trigger warning; public humiliation [not extreme but still].

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With a big smile on her dark lips, Stella stood on her tiptoes, glued to Happy's lips, whose arms were wrapped around her petite waist, stealing kiss after kiss from her lips, thanking whoever had invented lipstick that didn't rub off. Otherwise he would have a problem now.

After the night they had together, alone and undisturbed, which the couple had desperately needed, the mood couldn't be better. It wasn't always easy for the two of them with life, the club and Stella's depressive episodes in betweenᅳ but they enjoyed moments like these all the more. Even if it was only a few hours, that was enough.

A soft giggle hit against lips as he let his hand wander over the curve of Stella's ass and gave it a light slap before he pulled away with a grin and climbed onto his bike that was parked in front of the garage next to Stella's car. Reaching for his sunglasses, he put them on and took a long look at his wife.

"Are you okay here alone? I could ask Jax if he can do the business meeting with Tig this afternoon instead of me", he suggested, but right now he also wanted to spend every minute with Stellaᅳ even though he was convinced that that she was going to kick cancer's ass.

"No, Jax needs you." With a gentle hum, the raven-haired woman shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck again. "I have to work anyway and then pick up Gabby on the way home from daycare. I'm glad Charlotte is already dropping her off at daycare."

"Okay." Happy hummed quietly, but finally nodded, letting his calloused hands slide over Stella's sides. “Be careful and take breaks, you hear me?”

"Yes boss, like I'd never listen to you", she said with a cheeky grin, letting out a squeal as his palm cupped her ass again to give it a squeeze.

"Watch your mouth", he warned teasingly. "Or I'll have to take care of that pretty mouth of yours later."

"You know, that's what motivates me to not watch what I say", she purred against his lips, eliciting a chuckle from Happy.

"You're not making it easy for me to leave, little girl", he croaked against her dark lips, which he confiscated again for a demanding kiss.

"Hap", Stella whimpered between kisses before, with her hands resting on his chest, gently pushing the Killer away. "Go, otherwise Jax will accuse me of constantly holding you back", she said with a chuckle.

"He better keep his mouth shut", Happy remarked with a grin as he reached for his helmet, placed it onto his head and clipped the latches shut, then he started the engine and the loud vibration of the bike echoed through the neighborhood.

"See you later, baby. Be careful, please", she told him urgently before stepping aside so Happy could steer his bike onto the road. "I love you."

"I love you too, babe", he said over the loud sound. After reaching for her hand to squeeze it, he steered his bike out of the driveway and drove down the street on the way towards the clubhouse.

Stella watched him leave for a while until she couldn't even hear the bike in the distance anymore. That's when she went back into the house to get her bag before she headed off to work.

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Together, the two women were distributing lunch to the residents of the nursing home when Stella's cell suddenly vibrated in her pocket. To be on the safe side, she always carried her phone with her in case something happened with Gabby or Happy needed to reach her.

Confused, she looked at the small screen when an unfamiliar number flashed. "Hey, can you take over for me for a moment?"

"Yeah, sure. Answer it", Charlotte encouraged the slightly younger woman when she saw the confusion in Stella's eyes. "Who is it?"

"I don't know", Stella answered honestly, shrugging her shoulders before looking around. With her voice lowered so as not to attract attention from the other employees, she answered the call. "Stella Lowman here, who am I talking to?"

Charlotte watched her best friend as her eyes widened, her mood rising with every short pause. Stella said something again and finally hung up with a quick 'thank you' , slipping her device back into her pocket.

"Who was that?", the blonde asked with a raised eyebrow as she scooped the next tray into her arms, a glimmer of hope crossing her features. "Good news?"

"Yeah, really good news." Pure relief rushed through Stella as she reached for another tray. "That was my doctor from St. Thomas."

The two women's paths separated as they brought the respective trays in two different rooms. Once back in the hallway, they pushed the big cart to the next aisle.

"Really? What did he say? Didn't you say he wouldn't get back to you until next week?" Charlotte couldn't wait to hear the good news and got visibly excited.

"I didn't expect the call so early either", Stella said, smiling. "He sat down with two other doctors and looked at my case. A patient spontaneously canceled his surgery. And I can have that appointment."

When Stella announced the news, the smile on her face grew enormously and let her eyes shine and Charlotte was also completely over the moon with joy. Hearing yesterday that her best friend actually had cancer, she didn't know how to handle it. However, with the good news she was able to gain some hope.

"That sounds great! Jesus, that would be great if it all worked out so quickly." Charlotte exhaled in relief and gave the woman with the raven hair a bone-crushing hug, swinging their bodies from side to side. "So does that mean surgery is enough?"

Stella leaned back a little, her hands resting on Charlotte's upper arms while the women stood close together for a moment.

"They won't know until after the surgery, but it's definitely the first big step", Stella explained, her eyes filled with excitement. Charlotte could tell that a huge weight had been lifted off Stella's shoulders. "The doctor gave me an appointment on Monday. He wants to explain, to Happy and me, what's the surgery about and what they're doing exactly and what the next steps are."

“So no chemo for now?” Charlotte asked cautiously, gently squeezing Stella’s upper arms. "I know you wouldn't be a fan of that."

"Not for now. If the surgery isn't enough then yes, but the doctor says the cancer hasn't spread too much yet. So I have good chances." The smile on Stella's pale face faded slightly, but not completely. "And if I do need chemo, I won't change my mind about it. I don't want chemoᅳ but let's not talk about that right now, okay?"

"Okay", Charlotte agreed with a gentle smile before the women continued handing out food to the patients.

"By the way, did Gabby sleep well? Did she behave?" Stella looked over at Charlotte questioningly after they were finished and brought the big cart back to the kitchen that was in another building. "I hope she didn't notice too much from yesterday. I don't want her to worry."

"I don't think she noticed much", Charlotte assured in a gentle tone, then smirked slightly. "After she beat Abel and Thomas twice at a board game yesterday, her good mood was hard to beat. She was pretty excited."

Hearing that her daughter had fun made Stella smile. "That sounds like Gabby. I hope the boys got over it."

"For better or for worse, they had to, just like Jaxᅳ he was on a team with the boys and I was on a team with Gabby", Charlotte chuckled amused and tugged a blonde curl behind her ear. "In the future, I'll stop by your place before a game night and borrow Gabby."

Stella snorted an amused laugh. "Oh, she would love that."

"Not just her", Charlotte added with amusement before the women parted ways and each had to go about their own tasks, which was usually only two hours before the best friends duo was reunited again.

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After the good news this morning, Stella decided to go into town to get some ice cream with Gabby after daycare. Of course the three-year-old really enjoyed that and her good mood was just as contagious as Stella's.

She happily walked alongside Stella, always holding her mother's hand because Stella insisted on it when they were in crowded places. Stella trusted her daughter, but she also had to remember that Gabby was only three and not five or six. Children at that age were gone quicker than you could react and were much harder to find.

Maybe she was a bit overprotective, just like Happy was when it came to her and Gabby, but she still tried to pass on her fears to Gabby as little as possible. Her daughter shouldn't have to deal with an anxiety disorder in her life later just because Stella didn't have her own under control.

"Ohh, Abel asked if he and Thommy can stay with us this weekend", Gabby sing-sang while jumping from one foot to the other. Walking normally would be boring, right? "Can they, pleeeease?"

One of Stella's eyebrows shot up in amusement as she looked down at Gabby. "Yes, they are welcome to spend the weekend with us. We could go to the lake and then have a movie night. How does that sound?"

Gabby's eyes almost popped out of her head, a big, toothy smile on her lips. "I really like that! Is daddy coming too?"

It was nice to see what simple things children could be happy about. They didn't need all this fancy stuff if they weren't taught that way. It was always the simplest, smallest things that put a smile on a child's face. But that didn't mean that Happy and Stella weren't spoiling Gabby, they did.

"I'm sure daddy will come too", Stella replied, but she didn't want to promise anything.

"Are you feeling better already, mommy?" Stella was a little taken back by Gabby's question as they turned the next corner towards the parking lot.

Stella's fingers tightened around Gabby's small hand to squeeze it gently, smiling weakly. "Not quite yet, but soon a doctor will help me and then I'll be fine again."

The last thing Stella wanted was to lie to her daughter. But Gabby was just too young to hear the whole truth. So the former Knowles had to find a healthy middle ground to explain things to Gabby.

Just as the three-year-old was about to answer, Stella ran into a woman before she could stop in time.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry." The apology that had just fallen from her lips made Stella want to take it back as she stepped back to look at none other than Jessieᅳ the former high school bully with only a scoff slipping past her lips.

"You can shove your apology up your ass", the blonde seethed, whose bag had landed on the ground.

With a wail, Jessie picked up individual items that had fallen out of her bag and brushed the dust off the expensive leather, which was still intact, just dirty.

Stella could only roll her eyes at the drama Jessie was causing. "Come on baby, let's go", she said gently to Gabby, who looked back and forth between her mother and the other woman with a skeptical look.

"That woman wasn't nice", Gabby complained with a scowl, which looked pretty sweet if Stella was being honest.

"She's never been a nice person", she winked at her daughter as she pushed past Jessie, but the blonde grabbed her arm. Jessie's long fingernails, or rather claws, painfully dug into Stella's flesh.

"When did you lose respect for me, huh?", the blonde hissed venomously.

"Let go", Stella warned, her voice lowered. "I never had respect for youᅳ no one did. It was pure fear, but you no longer have that power over me."

"Mommy." Slightly scared, Gabby tugged at her mother's black cardigan. "I want to go, I don't like that woman."

"Of course baby, we'll leave", Stella assured after breaking the staring contest with Jessie, forcing a smile to her lips.

"What a spoiled, little brat", Jessie sneered with a scoff. "I hope someone shows her in a few years how respect works."

Stella was about to leave, but this time it was Jessie's words that made her stop. With anger ripping through her, Stella turned around to face Jessie, making sure her hand was placed in front of Gabby's face before she balled her other hand into a fist, which a moment later collided with Jessie's jaw.

The memories of that time still aroused a certain fear in Stella. The helpless feeling, the fears, the humiliation she had to endure back then in Highschool were the reason why she constantly struggled with her own mental health.

She had never been self-confident and normally she wouldn't have had the courage to punch Jessie. But the blonde had made the mistake and insulted her daughter. That was one thing that Stella would never accept.

"Call my daughter a brat again and I swear to God that I'll drag your disrespectful ass out of Charming myself", Stella snarled as she got into Jessie's face again, a menacing glimmer in her doe-brown eyes. "You can humiliate me all you want, I don't give a shit anymore", she lied, then continued. "But I won't let you insult my child."

"Stupid bitch!" Jessie's voice was several octaves higher as she held her throbbing, aching jaw and spit some blood to the side after biting her own tongue when she got punched.

"Your wife also called me that yesterday, not that I care", Stella tilted her head to the side with mock pity, pulling Gabby close to her. "It's just a shame that it only got her more hated."

"Oh right, you've already disrespected my wife yesterday. Kate told me. And I don't like that. And you know what else I don't like?" Jessie stepped dangerously close to Stella, who tried to hide her quickening breathing. "That you suddenly have so much confidence. You should know better than to hit me, bitch", she whispered against Stella's ear. "Don't you remember what I did when you tried to defend yourself many years back? That's right, you ended up in the forest, humiliated by two boys while I filmed the whole thing."

A triumphant smile formed on Jessie's lips as she achieved exactly what she wanted. Stella looking all small again and full of fear. One of those dark, evil laughs slipped past Jessie's bright red lips.

"By the way, I still have that video on a stick at home. I can upload it again any time." Jessie's grin turned into an innocent smile as she ran the back of her fingers over Stella's cheek. "You better get on your knees and apologize, then I'll think about republishing it again. And this way you can show your daughter how the middle class and trash like you should be treated."

When the raven-haired woman wanted to step back in disgust, Jessie grabbed her shoulders, pulled her knee up and, with force, pushed it directly into Stella's abdomen.With a loud, painful gasp, Stella sank onto her knees, pushing Gabby protectively behind her, who was now crying loudly.

Because of the cancer, at least that was Stella's guess, a stabbing pain immediately spread through her entire abdomen down to her core. The pain even spread to her legs and took Stella's breath away for a moment.

Satisfied, Jessie looked down at the woman as a small crowd had gathered around and shocked whispers rushed from one to the other, but no one was willing to help. Humiliating weaker people in front of a crowd had always been Jessie's passion, it gave her a certain thrill and sometimes satisfied her better than any sex in the world could.

Safe to say, Jessie was a sociopath who thrived on oppressing others.

"And once again you're the one on your knees", Jesse stated with her arms crossed and a click of her tongue, snorting a laugh as the three-year-old clung fearfully to her mother. "She's definitely your kid."

Stella, still writhing in pain, took a deep breath and pulled Gabby into her side, her arm wrapped tightly around her daughter who buried her face in the crook of Stella's neck as she cried and wrapped her tiny arms around her mother's neck.

Stella refused to let the tears that had gathered in her brown eyes fall. But the pain was almost unbearable and the fear that it could make something worse made Stella panic even more.

By the time Jessie tipped her half-full cup of coffee directly over her, causing the raven-haired woman to gasp loudly, Stella felt exactly the same as she did back in Highschool. Helpless and small.

"You're so fuckin' pathetic, it's really embarrassing", the blonde spat mockingly.

It was as if Stella's self-confidence, which she had worked hard to gain over the last few years, had left her body as she avoided Jessie's gaze, her lips starting to tremble. Public humiliation was a whole other level of viciousness and Stella couldn't handle it very well.

It wasn't until someone came for help and stuck his arms under Stella's armpits to help her up that she couldn't hold herself anymore and burst into tearsᅳ also because the pain in her abdomen became so severe that for a moment she felt like she was going to pass out. Still, she hadn't once let go of Gabby, who was now sitting on her hip like a spider monkey, still crying.

"You better leave before I have you arrested", none other than David Hale threatened the blonde, who just sneered.

"You can only arrest me if she reports me", the blonde eyed Stella with amusement. "And she's way too chicken to report someone like me. But I'm done here anyway."

The blonde strutted down the street on her heels, skillfully ignoring any glances from passers-by. Only when she was around the corner did Stella allow herself to breathe properly again. Sobbing and sniffling, she cradled Gabby closer to her, holding onto her daughter just like the three-year-old was holding onto her.

"Can you take us home, please?", she asked through her tears, her voice barely a whisper as she looked up at Hale, sniffling.

Right now she didn't trust herself to be behind the wheel. If she were alone, yes. But with Gabby in the car it would just be too unsafe. Plus, Hale was someone she could trust completely, someone she knew she could ask for help.

His friendship with Tara had never ended and after Tara's death he had explicitly told Stella that she could come to him at any time if she ever needed help. And right now she needed someone who could bring Gabby and her home safely, away from the crowd that was still around them.

"Yeah, of course." He placed a sympathetic hand against her back and shot the crowd a disgusted look. "There's nothing to see here. If you can't help, you shouldn't stop and watch!" With a shake of his head, he gently pushed Stella towards his car and, even though he wasn't a huge fan of the Sons before, his opinion had changed a lot. He, together with Wayne Unser, was now even working with the Sons sometimes. Not always, but you could tell there was a much less tension between the motorcycle club and the deputy.

"You really should report her, Stella", Hale insisted firmly as he opened the back door for her.

Ducking her head and placing a hand on Gabby's head, Stella slipped into the car, huffing and puffing. "No, that won't stop her, it'll make everything worse. Besides, her lawyers are far too goodᅳ that would just be an unnecessary expense for Happy and me."

Sighing, the deputy rubbed his face, but accepted Stella's answer for now. He squeezed her shoulder comfortingly before closing the door, typing a quick message to Happy.

Since the Sons worked with him from time to time, he had the numbers of all the membersᅳ which was an advantage in this case, because Stella shouldn't be alone under any circumstances. Hale didn't know about her cancer yet, otherwise he would've become much more aggressive towards the blonde. But he knew, from Tara and the younger Knowles herself, about Stella's past with Jessie.

Then he got in his car too, looked back through the rearview mirror at Stella and Gabby and just shook his head in incomprehension and anger. Some people really should be taught a lesson and secretly he knew that was exactly what would happen if Happy found out about this.

And in that case David would keep his mouth shut.