Hands All Over

Ch. 29 Responsibilities

Angela stared at the bills and her ledger feeling incredibly frustrated. Things weren't adding up. Between her and Hap, they had the house and hospice covered but Elena's meds were starting to become too much. She glanced up at Hap who was looking at the numbers over her shoulder. He'd called her up early in the morning to bring her the new bills from their Moms' place. "Shit, Hap," she breathed as she ran a hand through her hair. "We can do the hospice and the house but...the fuckin' meds."

"I know," he rasped in response. He could hear Juice snoring away in the background as he looked over the numbers one more time. It'd come as a surprise to him when she'd told him she was staying at Juice's place. He knew the idiot never had girls over there. From the boxes in the living room, it seemed Angela was moving in. It was a step Happy had always assumed Juice would be too scared to take. Obviously, he'd been wrong. Things between his little cousin and the intelligence officer were more serious than people were giving them credit for.

"I mean, the pathologist at St. Thomas is lookin' for an autopsy tech. I can take the job. It's a shit load of work for not much pay, but...better than nothin'," she suggested.

Happy set his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly. "Don't. I'll figure something out. She's my mom."

"You know I hate when you say that," Angela said on a scowl. "As far as I concerned, she's my Mom too. I'm gonna help her as much as I can."

He nodded, ruffling her hair slightly. "Don't take the job just yet. Gonna see if the club can help out first."

" 'kay," she said, pulling her hair over her shoulder and braiding it absentmindedly.

"He ask you to move in with him?" he asked, nodding to the suitcases and boxes in the corner.

Angela smirked at him. "Nah, I just moved all my stuff over here one day and figured I'd surprise him."

Happy ignored her sarcasm as he usually did. "Big step."

"So I've heard," she said, playing with the end of her braid. "Do you think I made a good choice?"

"Dunno. I like you better here than alone over at the other place," he answered honestly, taking the seat across from her at the kitchen table. "He tell you we're going to Vancouver today?"

She sighed as she nodded. "Yeah, to find Abel. I didn't know you were goin' too."

"Thinkin' of patchin' over, actually," he answered, shrugging his shoulder.

Her eyes lit up as a bright smile crossed her face. "Really, Hap? You'd move here?"

He nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "I'm tired of runnin' around and it's the closest charter to Ma. Figured it was a good decision."

"Yeah it is!" she exclaimed, fighting the urge to drop what she was doing and hug him. Happy wasn't the kind of guy whose arms you jumped into. She could get away with it when she was little, but she knew he wouldn't be too happy about her doing it now.

"Guys got to vote me in first," he said coolly.

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "As if they won't."

"It ain't me I'm worried about," Happy said, watching his cousin sign off on a few bills and pack them neatly away into envelopes.

"Who else would you be worried about?" she asked offhandedly, pressing a stamp onto one of the envelopes.

"Koz."

Her eyes met his, a shocked look on her face. "No. Way. Koz is trying to patch over to SAMCRO?"