Hands All Over

Ch. 25 Mine

Angela stared at the sheet covered body lying on the table in the middle of the embalming room. She knew who was under the sheet, knew as soon as she removed it, she'd have to face her fears and face them alone. Skeeter had offered to do the job for her, but she'd insisted on doing it herself. Kip had been her friend. They'd joked around on more than one occasion, talked about superheroes. His favorite superhero was Captain America which was why he decided to enlist in the army in the first place. Little tidbits of information like that made what she was about to do even harder.

Slowly, she moved back the sheet, uncovering his face. Her heart dropped in her chest; Half-Sack could've easily been sleeping. There were no wounds on his face like Donna had had, nothing to tell her the man on the table was dead. Swallowing at the lump in her throat, she pulled the sheet all the way off, revealing the y-incision from the autopsy and the large stab wound in the middle of his abdomen. "Shit, Sack," she murmured, reaching out a gloved hand to touch the gash.

She heard the door open, expecting to see Juice but instead finding Happy. Her eyebrows rose; he'd never stopped in to see her before. "You all right?" he asked.

Angela nodded slowly. "You here to check on me?"

He shrugged a shoulder. "Someone's gotta stay with Sack."

"The whole time?" she questioned. She knew it was a ritual for many organizations to always have a member stay with a fallen brother. It was one she usually associated with policemen though, which was why she was shocked the Sons also followed that rule.

"Yeah," he said on a nod, taking a seat on a stool in the corner of the room. The same seat Juice usually occupied when he watched her work.

"You can wait outside, you know? What I do is weird...."

Happy smirked at her and shook his head. "I'm good." He'd never seen his cousin work, though he'd seen the outcome enough times to know she was good at what she did and was curious to see what exactly it was she did.

He watched her take in a deep breath before pressing play on her music, just one headphone bud in her ear. He assumed she left the other one out so she could hear him if need be. Her music was loud and leaked out of her headphones. It was the same kind of music she always listened to growing up: classic rock. He couldn't count how many times she'd stolen his Led Zeppelin tape when she was younger and he'd catch her sitting on the floor, fixing the tape with a pencil because she'd broken it rewinding "Stairway to Heaven" one too many times.

Juice had tried his hardest to be the one to sit in on the whole process, but Hap knew better than to let him. It was one thing to see a member's Old Lady get prepared; it was quite another to see a fallen brother like this. Happy was sure it'd be a lot harder on Juice than it'd ever be on him. Of course, he didn't tell him that. He and Tig had put him hard to work on finding Abel, telling him that taking a break to watch Half-Sack get prepared was a waste of time.

Happy tilted his head against the wall, closing his eyes and just listening to the music from Angela's headset as he rested. They'd had a long day the day before, and he was exhausted. He'd only been sleeping for a few minutes when her sniffling woke him up. He opened one eye to make sure she was okay.

Angela was clutching the side of the table, head down as she tried to hold back her tears. He waited to see if she'd keep it together without his help. A soft sob escaped her lips and he was up in seconds. " 'ey," he said, moving her away from the table. He pulled her into his chest, allowing her to cry for a brief moment before he pushed her away, placing a hand on both her shoulders and dipping his head so it was level with hers. " 'ey, you gotta keep it together kid."

"I know," Angela said on a breath, her eyes focused on his big black boots instead of his face. "It's just...he's so young, Hap. And now..."

"I know, kid, I know." This was another reason he didn't want Juice to be there during the embalming. Angela needed to breakdown, needed this release, and he knew she wouldn't do it in front of Juice. Even if she did, Juice-idiot that he was- wouldn't be able to handle it.