☆

"GOOD MORNING TO YOU too," Lip grumbled once Amara started to frantically hit him so he would move, and jumped out of bed when he did so she could go puke. Much to her distress, the upstairs bathroom was locked, and she barely made it down the steps to use the first floor one before it all came spewing out of her.

"I'm getting sick of this," she complained, stepping out of the bathroom. Lip and Fiona had arrived in the kitchen during the time she'd been in the bathroom, and her boyfriend approached her with a glass of water. "And no, that wasn't a pun."

Fiona looked better than she had in months, Amara was glad she finally decided she didn't want to take the same path as her father. "Have you thought of names yet?" She asked them, leaning against the counter with a mug of coffee.

"Douglas," Amara answered immediately with a wicked grin, Lip just rolled his eyes and opened the fridge. "No. We've only known for a week."

"When's the first, uh, pregnancy person appointment thing again?"

She shot him a look. "The what now?"

"You know," Lip waved his hand. "The, uh... thing where you get ultrasounds."

Fiona was snickering into her cup while Amara raised her brows, but before she had the chance to comment on it, commotion sounded from the living room. "A little help in here!" Debbie shouted, Amara peered around the wall to see her, Carl and Kelly struggling to lug in Frank.

"Put me down!" Frank demanded, sounding like he was in pain. The three of them rushed into the room. "Put me down, no more!"

"What happened?" Fiona questioned, but the room broke out into gasps once Frank pulled up his shorts, revealing his bloodstained leg, and the bone popping out into his thigh. Amara felt her stomach lurch.

"Oh, here we go," she groaned, running back into the bathroom. "Round two!"

"I had an opportunity to invest some of my Ingrid severance money, and I took it," Frank was saying as Amara stepped back into the living room. Lip approached her and snaked a hand around her waist, before Amara shrugged him off. He looked annoyed but let his arm fall back to his side.

"If you're done hiding your stash can I call 911?" Fiona asked, glancing around at them all hopelessly.

"Not until my associates come and we complete our transaction," Frank answered.

"There won't be any transaction to complete if you bleed out on the couch," Amara said, crossing her arms as if that would somehow stop the queasiness in her stomach.

"I gotta go to work," Carl announced, shaking his head, and brushing past Kelly who had been standing next to him. She didn't take her gaze off him, but Debbie's voice drew their attention back.

"Yeah, we should go too."

"I'm giving your associates five minutes," Fiona stated. "Then I'm calling 911."

Amara straightened and walked back into the kitchen. "Come on Lip."

"I don't think we should just-"

She glared at him. "Now."

Lip didn't argue, he just followed her out the door. Pregnancy power was something else.

☆

"Still don't understand why you did this," Lip said, though he hadn't looked away from the car. Amara was mid pulling her hair up into a ponytail after a sudden hot flash. "I mean, it's decent. Nice model. But we could've used that money to take a loan out on something else."

Amara stood and climbed out from the drivers seat to meet him at the front of the vehicle. "We're having a kid, do you expect me to walk everywhere pregnant and carry it around in my arms after it's born? This was definitely a need."

"Yeah," he exhaled. "Okay, fair point."

"But that means I don't have the money for an apartment anymore."

"That's fine," Lip nodded.

"And the appointment is tomorrow at noon."

"Great, I'll be there."

She raised a brow. "You know just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean you have to kiss my ass."

"Oh, it definitely does," he took a step back. "I don't want to have my neck slit in my sleep."

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes and plunked herself into the car again. "Let's take this bad boy out for a test run."

They ended up parked under an overpass somewhere a couple blocks away from Amara's complex, with her straddling Lip in the passenger seat, and his fingers working their way down to unzip her jeans.

It was the first time they'd done anything sexual since Amara found out she was pregnant, mostly because the thought of sex made her sick, basically just like everything else. But the hormones were terrible, because one minute they were driving home, and the next she was slick like oil between her thighs and had to pull over.

"I'm fucking starving," she said once they were done, glancing over to him. "Wanna get nachos?"

Lip bursted out laughing. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you want."

☆

"Going somewhere?" Amara heard Frank ask as she stepped into the house through the back door. Her and Lip had separated a couple of hours ago once Vanessa called her in for an emergency meeting. She came to a stop once she saw Fiona standing there with her coat on and a suitcase. Frank was being bathed by Seamus from down the block.

"Everybody leave?" She questioned.

"Yeah," Frank nodded. "Gathering supplies for your bon voyage celebration."

"You're leaving," Amara realized, Fiona spun around as if hearing her for the first time. She offered a small smile, Amara felt the bile rise up in her throat, but swallowed it down and darted over to wrap her into the tightest hug imaginable. "Good," she said once they broke apart. "Good, yeah. Go. You deserve to finally have your own life. Hey, maybe you'll run into Jimmy-Steve along the way."

Fiona laughed—it was a sad sound that made Amara's gut clench. She was happy for her, really, but fuck, it didn't have to hurt so much. Fiona had been the one solid thing for everyone growing up, it was like a piece of Amara was leaving. But Fiona didn't deserve to be their caterer anymore. She had spent too much time raising her siblings that most of her life hadn't even been her own.

"Wouldn't that be wonderful?" She mused sarcastically. Amara forced a grin, it felt like her insides were being pulled out. "Thank you, Amara. For saving Lip. For trying to save me. Helping me out through the years, always there for help when I needed it. I couldn't have done it without it you."

"No," Amara argued, shaking her head. "You could have. And you did. All of the credit belongs to you. You're the strongest out of all of us, I should be thanking you. I am thanking you."

Fiona blinked rapidly and smiled. "Yeah, okay. I'm gonna leave now. Before I chicken out," her gaze slid to Amara's stomach. "Good luck with the baby. Oh, shit, here. I wanted to give this back to you."

"The ring Ian gave me? I thought you pawned it."

"I did," Fiona nodded. "But I bought it back with some extra cash I had lying around. Figured he was right. Lip is too pussy to ever ask you. Woman up and do it yourself." Amara wiped her eyes and sniffled. Fiona turned on her heel to face Frank, and the other brunette took the cue to leave and stepped into the kitchen. When she glanced out into the living room again, Fiona was nowhere to be seen.

Ten minutes later, the rest of the Gallagher family came inside, along with Tami, Logan, and Kev and V. "The barbecue is back!" Lip called up the stairs. "They didn't have chicken, but they had extra ribs."

"Lip," Amara said, catching his attention. Everyone glanced around when Fiona didn't answer from the second floor. Her boyfriend physically deflated once he gathered what happened.

"She's gone," he said, looking at her for confirmation.

Amara nodded once. "She's gone."

☆

a/n

THIS HURT SO BAD I MISS MY #1 GIRL☹️☹️☹️☹️