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AMARA HADN'T BEEN IN her house for more than five minutes before someone started to wail from outside. She nearly jumped off the couch in fright, and shared a looked with her sister. "Did you hear that, too?"

Amara stood, and peered through the curtains. "It's Debbie."

"Well, that the fuck is she doing?"

She tensed, and bolted out the door. "Debbie?!"

"Fuck!" The redhead yelled. "Help me! God, this hurts so bad. Fuck, fuck fuck-"

"Jesus Christ, are you in labor?!" Silvia rushed towards the front door of the Gallagher household and pushed it open as Amara helped guide her up the steps, groaning the whole time. "Someone get out here!"

Of course, with Amara's luck, it was Lip, but they didn't have time to be weird around one another as they led Debbie into the living room. Majority of everyone from Fiona's bachelorette party was still there, and they crowded around the screaming girl, who was now lying on the couch.

"All right, all right," Kev was pacing. "I can go get my truck, and the rest of you can fit in Amara's car, right? Then we can go to the hospital."

"No!" Debbie protested as Fiona crouched down before her. "No hospitals!"

"We don't have time to argue," Fiona tried pulling her up, but Debbie screeched like a demon. Amara winced and stepped back to hover near Silvia, who looked as helpless as Amara felt.

"No shit!" Veronica was peering under Debbie's skirt. "This baby is coming."

"Now?!"

"She's crowning."

"Whatever that means," Amara muttered.

"The fuck are you doing?" Lip demanded at Svetlana, who had her phone out.

"I capture moment."

Amara was so caught off guard that she actually laughed. All heads turned in her direction, each and every one of them wearing an expression of disbelief. "Sorry. I'm nervous. Continue with your labor going."

"Quick, who delivered Liam?" Fiona asked Lip, who shook his head.

"Uh, Monica. She was high. He slid right out."

"What, so we just give Debbie a bunch of drugs?" Silvia questioned.

Debbie's head snapped over in her direction. "What are you even doing here?! Get out!"

"Yeah, I have a problem with authority. No can do."

"Go get Sylvia from down the block," Fiona ordered Lip. "She's a nurse."

"No good," Kev cut in. "She's at Cook County."

"I thought she worked at Rush?"

"No, Cool County Department of Corrections," Veronica said. "She shot her husband."

Fiona glanced around hopelessly before looking back to V. "You worked at a nursing home."

"Changing bed pans, I never delivered a damn baby!"

"Amara!" Fiona yelled, and she gave a yelp of surprise. "Get over here. You helped deliver Silvia, didn't you?"

"I sat on the floor and sobbed while Margot made me feed her frozen peas as she bled and pushed Via out into the bathtub. I didn't do anything."

Fiona sighed. "Uhm, okay, let's get her into the kitchen."

"What, is she gonna have the baby on the table?" Sean asked as they moved Debbie.

"Ambulance is on its way!" Kevin announced, stepping into the room as they stood around the table.

Lip glanced up from his laptop. "It says we need towels."

"Already got 'em!" Fiona replied, sprinting into the room.

"Alright, so, put them under her to catch all the..." Lip looked disgusted. "Fuck! Just put it under!"

Amara scoffed quietly as all of the men retreated as far away as they could, and stepped over as Debbie waved her hand for someone to grab. Both her and Fiona surrounded her on either side, clutching her fingers as she screamed in pain. "It's gonna be okay," Fiona assured. "It's gonna be okay. I'm right here."

"When I was having my girls, the doc told me to do three quick pants and then one long blow," Veronica advised as Svetlana got closer with the camera. "We're gonna start pushing now, okay?" She said gently after both Debbie and Fiona went through a series of breathing exercises. "Here we go."

"All right," Lip winced from behind the counter. Amara refrained from rolling her eyes as she caught the wide eyed look he shared with the other boys.

"Ready and push!" Debbie grunted and her face scrunched up in pain, her grip tightening on Amara's hand as she threw her head back. "Push, push, push push! Push, come on!"

"Don't stop keep going!"

"Keep pushing Debs!"

Soon the entire house was just filled with screaming, and honestly if the situation weren't so stressful, Amara would be laughing her ass off.

But it finally happened, and Debbie was panting heavily by the time it was over. Amara lightly dropped her hand as she watched Veronica wrap up the newborn into a towel. The kitchen was quiet now as everyone gathered together again.

"Is the baby okay?" Debbie wondered, weakly lifting her head.

"Yeah," V smiled at her. "She's great."

"She?" Debbie repeated as she took hold of her child. Lip gently brushed past Amara to cradle his sister's head, and she slowly stepped back next to Silvia.

"You did amazing, Debs," Fiona told her.

"My daughter," Debbie whispered. "She's so big. Hi Frances. Do you recognize my voice?"

"Frances?" Lip repeated.

Debbie glanced to him then back to the baby. "After her grandfather."

Amara failed to hide her grimace.

"She's so beautiful," Debbie went on, her oblivious to everyone else's confusion and slight annoyance. "Thank you."

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Amara sat on the back steps, a barely drank beer bottle in her hands as she stared up at the night sky. Nothing had really changed in the deliverance of Debbie's baby, other than the obvious, the new Gallagher addition. But it made her feel included again. She'd felt so out of the loop for months now, and it was partially her fault. She had been the one avoiding going over, just so she didn't have the chance to run into Lip. It seemed impossible, now that she thought about it. Lip would always be around, she would just have to get over herself. She needed her family back.

The door swung open—but she didn't have to look back to know who it was. It was time to talk, she guessed, and Lip sat down next to her on the step, offering her a beer. She held up the one in her grasp. "Thanks, but, I've already got one. And so do you."

He didn't look at her. "What?"

"I can smell it on you. Maybe don't have another one?"

"Fuck off, Amara," he rolled his eyes and scooted away from her. "Was going to come out here and have a nice conversation with you, but nevermind."

Amara stared into the backyard. "Just being a concerned ex-girlfriend. No need to get pissy and throw a temper tantrum."

"Right, well, I don't think it's any of your business."

"You're right," she agreed. "It's not."

"You know, I've always wondered something about you," he stated, his words slurring. Amara tensed but didn't look at him still.

"Uh-huh. Go on."

"Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe everyone in your life leaves you because you're a complete control freak, and a whiny bitch? Because, I think about it a lot, actually. I mean, the whole, 'don't screw up your future Lip' speech you always gave, that really wasn't for me, was it? I don't think it's everybody else, Amara. I think it's you. You're the problem. You're so goddamn unpleasant to be around."

Amara bit her lower lip to stop it from quivering, and turned to stare at him once she was sure she wasn't about to burst into tears. "I've always wondered something about you, too," she said, blankly.

"Oh yeah? What's that-"

Her palm slapped across his cheek before he even got the chance to finish his sentence. Lip looked even more stunned than she felt, but she refused to let it show. Amara stood, glaring at him as he clutched his now red cheek, and shrugged, taking another step down the stairs. 

"Always wanted to know what that felt like."

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