Pixie, First Daughter of Anarchy: Book 2

Aim High

WARNING: Mentions of Death, Blood and Slight PTSD Flashbacks.

Lowell leant against far-right the mechanic's bay at Teller Morrow as he watched Ellie Winston sitting cross-legged on the floor as she undid the lug nuts on a Honda Civic's front right tyre as instructed by Dog, one of the mechanics who was supervising from where he was inspecting a fan belt on the car next to her. Ellie had the tip of her tongue sticking out in concentration as she worked the lug nut loose, refusing help as she was determined to take them off all by herself. She'd managed one so far and was busily working on the second.

"How's it going, Ellie?" Lowell put in when Ellie's tongue disappeared and she began turning the lug wrench easily, working the nut loose.

"Really good, I worked out how to sort the coffee maker and organised the manuals for the Harleys and now I volunteered to change the tyre coz' they're really easy once you find where the jack points are." Ellie replied eagerly. "Aren't you supposed to be at the hospital with Pixie?" She continued, similarly raising an eyebrow to Opie, which made Lowell smile.

"Got sent to check in, make sure the garage was working well and that you didn't need anythin'." Lowell informed her, watching as Ellie worked on the third nut. "Looks like you've got everything under control." He added, causing Ellie to grin widely.

"I'm really enjoying helping out here, rather than chasing after my brothers." Ellie replied happily, now she had the hang of it, the third nut came off twice as fast as the first and she began loosening the last nut with vigour. "I wanna work here when I'm older, so this is good practice." Ellie told him with a smile.

"Well, you'll make a fantastic mechanic, Ellie." Lowell smiled encouragingly, watching as Ellie pulled the tyre off by herself and set it on the floor, beaming under his praise.

"Thanks, uncle Lowell." Ellie replied appreciatively. "Where should I put the bad wheel?" She asked him, setting the tyre upright so she could roll it. Lowell pointed to a large metal crate next to the tyre racks outside the bay, and Ellie began rolling it over with a laugh, reminding Lowell that even though Ellie was trying very hard to be an adult, she was still just a little girl. Lowell jogged after Ellie as she ran alongside the tyre, keeping it upright and rolling, eager to play after focusing for so long. She gave the wheel one last big push and sent it rolling faster until it rebounded off the metal crate with a 'clang', which resulted in some mischievous giggles from Ellie. "Does the tyre need to come off the wheel?" Ellie asked, peering into the metal crate on tiptoes and seeing all the discarded metal inside it.

"Yeah, I'll do that, Dog say what was wrong with the wheel?" Lowell responded, watching Ellie look everything over.

"Yeah, Mr McCullough ran into a curb and got it all dented and scratched." Ellie recalled, pointing out the extensive denting, feeling useful.

"Oh yeah, I see, great work." Lowell nodded, wanting to encourage Ellie further. He knelt down by the tyre and got the pry bar that was propped up against the side of the crate and set to work popping the tyre off, the practice muscle memory from how long he'd been working at Teller-Morrow. Ellie watched him with intelligent blue eyes, taking in everything he did and how easily he did it. She watched for a moment longer before looking back at the crate, surveying all the scrap metal.

"What's this for?" Ellie asked him, jumping and supporting herself on her hands so she could peer into the crate better.

"Any broken pieces of metal that we don't need, go in there. Then once it's full, Ollie the scrapyard owner comes and picks it up and buys it off of us." Lowell explained, keeping an eye on Ellie just in case she overbalanced. "There's all sorts of stuff in there, been a while since we filled it."