The phone woke Angela up once again. This time it was Skeeter, and he sounded a little panicked. Apparently, he'd run into Happy on his way into the funeral home that morning. She changed into normal clothes and headed down the steps, smirking when she spotted her cousin leaning up against his Harley looking as badass as ever. "You gotta scare the shit out of all the people I work with?" she teased.

"Didn't do shit," Happy defended on a shrug.

"Uh-huh," she said with a roll of her eyes as she went to hug him. She stood on her toes to kiss his cheek as he gave her a quick squeeze. Once she pulled away, she leaned next to him against his Dyna. "What are you really doing in Charming, Hap?"

"Came to see you," he answered vaguely, his eyes falling once again to her lip. "Thought you'd be in better shape though."

"I'm fine," she insisted, rolling her eyes. If he was there to visit her, he would've had her meet him halfway or at his Mom's house as he'd done in the past. "So you wanna do dinner or somethin'?"

"Nah, got shit to do," Happy answered on a shrug. "Headin' up to Oakland."

Her eyes widened slightly. "What?"

"Takin' care of business. Don't worry about it," he said on a shrug.

Angela shook her head. He was finally going to go after Esai. "Hap, don't...don't start shit 'cause of me."

"Someone hurts my family, they don't get to skate by," Happy said seriously.

"Hap, no," she said quickly, her dark eyes pleading with him. "It was nothing. I handled it. I'm fine!"

He just shook his head at her. "This time, you're fine. What about next time? I can't protect you all the time, kid. Only way I can do that is to end this shit once and for all."

Angela felt a lump rising in her throat as tears gathered in her eyes before she could stop them. She'd been so stupid to tell Happy about what happened. She should've seen this coming. "Hap, please..."

Another quick shake of his head told her that she wasn't going to get anywhere with him by pleading. Once her cousin made up his mind; he rarely changed it. "The shit I do ain't none of your concern," he told her, his voice low and rough.

She nodded, wiping quickly at her eyes as she let out a shaky breath. "All right."

Hooking a finger under her chin, he lifted her face slightly. "Keep your head up. This ain't on you."

"Yeah," she breathed though the weight of Esai's impending death was starting to settle on her shoulders. "Yeah, okay."

He leaned over to kiss her forehead. "Stay strong, kid. I'll see you later."

" 'kay. Just be safe," she said, watching him as he got on his Dyna. Happy smirked at her, as if that was an issue. The only person who needed to worry about their safety was the man he was going after.

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

Angela had just finished up the three bodies she needed to take care of and was about to fall into bed when her phone rang. Groaning, she prayed it wasn't another pick up. She was emotionally and physically exhausted, the last thing she needed was to take another trip to the hospital. "Hello?" she mumbled on a tired sigh.

"Were you asleep?" Juice's voice came from the other end.

"Sorta," she said, rubbing a hand over her face.

His chuckle made her heart skip a beat. "You should come down to TM, we're having a party."

She considered it for a moment before quickly decided against it. The effort it would take to get showered and all dolled up sounded like a little too much work. All she really wanted to do was sleep. "Can't drive. Too tired," she said around a yawn. "Have fun though. What are ya'll celebrating?"

"Um...we made a deal with the uh...Mayans," Juice answered, skirting around the real reason for the retaliation party. His eyes fell on Happy who was leaning against a tabling getting yet another happy face tattooed onto his stomach for another successful kill.

Angela felt her whole body tense at the mention of the Mayans. She could've sworn Happy was going to kill Esai, and there was no way that could lead to a deal with the rival MC. Marcus wouldn't stand for that; Esai, idiot that he was, was still his only son. "Oh. Nice."

"Hey Ang?"

"Yeah?"

"You hear what happened to Esai?"

She swallowed hard; apparently, she hadn't been wrong. "Nah. What happened?"

"He did something bad so..." his voice trailed off.

"He's dead, isn't he?"

Juice could hear the sad note to her voice and regretted telling her. "Yeah."

She ran a hand over her face, the guilt of Esai's death weighing on her shoulders. "He responsible for those two women and the Nord too?"

"Pretty much. You going to be okay?"

Angela laughed softly, touched by the worried note in his voice. "Yeah, goofy. I'll be fine. Have fun tonight."

"All right. Night, baby."

"Night," she whispered, hanging up the phone.

She felt tears slip down her cheeks as she stared up at the ceiling. This was on her. Esai's death rested on her shoulders. Breathing deeply, she tried her best to calm down but found she couldn't; it was all too much. Sitting up, she reached over into her bedside drawer and pulled out a small wooden Rosary with a Reaper hanging off the bottom instead of a crucifix. Her aunt had given it to Happy many years before, knowing her son could use it and hoping the Reaper hanging there would convince him to at least keep the Rosary on him, but he had just passed it off to his little cousin without much thought. Happy didn't believe in God and thought the idea that a few simple words murmured over a necklace would reconcile him from his sins was stupid. Angela, however, didn't share that belief and prayed for her cousin's soul every chance she got.

She slid to her knees on the ground beside her bed, propping her elbows up on the side of her mattress, and putting her hands together. Closing her eyes, she started to pray.

---------

Angela was flipping through the pages of a funeral home supply catalogue when she heard a knock on the office door. Sighing, she stood and headed towards the door not at all surprised to see a woman in a very nice suit on the other side; most family members of the deceased came to the funeral home dressed in their Sunday best. "May I help you?" she asked, gesturing to the sitting room.

"Angela Ruiz?" the blonde woman asked. At her nod, the woman pulled out a badge. "I'm Agent Stahl, ATF. Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

She fought the urge to grimace. This wasn't her first brush with law enforcement; she'd been questioned a few times about both Happy and Esai for various different reasons. She had a feeling this time it had something to do with SAMCRO and the Mayans because of what happened to Esai. "Sure," she replied awkwardly as she took a seat on one of the plastic covered antique-style couches they used for meeting clients. "Have a seat."

Stahl took a seat on the couch across from her. "I heard you've been associating with a certain member of the local motorcycle club, the Sons of Anarchy. Is that true?"

Angela kept herself from smirking; she'd been right. She just didn't know how much Stahl knew so she decided to play dumb. "Associating how?"

"Seems you and Juan Carlos Ortiz have been getting closer as of late. You've been joining them for certain club affairs."

"Juice is just my mechanic, ma'am. I don't know what you're talking about," Angela lied easily, crossing her legs and setting her folded hands atop her knee.

Stahl nodded, not at all pleased by her explanation. "Right, right," she said, her blue eyes darting around the room. "Now from what I hear, you grew up in Oakland running with a pretty tough crowd."

"Yeah and?" she questioned. Last time she checked, it wasn't a crime to hang out with club members be it Sons or Mayans.

"You have two minor in possession charges. Both with Esai Alvarez, son of the Mayan president."

Angela nodded. "I'm aware of that."

"Are you aware that Esai was murdered yesterday?" Stahl questioned, her blue eyes studying Angela's face. "Got an ice pick to the neck."

Angela tensed at the explanation. Damn Happy and his creative streaks. He couldn't just make it nice and clean, painless, he had to go for the creative kill. Fucking weirdo, she thought to herself. "No," she lied again. "I had no idea."

"Now, I'm under the suspicion the hit was made my one of those Sons you've been associating with." Stahl studied her face, waiting for the girl to get upset. Waiting to see if she would turn on the Sons because they had killed an old flame of hers. "That has to upset you."

"I haven't heard from Esai in years, Ma'am. He was dead to me long before he was actually dead," she explained calmly. "Did you just come here to tell me the bad news, or did you want something else?"

Stahl tilted her head to the side as she studied Angela, wondering what it would take to make her crack; there had to be something. "I bet certain members of the club would be quite shocked to hear about your old connections."

"Quite," Angela mimicked with a smirk. She'd already told Juice, if that was the card Stahl was going to pull, she wouldn't get very far. Plus, if it came down to it, Happy could step in and vouch for her.

"Wouldn't want that to get out, would you Ms. Ruiz?"

Angela leaned forward, a dark look on her face. "Are you threatening me, Agent Stahl?"

"No," she answered on a quick intake of breath.

"Is there a point to any of these questions?"

Stahl pressed her lips together, a curious look in her eyes as she got to the point of the conversation. "Do you know anything about the Sons' illegal activities?"

"Not unless fixing cars is illegal because that's pretty much the only connection I have to them, sorry," Angela shot back on a shrug.

Stahl smirked, leaning forward, her elbows on her knees. "C'mon, Angela. You're going to tell me you know nothing?"

"Only thing I know is that they're awesome mechanics," Angela said, standing up from her seat on the couch. "We done here?"

Stahl stood, wiping her hands on the front of her pants. "Guess so. I would stop and think before getting into bed with SAMCRO, Ms. Ruiz. They're not the good guys they seem to be on paper."

"Noted," she replied slamming the door behind Stahl. She sighed in relief once she heard the ATF agent's car drive away, muttering, "Bitch."

She headed up the stairs to her apartment, opening the door with a gasp. Someone was sitting on her couch. She relaxed when she realized who it was. "Jesus, Hap!" she exclaimed, pressing her hand to her heart. "You scared the shit outta me."

"You should lock your doors, lil' cuz," he stated, kicking his feet up onto the table.

"Guess so," she murmured, closing it behind her and locking it. She headed over to the fridge and grabbed a beer for herself. "Want a beer?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks," he said waving off her offer. "I'm headin' up to Canada for somethin'."

Angela popped the top open of her beer before taking a seat on the couch next to him. "Canada, eh?"

That earned a rare chuckle from Happy. "Dumbass," he said under his breath. "Considerin' goin' Nomad. Be able to visit Ma more."

"She'd like that," she replied with a sad smile. Between the two of them, they barely managed to pay for his mother's meds. Angela rarely went over to visit her Mom and aunt, yet another thing she felt guilty about. "That mean you'll be around more?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Prez said there's always a seat for me in Charming."

She grinned, genuinely happy to have her cousin around. Though they'd had their differences in the past, she'd always liked spending time with him. Now that she was older, she could appreciate all the things he'd done for her even if at the time she'd hated him for it. "Cool," she said before taking a swig of her beer. "Hey, so this ATF bitch came to visit me today..."

Happy's eyebrows shot up his forehead. "Stahl?"

Angela nodded, pointing at him. "That's the one."

"The fuck she want with you?" he questioned. He knew there was no way she could tie Angela to him. He'd done his damn best to make sure there was no way to legally tie them together unless someone dug deep into their files and checked out their parents.

"Wanted to make sure I knew about Esai," she explained, staring down into the mouth of the bottle in her hands as she picked at the label. "An ice pick, Hap? Was that necessary? You couldn't have just shot him?"

He studied her face, trying to gauge how upset she was. There was something she was holding back from him, some reason why she wouldn't meet his stare. He knew it wasn't because he'd killed someone; Angela knew the story behind each of the smiley faces tattooed on his stomach. It had to be because of who he killed. He hooked a finger under her chin, lifting it slightly. "What?"

Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up into those dark eyes of his. "Hap, was this...is this my fault?"

Angela's moments of weakness always surprised him. He saw so much of himself in her, in her quiet strength, her tough exterior that he forgot she felt things more than he did. She wasn't the cold hard killer he was. She wasn't a killer at all. She thought what he did to Esai was solely on her shoulders and the guilt of it was wearing on her. "Nah, kid," he said on a frown. "Asshole tried to carry out a hit on our founding charter's Prez. His old man gave him up so we could form some kinda peace."

She was surprised to hear that Esai had tried to kill the MC's President. It was so out of character for him. He wasn't a cold blooded killer like some of his Mayan brothers. But it made sense. That was why he'd been in Charming. Why he'd been frightened when he'd paid her a visit. "Shit," she breathed, wiping at her eyes. There were only two situations in which she ever let herself cry: alone and with Happy. He'd taught her not to trust anyone else with her tears, that they were a sign of weakness that people often took advantage of. "Marcus let you kill his only son?"

Happy nodded. "Yeah."

"And you didn't do it for me?"

"No," he lied. A part of him took pleasure in the fact that he'd been able to kill two birds with one stone when Clay told him to take out Esai, but he'd never admit that to her, not when she was taking it so badly.

She sighed and nodded. "You know I don't believe you, right?"

"You're too smart for that," he answered with a smirk. "Let it go, kid. Shit's over. Move on."

"Yeah, yeah," she said on an exhale, wiping at her eyes quickly.

He waited a moment for her to gather herself together before he stood. "Done?"

"Done," she affirmed standing up and giving him a hug. "You gotta go?"

Happy nodded, rubbing a hand over her head affectionately. "Yeah," he said, dropping a quick kiss to her forehead before gently pushing her away. "Stay strong, kid."

"Will do, Hap," she said, following him to the door. "Have a good trip. Bring me back something pretty."

He chuckled, shaking his head at her. When she was five and he was leaving for some random trip, she asked him to bring her something "pretty" back when he left on one of his trips. Since he was eighteen at the time, he obliged but instead of bringing her back something "pretty", he found the ugliest, cheapest souvenir possible and brought it home for her. It didn't dissuade her. She'd always request the same thing until it became a tradition of sorts. Once, he literally brought her home a bag of sand. She loved each trinket though and as far as he knew, she had all the shitty stuff he got for her stored somewhere in her room. "Will do, kid."