So by some miracle I called Time Warner Monday and actually had internet by Tuesday, go Time Warner! Which means Saturday's post was a bonus and you still get a regular Wednesday one shot.

Set 1 month after chapter 5 of Reluctant Lion Heart when Happy finds Gabby drinking and high and references a comment in chapter 6 about Happy and Emily having a 'discussion' about boundaries when he started coming around more.

Disclaimer: do not own, not for profit

2008

Age 16

It was Hap's first trip back to see Gabby since getting his nomad patch. His 3rd since finding out she was practically suicidal. He was still finding that fact a little hard to deal with. He had started calling her a lot more then he used to. Hell, sometimes he called her twice a day. Usually when he got the sudden intense need to know that she was still breathing.

The very thought of her hurting herself made him sick to his stomach and if he hadn't been on her street already he would have pulled over to heave, and then most likely call her again. He pulled into her driveway and didn't think twice before heading right up to the front door. Emily would no doubt be at work. She had cleaned herself up again and gotten a job at a strip club according to Gabby, working second shift as a bartender. Happy planned on cooking something semi-nutritious for himself and Gabby and spending the evening with her.

He tried the door knob before knocking and made a mental note to remind his kid to lock the door as he walked inside. The distinct smell of crack being lit in a spoon assaulted his nostrils. He stormed through the small house, not sure if Emily was the guilty party or if Gabby was keeping more secrets from him.

He was both relieved and horrified when he entered the kitchen and found Emily sticking a syringe in her arm and Gabby sitting at the table refusing to look up from her math book even as tears dampened the pages.

In an instant Happy had snatched the needle, cracked it in half, and thrown it into the sink. He pinned Emily to the fridge and turned to Gabby.

"Upstairs." He demanded calmly and Gabby nodded, slammed her book shut, and sprinted up the stairs. Only when the door slammed did Happy turn back to Emily. He wrapped a hand tightly around her neck so she wouldn't scream.

"Do you have any idea how fucked up it is to shoot up in front of your own goddamn child?" He seethed out quietly and slammed Emily's entire body against the fridge for emphasis. Her only response was to spit in his face and before he could consider the repercussions he picked her up off the floor by her neck and slammed her face into the edge of the stove.

He let go of her and let her fall unconscious to the floor, her nose crushed and gushing blood. He backed up and sat in a chair. He couldn't do this. No matter how much he hated her and how much she deserved it he couldn't beat this woman. The last time he had laid hands on her he had lost Gabby for more than 4 years.

Emily whimpered as she quickly came to and Happy squatted down in front of her so he'd be the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. When she finally did she tried to push herself up to get away; it didn't take much for Happy to hold her down.

"What…what are you going to do to me?" She asked, still uselessly attempting to stand.

Happy stared at her for a full minute before finally speaking. "I don't give a fuck what you do to yourself Emily. Your child is my only priority. You EVER shoot up in front of her again I will kill you. Do you understand me? No cops. No club. No vote. I will take you out into the desert and I will beat you to death with my own bare hands." He tightened his hold of her as he spoke until she nodded.

"No drugs, no alcohol, no men in this house Emily. You find somewhere else to do your shit. I don't want to set eyes on your raggedy ass again. Not here. Not at the clubhouse. You see me, you walk away." He squeezed her again until she nodded.

"You stay the fuck on the floor until I get your young impressionable daughter out of here. She doesn't need to see this shit." He banged her into the oven door before letting her go and jogging up the stairs.

"Gabby?" He called out while he knocked on her door. She didn't answer so he cracked the door open. Her room had changed significantly in the past month since he had carried her drunken ass to bed. Her dresser was gone, replaced by 2 laundry baskets on the floor. He also could have sworn her mattress had been on a frame when he put her in it, not on the floor. He looked around but didn't find her, he glanced back in the hallway but the bathroom door was wide open.

He went further into the room and pulled the tacked up sheet aside revealing a wide open window. He looked down at the flat front of the house. They were on the second fucking story. There was no rope, no tree, no lattice, nothing she could have climbed down. If she had tried to jump…fuck.

"Gabby!"

"Hap?" His whole body twisted half out the window toward the voice. She was sitting, or more so straddling, the tiny peak roof above the dormer window.

"Jesus Gabby!" She started to climb down, hanging onto the edge of the shingles and Happy grabbed her legs then her waist and pulled her back inside.

"Gabby, fuck do not…Jesus girl. Do not do that again. Do you know how badly you could have gotten hurt if you fell?" His hands were on either side of her face and he held her firmly as he spoke. "What were you doing out there?"

Gabby simply shrugged. "I didn't want to hear the fight."

"Jesus Gabby." He pulled her away from the window and slammed it shut and locked it. He wiped a hand over his head and looked her over. She obviously had no concern for her own personal safety and that was just a step before actually trying to get herself hurt or killed.

"Promise me you won't go out there again." Gabby nodded her head. "Promise me." He said louder.

"I promise." She conceded although she failed to make eye contact.

"Okay. Come on." He took a deep breath and ran a hand down her hair to her back and led them out of the room.

Happy glanced into the kitchen as they passed it and spotted Emily still on the floor, now clutching a dirty towel to her broken nose. He shifted Gabby so she wouldn't see and led her out the front door.

He fastened her helmet on his head before his own. A she climbed on behind him he glanced up at her bedroom window and swallowed back the sick feeling rising up his throat.

Happy sat with his Tacoma brothers being filled in on what he'd missed in the last 2 weeks. SAMTAC was putting on a spectacular Friday night party in his honor. Kozik joined him on the couch as some of the other brothers started to disappear with the sweet butts.

"How's your mom?" He smiled as he asked.

"On some new drug cocktail." Hap answered.

"How's the girl?"

Hap ignored the question ad instead pulled his ringing prepay out of his cut. Kozik leaned over and smirked at the name on the screen. "Speak of the devil."

Happy glared at his brother before answering. "Yeah Gabs, you okay?"

"You nailed my window shut." Was her greeting in return, so loud Kozik could clearly hear.

"Yes I did." Happy had nailed it shut while she was at school yesterday before he left for Tacoma.

"You Nailed my Window SHUT." She shouted.

Kozik snorted as he tried not to laugh.

"You promised me you wouldn't go out there again." Happy kicked Kozik and wiped a hand over his head in frustration.

"YOU NAILED MY FUCKING WINDOW SHUT!" She screamed and then the line went dead.

"Sounds like you just pissed off a teenage girl. Nice move." Kozik shook his head.

"As long as she's yelling she's breathing." Hap said matter of factly and pocketed his phone. Kozik eyed him confused as he got up from the couch and motioned for Kozik to meet him in the ring.

I dedicate this one shot to Voracious-Bitch she asked me a while back to show a young Gabby challenging Happy. I'm not too good at the really young Gabby scenes, but I think the last bit of this one was definitely a challenge for him.

For those of you wondering about my move it went okay. Nearly unpacked as well. The only casualty was a 3 inch wide bruise on my arm, but by some miracle none of my stuff broke! I did however lose 3 pairs of shoes somewhere.

Twitter kiara8921

Thank you for the reviews and for the new twitter follorwers. hopefully now that my personal issues are solved i.e. in another city, i can start replying to more comments, or at least once i'm unpacked completely lol.