I haven't posted an update in a LONG time, so here you go! I have not forgotten about this story and I WILL finish it, but it won't be soon, sorry to disappoint. I will update when I can. Enjoy!

The plan was that Ava wouldn't visit TM for a while to keep up appearances, so she headed home, knowing that at least Happy would be there, if not everyone else. She wasn't surprised to see Gemma's Escalade and Tara's SUV out front of her house. She was pretty sure anyone with a bike parked it in the 6+ car garage so it would be out of sight if anyone was watching Ava. The thought of one of Alan's 'friends' watching her house made her really scared, but she wasn't going to tell Happy that.

She found her family outside on the patio waiting for her with Chinese food.

"Oh I'm starved." Ava said as she sat down in Happy's lap and grabbed a container and started looking for her food.

"Hello to you too." Happy said as he gripped her thigh.

She turned around with a mouth full of vegetable lo-mein, "Hi."

He just shook his head and handed her a paper-plate.

"So how is your baby Romeo?" Gemma asked.

"Ugh don't call him that. He's no Romeo, he's a fucking idiot who follows blindly into a world of hate." Ava said as she grabbed a couple spring rolls and added them to her plate.

"So how was the kiss?" Koz asked, knowing it was going to piss Hap off.

Ava chewed her spring roll, "Well I imagine it's like kissing you Koz, all slobber and no substance."

Everyone at the table exploded into laughter including Happy.

"Even my first kiss at 8 was better." Ava said with a smile.

"Your first kiss was at 8?" Jax said shocked.

Ava shrugged, "It was my nanny's son. He was 9 I was 8, it was beautiful." Ava said with a grin.

"Anything of interest that we may have missed?" Opie asked trying to get the conversation back on point.

"No. Obviously now that I've set him back in his plan to 'woo' me, he'll have to scramble to get me to agree to go to this LOAN thing. Do I really need to go?"

"Yes." Jax said.

Ava pouted, "He said he was going to kill a Son in front of me to see if I'm really done with the Son's. I can't watch that, even if I don't know them personally."

"He doesn't really have a Son. I've called every charter and no one is missing. So either he's going to try to grab one of us since we are the closest chapter or he's going to have someone play dress up." Clay said.

"What if he grabs one of you guys?" Ava asked, her food suddenly not sitting so well.

"He won't." Happy said.

"We're all on high alert so we aren't going anywhere solo." Chibs said.

"We won't let anyone grab us honey." Bobby said with a smile.

"I still don't know how I'd do watching an innocent person get shot."

"If he really does that, just react exactly how you would if someone shot a stranger in front of you, upset but not hysterical." Opie said.

Ava's cell phone rang interrupting her thoughts, "Hello?"

"Ava it's Alan, please don't hang up on me."

"Why would I want to talk to you?!" She asked, signaling to Juice to record it. He nodded his head and pushed a few buttons on his laptop and gave her a nod.

"I'm so sorry about that this afternoon. I was completely out of line."

"Yes you were. I'm not that kind of girl, I believe in waiting. Do you think I'm that kind of a girl Alan?" Ava said playing up the kiss.

"No of course not. I was just…I..I really like you Ava and I just got carried away in the moment. I'm very sorry."

Ava paused for a second and made a puke face, "It was really nice to get to meet some of your friends, Murphy is…unique."

"Oh please don't judge me on Murphy. I promise he's hardly a friend, more like an associate. I wanted to ask you to come with me to a LOAN event next weekend, the people there are my friends and I swear I will be a 1,000% gentleman."

"You expect me to spend the weekend with you?" Ava said playing the innocent virgin card again.

Gemma rolled her eyes.

"No, god no. There is a hotel in town, its being held at a private residence just outside of Diamond Springs, obviously you would have your own room. But I'd like you to come and stay the weekend as my guest…my date." He said.

"Well I'll think about it Alan, I can't promise you anything, but I will give it serious thought. I'll see you at school on Monday."

"Okay bye." Alan said and ended the call.

"Jesus that kid has it bad for you." Tara said with a shake of her head.

"Ugh!" Ava groaned as she sat down on the ground and flopped down into a lying position.

"Do you know how exhausting it is to pretend to like someone? Someone who wants to harm your family? I am gonna need a week in Maui after this is over."

"Sounds like a great girls week." Lyla said.

"Oh man I would love that." Tara said.

"How did my pain turn into a girls week for you two turds?" Ava grumbled.

"Oh she's grumpy." Gemma said with a laugh.

"And I thought Happy would be the one having a hard time with this." Koz joked.

"I will poison you Herman Kozic." Ava said.

Alan hung up the phone and looked over at Mr. Zobelle.

"You see. You have to be a gentleman, you can't just go around forcing yourself on women."

"You're right sir. I was out of line with her."

"She's obviously not the kind of girl who just wants a boy to slobber all over her, girls don't respond to that." Zobelle said as he lit a cigar and approached Alan.

Alan knew he screwed up when he had to call Murphy to come get him and of course Murphy called Alan Sr, who called Zobelle. The plan had been for Alan to get Ava to become his girlfriend and then Zobelle would use his commanding presence to influence her into becoming a full member of LOAN. He had plans to use Ava and Alan as the poster kids for LOAN. He had already talked about taking them to Tea Party rallies and using Ava's checkbook to back the next presidential candidate that was republican and white.

Ava could hardly enjoy her weekend because she knew that Monday she had to be nice to Alan and tell him she would go to his LOAN meeting.

"I think I'm sick." Ava said Monday morning as she got out of the shower.

"I think you don't want to face shit for brains." Happy said not that he minded if she ever saw that fucker again.

"I don't want to. I hate pretending to like him even a little bit."

"You wanted to do this Ava." He reminded her as he grabbed his razor to shave.

"Ugh you should have stopped me."

"Right." Happy said with a rare smile.

"Well I'm going to go get ready for battle."

"That's my girl, give him hell babe."

"Yeah yeah."

"Don't let that fuck touch you again or I WILL kill him. You should have seen Koz and Chibs when that punk kissed you, they had to forcibly restrain me from breaking the monitor."

Ava laughed, "I bet they did."

Ava didn't have to worry about what to wear to school because she had a uniform to wear, however she really enjoyed wearing 'regular' clothes when she got the chance which is why she had a closet full of teenage appropriate clothes and some that were way too sophisticated for any regular teenager.

Ava knew as soon as she walked into the building that Alan would be there waiting for her. She steeled herself for the meeting and knew that Juice and Happy were watching so she spoke out-loud before she left the SUV.

"Wish me luck, but not too much luck. I don't want him to hump my leg."

Juice snorted and Happy slapped him in the back of the head.

"It's not fucking funny."

"It kind of is." Koz said as Happy glared at him.

As she predicted Alan was waiting for her at her locker with flowers, very beautiful white and pink roses.

"Alan you really didn't have to get me roses." Ava said as she smiled, she really liked flowers even ones from a sociopath. It wasn't the flowers fault they were chosen by the Devil himself.

"I know but I just wanted to tell you I was sorry for how I acted. I prayed about it all weekend and I need to ask for your forgiveness."

Ava couldn't help but smile at the beautiful flowers he got her, she put them in her locker and closed it, but not before Koz caught her smile in the small mirror in her locker.

"She seems to like roses, you ever get her any?" Koz asked Happy as they watched.

"What? No."

"You might want to." Koz said as he rewound the footage and pointed out her smile to Happy.

"Alan really it's not that big of a deal, I'm just not that kind of girl. I don't go around kissing boys. Even if I did want to kiss a boy I can promise you I wouldn't ever do anything else with a boy, I'm just not that kind of girl. I believe in waiting for marriage."

"So do I, I think with everything going on with you and the stupid motorcycle gang that I forgot for a minute my vows to God. I was so worried about you all weekend."

"Well thank you for thinking of me, but I was okay. I stayed in my house all weekend. I was supposed to have dinner with Gemma and Clay but I knew that Happy would be there so I told her I had a whole bunch of homework to do and couldn't come."

"You really need to get out from under them." He said as he walked her to class, conveniently they had the same schedule.

"It's not that simple. Legally they are my guardians and Gemma is my trustee."

"You mean she controls your money?" He asked shocked, Zobelle wasn't going to like this.

"No. She takes care of my day-to-day expenses but if I want a big ticket item she has to sign for it, at least until I'm 18."

"But can't she just take all your money?"

"No it doesn't work like that. I don't know exactly the whole procedure but she has to go to the board of directors before she can get any money, even for my school supplies so there isn't a way she can steal money." Ava said, playing the 'dumb heiress card'.

"Well that's good. I was worried for a second that she and Clay would take all your money."

Ava laughed, "No it's not that easy. I don't think they are that kind of people Alan."

He knew better than to push her hard on the subject of the Morrow's corruption so he dropped it, for now.

"So have you decided if you want to come with me this weekend?"

"I have and I will. But I want it clear that I'm coming as your guest, not your girlfriend. I don't want to rush into anything Alan."

He smiled, "I totally respect that. Do you want me to make a reservation for you at the hotel?"

"No I'll do it. I have to talk to Gemma before I can, I don't have a credit card of my own so I have to get one from her."

Gemma snorted a laugh, "That girl has more credit cards than anyone I know. I should know, I get to pay the bills every month!"

"Well if she won't give you one, I'll be happy to cover the cost."

"Thanks Alan."

Happy was in a bad mood when he got home, he was even more pissed-off when he saw the same pink and white roses on a vase in the kitchen, not to mention that Koz, Gemma and Opie and Lyla were in there with her chatting like nothing was going on.

"Hey." Ava said with a smile.

He grabbed the vase and yanked the flowers out and threw them in the trash, much to everyone's surprise.

"What the fuck Hap?" Ava yelled as he slammed the trashcan on the ground.

"You brought the flowers that fuck gave you into this house?" He barked, furious.

"You asshole, what the fuck did those flowers do to you? I happen to like roses!" She yelled as she reached for the trashcan to retrieve them but was blocked by Happy.

"You like him?" he barked at her.

"Fuck you Happy Lowman! I hate every fucking second that I have to pretend to like him and you know that."

"You can't tell from this." He yelled as he handed her a screen grab of her smiling into the flowers from Alan.

She paused for a second before she spoke, "You want to know why I kept the roses? Because it was the only gift my parents gave me. They used to give me roses almost weekly, they would actually bring them to me in person! It was the ONLY time I saw my parents growing up and it's the only memory I still have of them. So fucking forgive me for wanting to keep the roses, even if that psycho gave them to me!" She screamed as she felt tears form. She turned around and grabbed her car keys and stormed out of the house, leaving a houseful of shocked people.

Ava drove until she had to pull over to cry. She found herself on the overlook a few miles outside of Charming when her phone rang. She ignored it. She needed to be alone. She had been gone over an hour when she heard the familiar sound of a Harley behind her. She sighed and turned around and was shocked to see Opie get off his bike and walk toward her.

"Hey." She said.

"Hi there. Can I join you?" He asked, motioning to the large rock she was sitting on.

She nodded and he joined her, folding his large frame enough to sit down.

"Happy send you?"

"Yes. He's worried about you." Opie said.

"I'm fine. Sometimes things just get too much, too intense."

"Yeah I know all about that."

"I guess you do, more than anyone."

"Losing your wife because you club is at war is about as intense as it gets." Opie said softly.

"I'm sorry. I never got to meet Donna, I know she was an amazing mother."

Opie laughed, "She was pretty amazing in general, how she put up with me and my shit for so long I'll never know."

"Can I ask you something personal?" Ava asked.

"Sure."

"If Donna was still alive, do you think things would be good between you two?"

He sighed, "Honestly probably not. She wanted me out of the club and I didn't want to earn straight. It's hard to make ends meet on $10/hour, when you're used to bringing home $10,000 a month in cash."

"Sure."

"If she lived, we would be divorced and she would probably have the kids in some shithole apartment near her mothers' place outside of Phoenix and I'd have to fight her to see the kids. Not that I'm glad or happy that she's dead, but I guess things are easier with Lyla. She knows who I am and that the club comes first."

"Before Happy and I became Happy and I, I knew that the club would always come first and strangely I'm totally okay with that. I know that Happy cares about me, in his own way."

"No Happy loves you. He probably hasn't said it but I can tell you by his actions that he loves you." Opie said with a grin.

"You think so?" Ava asked, her voice small and hopeful.

Maybe Happy's lack of emotion was a bigger issue for her after all.

"Oh sweetie, that man is head-over-heels for you. He's not like Jax who's going to profess his love to you or write you a sonnet, but in his own way, Happy Lowman loves you."

Ava smiled at that, "You think Jax writes Tara sonnets?"

Opie laughed, "I wouldn't doubt it."

They laughed at that for a second.

"Should I go home and say sorry?" Ava asked the giant man.

"No, you should just go home and forget the fight happened. You are entitled to your feelings and you can keep the roses if you want to. Happy has to understand that you have boundaries too. He can't just order you around like a dog."

"Ha! You tell him that."

"You want me to? I'm not afraid of Happy Lowman." Opie said totally serious.

Ava smiled, "No it's okay, I've got this Opie."

Ava kissed his cheek and stood up, "Well time to face the music."

Ava got in her SUV and headed back to her house, knowing that Happy was probably climbing the walls waiting for her to get home. He wasn't known for his patience and considering she ignored his calls and that they sent out a search party, she was pretty sure he was going to be furious when she got home.

She was surprised to find the house empty of guests and there was an inordinately large amount of roses in varying colors in the kitchen along with a note saying 'Im an asshole, enjoy your roses babe' signed with a smiley face.

She walked upstairs and found a whole bunch of rose petals scattered in their bedroom, she followed the trail and found a bubble bath waiting for her, but no sign of Happy. She stripped off her clothes and slid into the warm water. She fell asleep quickly and was awoken by Happy picking her up from the tub, which was now cold.

"It's okay, go back to sleep." He said as softly as his voice allowed.

She leaned against his chest and did just that.