My body ached from being the practice dummy for twenty women learning how to protect themselves from the big bad world. They had done a fairly good job and I got a lot of good feedback. Tara followed me out to the parking lot as Harper gabbed incoherently. She was adamant about walking beside me instead of having me carry her.
"Are you sure you don't mind watching her tonight? I can come by and get her after I get a shower and everything." I offered as we got to my bike. Tara shook her head with a smile.
"She and Thomas play well together, Ana. It's nice to have another girl in the house." I laughed and nodded, buckling my helmet on and picking Harper up.
"You be good, little girl. I love you." I kissed her forehead before giving her a raspberry to make her giggle. Her laughter was beautiful. Tara gave me a hug once I put Harper back down so she could take her Aunt's hand.
"Are you doing okay?" Tara asked as I mounted my bike. I put my KD's on and nodded with a fake smile. She didn't seem too convinced, but nodded anyways. I started the bike and waved at Harper as they walked to Tara's car. I felt a wobble towards the back as I pulled out of the parking lot. The back tire looked low, so I decided to stop by the garage and air it up before I went home.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me." I growled as I pulled into the lot. Ima's white Lexus was parked on the lot and she was nowhere to be seen. I rolled my eyes and pulled my bike over to the garage bay door. Unfortunately, the guys had learned to lock the doors finally, so I had to head into the clubhouse to get one of them to open it up for me.
"Hey Pops, you seen Opie?" I asked Piney, giving him a kiss on the cheek. He pointed towards the closed chapel and I nodded, twisting my mouth. I could ask any of them to unlock the garage for me, but I didn't want to seem like I was avoiding Opie.
"You feeling okay, Ana? You look tired." Piney said, handing me a beer. I nodded and took a quick drink. After the pill had worn off, I started feeling the abuse during class and I was drained. My plan was to go home, shower and go to sleep. Instead, I was waiting around at the clubhouse.
"Fucking whore." I muttered as Ima walked out into the bar area from the dorm hallway. Juice was behind her and adjusting his kutte and belt. I rolled my eyes and flipped her off as she glanced over at me. She stopped a few feet away from me and smirked.
"Tell Opie I said hi, sweetheart." She gnawed on her gum and I finished my beer off. She seemed put off by my nod as I got off the barstool and walked towards her.
"Sure, sweetheart, I'll tell him." I said with a wink as I swung with a powerful right hook, connecting painfully with her jaw. It didn't hurt my fist nearly as much as it did her though. Her head snapped around and she stumbled on her four-inch heels. I smirked and prided myself in my self control of not killing her.
"Stay away from me, crazy bitch." She dug around in her suitcase like purse and eventually pulled out a snub nosed revolver. The clubhouse went silent as I narrowed my eyes. I took a step forward with a bright smile.
"Go ahead, Ima. You've got five seconds to shoot me. Five, four…" I continued as I stepped right up to the end of the barrel. She looked around for help, confused as to what I was doing. I reached one and sighed, lazily disarming her and turning the gun back on her.
"You really shouldn't have pulled a gun on me." I growled as Rat banged on the chapel doors to get the guys out. Jax threw the doors open and glared at the prospect before noticing the standoff Ima and I were in. She was crying now and I really considered shooting her to shut her up.
"Ana, what the hell?" Opie asked as he walked up to me. I hitched a shoulder and rolled my eyes. He shook his head and held out his hand for the gun. I dropped the bullets out of the wheel before shoving it in his hand. He sighed and passed it over to Jax before pulling me into a one armed hug.
"Seriously? She almost kills me and you think she's the victim." Ima bitched as Jax handed her the unloaded revolver. I rolled my eyes again and turned my inner arm towards her, showing my crow tattoo for explanation. She huffed and stormed out of the clubhouse, rubbing her jaw.
"I need the garage open so I can air up my back tire." I stated, pulling out of Opie's hug. He lowered his brow and looked me over before nodding and following me outside. Before he could ask what was wrong, I went ahead and told him, "I'm tired."
"You should get new tires, baby. This back one's getting slick." Opie said as he squatted down and filled it with air for me. I nodded and covered my yawn with my hand. He gave me a little smirk and kissed me after he stood back up. I pushed my head onto his chest and wrapped my arms around him. Despite everything going on in my mind, I still loved him and felt safe in his arms.
"Come home with me, baby. I don't want to be alone. Harper is having a sleepover at Tara and Jax's. We can have some alone time together." I gave him a wink as I looked up into his eyes. He frowned and kissed my forehead.
"I can't baby. We've got to head down to Nevada to deal with some shit. I'm sorry." He said painfully as I stepped out of his hug again, nodding slowly and climbing on my bike.
"Be careful, Ope." I called over my engine. His shoulders dropped as he nodded and kissed me goodbye. There was no point in faking a smile before I headed home.
OPIE'S POV
I walked into our house as silently as possible. Jax and I had rode ahead to get home ahead of everyone else on the run. We'd been gone for a week and Ana had barely talked to me since I left. I could tell something was bothering her, even without Tara calling Jax out of concern.
Harper was sleeping peacefully in her crib with Bronx curled up in the rocking chair a few feet away. I smiled and straightened her blanket before going into our bedroom to check on Ana. She was sprawled out in the middle of the bed, sound asleep. I laughed until I saw the pill bottle on the nightstand.
"Damnit, Ana." I turned the label towards me, already knowing what it was before I read it. The bottle was almost empty and I wondered when she had started on the thirty pills. The zippo that was engraved with her old Army unit's shield was sitting next to an ashtray with a couple roaches from smoked hand rolled joints.
"Wake up, Ana." I shook her shoulder roughly, causing her to groan and turn her back towards me. She was usually hard to keep from waking up when I got home, so I knew she'd gotten high before going to sleep. I felt my anger rising as I pulled on the chain hanging from the ceiling fan to turn the light on. She grumbled more and buried her face in the pillows.
"Get the fuck up, Ana." I barked at her finally. She growled as she turned over to her back and covered her eyes with her forearm.
"What?" She asked groggily. I yanked her arm off her face and glared into her dull, blue eyes. The dullness sent a knife through my chest. Her eyes were always bright and lively.
"You're daughter is across the hall and you're in here fucked up on Hydros and grass? Seriously?" I lost a lot of my anger out of concern and guilt. She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the bottle in my hand.
"Can we not do this right now, Ope? Harper is fine and I'm tired. You can bitch at me in the morning." She mumbled, turning over to her stomach. I shook my head and stood up. "Where are you going?"
"I'm taking Harper over to Tara and Jax's and then I'm going to the clubhouse." I said, putting the bottle of pills in my pocket. She pushed herself up on her elbows and turned to look at me.
"Don't wake her up just to pawn her off on Tara and Jax. You can stay here. I'll go." She said, sitting up slowly. I sighed and shook my head.
"You can't go anywhere, Ana. You probably can't even walk. Why are you doing this shit again?" I sat down at the foot of the bed and looked her over. She looked over at me and shook her head.
"If you don't know the answer to that then you've obviously not been paying attention. Then again, you haven't exactly been home." She shot at me. I knew how she was when she was using. Ana was either numb or combative.
"Ana, I'm not arguing with you when you're high. Just go back to sleep and we can talk in the morning. I'm serious." I said as she waved me off.
"You, serious? I never would have thought that. When was the last time we had fun or joked around, Ope? Fuck, Happy plays around more than you do." At the mention of my brother's name, I walked out of the room and slammed the door. It wasn't the most mature way to deal with her, but if I didn't leave I'd say or do something I'd regret. I knew she was high and trying to get me to fight her.
"Move." I growled at Bronx. He hopped out of the recliner that I then sat in. I doubted I'd get much sleep, but I had to try. The fight I'd have with Ana about her using again was going to be long and tiring. I almost wondered if I was the right person to try and help her this time.
"Go get in bed, Opie." Ana said, nudging my shoulder as she carried Harper. I ran my hand over my face and looked at her. She didn't even look like the same person that I came home to last night. It made me wonder if it was all just some nightmare but the weight of the almost empty pill bottle stole that hope from me.
"I'm good. We need to talk, Ana." She shook her head and put Harper down so she could walk over to me. I picked her up and gave her a smile as she hugged me. I saw the old Ana in Harper and it was bittersweet.
"There's nothing to talk about, Opie. I was hurting from that thing at Saint Thomas and I took medicine that was prescribed to me." Ana said, deflecting the conversation. I looked up from Harper's smiling face and shook my head.
"So you didn't start taking this until Monday? You don't need four pills a day for being sore, Ana. You know better than to take this shit anyways. What happened to smoking and Tylenol?" I kept my voice level to keep from working her up or upsetting Harper. Ana shook her head and walked out of the room without another word.
"I need your help." I said before closing the phone and putting it back in my pocket. Harper grabbed at my cheeks and giggled innocently. I made a silly face at her and lived vicariously through her. She was a happy baby and I wanted to keep it that way. If Ana and I kept on like this, it would eventually affect her.
HAPPY'S POV
I knocked on the front door of Ana and Opie's house for the first time since she'd moved in. It felt weird to not use my key, but I respected Opie and already had enough shit between us without barging into his house. Ana opened the door and laughed angrily. I didn't even have to ask Opie why he called me once I saw the lack luster blue of her eyes and her decreased weight.
"What did I tell you, Ana?" I asked as I walked into the house. She shook her head and tossed the door closed. Harper came trotting down the hallway in front of Opie. She held her hands out and yelled "APPY!"
"Hey kid. You're getting too big." I said, picking her up and squeezing her. She giggled and held her fist up. I tapped my fist on her tiny knuckles as per our routine before putting her back down. She apparently got tired of standing and flopped down on her butt in front of Opie.
"Come on baby girl, we'll get some food while Mommy and Happy talk." Opie said, offering his hand to Harper. She pulled herself up with his thumb in her hand and followed him into the kitchen.
"I didn't ask him to call you." Ana said defensively. I nodded and shrugged my kutte off, hanging it on the back of the barstool.
"Obviously. How many do you have left?" I asked, jumping right into it. I never dealt with her while she was using much, but I remembered how she was in the hospital and had some experience with users in the past. Kozik was ten times worse than Ana a few years ago.
"Four or five if Opie didn't toss them. Why are you here, Happy?" She asked, walking out to the back patio. I sat down in the iron chair as she climbed onto the swing. She was actually less defensive than I thought she would be.
"Opie called me." I said plainly. She narrowed her eyes at me and I knew that wasn't the answer she was looking for.
"That doesn't explain why you showed up. Why do you care?" She sounded agitated and I glanced at the open patio door behind her.
"You know why, Ana. Don't turn this shit around and make it about me. I'm not the one doping up across the hall from the kid." She put her forehead on her knees and pressed her hands on the back of her head. Ana was a good mother and I knew bringing Harper up would get to her.
"I'm tired of hurting all the time. Everything I do either hurts me or someone else." She mumbled onto her legs. I crossed the patio and pulled her off the swing. She tilted her head up to me and bit her bottom lip. It almost hurt not to kiss her.
"Ana, what would make you happy? Fuck everything and everybody else. What would make you happy?" I knew she was too close to me. I could feel Opie's eyes on us but he was the one that called me. I didn't ask to help and I sure as hell didn't ask to love the short, blonde woman in front of me.
"I want to go back." She muttered, looking down at her feet that were between my boots. It was the answer I figured she would give me.
"Then go back, Ana. You know better than I do that you've got to cut the pills out though." She looked up at me and I saw a flash of light in her eyes. I knew she got what she needed even though it was killing me. It was one thing to know she was happy with Opie and her family. That I could deal with. Knowing she was going to jump in the line of fire again scared the shit out of me.
"Don't try to stop her, brother. She needs it if you ever want her to come back." I pulled my kutte back on and left the house to let Ana and Opie figure things out.
ANA's POV
I'd been clean for three months and I'd sworn back in last week. It took jumping through hoops and getting married to pull it off, but I was finally headed back to training in the morning. It wasn't easy, leaving my family and my daughter but the part of me that could love them the right way had died in the desert last time. I was headed back to find it.
"At least we get to have a going away party this time." Jax said as he hugged me tightly. I laughed and nodded, hugging him back. Opie smiled weakly and offered me a beer. I shook my head and gave him a smile.
We had a long road ahead of us and despite what the State of California and the Army said we weren't together anymore. By law, we were married but I couldn't ask him to wait for me when I'd hurt him so badly. He was sacrificing a lot for me by raising Harper while I was gone.
I considered myself a horrible mother and rightly so. I was leaving my daughter to fight a war that I didn't believe in. I wasn't fighting for country or pride, I was fighting for myself. I was fighting for what I lost and hoping to come back whole this time. I only hoped that she would understand and forgive me eventually.
"Have you seen Happy?" I asked Juice as I walked past him towards the bathroom. He paused for a minute before nodding and pointing towards Happy's dorm. I gave him a smile and turned to the dorm door instead of the bathroom I was originally headed towards.
"Hey." He said flatly as he opened the door. I walked in to the room when he stepped aside. The door clicked behind me and I turned to look at him. He wasn't smiling or showing any emotion, as usual.
"I wanted to see you before I left." I said with a shrug. He nodded and leaned his back against the door. I walked up towards him and looked into his eyes. He brushed my hair out of my face and gave me a half smile.
"Be careful over there, Ana." I nodded and went to step back. He caught my arm and pulled me back, pressing his lips on to mine. I let myself kiss him back for a moment, just in case I never got the chance again. Loving him didn't make me love Opie or Harper any less and I hoped being away would settle my heart down as well. I needed to come back and settle down. I needed to get off the endless highway of heartbreak.
That's a wrap, folks. I know that it may have seemed to come out of left field, but the ending relates to a conversation Happy and Ana had while Opie was locked up. At this time, I'm not planning on adding or continuing their story. I want to leave it open to your interpretation and give you the final ending you want, whether that be with Ana/Opie or Ana/Happy. It's open ended for a reason. Thank you all for reading and supporting me as always.