HARD TIMES ━ lip gallagher²

13 | bacon

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THE FUN DID NOT last long, which surprised absolutely no one, considering potentially everything that had gone wrong in their lives when they all managed to finally let loose, only to get bit right in the ass. The morning right after Monica and Frank's "wedding," was spent in the waiting room at the hospital.

Because Monica had gone to sleep, and she hadn't woken up.

Amara hated her. She didn't care if it wasn't her place to do so, she would never forgive her for the way she treated her second family. Her only family, really. But that didn't mean she wanted her dead. Yeah, maybe she wished it a couple or dozen times. Like when Monica had tried taking away Liam all of those years ago. Or the countless times she'd chosen drugs over her own kids. But death was the last thing she wanted to happen to Monica, but still, here they were, sat in the emergency room.

Amara lifted her head off of Silvia's shoulder once Fiona stepped back into the waiting room, a tray filled with coffee cups within her grasp. She murmured a quiet thanks once she reached them, and sipped the bitter drink in silence. God, she forgot how much she despised coffee.

"You reach Ian?" Fiona asked, her question directed at Lip, who was sat in the row of chairs next to Amara, his arm safely wrapped around Debbie's shoulder for comfort.

He sat up. "I texted him. Carl?"

"Called the school," Fiona replied. "They said they're gonna try to get him on a train tonight."

Amara sighed and dropped her head onto the knee she'd pulled up. Lip shifted in his chair. "Did she look dead to you?"

Fiona blinked and slowly sat down. "Uh, I only saw her for a second, when they were putting her in the ambulance."

"She shit herself?" Kevin asked. Amara sleepily lifted her head to stare at him in disbelief, amusement bubbling up in her chest. "People shit themselves when they die. That's why they put diapers on psycho killers before they give 'em the lethal injection."

"I touched her when they put her in the ambulance," Debbie mused. "She was still warm."

"Could have still been dead," Kev continued, Amara snorted softly into her jeans. "Body only loses a couple degrees of heat an hour after you kick it."

"Really?"

Amara scrunched her nose. "You just know that? Off the top of your head?"

Kevin nodded. "Lots of things in the body are still alive. Hair, the skin, the nails, all the bacteria in your guts. And you don't start to swell up for at least a couple of days. And then your eyes pop out, skin falls off, then you explode."

"Kev," Veronica warned.

"What?"

She nodded at the other people in the room, just as a doctor appeared in the doorway. "Gallagher?"

The three of them stood. Amara found herself straining for the words the doctor was saying, but it was practically impossible. Especially with the television on and the chatter from beyond the walls.

Lip flopped down in the seat next to her when Silvia got up to speak to Debbie. Amara reached over the arm of the chair to lightly grab his hand. He didn't look up. "Bad news then?"

He nodded but didn't offer any other sort of reply. Amara pressed closer to him and continued to stroke the back of his hand with the pad of his thumb until the doctor appeared again.

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"Hey." Something poked her in the arm repeatedly until she couldn't take it anymore and she pried her eyes open. Lip was struggling to crawl around her, the blankets were shuffled and her shirt had been crumpled all the way up to her chest. "Get up, dumbass. I can't get around you."

"Are you calling me fat?" She asked, stretching from under the covers and yawning loudly. "You really know the right way to wake someone up. Stabbing them with your hard finger."

He smirked. "I can stab you with other hard things if you'd prefer."

"I'd prefer you to shut up and move so I can sleep."

He suddenly cocked his head. "Do you smell bacon?"

Amara sat up, too, confused. "Fi doesn't cook bacon."

The two of them stood, Lip quickly pulled on a shirt. She hadn't even realized how natural it felt to share a bed with him again. Things were getting weird between them. It was almost like the time before their relationship started. She didn't know how to feel.

"Holy shit!" She could hear the grin in Lip's voice as she followed behind him down the stairs. "It's Lieutenant Dan! Come here, man. Don't tell me I've gotta salute you now or something."

Amara smiled widely at Carl, and glanced around in amazement at the set table and all of the groceries that came with it. "Where did you get all of this stuff?"

"I stopped by the Aldi on the way from the train station," Carl answered, pulling away from the embrace Amara had wrapped him in. "Still single?"

She rolled her eyes and moved towards the counter. "Why didn't you just call me?" Fiona questioned. "I could have picked you up."

"You have a car?"

"She's a rich lady now," Ian said, coming down the stairs with a grin. "Look at those stripes and ribbons! You're a general now?"

"Hey, Cadet Corporal, get to kick some lazy freshman ass. Hey, everybody, is scrambled okay?"

A chorus of yeahs went throughout the kitchen as they all settled at the table. The door swung open a second later. "Just the neighbors bringing 10,000-calorie sugar bombs."

"Nice!"

"Give me those bitches," Amara demanded wickedly.

"Yo, Carl!" Kevin greeted. "Look at you! The ghetto ninja warrior. Should I be afraid, your hands licensed to kill now? What's up?"

"Carl!" Debbie eagerly rushed over to hug him. "Hey, you're home."

Silvia trailed behind her, and she stopped mid step once she saw who was standing in the kitchen. Carl temporarily seemed set back as well, before her sister shook herself and reached to hug him. Amara smirked and ate her donut.

"Anybody up for going to the mortuary with me later, figure out what to do with Monica?"

"We can't just leave her there?"

"Called in sick the last couple of days," Ian shook his head. "I gotta work."

"I'll go," Carl offered.

"Really?!"

"Yeah, sure."

"I can come," Veronica pitched. "With the Alibi gone I've got nothing but time."

"What happened to the Alibi?" Carl wondered.

"Svetlana stole it from them," Fiona answered.

"How do you steal a bar?"

Kevin looked up with a mouthful of food. "Russian KGB sneaky Putin shit."

Amara slurped the orange juice in her cup loudly, and everyone turned to look at her. She stared back innocently. "What?"

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a/n

might double update today :) next chapter is the last one for season 7