A huge, massive, thank you for all you're reviews, they are just amazing and make me really happy!

And I still don't own Sons of Anarchy or any of the characters.

Lyla and Tara will show up, but they're not very big characters in this story.

Chapter 3: Are you inviting yourself to dinner?

-o0o-

He couldn't fucking stop thinking about her. He couldn't figure her out. She stared him down by the car. Freaked out when he touched her. Drove the car when they had picked up Grace. Her hand probably hurting like hell and she didn't even flinch but when he tried to flirt with her she froze up again.

That night he drank, took one of the black haired crow eaters to his room and fucked her doggy style, thinking about Ava. When he was done he sent her out and continued drinking.

The next morning he met Bobby, Chibs, Opie and Tig in the bar.

"Coffee?" Bobby poured him a cup.

"Yeah."

"Made some muffins as well."

"Nah, I'm good." He's head was pounding. Anything but coffee and cigarettes for the next couple of hours would be a problem to keep.

"How did shooting practice go yesterday?" Opie asked with a smile.

"Good." he answered honestly but he glared at Opie. "She did good."

"She's going to need it." Chibs said. "Lass needs to be able to handle a gun."

"She's just going to hide it away." Happy said. He was sure she was. Stubborn bitch.

"Think so?" Tig looked surprised. He didn't want to talk about it. He wanted to see her. Ask her where the gun was, make sure she kept it with her.

Gemma walked in, "You!" She pointed at Hap.

"Yeah?" That women could scare the shit outta him and he wondered what he had done this time.

"Tell Ava that we are having family dinner on sunday and I want her to come."

"Eh... ok?" Family dinner was just that, 'family'. But he wasn't going to question her, it was her house. Besides, it gave him the perfect excuse to talk to Ava again.

"Where's the library?" They all looked at each other completely stunned.

Finally Opie took pity on them.

"Main street, behind the police station."

Happy got up and drove to the library. He felt like an alien when he walked through the doors. Behind the desk was an older woman, looking like he had imagined that a librarian looked like. They weren't hot bitches with perfect ass and tits and a thick shiny hair. They had clamped, straight mouths and not full, red lips. Shit, he needed to stop thinking about her like this.

"Can I help you?" The old lady eyed him, and did her very best to smile.

"I'm here for Ava."

The name made her smile disappear and she seemed to take a closer look at him. He noticed her looking at his patch and then she asked him. "Are you Happy?"

"Eh, yeah." How the hell did she know his name?

"She's in the children's section."

He started to walk away and realized he hand no fucking idea where it was. He turned around again and the woman smiled.

"Up the stairs and to the left."

"Thanks."

It was impossible to miss when you entered the children's section. There were wall paintings, small chairs and tables with toys on. He couldn't remember the library looking like this when he was a kid.

A woman was standing - sorting books - about 15 feet away. She had bitch heals with straps, black pantyhose, a dark gray skirt that ended just under her knees and followed the curve of her thighs up to a perfect fucking ass. The white shirt was close-fitting in a classy way. Her hair in a low messy bun and it was... very dark. What the...

She turned around and he couldn't believe his eyes. His eyes automatic moved down to her tits. They where fucking awesome in the shirt, she had a discrete make-up and looked like a million bucks.

"Happy?"

He tried to focus and finally managed to speak, "Hi."

She walked up to him, smiling but looking slightly confused. Jesus fucking Christ, he had thought she looked almost beautiful in sweatpants and a long sleeved t-shirt, but this was stunning. Why the hell did she walk around in jeans and a cardigan when she had clothes like this?

"I'm assuming you're not here to borrow a book." Did she have lipstick? Happy had a hard time to focus

"No, I'm..." what was he doing here? "...just making sure you're ok." That was lame. In a split second he decided to not invite her to the dinner just yet. It would give him an excuse to talk to her again, but this was still a pretty lame.

"I'm fine." She smiled. "Hand's good too." At least she didn't seem to find it lame. That was something.

A young girl, Happy thought she looked like she was in her early teens, walked up to Ava.

"Miss Morgan?" That wasn't her name. Why didn't this kid just go find miss Morgan and leave him the fuck alone with Ava?

"Oh, hi Paige. You ok?" Apparently she was called miss Morgan here. She probably didn't want to use her real name in public.

"I'm good miss Morgan, I finished that book, from the German author, Momo."

"Did you like it?" He phased out after the word book and looked at Ava. She seemed really eager when she asked the girl the question.

"Yes, miss Morgan, very much."

"I think I know another book you would like, follow me." She said and walked off, the girl following her closely. He decided to stay behind, just looking at her. He didn't follow bitches around, never had, never would. She soon turned around the corner but he heard her talking to the kid.

Five minutes later he heard heals coming towards him. She halted about five feet from him.

"What book did you give her?"

She smiled at him, obviously knowing he really didn't give a shit. "The Glassblower's Children."

"When do you get off?"

"Four."

"I'll be at your house around four thirty." He didn't want to give her a chance to say no. She just kept smiling.

"Are you inviting yourself to dinner?"

"Yes." He walked away before she said anything else or before he jumped her among the bookshelves. She was fucking hot in those clothes.

-o0o-

At four thirty Ava heard the knock on her door, she was pretty sure it was him but still grabbed the bat and left the chain on when she opened the door.

"You better have the fucking gun in your hand." was all he said.

"Any chance you can hold off on the f-word for tonight?" Grace was already using more foul language than she should, and this biker used a lot of bad words. He rolled his eyes at her and she closed the door to unhook the chain. "I'm serious, Happy. She's like a sponge."

"Where's the gun?"

She put the bat next to the door and walked towards the kitchen. "In my wardrobe."

"Not doing much good there, is it?" He followed her and Grace come running from her room.

"Happy! Did you take your bike here?"

"Yes."

"Cool! What does 'Nomad' mean?"

Ava turned around and looked at Happy when Grace asked the question, she had been wondering as well.

"I means I don't belong to a specific charter."

"What?" Ava smiled at Grace's confused expression. She looked adorable. But she was glad she asked, Ava had no idea either what 'charter' meant, even if she could guess.

"We have... clubs in different cities, you usually belong to a specific city, I don't. That's what 'Nomad' means."

"Oh, so you just travel around?"

"Yes."

"How long will you be staying here?"

"I don't know."

"I hope you stay for a while." Grace said and turned to Ava. "Pancakes for dinner?"

"Yes."

"Pancakes for dinner?" Happy had a questioning smile on his lips, she liked those lips. Since his innuendo the day before she had thought about him, a lot. But she knew that it was one thing to think about him, and his lips. She would still choke if he touched her.

She had met one man since she left Jonah who she had been attracted to. She had tried, really tried, and he had been patient, to begin with. While he was still feeling like her savior. When he had seen her naked, he flinched, not for more than second and she saw how disgusted he became. Whenever he hugged her after that, he avoided to touch her back. She felt extremely uncomfortable and finally he gave up. She couldn't really blame him, she was kind of fed up with herself too. She hadn't even wanted to try since then. She didn't ever want to see that face again.

Happy didn't seem like a patient man, he looked like a man who was used to get what he wanted and when he wanted it. There was no point in even trying, it was better to just cut him off as soon as possible.

Grace was in the process of explaining why they called pancakes dinner. "Mom says she's a grown up and that means she can decide what's dinner. So pancakes are dinner, sometimes we have cheesecake for dinner, but not very often."

Ava was usually quite strict with the food, but now and then they were bad and had something like pancakes or junk food for dinner.

Happy looked up at Ava, she just shook her head. "She's delusional, she doesn't know what cheesecake is."

"Yes I do! I like raspberry cheesecake." Grace said and ran into the kitchen.

Happy sat down at the table and watched them as they made pancakes. Grace kept talking during the entire dinner, asking Happy questions about bikes and he answered. He slipped twice, using the f-word and both times Grace looked at him with big eyes and the looked over at Ava to see how she reacted.

Grace ran fo the her room after dinner and Happy went into the living room. A few seconds later he came back.

"Where's you TV?"

"There isn't one."

He looked at her in disbelief. "What?"

"We don't have one."

"Why?"

"I can't afford the TV and I can't afford to pay for the cable anyway."

"You could buy one on credit."

"No I can't. I only use cash." She smiled. "Besides, buying it on credit would only mean I paid more for the darn thing. I might be able to save some money every month but I don't feel the need to have one." She stopped being embarrassed about not having money years ago. It was just the way it was. Grace was used to it as well. She hardly ever asked for anything, she was thrilled when she got something and if Ava said there was something she couldn't afford, Grace accepted it. "Why don't you help me and dry the dishes instead."

He looked at her, laughed and then, to her surprise, he started to help her.

"You didn't think I would, did you?"

"No."

"I've helped my mom doing this loads of times."

The comment took her by surprise, she had a hard time seeing this man standing next to his mom, drying her dish. But he seemed to know what he was doing. Then again, it was hardly rocket science.

"Why are you here, Happy?"

"For dinner."

"You know what I mean."

He still wouldn't answer her question, just kept taking the dishes she was handing him and finally asked her a question instead.

"Why do you keep the gun in your closet?"

"You know why."

Happy looked at Ava, she had jeans, a gray tank top and black cardigan. She was still beautiful, not as stunning as she had been earlier that day, but beautiful.

They had coffee, talking about complete nonsense, he didn't want to talk seriously too her until Grace had gone to bed. A while later, Grace came out, climbed up into Ava's lap, and started to ask questions again. She was fucking unbelievable, she asked about bikes, engines, even tires.

When she started to yawn, Ava took her to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and came out to the kitchen.

"I'm going to read to her. It'll take a while, you can wait if you like."

"Ok." He was most definitely going to wait, there would be a serious talk about her gun.

He walked around in her apartment while he was waiting, in the living room he found pictures of her and Grace on the walls. Some of them were of Grace and some guy, he assumed it was her brother.

He looked into her bedroom. Her bed seemed to be a Queen size bed, there were wardrobes at opposite wall of the bed. She had a desk with a mirror above and there was some chick stuff on it. On the other side of the bed was a door leading to the balcony. He went outside and lit a smoke. While he was standing there she came out, bringing an ashtray.

"Can I bum a smoke?"

"You smoke?"

"It happens."

He gave her one and she sat down on a chair, feet on the seat and leaning her chin on her knees while smoking. They were both silent. He liked that about her, she never had the need to just talk and wasn't uncomfortable with silence. Most bitches was.

As they walked inside again he remembered why he was there to begin with.

"Gemma is having family dinner this sunday, she told me to ask you to come."

"Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"She doesn't even know me."

"Maybe she wants to get to know you?"

"You don't have to do this, Happy."

"Do what?"

"I'll be fine, there's no need for you to keep an eye on me."

"Doesn't change the fact that I'm gonna."

"I won't run, not yet at least."

"Still gonna keep an eye on ya."

"Why are you doing this?" She suddenly looked slightly upset.

"Maybe I want to get to know you better." Shit, this wasn't what he was going to talk about. He was going to tell her shit about not using the gun.

"You don't want to do this." She looked down on the floor, holding her arms around her stomach, he though about the long scar he had seen on the right side. He wasn't in the habit of letting women tell him what he wanted or didn't want. He wasn't about to change that habit now.

"What would you know about what I want?"

"Happy, you're not the first guy who tries to be my night in shining armor. It never works out." She definitely looked upset and almost pissed.

"What do you mean?"

"It's about as stupid as women thinking that they can change the bad guy." She smiled when she said it. "I don't want to be saved. And frankly, I doubt that you have the patience to deal with this mess."

This was starting to piss him off, she didn't know shit about him. "What would you know about my patience?"

"Not much. But that's not the point."

"Then what is the fucking point with this conversation?"

"I don't want to be saved, and you can't. You can't stick around all the time and there's no need too. You've done your due diligence. I'm not running, at least not now. You showed me how to use a gun - which was really nice of you by the way - but you don't have to do anything else. I'll be fine."

He wasn't fucking trying to be 'nice'. He was trying to make up for scaring her. Besides; Clay had told him to keep an eye on her and he did as his Prez told him. In this case it wasn't unwilling in any way but this bitch wasn't going to tell him what he could or couldn't do since this was club business. It might not have started out as it, but it sure as shit was now. At least that's what he told himself.

"I'm not fucking doing this to be 'nice'."

"Then why?"

"We keep Charming safe. You're in Charming, it's simple as that."

"Fine!" She glared at him. "Just keep in mind; I'm damaged goods and I'm not worth the trouble."

Happy walked up to her, slightly closer than he thought she was comfortable with. "I think I'll decide that myself." Then he smiled at her, he had noticed that when he did that, she blushed. Like she did just then. "I'll come by and pick you up on sunday, at six."

"I know where she lives, I can go there myself."

Stubborn bloody woman who kept questioning everything he fucking said.

"I'll come by and pick you up on sunday, at six."

She just rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll need to bring Grace."

"Gemma wouldn't have it any other way." She still looked a bit upset, and he decided to leave the talk about the gun for now. He'll get on her ass about it next time. "I'll see you on Sunday."

He started to walk towards the door and she followed him. They said goodbye, this time he didn't try to touch her.

-o0o-

In the middle of the night Ava was woken up when Grace climbed into the bed.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

"I had a bad dream again."

"Come here." Ava pulled Grace into her arms and carefully stroke her hair.

"It was dad. He came and said it was my fault."

"We talked about this, honey. You know it's not true." Ava hated this, when Grace had bad dreams they were almost always the same. Either Jonah beating Ava up or telling Grace it was her fault that he was looking for them.

"I know."

"Do you remember what I told you? What really happened." She carefully dried her cheeks.

"That he was mean to you and then you found out you were having me."

"And what did I do when I found out?"

"You left him, so he couldn't be mean to you or me anymore."

"So what did you really do, just by being inside me?"

"I saved you."

"See, you've done all you ever have to do." She carefully kissed her daughters forehead.

Ava was just grateful that Grace had never actually seen some of the worst things Jonah had done to her. So far, she had either been able to get Grace out of the way, or she had had been to young to remember anything. She intended to keep it that way.

On the other hand the counselors had said that in some ways it was even worse since Jonah was almost like a bogeyman to Grace, someone she was constantly afraid of and they were always running from. It was a balancing act and Ava wasn't sure if she handled it the right way.

She hoped that the counselor Grace was seeing could compensate for that and whatever else she fucked up.

She had found the counselor through one of the volunteer organizations for women on the run from abusive men. It turned out that she was a domestic abuse survivor so she let Grace – and probably a few other kids – see her for free and without any records being kept.

Those possibility were everywhere, seeing a doctor to get treatment, psychologist, almost anything you could need without any records of any kind being kept at the office. Most often they gave you the copies when the treatment was done. The things people did for free and the kindness of these people never seized to amaze Ava. She wished the official channels did their job half as good.

"I love you, mum." Grace said while yawning, she was obviously starting to relax.

"I love you too, baby girl. You know that." she kissed her again. "You're the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"It's my birthday soon."

"Sure is. What do you want for your birthday?"

"A pink cake with a motorcycle on."

"Ok." That would be a tough one. She would have to start looking at bakeries because there was no way she could fix that by herself. "Anything else?"

"LEGO."

"Ok." She hugged her closer. "I'll see what I can come up with."

-o0o-

At about the same time Happy woke up and turned around to see a black haired Crow Eater in his bed. He shook her shoulder.

"Hey! Get out!" She mumbled something and turned her head to fall asleep again. As far as Happy was concerned that was not going to happened. He never let them stay in his bed but last night he had been so drunk that he fell asleep before he got her out of his room

"Hey! Get the fuck out of here!"

She woke up and when she turned around and saw him she almost flew out of the bed and the room, picking up her clothes along the way.

Happy took a quick shower and went back to bed to get a few more hours of sleep. Inevitably his mind got stuck on Ava. 'Knight in shining armor', it pissed him off just thinking about that conversation. What the fuck did she know about his patience?