MC: LaPonte (41 page)

“I love you too my brave
and handsome husband.” I croak out. He smiles pulling out. He gets
up kissing my forehead, sliding into some shorts and gets a towel
to clean me up. I love him always taking care of me. He must be
exhausted. When he lays back down I burrow into him wondering how
long I have before Devan is up. I fall asleep wondering.

Four days...

I take Devan putting him
against my shoulder to burp him. "Feels good to be home." I tell
her. She makes me smile with her moan covering her head with a
pillow, she's wiped. She spent yesterday helping get the old ladies
and us out of the Clubhouse. I didn't make it back until the
afternoon. Salvage has so many fuckin cars, trucks and bikes I had
to climb over shit to find the Jess' suv. I got the box though.
Ally and Alex will have pictures of their grandparents on their
platform walls today. The box was the whole reason they were on the
highway. The twin’s grandparent’s neighbor kept a box of things for
them to remember them. I leave Kate to sleep taking Devan with me
to make some coffee. The Brothers will be here this morning. Tiny
will get here early, he always does.

I put Devan in his seat
and get the coffee going. I make some cereal for my boy wondering
how this fuckin powder stuff that tastes like paper is supposed to
be good for him. I put a spoon of applesauce in to mask the paper
taste. I get a cup of coffee and sit down to feed my boy his
cereal. Tiny knocks and walks in. Fuckin Brother I wonder if he's
got a camera in my fuckin house trained on the coffee
maker.

"Brother." He says pulling
a cup and filling it.

"Tiny. Do you smell the
fuckin coffee?"

He fuckin laughs. "Nah, I
know you’re up early. Nancy sleeps in as long as she can. Fuckin
coffee maker doesn't work for me."

I laugh scaring Devan and
getting cereal on his cheek. Fuck, I scoop it with the spoon
leaving a trail of cereal across his cheek to his mouth. "You have
K cups. You put one in and it makes the fuckin cup the same every
time."

He takes the spoon from me
and cleans Devan's face. "Fuck Brother, you gotta give him a
smaller spoonful, that's why he spits half of it out." He takes
over the feeding so I pour another cup.

I stand at the counter
watching. "You know, if you had your own kid you wouldn't have to
drive to feed him." I watch his body freeze. "Why won't you give
Nancy the baby she wants? It's pretty obviously you want one
too."

"I'd make a lousy father;
I can't be around kids all the time." He says shoulders
slumping.

"What the fuck are you
talking about? You’re with fuckin kids every day. You can change
them, feed them show them love and find things to keep them happy
just spending time with them." I don't leave the counter. I think
if he looks at me he won't keep talking.

"I can't do that all the
time. I don't know nothing about raising kids. I'd fuck them up."
He’s feeding Devan as he says this.

I sit beside him.
"Brother, you’re telling me this while you’re feeding my fuckin
baby and giving me pointers before seven on a Saturday morning.
You'll help make breakfast and get the kids fed. Then you'll help
get the finishing touches on their rooms all while thinking about
what's going to put a smile on their faces. You are a damn good
father to my kids. If you weren't, I wouldn't unlock the fuckin
door every day before you get here. I'd leave your fuckin sorry ass
on the other side lookin in. Nothing is guaranteed Brother. Kids
make you happy. You know more shit from Oprah, Dr Phil and every
other fuckin advice show that's out there. You'd make a great
father. You know you want it, make it happen. Make you and Nancy
happy for as long as you fuckin can. There's no fuckin way you can
screw up a kid that bad. Your Brothers would step right the fuck in
and straighten your ass out. You know it because you've done it."
He finally looks at me; I can see the fear in his eyes. He comes
from bad like the rest of us. I hope he can find it in himself to
believe he can do it.

He looks away. "If Nancy
ever walked out like Tracy what the fuck am I going to do with a
fuckin kid?"

"You'll take care of it
and move the fuck on. You see Pres loving Jessie. Pres hurts,
everyone sees it but he never once let Jessie down. You should
never plan for something like that but if it happens, you have
fuckin Brothers that will step in." I don't understand how he can't
see he'd be a good dad.

He finishes with Devan and
gets a cloth to clean his face. He goes to the cabinet and gets a
bottle, heats some water in a cup, puts the bag in and pours the
baby water in it. He squishes the bag and holds it to Devan's
mouth. "I'll think about it Brother." He says.

I smile at him. He hasn't
realized how much he's already doing. I know he'll get it though. A
knock at the door puts a look of relief on his face. I'll let it go
for now. I open the door to Casper. I'm surprised as fuck to see
him standing there. "Brother, you got a minute?" He looks like he
wants to be anywhere but here. I'm not one of his favorite people
but he looks like something is on his mind.

I open the door wider so
he can pass. "Always for a Brother, come on in. You want coffee?"
He nods. I get him a cup while he watches Tiny burp Devan. I look
at Tiny, "You good Brother?"

"I got him. I'm bringing
him up to change him. We'll be back." He takes Devan upstairs
giving Casper some time. I smile; he knows there are diapers in the
living room chest. Casper sits so I do. I pull my coffee over.
"Everything ok?"

"Not really Danny. I need
to know what you're going to do, it's driving me fuckin crazy?" He
says like I would understand.

"About what?"

"Are you moving to
Security? VP has you at his side or leading the Brothers." He's
pissed. Fuck.

"I'm a fuckin Building
Super Casper. I don't run ops or plan missions." I laugh. "Went to
school and became an architect, I never did military
training."

His whole fuckin body
relaxes. "You've been workin by VP's side and leading teams. I
thought you were coming in."

"Brother the only teams I
ran was the two man teams that I was on. I've been at VP's side
because I can shoot and he needed me to do that. I'll do what I'm
told like Axe trained me to do. When that's needed I'm here and VP
will use me. How many times does shit like this happen? He doesn't
need me to shoot every fuckin day like when we ran drugs. I've been
here all along. Nothing's changed except now people see me. I'm
still the Building Super."

"You're not moving to
Security? Even if he asked you to?"

"Casper, I'm not trained
to do what you do. People shoot at me I find the best way to deal
based on training from an MC soldier that died in a drug war. I
like my job. I'm here the next time you need someone to shoot
straight. I'll follow orders my higher officers ask of me but I'm
not looking to take your job. No one has offered it and I wouldn't
know how to do it. You’re safe Brother. Next time ask before you
get pissed."

"Sorry Brother. I don't
know why I thought you were moving to Security. I figured you'd
want it now everyone realizes what you can do. People are looking
at you different."

I look at him. "I hit
every biker in that shipyard. Couple of years ago I rode with Dave
and hit every biker I aimed at from the rival club. How is that
different than me hitting everything now?"

He looks embarrassed but
doesn't answer.

"There is no difference.
While I've been all in for the Brotherhood, there hasn't been a
Brother all in for me until these last few months. Besides being
the Building Super, I'm going to change that. Everyone should be
noticed for what they contribute. I'm going to figure out how to do
that for the other Brothers who aren't seen. I want them to know
we're all in for them. When we say 'we take care of our own' we
need to mean it for all the Brothers not a select few that stand
out. If it weren't for the support of your geek squad Security
wouldn't be as well organized and effective as it is. Those
Brothers are important and should be seen. I didn't even know we
had a Digs in the club til a couple of months ago. He literally
kept me alive through this whole Barney episode. He's my new fuckin
hero."

"I'm sorry we let you
down, I know you went through some shit with your ex. You're right
we weren't all in because you weren't one of our soldiers. I'd like
to help with recognizing our Brothers so that doesn't happen again.
Tell me when you think of a way or call me and we can work
together. I didn't realize besides building and shooting, you're a
smart motherfucker too." He stands and puts his hand out. I stand
and take it pulling him in for a man-hug.

"Always all in Brother." I
hear someone behind me.

"Me too Brothers." Tiny
puts his big bear arms around us. I fuckin laugh. He lets us go and
steps back. "You're not supposed to be laughing." He says with a
frown that makes me laugh more.

"Doc's setting me up to
fix it, I'm not gonna stop laughing. You just need to get used to
it. Were you standing there listening the whole fuckin
time?"

He was, I can see it on
his face. "Yeah Brother. You're right we didn't see you. When you
said it I thought of all the Brothers that we don't really see. You
can be our poster child for the new Brotherhood recognition
campaign."

Casper cracks up, I try
holding it in but can't and I crack up, then Tiny fuckin laughs.
The kids start laughing and we all turn.

Little Ben comes up to me.
"They finally see your strong Uncle Danny."

"Yeah Little Ben they do."
I tell him ruffling his hair.

Jessie comes over with
Darren. "It took them long enough; we've been telling them
forever." He signs and says. Darren signs back, 'I knew the whole
time'. He throws chin, making us laugh again. I have to hold my
fuckin face; it's going to be one of those days.

Kate

I love having everyone
show up. My house is always full now, it's like I'm making up for
all that time I spent alone. The guys just finished Ally's room and
are working on the bonus room. The kids are going to a ball game
with Doc. He wants them to have a normal day after being cooped up
at the club. He's taking some of the teens and Security. Right now
they're running wild, I think rival biker clubs is the game. It's
an all-out war if the nerf arrows flying by me is any
indication.

Jake comes down the back
stairs laughing. "I think I just got put down by Ally. She stood in
the hall smiling, I squatted down to hear what she was saying and
she shot me." He laughs. "Little bugger ran away through the tree
house room. I have no idea where she's hiding. I couldn't find
her."

I crack up. "Danny put
little safe rooms all over the freakin house. Neither he nor the
kids will tell me where they are. It's going to be interesting when
they get to be teenagers."

He laughs going to the
garage coming in a minute later with some wood. I watch him climb
the stairs. I smile, he's not one of the Brothers but he fell right
in with them. Danny was surprised he showed up to help. I was
surprised Casper came over. He isn't one of the regulars that show
up. I climb the stairs to check out Ally's room again. She has a
castle platform bed, a little catwalk with mirrors and a swing
hanging from the ceiling. They made her a princess room shocking
the hell out of me. It's the epitome of girly girl built by big
badass bikers. I chuckle walking in. The lights are off, stars on
the ceiling, a purple glow from the platform, pink LED lights under
it and the fiber optic twinkling lights on the tree embedded into
the wall. I bet a safe room is behind it. "I wonder where my pretty
girl is now?" I ask the room. I see her move in the bed. She's
covering her eyes. I giggle. "Is she in the closet?" She laughs
holding her hands tight against her eyes. She's so freakin cute. I
make the round of her room then climb to her bed tickling her as I
plop down. 'You found me.' She signs. "I did beautiful. It took me
a while but I found you." She giggles. "Nice room you got here."
She smiles nodding her head. "Dad put pictures', she points to her
grandparents. 'I got things in my safe room; I want to keep them
safe so I remember.' "I think that's a great idea. They loved you
so much. I bet they're smiling because you’re keeping them close in
here." I touch her chest over her heart. 'Darren says I can use my
strong to keep them always like he does his mom.' She signs making
tears come to my eyes. "You can, it's important that you do, it
will help you to be a strong grown up." She nods in agreement. I
kiss her cheek. She moves around until her head is on my shoulder.
We look up at the stars both happy just to be here.

Danny comes in with Ben. I
smile over at them. "Here are my two beautiful girls. The bonus
room is done. Do you want to come see it?" Ally screams something
and is off running. I crack up.

"Guess that's a yes." Ben
says laughing. "This came out really nice Brother. I'm always
amazed at your imagination. I shouldn't be but I am. Maybe you can
use that in my new house?"

I look at him a little
shocked, Danny's watching him. "You're moving?" He asks.