Broken laptop, flow problems and general frustration lead to this chapter being a week later than I wanted. but here it is and I hope you enjoy it. love to hear what you think!

Happy frowned down at the cracked screen of his phone. He'd taken to leaving it before he left the house the last couple of days. He didn't need it going off while he was sorting this shit out. He also didn't need the plummeting feeling in his stomach that it brought.

Clay had told him what happened after his Spitfire woke up while he had been dealing with his shit. She'd puked everywhere and had basically been a mess. It scared the ever loving fuck out of him. What was going on where he was at scared the ever loving fuck out of him too. He felt like he was being torn in two and he couldn't fucking do anything about it. There was nothing to fight. Nothing to kill. It was emotional crap and he didn't deal with that well. Or at all. He didn't have many fucking emotions. Or that's what he'd thought anyway. Turns out he was wrong.

For the last two days he'd got messages and a couple of calls from his Girly. He hadn't answered 'em. He didn't know what to say. He'd also got a pissed off message from Jax that he also ignored. Though that one caused him less guilt. Happy's personal shit was his own personal shit. Jax needed to concentrate on his own crap and leave him the fuck alone.

"Mijo," his ma's weak voice breathed out from his side and he slouched forward to take her hand, shoving the phone back into his pocket. Her hand that only a couple weeks ago had made him dinner, had brought him beer, had passed him the box that was always in his cut, next to his favourite flick knife.

"Ma, how ya feeling?" He rasped out.

"Hmm, good today. You need to talk to Tia Luisa, she wants to help. Wants to move in with me," his ma said.

Happy shuddered a little. He loved his aunt, but she was worse than his ma for getting on his back.

"Ya heard the doc, ain't going home for a while ma," Happy replied, hating his words. She was gonna have to go into a home for a spell. Somewhere that could look after her the way she needed while she got her treatment. He closed his eyes and rubbed his head. He had to go and feel out a place today. He didn't want anywhere but the best. But that cost, and his cash flow while not terrible through the club didn't make him flush. Plus he was helping his Girly out with rent, despite her telling him no. Fucking Spitfire. He rubbed his head again.

Maybe Girly would kick him out. That would free up a bit of cash. But it would also kill a little of him. That bit inside of him that fucking felt shit he hadn't know he could feel for anyone other than his ma and aunt.

"I am sick not deaf and not stupid Happy!" His ma barked out in a tone that had him glad there wasn't a wooden spoon within reaching distance. "You can't be here every day. We both know that. Tia can help visit me and then when I get out of here - and I am going home mijo - she can be there to assist me at home."

Happy nodded knowing it'd do no good to argue.

"You should ask your Isabella to visit too. I like her and she might bring food that isn't so bland it may as well be cardboard," his ma demanded. He winced not knowing how to discuss that without getting a tongue lashing.

Unfortunately his sickly mom didn't miss a thing.

"What? I know that look mijo, what have you done? Huh? She's a good girl, you said you were gonna make her your old lady, so what happened?" His ma all but barked at him. "Or is it her? Has she done something? Is it unforgivable? Because Happy, I haven't ever seen you so… content as you are with her. I just want you to be happy, so tell me. Let me know."

Happy pulled his hands over his face and let out a loud sigh that was reminiscent of his teenage years. He couldn't tell his moms everything. Not only would she be disappointed and disturbed with what he'd done but it was also club business. He could tell her a round about version of shit though. And who knew, she watched enough telenovelas and gossiped with the other old broads enough to maybe tell him what the fuck to do. He had no fucking clue. If one part of his life could just fucking work out right then a weight would be taken off his too heavy shoulders.

"I had to do some shit for the club that she saw. Think it scared her. Then she passed out. Hit the deck out cold. I had to leave to come here and take care of you. Haven't chatted since."

His ma shot him a shrewd, knowing and evaluating look at that. He got the idea she knew more than he wanted her too.

"Have you tried talking to the girl?"

Happy shook his head. He hadn't. If he didn't talk to her she couldn't tell him to fuck off after all. Plus that shit needed saying face to face rather than over the phone.

"So she doesn't even know where you are?"

Again he shook his head. He had felt the urge the past couple of days to call her. To let her know what the fuck was going on with his mom. To have her listen and take some of the fucking weight like he knew before shit went down that she would have. But he didn't. Because he couldn't fight two battles on two different sides in two different places. He had thought until this week that he could handle anything life threw at him, hell he'd proven he could time and again. This was different though, this was as close to his breaking point as he thought he'd ever been.

"Has Isabella tried calling you?"

"Yeah. A few times. Sent messages too."

They were basic and had told him precisely nothing except she was worried about him and wanted to know where he was.

"And you haven't replied?"

Once more he shook his head.

"Mijo, you my boy, are stupid."

Happy's head shot up at that.

"Don't give me that look Happy Lowman, you are. Stupid. You need to let her know where you are. You need to communicate. As hard as I know that is for you my boy, it is what you need to do if you do not want to lose that girl. Better that you need to go see her. With flowers and a sincere apology."

"Can't go see her ma. Checking out that place near Josie's for ya, make sure it's good enough."

"Yes. And you're so good to me doing that mijo, but afterwards you go see Isabella. Call Tia, tell her your verdict, get on that bike of yours and go."

Standing to leave, Happy knew an order when he heard one. Especially from his ma and he wasn't stupid enough to wait for her tell him again. She might be sick but Happy reckoned she could still smack him hard enough to make his ears ring.

01010101010

Happy didn't get a chance to call or hell even jump on his bike before he had a call from Clay right after he stepped out of the home his moms would be staying in. It would cost him, but they seemed half decent. One of the nurses even managed to look him in the eye without flinching. If he had met her before his Spitfire he'd have considered banging her.

"Yeah," he answered his burner rather than his regular cell, making sure to turn his cell off.

"Charity run tomorrow. You in?" Clay was to the point. There could be no details given unless necessary over cells.

Happy frowned. A charity run with little to no notice was a cover for heavy shit. What the fuck had gone down while he was away? Were this Volturi group striking, or were the MC?

The club did do actual charity runs all across the country. It helped with the public opinion which then helped when the public came to them instead of the cops. Favors were gathered, discounts were had, respect was earned. They took months of planning though. This shit was a cover. A cover that would get some lucky charity some money, but a cover nonetheless.

"I'm in," Happy replied gruffly. He'd be there for the club. He'd be there for his Girly if she was there when shit went down.

"We leave at ten tomorrow from the clubhouse."

With that Clay was gone and Happy was left frowning at his phone. Clay seemed… more pissy than usual. Could be the whatever the fuck it was they were dealing with. Could be that Happy had pissed his Prez off. Though Clay had been understanding when he took off to be with his ma. Club was all about family. If ya were family to a member you were family to all. End of. So it was probably the situation.

He lit a cigarette and took a few deep drags before pulling out his regular cell and calling his aunt.

The conversation that followed had him wanting a joint, a ride and then to be balls deep in his Girly. He was pretty sure only the ride was gonna happen anytime soon. Still at least his ma was taken care of and he was going to see Bella. He just had to find somewhere to get flowers from now. Did she even like flowers? He had never as long as he lived ever brought flowers. The fuck kind of things did he get?

He groaned as he climbed on his bike. Not entirely sure he was ready to kiss ass. Still it had to help that for her he was trying, right?

He knew of a flower shop that Gemma used, so they must have been good, only the best for the Queen after all. He figured he'd head there first, although he didn't have a clue where to start on making up a bunch of flowers. This was going to be an interesting conversation...

020202020202

Happy frowned as he got off his bike a couple of hours later. The ride hadn't done anything to help with the fuck load of tension he felt. He still had some of that acid left so he hoped to hell that he could use it on some stupid motherfucker. That shit helped calm him right down.

The lot outside the clubhouse was a mass of activity. Brothers from other charters were milling about, ol' ladies and crow eaters were packing shit in the back of the van that now bore a crude banner proclaiming that the SOA were doing a charity ride for the hospital. The garage was closed but Dog, Lowell and that other guy he didn't know the name of were helping set some shit up. There were no weapons out in sight but Happy would bet his rear tire that there was a shit load ready and waiting inside the clubhouse.

He stalked towards the clubhouse, hoping to hell he'd find his Spitfire there as she hadn't been at home, ignoring his brothers as he passed 'em. He'd left the flowers back at theirs though, noting as he did that they didn't own a vase, so he'd shoved them in a pint glass that his Girly had lifted from a bar a while back. He'd got the woman at the flower shop to choose some for him as he didn't know shit about flowers. He'd also picked up, what he thought, was a better 'I'm sorry' gift.

The first person Happy came across wasn't his Girly. Unfortunately it was his old prez who was as pissed as Hap had ever seen him.

Quinn grabbed Happy around the back of the neck and forcefully dragged him back out of the clubhouse. Not seeming to notice or care who the fuck was watching this shit. Happy didn't fight back. Yet. But much more and he would. He couldn't let this pussy Old Lady -what else could this be about- bullshit ruin his rep. That shit had been hard earnt. He had worked for the fear that crossed each motherfucker's face when he was in a mood. He wasn't giving that shit up. No fucking way.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Quinn snarled as they came to a stand where the ring usually stood. A fact that wasn't lost on Happy.

"I told Clay. Family shit I had to sort out."

"Yeah, and you didn't feel the need to tell your Old Lady?" Quinn's eyes flashed.

"She ain't my Old Lady." Mentally Happy added the yet.

That seemed to be the breaking point for whatever had gotten into Quinn and his fist flew out catching Happy square in the jaw snapping his head back and making him see black. Not red. No. Fucking black like the pitch black of fucking his fucking soul. No one got in a free shot ever for any reason.

Happy retaliated with his own shot and soon they were full on fighting.

He was in the zone. He was gone. Fucking gone. Everything had come fucking crashing down. His ma being fucking ill. Having to stay in a fucking home he didn't know how the fuck he was going to afford. Bella. How the hell he was gonna deal when she couldn't handle what he did, who he was. How he was gonna be able to fucking deal without her. How he was gonna have to live without that weird fucking feeling that she gave him. Everything. Fucking everything was crashing down and he was lashing out. Ignoring the shouts around him. Pulling away from the hands that tried to stop him. He was gone.

A yell had him starting to see again. A voice he recognized had color slowly seeping back in. A hand in front of him then on his chest shoving him had his hearing returning fully and finally he snapped out of it.

In front of him, being held back by Hopper and Tig was Quinn breathing heavily his eyes flashing murder. He had a gash on the side of his head that was steadily dripping blood down his face, a clearly broken nose and what was gonna be two shiners come morning.

Happy's arms were twisted uncomfortably behind his back as directly in his space was Bella. His breath came harder as he looked at her. She was a mess. Her hair was limp and hung messily around her face, there were bags under her eyes and a bruise was blossoming on her face. Worse than that though and that was bad was the fear he saw in her eyes as she looked at him. His stomach plummeted.

Looking away from the brown doe eyes that showed the one thing he had never wanted to see in them he flinched at the red mark on her face.

"I hurt ya?" He managed to rasp out painfully. Fuck, if he had he'd gladly let Quinn take another pop shot, this time he wouldn't fight back.

"Physically no. That was a cross I couldn't dodge from Quinn," Bella said, her voice low. He didn't miss the flinch Quinn gave at her words. "You back with us now?"

"Yeah."

Bella nodded and started walking away. Her shoulders were tense and her back knotted up tight.

"Spitfire!"

Bella spun on her heel at that and he was glad to see her fear was replaced by anger. Anger he could deal with. Hell he even welcomed it right then.

"What?"

"Can I chat with ya?" Happy asked, feeling like a pussy and pissed that once again his personal shit was on display. And while he was being restrained by two of his brothers, no less. He was willing though, if it got them back to where they'd been.

"Apparently fucking not, no," she said with a tilt to her head and her hands on her hips in a move that had come directly from Georgia.

"Ouch, burn," Jax whispered behind him with a chuckle, making Happy tense his arms.

"She even swore!" Juice whispered back.

"Spitfire-"

"No Happy. Don't! I've got shit to get ready and do. I've got a cheek to ice and apparently you have stuff to sort out with Quinn. I'm pissed. You're pissed, in fact pretty much everyone looks pissed right now. You got your space when you needed it, I didn't bug you every five minutes with phone calls or messages even if I wanted to. Right now, I'm the one that needs you to leave it."

With that his little Spitfire spun on her heels and stomped back towards the clubhouse, her back ramrod straight. Judging by the way Bobby and Opie darted out of her way she had murder on her face too.

Silence followed her exit and he ignored all the eyes of his brothers that were boring into him. His arms were dropped and he ran his hands down his face ignoring the stinging pain he had above his eyebrow.

"I shouldn't leave her to it, should I?"

A chorus of "no"'s, "hell no"'s and an "I wouldn't if you ever want to get your dick wet again." were echoed around him. He gave a brief nod and avoided all eye contact as he followed his woman into their second home.

Gemma was in the midst of the madness that was the clubhouse. Her sharp calculating eyes caught his immediately.

"She went to your room. Go sort this out baby," the matriarch nodded towards the rooms at the back.

Squaring his shoulders he walked through the crowd of people that parted for him like he was fucking Moses. Apparently he looked mad.

When he reached his room, the was door standing open, he was witness to his Spitfire violently packing shit into a saddle bag. He winced as he saw the weapons and cartridges that lay below the clothes she was basically punching into the bag above. That was a fucking disaster waiting to happen.

"Spitfire," he said quietly, not moving off of the door frame that he leant against. His arms crossed in front of him. The present in his pocket lying heavily next to the box his ma had given him weeks ago.

She growled low in her throat and forced her shit into the bag even more violently but she didn't answer him. He had never seen her so mad before.

"I'm sorry."

That got her to stop for a moment, her eyes clearing of their wild fury just a little. She waited but still didn't say a word.

"My ma's ill. It's pretty bad. She's in hospital, has to go in for care for a while. Had to sort that shit out for her."

Bella took a deep breath and her shoulders collapsed forward. "God, is she gonna be okay? Does she need anything? Hospital food's crap, I can cook something for her if you think she'd like it? Why… why didn't you call me?"

Her words were sincere and heartfelt, but she still wasn't looking at him. He'd known he'd screwed up, or he had done when his ma had ripped into him and spelt it out anyway. But he was back to his original fear. She couldn't handle the real him, the bit of himself that had been kept from her for this exact fucking reason.

Happy shifted slightly but as her eyes were still looking at the bed rather than him didn't come any closer. "Didn't think ya wanted me to call."

"That's a lie!" She yelled her face finally tilting up to look at him defiantly, her eyes fixed on his lips. "Why wouldn't I have wanted you to call! We've talked everyday for what four, five months now? Longer? Are you telling me you didn't want to tell me about your mom? I would have liked to know, I'd have liked to be there for you both! No, don't pin this on thinking I didn't want to talk! I'm not the one who issued the communication blackout!"

Happy tried to hold back his temper. He was a lot of things but he wasn't a damn liar and she knew that shit.

"Ain't a fuckin' lie. Thought after Unser's ya wouldn't want to hear from me."

Her eyes at long last met his and they held a look of understanding along with her annoyance and anger.

"That's what this is about? What you did for the club at Unser's?" She shook her head, her long brunette locks falling untidy across her shoulders and down her chest. "I'm not scared of you, Happy! I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about what happened there and yeah I was terrified. But not of you! Not even of what happened! Urgh!"

Her little scream was followed by her kicking the bed in frustration.

"You don't get to decide what I'm scared of or what I should be scared of or any of that crap. We're partners, remember? We talk this shit out! You don't decide anything for me because I have my own brain. Because of what you decided and thought, you missed out on having me when you needed me. And Happy I needed you too. This shit going down. This I'm scared about and I needed you. I really needed you." The last few words came out choked and Happy was freaked out to see tears leaking from her eyes that now just looked exhausted.

He hesitated only a moment before he strode in and gathered her in his arms bringing her into his chest. She stiffened for a moment before collapsing into him. Her body shook with the force of her sobs and something in his chest hurt with her. Whatever it was twisted uncomfortably and ached sharply.

"What's goin' on Spitfire?" He asked as he sat down heavily on the bed pulling her into his lap.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Give me a minute," she hiccupped out in between heaving sobs. Trying desperately to dry her face.

Happy pulled her closer. "Don't have'ta be strong for me Girly. I gotcha. S'up?"

"I'm sorry. You've got your own problems with your mom and everything. Is she going to be okay?"

"She'll be fine. Can't nothing keep that woman down. We can chat about her in a minute. Tell me."

"I… ugh… the ride tomorrow? We're going to F… Forks."

Happy pulled back sharply at that. What the fuck were they going to that freaky, ass, backwards, podunk town for? Why the fuck were they taking Bella there?

"The Volturi? They're the rulers of the vampire world."

Happy felt a wave of cold dowse him at those words. He remembered the speed and strength of her ex. The way an RPG didn't take the little fucker out. This Volturi group was gonna be a damn sight more than her teenage, indestructible ex. Fuck. Fear until Bella had come into his life had been pretty much unknown to him, recently he'd felt it a shit ton more than he'd like, this was one of those times.

"I had to tell the club. I had to. Most of them didn't believe me, even with dad and Koz there to prove I wasn't clinically insane. So we're going on a field trip back to the capital of my supernatural bullshit. Back to where the man who raised me was tortured to death. Where my life was threatened time and time again. And I'm scared and I really, really don't want to go. I… I needed you. These last few days Hap I really needed you. I get you had your mom and I would have been there in a heartbeat. But I needed you too. I'm sorry if that's selfish but you're one of three people who know. And…"

Her sobs started up again as did the ache in his chest, this time accompanied with a rarely felt emotion; guilt.

"Ain't selfish Girly. I'm sorry. Real sorry. I'm here now. I gotcha. It's gonna be fine Girly," Happy murmured into her hair all the while the clenching in his gut contradicted his words. He wasn't sure this was gonna be fine. He wasn't sure they'd get out of this one. They couldn't fight their way out if this, couldn't torture their way out. All they could do was back down. And no way in hell was that gonna happen. They could always work for the Volturi, but he didn't think that would go down either. Bella was right to be scared. They were royally fucked.

He held her tighter, lowering her to the bed after she fell into an exhausted sleep.

Slowly and methodically he repacked her saddle bags, adding shit that she was forgetting and making sure to cover all the weapons at the bottom of her bag. He wondered if she had more in her other saddle bag and thought it was likely. His shit was still packed so he didn't need to worry about that. Frowning he went through the small amount of clothes she kept in his room, most of their things were back at the house. With a smirk he found what he was hoping he would. The next few days were gonna be bad for his Spitfire no matter what. But she could roll back into that town feeling like the badass bitch she was if nothing else. She could show those freaks that she had changed and wasn't the same woman she had been. Instead she was becoming a Son of Anarchy, she was becoming the Ol' Lady of the Tamacoa Killer. She was becoming Isabella Quinn, the woman she should have been from the start.

The last thing he did was take out the present he got her before packing that too then shucking off his jeans. He climbed into the bed next to Bella, being careful not to wake her.

In her sleep she let out a whimper, her body moving across the sheets until she found him and curled up next to him. She fit there as perfectly as always.

Happy relaxed against her feeling some of the tension flowing from him from the past few days. They weren't solid again yet and he was more than sure he hadn't heard the end of this argument he'd caused yet. Then there was the fact that they were riding out to Forks. And the shit with Quinn. Plus his mom. But despite all that, Happy's body relaxed against Bella's warm one, for now his worries melted away and he was able to fall asleep properly for the first time in days.