A/N: Fair warning, kinda making this a slow burn romance. I don't want to force Happy's character into places he isn't in the original story and I am trying to not do that with Gracie as well. I am also realizing that this is kind of my 'fix it' fantasy, so yeah. Hope you like the start of the story, please write and review or two.

~X~

Charming

She snuck out of the warm and secure arms of Happy Lowman at the crack of dawn to take care of club business. Vic's previous threats that word had spread about Bluebird blowing up were spreading fast regardless of cash in hand, and he had rather frantically called her in the middle of the night that it wouldn't take long before Hale had his fist up his ass. Something none of them needed.

Gracie packed a bag of spare clothes, she wore gloves and very dark heavy clothing to mask her build. She left her kutte in her room and covered her hair and mouth with a balaclava. She then borrowed a bent up, barely driving chevy from the Teller-Morrow 'to scrap' list and headed back to what used to be the warehouse.

The sun was barely up, the sky still a bit dark, when she pulled up to the ashes. It was so quiet, you could actually hear the morning birds sing. Gracie trudged the waste, found the hatch and cursed at the stench. The women below her had begun to rot.

First she picked up Antonia, the smaller of the two. She was heavy and Gracie had a hard time getting her out and into the back of the truck. She was careful not to drag or in any way get more of the women's identities left on the scene. With this, the two would disappear, never to be seen again in Charming. The club didn't need any zombies coming back to haunt them. She then picked up Maria and made the same trip back to the chevy. With the women in her truck bed, she pulled the cover over it and then went back to the hatch to shut it.

Finally, she made the trip over to Dubrowski's Funeral Home to wake up her friend Skeeter. The man creepily lived in the rental apartment above the funeral home, it was some kind of deal between the owner and him to let him sleep in what used to be an office space. Gracie went to the back of the building, located somewhat remote from the 'business district' of Charming. This to make it easier to travel to church and the cemetery.

"Open up Skeet!" She shouted, her dirty gloves removed when she banged on the front door. Inside she heard muffled shuffling and grunting.

"Holy hell! Shut the fuck up- Oh! It's you Gracie" Skeeter opened the door, only half dressed, and smiled when he saw who had come knowing that early in the morning.

Gracie nodded towards the door to her left. "Need to borrow your furnace"

The man sighed and looked at the watch on his wrist. "Shit Gracie, it's not even 6 in the morning"

"Need to use them fast, please" The woman insisted, her tone just as tired, grumpy and nauseous as she was.

Skeeter turned inside of his hallway and reached for a heavy set of keys. "Only for you Gracie" He said and handed them over to her. Gracie had been the one to help him in some really dark times a few years back. She had dragged him kicking and screaming into an AA meeting, which then had sadly resulted in him switching the booze for gambling for some time, but he was working on it.

"Thanks" She mumbled and went straight back to the task at hand. Skeeter closed the door to his apartment, not wanting to know why she needed the furnace for. As he doubted she liked him that much not to stuff him in it if he asked too many questions.

With some heavy lifting and stray tears, Gracie managed to get both of the women into a large cardboard box meant for cremation. She fixed them into the furnace, and as the flames burned bright the first tears came down her red rosy cheeks. The cries were guttural and ugly. She let the guilt and the shame wash over her, she thought of a million 'what if' scenarios. She tortured herself for a few minutes before closing the lid to the machine. Skeeter would do the rest, and she would gather their ashes later on to scatter them in some pretty place. Maybe under a tree, or in the sea. She hadn't known these women for long, but Gracie knew that if she had been on watch that night instead of Rodrigo. She would have been in the furnace with those girls.

Her phone rang, it scared the crap out of her.

"Where the hell are you?" Happy asked, not in a romantic way. Gracie sighed and went back out of the funeral home and trudged back to the truck.

"Need a pickup outside of Bakersfield, will text you the address" She said, ready to dispose of the truck and her clothes. It took a few seconds before the man answered her.

"You got the job done?"

Gracie took one last look at the funeral home before she drove away. "Yeah… yeah it's done"

~X~

The night before they had finally gotten their guns back, Gracie had gone as backup to Jax with the explosives. Things had turned the right way, just with some extra steps. Now, she was back in the garage and worked on some poor Toyota that just needed to be scrapped already, but the pornstar who owned it wouldn't agree.

Bobby rolled into the lot, "Got the good shit" He stated, and held up a brown paper bag. It was time for a coffee break. They all filed into the clubhouse and met up with Piney that was day drinking.

"There we go, boys." Bobby said and poured the muffins out on the table between them. Gracie scrunched her nose, she knew Tig ate out a croweater on that tabletop just hours before and she didn't trust the prospect to have cleaned it off that good.

"Oh, these muffins are great with tequila, Bobby." Piney grunted and took a shot before he took a bite.

"Shit's addictive" Chibs stated. "Turning me into a fat bastard"

"Turbinado sugar, organic flour, no processed shit." Bobby explained. "Not that any of you give a damn."

Gracie looked at the muffins and smirked. "My vanilla?"

"Hell yeah" Bobby nodded, which made Gracie smile. She was so proud to get the stamp of approval from Bobby. He really cared about the things he made and the stuff he used in them.

"You put hash in them?" Jax asked with his crooked grin on his lips.

"You know my rule. No bud before 9:00 a.m." Bobby muttered.

"I don't have that rule."

"Morning, kids." Clay shouted as he entered the room "Deal with the Niners has officially closed."

The president put his black bag down by the table they all sat at and started to rifle through to get to the envelopes. "Spoke to Laroy, and he is giddy about his new assault rifles."

"Like how we're all about racial harmony." Chibs chimed in.

"Spend it wisely, boys." Clay stated and handed a letter to Gracie. "Might be a while before we see any more gun green."

"I love the green."Chibs shouted, clearly drunk. "All about the Benjamins"

" Hey!" Juice said as he walked through the door. "I just got an update from my city hall snitch. Looks like Hale's got a warrant to search our warehouse."

Gracie furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Clay. "I wonder why, the bodies are nothing but ashes right now" She said with a shrug.

"Apparently someone didn't do their job correctly" Tig said and looked at the younger woman. Gracie exploded and stood up from her chair, the thing fell scraping to the floor.

"Bullshit! I know you were tapping them both, if I hadn't moved them before fucking dawn you would be in cuffs right now" She shouted and used her whole hand to point to the pervy bastard. That made the whole clubhouse quiet, nothing but the soft rock from the radio made a sound.

"What were you thinking?" Clay hissed.

Tig just smirked, water off the duck's back. "I was thinking about getting my dick sucked twice"

"Jesus" Bobby sighed and shook his head.

"So what can that idiot be looking for?" Juice asked and looked at the daughter of mayhem. Gracie had been one of his best friends in the club, ever since he patched in six months prior, and there was no way he would let her end up in jail.

Gracie let out a breath, her shoulders slumped and her nervous twitch of her head made her more irritated."I honestly don't know, maybe he found Rodrigo?"

Piney nodded and chimed in. "Trying to tie him back to the warehouse even more, and look for what that made someone kill him"

The group grunted and chimed in agreement, the whole thing was a try to grasp at straws.

"They will find nothing, I swear it" Gracie stated while she looked deep into her president's eyes. Clay knew she told the truth.

~X~

Few in the club when of Gracie's little side hustle. Only a couple had been to her farm after all. It was located on some good old patch of land that her mother had inherited from her father and so on. Not one neighbor for miles, the closest was Oswald's property line and then you entered Charming. On this plot of land she hid away with some honest work, but no real million dollar company.

Grazer Gardens sold vanilla to businesses all over the West Coast. The long stretch of grassland that led up to the farmhouse had transformed into some greenhouses and storage to grow and handle vanilla beans. It was a meticulous process, but Gracie had found enjoyment when she first got started with tomatoes back in the day and had expanded to vanilla on her own as time progressed. She sat outside on the front porch, cigarette in hand. Clay had that security run that evening that Opie had joined in on, maybe she should have done the same. Jax was spending time with his son, and the rest was probably at the clubhouse as usual. But she knew it wouldn't take long before the idiot made his way over there.

Sure enough, the deputy was driving up her road to speak with her.

Gracie and Hale had dated back in highschool, but as she dropped out and patched in, it was only natural to break it off. Didn't stop the man for patronicing her every single fucking time that they saw eachother.

The cleancut, blue eyed policeman stepped outside of his car with a smirk. "Afternoon Grace"

"Hello David… smoke?" Gracie said and made a motion with his hand for him to grab her cigarette.

He shook his head. "No thanks" Before he sat down on the porch step next to her. The woman looked at her ex, she remembered the huge crush she had had on him back in those days. She had gone to extreme lengths to even try to fit in with the Hales. But to no avail, she never belonged with him or his world. Not that he believed that.

"What are you doing here?" She asked and took another hit of her cigarette.

"Heard that the Bluebird burnt down-"

Gracie interrupted, and turned to stare at the man beside her."I know about the warrant"

"What was in that hatch?" He asked, blunt as usual.

She shrugged. "I don't know"

"Liar"

"Mm" She hummed, she did not care for their conversation at all.

David looked out over her farm, it had turned really pretty the last couple of years. With the greenhouses that stood tall and the greenery that bloomed all over the place."Business going well?"

"Yeah, it actually is very well" Gracie said with a small smile. "Vanilla is hard to grow and hard to come by, so I make a good living"

David raised one of his eyebrows. "Yet you still work at Teller-Morrow"

"They are my family, David" Gracie stated, she turned and threw her cigarette at the ashtray behind her. She made the shot.

"That's bullshit" The man hissed."No matter if you patched-

"Don't fucking start" Gracie said and stood up, David was quick to follow her.

"I'm serious, no matter if you are patched in or not, you are not a son and you never will be" He said."But they will use you to make you think you are one"

Gracie looked at the man beside her. She really stared into his eyes for a good couple of seconds."Leave my property David" She said. "Now"

"If you ever want to leave-" David tried to say, but Gracie once again interrupted him.

"Which I won't do," She sighed.

"I'm here for you" David stated and placed his hand on her shoulder for a moment before he went past her to get back to his car. Gracie just rolled her eyes as he stepped into his car.

"Oh suck my dick!" She shouted, and flipped him off.

~X~

Later that Evening

Gracie was out driving her bike around town, it was not truly nightfall and she contemplated if going over to Gemma and Clay was truly what she wanted to do. She had turned onto the street where both Opie and Jax lived, and it didn't take long before she spotted a familiar face out on the lawn.

"Hi Donna!" Gracie said with a smile and shut her bike off. The mother was out on the lawn and picked up toys left behind from her children. The woman turned around and spotted Gracie and grimaced.

"Not you too!" Donna said and shook her head.

"What?" Gracie looked at the woman as if she had grown a second head. Donna's shoulders slumped and walked over to the curb where the woman was parked.

"Sorry… sorry" She said."Met up with Gemma earlier today, and I really don't need anymore 'club is the way' shit"

Gracie just nodded. She understood where Donna was coming from. The club hadn't been there all too much when Opie went inside for five years, of course Donna would feel wary."I'm sorry that you feel that way"

Donna looked at the woman and then glanced back at her house."Wanna come in for coffee?" She asked and pointed to her home.

"Sure" Gracie shrugged and started her bike to be able to park it in the driveway. A few minutes later she sat inside of the Winston home, it was in need of a clean and rest, she noted.

"How are the kids?" Gracie asked, she had not seen the two of them a lot throughout Opies imprisonment.

"Good! Kenny and Ellie are getting really big ya'know?" Donna said and tried to hand a mug full of coffee over to the biker without spilling. But the stress and shame made her hands shake, and Gracie had to take it from her quickly before she got a coffee shower.

"Donna.. how bad is it?" Gracie asked once the mother sat down in front of her.

Donna looked down into her hands, her nails were destroyed from her biting them."Bunch of debt and car payments.. couldn't even buy groceries without Gemma's help"

Gracie thought for a moment, before an idea came to mind."I know you don't want the club involved, but maybe there is another way to get money?"

The woman was skeptical, Donna did not want to get any closer to the club."What are you suggesting?"

"I give you cash and then you work it off at my farm. Or Opie, I don't care" Gracie said and took a sip of her coffee.

Donna looked surprised."You have a farm?"

"Yeah, I grow and sell vanilla" Gracie explained."My way of earning straight" She then went into more detail of the history of the farm. How she inherited the land from her mother and how she had first started out with just tomatoes.

"That's amazing Gracie" Donna said at the end of the storytime.

"It's not much and I don't want to file paperwork for employment and shit like that… so I give you what you need in cash and then you guys come out to the farm to check it out with the kids. It will be free labor, so I suggest one of you keep another job. But I can clear your debt atleast" Gracie stated, she wanted to be firm with what the deal actually meant. She probably had to cough up a rather large sum of money, but she looked forward to some help around the farm.

"That's too much-" Donna said, knowing the debt they had.

Gracie shrugged. "Donna, just be happy and take the money" The two women laughed and hugged, the mother felt such a huge relief as an answer to her prayers had finally arrived. Just then Opie walked in, he did not expect his friend and fellow club member to sit in his kitchen with his wife.

"What's going on?" Opie asked, the scene in front of him so foreign. His wife was smiling from ear to ear.

Gracie just smirked. "You are gonna be so cute in overalls, farmboy"