𝐓 𝐄 𝐄 𝐍 𝐀 𝐆 𝐄 𝐃 𝐈 𝐑 𝐓 𝐁 𝐀 𝐆 // 𝐋𝐈𝐏 𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐆𝐇𝐄𝐑

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐋𝐈𝐏 𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐔𝐏. 𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐈𝐗 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐇 𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐈𝐌. 𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐈𝐌 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐏 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃.

"Hey, where are you going?" Fiona asks as Ian opens the front door.

"To go check on Reece." He tells her, "Nobody else can be bothered to do it."

He puts his shoes on and quickly makes his way over to my house. I hear a knock on my door and fix my dress before opening it.

"Hey." I say. His face drops as he notices something different about me. My waist length hair was now at my shoulders.

"I like it." He says and I welcome him into my room. He opens the blinds and sits down next to me.

"You don't have to lie." I tell him, "It looks stupid."

"No, it looks great." He tells me. I put my head on his shoulder and he wraps an arm around my shoulder. He whispers to me, "Mickey wants to kill Lip."

"What?" I laugh. Did I hear him wrong?

"Mandy told him." He says, "Lip slept with Mandy and Karen."

My heart drops. Like telling me that was going to make me feel any better?

"I have to leave." I tell him. I grab my purse and put my heels on and ask, "Is Jackie here?"

Ian gets up and follows me downstairs. I purposely ignore him as he talks, but I can't find my brother. I told him not to leave without me!

"I have to go Ian!" I yell at him, "I can't be late for my father's funeral."

His face drops. I didn't tell him.

"Oh shit, that's today?" He asks.

"Yeah, Jackie has a suit that should fit you if you want to come." I offer. I see him run up the stairs and a few minutes later we're heading to the L.

𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐂𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑. 𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊, 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐆𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒.

𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐎𝐔𝐓. 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐅 𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃'𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐌. 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄. 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐎𝐁𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐄'𝐒 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊 𝐈𝐍.

"You never cared about Reece!" I hear Jackie yell. Dylan is standing in front of him. He's trying to calm our brother down.

"Where the hell have you been?" I ask. Jackie has cuts on his face and a black eye.

"Who the hell is that?" Dylan demands. He points at Ian. They look the most alike out of all of us.

"Our brother you jerk!" I tell him. He looks at me confused. I say, "Clayton cheated on Lucy."

All eyes are on me. My family had been falling apart since I was thirteen, but I just put the final crack in the glass.

"Jackie you're drunk." Dylan says and pulls his phone out.

"We don't even want to be here." I say, "Come on we'll take the L and go home."

Dylan scoffs and says, "How's the Southside? You know, with all the boys I'm sure you've cheated on."

I see a smile creep onto Jackie's face as Dylan dials a number into his phone. He lifts his hand and slaps our older brother across the face. Dylan looks at him in shock and Jackie punches him.

Our family rushes to help him up, but Jackie punches him in the face. Dylan falls to the floor and blood gushed from his face.

A few minutes later I hear sirens. Cops enter through the back door and Jackie's in hand cuffs.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I ask Dylan, "You realize that if he goes to jail then I end up in the system?"

"I'd rather have you be in foster care than live with that drunk!" Dylan says, "You'll thank me in the long run."

"You're still yourself. That good to see." I say. I slap him across the face and run outside to see Jackie with the cops.

Ian places a hand on my shoulder and I wipe away tears. It all had happened so quickly.

"Hey, don't cry." Jackie says. I hug him and he kisses me on the forehead, like he used to do when I was little.

"You can't leave me." I beg.

"I'm pretty sure Mickey will protect you." Jackie says jokingly. I smile slightly and he says, "I'll be out in no time."

𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐆𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐌𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐈𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒. 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄, 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐂𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅. 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐖, 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄.

"Hey, what the hell!" Fiona yells. She ties the belt to close her robe and rushes over to the DCF worker.

"We have reason to believe that Jackie is an unfit guardian of this child." The lady says. I want to punch her in the face and break her glasses in half.

I see Lip rushing over with Liam in his arms. Carl and Debbie are following close behind him. I have Ian holding my bag for me and Fiona's fighting with the lady.

"What happened?" Lip asks concerned. I did not want to talk to him, but what if this was the last time I ever saw him?

"Jackie got arrested. He beat up our older brother." I tell him. I look over at Ian and smile. I say, "I guess going to a funeral drunk didn't work out for him."

I zone out for a bit as Fiona tries to negotiate. I hear, "Unless she has any other family in the Chicago area than she has to stay with another family."

Ian rushes down my porch stairs.

"I'm her brother!" He informs the lady, "Fiona's my sister. She has legal guardianship of all of us. How hard would it be for her to get custody of Reece?"

Fiona gives me a look. She wants to do it. I don't want her to. I want to stay with Ian, but Fiona shouldn't have to take care of another kid.

"Fi, you don't have to." I tell her.

She ignores me and asks, "When can I get custody?"

"She can stay with you until we determine that Jackie is a good guardian. If he isn't then we go from there." The lady tells her. They talk for a while and Ian brings me back to the Gallagher's.