☆

"IS HE dead?"

There was a large grouped crowded in the living room of the Gallagher house, all of them peering down at Frank, who was still unconscious on the couch, laying in the same position Amara had last seen him in.

"Faint pulse," Ian told Lip, his fingers on the side of Frank's neck. "Hypoxic."

"High what?"

"Barely breathing," Veronica explained.

Amara nodded at Debbie. "Should Franny be seeing this?"

"She'll be fine," Debbie dismissed. Amara shared a brief glance with Lip. Clearly they all had different ideas on how to parent. "What's that smell?"

"Grampy went tinkle in his pants."

"Damn it," Debbie cursed. "Not on the new couch."

"Hey. What's going on?" Carl asked as he stepped into the living room, dressed for work, and Silvia following right behind him.

"Frank OD'd again," Ian said, taking the needle from his father's skin. "How much heroin did he do?"

Liam scanned the area, and held up two small bags. A chorus of 'wow's' echoed in the living room, and Silvia crossed her arms. "And he's not dead?"

"Yet another disadvantage to decades of copious narcotics use," Lip mused, reaching for Amara's hand as he spoke. Frank wasn't the only one who liked to overdose in front of his kids—one of Amara's first memories of her father was finding him seizing on the floor of the bathroom. She felt his finger brush over the newly placed ring, and struggled not to grin.

"Should we, like, call the paramedics or something?"

"No. He's done this before. A bunch of times."

"Could go grab some Naloxone," Amara suggested, and they turned to her in confusion. "What? It helps reverse the effects of an OD. Used it on my dad a shit load of times."

"He may be trying to kill himself," Liam said into the silence that followed Amara's statement. "He's been depressed. The dementia is getting bad."

"Hand me that syringe," Veronica instructed, and Ian did as he was told. They watched as she struck the thing right into the palm of Frank's hand. Amara grimaced and squeezed her eyes shut. "Unresponsive to pain."

"Stroke?"

"Or he's already brain-dead. That happens a lot with overdoses."

"Guess it's up to us to finish him off," Mickey said, and Amara reached around Debbie to smack him roughly in the arm. "What? Not like anyone's gonna miss him."

"We could've easily said the same about Terry, and you would've freaked the fuck out," Amara said. "Don't be ignorant."

Carl sighed. "Gotta get to work. Is there any coffee?"

"Yeah," Lip nodded in the direction of the kitchen. "I made a pot."

"Hey, can you grab me one too?" Silvia asked, trailing behind him. "I gotta get dressed."

Carl gave her a thumbs up, and they both went their separate ways.

"So now what?"

"We wait, I guess. See if he dies or not."

"Morbid ass morning," Amara muttered.

"You said there's coffee?" Ian asked, and Lip nodded. The group quickly dispersed, Kev and V left to meet the buyer for the Alibi, Carl was out the door for work, and Silvia jogged up the steps.

"So," Debbie started smugly, smirking at Lip from across the counter. Amara sorted through the cards in her wallet in attempt to find an address for a furniture place that she'd written down, and didn't notice the growing tension between the siblings until Debbie spoke again. "Heard your plans for selling the house fell through."

Lip froze, his jaw clenching. "Try not to sound so happy about it."

"I don't think I've ever been so happy to see someone fail before. You gonna repair all the damages you did?"

Lip swore, and briskly left the house. Amara raised a brow at Debbie, who shot her an almost challenging look. Amara didn't care about selling the house anymore—they were going to be secure in their new apartment, with or without the help from the house. But it was something Lip wanted, and she'd be damned if she let Debbie rub it in his face without any repercussions.

"You know that repeating question that lingers in your mind? The one that's always asking why you're not good enough, or why nobody stays? This is why, Debbie," Amara climbed to her feet, swinging her bag over her shoulder. Debbie's face grew pale. "You make it impossible to fucking like you. So the next time the 'is it me?' question pops up, remember the answer is yes. Always yes."

Mickey whistled, and Ian shot him a warning look as Amara trailed after Lip. She discovered he hadn't gone far—just to the front porch, an unlit cigarette in his hands. He looked back once he heard the door open. Amara closed it firmly before joining him on the steps.

"You okay?" Is all she said.

"Yeah," he shrugged, scoffing. "Fucking Debbie."

"Yeah," she agreed. "But that's not what I meant."

Lip huffed. "You know I don't give a shit about Frank. He never cared about us. Why should I care if he lives or dies?"

"He's still your dad."

"Yeah, I'm reminded of that blessing every single fucking day."

Amara braced her arms onto her knees, and looked out to the street. It was quiet. Dead, even. For sale signs were posted on almost every single house on the block. Wallace Street, for the first time in probably decades, was completely deserted.

She looked back to Lip. "There were a lot of times I wished my dad was dead. I'd wake up to him yelling, wake up to him smacking me. I hated him for anything he did, really. But no matter how much I wanted him to die, I think there's a small part of me that would be destroyed if he actually did. We're human, Lip. Feelings will always contradict. It's okay to be upset. You can still hate him at the same time."

He was silent for a long moment. "I guess it does bug me a little. You have a way with words, Mar. Has anyone ever told you that you should be a writer?"

She nudged him with a grin, and he started to smile, too. "Heard it a few times. Look, I'm gonna go to some of those rent-to-buy furniture places before my meeting later. Don't wallow too much, okay? You did a great job renovating the house, don't listen to Debbie. I'll see you later. Don't forget—Alibi tonight at seven for Ian and Mickey's anniversary."

Lip stood up after her, catching her by the hand to draw her in for a kiss. "Later, my fiancé."

Amara attempted to smack his stomach, but she was grinning to broadly to manage. "Shut it."

☆

Amara hadn't exactly succeeded with furniture shopping, though Logan and Tami, who frankly had enough furniture for their apartment, had nearly a whole cart full of decorations. 

"This is so great for you guys," Logan said. "I'm glad you went for that apartment. And don't think we didn't notice the ring on your finger."

Amara felt her cheeks flush. "This ol' thing? Please."

"Yeah," Tami scoffed. "Pleaseeee let us see it, bitch!"

"When did he do it?" Logan asked eagerly, and the two women examined her hand.

"Last night," Amara said. "But we're trying to keep it lowkey since it's the anniversary of someone else today. We didn't want to give off proposing-at-someone-else's-wedding couple, so we'll tell everyone tomorrow. If they don't pick up observation skills by then and realize I'm wearing it."

"Very considerate of you," Tami said. "You're better than me. I would've flaunted that thing immediately, no matter the circumstances. I mean, I did," she smugly glanced to Logan, who rolled her eyes.

"You guys pick a date yet?" Amara asked, browsing through another section. "Ooh, what do you think of this dresser?"

"Not yet," Logan said. "We're thinking a spring wedding, though. Something small. Indoors so we don't melt. Chicago springs are rough."

"Looks like victorian and boho threw up all over this poor thing," Tami murmured, running her hand over over the dresser. "You really gonna tarnish your clothes with this ugly thing?"

"It's not for me," Amara rolled her eyes. "It's for Liam. He likes this kind of design. I wanted to get his room set up first. I mean, we're tearing him from his childhood home. He thought all of us were just going to leave him on the street if we sold the house. I want him to know how loved and cared for he is."

"You're being strangely sentimental," Logan accused. "You feeling okay?"

Amara waved her off. "Yeah. Just, rough morning. That's all. I really like this, though." She reached down to check the price tag, and winced. "But I don't like it enough for four-hundred dollars."

Logan and Tami shared a look. "We can buy it for you."

"What? No way."

"Yeah, come on! It'll be, like, our house warming gift to you."

Amara gave them both a pointed look. "Most house warming gifts are toasters or a plant. Not a dresser. You're both crazy. No."

Amara didn't know how it happened, but somehow, she wounded up back at her new apartment, and with a new dresser sitting in the corner of Liam's mostly empty bedroom.

Logan and Tami smirked at her, and Amara studiously avoided both their gazes.

☆

"How'd furniture shopping go?" Lip asked, grabbing the last of the grocery bags from Amara's car. Shrugging, she closed the trunk and opened the Alibi door.

"Okay. I got a couple things. Started Liam's room. Wanna do Fred's room in dinosaurs, what you think?"

Lip didn't protest as they stepped into the bar. "Sounds cool. Hey, uh, we got the sausages and the buns, where you want 'em?"

"In the back," Veronica answered.

Amara snorted. "So much irony in one conversation."

Lip gave her a look, but all Amara did was smile innocently in return. They were all quick to set up the decorations before the couple arrived, and when Mickey showed up at the door, they all took their spots to surprise Ian, who was stunned near the front when they all started cheering.

"Speech!" Lip hollered, and others followed in suite.

"Um," Ian faltered under all sets of eyes. "I love this man."

The celebration lasted hours, Mickey spun around with the dancers, Franny held Fred and twirled in circles, Amara bartended for a few minutes for old times' sake, Tami and Logan threw their heads back with laughs, sharing whispers and secret smiles from a booth, while Liam sat at one of the stools, body dejected.

"Hey," Amara reached for one of his hands across the counter. "I admire you for taking care of Frank. I really do. It couldn't have been easy."

"It wasn't," Liam shrugged. "But he's my dad. I'd do anything for him."

Amara tapped his hand fondly, then moved out from behind the bar to join Ian and Lip at the pool table. "What's up, fellas?"

Ian nodded at the cup in her hands. "What's that?"

Lip scoffed. "Surprised your picky ass could decide on something to drink."

Amara glanced between the two of them. "If you both don't stop ganging up on me, you're gonna wake up with shaven eyebrows. Anyway, it's a virgin piña colada," she handed it to Lip. "And it's your drink, douche. Not mine."

Lip shook his head and avoided looking at Ian's growing smirk. "Uh, is not."

Ian stood up, chuckling. "Yeah, okay." Then, he patted Amara's arm. "Congratulations on the engagement."

She was too surprised that he'd noticed to form a reply, and only managed to watch after him as he joined Mickey on the dance floor. Amara looked back to Lip. "Okay, he's gone. You can drink your girly drink in peace."

Lip took the glass from her. "For the record, I'm only drinking it because you made it."

"Uh-huh," she answered, unconvinced. "And for some reason, I just can't believe you."

"Hey!" Someone called, gaining everyone's attention. "There's a car on fire out here."

"Sick," Amara commented, lacing her fingers between Lip's and pulling him upright. "Let's go. Don't forget your drink."

"Hilarious," he said, dryly, and allowed her to tug him outside.

Amara started laughing once she saw it was a Tesla that was caught on fire. They grouped together on the side walk, Lip's arm thrown casually over her shoulder and they both slowly started to sway at the song Ian had the crowd singing.

"We get high in the backseats of cars. We break into mobile homes. We go to sleep to Shake Appeal. Never wake up on our own. That's the way we get by—to the way we get by. Oh, that's the way we get by." Amara caught Lip's gaze from where he was hugging Debbie, and smiled. "That's the way we get by."

☆

THREE MONTHS LATER

"Um...Amara?"

Silvia's voice brought her back into the present. Amara dropped her hands from her half pulled up hair, and looked behind her in the mirror to see what her sister sounded so concerned about. "If you tell me Mickey lost the cake, I swear to god I'm going to become a runaway."

"Runaways only count when the bride doesn't want to get married," another voice said from the bathroom, and out walked Mandy Milkovich. Amara rolled her eyes—after sending out wedding invitations—Mandy had returned to Chicago for a brief period of time as Amara's maid of honor. She'd planned most of the wedding, actually. "At least I think."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," Amara sighed, then turned to Silvia. "What is it? Don't tell me Lip fainted. I can't have another Fred's birth situation. It was embarrassing enough with just the nurses. Imagine our entire family and all of our friends."

"No, he's very much conscious," Veronica confirmed, finishing up on Gemma and Amy's makeup. Both of the girls wore matching light green dresses. Amara was incredibly relieved Kev and V were there—she had no idea how to navigate through a wedding. Veronica was extremely good at calming her nerves. "Though, I think he's more jittery than you right now."

Debbie started to laugh from her spot on the couch. "Yeah. Kev said he's walking laps around his hotel room and asking the time every thirty seconds."

"I heard Ian had to give him a barf bag."

"Poor bag."

"I have a slightly pressing matter to get back to," Silvia interrupted, and Amara's stomach dropped as her sister held up her shoes—Amara's shoes, to be exact, with one of the heels broken.

"No," Amara rose from her chair as the women in the room gasped. Tami clasped a hand over her mouth. "No, no. No. You're shitting me right now."

"Oh, God," Logan grimaced. "They must've broke when we packed them into the suite case."

"What are we going to do?" Amara asked, growing frantic. "It's just a pair of shoes, but nobody else's match mine. I could just go barefoot."

"No way, girl," Logan argued. "That dress was fitted for you in heels. You'll trip over it."

"Tami and Logan are on groomsmen duty," Mandy muttered. "So they're out. Debbie and V are setting the girls up for flower girl, so they can't do it either. Silvia, do you think it's possible you can run and grab a similar pair from a store nearby?"

"The wedding starts in fifteen minutes," Amara stated. "There's no way she'll find a pair. She still has to finish her hair to be in the wedding."

"I think I have someone who can help," Veronica mused, and Amara glanced over at her, noting her growing smirk.

"Uh, who? Cause if you think any of the guys can go shoe shopping, you're placing your trust in the wrong spot."

"Who said anything about using the guys?" A new voice said from the doorway, and Amara's head snapped up, feeling her entire body go slick with shock when she realized whose eyes she was meeting.

"Fiona," she nearly tripped over her own two feet trying to reach the eldest Gallagher, and Fiona laughed, catching her by the arms easily, and bringing her into a hug. "Oh my God."

"Surprise," Veronica grinned, and Amara slowly broke away from the embrace. "I had her fly in for your wedding."

"Yeah, figured you didn't miss the shit-show that was my wedding, so I couldn't miss yours."

"I can't believe you're here," Amara shook her head, astonished. Yeah, her and Fiona spoke pretty frequently on the phone, but she hadn't actually seen her in years. And even though she'd been invited to the wedding, Amara didn't actually think she'd show.

She hadn't physically changed much at all, though she had ditched her usual jeans and causal shirt into something more up-scale for the wedding. She still had the same smile, same welcoming brown eyes, and most of all, she was still Fiona. "Does Liam know you're here? Lip?"

"Nah, not yet," Fiona waved her off, and Amara stepped to the side as Debbie rushed up to wrap her sister into a tight hug. "We can catch up after the wedding, alright? Right now, I gotta find this klutz a pair of shoes."

Relieved, Amara watched Fiona turn out the door, and just narrowly avoided seeing her two youngest brothers. "Yo, what's going on?" Carl asked. "Weddings soon, you know."

"Yeah," Amara said. "I know. And it's not cool to be late to your own wedding. Even if it's fashionably."

"Shoe issue," Silvia explained, and Carl's eyes went wide when he saw her. "What?"

"Uh, nothing."

"I swear I just saw a Fiona replica walking down the hallway," Liam said. "On my life."

"Listen, the wedding will start on time," Mandy told them, ushering the boys out of the room. "Tell Lip to chill the fuck out and take in the suspense. Bye."

Tami held up a champagne glass in Mandy's direction. "I like her."

It seemed like it took forever until Fiona returned, but in reality, it had only been a few minutes. She held up a pair of shoes that, while they weren't similar to Amara's old pair, they still matched the dress.

"Okay, people!" Mandy clapped her hands together. "It's almost show time. Debbie and Veronica, get Amy Gemma and Franny to their spots and grab the flower baskets off the counter in the kitchen that's in the venue. You two, make sure the men are presentable. I'm sure Ian did a good enough job getting them together, but it's never bad to have women involved in the wardrobe department. I'm going to make sure everything is in place. Silvia, get your sister to the isle ASAP, do not be late."

"She's scary," Silvia muttered as they all piled out of the room. "Why don't I remember her being so scary?"

Amara shrugged as Fiona placed her hand onto her shoulder. Amara grabbed it, feeling Fiona briefly tighten her grip, before dropping her arm. "Don't overthink it, okay? It's Lip. He's been crazy about you since day one—even if he had the weirdest ways of showing it sometimes. He loves you. I've known it since you guys were nine. No cold feet, you hear me?"

Amara nodded, blinking rapidly. "Yeah. I'm good."

"Good," Fiona nodded, her stern expression fading into a smile. "I'll see you out there."

Amara pulled her dress up as her and Silvia made their way down the hallway, mostly in silence. Clearly, there was something that was bothering her sister, but Amara was too caught up in her own head to ask her about it. Until Silvia froze, and her eyes grew large.

"What?" Amara asked. "Dude, what?"

"I need the bathroom?"

She stared at her sister, dubious. "It can't wait?"

"Nope."

Amara trailed hopelessly after her towards the bathroom down the hall, and was brought to another surprise when her sister kneeled down in front of one of the toilets, and barfed.

"Silvia," Amara breathed, awestruck and confused as her hands hung at her sides. She shook her head. "What the fuck?"

Silvia wiped her mouth as she turned around, and gave her a thumbs up.

☆

Amara didn't think she had ever seen so many people she knew in one room before. It was insane to her—that the venue was filled with people there just for her and Lip. Her gaze raked around the audience as Kevin led her down the aisle.

Brad and his family were near the back, close to where Tami and Logan were located. There were a few people Amara didn't recognize, probably some of Lip's co-workers from his new job as a mechanic he'd landed a month prior. Carl with Fred in his lap, bouncing him eagerly with his knee as Amara continued further down the line. Even James was there, his arm propped around his fiancé Sophie.

Fiona, who was mostly hidden by the back as well—probably not to draw attention away from the event, smiled encouragingly at her. And Amara could've sworn the man sitting besides her looked exactly like someone she also hadn't seen in years—Jimmy.

Then, her eyes found the alter. Ian and Lip stood directly next to one another. Silvia, Mandy, and Veronica were on the opposite side. When Amara's gaze caught Lip's, she watched him bring a fist up to his mouth to clear his throat, and he swallowed roughly.

She was shaking by the time she reached the front. Lip took her hands from her sides, and she could tell that he was nervous, too.

"You ready for this?" Lip asked, very low, and she almost hadn't heard him.

Amara's answer was immediate. "Hell yeah."

"Dearly beloved," the priest started, and the venue grew even more quiet as everyone straightened in their seats to listen. "We are gathered here today..."

☆

a/n

see what i did there with the title 😏😏😏

i just wanted to thank u guys so so so much for reading !!! this finally concludes lip and amara's story. it's so crazy to me to think that i was just turning fifteen when i started writing this, and i turn nineteen this summer. i really feel like i grew with these characters and they mean so much to me. i appreciate everyone's support through all of the ups and downs of my updating schedule (even the discontinued for a year part of it LOLLL) and am so glad a lot of u decided to stick it through with me

again thank u guys for ur support. lovestruck & hard times #OUT