☆

THE ADRENALINE THAT WAS pumping through Amara's veins was so strong that she probably would've been able to run to the prison on foot, and Lip honestly couldn't seem to be driving any slower. They'd left Freddie with Logan and Tami, who had been more than excited to watch him, and she was only slightly embarrassed to admit that she had temporarily forgotten all about her son as they pulled up to the gate.

"Hey," Lip called out once Ian's figure appeared outside of the door, dropping his arm from around her shoulders, the two of them straightening off the hood. "How was prison? Turn you gay?"

"Yeah," Ian nodded his head and neared the exit. "I'm a big ol' cock hound now. You know if you weren't my brother I'd—"

Amara rolled her eyes just as the guard who was stood next to the gate spoke. "Shut the fuck up and get outta here."

The barrier separating the three of them faded behind the him. Amara could barely feel her legs as she bolted over to Ian the second he was outside of the fence. Somehow, he still smelt like himself. Like he hadn't just spent the last eleven months in a jail cell. She pulled back almost reluctantly to let Lip have his turn with his brother, and slipped the keys from his back pocket in the meantime—half surprised that she didn't get caught.

"You guys have caramel on you or something?"

"Oh, no," Amara shook her head. "Lip is the vape king now."

"Shut up," he shoved her lightly, and she returned the gesture with a grin. "I'm trying to quit for Freddie."

"Oh, speaking of," Ian glanced between them and then into the car. "Where is he?"

"Mar didn't feel too keen about bringing a newborn here so..." Lip trailed off. "He's at home with a couple of our friends."

"Damn, was really hoping to see the little guy," Ian sighed, reaching a hand out to Amara who ducked under so it wrapped around her shoulders like Lip's had been only moments prior.

"So, what do you want to do?" Lip asked, stepping beside her and interlocking his fingers with her free arm. "White Castle?"

"Nah," Ian replied. "Kinda just want to go home. I miss everybody."

"Soft bitch," Lip teased. "Fuck, wait where are the keys?"

Amara smirked smugly and shared a look with Ian as Lip patted down his jeans. The redhead examined the vehicle. "So whose car is this?"

"Mine," she answered, walking over to the driver's seat as if her boyfriend still wasn't on the other side frantically looking for the keys. "I took out a loan for it a couple months before Freddie was born. I didn't want to have to walk everywhere with Freddie on my hip."

"Fuck, babe I think I lost the- what the hell?"

Her mouth tugged up further. "You drive like a grandma."

Lip scowled at her. "There was traffic."

She stared dumbfounded at him and shook her head when he went to open the passenger door. "No, children sit in the back."

Ian threw his head back with a laugh as Lip grunted, but slid into the backseat as the remaining two climbed in the front. She let her gaze drift over them, heart full once more. "All right, fuckers. Seat belts."

Ian snorted at her. "God, you really are a mom."

☆

"Jokes on you!" Frank's voice could be heard saying as she stepped into the house later that day, shutting the door behind her. "They're not my babies! They're my son Carl's!"

"The fuck?" She blurted, and Tami could be seen rushing down the steps with Fred in her grasp. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Tami was shaking her head and handed the baby to her. "Logan left like three hours ago because her mom went into surgery, and Freddie hasn't eaten anything I've given him. I think he hates me, I'm starting to take this personal."

"Uh," Amara blinked and shifted the crying newborn on her chest. "Okay, I'll feed him. You tell me if anything else interesting happens down here."

"You tricked me!" Randy accused, Amara peaked her head around the wall, just getting Freddie down for a nap, and managing to avoid getting puke down her shirt. Now she got to sit back and enjoy whatever drama Frank had gotten himself into this time.

"I didn't trick you," Frank argued.

"I didn't know it was a bet," Carl said. Amara plunked down on the steps and looked at each one of them as they spoke. "And I didn't have sex with Ingrid."

"Well, you jizzed in a cup!" Frank stated. Amara took notice of Anne's family watching all of this unfold from the room over.

"Yeah, but was her vagina in that cup?" Carl questioned. Anne threw her hands up and left to go into the living room. Amara was tempted to pull out her phone and text Silvia, but then decided against it. This would probably make her feel worse rather than amused.

"Okay, if you were to offer me, say, two hundred grand, I'd be willing to take them off you," Frank said.

Randy protested. "I am not paying you to take what is already yours."

"Now, hold on," Frank insisted. "What about a script for a couple thousand Percocet?"

"That would be unethical, not to mention criminal."

"It would be criminal to leave these babies with Frank or Carl," Kelly said.

"Yeah," Amara nodded her head. "You don't want them ending up like the rest of the Gallagher's do you? I mean since obviously they're all such Southside trash. You know, I bet if you leave Frank will dump them on the streets and they'll have to evolve into rats to survive."

"That's not— that doesn't—" Randy stammered. "That's not how evolution exists."

Amara cocked her head to the side. "Wow so you're an annoying deadbeat adoptive father and an evolution scientist. Now that is a range."

"Oh, what the hell?" Frank murmured, turning around. "I'll take one."

Amara rose to her feet with a huff. "I'm never helping you again."

☆

"Slayers or Roosters?" Liam asked her once she was in the kitchen. She blinked tiredly, rubbing the sleep out from her eyes before pointing to the green jersey, deciding not to question why Ian's welcome home party was sports themed, and stepped to the fridge to grab a bottle of baby formula she'd already made up hours ago.

"Hey," she felt a warm mouth press up against the side of her neck as two arms slid around her waist from behind. "You're not covered in baby vomit. I'm impressed."

"Nice to see you too," Amara remarked, slowly turning to face him, fighting off the urge to yawn. "How was work?"

"Same old," he shrugged, watching her. "Jesus. You look like a raccoon."

"If one more person tells me that I'm gonna kick them in the face."

Lip gestured to the stairs. "He asleep?"

"Yeah, I'm grabbing the baby formula for me," she muttered. "Obviously not dipshit."

Lip glanced away but she could tell he was trying not to laugh. "So you haven't slept at all today have you?"

"Is this an interrogation?"

"No, you're just really grumpy when you're tired."

"Yeah, the little asshole can sleep for three hours but the second I want to take a nap he wants to wake me up twenty minutes in."

Lip went to reply, but Liam shouted from the living room. "I think Ian's here!"

"Wrong redhead," Amara commented once they all had gathered together only for Debbie to walk in and announce that Franny's stepmother wanted full custody. She definitely knew how to make an entrance.

For the second time that night, they wrongfully yelled surprise at Kev and V, who studied the room. "Why does it look like SportsCenter threw up in here?" Veronica asked. "What kind of decorations are these? Who decided this was the theme?"

"I think technically we should blame the person who let the ten year old plan the party," Amara mused. "Which one of you morons was it?"

"Yeah, great party planner," Carl said dryly. Silvia made an appearance a moment after, awkwardly faltering her footing before turning to one of the girls she'd brought along with her.

"Hey," Ian greeted, coming in from the kitchen. The chatter died down as they all turned to look at him, and instead of surprising him, he surprised them. "We got a family scrimmage here? 'Cause I'm on Liam's team."

☆

a/n

i missed sassy amara

also!!!! for any of you marvel fans i just uploaded a natasha romanoff fic based off of the new black widow movie. read if you're interested:))