Angela watched Juice as he held Evie close to his chest while he walked along the beach, no doubt talking to his baby girl, the sun setting behind them making a beautiful scene of it. She snapped a quick picture with her phone and smiled. Her heart ached with love for that man. She loved him so much, it hurt, a notion she never understood until she met him, until he'd been through hell and she'd felt every ounce of it with him. Her phone rang, and she groaned, digging in her pockets for the offending object. She hadn't thought she even got service out there. The caller id was from an unknown number which meant it was either work or club related. Or Hap. Her heart jolted in her chest at the idea that it could be Hap calling to say he was safe. That he'd gotten out okay and wanted to check up on her. She smiled as she answered the phone. "Angela Ortiz. How can I help you?"

"Ortiz, ey? Tha's new," Chibs' voice drawled on the other line. "Somethin' I should know?"

Her happiness deflated when she heard the Scottish accent. Of course he didn't know. None of his brothers save for Happy did. Mostly because they'd all stopped caring about him, stopped checking in to see what was really going on in his life. He was just a pawn to them now. Something they could easily use in whatever twisted game they were playing. Raking a hand through her hair, she sighed. "We eloped a few days ago."

"Congrats," he said flatly. Clearly, there were other things on his mind.

"Yeah, thanks," she replied curtly. "What do you want Chibs?"

Chibs sighed heavily on the other line. "Ye see Juicy anywhere?"

"All the time. He's my husband," she answered sarcastically.

"Today?"

"I do live with him," she sassed back. She knew what Chibs wanted but there was no way she was going to give it to him. If they were looking for Juice, it couldn't be for anything good.

"Quit dodgin' the question, love. Do ye know where he is or not? Tara took the boys 'n' we need him to find her."

Angela bit her lip as she looked down the beach to see Juice smiling at their daughter. Gone was the heaviness she'd seen in him before. Telling him that Chibs had called would just bring him right back towards that edge he was standing on. He didn't need that. If Tara took the boys, then more power to her. She wasn't going to give up Juice's sanity in an attempt to find her. "Tara took the boys?" she asked, trying to stall. Maybe he'd get frustrated and just hang up.

There was a long pause as if he was trying to keep his patience. "Yeah. Ye heard from her?"

"No," she answered on a frown. Why would Tara call her of all people? They hadn't been all that friendly with each other lately. "I don't know where she is."

"Tha's why we need yer Old Man to find her. Now, where is he?" he asked, enunciating every word carefully as if he was talking to a child. She was quiet, debating on whether or not to tell him. He sighed tiredly. "Yer not going to tell me, are ye?"

Angela shook her head as she answered, "Sorry Chibs."

"We ain't gonna hurt him, lass."

"Who says you haven't already?" she stated before hanging up the phone. She threw it onto the towel next to her and let out a long sigh. They couldn't catch a break. Tilting her head back, she looked up at the sky and did her best to keep it together. She secretly hoped they didn't find Tara. That keeping her hacker of a husband away from Charming for the night, and, if she could convince him, the next day would make sure that Tara got away with her boys. That she found the safety and peace she wanted.

Juice slowly sunk down on the sand next to her, Evie still held tightly in his arms. "Who was that?" he asked, nodding to the phone.

"Chlo," she lied easily, leaning her head into the crook of his neck so  her face was close to her daughter's. "Hey Monk! You like the water, baby girl?"

Juice grinned and nodded. "Loved it. Probably thinks its one big bath."

Angela smiled back. Their daughter loved her baths. She splashed around like a maniac and cried whenever they took her out. She had a feeling Evie was going to love swimming when she got older. "That's my little sea monkey," she said, gently ruffling Evie's hair. "The water's not scary, huh Evie-doll?"

Evie cooed back at her mother, smiling a bit. Juice leaned over and kissed Angela's head. "Sun's setting. We should probably head back."

"What if we didn't?" she asked, watching his expression carefully. He looked surprised by her suggestion but not against it. "I mean, you already chucked your phone, so you're off the grid. What if we found a hotel in the city or over in Sausalito and just...stayed. Just for a little longer."

Juice considered it, his dark eyes looking over at the setting sun. "We probably shouldn't be driving so far in the dark," he said as an excuse.

Angela gave him a relieved smile. His excuse was bullshit. Both of them were perfectly capable of driving long distances at night, but she knew it was his was of justifying it, and she loved him for it. She strapped Evie into her carrier. "Right? And Evie's probably exhausted."

"Probably," he agreed on a nod. He stood up and held his hand out for her, hoisting her up to her feet when she put her hand in his. Dipping his head, he gave her a long, lazy kiss. "What's closer?"

"Sausalito saves us bridge toll," she said, smoothing her hands over the front of his shirt. He hadn't put his cut back on before they'd left. It had stayed forgotten on the floor of Evie's room. "Plus, they've got great ice cream there."

He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Sausalito it is."

--------------------

It was just past dinner when Chloe heard a knock on the door. Her pitbull went insane, jumping around and barking. She rolled her eyes at him. "Calm down, Hades. Sit," she murmured, rubbing her hand over his head when he sat. "Good boy. You're such a good boy."

She checked out of the peephole, her breath catching in her throat when she saw who it was. Ripping open the door, her eyes met the dark eyes of the Tacoma Killer. The porch light cast strange shadows on his face making him look more menacing than usual, the rain making his shirt stick to his body. He had a key. He could've easily let himself in, and then she remembered what she'd said to him the day before. She'd told him not to come back, and it seemed he was trying to respect that. With a nod, she stepped back, allowing him in.

He wiped his boots on the mat before stepping inside, letting the door close behind him. Hades was on him in seconds, his paws on Happy's thighs while he scratched behind the dog's ears. "You okay?" he asked, his eyes flicking to Chloe's face before moving back down to Hades.

"Yeah, fine. Are you okay?"

He nodded slowly. "Fine."

"You scared the shit out of me, Lowman," she said, crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt not to throw her arms around him and hug him as close as she possibly could. "Ang said they were using you as collateral and then all I could think of was that...awful shit I said to you about not coming back and..."

His smirk made her trail off on her little tirade. She stared up at him for a second, contemplating whether to kiss him or not. She wanted to. He'd been taken hostage for what felt like weeks, and she'd been left with this awful guilt on her shoulders for being such a total bitch to him. He nodded slowly, dipping his head and obliging her with a long kiss that she felt down to her toes. " 'm fine," he told her, his hand warm on her cheek. "How's the kid?"

"She's...a mess, Hap. A total, complete mess, and kind of...missing," she admitted with a frown. "I've been calling her cell for awhile now, and I just get voicemail. Went over to the funeral home to see if she was working, and Bones wouldn't say a word. He has Rigs, though, so wherever she went, she planned ahead."

"The Winston kids there too?"

Chloe raked a hand through her hair and nodded. "They were even worse. Barely acknowledged that she'd been there long enough to drop off the dog."

"Club's got 'em trained," Happy muttered with a shake of his head. "Chibs is lookin' for the idiot. Burner's dead. Personal goes to voicemail. The kid's got a tracker on hers, but no one knows how to do it."

"Did you call her?"

"Chibs did. She wasn't helpful. Not sure if she's with him or not."

Her brow furrowed in confusion. Of course, she wasn't helpful to Chibs; Chibs wasn't family. "Yeah, but did you call her?"

Happy shook his head slowly. The three day silence was the longest span of time he'd gone without talking to his little cousin in years. "No."

Chloe's face fell in disappointment. "She's going through a lot, Hap. You need to call her."

"Ain't gonna answer."

She studied his face for a moment, realizing he was afraid to call her. Afraid she wouldn't pick up for him, that he'd finally lost his little girl because he'd chosen the club over her. "Hap, she'll pick up for you. She probably picked up Chibs' call thinkin' it was you," she insisted, trying her best to push him without being too forceful. If she pushed too hard, he wouldn't do it just to spite her. "She wasn't...she was a mess a few nights ago. Losing the baby, losing you, had her a little on edge. She'd want to know you're okay. Probably take a shit ton of stress off of her, actually."

Happy sighed, he knew Chloe was right. He dug into his pocket for his phone, going to sit at the kitchen table as he held the speed dial number. It rang a few times before she picked up. "Angela Ortiz. How can I help you?" her voice chimed.

He winced at her new last name. It still didn't sound right to him. It was yet another reminder that she wasn't his little girl anymore. She was all grown up now. "Hey kid," he replied after a moment.

"Hap," she breathed, the relief in her voice made him smile. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you? Did you hurt them? Is everything okay?"

His cousin was a rambler when she was nervous, always had been. Usually she caught herself but there'd been times when she was little that she'd gone on for almost an hour without stopping. He'd sit and listen, waiting for her to shut up or tire herself out. " 'm fine. In Charming now. You okay? Heard what happened before....was gonna come see ya and then..."

"Chinese got you. I get it. Its fine. I'm fine," she assured him.

Happy smirked, rubbing a hand over his head. "Where you at? The idiot with you?"

There was a long pause while she considered answering that question. She let out a soft breath, clearing her throat before saying, "I'm fine and Evie's fine. That's all you really have to know."

"Where are you?" he repeated, more insistently this time. There was no way he was going to hang up the phone without knowing where she was. "You runnin' on me, kid?"

"No! God no! I'm just...I needed space, so I'm...out. I'm safe, that's all you need to know," she stated simply. At his grunt of disapproval, she continued, "You're lucky I even told you. I didn't know where you were for days. Whether you were alive or hurt or dead. I think letting you know I'm alive and breathing is enough for the moment."

"This ain't just about you, kid."

Another long pause as a sad sigh left her lips. "I know and that really, really sucks," she said softly. "I just lost a baby, Hap. 'n' yeah, you called to see how I was but as soon as you got your answer, you went right back to club mode. It hurt bad enough when you didn't call the first time. Knowing you called with an ulterior motive, that really sucks."

Happy frowned, rubbing a hand over his head. It seemed he couldn't do anything right. " 's not what this is about."

"Then why are you insisting on knowing where I am? If I'm with Juice or not?"

"I just want to know you're safe!" he shouted, beyond frustrated as he tried to cover his own mistake.

"I just told you I was safe!" she exclaimed angrily.

"Yeah, but where the fuck are you?" he growled, slamming his hand on the table. "You're acting like a child!"

"Fuck you, Hap. Go tell your fuckin' club that I'm done. I've had it with all of you assholes and your stupid bullshit! I'm sick of you all letting me down!" she shouted before her breath caught in her throat. Her voice was rougher when she continued, a little calmer, a lot sadder. "Goddamn, Hap. I can't...I can't do this anymore. You're...you're my cousin 'n' I love you but this...you putting the club before me? Before family? That really just...sucks."

Happy sighed, his anger deflating as he ran a hand over his head. "It ain't like that, kid."

She sniffled. "Yeah. It is," she stated softly. "I gotta go, Hap."

"Kid. Ang! Hold up!" Happy shouted, but he'd already lost her. He closed the phone with a snap and chucked it across the room. He dropped his head into his hands for a brief moment, his mind in utter chaos. The last time he'd heard Angela's voice take on that disappointed tone had been when she was fourteen and he'd told her he was going to be locked up. This was different though. Going to jail was out of his control but choosing the club over her had been a conscious choice this time. One he'd made out of his own volition. "Shit."

"Is she okay?" Chloe's voice asked carefully.

He dragged his hands over his face as he looked up at her. "Yeah," he rasped. "Yeah, she's...she's fine."

"You threw your phone against the wall because she's fine?" she repeated doubtfully.

He stood up and shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said, leaning over to kiss her forehead. "I gotta go."

She grabbed his wrist, her hazel eyes studying his tired face for a moment. "Stay, Hap. Just stay for a second. You're not going to find her. Not tonight. Club doesn't need you or else you wouldn't have come here. So just stay. Have a beer. Relax. Diving back into the club isn't going to help you any."

Happy stiffened a bit, straightening up to his full height as he thought over what she said. Then he let out a slow sigh, deflating a bit as he nodded. "Yeah. Gonna shower."

"Leave your wet clothes out. I'll dry 'em," she told him.

He felt a strange almost gravitational pull towards the nurse. There were no words to describe it. He just knew he wanted to be close to her. "Nah. You gotta shower too," he said, his voice rougher than usual.

A slow smile turned up the corners of Chloe's lips as she nodded. Standing on her toes, she pressed a kiss to his jaw. "Okay, Lowman. Let's get our shower on."

--------------------

Angela sat on the hotel bed with her hand still curled around her phone. Tears fell from her eyes before she could stop them. She was thankful Juice was in the shower with Evie. Once he'd read that it was permissible to take her into the shower with him, he'd started doing it all of the time. He'd put on his swim trunks or just strip down to his boxers and spend some quality bonding time with their daughter while Angela got some much needed quiet time.

Her conversation with Happy kept playing over and over in her head along with a teasing voice that kept pointing out how he'd chosen the club over her, how he didn't care about her any more. She tried to take in deep breaths to calm herself but was finding it hard to breathe. How could he do that? How could he put the club first? He'd never done that before! What had she done wrong?

Her heart ached for Kozik. He would know what to say. How to fix it. He would explain it all so it made sense. No one understood her and Hap's relationship like he had. They could be mad as hell at each other, and he just needed to say two sentences to fix it. He had the magic touch. She let her head fall into her hands, trying to take in deep breaths as tears fell from her eyes onto the dark carpet at her feet. Her world was spinning out of control. First Juice and now Hap. What more could go wrong? What more was the club going to ruin for her?

"Angel?"

She jerked her head up, wiping quickly at her eyes and mustering up a smile for Juice as she turned around to face him. "Hey! Hi. Did you two have a nice shower?" she asked, trying to be strong and act as if nothing was wrong.

Juice's brows immediately furrowed in concern. He pressed a kiss to Evie's head, setting her down in the little hotel crib before holding up a finger to Angela. "Let me get outta these wet boxers, and I'm there just...hold on."

Angela shook her head at him and tried to laugh. "I'm fine, goof. Don't worry about it."

He walked back out of the bathroom in a fresh pair of boxers. "No, you're not. I know you, baby. You're my wife, remember?" he said on a small smile as he pulled her into his arms. "What's goin' on?"

She closed her eyes as he pressed a kiss to her forehead, his nose nuzzling into her hair. "Hap called," she admitted, deciding to be honest with him. "He's...he's okay. Safe."

"That's...good. Right?" he questioned, clearly confused.

She nodded slowly. "He wanted to know where I was. If I was with you. Said it wasn't just about me. He...he was trying to get me to tell him where we were 'cause the club wanted him to," she explained, choking up at the end. "He...God, I'm not even sure he even called to see if I was okay. Maybe...maybe that was just a front 'n' all he really wanted was to talk to you."

Juice pulled away a bit so their eyes could meet. "That's not true, Angel," he assured her, his brown eyes warm and just a little sad as they looked at her. "I'm sure he was worried about you too. It's just...a hard habit to break."

She recoiled from him a bit, taking a step away. That was not what she wanted to hear. "A hard habit to break?" she repeated in disbelief. "Juice, I was his cousin long before he had that cut on his back!"

"I know! I know, Ang. I get it," he stammered out, trying to regain some footing. It was clear he hadn't expected such an angry reaction from her. He grabbed her hands in his, squeezing them gently. "I'm not saying its right, that's just what's going on. You have to get that. It's not about how much he cares about you or doesn't care about you, its instinct. He wants to do what's best for the club. He loves you, Angel. You gotta know that."

Angela sighed, taking in a deep breath to try and calm herself. "I know that. Of course I do, but he's never done anything like that before. To actually hear him choose the club over me? That...that hurt. Badly."

Juice brushed a stray hair behind her ear, his other arm sliding around her waist and pulling her to him. She melted into him, her body fitting perfectly against his as it always did. "I'm sorry, baby," he murmured, rubbing a hand down her back.

"I hate this," she whispered, something she'd been saying a lot more recently. "I just want to be normal for once in my life."

He pulled away from her and gave her a smile. "We can do that. C'mon," he said going over to his emergency bag. They each had one tucked away in the floor compartment of Angela's car at all times just in case they needed to make a quick getaway. He grabbed a long sleeve thermal and put it on before grabbing a beanie and tugging it over his head. "See? Just a normal guy. Nothing special about me. Just Juan Carlos Ortiz getting dressed to go walk downtown with his beautiful wife."

"Seriously, Juice?"

"Nope. Juan Carlos," he insisted, pulling on a pair of dark jeans. He went to her bag and grabbed a pair of clean jeans and a fresh v-neck before throwing them at her. "Get dressed, Mrs. Ortiz. We're going to go get some ice cream." He walked over to the crib and scooped Evie up into his arms. "Huh, Monk? We're going to get some nice normal ice cream that you can't eat yet. We'll dress you up all pretty in pink. Normal baby clothes for my normal family."

She laughed as he cooed more nonsense about being normal to his daughter. "You're a goof, Juan Carlos," she laughed as she stepped towards him. Standing on her toes she pecked his lips quickly. "But I love you."

"Love you too, Mama," he said, pulling her in for another, longer kiss.

--------------------

Juice watched Angela lick her ice cream cone from his spot on the bench next to her with Evie tucked safely and warmly in her stroller on her other side. The view of San Francisco was spectacular, but the view of his wife was even better. He reached out and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "You know how sexy you look lickin' that ice cream?" he asked, setting the cup of peach frozen yogurt he'd been eating next to him.

Angela gave him a wicked smile, her dark eyes locking on his as she used her tongue to lick around the coffee ice cream in the most seductive way possible. He groaned, closing his eyes and trying to think of anything else to keep certain parts of his anatomy from acting up. She laughed softly, leaning over to press a sloppy, ice cream laced kiss to his cheek. "Love you, Juan Carlos," she told him with a grin.

Taking her free hand, he gave it a squeeze. "Love you too, Angel," he replied, chuckling when she licked the ice cream off of his face too. God, he loved that woman. They sat in silence for a moment, enjoying the gentle sound of the bay water crashing against the rocks. It'd been nice being normal for a few hours. Walking around downtown Sausalito, pushing Evie's stroller with Angela's arm hooked around his had felt...right. People would stop and talk to them, fawn over Evie a bit. With his tattoos covered up, he wasn't as intimidating and Angela, when she was relaxed, exuded this welcoming nature that made all sorts of people start talking to her. He loved it. Loved seeing her smile and listening to her laugh without having to worry about his phone ringing. It was actually nice to be free of it.

The thought of his phone brought him back to the phone call Angela had with Happy earlier. She'd mentioned her cousin had said something about the club needing him. That stuck with him, bothering him just a little bit. What did the club need him for now? Was there another hit that needed to be carried out? Some dirty work Jax needed done? He didn't want to ask her; he knew bringing up the club wouldn't do any of them good. At the same time, he had to know. It was so rare that the club needed him. The fact they were looking for him to help had to be a good sign. If anything it showed he was somewhat indispensable. "Hey baby?"

"Mmm?"

"What'd the club want with me?"

Her shoulders tensed for a brief moment before she let out a long sigh. "Tara ran with the boys. They wanted to use your hacker skills to track her since none of those idiots knows anything about computers," she explained on a frown.

He laughed, really laughed because for a second, he'd forgotten the whole reason he was initially invited to even prospect with the club was because of his computer skills. He was the only one who knew his way around that piece of technology, the only one savvy enough to get into blocked databases and find information.

She stopped eating her ice cream cone to look at him as if he'd gone insane, looking at him like he'd gone insane. "What?"

"I forgot!" he said, still laughing. "All this bullshit's been going on 'n' I forgot that I'm the intelligence officer! That they actually need me for that shit!"

Angela's laughter joined his, slow at first and then they were both laughing hysterically on the bench, leaning against each other for support. "Goof!" she exclaimed with a grin. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah!" he said on an exaggerated nod. He ran a hand over his head as he shook it in disbelief. "Its been months since they told me to hack into anythin'! And Jax has been using me to do all this shit and I just...forgot."

They both grew silent again as the heaviness of everything that had happened in the past couple of weeks settled back on their shoulders. They could only be normal for so long before everything caught up with them. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly. "It's going to be good again, Juice," she said softly.

He wondered how she knew that was what he was thinking. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the tattoo of his initial before bringing their entwined hands to his heart. "Yeah, it will be," he decided on a nod. He drew in a deep breath before saying, "I'm gonna leave the club, Angel. I don't...I don't need it any more. I have you, I have Evie. I found the family I wanted. The club isn't family. Hasn't been for a long time."

Angela's dark eyes studied his face for a long moment as if she were trying to decide if he was serious or not. For a second, he worried she might tell him he was crazy, that they needed the club, and that they had to stay. Then she cleared her throat and nodded. "We'll go somewhere there's no charter," she offered with a hopeful smile. "I hear Hawaii's nice."

He felt his own hope blossoming in his stomach. "Raise Evie on the beach?"

"She does love the water," she agreed on nod. "I got a job offer for a place over there once."

Juice raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What? When?"

She shrugged a shoulder. "A year or two ago. Every so often they call from different places I applied to when I first graduated. They still have my portfolio, I guess."

He gave her a proud grin, leaning over to kiss her temple. Sometimes he forgot that besides being a mom and his wife, Angela actually had a job. A good job with a decent income. "That's awesome, baby," he said, squeezing her hand. "So we'll pick a random island. I'll black out my tats, and we'll live..."

"Don't say it!" she interjected, pressing her finger to his lips. "We'll live. That's it. We'll live and just be happy and healthy and safe. You, me, Evie, and Rigs."

Juice kissed her again, savoring her kiss for a moment before he pulled away. "Whatever you say, Angel. Whatever you say."