Juice woke up to the feel of something licking his hand. Groaning, he opened one eye to find Rigor staring back at him. Sometime in the night, his hand had fallen off the side of the bed and the dog was currently licking it as if he knew it would wake him up. "Hey boy. Need to piss?" he murmured, stroking a hand over Rigor's head. Rigor sat down, looking at his master expectantly. "All right, all right, I'll get up."

He looked over at Angela who was lying on her stomach with her face turned towards him, her hand resting on his chest just over his heart. The past couple of days, she'd fallen asleep curled on her side of the bed, her back towards him. The fact that she was at least touching him made him hopeful that things would get better. Picking up her hand, he pressed a kiss to her fingers before dotting kisses along her arm up to her bare shoulder.

"Mmm," she murmured, stirring as his hand stroked down the soft skin of her back. Her dark eyes slowly opened, a sleepy smile spreading across her face. "Hi."

"Morning beautiful," he greeted, kissing her shoulder.

Her hand moved to his face, thumb gently swiping over his bruised cheek. "How are you feeling?" she asked, her voice rougher than usual.

Truthfully, his muscles ached and his head was throbbing but waking up to her smiling face made it all worthwhile. "Never been better," he answered on a smile. "You got work today?"

"Mmm-hmm," she said, her eyes drooping closed. She was exhausted both mentally and physically, so she'd decided she was going to sleep in. As long as there was no pending bodies, she should be fine. "Later."

He chuckled softly, brushing her hair from her face. "I'm going to take our boy for a walk. You sleep," he said, leaning over to kiss her temple a few times. "Love you, my Angel."

"Go away goof," she murmured, moving her hand to cover his face and pushing him away, the smallest hint of a smile on her face. "Lemme 'n' monk sleep."

Juice grinned at that, happy to have his family close. Rigs whined from the bedside. He was still too small to jump on the bed by himself, but he had his paws up on the side of it, waiting impatiently. "Okay, Rigs. Let's let Mama sleep," he said, groaning as he got out of bed. He felt her hand hook around the elastic of his boxers and looked over his shoulder to find her sitting up on her elbow that dark, lusty look in her eyes. "Unless she doesn't want to sleep..."

Rigor whined again as if he knew what was going to happen and knew it was going to be awhile before he got his walk. Angela glanced at him and frowned. "One kiss and go take care of our boy before he pees on our floor, then come back and we'll have some fun," she said decidedly.

He leaned over and pressed a long, hot kiss to her lips, his hands tangling in her hair. Rigor barked making Juice pull away with a laugh. "Hold that thought," he murmured, kissing her nose. "I'll be back."

"Walk fast!" she called after him, laughing when he jogged out, hoisting his pants up as he went.

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

Angela lay in bed reading one of the funnier baby books she'd found at the store. Juice had been gone for a lot longer than she'd expected him to be, and with everything going on, she was a little worried something had happened. She heard the front door shut and grinned in relief, throwing back the covers and getting to her feet. Stretching her arms over her head, she grabbed Juice's black hoodie off of one of the hooks on the wall and slipped it on. She padded her way down the hall towards the living room, smiling when Rigor ran towards her. "Good morning handsome!" she cooed to the puppy, rubbing a hand over his head.

"Mornin' to you too," came a voice from the living room.

She stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes widening when she saw Clay Morrow sitting on one of her couches. "Oh. Hi," she said awkwardly. His blue eyes raked over her figure, making her feel awfully naked in the sweatshirt that was much too short on her. She tugged on the bottom of it uneasily wishing she'd at least thought to put underwear on underneath.

A smirk pulled up the corner of his lips making her feel even more uncomfortable. "Your uh...old man is gettin' somethin' outta the garage for me," he explained, jerking his thumb in the direction Juice had apparently gone.

"Right. Coffee?" she offered, ducking her head and walking quickly to the kitchen, anything to get away from his watchful gaze.

"I'm good, thanks," he answered, standing up off the couch with a grunt. "Heard you're having a baby. Congrats."

Angela gave him a trite smile as she nodded her head. "Yeah, thanks," she said, watching the coffee slowly drip into the mug. She wondered what Juice was doing and hoped like hell he'd get back soon.

"Also heard you were there when they burned Piney," he stated nonchalantly, leaning against the counter next to her. She had no idea why he followed her into the kitchen, but he was much too close for comfort.

She nodded, stirring some sugar into her coffee. "I do work there," she answered, moving around Clay to grab milk out of the fridge.

Clay bobbed his head up and down. "Must've learned a lot that night."

"Y'know, I wasn't really paying attention," she answered, hedging the question. Yes, she'd certainly heard more than she was meant to, but she wasn't about to tell Clay that. He'd threatened her family once before, she wasn't about to give him fuel to do it again. "It's none of my business."

He looked impressed with her answer for a brief minute before smirking. "You're turnin' out to be a good Old Lady, Angie."

"My life's ambition," she muttered sarcastically. She took a long drink of her coffee, the smooth taste of it soothing her as it usually did. "What brings you here?"

"Your boy's givin' me a ride to Church. Had to stop here to grab somethin'."

Angela frowned, disappointed. Apparently, she'd slept right through her opportunity to have her way with her man before the day started. "Right."

"Hey baby!" Juice greeted on a breath as he walked into the kitchen. He dipped his head to give her one long kiss. "You still have that fancy camera I got?"

She nodded. It was the first big present he'd ever given her. One day he walked into the work room to find her taking pictures of her work with an old Polaroid camera, the next, he was handing her a brand new Nikon DSLR professional camera complete with a tripod, filters, an external flash, and software that was good enough to make people—in Juice's words-"shit unicorns". She loved that camera as she loved most of the things he'd given her. "It's at the mortuary," she said, glaring at him as he took the coffee mug from her hands and took a long sip.

He grimaced at the sickly sweet taste as he usually did. "You headin' over there?" he asked, nodding to Clay as the older man excused himself to go answer the phone.

"I gotta change first but then, yeah. Why? You need it?"

Juice nodded. He hated to ask, but the club needed a good camera, and he'd rather not go out and buy one. "You mind?"

"No, not at all. Take it," she replied on a shrug. She was dying to ask what he was taking pictures of, but she bit her tongue. If he wanted her to know, he'd tell her.

"Thanks, baby. I'll swing by and pick it up later," he said, giving her a relieved smile. He looked her over, only now noting what she was wearing and realizing Clay had seen her in it. "Damn, Angel. Are you wearing anything under there?"

Angela shook her head slowly, raising a suggestive eyebrow at him. "I thought you were gonna come home alone."

His hands found her hips, fingers curling around them over the fabric of the sweater in an attempt to keep the hem of it down. "I did, but then I got a call from Clay. Said he needed a ride to this Irish...thing. Figured I'd let you sleep in, and we could finish when I got back. Then I forgot somethin' back here so we had to come back and I invited him in...which I probably should've warned you about."

"You think?" she asked with a small smile. Her hands found the belt loops of his jeans, pulling him in even closer. Standing on her toes, she put her lips to his ear. "Too bad. Was really hoping to get some little Puerto Rican lovin' in too."

He was too distracted by the way she was trailing kisses down his neck to correct her. Gently tugging on her hair, he waited until she pulled away before pressing her up against the counter, his lips slanting across hers.

Clay watched the couple's ardent kiss for a moment, remembering the times he'd shared similar ones with his own Old Lady. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little bit irked that Angela hadn't cut Juice out of her life after his little fling with Carla. He didn't see how it was fair that Juice, idiot that he was, got to keep his girl while he was still struggling to hold onto Gemma. "Juicy! Let's go!" he shouted, smirking when they jumped apart.

Juice leaned over to give Angela one final kiss, murmuring a quick goodbye before following Clay out the front door. "Sorry 'bout that," he said, closing the door behind him.

The ex-president shook his head at the younger man's wide grin. "No, you ain't," Clay shot back as he got into the van.

His smile grew even wider. "No, not at all," he said getting into the driver's side.

Clay was about ready to smack that stupid, lovesick smile off that kid's face. "Would ya stop grinnin' like an idiot and drive already? Faster we get this over with, faster you can get back to your Old Lady."

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

Angela stared at the little plastic cooler filled with cold packs before glancing at the open cardboard coffin in the fridge. "This is fuckin' ridiculous," she muttered to herself, carefully pulling back the sheet from the body in the coffin. It was a young girl, late twenties who'd unfortunately thought her latest breakup was a good reason to chase a shit ton of prescription meds with a bottle of vodka.

"Sorry lady," she said to the corpse before taking a pair of pruning shears, she removed the woman's thumb with a sickening crack. Wiping it off on a towel, she gingerly set it on the cold packs. Next she slid a scalpel blade on a handle and carefully carved off one of the woman's breasts. She stared at her handiwork, strangely proud of how neat both appendages looked sitting on top of the packs. Writing a quick note, she pinned it to the breast and closed the lid before putting it in the packaging box. She could hear the sound of a motorcycle in the distance and grinned, Juice was on his way.

"Boner!" she shouted, closing up the box and sealing it with tape. She grabbed a Sharpie and wrote 'Jax Teller' on the top.

Bones came running in, his glasses slipping down his nose. "What? What? Is it the baby? Did I do something wrong?" he asked, completely out of breath as if he'd sprinted over there.

"No, relax," she said on a laugh. "Need you to take this to TM, please. Give it to one of the boys there. Preferably one with a patch. You can ask for Jax, but I get the feeling he won't be around."

He picked up the box, a curious look on his face. "Is this something I can ask about?"

"Nope," she replied, smiling at his disappointed look on his face. "Sorry, buddy."

Bones took the box and headed out, whistling as he went. She heard him greet Juice as he headed out the door. An awkward greeting that involved the word 'brah' and then Bones apologizing for calling him, 'brah.' She was still laughing when Juice walked into the work room. "Guy's kind of a spaz, huh?" he asked, a grin on his face.

"You make him nervous, bruh," she replied, closing up the cardboard box. She took off her gloves with a snap, tossing them into the red biohazard bin across the room.

He caught the glint of something silvery on her finger. She'd put the Claddagh ring back on. He couldn't help but smile at that discovery. Things were getting better. "She shoots! She scores!" Juice cheered, pumping a fist in the air. He hooked an arm around her waist pulling her into his chest, his hands sliding around her hips to grab her ass. "My turn to score now?"

"Not here." Angela smiled up at him, putting her hands on either side of his face and giving him a kiss. A sound of surprise escaped her lips as he gripped just under her ass and lifted her up, waiting for her to hook her legs around his waist before walking confidently down the hall to the bathroom. It was his preferred spot for a quickie since it was close, and he didn't have to deal with the guilt of hooking up in Bones' apartment. He wondered if the poor kid knew that he and Angela had already christened the new couch there.

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

Bones walked back into the mortuary and headed over to the workroom to check in with his mentor. Rigor greeted him with his tail wagging excitedly as though he'd been waiting for someone to give him attention. He scratched the puppy behind the ears. "Where's your mother?"

He heard moans coming from the bathroom and grimaced. "Seriously?" he muttered under his breath. He went into the workroom and put his iPod in the docking station. He scrolled through his different playlists before finding one that was sure to put an end to what they were doing and cranking up the stereo as loud as possible. He sat down on the little stool in the corner and took out his phone, loading some candy game Angela had forced him to play so he could give her lives. He was obsessed with it.

He didn't notice them walk in until the music shut off. His head snapped up as he practically jumped to his feet. As soon as he was up, Juice pulled him into a headlock. It was one of the most terrifying things Bones head ever experienced...until Juice's knuckles dug into his head, rubbing back and forth in a noogie. "Disney don't bug us, kid," Juice said, holding him there while Angela laughed. "We're unstoppable."

"Why the hell do you have those songs anyway?" Angela asked, not moving a finger to help her apprentice. She was up on her toes to grab the camera case off of the shelf.

"My sister, Penny," he grunted, struggling against Juice's hold before giving up and going limp. "She loves that crap."

Juice chuckled and let him go. He walked over to where Angela was struggling to reach the camera, pressing himself up against her back and easily taking it off the shelf. His hand curled around her hip, his lips brushing against her neck. She elbowed him gently to get him off of her, uncomfortable with being so showy in front of Bones. "Maybe we should get some of that for Monk," he commented, undeterred by Angela's elbow, his hand sliding around to rest on the bump of her belly.

Bones adjusted his glasses, suppressing a grin at the sweetness between the couple in front of him. "I can burn you like a CD...or twenty. I heard the baby can like hear in utero. I put these headphones on my mom's stomach once and blasted some Zepplin. Mom was not happy, but Penny liked it. She kicked her ass off."

"When does Monk start movin'?" Juice asked curiously as he looked through the camera bag to make sure everything was there and the battery was charged.

"Anytime now," Angela replied on a breath, rubbing a hand over her belly.

Bones nodded as if he knew. "Yeah, but only she can feel it at first 'n' then like a few weeks later you can. Its freakin' weird," he stated, his eyes glued to his phone. "Like some alien trying to break out."

Juice gave Angela a look that clearly said, 'Is this guy for real?' She nodded her head slowly. "Boner's my pregnancy guru," she explained, gesturing to the awkward nerd in the corner. Bones didn't seem to care, he just nodded his head in agreement, more interested in his game then in their conversation.

"Does that mean I don't have to read those baby books?" Juice asked, leaning his back against the counter next to her and flipping through the pictures already on the camera. He pulled a face at one of the "before" pictures before beaming proudly at the "after"; his girl was good at what she did.

She elbowed his side again."No one asked you to read those in the first place, goof," she shot back honestly. She didn't know where those books had even come from. All of a sudden, they appeared on her nightstand along with a few new apps on her phone. Juice was good at being sneaky about it though and always denied that it was his doing.

His prepay went off, and he gingerly set the camera back in its case before digging in his pockets for it. He answered it, spent five minutes talking using one word answers and then hung up. "Gotta go, baby," he said, leaning over to catch her lips in a quick kiss. "I'll bring this by later."

"Bye, goof," she said, smiling at him as he headed out the door.

Bones watched Juice leave before he looked over at his mentor. "The guest bathroom. Really?" he asked, his nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Would you rather have us do it in your apartment?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. He paused a second, connecting the dots. "Wait...have you done it in my apartment?"

"I lived there first, Boner," she reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know but like after you moved out..."

Angela gave him a secretive smile and shrugged a shoulder. "Some things you just don't need to know."

Bones watched her walk out before yelling, "Wait...what? Ang, you gotta explain!" Her laughter was the only thing that answered him.

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

Angela smiled when the front door opened later that night and Rigor sprinted to it. Her smile grew bigger when she heard Juice's low voice greet the puppy. He passed by the couch, leaning over the back to kiss her cheek. "Hey baby," he greeted, looking at the book over her shoulder. He threw himself down on the couch next to her and handed her the camera. "We had the weirdest day today."

She looked at the camera, her finger hovering over the ON button. "Did you delete everything?"

"Yeah, deleted all my shit, but check this out," he pulled out his laptop and flipped it open. He brought up his best pictures from their little blackmail session. "Before and after. Just like yours."

Angela flipped through them, a surprised look on her face. "Is that a...is that a dude?"

"Yeah. Tig had a thing for her," he said as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world. "See how I photo shopped the tape out? And take a look at this..."

She laughed at the last image, the most ridiculous one of them all. It was of the large man laying down by himself, still in his bondage gear with rainbows and unicorns coming out of his ass. "I love you, you know that?" she asked, a proud smile on her face.

Juice grinned at her as he nodded, his laughter joining hers. Her reaction was precisely why she'd been the only one he'd shown that picture to. He knew his brothers wouldn't appreciate it; they were all too wrapped up in the serious club stuff and his work of art would probably annoy them more than anything. But his Old Lady, she understood. She laughed with him, she was proud of him. "I do, actually," he said on a nod.

"We all set for the doctor's appointment tomorrow morning?" she asked, a wide smile on her face. She hadn't told Juice, but Chloe said she might be able to find out the sex of the baby or at least get a good guess on it.

"Oh shit, Angel," Juice said on a grimace. "I totally forgot about that. I got club shit I gotta do tomorrow. I'm gonna have to take a rain check."

Her eyes darkened with disappointment for a brief moment before it disappeared. "That's all right," she said on a breath. "Club comes first right?"

"I'm sorry, baby," he apologized, feeling like shit.

Her whole body tensed at the word. Sorry. She was starting to really hate that word. If she had a dollar for every time he'd told her he was sorry, she'd be rich. "Its okay. I get it," she lied, trying to convince herself more than anyone. "Next time, yeah?"

He nodded, leaning over to kiss her. "Promise," he said, rubbing his hand over her belly. "I want to see my little sea monkey."

Angela gave him a small smile before getting up off the couch. The anger she'd been fighting off came back, and she tried her best to push it away. Carla's words rang through her head: They make you think they love you and then they leave you. He was leaving her for the club...again. She'd thought she was used to it, but now, with a baby on the way, she couldn't help resenting the club just a little bit. She headed to the kitchen to start washing the dishes.

Juice came in a few second later, taking the dish from her hands. "Stop. Go relax. I can clean," he said, smiling sweetly at her. "What'd you eat for dinner anyways?"

"Boner and I got In-N-Out," she said, leaning against the counter at his side. The dishes were leftover from their breakfast. It was unusual they shared any other meal. He gave her a disapproving look, and she shrugged it off. "What? Monk wanted animal fries."

"Monk or Mama?"

Angela shrugged again. "Definitely Monk. Sneaky baby."

He shook his head at her, fighting against a smile. "That processed shit can't be good for Monk."

"I don't know," she replied, a teasing look in her eyes. "I'll ask the doctor at the appointment, and depending on the answer, I'll let you know."

Juice could hear the bitterness in her voice, though she tried to play it off as teasing. He fought back the urge to grimace; another bad move. "Angel, you know I'd be there if I could."

"I know," she said trying for a smile. "I'm gonna head to bed. Night, goof. Love you."

"Be there in a minute," he replied, kissing her cheek. "Love you too."

He finished up what he was doing before grabbing his laptop off of the coffee table and heading back to their room. Angela was already asleep, curled on her side wearing one of his shirts and a pair of lacy boyshorts. Her dark hair was draped over both of their pillows, a mess of waves that twisted and curled across the stark white pillow cases. Stripping down to his boxers, he pulled back the covers and stretched out, propping up his torso on the headboard and opening up his laptop. He looked over at Angela, his heart warming as he heard her sigh in her sleep.

After checking his usual websites, he pulled up a site he'd been searching a lot lately. Rings of all shapes, sizes, and colors appeared on the screen. For the first time, seeing them didn't make him nervous. He clicked around, filtering different things here and there, checking prices on other sites. And then, he found it. The perfect ring for her. He smiled at the screen before looking over at his Old Lady. It was time to finally make things right.