*Author's Note*

Thanks for reading, faving, following, and reviewing.

I'm so so so sorry that it's taken so long for me to get this update out. I've been swamped and stressed at work for so long, that it gave me some writer's block. Thankfully, things are FINALLY starting to ease up and I was able to finish up this chapter.

Singing With The Angels

Perry POV:

"You're a piece of shit, Fred! Your son, your damn only son who I raised as my goddamned own, is being placed in a psych eval at the Logan County Hospital in West Virginia due to an overdose last night and all you have to say is 'Nothin' I can do 'bout it. I'm in a truckin' convey'?!" I screamed at my worthless brother-in-law as I sat in my study. Hell, I think I liked my late brother-in-law Brenton Landon better than the one that's still breathing, Fred Quincey. Brenton was a sneaky snake, but at least he seemed like a father that gave a shit about his kid. Fred, he don't give a shit 'bout nothin', but Fred.

"Perry, don't give me that shit. I' stuck in a -hell- 50-uh-60 truckin' convey headed t'Omaha. I can't just turn 'round; head over to Pikeville cause my son did somethin' stupid." Fred had the nerve to tell me.

"Somethin' stupid?! You call OD'ing on pills and being depressed after being in a bad accident that killed his best friend something stupid?!" I shouted incredulously at the North Carolinian that I couldn't stand. "You don't even deserve to be called his father, but instead a damn sperm donor. I raised him since he was a baby just like I raised his older sister cause you couldn't handle being a damn parent." I bluntly told my brother-in-law. "I thought maybe you'd be concerned for Moses's wellbeing, but I surmise I thought wrong." I honestly told Fred before hanging up on him.

I angrily shook my head and tossed my phone on my desk right as the door to my study flung open. Tolbert and Novella rushed in with looks of shock and panic on their faces. "What's wrong now?" I asked, just knowing that something had happened.

My niece squeezed Tolbert's hand and nodded at him, giving him the go ahead to tell me whatever they had to say. He cleared his throat, only to announce in a raspy crackling tone, "Bad Frank just called. Misty, my baby mama, was just killed in a rollover accident."

"Dear lord…" I sighed, knowing that this revelation would turn Novella and Tolbert into a family of 4 with another on the way. I also knew that my niece would sacrifice her career for Tolbert and the kids. She already sacrificed her dignity for his case, flushing her career down the toilet wouldn't be unheard of right now. I knew, deep down in my gut, that I would be moving Novella's things from that one-eyed Hatfield's place to Tolbert's. "You need me to watch Sally Elle while you get Brett." I stated, knowing the boy was okay since Tolbert didn't include him in the sad news of the deadly accident.

"Yes," Tolbert nodded, "but we need you to draw up papers making Ella his legal guardian in case I go to jail."

"You'll draw up the paperwork, won't you, Uncle Perry?" My niece asked me.

"Of course, I'll have it done by time ya'll get back." I assured them. "Just go get him and bring him here; then we'll discuss today's plans." I added in, since we'd need to come up with a new plan on what we were doing after going to the lab. I doubt Tolbert would want Novella to leave him alone with two children, one of who's grieving, to pack up her things at her ex's house with me. Well, I suppose I'll be going to that demon ADA's house to pack up my niece's things alone. Well…like I said, we'd discuss that when they got back with the boy.

"We won't be long, Perry." Tolbert said, his usual strong and smooth voice having a broken tint mixed into it. I knew, just by his crackling tone, that without my niece by his side he'd be lost and losing his mind right now.

"We'll be back soon, Uncle Perry." Novella added in before Tolbert ushered her out the door.

At least Tolbert and Novella's stepping up for little Brett. The boy'll be raised in a proper home and will have a good strong family around him with me and the McCoys. I'm sure in a couple months' time he'll adjust to things. Well, let me draw up those papers.

Nova POV:

The ride to the hospital was quiet and full of heavy tension. The tension was because of the situation, of having to pick up a child and tell them that their mother was dead. I had no idea how Tolbert was going to manage that without breaking down. Yes, Tolbert was a very strong man that didn't show his emotions that often, but I knew that he was upset about everything. Tolbert, despite being a great Poppy to Sally Elle, was only a once in a Blue Moon type of Poppy to his son, Brett. I knew he loved the little boy, but since the boy was a bastard in the back hills he was more or less kept on the back burner. It was Sally Elle that got all the spotlight and now that Tolbert's going to be having 2 kids full time, 2 kids that don't even know about each other, he was showing signs of cracking. Hell, he started to break down on my uncle's couch until I snapped him out of it and assured him that I'd be living with him and the kids to mother them and help Brett adjust to his loss.

I know, I know, I just signed the death warrant of my career and my disbarment with that decision, but it had to be done. I can't have Tolbert's children feeling unloved and alone because they don't have a steady mother. Especially his little boy. Tolbert's a great father, but he's not ready to handle the emotional and mental toll of a motherless child. Raising a child since birth whose mother walked out is different than raising a child who had a lost their mother to the tragedy of an untimely death. I know, that wound has never fully healed with me. At least my brother was a newborn and never met our mother, meaning he never got wounded so badly by her death like I did. I needed to make sure that Brett was able to heal and not be so wounded by Missy's death. Since he's a toddler, I'm hoping that by having me in the house with Tolbert and Sally Elle that he'll be able to heal quickly and accept me as a mother to fill the shoes of the one she lost.

"Do ya think Bad Frank told Brett about Missy or ya think he's gonna let us do that?" Tolbert asked me, breaking the heavy silence that was looming between us.

"Honestly, Tolbert, I dunno." I sighed as the hospital came into view.

"Goddamnit…" Tolbert sighed, his velvety timbre soundin' a bit flat, as he sped up towards the hospital.

I didn't say a word, just gently patted his thigh as a sign of support as he flipped on his turn signal. Tolbert gave me a grateful look before turning into the parking lot of the Pikeville Medical Center. The parking lot was packed, even tho it was mid-morning, so Tolbert had to drive around before finding an open spot to pull into.

"Y'know, darlin', if I didn't have you I dunno how I'd be able to do this." Tolbert confessed while cutting his pickup's engine and pocketing his keys.

"Don't think like that, honey." I told him in a soft, but firm tone. I grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "We're together and we're going to get thru this."

He gave me a peck on the cheek and patted our joined hands before announcing, "We better go get him; bring him to meet his sister and Uncle Perry."

Letting go of his hand, I simply nodded, "Yea."

Without a word, we exited his truck. He rounded the front, only to walk up to my side and grab the hand. Together, we walked hand in hand down the parking lot towards the hospital. Holding hands grounded us during this hard and terrible time. Every step we made towards the ER entrance felt harder and harder, as if we were walking thru the depths of hell. What we were doing this mornin' is something that nobody should ever have to do. Having to pik up a child and tell them that their mother's dead is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. It's also something that me and my Uncle Perry have in common now, since he had to come and get both me and my brother after our mom died, since Fred didn't care to tell us the truth.

At least Tolbert loves his son and cares about his wellbeing. The way he is as a father, very devoted, is one of the main reasons why I'm with him. Well, other than my feelings for him. Feelings that truly never faded but were just pushed to the back burner and mixed with a large dose of denial for a while.

Bad Frank POV:

"I want mama. Where's mama?" Brett sniffled as he sat on the bed in examine room 2 in the ER. I was in the chair next to him, keepin' an eye on him while Tolbert and Novella made their way down 'ere to get him. I had texted Nancy 'bout what happened an' how Tolbert and Novella were takin' custody of the boy, only for her to say that she'd go to her cousin's place tomorrow with something for the boy. Knowin' my wife, she'd be havin' a talk with Tolbert and Novella too, even if she didn't say so.

"She ain't here, but your poppy'll be here soon with his girlfriend." I told Brett cause I didn't want to tell him 'bout Misty. I felt that was Tolbert's place since he was the boy's father. Hell, I reckon Novella's gonna help break the news since she's gonna be the kid's stepmom now.

"Mama no like poppy gir'friend." The little ginger boy bluntly told me while starin' at the curtain drawn doorway. Of course, Misty didn't like her. Everyone on both sides of the Tug knew that Tolbert and Novella had a Notebook kinda love, which is why his baby mama was a bit sour that the redhead girl was back in town. Hell, Novella threw her self-respect out the window and got with ADA Cap Hatfield in an attempt to get Tolbert's case thrown out. If that ain't Notebook kinda love, then I don't know what is.

"Me an' your Cousin Nancy like her, so you better be nice to her." I told Brett in my fatherly warnin' tone. The same one I used on my kids to make sure they didn't do nothin' bad and minded their mama.

"Okay, Frank." The little boy nodded his understandin'. The curtain to the room slid aside wit' a jingle from the metal curtain rings as Tolbert barreled into the room with Novella right behind him. "Poppy!" Brett squealed on the top of his lungs. The boy, who was all Tolbert from head to toe, looked innocently at my cousin-in-law and asked, "Poppy, where's Mama? Frank says t'ask you."

Tolbert's usual hard-jawed face twitched and shook, givin' way his emotions and grief. Yea, he didn't love his baby mama, but he still supported her and had a kid with her. Natural that he felt bad 'bout her death. 'Fore I could even blink, Novella patted Tolbert's shoulder and whispered some reassurin' words in his ear. Tolbert nodded and went over to Brett's bedside. I stood up, lettin' him take the chair next to the bed.

A few seconds passed by as Tolbert sat next to his son, just lookin' at him sorrowfully 'fore he uttered out the truth of, "Uh, Brett, yer mama got hurt real bad in the car accident. She's, uh, she's in heaven now."

"Wit' the angels?" Brett asked, causin' Tolbert to get a bit choked up.

Novella was right by Tolbert, rubbin' his back reassuringly. Tolbert's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, before he nodded and told his boy, "Yea, she's singin' wit' the angels now."

"I'll go tell the nurse you're here; ready to sign his paperwork and such to go." I announced as a way to leave the room an' give my cousin a private family moment. He didn't need me in the room watchin', least I didn't think so.

Novella looked at me, only to shoot me a grateful smile and softly say, "Thank you, Frank."

Nova POV:

I was thankful that Bad Frank was leaving the room, with the excuse to get the nurse for Brett's discharge, so that we could have some alone time with the boy. Tolbert wasn't dealing with this as well as I thought he would. He was cracking up and I knew that I needed to be the womanly buffer between the small boy that was mourning and his poppy, who was in culture shock. Giving Brett, who looked so much like Tolbert that it wasn't even funny, a soft upturn of my lips, I told the sad little boy, "Brett, I was a little girl when my mama crossed over the River Jordan to go sing with the angels. My little brother, Mo, was just a baby and we didn't have a poppy, just our Uncle Perry to watch after us." Grabbing the boys little hand and giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze, I explained, "I know how hurt you feel and I'm going to do everything I can to help that hurt go away."

I felt an ache in my heart as tear rolled down Brett's cheek. Before Tolbert could even stop me, I went over to Brett and sat right next to him on the bed. I held him as he started to cry. "I want mama. I want mama." The little boy, who looked so much like his poppy, sobbed.

"I know, buddy. I know. I still want mine sometimes, but I promise one day the hurt won't be so bad." I softly told my stepson as I rubbed his back as sobs wracked over him.

"Goddamnit! This shouldn't be happenin'." Tolbert swore under his breath, his timbre rough and full of emotion. Placing a hand on his son's shoulder, the ginger said, "Ella's a good mama to yer older sister, Sally Elle; she'll make sure you get settled well in our place." Brett just looked at Tolbert with sad blue eyes, only to nod and bury his head in my chest.

The little boy didn't seem to care that he had an older sister and a new home waiting for him. He was so upset that his mama was gone. He was going to need a lot of hugs and comfort. Something that I never got from my Uncle Perry after my mama died and he took me and Mo in. In fact, the only people that seemed to give me comfort when I was newly orphaned were Sally McCoy and Tolbert. Sally was the soft womanly touch of hugs and encouraging words while Tolbert was keeping an eye out for me at social events; beating anybody up that messed with me. He'd also let me help him train and check on the McCoy hunting dogs back then too.

AN:

Well, wasn't this an angsty chapter. Next up will be Perry collecting Nova's things from Cap's house, Cap and Nova having a talk, and Tolbert taking his newly acquired family to his parents' house for dinner.