Darkened Hearts

Hap smiled when he remembered his first time seeing her, then got pissed when he remembered that woman. He had been tracking her down for the past year, but the bitch was in hiding, or she had already overdosed on some kind of drug.

'I have been told many stories of when I was a baby. A few made me laugh at my dad, and at my uncles for being so clueless, but it made me love and respect them even more. Sometimes if people land on hard times they give up, not my family though...' -Adelita R. Lowman

AGE: 5 MONTHS

A few months had gone by, making Adelita about 6 months old. They had decided her birthday must've been around in June, and she came to them on the 25th so Hap decided her birthday would be May 28th, everyone just went with it by this point. He was fairing, considering he was new to this whole thing. A few weeks after her arrival he had made the dreaded phone call to his mother.

"¿Qué? ¡¿Un bebé?! Y me estás diciendo esto ahora ?!"(What? A baby?! And you're just telling me this now?!) his mother screamed at him over the phone, causing Hap to move the phone slightly away from his ear.

He groaned and rubbed his head.

"I've been trying to settle her in ma, before I make the trip to Bakersfield."

"Happy Lowman, you have one day to bring my granddaughter here before I shove my foot up your culo(ass)." His mother rarely cursed so he knew he better do as she said.

He went up that night.

Now that she was six months old, he finally finished her nursery, one at his apartment and one at the clubhouse. The one at his house was purple and black with music notes and a crow, with scary eyes like him, watching over her. She wasn’t afraid of it, in fact she giggled at it. Then at the clubhouse it was white and

green with various pictures of the crew all around. He was working on a car as she was in a stroller on the side of him, gurgling, blowing bubbles and giggling up a storm.

"Ya know havin' a baby here ain't so bad." The Scot said, wiping the sweat off his brow.

"Yeah she kinda livens up the place." Tig added from his spot by the toolbox.

Happy grunted as an acknowledgment, since he wasn’t big on words. Gemma came in with a smile on her face as she cooed over the baby.

"Jax told me to tell you church in 5." she said.

Happy looked up from the car, to his baby, to Gemma.

"Don’t worry, I got her."

He nodded his thanks before taking his gloves off and kissing Adelita's head. She giggled and he chuckled before grabbing his kutte and heading inside. Gemma picked up the baby and bounced her gently.

"You know, your daddy is kind of a hard ass." She spoke to her. "But I think he's softening up a bit, what do you think?" Adelita gipped onto Gemma's hand and chewed on her fingers, causing the older woman to laugh. "Come on, let's get you a teething ring."

In 'church' the boys were discussing plans for their new warehouse and who would be their new supplier. Popular vote said the IRA, with that Clay hit the gavel and the topic was dismissed. As they were about to leave, Hap raced out of there at the sound of a baby crying. He opened the church doors with so much force, one hit Tig in the face causing the curly haired man to curse up a storm. Hap's dark gaze fell upon Half-Sack, a new prospect, who held the crying infant in his arms, a scared look on his face when he saw the killer's glare.

"I didn’t do anything I swear!" He cried out. "She was sitting in her bassinet and Gemma went to go grab something then she just started crying! Please don’t kill me!"

"She's just teething, you moron." The matriarch said as she returned with a frozen ring. "Down, killer, she's fine." She told Hap once she saw he was making a step towards the terrified prospect.

Gemma grabbed the baby from his arms, shushing her as she handed her the teething ring. After a few seconds of chewing on it, she calmed down to small sniffles.

"I think you busted my nose man!" Tigs complained as he held his bloodied nose.

"Sorry." Hap rasped out as he walked towards Gemma to take Adelita into his arms.

"She has a doctors appointment for her first set of shots, since that blonde gash didn’t get her them."

At first it was no big deal, until the day came. Jax and Opie, who were the only brave souls to do it, held him back as the male doctor poked his daughter with more needles causing her to wail. It broke all the men's hearts, hearing her pained cries from outside the room. Tara was suppose to be the one to do them, but she fled Charming a month or so back. Gemma and Donna, Opie's fiance, were in there with her. Gemma threatened to shove the needles into the doctors eye if he didn’t finish quickly.

"She had to get two different sets of shots, man." Jax told Hap, still restraining him. "That's 8 different shots."

Finally, just as Hap was about to go free, the crying stopped.

"You better hope that next time she doesn’t cry as hard." Gemma threatened. "You don’t have to shove the whole damned needle in. Where'd you get your medical degree? On the back of a cereal box?"

"I got her." Clay sighed, sitting up and going to grab his wife before she assaulted the doctor, again.

Donna came out carrying the baby girl, who was sniffling in her arms. She smiled as she handed Adelita over to her dad, once the boys let him go. He held her

and rocked her, wiping away stray tears from her cheeks and the snot from her nose. He handed her a pacifier and rocked her gently.

"Her next shot appointment is May 30th." The doctor said once he escaped the queen's wrath.

Hap grunted and started walking away with the baby. Jax grabbed her diaper bag, Ope grabbed her car seat, and Clay grabbed Gemma, who was still trying to claw at the doctor. Once Hap and Adelita were home, he sat on the couch feeding her a bottle. She was bathed and dressed in a pair of purple footie pajamas with hearts on them, looking up at her daddy, her little hands gripping at his hand that held her bottle.

It was quiet in his apartment, apart from the sounds of her drinking and the low voices coming from the TV. Once she was burped he put her pacifier in her mouth and laid her on his chest as he laid on the couch. He was patting her back and humming, trying to get her to fall asleep. She did, the vibrations coming from his chest as he hummed a tune lulled her to sleep. He got up, as slowly as he could and placed her in her bassinet, covering her with a small blanket and kissing her head.

'Every night he would either read me a bedtime story or hum until I fell asleep. Even when he couldn’t be there he would call me and tell me a story. A few times we would fall asleep watching a terrible movie on the couch. Grandma Gemma has plenty of pictures to show how often that would happen...' Adelita R. Lowman