wake up from the nap that had started as I parked the Armada.
"He's a baby, mija. You pooped on the carpet before." He teased her and she gave him a mean scowl. She was a daddy's girl and hated being embarrassed. Happy kissed her cheek before pulling the car seat around so he could see Ollie.
"Did you get the pictures I sent you, babe?" I looked him over as he nodded and noticed a cut on his right cheek. There was no way to ask about it in front of Freya without upsetting her, so I made a mental note to ask him about it when we talked on the phone later.
"Yeah, I got them yesterday morning. You take care of that thing?" I nodded and gave him a small smile. His Ma wasn't doing well and she'd asked me to help her draw up a will. It was a sensitive subject and I was still hoping it was just a bad spell that she'd bounce back from in a couple weeks.
"Freya, do you want to give Daddy your drawing?" I asked her as she hid her face in the crook of his neck. She nodded and smiled brightly. I slid it over to her, face down so he couldn't see it yet. She covered one of his eyes with her hand and counted to three before shoving the drawing in his face.
"This is awesome, mija. Is that Harley?" He asked, pointing at the short blob with four oddly placed legs. She smiled and nodded proudly. She explained to him that it was the four of us and Harley at the clubhouse.
"I miss you, Daddy." She said suddenly as he and I talked about the bar and the club. His face fell and he pulled her closer to him.
"I'm right here, Freya. Remember what we talked about last time?" He asked, pointing at the ring she wore on a chain around her neck. She wiped tears away with her fists and nodded.
"You're always with me and I can hold Mister Ma'am when I'm sad." She said quietly. Her mispronunciation of Mr. Mayhem made Happy and I both smile.
"That's right and you've got to help your mama with Ollie because they might get sad to." He said, looking up at me. I forced myself to keep smiling as I nodded.
"Who helps you when you sad, Daddy?" The question was so innocent and heartbreaking that it had me fighting back the tears immediately. Happy kept it together by shaking his head and pulling her to his chest. His eyes showed everything he was keeping off his face.
"Daddy has your uncles to help." He finally said, knowing she'd keep asking if he didn't answer her. I sighed and bit my lip to keep it from trembling. The guard started walking over and I nodded towards him. Happy turned back to look at him and sighed.
"Tell Daddy you'll see him later, Freya." She shook her head and shoved her face into his neck. He looked over at me for some kind of help as he planted a kiss in her hair. She started crying and I knew the guard wasn't going to care to be a dick anyways.
"Mija, I'll talk to you tonight to tuck you in, okay? Why don't you get some ice cream on your way home?" Happy offered, shooting a death glare at the guard who was telling him to get a move on. Freya shook her head and sobbed harder. I sighed and pulled her out of his arms with extreme effort.
"I love you, Katerina. You and the kids." Happy said as he gave me a kiss. The guard grabbed his wrist and yanked him back before I had enough. It was never enough with Happy though, especially now.
"Freya, please baby. You can talk to daddy first tonight, okay?" She continued to cry as we headed towards the door. Her weight in my arm plus the car seat on my other made it difficult to keep a hold of both of them.
"I got her." Quinn said as I walked out into the California sun. I nodded and passed Freya over to him so I could switch the car seat to my other arm. The handle had left a red indention in my arm that smarted something awful. Quinn had insisted on escorting me down to Stockton himself since things were getting hairy with the Chinese.
Happy
Sometimes I wished she wouldn't bring the kids because I knew how hard goodbyes were on Freya. Ollie didn't really know what to think of it all yet, but Freya knew all too well. I sat down on my bunk and started flipping through the pictures from their latest trip back to Australia. Freya was standing up on a foam surfboard in one of them and Ollie was laughing in Kat's arms in another.
It was selfish, but the visits from my wife and kids were what kept me going. Without them coming to see me or sending me pictures, I would have already caught more charges just for the hell of it. They kept me grounded.
"Saw your daughter at visitation. She and that woman of yours. The things I'd do to them." Denton obviously had a death wish to talk about my family again. I gripped onto the pictures and reminded myself that if I killed him, I'd never get out of this shit hole.
"I've still got friends on the outside, Denton. I'd hate for something to happen to your family." I growled as he closed the cell door on me. I definitely wasn't lucky enough to get a guard half way as decent as Katerina was. Denton was on a whole other level of prick than even Wright was.
"Three more years today, brother." Juice said from the bunk behind me. I rolled my eyes and climbed up to my bunk angrily.
"If that's supposed to make me feel better, it's not." I informed him, looking at the pictures again. They were going to be the longest three years of my life.
