Two days went by with no word from Alec, Jax or Lowen so Katie's anxiety slowly began to decrease and her mind focused on other things. She worked a shift and, after changing out of her work dress, headed out to meet Happy at their favorite Mexican restaurant a few miles from Diosa.
"Hey," she beamed as she joined him at the table. "Sorry I'm late."
"All good," he said casually. "I ordered your drink."
"You did?" She giggled. "Jeez, Hap, that's kind of sweet. What's the occasion?"
"I wanted a beer," he shrugged, "So I just got you a drink too."
"Not that sweet," she laughed. "You have a good day?"
"A day," he said dismissively. "You?"
"It was fine," she said. "You okay?"
"Nah, I'm not," he admitted. "You gonna promise not to freak?"
"No," she glared at him.
"I saw Lowen with Jax," he grumbled. "I was an idiot. I called him out for being shady and we got into it."
Katie grit her teeth and hung her head with her eyes shut tight to control her anger as he sat staring at her shamefully.
"Guess you won?" She looked up at him. "You don't have any marks."
Standing, he raised his shirt to reveal a long, dark bruise along his the side of his ribs. "I got his nose, he slammed me into the bar before Tig broke it up."
"Jesus, Hap," she seethed. "This is not good. You are not helping!"
"I know," he snapped.
"What the fuck was she even going there?"
"Finalizing shit to send to Alec," he sighed. "It's just whatever you guys do now but with a fuckin' judge's signature."
Katie felt her face flush and tears fill her eyes. She was not only relieved but incredibly furious. "Are you sure?"
"That's what he said," Hap admitted. "I trust him and there's no reason to lie."
"Then why didn't he just fucking come to me?"
Happy shrugged. "I don't know, Katie. This parenting shit is messy."
"Yeah," she hissed. "I guess."
"You're not hungry are you?" Knowing how she reacted to such situations, Happy figured their dinner was destroyed and she'd be brooding all night at work.
"Not anymore," she pouted. "She's my baby, Hap. She's mine. He can't take her from me."
"He's not gonna do that," Happy mumbled. He was growing more and more uncomfortable in his role as emotional support.
"I wish you were her father," she admitted quietly.
Silently he took her hand across the table. "Me too."
"You said that before," she eyed him suspiciously. "Why?"
"Then Jax wouldn't be in the middle of us, him and Tara wouldn't be upsetting you and shit. It would just be us like it used to be."
"Oh, Hap," she whimpered as a few tiny tears streaked down her face. "You're sweet."
"That's me," he scoffed.
"I should have lied, I should have just said you were the father but we were so screwed up, Hap."
"I know," he pulled cash from his pocket and paid for their drinks. "Let's just get the fuck outta here."
"Please," she sighed. "I never even got my fucking drink. If I ever needed alcohol it's right now."
"You can get loaded at work and take me back to a room again," he winked. "That was fun."
Katie smiled at that and followed him out. "I'll just head in early. If it's slow I'll text you and you can come by."
They kissed and went their separate ways with a growing feeling of disappointment in their chests.
—
"Diosa, this is Cassandra." Katie said cheerfully as she answered the phone from Nero's office. The man on the other end sounded professional, he was very polite, but he had a request she could not honor. "We don't offer those services," she said apologetically, "And I honestly don't know of anywhere local to recommend. You can find most anything in LA, though, I know that for sure."
Nero listened carefully and waited till she hung up to speak. "Same?"
"Same," she sighed. "You're missing out on lots of money."
He shook his head, "I don't get involved with that shit."
"I don't blame you," she laughed. "Anyway," they turned their attention back to the work at hand. "I think we need another girl on Wednesday, it's been oddly busy."
"Sure," he nodded. "Supply and demand."
There was a knock at the door to which Nero answered without hesitation. "Come in."
"Alec," Katie was surprised to see him stepping into the office. "What's going on?"
"We should have a conversation."
Katie looked to Nero. "You plan this?"
"We thought you'd need privacy and a chance to cool off."
"Jax?" She asked Alec as he sat across from her.
"The Prince of SAMCRO himself," Alec said sarcastically. "They want to nail down a court ordered joint custody deal. Lowen sent this to my office earlier today."
"Goddamn coward," Katie hissed. "He couldn't even tell me himself."
"I'm sorry," Alec said with sincerity. "Here are the financials," he slid a paper across to her. "It's actually very generous."
"I don't want his fucking money," she growled as she looked over the numbers. "Okay. Visitation?"
"Less visitation and actual joint custody," Alec explained. "When's she's 8 months old they're requesting two weeks with you, two with them, every other major holiday. There's also a caveat, since Charlotte isn't in school, Jax is requesting your approval to send her to daycare."
"Fuck that," she shouted. "Fuck him. Fuck her. Fuck em' all."
Nero was taken aback by her reaction. "Mama, it's just daycare."
"No," she snapped at him. "It ain't. It's about that bitch controlling this shit. Marie is an excellent nanny, we don't need daycare and I don't want Charlie there. It's the principal now."
Alec nodded, know more than Nero about the issue they'd had before. "I'm assuming Lowen put it in because they knew you'd object. There's ways parents work that out, if one objects to daycare or certain childcare, and I think they wanted to throw this in to start the conversation on their terms."
"What can I do?" She asked him desperately.
"Offer an agreement with your changes," Alec suggested. "Unless you want to go dark?"
"Full dark," she snarled. "I gotta go Nero."
"Where are you going?" Both Alec and Nero asked.
"Home," Katie lied. "Sorry, Nero, I just gotta get out of here."
Rather than allowing herself the time needed to calm down, Katie raged inside as she sped from Diosa to the clubhouse. Squealing to a stop in the middle of the lot she jumped out of her car and slammed the door before rushing toward the clubhouse.
"Jax?" She shouted.
"Kate?" Happy hurried out from the hall. "What's up?"
Noticing Jax with Opie in the kitchen she ignored Happy, even pushing him away as he tried to grab her, and stormed through the doorway. With all her strength, Katie charged at Jax and shoved him off the table he was perched on as he and Opie talked.
"You fucking coward," she yelled at him. "You couldn't have come to me yourself?"
"Kat-" he was cut off as he attempted to stand when Katie punched him in the jaw.
"Hey!" Opie grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off the ground.
"Get your hands off her," Happy bellowed. "Don't fucking touch her."
"Control her, then!" Opie ordered.
"What's wrong with you?" Jax bellowed before realizing Katie had already heard from Lowen. "Guys, out."
"Us?" Opie asked Jax.
"Yeah, it's fine," he said firmly. "We're good."
"Are we?" She asked as Happy and Opie left them alone. "Are we good?"
"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I gotta do this, Kate."
"The daycare shit? Full two weeks every month? You're not home much. You won't see her barely at all. You know that. That's why we do things the way we do now."
"Tara wants to see her too," Jax explained.
"No," Kate snapped. "No. Charlotte is our daughter, Jax. Not Tara's and not Happy's. Ours."
"You can't hide her away," Jax said calmly. "Kate, Tara is her stepmother. This whole club is our family."
"Tara is her evil stepmother," Kate growled. "Christ, Jax, just sign over rights. Just wash your hands of her. Please."
His eyes narrowed, "You want me to sign over my rights to Charlotte?"
"Please?" She whimpered.
"No." He shook his head. "I won't."
"Fine," she reached out and touched his jaw. "Sorry 'bout that."
"We good?" He asked her softly. "You calm down now?"
"Of course," she lied. "We're good."