The court. One of the last places Happy wanted to be stuck right now. However, he would have preferred another reason for his visit here. Not knowing if he and Avery were allowed to take Debbie home made him nervous. It scared him.

His daughter was the most important thing in his life, he would even give his own for Debbie without having to think twice about it. Man, she was his life. Even though he had told Kim to get an abortion at first, he was glad that she didn't. That was probably the only good thing Kim ever did; giving him Debbie.

He still clearly remembered the moment when he held the now four year old in his arms for the first time. He barely managed to be there in time but he had made it. And since Kim was too drugged and weak, he was the first to be allowed to hold his daughter.

And from that moment on he knew that he would protect this beautiful girl with his life, that he would do anything for her and take on every hurdle.

With a grunt he stood up and paced around, the carpeted floor beneath him muffling his steps. He couldn't sit and wait any longer. He had been sitting here with Avery for a fuckin' hour now and was feeling completely helpless.

"I'm sure they'll be done soon. It can't take that much longer." Avery had now stood up as well and placed a hand against his shoulder blade.

"It shouldn't even have taken that long in the first place!" Happy's mood was becoming more tense and worse by the minute, and the other people sitting in the same hallway witnessed that, too.

Avery looked up at her boyfriend apologetically and slowly removed her hand from his back, the cold leather of his kutte no longer pressed against her palm.

"I'm sorry, I'll just leave you alone", she apologized as he was probably fed up with hearing anything right now.

However, he grabbed Avery's wrist before she could sit down again and sighed. "There's nothing to be sorry about, little girl. I'm just fuckin' nervous."

"I know, and that's understandable", she said sensitively, relieved that he wasn't annoyed with her. "Is there anything I can do?"

Happy shook his head before placing a hand against the back of her head and pressing a kiss to her forehead, allowing her to nuzzle into him. She was the last person who deserved to endure his obnoxious mood.

"No, but that's okay", he assured her with his raspy voice, wrapping his arms loosely around her shoulders, just holding her close to him. "I just need certainty, that's all."

"Of course", she mumbled, but she couldn't say anything else because the door opened behind them and Debbie immediately ran towards the two of them.

The relief of seeing her father was written all over the four year old's face and Happy couldn't look happier either. Although he didn't yet know what was going on, he saw that Debbie was fine; That was what mattered most to him right now.

He immediately lifted her into his arms and hugged her tightly. "I missed you, bug. You have no idea how much", he whispered to her, whereupon Debbie pulled her little arms even tighter around his neck.

"I n-n-never w-want to leave a-again, daddy", Debbie announced, her words a mumble as her face was buried in Happy's shoulders. "P-p-please don't let me g-go anymore!"

"I won't", he promised, squeezing Debbie's small body tightly, but not in a way that could hurt her. "I promise."

As he said once, if he had to he would leave with her and hide until she would be old enough to make her own choices, and his club would understand that if he could then no longer serve as SAA. But his daughter was his number one priority.

"And he doesn't have to, Debbie." Ms. Lang stepped forward and, as much as she didn't like to ruin the beautiful moment, she had to leave soon to her next appointment.

"So, that means I can take her home?" Happy's gaze snapped to the woman who was adjusting her large glasses.

"Yes, my colleagues and I have no doubts that you are a good father. Yesterday I saw how much Debbie is attached to you and how much you are attached to her too", explained Ms. Lang, clearing her throat shortly before taking a look at her documents. "And Debbie just confirmed to us in the interview that you are a better company for her than her mother, a much better company."

"Oh my God!" Avery let out a breath and folded her hands in front of her mouth, absolutely relieved that the nightmare was over. "That is good news. Thank you Ms. Lang", she quickly thanked the woman.

One look at Happy was enough to see that he was the one feeling the most relief. Because of all the excitement, sweat even started to collect on his forehead and his chest rose and fell a little heavier.

"I told you. But why listen to a father and his child", he grumbled in the direction of Ms. Lang, who didn't take offense at his words.

"We are truly sorry for the circumstances, Mr. Lowman. But it's our job to follow up on clues", she explained like she already did yesterday and patted Debbie's back. "You did a great job, Debbie."

"I d-d-don't want t-to do this a-again", she said, her tone filled with panic, clinging tightly to Happy. The fact that she was simply torn away from her father yesterday still scared her.

"You see what you did?", the SAA snorted and shook his head, pretty pissed about the whole situation. He sincerely hoped that Debbie would recover from this.

Avery's heart was also shattered when she saw the fear in Debbie's eyes. As soon as they were out of here she would try to distract the girl, no matter how. Yesterday's experience must have been absolutely traumatizing for a child her age.

"Yes, and we're sorry about that too", Ms. Lang sighed sadly, who herself felt guilty about Debbie's frightened state.

"Do I still have anything to worry about because of the crap that Debbie's mother told you?", he asked ironically, his gaze cold.

Ms. Lang shook her head. "No, that is not our area of responsibility. The case will only be reopened if Ms. Anderson files a complaint. Otherwise you have nothing to worry about."

Happy snorted. Great, now he had to rely on Kim to keep her mouth shut. If he could he would kill her right away, but that would only make him suspicious. So he had to wait and hope that she was smart enough and wouldn't report him.

"He has nothing to worry about because he didn't do anything", Avery chimed in, who moved over to Happy and planted a kiss on Debbie's cheek, ready to defend Happy at all costs. "Hi sweetie, I'm so glad you can come home with us. Cookie missed you too."

"S-she did?" Debbie asked, now already in a better mood.

"Mhmm..she kept looking for you in your room", Avery said eagerly and it wasn't even a lie. Cookie had spent the whole night outside Debbie's room waiting for the girl.

"I m-m-missed her t-too", Debbie exclaimed eagerly, her little fingers intertwined behind Happy's neck. "C-can we p-please go? I d-don't want t-t-o stay here anymore."

"Sure we can go", Happy assured her, gently stroking her head as he noticed how extreme her stuttering was right now again after it had finally gotten better recently.

"Good luck for the future, you are great parents", Ms. Lang said with a small smile before she left the family alone to greet the other people who had also been waiting in the hallway.

"Uh.." With her cheeks blushing, Avery rubbed her exposed neck, her hair tied up in a high ponytail. Only a few red strands of her ginger hair fell down the sides of her face. "I'm sure she meant you were a great dad", she corrected the CPS woman.

Happy shook his head, the slightest hint of a grin on his lips. "No, she meant exactly what she said", he told her as he wrapped an arm around Avery and finally left the stuffy, depressing building with his girls.

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Hearing Debbie's giggle back at home gave him a feeling of absolute peace. He watched relaxed as Avery and Debbie stood in the kitchen baking cookies while he sat at the table drinking a beer. After he and Avery asked what she wanted to do earlier, Debbie suggested going to the playground first and then baking cookies.

Of course, neither Happy nor Avery had refused her this wish. After two hours in the park and a bath for Debbie, they now took care of baking cookies.

"Look d-daddy!" Debbie, whose hair was sticking up in all directions and some of it had come loose from the braid that Avery had done earlier, turned to Happy and showed him her decorated cookie. "Lots of s-s-sprinkles! You want to t-try?"

"Of course I want to try. I thought you'd never ask", he winked at his daughter, who brought him the cookie and stood there, waiting in front of him.

"Aaaand?", she asked with wide eyes and a sweet smile on her face.

"It tastes really good, bug,. Probably the best cookie I ever had, Happy replied after eating the cookie and leaning forward a little, gently poking Debbie's stomach with his finger. "But you still shouldn't let too many of them end up in your stomach, otherwise you're tummy is gonna hurt later."

"Don't w-worry, d-daddy, I know t-t-that", Debbie told her father with a pat on his shoulder that made both him and Avery laugh.

"Come on, we still have some cookies to decorate. Or do you want to bring Abel some tomorrow that doesn't have sprinkles on it?", Avery asked as she held up a cookie enticingly and then shoved it into her mouth.

With a gasp, Debbie looked at Avery. "No, there has to be sprinkles on it!"

"Come on then", Avery chuckled after swallowing and gave Happy a quick wink, who seemed absolutely peaceful.

"O-okay!" Debbie stood on tiptoes and supported her small, floury hands on Happy's knees before placing a kiss on his cheek and walking back to Avery, who helped her onto the small stool so they could continue decorating cookies.

"I'll order us something to eat. Pizza?", he asked as he fished his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. After a more than enthusiastic yes in response from the two of them, he just chuckled.

As he ordered, he watched the two most important women in his life besides his mom, completely content that he had his daughter back with him. And seeing Debbie so happy soothed his anger from yesterday a little.

ᚔ

While Avery was with Debbie at Lyla's, Happy decided to take advantage of the moment and made his way to Kim after telling Avery that he had to get something done quickly. He would tell her about it later, but he didn't want Avery to stop him from doing this.

After another loud knock, something finally happened behind the door and after a rumble it was finally opened. Before Kim could protest or defend herself, Happy pushed her inside and the next moment she was pushed against the wall, Happy's hand wrapped around her throat, squeezing the hell out of it.

With his foot, he slammed the door shut behind him and glared at Kim, who frantically tried to remove his fingers from her neck. Her eyes almost popped out of her head, and her mouth was open to gasp for air to no avail.

"I hope you know what you've done, bitch", he hissed close to her face, which was still bruised from his punch yesterday.

The few sounds that left Kim's throat were like music to his ears. Fuck, how much he would love to watch her suffocate miserably. He slowly licked his lips, his gaze cold and fixed on her.

"You better stay away from Debbie, Avery and me. If you report me to the cops, it would be pretty stupid and your fuckin' death sentence." Blue veins became clearly visible on his temples as he spat the words back at her.

Kim tried to speak, but she couldn't with Happy squeezing her throat. Her vision slowly blurred from the deprivation of oxygen, or from the tears that welled up in her eyes. She couldn't tell. With her nails dug deep into his hands, she nodded frantically, her body flailing.

"You're already dead, whore. I just can't kill you now", he hissed before spitting in her face, watching as his spit mixed with the first tears rolling down her cheeks. Only when her eyelids fluttered did he let go of her throat.

"I-I didn't want it to come to this." Still completely out of breath, the blonde gasped for air, her hands wrapped protectively around her throat after wiping Happy's spit from her bruised cheek.

"You almost took Debbie away from me", he barked at her, kicking her side with his boot, causing Kim to yelp painfully and pull her legs close to her body.

"You took my sister away from me, you bastard", Kim yelled through her tears.

"You're lucky they gave Debbie back to me. Otherwise I would have fuckin' butchered you", Happy said, his voice dripping with venom as he felt absolutely no pity for Kim. He felt the urge to keep hitting her, give her the worst beating he ever gave someone, but even he had limits. He would still kill her at some point though.

"Stay away from my family. This is my last and only warning, Kim", he said before throwing open the door and leaving the small house.

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authors note; hi guys! It would mean a lot to me if you could check out my horror short story [The lost sister]! I published the first chapter earlier and it's my first original story in a long time! And my first horror story at all. It won't be super creepy but more tragic; still with creepy stuff in it, of course. Charlie Hunnam and Kennedy Walsh are portraying the main leads. Thank you already. 🖤