I'm in fucking juvie and I still know what happened last time, the fuck is your excuse?
Shit, guards, put out the smokes. Run!
Here's what you missed:
"Emma, stay with me, shit, shit, FUCK! I, uh- I need an ambulance, my friend has been shot..."
"The h-hospital just called. She got shot. Emma... Emma got shot."
"She's back dealing, there was a shooter; a drive by. I tried to push her into cover, but didn't manage to in time."
"Due to her being shot in her abdomen, the trauma it caused, it lead to her losing the baby."
"Emma was pregnant?"
"Raoul. Raoul is the father."
"This shooting was a blessing in disguise! I am free of carrying the baby of a monster."
"I... I think I'm going to press charges."
"If you're asking me to snitch, I'm not doing it, but I want him going down for what he did to me, and drug stuff is going to come up."
"Raoul Moreno has been arrested awaiting trial."
"You don't got immunity?" "Nope, I gave it up so that Joe could have immunity. This isn't to do with him, he doesn't deserve to go down for it."
"She's over at Sheila's." "Who?" "Monica."
"Kash shot Mickey."
"Raoul Moreno, you are sentenced to serve fifteen years in prison with parole"
"Miss Emma Gallagher, you will be taken into to the custody of the South Chicago precinct to be transferred to Juvenile Detention Centre, sentencing being one year."
"Gallagher," the guard shouts, walking over to the gym area, "Come on, it's time to go."
I turn round and smile seductively, biting my lip, "Oh, I'm gonna miss you, big guy." I run my hand down his chest flirtatiously.
"Hands off, kid, don't make me tase you." He avoids eye contact with me.
I pout childishly before smirking wickedly, "kinky."
He rolls his eyes, "say your goodbyes or whatever."
I turn around and go around doing handshakes with everyone. Juvie wasn't too bad overall. Of course I missed my family like crazy but while the same routine everyday may sound tediously mundane, when you're a Gallagher a little bit of monotony is actually a blessing. After what hearing the news about Monica, I became completely closed off and I wouldn't of survived outside, I needed the routine to keep me going.
"Right, Gallagher, let's go." He grabs my upper arm and leads me down the hallway to the guard area, where the inmates aren't allowed unless they're being let out.
The admin guy tosses a ziplock bag onto the desk and the guard takes it then passes it to me, "get changed."
I know he meant for me to go into the small room to the side to get changed but if Juvie has taught me anything, it's that privacy is overrated. Out of both instinct and habit I just start undressing in front of him.
"Jesus," he turns around covering his eyes, the admin guy also widening his eyes, quickly averting his gaze to his computer screen.
I finish getting changed into the same clothes I was brought here in; the clothes I wore to the court trial. Meaning I am wearing formal winter clothes in the middle of the summer, but what can you do?
"You can turn round, I'm changed." I tell him and he does as I say.
"We tried calling your parents, then your sister-" he tells me.
"Fiona?" I ask smiling widely.
"Yes, but we couldn't get an answer," he explains.
"That's fine," I wave my hand in dismissal, speaking quickly, "I'll figure something out, you can release me on my own, right? I'm sixteen."
"Yes, we can," He nods.
I feel around in my pocket and pull out around ten bucks in change, holding it up triumphantly, "well, gents, thanks for having me. The hospitality was abysmal. See ya!"
The guard rolls his eyes with a flicker of a smile crossing his face, "stay out of trouble, Gallagher."
"Sir, yes sir," I salute to him. I head over to the door and push them open, grinning at the feeling of the suffocatingly hot air blowing over me. Jogging down the steps and walking to the nearest station for the L, the smile doesn't leave my face. When I reach the station I actually pay for my ticket for once and get on the train. Ignoring the confused looks I keep getting due to my attire, I sit by the window, smiling as I watch the city whiz past me.
Eventually I get off of the train and head back down to the street, walking the rest of the distance to my home.
"I'M FREE, MOTHERFUCKERS!" I scream, skipping down the street, clutching onto my bag with the rest of my belongings like my coat and stuff in it.
I reach North Wallace and raise an eyebrow when I see my twin brother and Iggy Milkovich carrying Mickey into the house, whilst he yells. I jog quicker towards the house and another car pulls up and some old guy, in surgical scrubs, gets out and runs inside.
I run in after him, gaping at the sight in front of me. Debbie's daycare is running as normal, so there's little kids everywhere but I don't see Debbie, and Mickey Milkovich is bent over our kitchen counter, bullet wound on his ass, as the doctor guy starts trying to remove the bullet.
I stand frozen in the doorway, a huge grin on my face. I'm home.
"Emma?" Carl says excitedly. He jumps up and runs into my open arms, "you're here!"
"Yeah I'm back kiddo!" I hold him tight.
"I missed you so much!" He grins
"Not as much as I missed you!" I tell him making his smile widens even further.
"Where's the hair gone?" I furrow my eyebrows, holding his head in my hands.
"Nits..." he says, but it sounds more like a question.
I'm about to ask about it but I falter when I see a petite woman with glasses, standing in our living room, wearing formal work clothes.
"Carl, who's this?" I ask him.
He shrugs, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Mickey suddenly screams as a bullet is removed from his ass, and the lady's eyes widen, "Oh my."
"Heh..." I try to smile awkwardly, "sorry about all this, "can I help you?"
Fiona walks into the house, through the back door, covered in mud, her eyes widening at the sight of the impromptu surgery taking place on our kitchen counter. "Ian, what the fuck?" She yells.
"I can explain this," I hear Ian quickly say.
"Who the hell are you?" She ask the lady, not seeing me.
"I'm Britney Sturges from Child Protective Services." She says trying to keep it together.
"Oh shit," I mutter.
"She just walked in," Carl shouts over to our older sister.
"Emma?" Ian, Fiona and Mickey all say at once, finally noticing me.
Before I can respond, Debbie runs through the door in her swimming costume and shorts, excitedly jumping up and down, "YES! Oh my god! I totally almost drowned a slut! She was kicking and scratching but I held my breath and hung on until she passed out, oh my god!" She turns to the DCFS woman, not seeming to care that she is a complete stranger, "Guess what? You do not F with Debbie Gallagher! Heh, don't F with me."
"Debs," I say, giving her look as if to tell her to shut up.
"Emma?" She smiles seeing me but soon her happiness and laughter dies down when she sees the look on everyone's faces.
"Hey kiddo," I say quietly.
All the people who don't live here, are made to leave, including Mickey who gives me a huge hug when he's in slightly less pain from the gun shot wound. Our family have an unfortunately short reunion before we are forced to each go and pack a small bag of clothes to take to whatever home we're set to.
I quickly brush my hair and change out of my black dress and into a pair of denim shorts and an old tank top. I shove some random summer clothes into a plastic shopping bag, stopping when I notice Debbie sniffling across our room.
"Hey," I softly say extending an arm out to her
She rushes into my side and I hold her close and she cries into my shirt.
"It's gonna be okay, Debs," I whisper, stroking her hair with one of my hands, "we'll get through this, I promise."
"We only just got you back," she mumbles, slowly pulling away and looking up at me.
"And we can celebrate that when we're all back at home," I assure her, "which will be in no time, alright?"
Debbie nods glumly, looking down at her feet and walking back over to her bed to grab her bag.
I pick up my own after shoving the last couple things in it, "you ready?"
"Yeah," she frowns as if she's contemplating saying no if it means we won't have to go just yet.
I take her hand in mine and we walk out together, sparing a final glance to our room before we leave, meeting the rest of our sibling downstairs.
All seven Gallaghers follow Britney out of our home, me carrying Liam, each clutching a bag filled with just a few necessities for the next few days.
A flash car pulls up and Steve quickly gets out, "Whoa, wait. What the hell is going on?"
"Department of Family Services is taking us," Debbie tells him in distress.
"Wait what? Can they do that?" He asks.
"It won't last Debs, what was it last time, a week?" I try to calm her down again.
"Nine days." She corrects.
"You're back?" Steve says in shock, looking at me.
"You are too." I observe, although I knew he had returned, just not that he was actually still here.
"Twenty bucks says we're back in five." Lip says, in an attempt to reassure everyone, including Fiona.
"Can I get their placement addresses from you now?" Fi asks Britney.
"Not until intake interviews with the children are complete." She tells her, as we start to pile into the van.
"Who reported us?" Fiona asks, desperate for some sort of information.
I put my bag down on my seat and buckle Liam up in the car seat before turning back to Fiona and hugging her tight, "I missed you," I whisper in her ear.
"I missed you too." She murmurs, and I can tell she's starting to cry.
"Listen, it's all gonna be okay," I tell her, "it always is. Just shitty timing, okay? Girls night when we're back, deal?" I say, pulling out fo the hug.
"Fuck, how did I survive without you," She quickly wipes away her tears so the kids don't see.
"Seems like you didn't." I point out, with a shaky breath, trying to find some humour to lighten the mood.
She snickers in defeat and pulls me in for one last hug, before letting me get in the car.
"Bye Fi," I say just before Britney slides the door closed. As Britney climbs into the drivers seat I turn to my siblings, "Hey guys."
"How was Juvie?" Debbie is the first to ask.
"Did you kill anyone?" Carl smiles wickedly.
"It was all right, for Juvie at least, thanks Debs. And no Carl, I didn't kill anyone," I answer both of their questions, "but something that did happen..." I pull my loose hair back so it doesn't cover my ear showing off my three new cartilage piercings up the side of my ear, "these bad boys."
"They're so pretty!" Debbie exclaims, "you think Fiona would let me get my ears pierced up there?" She refers to my cartilage piercings.
"Hah, no way." I laugh at just the thought of how that conversation would go.
"Damn they must of hurt." Ian remarks, wincing slightly at the thought of it.
"A girl in there got her hands on a needle, and earrings obviously, and lighters are pretty common to be honest, to sterilise it." I shrug.
"Badass." Carl smirks.
"Ooh and this!" I pull my shirt down to show them my other new addition which was on my other side, just below my collarbone, "a triangle, just like Lip's."
"Your pain tolerance really upped then?" Lip quirks an eyebrow, leaning over to me to see it.
"That's sick." Ian grins.
"Stick 'n' poke," I shrug, "don't recommend it, it got infected when I first got it, had to have antibiotics from the infirmary, but it's fine now.
"Badass." Carl repeats.
"You were in juvie to be fair," Lip snickers, "not exactly the most sterile place."
I chuckle, hitting him over the back of the head. I'm glad that the conversation is taking my siblings', particularly Carl and Debbie, minds off of what's happening.
"Hey, we tried to come visit you after Monica..." Ian nudges me, eyebrows furrowed, "they said you weren't taking visitors."
"I, uh, got my visitation privileges taken away," the lie slips past my lips with ease, "bad behaviour," I shrug, "sorry."
We stop at some traffic lights and Britney turn back to check on us, "you guys okay?"
"Oh yeah, ain't our first time at the rodeo." Lip sighs, smirking slightly.
"Because Liam's still cute and little he'll go to some loving home with people who really want a family, but waited too long so their egg batter rotted, so they couldn't have their own." I explain nonchalantly, rolling my eyes a little.
"And Debbie and Carl will be placed together because-" Ian starts to explain before pointing to Debbie for her to continue.
"Because the state always tries to keep siblings together." She nods.
"And us three can handle whatever foster nut jobs we end up with." Ian finishes.
"Remember last time, that guy with the uh, was it the fucking bathroom peephole?" Lip chuckles.
"Oh shit, yeah!" I gape as I remember, "took pictures of me in the shower."
"Well I'm afraid it's going to be a little different this time," she solemnly says, "I've placed Liam and Carl together, but Debbie unfortunately has to be placed separately."
The van goes quiet before Debbie finally speaks, "all by myself?" She asks in fear, glancing back to Lip, Ian and I.
"Emma, I've placed you in a another home, your file said that you have trust issues with men you don't know so the family taking you in is just a single mother and her son, is that okay?" She explains.
"I don't have trust issues with men I don't know." I grow defensive.
"I'm just going by what your counsellor put on your file." She calmly tells me.
"Counsellor?" Lip raises an eyebrow at me.
"They made me see a shrink a couple times in Juvie 'cause of the 'the circumstances of my trial' or whatever." I brush him off, making speech marks with my hands, "anyway, sure, whatever, that's fine," I tell Britney, rolling my eyes in annoyance.
"Okay." She nods, "lastly, Philip and Ian because your too old to be placed, you're going to a group home." She concludes.
"How come I'm not too old?" I quickly ask.
"You were an exception." She answers, turning back to the road as lights turn green.
We all go quiet again, the news particularly shaking us, as it's not what we were prepared for or expecting. The rest of the journey is silent until we pull up outside of a Gunderson House; the home that Lip and Ian are being put in.
"That really puts the 'home' in group home," Ian quips, looking out the window.
My two brothers quickly take their cash and hide it. Lip shoves his in the waistband of his boxers and Ian stashes his in his sock.
"Hey," I get my older brother's attention, pulling out the leftover change I still have from my train ticket, "take this too."
"Thanks, Em," he gives me a small smile and takes the money, putting it with the rest of it. Lip gets out first, grimacing at the sight of the prison-like group home, "it's only gonna be a couple days, okay?" He assures Debbie and Carl, "every Gallagher can handle that, right?"
"I'll take care of Liam," Carl nods with a determined smile.
"Yes, you will," Lip tells him.
Ian and Lip give each of us a hug, leaning across the seat to get to Carl and Liam.
I sigh, smiling at Ian before letting him put his arms around me, "don't fuck anyone in there," I mumble, "they're probably just trying to see if you're gay to fuck you up in the bad way."
"Got it," he chuckles.
"Be careful, okay? I'm pretty sure this is a level 14, so please don't piss anyone off and get murdered," I say seriously.
"I'll try my best," he pulls away, giving me kiss on the forehead, "stay safe."
"I will," I nod, letting go of his and letting my brothers walk away from the van and towards Gunderson House, "love you both."
"You too," Lip shouts back over his shoulder.
Britney walks them over to the man waiting outside and they talk for a moment before he leads them away and she comes back to the van.
"Right, Emma," she slams the door closed and turns the ignition, "we're heading to your home next."
"No, we're heading to someone else's home," I grumble, "you just yanked me from mine."
Britney doesn't say anything in response, and keeps her eyes on the road ahead.
I swallow thickly, "I'm sorry. I know you're just doing your job."
"It's okay," she gives me a small smile through the rear view mirror, "I know this probably isn't how you wanted to spend your first day out of Juvie."
"Not exactly," I chuckle dryly.
A few minutes later, we pull up at a small bungalow that reminds me of the houses around our neighbourhood, it's most definitely still the Southside. Britney turns off the engine and climbs out of the van.
I turn to my younger siblings, "listen to me. You're gonna be okay, we're all gonna be okay. We'll be back home before you know it."
The pair of them quickly put their arms around me and I rub their backs reassuringly.
"I love you, Emma," Debbie tells me seriously.
"Love you," Carl whispers.
"I love you both too," I breath out, biting my lip, "be careful, guys, and behave wherever you're placed."
They both nod and eventually let go, allowing me to give Liam and kiss on the forehead then exit the van, Britney closing the sliding door after me. We walk up to the door and Britney knocks a few times.
A few moments later, the door is pulled open revealing a blonde woman, probably in her early-to-mid thirties. She reeks of cigarettes and the scent of weed lingers in the air.
"Jennifer Parelli?" Britney checks.
She pauses for a second, "oh, the DFS," realisation covers her face, "this the kid?"
Britney nods, subconsciously straightening up her blouse collar, "this is Emma, the one I told you about on the phone."
"Just got out of juvie, right?" The woman raises an eyebrow, scanning me up and down.
"Yes, but she will be no trouble," Britney looks over at me, "will you?"
"None at all," I smile sweetly, "I'm good as gold. They only had me in juvie to try and give the other inmates a good influence."
Jennifer smirks slightly at my comment and nods, "all right. Well, come on in then."
"Um," Britney reaches into her bag and pulls out a business card, "this is my number. If you have any questions, or you know, if you just want to talk about anything, you can call me anytime, okay?"
"Thanks," I smile, taking the card.
"Well, I'll be going then," she nods, "thank you, Mrs Parelli."
"It's Miss," Jennifer corrects, "I'm divorced."
"Sorry, my mistake," Britney apologises, giving me a quick wave before getting back into the van.
I wave goodbye to Carl, Debs and Liam as they drive off down the street.
"You can call me Jen," my new foster parent tells me.
We both walk inside and she shuts the door behind us.
"Nice to meet you, Jen," I murmur, looking around the house.
"My son, Lewis, is at work but he should be home later I think," she tells me, walking towards the kitchen and opening the fridge, "you want something to drink?"
"Sure, what you got?" I ask.
"Uh... water, or beer," she shrugs.
"Beer's good," I nod and she takes one out, passing it to me, "thanks."
"We don't got another bed for you, so you can take Lewis's, and he'll take the couch," Jen explains, gesturing to a door over to the left, "his room is just there."
"Nah, it's fine, I can take the couch," I shrug, popping the cap off my beer and taking a sip.
"Lew will insist on it anyway," she brushes me off, "just take the bed."
"Fairs," I nod.
Well, this should be fun.