"It's so quiet," Fiona commented as she looked around. She, Steve, Hollie and Nick was sitting on the mattress on the floor in the living room of Steve's new house.
"It's nice right," said Steve.
"Yeah,"
The baby monitor on the floor beside them crackled to life, "it has to be E-6" came Debbie's voice, "it's the only spot left big enough for a carrier,"
"No it's not," came Carl's voice.
"You're lying," said Debbie.
"Monica didn't even bother to read to them or tuck them in," said Hollie as she listened to Debbie and Carl arguing over battleship coordinates.
Fiona reached over and picked up the baby monitor, "she probably forgot to use Liam's ass cream too," she said.
"Yes it is, you're cheating again,"
"No, I'm not."
Fiona pressed the button on the monitor that let her talk to them, "Carl, go back to your room. Debbie go to sleep. School tomorrow." She told them.
"We're almost done," said Carl.
"Your both brush your teeth?" asked Hollie as Fiona held the button down for her.
"Yeah,"
"Yes,"
"Carl. Go. Now." Fiona said firmly.
They heard clattering as the game was put away. "Night Carl,"
"Night Hollie. Night Fiona. Love you," said Carl.
"Love you both," said Debbie.
"Love you too," said Fiona and Hollie together. They heard shuffling as Debbie got into bed and Carl left the room.
Fiona put the baby's monitor back but Hollie picked it up again after a moment, "and no reading under the covers," she said as she pressed the button down.
They heard Debbie sigh as she clicked her flashlight off.
Hollie put the baby monitor back down. Nick checked the time on his watch, "hey, we should get going now," he said as he kissed Hollie's cheek.
"Yeah, okay," she said as he stood up. She leaned over and hugged Fiona, "I'll see you tomorrow," she said before letting Nick pull her up off the ground by her arm.
"Bye Hollie, Bye Nick."
"Bye Fi, Bye Steve," they walked over to the front door and left. They walked down the front stoop and over to Nick's car that was parked out front.
|🚬|
Hollie hesitated as she opened the front door of the house and stepped inside. The kids were gone, off to school but she needed to grab something from her room.
Unfortunately for her, Monica and Roberta were in the kitchen and turned both looked in her direction when they heard the door open. Frank was there too but he didn't bother to acknowledge her.
She ignored the saddened expression on her mother's face as she walked upstairs to her room. Once inside she grabbed her leather jacket that was hanging on her bedpost and changed her black boots for her tattered red converse. She grabbed her claw clip from her nightstand and put it in the shoulder bag that she carried with her.
She glanced towards the door when it opened but averted her gaze when she saw it was Monica.
"Hollie?"
Hollie ignored Monica and picked up Nick's sweatshirt from the floor and draped it over her arm with her jacket.
She froze when Monica placed a hand on her arm. "Please Hollie. Talk to me, sweetheart," She pleaded, stepping in front of Hollie and placing her hand on her cheek.
Hollie kept her eyes on the wall opposite her, not sparing Monica even a glance.
"Please Hollie. My little Hollister, I'm sorry," Monica whispered and she brushed her thumb over Hollie's cheek. Hollie reached up and pulled Monica's hand away from her cheek as a tear threatened to fall.
She sniffed and wiped it away before brushing past Monica and walking back downstairs.
She saw Nick at the bottom of the stairs, seemingly wondering what was taking so long, as she hurried down the stairs with Monica on her tail.
"Hollie, please talk to me," Monica cried.
Hollie ignored her. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she gently grasped Nick's arm nudging him to leave before Monica could stop them.
"Who's this?" asked Monica as she noticed Nick. Nick was about to answer but Hollie stopped him. "Don't answer her, just go." She said.
"Oh, that's Hollie's little boyfriend Mick," said Frank, "you've met him before,"
"Nick," Hollie corrected through gritted teeth before she slammed the front door shut behind her. She followed Nick to his car, putting her jacket and his sweatshirt in the backseat.
She leaned her head against the window as Nick started the car and drove her to work.
|🚬|
Frank walked into the alibi looking pissed.
"Yo. Frank, Sheila called and is making your favourite dinner. Pot roast," said Kev.
"Sheila's making you pot roast?" asked Tommy, "oh, that's so sweet,"
"And that jasper guy was hanging around again asking questions about you," Kev told him, and Frank groaned.
Hollie grinned in amusement as she filled a glass with beer. "Wanted to know how you felt. If you were back to work. That sort of thing," she informed him.
"Fucking disability guy," Frank grumbled, "he's outside right now. Been following me around all morning."
"I told him you were training for a marathon," said Tommy. Frank ignored him, "every year that shit head tries to trip me up, stop my disability check." He said as he lit his cigarette, "I finally get some luck and this douche with a video cam has to show up."
"You don't have any luck, Heh," said Kev.
"Hello? Settlement money. Thank you." Said Frank, "if I can get Monica away from Rosie Grier long enough to sign the thing." He grumbled before tuning and pointing to Hollie, "by the way, you need to stop harassing your mother or she won't do it. Says she needs everyone on board with her taking Liam so she knows you don't hate her,"
Hollie leaned her forearms on the bar in front of Frank, "well your all shit out of luck because I already hate her," she said, "and she's not taking Liam," She stood up and walked around the bar to collect glasses ignoring the rest of the conversation when Frank starting talking about how Monica was his soulmate.
Lip and Ian walked into the bar and starlight over to Hollie, "you wanna come with us to see what Roberta and Monica are doing?" He asked.
"Uh, why?" She asked as she handed the empty glasses to Kevin.
"Because we wanna know what they are up to with Liam," said Lip, "you game or not?"
Hollie looked to Kev, "you think you'll be fine if I leave you for a bit?" She asked. Kevin nodded, "go I'll be fine,"
Hollie have him a grateful look, "I'll be back soon," she said as she left with Ian and Lip.
|🚬|
Ian, Lip and Hollie sat in the car that lip had borrowed from Steve outside a DNA clinic watching Roberta yell about something while Monica held Liam.
"They don't look happy," Lip commented as they watched them get into Roberts's truck and drive away.
Hollie, Lip and Ian got out of the car and walked into the clinic. They followed Lip up to the front desk, "the two women who just left must not have been happy with the news they got, huh," he said causally to the receptionist who nodded without looking away from her computer screen.
"Oh, yeah, happens," she shrugged as she turned to them," had a guy last month hang himself from a pipe in the men's room." She said, "so can I help you?"
"Yeah, uh, I think maybe you can," said Lip as he shared a look with Ian and Hollie.
|🚬|
"You sure you're ready for this?" asked Hollie as she walked up the stairs at the Gallagher house with Lip and Ian.
"Hell yeah," said Ian. They had decided to get their DNA tested since Liam turned out to be Frank's son.
"I mean, just because Liams Franks doesn't mean the rest of us are," said Lip.
"Yep."
Hollie sat down on Ian's bed, opened one of the test kits, and read the instructions, "all right. Says here all we have to do is swab our own cheeks and send it back in." She said as pulled the swab out of one of the kits.
"Yeah, and pay them 150 bucks each," said Ian.
"On the off chance that we're not related to Frank...it's totally worth it." shrugged Lip.
Hollie opened the swab and stood up, "open up," she told Ian. He opened his mouth and she ran the swab along the inside of his cheek.
"It's actually pretty cool," said Lip as Hollie put Ian's swab into the sealed container, "there's a lot of shit we could figure out about ourselves in here."
"Yeah, like, uh, if we got the alcoholic gene from Frank," said Hollie as she opened the second swab for lip.
"Yeah, or the dummy gene from Monica," Lip nodded with a chuckle.
"Open," said Hollie as she gestured for him to open his mouth. She swabbed the inside of his cheek and put the swab into the other sealed container for Lip.
"Or uh, if any of us is gonna turn out to be gay," said Ian as Hollie swabbed her cheek.
"Nice," said Lip as he high fives Ian.
|🚬|
Hollie had returned to work after giving Lip her share of the money for the tests so he could take them back to the DNA clinic and was now nearing the end of her shift.
She was behind the bar cleaning glasses when Frank walked in. "Hey you're back," said Kev with mock enthusiasm.
"Oh, hell yeah," Frank cheered, "showed that jasper a thing or two. Bastards going to be begging me not the sue him."
Hollie became apprehensive, "what does that mean, Frank?" she asked as Kevin handed her some more glasses that he'd collected.
"Let us have a bottle of your good stuff. I've got some money coming," said Frank as he took a seat at his usual stool.
"When you die, I'm gonna go to your funeral and sing a song." Kevin stated, "it goes: I got money coming." He started to sing, he trailed off when he noticed Fiona walk in with the other Gallagher kids save for Liam, "oh boy, bet you wish you had that vasectomy by now, huh?" He said as Fiona angrily stormed up to Frank.
"What's going on?" asked Hollie as she slung the dishcloth onto her shoulder.
Fiona looked directly at Frank who was rubbing his face, "just thought you'd wanna know carls all right. Reset his arm," she told him as Carl held up his cast.
"Yeah, so please, stay on your bar stool and just keep drinking," Lip snarled.
"Hey," Fiona snapped at him, "let's just do what we came here to do," she said.
"If you're looking for money, I don't have any yet," said Frank, leaning forward off his bar stool, "your mom still hasn't signed my settlement papers. I don't know where she's been all day,"
"She's been getting Liam's DNA results," Fiona informed him.
"Congratulations, you are still the father," said Hollie humourlessly.
Frank turned to her, "are you serious?" he questioned, "ooh. I thought that was always a rumour about Nana Gallagher having an affair with that sax player." He muttered.
"Promise you won't sign anything forfeiting parental rights," said Fiona firmly.
"Come on. You know what a bad mother Monica is." said Frank, "I'm just letting her pretend she can have him so I can get my settlement,"
"What if she doesn't give up that easy?" Fiona inquired.
Frank waved her off, "no, no, no. This is a win-win situation." He said, "even if she takes him for just a little while she'll be back, crying about her low self-esteem...or how boys actually need their fathers," he rambled, "...or penis grief, Heh. That's when you wake up in the middle of the night and look at the person next to you and you say: 'somebody help me I just fucked a lady'" he said waving his arms around.
"I've never asked you for anything. Ever." Fiona pleaded.
"Oh, come on," Frank whined, "will you please give me some time with this? I can do this. I just—don't pressure me."
"I've gotta walk away," said Lip abruptly.
"What?"
"If I don't I'm gonna fucking hit him," he yelled before taking a few steps away. He stopped and mumbled "what the hell," before turning around and punching Frank in the face making Frank fall off of his barstool.
"Fuck," Lip exclaimed as he shook out his hand. He turned around and walked out of the alibi.
Frank held his hand out towards Debbie, "debs?" Debbie shook her head.
Fiona stepped forward so she was standing over Frank, "you do this, you are on your own and I'm not kidding. I'm done. I'm gone." She spat before turning around and walking out with Debbie and Carl.
"Bullshit. You'll never leave those monkeys. Neither of you will," he spat looking between Hollie and Fiona, "you both love them too much. Kids," Fiona ignored him and left.
|🚬|
After her shift at the alibi, Hollie and Nick went over to Fiona and Steve's new house. Ian, Debbie and Carl were sitting on the new couch while Fiona paced around the floor in front of them while smoking a cigarette and Steve was sitting on a chair. Hollie sat down on the floor in front of the couch while Nick leaned against the wall. Hollie, Nick, Ian and Steve each had a bottle of beer.
"Uh, so the lawyer said there's nothing you can do?" asked Steve. Fiona had gone to speak to a lawyer about her and Hollie becoming the legal guardians of their younger siblings.
"If we sue it could backfire, make things worse," she said.
The front door opened and Lip walked in, "Jesus. The place still smells like old man Harris." He commented as he shut the door behind him.
"What did Monica want?" asked Hollie as she took a sip of her beer.
"She wants us to come over for dinner," said Lip, "some kind of uh, family meeting,"
Hollie scoffed. Fiona laughed dryly, "ha, ha. Family? Fucking load of shit." She said, "you told her we know Liam's Frank's?"
"Yeah," said Lip as he sat down and Steve handed him a beer.
Fiona sighed, "you have any pot?" she asked Steve, "I think if I ever go see mom conscious I might commit a violent felony," she said.
"That's the first time in a long time that I've heard you call her mom," Hollie pointed out.
"I did?" Hollie nodded, "I don't know if I ever felt like she was my mom,"
"Ian, Hollie and I got out DNA tests done," Lip announced.
Steve held a joint out to Fiona, snaking away Carl's hand when he tried to grab it. "Why?" asked Fiona as she took the joint.
"I don't know. Got excited at the idea of not being Frank's," Lip shrugged, "if none of us are his, you and Hollie would have an easier time becoming our legal guardians."
"Lips gonna pick up the results in about an hour," said Ian as Fiona handed him the joint, smacking away Carl as he tried to take it again.
"Well here's to you not being Frank's," said Fiona. Hollie smacked away Carl's hand when Ian handed her the joint.
|🚬|
An hour later, Hollie, Fiona, Ian, Debbie, Carl, Steve and Nick went over to the Gallagher house and were sitting around the dining table with Roberta and Liam. There was a spare seat beside Fiona at the end of the table for Lip who had gone to pick up the DNA test results and a spare seat for Frank beside Ian, Monica was cooking in the kitchen and there was an empty seat beside Hollie at the head of the table for her.
"Okay, there," said Monica as she entered the dining area and placed a tray of lasagna on the dining table, "I hope everybody's hungry," She started to dish it out onto the plates, "there you go Ian. It's your favourite," she said.
"What is it?" Ian asked passively as she put some on his plate.
"Lasagna." She said, there was an awkward silence before she turned to Carl who was further down the table, "Carl could you start passing the salad? Please?" She asked. Carl looked opposite him towards Fiona who nodded.
"Monica's Liam's mother and I know you won't be happy, but—" Roberta's rant was cut off by Monica sighing, "Jesus Bob, can we just enjoy our dinner and talk later?" she said.
"Talk about what? asked Debbie.
"Debbie, please," Monica pleaded before looking around at the faces, noticing the empty chair at the opposite end of the table, "where's Lip?" She asked.
"Had something to do," said Hollie.
Monica turned to her and sat down, "he's not coming?" She asked disappointedly.
"He'll be here soon," said Hollie.
The back door opened and Frank walked in, pulling off his jacket he called out: "sorry I'm late. Did I miss the chow? Ooh, Ooh, looks good," he tossed his jacket on top of the washer before sitting in the empty seat beside Ian.
"If you called us here to tell us you're taking Liam and leaving again, we don't wanna hear it," Fiona announced coldly.
"Fiona, you're upset." said Monica in a tone of understanding, "I get it. I was married to Frank for eighteen years. I know. It's like swallowing broken glass every day."
"Hey," Frank whined.
"Oh, Lip, wonderful. We just started." Monica greeted, standing up when she noticed Lip walk through the front door.
Roberta glared at Lip, "your mother said 6:30. You lose your watch?" She snapped.
"I don't have a watch, Bob," Lip informed as he took his coat and gloves off before sitting down. Roberta tutted before taking Liam into the kitchen and placing him down in his playpen.
Ian leaned forward slightly in his seat, "what the news?" He inquired.
"Haven't opened it yet. Figured we should do it together," Lip shrugged, "me, Ian and Hollie have decided to get our DNA test done too..." he announced as he opened one of the letters, "...on the off chance that maybe we aren't Franks kids."
"What?"
"Yeah. We figured why should you and Bob get to have all the fun?" he said as he opened the letter and read it, "here we go, Hollister Gallagher..." he read out grinning smugly at his sister's full name, "...unfortunately you are still Frank Gallagher's daughter," he said, leaning forward to pass the letter down to her.
Nick took it from him since he was closer and passed it to Hollie. Lip opened his and Ian's letters at the same time, "holy shit," he muttered as he stared at one of the letters.
Monica held an expression of confusion. "Congratulations, Ian." said Lip, "you are not Frank Gallagher's son," the table settled into an awkward silence as Frank turned to his right to look at Ian before shifting his gaze to Monica.
Monica looked like she was a little kid who'd been backed into a corner as she kept opening and closing her mouth, trying to find something to say as Frank stared at her with a look of betrayal.
|🚬|
"Honestly sweetie, I don't know," said Monica as Ian read over the letter in his hand, "there was that week in the summer of '95 that I did a lot of PCP."
"You did PCP? Without me?" Frank questioned, sounding outraged at the notion, "you promised we would do that together,"
"Excuse me, can we get back to who Ian's father is?" Fiona interrupted Frank's oncoming rant.
"Uh, uh, I like the idea of Monica cheating on Frank." Lip snarked, "It really keeps my image of you right on track mom,"
"Will somebody please tell me what we're talking about?" asked Frank.
Ian sighed, "All right. The results say that you, Frank, are absolutely not my father. But my father is a close relative. Most likely one of your brothers." Ian informed holding the letter in front of him as Monica and Frank leaned towards him to see it.
"Dad has brothers?" asked Debbie, this being the first time finding out that Frank wasn't an only child.
"He has two, right?" said Lip.
"three," Hollie corrected. Lip nodded, "I think I met the one that sells smoked sausage and Razor blades out of the trunk of his car,"
"All right."
Monica looked flabbergasted, "I-I honestly don't know," she stuttered over her words. Frank stared at her in disappointment and betrayal.
"Are we still related?" asked Debbie.
"Of course you are," said Fiona.
Frank ran his hand through his hair, "Not only did you lie to me about the PCP, you fucked my brother?" he yelled, "what's next? you gonna take up with a black lady-man?" he waved his arms around before turning to face Roberta who was sitting beside carl at the other end of the table, "oh, I forgot. that's already happened. How can e get back together now?" Frank questioned as he shifted his gaze back to Monica.
"I have never ever had any intention of getting back together with you frank," Monica exclaimed, baffled at the suggestion, "for christ's sake, you only tricked me into coming here to get some settlement money,"
"I wanted to see you again," Frank stated.
"So you pretended that she won a teddy bear?" Roberta asked incredulously. Hollie glanced to her right at Nick who was awkwardly watching the exchange. He hadn't ever actually met Monica, Hollie had made sure of that when they dated in high school, so he only heard stories about her. Beside him, Steve held the same expression.
"You know how much I love teddy bears," Monica cried.
"You and Monica are over Frank," said Roberta, "Me and Monica are getting married,"
"She's still married to me," Frank said as he pointed at Monica.
"Not for long. She's getting a divorce,"
"You too are still married?" Debbie asked. Carl held a look of confusion, "how can two ladies get married?" he asked.
"they're lesbians," Debbie informed, "penetration isn't required for sex to occur," she said making everyone look at her in shock. Debbie looked around at the shocked faces, "what? it's legal now in several states," she shrugged.
"Divorce, Frank." said Roberta, "you owe her at least that much,"
Frank slammed his hand down on the table, "what about what she owes me? she gonna leave me again with seven kids?" he yelled, "leave me to deal with all the shit?"
Hollie laughed dryly, "You mean leave me and Fiona to deal with the shit," she corrected him.
"I didn't leave you. You drove me out." Monica yelled leaning over the table, "no self-respecting person could stay with you, Frank. you treated me like a dog" she was cut off when Frank abruptly grabbed her face and kissed her.
"Hey!" "whoa!" "hey!" The yells were mixed together as Debbie grabbed Frank and pulled him back into his seat as Hollie pulled Monica back down into her seat.
"You need to let us raise Liam," Roberta insisted, "I don't care what the results say, Liam belongs with us."
"Nobodies taking Liam,"
"I can't believe you want a divorce,"
"What?" Monica whispered baffled, "me and bob deserve a family of our own," she said making Hollie scoff, "you had a family. you left it."
"I didn't leave you. he drove me out." Monica denied it, she tried to take Hollie's hand that was resting on the table but Hollie pulled it away
"You should have protected us," Fiona yelled.
"I tried but I couldn't" Monica cried, "Fiona, Hollie, if I didn't leave I would have died."
"Oh, cut the shit, Myrna Loy," Frank groaned.
"You have no idea what it was like being married to him. You have no idea how bad it is."
"Yeah, try me." Lip spat.
"Oh, come on, now,"
"Okay," said Fiona, she stood up and leaned her hands on the table, "I know that he tortured you. I know that he ruined you. But we didn't marry him, mom. You did." she snarled, "if you love us, any of us, in any way... you'll leave Liam, take your girlfriend, get in your truck and never come back." she stood up and walked out making Steve get up and follow her.
"But..." Monica watched helplessly as Hollie and Nick stood up and left too, followed by Debbie, Carl, Lip and Ian, leaving Roberta, Frank and Monica alone at the table. "...I love you," she called after them sadly, "I do."
|🚬|
The Gallaghers, Nick, Steve and Veronica were all sitting back in Fiona and Steve's living room.
"What are they doing?" Fiona asked Lip who was standing at the window to see what was happening at their house next door. "Looks like packing," said Lip.
"What about Liam?" asked Debbie who was sitting beside Veronica on the couch. "I can't tell through the window," said Lip.
"We could call the police, tell them Liam's being kidnapped," Debbie suggested. Fiona leaned forward in her seat, looking around the room at her siblings, "hey, we're gonna figure this shit out, okay?" she reassured, "no matter what,"
"Hey, guys, they're coming out," Lip informed as he watched out the window. Everyone quickly grabbed their coats and scarves and shrugged them on. They all went outside and stood together on the sidewalk in front of Fiona's house as they watched Roberta pack two suitcases into her truck while Monica walked out of the house carrying Liam who had his coat on, ready to leave.
Monica stopped in her tracks when she noticed the others gathered on the sidewalk watching her with disappointed and saddened expressions. Her gaze shifted between Roberta's truck and the faces of her children before she turned away from the truck and approached Fiona, she pressed a tearful kiss to Liam's cheek before handing him over to her oldest daughter.
Monica sobbed as she took one last look at her children before turning around and walking to the truck.
"Mom?" at the sound of Hollie's voice she turned to face her. Hollie nodded to show her mother that she was doing the right thing. Monica continued to sob as she climbed into the truck. She waved sadly at them, sobbing harder than ever as the truck drove past them and away from the house.
A/N
I had no idea how popular this book would be when I first started writing it. I originally started for myself but every time I get a new notification it motivates me to write more for you guys.
Remember not to be a silent reader I love reading your comments on my writing.
🖤H🖤