Break In

Eleven

"Leave your weapons at the door." Bishop said pointing to a box that another Mayan put on the floor.

As all the men filed in they deposited knives and guns into the wooden chest. Someone had picked up Phoenix's compound bow and put it in the box too. Nestor was last as he struggled to separate himself from his guns. After a small elbow from Ana he sighed and pulled the two out of their holsters and tossed them on top.

"What the hell do I tell Phoenix?" Ana whispered in Nestor's ear.

The boy was currently watching the cartoon that he should have been watching in the car. The EarPods were playing loud the music to Dragon Ball Z enough that he wouldn't be able to hear his mothers words.

"We can talk to him later, together. He's a smart kid, he was always going to find out he was adopted." Nestor whispered back.

"He can't take him can he?" She asked afraid as her eyes darted to Happy.

He had sat at the bar with a drink while a lady looked at his arrow. Angel was in a similar position but his involved a lot more whining. Angel had just warned Happy before the Son tried to rip the arrow out barehanded and Bishop sent someone to the workshop for bolt cutters.

"Hey! You're gonna ruin them." Phoenix called out when he saw his arrow was about to get clipped in half.

"You shouldn't have shot me then, poco mierda." Angel replied as it was cut.

Ana slipped her jogging shoe off and launched it at Angel along with a torrent of abuse in Spanish for calling her son a little shit. Ez shook his head at his brother before picking up the shoe and returning it to Ana. As he handed it to her he noticed she really hadn't changed much from when she first walked into advanced mathematics classroom they shared at 14. She was still tiny and had chocolate brown hair with big eyes always that left her looking young and innocent.

Ez handed the shoe over and apologised for his brother. It was almost the exact same way they had met. Angel had been waiting for him to walk home after school when he knocked into Ana. The scrawny girl had nearly toppled over but Ez had caught her and apologised for his brother. Ez had been the one to help her but the moment those big eyes met Angel's he was all she saw. Angel became her universe, everything revolved around him and Ez knew if Ana had received that note she would have waited for him. Coco did the right thing in EZ's mind, he just had to get Angel to see that.

Ana slipped her shoe back on and stood up. Before she could walk away Nestor grabbed her hand and stood up too. He removed his dark red dress shirt and swung it over her shoulders so she could slip her arms through. She smiled gratefully as his fingers quickly buttoned the shirt up and let her eyes wander as she appreciated the view of him in a wife beater. Trusting his girlfriend with whatever plan she had, he sat back down and watched the screen that Phoenix was engrossed in.

Ana weaved her way through the tables and chairs to the bar Happy sat at. Happy looked at her before looking at the woman bandaging his leg and grunted for her to leave them. Happy reached down the bar and grabbed another beer for him and slid one her way too. She didn't have a bottle opener but thanks to her work at the club she could open them with almost anything. She picked up a discarded lighter from the bar top and popped the cap off the bottle before taking a sip.

"Anastasia Cano." Ana said to Happy as she turned and held her hand out.

"This ain't some fresh start bullshit." He said knocking her hand aside.

"No, but it is a start of truth." She said turning back to face the bar. "I didn't know you were his father. The older he got I started to see the resemblance and I tried to contact Kozik but I never heard back."

"Kozik died." Happy said as he peeled his beer label.

"Shit." She sighed. "I'm sorry."

"You could have gone by the clubhouse. Any of them could have told you where I was when I went nomad or to Charming." Happy spat.

"Its not that simple. I was in San Diego, not exactly an easy trip to make with a child and a full time job." She countered. "What would you have done anyway?"

"Raised him." Happy answered instantly.

"You disappeared for weeks at a time with your club. You couldn't have raised him, you would have left him with a crow eater." She said accusingly and he sat quietly as he thought about her words.

In truth he never thought far beyond just finding his son. When Cathy told him she was pregnant he hadn't handled it well and tossed her out. He ignored her calls and banned her from being allowed to enter the clubhouse. It wasn't until the due date came and went that he got curious about the baby she said was going to be a boy. He ended up going by her house and found a new owner saying the place was an estate sale. It wasn't until he went by the strip club and found one of friends that it actually sunk in. She had died giving birth and his son was in someone else's care, no one could tell him whose though.

"I would've made it work." He said unconvincingly.

"He doesn't know I'm not his biological mother and I don't know if he's ready for that yet." She said quietly. "I'm not ready for that yet. But, if you want to be in his life I'm willing to make this work. Only if you are 100% committed. I don't want this maybe bullshit or one foot in, one foot out."

He nodded and looked at his son over the room. He emptied his beer in one long drink before getting up and limping over to the couch Phoenix and Nestor sat at. Nestor looked up at Happy's approach warily but relaxed when Ana flicked her head at him. He turned to Phoenix and whispered something to which the boy nodded and Nestor got and walked over to Ana.

Most of the conversations had died as they all watched the interactions with interest. Happy sat down beside Phoenix and painfully lifted his pierced leg up onto a footrest. Happy leant over to see the video that was playing and chuckled.

"You like your cartoons kid?" He asked and Phoenix nodded.

He backed out of the video and showed Happy the lists of cartoons he watched.

"Mom let's me watch these ones but she won't let me watch South Park or Rick & Morty. I think that's stupid." The boy complained.

"Your mom knows what's best for you." Happy said. "You look after her for me."