As Avery plopped down in one of those comfortable velvet chairs in the changing room at the new porn studio, she let out a soft sigh and grabbed the bag of chips from the table Lyla had told her was her's. Apparently this place hadn't officially opened yet since there were still a few things that needed to be handled before they could start business.

But Avery was proud at how far her sister had come. Starting as a poorly paid porn star to becoming a director. Instead of starting in those movies, Lyla was now directing and filming them. Not that the redhead ever judged her sister for being a porn star, she had done a few movies herself before she started working in pre school. But writing and filming such movies was way better for your mental health than actually being in them.

"So, why don't you start working here?" The blonde, who Lyla introduced her to earlier, asked curiously while she changed her outfit in front of her best friend's little sister.

"Here? As what exactly?" Avery raised a brow. She didn't mind the blond getting naked in front of her, why should she? She was a woman herself.

"Well, there are a few options", Ima smirked before plopping down in one of the pink velvet chairs next to Avery, fishing some chips out of the bag the redhead had placed on her lap. "You could do movies. I mean, you're hot and your body type is many guy's favorite. You're still young and in your best years."

"Yeah, no", Avery shook her head, chuckling. "I'm not doing porn again."

"Again?" The blonde wriggled her eyebrows, smirking. "In what movies were you in?"

"Yep, again. I'm not as innocent as I look", Avery shrugged slightly, a small smile forming on her face. "Does it matter? I'm glad if people don't find them."

"Why? You should be proud of yourself, girl", Ima retorted as if doing porn movies was the most natural thing. "Not everyone can pull that off."

"Maybe. But I'm definitely sticking to my other career path." Shoving a few chips into her mouth, she eyed the blonde who sat next to her and gave her company while Lyla had to finish a movie. They had to bring some new ones out for their Red Woody opening party, that's why Lyla didn't have much time at the moment.

"And what's your other career path?" Lighting a cigarette, Ima raised a brow, sincerely interested. Maybe she was a bitch sometimes, but Lyla was her best friend, which meant she wouldn't be a bitch towards her little sister.

"I'm a pre school teacher. After I made some money and quiet the porn that was exactly what I wanted to do." As Avery talked about it, Ima could immediately tell how much she enjoyed doing this job.

"A pre school teacher? Wow", the blonde was kind of impressed. "Have you already found a job here?"

"No", Avery smiled briefly and waved her hand. "I still have to work a little more on myself before I start working as a teacher again."

She was here since a little over four weeks now and was slowly winning her life back. With Happy's and Lyla's help she really made some real progress. Even though she still 'lived' at the cabin, Happy made sure to get her out of the house as often as possible. Now and then he brought her with him when he wanted to go to the clubhouse, and if not that he took her to town, do some random shit.

Somehow they had formed a pretty close bond over that time. She never thought she could trust a stranger so much. But she had had no other choice during her withdrawal and now the redhead even enjoyed the company of the grumpy, stoic and yet so kind and caring heavily tattooed biker. And she also grew fond of his daughter.

Since meeting Debbie for the first time, the almost four year old had spent another week with them in the cabin and this afternoon Kim, Debbie's mother, would drop the three year old off because Happy's week with Debbie was coming up again.

Sometimes Avery felt guilty that she took up so much of Happy's time, but with him she felt safe and a lot stronger. He had seen her at her worst, had taken care of her and made sure that she didn't wouldn't slip back into that dark hole; which would definitely have happened if he hadn't been so attentive all the time.

And she didn't care if he got paid for it, which she still didn't know; She had a feeling that he was actually interested in her condition and really wanted her to get back on her feet, not just because it was a job he had to get done.

"Why? You look pretty fine to me", Ima questioned, no judgement in her tone, just curiosity.

"I just got clean. Too much stress would probably cause a relapse and I can't risk that", Avery shrugged slightly, shoving her hand back into the chips bag. "That's why I still want to wait a little."

"Oh, understandable." The blonde smiled sympathetically before she snatched the bag of chips out of the redheads hand and threw it back on the table. "Come on, let's get you a little distracted. I'll show you around!"

Avery, a little surprised by the blonde's enthusiasm, just shrugged her shoulders and let Ima pull her to her feet, who shoved her out of the small room and led her through the big hall with lots of different movie sets. A little distraction couldn't hurt, and she liked I'ma already. And a few friends couldn't hurt either, right?

ᚔ

Avery watched from afar as Happy picked up his daughter and spun her around before he let her snuggle up to him, her arms already wrapped around his neck while she held onto her stuffed turtle. The redhead had figured that this was her favorite stuffed animal. Without the turtle there was no chance the three year old could fall asleep. It was cute.

However, who she saw for the first time today was Kim, and somehow that was exactly how she had imagined the woman she didn't think much of. It was clear what kind of person Kim was. Looked like a whore but was desperately trying to look like one of the wealthy ones. What Avery also noticed was that arrogant, disgusted look Kim gave Happy and it made her blood boil.

Happy didn't deserve a look like that. Kim was the one who should get looks like that more often for her behavior towards her own daughter. The anger building in Avery's stomach threatened to bubble up and she all she wanted to do was going over to that bitch with the over bleached hair and tell her what a shitty mother she was.

But luckily she got into her car pretty quickly and left the lot. Better for her. No kiss, no goodbye, nothing. No wonder Debbie felt neglected and like a burden if Kim treated her like that on a regular basis.

The younger Dvorak had to think of something else before her anger at this woman would ruin the rest of her day. Which is why she got up and strolled towards the father-daughter duo, a wide smile on her face.

"Hi sweety!" Avery greeted the three year old with a kiss on the cheek. "I already have a few cool ideas for the week, I just have to convince your dad", she winked at the girl with a smirk.

"Avery!" With wide eyes and a toothy smile, Debbie stretched out her arms towards the redhead, whereupon Happy passed his daughter over with a smirk.

It didn't surprise him that Debbie was so happy to see Avery. The redhead had paid more attention to his daughter in a few weeks than Kim had probably in all of the last few years. And he slowly got used to the picture that was given to him. There was no denying that his daughter and Avery were a good team.

"As long as you don't burn the house down and no one gets hurt I'm fine with it", he assured the girls with a wink, drawing a grateful smile from the redhead.

"T-thanks daddy!" Debbie's giggles made both of them smile.

"Don't worry, we're doing the dangerous experiments outside the house", Avery teased only to get nudged on the shoulder by a smirking Happy.

"You can try, woman", he chuckled, suddenly feeling the weird urge to drape his arm around her shoulder; but he didn't.

"Hap! We need you in church." Jax called out and nodded the SAA over, whereupon Avery assured him that he could go and that she would watch Debbie until he would be back.

"Hi uncle J-J-Jax", Debbie yelled over the lot and waved at the blonde.

Jax waved back with a genuine smile. "Hey sweetheart. Abel is inside if you wanna play with him!"

"Oh, c-can I?" Debbie looked back and forth between Happy and Avery, holding her turtle against her chest.

"Of course you can, bug", Happy nodded and placed a kiss on the top of her head, doing the same with Avery. He smirked down at her as he saw her cheeks turn red. "If you need help with her just ask Gemma or get me, little girl."

"We'll be fine", she assured him with an almost shy smile and looked after him as he followed Jax inside before biting down on her lip. Man, she was really falling for this guy. Or maybe she just needed to get laid. Whatever it was; it became harder for her to hide those feelings.

ᚔ

When Happy came home he found both Avery and Debbie cuddled up under a blanket with an almost empty bowl of popcorn on their legs, Debbie holding onto her turtle like her life was depending on it even in her sleep. He shook his head smiling, turning off the TV. They hadn't even finished their movie before they fell asleep.

Even though it was an inopportune time, he had to get some club shit done, that's why Jax wanted to talk to him earlier. So he had no choice but to ask someone to watch Debbie for that time. And even though he didn't want to ask too much from Avery, he trusted her with his daughter. In addition, Debbie got along well with her and this way the two of them were at least able to spend some time together.

Plus, Avery agreed immediately and was looking forward to spending the evening with the three year old. To be on the safe side, Happy had asked Rat to take the two of them to the cabin and stay there until he would be back. There was still a risk that the smallest thing could quickly become too much for Avery and the redhead understood that Happy was only doing this for her own protection.

Happy had sent Rat, who was outside most of the time, home. The tiredness overcame him too and he really needed to get some sleep if he wanted to spend the day with his daughter tomorrow. He didn't want to wake them up, so he decided to just leave them there.

Shaking his head in amusement, he placed the bowl on the table and put a second blanket over the two of them so that they wouldn't get cold. Then he caressed Debbie's cheek as her soft snores filled the room. His gaze lingered on Avery for a while. Even in her sleep she looked beautiful. In contrast to the first two weeks, her facial expression looked way more peaceful now and no longer tormented and full of pain.

Only when he was about to brush some strands of hair out of her face did he realize what he was actually doing. Just for a brief second he let the backs of his fingers ghost over her cheek. Grunting, he pulled his hand back, frustrated with himself. Happy Lowman didn't do feelings and all that shit; it just meant stress and problems. And yet he couldn't help but slowly fall for the beautiful ginger haired woman.

He quickly shook off those thoughts, turned off the dim light of the lamp next to the couch and checked all the doors and windows again before walking down the hallway and disappearing into one of the rooms to get some sleep himself.