authors note; after a spicy chapter, here comes a sweet one. I hope y'all had a fun Halloween! 🎃

I got a question for you guys; I'm planning a SOA Christmas short story (about Happy of course). Would you like me to publish each chapter or when I'm done writing it so you can read the full story in one read (with breaks of course, lol)? Would anyone even be interested in a Christmas special? 🎄

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December and still no snow. Frowning, Avery looked out the window above the sink, her head cocked to the side. It was strange to spend a winter without snow. In fact, it was her first winter without snow. And she missed those magical views, seeing everything covered in snow.

“What are you looking for?” Happy's raspy voice spoke next to her, his arm slipping over her waist after ruffling Debbie's hair. “And you, done with the cookies, Peanut?”

“No”, the four-year-old giggled as she carefully placed sprinkles of all colors on the cookies. “T-they’re not finished y-y-yet!”

Happy's gaze briefly glanced over the kitchen counter, and as strange as it sounded, he had to smile at the chaos. He knew from Debbie that her mother had never done such things with her. Kim had been too lazy for this kind of stuff; and everything else that involved entertaining her only child.

He was all the more happy that Avery found time to bake cookies with his daughter in addition to her job and household chores, and secretly also happy that he didn't have to do the baking. He probably wouldn't have much patience for things like that. Which didn't mean he wouldn't still do it for his daughter.

“Of course not, how could I believe they were finished already, huh?”, he asked with a grin before gently tapping Avery's hip with the palm of his hand as she was still lost in thought. “Hey babe, are you okay?”

“Huh?” She looked up, a little startled, only now did she notice that Happy had entered the kitchen. Then she smiled softly. “Sorry, I was a bit lost. What did you ask?”

“Are you okay?”, he asked again, pulling her closer to his side before pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I asked what you were looking for.”

“Yeah, I'm fine”, she assured him with an eager nod as she placed a hand on his chest. “It’s just weird not seeing any snow. I still have to get used to a sunny Christmas time”, she told him, amusement lingering in her tone.

Debbie's eyes lit up when she heard the word snow. She excitedly turned around to face the two of them and clapped her sticky hands. “I w-w-want t-to see snow! I’ve n-never seen snow b-before.”

“Yeah, you have.” With his free hand Happy wiped some flour from Debbie's cheek. “But you were only a year old then.”

“So w-we g-g-get snow here?”, asked the four-year-old with wide eyes.

“No”, Happy chuckled. “I took you to Tacoma so that friends of mine could get to know you. And there was snow.”

Debbie's bottom lip pushed out as she pouted. “Oh, I t-thought we’d g-get snow here.”

“I'm sad too, sweetie”, Avery chimed in, gently running her fingers through Debbie's hair, which was slowly growing longer. “But maybe, if your daddy agrees, we can go to Boise sometime next winter.”

“Where you used t-t-to live?” There was nothing left of the pouty lip, instead Debbie now looked up at Avery curiously. “We c-can visit Grandma!”

“Debs, we don’t even know if it’s okay for Celine if you call her Grandma”, Happy told his daughter before he nodded curtly. “But we could do that; this winter. Then the two of you could've some fun in the snow”, he said with a laugh.

“Of course it’s okay with my mom.” What Avery was pretty sure of. She had seen how happy her mom was during her short time in Charming. Then, just like Debbie's eyes, the redhead's eyes widened too. “Wait, this winter? But isn’t that too short-term?”

“I'd have to talk with Jax first if he needs me, if not we can plan the trip and leave in a few days”, he suggested with a shrug and squeezed Avery's hip again before he fetched himself and the girls a drink from the fridge. “We can spend Christmas with your mom. This way she wouldn't be all alone. Maybe we ask Lyla to come with us.”

Which of course he would do for Avery, like anything else. She supported him wherever she could, and he simply wanted to give her something in return.

“Oh y-yes, p-p-pleaaase!” With a gasp, Debbie jumped up and down excitedly, whereupon Avery immediately gently grabbed her arm so that she wouldn't fall off the chair she was standing on.

“You would really do that for me?”, the redhead asked as a small smile formed on her lips, touched by his suggestion. “But what about your mom? Don’t you want to visit her on Christmas too?”

“My Ma and my aunt are invited for Christmas this year. They aren't even home”, he paused for a moment and rubbed his growing salt and pepper colored beard. “But we can stop by her house on our way back home, spend a night or two there. She hasn’t seen Debbie in a while.”

“We’re v-visiting both Grandma’s?” Debbie couldn't help but be super excited, which made both of them chuckle.

However, Avery immediately fell silent when she realized what that meant. “Wait, that means I'm seeing your mom for the first time”, she murmured, a quiet swallow following.

No one had yet introduced her to their parents, which the younger Dvorak had always been happy about. Things like that still made her nervous. What if his mom didn't like her? What if she asked how the two of them met? She couldn't really tell the truth. What mother would want a junkie chick for her son?

“About time, I should have introduced her to you much earlier.” Unlike Avery, Happy was anything but nervous. He knew his mom would love Avery, especially because she took such good care of him and Debbie.

“But, I mean, what do we tell her? Won't she ask questions about how we met? Have you ever told her about me?”, she asked cautiously, rubbing her hands together nervously.

Happy put down the bottle that was still in his hand before grabbing his girlfriend's wrist, pulling her towards him. “Of course she knows about you, she also knows that you live here. Stop worrying, Avery, she'll like you.”

“Does she, uh, know about my addiction?” Her voice was lowered so Debbie couldn't hear them. At four years old, she didn't need to know how many problems Avery actually had.

Happy shook his head, took his hand from her wrist and placed it on her cheek. “No, I’ll leave it up to you how much you want to tell her about yourself.”

“Is it okay if I don’t mention specific details?” She lowered her gaze in shame. Only now did she realize how uncomfortable her own past made her feel. “I don’t want you to be ashamed of me.”

“Look at me”, he demanded, gently tapping her chin before lifting it with the side of his index finger, looking at her intently. “I’m not ashamed of you. You were a drug addict for a reason and the last person to judge someone too early is my Ma. You don’t have to worry about her not liking you.”

“T-that’s right”, Debbie chimed in. Apparently the cookies hadn't been distracting enough after all. “Grandma is really g-g-great, she’s always nice t-to everyone!”

“I have to agree with Debs here”, Happy grumbled, reaching past Avery to gently pinch his daughter’s nose. “Although you shouldn’t be listening, peanut.”

“I didn’t, you were j-just so loud”, the little girl said with a giggle and stuffed a cookie into her mouth before climbing off the chair. “C-can I make p-p-presents for everyone?”

“Of course...but be careful with the scissors, okay?” Avery asked, caressing Debbie's cheek while lifting the corner of her mind.

“I'm always c-careful!” Debbie wrapped her short arms around Avery's leg, then Happy's, before running out of the kitchen. Shortly afterwards, her paddling could only be heard faintly, until her footsteps could no longer be heard at all.

“I guess I can take care of the chaos here alone now”, the redhead said amused as she started to put the dishes in the dishwasher. “And you’re absolutely sure you want to introduce me to your mom?”

“I am, otherwise I wouldn’t have suggested it”, the SAA grunted before sitting down, lightly tapping the table. “Come here, I want to talk to you about something else.”

A little confused, she turned her head to look at him, but nodded without asking any questions and quickly wiped her hands on the kitchen towel before sitting down, looking at her him expectantly. “What's up?”

“We have a run in January. That means I'll be away for a few days, maybe even a week. You think you can look after Debbie for that long? Or should I ask Gemma?” He looked over at her questioningly as her brows furrowed while she was silent for a moment.

“No, that should work. I have to work, but I should be able to pick Debbie up from kindergarten in time. And the rest will work out, it already does when you're gone for hours”, Avery answered calmly, pretty confident about this. However, she was more worried about him. “Is it a dangerous run? The truth please, Happy.”

He slowly leaned back and shook his head. “No, yet something can always happen. But you know I'm careful.”

Why would he lie to her? If he wanted to find out if she could handle his life and all the dangers that it entailed, he also had to be honest with her. “We know what we’re doing, little girl. I just need to know if I can rely on Debbie being well looked after.”

“Still, I’m worried.” A sigh left her dry lips, which is why she immediately took a sip from the juice box, closing her hands around the box afterwards, her eyebrows furrowed. “What do you think? Of course you can rely on that. I can take care of her.”

“I didn't mean to offend you, Avery”, Happy replied calmly, sliding his arm across the table to reach for one of her hands. “But a whole week alone is still different than a few hours each day. More stress, more tasks, more responsibility. This can quickly cause stress. And we both know what stress can causeᅳ”

“I won't relapse, Happy”, she emphasized urgently, her gaze firm yet her features were soft. “I would never put your daughter in such danger, I want you to know that. Besides, Debbie is an angel, things can’t get stressful with her.”

And yet she understood Happy's concern. Even though she hated the to be labeled, she was a junkie. Although she's been in recovery and clean for over six months, that didn't mean shitᅳ she could relapse any time, even after being clean for ten years or longer. Still, she was sure of one thing; she would never risk taking drugs in front of Debbie and traumatize the girl.

“Okay, then she’ll stay with you for the week.” One look into Avery's eyes was enough to see that she was convinced of this too. That was all Happy needed and wanted to find out.

He trusted her one hundred percent and he didn't care if others would think he was too careless. What was important was that he knew he could trust Avery.

“Thank you, that means a lot to me. Of course you’ll get an update every day”, Avery promised with a proud smile. That Happy truly trusted her with what was most important to him meant a lot to her. “Oh, before I forget. Tara called earlier and told me that an appointment was finally available at St. Thomas. If I want, I can come over the day after tomorrow.”

“About the fertility thing?” Happy asked interestedly, to which Avery nodded gently.

“Yep, because of that. I just want to know what’s going on”, she said honestly, not seeming nervous or tense.

Neither she nor Happy were thinking about children at the moment, they had enough on their plate. Still, it would be good to know whether they still had to use condoms or whether she would ever be able to have children at all.

What she didn't know was that Happy wasn't too keen on the idea of adding another kid to the family. Not right now, he saw it like Averyᅳ but with her family life felt right. Seeing Avery and Debbie together gave him a certain peace he didn't know he needed.

And was it so bad that he wanted to have a child with her in a few years?

“Can I come with you?” His raspy voice broke the short moment of silence.

“Yeah, of course”, the redhead nodded eagerly and couldn’t help but smile. “I would love to have you with me.”

“Okay, then I'll be there”, Happy told her firmly, also raising a corner of his mouth when Avery gratefully squeezed his hand.

It was a matter that concerned both of them, especially if they really wanted to plan a future together. So it was only fair if he came along to the appointment and supported her.