Up In Flames

Chapter 11

The sound in the driveway was not one she was familiar with, at all, and it worried her. Rory tiptoed from her desk to the front of the house and peeked out the side window. She exhaled the breath she'd been holding and, slamming her laptop closed to hide the sensitive job, waited for the cable man to knock on the door.

"Can I help you?" She smiled, eyeing his ID badge.

"I'm looking for," the man glanced down at his clipboard, "Mr. Lowman. Is he in?"

"He isn't." Rory said with a crooked smile.

"Are you Mrs. Lowman?"

"Might as well be but no, not legally. I live here though, so what's up?"

"Well ma'am we're upgrading the wiring in the surrounding area and I'm here to check out the route and set up an appointment."

"Oh." Rory relaxed and welcomed him into the house. "We only have the one box." She explained and pointed to the set up in the living room.

"None in the bedrooms?" His eyes were locked between his paperwork and the track of the wire as he spoke.

Rory laughed a little. "We don't watch much TV and we certainly don't need it in our bedroom."

"Yeah," he chuckled. "The bedroom is a scared place, right? I'd hate to spoil it with mindless TV."

With eyebrows raised in suspicion, Rory nodded and begins to shuffle her work around the desk. None of it would give much away but she was secretive and the man's last comment made her feel just slightly uncomfortable.

"How long will it actually take?" She asked, watching as he did his job with surprising focus. "To replace the wire or whatever?"

"Probably a few hours. If they give me someone and I don't have to do it alone not as long. It won't be loud or intrusive though." He pointed to some of Emma's toys in the corner. "Your little one won't be disturbed during naps or anything."

Rory nodded and pushed her uneasy feeling down and away from her mind. She was always on guard and they only grew stronger when she had Emma but this was plain paranoia. Smiling as she heard Happy's bike Rory glided toward the door to greet him.

"Hey." As she pressed her lips to his the cable man glanced back and smirked as the couple kissed with a fiery intense need.

"Who's this jack-off?" He asked hardly trying to keep his words between them.

She stifled a laugh. "Cable guy, did you not see the truck? They're replacing the wiring or something."

"Why do we need new wire?" He asked skeptically, his arm protectively around Rory's waist.

"Turns out after five years this old rubber wears and it can be a fire hazard. Totally rare and unlikely but you have to do what's best for the customer and in your case, your family."

Ignoring the man, Happy looked at the empty pack and play. "Baby sleeping?"

"Yeah, I think she's still exhausted from yesterday." She lowered her voice. "What's going on?"

"We'll talk." He eyed the man again as he stood and moved closer to them.

"I'll be giving all the customers in this neighborhood a call within the week to set up the change."

"Okay." Rory smiled politely even as Happy gripped her tight. She wasn't sure if he really had an off sense about him or Happy was strictly in a bad mood and not up to ignoring the man's overly friendly behavior. "Thank you."

"No problem, ma'am."

He saw himself out and Happy glared through the window as he jumped back in his truck and drove off. Turning he shook his head at Rory. "That fucking guy."

"Creepy nice, right?"

"It's fine. I'm putting a prospect with you from now on."

Exhaling loudly, Rory felt her cheeks burn as her eyes filled with tears. "That bad?"

"I don't know." Taking off his cut, Happy followed Rory into the kitchen and grabbed himself a beer. "That shit with the Chinese, how high up did the hit on your brother go?"

Drawing her head back, Rory was blown away by the question. "I don't know. I always assumed it was a low level revenge thing. I mean shit, it wasn't that big of a deal and the murder was pedestrian." Shrugging, she felt her stomach turn as she thought back on the entire ordeal. "I feel like, if Lin was involved it would have been cleaner and I'd be dead too. Doing it the way they did opened him up to lots of shit that wasn't necessary. You know?"

"Yeah." It made sense. Even if Rory had not been involved Happy figured Clay wouldn't risk killing the bounty hunters. He only wanted Rory dead because she was suspected to have lied and used Happy. "We're pretty sure it was the Chinese. I just got some weird looks from Lin."

"Does he even know we're together? I doubt he even knows I exist."

"I don't fucking know." Gripping the back of her head he pulled her close. She'd gotten used to the rough way he showed affection, he was always too hard and even sometimes awkward but she actually loved it. "I just want to make sure you and Em are okay."

"So it was the Chinese?" She asked as he released his grip. "The ones who shot up your meet with the Russians?"

"We have no proof except that we know how the Chinese are. It's what we're all leaning towards."

"Well, that's reason enough to finish our conversation from this morning." Taking his hand she pulled him toward the table. "I was really thinking about what would happen to Emma if we couldn't take care of her."

"Yeah? And who is on your list?" He was annoyed, very annoyed, but knew the conversation was necessary.

"There's only one person, Hap. Johnny."

"No." Slapping his palms on the table he shook his head with a hard look on his face. "He's not raising her."

Trying to keep a less emotional stance Rory waited for her first instinct, screaming at him, to pass. "Okay, if you feel that way, who's your pick?"

"Jax." It was very matter-of-fact. "And Tara. She's a good mom."

"Jax and Tara? No. Besides dead or alive Emma only has one mom and that's me. We need guardians for her not new parents." Rory shook her head. "But unless we are the ones taking care of her I don't want her in Charming. It's dangerous, Hap, too dangerous. Johnny loves Emma, he went to every damn appointment with me and he was there when she was born."

"I woulda been there." He snapped.

"I know." She said sadly. "I just mean he knows her and he loves her. He'll take good care of her, I know he will."

"I don't trust him and I hate that you spent all that fucking time with him when you skipped out on me."

"Don't forget WHY I left. Remember, you wanted me to kill our baby?" She stomped her foot and left the table. "That isn't even the fucking point. Don't resurrect that shit. It was almost two years ago, Hap and it has nothing to do with right now."

"I gotta go." Pissed and hurt, Happy pushed his chair out from the table and headed toward the door. "I'll send the prospect over, we're meeting with the Russians."

"I'm sorry. That was cruel shit." She followed him by Happy kept his back to her. "We're obviously both holding onto some pain from that."

"Yeah." He nodded and finally looked her in the eye. "We'll figure it out, I guess."

"I love you," she ventured as he stepped out into the sun again.

"Yeah, you too."