Greg the Peg looked up at the mortuary with unease pooling in his gut. Clay had wanted them to do one last break in after the horrible snafu with the Lieutenant's wife to prove that the hits weren't local. That whoever was doing them didn't give a shit about what happened to Rita and was just hitting up the houses of those close to SAMCRO, those close to Charming, to prove a point. Why Clay had suggested hitting Angela's funeral home was beyond him. He hated the idea of putting his ex...whatever in danger. He hoped she wasn't there. They'd been told to rough up anyone they found. When he'd asked about Angela, Clay had warned them to stay away from her stomach. Everything else was fair game. The lecherous look in GoGo's eyes at that statement put Greg on edge. If she was there, he hoped he found her first, so he could tell her to get the hell out before they hurt her...or worse.

He followed Frankie up the backdoor steps and waited anxiously while the larger Nomad kicked it in. There was a light on in the back room along with some loud instrumental music. It was a movie score Greg vaguely recognized. They headed in that direction, throwing open the workspace door to find a gangly kid with shaved hair and thick glasses working on Rita Roosevelt. The irony did not go over Greg's head. The kid was so immersed in what he was doing; he didn't hear them enter until Frankie had a gun in his face.

The kid dropped whatever tool was in his hands and held them up in the air. Greg could see them shaking as Frankie demanded all the money the funeral home had. Unfortunately for the kid, when they opened the safe, there was nothing in there save for a bank deposit bag with a few hundreds. Not enough to make the break in worth it. Greg thought about mentioning the upstairs apartment which was sure to have more valuables but decided against it as he watched Frankie and GoGo give the kid a beat down before destroying the small office, breaking the computer screens and shattering the picture frames. He stepped carefully over one of them, feeling guilty as hell when he saw Angela and Kozik smiling back at him. He kicked it aside and laid a few hard kicks into the kid on the ground, taking out his anger on him. When he was done, he went to stand guard outside, waiting for the other two to come out.

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

The Star Trek theme song woke Angela from her sleep. Opening one eye, she reached out for the cursed object and put it to her ear. "This better be good, Boner," she ground out, glancing at the clock. It really wasn't that late, just a little after midnight. Why was Bones calling her?

"Ang, I need you," he grunted, his voice sounding rough like he was having a hard time breathing.

Angela was up in seconds, throwing the covers back and pulling on a pair of sweatpants. "I'm on my way. I'll be right there, kiddo," she assured him, getting dressed in a frenzy.

She practically sprinted into the living room where Juice was playing some video game, unwinding from the events of the day. He raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?" he asked, pausing his game and watching as she searched for her keys.

"Something's going on with Boner at the funeral home," she explained, tugging his sweatshirt on over her shoulders. "I gotta...I need to make sure he's all right."

"I'm going with you," he said, getting to his feet with a groan. She gave him a thankful smile, waiting for him to put on his boots before heading towards the door. He grabbed her car keys from her, heading to the Mazda and getting into the driver's side before she could protest. She sank down into the passenger's seat, her fingers nervously twisting at her ring. "What happened to him?"

"I don't know," she said, raking a hand through her hair. "But he sounded bad."

Juice nodded, pressing on the gas just a little harder. He knew the stress wasn't good for their kid and wanted to get there as fast as possible to ease her worries. Reaching over the center console, he took her hand in his and squeezed. "If he called you, he's fine."

Angela nodded, squeezing his hand back. As soon as the car stopped, she was out of it and sprinting toward the front door that was obviously broken. "Oh shit," she cursed as Juice pushed her behind him. He took out his gun from the back of his pants and held it out in front of him as they made their way in. The place was completely trashed. "Jesus Christ," she murmured, her hand fisted in the back of Juice's t-shirt.

Her heart rose to her throat when they got to the office. It was the worst room of all. Broken glass littered the ground, some shards covered in blood. Leaning up against her desk sat Bones with his eyes closed behind his cracked glasses. His face was badly bruised and cut up, his arms too. "Bones!" she exclaimed, pushing Juice out of the way. She kicked aside some glass and kneeled down beside him, reaching out a hand to touch his cheek. "C'mon, kiddo. Wake up for me. Please."

With a groan, he opened his eyes. "Ang... 'm sorry," he breathed, his eyes staring unfocusedly at her. "They took the money."

Angela shook her head, holding back tears. "Don't worry about that. Tell me what hurts, kiddo."

"Everything hurts," he said, leaning into her touch.

"I'm going to call Chloe, okay? She's going to come take care of you," she assured him, her thumb stroking over his cheek soothingly.

When she went to move, he grabbed her wrist. "Don't leave me, Angie."

"I won't, kiddo. I'm here." Angela looked over her shoulder at Juice, giving him a pleading look. "Call Chlo. Please. Get her over here. "

Juice nodded, crouching down to grab her phone from her back pocket and dialing the number. Chloe picked up on the second ring. He explained the situation to her, watching as Angela spoke in soft tones to Bones, one hand on his face, the other holding his hand. As twisted as it was, watching her take care of him like that just showed him how good of a mother she was going to be. He couldn't wait to see her in action with their own child. He finished talking to Chloe and hung up the phone. "Hey Bones. How you feeling?" he asked, moving to Angela's side.

Bones looked at him with dazed eyes. " 'm good. Just...tired," he said on a sigh. "Tried to fight back. Guys were big like Hulk big."

"Help me move him to the bathroom," Angela told Juice, taking Boner's arm and putting it over her shoulder. Juice did the same, both of them standing together to get Bones to his feet and move him to the bathroom. She knew Bones was leaning heavier on Juice, but she wanted to help all the same. Once they sat him down on the toilet, she grabbed a wash cloth and soaked it in water. "I'm going to clean you up a bit. See the real damage."

"My head hurts, Angie," he whined, his eyebrows drawn together in pain.

Angela frowned, running her hand over his buzz cut head. "I know, kiddo." She looked over at Juice with a worried expression. They both heard a Harley driving up. She recognized the sound immediately. "You called Hap?"

"What?" Juice breathed, shaking his head. "No! I called Chlo! Just her, I swear! I mean, I thought I heard a guy talkin' in the background but I never thought it'd be..."

"What the hell?" Happy's voice came from the backdoor.

Juice walked out to meet them, surprised to find Happy walking in front of Chloe with his gun drawn. The same position he and Angela had been in just moments before. "Over here! Its all clear!"

Happy lowered his gun, tucking it into the back of his pants. He took a peek into the office, "What happened?"

"I dunno. The kid called, said he needed Angel. I drove us over and...someone broke in, beat the shit outta him," he explained, gesturing towards the bathroom. "She's takin' care of him but..."

"I got it," Chloe said, pushing by both guys and heading towards the bathroom.

Juice glanced from Chloe's back to Happy, a questioning look on his face. Happy smirked. "Had to drop off her car," he explained on a shrug. At Juice's doubtful look, he shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said before heading in the direction Chloe had gone.

Chloe frowned when she walked into the bathroom to see Angela standing beside her apprentice who was sitting on top of the closed toilet, his head resting on her hip, eyes closed behind his broken glasses. Her hand was gently rubbing over the side of his head as she talked to him. He answered quietly, showing he was still conscious. "Hey kiddo. My name's Chloe," Chloe greeted, setting her kit on the floor. "Want to tell me what happened to you?"

"Bones," he said, introducing himself as he opened his eyes. He took the pain meds she handed him, swallowing them dry before explaining what happened."I got beat up. Three dudes. One was like Hulkishly big. The other was more like...I dunno...Thor sized and the last was smaller like...Hawkeye."

"So you got your ass kicked by the Avengers?" Chloe asked, shining a light in his eyes. He was definitely showing signs of a concussion.

Bones seemed to perk up at that, looking up at his mentor. "Dude, she's a nerd too. You're like a nerd magnet, Ang!"

Angela laughed this time, shaking her head at her apprentice. "Guess so."

"That's so cool," he said as Chloe carefully prodded his ribs, watching as he winced every so often.

Juice poked his head in. "How you doin', Bones?"

"Pain meds are nice," Bones explained, tilting his head back to give him a drugged smile. "Chloe's nice too. Ang has nice friends."

Angela and Chloe exchanged amused glances before Chloe got back to work putting butterfly bandages on a cut by his cheek. "I think he's got a few cracked ribs and one hell of a concussion," the nurse explained. "He live by himself?"

"All by myself," Bones sang to the tune of the Eric Carmen hit.

Juice snickered by the door, earning him a glare from Angela. He straightened up and cleared his throat. "He can crash on our couch," he offered.

"Juice is cool, Chlo. I mean, he makes Ang mad like all the time, but he's...he's a good dude," Bones told the nurse just as Happy appeared in the doorway. "Woah. Dude. That's the scary guy. He's like...Bane scary. You saw the Batman movie, right? Bane was badass and that dude right there...Bane."

Happy looked at the kid as if he was insane which made a small laugh escape Angela's lips. "Boner, I love you, but you need to shut up or my cousin will hurt you," she said, patting at his hair.

"Dude, Bane is your cousin. Man, Angie, you're a total badass. That is why you're the best," he said squeezing her hand. "Best sister ever...hey, if you're my sister, does that make him my cousin too?"

"No," Angela and Hap both answered together.

"Bummer," Bones said before yawning, leaning his head against Angela's arm. "I'm tired, Ang."

"He's pretty concussed," Chloe put in, laughing a little. "But he'll survive. Someone needs to wake him at least once during the night. Check on him, make sure his symptoms don't worsen."

Angela looked down at Bones who was already asleep against her arm. She ran her palm over his fuzzy head lovingly. "Got it," she said, relieved that he was okay. "Can you guys help get him outta here?"

Juice and Happy both nodded, helping Bones to his feet and dragging him out of there. "Don't start, Ang," Chloe stated as she packed up her supplies.

"Start what?" she asked innocently. "Start asking what you were doing with my cousin at almost one in the morning? Why would I do that?"

"Because you're nosy as hell," Chloe replied bluntly. "He was just dropping my car off."

Angela raised her eyebrows, a doubtful look on her face. "At midnight."

"Yeah. Otherwise I wouldn't have it for my five o'clock shift...which starts in four hours," she explained miserably. "You're lucky I like you."

"Thank you for comin' out, Chlo," she said, turning serious again. "Boner scared the shit outta me. Bleedin' all over the place like he was."

"He's fine." Chloe smiled at her obvious concern. "You're gonna make a great mom, Ang. I'll make sure to block your number late at night 'cause I have a feeling you'll be callin' me every time that little monster does somethin' weird."

"Good thing Juice has those burners. You'll never know what number I'm calling from sucka." Angela laughed, hitting her shoulder against Chloe's as they headed out together.

Juice was leaning against the Mazda talking quietly to Happy. They both stopped when they saw the girls. "Hey baby," Juice greeted, opening the passenger's door. "Ready to go?"

Angela nodded, looking over at Hap. She knew what he was going to say to Juice; the same thing he always said. So with a smirk, she nodded to Chloe and said, "You take care of her."

Happy narrowed his eyes at his cousin, shaking his head at her. "Shut up, kid."

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

The alarm clock Angela had set to remind her to wake Bones up went off just an hour after they'd gotten him settled on the couch. Juice reached over his sleeping Old Lady to grab her phone and turn it off. He hadn't gone back to sleep after they'd gotten home. He couldn't. His head was filled with 'what ifs'. What if Angela had been there helping Bones that night? It wasn't out of the ordinary for her to stay at the mortuary to supervise Bones especially if she knew he wouldn't be home from Chapel or a run until late. She didn't like to be at the house alone, and Bones was good company. If she'd been there, she'd have fought. She would've fought and those big ass guys that Bones described as "Hulk-like" would've fought back just like they did with Rita which meant he could've lost Angela just like Eli had lost Rita. The idea of losing her had his stomach in knots.

He got out of bed and headed towards the living room, surprised to find Bones already awake and playing video games, Rigor sleeping at his feet. "Thought you were concussed," Juice commented, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. Pain killers wore off, I guess," Bones answered on a shrug. "I keep thinking I'm hearing things."

Juice shook his head. "Nah, Rigs would be all over it."

"I should get one of him for the funeral home," he muttered, pausing the game and running a hand over his face.

"I'll see what I can do," he replied. "How you feeling?"

Bones shrugged a shoulder. "I'll be fine."

"You wanna tell me a little more about what happened tonight?" he asked, watching as the kid shifted nervously.

"I didn't see them. They had...masks and were all wearing black. But one of 'em...asked me where she was. I mean, they asked for the safe first and then, the Thor sized one...he asked where 'little Ms. Ruiz' was. He knew her name, Juice. And the way he said it," he shook his head, swallowing hard as he thought of the lecherous way the man had asked for her. "I'm just glad she wasn't there."

Juice felt anger run through his veins. They wanted Angela. They'd wanted to hurt her to...he couldn't even finish that thought. He felt like he couldn't breathe. "What did you tell them?"

Bones felt his throat tighten, tears in his eyes. "I told them she wasn't there. That she didn't...she didn't work there anymore. And he just...hit me harder. They knew I was lying, but I wouldn't give in, Juice. I told them...I told them every lie I could think of except that she was at home with you. I didn't know how far they were willing go to get to her, but it was scary."

"Shit," he cursed, sitting down on the couch and letting his head fall into his hands. He kicked at the coffee table angrily. "Shit! Angel could've been...and my kid...shit!"

"I wouldn't have let it happen, Juice. I woulda...I would've done everything I could to protect her, I swear. I know I'm not big or strong but I would've done my best..."

He looked over at the young man sitting at his side and nodded, "I know, Bones. Thanks."

Bones nodded, looking down at his bruised hands. "It scares me sometimes," he said softly. "The shit she has to deal with. I mean, she pregnant and she's...running around with guns. She thinks she's...Wonder Woman, but she's not and one of these days...she's going to get hurt 'n' I really, really don't want that to happen."

Juice winced at the accurate description of his Old Lady. He knew she knew her limits, but he also knew those limits were not those of a normal pregnant lady. Angela was a daredevil and growing up with Happy certainly didn't help; it made her feel almost invincible. "What do you want me to do about it, Bones?" he asked softly.

"I don't know, but...can you teach me how to shoot a gun? Maybe...maybe if I have a piece on me, I can help protect her."

He smiled a little at Bones' enthusiasm. "Yeah. I'll hook you up."

"Cool. Want to play some Call of Duty?" he asked, handing Juice another controller.

Juice smirked, taking it from him as he nodded. "Let's go, kid."

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

Angela woke up to her alarm blaring. It was an hour earlier than usual because she had to check on Bones. She reached a hand out to the side, not really surprised to find Juice's side of the bed cold and empty; he'd been leaving early a lot these days. Yawning, she stood and padded her way to the living room. She bit back a laugh when she saw Juice and Bones sitting on the couch, X-box controllers in hand discussing strategies as they worked together. "Killing lots of bad guys?" she asked, heading towards them.

"Hey baby," Juice said, his eyes darting to her quickly before going back to the screen. Bones didn't give her that courtesy. He just nodded and continued playing.

She leaned over the couch to press a kiss to one of the lightning bolts on Juice's head. "Morning, handsome," she greeted before leaning over to rub her hand over the short hair on Bones' head. "Morning, nerd. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Bones answered, sighing when Juice paused the video game. "Thanks for letting me stay over."

"You're family. You're always welcome," Juice said as if it was no big deal.

Angela couldn't contain the smile that spread across her face. She leaned over the back of the couch again, grabbing Juice's chin and planting a loud, smacking kiss on his lips. "I love you," she said, kissing his nose quickly before straightening up. "I'm going to make breakfast."

"Yes! I love breakfast!" Bones exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air. He looked over at Juice excitedly. "Does she always cook breakfast?"

Juice glanced back at Angela and smiled as he shrugged a shoulder. "If she gets around to it by the time we gotta leave."

"Oh. Oh. Ew," Bones said wrinkling his nose. "God, with the amount you two go at it, I'm surprised you don't have a bunch of little monster's runnin' around."

He chuckled at that, looking over at Angela who hadn't heard. It was true, they'd been lucky in the past. Both of them had been incredibly OCD about taking preventative measures. Then he went inside for a year. By the time he got out, they'd wanted each other so badly that neither of them had even thought about it. "We're usually careful," Juice replied on a shrug and a smile. "Monk was...a surprise."

Bones knew that. He remembered the day Angela found out, how shocked she'd been. It was the quietest he'd ever seen his mentor. "At least she was a good one though, right?"

Juice smiled, looking over his shoulder at his pregnant Old Lady. He could see her at the stove, flipping over whatever she had going in the pan as she danced to the low music coming from the iPod speakers he'd set up in the kitchen. Everything about her had been a surprise to him. From the day he met her, to when he realized he loved her, to the moment she'd said she was going to have his kid, all of those moments had been surprising. "The best," he agreed on a nod.

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

Angela was off for the rest of the day since the funeral home was currently a crime scene. She avoided it like the plague. Skeeter and Bones could deal with all the legal shit; she didn't need the stress. After taking Rigor for a run, she was surprised to find a missed call from Tara asking her if she wanted to go with her to the clubhouse to help her make a care package for some Son named Otto. Since Juice was on her ass for her to get over there anyway for "protection", she figured she might as well go help the doctor.

So there they sat in one of the dorm rooms, boxes of photographs and papers on the table before them, all filled with pieces of SAMCRO's history. "So what exactly are we looking for, T?" Angela asked, her eyes looking over a picture of men she didn't recognize.

Tara sighed, picking up another stack of pictures. "I don't know. I need to give Otto something that makes him feel...nostalgic. Reminds him of his brothers. Maybe he'll cooperate with me then."

Though the doctor had told her the bare bones of what she was doing with Otto, Angela still didn't think the old photos would do anything for the old prisoner. "Maybe send in one of the Croweaters. I'm sure he'd like that," she joked.

"At this point, I'm willing to try anything," she said on a sigh.

"God, they all look so young," she said on a light laugh as she came across a picture of Clay, Piney, and a few men she didn't recognize. She moved onto the next picture and her breath caught in her throat. "Uncle Cheeks," she breathed, tracing a finger over his smiling face. "I never realized he was a Son!"

Tara furrowed her brow at Angela, holding out her hand and taking the photo from her. It was of two tanned men studying the billiard table. She recognized one as Happy, the other was a bit older with the same dark skin, his long dark hair slicked back, a dark mustache on his face. "How could you not know he was a Son? He was your uncle."

She shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know. I just...Chico never wore a cut. Not around me, at least. Hap didn't until Cheeks died. That's when I remember learning about the club. I was ten, and Hap sat me down, showed me the Reaper and explained that I should trust anyone wearing one. That if he wasn't around, they'd take care of me. Even then, I didn't fully understand the weight of it until I was twelve."

Tara mulled that over for a moment before she frowned. "You really had no idea about it until you were twelve?"

"I knew what Hap did was dangerous. I mean, I had a gun held up to my head by a robber when I was eight. But Hap always taught me never to ask questions, so I just...didn't. He's always been my own personal Superman. I figured he just fought crime and that's why what he did was so dangerous."

"You were held up at gunpoint at eight?" she repeated, eyes wide. She shouldn't have been surprised, Abel was kidnapped when he was just a baby. Luckily Thomas had yet to be affected by their crazy life which was why she was working so hard to get her boys out of Charming.

Angela shrugged. "Yeah. But Hap was there, so it was fine."

Tara sighed, wondering if her own boys would be so desensitized to violence that they could shrug off being held up at gunpoint like Angela just did. "I wish my boys were lucky enough to be as ignorant to this whole thing as you were."

"It was a blessing and a curse. I missed out on having that big, overprotective family that Abel and Thomas do. That would've been fun," she commented. At Tara's dark look, she smiled. "Oh, come on, Tara! You know your boys have fun with their pseudo Uncles. I'm kinda excited for this little monster to have that."

The doctor smiled warmly at her friend. "How's everything going with the baby?"

"It's in there. Chillin'. Movin'," Angela said with a small smile as she rubbed her hand over the small bump of her belly. "Juice is more concerned with these though," she said pointing at her ample chest. "I swear I went up two cup sizes."

"Perks of being pregnant," Tara said on a smirk. "Must be nice to have him around. When I was pregnant with Thomas, Jax was still inside."

She frowned and shrugged a shoulder. "Yeah," she said, trying for a smile. She never really thought about it that way Though Juice was busy a lot of the time, at least he was still around; Tara had to deal with being pregnant and birthing Thomas alone. Maybe she shouldn't be so hard on him for missing stuff.

Both women stopped their conversation when Clay wandered into the room, apologizing for his presence. Tara stood immediately, her whole body tensed as she headed straight for the door. The doctor exchanged a few terse words with the Old Man about being "already dead" to her and "staying away" before making her way out of the room, all of the pictures she'd been looking at forgotten in her haste to get the hell out.

Clay sat down on the couch with a sigh as he looked over at the undertaker who seemed to be struggling with getting everything to fit back in the box. "Got something to add on to that, undertaker?"

"Nope," Angela replied on a breath, cursing Tara for leaving her with the cleanup duty. "She said quite enough."

"Want to thank you for helping out the other day," Clay offered, trying his best to be cordial. He knew the girl hated him. The feeling came off of her in waves. "You're a great asset to the club."

She laughed humorlessly. "Oh am I? That's good to hear. That's the whole reason I got into the undertaking business. To help your club 'get rid' of people," she said sarcastically.

"I'm getting the sense you don't like me here, Angie."

"Good," she shot back, putting the box back on the shelf. "I don't. Guess that happens when you threaten someone."

Clay grimaced at her blunt words. "Well, I'm sorry for that then. Thought it was all...water under the bridge. Wish there was something I could do to change it. Your Old Man...he's been a great help to me these past couple of weeks. Know that means he's been missin' out on some of your shit."

Angela felt sick to her stomach at the mention of Juice. The fact he was throwing the way her Old Man had been at his beck and call in her face pissed her off. "What he does is none of my business," she said, leaning against the doorjamb. She checked her watch, to give her an excuse not to look at Clay. "I gotta go back to work."

"To check on your apprentice? Heard he got pretty beat up."

She gave him a quizzical look. How could he have known that? From what she heard, the boys were trying to keep the recent break in on the down low so as not to call more attention to themselves. "He's fine," she said awkwardly. A suspicious feeling started to creep up on her. Clay knew a little too much.

"Juice told me," he explained as if sensing her suspicion.

"Right," she said, not at all convinced. "I'm gonna go now."

"You want me to stay away too, undertaker?"

Angela felt a shiver go down her spine at his question. Turning, she faced him, lifting her chin to convey her strength as she shrugged a shoulder. "I honestly don't give a shit what you do," she answered on a shrug before heading out.

As soon as she stepped out of the room, a hand grabbed her forearm, startling her. She was met with a familiar set of warm brown eyes staring back at her. "What was that about?" Juice asked, a concerned look on his face. "He threatened you?"

"No...I don't know. Why don't you ask him?" she asked, anger coloring her words. At his wounded look, she took in a deep breath, reigning in her feelings. She wasn't mad at Juice. Not this time. "I have to go check on Boner. I'll see you at home later, okay?"

"Okay, baby. Got V-Lin to tail you. Don't make it too difficult, all right?" he said on a nod, still looking a bit worried. She rolled her eyes at him as she nodded exaggeratedly, pressing a quick kiss to his lips before she started walking away. "Love you," he called after her.

She turned, her smile lighting up her whole face. "Love you too," she shouted back, blowing him a kiss before she disappeared around the corner.

Juice sucked in a deep breath, walking into the apartment to face Clay. "What happened, Clay? What'd you do to them?"

"Same thing I always do," he said, looking at his hands. "What do you want?"

Juice gave him the message about Greg, watching him leave as a feeling of unease came over him. Angela had told Clay straight up that she didn't like him, that she didn't trust him. Why didn't she trust him? What had he done to her that made her feel that way? Had he really threatened her? He couldn't think of a time she'd ever been left alone with him, let alone a time he'd ever seen them talking. What could he possibly have to threaten her about? A part of him didn't want to know. He had a feeling she was keeping something from him, and it bugged the crap out of him. Though he didn't tell her everything he did with the club, he expected her to. Already she'd mentioned something about Gemma killing someone before; about being there for Piney's cremation...he was beginning to think she was deeper into SAMCRO than she made it seem.

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

Juice walked into the house to find Bones still stretched out on the couch watching some tattoo competition tv show, his fingers absentminded brushing over Rigor's head. V-Lin was sitting on the ground by the couch, also petting the dog. He told V-Lin to get lost before raising an eyebrow at Bones. "You're still here?"

"Angie wouldn't let me leave," Bone explained on a shrug. "Thought I might as well get another breakfast out of it. I can go if you want though. I mean...I get you need your privacy and stuff..."

He shook his head, smirking as Rigor ran over to him, his tongue lolling out of his mouth with excitement. "Nah, you're good, kid," he said, scratching his dog behind the ears. "She home?"

Bones nodded, his eyes darting to the hallway. "She fell asleep on me last episode, so I made her go to bed," he explained. At Juice's raised eyebrow, he backtracked. "She wasn't...on me but we were watching it together and talking and then she was just...out. So I woke her up and told her to go to bed. I didn't touch her, I swear."

Juice chuckled as he hung up his keys and toed off his boots. "Don't worry about it. If I thought you were a threat, you wouldn't be sleepin' on my couch."

The younger man relaxed a little as he laid back down on the couch. "Right," he said on a breath. "She should be asleep, but I think I heard pages turning when I went to the bathroom so she might just be reading. I dunno. I didn't open the door to check."

"Thanks for the heads up," he replied, heading back towards his bedroom. The light was on meaning she was awake. Taking in a deep breath, he tried to think of a way to confront her about her conversation with Clay that wouldn't start a huge fight. He shook his head, there was no way. Especially since he also had to tell her that Greg and Go-Go were responsible for the break in and that they'd paid the ultimate price for them. Possibly at Clay's hand. Maybe that would redeem the ex-President for her, but he doubted it.

Juice quietly pushed open the door and was relieved to find her already asleep, her book resting open on her stomach. Slowly, he undressed, trying his best to be as quiet as possible as he went through his nightly routine. Once he was done, he carefully moved the book setting it down on the bedstand beside her and turning off the light before getting in on his side of the bed.

He scooted closer to her, putting his head on her shoulder, his hand resting on the bump of her belly. She stirred a little, a soft groan escaping her lips. "Juice?" she asked, blinking at him in the darkness.

"Go back to sleep, baby," he murmured, lifting his head and shifting to lie on his back. She rolled to her side, laying her ear over his heart as he wrapped an arm around her back, fingers still tracing over her baby bump. Turning his head, he pressed a kissed to her forehead. "Love you," he whispered because he did. He truly loved her. Whatever was going on with her and Clay, he'd choose her. He had to. She was something he couldn't lose, not without losing a piece of himself in the process.