HARD TIMES ━ lip gallagher²

03 | mom-sister in me

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"IT STILL SMELLS LIKE shit in here," Amara stated as she examined the empty apartment before her. Fiona, who was crouched down painting the lower half of a wall, glanced over to her in surprise. "Are you sure that woman didn't hide any more diapers in the cabinets or anything?"

Fiona rose to her feet and brushed off her overalls. "Uh, haven't checked, so maybe. What're you doing here?"

Amara leaned against one of the dry walls and crossed her arms, brow furrowed slightly. "I need advice."

"Well," Fiona smirked. "My genius advice doesn't come for free. Help me paint the rest of these walls?"

"Yeah sure," Amara shrugged as Fiona handed her a brush. She could feel the other brunette's quizzical gaze on her as she bent down to wet it. "You've always been good at telling me to go for something I want."

Fiona blinked, confused. "Right..."

Amara sighed and focused on painting long strokes on the wall. "I went to this like... writing club last night. Everyone there is really nice. They said I needed to put more of my work out there to get my leg over, to get more opportunities and stuff for jobs."

"Are you asking me if your writing is good enough for the world? Because the answer is yes, Mara. It's always been clear to me that you'd go places with that."

"It's not that," she shook her head. "I know I'm good. I dunno I just... People like us don't get happy endings with stuff like that, you know?"

"You could be the one to break the tradition."

"Doubtful," she murmured. "I'm not sure if I even deserve it. And I'm trying really hard not to get my hopes up, because every time I do everything goes wrong."

Fiona stopped painting and turned to face her fully. "Amara, you are one of a kind. If that writing company or whatever the hell you're talking about can't see that, then they're the ones who don't deserve you, not the other way around. Don't get it twisted. Besides," she added when Amara didn't reply. "You act like I'd ever let you be permanently jobless. I've got your back."

Amara smiled. "You always have."

Fiona scoffed and looked down. "Mom-sister in me."

She laughed and covered her mouth to hide it, but it was drowned out by a knock on the door, and in walked the rest of the Gallagher siblings, minus Liam. Amara glanced to Fiona, who looked as lost as she felt.

And when Lip started to explain, Amara could feel the anger rise in Fiona from across the room. The eldest sister said nothing. Ian was the one to break the silence. "If we weren't so screwed, we wouldn't ask for your help."

"The dude almost drowned me in my own hot tub," Carl told her, but Fiona only let out a humorless chuckle.

"You don't have to help us," Debbie chimed in. "But it would be really helpful if you could at least just tell us—"

"—Tell us what you did with the last two pounds of meth," Lip interrupted. Fiona stood up and Amara watched as she moved to grab her can of Pepsi.

"Is this the part where you lecture us?" Ian asked. "'Cause if you could just speed it up a little bit that-"

"You wanna be a smartass, or do you want my help?" Fiona cut off smoothly. Amara pursed her lips to stop herself from smirking and twirled the paintbrush in her hands. The others fell quiet. "I'm taking my time with this, because I want you all to remember how hard you tried not to have to come to me. Because if you didn't have to come to me, then maybe you could just get through all of this without having to admit one simple truth."

They continued to stare at her hopelessly, Fiona rested an arm on the ladder placed next to her. "Which is that I was right. When I told you that keeping the meth was a bad idea... I was right." She moved down the line of her family. "When I begged you not to take it... I was right. When I told you that selling it, and turning yourselves into fucking meth dealers was a terrible decision that could go horribly wrong, I was... super fuckin' right.

"I am the one who saw to your survival since you were babies. I am the only reason that you are still breathing and have limbs intact. So, I want you to remember this moment. So that the next time that I try to warn you against a plan, that Frank and Monica thought was a good idea, maybe you will just fucking listen!"

Amara clapped and earned herself several glares in her direction, but Debbie huffed and turned the attention away from her. "Are you going to tell us where the meth is or not, Fiona?"

Fiona quirked a brow and Debbie backed down. "I am, Debs. I am. Right after every single one of you says... 'you were right, and I was wrong, Fiona.' Every single one of you except her," she pointed back to Amara, who was still grinning despite everything. "Because at least there's one goddamn person in this room who actually follows my directions."

"Are you serious?" Lip demanded.

Fiona laughed. "Yeah." When no one said anything, she stepped closer to them again. "Time is a-wasting. I wanna hear those words."

"Okay," Lip nodded reluctantly, catching Amara's gaze who had titled her head back expectedly, as if she were silently threatening him. "You were right and I was wrong, Fiona."

Fiona smiled and moved in front of Ian, who winced as if it were physically paining him to say the words. "You were right. And I was wrong. Fiona."

She was before Debbie now. "You were fucking right and we were fucking wrong, Fiona."

Carl shrugged. "I wasn't wrong. I took what was mine. I'm not sorry for it."

"Obviously it wasn't yours if some methhead is looking for it," Amara remarked from her spot. "Dipshit."

Fiona glanced over her shoulder at her. "I love you, but I've got this, okay?"

She held up her hands just as the door swung open, and in walked Frank and Liam. "It's guilt! It's guilt I've been feeling in my bones and in my veins. I've discovered guilt. Don't you understand? I'm here to help."

Amara pinched herself. Nope, she wasn't dreaming. "What the fuck is happening?"

"Does 'help' include use of your employee discount?" Fiona questioned. "'Cause we're gonna need a lot of shovels."

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a/n

amara and i #1 fiona stans it's true!