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Since we gave Kayla a face, let's give Lily one, too.
Lily Connor; portrayed by Mia Talerico

Cassie sat on the couch with a hot cup of coffee in her hands watching her younger brother play with Lily on the carpet in her living room. Well, Benny tried his best to distract the three year old from the pain she was in but the girl still barely talked⸺ which was understandable and totally okay. All of them would give her the time she needed.

A smile hushed over Cassie's face when Lily finally picked up one of the many stuffed animals, the elephant it was, on the floor and started speaking in a disguised voice, whereupon Benny did the same thing with another stuffed animal making Lily giggle.

Since Benny slept at a friends house, where Happy had picked him up earlier, he only found out what happened yesterday this morning and to say that he had been shocked was an understatement. Fearing his brother would have to do some time, the almost sixteen year old was scared shitless even though he gave his best to play it off and act all calm. But the moment he saw how badly his niece was injured he lost it and broke out in tears, probably because he went through something similar with their mother and that whore's perverted boyfriend.

After breakfast he hadn't left Lily's side and now she wanted to hear someone say again that Benny is a bad influence on the toddler. If she'd ever hear that again she'd probably lose it because her brother was anything but a bad influence.

“Are you okay?”, Benny asked while Lily got herself a popsicle after Cassie allowed her to get one.

Cassie shrugged her shoulders, a sad laugh vibrating through her chest. “Honestly, I don't know. I just don't understand how someone can do something so horrible to their own child, or any child in general. She's in so much pain. Like, you can see how she winces at almost every step.”

“Yeah..there are some cruel people in this world”, Benny huffed angrily, lowering his head. “But I never thought Kayla would go this far. Was it really our fault? I mean, she was so pissed when I came back, maybe⸺”

“Benny stop”, Cassie cut him off the moment she realized what he was saying. “She would've pulled the same sick shit with or without you, well, us, around. I think she did it because she already had a new boyfriend and wanted Lily all to herself. You and I, we were just another thorn in her eyes but it's not our fault this happened to Lily.”

Swallowing softly, Benny nodded briefly and rubbed the back of his neck, obvious how much this affected him. “I hope you're right, I really do.”

“Benny?”, Cassie spoke up again.

“Hm?”, he hummed, his eyes locking with hers.

“The way Lily looks at the moment, all the bruises and everything, if that's a trigger for you it's okay if you want to stay at my house for a while. I'm sure James will be home tonight, no later than tomorrow, and he'll definitely take Lily with him. So, you're welcome to stay here”, she offered him with a sympathetic smile, holding out her hand to him.

Benny took her hand in his, squeezing it gratefully with a haunted look plastered on his face. Lily's current appearance triggered him, yes. He went through the same shit more than once but unlike Lily, he was at least older and could always escape for a few hours or even days.

“Thanks Cassie, maybe I'll stay with you for a while. I'm sure James wants some time with Lily alone anyway. Maybe spending lots of time with him alone helps her get over the trauma”, the teenager nodded eagerly, hoping that he was right with his words.

“You know he doesn't mind having you around. He wouldn't have fought so hard for custody of you if he didn't want you around”, the brunette assured, this time she squeezed her brother's hand in a comforting way. “And if you ever want to talk about the things they did to you, I'm always here.”

Benny got up from the floor and took a seat next to his sister, letting his head rest on her shoulder. At his age, he wasn't doing this often because that's not what teenagers did, right? They're supposed to be all tough and cool. But sometimes even he needed to find some comfort in people he knew he could lean on.

Cassie used the moment and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, smiling to herself as her brother seeked comfort. She knew at his age that this wasn't cool and yet here they sat, cuddling just like back then when he was still younger. The brunette knew this was his way of showing how grateful he was for his siblings and she was grateful for having the two best brothers.

Lily walked back into the living room, a popsicle in her mouth while holding three more in her hands. She gave one each to Cassie and Benny and, with Cassie's help, climbed onto her aunt's lap.

“Oh, you brought us one, too? That's so sweet of you”, Cassie cooed, pressing a gentle kiss on the top of the little girl's head. “But who is this for?”

“That's for Opie”, the toddler smiled sweetly and pointed at the white pitbull who hadn't left Lily's side since Happy and her brought her home yesterday. It was like he could smell that the little girl wasn't feeling well, and the bond between Lily and Opie melted Cassie's heart.

Since Cassie made them herself a few days ago and knew there weren't any ingredients in them that could be toxic for dogs, she allowed the toddler to give him the popsicle.

“He loves it”, Lily giggled. While Opie ate the popsicle, her face scrunched up as she gave a big, toothy smile.

Benny and Cassie shared a brief look, both smiling at the most adorable sight. Lily already warmed up again and while she wasn't talking much yet, that would slowly come back over time.

⸺

After Happy and Tig were done doing a job Jax needed them for, they headed back to the club and were met by Cassie, Benny and Lily who just got out of Cassie's car. Opie was the last one to jump out and ran straight towards Happy, who squatted down to a happily snorting dog, and scratched him behind the ear with a chuckle before he got back up again and stroded towards his Old Lady.

His eyes landed on the girl on Cassie's arm who gave him a shy smile. It still made him feel uneasy to see a toddler with such injuries and he was glad him and Cassie killed that whore of a mother last night.

“Anything happened?”, he rasped, concern flashing in his eyes as he looked at his Old Lady.

They had agreed that Happy would come home later once he and Tig were done with whatever they were doing, but now she was here. After all the shit that happened in the last few weeks he had become a lot more attentive and careful.

“No, I just wanted to ask Gemma if she could watch Lily and keep an eye on Benny while I get some stuff from town”, she explained quickly and handed over Lily who held her arms out to him.

Happy took the little girl in his arms like it was the most natural thing ever. Seeing the otherwise so stoic man with a toddler in his arms made a funny picture, but Cassie couldn't help but think it was absolutely cute. She awed when Lily started to trace the tattoo's on his head, happy that the girl found some distraction.

Happy frowned, squinting his eyes  because of the sun shining in his face. “What do you need from town?”

“Benny is going to stay with me for a while. I don't want him to sleep on the couch but I don't have a guest bed yet. That's what I wanted to get”, she told him, biting down on her lip. “Are you free? I could use some help. But if not that's fine, I'll ask an employee to help me.”

Tig slapped his brother's back. “Go, I'll sit down with Jax and tell him how it went.”

“You sure?”, Happy asked.

“Yeah, after that I'll drop Benny and Lily off at Gemma's”, he assured the two of them before bending over to kiss Cassie's cheek. “You two need some alone time anyway.”

“Do we?”, Cassie chuckled. Alone time with her Old Man did sound good, she couldn't deny that. Even if it was just a shopping trip, she looked forward to spend some peaceful hours with Happy.

The last weeks were filled with worries and stress, they really deserved a break. Hopefully things would calm down now that Kayla was gone. After all, it was her intrigues that caused all the trouble.

“Yeah, yeah you do”, Tig smirked, pointing at the toddler in Happy's arms. “Maybe work on giving us more of these cute little rugrats.”

“Slow down, let us enjoy our freedom for a little while longer”, the brunette winked and covered the rising nervousness with good humor.

No matter how much she loved Lily and how cute she found kids, she still couldn't see herself as a mom and not even Happy holding a toddler would change her mind about the children topic.

“Let's go before he says even more weird stuff”, Happy smirked slightly and ruffled Lily's hair, which earned him a playful slap on the arm from Cassie.

“Stop! It took ten minutes to make those pigtails look so cute”, she scolded him jokingly.

“It really did. You should've seen the desperation in her eyes after her seventh try failed again”, Benny let out a laugh and took Lily from Happy's arms carefully and made sure not to hurt her while holding her in his arms.

“Just shut up”, Cassie rolled her eyes in amusement and slipped her hand into Happy's after giving Lily a kiss on the cheek. “Can we?”

“Yeah”, Happy nodded briefly, looking back at Tig again. “Can you watch Opie 'til we're back?”

Tig's eyes lit up like a child's at Christmas. “Always, take your time!”

⸺

Happy wanted to call a prospect to help him with the bed but Cassie refused and told him she wanted to set up the bed with him and wouldn't have a problem to carry it to the guest room with him. Unlike many other women, Cassie wasn't at all lazy or too girly to lend a hand, and that's what Happy loved about her. If she wanted something, she was willing to get it done by herself.

While they set up the bed, they talked about the most random things until Happy blurted out something that made Cassie's eyes go wide.

“I want to ink you”, he stated, his tone confident and firm. It sounded like he wouldn't take no as an answer. It wasn't like she would ever say no to that anyway.

Being his Old Lady felt good and she wanted everyone to know that she belonged to him now. The looks they got from the Croweaters at the party last night didn't bother her because she trusted Happy, yet she wanted them to know that he was off limits.

“With your crow?”, she asked surprised, earning a nod from him in return. “We aren't together that long. Are you sure?”

“We know each other long enough. I know what I want, little girl”, he rasped. After putting away the screwdriver, he slid over to where she sat on the floor and tucked some strands of hair, that had come loose from the messy bun on the top of her head and were brushing against her face, behind her ear.

Her lips parted, ready to say something but she decided otherwise, straddled him and snaked her arms around his neck. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth while she took in his features, realizing once again how perfect this man was.

“I'd love to wear your crow”, she whispered lovingly against his lips.

“Then I'll come up with something.” A sense of pride washed over him at her reply, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist as his eyes met her beautiful blue ones.

Cassie was a strong, determined woman with the biggest heart he had ever seen⸺ besides his mother. Happy didn't care about her complicated side, the overthinking side of her⸺ he wasn't any different. Hell, he was definitely more fucked up than she was. She knew how to handle him and how she could wrap him around her little finger. That meant something.

For the first time in his life he felt like he was home. By home he didn't mean a house with a garden, he meant a place where he could be who he was, where he could show his vulnerable side without being ashamed of it. She was his home and he never wanted that to change, he was sure about that.

⸺

authors note; Hey guys! You know feedback is always welcome. Thank you all so much for the many comments on the last few chapters, they totally keep me motivated. 🖤

Question; What do you guys think about the chapter length? Is the length good or would you like to read a little shorter chapters?

At the moment I write between 2100 - 2600 words. Sometimes it's hard to stop writing when I have a good moment but I know many people don't like chapters that are too long so please just leave a quick comment. Thanks!